Albionian

Albionian (ta Alabenꞅċina or ten Alabenscaì jiezyc) is a Slavic language spoken in Crackfic Irta Scotland. It has phonologically conservative features, such as the retention of the Proto-Balto-Slavic acute as stød, but is meant to be mutually intelligible with our Slavic languages, especially Czech and Slovak. It has as many Brythonic and Goidelic loanwords as Polish has German loanwords. It's notable for having vowel umlaut.

Todo

• insular ꞅ for /s/, s for /ʃ/? or should it be the other way round (because Irish ꞅ would often be /ʃ/)
• -owat is sometimes -aliowat, which is the default when verbing new loans when not from Latin or Romance (-áil-ovatь, like Russian -ировать)
  • skoraliowat 'to score', guglaliowat 'to google', etc. but produkowat 'to produce', synkretyzowat 'to syncretize', mnyþowat/pomnyþowat 'to thank'
• Use the grave accent for long vowels like Gàidhlig (and a little bit of a Gàidhlig accent)
• Should be less head-initial than canon Bjeheond; should be a German~Icelandic relex?
• Alabenin = Albionian man, Alabenka = Albionian woman, Alabenie = plural
• soft yer unconditionally causes umlaut (unless analogized away or blocked by /w/) and umlaut caused by i/j is stress dependent (o and lengthened á get umlaut if unstressed)
• the big Celtic things are: unaspirated-aspirated with some preaspiration, θ ð corresponding pretty much 1-1 to Polish c dz, lack of metathesis and some Irish-inspired things like how čelweak is pronounced /tʃʰɛləβɪhk/; articles
• sv, zv > skw, zgw
• Initial stress, vowel reduction of short vowels, some umlaut to get ở, no yer-deletion if syllable is initial
• Changes found in other Slavic languages like vowel length and relative lack of palatalization from Czech (especially Common Czech), PSlav v > /w/, as well as some /l/ > /w/ as in Ukrainian; some /g/ > /ɣ/, also reminiscent of Czech
• the b~β~w allophony
• Made some weird choices in verb forms, like generalizing the PSlav 1st person *-xǔ in imperfect and aorist to all past forms, getting 1sg -ns in present from -m azǔ/-ǫ azǔ

Methavir nalaminyl mekerylide ester axoram:

• Goworins o tej milösti al o tej nenöwisti.
• Či charniš ty to dlamnie?
• Miluöm my jej, tož čtim my jeo prichod.

Phonology

Consonants

Standard Albionian in Albion has a slightly larger-than-average consonant inventory of about 27 consonants.

(Albionian orthography is fairly deep; the orthographic values in the table shouldn't be taken completely at face value.)

→ PoA ↓ Manner		Labial	Dental/Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/	n /n/		ň, ni /ɲ/	ng /ŋ/
Plosive	voiced	b /b/	d /d/	(dž /dž/)	ď, di /J/	g /g/
	voiceless	p /pʰ/	t /tʰ/	č /tʃʰ/	ť, ti /cʰ/	k /kʰ/
Spirant	unvoiced	f /f/	þ /θ/			ch /χ/
	voiced	w /β/	ð /ð/			[ɣ]
Non-spirant	unvoiced		s /s/	š /ʃ/	šč /ɕː/		-t etc. /h/
	voiced		z /z/	ž, ždž /ʒ/
Resonant		-w, -g etc. /w/	l /l/	r /ɾ/	j, -i, -g etc. /j/, ľ, li /(Slovak ľ)/	[ɤ̃ˤʶ]

• Voiceless stops are usually at least as strongly aspirated as Japanese voiceless stops and at most as strongly as English ones. Voiced stops are fully voiced or partially devoiced.
  • preaspiration of postvocalic aspirated stops in coda or before a consonant; in natural speech, -t weakens all the way to [h] in this environment, as in skweatlo [ˈskwɛːh(t)ɫo~ˈskwɛːɬˠːo] 'light'. Thus some analyze /h/ as a phonemic consonant appearing in clusters such as /hp hl/ and word-finally. However, the 2nd person plural verb ending -t is always pronounced as [tʰ].
  • Word-final c is never preaspirated.
  • Consonant assimilations:
    • unaspirated stops voice before or after any voiced sound (vowel, resonant or voiced fricative)
• h is silent as in Romance languages (when not used in a digraph).
  • w has many allophones:
    • [w] or [ʍ] when it follows a consonant, according as whether the consonant is aspirated or not: skweat [skwɛ:h] 'world', kweat [kʰʍɛ:h] 'flower'.
    • [w] when not before a vowel: e.g. staw [staw] '(flowery) state, condition', o wṡich was [ɔwˈʃɪχʍas] 'about all of you'. However, between words it may still be dropped: o wṡich was [ɔˈʃɪχʍas].
    • [b] word-initially before a vowel and after /n/, thus merging with /b/: wečer [ˈbɛtʃʰɪɾ] 'evening'.
    • When not after a vowel but before a consonant, it becomes [χʷ], [ʍ] or silent: wčera /χʷtʃɛrə~ʍtʃɛɾə~tʃɛɾə/ 'yesterday'.
    • w as [v~f] is a feature of some dialects, which may be transcribed as vv, vf, or ff in eye dialects.
  • */nk/ assimilates to /ŋk/ (cf. Czech).
  • Medial g (when it is not ng) lenites and has complex pronunciation rules, similar to rules for writing the hamza in Arabic. These rules are listed in the order of decreasing priority (i.e. attempt to apply a rule if the conditions for the rules above it are not met):
    1. After /j/ or /w/, g is always silent: sag [saw] 'ledge', töga [tʰœjə] 'honey' (term of affection for spouse; a doublet of tunga [tʰuŋə] 'desire').
    2. After /r/ or /l/, g vocalizes to [ʊ] when non-prevocalic, and is pronounced [w] when prevocalic: darga /ˈdarwə/ 'a road'; darg /ˈdarʊ/ 'of roads'.
    3. After other consonants, g is pronounced /k/ and devoices a preceding fricative: mozg /mɔsk/ 'brain'.
    4. Unstressed go is pronounced /w/: jagoda 'berry' = [jawdə].
    5. Before the past tense affix -l-, it is silent: beagl [bjɛ:ɤ̃ʶ], beagla ['bjɛ:ɫə], beagli ['bjɛ:l'ɪ] 'he/she/they ran (ipfv)'.
    6. After back monophthongs, it is [w] and after front monophthongs, it is [j]. For example: rog [ɾɔw] 'horn; corner', beag [bjɛːj] 'running; race course', nogy [nɔwɪ] 'legs'.
    7. After a and diphthongs ie ů:
       • If the g is not prevocalic or precedes /a ə a:/, it is silent and a preceding /a/ is lengthened to /a:/: sarchag /saɾəχə/ 'coffin'. In the case of ga, the following schwa /ə/ is dropped as well: braga [pɾa:] 'yeast'.
       • If the g precedes a front unrounded vowel /ɛ ɪ/, it is pronounced /j/: bragy [pɾajɪ] 'yeast (gen. sg. or nom. pl.)'
       • If the g precedes a front rounded vowel /œ ʏ/, it is pronounced /β/: sarchagum [saɾəχəβʏm] 'coffins (dat. pl.)'
       • If the g precedes a back vowel /ɔ ʊ/, it is pronounced /w/: brago [prawʊ] 'yeast (voc. sg.)'
       • If the g precedes an unreduced /a/, then it is pronounced [ʕ]: prebiega ['pʰɾɛbiəʕa] 'it is in progress'.
• The letter ṙ for formerly palatalized /r/ was used inconsistently in Early Modern Albionian and quickly fell out of use. It corresponds to the Czech ř sound, voiceless /r/ or trilled /r/ in dialects.
• th ð = /θ ð/ in Standard Albionian. Nonstandard accents of Standard Albionian have various realizations for these sounds, such as [f v], [ts dz], slit fricatives or retroflexes: se nơth 'tonight' [sɨ'nœf~sɨ'nœθ̠~sɨ'nœʂ~sɨ'nœts].
• /l/ is velarized before back vowels. It is vocalized to a nasalized pharyngealized uvular approximant in coda: postel 'bed' [pʰɔstɤ̃ˤʶ].
• Voiced fricatives are not devoiced at ends of words.

h c q v x ph are used in Latin and Greek loanwords; they're pronounced the same as native ch k kw w ks f. For example: humanismus, calčium, qualita, variant, existowaṫ, philosophia [ˈʊmənʲɪsmʏs, kaltSi.ym, ˈkʰwalɪtʰə, ˈbaɾjənt, ˈɛksɪstoʊhtʲ, ˈfɪɫosofɪjə].

Pleophony

CVrC, CVlC is pronounced as CVrəC, CVləC; cf. Irish and Russian. e.g. smyrt 'death' = /ˈsmɪɾəh/, galwa 'head' = /ˈgaɫəβə/, derwo 'tree' = /ˈdɛɾəβo/, welkej 'big' = /ˈbɛɫəkʰej/.

-w in word-final -rw and -lw is vocalized to [ʏ] and -g in word-final -rg and -lg becomes [ʊ]. For example: pozdarw [ˈpʰɔzdərʏ] 'greeting; regards (when signing a letter)'; dảrg /ˈtaːɾʊ/ 'of roads'.

Vowels

Alabenskej vowels

	Front		Central	Back
	unrounded	rounded
Close	i, y /i/	ü /y/	[ɨ]	u /u/
Mid	e /ɛ/	ö /œ/	[ə]	o /ɔ~o/
Open			a /a/
Diphthong	ie, ea /iə~ɪː/			ů /uə/

a e i/y o u/w ơ (ag) ả ẻ ea ỉ ỏ/og ở/uê ủ au ê/iê ô eo/ẻo ỉo ỵ ỷ/ei/eu = (unreduced) /a ɛ ɪ ɔ u œ aː aw ɛː jɛː iː ow øː uː œj iə uə ɛw~əw ɪw iː ɛj/

• cy gy are pronounced /kʰɪ kɪ/, not /kʰɨ kɨ/.
• In standard Albionian, ea is pronounced as palatalizing long /ɛː/ when not reduced: jeat wy [ˈjɛːtʰ ʍɪ] 'y'all (familiar) eat'. After alveolar sibilants /θ ð s z ʃ ʒ/ it becomes /ɛː/.
• /ɛː/ shifts to /iː/ in basilectal southern accents.
• Initial ji jỉ jê > i ỉ ê in casual speech. For example, jiezyk /'jiəzɪk/ 'tongue; language' is pronounced ['iəzɪk].
• In noninitial syllables, historical short vowels are reduced and longs are shortened.
  • /a/ reduces to /ə/
  • /ɛ e/ reduces to non-palatalizing /ɨ/
  • /jɛː ɪ/ reduces to palatalizing /ɪ/
  • /ɔ/ reduces to /o/
    • slowo [sɫɔβo] 'a word'
  • /œ ʊ/ reduces to /ʏ/
    • steam deatum 'with the children' [scɪm ˈciətʰʏm]
    • mơžnơst 'possibility' [ˈmœʒnʏst]
• /ɛɪ/ reduces to /ɪj/

Stress and tone

Stress is always initial. Vowels have two possible registers: stød and no stød. Stød is marked in dictionaries using the underdot.

Intonation

Similar to Danish or Hiberno-English

Dialects

Albion

In Albion, the relationship between Albionian dialects and Standard Albionian is like the relationship between German dialects and Standard German. Traditionally, nonstandard dialects were used in local everyday speech and Standard Albionian is used in writing, formal or religious contexts or in contexts where speakers from different backgrounds need to understand each other. Today, regional dialects are under pressure due to modern societal conditions, such as public education and mass media. Some Albion dialects even have retroflex stops and resonants /ɳ ɭ ʈ ɖ/.

American Albionian is much more uniform and closer to the standard, with comparatively minor regional differences in accent and vocabulary.

Various dialectal isoglosses:

• /dl/ (Standard) ~ /ɾl/ ~ /ɭ/ ~ /ɻ/ ~ /l/
  • 'soap': mỵdlo (Southern to Midlands) ~ mȳrlo/mȳḷo/mȳzho (Bristol) ~ mýlo (Northern England)
• Liquid pleophony vs metathesis vs none
  • metathesis (Some Scottish dialects)
  • pleophony (Standard British, Midlands and Northern England, some Scottish dialects)
  • no pleophony or metathesis (Southern dialects)
    • r + coronal > retroflex (Bristol area, now only elderly speakers)
      • 'crow': wāṇa /'bǎ:ɳa/ (standard wảrna /'bawɾənə/)
• Common Slavic accent
  • Common Slavic stress retained but not tone (northern and most Scottish dialects)
  • 4-tone system (Shetland, Church Alb.)
  • 3-tone systems (Midlands, Bristol area)
  • 2-tone systems (Modern Standard British Alb.)
  • only length (Wales)
  • new stress accent from length (Standard American Alb.)

Writing

In-universe, Netažin uses a Latin orthography similar to that of Vietnamese. Certain letters can take a palatalizing i which works much like in Italian and Polish: nia, tia, dia, nie, tie, die, ni, ti, di, etc. are read as ň ť ď + ia, e, ê, i, ỉ. It is traditionally typeset in the Gaelic Uncial type (cf. Fraktur for Czech), a tradition which survives among Crackfic Trician Albionian speakers.

The orthography is based on the relatively conservative southern dialect of ___ of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the pronunciation of the standard koine has absorbed influences from other dialects, such as liquid pleophony from the Talmic-influenced northern dialects. The underdot diacritic indicates the stød in dictionaries.

Morphology

Nouns

Like our Slavic, Albionian has masculine, feminine and neuter genders, and has the same gender markers as our Slavic. Gender-neutral forms are sometimes created by concatenating masculine and feminine endings.

Modern Standard Netažin nouns and adjectives have retained five of the seven Proto-Slavic cases: nominative, dative, genitive, allative from the PSlav accusative after prepositions, and vocative. (Dialects differ in the number of cases; some conservative dialects retain all 7 Proto-Slavic cases, while some dialects, particularly in the New World, have lost case entirely.) The nominative is used for both subjects and direct objects; the dative fills the role of dative nouns and after some prepositions in our Slavic languages. The instrumental (instrumentởl) is semi-productive in forming adverbs and expressions, e.g. prawdü 'really'; beagem 'during'; wuzglyndem 'owing to, in view of'; pomöþi 'with, using'; ynejmi slowy 'in other words'.

The instrumental has been replaced with the dative in the following way:

• Instruments use the preposition se + dative (just like the comitative).
• After prepositions where our Slavic languages use the instrumental, such as nad 'above'.
• Predicate nouns and adjectives that denote becoming or change of state.

Some nouns have different stems for zero and nonzero endings: den 'day (nom.)' > dnea 'days (nom.)'; kün 'horse (nom.)' > könea 'horses (nom.)'.

Some hard stem declensions

	wylc (m.) = wolf		galwa (f.) = head ġena (f.) = woman		perdseada (m.) = chairman		slowo (n.) = word
	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
Nominative	wylc	wylthi	galwa ġena	galwy ġeny	perdseada	perdseadi	slowo	slowa
Genitive	wylca	wylcow	galwy ġeny	galw ġen	perdseady	perdseadow	slowa	slow
Dative	wylcu	wylcum	galwe ġenie	galwum ġenum	perdseadie	perdseadum	slowe	slowum
Allative	wylc	wylcy*	galwu ġenu	galwy ġeny	perdseadu	perdseady*	slowo	slowa
Vocative	wylċe!	wylcy!	galwo! ġeno!	galwy! ġeny!	perdseado!	perdseady!	slowo!	slowa!

* Sometimes -owea for humans.

Some wylc nouns drop intervening e or y (from PS hard and soft yer respectively) when adding endings: pes 'dog' > gen. psa; cơthec 'kitten' > gen. cơthca.

In wylc nouns, -u is used for nouns ending in velars and -e for others.

The ending -e in the above declensions causes second palatalization: n ng t c d g ch become ṅ nn ṫ th ḋ ð s, for example:

• stảrna 'side' > na tỷ stảrnie 'on the side'
• dảrga 'road' > na tỷ dảrðe 'on the road'
• tônga 'desire' > se tônne 'with desire'
• uċitelca 'teacher (f.)' > tỷ uċitelthe 'to/for the teacher'

Some soft-stem declensions

Some nouns like list 'leaf' and cơst 'bone' end in a hard consonant in the nominative.

	muġ (m.) = man list (m.) = leaf		cơst (f.) = bone nơth (f.) = night		zemea (f.) = earth		syrthe (n.) = heart		zdởniê (n.) = fact
	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
Nominative	muġ list	muġowea, muġea listea	cơst nơth	cơsti nơthi	zemea	zemi	syrthe	syrtha	zdởniê	zdởnia
Genitive	muġea listea	muġỉ listỉ	cơsti nơthi	cơstỉ nơthỉ	zemi	zemỉ	syrtha	syrth	zdởnia	zdơṅ
Dative	muġi listi	muġim listim	cơsti nơthi	cơstum nơthum	zemi	zemim	syrthi	syrthim	zdởnỉ	zdởnim
Allative	muġ list	muġi listi	cơst nơth	cơsti nơthi	zemi	zemi	syrthe	syrtha	zdởniê	zdởnia
Vocative	muġi! listi!	muġea! listea!	cơsti! nơthi!	cơsti! nơthi!	zemie!	zemi!	syrthe!	syrtha!	zdởniê!	zdởnia!

-ê nouns

	ymê (n.) = name		zgwêrê (n.) = animal
	singular	plural	singular	plural
Nominative	ymê	ymena	zgwêrê	zgwêrenta
Genitive	ymenia	ymen	zgwêrentia	zgwêrent
Dative	ymeni	ymenum	zgwêrenti	zgwêrentum
Allative	ymê	ymena	zgwêrê	zgwêrenta
Vocative	ymê!	ymena!	zgwêrê!	zgwêrenta!

Nouns with pseudo-duals

	oco (n.) = eye		ucho (n.) = ear		runca (f.) = hand, arm
	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
Nominative	oco	ơċi	ucho	uṡi	runca	runthe
Genitive	oca	ơċỉ	ucha	uṡỉ	runcy	runthỉ
Dative	othe	ơċim	uṡe	uṡim	runthe	runcum
Allative	oco	ơċi	ucho	uṡi	runcu	runthe
Vocative	oco!	ơċi!	ucho!	uṡi!	runco!	runthe!

Miscellaneous

	ċelweac (m.) = human, person
	singular	plural
Nominative	ċelweac	lidea
Genitive	ċelweaca	lidỉ
Dative	ċelweacu	lidum
Allative	ċelweaca	lidi
Vocative	ċelweaċe!	lidea!

	ởteth (m.) = father
	singular	plural
Nominative	ởteth	ởthy
Genitive	ởtha	ởthow
Dative	ởthu	ởthum
Allative	ởtha	ởthy
Vocative	ởċe!	ởthy!

	sluġineth (m.) = child
	singular	plural
Nominative	sluġineth	deati
Genitive	sluġintha	deatỉ
Dative	sluġinthu	deatum
Allative	sluġintha	deati
Vocative	sluġinthe!	deati!

archaic singular: diềtiê, diềtintia, diềtinti; diêtiê is still used as a vocative like "child" is in English (but is mainly literary).

Loan declension

Masculine and neuter words from Latin, Greek and Lithuanian remove their original nominative singular endings when declined.

• Second-declension nouns follow the wylc declension: for example, soċialismus 'socialism', mỷthos 'myth', Mindaugas 'Mindaugas (Lithuanian name)'.
• There is a tendency to keep nominative and oblique stems separate where the original languages do; this includes nouns such as thema, themata, thematu, thematu.
• Second-declension words in -um or -on follow the slowo or syrthe declension: for example, practicum 'internship'; critẻrion 'criterion'.
• Nouns in -ẻ (for example, Athẻnẻ 'Athena') decline as feminine -e nouns; -ia nouns are a declension class of their own.
• More unusual declensions are normatively treated as having one of the regular native declensions. The plural of ẻthos is ẻthosy; using forms such as ẻthy would be hypercorrect.

Newer foreign -u names decline like slowo and -i names decline like -e nouns (allowed by Albionian vowel reduction). Female names ending in a consonant decline like cơst: Ester becomes Esteri in the non-nominative cases. Names that don't fit into native patterns are indeclinable, and simply add the definite article: the female name Hanako becomes ta Hanako. The definite article declines when the name needs to be declined: ty walsy tỷ Hanako 'Hanako's hair'.

	mỷthos (m.) = myth		practicum (n.) = internship		critẻrion (n.) = criterion		geometria (f.) = geometry
	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
Nominative	mỷthos	mỷthy	practicum	practica	critẻrion	critẻria	geometria	geometrii
Genitive	mỷtha	mỷthow	practica	practic	critẻria	critẻriỉ	geometrii	geometriỉ
Dative	mỷthu	mỷthum	practicu	practicum	critẻrii	critẻriim	geometrie	geometriim
Allative	mỷthos	mỷthy	practicum	practica	critẻrion	critẻrii	geometrii	geometrii
Vocative	mỷthe!	mỷthy!	practicum!	practica!	critẻrion!	critẻria!	geometrio!	geometrii

The only irregular loan has a mixed Slavic-Latin declension (Christus 'Christ' is declined as a regular -us loan):

	Jẻsus (m.) = Jesus
	singular
Nominative	Jẻsus
Genitive	Jẻsu
Dative	Jẻsu(i)
Allative	Jẻsus
Vocative	Jẻsu!

Pluralia tantum

Neuter pluralia tantum in -a, such as ủsta 'mouth', warta 'door', nebesa 'sky', slowesa 'speech, words' (as opposed to slowa which is used for individual words), data, agenda are colloquially often feminine singular. (Propaganda is sometimes treated as neuter plural, which is hypercorrect.)

Articles (Articuly)

Like Irish and Welsh, Albionian has a definite article but no indefinite article; ġảba means 'a frog', and ta ġảba means 'the frog'.

tet 'the; that'

	m. sg.	f. sg.	n. sg.	plural
Nominative	ten	ta	to	ti** (m/f), ta (n)
Genitive	teo	tỷ	teo	teach
Dative	tom	tỷ	tom	team
Allative	teo	tu	to	ty

** The article and demonstrative ty is aspirated /tʰɨ/; the second-person pronoun ty is unaspirated /tɨ/.

Prepositions (Preposiċii)

Prepositions have meanings similar to their cognates in our Slavic languages: na, o(b), od, u (+gen), cu (+dat), do (+gen), wu, po, za, se (+dat), bez (+gen), dla (+gen), perz, pri, nad, pod, perd, ... The prepositions na, nad, o, po, pod, za, pers, perd, pri, wu take the nominative/accusative when they denote motion, and the dative when they denote location (depending on the preposition; the dative is used where our Slavic languages would use the instrumental or the locative). Unlike in our Slavic languages, there's no difference between comitative and instrumental; the preposition sâ is used for both.

o is ob before a vowel.

Possession is indicated using the preposition u, as in Russian: Les umne prỉclad. 'I have an example.'

Some things that look like prepositions are not: e.g. the se in fixed time expressions se den, se jitro, se weċer, se nơth 'today, this morning, this evening, tonight' is actually a fossilized demonstrative from Proto-Slavic *sŭ.

Preposition + pronoun combinations

If the prepositional object is a pronoun, the preposition + pronoun is written and pronounced as one word: Bunde weċerca u Catheriny, ċi poidem my cunỉ ċil ne? /pʊndɨ bɛtʃʰɪɾkʰə ʊ ˈkʰaθɨɾɪnɨ, tʃɪ ˈpɔɪdɨm mɨ ˈkʰʊnʲiː tʃɪw nɛ/ 'There's a party at Catherina's, are we going [to her house] or not?'. If a preposition combines with a personal pronoun, -e- may be added between the preposition and the pronoun: for example: nademnau, nadetau, podemnau, podetau, yzemnie, yzetwe, yzese, semnau, stau.

Preposition + article contractions

o, pri, na, cu, wu, po, za, se + tom > om, prim, nam, cum, wum, pom, zam, stom

se + team > steam

Adjectives (Adjectỉva)

Predicative forms of -scỷ adjectives are in -scy. Hard stems:

dobr 'good'

		m. sg.	f. sg.	n. sg.	plural
Predicative		dobr
Adverbial		dobre, dobro
Attributive	Nom., Voc.	dobrỷ	dobrả	dobrẻ	dobrỉ (m), dobrê (f), dobrả (n)
	Genitive	dobrẻo	dobrỷ	dobrẻo	dobrỷch
	Dative	dobrẻm	dobrỷ	dobrẻm	dobrỷm
	Allative	dobrẻo	dobrau	dobrẻ	dobrê (m/f), dobrả (n)

Soft stems:

ostateṅ 'remaining'

		m. sg.	f. sg.	n. sg.	plural
Predicative		ostateṅ
Adverbial		*ostatnie
Attributive	Nom., Voc.	ostatnỉ	ostatniả	ostatniê	ostatniê (m/f), ostatniả (n)
	Genitive	ostatnỉo	ostatnỉ	ostatnỉo	ostatnỉch
	Dative	ostatnỉm	ostatnỉ	ostatnỉm	ostatnỉm
	Allative	ostatnỉo	ostatnỉ	ostatniê	ostatniê (m/f), ostatniả (n)

Possessive adjectives

In colloquial language, only nouns denoting family members have possessive adjective forms.

ởteth 'father' > ởthow, -owa, -owo 'father's'

matca 'mother' > matċin, -ina, -ino

For example: ởthow lewr /œ:θoʊ lɛʊr/ 'father's book'

In formal language, inherited possessive adjectives are used to denote concepts named after people (like German -sche); e.g. zcusitelnơst Bayesowa 'Bayesian probability'; functiä Wesselowa 'Bessel function'.

Verbs (Verba)

Verbs retain the Proto-Slavic aspectual distinction. There are a number of analytic tenses like in English and modern Celtic languages, but often only one of the two aspects allow the constructions.

The conditional form is a bit unusual from the perspective of our Slavic; it continues the PS 1sg -xŭ and 1pl -xomŭ imperfective and aorist form, analogized to other persons and numbers. It corresponds to the L-participle + by construction in Russian, Polish, etc.. There is no distinction between present and past conditional, unlike in English; the Albionian conditional makes an aspect distinction rather than a tense one.

• present habitual: imperfective
• present progressive: imperfective
• present perfect: perfective
• past imperfect: imperfective
• past progressive: imperfective
• preterite: perfective
• future imperfective: imperfective (formed with a (fused) auxiliary)
• future perfective: perfective (formed like present)
• conditional can be either

3pl forms of verbs are only used with the plural pronoun ṡi (...nt wṡi 'they all...'). Plural nouns and demonstratives take the 3sg form.

Special emphatic forms exist in the first person in formal language: senseṡ 'it's me'.

Negation

Verbs are negated using the circumfix ne VERB als (etym. *ne ... wals 'not a hair of'), or colloquially, often just with VERB als. (als is pronounced /aws/) Als precedes the absolutive argument of a negated verb, as well as any absolutive argument of any lexical verb, UNLESS it is a subject personal pronoun for an intransitive verb (Chơdil sty als tam nicdy? = 'Have you never been there?').

• For intranstive verbs, especially ones that denote motion or a change of state, als precedes the subject (cf. German verbs that use the auxiliary sein).
• Otherwise, als precedes the direct object (cf. German verbs that use the auxiliary haben).

A noun preceded by als is required to be in the genitive: Cdoġ sparuê eaðeniê mynso? Ne sparuêns als eaðenia mynsa. [kʰtoʃ 'spaɾœ 'jɛðɪnʲiə 'mɨnsʊ || nɪ 'spaɾœns əws 'jɛðɪnʲə 'mɨnsə] (also eaðeniê mynsa in more informal contexts) = 'Who condones eating meat? I don't condone eating meat.' In the following tables, grayed-out forms are used in formal or literary language.

-aṫ

dealaṫ, zdealaṫ 'to do'

tense	1sg	2sg fam.	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl	impersonal
present	dealảns	dealảṡ ty	dealả	dealảm my	dealảt wy	dealản ṡi	dealả-sê
present prog.	sens dealảnth	sty dealảnth	les ton dealảnth	smy dealảnth	swy dealảnth	len ṡi dealảnth	dealảmo
past	dealalns, dealalans	dealal(a) sty	dealal on, ona; dealal(a/o) NOUN	dealai smy	dealai swy	dealai ṡi	dealalo-sê
conditional	dealachas	dealach ty	dealach	dealachum my	dealach wy, dealachet wy, dealast wy	dealach ṡi, dealaṡin ṡi	dealach-sê
imperative	-	dealei!	-	dealeim!	dealeite!	-	-
present participle	dealảnthỷ
past participle	dealanỷ
verbnoun	dealơniê

-eaṫ, -iêṫ

wideaṫ, uwideaṫ 'to see'

tense	1sg	2sg fam.	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl	impersonal
present	wiðuns	widiêṡ ty	widiê	widiêm my	widiêt wy	wiðôn ṡi	widiê-sê
present prog.	sens wiðônth	sty wiðônth	les ton wiðônth	smy wiðônth	swy wiðônth	len ṡi wiðônth	wiðemo
past	widealns, widealans	wideal(a) sty	wideal on(a/o); wideal(a/o) NOUN	wideai smy	wideai swy	wideai ṡi	widealo-sê
conditional	wideachas	wideach ty	wideach	wideachum my	wideach wy, wideachet wy, wideast wy	wideach ṡi, wideaṡin ṡi	wideach-sê
imperative	-	wið!	-	wiðem!	wiðete!	-
present participle	wiðônthỷ
past participle	wiðenỷ
verbnoun	wiðeniê

-iṫ

nosiṫ 'to carry by foot (multidirectional); to wear; counterpart of nesṫ'

tense	1sg	2sg fam.	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl	impersonal
present	noṡins	nosỉṡ ty	nosỉ	nosỉm my	nosỉt wy	noṡên ṡi	nosỉ-sê
present prog.	sens noṡênth	sty noṡênth	les ton noṡênth	smy noṡênth	swy noṡênth	len ṡi noṡênth	noṡimo
past	nosilns, nosilans	nosil(a) sty	nosil on(a/o); nosil(a/o) NOUN	nosii smy	nosii swy	nosii ṡi	nosilo-sê
conditional	nosichas	nosich ty	nosich	nosichum my	nosich wy, nosichet wy, nosist wy	nosich ṡi, nosiṡin ṡi	nosich-sê
imperative	-	nos!	-	nosem!	noste!	-	-
present participle	noṡênthỷ
past participle	noṡenỷ
verbnoun	noṡeniê

Changes in 1sg and 3pl present-system, participle and verbnoun forms: m p b n d t z s st > mj pj bj ṅ ð th ġ ṡ sċ

• lơmiṫ "to break, to split (impf)" > lơmins, lơmieniê
• tơpiṫ "to heat (impf)" > tơpins, tơpieniê
• slabiṫ "to weaken (impf)" > slabins, slabieniê
• platiṫ "to pay (impf)" > plathins, platheniê
• rơdiṫ-sê "to be born (pf)" > rơðins-sê, rơðeniê
• zmeaniṫ "to change (pf)" > zmeanins, zmeanieniê
• rozcaziṫ "to decompose (pf)" > rozcaġins, rozcaġeniê
• zcusiṫ "to try (pf)" > zcuṡins, zcuṡeniê
• odpustiṫ "to forgive (pf)" > odpusċins, odpusċeniê

-owaṫ, -nơnṫ

The -owaṫ (the ending -owaṫ is pronounced /-oʊc/) verbs are from PSlav -ovati verbs, the perfective counterpart is -nơnṫ from -nǫti.

beseadowaṫ 'gather (imperfective)'

tense	1sg	2sg fam.	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl	impersonal
present	beseaduêns	beseaduêṡ ty	beseaduê	beseaduêm my	beseaduêt wy	beseaduên ṡi	beseaduê-sê
present prog.	sens beseaduênth	sty beseaduênth	les ton beseaduênth	smy beseaduênth	swy beseaduênth	len ṡi beseaduênth	beseaduêmo
past	beseadowalns, beseadowalans	beseadowal(a) sty	beseadowal on(a/o); beseadowal(a/o) NOUN	beseadowai smy	beseadowai swy	beseadowai ṡi	beseadowalo-sê
conditional	beseadochas	beseadoch ty	beseadoch	beseadochum my	beseadoch wy, beseadochet wy, beseadost wy	beseadoch ṡi, beseadoṡin ṡi	beseadoch-sê
imperative	-	beseadui!	-	beseaduim!	beseaduite!	-	-
present participle	beseaduênthỷ
past participle	beseadowanỷ
verbnoun	beseadowaniê

beseadnơnṫ 'gather (perfective)'

tense	1sg	2sg fam.	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl	impersonal
future perfective	beseadnuns	beseadneṡ ty	beseadne	beseadnem my	beseadnet wy	beseadnôn ṡi	beseadne-sê
present perf.	sens beseadnunṡi	sty beseadnunṡi	les ton beseadnunṡi	smy beseadnunṡi	swy beseadnunṡi	len ṡi beseadnunṡi	beseadnunto
preterite	beseadnôlns, beseadnôlans	beseadnôl(a) sty	beseadnôl on(a/o), beseadnôl(a/o) NOUN	beseadnôi smy	beseadnôi swy	beseadnôi ṡi	beseadnôlo-sê
preterite	beseadnuchas	beseadnuch ty	beseadnuch	beseadnuchum my	beseadnuch wy, beseadnuchet wy, beseadnust wy	beseadnuch ṡi, beseadnôṡin ṡi	beseadnuch-sê
imperative	-	beseadni!	-	beseadnim!	beseadnite!	-	-
past participle	beseadnuntỷ
verbnoun	beseadnuntiê

Irregular verbs

prỉnṫ 'to get, to obtain (perf. of prỉmaṫ)'

tense	1sg	2sg fam.	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl	impersonal
present	prỉmuns	prỉmeṡ ty	prỉme	prỉmem my	prỉmet wy	prỉmôn	prỉme-sê
present perf.	sens prỉnṡi	sty prỉnṡi	les ton prỉnṡi	smy prỉnṡi	swy prỉnṡi	len ṡi prỉnṡi	prỉnto
past	prijalns, prijalans (pronounced prỉlns)	prijal(a) sty	prijal on(a/o); prijal(a/o) NOUN	prijai smy	prijai swy	prijai ṡi	prijalo-sê
conditional	prijachas	prijach ty	prijach	prijachum my	prijach wy, prijachet wy, prijast wy	prijach ṡi, prijaṡin ṡi	prijach-sê
imperative	-	prỉmi!	-	prỉmeam!	prỉmeate!	-	-
past active participle	prỉnṡi
past passive participle	prỉnt
verbnoun	prỉntiê

-ṫ

dẻrt 'to tear'

present: druns, dreṡ ty, dre, drem my, dret wy, drôn

past: derl

conditional analytic: deroch

past participle: derto

verbnoun: dertiê

d/t-stems go like this:

ċỉst, preċỉst 'to read' (from a combination of *ċisti and *ċitati):

present: ċituns, ċiteṡ ty, ċite ton, ċitem my, ċitet wy, ċitôn

past: ċitl

conditional analytic: ċitoch

past participle: ċiteno

verbnoun: ċiteniê

nẻst 'to carry (unidirectional)':

present: nesuns, neseṡ ty, nese ton, nesem my, neset wy, nesôn ṡi

past: nesl(a/o/i)

conditional analytic: nesoch

past participle: neseno

verbnoun: neseniê

imperative: nes! nesem! nesete!

iêsṫ, sêsṫ 'to eat' is irregular:

present: iêns, eaṡ ty, ea ton, eam my, eat wy, eaðôn

past: eadl(a/o/i)

conditional analytic: eadeach

past participle: eaðeno

verbnoun: eaðeniê

Note: In consonant-stem verbs, the past tense plural ending is -li. eadli smy = we used to eat (cf. arbii smy = we used to work)

-th

bèrth, lèth, mœ̀th, biêth, riêth, liênth, pèth, pônth, tèth, tiênth, stèrth, stìth, strìth, tèlth, wèlth, wèrth, wyrth, ġèth

From PS *-ťi verbs. Two subtypes: the *gti verbs and the *kti verbs.

bẻrth 'to care for (imperfect)'

tense	1sg	2sg fam.	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl	impersonal
present	berguns	berġeṡ ty	berġe	berġem my	berġet wy	bergôn ṡi	berġe-sê
present prog.	sens bergônth	sty bergônth	les ton bergônth	smy bergônth	swy bergônth	len ṡi bergônth	berġemo
past	berglns, berglans	bergl(a) sty	bergl on(a/o), bergl(a/o) NOUN	bergli smy	bergli swy	bergli ṡi	berglo-sê
conditional	bergochas	bergoch ty	bergoch on(a/o)	bergochum my	bergoch wy, bergochet wy, bergost wy	bergoch ṡi, bergoṡin ṡi	bergoch-sê
imperative	-	berð!	-	berðem!	berðete!	-	-
present participle	bergônthỷ
past participle	berġenỷ
verbnoun	berġeniê

riêth 'say (perfective)'

tense	1sg	2sg fam.	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl	impersonal
future perfective	reacuns	reaċeṡ ty	reaċe	reaċem my	reaċet wy	reacôn ṡi	reaċe-sê
present perf.	sens reacṡi	sty reacṡi	les ton reacṡi	smy reacṡi	swy reacṡi	len ṡi reacṡi	reaċeno
past	realns, realans	real(a) sty	real on(a/o), real(a/o) NOUN	reali smy	reali swy	reali ṡi	realo-sê
conditional	reachas	reach ty	reach	reachum my	reach wy, reachet wy, reacost wy	reach ṡi, reacoṡin ṡi	reach-sê
imperative	-	reath!	-	reathem!	reathete!	-	-
past participle	reaċenỷ
verbnoun	reaċeniê

bỵṫ 'to be'

bỵṫ 'to be'

tense	1sg	2sg fam.	3sg	1pl	2pl	3pl	impersonal
present	sens	sty	les on, os on, los on (colloq.) ġes on (relative), ċis on (interrogative)	smy	swy	len ṡi, ỏn ṡi, lỏn ṡi (colloq.) ġen ṡi (relative), ċin ṡi (interrogative), lesun ṡi, osun ṡi, ġesun ṡi, ċisun ṡi	les-sê
habitual	bỷwảns	bỷwảṡ ty	bỷwả	bỷwảm my	bỷwảt wy	bỷwản ṡi	bỷwả-sê
past	bylns, bylans	byl(a) sty	byl on(a/o); byl(a/o) NOUN	byi smy	byi swy	byi ṡi	bylo-sê
conditional	bychas	bych ty, byṡ ty	bych, by	bychum my	bych wy, bychet wy, byst wy	bych ṡi, by ṡi, byṡin ṡi	bych-sê
future	bunduns	bundeṡ ty	bunde	bundem my	bundet wy	bundôn ṡi	bunde-sê
imperative	-	bônḋ!	-	bôndiem!	bônḋte!	-	-
present participle	sônthỷ
verbnoun	bytiê

Verbs of motion

• to go by foot: ỉsṫ (uni); chơdiṫ (multi)
• to go by vehicle: eachaṫ (uni); eazdiṫ (multi)
• to carry (by foot): nẻsṫ (uni); nơsiṫ (multi)
• to carry (by vehicle): wẻzṫ (uni); wơziṫ (multi)
• to run: biêth (uni); biêgaṫ (multi)
• to swim: plauṫ (uni); plewaṫ (multi)
• to fly: leateaṫ (uni); liêtaṫ (multi)
• to lead: wẻsṫ (uni); wơdiṫ (multi)
• to climb: liêzṫ (uni); laziṫ (multi)
• to chase: gnaṫ (uni); ganiaṫ (multi)

Pronouns (Pronỏmina)

case	1sg.	2sg. (Albion; familiar)	3sg.			1pl.	2pl. (familiar in Albion)	3pl., 2 formal in Albion	refl.
			m.	f.	n.
nom. (emphatic)	aseṡ, -seṡ	tyṡ	(t)onṡ	(t)onaṡ	(t)onoṡ (an.), toṡ (inan.)	myṡ	wyṡ	ṡiṡ	-
acc.	miê, mnie, -mnie (prep)	tiê, tebe, -twe (prep)	jei, -niei (prep.)	ji, -ni (prep.)	to	nảs	wảs	je, -nie (prep.)	sê, -sê (prep)
gen.	men, -mnie (prep)	teb, -twe (prep)	jeo, -nieo (prep.)	jỉ, -nỉ (prep.)	teo	nảs	wảs	jich, -nich (prep.)	seb, -sê (prep)
dat.	mi, mnau, -mnau (prep)	ti, tau, -tau (prep)	jem, mu, -niem (prep.)	jỉ, -nỉ (prep.)	tom	nảm	wảm	jim, -nim (prep.)	si, sau, -sau (prep)
poss.	môi	tôi	jeo	jỉ	teo	nảṡ	wảṡ	jich	sôi; walsnỷ

The nominative forms ton etc. are used after verb forms ending in a vowel. Otherwise on etc. are used.

The form ṡi is from *vьśi 'all'. ṡi (same as the 3rd person plural) is also the standard polite pronoun in Albion. American Albionian uses wy for singular and plural familiar, wảsca for both singular and plural of neutral familiarity in the Americas, and tet pan, ta pani (pl. ty panowea, ty pani) are very polite.

Possessive pronouns

môi 'my'

	m. sg.	f. sg.	n. sg.	plural
Nominative	môi	mả	mẻ	mỉ (m), mê (f), mả (n)
Genitive	mẻo	mỷ	mẻo	mỷch
Dative	mẻm	mỷ	mẻm	mỷm
Allative	mẻo	mau	mẻ	mê (m/f), mả (n)

tôi 'thy'

	m. sg.	f. sg.	n. sg.	plural
Nominative	tôi	twả	twẻ	twỉ (m), twê (f), twả (n)
Genitive	twẻo	twỷ	twẻo	twỷch
Dative	twẻm	twỷ	twẻm	twỷm
Allative	twẻo	tau	twẻ	twê (m/f), twả (n)

sôi is similar to tôi but with s- where tw- is used.

nảṡ 'our'

	m. sg.	f. sg.	n. sg.	plural
Nominative	nảṡ	naṡa	naṡe	naṡi (m/f), naṡe (n)
Genitive	naṡeo	naṡỉ	naṡeo	naṡich
Dative	naṡem	naṡỉ	naṡem	naṡim
Allative	naṡeo	naṡi	naṡe	naṡi (m/f), naṡe (n)

wảṡ is similar.

Uses of sam

Declension of sam

	m. sg.	f. sg.	n. sg.	plural
Nominative	sam	sama	samo	sami (m); samy (f); sama (n)
Genitive	sameo	samej	sameo	samejch
Dative	samem	samej	samem	samejm
Allative	sameo	samu	samo	samy (m/f); sama (n)

When sam is used in X sam (where sam agrees with the gender and number of X), it is an intensifier, meaniing "X himself/herself" or "the very X". Similarly, sie sam (where sam agrees with the subject) is an emphasized reflexive pronoun.

ten sam is a 3rd person pronoun in formal or literary language. They work like the German anaphoric use of dieser and are usually used to refer to the latest noun that has been used.

Demonstratives

Modern Netažin has no words for deictic 'this' or 'that', instead the words seam 'here' and tam 'there' are used for deictic purposes: to seam is used for 'this (thing)' and to NOUN seam is used for 'this NOUN'. For anaphoric use one can simply use a definite article or a third-person pronoun.

The formal language also has (strictly anaphoric) demonstratives tet (NOUN) zde or (pronominal) tet sam which is most commonly used to disambiguate the referent, like similar usage of German dieser.

• person: kto, tet/ta (NOUN) seam, tet/ta (NOUN) tam, nikt, neakto, wṡekt/každej
• thing: þo, to (NOUN) seam, to (NOUN) tam, niþ, nieþo, wšeþ
• modifier: akej/kterej, takej ... seam, takej ... tam, žaden (with negative; aden with negative in flowery language), neajakej, wṡestek/každej
• when: kdy, nyn, tom, nikdy, neakdy, wšewynþ
• where: kde, seam/tundy/tunde, tam, nikde, neakde, wšekde
• whither: kam, seam, tam, nikam, neakam, wṡekam
• whence: od + "where"-words

wšestek 'all'

	m. sg.	f. sg.	n. sg.	plural
Nominative	wšestek	wšeska	wšesko	wšesky (m/f), wšeska (n)
Genitive	wṡeo	wṡi	wṡeo	wṡech
Dative	wṡem	wṡi	wṡem	wṡem

acỷ 'what kind of, what (used to ask what X, given that it's an X)' tacỷ 'such, like that', cterỷ 'which (which item in a predetermined set of options)' decline as ordinary adjectives. The relativizer tacỷġ declines as tacỷ + ġ. Wehn the relative clause has a copula, the relativizer combines with the copula to form tacỷġes etc.

Numerals (Numerảlia)

(colloquially those are just called ċỉsla 'numbers')

0. nula; nultej

1. aden /'adɪn/; pyrwej '1st'

2. dwa /twa/; drugej '2nd'

3. tri /tʰrɪ/; treti '3rd'

4. čiri /'tʃʰɪrɪ/; čkwyrtej

5. pient /pʰiənt/; pientej

6. šest /ʃɛst/; šestej

7. sedum /'sɛdʏm/; sedmej

8. ösum /'œsʏm/; ösmej

9. dewynt /'tɛβɨnt/; dewyntej

10. desynt /'tɛsɨnt/; desyntej

11.. 19: adnast, dwanast, trinast, čirnast, pientnast, šestnast, sednast, ösnast, dewyntnast /'adnast, 'twanast, .../; adnastej, dwanastej, ...

20: dwasti /'twastɪ/; dwastej

21... 29: dwasti aden, ..., dwasti dewynt

30, 40, ... 90: tridesta, čirdesta, piendesynt, šesdesynt, sedumdesynt, ösumdesynt, dewyndesynt /'tʰrɪdɨstə, .../; tridestej, ..., piêndesyntej, ...

100: sto /'stɔ/; stotej

200: dwestie

300, ..., 900: trista, čirista, pientset, šestset, sedumset, ösumset, dewyntset

1000: tysienþ /tʰɨsiənθ/

Small numerals decline as follows:

aden '1'

	m.	f.	n.
Nominative	aden	adna	adno
Genitive	adneo	adnej	adneo
Dative	adnem	adnej	adnem

dwa '2'

	m.	f.	n.
Nominative	dwa	dwe	dwe
Genitive	dwej	dwej	dwej
Dative	dweam	dweam	dweam

oba 'both' declines the same way:

oba 'both'

	m.	f.	n.
Nominative	oba	obea	obea
Genitive	obej	obej	obej
Dative	obeam	obeam	obeam

tri '3' and ċiri '4'

	tri '3'	čiri '4'
Nominative	tri	čiri
Genitive	trich	čirich
Dative	trim	čirum

Nouns following numbers five and above require the genitive case, in contexts that require the nominative case.

Conjunctions (Conjunctii)

• y(l), a(l) = 'and'
  • Though y and a had different meanings up to EMAlb, the choice between y and a is purely phonetically determined in the modern language. a(l) is used after /i: ɪ ɨ/, y(l) otherwise. The -l (from *li) is used iff a vowel follows.
• ċi, libo, alibo = 'or'
  • ảb = (literary) 'or'
• ale = 'but'
• aċcoi tac = 'however'
• estli = 'if'
• zaċ 'why?'
• nebo(ṡ) = 'because'; can't be used at the beginning of the sentence
• tomże = because (can be used to start a sentence)
• reaċỉ teo ġe = (formal) 'because'
• dôwodem teo ġe = (formal) 'because'
• stởniêm teo, ġe = (formal) 'because'
• zato(ġ) 'that's why'
• abo(wêṡ), boI(wêṡ), nebowêṡ = (literary) 'for'
• aġ 'so that'
• achġ (literary) 'in order that'
• cdyġ 'when'
• bônḋ... ċi... = 'either... or'
• ne telco... ale pac... = 'not only... but also...'
• neġ = 'than'
• choṫ, chotiaġ = 'although'
  • aċcoi is more formal.
• ċil, ċili = question particle

Derivation

• -skej/-sky deletes a preceding *k (from a *θs~*ts > *s rule), umlauts and/or first palatalizes
  • mod lokriskej = Locrian mode
• -en umlauts and/or 1st-palatalizes
  • podöben 'similar' < podoba 'likeness, appearance'
  • weačen 'eternal' < weak 'age'
• -öst, (i)-stwo, -öta, (i)-ba abstract noun suffixes

Syntax

Strict VSO; other aspects of syntax more SAE

"There is" and "to have"

In the past tense, the verb bylo agrees with the gender of the (first) subject in affirmatives but defaults to masculine singular when negated:

• Byla ġena y piênt deatỉ unie. = He had a wife and five children.
• Ne byl als teo lewra semnau. = I didn't have the book with me.

To like

Lib X.DAT Y = X likes Y

e.g. Lib mi led wanilowej. I like vanilla ice cream.

Niest lib mi... = I don't like...

'To hate' simply uses the regular verb nenởwideaṫ in formal language. In informal language the gnus mi construction is used.

Relative clauses

To form a relative clause, usually the relativizer cde (indeclinable) is used after the noun phrase. Formal or literary writing may use the relativizer tacỷġ, which declines but is not a true relative pronoun; it agrees with the case of the head in the matrix clause (cf. Arabic allaðī). Jeġ is only used archaically. In both cases, a resumptive pronoun is used when the head is not a subject or a direct object in the relative clause:

Byla ơwtha tacảġ ne byl unỉ als wolny

be.PST-3SG.F sheep-NOM.SG, REL.NOM.SG.F NEG be.PST.3SG.M by-(RES)3SG.F.GEN NEG wool-GEN.SG

There was a sheep which had no wool

Vocabulary

Celtic loans

For Germanic words in our Slavic, Albionian uses Celtic or Latin words instead:

• tet briêntin (PCeltic *brigant-) = king
• tet tơwsảc, ta tơwsảċca (*tovĭsakŭ, from PCeltic *towissākos) = prince (all senses)
• tet dryw = wren

Latin loans

(mainly religious and official words)

• tet lewr (from Latin liber) = book
• wendỉthiṫ, po- (from Latin benedico, via Brythonic) = to bless
  • has doublet mnithowaṫ, po- = to thank
• zamechtỉthen (from maledico via Welsh melltithio) = (attributive only) goddamn, bloody
  • zachtỉthen is more vulgar.

Proto-English loans

• to melco = Borrowing from Proto-English?

Internationalisms

In Latin loans, vowel lengths are determined by the position of stress; long vowels are used where the Latin has a long vowel in the antepenultimate or the penultimate. In Greek loans, the original Greek length is used to determine the length of every vowel. e.g. misogynen (BrAlb. /ˈmɪsʊwɪnɪn/ AmAlb /mɪˈsɔwɪnɪn/) 'misogynistic' from μισογύνης.

• -iscaì '-ic, -ical' (sèmantiscaì 'semantic')
• -aùlen '-al' (mùsicaùlen 'musical', mentaùlen 'awesome, amazing')
• -aùren '-ar, -ary' (militaùren 'military')
• -en '(when the source word does not have a suffix)' (homogenen 'homogeneous', intimen'intimate')
• -aùsen '-ous' (nervaùsen 'nervous')
• -ìven '-ive' (alternatìven 'alternative')
• -tiä '-tion, -ce, -cy'
  • This causes Albionian speakers to sometimes confuse these suffixes in English.
• -tiën '-tional, -tionary'
• -ita '-ity', -itaùren '-itarian' (aùthorita BrAlb /ˈœjθɔɾɪtʰə/ AmAlb /œʏˈθɔɾɪtə/ 'authority', aùthoritaùren BrAlb /ˈœjθɔɾɪtœɾən/ AmAlb /œʏθɔɾɪˈtœɾən/ 'authoritarian')
• -se '-sis' (synthese 'synthesis')
• -tùra (literatùra 'literature')
• -ist '-ist' (noun)
  • -istiscaì '-ist' (adjective)

Phrasebook

• Zdarw (informal), Zdarwte (formal) = Hello
• Tho ġes ta weath? = What's up? (lit. What's the thing?)
• Mnithi = Thank you
  • Mnithi stocàrt /mniθi stokha:ST/ = Thank you so much (lit. thank you a hundred times)

Sample texts

Schleicher

Ta auwtha ai tai caunia

Baila auwtha tacàġ ne bail unì als wolnai, il uwideal ona tꞃi caunia: aden taingànth wôz tiêġcaì, aden nesônth noꞅe welcà, il aden nesônth ċelweac boꞃzo. ꞃeala ta auwtha team caunim: "Bolì mè saiꞃthe cdaiġ wiðuns ċelweac na eazdienì na caunia." Odpoweadeali tai caunia: "Sluchoì, auwtho! Bolì naꞅe saiꞃthe cdaiġ widiêm mai to: beꞃe ċelweac, ten gospodin, ta wolna taì auwthai a dealà ton oðeda teplà iznì. I nêst als wolnai u taì auwthai." Uslaiꞅꞅi to, nabeagla ta auwtha do teo pola.

UDHR

Ꞃaudì-sê wꞅescai lidea waulnê i sobie aꞃwnê wu saì dôstauinausti a saìm pꞃàwum. Lesun ꞅi nadàꞃenê ꞅe aꞃzumu i pꞃawoznaùnì, tedai les dolg nanim ċiniṫ aden wuzglaindem teo dꞃugèo wu duchu teo bꞃatꞃstwa.

Early Modern Albionian

Today some syntactic constructions and endings from Early Modern Netažin still survive in poetic or flowery Netažin, but the register as a whole sounds markedly religious and is thus not used even in modern fantasy or historical fiction.

Orthography

• a̛ was sometimes used for umlauted long ả. Today this sound is written ở and is pronounced /œ:/

Accent

• Old acute (modern stød): ạ
• Neoacute (high rising): á
• Dipping-rising: ả (resulting from contraction of VjV)
• Grave or circumflex (low): à (long but not acute)
• Unaccented: a (resulting from stress shift to initial)

All of those diacritics (except the flat one for length) are obsolete today, except the old acute in dictionaries; neoacute, old acute dipping rising and grave all merged into length marked with the question-mark diacritic. Only old editions of religious and liturgical texts consistently use tone diacritics.

Morphology

• Instrumental case (instrumentởl)
• Pseudo-dual dative and instrumental endings in -ma: walsnejma dweama öčima 'with one's own two eyes'
• Possessive adjectives in -ow or -in more widespread (ty marchogowea Arþyrowy 'Arthur's knights', modern ty marchogowea Arthyra)
• Infinitives in -ti or -thi (e.g. dealati, rieþi)
• Pro-drop when the subject is not 3rd person
• 3sg, 2pl and 3pl present and future perfective forms in -t, -te and -nt (e.g. dealảt, dealảte, dealảnt, sometimes for more archaic effect dealaït, dealaïte, dealaïnt); the 3pl form is always used with a plural subject.
• ne used without als.
• est and sunt are used for 3sg and 3pl present of bỵt (The modern forms les/os and len/lesun/ỏn/osun are from gleḋ/ot est 'here is' and gleḋ/ot sunt.)
• definite articles in genitive phrases: a genitive phrase of the form X DEF.GEN Y.GEN is implied to be definite (cf. Hebrew and Irish). On the other hand, Modern Albionian usually requires X to take the definite article as well.
• The use of -li on verbs for interrogatives: znạš-li? 'dost thou know? kennst du?' This still survives as a way to mark conditional clauses in modern formal language.
• -mo is sometimes used instead of -m for dative (but not instrumental) singular masculine and neuter adjectives and pronouns: spiewejte jemo pieseň nowa 'sing unto him a new song', prechodnejmo 'fleeting'. -mo is still found in literary poetry but it doesn't consistently correspond to the Proto-Slavic dative.
• Adjectives may come before nouns.
• Early Modern Albionian disallowed morphological "double negatives":
  • ne... aden X instead of ne... wals ġảdnẻo X
  • ne... weath instead of ne... wals niċeo
  • ne... ċelweac 'not a human' instead of ne... wals niceo