elná

Elní is a constructed language (conlang) designed for use in speculative fiction and worldbuilding. It is not a real language, but a fictional tongue created to populate the cultures of a fictional world. The name is commonly rendered with an acute accent on the í in many fan-driven orthographies, though orthography varies by author.

Linguistically, Elní is described as an agglutinative, head-final language with a predominantly subject–object–verb (SOV) word order. Its phonology features a small consonant inventory with some affricates and a five-vowel system. Vowel harmony occurs in some dialects, influencing suffix vowels. The morphology uses affixes to mark tense, aspect, mood, case, number, and agreement; nominal and verbal stems combine with iterative or evidential affixes in certain texts.

Writing and notation: Elní is typically written with a Latin-based alphabet enhanced with diacritics to represent vowel quality and stress. In some materials, a ceremonial script or a runic-inspired variant appears for special contexts. Orthographic conventions are not fixed, and authors may introduce their own conventions within the same world.

Usage and reception: Since its appearance in online worlds and community-created grammars in the 2010s, Elní has been used in novels, role-playing games, and Lexicon projects. It serves as a tool for worldbuilding and as a case study in conlang design, rather than a language with real-world speakers.

See also: Conlang, constructed language, worldbuilding, fictional language family.