User:Aquatiki/Sandbox
Wedish is a conservative Judeo-Christian language spoken only between a husband and a wife. It is meant to appeal to Indo-European and Semitic language speakers. It sounds like Anglish (Germanic English without Latin influence), has Hebrew/Aramaic verbs but a variety of other influences.
Phonology
Generally speaking, Wedish has British English consonants, Spanish vowels, and Yiddish phonotactics. The Roman alphabet (plus two unusual letters) is used as a partial abjad, though the Hebrew alphabet can be used. The writing of vowels is typically skipped, except in dictionaries and some poetry. A, H, and E (and W and Y) are used a mater lectionis, i.e. hints as to the unwritten vowels. A usually means an /a/ or /o/ at the beginning of a word, H at the end. E indicates initial /e/ or /i/
O, I, and U are not used, though I is placed before T and D in electronic contexts where Ŧ and Ð are not available (i.e. IT=Ŧ and ID=Ð).
Consonants
There are about 25 consonants in Weddish, which is average[1]. This is consistent with English, German, Yiddish, and Modern Hebrew.
Consonants in IPA | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labial | Alveolar | Post-alv. | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||||||
Nasal | m | n | ŋ[2] | |||||||||||||
Plosive | p | b | t | d | k | g | ʔ[3] | |||||||||
Fricative | f | v | s | z | ʃ | ʒ | x~χ | h | ||||||||
Affricate | tʃ~θ[4] | dʒ~ð | ||||||||||||||
Approximants | w | l | j | |||||||||||||
Trill | r~ʁ (ɻ) |
Consonants as Written | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labial | Alveolar | Post-alv. | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||||||
Nasal | M | N | ||||||||||||||
Plosive | P | B | T | D | K | G | ||||||||||
Fricative | F | V | S | Z | Š | Ž | X | H | ||||||||
Affricate | C | J | ||||||||||||||
Approximants | U~W | L | I~Ⅱ | |||||||||||||
Trill | R |
Consonants in Hebrew Alphabet | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labial | Alveolar | Post-alv. | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||||||
Nasal | מ/ם | נ/ן | ||||||||||||||
Plosive | פּ/ףּ | בּ | ת | ד | כ/ך | ג | ||||||||||
Fricative | פ/ף | ב | שׂ | ז | שׁ | ס | ח | ה | ||||||||
Affricate | צ/ץ | ט | ||||||||||||||
Approximants | ו~װ | ל | י~ײ | |||||||||||||
Trill | ר |
Q (ק) is used for the uvular sound /q/ (as in Quran/Koran), but is /k/ in everything but one dialect. R is pronounced as a alveolar or uvular trill, but Americans tend to produce it as a retroflex approximant (which can make them hard to understand!).
Latin | Hebrew | Name | Name |
---|---|---|---|
A | א | A̱L̩F | ālef |
B | בּ | B̤YT | beyt |
C | שׁ | C̣N | shīn |
D | דּ | ḎL̩T | dalet |
E | ע | E̤ỴN | eyin |
F | פ/ף | E̤F | ēff |
G | ג | G̣M̩L | gimel |
H | ה | H̤H | hēh |
Ð | ס | Ð̱M̩K | zhāmek |
K | כ/ך | ḴF | kāf |
L | ל | ḺM̩D | lamed |
M | מ/ם | M̤M | mēm |
N | נ/ן | N̖N | nūn |
P | פּ/ףּ | P̤Y | pei |
Q | ק | Q̇F | qōf |
R | ר | R̤C | rēsh |
S | שׂ | E̤S | ēss |
T | ת | ṮW | tau |
V | ב | ṾY | vī |
W | ו | W̱W | wau |
X | ח | X̤T | xēt |
Y | י | ẎD | yōd |
Z | ז | ẔỴN | zayin |
J | ט | J̤T | jēt |
Ŧ | צ/ץ | Ŧ̱D̤Y | chādei |
Vowels
Weddish has 7 vowels (just above average[5]), which is more than Hebrew and Yiddish, but less than English and German.
Vowels | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Front | Near-front | Central | Back | |||||||
High | i~ɪ[6] | u | ||||||||
High-mid | e~ɛ | o | ||||||||
Mid | ə | |||||||||
Near-low | æ | |||||||||
Low | a |
The Hebrew vowel points are used around Latin letters, with only slight modification. The glottal stop A is used here as a place holder.
Written | Sound | Name | |
---|---|---|---|
Ạ | /i/ as in feet or fit | Hireq/ḤR̩Q | |
A̤ | /e/ as in bet or bait | Sereh/S̤R̩H | |
A̞ | /æ/ as in Sally | Qæmets/Q̞M̩T̩S | |
ֻA | /u/ as in boot | Shureq/C̖R̩Q | 3 dots is formal. A slanted line is also used, i.e. A̖ |
Ȧ | /o/ as in boat* | Holem/ḢL̩M | |
A̱ | /a/ as in father | Pātax/P̱AṮX | |
ְA | /ə/ as in careen | Schwa/ְCW̱ | In typed contexts, the schwa is often written as a line: i.e. A̩ |
The Schwa may or may not be indicative of a separate syllable (see Phonotactics below).
A tilde above a letter makes it syllabic, that is, the nucleus of a syllable. Only M̃, Ñ, and L̃ may take the tilde.
There are many diphthongs in quick speech, but they are pronounced separately (i.e. two syllables) in careful speech.
Vowel nazalization is non-phonemic[7].
Phonotactics/Prosody
Weddish has an average consonant-to-vowel ratio, which is the same as Hebrew and Yiddish, but higher than English or German[8]. Neither vowel length nor stress is phonemic. Long vowels indicate stress[9]. This is like German, English, and Yiddish, but unlike Hebrew[10]. So too, if the word is very long, one of the last three syllables must be primary stress[11]. Initial consonant clusters can only be two letters long, unless they start with S or C. Final consonant clusters can only be two letters long, which even limits even combinations which would produce a third, epenthetic consonant. This syllable structure may be relatively simpler, but it is still highly complex on the global scale[12], like English, German, Yiddish, and Hebrew.
The default rhythm of Weddish is trochaic, stress-unstressed[13].
Onset
All single consonant phonemes | except /ŋ/ | |
Stop or affricate plus approximant | PL, PR, BL, BR, KW, KL, KR, KY, GW, GL, GR, GY, TW, DW, ŦW, ŦL, ŦR, ŦJ, ÐR | but not PW, PY, BW, BY, TL, TR, TY, DL, DR, DY, ÐL, ÐY, ÐW |
Fricative plus approximant | FW, FL, FR, FY, VW, VL, VR, VY, SW, SL, ZW, CW, CL, CR, JW, JL, JR, XW, XL, XR | but not SR, SY, ZL, ZR, ZY, CY, JY, XY |
S or C plus voiceless stop, M, or N | SP, ST, SK, SM, SN, CP, CT, CK, CM, CN | |
S or C plus voiceless stop or affricate plus approximant: | SPL, SPR, SKW, SKL, SKR, SKY, STW, SŦW, SŦR, CPL, CPR, CKW, CKL, SKR, CKY, CTW, CŦW, CŦR | but not SPW, SPY, STL, STR, STY, SŦL, SŦJ, CPW, CPY, CTL, CTR, CTY, CŦL, CŦJ |
Coda
The single consonant phonemes | except H, W, Y, R | |
Lateral approximant plus stop or affricate: | LP, LB, LT, LD, LC, LJ, LŦ, LÐ, LK, LG | |
Lateral approximant + fricative: | LF, LV, LS, LZ, LC, LJ, LX | |
Lateral approximant + nasal: | LM, LN | but not LNG |
Nasal + homorganic stop or affricate | MP, MB, NT, ND, NŦ, NÐ, NGK, NGG | NGK and NGG are just spelled NK and NG |
Voiceless fricative plus voiceless stop: | FP, FT, FK, SP, ST, SK, CP, CT, CK, XP, XT, XK | |
Two voiceless fricatives: | FS, FC, CS, XS, XC | But not FX, SF, SC, SX, CF, CX, XF |
Two voiceless stops: | PK, PT, KT, | But not KP, TK, TP |
Stop plus voice-matching fricative: | PS, PC, BZ, BJ, TS, TX, DZ, KF, KS, KC, KX, GZ, GJ | But not PF, PX, BV, TF, DV, GV
TC=Ŧ, DJ=Ð |
More complicated consonant clusters than these may be possible across syllable boundaries, but require epenthetic vowels.
Grammar
Because this language is only ever spoken between two, specific people, a great deal of narrowing in scope is possible.
Person
Wedish has the typical 3-person distinction. However, given the limited circumstances where this language is spoken, there is only a first-person singular and dual, second-person singular, and the third-persons. Number is not distinguished in the third person except by plural markers on the noun/pronoun.[14]
# | Designation | Use | Example |
---|---|---|---|
1S | 1st Person Singular | Referring to the Ego. | I am here. |
1D | 1st Person Dual | Referring to the couple. | We are here. |
2S | 2nd Person Singular | Referring to the Interlocutor. | You are here. |
3A | 3rd Person Animate | Refers to that which is considered animate. | He/She is gone. |
3N | 3rd Person iNanimater | Refers to that which is considered inanime | It is gone. |
Case
Weddish is not a language with case, per se. Instead, like English, there are vestigial cases on the pronouns only[15]
There are no cases, per se. The ergative, or subject of a transitive clause must come before the verb,unless it is emphatic or a question (similar to English). The absolute (when denoting the object of the verb) must come after the verb, unless the clause is emphatic or a question. Genitive relationships are expressed through via the independent participle OV or its allomorph, the suffix '-V (cp. English "of"). Dative relationships come by T/T-. Ablative is handled by BO/B-. Only pronouns have separate morphology for these cases.
There are no ditransitive verbs in Wedish. All truly modal auxiliary verbs take infinitive verb objects.
Number
Broadly speaking, Wedish recognizes three numbers: singular, dual, and plural[16]. However, there are three different plurals: collective, distributive and associative. As with most languages, the unmarked form of the word is the singular.
Word | Meaning |
---|---|
Ð̩Ŧ̱YLD | the child (1) |
Ð̩Ŧ̱YLD̤M | the children (2) |
Ð̩Ŧ̱YLD̤Z | the children (many, as a group) |
Ð̩Ŧ̱YLD̤N | the children (many, as individuals) |
Ð̩Ŧ̱YLD̤YR | the child and his/her associates |
Gender
There is more gender in Weddish than in English but less than in Hebrew, Yiddish, or German. Basically, things of high animacy or importance are grammatically animate. However, as in English, there is no agreement to keep track of, other than on the third person pronouns.[17]
Definiteness
Exactly as in English, there are three kinds of definiteness in Wedish. The definite and indefinite articles are particles that attach the front of a word and may be applied to nouns of any number (unlike English). Without any article, nouns are by nature abstract. For example, ÐŦYLD (the child) refers to one specific child of the couples, NŦYLD refers to one non-specific child of the couples, but ŦYLD refers to "the state of being one a child of ours".
Verbs
[18]Wedish verbs agree with the subject/actor in person only. Tense is the main idea encoded in the verb[19], with aspectual qualities typically requiring adverbs or postpositional phrases. Noun incorporation is common. Incorporated verb phrases may still take either an ergative or an absolutive subject, to indicate intentionality. There is poly-personal agreement.
The future tense is intentional for the 1st person and suppositional for the 2nd and 3rd.
The only (but exceedingly common) auxiliary verb is the "to be" verb, which precedes the verb it modifies and is conjugated the same way.[20]
Kinds of Verbs
- Hollow Verbs
- The middle consonant is a semi-vowel (Y or W). The resulting forms all have a long vowel or diphthong in the stem-based syllable.
- Initial Consonant Cluster
- 2 or 3 consonants begin the verb and 1 ends it. The initial group stays together and the theme vowel is /a/ or /e/.
- Final Consonant Cluster
- The first consonant is alone, followed by the vowel /a/ or /e/, but then ended by a consonant cluster. This final group is often broken up in conjugation.
Tense | Number | Form |
---|---|---|
Past | 1 | ḶYPN̖W |
2 | ḶYP̖W | |
3 | ḶYP̱H | |
Present | 1 | LỴP̤N |
2 | LỴP | |
3 | LỴP̤T | |
Future | 1 | N̖WḶYP |
2 | ṚḶYP | |
3 | W̞ḶYP |
The "to-be" verb is separated into two related verbs, like Korean 있다 and 이다, Japanese います and です, or Chinese 有 and 是.
Past | 1M | TYYTY | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1F | TYYNW | ||||||
2M | HYYT | ||||||
2F | HYYT | ||||||
2D | HYYTW | ||||||
3 | HT | ||||||
Present | 1M |
Noun Incorporation
The Object of a verb may be folded into the verb. Examples from English include "to sit" + "baby" = "to babysit", and "to pick" + "cherry" = "to cherry-pick". This is only done with habitual actions, and implies a certain frequency to the action. For example, only a professional student would say "to paper-write". Such verbs may take an ergative or absolutive subject, or be made anti-passive.
Nouns
Relative clauses immediately follow the noun they modify, as do adjectives and demonstratives, but not numerals[21]. Genitives are post-nominal, expressed by a postclitic.
"If in apposition the proper noun usually precedes the common noun, then the language is one in which the governing noun precedes its dependent genitive. With much better than chance frequency, if the common noun usually precedes the proper noun, the dependent genitive precedes its governing noun." #23
# | Ergative | Absolutive | Genitive | Dative | Ablative |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1S | A̱ṆY | MR | NW | NY | BNW |
1D | ẈY | O̖S | O̱AS | WY | BRS |
2S | DW | DK/DX | DYN | DY | DR |
3A | HW | O | |||
3N |
Adjectives/Participles
Adjectives may not be used as substantives without being changed into a noun. Only then may they take inflection for number. Otherwise, adjectives are always unadorned and follow the noun they modify.
"When any or all of the items (demonstrative, numeral, and descriptive adjective) precede the noun, they are always found in that order. If they follow, the order is either the same or its exact opposite." #20
Derivational Morphology
Grammatical parts of speech are somewhere stricter than in English. For example, adjectives cannot be used substantively without a suffix. Somewhat like German, however, rich compounding and word-building is possible[22]
Form | Expects | Produces | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|
-NS | Adjective | Noun | "The quality of being ..." (cp. -ness) |
C- | Noun | Noun | "The language of ..." (cp. -ish) |
YY- | Noun | Noun | "An inhabitant of ..." |
Discourse Participles
- XTATY
- (Lit. Heb. "I have sinned") This is very much like the English opening phrase "I confess that". While (like everything) it is possible to abuse this phrase, it typically begins an utterance with an air of confession, humility and perhaps even admission of guilt.
"With well more than chance frequency, when question particles or affixes are specified in position by reference to the sentence as a whole, if initial, such elements are found in prepositional languages, and, if final, in postpositional." - Greenberg's linguistic universals #9
Lexicon
LYP | to jump | Hollow |
---|
References
- ↑ http://wals.info/chapter/1
- ↑ Hebrew speakers are unable to make this sound, but are understood without difficulty. See http://wals.info/chapter/9
- ↑ Only when a word beginning with a vowel follows a word ending with a vowel is a glottal stop epenthesized.
- ↑ /θ/ is so rare, I feel compel to include it only as an allophone, in the interest of being as appealing as possible across Europe and the Middle-East. http://wals.info/chapter/19
- ↑ http://wals.info/chapter/2
- ↑ /i/ and /e/ may be rounded without phonemic contrast. http://wals.info/chapter/11
- ↑ http://wals.info/chapter/10
- ↑ http://wals.info/chapter/3
- ↑ http://wals.info/chapter/16
- ↑ http://wals.info/chapter/14
- ↑ http://wals.info/chapter/15
- ↑ http://wals.info/chapter/12
- ↑ http://wals.info/chapter/17
- ↑ All languages have pronominal categories involving at least three persons and two numbers." - Greenberg's linguistic universals. However, "A number languages make fewer than six distinctions. These include Pidgin languages such as Samoan Plantation Pidgin English ... but also full languages. (La Typologiedes Langues Et Les Universaux Linguistiques, Martin Haspelmath (2001), 741)
- ↑ "If in a language the verb follows both the nominal subject and nominal object as the dominant order, the language almost always has a case system." - Greenberg's linguistic universals #41
- ↑ "...No language has a dual unless it has a plural." - Greenberg's linguistic universals #34b, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenberg%27s_linguistic_universals
- ↑ "If a language has gender categories in the noun, it has gender categories in the pronoun." - Greenberg's linguistic universal #43
- ↑ This is the one area of grammar that is largely ablaut based. Almost all other derivational morphology is concatenating. http://wals.info/chapter/20
- ↑ "If the verb has categories of person-number or if it has categories of gender, it always has tense-mode categories." - Greenberg's linguistic universals #30, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenberg%27s_linguistic_universals
- ↑ "If the nominal object always precedes the verb, then verb forms subordinate to the main verb also precede it." - Greenberg's linguistic universals #13
- ↑ "When the general rule is that the descriptive adjective follows, there may be a minority of adjectives which usually precede, but when the general rule is that descriptive adjectives precede, there are no exceptions." #19 but http://wals.info/chapter/89
- ↑ "If a language has inflection, it always has derivation." - Greenberg's linguistic universals #29, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenberg%27s_linguistic_universals