Præta

Præta, formally known as iâ Sziroþs Prætâ / jə ˈʃi.roθs ˈpræ.tə / ("the Shirerithian Speech"), is the official language of Shireroth. Standard Præta, also known as Kaïsars Prætâ, the Kaiser's Præta, or Uikstâs Prætâ, Script Præta, is the chancery standard used by the Golden Mango Throne and its ministries.

Despite being called "the Shirerithian Speech", Præta is the first language only in Brookshire, parts of Goldshire, and territories historically associated with these regions. In other parts of Shireroth, it is acquired to varying degrees of fluency through schooling.

History

Præta derives from the Brookshirese or Prætaic Language Family, specifically the prestige dialect spoken at Raynor I's court. This form of Præta, or Old Præta, bears extensive lexical influence from Khaz Modanian, the now lost language of the Empire of Khaz Modan. Old Præta was introduced to the Shirekeep region and portions of the Red Elwynn during the First Era as a result of concerted efforts to resettle the greater Shirekeep region and western Goldshire with more reliable subjects.

The usage of Old Præta drifted into diverging dialects by the end of the First Era, prompting the reassertion of a centralized standard with the onset of the Second Era, this time derived mostly from the dialect prevalent in Monty Crisco. Middle Præta succeeded in penetrating to the mouth of the Elwynn River and further into Goldshire. New Præta, or the contemporary form, was established in an archaic mode under Kaiser John II and refined under Kaiseress Viviantia I.

Orthography and Phonology

Consonants

		Labial		Coronal		Palatal		Velar
Nasal		⟨ M m ⟩ / m /		⟨ N n ⟩ / n /
Plosive		⟨ P p ⟩ / p /	⟨ B b ⟩ / b /	⟨ T t ⟩ / t /	⟨ D d ⟩ / d /			⟨ K k ⟩ / k /	⟨ G g ⟩ / g /
Affricate						⟨ Tz tz ⟩ / tʃ /	⟨ Z z ⟩ / dʒ /
Fricative	sibilant			⟨ S s ß ⟩ / s /		⟨ Sz sz ⟩ / ʃ /
	non-sibilant	⟨ F f ⟩ / f /	⟨ V v ⟩ / ʋ /	⟨ Þ þ ⟩ / θ /			⟨ Ï ï ⟩ / j /	⟨ H h ⟩ / h /
Approximant
Trill				⟨ R r ⟩ / r /
Lateral Fricative				⟨ Ł ł ⟩ / ɬ /	⟨ L l ⟩ / l /

• ⟨ ß ⟩ is used for / s: /, derived from the archaic ⟨ ſs ⟩. It is only used when the / s: / falls entirely within a single morpheme

  e.g. ⟨ Aß ⟩ "As, ~7 1⁄4 bushels", versus ⟨ rass ⟩ "domestic", from ⟨ Ras ⟩ "House"

• ⟨ dz ⟩ common in Early New Praeta for / dʒ /, now deprecated.
• ⟨ ï ⟩ is sometimes written ⟨ i ⟩ or ⟨ ı ⟩ by nonstandard texts.
• ⟨ n ⟩ before a velar consonant is rendered as a velar nasal

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	⟨ I i ⟩ / i /	⟨ Î î ⟩ / ɪ̈ /	⟨ U u ⟩ / u /
Mid	⟨ E e ⟩ / e /	⟨ Â â ⟩ / ə /	⟨ O o ⟩ / o /
Low	⟨ Æ æ ⟩ / æ /		⟨ A a ⟩ / ɑ /

⟨ Â â ⟩, / ə / is not found in stressed syllables.

⟨ Î î ⟩, / ə / is found in Early New Praeta to represent a near-close central vowel, now merged with and written ⟨ Â â ⟩.

Writing Rules

Nouns are capitalized in all instances. Words of other classes are capitalized at the beginning of a sentence.

Nominal Morphology

Præta nominals (pronouns, nouns, and adjectives) are declined, or modified in order to reflect their grammatical case, according to five cases: Vocative, Nominative, Accusative, Genitive, Dative. They are also declined according to number (Singular and Plural). Gender also has some influence on which declension pattern is used.

Case Function

Vocative

Direct address

Nominative

Subject

Object of a Copula

Accusative

Direct Object

Genitive

indicates possession or relation

Dative

Indirect Object

Direct Object of certain verbs

Dative Absolute

Subject of a Copula

Colloquial Possessive

Nouns

Nouns in Præta are organized into three declensions, identified according to their Genitive Singular ending.

	1st Declension Gen Sg ‑is						2nd Declension Gen Sg ‑os		3rd Declension Gen Sg ‑in
	Common			Neuter			Common		Common			Neuter
		"Sovereign" Kaïsar‑	"Herdsman" Hirz‑		"Might" Alf‑	"Cliff" Nasz‑		"Child" Mog‑		"Worm" Maþ‑	"Language" Prætâ‑		"Plain" Łat-	"Egg" Oï‑
Voc	‑e	Kaïsare	Hirze	‑	Alf	Nasz	‑	Mog	‑	Maþ	Prætâ	‑	Łat	Oï
Nom	‑	Kaïsar	Hirz
Acc									‑ân	Maþân	Prætân
Gen	‑is	Kaïsaris	Hirdis	‑is	Alfis	Nasis	‑os	Mogos	‑in	Maþin	Prætin	‑in	Łatin	Oïin
Dat	‑i	Kaïsari	Hirdi	‑i	Alfi	Nasi	‑u	Mogu
Voc	‑âs	Kaïsarâs	Hirdis	‑a	Alfa	Nasza	‑âs	Mogâs	‑ân	Maþân	Prætân	‑ân	Łatân	Oïin
Nom
Acc
Gen	‑eï	Kaïsareï	Hirzeï	‑eï	Alfeï	Naszeï	‑ou	Mogou	‑eï	Maþeï	Præteï	‑eï	Łateï	Oïeï
Dat	‑âm	Kaïsarâm	Hirdim	‑âm	Alfâm	Nasim	‑âm	Mogâm	‑âm	Maþâm	Prætâm	‑âm	Łatâm	Oïim

Note: If a noun's stem ends in a palatalized consonant (e.g. Hirz "herdsman", Adtz "office", Nasz "cliff", Oï "egg", etc), the stem and the endings are modified according to the following pattern:

If the case ending features an ⟨ â ⟩, that is realized and written as ⟨ i ⟩

Nom Pl	Hirdiz	Adtis	Nasis	Oïis
Dat Pl	Hirdim	Adtim	Nasim	Oïim

If the case ending features an ⟨ i ⟩, the stem ending becomes unpalatalized if an unpalatalized equivalent is available.

Gen Sg	Hirdis	Adtis	Nasis	Oïis
Dat Sg	Hirdi	Adti	Nasi	Oïi

Note: If a noun stem ends in a vowel, it is dropped for non-zero case endings

Stem	Prætâ‑	Łæïrâ-
Nom Sg	Prætâ	Łæïrâ
Gen Sg	Prætin	Łæïros

Lexicon

Præta Lexicon

The core and bulk of the Præta lexicon derives from Common Brookshirian and have been with the language since Old Præta. A large portion, notably concerning matters of prestige, government, and magic, are borrowed from the language of Khaz Modan, due to their hegemonic influence over Brookshire before the founding of Shireroth. Others yet have entered the language from Goldshire and Elwynn and from cultures beyond the borders if the Imperial Republic.