u/Potential-Sense-6846

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a conlang for a fictional culture that lives in a swamp-like environment where people are constantly exposed to a naturally occurring airborne substance that mildly alters perception (time distortion, spatial confusion, reduced fear response, etc.).

Important: they are not “intoxicated” in the usual sense — this is their baseline state of consciousness from childhood.

I’m trying to figure out how this would realistically affect their language over generations.

Some questions I’m exploring:

•	Would tense systems simplify or blur if time perception is less linear?

•	Would spatial language shift from absolute directions (left/right) to experiential ones (flow, density, sensation)?

•	Could evidentiality shift away from visual confirmation toward internal perception (“felt”, “intuited”)?

•	Would syntax become less linear or more context-dependent?

•	Are there real-world parallels (e.g. ritual languages, trance states, psychedelic research, etc.) that might be useful references?

I’m not looking for a gimmick language, but something that feels cognitively grounded and believable.

Would love to hear your thoughts or any relevant linguistic phenomena I should look into.