Proto-Peroatlan

Proto-Peroatlan was an ancient language of the Peroatlan people, believed to have derived from the theoretical Proto-Perocadh language in the pre-classical era. It was one of the first languages to have developed writing (though initially inconsistent and rudimentary) but was used primarily by the Ushanghalin Empire for record keeping and some of the first known recorded histories.

## Historic Perspective

Little is known about the derivation of Proto-Peroatlan from a previous language, as no writing or dialectic information exists prior to the reign of Ushanghal. It appears that Ushanghal's life, most Peroatlans spoke a nearly identical version of this language- something which was key in their unification at the time.

As the Ushanghali Empire declined shortly after the death of Ushanghal, differing conventions in record keeping among the cities as well as emerging dialects influenced by neighboring cultures led to the descendant languages of Redcan, Perothan, and Atlan. While Redcan and Perothan had significant outside influences, Atlan is considered the purest successor of the language, later being a major influence on Thekhan Khanakh and western Dnalak languages. The latest known writings in Proto-Peroatlan are from around -2675.

## Conventions

Proto-Peroatlan, typically referred to as *dodepi* (do 'dE pi - "all speech") by the speakers of the language, was a prefix-suffix heavy word-based language, whose writing system was developed around a single-sound alphabet. The most striking thing English speakers may notice is the size of some words; nouns were surrounded by supplementary meanings with prefix and suffixes, making more complex meanings into longer words. For example, the English phrase "fifteen cups of water" would be a single word in Proto-Peroatlan: *sumonpanokuza* (su ,mon pan ok 'u za).

### Grammar

Sentences have a straightforward structure in which subjects and objects are defined by their relation to the verb. Most sentences, due to the combinatoric nature of phrases into words in Proto-Peroatlan, contain only three to five total words, though some words become quite long and convey large ideas. Here is a common sentence layout:

*(adj1)***Subject1**(*quan./qual.2*) **Helper/Conjugate2**(*Adverb4*) (*Prep3 if Adv.*) **Verb3** (*adj1*)**Object4**(*quan./qual.2*)

While this seems a bit confusing, below are some straightforward sentences that fit the mold

* **Te1 po2 dep3 ut4** - "He said it"
* **Ekalora1 po2***demhapavi3elanim2* **mixa3** **El4***an2* - "Ekalora planted them in their intended place"
* *Zena1***Ushanghal1 pe2,3** *Zan1***elek4***oshim2* - "Mighty Ushanghal will be our Emperor
* **Osh1** **pe2***let4* *advunan3* **me3** - "Tomorrow we will go to the mountains"

Verb structure was relatively formal with few noticeable exceptions. All verbs were preceded by a so-called "verb helper" which held a lot of the conjugation information related to the verb, while the verb was standalone or followed a standalone prepositional phrase if an adverb was present. For example "*i petuti maxu lunapaxein*" (From *The Scriptures*: "I will make for myself companions") where pe is the verb helper designating future tense and is attached to the adverb suffix structure -tuti (for myself), while the verb maxu (make) stands alone. In the case of standalone being verbs such as is, are, was, etc. in English, the verb helper alone is the verb. For example "*te po elekian*" ("He was my King") in which the entire verb clause is represented by po, the helper.

Samples- Idioms and Sayings:

* **Nasup1***ilim2* **pe2,3***xe4 tushemduim3* **du4** - "For your time, my people will be with you" (Oath sworn by loyal tribes)
* **Iminara1 pin2 tuk3 meshafun4***ilim2* - "Iminara, guide my travels" (A merchant/sailor's prayer)