Northeadish

Northeadish is a Germanic language which, while similar to North and West Germanic languages due to many areal similarities, does not belong to either of these branches. The name “Northeadish” is a compound of ‘north’ and ‘thead’ (an ancient word referring to a folk or people). A late sound change (metathesis) in the language caused the word *nurþ ‘north’ to become *nruþ, which, being difficult to pronounce, corrected itself through a process of stop-insertion (becoming *n̩druþ). Later still, the nasal component of word-initial pre-nasalized stops (all of which occur only because of this process) were deleted, leaving present-day druðþ. A similar process occurs with other Germanic words such as ‘morning’ (*murganaz → mrugan → m̩brugan → brugɴ).

Writing Systems

Alphabet & Pronunciation

(NB: The Northeadish alphabet, while latin-based, contains several characters which are not readily representable using the standard Unicode latin subsets. The Alphabet presented below is a rough approximation of the actual letters, more information about which will be forthcoming.)

Aa	Āā	Ææ	Ǣǣ	Bb	Cc	Qq	Dd	Ðð
a,ə	ɑː	ɛ	eː	b	k	(ʊ)k(w)	d	ð
Ee	Ēē	Ff	Gg	Ʒʒ	Hh	Ƕƕɧ	Iı	Īī
ɛ	eː	f	g	(ʊ)g(w)	h,x	(ʊ)x(w)	ɪ	iː
İi	Ll	Λʌ	Mm	Mм	Nn	Nɴ	Ŋŋ	Xx
j	l	ɫ̩	m	m̩	n	n̩	ŋ	ŋ̩
Oo	Ōō	Œœ	Œ̄œ̄	Pp	Rr	Rʀ	Sſs	Tt
ɔ	oː	œ	øː	p	ɾ	r̩	s,z	t
Þþ	Uu	Ūū	Yy	Ȳȳ	Vv	Ŏŏ	Åå
θ	ʊ	uː	ʏ	yː	v,w	ɔ	ɔː

Orthography

a: The letter <a> can double as a short open low vowel and a schwa.

• <a> is pronounced as [ə]:
  • At the end of a word or morpheme when unstressed.
    • vata ‘water’ [vá.tə]
    • (ec) vacna ‘(I) awake’ [vák.nə]
  • In the definite article:
    • þa ‘the’ [θə]
    • þas ‘of the’ [θəs]
  • When unstressed before non-sonorant phonemes (usually before /s/ or /t/).
    • mīnas ‘of my’ [mí:n.əs]
    • grœ̄tat ‘big’ [gróːtət]
  • In unstressed prefixes ba-, ga-, ha-, and ta-.
    • haqelðþ ‘this evening’ [hə.kwɛ́lθ]
    • balīvɴ ‘to stay behind’ [bə.líːv.n̩]
  • In inflexional suffixes; specifically, in the past and subjunctive tenses of verbs, in the second person conjugation of verbs (all tenses), in the third person present singular indicative, and in the superlative forms of adjectives.
    • grœ̄tast ‘biggest’ [grǿː.təst]
    • helpaðþ ‘helps’ [hɛ́l.pəθ]
  • In other common unstressed suffixes:
    • -ag (‘-y’ adjective ending)
    • -cunðag ‘able’ [cʊ́n.ðəg]
    • dǣgag ‘doughy’ [déː.gəg]
  • -tag (‘-ty’ decimal ending)
    • tvæntag ‘twenty’ [tvɛn.təg]
    • secstag ‘sixty’ [sɛks.təg]
  • -aðþ (‘th’ nominal ending)
    • daʒaðþ ‘death’ [daug.wəθ]
    • hœ̄gaðþ ‘coziness’ [høː.gəθ]
  • -at (nominative and accusative neuter ending for adjectives)
    • gōðat ‘good’ [goː.ðət] (also gōðþt.)
    • yvlat ‘bad’ [ʏ.vlət] (also yvʌt.)
  • <a> is pronounced as [a] in all other cases.
    • man ‘man’ [man]
    • scap ‘shape’ [skap]

æ and e: The letters <æ> and <e> are both pronounced as [ɛ]; however, <æ> only occurs as the i-umlaut of <a>. (Historically, <æ> was pronounced [æ].)

• hændɴ ‘to catch’ [hɛn.dn̩], from *handjaną
• hendɴ ‘to catch’ [hɛn.ðn̩], from *henþaną

ǣ and ē: Similarly, <ǣ> and <ē> are both pronounced as [eː], but <ǣ> only occurs as the i-umlaut of <ā> while <ē> is the realization of the Proto-Germanic diphthong *ai or the result of ŋ-deletion after *e. (Historically, <ǣ> was pronounced [æː].)

• bǣgʀ ‘quarrels’, plural of bāg.
• stēn ‘stone’, from *stainaz.
• þēht ‘tight’, from *þenhtaz.

q, ʒ, and ƕ: The “labiovelar” letters , <ʒ>, and <ƕ> have several possible articulations depending on their placement in a word and their proximities to other vowels and consonants. The letter <ʒ> in particular is the realization of Germanic verschärfung, which comes from Proto-Germanic combinations such as *gg, *gw, *ww, and *gwj. It may also arise from an intervocalic *w in certain circumstances. The other labiovelar consonants, *hw and *kw, followed the pattern of *gw later in the development of Northeadish. The rules for these letters, while many, are all the same. , <ʒ>, and <ƕ> are pronounced as:

• [k, g, x], respectively, between two consonants, or after a consonant when word-final.
  • steŋqdȳr ‘skunk’ [stɛŋk.dyːr]
  • æŋʒlesca ‘English’ [ɛŋg.lɛs.kə]
  • hulɧ ‘hollow’ [hʊlx]
• [kʊ, gʊ, xʊ], respectively, after a consonant and before a syllabic.
  • seŋqɴ ‘to sink’ [sɛŋ.kʊn]
  • æŋʒʌ ‘angle’ [ɛŋ.gʊl]
  • arƕʀ ‘arrows’ [ar.xʊr]
• [kw, gw, xw] before a vowel, when after a consonant or word-initial.
  • qerna ‘millstone’ [kwɛr.nə]
  • aŋʒa ‘narrow’ [aŋ.gwə]
  • melcƕīt ‘calcium’ [mɛlk.xwiːt]
• [ukʊ, ugʊ, uxʊ] after a vowel and before a syllabic.
  • sleqɴ ‘to extinguish’ [slɛu.kʊn]
  • baʒᴍ ‘tree’ [bau.gʊm]
  • seƕɴ ‘to see’ [sɛu.xʊn]
• [ukw, ugw, uxw] when intervocalic.
  • eqarn ‘acorn’ [ɛu.kwarn]
  • beʒa ‘grain, cereal’ [bɛu.gwə]
  • aƕa ‘water’ [au.xwə]
• [uk, ug, ux] after a vowel and before a consonant or when word-final.
  • þeq ‘thick’ [θɛuk]
  • daʒ ‘dew’ [daug]
  • seɧcunðag ‘visible’ [sɛ́ux.kʊn.ðəg]
• In simpler terms:
  • The “nucleus” (k, g, or x) is always fully pronounced.
  • The onset labiovelar is not pronounced when not preceded by a vowel.
  • The coda labiovelar is not pronounced when word-final or before a consonant.
  • The coda labiovelar becomes vocalic ([ʊ]) when followed by a syllabic.
• When any labiovelar consonant is followed by <v>, the pronunciation of <v> changes from [v] to [w].
  • treʒvetscap ‘dendrology’ [trɛug.wɛt.skap]
  • naɧventʀ ‘next winter’ [naux.wɛnt.r̩]

h: The letter h may have three different pronunciations depending on its position relative to neighboring phonemes.

• <h> is pronounced as [h] when initial except before a sonorant.
  • hūs ‘house’ [huːs]
  • helpɴ ‘to help’ [hɛl.pn̩]
• Before a sonorant, <h> is pronounced as [x].
  • hryg ‘back’ [xɾʏg]
  • hnuta ‘nut’ [xnʊ.tə]
• After a back vowel, <h> is pronounced as [x] (c.f. German “ach-laut”).
  • þrūh ‘through’ [θruːx]
  • hlah ‘laugh’ [xlax]
• After a front vowel, <h> is pronounced as [ç] (c.f. German “ich-laut”).
  • tehɴ ‘ten’ [tɛç.n̩]
  • līht ‘easy’ [liːçt]

ƕ, ɧ: In addition to the pronunciation complexities mentioned above, the letter ƕ has the additional complication of an orthographic convention whereby it is written as <ɧ> when in final position in a word or word segment. s: The letter s sports both phonemic and orthographic variation.

• It is written as s when word- or word-segment-final; otherwise it is written as s.
  • þas seʒlas scīn ‘the sun’s rays’ [θəs sɛugləs skiːn]
• It is voiced [z] when intervocalic or after a vowel before a syllabic; otherwise, it is always unvoiced [s].
  • rīsɴ ‘to rise’ [riː.zn̩]
  • æsʌ ‘donkey’ [ɛ.zl̩]

ðþ, vf: The letters ð and v become unvoiced at the end of a word or before another unvoiced consonant (see Obstruent Devoicing), but when they occur word- or word-segment-finally, the voiced consonants remain in the orthography.

Three letters – all of them short vowels – are no longer used in Northeadish: ı, o, and œ.

Syllabics

There are five “syllabics” in the Northeadish alphabet, all of which stem from syllabic sonorants (or, depending on dialect, a sonorant – specifically a nasal or liquid – preceded by a schwa). When a schwa is followed by a sonorant consonant, it becomes a syllabic. Conversely, when a syllabic is followed by a vowel, it reverts to its non-syllabic equivalent. (We do this in English too; in fact, most languages have some version of this – we just don’t usually have the same sort of rules around how it’s spelled.)

• When a schwa is followed by a sonorant, they form a syllabic:
  • a+l → ʌ, *apalaz ‘apple’ → apʌ
  • a+m → ᴍ, *aþala-dōmaz ‘nobility’ → aðʌdᴍ
  • a+n → ɴ, *etaną ‘to eat’ → etɴ
  • a+ŋ → x, *kuningaz ‘king’ → cȳnx
  • a+r → ʀ, *fader ‘father’ → faðʀ
• When a syllabic is followed by a vowel, it reverts to a non-syllabic sonorant; however, this change does not apply to x:
  • ʌ+V → lV, yvʌ ‘bad’ → neuter yvlat
  • ᴍ+V → mV, mēðᴍ ‘gift’ → dative mēðma
  • ɴ+V → nV, œ̄ðbrucɴ ‘fragile’ → feminine œ̄ðbrucna
  • ʀ+V → rV, faðʀ ‘father’ → gentive plural fæðra
  • but x+V → xV, cynx ‘king’ → genitive plural cynxa, not **cynŋa
• When two syllabics occur in succession, the first syllabic is reduced to a non-syllabic sonorant (since, per the rule above, a syllabic may also be interpreted as beginning with a schwa). The same exception also exists for x.
  • ʌ+S → lS, yvʌ ‘bad’ → masculine yvlʀ
  • ᴍ+S → mS, mēðᴍ ‘gift’ → accusative plural mēðmɴ
  • ɴ+S → nS, œ̄ðbrucɴ ‘fragile’ → masculine œ̄ðbrucnʀ
  • ʀ+S → rS, faðʀ ‘father’ → dative plural fæðrᴍ
  • but x+V → xV, cynx ‘king’ → plural cynxʀ, not **cynŋʀ