Kethrai/Writing/Prydaenese Language

The following article contains player-created lore or theories. It is not necessarily an accurate reflection of official game lore.

Introduction

Prydaenese is an ancient language, dating back at least to the time of the Empire, but it's impossible to know precisely how long it's existed. For most of its history it had no native written script, so there are very few historical artifacts that yield information on how it evolved, or when.

About a century ago as of this writing, the Prydaen people were forced out of their homeland in the continent to the west by the necromancer Lyras Maorgwelder, who was nearly successful in exterminating the Prydaen as well as their neighbors the Rakash. This has likewise negatively impacted our knowledge of Prydaen language and culture as it existed for many centuries before the Great Migration. The people relied on oral tradition to pass along their history, and the large majority of those who knew those stories were killed.

Although I myself am Prydaen, I did not grow up in a Hub. I was raised with many traditional songs and stories, but my family primarily spoke Common at home. Much of what I now know about the Prydaenese language, I learned in adulthood. This required not just research on previously published material, but many in-depth interviews with native Prydaenese speakers. Thus, I come to this project as both an inheritor of Prydaen cultural tradition, and as a language learner. I hope that with this perspective, the following guide will prove useful to others seeking to understand Prydaenese in greater depth.

Pronunciation

There are two primary writing systems used to transcribe spoken Prydaenese. The first was created by the Claw of Azca, allegedly by Azca Fauran herself, but is closely guarded and not commonly in use outside the priesthood. The second was developed by Professor Casimont Nalbiro for his two-volume Prydaen Dictionary, and uses the Gamgweth alphabet to approximate the sounds of the language. The latter is the system I will be using.

Vowels

Modern Prydaenese has eight vowel sounds, classified as "short," "long," and "round" as laid out in the table below:

Short vowels Vowel Common pronunciation a As the a in father e As the e in pet i As the i in sit

Long vowels Vowel Common pronunciation aa As the a in cat ee As the a in lane y As the ee in seem

Round vowels Vowel Common pronunciation o As the o in poke u As the oo in loom

Each short vowel "elongates" to its matching long vowel: a to aa, e to ee, i to y. In older Lowlands dialects of Prydaenese each round vowel had a distinct elongated form, but these distinctions are no longer present. In contexts where a round vowel is elongated, its sound is simply held for a longer duration.

In informal speech, it's common for words ending in the short vowels e and i to have the final vowel elongated to ee and y, and for words ending in the long vowel aa to be shortened to a. This occurs especially at the end of a sentence or clause when they won't be immediately followed by another syllable. Thus, drutahi (droo-TAH-hih, blue) may also be pronounced droo-TAH-hee, or rapaa (rah-PAE, shoe) may be pronounced rah-PAH. To some older listeners, this sounds grating and is evidence of negative influences from Eastern languages. To some younger listeners, not making this substitution sounds stilted and old-fashioned.

Sequential vowel sounds in the same word are always diphthongized: pronounced in a single syllable as a smooth glide between the two sounds. For example, there are two syllables in the word diade (DYAH-deh, lady), and three in eidola (AY-doh-lah, ghost).

Informally and when speaking quickly, it's also common for vowels at the end of one word and the beginning of the next to be diphthongized. So the phrase grate unala (secret key) is pronounced formally GRAH-teh oo-NAH-lah but informally may reduce to grateunala grah-TYOO-nah-lah. Older and younger speakers are just as likely to make this substitution, and it can be likened to the use of contractions like aren't and don't in Common: inappropriate in formal contexts, but important in informal speech to sound conversational.

Consonants

Prydaenese has 20 consonant sounds, laid out in the table below in Common alphabetical order. Most pronunciations are similar to their Common counterpart.

Consonant Common pronunciation b As the b in boy ch As the ch in chore d As the d in dance f As the f in follow g As the g in game h As the h in hand k As the k in kind l As the l in land m As the m in make n As the n in near

Consonant Common pronunciation p As the p in pace r None s As the s in sand sh As the sh in shield t As the t in toe th As the th in think v As the v in vain w As the w in want y As the y in yell z As the z in zap

The Prydaenese r has no exact equivalent in Common, but is similar to the Gerenshuge as in rive (hammer). It is made by tapping the tongue to the hard palate, and sounds somewhere between the Common r, l, and d.

Note the presence of y on this list. This Common letter is also used for the long vowel y. They are distinct sounds: it represents a consonant in the word yabuna (leaf) but a vowel in the words yr (the), ysin (sash), or Prydaen (Prydaen).

There are also 9 "trill consonants": chr, dr, fr, gr, hr, mr, pr, rr, and vr. These are distinct sounds and not consonant clusters. They are made with a voiced purring trill and have no Common language equivalent. The closest analogues are the consonants hrr and shrr in the S'Kra language.

I haven't included j in this list of consonants, because it is effectively nonexistent in modern Prydaenese. It did exist long ago, and its use is fossilized in the words jiu (eight) and jio (nine), but you will never hear it otherwise. Likewise, the letter g always represents the "hard" sound in Prydaenese and is never produced with a j sound as it sometimes is in Common. The same can be said for other letters with multiple sounds in Common: ch is always like chore, not cache or ache; s is always like sand, not casual or lens; th is always like think, not then.

Syllables

A syllable in most languages can be broken down into three parts: the consonant onset, the vowel nucleus, and a final consonant coda. In Prydaenese, syllables almost universally either have a single consonant for an onset and no coda, or neither onset nor coda. As a result, there are very few consonant clusters in Prydaenese: words like chmir (dress) and dathga (grassy plain) exist but are the exception, while most words flow like vekihata (war) and gechifacha (hunter).

Only a trill consonant may stand alone as a syllable without a vowel nucleus. For example: pr'chmir (wedding dress) is two syllables: pr and chmir. Mr is a common interjection noise, similar to "huh?" in Common, although some dialects pronounce this as mra.

Prosody

Each word in Prydaenese is generally given a single stressed syllable, the others spoken with a consistent lower stress. Similar to Common, a stressed syllable is spoken at a slightly higher pitch and volume. Occasionally but rarely, a second syllable in a word may have a sort of secondary stress, lower than the primary stress but higher than the rest of the word.

There are innumerable exceptions, but the general pattern is that the stress will fall on the first long vowel or diphthong, or else on the next-to-last syllable of the word. Thus: graimaa (GREYE-mae, desert), faiyka (FEYE-ee-kah, symbol of Eu), chugaivi (choo-GEYE-vih, poison), arubo (ah-ROO-boh, harness).

Grammar

Parts of Speech

Almost universally in Prydaenese, verbs end in -a, and genitive adjectives (those that express association or belonging) end in -i. The converse is not true: many other words also end in -a or -i, for example gouva (noun, falcon) and leyewi (adjective, brave).

But in general, a word may be converted to a verb or to a genitive phrase by changing the final vowel sound or adding one. For verbs: gapri (noun, spear) can become gapra (verb, to fight), or gecha (noun, hunt) can become gechafa (verb, to hunt). For genitive phrases: aanam (you all) can become aanami (you all's), or vutiyuka (mountain) can become vutiyuki (of the mountain).

Sentence Structure

In Prydaenese, a sentence or verb clause is constructed Verb - Subject - Object. Subjects and objects are identified only by order without other marking. Modifiers, including articles, adjectives, adverbs, and auxiliary verbs, generally come before whatever they are modifying. Thus:

Sentence Arahaf hreya y gechifacha y gridadro, grur arahaf hreya y gridadro y gechifacha. Literally Sometimes eat the hunter the beast, and sometimes eat the beast the hunter. Meaning Sometimes the hunter eats the beast, and sometimes the beast eats the hunter.

Verb modification

There is no conjugation for verb tense in Prydaenese. Auxiliary verbs can be used to mark if a verb is happening now (ao), in the past (aio), or in the future (chryea). Used on their own, these verbs literally mean is, was, and will be.

Sentence Ao biapa y ruguro vobafu. Literally Is rise the black moon. Meaning Katamba is rising (now).

Sentence Aio biapa y ruguro vobafu. Literally Was rise the black moon. Meaning Katamba rose (in the past).

Sentence Chryea biapa y ruguro vobafu. Literally Will rise the black moon. Meaning Katamba will rise (in the future).

Auxiliary verbs come closest to the verb if it has multiple modifiers. For example, we would say radehige gigae hafaba ez (swift ought run I), and not gigae radehige hafaba ez (ought swift run I).

When the time is indeterminate or can be inferred from context, time-based auxiliary verbs are often omitted.

Sentence Haf biapa y ruguro vobafu bar Ratha aio yuhra y choru. Literally When rise the black moon to Ratha was go the moon mage. Meaning The moon mage went to Ratha when Katamba rose. Notes The verb biapa is unmarked because aio yuhra establishes the past tense.

Sentence Agae aud grur veg roisanen biapa y ruguro vobafu. Literally After fifteen roisaen rise the black moon. Meaning Katamba will rise in fifteen roisaen. Notes The verb is unmarked because the context establishes it happening in the near future.

Sentence Chularake tailehra y Rakashen biapa y ruguro vobafu. Literally Happy wait the Rakash rise the black moon. Meaning The Rakash eagerly await Katamba's rising. Notes Neither verb is marked because this general statement is true in the past, present, and future.

When the subject or object of a verb is clear from context, it is also often omitted, which can lead to some very short sentences:

Sentence Aio kubura ez y chres githa aan natipo. Literally Was take I the here leave you fruit. Meaning I took the fruit that you left here.

Sentence Hreya vra? Literally Eat yes? Meaning You ate it, didn't you?

Sentence Gonivi, chi butha. Literally Not, but want. Meaning I didn't, but I wanted to.

Language Features

This section will cover something of an overlap between language and culture. These language features describe patterns of use that don't fit neatly into understanding the language's syntax and grammar, but are still important for a language learner to understand if you plan to interact with Prydaen in their native tongue and in their own environments.

Superlative Elongation

This is a relatively new language feature, but is common and accepted across Prydaenese speakers today. If the first vowel sound of a word is short or round, it may be elongated to emphasize the trait or express "more" or "the most" of that trait. For example:

Sentence Ao ezi vipife ehurai, chi ez eehurai. Literally Is my brother strong, but I (elongated) strong. Meaning My brother is strong, but I'm stronger.

Sentence Ao no munan y ruuhita. Literally Is that elder the (elongated) teacher. Meaning That elder is the greatest teacher.

Sentence Aio chayuva van y vani grirodi chooreta. Literally Was marry he the his hub's (elongated) beautiful. Meaning He married the most beautiful person in his hub.

It's technically correct to use vrarodu choreta (most beautiful) in place of chooreta, but increasingly this usage would be seen as unusual or overly formal.

If the first vowel sound of a word is already elongated or is a diphthong, this feature can't be used. For draiyato (pretty), for example, vrarodu draiyato is the only way to say "prettiest."

Portmanteaus

In contrast to superlative elongation, this language feature is so ancient that it may be as old as the Prydaenese language itself. When two words are combined such that the ending sounds of the first word sufficiently match the beginning sounds of the second, they may be merged together at those shared sounds. This produces a new word whose meaning is related, usually ironically, to the base words.

The Prydaenese term for this is techalara, itself appropriately a portmanteau of techala (crossroads) and halara (to play).

There are many thousands of these words, and their meanings are often specific to a particular region or group. Kits make a game of inventing new ones, and the resulting words may stay within that friend group, come to be used by their families, by their Hub, or eventually by Prydaen everywhere.

Some examples follow, although this is only the tiniest sliver:

Portmanteaus

Root words	Combined
mibaro (old) + rotare (root)	mibarotare (stubborn person)
natipo (red) + pohaka (fruit)	natipohaka (strawberry)
rihraibai (wise) + baidepai (truth)	rihraibaidepai (gossip)
dovrachai (day) + chaidina (wound)	dovrachaidina (hangover)
yolaru (seagull) + arufada (to kiss)	yolarufada (to steal food, i.e. off a friend's plate when they aren't looking)

Name Phrases

Traditionally upon a Prydaen kit's birth, their mother would consult a moon mage for a celestial reading of the kit's future. The moon mage would then give them a name based on that reading.

The name might be a single word: Rebeto (archer) for one who would be a skilled archer. Drarevra (fish) for one who would love swimming. Roleta (dragon) for one who would have a barely-constrained fury.

However, the name might also be a shortened version of a longer phrase, with arbitrary sounds extracted from it. The archer might have a name phrase of A rafa do y NAhaKUen RIdanga (an arrow soaring through the wind), shortened to Anakuri. The furious one might be called VAr yifra vin y HREya revichodo kamoyaDA (she might become the world-consuming fire), shortened to Vahreda.

Because these name phrases may have any length, and the sounds may be borrowed from nearly anywhere within them, it's next to impossible to work backwards from the given name to the name phrase. Prydaen tend to have a special connection to their name phrase: they may be proud of it, or embarrassed by it, and some may only share it with close friends and family as a sign of intimacy.

While a moon mage is still sometimes consulted especially among those born in Hubs, these days it's also common for a kit's parents to give them a name that expresses their own desires, without consulting the stars. My parents, for example, intended me to be a ranger, and named me rato y KEgrari graTH ehuRAI (as strong as the leopard's spirit), shortened to Kethrai. It was much to their chagrin that my path led me to become an empath instead.