Ljóðsmálið

Ljóðsmálið Ljóðsmálið
Pronounced:	[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 relatively conservative, especially in spelling, where it very rarely makes any changes at all.

Etymology

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

Phonology & Orthography

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".

Spelling Orthography

The spelling orthography is a simplified form of the written language, it's largely limited to informal situations.

Orthography

	Front								Back
	Unround				Round
	Monophthong		Diphthong		Monophthong		Diphthong		Monophthong		Diphthong
	Plain	Long	Plain	Long	Plain	Long	Plain	Long	Plain	Long	Plain	Long
High	i	í	ì	î	y	ý	ỳ	ŷ	u	ú	ù	û
Mid-High	e	é	è	ê	ø	ǿ	ø̀	ø̂	o	ó	ò	ô
Mid-Low		ę	ę̀	ę̂		ø̨	ø̨̀	ø̨̂		ǫ	ǫ̀	ǫ̂
Low									a	á	à	â

Phonemes

	Front								Back
	Unround				Round
	Monophthong		Diphthong		Monophthong		Diphthong		Monophthong		Diphthong
	Plain	Long	Plain	Long	Plain	Long	Plain	Long	Plain	Long	Plain	Long
High	ɪ	iː	ai̯	ai̯ː	ʏ	yː	ay̯	ay̯ː	ʊ	uː	au̯	au̯ː
Mid-High	ɛ	eː	ei̯	ei̯ː	œ	øː	øy̯	øy̯ː	ɔ	oː	ou̯	ou̯ː
Mid-Low		ɛː	ɛi̯	ɛi̯ː		œː	œy̯	œy̯ː		ɔː	ɔu̯	ɔu̯ː
Low									ɑ	ɑː	ɔɑ̯	ɔɑ̯ː

Dialects

Dynrastarnesmál

Natively called Dunnazónemmól [ðun.nas.soː.nem.moːl], this is largely regarded as the most divergent form of Ljóðsmálið, so it will be covered the most of all the dialects presented.

Phonology & Orthography

Consonants

Modern Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n
Plosive	Voiceless	p	t		k
	Voiced	b			g
Fricative	Voiceless		s	ʃ
	Voiced		z	ʒ
Approximant		w¹, ɥ¹	r, l	j¹	h¹

1: All considered one phoneme, with a base value /w/.

Older Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Plosive	Voiceless	p	t		k
	Voiced	b	ð		ɡ
Fricative	Voiceless	ʋ̥	s	ç, ʃ	h
	Voiced	ʋ	z	ʝ, ʒ	ɦ
Approximant	Voiced		r, l	j
	Voiceless		r̥, l̥

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/ > Lômmólí [loːːm.moː.liː] (En. Ljóðsmálið; Old Norse /ljoːðs/ + /mɑː.lið/)
• Hjaltland /çɔl̥t.l̥ɑnd/ > Sjollann [ʒol.lanː] (En. Shetland; Old Norse /çɑlt.lɑnd/)
• Dynrastarnes /dʏn.rɑs.tɔr.nɛs/ > Dunnazónes [dun.nas.soː.nes] (En. Dunrossness; Old Norse /dyn.rɑs.tɑr.nes/)
• konungur /kʊ.nau̯ŋ.ɡʊr/ > kunùnna [ku.nɔːn.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/ > /r, l/
• /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 /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)/
• Non-rhoticity, lengthening the preceding vowel.
• /ɪ, ʏ/ > /e, ʊ/
• /ʊr, a, e/ > /əː, ə, ə/ word finally, later schwa is dropped, and long schwa shortens
• /w, j/ to /u̯, i̯/ when in the coda (both change to /y/ with front round vowels)
• /ʊ/ > /u/
• 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/. /x/ eventually merges with /h/
• /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)/

• /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.

Despite that freedom, V2 word order is inflexible, so take the following sentences (subject in yellow, verb in blue, object in red):

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) (at) gera? — What are you doing?