proirila

Proirila is a term used in speculative linguistics to describe a verbal form that encodes backward-looking evidentiality and temporal remoteness relative to a past reference point. It is described within constructed-language studies and is not attested in natural languages. The form is typically marked on the verb by a suffix or clitic, often catalogued as -ira, and may co-occur with aspect markers to specify completeness or repetition. In typological sketches, proirila arises in narratives that recount events whose occurrence is inferred, reported, or distant in time, rather than witnessed by the speaker. It contrasts with standard past tense by signaling that the speaker’s evidence for the event comes from reports, remnants, or indirect inference.

Etymology and morphology: the term combines a theoretical prefix meaning before with a fictional root related to time in the imagined Orilan language family. In diachronic sketches, proirila may be analyzed as a past anterior marker that shifts the reference point farther back within the past discourse. Morphological realization varies by dialect, with suffixal forms being most common and occasional clitic combinations in more analytic varieties.

Usage and function: proirila appears mainly in mytho-histories and historiographic narration within the imagined corpus where speakers frame events as previously known through sources rather than direct experience. Some variant dialects allow degree modifiers to express confidence or probability about the inferred timing.

See also: evidentiality, tense, aspect, constructed language, Orilan languages. References in-world include encyclopedia entries and grammars produced for fictional linguistic projects.