Ljóðsmálið

Ljóðsmálið Ljóðsmálið
Pronounced:	Modern: [loːm.mo.lə] Classical: [ljɔu̯ːs.m̥ɔu̯.liː]
Species:	Human
Spoken:	Shetland
Writing system:	Latin
Genealogy:	Proto-Germanic Old Norse Old West Norse Ljóðsmálið
Typology
Morphological type:	Fusional
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Nominative
Basic word order:	SVO basic
Credits
Creator:	Lumi
Created:	November 4th, 2025

Ljóðsmálið is a North Germanic language, relatively close to Faroese and Icelandic, and like those two it remains conservative in spelling, where it almost never changes spelling (in the standard spellings). It should be noted the language(s) themselves are not conservative in the slightest, and should not be thought of as such.

Dialects

Modern Standard

Natively called Lómmolí/Ljóðsmálið [loːm.mo.liː].

Etymology

"Ljóðsmálið" is a compound of "ljóð" ("song" or "poem"; the -s is the genitive marker) and "mál" ("language", the "-ið" is the definite ending), thus making it roughly "the language of song", a poetic way of saying "the beautiful language".

Phonology & Orthography

Consonants

Orthography

	Labial	Alveolar	Velar¹
Nasal	m	n
Plosive	p, b	t	k, g
Fricative		s	sj
Approximant	v	r, l

Phonemes

	Labial	Alveolar	Velar¹
Nasal	m	n
Plosive	p, b	t	k, g
Fricative		s	ʃ
Approximant	w~ɥ~j~h	r, l

1: Also includes palatal.

Vowels

As dialects use the spelling orthography, that's all that will be presented here.

Orthography

	Front				Back
	Unround		Round
	Plain	Long	Plain	Long	Plain	Long
High	i	í	y	ý	u	ú
Mid-High	e	é	ø	ǿ	o	ó
Mid-Low	ì	î	ỳ	ŷ	ù	û
Low	a	á

Phonemes

	Front				Back
	Unround		Round
	Plain	Long	Plain	Long	Plain	Long
High	i	iː	y	yː	u	uː
Mid-High	e	eː	ø	øː	o	oː
Mid-Low	ɛ	ɛː	œ	œː	ɔ	ɔː
Low	a	aː

Further information

As can be seen from these charts, a significant amount of change has occurred from the Standard language to Dynrastarnesmál, some examples will be given below:

• Ljóðsmálið /ljoːu̯s.m̥ɔu̯.liː/ > Lómmolí [loːm.mo.liː] (En. Ljóðsmálið; Old Norse /ljoːðs/ + /mɑː.lið/)
• Hjaltland /çɔl̥t.l̥ɑnd/ > Sjullann [ʃul.lanː] (En. Shetland; Old Norse /çɑlt.lɑnd/)
• Dynrastarnes /dʏn.rɑs.tɔr.nɛs/ > Únnazonis [uːn.nas.so.nis] (En. Dunrossness; Old Norse /dyn.rɑs.tɑr.nes/)
• konungur /kʊ.nau̯ŋ.ɡʊr/ > kunùnna [ku.nɔn.nə] (En. king; Old Norse /ko.nuŋ.ɡr̩/)

Sound Changes

• Word initial fricative voicing (/ʃou̯ɡ/ > /ʒou̯ɡ/)
• /h, ɦ/ > /x, ɣ/, later /ɣ/ > /g/
• /f, v/ > /ʋ̥, ʋ/
• /d/ > /ð/ (treat like an approximant), /θ/ > /t/
• Word final devoicing of stops
• /r̥, l̥, ʍ/ > /r, l, w/
• /t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ/ > /ʃ, ʒ/, /ts/ > /sː/
• /sk/ > /ʃ/ in clusters like /skr, skl, skʋ/ (/skʋ/ often becomes /ʃw/)
• Assimilation:
  • Of approximants: Takes the first quality and turns the second into it (unless the first is /ʋ/, which never has priority), eg: /lʋ/ > /lː/, /nʋ/ > /nː/. Included in this is /ACA/ > /AA/, so /ltl/ > /lː/. An important note with this is /r/ remains when it's the onset of the first syllable and the consonant it's following isn't alveolar, so /br/ stays as /br/.
  • Of stops: Assimilates voicing (/gt/ > /kt/), and place when in a cluster of 3+ consonants (/gtm/ > /ktm/ > /kːm/)
  • Of nasals: Nasal also takes priority, there are several scenarios when nasal assimilation happens, so we'll use /n, t, s, r, l/ to demonstrate them, they are: /nt/, /tn/, /sn/, /nr/, but never /ns/, /ln/, or /nl/, and in /rn/ the /r/ takes priority.
• /ŋ/ > /n/
• /ʋ/ > /w/, lost before/after /u/, so /u.jɛn/ (earlier /ou̯ɛ̯ːn/) from /ou̯.wai̯n/
• Mid merger: /ɛ, œ, ɔ,/ merge with /e, ø, o/
• diphthong smoothing:
  • /a-/ diphthongs become mid-lows, so /ai̯(ː), ay̯(ː), au̯(ː)/ > /ɛː(ː), œː(ː), ɔː(ː)/
  • Other diphthongs just simplify, so /ei̯(ː), øy̯(ː), ou̯(ː)/ > /eː(ː), øː(ː), oː(ː)/
• /ɪ, ʏ/ > /e, ʊ/
• /ʊ/ > /u/
• /x/ > /h/
• Non-rhoticity, lengthening the preceding vowel.
• /V(ː)/ > /ə(ː)/ word finally, when this causes /Cr/ to appear, the /r/ is dropped, later schwa is dropped, and long schwa shortens (this change does not affect monosyllabic words)
• /w, j/ to /u̯, i̯/ when in the coda (both change to /y/ with front round vowels)
• Word initial geminates lost (/lːoːː/ > /loːː/)
• Late nasal place assimilation: This involves nasals assimilating to the same place, /n/ has priority over /m/.
• Loss of nasals after geminated consonants in clusters, so /kːm/ > /kː/
• /l/ vocalization in the coda of a syllable when directly followed by a consonant, /ʒol̥.po/ > /ʒou̯.po/, but /ʒol/ would remain as /ʒol/
• /ð, w, j, h/ lose their place of articulation and assimilate to the vowel, /a, ə/ take /h/. /wu, ji/ are still invalid, so they become /uː, iː/.
• /e, ø, o/ move up to /i, y, u/, then /eː(ː), øː(ː), oː(ː), ɛː(ː), œː(ː), ɔː(ː)/ shift to /e(ː), ø(ː), o(ː), ɛ(ː), œ(ː), ɔ(ː)/
• /z, ʒ/ > /s, ʃ/
• Word final gemination lost

Modern Phonotactics

• /wu, ji, ɥy/ > /uː, iː, yː/ is a constant rule after it first begins, so it is always in effect, even in the modern language.

Grammar

Syntax

Ljóðsmálið's basic word order is SVO, but this becomes VSO in questions, however, due to inflections, the word order is actually incredibly free.

Mannfjoldinn var 1.500 — The population was 1,500

However (prepositional phrase in green):

Árið 2000 var mannfjoldinn 1.500 — In 2000, the population was 1,500 (lit. The year 2000 was the population 1,500)

But for questions, SV inversion is used, so:

Stefan er svangur — Stefan is hungry

and when turned into a question:

Er Stefan svangur? — Is Stefan hungry?

Questions

As seen above, questions are formed through SV inversion (SVO > VSO), an example being:

Þú talar Ljóðsmálið — You speak Ljóðsmálið

Can be turned into:

Talar þú Ljóðsmálið? — Do you speak Ljóðsmálið?

Inversion is still used even with interrogatives, which are simply placed at the start of the sentence:

• hvat? — what?

Hvað ert (þú) (að) gera? — What are you doing?

Classical

Natively Ljóðsmálið /ljou̯ːs.m̥ɔu̯.liː/

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		(ŋ)
Plosive	Voiceless	p	t	t͡ʃ	k
	Voiced	b	d	d͡ʒ	ɡ
Fricative	Voiceless	f	s	ç, ʃ		h
	Voiced	v
Approximant	Voiced	w	r, l	j
	Voiceless		r̥, l̥

• Any of the sonorants (except /j/) may be devoiced next to a voiceless consonant.

Vowels

Unlike most vowel tables, this is made corresponding to Old Norse. This is largely due to orthographic complications arising from it being extremely historic, for example, the eð vowels are only treated differently due to the way they're written, normally such things would be disregarded, but here they're not as it is a rather important aspect of interacting with the language.

This first table is the vowel orthography, it applies to all the following phoneme tables. It's shown as a phoneme table so you can more easily see the value of each letter when put against the phoneme tables.

Vowel orthography

	Front				Back
	Unround		Round
	Plain	Long	Plain	Long	Plain	Long
High	i	í	y	ý	u	ú
Mid-High	e	é	ø	ǿ	o	ó
Mid-Low	ę	æ			ǫ	ǫ́
Low					a	á

Eð vowels are those historically containing eð as the coda.

Plain Vowels Front Back Unround Round Plain Long Plain Long Plain Long High ɪ ai̯ ʏ ay̯ ʊ au̯ Mid-High ɛ ei̯ œ øy̯ ɔ ou̯ Mid-Low ɛi̯ ɔu̯ Low ɑ ɔɑ̯

Eð Vowels Front Back Unround Round Plain Long Plain Long Plain Long High iː ai̯ː yː ay̯ː uː au̯ː Mid-High eː ei̯ː øː øy̯ː oː ou̯ː Mid-Low ɛː ɛi̯ː ɔː ɔu̯ː Low ɑː ɔɑ̯ː

Next are vowels in contact (contained in the same syllable) with labial consonants, the labels here are slightly misleading, but are again based on Old Norse.

Labial Vowels Front Back Unround Round Plain Long Plain Long Plain Long High ʏ ay̯ ay̯ ay̯ au̯ au̯ Mid-High œ øy̯ ʏ ay̯ ʊ au̯ Mid-Low œy̯ ɔ ou̯ Low ɔu̯

Labial Eð Vowels Front Back Unround Round Plain Long Plain Long Plain Long High yː ay̯ː ay̯ː ay̯ː au̯ː au̯ː Mid-High øː øy̯ː y̯ː ay̯ː uː au̯ː Mid-Low œˌ œy̯ː oː ou̯ː Low ɔː ɔu̯ː

Next are vowels in contact with a velar.

Velar Vowels Front Back Unround Round Plain Long Plain Long Plain Long High ʊ au̯ ʊ au̯ au̯ au̯ Mid-High ɔ ou̯ ɔ ou̯ ʊ au̯ Mid-Low ɔu̯ ɔ ou̯ Low ɔu̯

Velar Eð Vowels Front Back Unround Round Plain Long Plain Long Plain Long High uː au̯ː uː au̯ː au̯ː au̯ː Mid-High oː ou̯ː oː ou̯ː uː au̯ː Mid-Low ɔː ɔu̯ː oː ou̯ː Low ɔː ɔu̯ː

Another important note is irregular length, gemination was lost word finally, this happened prior to long vowel breaking, so when a geminate is present (in writing), treat it like an old long vowel, eg: "skegg" = "skég".

Egyptian

Natively bıkımısalȷōōsmolıı or bıkımamol

Etymology

"kımalȷōōsmolıı" is a compound of "kımı" (Egypt; the -a is a genitive marker) + "lȷōōsmolıı" (From "Ljóðsmálið").

"kımamol" is from "kımı' + "mol" (from "mál")

"bi-" is a definite article, from Coptic "ⲡⲓ-"

Phonology

Consonants

Orthography Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Nasal m n Stop Aspirated p t k Plain b d g Affricate Aspirated z, ts ĉ Plain c, ds ĝ Fricative f, v s ŝ h Approximant w r, l ȷ Phonology Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Nasal m n Stop Aspirated pʰ tʰ kʰ Plain p t k Affricate Aspirated t͡sʰ t͡ʃʰ Plain t͡s t͡ʃ Fricative f, v s ʃ h Approximant w r, l j Vowels Orthography Front Back Plain Long Plain Long High ı ıı u/y uu/yy Mid-High ē ēē ō ōō Mid-Low e ee o oo Low a aa Phonology Front Back Plain Long Plain Long High i iː u uː Mid-High e eː o oː Mid-Low ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː Low a aː Grammar Syntax Kimisarmol's word order is strictly SVO. The specifics of the word order are very similar to English subject - verb - direct object - indirect object Adpositions almost always precede the verb. Numerals, adjectives, and genitives precede the modified word: pıōȷıns rovn (Odin's raven) sfortur rovn (black raven) fem rovn (five ravens) You may notice the "pı-" on Odin's name in the first example, that is a masculine singular definite article. When there is an auxiliary verb, this looks like subject - auxiliary- past participle - direct object - indirect object. Take this sentence: ĝeturt talawur kımısormol - You speak Kimisarmol This is literally "can-you spoke Kimisormol" With this sentence, we can also discuss questions Questions are formed through question words or intonation (a rising tone), but the word order never changes. So once again, take "You speak Kimisormol": ĝeturt talawur kımısormol - You speak Kimisormol As a question, this is: ĝeturt talawur kımısormol? - Do you speak Kimisormol? Morphology Kimisarmol, like all other forms of Ljóðsmálið, is heavily inflecting, but sound changes have made many forms merge, especially in verbs, so new affixes were innovated to compensate. Nouns Adjectives Pronouns Nom. Acc. Dat. Gen. Affix¹ Singular 1st ok muk mēr meen -(o)k 2nd to tuk tēr teen -t 3rd Masculine hon honım hansur -h(o)n Feminine hon hana hennı hennur Neuter tat kve tessur -t(a)t Plural 1st vēr ōs voor -ver 2nd tēr ıwur ııvoor -tēr 3rd Masculine tēr to tēm tēēr -ter Feminine ter Neuter to -to 1: These are reduced forms that get attached to verbs. -ĉ may also be thought of as a verbal affix pronoun, deriving from Old Norse sik, but it gets paired with other reduced pronouns, as the first one, so -ĉt(o) for reflexive second singular or 3rd neuter plural, never -t(o)ĉ Verbs Sound changes led to a near loss of tense, so new affixes evolved to compensate, being the following: -fwa — Past tense, from "fǿða" -vra — Future tense, from "verða" -hvo — Perfect, from "hafa" All of these attach to a past participle, while they inflect, because of this, it seems the root word was clipped down to its most basic form (the root). Below are inflection tables, using "bjorga" ("to rescue") as an example: The past participle root is "burĝ-" or "burg-", it depends on speaker, "burĝ-" will be used here Active Infinitive Participle Past Present Future Past Present Future Plain burĝfwa bjorga burĝvra burĝsdur berganĝı burĝvranĝı Perfect burĝsdurhvo burĝhvo burĝrenhvo burĝsdurhvur burĝhvonĝı burĝrenhvonĝı Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person Plain Past Indicative burĝsda burĝsĝır burĝsĝı burĝsdın burĝsduu burĝsdu Subjunctive burĝsda burĝsĝır burĝsĝı burĝsĝın burĝsĝıı burĝsĝı Present Indicative berg bergur bergur bergem berĝıı bergo Subjunctive bergo berĝır berĝı berĝım berĝıı berĝı Future Indicative burĝvor burĝvrur burĝvrur burĝvrın burĝvrıı burĝvra Subjunctive burĝvra burĝvrır burĝvrı burĝvrın burĝvrıı burĝvrı Perfect Past Indicative burĝsdurhva burĝsdurhvır burĝsdurhvı burĝsdurhvın burĝsdurhvuu burĝsdurhvu Subjunctive burĝsdurhva burĝsdurhvır burĝsdurhvı burĝsdurhvın burĝsdurhvıı burĝsdurhvı Present Indicative burĝhvı burĝhvır burĝhvır burĝhvın burĝhvıı burĝhvo Subjunctive burĝhvo burĝhvır burĝhvı burĝhvın burĝhvıı burĝhvı Future Indicative burĝrenhvı burĝrenhvır burĝrenhvır burĝrenhvın burĝrenhvıı burĝrenhvo Subjunctive burĝrenhvo burĝrenhvır burĝrenhvı burĝrenhvın burĝrenhvıı burĝrenhvı Mediopassive Infinitive Participle Past Present Future Past Present Future Plain borĝztfwa bergoz borĝztvra borĝztsdur bergonĝız borĝztvranĝı Perfect borĝztsdurhvo borĝzthvo borĝztrenhvo borĝztsdurhvur borĝzthvonĝı borĝztrenhvonĝı Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person Plain Past Indicative borĝztsda borĝztsĝır borĝztsĝı borĝztsdın borĝztsduu borĝztsdu Subjunctive borĝztsda borĝztsĝır borĝztsĝı borĝztsĝın borĝztsĝıı borĝztsĝı Present Indicative bergemk berz berz bergemz berĝızt bergoz Subjunctive bergemk berĝız berĝız berĝımz berĝızt berĝız Future Indicative borĝztvor borĝztvrur borĝztvrur borĝztvrın borĝztvrıı borĝztvra Subjunctive borĝztvra borĝztvrır borĝztvrı borĝztvrın borĝztvrıı borĝztvrı Perfect Past Indicative borĝztsdurhva borĝztsdurhvır borĝztsdurhvı borĝztsdurhvın borĝztsdurhvuu borĝztsdurhvu Subjunctive borĝztsdurhva borĝztsdurhvır borĝztsdurhvı borĝztsdurhvın borĝztsdurhvıı borĝztsdurhvı Present Indicative borĝzthvı borĝzthvır borĝzthvır borĝzthvın borĝzthvıı borĝzthvo Subjunctive borĝzthvo borĝzthvır borĝzthvı borĝzthvın borĝzthvıı borĝzthvı Future Indicative borĝztrenhvı borĝztrenhvır borĝztrenhvır borĝztrenhvın borĝztrenhvıı borĝztrenhvo Subjunctive borĝztrenhvo borĝztrenhvır borĝztrenhvı borĝztrenhvın borĝztrenhvıı borĝztrenhvı Reflexive Infinitive Participle Past Present Future Past Present Future Plain burĝfwaĉ bjorgaĉ burĝvraĉ burĝsdurĉ berganĝıĉ burĝvranĝıĉ Perfect burĝsdurhvoĉ burĝhvoĉ burĝrenhvoĉ burĝsdurhvurĉ burĝhvonĝıĉ burĝrenhvonĝıĉ Singular Plural 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person Plain Past Indicative burĝsdaĉ burĝsĝırĉ burĝsĝıĉ burĝsdınĉ burĝsduuĉ burĝsduĉ Subjunctive burĝsdaĉ burĝsĝırĉ burĝsĝıĉ burĝsĝınĉ burĝsĝııĉ burĝsĝıĉ Present Indicative bergĉ bergurĉ bergurĉ bergemĉ berĝııĉ bergoĉ Subjunctive bergoĉ berĝırĉ berĝıĉ berĝımĉ berĝııĉ berĝıĉ Future Indicative burĝvorĉ burĝvrurĉ burĝvrurĉ burĝvrınĉ burĝvrııĉ burĝvraĉ Subjunctive burĝvraĉ burĝvrırĉ burĝvrıĉ burĝvrınĉ burĝvrııĉ burĝvrıĉ Perfect Past Indicative burĝsdurhvaĉ burĝsdurhvırĉ burĝsdurhvıĉ burĝsdurhvınĉ burĝsdurhvuuĉ burĝsdurhvuĉ Subjunctive burĝsdurhvaĉ burĝsdurhvırĉ burĝsdurhvıĉ burĝsdurhvınĉ burĝsdurhvııĉ burĝsdurhvıĉ Present Indicative burĝhvıĉ burĝhvırĉ burĝhvırĉ burĝhvınĉ burĝhvııĉ burĝhvoĉ Subjunctive burĝhvoĉ burĝhvırĉ burĝhvıĉ burĝhvınĉ burĝhvııĉ burĝhvıĉ Future Indicative burĝrenhvıĉ burĝrenhvırĉ burĝrenhvırĉ burĝrenhvınĉ burĝrenhvııĉ burĝrenhvoĉ Subjunctive burĝrenhvoĉ burĝrenhvırĉ burĝrenhvıĉ burĝrenhvınĉ burĝrenhvııĉ burĝrenhvıĉ As can be seen from this table, an incredible amount has been gained, but you can also see something important has been lost, the imperative, which is now expressed primarily through intonation. Dialectal comparison English Classical Modern Egyptian Word IPA Word IPA Coptic Latin IPA Language mál /mɔu̯l/ mol /mol/ ⲙⲟⲗ mol /mɔl/ Ljóðsmálið Ljóðsmálið /ljou̯ːs.m̥ɔu̯.liː/ Lómmolí loːm.mo.liː Ⲗⲓⲱⲱⲥⲙⲟⲗⲓⲓ Lȷōōsmolıı /ljoːs.mɔ.liː/ good (adj) góður /ɡau̯.wʊr/ gùva /ɡɔ.hə/ ⲕⲟⲩ̈ⲩⲣ gowur /kɔ.wur/ dew dǫgg /dɔu̯ɡ/ vok /wok/ ⲧⲟⲕ dog /tɔk/ to be vera /vœ.rɑ/ ýr /yːr/ ϫⲱⲓⲗⲁ¹ ĝōila /t͡ʃoi̯.la/ 1: Unrelated to "vera", from Coptic "ϫⲱⲓⲗⲓ"