Ooperi

Ooperi is a constructed language created for speculative fiction and linguistic experimentation. It is described as part of a fictional archipelago and is used in world-building to illustrate how phonology, morphology, and syntax can vary across a single culture. As a consciously designed system, it is not a natural language and has no attested history outside its fictional context.

Its classification is deliberately ambiguous; in most materials it is treated as a language isolate or as the primary member of a tiny hypothetical family. The phonology includes seven vowels (a e i o u) and a consonant set that commonly includes p t k m n s l r and a glottal stop. Syllables are typically CV or CVC, with occasional CCV forms.

Grammar centers on a subject–object–verb order and an agglutinative morphology. Nouns may take case markings, and verbs carry suffixes for tense, aspect, mood, evidentiality, and agreement. There is little inflection for number, but pronouns and demonstratives are expressed through affixes and clitics attached to hosts in noun phrases and verb phrases.

Writing and usage: Ooperi is often depicted with its own in-fiction syllabary, though in practice many authors render it in the Latin script. In the story world, the language is used in everyday communication, poetry, lore, and ceremonial records. The language has circulated in world-building circles and fan grammars as an example of constructed language design and cultural depth.