Cumbraek: Difference between revisions

|pronunciation = [kʌmˈbɾaːk]

|region = Great Britain

|fam2=[[Celtic languages|Celtic]]

|fam3=[[Insular Celtic]]

|fam4=[[Brythonic]]

|ancestor=[[Common Brythonic]]

|script        = [[w:Latin script|Latin script]]

'''Cumbraek''' /kʌmˈbɾaːg/ is a modern reconstruction of the lost medieval language of Cumbric, a Brythonic Celtic tongue once spoken in parts of southern Scotland and northern England.

===Pronouns===

====Personal====

 

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"

! style="width: 120px; " |Subject

! style="width: 120px; " |Object

! style="width: 120px; " |Possessive

! style="width: 120px; " |Infixed

! style="" |1sg.

| ''mi''

| ''mu(n)^{<small><small>N</small></small>}

| '''m''^{<small><small>N</small></small>}

! style="" |2sg

| ''de''^{<small><small>L</small></small>} (''je''^{<small><small>L</small></small>})

| '''th''^{<small><small>L</small></small>}

! style="" |3sg m.

| '''y''^{<small><small>L</small></small>}

! style="" |3sg f.

| ''hi''

| ''-s''^{<small><small>H</small></small>}

| ''i''^{<small><small>SH</small></small>}

| '''y''^{<small><small>SH</small></small>}

! style="" |1pl

| ''ni''

| ''-n''^{<small><small>H</small></small>}

| ''an''^{<small><small>H</small></small>}

! style="" |2pl

| ''-ch''

! style="" |3pl

| ''oo''

| ''-s''^{<small><small>H</small></small>}

| ''ow''^{<small><small>NH</small></small>}

|

|}

 

The '''subject''' pronouns are used:

* optionally before a personal verb to express the subject (e.g. ''mi carav'' 'I love')

* as auxiliary pronouns, added to the end of a verb by a hyphen for clarity (e.g. ''eth welas-ev'' 'he saw you')

* as auxiliary pronouns, in conjunction with possessive adjectives (e.g. ''i nen-hi'' 'her grandmother')

* independently following prepositions and conjunctions (e.g. ''mi a thi'' 'me and you')

* as the object of an imperative verb (e.g. ''ladh oo'' 'kill them')

The '''object''' pronouns indicate the direct object of the verb and must be attached to a preverbal particle (e.g. ''eth garav'' 'I love you').

The '''possessive''' pronouns are used:

* as possessive adjectives, before the noun they qualify (e.g. ''i thi'' 'her house', ''ow nwely'' 'their bed')

* as the object of a verb noun (e.g. ''de welet'' 'seeing you', ''i gano'' 'singing it')

* with ''-houn'' to produce reflexive pronouns (e.g. ''mu-houn'' 'myself', ''an-houn'' 'ourselves')

NB:  ''mu'' is used before a consonant and ''mun'' before a vowel. The form ''je'' is a colloquial spelling of ''de'', representing a more general pronunciation.  

The '''infixed''' pronouns are contracted forms of the possessive pronouns used following prepositions and conjunctions ending a vowel (e.g. ''a'm tat'' 'and my father', ''o'y wlat'' 'from his country').  

 

====Demonstrative====

! style="width: 150px; " |

! style="width: 120px; " |Masc.

! style="width: 120px; " |Fem.

! style="width: 120px; " |Plural

! | this

| ''hunn''

| ''honn''

| ''hinn''

! | that

| ''honnedh''

| ''hinnedh''

|-  

| ''hunnunt''

| ''honnunt''

| ''hinnunt''

 

 

| style="width: 100px; "| ''peth'' <br> ''pebeth''

| style="width: 200px; text-align:left; " | + ''a'' + verb / + copula

| ''pe''^{<small>L</small>}

| style="text-align:left;" | adjective

| style="width: 200px; text-align:left; " | + noun

! who

| ''puw''^{<small>L</small>}  

! rowspan="2" | which one(s)

| ''p'oun''  

|style="text-align:left;" | singular

| style="width: 200px; text-align:left; " | + ''a'' + verb / + copula

| style="text-align:left;" | plural

| style="width: 200px; text-align:left; " | + ''a'' + verb / + copula

|-

| ''pet''^{<small>L</small>}  

|}

====Regular Verbs====

The conjugation of regular verbs follows the pattern of ''caro'' (stem: ''car-'') "love":

! |

! colspan="4" | Indicative

! style="width: 150px; " rowspan="2" | Imperative

! style="width: 50px; " |

! style="width: 150px; " | Present

! style="width: 150px; " | Imperfect

! style="width: 150px; " | Preterite

! 1sg <br> 2sg <br> 3sg <br> 1pl <br> 2pl <br> 3pl <br> Imp

|'' carav <br> ceridh* <br> car <br> caren <br> caret <br> carant <br> cerir*''

| ''carun <br> carout <br> care <br> carem <br> carewch <br> carent <br> cerit*''

| ''ceres* <br> cerest* <br> caras <br> carsam <br> carsawch <br> carsant <br> carat''

| ''carsun <br> carsout <br> carse <br> carsem <br> carsewch <br> carsent <br> cersit*''

| ''- <br> car <br> caret <br> carem <br> cerit* <br> carent <br> -

|-''

* Verbs with ''a'' in the stem undergo [[Cumbraek#Vowel Affection|I-Affection]] in forms marked with *, including the Preterite endings ''-es, -est''.

* The Present tense can also convey a future sense, e.g. ''mi canav'' "I'm singing" and "I will sing".

* Some verbs undergo [[Cumbraek#Vowel Mutation|alternation]] in the 3sg. Present, e.g. ''per'' "causes" < ''par-'', ''ettip'' "answers" < ''atteb-'' etc.

** Some verbs with ''a'' in the stem take ''-is'' in the 3sg and undergo I-Affection, e.g. ''peris'' "caused", ''levris'' "spoke".

** A few verbs have Preterite singular forms in ''-t'' or ''-th''. These follow the pattern of either ''cano'' "sing" or ''cumbrit'' (stem: ''cummer-'') "take":

*** ''cano'':  ''cent'' "I sang", ''centost'' "you sang", ''cant'' "he/she/it sang".

** A few verbs with a stem ending in ''-ed'' or ''-edh'' have a 3sg Preterite ending in ''-ot'' or ''-odh''. The most important of these are ''dewot'' "said", ''gwoat'' "said" (< ''gwedo''), ''estodh'' "sat", ''gorwodh'' "lay down".

* Verbs with stems ending in a vowel undergo contraction with the endings, e.g. ''glanháv'' "I clean", ''troes'' "I turned".

====''Bot'' "Be"====

! |

! colspan="5" | Indicative

! colspan="2" | Subjunctive

! style="width: 100px; " rowspan="2" | Imperative

! style="width: 50px; " |

! style="width: 100px; " | Present

! style="width: 100px; " | Future

! style="width: 100px; " | Imperfect

! style="width: 100px; " | Preterite

! style="width: 100px; " | Pluperfect

! style="width: 100px; " | Present

! style="width: 100px; " | Past

! 1sg <br> 2sg <br> 3sg <br> 1pl <br> 2pl <br> 3pl <br> Imp

|'' oov <br> oot <br> iw, ais, ema <br> imm <br> ich <br> int, emant <br> is''

| ''bidhav <br> bidhidh <br> bidh <br> bidhen <br> bidhet  <br> bidhant <br> bidhir''

| ''aidhun <br> aidhout <br> aidh <br> aidhem <br> aidhewch <br> aidhent <br> aidhit''

| ''boum <br> bouest <br> bou <br> bouam <br> bouawch <br> bouant <br> bouat''

| ''boussun <br> boussout <br> bousse <br> boussem <br> boussewch <br> boussent <br> boussit''

| ''bov <br> boi <br> bo <br> bóm <br> boch <br> bónt <br> boer''

| ''beun <br> beout <br> be <br> beem <br> béwch <br> beent <br> beit''

| ''- <br> bidh <br> bit <br> bidhem <br> bidhit <br> bidhent <br> -

|-''

|}

 

* There are three separate words for the 3sg of ''bot'':

** ''ema'' means "there is" and is a locative verb used whenever a subject is linked to an adverbial phrase indicative location, including with the interrogative ''cud'' "where", e.g. ''Ema cath war er loar'' "There is a cat on the floor", ''Cud ema'r egloos?'' "Where is the church?". ''Ema'' is also used in the progressive idiom (see below).

** ''Ais'' is used in negative, interrogative and conditional sentences with an indefinite subject, e.g. ''Ned ais cath war er loar'' "There is not a cat on the floor".

* 3pl ''emant'' is used as a locative verb when the subject is the 3pl pronoun "they".

* Impersonal ''is'' is used as a copula with a definite subject when the complement follows the verb, e.g. ''Dewidh is hen'' "David is old".

* Bot has a special present relative form, ''essidh'' "who is/are", used when the antecedent is the subject, e.g. ''Er din essidh mu mroadur'' "The man who is my brother".

====Other Irregular Verbs====

'''''Goobot''''' "know (a fact)" has a very irregular Present tense: ''gunn, gudhost, goor, gudhen, gudhet, gudhant, gwis''. The Imperfect is formed from ''goodh-'' with regular Imperfect endings (''goodhun, goodhout'' etc). The Preterite, Pluperfect and Imperative are formed with ''goo-'' + the relevant form of ''bot'' (''gooboum, gooboussun, goobidh'' etc.).

'''''Anawbot''''' "know (a person)" is relatively regular but formed on two stems. The Present and Imperfect use ''adoyn-'' with the regular endings (''adoynav, adoynun'' etc.). The Preterite, Pluperfect and Imperative use ''anaw-'' with the relevant part of ''bot'' (''anawboum, anawboussun, anawbidh'').

'''''Devot''''' "come" is similarly formed with regular endings on the stem ''dow-'' in the Present and Imperfect (''dowav, dowun'' etc.) and follows the conjugation of ''bot'' in the Preterite and Pluperfect, but with ''v'' for ''b'' (''devoum, devoussun'' etc.). The Imperative is regularly formed on ''dow-'', except for the 2sg. forms ''dos'' and ''deret''.

 

'''''Munet''''' "go" has three separate stems. The Present, Imperfect and Imperative use the stem ''a-'', which is contracted with regular endings (''av, aun'' etc.); the 2sg. Imperative is written ''á'' to distinguish it from several other words written ''a''. The 3sg Preterite is ''ayth'' and the other persons are formed on this regularly (''eythes'' "I went", ''aytham'' "we went" etc.). In the Pluperfect the stem is ''el-'' with regular endings (''elsun, elsout'' etc.).

'''''Gwreyth''''' "do, make" follows the conjugation of ''munet'' in the Present, Imperfect, Imperative and Pluperfect, using the stems ''gwra-'' and ''gwrel-'' (''gwrav, gwraun, gwra, gwrelsun''). The Preterite is formed regularly on the stem ''gwroug-'' but with 3sg forms ''gorow'' and ''gwrayth''.

 

The verb noun is an important feature of Cumbraek grammar with functions of both a noun and a verb. As a noun, all verb nouns are masculine except ''bot'' "be" and its compounds (e.g. ''devot'' "come", ''goobot'' "know", ''cuvarvot'' "meet" etc.), which are feminine. Like any other noun, a verb noun may be:

* preceded by a determiner such as the article ''er'' "the", a pronoun or a possessive or interrogative adjective, e.g. ''er dadlo'' "the arguing", ''i gluwet'' "his hearing".  

* qualified by an adjective, e.g. ''cano didon'' "tuneless singing".

* the subject or object of a sentence, e.g. ''muko is druk'' "smoking is bad", ''a hellidh gano?'' "can you sing?"

The main function of the verb noun as a verb is in the '''progressive idiom''', which denotes specifically ongoing action. This is formed using the present or imperfect of ''bot'' + the particle ''in'' + the verb noun, e.g. ''mi oov in péntya'' "I'm painting", ''edh aidh in tuvo'' "it was growing". 3rd person subjects use ''ema, emant'' in this structure, e.g. ''ema'r gur in dringo'' "the man is climbing", ''emant in gwreyth marak'' "they are making haggis". The future and subjunctive tenses of ''bot'' may also be used in this structure, but this is less common.

 

 

The object of a verb noun is in the genitive case, i.e. a noun object follows the verb noun directly and a pronoun object precedes as a possessive adjective, e.g. ''Mi mennun de welet'' "I would like to see you" (i.e. "your seeing"), ''Hi gall lavro Cumbraek'' "she can speak Cumbraek".

 

 

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"

! colspan="3" | Affirmative

! style="width: 60px; " rowspan="4" | ''e'' <br> ''edh''

| style="width: 400px; text-align:left;" | 'dummy' particle at the start of a sentence

| style="width: 450px; text-align:left;" | ''E levir Melik Cumbraek'' 'Melik speaks Cumbraek'

| style="text-align:left;" | infixes object pronouns

| style="text-align:left;" | ''Es gweles'' 'I saw her'

|-

| style="text-align:left;" | in place of a relative after adverbials

| style="text-align:left;" | ''Ar er mor e trigant'' '[It is] by the sea that they live'

| style="text-align:left;" | meaning 'that' before subordinate clauses

| style="text-align:left;" | ''Ema govnok warnav ey prenidh'' 'I hope that you buy it'

! rowspan="3" | ''a''<small>^{<small>L</small>}</small>

| style="text-align:left;" | the relative pronoun when the subject or object is antecedent

| style="text-align:left;" | ''Er din a garav'' 'The man whom I love'

| style="text-align:left;" | the genitive relative

| style="text-align:left;" | ''Er verch a dheskidh i that'' 'The girl whose father you teach'

| style="text-align:left;" | follows a focussed subject or object

| style="text-align:left;" | ''Ei ath gar'' ''''I''' love you'

! ''ru''<small>^{<small>SL</small>}</small>

| style="text-align:left;" | used before the preterite to form the perfect tense:

* at the start of a sentence (spirantising)

* in place of relative ''a'' (leniting)

| style="text-align:left;" | ''Ru chuskus-ev er didh oll'' 'He has slept all day' <br> ''Er prit r'edes en newidh'' 'The meal which I have just eaten'

|-

! ''nuw''^{<small><small>S</small></small>}

| style="text-align:left;" | affirmative, somewhat emphatic particle

| style="text-align:left;" | ''Nuw adwoynav de dat'' 'Indeed, I know your father'

! colspan="3" | Negative

! rowspan="2" | ''ne''^{<small><small>SL</small></small>} <br> ''ned''

| style="text-align:left;" | used at the start of a sentence (spirantising)

| style="text-align:left;" | ''Ne chassa Yowann Maylok'' 'John doesn't hate Maylok'

| style="text-align:left;" | negative relative (leniting)

| style="text-align:left;" | ''Er ti ne leskis du'r loar'' 'The house that did not burn down'

| style="text-align:left;" | used before subordinate clauses

| style="text-align:left;" | ''Mi medhulyav ne do'' 'I think he won't come'

| style="text-align:left;" | used in replies

| style="text-align:left;" | ''Am ceridh? Na charav'' 'Do you love me? No'

| style="text-align:left;" | negative imperative

| style="text-align:left;" | ''Na sill a-vri'' 'Don't look down'

! colspan="3" | Interrogative

! rowspan="2" | a^{<small><small>L</small></small>}

| style="text-align:left;" | used at the start of a direct question

| style="text-align:left;" | ''A dhowidh amm Dhiw Gwener?'' 'Are you coming on Friday?'

| style="text-align:left;" | introduces indirect questions

| style="text-align:left;" | ''Hi erchis a oot lessowur'' 'She asked if you are a vegetarian'

! ''ay''

| style="text-align:left;" | used at the start of a focussed sentence

| style="text-align:left;" | ''Ay Frankek a lavrant?'' 'Is is French that they speak?'

! ''pane''<small>^{<small>S</small>}</small> <br> ''paned''

| style="text-align:left;" | introduces a direct or indirect question expecting an affirmative answer

| style="text-align:left;" | ''Panem credidh?'' 'Don't you believe me?'

|}

 

===Prepositions===

Many common prepositions are 'conjugated' according to person and number, i.e. there are individual personal forms for each of the personal pronouns (e.g. ''amdanav'' "about me", ''in i vlen'' "in front of him". There are two forms of preposition which undergo this 'conjugation':

 

 

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"

! style="width: 50px; " |

! style="width: 170px; " |A-Stems

! style="width: 170px; " |I-Stems

! style="width: 340px; " colspan="2" |O-Stems

| style="width: 170px; " | '''''heb'' 'without'''' <br> ''heb- <br> hebov <br> hebot <br> hebdho <br> hebdhi <br> hebonn <br> heboch <br> hebdhou''

| style="width: 170px; " | '''''is'' 'below'''' <br> ''iss- <br> issov <br> issot <br> isto <br> isti <br> issonn <br> issoch <br> istou''

 

* '''A-stems:''' ''wodan'' 'under' (''wodan-''), ''a'' 'of, from' (''an-''), ''war'' 'on' (''warn-'')

** like ''heb'': ''er'' 'for' (''er-''), ''idhir'' 'between' (''idhr-''), ''in'' 'in' (''inn-''), ''rak'' 'before' (''rag-''), ''truw'' 'through' (''truw-'')

 

Compound prepositions are generally written as a single word divided by an apostrophe and are stressed on the second (nominal) element, e.g. ''im'misk'' "amongst", ''du'vri'' "up". The word ''erbinn'' "against" is an exception to this rule.

 

 

| ''amm'gerchin''

| rowspan="3;" | ''du''^{<small>L</small>}

| ''pant''

| ''du'vri''

| up

| ''bri''

| ''du'woeret''

| down

| ''goeret''

| ''er'moon''

| for the sake of

| ''er''

| ''moon''

| ''erbinn''

| ''ar''^{<small>L</small>}

| ''penn''

| ''im'medhun''

| inside, within

| rowspan="6;" | ''in''^{<small>N</small>}

| ''medhun''

|-

| ''im'misk''

| ''misk''

| ''im'mlen''

| in front of

| ''blen''

| ''in'le''

| instead of

| ''le''

| ''in'woodh''

| before

| ''goodh''

| ''in'edrip''

| because of

| ''edrip''

| ''o'benn''

| from against

| rowspan="4;" | ''o''^{<small>L</small>}

| ''o'rann''

| on behalf of

|-

| ''o'vedhun''

| ''o'visk''

| from amongst

| ''tra'chevin''

| behind

| ''tra''^{<small>S</small>}

| ''cevin''

| ''war'benn''

| on top of

| rowspan="2;" | ''war''^{<small>L</small>}

| ''war'lorr''

| after, behind

| ''lorr''

|}

 

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"

! style="width: 100px;" | Prefix

| super-, hyper-, over

| style="text-align:left;" | ''gorlivo'' "overflow"

|-

| ''gurth-''

| <small>L</small>

| against, opposite, contra-, anti-, counter-

| style="text-align:left;" | ''gurthdroidh'' "rebel"

|-

| ''idr-''

| <small>L</small>

| between, inter-, intra-

| style="text-align:left;" | ''idrhilol'' "interracial"

|-

| ''led-''  

| <small>L</small>

| half, semi-

| style="text-align:left;" | ''ledlumm'' "half naked"

[[Category:Conlangs]] [[Category:A posteriori]] [[Category:Celtic languages]] [[Category:Languages]] [[Category:Brythonic Celtic languages]]