Malaenic (language family)

The Malaenic language family comprises a group of languages of common origin spoken by the indigenous peoples of the Malaenic peninsula. All extant Malaenic languages are derived from the Bindaelic dialect better known as Proto-Noulaenic. Some loan-words from other ancient dialects survive but the similarity between ancient Malaenic dialects makes these difficult to distinguish from native Proto-Noulaenic words.

Phonology
Ancient Malaenic languages feature heavy use of consonant clusters, vowel clusters, and on glides. Most (but not all) morphemes were monosyllabic. Proto-Noulaenic retained these features but they were gradually lost in the Middle Noulaenic and High Noulaenic dialects from which all later members of the family derive. Consonant clusters were generally broken up into multiple syllables and vowel clusters were replaced with distinctions between long and short vowels. On glides were generally dropped entirely.

Continental Noulaenic languages were generally conservative of older features. The High Noulaenic language spoken during the second empire was phonologically similar to Middle Noulaenic and remains in use throughout Maleana and Carasala as a common diplomatic and governmental language. It is an official language of many territories and taught in most schools. Other local dialects on the continent, as well as the Elaenic dialect on Anatha, remain similar to this formalized official language.

Noulaenic languages in the islands of the Pinakloos Sea were significantly less conservative and derive from Middle Noulaenic rather than High Noulaenic, which was never widely spoken on the islands. These languages underwent significant consonant and vowel shifts and lost some of the phonetic complexity of earlier Noulaenic tongues. Compounding of words is common in these less phonologically rich dialects. The isolation of the languages also led to significant divergence among the tongues, rendering them generally mutually unintelligible. Kathani, as the Pinakloosi dialect with the most native speakers, is used as an example below

Proto-Noulaenic initials are summarized in the following table, along with the reflexes in later variants. Proto-Noulaenic vowels are summarized in the following table, along with the reflexes in later variants. Long vowels are capitized in the table, although this convention is not observed in transliteration.

Proto-Noulaenic finals are summarized in the following table, along with the reflexes in later variants. Syllables may have no final in all dialects. Finals are frequently dropped from the ends of words in Kathani and sometimes in Elaenic as well. Note that several stops exist in Elaenic that are absent in other dialects due to the inclusion of Tozari loan words.

Vocabulary
Some common words in the Noulaenic family are listed below. Kathani words in parentheses are used in compounds and names but not on their own as words. Compounds are listed where appropriate. All later Noulaenic dialects also contain a significant number of loan words from other languages that do not have Malaenic origins. These were passed into later languages as well. Elaenic in particular has a large number of loan words from Tozari and Konnocan. Although most High Noulaenic words are still present in this dialect, many have been replaced by loan words in most contexts. For example, the High Noulaenic words ful (horse) and saen (small) are used exclusively in idiomatic phrases in Elaenic, while the Tozari derived caror (horse) and tab (small) are used in other contexts.