Is the language of engineers in Prometheus based on PIE?

Yes. See the discussion at Proto-Indo-European in Prometheus?, with participation by Dr Anil Biltoo, the linguist commissioned to develop the language for the movie. David practices his Engineer-speak through reciting Schleicher’s fable, the favourite party piece of Indo-Europeanists.

Why yes, Anil does get a cameo in the movie:

As Anil says,

The language of the engineers in Prometheus is not ‘pure PIE’ (whatever that’s supposed to be, given that all reconstructions are hypothetical). A very pertinent comment was posted by NW, on June 8th, addressing the use of PIE by non-linguists. Any dialogue intended to be learned by actors has to be capable of being pronounced, which does not appear to be a quality discernible in reconstructions proposed thus far. If the dialogue in Prometheus appears to contain words that have an immediate resonance with languages known to the viewer, that is all to the good since it is intended (The use of Proto-Afroasiatic would likely have yielded no such result). The emphasis was less on authenticity with respect to what is generally agreed upon vis-a-vis PIE phonology and roots, and more on ease of articulation, sonorousness and the suggestion of a possible connection of ‘Engineer’ with terrestrial speech.

EDIT: The Answer Details come from a deleted scene: The Mysteries Behind The Prometheus Deleted Scenes – A Discussion With Dr. Biltoo. See also Prometheus Bluray Easter Egg – Language of the Gods.

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