Lunaric Language in New Generica | World Anvil

Lunaric

Lunaric is the native language of most Lunars. Lunaric is unusual among extant humanoid languages in that it is primarily process-focussed; verbs have numerous declensions for specific circumstances and form the roots of many nouns (i.e. "one who (verb)s, or a (verb)er"). A somewhat obscure language even in old Generica, Lunaric texts and associated Lunar Glyphs were important foundations to many modern magical and scientific studies in the modern era.

Syntax

Lunaric uses strict SVO word order ("We drove home"), with adjectives and adverbs following the parts of speech that they modify ("The dog muddy ran quickly to lay on the carpet clean.").

Tenses

Lunaric verbs are conjugated to match the subject's gender (male, female, neutral, inanimate), number (singular, plural), person (first, second, third), and the tense of the verb (past, present, future). While this makes for potentially 72 forms that a given verb can take, the rules around verb conjugation are simple enough that they can be applied consistently across almost all verbs without having to fall back on rote memorization.   In addition to regular conjugation, Lunaric differentiates verbs with a series of declensions that further specify the duration and other aspects of the action to be undertaken. These are signified by short, optional prefixes that modify the verb. Lunaric verbs decline for the following conditions:  
  • Instant, span, or cycle: Lunaric differentiates between instantaneous events, ongoing (linear) actions, and actions that either return to their starting points or tend to occur as part of a repeating pattern. A verb that declines as a cycle of finite duration (see below) is sometimes used to indicate a reflexive verb (i.e. "I educated myself.").
  • Finite or infinite duration: Lunaric differentiates between events that are spans or cycles (see above) that have a finite or infinite duration. Adding prefixes for instant and finite declensions to the same verb root is considered redundant, but may be done in poetic contexts to provide a sense of impact and finality to a statement. The infinite declension can also be used to indicate that the duration of a verb is indeterminite (i.e. "I'm so hungry, I could eat forever!").
  • Gender: Verbs may be denoted as masculine (of the sex producing motile gametes), feminine (of the sex producing sessile gametes), neutral (animate but reproduces asexually, is of an indeterminite sex, or constitutes a mixed sex group), or inanimate (inert materials) in nature. These declensions may modify the gender of a creature or person if the verb is used as part of a noun construction (i.e a person who is male but androgynous), but may have other meanings in specific contexts. For example, chemical processes where chirality is important or where one substance is far more reactive than another may use the male and female declensions to contrast the reactants. Importantly, these function somewhat like adverbs and are not required to adhere to subject agreement like conjugations are (but see below).
  • Noun status: A special prefix declines the verb root such that it is now a person, place, or thing that performs the indicated verb. In essence, this prefix converts the verb into a noun, typically directly translatable as "one who (verb)s" or a "(verb)er." In these cases the conjugation must match that of the noun to be created, and the tense of these constructions is typically present unless the person is deceased (past) or yet to be born (future). Further declension is not strictly necessary in this case.



  • Cover image: by Austin Schmid