| proto-Merethic Aldmereth | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Fusional | ||||||||||||
| Alignment | Accusative | ||||||||||||
| Head direction | Final | ||||||||||||
| Tonal | No | ||||||||||||
| Declensions | Yes | ||||||||||||
| Conjugations | Yes | ||||||||||||
| Genders | 3 | ||||||||||||
| Nouns decline according to... | |||||||||||||
| Case | Number | ||||||||||||
| Definiteness | Gender | ||||||||||||
| Verbs conjugate according to... | |||||||||||||
| Voice | Mood | ||||||||||||
| Person | Number | ||||||||||||
| Tense | Aspect | ||||||||||||
| Meta-information | |||||||||||||
| Progress | 0% | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Creator | Bryanstein | ||||||||||||
Proto-Merethic is the protolang of the Merethic language family, of which the most midely-spoken languages in Tamriel belong. It was spoken by the Aldmer in the Mythic period of Tamrielic history.
Classification and Dialects[]
Proto-Merethic is currently extinct, and dialectic variation was considered minor. All knowledge of proto-Merethic comes from reconstruction of extant languages in the Merethic family.
Phonology[]
Consonants[]
| Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m̊ m | n̊ n | ||||
| Plosive | p b | t d | k g | ʔ | ||
| Fricative | s z | h | ||||
| Affricate | pɸ bβ | tθ dð | kx gɣ | |||
| Approximant | ʍ w | j | ||||
| Trill | r̊ r | |||||
| Lateral app. | l̊ l |
Vowels[]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i i: | u u: | |
| Mid | e e: | o o: | |
| Low | a a: |
Phonotactics[]
Basic syllable structure is CRVC, but
Writing System[]
Proto-Merethic is believed to have been an unwritten language, as no written records of it exist. For linguistic purposes, the following orthography is used:
| Letter | a | b | g | d | e | h | i | y | k | l | m | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sound | a | b | g | d | e | h | i | j | k | l | m | n |
| Letter | o | p | r | s | t | w | z | bh | gh | dh | kh | lh |
| Sound | o | p | r | s | t | w | z | bβ | gɣ | dð | kx | l̊ |
| Letter | mh | nh | ph | rh | th | wh | ||||||
| Sound | m̊ | n̊ | pɸ | r̊ | tθ | ʍ |
Grammar[]
Proto-Merethic had highly inflectional, mostly suffixing grammar. There were no articles or strict syntax, since inflection provided sufficient context.
Nouns[]
Proto-Merethic nouns inflect for 8 cases, 3 genders, 3 grammatical numbers, and 2 states of definiteness. Case, gender, and number were indicated by a noun suffix, while definiteness was indicated by aspirating the beginning of the word.
| Case | Gender | Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | Masculine | -as | -ayes | -ais |
| Feminine | -us | -wes | -wis | |
| Neuter | -os | -es | -is | |
| Accusative | Masculine | -am | -ayem | -aim |
| Feminine | -um | -wem | -wim | |
| Neuter | -om | -em | -im | |
| Dative | Masculine | -an | -ayen | -ain |
| Feminine | -un | -wen | -win | |
| Neuter | -on | -en | -in | |
| Genitive | Masculine | -ar | -ayer | -air |
| Feminine | -ur | -wer | -wir | |
| Neuter | -or | -er | -ir | |
| Vocative | Masculine | -a | -aye | -ai |
| Feminine | -u | -we | -wi | |
| Neuter | -o | -e | -i | |
| Ablative | Masculine | -ab | -ayeb | -aib |
| Feminine | -ub | -web | -wib | |
| Neuter | -ob | -eb | -ib | |
| Locative | Masculine | -ag | -ayeg | -aig |
| Feminine | -ug | -weg | -wig | |
| Neuter | -og | -eg | -ig | |
| Instrumental | Masculine | -at | -ayet | -ait |
| Feminine | -ut | -wet | -wit | |
| Neuter | -ot | -et | -it |
For definite nouns: if the beginning sound is a vowel, an H is prepended to the noun, if it is a plosive, the plosive is affricatized, if it is a nasal or an approximate, it is devoiced.
Verbs[]
Proto-Merethic verbs are even more elaborate than nouns, suffixing for the person and number of their subjects as well as for mood/voice, and using initial-vowel gradation to indicate tense/aspect.
| Mood/Voice | Person | Single | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicative | 1st | |||
| 2nd | ||||
| 3rd | ||||
| Optative | 1st | |||
| 2nd | ||||
| 3rd | ||||
| Subjunctive | 1st | |||
| 2nd | ||||
| 3rd | ||||
| Imperative | 1st | |||
| 2nd | ||||
| 3rd | ||||
| Reflexive | 1st | |||
| 2nd | ||||
| 3rd |
| Tense/Aspect | Weak Grade | Strong Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Present/Imperfective | e | e: |
| Past/Perfective | a | a: |
| Progressive/Gerund | i | i: |
| Perfect/Participle | o | o: |
Adjectives[]
Adverbs[]
Syntax[]
Proto-Merethic was not believed to have had a strict syntax due to its highly-inflectional nature, but it was believed to have mostly been spoken in SOV syntax.