Wendlandish

Wendlandish
lyngra Vinnurlænska
Pronunciation	[[Help:IPA|ˈlʏŋːra ʋinʉɐ̯ˈlænska]]
Created by	Lili21
Date	Jul 2016
Setting	Alt-Earth
Ethnicity	Wends/Wendlanders (Vinnurlænsker)
Native speakers	1,700,000 (2016)
Language family	Indo-European Italic Romance Northern Romance Wendlandish
Official status
Official language in	the Wendlands
Regulated by	Academy of the Wendlandish Language akademíla ið lyngra Vinnurlænska

File:Wendlands-flag.png

Flag of the Wendlands

Wendlandish, natively Vinnurlænska or lyngra Vinnurlænska, is a Romance language spoken in an uchronic Earth, in the area of real-world Pomerania. The only member of the Northern Romance branch, Wendlandish has, due to relative and long isolation from the rest of the Romance-speaking world, followed its own path of evolution and has absorbed lots of words, grammatical features, and influence on phonology, from its neighboring languages: most prominently Old Norse, but also Proto-Slavic, Baltic languages, Low German and, more recently, Standard High German and Polish.

Introduction

External history

Wendlandish is my first "serious" attempt at an a posteriori conlang. I wanted to do a language radically different from other ones in its family, so I decided for this (somewhat unrealistic, I admit) setting: a Romance language spoken in what in the real world is Pomerania (roughly between Schwerin and Gdańsk, up to 50-60 km inland from the coast), with lots of Old Norse, Slavic, Baltic, and Polish influences, totally cut off for ages from other Romance-speaking peoples, and in the end becoming in the 20th century a part of the Soviet Union, something that further characterizes the language.

Internal history

Wendlandish is the official and national language of Wendland — natively Vinnurlond, "the Wendlands" —, officially the Soviet Republic of the Wendlands (repuvlik savjetska Vinnurlandana), a sovereign state in Northern Europe, bordering in the west and south with Germany (Þysklond) and in the south and east with Poland (Sløvjænlond); it has a long coast on the Baltic Sea (mær Vinnurlandana, Sea of the Wendlands), which divides it from Denmark (Danmork) and Sweden (Sværikur).
The capital and largest city, with 980,000 inhabitants, is Vænfjørðin. Other major cities are Þyskarhøyfn (pop. about 75,000) in the west, on the coast opposite the country's largest island, Rygn; and Løgurðurp (pop. about 98,000) in the east; most of the country is rural, with more than 70% of the population being concentrated in and around Vænfjørðin (the second-largest city is actually Praljetarski, just north of Vænfjørðin, with about 160,000 inhabitants).

The population of Wendland, at the last census (2014), amounted to about 1,600,000 people; the total number of native Wendlandish speakers is slightly higher, with at least 100,000 people of Wendlandish origin living in other former Soviet countries and a small community in southern Denmark, mostly descendants of people who escaped from Wendland during Soviet times.

Phonology

Orthography

Wendlandish orthography is phonemic and there is a good overall correspondence between letters and sounds. Uniquely for a Romance language, it does not follow conventions inherited from Latin, taking as models Old Norse and Danish instead.

Letter	Aa	Bb	Dd	Ðð	Ee	Ff	Gg	Hh	Ii	Jj	Kk	Kh kh
Sound	/a/ /ɑː/	/b/	/d/	/ð/	/e/ /eː/	/f/	/ɣ/	/h/	/ɪ/ /iː/	/j/	/k/	/x/
Letter	Ll	Mm	Nn	ng	Oo	Pp	Rr	Ss	Sj sj	Tt	Tj tj	Ts ts
Sound	/l/	/m/	/n/	/ŋ/	/ɔ/ /oː/	/p/	/r/	/s/	/ʃ/	/t/	/tʃ/	/ts/
Letter	Þþ	Uu	Vv	Yy	Zz	Ææ	Øø
Sound	/θ/	/ʉ/ /uː/	/v/	/ʏ/ /yː/	/z/	/æ/ /æː/	/œ/ /øː/

The digraphs aj, av, ej, ov, and æj represent the diphthongs /aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ ɔʊ̯ ɛɪ̯/ but are not treated as separate letters, unlike digraphs for consonants.

ng does not have an upper-case version as it does not appear at the beginning of words.

hv, hn, hm, hr, hl, and hj all have a silent h in present-day Wendlandish. hj is completely silent in hjints "five" and related words.

Loanwords are usually adapted without exceptions, like e.g. Polish zakład > zakvat "factory", or German Übermensch > ybermensj. Foreign surnames from languages written in the Latin alphabet are usually however kept the same (except for a few personalities whose names are completely adapted, like Kristsafir Kolum (Christopher Columbus) or Jøna ið Ark (Joan of Arc)); names from other languages were formerly romanized into Wendlandish from their pronunciation (e.g. Лермонтов > Ljermantaf), nowadays pure transliterations are preferred (e.g. Горбачёв > Gorbatjov, pronounced either [gɔɐ̯baˈtʃɔʊ̯] or [ˈɣɔɐ̯batʃɔʊ̯]).

Acute accents may be added on all vowels to mark stress; this is in formal writings mandatory word-finally (-ǽ is very common because of Greek -τική words such as maþematikǽ "mathematics" or politikǽ "politics") and in some plurisyllabic words ending in -s if the vowel before it is stressed (e.g. granís "frontier, border"). In colloquial writing, this is not usually done.

Cyrillic orthography

There is an unofficial Cyrillic orthography for Wendlandish, mostly based on Russian, which was developed unofficially during Soviet times and is still commonly seen used by Soviet nostalgics. The Wendlandish Cyrillic is basically the Russian alphabet extended with the letters ө ү ѣ ҫ ҙ standing for Latin ø y æ þ ð. The letters ш ч ц stand for the Latin digraphs sj tj ts respectively. Russian words are usually never changed, even if they reflect sounds not distinguished in Wendlandish.

Examples of official Latin script vs. unofficial Cyrillic orthography:

• The Wendlands are a country in Northern Europe.

Vinnurlond savnts un gasudarstva i Nurð ið Øyropa.

Виннурлонд савнтс ун государство и Нурҙ иҙ Өүропа.

• Tjervona Vihtørala is a city located near the German border.

Tjervona Vihtørala jatt una sjitæt sje lukatse yst þyskriska granísla.

Червона Вихтөрала ятт уна шитѣт ше лукаце үст ҫүскриска гранисла.

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n			ŋ
Plosive	p b			t d			k (g)
Fricative		f	θ ð	s z	ʃ		x ɣ	h
Affricate				ts	tʃ
Approximant		ʋ (v)				j
Trill				r
Lateral app.				l

/g/ is not a native phoneme of Wendlandish, but some people use it in unassimilated loanwords which originally had it. For example granís "border" is a totally assimilated loanword (from Polish granica) and is pronounced [ɣraˈniːs], while gató "cake (in specific contexts)" (from French gâteau) isn't and may be pronounced [gaˈtoː], but more commonly is [ɣaˈtoː].

Similarly, /v/ is used by some speakers instead of /ʋ/ (and its coda allophone [ʊ̯]) in words of Polish origin, even in "assimilated" loanwords, like javnosj "public" [ˈjɑːvnɔʃ] (from jawność) or tjervon "red" [tʃɛrˈvoːn] (from czerwony) — standard pronunciations being [ˈjɑːʊ̯nɔʃ] and [tʃɛrˈʋoːn]. This does not happen, anyway, with loanwords from any other source.
In standard Wendlandish, [v] otherwise only appears as an allophone of /ʋ/ after /k/ — even if this too only happens in borrowings, usually learned Latin words like kvæstsura "public office" [kvæsˈtsuːra] (reborrowing from quaestūra), kvadrats "square" [kvaˈdrats] (reb. < quadrātum), or inkvizitjona "research group; scientific research; Inquisition" [iŋkviziˈtʃoːna] (reb. < inquīsītiōnem); but also from other sources, including Polish /w/, like zakvat "factory" [ˈzɑːkvat], (< zakład). Note that foreign /gv/ is usually borrowed as /kv/ too, or /ɣ/ before /u/ or /o/ (e.g. the two assimilated loanwords kvjast "star" [ˈkvjast] < Pol. gwiazda; and gosj "nail" [ˈɣoːʃ] < Pol. gwóźdź).

Phonemic /v/ is however much more common than phonemic /g/, even if used by a minority of speakers.

/z/ appears exclusively in Polish and Russian loanwords.

Vowels

	Front	Near-front	Central	Back
High	iː yː		ʉ	uː
Near-high		ɪ ʏ
High-mid	e eː ø			oː
Mid
Low-mid	œ			ɔ
Near-low	æ æː
Low			a	ɑː
Diphthongs	eɪ̯ ɛɪ̯	aɪ̯	aʊ̯	ɔʊ̯

An unstressed schwa vowel appears in order to break some consonant clusters, like in some first person singular verbs - e.g. øml "I walk" - as well as in all synthetic past 3rd plural forms in -rtn. The realization of this vowel varies regionally: in Vænfjørðin and all other Central dialects it is usually [ə] (e.g. [ˈøməl], fyrtn [ˈfʏɐ̯tən]); it is [ɯ] across the Eastern Wendlands (e.g. [ˈømɯl], [ˈfʏɐ̯tɯn]), while the Western Wendlands are more varied, with notably [u] in areas around Þyskarhøyfn (e.g. [ˈømul], [ˈfʏɐ̯tun]).

Morphology

Nouns

Wendlandish nouns inflect for definitiveness and number; the definite article is suffixed and changes for gender, being -il for masculine nouns and -la for feminine ones (with l becoming r if there's another l in the stem).
It is not always possible to know what is the gender of the noun; generally nouns in -a are feminine (e.g. margva "carrot", tøla "table") as are many in -e (e.g. førke "girl") but for many other nouns it is not possible to know it from the form, e.g. kan "cane" is feminine but kæn "dog" is masculine; similarly oran (eagle) and agjin (fire) are both masculine while jalin (deer) is feminine. Some nouns may be used in both genders: ælektra (tram/Stadtbahn), for example, is most commonly feminine but is also used as masculine due to its etymology (it is a shortening of ælektratsuk "electric train"; also "train", pojst, is masculine).

The basic pattern is as follows:

	Masculine		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Indefinite	pisk "fish"	pisker	kara "house"	karar
Definite	piskil	piskylir	karla	karallar

Examples of allomorphy:

pufl (m) (people): pufl (sg. ind.) - puflir (pl. ind.) - puflir (sg. def.) - puflyllir (pl. def.) (see below for the -ir plural)

lynga (f) (language): lynga - lyngar - lyngra - lyngallar

Exception:

rubil (m) (ruble): rubil - rubiler - rubiril - rubirylir

Other special cases:

• Some masculine nouns in -ur lose the u in declined forms, e.g. kongur (king): kongur - kongler - kongril - kongrylir (note dissimilation of kongr- to kongl- in the plural indefinite);
  • Masculine nouns in -lur further dissimilate the resulting *-lr to -ll, e.g. milur (smile): milur - millir - miller - millyllir;
• Masculine nouns in -ð change this consonant to d in declined forms, e.g. ølð (ship): ølð - ølder - øldil - øldylir;
  • This change does not happen after -r and -j, e.g. arvejð (work): arvejð - arvejðer - arvejðil - arvejðylir;
• Some masculine nouns have plural indefinite in -ir, as a result of non-regularized original Latin -ōs. pufl (people) is possibly the most noticeable;
• Feminine nouns in -æt (< Latin -itate) change this final t into ð in declined forms, e.g. frjæt "truth": frjæt - frjæðir - frjæðla - frjæðillar;
• As seen in frjæt, feminine nouns ending in a consonant have i as the thematic vowel for plural forms, e.g. forbindasj (-asj < Lat. -ātiō) "connection": forbindasj - forbindasjir - forbindasjla - forbindasjillar.

Some nouns are often used without article, unless it is qualified. This is true for most city names (Vænfjørðin but mudern Vænfjørðinil) and many names of sciences (eterafrøj "meteorology" but eterafrøjla ið vintsisjm søkulir "20th century meteorology").

Adjectives

Wendlandish has two adjectival declensions, one that differentiates between masculine and feminine in the singular, and another one that doesn't:

	1st declension		2nd declension
	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine and Feminine
Singular	kælt "hot"	kælta	rjal "hidden"
Plural	kælts		rjalir

Note that many adjectives of the 1st declension with i change this vowel into u in the feminine, deriving from Latin o, e.g. bin "good": bin (m. sg.) - buna (f. sg.) - bints (pl.). As this example shows, ns becomes nts in all such plurals.

1st declension plurals are always written by adding an s to the masculine singular, but sometimes, in clusters, there are pronunciation changes, as the original last consonant is never pronounced (in a few cases such as -mb it never is even in the singular). Some examples:

muld "new": muld [ˈmul(d)] - mulda [ˈmuːlda] - mulds [ˈmuls]

durf "cool" (colloquial): durf [ˈduɐ̯f] - durfa [ˈduːɐ̯fa] - durfs [ˈduɐ̯s]

lymb "beautiful": lymb [ˈlʏm] - limba [ˈliːmba] - lymbs [ˈlʏms]

savjetsk "Soviet": savjetsk [saˈʋjetsk] - savjetska [saˈʋjetska] - savjetsks [saˈʋjes(k)s]

Most adjectives are of the 1st declension; the 2nd declension ones mostly come from Latin -e adjectives or Middle High German -ik / Danish -ig ones (e.g. jegentsli "true, real"). There are, however, a few oddities, like tjervon (red), of Polish origin, being a 2nd declension adjective.

It should be kept in mind that two color terms have irregular declensions: ruds "brown" - fem. ruda and pl. rudar; orants "orange" - fem. orantja and pl. orantjar.

Irregular adjectives

There are eight (or nine) completely irregular adjectives with synthetic comparatives and superlatives, inherited from Latin — the reason for the count of eight or nine is that one of them, irregular from Latin, has been completely displaced in modern Wendlandish in its positive degree only by a Russian borrowing.
All of them also follow irregular declensions (similar to ruds and orants), but the comparative is invariable.

The irregular adjectives are:

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
bin (buna, bunar) "good"	milir "better"	øftym (øftma, øftmar) "best"
møl (mala, malar) "bad"	pjajir "worse"	pjasjym (pjasjima, pjasjimar) "worst"
balsjoj (balsjaja, balsjí) "big, large"	møyr "larger"	mesjym (mesjima, mesjimar) "largest"
møyn (majna, majnar) "big, large" (obsolete)
pør (parva, parvar) "small"	minir "smaller"	minym (minima, minimar) "smallest"
sufør (sufra, sufrar) "high, tall, upper"	sufjarir "higher, taller"	sufrøm (sufrema, sufremar) "highest, tallest, uppermost"
infør (infra, infrar) "short, lower"	infjarir "shorter"	infym (infima, infimar) "shortest, lowermost"
pistør (pistra, pistrar) "(immediately) next, following"	pistjarir "next, following" (farther); "farther"	pistrøm (pistrema, pistremar) "last; farthest"
jastør (jastra, jastrar) "external, outside"	jastjarir "more external; protruding, farther"	jastrøm (jastrema, jastremar) "last; farthest"

More on pistjarir/jastjarir and pistrøm/jastrøm: the forms of pistør are more often used when talking about things and their placement, as in a number - e.g. pistrema pørsjin "last position"; pistrøm køyðik ið sjirtiril "the writer's last book"; pistrema pisjuljæðla "the last chance". The forms of jastør are used when talking about spatial placement - e.g. jastrema kara i vegil "last house in the street". In some cases, both can be used - e.g. jastremar/pistremar persunar ið propkala "the last people of the queue"; some phrases are however mostly idiomatic, so that "last train" and "next train" seem pistjarir and pistrøm cases but the actual terms used are jastjarir pojst(il) and jastrøm pojst(il).

Possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives are among those that are mostly irregular:

	mør (my, mine)		tsur (your-sg, yours-sg)		ifyr (his, her(s))	nitte (our(s))		vjatte (your-pl, yours-pl)		ifovr (their-m, theirs-m)	ifjør (their-f, theirs-f)
	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine and Feminine	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine and Feminine	Masculine and Feminine
Singular	mør	mæj	tsur	tso	ifyr	nitte	nittra	vjatte	vjattra	ifovr	ifjør
Plural	mjæ		tsy			nøtti	nitte	vjætti	vjatte

Ordinal numbers

Ordinals from 1st to 4th are all irregular; all others are made by adding -isjm to the numeral (cognate with French -ième and Italian -esimo among others), and are invariable (e.g. hjints [ˈin(t)s] "five" → hjintsisjm [inˈtsiʃm]; sjek "six" → sjekisjm).

	frim (first)		sjunður (second)		tjars (third)		hvæjrð (fourth)
	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	frim		sjunður	sjonð	tjars	tjarsja	hvæjrð	hvæjrta
Plural	frim	frime	sjynð	sjunðe	tjærs	tjarsje	hværð	hvæjrte

Note that ð is silent in the forms sjonð [ˈʃɔn], sjynð [ˈʃʏn], hvæjrð [ˈʋɛɪ̯ɐ̯], and hværð [ˈʋæɐ̯].

Pronouns and demonstratives

Wendlandish pronouns distinguish three forms — nominative, accusative, and indirect — as relics of the Latin case system, but not all pronouns distinguish all of them. The 3rd person pronouns derive from ipse, ipsa, ipsī, ipsae.

		Nominative	Accusative	Indirect
1sg		jag	maj	mi
2sg		tsu	taj	tajv [ˈtaju]
3sg	M	if	ifju	ifi
	F	ifja
1pl		novr		nøym
2pl		vovr		vøym
3sg	M	ifi	ifov	ifir
	F	ifjæ	ifjar

The two main demonstratives, "this" and "that", derive from locutions like ille hīc and ille illīc. The third demonstrative, "same", derives from īdem. Demonstratives have a neuter invariable form used as a pronoun:

	lek (this)			lylik (that)			ide (the same)
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	lek	lajk	lyk	lylik	lajlik	lyðlik	ide	jæde	ide
Plural	lik	læk		lilik	lælik		jide	jajde

Wendlandish correlatives are the following ones:

	Demonstrative	Relative	Interrogative	Indefinite	Universal
Person	talf	hval, hjeð	hjalf?	ælfeltalf	intestalf
Type	tal		hval?	ælfeltal	intestal
Thing	hvid	hvid, hjeð	hjid?	ælfelhvid	int
Quantity, number	tit	hjeð (hvit)	hvit?	ælfeltit
Location	tiv	yv	hjyv?	ælfeliv	intesiv
Manner	tølmi	hvumi	hvumi?	ælfelmið	intemið
Time	tan	hvan	hvan?	ælfeltsu	intetsu

Negatives are formed by adding naj before the demonstrative, e.g. naj talf "no one".

"Why" and "because" are both translated as hvofur. Despite the similarity to e.g. Danish hvorfor, it is actually a derivation from Latin quō pro.

Numerals

Wendlandish numerals are mostly inherited from Latin, but there are two notable contaminations from Slavic (in the words for six and eight) and two Germanic borrowings (eleven and twelve). Pronunciation is added for some numbers that have an irregular pronunciation, further worn down from the orthographically represented one.

Digit	Cardinal	Pronunciation
0	nil
1	un / una
2	dov	[ˈdɔʊ̯] or [ˈdoː]
3	sjajr	[ˈʃaɪ̯ɐ̯] or [ˈʃæː]
4	hvatsír	[ʋɐˈ(t)siː]
5	hjints	[ˈin(t)s]
6	sjek
7	seft
8	tom
9	nym
10	dets
11	jælfu
12	tovl
13	sjeðts	[ˈʃets] or [ˈʃes]
14	hvatsirðir	[ʋaˈsiɐ̯ði]
15	hjindets	[ˈindets]
16	sjæðits
17	siþets
18	tøðts	[ˈtøts] or [ˈtøs]
19	njænts
20	vints
21	vints-e-un(a)
22	vints-e-dov
30	sjinta arch. also sjijenta
40	hvasjenta
50	hjinfenta	[ˈiɱfenta]
60	sjekænta
70	sjoftæjnta
80	tøjnta
90	nonænta
100	sjønt

Note that all tens are stressed on their first syllable, so [ˈʋaːʃenta], [ˈiɱfenta], [ˈʃeːkænta], [ˈʃɔftɛi̯nta], [ˈtøʏ̯nta], [ˈnɔnænta].

Numbers above 100 are simply compounds but not written together: 101 is sjønt un(a), 102 sjønt dov, etc.

Digit	Cardinal	Pronunciation
200	dusjænts
300	sjajrsjænts
400	hvasjinjænts
500	hjinjænts
600	sjisjænts
700	sjæftjænts
800	tinjænts
900	nøjnænts
1,000	mild
1,001	mild et un(a)
2,000	dov mia
10,000	dets mia
1,000,000	un mylðan
2,000,000	dov mylðaner
1,000,000,000	un mildjørð	[umˈmiltʃøɐ̯ð]
2,000,000,000	dov mildjørðer
1,000,000,000,000	un biðljørð arch. also bidljørð
1,000,000,000,000,000	un sjiljørð

Verbs

Wendlandish verbs inherit the four conjugations of Latin, but has categorized them in different classes as sound changes greatly modified the original verbs. The four main verb classes are:

1. -æjr verbs, that is, descendants of the Latin first conjugation, like mæjr "to love" (< amāre) or ømlæjr "to walk" (< ambulāre);
2. -ajr verbs, descendants of the Latin second conjugation, like viðajr "to see" (< vidēre) or sfajr "to be aware" (< sapēre);
3. -ir verbs, descendants of the Latin third and fourth conjugations - like hrajðir "to believe" (< crēdere), hnovskir "to know" (< gnōscere), or dirmir "to sleep" (< dormīre), inørnir "to intervene" (< intervenīre). Those which descend from the third conjugation are called the -øymur group as their first person plural present indicative ends like that (e.g. hriðøymur "we believe"), while those which descend from the fourth one are the -ymur group (e.g. dirmymur "we sleep").
4. -ær/-er verbs, which do not descend from Latin but are instead made by a generalization of the pre-Wendlandish -er infinitive suffix added to other roots, like milær "to smile" (< Old Norse smíla). This is the only currently productive conjugation - e.g. forkastsær "to have lunch"; modern colloquial davnloder "to download", sælfijer "to take a selfie", buhojer "to get drunk".

Present indicative

The present indicative usually has two principal stems: a "stressed" stem, used for the singular and third plural, and an "unstressed" one for first and second plural. The infinitive stem is usually the unstressed one, except for -ir verbs of the -øymur group.

	1st (-æjr)	2nd (-ajr)	3rd (-ir (-øymur))	3rd (-ir (-ymur))	4th (-ær)	4th (-er)
	ømlæjr "to walk"	viðajr "to see"	hnovskir "to know"	dirmir "to sleep"	milær "to smile"	rjaser "to cut"
jag	øml	vajðe	hnovsk	dørm	milæ	rjase
tsu	ømlar	vajðir	hnovskir	dørmir	milær	rjaser
if / ifja	ømlat	vajðit	hnovskit	dørmit	milæt	rjaset
novr	ømlømur	viðøymur	hnuskøymur	dirmymur	miløymur	rjasymur
vovr	ømlætir	viðætir	hnuskætir	dirmitir	milætir	rjasitir
ifi / ifjæ	ømlints	vajðints	hnovskunts	dørmunts	milænts	rjasents
(impersonal)	ømlitse	vajðitse	hnovskitse	dørmitse	milætse	rjasetse

Endings are only stressed in the first and second plural forms, except in -er verbs ([ˈrjaːsʏmuɐ̯], [ˈrjaːsitiɐ̯] but [miˈløʏ̯muɐ̯], [miˈlæːtiɐ̯]).

Most third conjugation -øymur verbs have umlaut in their conjugation, namely:

• i-umlaut in the second and third person singular:

pjatir (to ask): jag pjat, tsu pjætir, if pjætit

hrajðir (to believe): jag hrajð, tsu hræðir, if hræðit

• u-umlaut in the third person plural, and also in the first person singular for a few verbs with i in all forms:

pjatir (to ask): jag pjat, ... ifi pjotunts

hrajðir (to believe): jag hrajð, ... ifi hrøyðunts

bivir (to drink): jag byv, tsu bivir, ... ifi byvunts

Some -æjr verbs have æj in the first person singular and a in all other stressed-stem forms:

mæjr (to love): jag æjm, tsu amar, if amat, novr mømur, vovr mætir, if amints, amatse

kanæjr (to sing): jag kæjnt, tsu kantar, if kantat, novr kanømur, vovr kanætir, if kantints, kantatse.

Imperative

The active imperative is always the bare stressed stem, thus in most cases it is identical in form to the first person singular (except for -ajr verbs): øml! "walk!"; vajð! "see!"; pjat! "ask!". Note that the imperative too has the a → æj change, thus: æjm! "love!"; kæjnt! "sing!".

The passive imperative is formed by adding se before the active imperative: se æjm! "be loved!"; se hnovsk! "be known!".

Jas is an exception as its imperative is si! (the same form as subjunctive 1sg).

Imperfect indicative

The imperfect indicative is regular, and has slightly different forms for all conjugations. Note that the 3rd -ymur were once distinct from the 3rd -øymur ones, but the original forms (which often caused umlaut) have been regularized and replaced by the -øymur forms. The stem is always the unstressed one.

	1st (-æjr)	2nd (-ajr)	3rd (-ir)	4th (-ær/-er)
	ømlæjr "to walk"	viðajr "to see"	hnovskir "to know"	milær "to smile"
jag	ømlæjma	viðema	hnuskjama	milæma
tsu	ømlæjmar	viðemar	hnuskjamar	milæmar
if / ifja	ømlaft	viðaft	hnuskjaft	milæft
novr	ømlømmur	viðømmur	hnuskjømmur	milømmur
vovr	ømlæjmet	viðemit	hnuskjamit	milæmet
ifi / ifjæ	ømlæjnts	viðajnts	hnuskjants	milæjants
(impersonal)	ømlaftse	viðaftse	hnuskjaftse	milæftse

Future

The future tense, in Wendlandish, is formed analytically with the auxiliary verb kap (< Latin capiō) — which is defective and has only its present forms and the past participle — plus the infinitive. The conjugation of kap is: kap - kapir - kaft - køymur - kapætir - køpunts - kaftse. The past participle is kaft.

Present participle and continuous tenses

The present participle is an important formation in Wendlandish as it is used in forming continuous tenses — a different construction from other Romance languages like e.g. Portuguese estou falando/a falar or French je suis en train de parler.

The Wendlandish present participle is formed by the corresponding Latin accusative — it is however uninflected as gender wasn't distinguished on it in Latin and due to sound changes both the original -ntem and -ntēs forms both came to end in -nts. Note that the gerund did not merge as it underwent umlaut (thus forms in -ønts for all verbs); while unused in modern Wendlandish, it is actually attested in the earliest texts but with a future passive participle meaning.
The present participle is extremely simple to form, by removing the infinitive ending and adding -æjnts for -æjr verbs, -jants for -ajr and -ir verbs, and -nts for -ær verbs:

ømlæjr "to walk" (stem øml-) → ømlæjnts "walking"

viðajr "to see" (stem við-) → viðjants "seeing" (such forms are often pronounced without the /ð/, thus [ʋɪˈjants], [raɪ̯ˈjants] (hrajðjants "believing") and so on)

hnovskir "to know" (hnovsk-) → hnovskjants "knowing"

inørnir "to intervene" (inørn-) → inørnjants "intervening"

milær "to smile" (milæ-) → milænts "smiling"

These forms are used with the corresponding tenses of jas (present or imperfect), while the future is simply made with the kap auxiliary verb (it was once a regular form with the infinitive of jas, but it was later omitted so earlier jag kap jas ømlæjnts "I will be walking" → modern jag kap ømlæjnts (c.f. simple future jag kap ømlæjr "I will walk")):

jag so viðjants "I am seeing", jag jarm viðjants "I was seeing"

tsu jar jants "you are saying", tsu jarar jants "you were saying"

if jatt forkastsænts "he is eating lunch", if jart forkastsænts "he was eating lunch"

novr savrm arvejðænts "we are working", novr jørum arvejðænts "we were working"

vovr jæsts gljandænts "you (pl.) are looking", vovr jærits gljandænts "you (pl.) were looking"

ifi savnts hrjæjnts "they are making", ifi jarants hrjæjnts "they were making"

Irregular verbs

To be (jas)

Like in most Romance languages, jas (to be) is irregular. The present participle is the same as in other Romance languages; the past participle derives from an analogical form *essūtum. It is the only verb to have a synthetic subjunctive (which is used as auxiliary for the subjunctives of all other verbs).

jas (to be)	Indicative							Subjunctive
	Present	Imperfect	Synth. Past	Past	Future	Pluperfect	Fut. Perfect	Present	Imperfect
jag	so	jarm	fy	hamu jøst	kap jas	højm jøst	hamu kaft jas	si	firm
tsu	jar	jarar	fysts	hants jøst	kapir jas	hømist jøst	hants kaft jas	sis	furir
if / ifja	jatt	jart	fyt	hand jøst	kaft jas	hømit jøst	hand kaft jas	sit	firt
novr	savrm	jørum	fyrm	hvønts jøst	køymur jas	hømur jøst	hvønts kaft jas	syms	furøymur
vovr	jæsts	jærits	fysts	hvits jøst	kapætir jas	hømstir jøst	hvits kaft jas	sits	firæjtir
ifi / ifjæ	savnts	jarants	førtn	haments jøst	køpunts jas	hømyrtn jøst	haments kaft jas	sints	furints
Pres. part.	stæjnts
Past part.	jøst

To have (tenajr)

Like in Ibero-Romance and most of Southern Italo-Dalmatian, the Wendlandish verb for "to have" is the reflex of Latin tenēre, with habēre existing only as an auxiliary for the past and pluperfect. Note that the present forms presume an earlier, Pre-Wendlandish form *tenn-; the 3PL form shows an additional change *tjanints > tjænts.

tenajr (to have)	Indicative
	Present	Imperfect	Past	Future	Pluperfect	Fut. Perfect
jag	tjane	tenema	hamu tytt	kap tenajr	højm tytt	hamu kaft tenajr
tsu	tjanir	tenemar	hants tytt	kapir tenajr	hømist tytt	hants kaft tenajr
if / ifja	tjanit	tenaft	hand tytt	kaft tenajr	hømit tytt	hand kaft tenajr
novr	tenøymur	tenømmur	hvønts tytt	køymur tenajr	hømur tytt	hvønts kaft tenajr
vovr	tenætir	tenemit	hvits tytt	kapætir tenajr	hømstir tytt	hvits kaft tenajr
ifi / ifjæ	tjænts	tenajnts	haments tytt	køpunts tenajr	hømyrtn tytt	haments kaft tenajr
(impersonal)	tjanitse	tenaftse	handse tytt	kaftse tenajr	hømitse tytt	handse kaft tenajr
Pres. part.	tenjants
Past part.	tytt

To be able to (pisir)

The conjugation of Latin posse, due to different evolutions, greatly diverged from that of esse; the imperfect has been analogically rebuilt from the infinitive. "To be able to" is pisir (< Pre-Wendl. *possere):

pisir (to be able to)	Indicative
	Present	Imperfect	Past	Future	Pluperfect	Fut. Perfect
jag	pis	pisjama	hamu puts	kap pisir	højm puts	hamu kaft pisir
tsu	pur	pisjamar	hants puts	kapir pisir	hømist puts	hants kaft pisir
if / ifja	putt	pisjaft	hand puts	kaft pisir	hømit puts	hand kaft pisir
novr	pysumur	pisjømmur	hvønts puts	køymur pisir	hømur puts	hvønts kaft pisir
vovr	putæstir	pisjamit	hvits puts	kapætir pisir	hømstir puts	hvits kaft pisir
ifi / ifjæ	pysunts	pisjants	haments puts	køpunts pisir	hømyrtn puts	haments kaft pisir
(impers.)	puttse	pisjaftse	handse puts	køpunts pisir	hømitse puts	haments kaft pisir
Pres. part.	putjants
Past part.	puts

To want (vjal)

To want - vjal - is another irregular verb, directly continuing Latin velle:

vjal (to want)	Indicative
	Present	Imperfect	Synth. Past	Past	Future	Pluperfect	Fut. Perfect
jag	vil	vulema	vøl	hamu vylt	kap vjal	højm vylt	hamu kaft vjal
tsu	vir	vulemar	vølajst	hants vylt	kapir vjal	hømist vylt	hants kaft vjal
if / ifja	vilt	vulaft	vølt	hand vylt	kaft vjal	hømit vylt	hand kaft vjal
novr	vulmur	vulømmur	vølyrm	hvønts vylt	køymur vjal	hømur vylt	hvønts kaft vjal
vovr	vølts	vulemit	vølistir	hvits vylt	kapætir vjal	hømstir vylt	hvits kaft vjal
ifi / ifjæ	vults	vulajnts	vølyrtn	haments vylt	køpunts vjal	hømyrtn vylt	haments kaft vjal
(impers.)	viltse	vulaftse	vøltse	handse vylt	kaftse vjal	hømitse vylt	handse kaft vjal
Pres. part.	vuljants
Past part.	vylt

To say (ditsir) and to talk (prilufir)

Two common irregular verbs are ditsir (to say) and prilufir (to talk). Both of them are suppletive: ditsir mostly comes from Latin dīcere, but the present and the past participle are from the originally deponent defective fārī (completed by analogy), and the present participle jants is from aientem, the present participle of āiō. Prilufir mostly comes from forms of prōloquī, through an analogically rebuilt active paradigm *prōloquere, but the participles are the ones of the unprefixed verb — lusjants and lukut from loquentem and locūtum respectively. Ditsir is also one of the few verbs that still has a commonly used synthetic past.

ditsir (to say)	Indicative
	Present	Imperfect	Synth. Past	Past	Future	Pluperfect	Fut. Perfect
jag	fir	ditjama	dik	hamu føt	kap ditsir	højm føt	hamu kaft ditsir
tsu	færs	ditjamar	dikajst	hants føt	kapir ditsir	hømist føt	hants kaft ditsir
if / ifja	førd	ditjaft	diht	hand føt	kaft ditsir	hømit føt	hand kaft ditsir
novr	føm	ditjømmur	dikyrm	hvønts føt	køymur ditsir	hømur føt	hvønts kaft ditsir
vovr	fæmin	ditjamit	dikistir	hvits føt	kapætir ditsir	hømstir føt	hvits kaft ditsir
ifi / ifjæ	førnt	ditjants	dikyrtn	haments føt	køpunts ditsir	hømyrtn føt	haments kaft ditsir
(impers.)	førdse	ditjaftse	dihtse	handse føt	kaftse ditsir	hømitse føt	handse kaft ditsir
Pres. part.	jants
Past part.	føt

prilufir (to talk)	Indicative
	Present	Imperfect	Past	Future	Pluperfect	Fut. Perfect
jag	priluf	prilusjama	hamu lukut	kap prilufir	højm lukut	hamu kaft prilufir
tsu	prilør	prilusjamar	hants lukut	kapir prilufir	hømist lukut	hants kaft prilufir
if / ifja	priløft	prilusjaft	hand lukut	kaft prilufir	hømit lukut	hand kaft prilufir
novr	priløfmur	prilusjømmur	hvønts lukut	køymur prilufir	hømur lukut	hvønts kaft prilufir
vovr	priløftir	prilusjamit	hvits lukut	kapætir prilufir	hømstir lukut	hvits kaft prilufir
ifi / ifjæ	prilukunts	prilusjants	haments lukut	køpunts prilufir	hømyrtn lukut	haments kaft prilufir
(impers.)	priløftse	prilusjaftse	handse lukut	kaftse prilufir	hømitse lukut	handse kaft prilufir
Pres. part.	lusjants
Past part.	lukut

Prepositions, Conjunctions, Interjections

Wendlandish general prepositions:

• apsj — without (< Lat. absque)
• av — by (< ad)
• fru — to, in order to, for (< pro)
• ið — of (< de)
• ku — with (< cum)
• re — about (< rē)

Spatial and temporal prepositions:

• ek — from (< ex)
• estar — outside (< extrā)
• i (j before vowels) — in (< in)
• intar — between (< inter)
• jant — in front of, before (< *in ante)
• kyrg — around (< circum)
• obav — opposite (< *ob ad)
• pertants — through (< *per trāns)
• pist — behind, after (< post)
• suf — on, over (< super)
• sov — under (< sub)
• ultar — beyond (< ultrā)
• yst — near, close to (< iuxtā)
• øðusj — until (< adusque)
• øft — at (< apud)

Conjunctions and interjections:

• et — and (< et)
• naj — not; no (< nē)
• nisj ... nisj — neither ... nor (< neque ... neque)
• si — if (< sī)
• sið — but (< sed)
• syt — yes (< sīcut)
• tak — yes (more colloquial) (< Polish tak)
• tam — however (< tamen)
• ylik — instead (< in locō)
• ørg — so, thus (< ergō)
• øt — or (< aut)
• øt ... øt — either ... or (< aut ... aut)

Vocabulary

Despite being a Romance language, Wendlandish has a very high number of words of non-Latin origin, particularly from Old Norse and Proto-Slavic as the most ancient borrowings, then in the Middle Ages particularly from Middle Low German (and some words of Baltic origin), then Polish, and most recently Danish, High German, and up until the present day Russian, which was the prestige language in Soviet times and is still particularly high regarded and spoken in the present-day Wendlands. Examples of these borrowings are:

• from Old Norse: kirkja (church (coexists with ikjesj from Latin ecclēsia)), morgin (breakfast, from morginn "morning"), dravm (dream, < draumr), oran (eagle, < ǫrn), veg (street, < vegr), faur (beautiful, < fag(u)r — coexists with lymb, cognate of e.g. Portuguese lindo), ejra (ear, < eyra), and notably Vinnurlont (< Vindurlǫnd) and the Old Norse genitive Vinnurlandana (< Vindurlandana) which is used as a learned genitive in modern Wendlandish. Vinnurlænsk derives from the same root with an added Latin suffix, thus Pre-Wendlandish *Vindurlandīsco.
• from Proto-Slavic: jalin (deer, < *elenь), ljað (winter, < *ledъ "ice"), lysøs (salmon, < *lososь), tjað (baby, < *čędo), sjer (gray, < *śěrь), muld (new, < *moldъ "young"), let (year, < *lěto), prætjel (friend, < *prijàteljь), also a few basic verbs like misjlær (to think, < *mysliti), rjaser (to cut, < *rězati), and gljandær (to look, < *ględati).
• from Middle Low German: fangnits (prison, < vangnisse), gafil (fork, < gaffel), førke (girl,< vroiken), arvejð (work, < arbeide (Latin labor > lamir came to mean "task", while the learned borrowing labor means "oeuvre", "work of art")), forkast (lunch, < vrōkost);
• from Polish the most notable ones are many colour names, like tjervon (red, < czerwony), sjilon (yellow, < zielony), and probably lilan "purple" from liliowy. Colour names in Wendlandish show many borrowings, like the probably Baltic terms ruds (brown) and gælten (yellow).

It is worth noting that most Polish loans date before the changes in pronunciation of Pol. ó and ł and as such they usually have the values /ɔ/ (or /oː/) and /l/ in Wendlandish, e.g. in gosj /ɣoːʃ/ "nail" < gwóźdź and in mildo /ˈmiːldo/ "soap" < mydło. Some terms were however adopted later and therefore have the "newer" values (e.g. zakvat /ˈzaːkʋat/ "factory" < zakład). The city of Łódź is known as Lotj /ˈloːtʃ/ in Wendlandish.
German words were often used before 1945, with Vænfjørðin having a sizeable German-speaking community; after the end of WW2, however, the Soviet government expelled them to East Germany and in the following years many of them were replaced with either native Wendlandish or Russian equivalents. Notable examples are "court" geriht → sut; "market" mart → rinak; "car" vagen → lada/masjina (pre-1990)/vosjeni; "train" tsuk → pojst; the honorifics hær and frav → tavarisj (still the most common today).

Russian influence and Savjetskalgia

File:WendlandishSSR-Flag.png

Soviet-era flag of the Wendlandish SSR

Russian influence in Wendlandish is mostly concentrated in the last century, but there's no doubt that it has tremendously impacted the language, not only in Soviet times but, possibly even more deeply, after the Soviet Union broke up. The early post-Soviet years were marked by a huge decline in the Wendlands and people immediately developed a strong sense of nostalgia for the Golden Age of the Wendlands - the days of the Soviet Union, when the Wendlands were a strategically important and cosmopolite part of the country due to it being its westernmost extent. This sense of nostalgia — called savjetskalgia as a portmanteau of savjetski (Soviet) and nostalgia — is still enormously visible in the prestige that the Russian language, emblem of the Soviet era, has in the Wendlands, probably even more than in Russia itself. Russian loans are entering Wendlandish en masse, often with a more "official" meaning when compared to the native Wendlandish term, and Russian is the preferred language of the Academy of the Wendlandish language in order to coin terms, to the extent that Wendlandish academics have recently coined terms from Russian roots that do not even exist in Russian, like vosjeni "car" (< воженный "driven"; though colloquial Wendlandish uses lada from the car brand) or hadifon for "mobile phone" (from ходить "to walk" and Wend./international telefon). Example of Russian loans into Wendlandish are:

• political and learned terms, often Soviet-era borrowings: nizavisjmasts (independence, < независимость), plosjats (a large square, mainly for parades, especially May 9 celebrations < площадь), savjet (parliament; Soviet < совет);
• things used as honorifics when specifically talking about Communism or Soviet concepts: pavjeda (victory, < победа — c.f. May 9 dæj ið pavjedala. Note that native vihtøra was still used in this sense when the city of Tjervona Vihtørala was founded); krasni (red, < красный), pravitjelstva (government (only the Soviet and the Wendlandish ones, but colloquially often used for all), < правительство).
• many proper names, not just Russian ones like Vætjislaf (Вячеслав), Jyri (Юрий), or Lydmila (Людмила) but also words that have become used as names, like Giroj (герой, "hero"), as far as the "most uniquely Wendlandish name of all", namely Kamoj, a portmanteau of коммунистический герой "Communist hero".
• various words for things that were not part of everyday Wendlandish life before Soviet times - e.g. plitá (gas/electric stove), haladilnik (fridge), marazilnik (freezer), tilivizar (television), rubil (ruble), kapjek (kopek), hrusjovka (khruščëvka);
• post-Soviet coinages from Russian roots or hybrid Russian-Wendlandish ones, like the vosjeni and hadifon mentioned previously; viliksjetj (internet, from великая сеть "great net"), patpojst (subway < под (under) and поезд (train)), or elekpisjmó (e-mail, from электронное письмо (electronic letter)).

Countries and demonyms

Note that every country ending in -lond is morphologically plural.

Country		Capital	Adjective/Demonym
the Wendlands	Vinnurlond	Vænfjørðin	vinnurlænsk
Poland	Sløvjænlond	Varsjuv	sløvjænsk
Germany	Þysklond	Berlin	þyskrisk
Denmark	Danmork	Kaupmanhøyfn	dænsk
Sweden	Sværikur	Stokholmur	svæjsk
Norway	Norgur	Oslo	nørgisk
Iceland	Islond	Rejkarvi	isluntsk
Finland	Finlond	Helsenfors	finsk
Italy	Itæla	Rim	itælsk
Soviet Union	Savjetska ynin Ynin ið Repuvlikallar Sosjalistsiks Savjetsks (YRSS)	Maskvá	savjetsk
Russia	Rusj		rusjisk
Belarus	Hvitrusj (or Bjelarusj)	Minsk	hvitrusjisk
Ukraine	Ukrajina	Kijef	ukrajinsk
Moldova	Maldavija	Kisjinjof	maldavisk
Georgia	Gruzija	Tiflís	gruzinsk
Azerbaijan	Azirbaitjan	Bakú	azirbaitjansk
Armenia	Armenija	Jerevan	armjansk
Kazakhstan	Kazagstan	Astana	kazagsk
Kyrgyzstan	Kirgizija	Frunze(or Bisjkek)	kirgisk
Uzbekistan	Uzbekistan	Tasjkent	uzbekisk
Tajikistan	Tatjikistan	Dusjambe	tatjikisk
Turkmenistan	Turkmenistan	Asjgabat	turkmensk
Lithuania	Ljetlond	Vilnjus	ljetsk
Latvia	Latlond	Riga	latsk
Estonia	Estlond	Rajval	estisk

Example texts

The Lord's Prayer

Part nitte, hjeð jatt i sjølir,

svønt sit Tsur nom,

venjants sit Tso kongartyðn,

fahta sit Tso vultjæt,

tælsj i sjølir et tælsj suf tajrla.

Da høð að nøym nittra pan køtjana

et ermit að nøym nøtti divter

tælsj tølmi novr ifov ermitøymur að nøtti divtirer

et naj iduk novr i tetæsjla

sið liver novr av møler.

Tso jatt kongartyðnlа, et pitintsla, et glørala, j int søkler ið søkler.

Amen.

Wendlandish Cyrillic:

Парт нитте, йеҙ ятт и шөлир,

свөнт сит Цур ном,

венянц сит Цо конгартүҙн,

фахта сит Цо вулчѣт,

тѣлш и шөлир ет тѣлш суф тайрла.

Да хөҙ аҙ нөүм ниттра пан көчана

ет ермит аҙ нөүм нөтти дивтер

тѣлш төлми новр ифов ермитөүмур аҙ нөтти дивтирер.

ет най идук новр и тетѣшла

сиҙ ливер новр ав мөлер.

Цо ятт конгартүҙнла, ет питинцла, ет глөрала, й инт сөклер иҙ сөклер.

Амен.

IPA:

[ˈpaɐt ˈnite jeð ˈjat i ˈʃøːliɐ̯

ˈsvønt‿sit ˈtsuːɐ̯ ˈnoːm

veˈnjants‿sit ˈtsoː ˌkɔŋːaɐ̯ˈtʏð(ə)n

ˈfahta sit ˈtsoː vulˈtʃæːt

ˈtælʃ i ˈʃøːliɐ̯ e ˈtælʃ‿ʃuf ˈtaɪ̯ɐ̯la

ˈda ˈhøːð a‿ˈnøʏ̯m ˈnitra ˈpaːn køˈtʃaːna

et‿eɐ̯ˈmiːt a‿ˈnøʏ̯m ˈnøti ˈdiʊ̯teɐ̯

ˈtælʃ ˈtølmi ˈnɔʊ̯ɐ̯ ˈifoʊ̯ eɐ̯miˈtøʏ̯mʊɐ̯ a‿ˈnøti diʊ̯ˈtiːreɐ̯

e ˈnaɪ̯ iˈduːk ˈnɔʊ̯ɐ̯ i teˈtæʃla

sið ˈliːʋeɐ̯ ˈnɔʊ̯ɐ̯ aʊ̯ ˈmøːleɐ̯

ˈtsoː ˈjat ˌkɔŋːaɐ̯ˈtʏðla e‿piˈtintsla e‿ˈɣløːrala, j‿int‿ˈsøkleɐ̯ i‿ˈsøkleɐ̯

ˈaːmen]

UDHR Article 1

Intar humanylir nasjunts i lintaðla et ifalir i dinjaðla et rektylir. Ifi savnts dutats ku ratjinla et kisjentjala, et tjænts að æsjir kvøltur j una dusja ið fratrinæt.

Wendlandish Cyrillic:

Интар хуманүлир нашунц и линтаҙла ет ифалир и диняҙла ет ректүлир. Ифи савнц дутац ку рачинла ет кишенчала, ет чѣнц аҙ ѣшир квөлтур й уна душа иҙ фратринѣт.

IPA:

[ˈintaɐ̯ ɦuˈmaːnʏlɪɐ̯ ˈnaːʃunt͡s i‿linˈtaðla et‿iˈfaːliɐ̯ i‿diˈnjaːðla e ˈre̞ktʏlɪɐ̯] [ˈiːfɪ ˈsaʊ̯nt͡s duˈtaːt͡s ku‿raˈt͡ʃinla e kiˈʃent͡ʃala e ˈtʃænt͡s að‿ˈæːʃiɐ̯ ˈkvøltʉɐ̯ j‿una ˈduːɕa if‿ˈfratrɪnæt]