Image of runestone found during an expedition. It has been translated to common, but does not give any clues as to meaning.

In the Muioqa Desert is found the Puqopen Navu, the Forbidden Gorge. And deep in the gorge are the Pewamro, survivors of The Cataclysm. They are horribly misshapen and challenged due to the damage their DNA took from the blast.

One of the areas where this damage took its greatest effect was the Pewamro’s motor skills. With many having damaged or disfigured hands, or non-functional vocal abilities, they needed to come up with another method of communication. And this was born the Pewamro Runes.

The Pewamro recognized that they had to have some type of written communication. So they came up with a simple method of using dots straight lines and geometric symbols to replace common writing. This method could be used even by those without digits on their fingers as long as they could at least feel something. It was also very easy to remember for them and replaced the old style of writing they were used to. If one travels deep into the gorge, they will find these types of runes on the walls of the Gorge, some of them being indications of where trails and Pathways lead.

The Pewamro language is very guttural. This is due to the fact that many have lost significant control of facial muscles through the damage done to their DNA. This has meant an adjustment to their speaking method and most of the sounds they use for guttural and do not require large or fine movement of the mouth or lips.

Pewamro Runic

Natively known as: p’wmäœ /ˈwmɜːœ/

…and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind…

fot bɘp yäw me nib sow fot me egam hel sek ʄaŋmap big

Pronunciation: /fɔt bɘp jɜːw mɛ nɪb sɔw fɔt mɛ ˈegam hɛl sɛk ˈʄaŋmap big/ Pewamro word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n s w z ʤ

Co-articulated phonemes

Vowel inventory: œ ɔ ɛ ɜː ɪ ʊ

Syllable structure: (C)V(C)

Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable

Word initial consonants: b d f h j k l n s ʤ

Mid-word consonants: b bm bs bw d dj dm dn dw dʤ f fd fg fh fj fk fw g gd gh gl gm gs gw h hb hj j jb jf js k kd kh kz l lb lh lj ll lm ls lw lʤ m mj mm ms n nd ng nh nk nl nm ns nw nʤ s sb sk sm sn sz w wk wl ww wʤ z zb zg zm zn zz ʤ ʤl ʤm

Word final consonants: b j k l m n s w z ʤ

Spelling rules:

Grammar

Main word order: Subject Object Verb (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary the door opened with a key.

Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.

Adposition: postpositions

Nouns

Nouns have four cases:

• Ergative is the doer of a verb, when the verb is done to something: dog bites man.
• Absolutive is used in two scenarios: the doer of a verb when not done to something (dog bites), and the done-to of a verb (man bites dog).
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
• Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.

Articles

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

Pronouns

Possessive determiners

Verbs

Pewamro uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Numbers

Pewamro has a base-10 number system:

1 – do

2 – mɘ

3 – me

4 – mi

5 – af

6 – ɓu

7 – hi

8 – i

9 – hep

10 – dit

11 – do fot dit “one and ten”

100 – do ʄoɗ “one hundred”

101 – do ʄoɗ do “one hundred one”

200 – mɘ ʄoɗ

1000 – do mɘymɘ “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -e

Adjective → noun (the quality of being ) = Suffix -u

Adjective → verb (to make something ) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ɘk

Noun → adjective (having the quality of ) = Suffix -ɛk

Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -em

Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɗ Else: Suffix -oɗ

Verb → adjective (result of doing ) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -if

Tending to = Suffix -i

Verb → noun (the act of ) = Suffix -ɛt

Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ip

One who s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ɛ

Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -og

Diminutive = Suffix -u

Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -g Else: Suffix -eg