Gothevian

Gothevian
gušk
Flag of the Republic of Gothevia
Pronunciation	[ɡuʃk]
Created by	Vrianne
Date	2024
Setting	Earth
Native to	Gothevia
Ethnicity	Gothevian
Language family	Indo-European Germanic East Germanic Gothic Gothevian
Early forms	Proto-Indo-European Proto-Germanic Gothic Old Gothevian Middle Gothevian
Writing system	Gothevian
Official status
Official language in	Gothevia
Recognised minority language in	Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia
Regulated by	Institute for the Gothevian Language
Map of areas where Gothevian is spoken   ...as a majority language   ...as a minority language

Gothevian (gušk, gušk [ɡuʃk], formally róždun gúškun, róždun gúškun [ˈrwo̞ʒdun ˈɡuʃkun]) is an East Germanic language descendant from Gothic or a language mutually intelligible with it. Its speakers mainly reside within the borders of Gothevia, though there exist significant Gothevian-speaking communities in Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia. it is the only surviving member of the East Germanic branch of the Germanic languages, though with being a member of Balkan sprachbund, it has evolved to be quite distinct in some aspects of its structure compared to other Germanic languages, with features such as evidentiality and the eradication of the Germanic strong verb.

Old Gothevian shares most of its features with Wulfilan Gothic, likely being descendent from dialects mutually intelligible with it. It was written in a descendant of the Gothic script, which modern Gothevian still uses. Gothevian, however, would begin to diverge from Wulfilan Gothic, with the biggest drivers being the Balkan sprachbund and Slavonic and Greek superstrata.

Classification

Gothevian is an Indo-European language that belongs to the East Germanic branch of the Germanic languages. It is the only surviving member of the East Germanic languages, with its closest living relatives being from other Branches of Germanic, such as Dutch, English, German, and Icelandic. Within the East Germanic branch, its closest relative is Gothic, followed by other East Germanic languages such as Vandalic, Burgundian, and likely Crimean Gothic.

Due to being located within the core Balkan region, it has features that set it apart from other Germanic languages. Such features include post-fixed articles, syncretism of locative and directional expressions, a future-tense particle, an inferential mood, among others. Gothevian was also under Greek and Slavic language influence for most of its history. This influence came with many lexical borrowings, but also several grammatical influences, such as the retention of a synthetic passive voice and creation of a synthetic aorist.

History

The history of Gothevian can be divided into several periods.

• The Migratory period (6th-8th century)...
• Old Gothevian (9th–12th century)...
• Middle Gothevian (13th–16th century)...
• Modern Gothevian (17th century–present)...

Etymology

The exonym "Gothevian" is a Latinized borrowing of the Koine Greek term "Γότθευικος" (Góttheuikos), itself a variant of older "Γότθευδικος" (Góttheudikos), a borrowing from "𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍃" (gutþiudisks), from "𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰" (gutþiuda) + "-𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍃" (-isks), thus meaning "of the Goths". The endonym gušk (gušk) is a cognate of the Latin exonym, being a simplification of earlier gútsišk (gútsišk), from Old Gothevian gútsiudišk (gutþiudisk).

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ~ə~ɐ	u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

• Gothevian lacks a phonemic length distinction, but vowels in stressed syllables may allophonically be slightly lengthened.
• Mid vowels /e, o/ are mostly true-mid [e̞, o̞]. They may be allophonically pronounced closer to open-mid [e, o] in the vicinity of open vowels /i, u/, or closer to open-mid [ɛ, ɔ] in the vicinity of central vowels /a, ɨ/.
• /o/ consistently unround to [ɤ̞] when near [w]. This behavior rarely applies to /u/ however.
• The open vowel /a/ is true-central [ä].
• The non-open central vowel (notated here on out as /ɨ/) takes on a couple of realizations. In stressed positions it is commonly [ɨ]. In unstressed positions it is either also [ɨ], [ə], or, particularly in eastern and far-western dialects, [ɐ].

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	t͡ʃ	k
	voiced	b	d	d͡ʒ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ	x
	voiced	v~ʋ	z	ʒ
Trill			r
Approximant			l	j	(w)

• /p, t, k/ are unaspirated [p, t, k].
• /s, z/ are denti-alveolar [s̟, z̟].
• /v/ may be a true fricative [v] or an approximant [ʋ].
• /r/ may be pronounced as either a trill [r] or a tap [ɾ]. The trilled pronunciation is commonplace when it is followed by a glide, such as in ⟨róždy⟩ [ˈrwɤ̞ʒdə ~ ˈrʷɤ̞ʒdə].
• In eastern dialects, /l/ is velarized [ɫ].
• Consonant-Glide clusters /Cj, Cw/ may coalesce into an allophonically palatalized/labialized consonant /Cʲ, Cʷ/.
• [w] is an allophone of /v/ when directly preceded or followed by a consonant. Compare ⟨oš⟩ [vo̞ʃ] and ⟨šoš⟩ [ʃwɤ̞ʃ ~ ʃʷɤ̞ʃ].

Historical evolution

From Classical Gothic to Pre-Gothevian

• /ɸ/ shifts to /θ/ before a coronal consonant.

  Got. flōdus /ˈfloː.ðus/ → P-G þlṓdus ~ þlōþs /ˈθloː.ðus ~ θloːθs/ ("river")

  Got. *lifnan /ˈlif.nan/ → P-G *líþnan /ˈliθ.nan/ ("to leave")

  Got. afta /ˈaɸ.ta/ → P-G *áþta /ˈaθ.ta/ ("behind")

• /h/, /w/ fortify into /k/, /p/ before /l/, /r/.

  Got. wlits /wlits/ → P-G plits /plits/ ("face")

  Got. hrōþs /hroːθs/ → P-G krōþs /kroːθs/ ("glory")

• /β/ merges into /w/ intervocalically.

  Got. gabei /ˈɡa.βiː/ → P-G gáwɛi(n) /ˈɡa.wiː(n)/ ("wealth")

• /β/, /ɣ/ merge into /w/ before /m/.

  Got. *sib(u)m /ˈsi.β(u)m/ → P-G siwm /siwm/ ("seven")

From Pre-Gothevian to Old Gothevian

• /t, d/, /k, ɡ/ palatalize to /c/, /ɟ/ respectively before /i(ː)/, /eː/. /kʷ/, /ɡ(ː)ʷ/ are unaffected.

  P-G tɛíhan /ˈtiː.han/ → OG cɛíhan /ˈciː.han/ ("to show")

  P-G gílþa /ˈɡil.θa/ → early OG đílþa /ˈɟil.θa/ ("sickle")

• /ɣ/ is elided intervocalically or in syllable codas if followed by another consonant, without compensatory lengthening of the previous vowel.

  P-G *ígil /ˈi.ɣil/ → OG íǥil, íil /ˈi.il ~ iːl/ ("hedgehog")

  P-G rign /riɣn/ → OG rin /rin/ ("rain")

• /ɣr/, /rɣ/ coalesce into /ɣː/.

  P-G baírgan /ˈbɛr.ɣan/ → OG bɛ́ǥǥan /ˈbɛɣ.ɣan/ ("to keep")

• /ɸ/, /β/ develop into /f/, /v/.
• /l/ is elided in syllable codas if followed by another consonant, with compensatory lengthening of the previous vowel, if short.

  early OG đílþa /ˈɟil.θa/ → OG đɛíþa /ˈɟiː.θa/ ("sickle")

• /h/ is elided in syllable codas, with compensatory lengthening of the previous vowel, if short. If /h/ is followed by a consonant, then that consonant is geminated too.

  P-G módah /ˈmoː.dah/ → OG módah, módaa /ˈmoː.daː/ ("angry")

  P-G naht /naht/ → OG nahtt, naatt /naːtt/ ("night")

• /ɟː/ causes nearby non-front vowels /a(ː)/, /ɔ(ː)/, /oː/, /u(ː)/ to front into /ɛ(ː)/, /œ(ː)/, /øː/, /y(ː)/. Non-geminate /ɟ/ does not trigger this shift.

  P-G wadj /waɟɟ/ → OG wɛdj /wɛɟɟ/ ("wall")

• /kʷ/, /ɡ(ː)ʷ/, /ʍ/ cause nearby unrounded vowels /a(ː)/, /ɛ(ː)/, /eː/, /i(ː)/ to round into /ɔ(ː)/, /œ(ː)/, /øː/, /y(ː)/.

  P-G qen /kʷeːn/ → OG qen /kʷøːn/ ("woman")

From Old Gothevian to Middle Gothevian

• /θ/, /ð/ fortify to /t/, /d/ when directly followed by another consonant that is not a glide or a plosive.

  OG þrɛi /θri(ː)/ → early MG trɛi /tri(ː)/ ("three")

  OG þloþ /θloːθ/ → early MG tloþ /tloːθ/ ("river")

• One of /θ, ð/, /s, z/ retracts to /s, z/, /ʃ, ʒ/ respectively, triggering a chain shift that causes the second to also retract.

  OG síwþan /ˈsiw.θan/ → MG šíwsan /ˈʃiw.sɨn/ ("to boil")

  OG seþ /seːθ/ → early MG šes /ʃeːs/ ("seed")

  OG raz /raz/ → MG raž /raʒ/ ("house")

• /ŋk, ŋɡ/, /ŋkʷ, ŋɡʷ/ coalesce into /nː/, /wː/ respectively.

  OG drínkan /ˈdriŋ.kan/ → early MG drínnan /ˈdrin.nan/ ("to drink")

  OG síngwan /ˈsiŋ.ɡʷan/ → early MG šíwwan /ˈʃiw.wan/ ("to sing")

• /kʷ/, /ɡʷ/, /ʍ/ lose their labialization and merge with /k/, /ɡ/, /h/.

  OG qen /kʷøːn/ → early MG qen /køːn/ ("woman")

  OG ƕass /ʍɔss/ → early MG ƕašš /hɔʃʃ/ ("sharp")

• /ɣ/, /w/ are elided before back vowels /u(ː)/, /oː/.

  OG wulkán /wul.ˈkan/ → MG ulkán /ul.ˈkan/ ("volcano")

• Geminate consonants lose their gemination.
• /œ/, /y/ merge into /ɨ~ə/. Unstressed /a/ also develops into /ɨ~ə/. Other short unstressed vowels may also sporadically develop into /ɨ~ə/.

  OG smýrna /ˈsmyr.na/ → MG šmýrna, šmýrny /ˈʃmɨr.nə/ ("myrrh")

• Vowels preceding a nasal consonant coalesce into a long nasalized vowel if followed by a fricative or a liquid. These nasalized vowels lose their nasalization shortly after. /ẽː/, /ø̃ː/, /õː/ develop into /aː/ during this process.

  OG swinþ /swinθ/ → early MG šwinþ, *šwɛiþ /ʃwiːθ/ ("strong")

  late OG ξanθ /skanθ ~ ksanθ/ → early MG ξanθ, ξanþ /ʃkaːs/ ("blond")

• /iː, eː/, /yː, øː/, /uː, oː/ develop into /je̞/, /we̞/, /wo̞/ respectively.
• /ɛː/, /œː/, /ɔː/, /aː/ develop into /ja/, /wɨ~wə/, /wa/, /a/ respectively.
• /iu̯/ merges into /wɨ/.
• /ɛ/, /ɔ/ develop into /e̞/, /o̞/.
• newly-formed sequences /tj, kj, cj/, /dj, ɡj, ɟj/, /sj, zj/, /wj, jw/ coalesce into /c/, /ɟ/, /ʃ, ʒ/, /j, w/.

From Middle Gothevian to Modern Gothevian

• /h/ is completely lost.
• /c/, /ɟ/ affricate to /t͡ʃ/, /d͡ʒ/.
• /t͡ʃ/, /d͡ʒ/ de-affricate in unstressed and/or coda positions.
• /sc/, /ʃc/ develop into /st/, /ʃt/.
• /w/, /ɣ/ merge into /v/, except when within a consonant cluster, then they merge into /w/.
• Final fricatives devoice.

Orthography

Letter	Translit.	Name	IPA	Source
a	a	áfy (áfy)	/a/	Gothic 𐌰 (a)
b	b	béty (béty)	/b/	Gothic 𐌱 (b)
g	g	gámy (gámy)	/ɡ/	Gothic 𐌲 (g)
d	d	déty (déty)	/d/	Gothic 𐌳 (d)
ɛ	ɛ	ècy (ɛ́cy)	/e/	Gothic 𐌴 (ē)
q	q	qèrsy (qɛ́rsy)	/k/1	Gothic 𐌵 (q)
ž	ž	žéty (žéty)	/ʒ/	Gothic 𐌶 (z)
z	z	zéty (zéty)	/z/	Cyrillic З (z)
e	e	éty (éty)	/je/	Greek Η (ē)
đ	đ	đèty (đɛ́ty)	/d͡ʒ/, /ʒ/2	see below
h	h	hály (hály)	/Ø/	Gothic 𐌷 (h)
s	s	séty (séty)	/s/	Gothic 𐌸 (þ)
i	i	íöty (íöty)	/i/	Gothic 𐌹 (i)
k	k	kápy (kápy)	/k/	Gothic 𐌺 (k)
l	l	léty (léty)	/l/	Gothic 𐌻 (l)
m	m	mvɛ (mvɛ)	/m/	Gothic 𐌼 (m)

Letter	Translit.	Name	IPA	Source
n	n	nvɛ (nvɛ)	/n/	Gothic 𐌽 (n)
j	j	éry (éry)	/j/	Gothic 𐌾 (j)
ɔ	ɔ	òmy (ɔ́my)	/o/	Greek or Cyrillic Ο (o)
u	u	úry (úry)	/u/	Gothic 𐌿 (u)
p	p	pe (pe)	/p/	Gothic 𐍀 (p)
r	r	ro (ro)	/r/	Gothic 𐍂 (r)
š	š	šíwmy (šíwmy)	/ʃ/	Gothic 𐍃 (s)
t	t	taw (taw)	/t/	Gothic 𐍄 (t)
y	y	ýcy (ýcy)	/ɨ/	Gothic 𐍅 (w)
v	v	vècy (vɛ́cy)	/v~w/	derived from y (y)
f	f	fe (fe)	/f/	Gothic 𐍆 (f)
x	x	xe (xe)	/x/	Gothic 𐍇 (x)
ƕ	ƕ	ƕaíry (ƕaíry)	/Ø/1	Gothic 𐍈 (ƕ)
c	c	cèty (cɛ́ty)	/t͡ʃ/, /ʃ/2	see below
o	o	ómy (ómy)	/vo~wo/	Gothic 𐍉 (ō)

Digraphs and Trigraphs

Letter	Translit.	IPA
ai	ai	/ja/
aw	aw	/va~wa/
ɛi	ɛi	/je/
iw	iw	/vɨ~wɨ/

Letter	Translit.	IPA
qa	qa	/kwa/
qai	qai	/kwɨ/
qɛ	qɛ	/kɨ/
qɛi	qɛi	/kwe/
qe	qe
qi	qi	/kwɨ/

Letter	Translit.	IPA
ƕa	ƕa	/va~wa/
ƕai	ƕai	/vɨ~wɨ/
ƕɛ	ƕɛ	/ɨ/
ƕɛi	ƕɛi	/ve~we/
ƕe	ƕe
ƕi	ƕi	/vɨ~wɨ/

Obsolete letters

Letter	Translit.	Name	IPA	Source	Replaced by
θ	θ	θéty (θéty)	/t, s/	Greek θ (th)	t (t), s (s)
ξ	ξ	ξe (ξe)	/kʃ, ʃk, ks/	Greek ξ (x)	kš (kš), šk (šk), ks (ks)
ψ	ψ	ψe (ψe)	/pʃ, ʃp, ps/	Greek ψ (ps)	pš (pš), šp (šp), ps (ps)

Grammar

Syntax

The predominant word order in Gothevian is subject–verb–object (SVO), but in practice, word order exhibits a high degree of flexibility without much ambiguity.

General features

Adjectives commonly precede the noun.

• škázɛiny bóky — ‘leather book’

They can however follow the noun when marked for emphasis.

• ížy bóky škázɛiny — ‘that leather book’

Although not present in the standard variety, a common feature of southern dialects is placing all adjectives after the noun.

• bóky škázɛiny — ‘leather book’

Possessors commonly follow the noun.

• bóky my — ‘my book’
• bóky zy Myxaílen — ‘Mykhail’s book’

For pronominal emphasis however, a genitive phrase with a dative pronoun is used.

• bókun zy min — ‘the book of me’

Possessors are allowed to go before the noun for poetic license without any loss of meaning.

• šcánijus o-dáprun uf — ‘overshone, our bravery’

Subject pronouns are normally dropped, as they can be inferred from verbal endings.

• šócija — ‘I saw’

Though they can be included to emphasize the subject.

• ci šócija — ‘I saw’

Verbs go before participles in compound tenses.

• víšynɔvis túklivyn — ‘he was arrested [reportedly]’

Morphology

Gothevian is a largely synthetic language, in some aspects more so than others. However, it also heavily displays analytic features. Nominal declension was heavily reduced, while verbal conjugation was expanded upon. Most of these innovations were due to the Balkan sprachbund, among them are:

• Lack of an infinitive. Contexts where English would use an infinitive are typically formed with either finite forms or participles.
• Innovation of a post-fixed declining article. The weak adjective declension was re-analyzed and spread to nouns via the old n-stem declensions.
• Syncretism of the dative and genitive cases. Particles are used to form distinct dative and genitive constructions.
• reshaped and expanded compound tenses. The future and perfect tenses were reshaped to be more in line with those of their neighbors. A synthetic aorist was later analogically innovated, and analytic evidential forms later followed.
• Loss of synthetic comparative and superlative forms. The original method of deriving degrees of comparison using suffixation fell out of use in favor of analytic preposed markers.

Nominals

Nouns

Gothevian nouns decline for two cases (direct, dative), three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), two numbers (singular, plural), and two states (indefinite, definite). The original Gothic four cases in nouns synchronized into two cases (nominative-accusative → direct; dative-genitive → dative), and the six strong declensions levelled into three declension, largely correlating with the three genders. The weak declensions were re-analyzed as indicating definiteness and were subsequently joined with the indefinite strong declensions.

Masculine declension

This declension is completely made up of masculine nouns. It came about from a merger of nearly all of the Gothic strong declensions except for the -ō declension, which is the predecessor to the feminine declension.

MASC FEM BOTH	šal (šal, "room")					klaif (klaif, "bread")					ško (ško, "shoe")
	singular		plural			singular		plural			singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
direct	šal šal	šályn šályn	šalš šalš	šálaš šálaš		klaif klaif	klaívyn klaívyn	klaifš klaifš	klaívaš klaívaš		ško ško	škóÿn škóÿn	škoš škoš	škóäš škóäš
dative	šályš šályš		šále šále	šálen šálen		klaívyš klaívyš		klaíve klaíve	klaíven klaíven		škóÿš škóÿš		škóë škóë	škóën škóën

Feminine declension

This declension is completely made up of feminine nouns. It evolved directly from the Gothic -ō declension. As such, all feminine nouns that originally belonged to the -ō declension alongside later-derived nouns end with -y (-y ← -a). All -ōn declension and -ein declension nouns later transitioned into Gothevian feminine declension nouns, gaining the -y (-y) ending as well. A small subset of feminine nouns however lacks the ending.

MASC FEM BOTH	bóky (bóky, "book")					as (as, "age")					do (do, "bird")
	singular		plural			singular		plural			singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
direct	bóky bóky	bókun bókun	bokš bokš	bókaš bókaš		as as	ázun ázun	ázyš ázyš	ázaš ázaš		do do	dóün dóün	doš doš	dóäš dóäš
dative	bókuš bókuš		bóko bóko	bóken bóken		ázuš ázuš		ázo ázo	ázen ázen		dóüš dóüš		dóö dóö	dóën dóën

Anomalous feminine declension

A closed class of feminine nouns declines according to the masculine declension instead of the feminine declension. This is the result of the Gothic -i declension and -jō declension ultimately merging into the Gothevian masculine declension, with the feminine nouns of those declensions adopting the same endings.

MASC FEM BOTH	qen (qen, "woman")					šɛs (šɛs, "seed")					škaft (škaft, "animal")
	singular		plural			singular		plural			singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
direct	qen qen	qényn qényn	qenš qenš	qénaš qénaš		šɛs šɛs	šèzyn šɛ́zyn	šèzyš šɛ́zyš	šèzaš šɛ́zaš		škaft škaft	škáftyn škáftyn	škaftš škaftš	škáftaš škáftaš
dative	qényš qényš		qéne qéne	qénen qénen		šèzyš šɛ́zyš		šèze šɛ́ze	šèzen šɛ́zen		škáftyš škáftyš		škáfte škáfte	škáften škáften

Neuter declension

This declension is completely made up of neuter nouns. It evolved directly from the neuter -a declension, -ja declension, and -u declension. It mirrors the masculine declension in the indefinite singular, but mirrors the feminine indefinite singular direct and plural dative in its indefinite plurals. It also mirrors the feminine declension in the definite singular.

MASC FEM BOTH	hairt (hairt, "heart")					biwš (biwš, "beer")					raš (raš, "house")
	singular		plural			singular		plural			singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
direct	hairt hairt	haírtun haírtun	haírty haírty	haírtaš haírtaš		biwš biwš	bíwžun bíwžun	klaify bíwžy	bíwžaš bíwžaš		raš raš	rážun rážun	rážy rážy	rážaš rážaš
dative	haírtyš haírtyš		haírto haírto	haírten haírten		bíwžyš bíwžyš		bíwžo bíwžo	bíwžen bíwžen		rážyš rážyš		rážo rážo	rážen rážen

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

number	person		nominative	accusative (long)	dative (long)	acc./dat./poss. (short)
singular	first		ci ci	mic mic	min min	my my
	second		so so	suk suk	sun sun	sy sy
	third	masculine	ša ša	šic šic	šin šin	šy šy
		neuter
		feminine	šo šo		šɛj šɛj
plural	first		ɛiš ɛiš	oš oš		o o
	second		oš oš	ɛiš ɛiš		ɛi ɛi
	third	masculine	šai šai
		neuter	šoš šoš			šo šo
		feminine

Demonstrative and relative pronouns

number	gender	proximal (this)	distal (that)
singular	masculine	iš iš	ai ai
	neuter
	feminine	ížy ížy	aíny aíny
plural	masculine
	neuter	ížo ížo	aíno aíno
	feminine

Interrogative pronouns

gender	personal (who)	possessive (whose)	for quality (what; what kind)	for quantity (how much; how many)	for size (how big)	for place/source (where; from where)	for destination (where to)	for manner (why)	for manner (how)	for time (when)
masculine	ƕɔn ƕɔn	ƕiš ƕiš	ƕɔr ƕɔr	ƕaf ƕaf	ƕel ƕel	ƕɔrs ƕɔrs	ƕɔt ƕɔt	ƕe ƕe	ƕɔm ƕɔm	ƕɔmán ƕɔmán
neuter
feminine	ƕin ƕin		ƕòry ƕɔ́ry	ƕávy ƕávy	ƕély ƕély	ƕòrzy ƕɔ́rzy	ƕòty ƕɔ́ty

Prepositions and particles

Particles

Gothevian employs the use of particles for various purposes.

Function particles

Function particles in Gothevian are grammaticalized particles that form multiword constructions, aiding with tenses and moods, and take on the uses of auxiliary verbs. Unlike discourse particles, they cannot be left out of a sentence. Below are some function particles.

dy (dy, "dative particle") — Placed before a noun to mark it as an indirect object of a verb.

• gycáhiva d'Ášto cánty my — ‘I showed my bag to Ášty’

zy (zy, "possessive/partitive particle") — Placed before a noun to express possession, origin, or partitivity, or attributively in relation to the noun preceding it.

• iš i katt zy Somáë — ‘that is Somá’s cat’

vy (vy, "interrogative particle") — Placed after the main verb to form a yes–no question.

• dránnivɛš vy vat? — ‘have you drunk water?’

ny (ny, "negation particle") — Placed before a noun, verb, adjective, or another particle to negate its meaning.

• n'yrèš dɛ suk! — ‘I don’t like you!’
• oš'ƕɔn qízɛis jy, nyšɛísyn? — ‘who's talking, the not-strong?’

o (o, "vocative particle") — Placed before a noun to form a vocative expression.

• o'Ázlyfe! aš èly! — ‘O Ázlyf! Come here!’

ɛísy (ɛísy, "optative particle") — Placed before a verb in the subjunctive to express wish, hope, or desire. Also placed before a verb in the indicative to express general want or desire.

• ɛísy ƕaílaw dot Iwrópo — ‘I wish to travel around Europe’
• ɛísy ƕail dot Iwrópo — ‘I want to travel around Europe’

ma (ma, "dynamic particle") — Placed before a verb in the indicative to express ability. Also placed before a verb in the subjunctive to express permission.

• ma kawš — ‘I can try’
• ma káwšaw vy? — ‘may I try?’

á (á, "hortative particle") — Placed before a verb in the subjunctive to form a hortative expression.

• á-žepaiš , saíƕyniš mójivyn — ‘it'd be better if you sleep, you look tired’

daw (daw, "affection particle") — Placed before a verb to express habitual enjoyment or affection.

• daw šívɛis áđby žóvvivny — ‘I heard she used to like to draw’

sar (sar, "jussive particle") — Placed before a verb in the indicative to express requirement, necessity, or urgency. Also placed before a verb in the subjunctive to express a more urgent or prioritized hortative expression.

• sar vándɛiš! — ‘you have to leave!’
• sar vándaiš — ‘you probably should leave’

aw (aw, "desiderative particle") — Placed before a verb in the subjunctive to express desire towards the verb. Also placed before a verb in the indicative to express general want or desire.

• aw m'ai búđaw 'aparátyn — ‘I would love to be able to buy the camera’
• aw buđ 'aparátyn — ‘I want to buy the camera’

Discourse particles

Discourse particles in Gothevian are contextual, optional particles used to highlight the mood or the attitude of the speaker or to highlight the sentence's focus. These particles are mainly present in spoken, informal standard Gothevian or throughout its many dialects. In formal, written contexts, they are mostly seen as unprofessional. Below are some discourse particles.

jy (jy) — Used as a general intensifying particle.

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ɛi (ɛi) — Used to indicate that the utterance happened as a consequence to an earlier even or action.

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nušt (nušt) — Used to indicate something is being offered to the listener.

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níjy (níjy) — Used to intensify a negative or opposing utterance. Also used before nouns, adjectives, adverbs, or verbs for stronger negation.

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aš (aš) — Used to intensify imperatives.

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dɛ (dɛ) — Used as indicate haste or urgency. Also used to indicate the speaker is in a state of haste, or in a state of anger or hatred towards the listener or a third party.

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mis (mis) — Used to intensify adjectives and adverbs.

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hax (hax) — Used as a indicate a sudden shift or deviation of topic.

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áđby (áđby) — Used to indicate that the speaker has been ignorant of newly-provided information or fact.

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ɛx (ɛx) — Used to indicate dissatisfaction or disgust.

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óšy (óšy) — Used to add a sense indeterminateness to interrogative pronouns or to add a sense greater indeterminateness to indefinite pronouns. Also used insultingly to add a sense of diminutivity.

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bɛ (bɛ) — Used to indicate frustration or anger.

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