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|name              = Flewtish
|name              = Flewtish
|nativename        = Flũťa / Флӯтьа
|nativename        = Flũťa / Флӯтьа
|pronunciation    = ɸlûːtwa
|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
|pronunciation_key = IPA
|state            = Russia, Finland
|state            = Russia, Finland
Line 17: Line 20:
|script1          = Latn
|script1          = Latn
|script2          = Cyrl
|script2          = Cyrl
|nation            = Karelian Republic
|nation            = Flewtish Autonomous Republic, [[w:Russian Federation|Russia]]
|agency            = Institutgog Standardzabiroden Flutvadene Glung (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>Флӯтьа [[IPA|[ɸlûːtʷa] ]]</b> or <b>''Флӯтьа глӯн''</b> [ɸlûːtʷas ɡluːŋ]) is a langauge spoken in much of Northwest Russia and the [[w:Karelia|Karelia region]], as well as a large pocket in [[w:Finland|Eastern Finland]] since 500BC, following the Flewtish migrations westwards. 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''' ([[w:Endonym|endonym]]: <b>Флутье</b> [[IPA|[ɸlutʷe] ]] or '''Флутье глун'''</b> [[IPA|[ˈɸlutʷe ɡlun] ]]) 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 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 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".


While standardized, the language spans over a massive geographical area and as a result, forms a dialect continuum with the most extreme corners (from east Finland to [[w:Ukhta|the Ukhta city]] being completely unintelligible to each other. One example could be the simple sentence "My favorite pets are cats". Following are the two examples in the dialects spoken in Ukhta (Chukwa in Flewtish) and Kvuppeg (Kuumu, a city in Finland), both written using the Latin script for convenience:
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.


# Wo tepō päzćocha enokka mäua [wo ˈtʲepoːa ˈpɘʐʷot͡ʃa ˈenʲoka ˈmɘua] "Me pet favourite is cat"
==Etymology and history==
# Pezoḱōgwo nētepoga nemäja [ˈpezokʷoːɡwo ˈneːtepoga ˈnemɘja] "Favourite-me pets cat"
'''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.


For this reason, some classify Flewtish as a language family, the common ancestor of which is [[Proto-Flewtish]].
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.


==Etymology and history==
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-'').
'''Flũta''' is an evolution of Proto-Flewtish ''*flȳdʰa'', 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 (Tengwrikutt 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.
==Phonology==
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 || || || || ||
|}


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 (eg. Кӣлъиту "to converse") but even titles from the states with Flewtish rule such as "Gǎngÿán [ʔgâŋɢán]" (Leader, possibly related to Khagan), "Tãngṽrǐ [ʔtaːŋʷɾiː/" (Same origin as Tengri) and "Tãěrṽágn /ʔtɘɾ.wáŋ/" (Local ruler, related to Tarkhan). On the Indo-European side, the word "оѡўг /ˈówyg/" (Sheep) is probably borrowed from the Proto-Indo-European word '''*h₂ówis''' (Or perhaps from Proto-Balto-Slavic) and the word "ғамегь" (milking, from PIE ''*h₂melǵ-'').
===Vowels===
{| {{Table/bluetable}} style="text-align:center;"
!            !! Front !! Central !! Back
|-
| High      || i y  || (ɨ)     || u (ɯ)
|-
| High-mid  || e    || (ɘ)     || o
|-
| Low        || a    ||        ||
|}


==Orthography==
==Orthography==
Flewtish is officially written with the Cyrillic script as law enforces it in Russia. However, up until the [[w:Soviet Union|Soviet Union's]] dissolution in 1991, the language was actually written with the Latin script, which was brought over by Viking sailors around the 9th-10th century. The Latin script is used mostly in Finland with the local dialects and by older people elsewhere, but any new speakers are taught to write with the Cyrillic alphabet.
===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="29" | Cyrillic Script for Flewtish
! colspan="34" | Cyrillic Script for Flewtish
|-
|-
| Аа /a/ || Бб /b/ || Вв /v/ || Гг /g/ || Ғғ /ɣ/ || Дд /d/ || Ðð /ð/ || Ее /e/ || Зз /z/ || Ии /i/ || Ыы /y/ || Кк /k/ || Лл /l/ || Мм /m/ || Нн /n/ || Оо /o/ || Пп /p/ || Рр /ʁ/ || Тт /t/ || Сс /s/ || Уу /u/ || Фф /ɸ/ || Ьь (ʷ) || Хх /x/ || Цц /t͡s/ || Чч /t͡ʃ/ || Шш /ʃ/ || Ѡѡ /w/ || Ъъ /ʔ/
| 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>


<center>
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.
{| class="wikitable" style="width: 50em; text-align: center; border-collapse:collapse;"
 
! colspan="27" | Latin Script for Flewtish
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.
 
# Ӱӱ - /ɯ/
# Өө - /θ/
# Ъъ - /ʔ/
# Ӈӈ - /ŋ/*
# 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 [[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"
|+ 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
|-
|-
| Aa /a/ || Bb /b/ || Cc /t͡s/ || Dd /d/ || Đð /ð/ || Ee /e/ || Ff /f/ || Gg /g/ || Hh /x/ || Ii /i/ || Yy /ɣ/ || Jj /j/ || Kk /k/ || Ll /l/ || Mm /m/ || Nn /n/ || Oo /o/ || Pp /p/ || Rr /ʁ/ || Ss /s/ || Tt /t/ || Uu /u/ || Üü /y/ || Vv /v/ || Ww /w/ || Xx /ʒ/|| Zz /z/
| ne- -ktu || Their || nehetsjeńektu
|}
|}
</center>


==Grammar==
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===
===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.
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.
Line 68: Line 145:
! English !! Flewtish
! English !! Flewtish
|-
|-
| I || Гѡо
| I || Ғен
|-
|-
| You || Ðи
| You || Ðи
|-
|-
| (He or she)/it || Ў/Шов
| (He or she)/it || У/Шов
|-
|-
| We || Негѡо
| We || Неғен
|-
|-
| You (pl.) || Неши
| You (pl.) || Неши
|-
|-
| They || Увок(ў)
| They || Увок(ы)
|}
|}
===Cases===
===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).
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).
Line 100: Line 178:
| Inessive || -seg || Dõmmaseg || In the house || Also exists as e-''root''-sek
| Inessive || -seg || Dõmmaseg || In the house || Also exists as e-''root''-sek
|-
|-
| Ablative || -sce || Dõmmasce || From the house || -
| Ablative || -sje || Dõmmasje || From the house || -
|-
|-
| Essive || -l || Ēne Dõmmal || As a house || Rare, now usually the Russian borrowing 'как' is used.
| Essive || -l || Ēne Dõmmal || As a house || Rare, now usually the Russian borrowing 'как' is used.
Line 110: Line 188:
| Causal-Final || -d || Dommad || For the house || -
| Causal-Final || -d || Dommad || For the house || -
|-
|-
| Comitative || k-, -to || Kodommato || With (the company of) the house || It is often fused with the instrumental.
| Comitative || k-, -to || Kodommato || With (the company of) the house || Often fused with the instrumental.
|}
|}


Line 120: Line 198:
! Number !! English !! Flewtish
! Number !! English !! Flewtish
|-
|-
| 0 || Zero || Нўл
| 0 || Zero || Нул
|-
|-
| 1 || One || Sál/Сал
| 1 || One || Зааԓ
|-
|-
| 2 || Two || Āwy/А̄ѡы
| 2 || Two || Деюе
|-
|-
| 3 || Three || Děgn/Денг
| 3 || Three || Заш
|-
|-
| 4 || Four || Sãx/Саж
| 4 || Four || Нóюе
|-
|-
| 5 || Five || Ðōgn/Ðōнг
| 5 || Five || Аўе
|-
|-
| 6 || Six || Káwo/Каѡо
| 6 || Six || Еўе
|-
|-
| 7 || Seven || Evé/Еве
| 7 || Seven || Юскы̄
|-
|-
| 8 || Eight || Xü/Жў
| 8 || Eight || Анá
|-
|-
| 9 || Nine || Nãkk/На̄кк
| 9 || Nine || Цьербус
|-
|-
| 10 || Ten || Cárposct/Къарпошт
| 10 || Ten || Ԓе
|}
|}


Line 147: Line 225:
'''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.
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)''':
'''Flewtish (Cyrillic)''':
Ко ѡижене ӻенваца̄ктуне свабодане е ӻўфишине сансег е праѡане. Одарендутӯ кеѡогом е соѡешом, е жецентуне фалсегфал ѡенцисег заккарамтун.
''Аўел неемóл залпен несвабoдии ве тиғез ивoам ве права. Нежеўемег шиўатак ве соснанийе ве некаревелйомег заал бакньéконйоамд.''
 
'''Flewtish (IPA)''':
[ko ˈwi.ʒɛne ˈɣɛnʙʷaˌt͡saːktu zvaˈbodaek e ˈɣyɸiʃʷiˌek ˈsan.seg e ˈpʁa.wa.seg ‖ ˈodarenduˌtuː ˈkewogom e ˈsoweʃom e ˈʒet͡sentu ˈfalsegˌfal ˈwent͡siseg zakaʁamtun]

Latest revision as of 16:55, 24 June 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: Флутье [ɸlutʷe] or Флутье глун [ˈɸlutʷe ɡlun] ) 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.