pozostae

Pozostae is a term used in speculative linguistics to describe a class of linguistic elements that survive long after a language has undergone substantial phonological or grammatical change. The name is inspired by the Polish pozostające meaning “the remaining ones” and typically signals a category of remnants in a reconstructed or fictional language.

Pozostae are remnants of older grammatical or phonological systems that persist in limited contexts after substantial language change. They are not fully productive in the current grammar but anchor historical structures and provide clues about earlier stages of the language. They can help researchers trace pathways of language evolution and contact.

Categories and features of pozostae include phonological remnants (surviving sound correspondences or allophonic patterns), morphological remnants (unproductive affixes or case endings), and lexical remnants (archaic vocabulary that persists only in fixed expressions or specialized domains). Remnants may be geographically clustered, tied to particular dialects, or linked to specific genres, registers, or speaker communities.

Examples in a fictional context illustrate how pozostae function. In a constructed language family called Eldara, the archaic dative suffix -ith survives in a subset of kinship terms, while the old plural marker -en persists in certain stable noun collocations. In world-building, pozostae can serve as historical anchors or narrative devices that convey a sense of deeper time.

Relation to real linguistics: pozostae is a hypothetical or literary construct rather than a widely adopted term in mainstream linguistics. Similar ideas occur under archaisms, relics, remnants, or irregular forms in real-language studies, where researchers seek traces of older grammars in contemporary speech.