Garmtun

Garmtun is a term used, primarily within specific online communities focused on fictional worldbuilding, particularly within the genre of fantasy, to describe a type of linguistic shift or corruption. It refers to a constructed language (conlang) that has undergone significant and often unpredictable changes over time, often due to prolonged use and adaptation by different populations. These changes can encompass shifts in phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics.

The term implies a divergence from the original, intended form of the language, often resulting in a language that is significantly different from its initial design. Factors contributing to Garmtun formation can include:

• Simplification: Speakers may unconsciously simplify complex grammatical structures or reduce the number of phonemes in a language for ease of pronunciation.
• Borrowing: Contact with other languages can lead to the adoption of foreign words, grammatical features, or sounds.
• Analogy: Irregular verb conjugations or noun declensions may be regularized based on patterns found elsewhere in the language.
• Random Drift: Small, random changes in pronunciation or usage can accumulate over time, leading to significant differences.
• Misinterpretation: Speakers misunderstanding the rules of the original language and creating new rules based on that misunderstanding.

The resulting language may be considered either a degraded or an evolved form of the original, depending on the perspective of the speaker or worldbuilder. Some creators may intentionally design a language to evolve into a Garmtun over time as part of their worldbuilding. The concept highlights the dynamic and unpredictable nature of language change.