Northeadish

Northeadish is a Germanic language which, while similar to North and West Germanic languages due to many areal similarities, does not belong to either of these branches. The name “Northeadish” is a compound of ‘north’ and ‘thead’ (an ancient word referring to a folk or people). A late sound change (metathesis) in the language caused the word *nurþ ‘north’ to become *nruþ, which, being difficult to pronounce, corrected itself through a process of stop-insertion (becoming *n̩druþ). Later still, the nasal component of word-initial pre-nasalized stops (all of which occur only because of this process) were deleted, leaving present-day druðþ. A similar process occurs with other Germanic words such as ‘morning’ (*murganaz → mrugan → m̩brugan → brugɴ).

Writing Systems

Alphabet & Pronunciation

[a,ə] aſc ‘ash’	[ɑː] āher ‘maple’	[ɛ] æſʌ ‘ass’	[eː] ǣðra ‘vein’	[b] berca ‘birch’	[k] cᵫn ‘family’	[(u̯)k(w)] qᵫtɴ ‘quince’	[d] dag ‘day’	[ð,θ] ǣða ‘either’
[ɛ] eɧ ‘horse’	[eː] ēc ‘oak’	[f] feha ‘cattle’	[ɡ] geva ‘gift’	[(u̯)ɡ(w)] aᵹa ‘terror’	[h,ç,x] hagʌ ‘hail’	[(u̯)x(w)] ƕal ‘whale’	[ɪ] iecʌ ‘shard’	[iː] īs ‘ice’
[j] iār ‘year’	[l] laga ‘lake’	[ɫ̩,əɫ] lītʌ ‘small’	[m] man ‘man’	[m̩,əm] meðᴍ ‘gift’	[n] nōðþ ‘need’	[n̩,ən] nevɴ ‘nephew’	[ŋ(ɡ)] eŋᵹ ‘Ingwaz’	[ŋ̍(ɡ),əŋ(ɡ)] cᵫnx ‘king’
[ɔ] åns ‘deity’	[oː] ōðʌ ‘land’	[œ] œ̄l ‘oil’	[øː] œ̄g ‘island’	[p] perðþ ‘luck’	[ɾ] rēðþ ‘wheel’	[ɾ̩,əɾ] regʌ ‘rule’	[s,z] ſeᵹʌ ‘sun’	[t] treᵹ ‘tree’
[θ] þrun ‘thorn’	[ʊ] ucs ‘ox’	[uː] ūra ‘aurochs’	[ʏ] ᵫvʌ ‘evil’	[yː] ȳq ‘toad’	[v,w] veða ‘wood’	[w] wᵫn ‘joy’	[ɔ,ɒ] ål ‘ale’	[ɔː] ā̊hʌ ‘seed’

(NB: The Northeadish alphabet, while latin-based, contains several characters which are not readily representable using the standard Unicode latin subsets. The forms presented are a rough approximation of the actual letters shown in the table above. Typically, however, when appropriate characters or fonts are unavailable, Northeadish is written using the Reform Alphabet)

Orthography

a

The letter ‹a› can double as a short open low vowel and a schwa.

• ‹a› is pronounced as [ə]:
  • At the end of a word or morpheme when unstressed.
    • vata ‘water’ [vá.tə]
    • (ec) vacna ‘(I) awake’ [vák.nə]
  • In the definite article:
    • þa ‘the’ [θə]
    • þas ‘of the’ [θəs]
  • When unstressed before non-sonorant phonemes (usually before /s/ or /t/).
    • mīnas ‘of my’ [mí:n.əs]
    • grōtat ‘big’ [gróːtət]
  • In unstressed prefixes ba-, ga-, ha-, and ta-.
    • haqelðþ ‘this evening’ [hə.kwɛ́lθ]
    • balīvɴ ‘to stay behind’ [bə.líːv.n̩]
  • In inflexional suffixes; specifically, in the past and subjunctive tenses of verbs, in the second person conjugation of verbs (all tenses), in the third person present singular indicative, and in the superlative forms of adjectives.
    • grœ̄taſt ‘biggest’ [grǿː.təst]
    • helpaðþ ‘helps’ [hɛ́l.pəθ]
  • In other common unstressed suffixes:
    • -ag (‘-y’ adjective ending)
    • -cunðag ‘able’ [cʊ́n.ðəg]
    • dǣgag ‘doughy’ [déː.gəg]
  • -tag (‘-ty’ decimal ending)
    • tvæntag ‘twenty’ [tvɛn.təg]
    • ſecstag ‘sixty’ [sɛks.təg]
  • -aðþ (‘th’ nominal ending)
    • daᵹaðþ ‘death’ [daug.wəθ]
    • hœ̄gaðþ ‘coziness’ [høː.gəθ]
  • -at (nominative and accusative neuter ending for adjectives)
    • gōðat ‘good’ [goː.ðət] (also gōðþt.)
    • yvlat ‘bad’ [ʏ.vlət] (also yvʌt.)
• ‹a› is pronounced as [a] in all other cases.
  • man ‘man’ [man]
  • ſcap ‘shape’ [skap]

æ and e

The letters ‹æ› and ‹e› are both pronounced as [ɛ]; however, ‹æ› only occurs as the i-umlaut of ‹a›. (Historically, ‹æ› was pronounced [æ].)

• hændɴ ‘to catch’ [hɛn.dn̩], from *handjaną
• henðɴ ‘to catch’ [hɛn.ðn̩], from *henþaną

ǣ and ē

Similarly, ‹ǣ› and ‹ē› are both pronounced as [eː], but ‹ǣ› only occurs as the i-umlaut of ‹ā› while ‹ē› is the realization of the Proto-Germanic diphthong *ai or the result of ŋ-deletion after *e. (Historically, ‹ǣ› was pronounced [æː].)

• bǣgʀ ‘quarrels’, plural of bāg.
• ſtēn ‘stone’, from *stainaz.
• þēht ‘tight’, from *þenhtaz.

q, ᵹ, and ƕ

The “labiovelar” letters ‹q›, ‹ᵹ›, and ‹ƕ› have several possible articulations depending on their placement in a word and their proximities to other vowels and consonants. The letter ‹ᵹ› in particular is the realization of Germanic verschärfung, which comes from Proto-Germanic combinations such as *gg, *gw, *ww, and *gwj. It may also arise from an intervocalic *w in certain circumstances. The other labiovelar consonants, *hw and *kw, followed the pattern of *gw later in the development of Northeadish. The rules for these letters, while many, are all the same. ‹q›, ‹ᵹ›, and ‹ƕ› are pronounced as:

• [k, g, x], respectively, between two consonants, or after a consonant when word-final.
  • ſteŋqdȳr ‘skunk’ [stɛŋk.dyːr]
  • æŋᵹleſca ‘English’ [ɛŋg.lɛs.kə]
  • hulɧ ‘hollow’ [hʊlx]
• [kʊ, gʊ, xʊ], respectively, after a consonant and before a syllabic.
  • ſeŋqɴ ‘to sink’ [sɛŋ.kʊn]
  • æŋᵹʌ ‘angle’ [ɛŋ.gʊl]
  • arƕʀ ‘arrows’ [ar.xʊr]
• [kw, gw, xw] before a vowel, when after a consonant or word-initial.
  • qerna ‘millstone’ [kwɛr.nə]
  • aŋᵹa ‘narrow’ [aŋ.gwə]
  • melcƕīt ‘calcium’ [mɛlk.xwiːt]
• [ukʊ, ugʊ, uxʊ] after a vowel and before a syllabic.
  • ſleqɴ ‘to extinguish’ [slɛu.kʊn]
  • baᵹᴍ ‘tree’ [bau.gʊm]
  • ſeƕɴ ‘to see’ [sɛu.xʊn]
• [ukw, ugw, uxw] when intervocalic.
  • eqarn ‘acorn’ [ɛu.kwarn]
  • beᵹa ‘grain, cereal’ [bɛu.gwə]
  • aƕa ‘water’ [au.xwə]
• [uk, ug, ux] after a vowel and before a consonant or when word-final.
  • þeq ‘thick’ [θɛuk]
  • daᵹ ‘dew’ [daug]
  • ſeɧcunðag ‘visible’ [sɛ́ux.kʊn.ðəg]
• In simpler terms:
  • The “nucleus” (k, g, or x) is always fully pronounced.
  • The onset labiovelar is not pronounced when not preceded by a vowel.
  • The coda labiovelar is not pronounced when word-final or before a consonant.
  • The coda labiovelar becomes vocalic ([ʊ]) when followed by a syllabic.
• When any labiovelar consonant is followed by ‹v›, the pronunciation of ‹v› changes from [v] to [w].
  • treᵹvetſcap ‘dendrology’ [trɛug.wɛt.skap]
  • naɧventʀ ‘next winter’ [naux.wɛnt.r̩]

h

The letter h may have three different pronunciations depending on its position relative to neighboring phonemes.

• ‹h› is pronounced as [h] when initial except before a sonorant.
  • hūs ‘house’ [huːs]
  • helpɴ ‘to help’ [hɛl.pn̩]
• Before a sonorant, ‹h› is pronounced as [x].
  • hryg ‘back’ [xɾʏg]
  • hnuta ‘nut’ [xnʊ.tə]
• After a back vowel, ‹h› is pronounced as [x] (c.f. German “ach-laut”).
  • þrūh ‘through’ [θruːx]
  • hlah ‘laugh’ [xlax]
• After a front vowel, ‹h› is pronounced as [ç] (c.f. German “ich-laut”).
  • tehɴ ‘ten’ [tɛç.n̩]
  • līht ‘easy’ [liːçt]

ƕ, ɧ

In addition to the pronunciation complexities mentioned above, the letter ƕ has the additional complication of an orthographic convention whereby it is written as ‹ɧ› when in final position in a word or word segment.

ſ, s

The letter ‹s› sports both phonemic and orthographic variation.

• It is written as s when word- or word-segment-final; otherwise it is written as ſ.
  • þas ſeᵹlas ſcīn ‘the sun’s rays’ [θəs sɛugləs skiːn]
• It is voiced [z] when intervocalic or after a vowel before a syllabic; otherwise, it is always unvoiced [s].
  • rīſɴ ‘to rise’ [riː.zn̩]
  • æſʌ ‘donkey’ [ɛ.zl̩]

v

The letter ‹v› has two pronunciations.

• It is pronounced [w] after a labiovelar consonant (‹q›, ‹ᵹ›, or ‹ƕ›).
  • treᵹvetſcap ‘dendrology’ [trɛug.wɛt.skap]
  • naɧventʀ ‘next winter’ [naux.wɛnt.r̩]
• In all other instances, it is pronounced as [v].
  • varm ‘warm’ [varm]
  • vruðþ ‘word’ [vrʊθ]

ðþ, vf

The letters ‹ð› and ‹v› become unvoiced at the end of a word or before another unvoiced consonant (see Obstruent Devoicing), but when they occur word- or word-segment-finally, the voiced consonants remain in the orthography.

Deprecated Characters

Three letters – all of them short vowels – are no longer used in Northeadish: ‹ı›, ‹o›, and ‹œ›. NB: This may have to change if I bring ı back into the language in light of the new rules surrounding i-umlaut and first umlaut. TBD...

Syllabics

There are five “syllabics” in the Northeadish alphabet, all of which stem from syllabic sonorants (or, depending on dialect, a sonorant – specifically a nasal or liquid – preceded by a schwa). When a schwa is followed by a sonorant consonant, it becomes a syllabic. Conversely, when a syllabic is followed by a vowel, it reverts to its non-syllabic equivalent. (We do this in English too; in fact, most languages have some version of this – we just don’t usually have the same sort of rules around how it’s spelled.)

• When a schwa is followed by a sonorant, they form a syllabic:
  • a+l → ʌ, *apalaz ‘apple’ → apʌ
  • a+m → ᴍ, *aþala-dōmaz ‘nobility’ → aðʌdᴍ
  • a+n → ɴ, *etaną ‘to eat’ → etɴ
  • a+ŋ → x, *kuningaz ‘king’ → cȳnx
  • a+r → ʀ, *fader ‘father’ → faðʀ
• When a syllabic is followed by a vowel, it reverts to a non-syllabic sonorant; however, this change does not apply to x:
  • ʌ+V → lV, yvʌ ‘bad’ → neuter yvlat
  • ᴍ+V → mV, mēðᴍ ‘gift’ → dative mēðma
  • ɴ+V → nV, œ̄ðbrucɴ ‘fragile’ → feminine œ̄ðbrucna
  • ʀ+V → rV, faðʀ ‘father’ → gentive plural fæðra
  • but x+V → xV, cynx ‘king’ → genitive plural cynxa, not **cynŋa
• When two syllabics occur in succession, the first syllabic is reduced to a non-syllabic sonorant (since, per the rule above, a syllabic may also be interpreted as beginning with a schwa). The same exception also exists for x.
  • ʌ+S → lS, yvʌ ‘bad’ → masculine yvlʀ
  • ᴍ+S → mS, mēðᴍ ‘gift’ → accusative plural mēðmɴ
  • ɴ+S → nS, œ̄ðbrucɴ ‘fragile’ → masculine œ̄ðbrucnʀ
  • ʀ+S → rS, faðʀ ‘father’ → dative plural fæðrᴍ
  • but x+V → xV, cynx ‘king’ → plural cynxʀ, not **cynŋʀ

Punctuation

For the most part, punctuation in Northeadish is the same as it is in English or most European languages. There tend to be a few more commas than English, (for example, commas are required before any subordinate conjunction), though not quite as many as might be found in German. Quotation marks, which tend to vary in every language, are represented by a single mid-level (reverse) comma (just as single quotes in English, but slightly lower). E.g.

‘She said, “Let them eat cake!”’ (For display purposes, standard-height quotes are used exclusively in this text.)

There are also some spacing conventions regarding quotation marks which allow for most base-level punctuation to occupy the same space as the quotation mark(s), so a series like ,” would be stacked:

The only truly odd punctuation mark in Northeadish is the question mark, which is really more of a comma over a period, or a sort of inverse semicolon:

This sign is falling out of use, however, and a standard question mark is used now almost interchangeably with the older symbol.

Abbreviations

Logographemes: Symbols

There are several common abbreviations found in Northeadish, most inherited from early Germanic writings in Old English or Old Norse. The following symbols are considered proper for most writing in Northeadish:

	ænðþ, ōc, iah, ōɧ	This is equivalent to the ampersand used in most modern writing. It can stand in for all translations of ‘and’. When used to replace the suffix ‘-ōɧ’, it is written as if it were a letter of the word.
	þa, þɴ, þet, þas, þer, þᴍ	This character fills in for any declension of the definite article, though in some texts or scenarios it may be appropriate to add a letter to indicate case or number.
	het, hī, hes, hem, hen	Like the previous symbol, this originally stood for the proximal definite article, though now it has been relegated to the neuter pronoun ‘it’ and is sometimes also used as an abbreviation for the masculine hī.
	þæt	This symbol stands in for the subordinate conjunction þæt.
	-r, -ʀ	The raised comma may be added to particles (determiners, pronouns, prepositions, &c) to indicate a rhotic ending. It is sometimes used in longer words to indicate a plural or masculine declension, though this is not generally acceptable in professional writing. The most common examples can be found below.
	þer	This symbol, while widely used, is more correctly transcribed as þr in professional writing (see above).
	her	‘her, hers’
	ner	‘noöne’
	ƕer	‘who’
	tel	This indicates the preposition tel. This differs from other abbreviations using the raised comma in that the rest all indicate some form of rhotic (either ‹r› or ‹ʀ›).

Morphographemes: Scribal Shorthand

In addition to the common abbreviations above, some texts use a sort of “scribal shorthand” which takes the place of most common inflections of both nouns and verbs, as well as adjectives (if they are inflected at all). Most commonly, this type of shorthand replaces pronouns with a single-character signifier, surrounded by periods, appended to the front of their accompanying verb. Inflection of the verb is thereby also elided. In cases where i-umlaut occurs in the paradigm (usually in the second and third person singular), the vowel may optionally change, or a raised comma may be added to the vowel.

Normally only the root of the verb is used, but in some cases, there are also further abbreviations for common verbs.

[more details coming soon]

Alternative Writing Systems

The Reform Alphabet

In addition to the standard alphabet (also called the “Standard Literary Alphabet”), Northeadish can also be written with a simplified script called simply the “Reform Alphabet.” Whereas the Standard Literary Alphabet conforms to many of the rules of more traditional Germanic languages such as Old English, Old Norse, Old Saxon, &c, the Reform Alphabet is much more consistent with the orthographic conventions of modern Germanic languages like Swedish, Icelandic, or Dutch, and can be a bit of a stickler for function and efficiency at the expense of form and æsthetics.

á	bé	dé	eðe	é	ef	gé	hé	i
Aa	Bb	Dd	Ðð	Ee	Ff	Gg	Hh	Ii
[a]	[b]	[d]	[ð]	[e,ə]	[f]	[g]	[h,x]	[iː]
jot	ké	el	em	en	ó	pé	er	es
Jj	Kk	Ll	Mm	Nn	Oo	Pp	Rr	Ss
[j]	[k]	[l]	[m]	[n]	[ɔ]	[p]	[r]	[s]
té	ú	vé	wo	ý	azet	þé	å	ø
Tt	Uu	Vv	Ww	Yy	Zz	Þþ	Åå	Øø
[t]	[ʊ]	[v]	[w]	[ʏ]	[z]	[θ]	[ɔː]	[øː]

Non-alphabetic variants:

Áá	Éé	el	em	en	eng	er
[ɑː]	[eː]	[ɫ̩]	[m̩]	[n̩]	[ŋ̩]	[r̩]
ng	Óó	Úú	ugw	uhw	ukw	Ýý
[ŋ]	[oː]	[uː]	[ʊgw]	[ʊxw]	[ʊkw]	[yː]

The Reform Alphabet has many fewer letters than the Standard Literary Alphabet (twenty-seven as opposed to forty-four), and, alphabetically, long and short variants of vowels are considered the same letter. It follows the standard alphabetical order of other Germanic languages (that is, the standard Latin order, followed by thorn, a-ring, and o-slash). Unlike Icelandic, however, long vowels are not considered separate letters alphabetically. Long vowels are indicated by an acute accent, as in Icelandic or Faroese; those long vowels which no longer have a short equivalent (i, and ø) can be written without any diacritic.

The names of the letters are standardized to Latin letters and are no longer associated with earlier runic names. All characters fall within the Basic Latin and Latin-1 Supplement Unicode character ranges. The schwa is represented by ‘e’ rather than ‘a’. Syllabics do not have their own characters, but are instead represented by digraphs of a vowel (usually ‘e’) and the corresponding sonorant. The labiovelar letters are broken down by their equivalent onsets (always ‘u’), nuclei (g, h, or k), and codas (always ‘w’), and only those parts which are pronounced are written out; i.e., they are written as Cw- when word-initial, -uCw- when medial, and -uC when word-final. (A ‘u’ is used before a syllabic instead of ‘w’.) The velar nasal is represented by the digraph ‘ng’.

Punctuation in the reform alphabet uses no special symbols (such as the lowered quotation mark). Single- and double-quotes are written at their standard height and are not kerned with lower punctuation, and only the standard question mark is used.

The Hyper-Reform Alphabet

There is also the “hyper-reform alphabet,” which does not have official status, but is in common use on the internet. It is largely based on the rules of the Standard Reform Alphabet, but, whereas the Reform Alphabet is simplified to the Basic Latin and Latin-1 Unicode Subsets, the Hyper-Reform Alphabet is further simplified to include only twenty-three letters of the Basic Latin set; no Latin-1 Supplement characters are used, nor are ‘c’, nor ‘q’, nor ‘x’. All other sounds are represented by digraphs.

Aa	Bb	Dd	Ee	Ff	Gg	Hh	Ii	Jj
Kk	Ll	Mm	Nn	Oo	Pp	Rr	Ss	Tt
Uu	Vv	Ww	Yy	Zz

Non-alphabetic variants:

aa

dh

ee

ng

oa

aw

oe

th

oo

ue

The Eastheadish Alphabet

[NB: table coming soon... updating fonts...]

Some phonetic differences exist in Eastheadish in the table above, mainly because this alphabet represents an earlier realization of the Northeadish language; for instance, the sounds /ɪ/, /o/, and /œ/ still existed in the language at that time, and syllabics had not yet developed from earlier /ə/+sonorant. Initial sonorants after /h/ were merely unvoiced. Other differences include /z/ as a separate grapheme from /s/, /ɛ/ and /eː/ not distinct because of umlaut. However, even as many of these sounds or conventions are no longer used, the Eastheadish alphabet continues to be used to transcribe modern Northeadish in a sort of nostalgically sentimental way.

Approximately 500 years ago, the Eastheadish alphabet was used nearly exclusively to write what is now considered Middle Northeadish. The name ‘Eastheadish’ came into being when the Eastern dialect of Northeadish started to diverge. Many years later, the few remaining speakers of Eastheadish found themselves part of the Soviet Union in what is modern-day Slovakia and Hungary. An effort was made by the Soviets in the 1940s to create a Cyrillic-based alphabet for the language, but this was eventually abandoned as the population was so small. Vladimir Zubarev, the last known native speaker of Eastheadish, died on August 31st, 1977 at the age of 103.

Phonology

In opposition to historical sound changes which have shaped the development of the language so far, this section refers to those synchronic changes which occur within the present spoken language when certain sounds find themselves in certain positions.

Final Obstruent Devoicing

This is a phenomenon common to all Germanic languages at some stage of their evolution. What this means for Northeadish is that the voiced continuant obstruents (i.e. ‘ð’, ‘v’, and ‘ſ’) become unvoiced at the end of a word. Orthographically, this does not affect ‘ſ’, since it is not voiced when final anyway. However, ‘ð’ and ‘v’ would be expected to change to ‘þ’ and ‘f’, respectively. In order to preserve the root of the words to which this rule applies, however, ‘ð’ and ‘v’ are preserved and merely followed by ‘þ’ and ‘f’, respectively.

• dœ̄vnɴ ‘to become deaf’, but dōvf [doːf] ‘deaf’.
• clǣðʀ ‘clothes’, but clǣðþ [kleːθ] ‘cloth’.

See also Orthography

Assimilation and Insertion of [ð]

The letter ‹ð› is slippery. It appears in the darnedest places. In addition to its refusal to go away when it is unvoiced, as above, it also pops up as a result of two specific sound changes when other letters get near /r/.

Do you have one of those friends who just wants everyone to get along and goes around trying to make everyone happy? In the Northeadish alphabet, ‹ð› is that friend. Meanwhile, ‹r› is that friend that you all sort of have to be nice to but no one really likes. ‹d› and ‹n› in particular can’t stand to be around ‹r›. Whenever ‹d› finds itself stuck talking to ‹r›, it usually just kind of walks away, leaving ‹ð› to take over the conversation. ‹n›, on the other hand, is ready to punch it out with ‹r›, and ‹ð› is always rushing in to break things up. At least that’s how I like to think of them, but some might say I’m spending too much time with my letters.

Change of [d] to [ð]: d → ð / __r

This means simply that the letter ‹d› becomes ‹ð› when followed by ‹r› or ‹ʀ›. While this is an historical sound change in the language, it is persistent, which means that it is still going on in the language and may appear without warning in inflections. So, in other words, some words are permanently and irrevocably altered (e.g. *fader ‘father’ → /fadr̩/ → faðʀ: this word will never be written with a ‹d› in any form), while others will dither depending on what tense or case they may find themselves in (e.g. ænd ‘end’, but ænðʀ ‘ends’).

Insertion of [ð]: Ø → ð / n__r

Very similar to the above rule, this means simply that whenever ‹n› finds itself next to ‹r› or ‹ʀ›, ‹ð› magically appears between then. Once again, some of these are permanent sound changes (e.g. *þunraz ‘thunder’ → /þunr̩/ → þunðʀ, which will never become **þunʀ again), while others are variable (e.g. mīn ‘mine’, but with dative feminine ending ‘-ʀ’ → mīnðʀ). (We actually had a variant of this rule in English, too, which is no longer persistent, but which gave us words like thunder from the same PGmc. *þunraz.)

Assimilation of Coronal Consonants before [st]: t,d,þ,ð → Ø / __st

That is, the letters /t/, /d/, /þ/, and /ð/ are deleted when followed by /st/ in the same syllable. This rule is common to most older Germanic languages in various forms, and is a reflex of an earlier rule of IndoEuropean. This is the same rule that gives us the word best from earlier *'batistaz: batist → betest → betst → best, or last, a reflex of latest. In Northeadish this specifically applies to superlative adjectives (where –ſt is added to an adjective) and to the second person singular indicative past and present forms of verbs.

I-Umlaut: V[+back] → [+front]

While i-umlaut (also known as “i/j-umlaut” or sometimes just “umlaut”) is no longer productive in Northeadish, it does continue to have an impact on inflections (much as it does in modern German), appearing in the following environments:

• Verbs:
  • Second person present indicative of strong verbs
  • Third person present indicative of strong verbs
  • Second person imperative of strong verbs
• Nouns:
  • Plural forms of monosyllabic nouns.
  • Feminine nouns with the suffix –aðþ (nominal ending)
  • Feminine nouns with the suffix -x (nominal ending)
  • Nouns with the suffix -a (masculine agentive ending)
  • Nouns with the suffix -ena (feminine ending)
  • Nouns with the suffix -aſtra (feminine agentive ending)
• Adjectives:
  • Comparative adjectives
  • Superlative adjectives
  • Adjectives with the suffix –ag
  • Adjectives with the suffix –lec
• Adverbs
  • Adverbs with the suffix –ega
  • Adverbs with the suffix –līga

Syllabics

There are five “syllabics” in the Northeadish alphabet, all of which stem from syllabic sonorants (or, depending on dialect, a sonorant – specifically a nasal or liquid – preceded by a schwa). When a schwa is followed by a sonorant consonant, it becomes a syllabic. Conversely, when a syllabic is followed by a vowel, it reverts to its non-syllabic equivalent. (We do this in English too; in fact, most languages have some version of this – we just don’t usually have the same sort of rules around how it’s spelled.)

• When a schwa is followed by a sonorant, they form a syllabic:
  • a+l → ʌ, *apalaz ‘apple’ → apʌ
  • a+m → ᴍ, *aþala-dōmaz ‘nobility’ → aðʌdᴍ
  • a+n → ɴ, *etaną ‘to eat’ → etɴ
  • a+ŋ → x, *kuningaz ‘king’ → cᵫnx
  • a+r → ʀ, *fader ‘father’ → faðʀ
• When a syllabic is followed by a vowel, it reverts to a non-syllabic sonorant; however, this change does not apply to x:
  • ʌ+V → lV, ᵫvʌ ‘bad’ → neuter ᵫvlat
  • ᴍ+V → mV, mēðᴍ ‘gift’ → dative mēðma
  • ɴ+V → nV, œ̄ðbrucɴ ‘fragile’ → feminine œ̄ðbrucna
  • ʀ+V → rV, faðʀ ‘father’ → gentive plural fæðra
  • but x+V → xV, cᵫnx ‘king’ → genitive plural cᵫnxa, not **cᵫnŋa
• When two syllabics occur in succession, the first syllabic is reduced to a non-syllabic sonorant (since, per the rule above, a syllabic may also be interpreted as beginning with a schwa). The same exception also exists for x.
  • ʌ+S → lS, 'ᵫvʌ ‘bad’ → masculine ᵫvlʀ
  • ᴍ+S → mS, mēðᴍ ‘gift’ → accusative plural mēðmɴ
  • ɴ+S → nS, œ̄ðbrucɴ ‘fragile’ → masculine œ̄ðbrucnʀ
  • ʀ+S → rS, faðʀ ‘father’ → dative plural fæðrᴍ
  • but x+V → xV, cᵫnx ‘king’ → plural cᵫnxʀ, not **cᵫnŋʀ

Assimilation of [ɾ]: ɾ → Ø / __ɾ̩

A complicated name for a simple sound change: when ‹r› is followed by ‹ʀ›, it is deleted. This applies mostly to nominative plural nouns and comparative adjectives ending in ‹-ʀ›.

Insertion of [ə] after Voiced Obstruent: Ø → ə / C[+voice]___+[-voice]

When a root ends in a voiced obstruent (i.e. ‹b›, ‹d›, ‹g›, ‹v›, ‹ð›, or ‹ſ›), a schwa is inserted before unvoiced suffixes, (e.g. second person singular indiciative -ſt, third person singular present indicative -ðþ, nominal ending -ðþ, feminine agentive ending -aſtra, or superlative ending -ſt). This also applies to ‹t› – an unvoiced obstruent – before the third person present indicative and nominal -ðþ. (However, as already discussed in the Coronal Consonant Assimilation rule, ‹t› is deleted before ſt.)

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
1sg	ec	mīn	mīr	mec	I, my, (to) me, me
2sg	þū	þīn	þīr	þec	thou, thy, (to) thee, thee
3sg.masc	hīi	hes	hem	hen	he, his, (to) him, him
3sg.neu	het	hesii	hem	het	it, its, (to) it, it
3sg.fem	ſīi	her	her	ſī	she, her, (to) her, her
1du	vet	xcʀ	xc	xc	we two, our, (to) us, us
2du	iᵫt	iᵫŋcʀ	iᵫŋc	iᵫŋc	you/ye two, your, (to) you, you
1pl	vīi	ɴſʀ	ɴs	ɴs	we all, our, (to) us, us
2pl	iȳi	iȳr	iȳc	iȳc	you/ye all, your, (to) you, you
3pl	ſīi	hīr	hīm	ſīn	they, their, (to) them, them

ⁱ When the following word begins with a vowel, numerals and pronouns ending in a vowel are followed by ‹r›. This applies to the numbers tvē, tvō, and þrī, and the pronouns hī, ſī, vī, and iȳ. E.g. ſī gǣðþ ‘she goes’, but ſīr ærðþ ‘she is’.

ⁱⁱ The neuter genitive forms may also be rendered as hets, ƕets, and qets, though that is more vernacular and not standard.

Oblique Pronouns

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
inter.	ƕer	ƕes	ƕem	ƕen	who, whose, to whom, whom
inter.pl.	ƕīr	ƕīr	ƕīm	ƕīn	who, &c, plural.
rel.	qer	qes	qem	qen	who/which, &c
rel.pl.	qīr	qīr	qīm	qīn	who/which, &c, plural.
gen.	man	hes	hem	man	one, one’s, &c
non-sp.	þer	þes	þem	þen	“singular ‘they’”
neg.	ner	nes	nem	nen	noöne, noöne’s, &c
sel.	ƕet	ƕesii	ƕem	ƕet	which (one), &c
sel.rel.	qet	qesii	qem	qet	that/which, &c

Relative Pronouns

What follows here are the “true” relative pronouns, though several words may take over this function, such as those mentioned in the “oblique pronouns” above (qer, qīr, and qet), the word ſᴍ.

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	ſā	þaſɴ	þᴍ	þɴ
neu.	het	þaſɴ	þᴍ	þat
fem.	ſū	þera	þera	þā
pl.	þē	þera	þᴍ	þā

Reflexive Pronouns

	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.iii
1sg	mīn	mīſc	meſc
2sg	þīn	þīſc	þeſc
3sg	ſīn	ſīr, ſīſciv	ſec, ſeſciv
1du	xcʀ	xcſc	xcſc
2du	iᵫŋcʀ	iᵫŋcſc	iᵫŋcſc
1pl	ɴſʀ	ɴſc	ɴſc
2pl	iȳr	iȳſc	iȳſc
3pl	ſīr	ſīm, ſīſciv	ſec, ſeſciv

ⁱⁱⁱ By definition, reflexive pronouns cannot exist in the nominative case.

^iv Though it is in common usage, having been assimilated from the other reflexive pronouns, the words ſeſc and ſīſc are technically not correct. The common –ſc ending on the reflexive dative and accusative pronouns comes from an earlier compounding of the third person reflexive pronoun (ſec) onto the non-reflexive pronouns, much in the same way that the North Germanic medio-passive was formed. Appending ſec onto itself is redundant, but assimilation will out.

Numbers

The first three numbers decline according to case and gender. In addition, all higher numbers ending in these numbers will decline accordingly (e.g. 21, 22, 23, 31, 32, 33, &c. Eleven and twelve are exceptions: see Indeclinable Numerals.)

In addition to the numerals, ‘two’ and ‘three’ also have distributive forms. The dual distributive is equivalent to the English ‘both’; there is not a direct equivalent for the trial distributive, but it would translate to ‘all three’.

(For the declension of the number ‘one’, see the Indefinite Article.)

Dual Numeral (‘two’)

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	tvēi	tvēg	tvēm	tvan
neu.	tvōi	tvēg	tvēm	tvōi
fem.	tvōi	tvēg	tvēm	tvōi

Dual Distributive (‘both’)

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	bēðþ	bēg	bēðᴍ	þrēðɴ
neu.	bōðþ	bēg	bēðᴍ	bōðþ
fem.	bōðþ	bēg	bēðᴍ	bōðþ

Trial Numeral (‘three’)

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	þrīi	þrēg	þrem	þren
neu.	þrīi	þrēg	þrem	þren
fem.	þrīi	þrēg	þrem	þrīi

Trial Distributive (‘all three’)

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	þrēðþ	þrēg	þrēðᴍ	þrēðɴ
neu.	þrēðþ	þrēg	þrēðᴍ	þrēðþ
fem.	þrēðþ	þrēg	þrēðᴍ	þrēðþ

Undeclinable Numerals

	#	1#	#0	#00	#000	#000#
0	(nat)	-tehɴ	-tag	hundraðþi	þūshund	-liōnii
1	(ēn)	elevf	tehɴ	ent hund	ēn þūshund	meliōn
2	(tvō)	tvelevf	tventag	tvō hundraðþ	tvō þūshᵫnðʀ	beliōn
3	(þrī)	þrītehɴ	þrītag	þrī hundraðþ	þrī þūshᵫnðʀ	þreliōn
4	feur	feurtehɴ	feurtag	feur hundraðþ	feur þūshᵫnðʀ	qaðreliōn
5	fem	femtehɴ	femtag	fem hundraðþ	fem þūshᵫnðʀ	qenteliōn
6	ſecs	ſecstehɴ	ſecstag	ſecs hundraðþ	ſecs þūshᵫnðʀ	ſecsteliōn
7	ſevɴ	ſevɴtehɴ	ſevɴtag	ſevɴ hundraðþ	ſevɴ þūshᵫnðʀ	ſevɴteliōn
8	aht	ahtehɴ	ahtag	aht hundraðþ	aht þūshᵫnðʀ	ahteliōn
9	neᵹɴ	neᵹɴtehɴ	neᵹɴtag	neᵹɴ hundraðþ	neᵹɴ þūshᵫnðʀ	neᵹɴteliōn
10	tehɴ	tventag	tehɴtagiii	tehɴ hundraðþ	tehɴ þūshᵫnðʀ	decteliōn
11	elevf	tventag ēn	elevftagiii	elevf hundraðþ	elevf þūshᵫnðʀ	undecteliōn
12	tvelevf	tventag tvō	tvelevftagiii	tvelevf hundraðþ	tvelevf þūshᵫnðʀ	dūdecteliōn…

ⁱ Our English word ‘hundred’ is actually a compound of two words, from Proto-Germanic *hundą ‘hundred’ and *raþjō ‘count’. In Northeadish, the singular word hund ‘hundred’ does not have the –raðþ ending, but it is added in the plural. Note, however, that –raðþ is dropped for ordinals.

ⁱⁱ The larger “-illion” numbers, borrowed in most languages from Latin roots, start out simply enough in Northeadish: meliōn and beliōn are fairly direct borrowing. By the third iteration, ‘trillion’, the initial ‹t› has been replaced to make it resemble the native word for ‘three.’ The fourth through sixth iterations are also fairly standard, but the seventh through ninth are indisputably nativized. The tenth iteration, dectiliōn, is back to a Latin root, but the ‹te› preceding –liōn since the fifth iteration has been retained. Numerals higher than dectiliōn are still in dispute among Northeadish scholars; fortunately they are not used often enough to cause many problems.

ⁱⁱⁱ In addition to the standard forms (“one hundred, one hundred ten, &c.”) Northeadish also retains the terms tehɴtag ‘“ten-ty’”, eleftag ‘“eleven-ty’”, and tveleftag ‘“twelf-ty’”, hearkening back to an earlier duodecimal system.

Ordinal Numbers

!! # !! 1# !! #0 !! #00 !! #000 !! #000#
	0	-	-tehɴþ	-tagaðþ	hundaðþi	þūshundaðþ	-liōnðþ
	1	fᵫrſt	elefþ	tehɴþ	ent hundaðþ	ēn þūshundaðþ	meliōnðþ
	2	anðʀ	tvelefþ	tventagaðþ	tvō hundaðþ	tvō þūshundaðþ	beliōnðþ
	3	þrīðþ	þrītehɴþ	þrītagaðþ	þrī hundaðþ	þrī þūshundaðþ	þreliōnðþ
	4	feurðþ	feurtehɴþ	feurtagaðþ	feur hundaðþ	feur þūshundaðþ	qaðreliōnðþ
	5	femðþ	femtehɴþ	femtagaðþ	fem hundaðþ	fem þūshundaðþ	qenteliōnðþ
	6	ſehsþ	ſehstehɴþ	ſehstagaðþ	ſehs hundaðþ	ſehs þūshundaðþ	ſehſteliōnðþ
	7	ſevɴþ	ſevɴtehɴþ	ſevɴtagaðþ	ſevɴ hundaðþ	ſevɴ þūshundaðþ	ſevɴteliōnðþ
	8	ahtaðþ	ahtehɴþ	ahtaaðþ	aht hundaðþ	aht þūshundaðþ	ahteliōnðþ
	9	neᵹɴþ	neᵹɴtehɴþ	neᵹɴtagaðþ	neᵹɴ hundaðþ	neᵹɴ þūshundaðþ	neᵹɴteliōnðþ
	X	tehɴþ	tventagaðþ	tehɴtagaðþiii tehɴ hundaðþ	tehɴ þūshundaðþ	decteliōnðþ
	11	elefþ	tventagfᵫrſt	elevftagaðþiii elevf hundaðþ	elevf þūshundaðþ	undecteliōnðþ
	12	tvelefþ	tventaganðʀ	tvelevftagaðþiii tvelevf hundaðþ	tvelevf þūshundaðþ	dūdecteliōnðþ