Flewtish: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox language
{{Infobox language
|name              = Flewtish
|name              = Flewtish
|nativename        = Flũtṽa / Флӯтвьа
|nativename        = Flũťa / Флӯтьа
|image            = Flewtish Flag.png
|imagesize        = 200px
|imagecaption      = Flag of the Flewtish people. It is a simplified version of an ancient flag. The green represents nature, the white represents peace and the orange represents the joy to be alive.
|pronunciation    = ɸlûːtʷa
|pronunciation_key = IPA
|state            = Russia, Finland
|state            = Russia, Finland
|created          = 2023
|created          = 2023
|familycolor      = [[w:Language isolate|Language Isolate]]
|familycolor      = Language isolate
|fam1              = [[w:Language isolate|Language Isolate]]
|speakers          = approx. 1 million
|speakers          = approx. 1 million
|date              = 2023
|date              = 2023
|creator          = Aggelos Tselios
|creator          = Aggelos Tselios
|script1          = latn
|script1          = Latn
|script2          = cyr
|script2          = Cyrl
|nation            = Karelian Republic
|nation            = Flewtish Autonomous Republic, [[w:Russian Federation|Russia]]
|agency            = Institutek Standardzabirokid Flutvast Glungt (Institute of Standardization of the Flewtish Language)
|map              = Map of Flewtish-speaking areas.png
|mapsize          = 280px
|mapcaption        = Map of where Flewtish is spoken today. Dark blue areas indicate a majority Flewtish-speaking population, whereas light blue indicate areas where Flewtish is an important language.
|agency            = Instituto Standarzabüro Flutadene Glung (Institute of Standardization of the Flewtish Language)
|notice            = IPA
|notice            = IPA
}}
}}


<b>Flewtish</b> ([[w:Endonym|endonym]]: <b>''Flũtṽa''</b> (cyr. Флутвьа) [ˈɸluːtwa] or <b>''Flũtṽas glung''</b> [ˈɸluːtwas ɡluːŋ]) is a language spoken by the majority of the population in much of Northwest Russia and the [[w:Karelia|Karelia region]]. Flewtish is a [[w:Language isolate|language isolate]], meaning it does not [[w:Genetic relationship (linguistics)|genetically relate]] to any other known language on the planet.
<b>Flewtish</b> ([[w:Endonym|endonym]]: <b>Флӯтьа</b> [[IPA|[ɸlûːtʷa] ]] or <b>''Флӯтьа глӯн''</b> [[IPA|[ɸlûːtʷa ɡluːŋ] ]]) is a language spoken in much of Northwest Russia and the [[w:Karelia|Karelia region]], as well as a large pocket in [[w:Finland|Eastern Finland]]. Flewtish is a [[w:Language isolate|language isolate]], meaning it does not [[w:Genetic relationship (linguistics)|genetically relate]] to any other known language on the planet, similar to [[w:Basque|Basque]] in Europe.


Flewtish is typologically agglutinative, using almost exclusively suffixal affixation to indicate number, tense, person and case. Flewtish is partially a [[w:Null-subject language|null-subject language]], depending on whether the subject can be implicitly indicated with certainty or not. Due to the [[w:Sprachbund|sprachbund effect]], Flewtish is an [[w:Subject–verb–object word order|SVO language]], but more archaic dialects are actually [[w:Subject–object-verb word order|SOV ones]]. It is a biscriptal language, using both the Latin and Cyrillic scripts to be written. An important aspect of the language is differentiating between labialized and non-labialized consonants (Referred in Flewtish as "rounded" and "unrounded") see eg. /ˈkʷa.θok/ "Warmth" and /ˈka.θok/ "Portability".
Flewtish is a polysynthetic language, something uncommon for the Siberian or the European languages, hinting a distant [[w:Urheimat|Urheimat]] far away from today's Russia (Usually placed near the Mongolian border, see [[Proto-Flewtish]]). The language is split into 4 periods: [[Proto-Flewtish]], Old Flewtish, Ḟlǔṫas Eṽétt (Modern Latin Orthography: ''Fluṫas Ewet''), and Modern Flewtish, each one signified by the historical events accompanying them. It is a biscriptal language, using both the Latin and Cyrillic scripts to be written (In Finland and elsewhere respectively), although during the early medieval period there were Turkic writings too. An important aspect of the language is differentiating between labialized and non-labialized consonants (Referred in Flewtish as "rounded" and "unrounded") see eg. [kʷáɣ.op] "Warmth" and [káɣ.op] "Deer".
 
Flewtish is not one unified language. Rather, it is a large dialect continuum, stretching from Eastern Finland to the Ob river, and from the White Sea all the way to Bestozhevo (Arkhangelsk oblast), and the large distance between the dialects has caused the extreme ends of that territory to be completely unintelligible to each other.


==Etymology and history==
==Etymology and history==
'''Flũtṽa''' is an evolution of Proto-Flewtish */ɸlitʰa/, meaning "Blooming" or "Saturated". The reason for this name is that the regions that Flewtish speakers settled were far more greener and developed than their previous homeland. Flewtish is possibly a [[w:Paleosiberian languages|Paleo-siberian]] language that through migration reached it's current territory. This can be further supported by similarities with the [[w:Yeniseian languages|Yeniseian]] languages, like being a tonal language and having vowel length distinction.
'''Flutwe''' is an evolution of Proto-Flewtish ''*pʰlutuɘp'', meaning "Blooming" or "Saturated". The reason for this name is that the regions that Flewtish speakers settled were far more greener and developed than their previous homeland. Flewtish is possibly a [[w:Paleosiberian languages|Paleo-siberian]] language that through migration reached it's current territory. This can be further supported by similarities with the [[w:Yeniseian languages|Yeniseian]] languages, like having a pitch accent, vowel harmony and vowel length distinction.
 
Following harsh winters in the area and raids from other local tribes, migrations westwards began in search of a better homeland. Eventually, after ~1000 years, Flewtish people decided to settle to modern day Arkhangelsk (Tanrikutt in Old Flewtish, lit. ''God's city'') and the areas around, where their language would remain. Small pockets of their language that settled in the way during that migration period survived for a few more centuries before being assimilated to neighboring nations.
 
Flewtish, from it's early years, was influenced by Mongolic, Turkic and later Indo-European and Uralic languages. The most obvious example would be the large amount of Turkic and Finnic loanwords into Flewtish, but even titles from the states with Flewtish rule such as "Gǎngÿán [gâŋɢán]" (Leader, possibly related to Khagan), "Tãnrǐ [taːŋɾiː]" (Same origin as Tengri) and "Taerkáng [tɘɾ.káŋ] (Local ruler, related to Tarkhan). On the Indo-European side, the word "оўиг /ówyg/" (Sheep) is probably borrowed from the Proto-Indo-European word '''*h₂ówis''' (Or perhaps from Proto-Balto-Slavic) and the word "ғамеги" (milking, from PIE ''*h₂melǵ-'').


==Orthography==
==Phonology==
Flewtish officially is written with the Cyrillic script as law enforces it in Russia. However the language is biscriptal and hence, it uses both the Latin and Cyrillic scripts to be written. Following are both scripts for writing the language:
Sound in parentheses only appear in dialects. Labialized consonants are not included in this chart as they don't form separate phonemes.
===Consonants===
{| {{Table/bluetable}} style="text-align:center;"
! Manner/Place !! Bilabial !! Labiodental !! Dental !! Alveolar !! Palato-alveolar !! Palatal !! Velar !! Uvular !! Glottal
|-
| Nasal || m || || || n || || (ɲ) || ŋ || ||
|-
| Stop || p b || || || t d || || || k g || (q ɢ) || (ʔ)
|-
| Affricate || || || t͡s d͡z || t͡ʃ d͡ʒ || || || || ||
|-
| Fricative ||  || f v || (θ) ð || s z || ʃ ʒ || || x ɣ || (ʁ) || h
|-
| Approximant || w || || || || || j || || ||
|-
| Tap || || || || ɾ || || || || ||
|-
| Lateral approximant || || || || l || || || || ||
|}


<center>
===Vowels===
{| class="wikitable" style="width: 50em; text-align: center; border-collapse:collapse;"
{| {{Table/bluetable}} style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="26" | Cyrillic Script for Flewtish
!           !! Front !! Central !! Back
|-
| High      || i y  || (ɨ)    || u (ɯ)
|-
| High-mid  || e    || (ɘ)    || o
|-
|-
| Аа /a/ || Бб /b/ || Вв /v/ || Гг /ɣ/ || Дд /d/ || Ее /e/ || Зз /z/ || Ии /i/ || Ыы /ɨ/ || Кк /k/ || Лл /l/ || Мм /m/ || Нн /n/ || Оо /o/ || Өө /θ/ || Пп /p/ || Рр /r/ || Тт /t/ || Сс /s/ || Уу /u/ || Фф /ɸ/ || Ьь (See below) || Хх /h/ || Цц /t͡s/ || Чч /t͡ʃ/ || Шш /ʃ/
| Low        || a    ||         ||  
|}
|}
</center>


==Orthography==
===Orthography and scripts===
====Cyrillic script====
Flewtish is written from the 17th century onwards with a variation of the Cyrillic script, the Flewtish alphabet.


<center>
<center>
{| class="wikitable" style="width: 50em; text-align: center; border-collapse:collapse;"
{| class="wikitable" style="width: 50em; text-align: center; border-collapse:collapse;"
! colspan="26" | Latin Script for Flewtish
! colspan="34" | Cyrillic Script for Flewtish
|-
|-
| Aa /a/ || Bb /b/ || Cc /t͡s/ || Dd /d/ || Đð /ð/ || Ee /e/ || Ff /ɸ/ || Ťť /θ/ || Gg /g/ || Hh /h/ || Ii /i/ || Yy /ɨ/ || Jj /ɣ/ || Kk /k/ || Ll /l/ || Mm /m/ || Nn /n/ || Oo /o/ || Pp /p/ || Rr /r/ || Ss /s/ || Tt /t/ || Uu /u/ || Vv /v/ || Ṽṽ /w/ || Xx /ʒ/|| Zz /z/
| Аа /a/ || Бб /b/ || Вв /v/ || Гг /g/ || Ғғ /ɣ/ || Дд /d/ || Ее /e/ || Ёё /ə/ || Зз /z/ || Ӟӟ /ð/ || Ии /i/ || Йй /j/ || Ўў /w/ || Кк /k/ || Лл /l/ || Мм /m/ || Нн /n/ || Оо /o/ || Ӧӧ - /jo/ ||Пп /p/ || Рр /ɾ/ || Сс /s/ || Тт /t/ || Уу /u/ || Фф /ɸ/ || Ьь (ʷ) || Хх /x/ || Цц /t͡s/ || Чч /t͡ʃ/ || Шш /ʃ/ || Щщ /d͡z/ || Ыы /y/ || Юю /ju/ || Яя /ja/
|}
|}
</center>
</center>


''<small>*'Ьь' usually acts as a modifier letter on the preceding letter. Eg: Дь becomes /ð/, ВЬ becomes /w/, and Аь becomes /ɐ/.</small>''
The Flewtish alphabet also relies on acute accents to indicate that a vowel must be pronounced as a nasal one. The apostrophe may be used to show apheresis in rapid speech.


The letters correspond always to their pronunciation. The orthography is considered a [[w:phonetic orthography|phonetic]], as opposed to deep orthographies like [[w:French orthography|French's]].
There are many dialects of Flewtish so the Flewtish alphabet is not reliable to denote the sounds of most dialects and accents. In that case, there are an additional 5 graphemes used to denote sounds found in the most spoken non-standard accents, eg. the one in Ukhta.


==Stress==
# Ӱӱ - /ɯ/
Flewtish is a tonal language and the first syllable of each word acquires a specific tone. There are three tones:
# Өө - /θ/
# Ъъ - /ʔ/
# Ӈӈ - /ŋ/*
# Іі - /ɨ/


# The mild tone (Tonek midek) indicates that the pitch will rise in the first syllable and drop in the rest gradually.
====Latin script====
# The rising tone (Tonek buhtajek) means the pitch will rise as the word is pronounced
Flewtish was written for a large period using the Latin script, adopted from contact with Germanic peoples in the west. Although it is rarely used since the late 20th century, it can still be found in inscriptions. It also survives as part of the dialect spoken in Eastern Finland.
# The falling tone (Tonek jebuhtajek) is the opposite of the rising one. Often however, it does not result in a falling pitch, but rather a longer vowel with the same pitch everywhere.


==Basic Vocabulary==
====Turkic script====
===Numbers===
Finally, dialects of Flewtish were written during the Old Flewtish period (452CE-778CE) using the Turkic script, while the southeastern tribes were subjugates by Turkish khanagates. Few inscriptions survive to this day.
 
==Grammar==
Flewtish is a [[w:Polysynthetic language|polysynthetic language]], using [[w:Circumfix|circumfixes]] or other [[w:Affix|affixes]] to change word meaning, or show different grammatical functions. Some dialects tend towards a more moderate, [[w:Agglutinative language|agglutinative]] model (By using fewer morphemes per word than other dialects), however the principle of affixation is shared between all dialects.
 
In addition, Flewtish contains an animate-inanimate distinction. If any part of speech within a sentence is animate, the subject, object and verb must take the ''-ü'' suffix.
 
===Nouns===
There are 10 cases (12 if dialectal ones are included) in Flewtish, formed usually with the use of an affix (For example: ''The apple: Hetceńe'', '''I ate the apple: Wo jepgo hetceńen'''), with the exception of the nominative case which doesn't need any inflection directly. The exact suffixes can be found below, in the "Cases" section.
 
Similarly, possession is shown with a suffix.
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Numbers from 0-10 in Flewtish
|+ Possession Suffixes in Flewtish
|-
! Suffix !! Rough English Translation !! Example
|-
| -mno || Mine || hetsjeńemno
|-
|-
! Number !! English !! Flewtish
| -ði || Your || hetsjeńedi
|-
|-
| 0 || Zero || Ěndul/Ендул
| -muk || His/Hers/Its || hetceńemuk
|-
|-
| 1 || One || Fál/Фал
| ne-, -mno || Our || nehetsjeńemno
|-
|-
| 2 || Two || Āy/Ааы
| ne-, -sji || Your (plural) || nehetsjeńesji
|-
|-
| 3 || Three || Rǎx/раж
| ne- -ktu || Their || nehetsjeńektu
|}
 
Flewtish doesn't have articles, but uses the -e suffix as a replacement for the definite article, and ''sal'' for the indefinite article.
 
===Adjectives===
Adjectives in Flewtish have three degrees (Positive: ''crasnī'', Comparative: ''cakrasnī'' and Superlative: ''crasnītta''), which correspond roughly to the English and German suffixes ''-er'' and ''-est''. They lack a plural number and they are always used in their singular form.
 
===Word order===
Flewtish is strictly an SVO language, except in answers, where the SOV form is used instead. Like most European languages, it uses word intonation to show emphasis.
 
===Pronouns===
Flewtish contains the usual three pronouns, with a distinction on the third person pronouns for animate and inanimate objects. Flewtish does not use standalone pronouns often, resorting instead to suffixes on the root verb.
 
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Pronouns in Flewtish
|-
|-
| 4 || Four || Vũðes/‌vдьес
! English !! Flewtish
|-
|-
| 5 || Five || Jiǒg/Гьиог
| I || Ғен
|-
|-
| 6 || Six || Gáṽo/Гавьо
| You || Ðи
|-
|-
| 7 || Seven || Htájek/Хтагьек
| (He or she)/it || У/Шов
|-
|-
| 8 || Eight || Prǔnd/Прунд
| We || Неғен
|-
|-
| 9 || Nine || Nãkk/Наак
| You (pl.) || Неши
|-
|-
| 10 || Ten || Cárposct/Карпошт
| They || Увок(ы)
|}
|}


===Conversation===
===Cases===
Flewtish has 10 cases, most of which correspond to English prepositions. Depending on the dialect, the number or the actual inflection of the cases may vary significantly (The easternmost dialects spoken in Finland for example preserved the ancient attributive case whereas all other dialects eventually lost it).


{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Cases in Flewtish
|-
|-
! English || Flewtish || IPA
! Case !! Affix !! Example !! English Approximation !! Notes
|-
|-
| Yes || ''Gén'' || /ɡɛn/
| Nominative || (None) || || House || -
|-
|-
| No || ''Gěnde'' || /ˈɡɛn.dɛ/
| Genitive || -den  || Dõmmaden || Of the house || -
|-
|-
| Hello! || Scýṽugs || /ˈʃɨwœɡs/
| Accusative || -n || Dõmman || The house || The accusative is formed when an action is done upon the object.
|-
|-
| Good morning! || ''Jūg hárṽag!'' || /ɣuːɡ ˈχaʁwaɡ/
| Vocative || -e || (Ē) Dõmmae || (Hey) house! || Dialectal only, conflicts with suffix -e (Similar to English 'the')
|-
|-
| Good night! || ''Jūg míkṽug'' || /ɣuːɡ ˈmikwuɡ/
| Adessive || -je || Dõmmaje || At the house || Dialectal only, usually fused with the inessive
|-
|-
| Have a nice day! || ''Kãrṽazu júg cõjet!'' || /kaːʁ.wazu ɣuːɡ t͡soːɣɛt/
| Inessive || -seg || Dõmmaseg || In the house || Also exists as e-''root''-sek
|-
|-
| Goodbye! || ''Níkṽog'' || /ˈnikwoɡ/
| Ablative || -sje || Dõmmasje || From the house || -
|-
|-
| Thank you! || ''Scprēn vug!'' || /ʃpʁɛːn βuɡ/
| Essive || -l || Ēne Dõmmal || As a house || Rare, now usually the Russian borrowing 'как' is used.
|-
|-
| Who? || ''Ǐṽa'' || /iː.wa/
| Translative || -se || Dõmmase || (Transformed) into a house
|-
|-
| What? || ''Xár'' || /ʒaʁ/
| Instrumental || -om || Dõmmaom || With a house || If it conflicts with the accusative, then it becomes -on
|-
|-
| When? || ''Énṽo'' || /ˈenwo/
| Causal-Final || -d || Dommad || For the house || -
|-
|-
| Where? || ''Gṽā'' || /ɡwa/
| Comitative || k-, -to || Kodommato || With (the company of) the house || Often fused with the instrumental.
|}
 
==Basic Vocabulary==
===Numbers===
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Numbers from 0-10 in Flewtish
|-
|-
| How? || ''Ṽárcog'' || /wɐʁt͡soɡ/
! Number !! English !! Flewtish
|-
|-
| Why || ''Pēkket'' || /peːket/
| 0 || Zero || Нул
|-
|-
| Again || ''Ṽúj'' || /wuɡ/
| 1 || One || Зааԓ
|-
|-
| What is your name? || ''Xár ṽãrpagzu?'' || /ʒaʁ waːʁpaɡzu/
| 2 || Two || Деюе
|-
|-
| My name is... || ''Ṽǎrpagṽo ...'' || /ˈwaː.ʁpaˌɡwo/
| 3 || Three || Заш
|-
|-
| Do you speak English? || ''Kiálltezu Anglitsékgog?'' || //
| 4 || Four || Нóюе
|-
|-
| I do not understand Flewtish. || ''Gěnde kṽappasṽog Flutṽas.'' || //
| 5 || Five || Аўе
|-
|-
| Help me! || ''Pámagitekgṽo!'' || //
| 6 || Six || Еўе
|-
|-
| How much is it? || ''Ṽárcogitt'' || //
| 7 || Seven || Юскы̄
|-
|-
| Where are you from? || ''Gṽǎzugyṽos?'' || //
| 8 || Eight || Анá
|-
| 9 || Nine || Цьербус
|-
| 10 || Ten || Ԓе
|}
|}


==Sample text==
==Sample text==
===The lion and the boar (Aisop)===
===Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights===
'''English''':
'''English''':
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.


On a summer day, when the great heat induced a general thirst, a Lion and a Boar came at the same moment to a small well to drink. They fiercely disputed which of them should drink first, and were soon engaged in the agonies of a mortal combat. On their stopping on a sudden to take breath for the fiercer renewal of the strife, they saw some Vultures waiting in the distance to feast on the one which should fall first. They at once made up their quarrel, saying: "It is better for us to make friends, than to become the food of Crows or Vultures, as will certainly happen if we are disabled."
'''Flewtish (Latin)''':
 
''Awel neemól zalpen nesvabodii ve tiğez ivoam ve prava. Nežewemeg šiwatak ve sosnanije ve nekareveljomeg zaal baknwékonjoamd.''
'''Flewtish (Latin script)''':


Fál hãltacojetseg, âmge sîta fárki kāscibetuja génikeg tǐða, fál liōnda é fál kǎban stǎxanetuja kízyseg kalaðétsy kũngatuja. Ṽěgleptuja pãtomi htǒk ýpatuja fāleg kũngatuja, é lũnda htúkṽatuja ágonijokseg fál smērtelnig púpa. Kǒntegtukoseg fál stũja scǔnðag klãmnjo konfliktǎis, tíndakutsejoktuja kíttetuni lādotu fálgiseg htǒk patáppio. Shtísegtu bãloshtatu, kiēlitu: "Grǒta gũjid drúgok, kīd gũva sctǎtla vũrisid mé vũlturok, ǎndana ṽúd rikkigũjokiv.
'''Flewtish (Cyrillic)''':
''Аўел неемóл залпен несвабoдии ве тиғез ивoам ве права. Нежеўемег шиўатак ве соснанийе ве некаревелйомег заал бакньéконйоамд.''

Latest revision as of 11:24, 30 May 2024


Flewtish
Flũťa / Флӯтьа
Flewtish Flag.png
Flag of the Flewtish people. It is a simplified version of an ancient flag. The green represents nature, the white represents peace and the orange represents the joy to be alive.
Pronunciation[ɸlûːtʷa]
Created byAggelos Tselios
Date2023
Native toRussia, Finland
Native speakersapprox. 1 million (2023)
Official status
Official language in
Flewtish Autonomous Republic, Russia
Regulated byInstituto Standarzabüro Flutadene Glung (Institute of Standardization of the Flewtish Language)
Map of Flewtish-speaking areas.png
Map of where Flewtish is spoken today. Dark blue areas indicate a majority Flewtish-speaking population, whereas light blue indicate areas where Flewtish is an important language.
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Flewtish (endonym: Флӯтьа [ɸlûːtʷa] or Флӯтьа глӯн [ɸlûːtʷa ɡluːŋ] ) is a language spoken in much of Northwest Russia and the Karelia region, as well as a large pocket in Eastern Finland. Flewtish is a language isolate, meaning it does not genetically relate to any other known language on the planet, similar to Basque in Europe.

Flewtish is a polysynthetic language, something uncommon for the Siberian or the European languages, hinting a distant Urheimat far away from today's Russia (Usually placed near the Mongolian border, see Proto-Flewtish). The language is split into 4 periods: Proto-Flewtish, Old Flewtish, Ḟlǔṫas Eṽétt (Modern Latin Orthography: Fluṫas Ewet), and Modern Flewtish, each one signified by the historical events accompanying them. It is a biscriptal language, using both the Latin and Cyrillic scripts to be written (In Finland and elsewhere respectively), although during the early medieval period there were Turkic writings too. An important aspect of the language is differentiating between labialized and non-labialized consonants (Referred in Flewtish as "rounded" and "unrounded") see eg. [kʷáɣ.op] "Warmth" and [káɣ.op] "Deer".

Flewtish is not one unified language. Rather, it is a large dialect continuum, stretching from Eastern Finland to the Ob river, and from the White Sea all the way to Bestozhevo (Arkhangelsk oblast), and the large distance between the dialects has caused the extreme ends of that territory to be completely unintelligible to each other.

Etymology and history

Flutwe is an evolution of Proto-Flewtish *pʰlutuɘp, meaning "Blooming" or "Saturated". The reason for this name is that the regions that Flewtish speakers settled were far more greener and developed than their previous homeland. Flewtish is possibly a Paleo-siberian language that through migration reached it's current territory. This can be further supported by similarities with the Yeniseian languages, like having a pitch accent, vowel harmony and vowel length distinction.

Following harsh winters in the area and raids from other local tribes, migrations westwards began in search of a better homeland. Eventually, after ~1000 years, Flewtish people decided to settle to modern day Arkhangelsk (Tanrikutt in Old Flewtish, lit. God's city) and the areas around, where their language would remain. Small pockets of their language that settled in the way during that migration period survived for a few more centuries before being assimilated to neighboring nations.

Flewtish, from it's early years, was influenced by Mongolic, Turkic and later Indo-European and Uralic languages. The most obvious example would be the large amount of Turkic and Finnic loanwords into Flewtish, but even titles from the states with Flewtish rule such as "Gǎngÿán [gâŋɢán]" (Leader, possibly related to Khagan), "Tãnrǐ [taːŋɾiː]" (Same origin as Tengri) and "Taerkáng [tɘɾ.káŋ] (Local ruler, related to Tarkhan). On the Indo-European side, the word "оўиг /ówyg/" (Sheep) is probably borrowed from the Proto-Indo-European word *h₂ówis (Or perhaps from Proto-Balto-Slavic) and the word "ғамеги" (milking, from PIE *h₂melǵ-).

Phonology

Sound in parentheses only appear in dialects. Labialized consonants are not included in this chart as they don't form separate phonemes.

Consonants

Manner/Place Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palato-alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m n (ɲ) ŋ
Stop p b t d k g (q ɢ) (ʔ)
Affricate t͡s d͡z t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
Fricative f v (θ) ð s z ʃ ʒ x ɣ (ʁ) h
Approximant w j
Tap ɾ
Lateral approximant l

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i y (ɨ) u (ɯ)
High-mid e (ɘ) o
Low a

Orthography

Orthography and scripts

Cyrillic script

Flewtish is written from the 17th century onwards with a variation of the Cyrillic script, the Flewtish alphabet.

Cyrillic Script for Flewtish
Аа /a/ Бб /b/ Вв /v/ Гг /g/ Ғғ /ɣ/ Дд /d/ Ее /e/ Ёё /ə/ Зз /z/ Ӟӟ /ð/ Ии /i/ Йй /j/ Ўў /w/ Кк /k/ Лл /l/ Мм /m/ Нн /n/ Оо /o/ Ӧӧ - /jo/ Пп /p/ Рр /ɾ/ Сс /s/ Тт /t/ Уу /u/ Фф /ɸ/ Ьь (ʷ) Хх /x/ Цц /t͡s/ Чч /t͡ʃ/ Шш /ʃ/ Щщ /d͡z/ Ыы /y/ Юю /ju/ Яя /ja/

The Flewtish alphabet also relies on acute accents to indicate that a vowel must be pronounced as a nasal one. The apostrophe may be used to show apheresis in rapid speech.

There are many dialects of Flewtish so the Flewtish alphabet is not reliable to denote the sounds of most dialects and accents. In that case, there are an additional 5 graphemes used to denote sounds found in the most spoken non-standard accents, eg. the one in Ukhta.

  1. Ӱӱ - /ɯ/
  2. Өө - /θ/
  3. Ъъ - /ʔ/
  4. Ӈӈ - /ŋ/*
  5. Іі - /ɨ/

Latin script

Flewtish was written for a large period using the Latin script, adopted from contact with Germanic peoples in the west. Although it is rarely used since the late 20th century, it can still be found in inscriptions. It also survives as part of the dialect spoken in Eastern Finland.

Turkic script

Finally, dialects of Flewtish were written during the Old Flewtish period (452CE-778CE) using the Turkic script, while the southeastern tribes were subjugates by Turkish khanagates. Few inscriptions survive to this day.

Grammar

Flewtish is a polysynthetic language, using circumfixes or other affixes to change word meaning, or show different grammatical functions. Some dialects tend towards a more moderate, agglutinative model (By using fewer morphemes per word than other dialects), however the principle of affixation is shared between all dialects.

In addition, Flewtish contains an animate-inanimate distinction. If any part of speech within a sentence is animate, the subject, object and verb must take the suffix.

Nouns

There are 10 cases (12 if dialectal ones are included) in Flewtish, formed usually with the use of an affix (For example: The apple: Hetceńe, I ate the apple: Wo jepgo hetceńen), with the exception of the nominative case which doesn't need any inflection directly. The exact suffixes can be found below, in the "Cases" section.

Similarly, possession is shown with a suffix.

Possession Suffixes in Flewtish
Suffix Rough English Translation Example
-mno Mine hetsjeńemno
-ði Your hetsjeńedi
-muk His/Hers/Its hetceńemuk
ne-, -mno Our nehetsjeńemno
ne-, -sji Your (plural) nehetsjeńesji
ne- -ktu Their nehetsjeńektu

Flewtish doesn't have articles, but uses the -e suffix as a replacement for the definite article, and sal for the indefinite article.

Adjectives

Adjectives in Flewtish have three degrees (Positive: crasnī, Comparative: cakrasnī and Superlative: crasnītta), which correspond roughly to the English and German suffixes -er and -est. They lack a plural number and they are always used in their singular form.

Word order

Flewtish is strictly an SVO language, except in answers, where the SOV form is used instead. Like most European languages, it uses word intonation to show emphasis.

Pronouns

Flewtish contains the usual three pronouns, with a distinction on the third person pronouns for animate and inanimate objects. Flewtish does not use standalone pronouns often, resorting instead to suffixes on the root verb.

Pronouns in Flewtish
English Flewtish
I Ғен
You Ðи
(He or she)/it У/Шов
We Неғен
You (pl.) Неши
They Увок(ы)

Cases

Flewtish has 10 cases, most of which correspond to English prepositions. Depending on the dialect, the number or the actual inflection of the cases may vary significantly (The easternmost dialects spoken in Finland for example preserved the ancient attributive case whereas all other dialects eventually lost it).

Cases in Flewtish
Case Affix Example English Approximation Notes
Nominative (None) House -
Genitive -den Dõmmaden Of the house -
Accusative -n Dõmman The house The accusative is formed when an action is done upon the object.
Vocative -e (Ē) Dõmmae (Hey) house! Dialectal only, conflicts with suffix -e (Similar to English 'the')
Adessive -je Dõmmaje At the house Dialectal only, usually fused with the inessive
Inessive -seg Dõmmaseg In the house Also exists as e-root-sek
Ablative -sje Dõmmasje From the house -
Essive -l Ēne Dõmmal As a house Rare, now usually the Russian borrowing 'как' is used.
Translative -se Dõmmase (Transformed) into a house
Instrumental -om Dõmmaom With a house If it conflicts with the accusative, then it becomes -on
Causal-Final -d Dommad For the house -
Comitative k-, -to Kodommato With (the company of) the house Often fused with the instrumental.

Basic Vocabulary

Numbers

Numbers from 0-10 in Flewtish
Number English Flewtish
0 Zero Нул
1 One Зааԓ
2 Two Деюе
3 Three Заш
4 Four Нóюе
5 Five Аўе
6 Six Еўе
7 Seven Юскы̄
8 Eight Анá
9 Nine Цьербус
10 Ten Ԓе

Sample text

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

English: 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.

Flewtish (Latin): Awel neemól zalpen nesvabodii ve tiğez ivoam ve prava. Nežewemeg šiwatak ve sosnanije ve nekareveljomeg zaal baknwékonjoamd.

Flewtish (Cyrillic): Аўел неемóл залпен несвабoдии ве тиғез ивoам ве права. Нежеўемег шиўатак ве соснанийе ве некаревелйомег заал бакньéконйоамд.