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Western Scots Norse: Difference between revisions

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#/əˑ/ is the unstressed realization of /ɜˑ, ɞˑ/. (differing by slender vs broad)
#/əˑ/ is the unstressed realization of /ɜˑ, ɞˑ/. (differing by slender vs broad)
===Prosody===
The rules for stress are very slightly more complex than they were in Old Norse, but not by much.
:Stress always goes on the left-most syllable possible. When there are vowels with a grave, stress goes to the first one, skipping over all vowels without one. (so ''sudhraèir'' is stressed on "aèi")


===Mutation===
===Mutation===
Since Old Norse, initial [[w:consonant mutation|consonant mutation]] has developed. Scots Norse has three forms:
:radical (basic)
:radical (basic)
:lenition
:lenition
:eclipsis
:eclipsis


The following gives each form of {{l|snon|tàl}}:
:''tàlir'' /ˈtɑ.ʎəɾʲ/
:''tàlir'' /ˈtɑ.ʎəɾʲ/
:''dàlir'' /ˈdɑ.ʎəɾʲ/
:''dàlir'' /ˈdɑ.ʎəɾʲ/
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==Grammar==
==Morphology==
Most parts of speech are split among three "types" or "classes" based on the mutation they cause in the following word, these are called "radical", "lenite", and "eclipse", and they generally don't affect the word itself. Verbs form the primary exception, as they very consistently follow a single pattern, with the dictionary form (the infinitive) always being a lenite.
===Pronouns===
===Pronouns===
{{snon-pronouns}}
{{snon-pronouns}}
===Nouns===
===Nouns===
Nouns have been reduced down to a basic singular/plural distinction, with the gender distinction only really maintained when paired with the article {{l|snon|hi}}.
Nouns have been reduced down to a basic singular/plural distinction, with the gender distinction effectively lost, only being maintained by the pronouns used for the words. Nouns have also dropped their definite forms in favor of an independent article, {{l|snon|hi}}.
 
Nouns are categorized under gender and class. There are two genders, being masculine and feminine, and three classes, being radical, lenite, and eclipse. The classes are based on the mutation the singular form causes on the following word. The gender distinction is murky at best, and it has been well observed that it gets confused often, to the point it likely does not hold any actual bearing on the language, rather being more a semantic distinction, see {{lang|snon|{{term|asc}}}} for a word where the gender is often confused.


In colloquial dialects, grammatical gender as a whole is preserved very poorly in its original state, with it often being replaced based on semantics, and thus new rules for gender have arisen.
Plurals of native words are almost always formed with {{l|snon|-ar}}, though remnants of umlaut also exist. Nouns from Gàidhlig most often instead use {{l|snon|-an}}.
:A noun is feminine when it:
:*is a place name
:*is a language
:*is the name of a people (eg. an ethnicity, race, tribe, etc.)
:*is semantically feminine (eg. "woman" or "doe")
:*is a technology, especially means of transportation (eg. a car or boat)
:*(list to be expanded)
:A noun is masculine in all other circumstances.


Nouns typically only have at most two forms, distinguishing singular and plural, but many nouns, especially animate nouns, gain distinct feminine forms formed with ''{{lang|snon|{{term|-al}}}}'', as in {{lang|snon|{{term|scòthal}}}} ("female Scot").


The plural is very consistently formed with the suffix {{lang|snon|{{term|-ar}}}}. There is no concrete evidence for the existence of any irregular plurals in the standard language, but within Western Scots Norse many have been observed, the most notable being "man"-"men" as in English, the lack of this in Standard Scots Norse is likely from the a-e merger of Eastern Sudrey Norse.
With the general loss of gender, the suffix {{l|snon|-al}} developed. Originally a feminine diminutive, it was analogized to the masculine and became an agent suffix, then a general suffix for forming feminine nouns. In the plural, it appears as {{l|snon|-lar}}.


===Adjectives===
===Adjectives===
Adjectives have long lost all declension, with the gender distinction through mutation having been leveled off.
Adjectives, like nouns, have been heavily reduced, down to the positive, comparative, and superlative forms. The comparative and superlative are formed with {{l|snon|-ir}} and {{l|snon|-ist}} respectively.


===Numerals===
===Numerals===
{|class="wikitable"
{|class="wikitable"
!1
!1
|{{lang|snon|{{term|è}}}}
|{{l|snon|è}}
|-
|-
!2
!2
|{{lang|snon|{{term|thèr}}}}
|{{l|snon|tfè}}({{l|snon|tfèr|r}})
|-
|-
!3
!3
|{{lang|snon|{{term|trìr}}}}
|{{l|snon|trì}}
|-
|-
!4
!4
|{{lang|snon|{{term|fiòr}}}}
|{{l|snon|fiòer}}
|-
|-
!5
!5
|{{lang|snon|{{term|fi}}}}
|{{l|snon|fi}}
|-
|-
!6
!6
|{{lang|snon|{{term|siacs}}}}
|{{l|snon|siach}}
|-
|-
!7
!7
|{{lang|snon|{{term|siò}}}}
|{{l|snon|siò}}
|-
|-
!8
!8
|{{lang|snon|{{term|àth}}}}
|{{l|snon|àth}}
|-
|-
!9
!9
|{{lang|snon|{{term|niù}}}}
|{{l|snon|niù}}
|-
|-
!10
!10
|{{lang|snon|{{term|tiù}}}}
|{{l|snon|tiù}}
|-
|-
!11
!11
|{{lang|snon|{{term|eliov}}}}
|{{l|snon|èliovh}}
|-
|-
!12
!12
|{{lang|snon|{{term|tòlv}}}}
|{{l|snon|tòlvh}}
|-
|-
|}
|}
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A large amount of speakers simply don't use inflected prepositions.
A large amount of speakers simply don't use inflected prepositions.


{{snon-infl-prep|i|3=io|n=y}}
{{snon-infl-prep|i|n=y}}




{{snon-infl-prep|til|3=tiol}}
{{snon-infl-prep|til}}


===Verbs===
===Verbs===
Many significant changes have happened to the verb system since Old Norse, notably both the mood and voice distinctions have been lost. The active indicative has descended into the present and past tense, while the active subjunctive was lost entirely. The oppositive happened in the mediopassive, with the subjunctive becoming the future and stative, while the indicative was lost.
Many significant changes have happened to the verb system since Old Norse, notably both the mood and voice distinctions have been lost. The active indicative has descended into the present and past tense, while the active subjunctive was lost entirely. The mediopassive became the future and imperative (the mood distinction in the mediopassive largely having already collapsed in Old Norse). The reciprocal, original formed through the mediopassive, has entirely been replaced by {{l|snon|hinhar}}. The original imperative is seemingly preserved as the impersonal form (hence the "-sc-"), later having the endings appended to it after they became generally leveled to a single regular pattern.
 
Verbs have reduced to such a limited number of forms that analogy and sound changes have leveled them all down to essentially one pattern (excluding a few irregular verbs), which seemingly descends from Old Norse's weak class 2 pattern.


The stative doesn't exist for every verb, but the forms are still displayed for convenience's sake.


The original mediopassive indicative only remains in a small set of verbs acting as a reciprocal, typically physical actions taken towards others, like {{lang|snon|{{term|}}}} ("to fight"), {{lang|snon|{{term|slà}}}} ("to hit"), {{lang|snon|{{term|}}}} ("to embrace"), as well as a few abstract verbs, such as {{lang|snon|{{term|elsc}}}} ("to love"). Otherwise it's been replaced by {{lang|snon|{{term|hennar}}}}
{{snon-conj|t|àl}}


Verbs have reduced to such a limited number of forms that analogy and sound changes have leveled them all down to essentially one pattern (excluding a few irregular verbs), which seemingly descends from Old Norse's weak class 2 pattern.
{{snon-conj|m|èl}}
 
{{snon-conj|à|gh}}
 
====Suppletive verbs====
There are very few known suppletive verbs in Scots Norse, the main one being the copula ''vèr'', and even it has been leveled by many speakers.
{{snon-conj-vèr}}
"er" and "var" are the more prevalent forms, but the regularized forms "vèrir" and "vèradhir" are also rather common.


{{snon-out-conj|t|àl|àel}}
==Syntax==
===Word order===
Scots Norse word order is incredibly strict, relying more on particles than word order for changing the sentence type. The typical order is:
#Preverbal particle
#Verb
#Postverbal particle(s)
#Subject
#Preposition(s) (usually)
#Direct object or predicate adjective
#Indirect object


Prepositions are placed largely as in English, but the usage can often differ, eg. "i" ("in") goes before the direct object, but is also used for "under" as in "i miùeghi" ("under construction", literally "in building").


{{snon-out-conj|m|èl}}
An example:


{{interlinear|lang=snon|number=(1)
| er Agharsc Vheostnariòzc h'u ghi nAghar.
| be.PRES Scots_Norse West_Norse of the Hebrides
| Scots Norse is a West Nordic language spoken in the Hebrides
}}


{{snon-out-conj|à|gh|egh}}
===Questions and answers===
Scots Norse lacks a true equivalent to "no", the closest thing being "è(gh)" ("not"), which can often be used on it's own when a form of "be" + "not" suffices for an answer, as in:
{{interlinear|lang=snon|number=(2)
| vàrth mèlir tù vid mic?
| Q speak.PRES 2sg with 1sg
| Will you speak with me?
}}
{{interlinear|lang=snon|number= (2.1)|indent=6
| ègh
| NEG
| I won't
}}


====Suppletive verbs====
Following this usage of "ègh", "ghià" (Old Norse "já") is often used as an affirmative, as in:
There are very few known suppletive verbs in Scots Norse, the main one being the copula ''{{lang|snon|vèr}}'', and even it has been leveled by many speakers.
{{interlinear|lang=snon|number=(3)
{{snon-conj-vèr}}
| vàrth èthist tù màenhmhàth vid mic?
"arr" and "varr" are the more prevalent forms, but the regularized forms "vèrarr" and "vèradharr" are also rather common.
| Q speak.FUT 2sg dinner with 1sg
| Will you eat dinner with me?
}}
{{interlinear|lang=snon|number= (3.1)|indent=6
| ghià!
| AFF
| I will!
}}


Another suppletive verb is that of {{lang|snon|{{term|elsc}}}}, which has a suppletive reciprocal from the Old Norse verb "unna" (Scots Norse "uen")
As has likely been noticed by now, questions consistently contain "vàrth" at the beginning, this is a general question particle, akin to Gàidhlig "an".


{{snon-out-conj|e|lsc}}
==="To be"===
====The stative====
Scots Norse has several things fulfilling the function of "to be". In the descriptive role (eg. "I am happy") the stative of a verb is used (eg. "sèladhist").
{{interlinear|lang=snon|number=(4)
| tiòemhadhist hi ger
| empty.STAT the box
| The box is empty
}}
====Existential ''bì''====
Likely under the influence of Irish, the verb "bìodh" (Old Norse "bíða") shifted to an existential copula, rather than an impersonal one, while an odd development, the extreme influence of the Gaelic languages does well explain it, in this sense it's most often spelt "bì", with the various endings being appended with an apostrophe, as in "bì'ir" or "bì'adhist", in these forms it is often pronounced /bj-/, thus /bjəjʃt/ for "bì'adhist".


==Syntax==
==Texts==
==Texts==
===UDHR Article 1===
===UDHR Article 1===
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