| Wenja | |
|---|---|
| Winja | |
| Pronunciation | ['win.d͡ʒa] |
| Created by | Andrew Byrd Brenna Byrd |
| Date | From 2016 |
| Setting and usage | Far Cry Primal |
| Purpose | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
| IETF | none |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Wenja is aconstructedfictional language in thevideo gameFar Cry Primal, developed byUbisoft. It is spoken by the Wenja, a fictional nomadic people in the game's world set in the valley of Oros inCentral Europe. Two similar dialects, spoken by the Udam and the Izila tribes, are also present in the game. The language was developed for the game by a team of linguists led by theIndo-Europeanist Andrew Byrd.[1] The use of a prehistoric language instead of English was intended to create a more immersive in-game experience.[2]
Proto-Indo-European, which is theorised to have been spoken around 4000 BCE, was deemed too modern for a game set around 10000 BCE.[3] Therefore, Ubisoft sought to project the language back in time, creating what Byrd called a "proto-Proto-Indo-European".[1][4] This language was further divided into two dialects, Wenja and Udam, while the Izila tribe speak a different dialect that resemblesPIE more closely.[5]
Far Cry Primal's dialects are one of thefew appearances ofPIE and a PIE-based constructed language in a mass-consumed medium, and it was also the first time avideo game featured a constructed prehistoric language.[6] As of June 2017, Wenja and Izila comprised about 2400 words (roughly 1200 each),[7] with both dialects having a full grammar.[8][9] In total, 40,000 words of dialogue, mostly in Wenja, were developed for the game.[10][11]
During the early development stages forFar Cry Primal, the Ubisoft team struggled to create a script that sounded convincing in the game's prehistoric setting. They found that all attempts in English sounded "trite or just plain wrong, either too much like modern man or too much like science fiction."[6] In search for a solution, the team stumbled upon recordings of Proto-Indo-European by Andrew Byrd forArchaeology and ultimately decided to hire him and his wife Brenna Byrd to lead a team of linguists that would recreate a language suitable for the game.[5] The full team was composed by Andrew Miles Byrd, Brenna Reinhart Byrd, Jessica DeLisi, Chiara Bozzone and Ryan Paul Sandell.[12]
The team then conducted a test using a script inprimitive English and another in Wenja, and found that English did not fit the period. As a result, they decided to further develop the Wenja language.[3] Initially, Wenja was just a simplified version ofPIE, but this was also deemed too modern for the game. The linguists were then tasked to project the language even further back in time, resulting in what Andrew Byrd referred to as a "proto-Proto-Indo-European".[1]
To imagine an earlier version of the language, one that may have been spoken about 7,000 years beforePIE existed, the team used their knowledge of the earlier stages of PIE.[6] They looked at features of PIE that appear to be archaic and assumed them to be the normal features for Wenja.[5] The language being based mostly on reconstructed PIE roots, the team drew inspiration particularly fromHittite, the oldest attested Indo-European language.[5] As a result, Wenja lacksgrammatical gender and is also pre-ablaut, as those features were imagined to have come about at a later stage.[13] The vocabulary was also inspired by the imagined contemporaneous culture, reflecting the material and religious culture of the period.[3]
A small number of words necessary for the game could not be reconstructed from PIE and had to be invented. Some of these words were constructed viacompound words, such asdang ("yak"), a form contracted fromdansugwawi ("shaggy cow", based on Hittitedassus and PIE*gʷṓws).[1][14] Others were derived from modern roots, such asmamaf ("mammoth"), derived directly from its English equivalent.[15] Finally, yet others were developed from plausible evolution. For example, PIE lack a reconstructed term for "yes", so the team imagined an expression that may develop to have that meaning and came up with "it is correct". The corresponding phrase in reconstructed PIE, *h₃reǵtóm h₁ésti, was then subjected to the sound languages and possible syllable clipping imagined for the proto-language, and ended up asshrash in the Wenja dialect andtómhe in Izila.[5]
Once the language was ready, it was taught to the actors. During this phase, some war cries and chants were developed.[6] Actors and linguists would speak to each other in Wenja in their spare time. According to Brenna Byrd, "[this was] when this hypothetical ancient language — just a jumble of sounds, really — began to feel tangible, natural, a living language".[16][6] The game only translates part of the dialogues and interactions, which encourages players to learn at least some keywords in order to understand what is happening and to know what actions they should take to continue playing.[17]
Wenja is both the name given to the language in the game's documentation, and the name of its main dialect.[18] Each of the peoples inFar Cry Primal speak a slightly different language, and they derive their names from their respective dialect. Thus the Wenja derive their name from the Wenja verbwana, "to hunt"; the Udam from the Udam expressionU damnash, "let's conquer"; and the Izila from the Izila phrasehis-hílax, "the masters".[19]
The Wenja and Udam dialects represent an older form of the language, which was created systematically byinternal reconstruction based on the most irregular features of PIE, which are usually vestiges of older forms.[1] The Wenja and the Udam basically speak two close dialects of the same language, which are mutually intelligible to a great extent. The differences are subtle and appear mainly in pronunciation and intonation. The Udam are "very brassy" and their dialect sounds "very deliberate".[5]
The Izila dialect is largely based on the standard academic version ofProto-Indo-European, with "some simplifications to make it a little easier to say and in grammar and pronunciation". The intonational pattern of Izila is also different, more "sing-songy" than Wenja.[1] When the characters meet the Izila, they do not completely understand them, but some communication can get through since most of the vocabulary is related.[5] Since Izila is essentially the same language as PIE, this article deals mainly with the other dialects: Wenja and Udam.
There are 22consonantphonemes in the Wenja and Izila dialects. In the followingIPA chart, each sound in Wenja is given with its spelling in brackets.[20]
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m⟨m⟩ | n⟨n⟩ | ||||||||||
| Plosive | p⟨p⟩ | b⟨b⟩ | t⟨t⟩ | d⟨d⟩ | k⟨k⟩ | ɡ⟨g⟩ | ||||||
| Affricate | tʃ⟨ch⟩ | dʒ⟨j⟩ | ||||||||||
| Fricative | f⟨f⟩ | s⟨s⟩ | z⟨z⟩ | ʃ⟨sh⟩ | (x⟨x⟩) | h⟨h⟩ | ||||||
| Approximant | l⟨l⟩ | r⟨r⟩ | j⟨y⟩ | w⟨w⟩ | ||||||||
The letters⟨c⟩,⟨q⟩ and⟨v⟩ do not appear in Wenja, although⟨c⟩ appears in thedigraph⟨ch⟩. The digraphs⟨kw⟩ and⟨gw⟩ represent /kw/ and /gw/ in Wenja, rather than /kʷ/ and /gʷ/ as reconstructed forPIE. The pronunciation of Wenja consonants has only a few peculiarities for an English-speaker:
To recreate an earlier stage of PIE, and at the same time produce a language suitable for the game, the linguist team performed a series of changes to PIE roots:
Wenja has a three vowel system shown below:[20]
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i⟨i⟩ | u⟨u⟩ |
| Open | a⟨a⟩ | |
| Diphthongs | aj⟨ay⟩,aw⟨aw⟩ | |
Unlike inPIE, there is no difference in vowel length in Wenja. This was a decision taken by the development team to make the pronunciation easier for monolingual English speakers.[25]
Three of the vowels of PIE, *e, *a, and *o were merged to Wenjaa. This is because the alternance of *e and *o, orablaut, was considered a later development in PIE.[25] Thus Wenja can be considered phonetically "pre-ablaut".[24]
With regard toprosody, Wenja features atrochaic rhythm, in which generally with every other syllable is stressed.[20] This makes the intonation predictable and give the language an intentional "caveman" rhythm.[25] This creates a rhythmic feel to the language, with 2- and 4-syllable words being always perfect trochees:dácham, "ten";kúshla, "back";mága, "can";shàwikwála, "shepherd";shìyugwáyfa, "eternal life"; etc. 3-syllable words are stressed on the first vowel if this isa (shnár-hadan, "cannibal";shwádisha, "to pull") and on the second if this isi oru (sunstáshman, "regime";fumáygan, "piss-man";izíla, "Izila";hisúbar, "quiver").[20]
Izila, on the other hand, as an intentionally different intonational pattern, less predictable and more "sing-songy".[5] The linguistic team used this to differentiate the two dialects to sound like entirely different languages to the players, emphasising that two different peoples speak them.[5]
Thephonology,grammar,vocabulary, andsemantics of Wenja are based onProto-Indo-European and its daughter languages, notablyGreek,Sanskrit,Hittite,Latin and theGermanic languages.Typologically, Wenja has bothprepositions and postpositions, and its defaultpragmatic word order issubject–object–verb (SOV). Adjectives in Wenja are placed before the nouns they modify. New words can be formed throughprefixing,suffixing, andcompounding.[8]
Wenja nouns and adjectives are not marked fornumber orgender, but they can be inflected by sixclitic postpositions, which are only attached to the main noun they modify. This feature is based on the fact thatcases tend to come from actual words, so it was assumed that at an earlier stage those words would behave like clitics.[1] The six postpositions used in Wenja are:[8]
| Meaning | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| -(i)s | of (genitive) | ti-mashtaris mashtarha haymas, "we're going with your mother's mother" |
| -i/-y | to, for (dative) | shash miyi, "the rock is for me / mine" |
| -su | in, on, at (locative) | halchi chawhisu chawda, "the elk hides in shadows" |
| -ha | with (instrumental) | sam gwaruha, "with one spear" |
| -bi | from, by, than (ablative) | shash mibi chawda, "the rock hides from me" |
| -(i)m | toward, into, onto (lative) | sim gwanam, "I'm coming for him" (lit. "towards him") |
Some adjectives form thecomparative by adding -r to the adjective stem:Urus shanti, ma tigri shantir, "Oros is close, but the tiger is closer". Most commonly the regular adjective is used after the postposition -bi:Martibi shwapa!, "Worse than death!". To indicate thesuperlative, Wenja normally uses reduplication:shan-shanti, "very close / the closest".[8]
Reduplication is productive in adjectives and verbs. In the former, it intensifies the meaning and produces the superlative. In the later, it forms the iterative aspect. Thereduplicant always has two morae in Wenja, hencepal-palhu ("very many") ordaba-dabu ("very few") (notpa-palhu orda-dabu).[8]
There are five main suffixes that can be attached to verb stems tocreate new nouns in Wenja:
There are three sets ofpersonal pronouns in Wenja. Stressed pronouns are used for nominal / adjectival predicates, intransitive subjects and direct objects. Unstressed pronouns are attached to verbs or particles in other cases. Possessive pronouns are attached to the word they describe and can also combine with postpositions.[8]
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Wenja verbs feature threeaspects (imperfective, completive,iterative), twomoods (indicative,imperative) and twovoices (active,passive). Verbs have also aninfinitive form, and can be made reflexive by means of areflexive suffix. Thecausative is indicated either morphologically or periphrastically. Endings do not necessarily attach to the verb stem.[1]
There are no discretetenses in Wenja. All aspects can express any tense, although the completive is commonly used as a past:[26]
Wenja does not have a discretepassive voice, but prefers to leave out an underlying agent (num hu-gwan, "(it) killed me / I was killed"). However, a passive may be formed by indicating the demoted agent with the instrumental postposition-ha. Comparenum hu-gwanta ("you killed me") andnum tiha hu-gwan ("I was killed by you").
Verbs can be madereflexive by adding the reflexive suffix-ra. As with the passive, reflexive verbs do not need to be inflected for person:numra kayda ("I hit myself"),nara Udam hada ("an Udam does not eat himself").[8] Thecausative can be indicated in two ways: morphologically adding the suffix-ay(a) to a verb (mu shnar mara haday, "the man made me eat an apple") or periphrastically by means of the verbdaha, "to do" (shnar mara hada daham, "I made the man eat an apple").[28]
Theimperative mood is in its most basic just the verb stem. However, it is often preceded by the particleu:u shlawdra gwash ("walk free"). The negative imperative is always preceded by the particlemay:may dram! ("don't run!"). Theinfinitive is also made up of the bare verbal stem:gwar gwan dawsam ("I need to kill the beasts").[8]
Typologically, Wenja has apragmatic word order that by default issubject–object–verb (SOV).[1] Thecopula,hasa (from PIE*h₁es- "to be") is typically omitted the (Da chamsa, "Da is ready") except in formal contexts.
Wenjanouns andpronouns can be either active or inactive. Active nominals are agents of transitive or intransitive verbs, while inactive nominals are subjects of nominal predication, subjects of inactive intransitive verbs and objects of transitive verbs. While active nominals trigger endings on the verb, inactive nominals trigger endings on a sentence initial particle.[8] A significant distinction is made in Wenja betweenanimate and inanimate nouns, as only animate subjects trigger verbal endings:[8]
| inanimate | animate | |
|---|---|---|
| 3rd sg | mara harha the apple rests | chwan harha the dog rests |
| 3rd pl | mara harha the apples rest | chwan harharsh the dogs rest |
Sentences in Wenja commonly start with a sentence-initial particle. These particles can both indicate grammatical properties and serve asconjunctions. The ten main sentence starters are:[29]
Subordination is relatively uncommon in Wenja; the language generally uses conjunctions orparataxis. Nevertheless, it can employ the relative pronoun/adjectiveya, which means “who, which, what” in relative sentences:Wantar hafchu fakwi daws: na ya alya pacharsh, pacha daws, "A hunter needs fast eyes, they must see what others do not see".[30]
Below follow some basic expressions in Wenja:[31]
| English | Wenja | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| Hello | Smarkaka | /ˈsmar.ka.ka/ |
| How are you? | Ku-ta su? | /ˈku.taˈsu/ |
| I'm fine | Mu su | /ˈmuˈsu/ |
| Thank you | Gwarshta | /ˈgwarʃ.ta/ |
| PlayFar Cry now | U-nuFar Kray lija! | /ˈu.nuˈfar.krajˈlidʒa/ |
The following sentence starts with the particlenu and uses the imperfective with a future meaning:
Nu
ˈnu
now
mash-wantar
maʃˈwantar
our.hunter
Nu mash-wantar pur-ha shitawgarsh.
ˈnu maʃˈwantar ˈpurha ʃiˈtawgarʃ
now our.hunter fire.INS frighten.3PL
Now our hunters will frighten them with fire.[32]
This example illustrates the use of the completive aspect (note that the second verb remains in imperfective). Note also that the particlema works as a conjunction to join both sentences:
Udam
ˈudam
Udam
palhu
ˈpalhu
many
Winja
ˈwindʒa
Wenja
ma
ˈma
but
Udam
ˈudam
Udam
gwar
gwar
beast
Udam palhu Winja hu-gwana, ma mash-damsham Udam gwar barta!
ˈudam ˈpalhu ˈwindʒa huˈgwana ˈma maʃ-ˈdamʃam ˈudam gwar ˈbarta
Udam many Wenja COMPL.kill.3SG but our-home.ACC Udam beast bring.2SG
The Udam have killed many Wenja, but you brought an Udam beast to our home![33]
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