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/.
• The open vowel /a/ is true-central [ä].
• The non-open central vowel (notated here on out as /ɨ/) takes on a couple if 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⟩ [ˈrwo̞ʒdə].
• In eastern dialects, /l/ is velarized [ɫ].
• [w] is an allophone of /v/ when directly preceded or followed by a consonant. Compare ⟨oš⟩ [vo̞ʃ] and ⟨šoš⟩ [ʃwo̞ʃ].

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/
ow	ow	/va~wa/

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, ks/	Greek ξ (x)	kš (kš), ks (ks)
ψ	ψ	ψe (ψe)	/pʃ, ps/	Greek ψ (ps)	pš (pš), 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