Ethnographic Records

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Paktonyelv

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Lat. IIILong. IX

Overview

Trade language of the Goblin Exploration Guild, uniting a "Trading Company Empire" of Hobgoblins, Bugbears, Orcs, and Goblins (in the vein of the real-world East India Trading Company).

Origin

Derived from Spanish "Pactolengua" ("pact-language," itself from pacto "pact" + lengua "language"), filtered through a Hungarian phonological/structural lens — "lengua" replaced with the Hungarian word for language, nyelv, producing Paktonyelv.

Structure

Worked-out phonology, ergative-absolutive grammar, and a base-20 number system. Phonemes: voiceless stops /p, t, k/, voiced stops /b, d, g/, voiceless fricatives /f, s, h/, voiced fricative /v/, liquids /l, r/, palatal nasal /ɲ/. Vowels: /a, ɛ, i, o, u/, short or long. Syllable structure: (C)(C)V(C), with vowel harmony (front vowels group with front vowels, etc).

Relation to other conlangs

Possibly descended from a Zoquean-based proto-language intended as the setting's Proto-Indo-European analog — see Ooxapyotl for the "true name" naming-project work this ties to. Not yet confirmed as a direct genetic relationship rather than thematic parallel.

Source provenance

Source: Kovács Hungarian-based Hobgoblin Language - 2023-04-09.md · 2023-Q2 (Paktonyelv coined within this session, alongside Kovács)

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