Evonish

From Linguifex
Jump to navigation Jump to search


Evonish
Évonix
Progress: 80%
Type
Fusional
Alignment
Nominative-accusative
Head direction
Initial Mixed Final
Primary word order
Subject-verb-object
Tonal
No
Declensions
Yes
Conjugations
Yes
Genders
Common, Neuter
Nouns decline according to...
Case Number
Definiteness Gender
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice Mood
Person Number
Tense Aspect


Evonish is a Germanic language of the Evonen language branch. It is based on the General American dialect of English and the Grammar of Old English, Old Norse and German. Some elements, mostly the wordstock, are slightly A-priori or influenced by Japanese, Irish, Russian, and Latin. It is similar to Middle Evonish, however the two languages split on 25 May 2012 and will probably differentiate more over time. The objective of Evonish is to preserve a old inflections and words of Germanic languages as well as eliminate the need for interpretation by context.

Phonology

Consonants

Affricates were present in Middle Evonish, but by Modern Evonish, they have all become velarized or palatalized.

Bilabial Labio-dental Dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Palatal Labio-velar Velar Glottal
Nasal m n (ŋ)
Plosive p b t d k g ʔ
Fricative f v θ ð s z ʃ (ʒ) ç h
Approximant ɹ j ʍ w
Flap/Tap ɾ
Lateral l

Vowels

Front Near-front Central Near-back Back
Close i u
Near-close ɪ ʊ
Close-mid e o
Mid ə
Open-mid ɛ ʌ ɔ
Near-open æ
Open ɑ

Rhotic

R vowels IPA General American Examples
ar /ɑ˞/ mark, dark
er /ɛ˞ː/ air, bear
ir /e˞ː/ deer and fear
or /ɔ˞ː/ or and cord
ur /ɝː/ fur and her

Palatalization

(this is subject to change)
The voiceless velar fricative "x" was palatalized to the voiceless palatal fricative "ç" completely by Middle Evonish, creating related pairs of words with k and c.

Writing

Allophones

n is /ŋ/ before k or g See IPA for Evonish. It is a 28 letter alphabet. It is as follows:
a, p, b, c, j, t, d, þ, ð, e, f, v, k, g, i, y, h, l, m, n, o, r, s, z, u, ƕ, w, x.
Vowels have multiple pronunciations, but consonants do not.

Diacritics

(Work in progress...) Certain umlaut letters will be used . These can be entered with an international keyboard, or copied.

  • á - /a/
  • é - /e/
  • í - /i/
  • ó - /o/
  • ú - /u/
  • ý - /ai/

Digraphs

The umlauts can be rewritten as the standard vowel with an e after. This was originally considered archaic as the diaeresis replaced this practice. With the rise of technology, however, this has become common use again when the diaeresis is not available. "Hr" which appears in the initial position of some words is pronounced /ɾ/, although it is oft mistakenly pronounced /hɹ/.

Punctuation

It is vastly similar to English punctuation, but the differences are evident:

  • Relative clauses are set off with commas.
  • Prepositional phrases are generally place before what they modify.
  • Declarative sentences end in a period.
  • Interrogative sentences end in a question mark.
  • Exclamatory sentences end in an exclamation mark.

Pronouns

Personal

Personal pronouns feature a combination of the Germanic t-stem, h-stem, i-stem, and s-stem in third person. Suppletion between accusative and dative cases in first and second plurals occurred from originally distinct dual and plural pronouns, hence there are the Cs in the accusative of first and second person plurals. Fourth person is the other stuff.

Person # / Gender Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative
First Singular Ik Mek Mýn
Plural Unk Úr Ús
Second Singular Ðú Ðek Ðýn Ðí
Plural Ink Jár
Third Common Hin His Him
Neuter Hit It Is Im
Plural Én Hur Ém
Fourth Indefinite Man Manen Manes Manem
Reflexive -- Zek Zýn

Relative

The sole relative pronoun is ðe, however, relative clauses are set off with commas.

Interrogative

Declension Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative
Common Ƕo Ƕon Ƕos Ƕom
Neuter Ƕat Ƕas Ƕam

Determiners

The negative article is understood as indefinite; there is no negative definite article so the verb of the sentence is negated instead.

Determiners Article Demonstrative
Definite Indefinite Negative Proximal Distal
Singular Common
Neuter
Plural Common
Neuter

Grammar

Morphology

Declension

Class I Vocative Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative Instrumental
Singular Common o- -en -es -e -i
Neuter
Plural Common
Neuter
Class I Vocative Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative Instrumental
Singular Common
Neuter
Plural Common
Neuter

Conjugation

Weak I
Weak Verb Conjugation
Infinitive -en
Gerund -ung
Supine tó-
Participle Passive ge- -ed
Active -end
Tense Present Past
Finite forms 1st singular -e -de
2nd singular -est -dest
3rd singular -eþ -ed
All Plural -en -den
Imperative Singular (no affix) --
Plural -eþ --

Nouns

Nouns in Evonish are declined to indicate their grammatical role in the sentence. Their declension depends upon case, gender, and number. Gender is a special factor in Evonish; a word does not determine a gender, rather a selected gender determines a different word. For example, a stone in common gender may be an igneous rock while a stone in neuter may be a sedimentary rock. Possessive and genitive are not considered distinct cases. The plural genitive ending is used in compound words much like kennings in the Old English and Old Norse languages.

Adjectives

Certain adjectives decline only in an attributive position, they do not in a predicative position. Cf. German die schwarze Magd vs die Magd ist schwarz. Some adjectives undergo umlaut, such as old, ölder, and öldest. Furthermore, there are many common affixes which form adjectives, whose list will be availible in time.

  • Comparative: -err
  • Superlative: -est

Verbs

The use of the prefix ne- on any verb's form implies negation. Alternatively add the particle "nict" after the main verb, this is especially useful when a different prefix is already attached to the verb.

Aspects

The frequentive aspect is the only aspect formed with special conjugations. These conjugations will be provided soon, the infinitives of these are -eln and -ern. The primary aspects are simple(including gnomic), perfect, progressive, habitual, and frequentative. If further aspects are necessary, they may be formed in nonstandard ways or purely in context.

Aspects Modal Verb Main verb
Simple (no modal verb) conjugation
Perfect haven (to have) passive participle
Progressive bíen (to be) active participle
Habitual dóen (to do) infinitive
Frequentative (no modal verb) -eln conjugation (above)

Tenses

Future is generally expressed by giving a time, or is implied in context with the simple present tense. There are auxiliary verbs that are standard as well. These are conjugated for the indicative mood

Auxiliary verbs Singular Plural
First Person shyl shylen
Second Person wilt willeþ
Third Person géþ

Syntax

Dependent clauses have this special word order: Subject - Indirect Object - Direct Object - Instrument - Verb. Relative clauses have their own, to come soon.

Word Order

The standard word order is different for different sentence types.

  • Declarative: Subject - Instrument - Verb - Indirect Object - Direct Object
  • Interrogative: Instrument - Verb - Subject - Indirect Object - Direct Object
  • Exclamatory: Subject - Instrument - Verb - Indirect Object - Direct Object

Comparisons

Comparative forms use the particle "ðann" followed by the noun(s) being compared to. Depending on that noun's case will determine which noun is first making the comparison. For example:

  • "He jumped quicker than I" would yield "than I [jumped]" (in this example the compared noun is in the nominative).
  • "He jumped quicker than me" would yield "than [he jumped] me" (in this example the compared noun is in the accusative).

Germanic Umlaut

Sound Shift

coming soon...

Occurrences

  • Certain plurals of strong nouns
  • Genitive and dative singular of some nouns
  • Second and third person singular indicative of some verbs
  • Comparatives and superlatives
  • Derivative verbs (of nouns)
  • Abstract nouns with the -þ suffix
  • Nouns with the -enn feminine suffix

Dictionary

Kinship

soon...

Kinship
Grandmother Grandfather Grandmother Grandfather
 
 
 
Uncles Wife Uncle Uncles Wife Uncle Uncles Wife Uncle Aunts husband Aunt Aunts husband Aunt Aunts husband Aunt Father Mother Uncles Wife Uncle Uncles Wife Uncle Uncles Wife Uncle Aunts husband Aunt Aunts husband Aunt Aunts husband Aunt
 
 
 
Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin Male Cousin Female Cousin
 
 
Twin Sisters Husband Twin Sister Little Sisters Husband Little Sister Big Sisters Huband Big Sister Wife Self Husband Big Brother  Big Brothers Wife Little Brother Little Brothers Wife Twin Brother Twin Brothers Wife
 
 
 
Niece Nephew Niece Nephew Niece Nephew Son Daughter Son Daughter Niece Nephew Niece Nephew Niece Nephew

Affixes

Some morphmemes. not including inflections

Affixes Meaning Type Etymology
be On verbs, "to make (in)to", replace ge- prefix Common Germanic
er angelic prefix OE "ār-"
eft again, re- prefix OE "eft-", PGmc *"aift"
el foreign, other prefix Old English "el-"
en feminine nouns suffix Old English "-en"
full of, characterized by suffix OE, Ger, Du "-en"
having the qualities of, commonly used with metals on the periodic table suffix Old English "-en", OHG "-ein", Latin "inus", "ine"
év implying battle or struggle, seen in the name of the language itself prefix Old Evonish "ev-"
far paternal prefix prefix Swedish "far-"
ga syn-, together prefix
ge past-participles prefix common germanic
in diminuitives neuter nouns suffix Old English "-en", "-in"
ix forms adjectives suffix Old English "-isc"
language names suffix OE "-isc", Swedish "-sk"
ken forms diminuitives suffix common germanic
land place names suffix Old English "-land"
lic -like suffix common germanic
man workers of tasks suffix common germanic
mer of or pertaining to the sea prefix Old English "mere-"
mor maternal prefix prefix Swedish "mor-"
oft frequent, often prefix Old English "oft"
or out of, outward prefix OE"or-",Ger"ur-",Du"-oor"
regn arch-, chief prefix Old English "regn-"
ur proto prefix German "ur-"
wer inhabitants of suffix OE "-wer" NE "-er"
of or pertaining to man prefix OE "were-"
werd forms directions suffix Old English "-weard"

To add

Soon to be added to contionary after a little management:

  • brinnen - to be afire
  • graven - to sculpture
  • ingraven - to engrave
  • kwellen - to torment (with umlaut)
  • taken - to reach, to lay hold of(related to touch, to take, and to tuck)
  • wacen - to keep watch
  • wecken - to wake up (transitive)
  • waken - to awaken (intransitive)
  • wrýten - to write, to scribe, to shrive

Noun List

The noun count is at 72:

Verb List

This is not formatted, I will fix it soon

Example texts