Niemish

Niemish
Nimsk
Pronunciation	[nʲimsk]
Created by	Tardigrade
Date	2015
Language family	Indo-European Germanic East Germanic Gothic Post-Gothic Niemish
Official status
Official language in	Niemgard
Language codes
ISO 639-3	qnm
BRCL	grey

Niemish (Nimsk) is an East Germanic language descended from Wulfilan Gothic, the oldest Germanic language with a sizeable text corpus. The name originated from Proto-Slavic *němĭcĭ, an exonym given by speakers of Slavic languages to Germanic speakers. Niemish has undergone extensive influence by Slavic languages and is a member of the Balkan sprachbund, having such features as suffixed definite articles and deriving the future tense from present subjunctive. There is also considerable influence from languages such as Turkish, Hungarian, Greek, Latin and Romance languages.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial		Denti-alveolar		Postalveolar	Velar		Glottal
		hard	soft	hard (Dental)	soft (Alveolar)	neutral	soft	hard	neutral
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩	mʲ ⟨mj⟩	n̪ ⟨n⟩	nʲ ⟨nj⟩		ŋʲ ⟨ngj⟩	ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Plosive	voiceless	p ⟨p⟩	pʲ ⟨pj⟩	t̪ ⟨t⟩	tʲ ⟨tj⟩		kʲ ⟨kj⟩	k ⟨k⟩
	voiced	b ⟨b⟩	bʲ ⟨bj⟩	d̪ ⟨d⟩	dʲ ⟨dj⟩		ɡʲ ⟨gj⟩	ɡ ⟨g⟩
Affricate	voiceless			t̪͡s̪ ⟨tz⟩	t͡sʲ ⟨tzj⟩	t͡ʃ ⟨cz⟩
	voiced			(d̪͡z̪) ⟨dz⟩	(d͡zʲ) ⟨dzj⟩	(d͡ʒ) ⟨dsz⟩
Spirant	voiceless	f ⟨f⟩	fʲ ⟨fj⟩	θ ⟨th⟩	θʲ ⟨thj⟩	ʃ ⟨sz⟩	xʲ ⟨chj⟩	x ⟨ch⟩	h ⟨h⟩
				s̪ ⟨s⟩	sʲ ⟨sj⟩
	voiced	v ⟨v, w⟩	vʲ ⟨wj, vj⟩	z̪ ⟨z⟩	zʲ ⟨zj⟩	ʒ ⟨zsz⟩
Approximant		w ⟨w⟩		ɫ̪ ⟨l⟩	lʲ ⟨lj⟩	j ⟨j⟩
Trill				r̪ ⟨r⟩	rʲ ⟨rj⟩

Vowels

Vowels in stressed syllables

	Front		Central		Back
	Long	Short	Long	Short	Short	Long
Close	/iː/ ⟨í⟩	/ɪ/ ⟨ì⟩	/ɨː/ ⟨ý⟩		/ʊ/ ⟨ù⟩	/uː/ ⟨ú⟩
Mid	/eː/ ⟨é⟩	/ɛ/ ⟨è, ä̀⟩		/ə/ ⟨ỳ⟩	/ɔ/ ⟨ò⟩	/oː/ ⟨ó⟩
	/ɛː/ ⟨ä́⟩
Open			/aː/ ⟨á⟩	/a/ ⟨à⟩

⟨a, ä, o, u, y⟩ occur after plain consonants and ⟨e, i⟩ occur after palatalised.

The acute and grave accents are often used in dictionaries and pedagogical material to mark stressed long vowels and stressed short vowels respectively, but they are not usually used in other situations. This does not usually present problems, as:

• most (but not quite all) words in Niemish are stressed on the first syllable of the root
• long vowels can only occur in open syllables and short vowels in closed syllables or open syllables followed by a voiceless plosive

So stressed vowels and their length can be predicted with a high degree of accuracy. See here for notable exceptions.

Other than /ɛː/ open vowels are short while close vowels are long or occur in diphthongs. In most dialects /ɛː/ has merged with /eː/, making the distinction between ⟨é⟩ and ⟨ä́⟩ purely a matter of whether or not the preceding consonant is palatalised.

The diphthongs in Niemish are all falling, ending on /j/, /w/ or a liquid consonant /l, lʲ, m, mʲ, n, nʲ, r, rʲ/:

Initial segment	Final segment
	/_j/	/_w/	liquid consonant using /r/ as example
/a/	⟨aj⟩	⟨aw⟩	⟨ar⟩
/ɛ/	⟨äj⟩	⟨äw⟩	⟨är⟩
/e/	⟨ej⟩	⟨ew⟩	⟨er⟩
/i/	⟨ij⟩	⟨iw⟩	⟨ir⟩
/ɨ/		⟨yw⟩	⟨yr⟩
/o/	⟨oj⟩	⟨ow⟩	⟨or⟩
/u/	⟨uj⟩	⟨uw⟩	⟨ur⟩

The realisation of ⟨y⟩ varies considerably by dialect; many, including the Capitoline dialect, simply merge it with ⟨i⟩, making the distinction between ⟨y⟩ and ⟨i⟩ purely a matter of whether or not the preceding consonant is palatalised. Other possible realisations include:

• [ɪ̈] or [ɨ] for the short ⟨y⟩
• [ɤ, ɯː]
• [ɘ, eː]

The stressed vowels are represented in Niemish orthography thus:

Vowel	Niemish orthography
	After a plain consonant using /b/ as example	After a palatalised consonant using /bʲ/ as example	After a postalveolar consonant using /j/ as example	After /h/	Word-initially
/a, aː/	⟨ba⟩	⟨bia⟩	⟨ja⟩	⟨ha⟩	⟨a⟩
/ɛ, ɛː/	⟨bä⟩	⟨biä⟩	⟨jä⟩	⟨hä⟩	⟨ä⟩
/ɛ, eː/		⟨be⟩	⟨je⟩	⟨he⟩	⟨e⟩
/ə, ɨː/	⟨by⟩		⟨jy⟩	⟨hy⟩
/ɪ, iː/		⟨bi⟩		⟨hi⟩	⟨i⟩
/ɔ, oː/	⟨bo⟩	⟨bio⟩	⟨jo⟩	⟨ho⟩	⟨o⟩
/ʊ, uː/	⟨bu⟩	⟨biu⟩	⟨ju⟩	⟨hu⟩	⟨u⟩

Vowels in unstressed syllables

	Front	Central	Back
Close	/ɪ/ ⟨i, e¹⟩	/ə/ ⟨y, e²⟩	/ʊ/ ⟨u, o⟩
Mid
Open		/ɐ/ ⟨a⟩

1. Unstressed ⟨e⟩ when not absolutely final, e.g. ⟨gomen⟩ /ˈgoːmʲɪn/
2. Unstressed ⟨e⟩ when absolutely final, e.g. ⟨grune⟩ /ˈgruːnʲə/

A sequence of a hard consonant followed by a front vowel is realised with a velar offglide inserted (or a labiovelar offglide after labial consonants):

• dächs /dɛːxs/ [dɰɛːxs], dialectally [dɰeːxs]
• bärs /bɛrs/ [bwɛrs], dialectally [bwers]

This also holds in dialects where /ə, ɨː/ have merged with /ɪ, i/ or [ɘ, eː]ː

• kyna /ˈkɨːnɐ/ Standard: [ˈkɨːnɐ], Dialectal: [ˈkɰiːnɐ], [ˈkɰeːnɐ]
• ęfynund /ɪ̃ˈfɨːnʊnd/ Standard: [ɪ̃ˈfɨːnʊnd], Dialectal: [ɪ̃ˈfwiːnʊnd], [ɪ̃ˈfweːnʊnd]

Glide insertion is not phonemic and thus not indicated in most IPA transcriptions.

Scripts

Alphabet

The Niemish alphabet consists of 33 letters.

Majuscule Minuscule IPA A a /a, aː/ Ą ą /ã, ãː/ Ä ä /ɛ~ɛː/ Ą̈ ą̈ /ɛ̃, ɛ̃ː/ B b /b, bʲ/ C c /k, ʦʲ/ D d /d, dʲ/ E e /ɛ, eː/ Ę ę /ɛ̃, ẽː/ F f /f, fʲ/ G g /g, gʲ/

Majuscule Minuscule IPA H h /h/ I i /ɪ, iː/ Į į /ɪ̃, ĩː/ J j /j/ K k /k, kʲ/ L l /l, lʲ/ M m /m, mʲ/ N n /n, nʲ/ O o /ɔ, oː/ Ǫ ǫ /ɔ̃, õː/ P p /p, pʲ/

Majuscule Minuscule IPA (Q) (q) /k, kʲ/ R r /r, rʲ/ S s /s, sʲ/ T t /t, tʲ/ U u /ʊ, uː/ Ų ų /ʊ̃, ũ/ (V) (v) /v, vʲ/ W w /w, vʲ/ X x /ks, kʲsʲ/ Y y /ə, ɨː/ Z z /z, zʲ/

The acute and grave accent can respectively mark stressed long vowels (or diphthongs) and stressed short vowels. These are generally not used except in dictionaries for clarity.

In addition, Niemish orthography uses six digraphs: ⟨Ch, Cz, Ph, Sz, Th, Tz⟩ and two trigraphs:⟨Dsz, Zsz⟩ These function as sequences of two or three letters for collation purposes.

Outside digraphs, the letters ⟨C, Q, V⟩ only appear in loanwords, as do the digraphs ⟨Ph, Th⟩ and the trigraph ⟨Dsz⟩.

Cyrillic script

Letter	Numerical value	Niemish Latin equivalent	Phoneme	Name	Name in Latin letters
А а	1	A a	/a, aː/
Б б		B b	/b, bʲ/
В в	2	W w, V v	/w, vʲ/
Г г	3	G g	/ɡ/
Д д	4	D d	/d/
Є є, Е e	5	E e	/e, ʲe/
Ж ж		Zsz zsz	/ʒ/
Ѕ ѕ	6	Dz dz	/ʣ/
З з	7	Z z	/z/
И и	8	I i	/i/
Ѳ ѳ	9	Tz tz	/ʦ/
І і	10	I i	/i/
К к	20	K k	/k/
Л л	30	L l	/l/
М м	40	M m	/m/
Н н	50	N n	/n/
Ѻ ѻ, О o	70	O o	/o/
П п	80	P p	/p/
Р р	100	R r	/r/
С с	200	S s	/s/
Т т	300	T t	/t/
ОУ оу	400	U u	/u/
Ф ф	500	F f	/f/
Х х	600	Ch ch	/x/
Ѡ ѡ	800	O o	/o/
Щ щ		St st	/st/
Ц ц	900	Tz tz	/ʦ/
Ч ч	90	Cz cz	/ʧ/
Ш ш		Sz sz	/ʃ/
Ъ ъ
Ꙑ ꙑ		Y y	/ɨ/
Ь ь		J j	/ʲ/
Ѣ ѣ		ä	/ɛ/
Ꙓ ꙓ		Jä jä, iä	/jɛ, ʲɛ/
Ю ю		Jo jo, io	/jo, ʲo/
ЮУ юу		Ju ju, iu	/ju, ʲu/
Ꙗ ꙗ		Ja ja, ia	/ja, ʲa/
Ѥ ѥ		Je je, ie	/je, ʲe/
Ꙙ ꙙ		Ą ą	/ã/
Ꙝ ꙝ		Ją ją, ią	/jã, ʲã/
Ꙛ ꙛ		Ą̈, ą̈	/ɛ̃/
IꙚ ıꙛ		Ją̈ ją̈, ią̈	/jɛ̃, ʲɛ̃/
Ѧ ѧ		Ę ę	/ẽ, ʲẽ/
Ѩ ѩ		Ję ję	/jẽ/
Ꙟ ꙟ		Į į	/ĩ, ʲĩ/
Ѫ ѫ		Ǫ ǫ	/õ/
Ѭ ѭ		Jǫ jǫ, iǫ	/jõ, ʲõ/
ѪУ ѫу		Ų ų	/ũ/
ѬУ ѭу		Jų jų, ių	/jũ, ʲũ/
Ѯ ѯ	60	Ks ks	/ks/
Ѱ ѱ	700	Ps ps	/ps/
Ѵ ѵ	400	I i	/i/

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative
1st sg.	i	mi	mi(n)	mes
2nd sg.	tzu		tzu(n)	tzos
3rd sg. masc.	na/en		es	em
3rd sg. fem.	ja/ej		zas	ze
3rd refl.		si	si(n)	ses
1st pl.	wys	ųs	ǫr	ǫs
2st pl.	jus		zar	zes
3rd pl. masc.	is		ze	ę
3rd pl. fem.	jas		za

The use of na and ja or en and ej is phonotactically motivated, not grammatically: na and ja appear before their associated verb while en and ej appear after. Consequently na and ja most often have a nominative sense, while en and ej most often have an accusative one. Note however that in verb-first constructions, such as ist en? "is he?" en and ej are used with a nominative sense.

Nouns and adjectives

Nouns

Niemish nouns are inflected for three cases (nominative-accusative, genitive and dative) and two numbers (singular and plural). In addition, definite nouns are marked with a suffix that evolved out of postposed Gothic definite articles, functionally giving every noun two declensions for singular and plural.

All nouns belong to one of three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. The neuter gender has fallen together with masculine in the Westlandic dialect, although the neuter plural still survives as an irregular plural for some formerly neuter nouns and has even become generalised to mark the plural of masculine nouns that commonly occur as a group, especially in pairs, often in parallel with a regular plural with a less specialised sense.

There are three classes of masculine or neuter noun:

• hard stem (may be subject to umlaut) wich ("road, way")
• soft stem kunnj ("tribe, race")
• mixed (may be subject to umlaut in the singular) sun ("son")

There are four classes of feminine noun:

• hard simple stem blum ("flower")
• soft simple stem sullj ("sole")
• hard N-stem trega ("sadness")
• soft N-stem snuria ("plait, braid"), szuke ("sickness")

In addition, nouns with polysyllabic stems may be subject to syncopation, although this does not affect the class into which they are sorted.

Masculine and neuter nouns

Hard stem nouns

Case	monosyllabic stem hub "hoof"				polysyllabic stem iszar "iron"				syncopating polysyllabic stem latur "laughter"
	singular		plural		singular		plural		singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	hub	huban	hubs	hubas	iszar	iszaran	iszars	iszaras	latur	latran	laturs	latras
genitive	hubs	hubes	hube	hubse	iszars	iszares	iszare	iszarse	laturs	latres	latre	laturse
dative	hub	hubum	hubą	hubę	iszar	iszarum	iszarą	iszarę	latur	latrum	latrą	latrę

Case	monosyllabic stem wich "way", "road"				polysyllabic stem ziuluf "forelock", "ringlet"				syncopating polysyllabic stem gumin "husband"
	singular		plural		singular		plural		singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	wich	wechan	wechs	wechas	ziuluf	ziulofan	ziulofs	ziulofas	gumin	gomnan	gomens	gomnas
genitive	wichs	wiches	wiche	wichse	ziulufs	ziulufes	ziulufe	ziulufse	gumins	gumnes	gumne	guminse
dative	wech	wechum	wechą	wechę	ziulof	ziulofum	ziulofą	ziulofę	gomen	gomnum	gomną	gomnę

Case	monosyllabic stem liab "bread"				polysyllabic stem				syncopating polysyllabic stem wintur "winter"
	singular		plural		singular		plural		singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	liab	liaban	liabs	liabas					wíntur	wéntran	wéntors	wéntras
genitive	liäbs	liäbes	liäbe	liäbse					wínturs	wíntres	wíntre	wínturse
dative	liab	liabum	liabą	liabę					wéntor	wéntrum	wéntrą	wéntrę

Soft stem nouns

Case	kunnj "kin", "tribe", "ethnicity"
	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	kunnj	kunnian	kunns	kunnias
genitive	kunns	kunnes	kunne	kunnse
dative	kunnj	kunnium	kunnią	kunnę

Mixed stem nouns

Case	aszul "donkey", "ass"
	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	aszol	aszlan	äszuls	äszlias
genitive	äszuls	äszles	äszle	äszulse
dative	aszol	aszlum	äszlią	äszlę

Feminine nouns

Case	blum "flower"
	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	blum	bluma	blums	blumas
genitive	blums	blumas	bluma	blumsa
dative	blume	blumse	blumą	blumę

Case	sullj "sole", "footprint"
	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	sullj	sullia	sulls	sullias
genitive	sulls	sullias	sullia	sullsa
dative	sulle	sullse	sullią	sullę

Case	simple stem trega "grief"				syncopating stems uggla "owl", klezma "bell"
	singular		plural		singular		plural		singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	trega	tregna	tregas	tregnas	uggla	uggulna	ugglas	uggulnas	klezma	klezmyna	klezmas	klezmynas
genitive	tregas	tregnas	tregna	tregsa	ugglas	uggulnas	uggulna	uggulsa	klezmas	klezmynas	klezmyna	klezmysa
dative	tregą	tregse	tregę	tregnę	ugglą	uggulse	ugglę	uggulnę	klezmą	klezmyse	klezmę	klezmynę

Case	simple stem snuria "plait", "braid"				syncopating stem
	singular		plural		singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	snuria	snurna	snurias	snurnas	-ia	-na	-ias	-as
genitive	snurias	snurnas	snurna	snursa	-ias	-as	-na	-sa
dative	snurią	snurse	snurę	snurnę	-ią	-se	-ę	-nę

Case	simple stem szuke "disease"				syncopating stem
	singular		plural		singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	szuke	szukna	szukes	szuknas	-e	-na	-es	-as
genitive	szukes	szuknas	szukna	szuksa	-es	-as	-na	-sa
dative	szukę	szukse	szukę	szuknę	-ę	-se	-ę	-nę

Adjectives

Adjectives have been radically simplified since Gothic. All adjectives have hard stems and inflectional endings are retained only in predicative plural.

.Attributive adjectives are only marked for gender, case, number and definiteness insofar as these distinctions are marked by umlaut alternations, so attributive feminine adjectives are indeclinable. Predicative adjectives are inflected for number but not gender.

Case	masculine			feminine
	singular		plural	singular	plural
	indefinite	definite
Nominative	blind	blend		blend
Genitive	blind
Dative	blend
Predicative			blends		blends

Nominalised adjectives decline as masculine hard stem nouns:

Case	masculine				feminine
	singular		plural		singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	blind	blendan	blends	blendas	blend	blenda	blends	blendas
genitive	blinds	blindes	blinde	blindse	blends	blendas	blenda	blendsa
dative	blend	blendum	blendą	blendę	blende	blendse	blendą	blendę

Verbs

Niemish verbs maintain the Germanic categories of strong, weak and preterite-present. All verbs have two aspects, imperfective (bare stem) and perfective (marked by a gy- prefix if intransitive, by a by- prefix if transitive). As in Slavic languages, the morphological perfect present has a future meaning.

The Gothic subjunctive mood has been repurposed into two set of dependent verb forms (perfective and imperfective); these cannot occur without the subordinating particle i. There is no infinitive, although the present participle is often used in situations where other European languages use an infinitive, and is often misidentified as one.

The conjugation of regular verbs can be seen in the table below.

Niemish verb conjugation

Present participle				-(a)n
Past participle (strong)				-(o)n
Past participle (weak)				-(a)d
	Present		Past (strong)		Past (weak)		Imperative
	Indicative	Subjunctive	Indicative	Subjunctive	Indicative	Subjunctive
1S	-Ø	-a	-Ø	-ja	-(a)d	-⟦i⟧za	-Ø
2S	-[e]s	-es	-t	-jes	-(a)ds	-⟦i⟧zes
3S	-t	-e	-Ø	-j	-(a)d	-⟦e⟧z
1P	-ą	-em	-ą	-jem	-(y)dą	-⟦i⟧zem	-t
2P	-t	-et	-t	-jet	-(a)dt	-⟦i⟧zet
3P	-ą	-en	-ą	-jen	-(y)dą	-⟦i⟧zen

Notes:

• (brackets) indicate a vowel that is dropped in verbs with a stem ending in a vowel or a liquid consonant.
• [square brackets] indicate a vowel that is inserted if the stem ends in a sibilant.
• ⟦doublestruck brackets⟧ indicate a vowel that is dropped if the stem ends in a vowel, but not if it ends in a liquid consonant.
• Strong verbs in the past subjunctive have the final consonant of the stem geminated, unless this consonant is already geminated, is r, w or j (which do not geminate) or is d, s, t, z (which instead become z, sz, tz, zsz and lose palatalisation).
• Preterite-present verbs conjugate as a strong past in the present, and as a weak past in the past. The plural present has the same stem as the present participle. They often lack distinct perfective forms.

Strong verbs

Germanic language strong verbs are verbs that change the vowel in the stem to form the past and past participle, rather than add a suffix. For an English example, contrast fall-fell-fallen (strong) from fell-felled (weak).

The following is a table of all the different types and subtypes of strong verbs.

Strong verb classes		Stem vowel
Class	Subclass	General	Past indicative	Past subjunctive	Past Participle
1	1a	-í- gríp, gríps	-iá- griáp	-ì grìppia wìppia	-é-, -í- grépon, grípuns wépon, wípuns
	1b	-ý-, -í- wýp, wíps	-á- wáp
2a		-iú- fliúg, fliúgs	-ió- flióg	-iù- fliùggia	-ió-, -iú- fliógon, fliúguns
2b		-ú- búch, búchs	-ó- bóch	-ù- búchia	-ó-, -ú- bóchon, búchuns
3/4		-é-, -í- brék, bríks	-á- brák	-ì- brìkkia	-ó-, -ú- brókon, brúkuns
5		-é-, -í- wrék, wríks	-á- wrák	-ì- wrìkkia	-é-, -í- wrékon, wríkuns
6		-á-, -ä́- mál, mä́ls	-ú- múl	-ù- mùllia	-á-, -ä́- málon, mä́luns
7b	7ba	-í- tík, tíks	-ú- túk wú	-ù- tùkkia wúja	-í- tíkun, tíkuns
	7bb	-ý-, -í- wý, wís			-ý-, -í- wýn, wíns

The "general" stem is used for the present tense, present participle and imperative. The "past indicative", "past subjunctive" and "past participle" stems are used for their named forms. Where two possible stem vowels are shown, they form a low-high pair that alternate according to umlaut.

All past indicative stems assimilated to the Gothic first past stem, while class 3 verbs assimilated to class 4 in the past subjunctive. As a result class 3 and class 4a verbs merged. As there were only a very small number of class 4b verbs (which had identical past and past participle stems to classes 3 and 4a), these too merged with class 3.

The reduplicated consonant prefix in class 7 verbs was lost. As a result, class 7a verbs were lost, becoming weak verbs or, if they had past stem vowel u, becoming class 7b instead.

Class 1 and class 7b verbs with stems affected by depalatalisation (beginning with a labial, a rhotic or a labial+rhotic cluster) had the present stem vowel changed from i to y. Class 1 verbs also had the past stem vowel changed from ia, iä to a, ä. The new subclasses of class 1 are named 1a and 1b by analogy with the other subclasses; while they are named 7ba and 7bb for class 7b, as they arise only from Gothic 7b verbs (7a verbs having been lost).

As palatalisation developed in Niemish, the palatalisation in the 2a general stem spread to all other stems, splitting subclasses 2a and 2b into full strong verb classes, sharing no forms. Some 2a verbs analogically extended the unpalatalised stems instead, causing them to join the 2b class.

Dissimulation from the past stem caused the present stem of 2a class verbs to have an invariant u vowel like in the 2b class, which came from a long ū in Gothic.

Class 2a verbs with stems affected by depalatalisation became 2b verbs.

Example

Aspect		Non-past	Past	Imperative
Imperfective		Present	Imperfect
		('I break')	('I was breaking')	('be breaking!')
	1 sg.	brek	brak	brik
	2 sg.	briks	brakt
	3 sg.	brikt	brak
	1 pl.	breką	braką	brikt
	2 pl.	brikt	brakt
	3 pl.	breką	braką
Perfective			Past	Imperative
			('I broke')	('break!')
	1 sg.		gybrak	gybrik
	2 sg.		gybrakt
	3 sg.		gybrak
	1 pl.		gybraką	gybrikt
	2 pl.		gybrakt
	3 pl.		gybraką
Perfect		Present Perfect	Past Perfect
		('I have broken')	('I had broken')
	1 sg.	hab gybrokyn	had gybrokyn
	2 sg.	has gybrokyn	hads gybrokyn
	3 sg.	hat gybrokyn	had gybrokyn
	1 pl.	ham gybrokyn	hadą gybrokyn
	2 pl.	hat gybrokyn	hadt gybrokyn
	3 pl.	han gybrokyn	hadą gybrokyn
Imperfective Dependent		Present perfective dependent	Past perfective dependent
	1 sg.	breka	brikkia
	2 sg.	brekes	brikes
	3 sg.	breke	brikkj
	1 pl.	brekem	brikem
	2 pl.	breket	briket
	3 pl.	breken	briken
Perfective Dependent		Present perfective dependent	Past perfective dependent
	1 sg.	gybreka	gybrikkia
	2 sg.	gybrekes	gybrikes
	3 sg.	gybreke	gybrikkj
	1 pl.	gybrekem	gybrikem
	2 pl.	gybreket	gybriket
	3 pl.	gybreken	gybriken

	With subordinating preposition i				With future construction williund i
	Present		Past		Present		Past
Imperfective	i na breke	'(that) he be breaking', 'to be breaking'	i na brikkj	'(that) he was breaking, 'to have been breaking'	na willt i breke	'he will be breaking'	na willt i brikkj	'he would break'
Perfective	i na gybreke	'(that) he break', 'to break'	i na gybrikkj	'(that) he broke', 'to have broken'	i na gybreke	'he will break'	i na gybrikkj	'he probably broke'

Historical changes

Wulfilan Gothic to Post-Gothic

Vowels

Wulfilan Gothic had five (in some analyses three) short vowels and seven long vowels. The short vowels were maintained in Post-Gothic and ē merged with ei:

• Got. mēs /eː/ → Post-Got. meis /iː/

Wulfilan Gothic may have already started to merge ē with ei, suggested by variant spellings such as akeit for akēt and leikeis for lēkeis. In Post-Gothic this merger was complete.

Syllable-final h /h/ was lost with compensatory lengthening of the previous vowel:

• Got. mahts /mahts/ → Post-Got. māts /maːts/
• Got. raíhts /rɛhts/ → Post-Got. ráits /rɛːts/
• Got. slaúhts /slɔhts/ → Post-Got. sláuts /slɔːts/

This promoted ā /aː/ from a marginal phoneme to a common one.

Consonants

The proposed Thurneysen's law became fully operational in Post-Gothic, although it was modified:

1. Spirants gained or lost voice in dissimilation with the consonant beginning the previous syllable. This occurred after all syllables, not only unstressed ones.
2. Voicedness of the consonant beginning the preceding syllable became the only criterion driving dissimulation; clusters ceased to behave differently from simple consonants.

• Got. hlifan → Post-Got. hliban
• Got. qiþus → Post-Got. qidus
• Got. áikklēsjō → Post-Got. áikkleizjō

• Got. giba → Post-Got. gifa
• Got. bida → Post-Got. biþa
• Got. dagam → Post-Got. daχam
• Got. máiza → Post-Got. máisa

Note that medial b, d, g, /b, d, g/ had the allophonic values [β, ð, ɣ] between vowels.

h did not voice to g because it was a glottal fricative [h], not [x]. It remained unchanged except syllable-finally when it elided with compensatory lengthening of the previous vowel.

g devoiced to a velar fricative [x], transcribed here as χ.

As a result of Thurneysen's law being extended, Verner alternation in verbs was totally eliminated.

Between a nasal and a following liquid consonant, a voiced plosive was inserted:

• Got. timrjan → Post-Got. timbrjan (note that timbrjan already existed as a variant in Wulfilan Gothic)
• P-Gmc. *þunraz → Got. *þunr → Post-Got. þundr

Prefixes such as in- and un- were unaffected however.

Development of Niemish proper

Prepalatal gemination

With the exception of h, ƕ w, consonants followed by j were geminated in a similar process to that seen in West and North Germanic but much more extensive, as in Italo-Romance. Sievers's law was no longer operational at this time, as the change also occurred after long vowels (which were subsequently shortened):

Coronal consonants were palatalised during this gemination, and the voiced affricate /dz/ converted to /z/. It is thought that voiced sibilants degeminated before compensatory shortening occurred, but it is also possible that - as with h, w - geminated voiced fricatives were simply disallowed at all stages (this also accounts for why b, d, g ceased to be fricatives with gemination).

tj, dj, þj, sj, zj → /tts, ddz, þþj, ʃʃ, ʒʒ/ → /tts, z, ttj, ʃʃ, ʒ/ → /tt͡s, z, tt͡ʃ, ʃʃ, ʒ/

• Got. *platja → *plattsa → plàtz
• Got. daddjan → *daddzan → dazond
• Got. skaþjan → Post-Got. skadjan → *skaddzan → skazond
• Got. báidjan → Post-Got. báiþjan → *bēþþjan → *bēttjan → beczond
• Got. láisjan → *lēʃʃan → leszond
• Post-Got. aíkkleizjō → *klīʒʒō → klízsza

The prepalatal gemination was a very early sound change, likely beginning in late Post-Gothic itself. The coronal palatalisation is also found in early Romance and what little is attested of the closely related Vandalic language.

It is thought that dj initially became */ddz/ before (after the Post-Gothic period had ceased) /z/, both because it patterns with tj → /tts/ and because Gothic daddjan became dazond. Had degeminated /z/ arisen in Post-Gothic, extended Thurneysen's law would have devoiced the consonant to give *dasond. There are no examples of z arising from the coronal palatalisation being affected by extended Thurneysen's law.

The voiceless fricative þj was stopped to /tj/ later, during the Middle Niemish period.

Voiceless plosives also geminated before the syllabic liquid consonants l, m, n, r:

• P-Gmc. *aplaz → àppol
• Got. sitls → sìttil
• Got. táikn → tzàkken
• Got. akrs → àkkur

Other consonants did not:

• Lat. tabla → tabol
• Got. fōdr → fúdor
• Got. bagms → báchum
• Got. tagr → tágur
• P-Gmc. *wazrą → Post-Got. wasr → wàszur

Epenthesis

A epenthetic vowel was inserted before syllabic consonants:

• i if the vowel in the previous syllable was i ē or ei in Gothic
  • Got. sitls → sìttil
• i if the final consonant was palatal or palatalised:
  • Got.

Otherwise:

• u before syllabic l, m, or r in masculine words:
  • P-Gmc. *aplaz → àppol
  • Got. bagms → báchum
  • Got. tagr → tágur

• o before syllabic l, m, or r in feminine words:
• Got. fōdr → fúdor

• In all other cases, the epenthetic vowel was y:
  • Got. táikn → tzàkkyn

Nouns affected by epenthesis did not experience epenthesis in inflected forms that lacked syllabic consonants in the first place. This lead to the formation of syncopating nouns:

• Got. tagr → tágur "tear"
• Got. tagrē → tägre "of tears"

First umlaut (umlaut pattern 1. or i-umlaut)

The first umlaut only affected vowels that were short. Niemish at this stage still preserved the Post-Gothic distribution of long and short vowels, where not shortened by the prepalatal gemination.

Case	Post-Gothic		Medieval Niemish		Niemish
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	daχs	daχōs	dach	dachas	dach	dachs
Accusative	daχ	daχans
Genitive	daχis	daχei	dächis	dächī	dächs	däche
Dative	daχa	daχam	dacha	dachą	dach	dachą

Case	Post-Gothic		Medieval Niemish		Niemish
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	waúrts	waúrtōs	wort	wortas	wort	worts
Accusative	waúrt	waúrtans
Genitive	waúrtis	waúrtei	wurtis	wurtī	wurts	wurte
Dative	waúrta	waúrtam	worta	wortą	wort	wortą

Second umlaut (umlaut pattern 2. or a-umlaut)

The second umlaut affected Post-Gothic short i and u and long ái and ei (the last one under limited circumstances). There is debate about whether the second umlaut in fact occurred before the first umlaut, but the current names for the two umlauts are too well established now for renaming them to be practical.

When followed by a back vowel in the following syllable, short i and u were lowered to e and o (see Medieval Niemish in the tables). These lowered vowels persisted after apocope eliminated the original trigger of umlaut, elevating short e and o to full phonemes in their own right, with i/e and u/o alternation often accounting for the difference between nominative singular and dative singular, or genitive singular and nominative plural:

Case	Post-Gothic		Medieval Niemish		Niemish
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	hunds	hundōs	hund	hondas	hund	honds
Accusative	hund	hundans
Genitive	hundis	hundei	hundis	hundī	hunds	hunde
Dative	hunda	hundam	honda	hondą	hond	hondą

Case	Post-Gothic		Medieval Niemish		Niemish
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	wiχs	wiχōs	wich	wechas	wich	wechs
Accusative	wiχ	wiχans
Genitive	wiχis	wiχei	wichis	wichī	wichs	wiche
Dative	wiχa	wiχam	wecha	wechą	wech	wechą

The second umlaut affected Post-Gothic long ái and ei slightly differently. When followed by a plain consonant (or when not followed by a front vowel in the following syllable in the second umlaut first hypothesis) , ái [ɛː] was broken to first [jɛ] then lowered to [ja], and ei was lowered to /ɨː/:

Second umlaut was unable to occur in ja- or ju-stem nouns, and only occured in the singular of i- and u-stems. This gave rise to the three stems all Niemish masculine nouns belong to: hard (a-stems), soft (ja- and ju-stems) and mixed (i- and u-stems).

Feminine nouns either underwent the second umlaut in all inflected forms (jō-, jōn- and ein-stems) or not at all (all others). Thus as with first umlaut, vowel alternations due to second umlaut do not occur in feminine nouns. Note that ái [ɛː] is not considered a front vowel for the purposes of second umlaut; the umlaut was also predicated on vowel height and ái as a low vowel could trigger second umlaut:

The coronal palatalisation was still active when the second umlaut happened, as:

• Got. taíhun → Post-Got. taíhun → táin → tsjan → ̀tzán ("ten")
• Got. dáigs → Post-Got. dáiχs → djach → zách ("dough")
• P-Gmc. *sairaz → Post-Got. sáirs → sjar → szár ("sore")

The fricatives that arose from coronal palatalisation were analogically extended to all forms of word where it arose, even those forms where no second umlaut had taken place.

Development of nasal vowels

Wherever a nasal consonant occurred word-finally or before a spirant in Post-Gothic, it disappeared in favour of nasalisation of the previous vowel. The length of the vowel was not affected, or else any change in vowel length happened too late to affect the first umlaut and was ultimately rendered irrelevant by syllable weight neutralisation:

• Got. dagam → Post-Got. daχam → dachą ("day" dat.pl.)
• Got. uns → ųs ("us")
• Got. in → į́ ("in")
• P-Gmc. *kunstiz → kųst ("art")
• Lat. amphora → Post-Got. *amfaúra → ąfor → ą́chor ("bucket")

After syncope, /ml, nl, mr, nr/ were reintroduced into the language outside of prefixes.

Subsequently, simple /n/ was lost before liquid consonants /l, m, r/ with compensatory gemination of the liquid consonant:

• Post-Got. *láunalig̃gs → lonling → lǫlling ("small change, petty cash")

This did not happen to geminated /n/:

• Post-Got. *kunnjalig̃gs → kunnling ("relation, relative")

There was no compensatory gemination when the syllable with the nasal coda was unstressed, or in prefixes such as an-, in-, un-:

• Got. unlustus → *unlust → ų̀lùst ("apathy, lethargy")
• P-Gmc. *unrehtaz → *unriat → ų̀rát ("crooked, wrong")

/m/ was not lost (except in Westlandic), but experienced stop insertion much as in Post-Gothic:

• P-Gmc. *sumaraz → somar → súmbur

Early medieval Niemish had forms such as somar and somor, which developed into sǫwr in the Westlandic dialect. Presumably the /b/ was inserted into the definite form somran, the /o/ lowered by the /mb/ to give sumbran, and the /b/ later spread to all forms of the word by analogy. Likewise, the Westlandic form developed from somran → sǫwran in a sound change more akin to that described above for /n/ with similar analogical spreading.

Nasal vowels followed by a fricative in unstressed final syllables lost their nasalisation:

• Got. tug̃gōns → Post-Got. *tug̃gūns → *tungǭs → túngos ("tongues")

Nasals that formed the end of a root, as in háims and aljan were either not lost or more likely restored by analogy with forms with inflectional endings; the Niemish descendants of these words are ham and ällin.

Loss of non-initial /f/

When it occurred after a vowel, /f/ became /x/:

• Got. luftus → lùcht ("air, atmosphere")
• Got. giba → Post-Got. gifa → géch ("gift")

Elison of initial vowels sometimes gave rise to initial /x/:

• Got. ufar → Middle Niemish ochor → chór ("over")

Initial and geminated /f/ were unaffected:

• Got. fisks → fìsk ("fish")
• P-Gmc. *ribją → Post-Got. rifi → rìff ("rib, spoke")

Reduction of /rn/ to /r/

Niemish reduced /rn/ to /r/:

• Got. haúrn → hór ("horn")
• Got. eisarn → íszar ("iron")
• Got. kaúrn → kór ("corn")
• Got. staírnō → stiára ("star")

The same sound shift also occurred in Luxembourgish Kar and Dalecarlian Swedish dialects. A similar shift cannot be confirmed for Crimean Gothic kor as the manuscript that records Crimean Gothic is likely riddled with typographic errors.

Apocope

Niemish underwent drastic apocope of vowels - less strong than in Slavic languages, but stronger than in Scandinavian. In the process it generated new instances of /rn/:

• Got. aran → árn ("eagle")
• Post-Got. *eisarneins → íszarn ("made of iron")

Loss of /θ/

Medieval Niemish had two dental fricatives /θ, θʲ/. These became affricates at the beginning of a word and when geminated:

• Got. þū → Medieval Niemish t͡þu → ʦu → tzú /t͡suː/ ("you, thou")

• Got. miþ þamma → Medieval Niemish mett͡þam → meʦʦum → mètzum /ˈmʲɛtt͡sʊm/ ("by the way")

Before /r/ they became /t, tʲ/:

• PGmc. *þrūbô → trúb /truːb/ ("grapes")
• Got. wiþrus, wiþrum → wìttur, wèttrą /ˈvʲɪttʊr, ˈvʲɛttrɐ̃/ ("lamb, to the lamb")
• Got. anþar, anþaramma → ántur, ántrum /ˈantʊr, ˈantrʊm/ ("other, to the other")

After a liquid consonant (and not followed by /r/), they were hardened to /d, dʲ/:

• Got. tunþs → túnd /tund/ ("tooth")
• Got. waírþ → wárd /ward/ ("worth")

S-palatalisation

Much like Slavic and Indo-Iranian languages (and to an extent High German), Niemish changed Post-Gothic /s, z, t͡s/ to /ʃ, ʒ, t͡ʃ/ before /r, w/ and after /r, uː, iː/:

• Got. swarts → szwárt ("black")
• P-Gmc. *wazrą → Post-Got. wasr → wàszur ("spring")
  • P-Gmc. *barsaz → bársz ("perch, a type of fish")
    • Got. þaúrsus → Post-Got. þaurzus → tzórzsz ("thirsty")
      • P-Gmc. *skurtijǭ → Post-Got. skaúrtjō → skaúrʦō → skórcza ("apron")
        • Lat. Martius → Post-Got. marti → marʦ → márcz ("March")
          • Grk. χαρτία → Post-Got. hartjō → harʦō → hárcza ("paper")
• P-Gmc. *mūs → músz ("mouse")
  • Got. *hūs → Post-Got. hūz → húzsz ("house")
    • Got. mēs → Post-Got. meis → mýsz ("table")

This introduced a simple /ʃ/ sound in addition to the geminated /ʃʃ/ that arose with the prepalatal gemination.

In addition, /t, d/ became /t͡s, z/ before /w/:

• Got. tweifls → Post-Got. tweibls → tzwýbol ("doubt")
• Got. dwals → zwál ("stupid")

Much Slavic vocabulary such as twárag ("quark") was loaned after the S-palatalisation was no longer in operation. The native word twá ("two") was unaffected by the shift, possibly because of analogical levelling with the feminine form, tú.

S-palatalisation was blocked before plosives:

• Got. waúrstw → Post-Got. waúrstu → wórst ("deed, act")
• Got. beist → bỳst

Nonetheless, later /s, z/ were palatalised to /ʃ, ʒ/ in sibilant+palatalised consonant clusters:

• P-Gmc. *spiltaz → spílt /ʃpʲilt/ ("spelt, emmer")
• P-Gmc. *strīdaz → stríd /ʃtrʲid/ ("battle")
• Got. waúrstwis þis → Post-Got. waúrstáus þis → wúrstes /ˈwurʃtʲɪs/ ("of the deed")
• P-Gmc. *dwergaz → Post-Got. dwaírχs → zwiárch /ʒvʲarx/ ("dwarf, gnome")

Emergence of /ɨː/

Long /iː/ (from Gothic ei and ē) became y /ɨː/ when preceded by a labial or labialised consonant (/p, b, m, f, w, kʷ, gʷ, hʷ/) and not followed by a front vowel in the next syllable. Labialised velars and glottals were subsequently delabialised:

• Got. peiks → pýk
• Got. beist → bỳst
• Got. mēs → Post-Got. meis → mýsz ("table")
• Got. infeinan → ęfynon
• Got. wein → wýn ("wine")
• Got. qēns → Post-Got. qeinō¹ → kʷyna → kýna ("woman, wife")
• Got. ƕeits → hʷyt → hýt ("white")

1. At some point qēns and qinō merged into one word.

As this sound change was blocked before palatalised consonants, all affected words gained umlaut pattern 2. (rarely umlaut pattern 1. in polysyllabic roots) if the stem alternated between hard and soft endings in flexional forms.

Labialisation

/kʷ, gʷ, hʷ/ were labialised before back vowels to /p, b, f/:

• PGmc. *kwalō → pál ("pain")
• PGmc. *ankwô → ámp ("butter")
• Got. sag̃gws → sámb ("song")
• PGmc. *hawwǭ → Got. *haggwō → hàbba ("mattock")
• Got. *ƕass → fàss ("sharp")

Gemination by assimilation

After a stressed vowel, /p/ arising from /kʷ/ geminated:

• PGmc. *nakwô → nàpp ("riverboat")

Presumably the same would have happened to /b/ arising from /gʷ/, but ungeminated /gʷ/ did not occur after vowels in Gothic.

WHen /w/ followed any other consonant preceded by a stressed vowel, it elided, causing the consonant to geminate in compensation (unless this consonant could not occur as a geminate in Niemish, in wich case the /w/ simply elided):

• Got. gatwō → gàtta ("street")
• PGmc. *swalwǭ → szwàlla ("swallow, a type of bird")

A limited form of the Boukulos rule came into effect, where /wɔ, wo, wu/ immediately after an initial consonant delabialised:

• Got. twōs → tú ("two" fem.)

The Boukolos rule did not apply absolutely word-initially:

• Got. wulfs → wúlch ("wolf"), not *úlch

Depalatalisation of labials and /r/

The phonemes /pʲ, bʲ, mʲ, rʲ/ depalatalised before stressed back vowels (which includes /ɛː/ for Niemish purposes) and at the end of a word:

• PGmc. *paidō → Medieval Niemish piadə → pád ("cloak, overcoat")
• PGmc. *bainą → Medieval Niemish bian → bán ("bone")
• PGmc. *mainą → Medieval Niemish mian → mán ("perjury")
• Got. raíhts → Medieval Niemish riat → rát ("straight, correct")

• PGmc. *ribją → Post-Gothic *rifi → Medieval Niemish riffj → rìff ("rib, spoke")
• Got. sōkāreis → Medieval Niemish sukarj → súkar ("seeker")

The same applied to the consonant clusters /prʲ, brʲ, wrʲ/:

• Got. bráiþs → Medieval Niemish briaþ → brás ("broad, wide")

But not other such consonant + /rʲ/ clusters:

• PGmc. *kraitaz → kriát ("circle, region, borough")

The fact that /r/ was also depalatalised at the beginnings and ends of words suggests that Medieval Niemish had a distinction between /r, rʲ/ and /ɾ, ɾʲ/ similar to Spanish and Old Irish, although such a distinction was not observed in writing.

The phonemes /r, rʲ/ would have occurred only at the beginnings and ends of words, while /ɾ, ɾʲ/ only occurred word-medially (unlike in Spanish where both can occur medially, and Old Irish where both can occur medially and finally). Like in Irish, /rʲ/ merged with /r/ and ultimately /r/ and /ɾ/ merged (as /ɾ/ in Irish, as /r/ in Niemish):

Palatalisation was preserved in stem-final labials and /r/ where the flexional ending began with a vowel:

• rìff, rìffian ("rib, the rib")
• súkar, súkarian ("seeker, the seeker")

Deaffrication of /t͡s/

After a vowel, ungeminated /t͡s, t͡sʲ/ became /s, sʲ/:

• Got. bráiþs → Medieval Niemish briaþ → briaʦ → brás ("broad, wide")
• Got. maþa → Medieval Niemish maþę → maʦę → másen ("larva")

As a result, non-initial /t͡s/ always represents a geminated consonant in Modern Niemish:

• Got. *platja → Medieval Niemish *plaʦʦə → plàtz /platt͡s/ ("town square")
• Got. miþ þamma → Medieval Niemish mett͡þam → meʦʦum → mètzum /ˈmʲɛtt͡sʊm/ ("by the way")

Syllable weight neutralisation

Although open syllable lengthening occurred in all dialects of Niemish, the result was not the same in all dialects.

Open-syllable lengthening was simplest in the Panian dialect, where it affected all stressed open syllables. Consequently vowel length is not phonemic in Panian, other than those of the lowland fringe which have regained it by ceasing to distinguish geminate consonants.

In the Great Plains dialect (and by extension the Standard), open syllable lengthening was blocked before voiceless plosives.

The Westlandic dialect underwent the law of open syllables: where possible, consonants in the syllable coda were resyllabified into the onset of the following syllable. Consequently, more syllables became analysed as open in Westlandic than in other dialects, and open syllable lengthening affected a greater number of words. It also has lost geminate consonants, although vowels before historic geminate consonants remain short.

The Capitoline dialect is a special case. It developed as a koiné from numerous dialects in the capital. It is thus broadly similar to the standard, other than shortening historically long vowels before voiceless plosives (this is due to spelling pronunciation and hypercorrection) and loss of geminate consonants.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1)

Latin: Àll wárs sín gybórn frýs ja íbens į wártzą ja rátą. Ís sín ingàchts mis rázum ja gywìssę, ja tzórbą fuzántur į dúch brúturnus.

Cyrillic: Аллъ варсъ синъ гъборнъ фрꙑсъ ꙗ ибенсъ ꙟ варцꙙ ꙗ ратꙙ. Ісъ синъ інгахтъ місъ разѹмъ ꙗ гъвіссѧ, ꙗ цорбꙙ фозанторъ ꙟ духъ бруторносъ.

IPA: /all wars sʲiːn gəˈborn frɨːs jɐ ˈiːbʲɪns ɪ̃ ˈwart͡sɐ̃ jɐ ˈraːtɐ̃ || iːs sʲiːn ɪŋˈgaxts mʲɪs ˈraːzʊm jɐ gəˈvʲɪssʲə̃, jɐ ˈt͡sorbɐ̃ fʊˈzantʊr ɪ̃ duːx ˈbruːtʊrnʊs/

Gloss:

Translation: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.