Oynprith
This language is primarily used by the Droyne race throughout Charted Space.
- It is a central language.
Description (Specifications)
For centuries, only the vast distances separating Droyne worlds from each other concealed the fact that Droyne worlds had a common language. That is not to say every Droyne spoke the same language; indeed, different Droyne communities spoke different languages, often very different languages.
- In interstellar commerce, Oynprith was soon discovered by Droyne to be a universal language among their race; as trade increased, Oynprith became more commonly used, finally reaching a status as the universal Droyne language.
Structure
No information yet available.
Morphology
Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words.
- morpheme, inflection, paradigm, declension, derivation, compound, etc.
Oynprith inflects for gender and certainty, and uses unbound words to represent aspect. Number is inherently plural, with no standard mechanism to represent the singular.
Phonology
Phonology, the study of the sound systems of a language.
- phoneme, allophone, segment, mora, syllable, foot, stress, tone, etc.
Grammar
Grammar is the structure of a language.
- tense, aspect, mood and modality, grammatical number, grammatical gender, case, etc.
Oynprith nouns are sorted into seven grammatical genders and three “exceptions”. Usually, nouns of a given gender all have the same final vowel. This connection is so strong that newly minted nouns tend to drift from their category of meaning into a different category.
Originally a research language, Oynprith is geared towards the reporting of results. Thus, besides agreeing with their subject noun, verbs finally inflect for certainty. After adding the subject noun gender-based suffix, add the certainty suffix. Certainty also can communicate other forms of grammatical mood.
Syntax
Syntax is the study of how words combine to form grammatical sentences.
- phrase, clause, grammatical function, grammatical voice, etc.
Agreement with nouns allows a (relatively)free word order, because verb and adjective suffixes indicate to which noun they refer.
Meaning
No information yet available.
Lexicology
A lexicon is the word supply of a language.
- word, lexeme, lemma, lexicon, vocabulary, terminology, etc.
Semantics
Semantics is the study of the meaning of words (lexical semantics), and how these combine to form the meanings of sentences.
- meaning, sense, entailment, truth condition, compositionality, etc.
Pragmatics
Pragmatics is the study of how language is used by its speakers.
- presupposition, implicature, deixis
History & Background (Historical Linguistics)
All Droyne communities shared one common language — Oynprith, the language used in the coyn casting ceremony. Outsiders missed Oynprith simply because it was not used in public very often; it had a status as a ritual or ceremonial language, much like the status of Latin on Terra.
Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)
This language is primarily in use in the following areas:
References & Contributors (Sources)
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