Cleepoyish

Cleepoyish
Klippöisk
Flag of the Republic of Cleepoy
Pronunciation	[ˈklɪpœɪ̯sk]
Created by	Vrianne
Date	2024
Setting	Europe with a sprinkle of Alt-History
Native to	Republic of Cleepoy
Ethnicity	Cleepoyers
Native speakers	40,149 (2019)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic Lesionic Insular Lesionic Cleepoyish
Early forms	Proto-Indo-European Proto-Germanic Proto-Lesionic Old Cleepoyish Růpläch Dialect
Standard form	Standard Cleepoyish (Fåst Klippöisk)
Official status
Official language in	Republic of Cleepoy
Recognised minority language in	Denmark (Zealand)
Regulated by	Academy of the Cleepoyish Language
Distribution of Cleepoyish speakers in 1850 (left) vs. in 2019 (right)   Majority of Cleepoyish speakers   Minority of Cleepoyish speakers

Cleepoyish (Standard Cleepoyish: Klippöisk /ˈklɪpœɪ̯sk/), also known as Cleepoyic, is a Lesionic (Insular Germanic) language spoken on the island of Cleepoy. It is the second most spoken Lesionic language, with about 40,000 speakers all concentrated atop Cleepoy. It is also one of the two co-official languages of the Republic of Cleepoy (alongside Danish).

The modern standard form of the Cleepoyish Language, which this article mainly covers, stems from the pre-Danish dialects spoken in and around Růpläch, and was established in order to promote cleepoyish identity and phase out at-the-time dominating foreign languages such as Danish and Swedish on the island. As such, it employs a heavily etymological, yet consistent, orthography and a partly traditional phonology compared to that of other surviving dialects of Cleepoyish.

Due to Danish, in areas that lost traditional dialects, getting replaced by Standard Cleepoyish, much of Cleepoyish dialectical variation is purely phonological, more akin to accents than dialects. Though there exist areas in which traditional Cleepoyish dialects were not superseded and continue to be spoken.

Phonology

Standard Cleepoyish has an outlined set of 30 consonants 16 vowels. The fossilized dialects Standard Cleepoyish was based on differed from from other living dialects in the three-way /w/ /β/ /ʍ/ distinction, /h/-dropping, and denasalization of the Old Cleepoyish long nasal vowels.

Phonemes

Vowel phonemes of Standard Cleepoyish

		Front				Back
		Unrounded		Rounded
		Short	Long	Short	Long	Short	Long
Close					yː		(uː)
Close-Mid		ɪ	eː	ʏ	øː	ʊ	oː
Open-Mid		ɛ		œ		ɔ	ɔː
Open		æ	æː			a	aː

• /uː/ only occurs in loanwords.
• /a/ is central [ä], while /aː/ is back [ɑː]

Diphthong phonemes

	-ɪ̯	-ʏ̯	-ʊ̯
ɛ-	ɛɪ̯	ɛʏ̯
œ-	œɪ̯	œʏ̯
ɔ-	ɔɪ̯		ɔʊ̯

• /œɪ̯ ɔʊ̯/ tend to merge with /œʏ̯ ɔː/ respectively in fast speech.

Consonant phonemes of Standard Cleepoyish

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	Voiceless		n̥
	Voiced	m	n			ŋ
Polsive	Voiceless	p	t		c	k
	Voiced	b	d		ɟ	(ɡ)
Fricative	Voiceless	ɸ	θ	s	ʃ	ʍ	h
	Voiced	β	ð	z
Affricate		(p͡ɸ)		(t͡s)	c͡ç	(ɟ͡ʝ)
Trill/Tap	Voiceless			r̥
	Voiced			r
Approximant				l	j	w

• /m n z l ʃ j w/ can become geminated. /r/ may also geminate but only in nonnative words like ⟨herr⟩ /ɛrː/.
• /n̥/, depending on speaker, may be naturally geminated [n̥ː].
• /ɡ/ is an allophone of /k/ intervocalically.
• a rising number of speakers de-affricate /c͡ç/ to [ç].
• /ɟ͡ʝ/ is now largely dated and is instead merged with /c͡ç/ for the vast majority of younger speakers.
• /p͡ɸ t͡s/ appear only in loans from German like ⟨pferd⟩ /p͡ɸɛrt/ & ⟨cart⟩ /t͡sart/.
• /r/ may either be:
  • a tap [ɾ], which is the most common.
  • a trill [r], less common but not rare.
  • a guttural [ʁ~ʀ], by far the least common and tends come off as haughty or pretentious.
• ... though /r̥/ is always trilled [r̥(ˑ)].

Phonotactics

Compared to other Germanic languages, Cleepoyish allows a modest maximum syllable structure of (C)(C)V(S)(C)(s), wherin S is a sonorant, and the onset cluster cannot be comprised of two consonants with the same manner of articulation, except for approximants. Voiceless /n̥ r̥/ are allowed only in the onset and cannot cluster, while /ŋ/ is only allowed in the coda, and a nasal cannot directly precede a fricative except for in compound words.

Orthography

The Cleepoyish Alphabet consists of 41 distinct letters (including letters with diacritics), 18 of which are vowels. The Cleepoyish Alphabet went through very minimal reforms and, while it may be a good alphabet for Old Cleepoyish per se, it is very redundant and bloated.

Standard Cleepoyish Alphabet

Letter	Name	IPA [Standard]	Dialectical Variants
A, a	a	/a/	[ä] [ɑ] [ɑː]
Ä, ä	a omlyyd	/ɛ/	[æ]
Å, å	a hring	/ɔ/	[ɒ] [ɑ]
Ą, ą	a stirt	/a/	[ɑː] [ɑ̃]
B, b	bee	/b/, /p/ (syllable-final)	[β] [ʋ] [v]
C, c	cee	/t͡s/	[ts] [sː]
D, d	dee	/d/, /t/ (syllable-final)	[ð]
Ð, ð	eð	/ð/, /θ/ (syllable-final)	[d] [z]
E, e	ee	/ɛ/	[æ] [ə]
Ę, ę	ee stirt	/æ/	[æː] [ɛ̃] [æ̃]
F, f	ev	/ɸ/	[f]
G, g	gee	/j/ (front vowels), /w/ (back vowels)	[ɡ] [ɣ]
H, h	håch	/Ø/, /h/ (inter-vocalic)	[h]
I, i	ii	/ɪ/	[i]
Į, į	ii stirt	/eː/	[iː] [ɪ̃]
J, j	jåt	/j/
K, k	kee	/k/, /ɡ/ (inter-vocalic), /ʃ/ (front vowels)	[t͡ʃ]
L, l	el	/l/	[ɫ]
M, m	em	/m/
N, n	en	/n/
O, o	oy	/ɔ/
Ö, ö	o omlyyd	/œ/
Ǫ, ǫ	o stirt	/aː/	[oː] [ɔ̃] [ɑ̃]
Ǫ̈, ǫ̈	o omlyyd stirt	/æː/	[øː] [œ̃] [æ̃]
P, p	pee	/p/, /b/ (inter-vocalically)
Q, q	quee	only in ⟨qu⟩
R, r	er	/r/	[r] [ʁ] [ʀ]
S, s	ez	/s/	[z]
T, t	tee	/t/, /d/ (inter-vocalically)
U, u	u	/ʊ/	[u] [uː] [oː]
Ù, ù	lomùk u	/ɔ/	[u] [ʊ]
Ü, ü	u omyyd	/œ/	[y] [ʏ]
Ů, ů	u hring	/ɔː/	[oʊ̯] [oː] [uː]
Ų, ų	u stirt	/oː/	[uː] [ʊ̃]
Ų̈, ų̈	u omlyyd stirt	/øː/	[yː] [ʏ̃]
V, v	vee	/β/, /ɸ/ (syllable-final)	[v] [ʋ]
W, w	wee	/w/	[v] [ʋ]
X, x	ex	/ks/	[k] [s(ː)]
Y, y	ypsilon	/ʏ/	[y]
Z, z	zet	/z/, /s/ (syllable-final)	[ʒ]
Þ, þ	þee	/θ/, /ð/ (inter-vocalically)	[t] [s]

Standard Cleepoyish Alphabet Digraphs

Digraph	IPA [Standard]	Dialectical Variants
Ää, ää	/æ/	[æː] [eː] [ɛː]
Äu, äu	/ɛʏ̯/	[ɛʊ̯] [æʊ̯]
Åå, åå	/ɔː/	[ɔʊ̯] [oʊ̯] [ɑː] [ɒː]
Bb, bb	/b/, /p/ (syllable-final)
Ch, ch	/ʃ/
Dd, dd	/ɟ/, /c/ (syllable-final)	[ɟː] [d] [dj]
Dj, dj		[ɟː] [dj]
Ee, ee	/æː/	[eː] [ɛɪ̯]
Eu, eu	/jɔ/	[jo] [jʊ]
Eü, eü	/jœ/	[jø] [jʏ] [yː]
Gg, gg	/ɟ/, /c/ (syllable-final)	[ɟː] [ɡ] [ɡj]
Gw, gw	/ɟ͡ʝ/ or /c͡ç/	[ʝ] [ɡw] [ɡʋ]
Hw, hw	/ʍ/	[w] [hw] [ʋ] [v]
Hn, hn	/n̥/	[n] [nː] [hn]
Hr, hr	/r̥/	[ɾ̥] [r] [hɾ]
Ii, ii	/ɛɪ̯/	[iː]
Jj, jj	/jː/	[j]
Kk, kk	/c/, /ʃ/ (front vowels), /ʃː/ (front vowels, inter-vocalic)	[cː] [k] [t͡ʃ]
Ll, ll	/lː/	[ɫː] [l] [ɫ]
Mm, mm	/mː/	[m]
Nn, nn	/nː/	[n]
Ng, ng	/ŋ/	[ŋɡ] [ŋː]
Oo, oo	/aː/	[oː] [ɔː] [oʊ̯]
Oy, oy	/ɔʊ̯/	[oʊ̯] [œʏ̯] [æʊ̯] [æʏ̯]
Öö, öö	/æː/	[øː] [œː] [øʏ̯]
Öi, öi	/œɪ̯/	[œʏ̯] [ɛɪ̯]
Öu, öu	/œʏ̯/	[ɛʏ̯]
Pf, pf	/p͡ɸ/	[p͡f] [pf] [f] [fː]
Ph, ph	/ɸ/	[f]
Pp, pp	/p/
Qu, qu	/c͡ç/	[ç] [cː] [kw] [kʋ]
Rh, rh	/r̥/	[ɾ̥] [r] [ɾh]
Sk, sk	/sk/ (back vowels), /ʃ/ (front vowels), /ʃː/ (front vowels, inter-vocalic)	[t͡ʃ]
Tt, tt	/c/	[cː] [t] [tj]
Uu, uu	/uː/
Üü, üü	/yː/	[œʏ̯]
Yy, yy	/œʏ̯/	[yː] [ɛʏ̯]
Zz,zz	/zː/, /s(ː)/ (syllable-final)	[z] [ʒ]

Grammar

Cleepoyish Grammar is the simplest among Lesionic languages, owing to modest simplifications over time.

Nominals

Nominals decline for a non-oblique case (nominative and accusative mashed together) and a dative case.

Nouns

Nouns decline across two general paradigms: z-stem nouns and n-stem nouns, with each paradigm splitting into sub-stems: o-stem, i-stem, oo-stem, and weak-stem nouns pertaining to z-stem nouns, and o-stem and oo-stem nouns pertaining to the n-stem.

z-stem nouns

Z-stem nouns form their non-oblique plurals with either -oz, -iz, or -ooz depending on substem:

O-substem nouns are the most common, and are what modern loanwords are classified into. They form a non-oblique plural with -oz and feature umlauting in the dative case (except in loanwords):

o-substem declension

	boþel, "house; dwelling"		hnåpp, "cup"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative/Accusative	boþel	boþloz	hnåpp	hnåpoz
Dative	böþli	böþlom	hnäpi	hnäpom

I-substem nouns are similar to o-substem nouns, except they form a non-oblique plural with -iz. In Old Cleepoyish, they featured umlauting in both the dative singular and the non-oblique plural, and in the Růpläch dialects that umlaut spread to the non-oblique singular as well:

i-substem declension

	męð, "month"		döör, "day"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative/Accusative	męð	męðiz	döör	dööriz
Dative	męði	męðom	dööri	döörom

Oo-substem nouns form a non-oblique plural with -ooz, and do not feature umlauting:

oo-substem declension

	skuro, "storm; tempest"		äiþùng, "marriage"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative/Accusative	skuro	skurooz	äiþùng	äiþùngooz
Dative		skurom		äiþùngom

Weak-substem nouns, as their name suggests, merge all non non-oblique singular declensions:

weak-substem declension

	äulii, "likeness; resemblance"		riik, "realm; domain"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative/Accusative	äulii	äuliiz	riik	riikiz
Dative	äuliiz		riikiz

n-stem nouns

N-stem nouns form their non-oblique plurals with only -on and differ in umlauting the dative declensions:

O-substem nouns do not feature umlauting:

o-substem declension

	ųdeu, "dawn; daybreak"		gev, "gift (dated)"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative/Accusative	ųdeu	ųdwon	gev	gevon
Dative	ųdwon	ųdwom	gevon	gevom

Oo-substem nouns, on the other hand, do feature umlauting:

oo-substem declension

	sùnnoo, "sun"		mönoo, "moon"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative/Accusative	sùnnoo	sùnnon	mönoo	mönon
Dative	sünnin	sünnom	mönin	mönom

Pronouns

Cleepoyish Pronouns are largely conservative, not only declining for four cases separately, but also retaining a gender distinction in the plural.