Northern Peninsula Proto-Language / dnydY

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Prologue

Long ago, the people who now live in the north peninsula were once a nomadic people, travelling across the desert in search of water and resources. After many years of roaming, they formed their home in the grasslands and forests of the north, and established farming communities, following their old cultural norms. The community exploded, and the Shená (or Pawóshená) soon developed writing and new ideas of their own, relatively isolated from the other cultures of the land.

In this early stage of their history, they spoke what is now called the Northern Peninsula Proto-Language, NPPL, known to them as Shapatwáka (lit. "speak-tongue").

Introduction

Northern Peninsula Proto-Language (NPPL), or Shapatwáka, is a (somewhat) naturalistic constructed language. It is the language of the early Shená people, and evolved into their later language, the Northern Peninsula Language (Dwág). NPPL currently has a lexicon consisting of about 46 root words, with approximately 3 or more derivations for each root, resulting in a lexicon of more than 140 words.

The lexicon of NPPL is available here.
The sources of NPPL study and grammar are available here.

Accompanying NPPL is a writing system, known as Standard Script. This itself is derived from an earlier logography known as 'Koswáka' (lit. "hill-tongue"), consisting of 25 radicals and a system for spelling and representing words in NPPL. Koswáka originally took the form of rock scratchings, but once wooden panel and ink based writing developed, it developed a calligraphic style which morphed into 7 glyphs, which became the basis of Standard Script.

Phonology

NPPL has 12 consonants, here in IPA form:

In the latin orthography, /ʃ/ is 'sh', and /j/ is 'y'.

NPPL's 8 vowels are as follows in IPA form:

In the latin orthography, /ə/ is 'uh', /oː/ is 'ó', and /aː/ is 'á'.

Syllables are always of the form CV(C), where C is a consonant and V is a vowel.
Stress is usually placed on the 2nd to last syllable. If the final or 3rd to final vowel is long, then that syllable is instead stressed.

Syntax

NPPL has a few basic syntactical rules aiding interpretation and translation:

There are 4 basic tenses, indicated by a marking word preceding a verb: Other words are commonly used as markers for various functions:

Grammar 1

NPPL has no direct equivalent of the verb "to be" found in English and other languages. Instead, this is conveyed through nouns acting as adjectives, where the preceding noun serves to describe the noun following it. 'was' marks plural nouns as an adjective. 'ralá' and 'mikis' act as augmentative and diminutive adjectives. Shapat was was shená was ke waló shapatwáka - Everyone speaks our language

Questions

Questions are formed somewhat indirectly, with phrases giving the reader/listener a 'choice' over unknowns in a sentence.
Who
'lák' replaces the nouns questioned about, and the question phrase 'minutá ruhs lák' follows the sentence.
Yuhfpán lák nátas, minutá ruhs lák - Who are you?
What
'tákamnuh' or 'minukamnuh' replaces the questioned nouns depending on their intended tangibility, and 'minutá ruhs lupa' follows.
Where
'minukamnuh' and 'minutá ruhs pitos'.
When
'minukamnuh' and 'tá ruhs pawómiyop'.
How
No question word replacements, 'minutá ruhs pawómash' added.

Koswáka

"Koswáka" (hilltongue) was the old logographic system NPPL employed before it eventually transformed into Standard Script. It consisted of 25 radical characters representing root words, combined in various ways to denote sentences in the language. The 25 characters, with their standard form equivalent, are: "nós" and "milás" share the same standard form radical block pyn, but were originally two different Koswáka characters which happened to merge when Standard Script was codified.
Words were built in Koswáka and are interpreted through a variety of structures:
CORE
The symbol represents its core radical meaning. For example dyb is read as [CORE] kamnuh.
REBUS
The symbol alludes to the pronunciation of the word. For example pyu yr is read as [REBUS] ke minu which is "kamnuh".
REBUS-CORE
The symbol alludes to pronunciation, plus the core meaning at the end. For example pyu yr dyb is read as [REBUS] ke minu [CORE] kamnuh which is "kamnuh".
SYLLABARY
The symbols attempt to spell the word by syllable. For example dyb bu dyb is read as [SYL] ka mi nuh which is "kamnuh".
ALPHASYLLABARY
The symbols are grouped into pairs of two, where the overlapping sounds spell the word. For example:
dy up ub yyr
dyb yr pyn dyb
is read as [ALPH] wáKa/Kamnuh Mash/Minu sheNá/Nós rUHs/kamnUH, which is [ALPH] ka m n uh, which is "kamnuh".
CONTEXT
The symbol alludes to the nature of the word. For example pyu bu is read as [CTXT] ke [REBS] pán which is "lupa".
These methods of writing a word, combined with the gradual splitting of each Koswáka radical into 7 unified characters, developed into the Standard Script, where the spelling of each word was codified to one specific method in the Koswáka system. The old radical characters of Koswáka, originally scratched into rocks, have been lost with only the radical system extant in Standard Script remaining.

Standard Script

Over time, Koswáka became to be written in a faster, more fluid style. Angular Koswáka radicals were simplified, and eventually a pattern was established which led to the emergence of 7 common characters: For each word in NPPL, a codified spelling was established from a common reading/spelling in Koswáka. For example, the spelling for "shánkat" was formed from the upper row of an ALPH reading as so: