purune

Purune is a constructed language (conlang) developed for a science-fiction world by linguist Maya Okoye. It serves as the native tongue of the fictional Puruni people and is used as a vehicle for in-universe communication and literature.

Etymology: The name Purune is derived from Puruni roots pur- meaning "tongue" and -une meaning "light" (in the fictional lexicon), chosen to symbolize clarity and precision in communication.

Linguistic features: Purune is analytic with a fixed subject–verb–object word order. It has five vowel phonemes and about eighteen consonants; syllables are typically CV or CVC. Plurals are expressed by a postposed particle -a; definite and indefinite articles are absent. Nouns are uninflected for number, while tense and aspect are encoded with sentence particles and light verb constructions. Adjectives follow the nouns they modify, and basic prepositions are used as postpositions.

Phonology and writing: The phoneme inventory includes p, t, k, m, n, s, l, r, h among others, with a simple vowel system. Purune is normally written with a Latin-based alphabet, though a historical syllabary appears in archival texts within the fictional world.

Usage and resources: In the Puruni setting, Purune functions as the lingua franca across several regions and appears in in-universe media, education, and documentation. Scholarship within the fiction includes a descriptive grammar and a learner’s dictionary, frequently cited in novels and worldbuilding guides.

See also: conlang, worldbuilding, fictional languages.