Bearlandic

Bearlandic
Bʉrnlannts
Pronunciation	[/ˈbœːrnlɑnːts/]
Created by	–
Native speakers	Approximately 20 million (2653)
Language family	Iropo-Antilonian languages Berilonian languages Western Berilonian languages Bearlandic Bearlandic
Early form	Old Bearlandic

Background

Bearlandic (Bʉrnlannts, IPA: /ˈbœːrnlɑnːts/) is one of many languages of the planet which is called Virrolt in Bearlandic. The language belongs to the Berilonian language family, which in its turn is a branch of the Iropo-Antilonian language family.

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m /m/		n /n/			ng /ŋ/
Plosive	p b /p b/		t d /t d/			k q /k kʷ/
Fricative		f v /f v/	s z /s z/	(ʃ)	(ç)	g /x ~ ɣ/	h /h/
Approximant		w /ʋ/			j /j/
Trill			r /r/
Lateral app.			l /l/

In some dialects /ʃ/ and /ç/ occur as allophones of /s/ and /x ~ ɣ/. The latter is often slightly fronted or palatalized in the standard dialect.

All consonants except /b d ŋ kʷ v z h/ can be geminated.

Vowels

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	i u /i y/				ú /u/
Near-close		i u /ɪ ʏ/
Close-mid	e /e/				o /o/
Mid			e /ə/
Open-mid	e ʉ /ɛ œ/				o /ɔ/
Near-open
Open	a /a/				a /ɑ/

Bearlandic distinguishes "short" (ɑ ɛ ɪ ɔ ʏ) and "long" (a e i o y) vowels. However, the "long" vowels are actually only pronounced long when they're stressed. Ú and Ʉ (/u/ and /œ/) are usually considered to be neither short nor long, but are, just like the "long" vowels, pronounced long when they're stressed (except when followed by a geminated consonant) and short otherwise.

There are two diphthongs: y, pronounced /ɛɪ̯/ and au, pronounced /aʊ̯/.

Orthography

Most of the orthography is clear from the tables above, however, the way "short" and "long" vowels are distinguished isn't. "Short" vowels are indicated by doubling the following consonant (which indeed is geminated). If there is no consonant to double (=if the vowel is at the end of a word), a macron is used to indicate its "shortness".

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns don't have cases or genders, only numbers. The plural is usually made by adding -s to the end of the word. If it already ends in -s, -enn is added instead. However, a few nouns don't follow these rules and add -er instead, or don't change at all.

Adjectives

The comparative is formed by adding -err to the end of the adjective, while the superlative ends in -iss. If the adjective ends in a vowel, a -t- is inserted between the stem and the ending.

Verbs

Regular verbs

	"walk"	"shoot"
Present	lop	sgit
Past	lop-ti	sgit-i
Perfect	gi-lop-t	gi-sgit
Byform	lop-ē	sgit-ē
Present participle	lop-nē	sgit-nē
Past participle	gi-lop-t-nē	gi-sgit-nē

Unfortunately, I don't know how the byform is called in English.

Irregular verbs

	"be"	"have"	"eat"	"go"	"give"
Present	iss	heppt	et	ga	gef
Past	wast	haptē	ati	gigti	giffti
Perfect	giassit	gihapt	giotē	gigisst	gigifft
Byform	zyt, zyti	hypē	ytē	gatē	gyvē
Present participle	zytnē	hepptnē	etnē	gatnē	gefnē
Past participle	-	hassnē	giotnē	-	gigifftnē

Pronouns

Number	Person	Subject	Object/Reflexive	Possessive
Singular	1st	ig	mi	miess
	2nd	ji	ji	jiess
	3rd masculine	hi	emm, zigg	hiess
	3rd feminine	zē	zy, zigg	zess
	3rd neuter	dē	dē, zigg	dess
Plural	1st	wi	oss	oss
	2nd	jis	jis	jisiss
	3rd	zess	hunn, zy	hʉn

Articles

There are two articles, the definite article dē and the indefinite article a.

Numerals

1	a
2	to
3	tri
4	forr
5	vy
6	zett
7	safē
8	ottjo
9	nippē
10	tinn
11	atinn
12	totinn
20	totē
21	atotē
30	tritē
40	forrtē
50	vytē
60	zetttē
70	saftē
80	otttē
90	nipptē
100	horrt
1000	dass

Note: otttē derives from an earlier ottjotē.

Syntax

Bearlandic normally has a SVO word order, but questions have a VSO order. If there is more than one verb in the sentence, there are two possibilities (the verbs are bold):

• Dē jaggter will sgit dē konin. (The hunter wants to shoot the rabbit.)
• Dē jaggter will dē konin sgitē.

Note the use of a byform in the second sentence. In subordinate clauses there are generally the same two possibilities:

• Ig wet dass dē jaggter sgit dē konin. (I know the hunter shoots the rabbit.)
• Ig wet dass dē jaggter dē konin sgitē.
• Ig wet dass dē jaggter will sgit dē konin. (I know the hunter wants to shoot the rabbit.)
• Ig wet dass dē jaggter dē konin will sgitē.

However, sometimes this would change the meaning:

• Dē jaggter sgit dē konin oss dē iss hiess verking. (The hunter shoots the rabbit if it's his job.)
• Dē jaggter sgit dē konin oss dē hiess verking zyt. (The hunter shoots the rabbit because it's his job.)

Sample

Dē fillgikentnē mann hermakti miess aut enn itig mojj bot nat dē pabrúr oss a stoppig mys dē oss pegging oss a aut zworrt zwart gisgat haptē.

The well-known man repaired my old and quite beautiful boat after a stupid girl's uncle by accident had damaged it with an old black sword.