Nominala

Nominala is a constructed language (conlang) created for a fictional universe used in contemporary fantasy literature and role-playing games. It centers on nominal morphology and a flexible word order, providing a distinct approach to pronouns, determiners, and noun classification. The name derives from nomina, Latin for "names," echoing its emphasis on nominal structure.

Origins and development: Nominala emerged in the early 2010s as part of worldbuilding for multiple media projects. It has since evolved through community-driven work, with published grammars and lexicons maintained by fans and authors in universes where it appears.

Phonology and writing: Nominala has a five-vowel system (a, e, i, o, u) and a consonant inventory of about 19 phonemes. Syllables are typically CV or CVC; stress is generally on the penultimate syllable. The writing system, NomScript, is an alphabet with diacritics used in formal texts and inscriptions; modern texts often use a Latin-based transcription for wider accessibility.

Grammar: Nouns inflect for case (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive) and number (singular, plural) and belong to two noun classes that affect agreement with determiners and pronouns. Adjectives typically follow nouns and agree in number and class. The basic word order is subject–verb–object, though clause structure permits variations for emphasis. Verbs express aspect through affixes and auxiliary particles; tense is not grammaticalized in isolation but conveyed through aspect and context. Pronouns distinguish inclusive and exclusive in the first person plural, and possessives attach to nouns.

Usage and reception: In-universe, Nominala functions as the primary tongue of several cultures and in-world trade lingua franca. In the real world, it has a small but active community of learners who publish grammars, dictionaries, and learning materials. It is cited as an example of nominal-centric morphology among constructed languages.