Old Tongue

Few things are remembered of the past in these lands, forever lost in the shadows. But we have never forgotten the voice of our forefathers for they are what given us the strength to remember who we are - Ve'tal chieftain

The Old Tongue is considered one of the oldest languages used by Humans on the Continent of Kinath for thousands of years dating back long before the Elven Empire rose to power when Humans began to spread across the Western Lands and possibly the Eastern Lands as well at one point. It is from this language that all of them could speak as one people of one land. With all languages spoken in the Western Lands have their origins come from this single language. But now very few speak it as it has been forgotten by them along with what they once where.

Remnant of the Past

Though many have forgotten it, it still lives on through the people who have never forgotten the old ways of their people and live their way of life without abandoning it. The Forest Tribes of Ve’tal of the Great Forest are the true descendants and inheritors of the old ways of man and have never abandoned them for the ways that have removed them from the land that many live today. Through this, the voices and ways of the past have not faded entirely from these lands allowing it to live on through them. As long as this language is spoken the past will never fade and its values are never forgotten for they hold great wisdom in them that should never be cast aside.

Voice of the Forest

Despite it being originally the tongue of men, the Old Tongue has become something more than just the language of a single race, but several that reside in the Great Forest. The Beastmen that reside in it has accepted it as a second language to use for themselves to better communicate with others as their native languages are hard to understand to them being animal vocally, meaning that they will just sound like animals and not using proper words to communicate. Doing so allows them to ensure better relations with one another and outside of their lands if they need to. It is also used by other races such as Dryads in order to properly communicate with others as their language is for communicating with other plants through hormones and emotions not require words at all. Making the Old Tongue the language of those who dwell in the forest in order to live in peace and without lack of communication with one another.

Natively known as: Wush'ru /ushˈru/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind... tìn tèp trol yèlaw tèp phwèsh tìn fskaph tèp krenghash spli ngwof shish[alt] Pronunciation: /tɪɲ tɛp trol jɛˈlɔ tɛp ɸwɛʃ tɪɲ fskaɸ tɛp kreŋˈhaʃ spli ŋwof ʃiʃ/ Old Tongue word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face the wind to[/alt]

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: f h j k l m p r s t w ŋ ɲ ɸ ɾ ʃ ʦ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m				ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p		t			k
Affricate			ʦ
Fricative	ɸ	f	s	ʃ			h
Approximant					j
Tap			ɾ
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o u ɔ ɛ ɪ ʊ

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Near-high	ɪ	ʊ
High-mid	e	o
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable Word initial consonants: f fj fk fl fp fpr fsk fsp fst ft fɾ h hw j k kj kr kw l lj ml mɲ mɾ p pj pl pr pw pɾ pɾj r rw skr skw sl sm spj spl spr stj str stʃ t tr tw tɾ w ŋw ɲj ɸ ɸw ɾ ʃ ʃp ʃpr ʃt ʃtr ʃtɾ ʃɾ ʦ ʦh ʦw Mid-word consonants: f fj fk fl fm fr fst ftl ftr ftw h hl hm hɾ j jmɲ js jsk jt k kf kh kj kkj kkw kl km kr ksf ksj ksk ksm ksp kst ksw ktf ktl ktr kts ktʃ kw kɲ kʃ kʦ l lf lfm lft lj lkj ll lp lpf lpl ls lsh lsk lst lt ltj ltr lts ltʃ m mfl mft ml mm mpf mpj mpl mpt mpʃ mr ms mst mt mtʃ mɲj mɾ p pj pk plw ppl pr prj psj pst ptʃ pw pɾ pɾj r rh rkt rm rpl rs rsk rsm rst rtk rtr rts rtʃ rʃs s sf sk skj skl skr sl sm sp spj spl spr ss stf stj stk stl stm str stw stɲ stʃ sw sɲ sɾ t th tj tkr tl tlm tm tpr tsj tsm tst tt tth ttr tts tw tʃl tʃm tʃw tʦ tʦj w wsr wt wts wtɾ wɾ wʃ ŋ ŋh ŋkf ŋkj ŋkl ŋkr ŋkt ŋkw ŋkʃ ŋm ŋmj ŋr ŋs ŋtj ŋts ŋw ŋɲj ŋʦw ɲ ɲj ɲɲ ɲʃ ɸ ɾ ɾh ɾj ɾl ɾm ɾs ɾtʃ ɾʃ ʃ ʃh ʃj ʃk ʃkɾ ʃp ʃpl ʃt ʃtɲ ʃtɾ ʃtʃ ʦ ʦk ʦs ʦw Word final consonants: f k l m p r t w ŋ ɲ ɸ ʃ ʦ
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɔ	aw
ɛ	è
ɪ	ì
ʊ	ù
j	y
ŋ	ng
ɲ	n
ɸ	ph
ɾ	d
ʃ	sh
ʦ	ts

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject Verb Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary opened the door with a key. Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun. Adposition: postpositions

Verbs

Present	No affix prè /prɛ/ learn
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -l Else: Suffix -al prèl /prɛl/ learned

Old Tongue uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: fspul - fspul prè /fspul prɛ/ will learn

Progressive aspect

The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Old Tongue uses an affix for progressive:

Progressive

If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʦ Else: Suffix -eʦ prèts /prɛʦ/ is learning

Habitual aspect

The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).
Old Tongue uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -am prèm /prɛm/ learns

Geographical Distribution

It has only been spoken in the Great Forest by the Forest Tribes of Ve’tal , along with the Beastmen tribes that have made their home here among many other residents of the forest. Only very few people outside of it know the language most of them being Ardanian.

Dictionary

4401 Words.

Spoken by

• Ardanian
• Ve'tal
• Ve'tal

Numbers

Old Tongue has a base-20 number system:

1 - fskoph

2 - nyè

3 - pde

4 - mnut

5 - aw

6 - tshè

7 - mnèm

8 - fì

9 - mda

10 - wi

11 - hwìk

12 - lenaph

13 - tìttsya

14 - fdawf

15 - tdikra

16 - mdats

17 - spleph

18 - wut

19 - ngwawm

20 - fèk

21 - fskoph tìn fèk “one and twenty”

400 - fskoph slù “one fourhundred”

401 - fskoph slù fskoph “one fourhundred one”

800 - nyè slù “two fourhundred”

8000 - fskoph kìng “one eightthousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -el Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ɛ Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -r Else: Suffix -ar Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ɪ Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɸ Else: Suffix -oɸ Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -ɛf Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʦ Else: Suffix -iʦ Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -ef Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɸ Else: Suffix -ɛɸ Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ak One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -em Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -a Diminutive = Suffix -if Augmentative = Suffix -ʊ

Possessive determiners

1st singular	nye /ɲje/ my
2nd singular	yì /jɪ/ your
3rd singular masc	tèp /tɛp/ his
3rd singular fem	flal /flal/ her
1st plural inclusive	ha /ha/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	shte /ʃte/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	flè /flɛ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	kri /kri/ their

Nouns

Singular	No affix tdawf /tɾɔf/ dog
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ Else: Suffix -eŋ tdawfeng /tɾɔˈfeŋ/ dogs

Articles

Definite	flì /flɪ/ the
Indefinite	tra /tra/ a, some

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	nye /ɲje/ I	i /i/ me
2nd singular	yì /jɪ/ you	styan /stjaɲ/ you
3rd singular masc	tèp /tɛp/ he, it	nya /ɲja/ him, it
3rd singular fem	flal /flal/ she, it	wo /wo/ her, it
1st plural inclusive	ha /ha/ we (including you)	rwa /rwa/ us (including you)
1st plural exclusive	shte /ʃte/ we (excluding you)	ìm /ɪm/ us (excluding you)
2nd plural	flè /flɛ/ you all	wu /wu/ you all
3rd plural	kri /kri/ they	kyi /kji/ them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	nye /ɲje/ my
2nd singular	yì /jɪ/ your
3rd singular masc	tèp /tɛp/ his
3rd singular fem	flal /flal/ her
1st plural inclusive	ha /ha/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	shte /ʃte/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	flè /flɛ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	kri /kri/ their