Desrunic

Desrunic is the language spoken in Dostros, formerly spoken in its predecessor nation Del'Verun. Despite being contained to a relatively small location, centuries of settlements acting independently from one another have led to the birth of nearly a dozen mutually-intelligible yet still distinct dialects.

Phonology

Expand for Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Post Alveolar
Nasal	/m/		/n/
Plosive	/p/		/t/
Fricative		/f/, /v/	/s/, /z/	/ʃ/ (sh)
Approximant			/l/

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	/i/		/u/
Mid	/e/		/o/
Open		/a/

Diphthongs

ai

oi

ou

ei

Phonotactics

Syllable Structure

Consonants in Desrunic can take the form of CV, VC, or CVC. Consonant and vowel clusters of two are allowed, though there are four forbidden consonant pairs: sz, zs, fv, and vf.

Stress

Where stress falls depends heavily on the region and dialect. In most dialects, stress is on the last syllable, with the exception of words with three or more syllables, where stress is instead placed on the penultimate syllable. There are, however, exceptions to this, even in dialects where it is true.

Morphology

Adpositions

Desrunic's adpositions are postpositions.

Articles

Desrunic does not have adjectives in any form.

Adjectives

In Desrunic, the noun preceedes the adjective.

Adverbs

Adverbs function similarly to adjectives.

Pronouns

	Subject	Object	Possessive
1st person singular	lai	alai	laila
2nd person singular	ti	eti	tila
3rd person singular	nes	ones	nesa
1st person plural	pan	upan	pana
2nd person plural	tin	etin	tina
3rd person plural	nesin	unes	nesil
3rd person inanimate	fal	afal	fala

Verbs

Infinitive Forms

Regular verbs can have one of two endings: -me, and -la. In some dialects, there is an additional ending of -lo or -le, which can be conjugated similarly to -la or have its own conjugation entirely. The majority of verbs end in -me, followed by -la, and then -le or -lo in dialects where they exist. In dialects with both, -lo is typically less common than -le.

Tenses

Desrunic has two tenses: one for the past, and one for the present or future. In some dialects, the future tense has a helper verb, which in some of these dialects is "to be", and in others is "to go". The past tense is also given a helper verb of "to have" or "to be" in some dialects, though this is less common. There are separate forms of conjugation for "standard" conjugation, and for "implied subject" conjugation.

Regular Conjugation

Regular -me Conjugation

		Past	Present/Future
	1st	-ma	-mai
Singular	2nd	-mo	-mou
	3rd	-me	-mei
	1st	-ma	-mai
Plural	2nd	-mo	-mou
	3rd	-me	-mei

Regular -la Conjugation

		Past	Present/Future
	1st	-lan	-lai
Singular	2nd	-los	-lou
	3rd	-le	-lei
	1st	-las	-lai
Plural	2nd	-lo	-loous
	3rd	-lam	-lama

Implied-Subject -me Conjugation

		Past	Present/Future
	1st	-mal	-melai
Singular	2nd	-mot	-mout
	3rd	-mene	-menei
	1st	-man	-maian
Plural	2nd	-moti	-mouti
	3rd	-mene	-meisin

Implied-Subject -la Conjugation

		Past	Present/Future
	1st	-alai	-lalai
Singular	2nd	-lost	-lout
	3rd	-lene	-lenei
	1st	-lasan	-laisan
Plural	2nd	-loti	-louti
	3rd	-lamen	-lamsin

Irregular Verbs

There are some verbs that are irregular in Desrunic. Most of these words end in either -me or -la, though there are some with alternate endings. One such irregular verb with an -la ending is lavla, meaning "to think". The verb ovil, however, meaning "to have", does not have either of thesea regular endings.

Syntax

Word Order

Desrunic uses Verb-Subject-Object word order. However, when the subject is a pronoun, it can be implied and left out for a Verb-Object word order. Where there is no object, the word order can be Verb-Subject, or just Verb when using an implied subject conjugation.

Dictionary

52 Words.

Spoken by

• Dostran

Notable Dialects

Doveport Desrunic / Dovelish

Doveport Desrunic, also known as "Dovelish", is the dialect of Desrunic spoken in Dostros' capital city of Doveport. It is the most "simple" form of Desrunic, with only two verb endings, stress on the ultimate or penultimate syllable, and rigid sentence structure. There are minimal variations in the letters chosen to represent certain sounds. Dovelish also has a large amount of loan words, as the majority of visiting dignitaries, tourists, and politicians primarily visit Doveport.

Petralian Desrunic / Petralian

Petralian Desrunic, known in short as Petralian, is the dialect of Desrunic spoken in Petralis, a settlement on Dostros' border with New Vransi by the Dostran Pass. It is one of the more distinct dialects, and speakers of the other dialects are barely able to understand Petralian. It has the highest number of irregular verbs, inconsistent pronunciation, and the highest number of differences in vocabulary from the other dialects.

Low Desrunic

Low Desrunic is the dialect of Desrunic spoken in the swampy areas of the forests. Known for its blended-together sounds and drawling words, the dialect is spoken in the few villages and small towns scattered throughout the region.

Eastern Desrunic

Eastern Desrunic, spoken on the eastern border between Dostros and Vechia, takes a lot of influence from Vechia's language, Paldoran. Its vowel sounds are much closer to those of Paldoran, and it takes many loan words from it.

Coastal Desrunic

Coastal Desrunic is the dialect spoken on the western coast of Dostros, known for its sharply-enunciated consonant sounds. Often, the dialect is associated with fisherman and sailors, common professions on the Dostran coast.

Phrases & Idioms

Translated Phrase	Meaning	Region
To see and to hold	Expression of love	All
Fish in the woods	Out of place	Western/central
Ehrendil's blessing	Formal hello/farewell	Central
Trees have ears	Be wary of eavesdroppers/unwanted listeners	Central
Chopping (wood)	Busywork	Central
Cold and dark	Death	Doveport
Comparing swamps and marshlands	Seemingly similar, yet very different	Lowlands
Trimming branches	Getting rid of unnecessary complications (used in local shadowspeak as "tying up loose ends")	Central/East
A bush to a tree	Inadequate; doesn't compare/equate	Central/south
Expecting a seed to be a tree	Expecting quick/early results for a slow process; impatient	Central/south
Throw a net	Fuck off	Coastal
Anchor down	Stay in the same place for a while; often, rest	Coastal
Whittling your options	Diminishing your choices unintentionally	All
Making a sailboat out of driftwood	An unwise or foolish task	Coastal
His sail's got some holes	He's unintelligent, slow	Coastal
A pile of sticks in the forest	Incredibly common	Central
The (swamp) water's murky	Obviously	Lowlands
Oversalting his fish	Pushing his luck	Coastal
You can cover your tracks but you can't regrow the branches	You can try to erase your past, but there are some things that will take time to heal	Central
Moving stars	Time passing	Southern/Coastal