Wenja is a fictional language in the video game Far Cry Primal, developed by Ubisoft. It is spoken by the Wenja, a fictional nomadic people in the game's world set in the valley of Oros in Central Europe. Two similar dialects, spoken by the Udam and the Izila tribes, are also present in the game. The language was developed for the game by a team of linguists led by the Indo-Europeanist Andrew Byrd. The use of a prehistoric language instead of English was intended to create a more immersive in-game experience. Proto-Indo-European (PIE), which is theorised to have been spoken around 4000 BCE, was deemed too modern for a game set around 10000 BCE. Therefore, Ubisoft sought to project the language back in time, creating what Byrd called a "proto-Proto-Indo-European". This language was further divided into two dialects, Wenja and Udam, while the Izila tribe speak a different dialect that resembles PIE more closely. Far Cry Primal's dialects are one of the few appearances of PIE and a PIE-based constructed language in a mass-consumed medium, and it was also the first time a video game featured a constructed prehistoric language. As of June 2017, Wenja and Izila comprised about 2400 words (roughly 1200 each), with both dialects having a full grammar. In total, 40,000 words of dialogue, mostly in Wenja, were developed for the game.
Development
During the early development stages for Far Cry Primal, the Ubisoft team struggled to create a script that sounded convincing in the game's prehistoric setting. They found that all attempts in English sounded "trite or just plain wrong, either too much like modern man or too much like science fiction." In search for a solution, the team stumbled upon recordings of Proto-Indo-European by Andrew Byrd for Archaeology and ultimately decided to hire him and his wife Brenna Byrd to lead a team of linguists that would recreate a language suitable for the game. The full team was composed by Andrew Miles Byrd, Brenna Reinhart Byrd, Jessica DeLisi, Chiara Bozzone and Ryan Paul Sandell. The team then conducted a test using a script in primitive English and another in Wenja, and found that English did not fit the period. As a result, they decided to further develop the Wenja language. Initially, Wenja was just a simplified version of PIE, but this was also deemed too modern for the game. The linguists were then tasked to project the language even further back in time, resulting in what Andrew Byrd referred to as a "proto-Proto-Indo-European". To imagine an earlier version of the language, one that may have been spoken about 7,000 years before PIE existed, the team used their knowledge of the earlier stages of PIE. They looked at features of PIE that appear to be archaic and assumed them to be the normal features for Wenja. The language being based mostly on reconstructed PIE roots, the team drew inspiration particularly from Hittite, the oldest attested Indo-European language. As a result, Wenja lacks grammatical gender and is also pre-ablaut, as those features were imagined to have come about at a later stage. The vocabulary was also inspired by the imagined contemporaneous culture, reflecting the material and religious culture of the period. A small number of words necessary for the game could not be reconstructed from PIE and had to be invented. Some of these words were constructed via compound words, such as dang ("yak"), a form contracted from dansugwawi ("shaggy cow", based on Hittite dassus and PIE *gʷṓws). Others were derived from modern roots, such as mamaf ("mammoth"), derived directly from its English equivalent. Finally, yet others were developed from plausible evolution. For example, PIE lacks a reconstructed term for "yes", so the team imagined an expression that may develop to have that meaning and came up with "it is correct". The corresponding phrase in reconstructed PIE, *h₃reǵtóm h₁ésti, was then subjected to the sound languages and possible syllable clipping imagined for the proto-language, and ended up as shrash in the Wenja dialect and tómhe in Izila. Once the language was ready, it was taught to the actors. During this phase, some war cries and chants were developed. Actors and linguists would speak to each other in Wenja in their spare time. According to Brenna Byrd, "[this was] when this hypothetical ancient language — just a jumble of sounds, really — began to feel tangible, natural, a living language". The game only translates part of the dialogues and interactions, which encourages players to learn at least some keywords in order to understand what is happening and to know what actions they should take to continue playing.
Dialects Wenja is both the name given to the language in the game's documentation, and the name of its main dialect. Each of the peoples in Far Cry Primal speak a slightly different language, and they derive their names from their respective dialect. Thus the Wenja derive their name from the Wenja verb wana, "to hunt"; the Udam from the Udam expression U damnash, "let's conquer"; and the Izila from the Izila phrase his-hílax, "the masters".
Wenja and Udam The Wenja and Udam dialects represent an older form of the language, which was created systematically by internal reconstruction based on the most irregular features of PIE, which are usually vestiges of older forms. The Wenja and the Udam basically speak two close dialects of the same language, which are mutually intelligible to a great extent. The differences are subtle and appear mainly in pronunciation and intonation. The Udam are "very brassy" and their dialect sounds "very deliberate".
Izila The Izila dialect is largely based on the standard academic version of Proto-Indo-European, with "some simplifications to make it a little easier to say and in grammar and pronunciation". The intonational pattern of Izila is also different, more "sing-songy" than Wenja. When the characters meet the Izila, they do not completely understand them, but some communication can get through since most of the vocabulary is related. Since Izila is essentially the same language as PIE, this article deals mainly with the other dialects: Wenja and Udam.
Phonology
Consonants There are 22 consonant phonemes in the Wenja and Izila dialects. In the following IPA chart, each sound in Wenja is given with its spelling in brackets.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
