Dwarven
The standard dwarven language is assumed to be Dethen as spoken by
an educated Granite Dwarf with a neutral accent borne of native
dwarven lands. Dialectic variations and some aspects of the ancient
Dethek are mentioned separately.
Pronunciation
Dethen
may be transcribed into English using the following letters and
digraphs: A, B, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V,
Z, Gh, Th, Kh, and Rh.
Each vowel has only a single pronunciation: A as in father, E as in
bet, I as in machine, O as in bone, and U as in tune. Diphthongs do
not natively occur.
Consonants
match up to their normal English versions except as follows. Q and Gh
signify unvoiced and voiced uvular stops, respectively, as in the
Arabic ‘ayin and Farsi “swallowed G (geyn).” R represents the
guttural R, like the second sound in, “croissant,” while Rh
stands for a more English-like R; these two sounds standing in
contrast is one of the more distinctive feature of the language.
Additionally, Dethen fricatives should be spoken of specifically.
The language has three fricatives, V like in van, Th like in thy, and
Kh like the modern gamma, the first sound in the name of the gyro
sandwich. At the start of a word, these devoice, becoming F like in
fan, Th like in thigh, and kh like the sound at the end of loch.
These sound different, and the first is transcribed differently for
intelligibility, but native speakers consider them the same letter,
just like most English speakers spend their entire lives doing with
the two forms of Th.
Dwarven
syllable structure is highly fixed. All syllables have a core of a
consonant and a vowel, as in gu-, to which one can add an ending
consonant, as in gut-, and either form of R at the very beginning, as
in rhgut-. Additionally, a word may begin with only a vowel, and a
syllable may begin with a nasal before the consonant if it is not at
the beginning of the word (as in the word, “isambar,” which
means, “pearl”); note that these nasals are always assimilated
(i.e “-and” is possible, but “amd” is not). Finally, the
clusters bz, dz, and gz may occur in the consonant position. Thus,
the maximal Dethen syllable is, “rhbzonk.”
Grammar
Dethen
is largely an analytical language, like real-life Mandarin. Words
only
change form if they are pronouns or if they are verbs conjugating for
politeness; otherwise, all meaning is conveyed strictly through
additional words and word placement. Sentences follow a strict
verb-subject-object order, though prepositions, indirect objects, and
so on are flexible in position. Verbs do not explicitly track time,
number, or anything else except politeness. Similarly, nouns and
adjectives do not track gender, number, or anything else, unless they
are pronouns.
Moving
on to other details, the language is not pro-drop (meaning that in
Dethen, words whose presence can be inferred cannot be ignored, like
in English, where, “I am,” cannot be shortened to just, “am”),
and is head-initial (the noun comes before its adjectives, like in
Spanish), and postpositive (meaning prepositions follow their word,
instead of proceeding it). The only article is the definite article,
kus, which is not actually mandatory even when the object in question
is definite; a noun being unmarked could mean it’s indefinite, or
could mean that the speaker is not asserting its definiteness.
A
major part of Dethen grammar which flummoxes foreign speakers is the
politeness of verbs. Verbs conjugate into 6 levels of etiquette:
unmarked (the unmodified verb, used when speaking impersonally to
large groups, or when making statements of fact or simple commands to
those on intimate terms. Its use elsewhere is considered dismissive),
familiar (used normally with those on intimate terms. Too informal
elsewhere), colloquitive (used in normal conversation and discussion
in formal environments. Odd and stilted if used incorrectly),
requesting (used to make polite commands and inferences to one’s
superiors. Also used to express general hope and wish, when begging
one’s equals, in self-deprecating humor, and in similar contexts.
Literally gibberish if used incorrectly), laudative (used to express
thanks and praise. Also used to reply to or affirm certain questions,
requests, or commands, and is the default level for certain obscure
contexts, such as speaking to someone of high religious rank.
Improper use is very likely to create a major faux pas), and
imperious (used when speaking from a position of official authority,
and implies that the speaker bears the full weight of the law behind
him. The imperious and requesting levels can be mixed in certain
situations that imply familiarity within this context. Improper use
is not just pretentious, but actively deluded). These mix with a few
basic grammatical words to form a very complex dwarven concept of
etiquette, which tends to not be understood by other races, and tends
to be the only form of etiquette they ever learn.
Pronouns,
similarly, actually decline for person (1st,
2nd,
or 3rd),
number (singular, plural, or dual), gender (masculine, feminine, or
mixed), and clusivity (if the speaker and one spoken to are in the
pronoun together, or not).
Otherwise,
Dethen tends to be fairly easy to understand. Except for a family of
particles bearing emotional content, the grammar is somewhat simple,
and not dissimilar from other languages in the region.
Variation
The
above pronunciation is the standard accent of Iron Dwarves and
educated Granite Dwarves. Provincial or colloquial speech amongst
Granite Dwarves has a few variations. For example, fricatives often
also devoice at the end of a word, and some bumpkin-sounding groups
pronounce them voicelessly in all contexts. It is also very common to
assimilate r to rh before labials and dentals and rh to r before
uvulars; not doing so is one of the biggest markers of an upperclass
accent. Many Granite Dwarves have also imported a letter y from human
loan words.
Conversely,
some Mithril Dwarves voice the fricatives even word-initially, but
this is an improper hypercorrection. The other common indicator of
the Mithril Dwarf accent is the retention of Ws; the letter W existed
in archaic dialects, but vanished some time ago. Its use is retained
by some upper crust speakers, thus lengthening some words. In a
similar vein, the ancient language had a uvular fricative and a
uvular nasal in addition to the uvular stops. These are still
spelled, but are now pronounced as Ns, Vs, or khs, depending on the
context. Some snooty aristocrats and scholars continue to pronounce
them correctly, however.
The
biggest divide between dialects of Dethen, however, arises from
vocabulary, not pronunciation. While the three major divisions are
mutually intelligible, they have some differences that can lead to
confusion and loss of meaning. For example, most speakers decline the
second person pronoun from the stem *rom-, but many Mithril Dwarves
use the older *rhuq-, instead. Another, more humorous instance is the
use of the word gzumi, meaning iron or metalwork. In colloquial
Granite Dwarf usage, this word is obsolete, and the word gzurhkan is
used instead. However, gzurhkan originally referred to pig iron or
shoddy metalwork, a usage it still sees amongst Iron Dwarves, and in
Mithril Dwarf circles, it has become a profanity used to insult poor
worksmanship, thus leading to embarrassment when Mithril and Granite
Dwarves mix.
Ancient
Forms
In addition to W and the uvular nasal and fricative as listed above,
Dethek had an ejective (emphatic or “spat” form) consonant at
each point of articulation, p’, t’, k’, and q’. These fell
completely out of the language centuries ago, and are unpronounceable
to all but the most learned of scholars and clerics.
Much
more severely impact understandability, however, is the radically
different verb and pronoun structure of the ancient language.
Originally, the dwarven languages had no declining or conjugating
parts. Dethek used a family of dozens of particles marking formality,
station of speaker, station of listener, social context, and sentence
content that, over the millennia, collapsed into the modern
politeness and pronoun system. Thus, formality in Dethek is even
harder to understand, and some ancient texts remain obscure to even
the most knowledgeable of scholars.
Five
Sample Words
In
addition to the words here and there above, here are 5 more words to
give readers an idea of the sound of the language:
Karadig: the name of the ancient dwarven pagan religion. A Mithril
Dwarf would say it, “Kawaradig.”
Nobze: spear.
Rhnogadiz:
first person dual inclusive feminine pronoun; literally, “us two
women.”
Lomvano: a verb meaning, “nurture/heal/respect.”
Khut: an interjection, meaning something along the lines of,
“hark/attention/look out!”
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