Anglecymrāeg

This conlang was created for a school project, and while supposedly there is little to no record of the language, this article will go into (hopefully) great detail as to the many aspects that make up the language, more than could ever have been discerned by any manuscripts that would've survived the tests of time.

Introduction

Anglecymrāeg was a naturalistic language spoken by a small group of Welsh Anglo-Saxons who spoke a language which stemmed from Old English and Old Welsh. This language arose when a faction of the Saxon settlers rebelled and eventually left their people to travel West across Britain to modern-day Wales. There they met a small group of Welsh-speaking people. The group of Saxons didn't try to conquer the Welsh since they were few in numbers and half-starved. Instead, they were welcomed and thus assimilated into the village. For a few hundred years they lived there, until with one thing and another the population dwindled and the village was abandoned, the remnants scattering in different directions. they were never heard from again, until the late 20th century, when a wooden chest with various documents were found in modern-day Wales, some in Old English or Anglecymrāeg. It contained several unknown literary works of fiction, and excerpts from Beowulf. While most were in Anglecymrāeg, the Beowulf excerpts were written in both, which helped to decipher the lost language.

Phonology

Much of the phonology of Anglecymrāeg is speculative, but guesses can be made about how things sounded. It is assumed that many sounds merged to form a sort of compromise in order to "appease" both groups.

Vowels

As Old English and Old Welsh merged, the /y/ and /ø/ sounds changed to /ɨ/ and /ə/ respectively, thus losing the round front vowels. The /a/ sound became a merged form of the Old English /ɑ/ and the Welsh /a/, slightly more back than the Welsh, but still farther forward than the Old English. All vowels are written as their IPA symbols except for /ɨ/, which is represented by the letter y, and /ə/, which can be represented by e or y. All vowels had a short and long variants ― the short being one mora and the long being something approximating 1.67 morae, not quite two ― except for /ə/, which is only short.

	Front	Central	Back
			unrounded	rounded
High	i   iː	ɨ   ɨː	ʊ	u   uː
Mid	e   eː	ə		o   oː
Low	æ   æː	a   aː

Consonants

The sounds surrounded by parentheses are allophones of the non-parenthesized phonemes.

	Labial	Labio-Dental	Dental	Alveolar		Post-Alveolar	Palatal		Velar		Glottal
				plain	lateral		plain	velarized	plain	labial
Nasal	m			n					(ŋ)
Plosive	p   b			t   d					k   (g)	(kʷ)
Affricate						tʃ   (dʒ)
Fricative	(ɸʷ)   (βʷ)	f   (v)	θ   (ð)	s   (z)	(ɬ)	ʃ		(ɧ)	x   ɣ	(xʷ)	(h)
Approximant					l		(j)			(ʍ)   w
Trill/Flap				(r̥)   r

Phonotactics

Consonant Changes

Most, if not all consonant sound changes were of the allophonic variety.

• [ŋ] is an allophone of /n/ when followed by a /g/ or /k/.
• [v], [ð], and [z] are allophones of /f/, /θ/, and /s/ when occurring post-vocalically or preceded by a voiced consonant or sonorant An exception is made if the grapheme is doubled, in which case no change occurs.
• [g] is an allophone of /ɣ/ when occurring word-initially or when preceded by /n/.
• [j] is also an allophone of /ɣ/ when occurring alone between to vowels or at the end of a syllable if the coda doesn't contain other phonemes. This is almost always marked as ġ.
• [ʍ] and [r̥] are allophones of /w/ and /r/ when preceded by h.
• [h] is an allophone of /x/ when preceded by a front or central vowel.
• [ɧ] is also an allophone of /x/ when occurring word-initially.
• [dʒ] is an allophone of /j/ when occurring after nasals or when word-initially.
• [ɬ] is an allophone of /l/ when preceded by a voiceless plosive /p/, /t/ or /k/.
• [ɸʷ] and [βʷ] are allophones of /w/ and /ʍ/ when occurring word initially.

Vowel changes

Many of the phonemic vowel changes in Anglecymrāeg are directly from Welsh, but a few formed on their own. Like Welsh, many of the changes that occurred are a result of a vowel being displaced from being the nucleus of the final syllable when a suffix is attached. This type of mutation is sometimes called centring. When a vowel was displaced from the final syllable, it would change to a more central vowel sound, thus the front /i/ > central /ɨ/ or the back /u/ > central-back /ʊ/. This change does not occur if the syllable is stressed.

centring mutation

Final	Non-final	Example (in progress)
æ /æ/	a /a/
i /i/	y /ɨ/
e /e/	e /ə/
u /u/	w /ʊ/
w /ʊ/   y /ɨ/	y /ə/

Another common feature of Germanic and Brittonic languages alike was the i-mutation. This change occurs in words primarily that change plurality without the addition of a suffix. This change can occur regardless of stress.

i-mutation

Non-mutated	Mutated	Example (in progress)
a /a/   æ /æ/	ea /eɨ/
e /e/   o /o/	y /ɨ/
u /u/   y /ɨ/   w /ʊ/	oe /oɨ/

Onset

Syllable-initial consonant clusters

First consonant	Middle consonant	Last consonant
		―	-m	-n	-r	-l	-w
―	―		m	n	r	l	βʷ
	-p-	p	―		pr	pɬ	―
	-b-	b			br	bl
	-t-	t			tr	tɬ	tw
	-d-	d			dr	dl	dw
	-k-	k	―	―	kr	kɬ	kw
	-ɣ-	ɡ		ɡn	ɡr	ɡl	—
	ʃ-	ʃ	―		ʃr	―
	f-	f	―	fn	fr	fl	―
	θ-	θ	―		θr	―	θw
	x-	ɧ	ɧm	ɧn	r̥	ɬ	ɸʷ
s-	―	s	sm	sn	―	sl	sw
	-p-	sp	―		spr	spɬ	―
	-t-	st			str	―
	-k-	sk			skr

Coda

Syllable-final consonant clusters

First consonant	Last consonant
	―	-p	-b	-t	-d	-k	-ɣ	-f	-θ	-s	-ʃ	-x
―		p	b	t	d	k	ɣ	v	ð	z	ʃ	x
m-	m	mp	mb	―				mf	mθ	ms	mʃ	―
n-	n	―		nt	nd	ŋk	ŋg	nf	nθ	ns	nʃ
l-	l	lp	lb	lt	ld	lk	lɣ	lf	lθ	ls	lʃ	lx
r-	r	rp	rb	rt	rd	rk	―	rf	rθ	rs	rʃ	rx

Orthography

In all instances, the macron (ō) denotes both increased length on the vowel. Often this marking is also linked to stress, but since they are not one and the same in practical usage a longer vowel which is also stressed with a circumflex (ô).

Grapheme	Phoneme	Notes
a	/a/	Slightly farther back than a typical /a/, very occasionally pronounced as full /ɑ/.
ā	/aː/
æ	/æ/
ǣ	/æː/	When as an unstressed syllable.
	/e/	A unique change which arose after the merging of the Old English and Welsh, in which ǣ would change to /e/ when as the stressed syllable. It is guessed that they speakers simply didn't like annunciating the /æː/ when also stressed.
ae	/aɨ/	Not to be confused with /æ/, which comes from Old English. The ae marking was borrowed from Old Welsh.
āe	/aːɨ/
b	/b/
c	/k/
ch	/x/	This marking of /x/ was favored over h in many circumstances because it referred to exactly one phoneme as opposed to three. It was always used word-initially to differentiate from /ɧ/. It was also used when /x/ changed to /h/ in particular circumstances.
cj	/tʃ/	The exact morphophonological history of /tʃ/ is unknown, but it is guessed that it is related to the palatalization that resulted in /ʃ/.
cw	/kʷ/
d	/d/
ð	/ð/	Replaces þ when voiced and word-finally.
e	/e/
	/ə/	Only when appearing directly before a stressed syllable. This came directly from Welsh, since the Old English didn't have this feature.
ē	/eː/	Note that /eː/ doesn't change to /ə/ when before stress,
	/e/	Only when appearing before a stressed syllable. This comes from the attempt to avoid a long /əː/ so it is articulated as /e/ but not long.
ea	/eɨ/
ēa	/eːɨ/
f	/v/	When post-vocalically or proceeding a voiced consonant, unless proceeded by an unvoiced consonant.
	/f/	When word-initially.
ff		Replace f when unvoiced and post-vocalically.
g	/ɣ/	When medially or word-finally.
	/g/	When word-initially.
ġ	/j/
h	/x/	Medially and finally except if preceded by front or central vowel (cf. /h/).
	/ɧ/	Only used when occurring initially.
	/h/	Used specifically when preceded by a front or central vowel. Never used word-finally.
hl	/ɬ/
hm	/ɧm/	The sound /ɧ/ was opted for over /x/ or /h/ when appearing before nasals due to the tendency for a word-initial h changing to /ɧ/, carrying over to the consonant cluster rule. Originally, the sounds which were replaced by the affricates beginning with /ɧ/ were unvoiced nasals or liquids, but surprisingly, these changes still occurred, even though both groups had had unvoiced liquids and nasals as a phonological feature. Subsequently, voiced sonorants were phased out of the language completely.
hn	/ɧn/
hr	/ɧr/
hw	/ʍ/	Medially and finally.
	/ɸʷ/	It is thought that hw was only articulated this way when appearing word-initially, a remnant of the Welsh phonology.
i	/i/
ī	/iː/
ie	/jə/	Interestingly, diphthongs beginning with i when short would change to a palatalization. When the ī is long it changes to a fully annunciated /i/, but still monomoraic.
īe	/iə/
io	/ju/
īo	/iu/
l	/l/
ll	/ɬ/	Later texts preferred to write /ɬ/ as ll, although they are pronounced identically.
m	/m/
n	/n/
ng	/ŋg/	the plain /n/ would always change to /ŋ/ before velars, and similarly to Old English the velar consonant would be maintained.
nk	/ŋk/
o	/o/
ō	/oː/   /u/	Very occasionally pronounced as /u/, but only when word-finally and stressed.
oe	/oɨ/	The oe > /oɨ/ was a documentation used in Welsh which the Anglo-Saxons seemingly happily adopted.
ōe	/oːɨ/
p	/p/
r	/r/	For ease of speaking, it is guessed that this was pronounced as a tap/flap in all places except word-initially, in which case it would be a trill.
s	/s/
	/z/	When post-vocalically or proceeding a voiced consonant, unless proceeded by an unvoiced consonant.
ss	/s/	Only used when unvoiced and post-vocalically.
sj	/ʃ/	A feature present in Old English, palatalization of /s/ led to the /ʃ/ sound. It is thought that at one point it was closer to /ç/ which changed to /ʃ/ over time.
sh	/ɧ/	This was used only very rarely, and comes directly from the merging of /s/ and /x/.
t	/t/
þ	/θ/	When word-initially, finally, and medially unless surrounded by vowels.
	/ð/	When surrounded by a vowels or when directly following another voiced consonant or sonorant.
þþ	/θ/	When /θ/ is surrounded by vowels but unvoiced.
u	/u/
ū	/uː/
w	/ʊ/	It is unclear why this vowel sound came into use, being favored over the Welsh /ʉ/, but it is possible that the influx of the Anglo-Saxons brought about this change. This would figure into the phonological history, with the only hypothesis being that the /ʊ/ was somewhat similar to /ø/ and found a sort of compromise.
	/w/	Medially and finally. The w only takes on a consonant value when occurring before another vowel. This sound is also used if w appears between two vowels
	/βʷ/	Word-initially. The /β/ sound came from the Old Welsh.
	/ʊw/	Only when occurring word-finally.
y	/ɨ/
	/ə/	This sound change came directly from Welsh when y occurred medially, unless clustered with another vowel in which case no change occurred.

Morphology

Articles and Demonstratives

Like both Old Welsh and Old English, Anglecymrāeg has no indefinite article. While many grammatical forms are taken from Old English, articles differ in this respect, since they do not decline for grammatical case, and, like Welsh, differentiate proximal and distal modes.

	Singular			Plural
	Feminine	Masculine	Neuter
Definite	sȳ	sē	þet	þyr
Proximal	þan	þwn	þyn	þyssā
Distal	þa	þunu	þī	þynea

Nouns

Nouns inflect for case, gender and number. Welsh did not have nouns case so the cases come largely from Old English, with some influence from corresponding prepositions. There were two numbers; singular and plural, and three genders; feminine, masculine and neuter.

Stem changes regarding number were heavily reliant on gender and case, and thus it is most productive to outline it only when in conjunction with gender and case.

The gender system experienced some change over the course of the language's lifespan, but nothing of particular weight. Initially, the neutral gender was reserved for all inanimate nouns, whereas semi-animate and animate nouns would be either male or female. Semi-animate nouns, such as plants or weather, would have ne inherent gender. For example, trees were considered feminine while fire was masculine. Often the qualities of a given semi-animate noun would determine its gender. Animate nouns have two distinct forms; masculine or feminine, depending on its biological sex. Later on, the neuter gender would occasionally be used for animate nouns, such as referring to a person in general without implying gender. The neuter gender would also find its way into use regarding semi-animate nouns, again when more general terms, such as a plant, were used.

Most animate feminine nouns would end in a vowel, but a few feminine nouns were considered to have a neuter aspect (fish being among these) and so would end in n resulting in the need for a new declension. Along with this was a less frequently used animate neuter which would always end in r.

Noun Declensions

There are four main declensions; two declensions for animate nouns, a declension for semi-animate nouns, and a declension for inanimate nouns. The parenthesized text denotes that the base form (nom, singular) ends with the given phoneme(s)/grapheme(s).

First Animate Noun Declension

	Feminine		Masculine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
nom	(vow.)	-ny	(cons.)	-as
acc	-t	-ty	-e	-a
dat	-n	-m		-am
gen	-s	-sy	-es	-o
inst	-weþ	-weu	-wi	-wyþþ

The first animate declension was used much more than the second. For most animate nouns, gender was predetermined, which is why it only applies to masculine and feminine. As the name suggests, this was used for animate nouns such as people, animals etc.

Second Animate Noun Declension

	Feminine		Neuter
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
nom	(n)	-y	(r)	-u
acc	-e	-a	-e	-a
dat		-em	-w	-um
gen	-eas	-ys	-es	-ou
inst	-weþ	-weu	-wy	-wiu

The second animate declension was the later used addition to the system for a minority of feminine nouns that ended with n instead of a vowel. For the most part, the endings are very similar to the primary feminine declensions, because they developed directly from said declensions to work more smoothly with a sonorant as the final phoneme. This declension is more specific, and the reason an animate neuter gender arose was due to the need when posed with such animate nouns that couldn't easily be assigned gender, such as (a) person.

Semi-animate Noun Declension

	Neuter		Feminine		Masculine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
nom	-ū	-us	(vow.)	-ny	(cons.)	-asu
acc	-ē	-es	-þ	-þy	-eu	-ew
dat	-oe	-oes	-tw	-toe
gen	-ū	-ws	-ss	-ssy	-eo	-ef
inst	-w	-wsu	-weþu	-weþū	-e	-we

The semi-animate declension was used for semi-animate nouns, which included all plants, along with fire, weather, and other things with inherent movement or life. Nouns with greater ferocity or life were often considered feminine or masculine, while more stationary or docile nouns would be neuter.

Inanimate Noun Declension

	Neuter
	Singular	Plural
nom	(son.)	-ā
acc	-ae	-ǣ
dat	-æ	-æs
gen	-of	-wff
inst	-wy	-wī

The final declension for inanimate nouns was used for things considered lifeless; tools, rocks, soil etc. While the individual components of the Earth were considered inanimate, the Earth herself was considered semi-animate and feminine. Certain nouns of this category did not add a suffix but rather underwent i-mutation. This was also the declension used for anything non-physical such as an idea.

Noun-forming Suffixes

The suffixes "-yr" or "-ffī" change an infinitive verb to a noun.

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Pronoun System

	1st Person		2nd Person		3rd Person
	singular	plural	singular	plural	Singular			plural
					Feminine	Masculine	Neuter
nom	i	ni	þi	hwi	hēo	hēf	hī	wy
acc	mi	ūs	þe	wūs	hio	hīf	hīt	wyt
dat					hiu	hūn	hiut
gen	myn	uryn	þyn	þych	chyr	chys		hir
inst	in	nīn	þūn	hwē	enu	ēn	wyn	wīun

Interrogative Pronouns

	Personal	Objective	Comparative
nom	pū	peaþ	pa
acc	pwn	chwn
dat
gen	puīs	peass	pas
inst	puþ	hweþ	pass

Verbs

Tense

There is no future tense, due to the fact that neither Old English nor Old Welsh had a separate future tense. However, the subjunctive mood in the present was often used to demonstrate a future aspect. Furthermore, the subjunctive in the past would often be used for present imperfect. In Old English there were strong and weak verbs, but in the merging of Welsh and English, the strong verbs were lost, leaving the weak verbs, which changed by adding a suffix.

Present Tense Conjugation of Regular Verbs

		Indicative	Subjunctive	Imperative
1st	Sing.	-ef	-yt	-aþ
	Plur.	-wn	-om	-ūn
2nd	Sing.	-yst	-ych	-
	Plur.	-ȳch	-och	-ūch
3rd	Sing.	-þþ	-o	-et
	Plur.	-ynt	-ont	-ent

Past Tense Conjugation of Regular Verbs

		Indicative	Subjunctive	Imperative
1st	Sing.	-um	-hu	-
	Plur.	-wm	-em	-wnu
2nd	Sing.	-ust	-wch	-þu
	Plur.	-ste	-se	-ē
3rd	Sing.	-uþ	-ea	-wyn
	Plur.	-ant	-īnt	-tū

Verbal Nouns

Also called gerunds, verbal nouns are a concept taken from Welsh. Most verbal nouns end in -ī or -ll.

Descriptors

Descriptors included both adjectives and adverbs. The only real difference is that while noun descriptors would decline for case, adverbs did not, using the only nominative or base form.

Adjective-forming Suffixes

Nouns can often be changed to adjectives by the suffix "-að", "-eþ" or, occasionally, "-(s)swd".

Declension

Descriptor Declension

	Singular			Plural
	Feminine	Masculine	Neuter
nom	-w	-		-yn
acc	-wr	-nu	-un	-wne
dat			-unu
gen	-us	-es
inst		-wu	-we	-ure

Degree

Anglecymrāeg has two degrees, comparative and superlative. Comparative is marked with -ry and -osþ or -esþ. These come mainly from the Old English -ra and -ost.

Prepositions

Anglecymrāeg prepositions are largely derived from Welsh, however, these are often closely related to Old English as well. Contrary to the Welsh influence, they are not conjugated and function the same regardless of person or case.

Syntax

Word Order

Like Old English, the word order follows a subject-verb-object order, but this is rather loose since the language also has noun case. Questions are phrased by switching the verb and subject, or in more loose word order, putting the verb before everything else. Note that the verb never comes first in a sentence unless asking a question.

Relative and Subordinate Clauses

Like, Old English, relative clauses are formed almost exclusively by demonstratives sȳ, sē, and þet. Instead of saying "the cat who ran away," they would say, "the cat that ran away." Subordinate clauses are formed by correlative conjunctions. This was phrased as then... then or which... which. They would say, "Then I arrived, then I fell asleep," instead of, "When I arrived, I fell asleep." Often the second part of a subordinate clause would b verb-final, although this was a rule often disregarded.