Jovlish

Jovlish
Öggeş
Flag of the Kingdom of Jovaia
Pronunciation	[ˈʒoːvlɛʃ]
Created by	Vrianne
Date	2024
Setting	Earth
Native to	Jovaia
Ethnicity	Jovler
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic North Sea Germanic Anglic Jovlish
Early forms	Proto-Indo-European Proto-Germanic Old English Old Jovlish Middle Jovlish
Standard form	Royal Jovlish (Künöggeş (Künöggeş))
Dialects	Turkish Jovlish (Türköggeş) Georgian Jovlish (ქორთულეუგგეშ (Kortuleuggeş)) Kyutonian (кютонш (kjutonš))
Writing systems	Jovlish Georgian Latin Cyrillic
Official status
Official language in	Jovaia
Recognised minority language in	Türkiye, Georgia
Regulated by	Jovlish Royal Academy (Öxkünakademya (Öxkünakademya))
Map of areas where Jovlish is spoken   ...as a majority language   ...as a minority language

Jovlish (Öggeş, Öggeş [ˈʔœɡɡɛʃ], formally itÖxsψış, itÖxspsış [ʔɪˈtœks(ː)ˌpsωʃ] or iJóvalsψış, iJóvalspsış [ʔɪˈʒo(ː)vɐlsˌpsωʃ]) is an Anglic Germanic language whose speakers mainly reside in the Pontus region (Jovlish: Pont, Pont [pʰɔ̃ntʰ]) split between the Republic of Türkiye, the Kingdom of Jovaia, and the Republic of Georgia. It is descended from the Old English spoken by the Anglo-Saxon refugees fleeing from the Norman invasion of England to the Black Sea, thus making it related to other Anglic languages such as English and Scots, and to other Anglo-Frisian languages such as the Frisian languages.

Classification

Jovlish is an Indo-European language that belongs to the Anglo-Frisian branch of the West Germanic languages, which in-turn is also a branch of the Germanic languages. It is specifically an Anglic language descending from the West Saxon dialect of Old English.

Anglo-Frisian Cognates with matching definitions

Jovlish	English	Scots	West Frisian
brıh (brıh)	brother	brither	broer
veş (veş)	week	wouk	wike
fód (fód)	father	faither	faar
Jöq (Jöq)	Earth	Erd	Ierde
şīd (şīd)	head	heid	haad
mēqk (mēqk)	milk	milk	molke
reş (reş)	right	richt	rjocht
űvn (űvn)	give*	gie	jaan

History

Old Jovlish (12th–15th century)

By the late 12th and early 13th centuries, the speech of the Anglo-Saxon settlers had diverged noticeably from Old English, forming what is now referred to as Old Jovlish. During this period, extensive contact with the Byzantine Empire led to the incorporation of numerous Greek loanwords, particularly in religious, administrative, and scholarly domains. Additionally, some lexical influences from Adyghe and other nearby languages entered Jovlish, although its core grammatical structure remained largely unchanged from that of Old English.

Middle Jovlish (16th–17th century)

The 16th century marked the transition to Middle Jovlish, characterized by increased linguistic borrowing and grammatical transformation. During this period, Jovlish absorbed a substantial number of loanwords from Ottoman Turkish, Russian, and Classical Persian. These influences were particularly strong in trade, military, and governmental terminology.

One of the most significant grammatical developments in this period was the fusion of pronouns with conjugated verbs, leading to its characteristically un-Germanic verbal paradigm.

Jovlish's orthography remained largely static thus far, leading to a growing divergence between written and spoken forms. As such, words spelled as "mennisćmæn" ("human"), which reflected the Old Jovlish pronunciation /ˈmenniʃˌmæn/ quite accurately, would have been pronounced as /ˈmɛʃmæn/ by Middle Jovlish speakers.

The early 17th century saw the forced migration of many Jovlish-speaking communities due to Russian military campaigns in the Caucasus, which displaced numerous ethnic groups. Many Jovlish speakers were resettled in the Pontic region.

15th-century written form of "Ælfréd óþ" ("Alfred II")

Modern Jovlish (17th century–present)

The 17th century marked the definitive split of Jovlish into two primary dialects:

• Turkish Jovlish, spoken primarily in modern-day Turkey, especially in former Greek-populated areas along the Black Sea coast.
• Georgian Jovlish, concentrated in western Georgia.

Following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and during the Turkish War of Independence, efforts were made to standardize and preserve the Jovlish language. During this period, a standardized script was created, grammar and pronunciation were codified, and educational and linguistic institutions were established, though these efforts were geographically limited to within the borders of Jovaia.

Despite these efforts, the varieties spoken in Turkey and Georgia remained poorly documented and unstandardized, leading to an ongoing decline in speakers.

Etymology

Throughout their history, Jovlers were referred to by names such as "(east) English", "(west) Saxon", "Dutch", etc. The endonym "öggeş" (öggeş) and its derivatives come from Middle Jovlish "elggisć" /ˈɛu̯ɡɡɛʃ/, a common metathesized form of "egglisć" /ˈɛɡ(ː)lɛʃ/ ("English") which was one of the terms used by Jovlers to refer to themselves colloquially, aside from "seaxisć" /ˈsiɐ̯ksɛʃ/, "éaæ̈lisć" /ˈjɔu̯wælɛʃ/, "teutonisć" /ˈtɛu̯tɔnɛʃ/, and "łormánisć" /ʁɔrˈmɔu̯nɛʃ/. Both "elggisć" and "egglisć" ultimately are from Old English "englisċ", thus making "öggeş" (öggeş, "Jovlish") and "egleş" (egleş, "English") doublets.

The exonym "jovlish" used in English and many other languages such as German "jovalisch", French "jovalais", Arabic "ياولي" (yāwiliyy), Greek "γεβαλικός" (gevalikós), and Russian "ювалский" (juvalskij) all trace to either Modern Jovlish "jóvleş" (jóvleş, "Jovlish (nationally)"), Early Modern Jovlish "*jóvaleş", or Middle Jovlish "éaæ̈lisć" /ˈjɔu̯wælɛʃ/. This endonym eventually fell out of use in favor of "öggeş" (öggeş) linguistically, but it is still used gentilicly such as in "Jóvaya" (Jóvaya, "Jovaia"). It comes from Early Middle Jovlish "éasægglisć" /ˈjɑːstˌæɡɡliʃ/, literally meaning "east english", in reference to their location relative to England and the English.

Phonology

Old Jovlish

Vowels

	Front		Back
	unrounded	rounded
Close	i iː ⟨í⟩	y yː ⟨ý⟩	u uː ⟨ú⟩
Mid	e eː ⟨é⟩	ø ⟨œ⟩	o oː ⟨ó⟩
Open	æ æː ⟨ǽ⟩		ɑ ⟨a⟩ ɑː ⟨á⟩

	Rising								Falling
	-yː	-u	-ø	-o	-oː	-æ	-ɑ	-ɑː	-ʊ̯	-ɔ̯	-œ̯	-ɐ̯
i-									iʊ̯ ⟨(ǵ)eu⟩	iɔ̯ ⟨(ǵ)eo⟩	iœ̯ ⟨(ǵ)eœ⟩	iɐ̯ ⟨(ǵ)ea⟩
iː-										iːɔ̯ ⟨(ǵ)éo⟩	iːœ̯ ⟨(ǵ)éy⟩	iːɐ̯ ⟨(ǵ)éa⟩
j-	jyː ⟨éy⟩	ju ⟨eu⟩	jø ⟨eœ⟩	jo ⟨eo⟩	joː ⟨éo⟩	jæ ⟨eæ⟩	jɑ ⟨ea⟩	jɑː ⟨éa⟩

Notes:

• /i y u e ø o/ may have been realized as [ɪ ʏ ʊ ɛ œ ɔ].

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Post-Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m		n			ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Plosive	voiceless	p		t	t͡ʃ ⟨ć⟩		k ⟨c⟩
	voiced	b		d	d͡ʒ ⟨cǵ⟩		ɡ ⟨g⟩
Fricative	voiceless	f	θ ⟨þ⟩	s	ʃ ⟨sć⟩	(ç)	x~χ ⟨h⟩		(h)
	voiced	v ⟨f, ƀ⟩	ð ⟨þ⟩	z ⟨s⟩		(ʝ)		ʁ ⟨ǥ, ł, ɍ⟩
Trill				r
Approximant				l		j ⟨ǵ, i, e, é⟩	w ⟨uu⟩

Notes:

• /ð/ is an allophone of /θ/ when inter-vocalic or clustered with a voiced consonant. The same applies to the voicing pairs /v z/ and /f s/, though /v z/ have since become phonemic.
• /ç ʝ/ are allophones of /x~χ ʁ/ near /i(ː) y(ː) e(ː) ø/.
• /h/ is an allophone of /x~χ/ morpheme-initially.

Phonological shifts from Old English

• Homorganic lengthening and Pre-cluster shortening were carried over from the transition from Old English to Middle English.
• Geminated /ɡɡ, dd͡ʒ/ lose their gemination.
• Nasal-plosive sequences become pure nasals morpheme-finally and geminate plosives elsewhere.
  • /mp/ > /m/ morpheme-finally, /pp/ elsewhere.
  • /mb/ > /m/ morpheme-finally, /bb/ elsewhere.
  • /nt/ > /n/ morpheme-finally, /tt/ elsewhere.
  • /nd/ > /n/ morpheme-finally, /dd/ elsewhere.
  • /ŋk/ > /ŋ/ morpheme-finally, /kk/ elsewhere.
  • /ŋɡ/ > /ŋ/ morpheme-finally, /ɡɡ/ elsewhere.
• /m/ > /n/ morpheme-finally, though some words were unaffected.
• /kn, kl/ > /kʃn, kʃl/, though not orthographically represented.
• /wr-/ > /wyrˠ-/ before a syllable containing a front vowel and /wurˠ-/ before a syllable containing a back vowel.
• Voiceless sonorants become geminate fricatives.
  • /n̥/ > /xx/.
  • /r̥/ > /θθ/.
  • /l̥/ -> /ʃʃ/.
  • /w̥/ -> /ff/.
• /krV, klV/ > /kVrˠ, kVlˠ/ sporadically and with short vowels only.
• /ɣ, rˠ, lˠ/ merge into /ʁ/.
• /æ͜ɑ, e͜o, i͜y/ > /jæ, jø, jø/ word-initially, /jɑ, jo, ju/ word-initially and before either /ʁ/ or a syllable containing a back vowel, and /iɐ̯ iɔ̯ iœ̯/ elsewhere.
  • /e͜o/ > /iœ̯/ before a syllable containing a front vowel.
  • /i͜y/ > /iʊ̯/ before either /ʁ/ or a syllable containing a back vowel.
• /æ͜ɑː, e͜oː, i͜yː/ > /jɑː, joː, jyː/ word-initially and /iːɐ̯, iːɔ̯, iːœ̯/ elsewhere.
  • the /i͜y(ː)/ monophthongization typically found in late West Saxon English seems to not have occurred in the specific varieties of West Saxon from which Old Jovlish evolved. That said, a few words do appear to display said monophthongization, such as /ˈjyvɑn/ instead of the expected /*ˈjiʊ̯vɑn/
• /x, ʁ/ palatalize to /ç ʝ/ near front vowels /i(ː), y(ː), e(ː), ø/.
  • /ʁ/ > /ʝ/ in particular is blocked if /ʁ/ is preceded by a front vowel and followed by a consonant, yielding forms such as /wyʁd/ instead of /*wyʝd/.
• Glides after the diphthongs /iɐ̯, iɔ̯, iœ̯, iʊ̯, iːɐ̯, iːɔ̯, iːœ̯/ are dropped.

Middle Jovlish

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
	unrounded	rounded
Close	iː ⟨ǵi, ii, (ǵ)éo, (ǵ)éy, (ǵ)éa⟩	yː ⟨ǵy, iy, éy, wy⟩		uː ⟨wu⟩
Near-close	ɪ ⟨i⟩	ʏ ⟨y⟩		ʊ ⟨u⟩
Close-mid	eː ⟨ǵe, ie⟩
Open-mid	ɛ ⟨e, i⟩	œ	(ə)	ɔ ⟨o, u⟩
Near-open			ɐ ⟨a⟩
Open	æ			ɑ ⟨a⟩

	Rising							Falling
	-ʊ	-œ	-ɔ	-ə	-ɔw	-æ	-ɑ	-j	-ɥ	-w	-ʊ̯	-œ̯	-ɐ̯
i-													iɐ̯ ⟨(ǵ)ea, (ǵ)eo⟩
y-												yɐ̯ ⟨(ǵ)eœ⟩
ɯ-											ɯʊ̯ ⟨(ǵ)eu⟩
j-	jʊ ⟨eu⟩	jœ ⟨eœ⟩	jɔ ⟨eo⟩	jə ⟨í, é, ǽ⟩	jɔw ⟨éo⟩	jæ ⟨eæ⟩	jɑ ⟨ea⟩
ɥ-				ɥə ⟨ý⟩
w-				wə ⟨ú, ó, á⟩
ɪ-										ɪw ⟨iu⟩
ɛ-								ɛj ⟨é⟩		ɛw ⟨eü⟩
ɔ-										ɔw ⟨ó, á⟩
ɐ-								ɐj ⟨í,ǽ⟩	ɐɥ ⟨ý⟩	ɐw ⟨ú⟩

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Post-Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular
Nasal		m		n			ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Plosive	voiceless	p		t	t͡ʃ ⟨tj⟩		k ⟨c⟩
	voiced	b		d	d͡ʒ ⟨cǵ, dj⟩		ɡ ⟨g⟩
Fricative	voiceless	f	θ ⟨þ⟩	s	ʃ ⟨sć, ć⟩	ç ⟨h, i⟩		χ ⟨h⟩
	voiced	v ⟨f, ƀ⟩	ð ⟨þ⟩	z ⟨s⟩		(ʝ)		ʁ ⟨ł⟩
Trill				r
Approximant				l		j ⟨ǵ, j, e, é⟩	w ⟨w, l⟩

Notes:

• although Old Jovlish /t͡ʃ/ merges with /ʃ/, /t͡ʃ/ is re-introduced into Middle Jovlish through laonwords.

Phonological shifts from Old Jovlish

• /h/-dropping.
• /x/ fully shifts to /χ/.
• /t, d/ are dropped after /ʁ/.
• /l/ > /w/ before consonants.
• /t͡ʃ/ de-affricates to /ʃ/.
• Short /i, y, u, e, ø, o/ weaken to /ɪ, ʏ, ʊ, ɛ, œ, ɔ/.
• /i, u/ > /ɛ, ɔ/ in closed syllables.
• Long vowel breaking:
  • /iː, eː, æː/ and /uː, oː, ɑː/ merge to /jə/ and /wə/ respectively after alveolar consonants.
  • /yː/ > /ɥə/ after alveolar consonants.
  • /iː, yː, uː, eː, oː, æː, ɑː/ > /ɐi̯, ɐy̯, ɐu̯, ɛi̯, ɔu̯, ɐi̯, ɔu̯/ elsewhere.
• /ji(ː), je(ː), wu(ː), {w,j}y(ː)/ > /iː, eː, uː, yː/
• /iːɐ̯, iːɔ̯, iːœ̯/ merge into /iː/
• /iɔ̯, iœ̯, iʊ̯/ > /iɐ̯, yɐ̯, ɯʊ̯/
  • /iɐ̯, iɔ̯, iœ̯, iʊ̯/ > /çɐ, çɔ, çœ, çʊ/ after plosives and /χ/ (absorbing /χ/ into /ç/), though some instances of /χ/ were unaffected by the latter.

Modern Jovlish

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
	unrounded	rounded		unrounded	rounded
Close	iː	yː		ɯː	uː
Near-close	ɪ	ʏ		ω	ʊ
Close-mid	e(ː)				o(ː)
Open-mid	ɛ ɛː	œ œː	ə		ɔ ɔː
Near-open			ɐ
Open			aː

Notes:

• /aː/ is realized as true central [äː].
• vowels before nasal consonants are allophonically nasalized.
• the distinction between /eː oː/ and other mid vowels is more reliant on quality than length, and thus /eː oː/ are not always lengthened.
• in the case of consecutive long vowels, the second long vowel is held for a shorter period of time, such as in fēşēver (fēşēver) /ˈfɛːˌʃɛːvər/ [ˈfɛːˌʃɛˑv(ə)ɾ].

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Post-Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	t͡ʃ		k		(ʔ)
	voiced	b	d	d͡ʒ		ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ			χ
	voiced	v	z	ʒ			ʁ
Trill			r
Approximant			ɫ		j

Notes:

• /p t k/ are aspirated [pʰ tʰ kʰ].
• /r/ is most commonly a tap [ɾ].
• /ʁ/ is an approximant [ʁ̞].
• /ɫ/ is currently undergoing vocalization to /◌ˠː/ in coda positions before back vowels and /w/ in coda positions otherwise, with the shift of full vocalization in non-coda positions even becoming apparent in some communities.

Phonological shifts from Middle Jovlish

• /ʊ/ > /ɔ/
• /w, j/ > /v, ʒ/
• /ç, ʝ/ > /ʃ, j/
• /θ, ð/ > /χ, j/
• /kʃn, kʃl/ > /ʃn, ʃl/
• Initial geminates lose their gemination.
• /iʁ, yʁ, uʁ/ > /iː, yː, uː/
• /ɐi̯, ɐy̯, ɐu̯, ɛi̯, ɔu̯/ lose their semivowel component before /r, ʁ/.
  • /ɐi̯-, ɐy̯-, ɐu̯-/ merge into /ɐ-/.
  • /ɛi̯-/ > /ɛ-/.
  • /ɔu̯-/ > /ɔ-/.
• /ʁ/ is dropped inter-vocalically.
• Diphthong smoothing:
  • /iɐ̯, yɐ̯, ɯʊ̯/ > /ɛː, œː, ɯː/.
  • /ɐi̯, ɐy̯, ɐu̯, ɛi̯, ɔu̯/ -> /ɛː, œː, ɔː, eː, oː/.
  • /ɛu̯, ɪu̯/ > /œ, ʏ/.
• /t, d/ get dropped after /ʃ/.
• Sequences of alveolar consonant-glide-/ə/ simplify:
  • /njə, nɥə, nwə/ > /ɲɯ, mɲɯ, mɯ/.
  • /tjə, tɥə, twə/ > /t͡ʃɯ, ʃɯ, tɯ/.
  • /djə, dɥə, dwə/ > /ʒɯ, ʒɯ, dɯ/.
  • /sjə, sɥə, swə/ > /ʃɯ/.
  • /zjə, zɥə, zwə/ > /ʒɯ/.
  • /rjə, rɥə, rwə/ > /zɯ, zɯ, rɯ/.
  • /ljə, lɥə, lwə/ > /jɯ, vɯ, vɯ/.
• /ɑ, æ/ > /ɔ, ɐ/.
• /l/ velarizes to /ɫ/

Orthographies

Old and Middle Jovlish Latin

The Old Jovlish writing standard was a direct continuation of the Late West Saxon standard used for the writing of Old English in the period prior to the Norman Conquest. Acutes were added and standardized on consonants ⟨ć, cǵ, ǵ, sć⟩ in order to distinguish /t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ, j, ʃ/, and on vowels to mark length. /ʁ/ was spelled etymologically by adding a stroke to ⟨g, r, l⟩, thus /jɑːʁ, çiɔ̯ʁt, jɑʁd/ were spelled ⟨éaǥ, heoɍt, eałd⟩ (< OE ⟨eage, heorte, eald⟩) respectively. Edh ⟨ð⟩ and wynn ⟨ƿ⟩ also fully fell out of use in favor of ⟨þ⟩ and ⟨uu⟩, and word-initial/-final instances of /v/ were spelled as ⟨ƀ⟩.

Spelling was mostly not standardized and left etymological during the Middle Jovlish period. The only two changes seen regularly occurring in Middle Jovlish period were ⟨ł⟩ fully supplanting ⟨ǥ, ɍ⟩ in all instances (⟨éał, heoł, eał⟩) and ⟨t, d⟩ dropping after ⟨ł⟩.

Modern script

handwritten sample of the Jovlish Script

The modern Jovlish script (Jovlish: öxhomhott, öxhomhott), also known as the Jelkyn Script (jöqkünhomhott, jöqkünhomhott) or the Royal Script (künhomhott, künhomhott), was commissioned by Jelkyn Aşşīş II in order to increase literacy and accessibly of the Jovlish language, as part of a wider response to suppression efforts of the Jovlish language outside of Jovaia's borders. It was commisioned a couple decades before the Soviet invasion of Jovaia, and it would persist throughout the duration of Second World War and the Cold War, still seeing official and widespread common use throughout Jovaia. Most of its letters are direct derivations of the common Jovlish Latin lettering convention, or the common lettering style throughout Jovaia. This lettering convention was a collage of multiple different styles and sources, with some being continuations of the Insular Style (such as ⟨⟩ ← ⟨ꞇ⟩ and ⟨⟩ ← ⟨ꞃ⟩), some being later adaptations (compare the insular-derived ⟨⟩ ← ⟨ᵹ⟩ with the later ⟨⟩ ← ⟨ɢ⟩), and others being influenced by their Greek Script equivalents (such as ⟨⟩ ← ⟨b, β⟩). This writing style would be the main source for the letters of the new script (⟨b, j, g, r, t, . . .⟩), alongside derivations from Cyrillic (⟨ş⟩ ← ⟨ш⟩) and Greek (⟨ψ⟩ ← ⟨ψ⟩), blends (⟨ŋ⟩ ← ⟨n + g⟩), and artificial, newly-created letters (⟨ı⟩).The wide adoption of the script effectively reformed Jovlish spelling to be much more phonemic.

Letter	Name	IPA	Romanization	Origin (Old–Middle Jovlish)		Letter	Name	IPA	Romanization	Origin (Old–Middle Jovlish)
Aa	ā [ʔäː]	[ɐ]	a	Jovlish Latin ⟨a⟩		Ņņ	iņ [ʔɪɲ]	[ɲ]	ņ	artificial invention, contrasting ⟨ŋ⟩
Bb	bé [be(ː)]	[b]	b	Jovlish Latin ⟨b⟩		Ŋŋ	aŋ [ʔɐŋ]	[ŋ]	ŋ	blend of ⟨n⟩ and ⟨g⟩
Vv	vé [ve(ː)]	[v]	v	⟨b⟩ with a top stroke		Oo	ó [ʔo(ː)]	[ɔ]	o	Jovlish Latin ⟨o⟩
Kk	ké [kʰe(ː)]	[kʰ]	k	Jovlish Latin ⟨c⟩		Öö	ő [ʔœː]	[œ]	ö	Jovlish Latin ⟨œ⟩
Çç	çé [t͡ʃe(ː)]	[t͡ʃ]	ç	artificial invention, likely drawn from Jovlish Latin ⟨ć⟩		Pp	pé [pe(ː)]	[pʰ]	p	Jovlish Latin ⟨p⟩
Dd	dé [de(ː)]	[d]	d	Jovlish Latin ⟨d⟩		Rr	ré [ɾe(ː)]	[ɾ]	r	Jovlish Latin ⟨r⟩
Ee	é [ʔe(ː)]	[ɛ]	e	Jovlish Latin ⟨e⟩		Ss	sé [se(ː)]	[s]	s	Jovlish Latin ⟨s⟩
Ff	fé [fe(ː)]	[f]	f	Jovlish Latin ⟨f⟩		Şş	şé [ʃe(ː)]	[ʃ]	ş	Cyrillic ⟨ш⟩
Jj	jé [ʒe(ː)]	[ʒ]	j	Jovlish Latin ⟨ᵹ⟩, a variant of ⟨g⟩		Tt	té [tʰe(ː)]	[tʰ]	t	Jovlish Latin ⟨t⟩
Gg	gé [ɡe(ː)]	[ɡ]	g	Jovlish Latin ⟨g⟩		Cc	cé [d͡ʒe(ː)]	[d͡ʒ]	c	blend of ⟨t⟩ and ⟨z⟩
Hh	hé [χe(ː)]	[χ]	h	Jovlish Latin ⟨h⟩		Uu	ū [ʔuː]	[ʊ]	u	Jovlish Latin ⟨u⟩
Iı	ï [ʔɯː]	[ω]	ı	artificial invention		Ww	wū [vuː]	[v]	w	⟨u⟩ with a breve, likely drawing inspiration from Cyrillic ⟨ў⟩
İi	ī [ʔiː]	[ɪ]	i	Jovlish Latin ⟨i⟩		Xx	xé [kse(ː)]	[ks]	x	Jovlish Latin ⟨x⟩
Yy	yē [jɛː]	[j]	y	⟨i⟩ with a breve, likely drawing inspiration from Cyrillic ⟨й⟩		Üü	ű [ʔyː]	[ʏ]	ü	Jovlish Latin ⟨y⟩
Ll	lé [ɫe(ː)]	[ɫ]	l	Jovlish Latin ⟨l⟩		Zz	zé [ze(ː)]	[z]	z	Jovlish Latin ⟨z⟩
Qq	qé [ʁ̞e(ː)]	[ʁ̞], [Ø]	q	Jovlish Latin ⟨ł⟩		Ξξ	ξé [bze(ː)]	[bz]	bz	reversed Greek ⟨ψ⟩
Mm	mé [me(ː)]	[m]	m	Jovlish Latin ⟨m⟩		Ψψ	ψé [pse(ː)]	[ps]	ps	Greek ⟨ψ⟩
Nn	né [ne(ː)]	[n]	n	Jovlish Latin ⟨n⟩

Letter	Name	IPA	Romanization		Letter	Name	IPA	Romanization
Āā	loŋ ā [lɔŋ ʔäː]	[äː]	ā		Ōō	loŋ ó [lɔŋ ʔo(ː)]	[ɔː]	ō
Ēē	loŋ é [lɔŋ ˈʔe(ː)]	[ɛː]	ē		Óó	frenşeş ó [ˈfɾɛnʃɛʃ ʔo(ː)]	[oː]	ó
Éé	frenşeş é [ˈfɾɛnʃɛʃ ˈʔe(ː)]	[e(ː)]	é		Őő	loŋ ő [lɔŋ ʔœː]	[œː]	ő, ȫ
Ïï	loŋ ï [lɔŋ ʔɯː]	[ɯː]	ï		Ūū	loŋ ū [lɔŋ ʔu]	[uː]	ū
Īī	loŋ ī [lɔŋ ʔiː]	[iː]	ī		Űű	loŋ ű [lɔŋ ʔyː]	[yː]	ű, ǖ

Failed proposals

Greek script

During the Old Jovlish period, there were many proposals and attempts at writing Old Jovlish in the Greek script to further bring ties closer between Byzantium and Jovaia, among other reasons. These proposals never picked up significant speed due to the fact that most of them were either tied to bigger movements such as an official conversion to orthodoxy and/or further hellenization of the kingdom or were simply popular with neither the common folk nor the aristocracy.

These proposals were not standardized and differed in representing sounds not present in Byzantine Greek. Sounds such as [t͡ʃ], for example, were represented in a plethora of different ways, which varied by proposal. One common feature across these proposals however is the lack of apparent representation of vowel length, leaving it inferred in a given word.

Vowels

Phoneme	Glyph(s)
[i(ː)]	ι, ει, η
[y(ː)]	υ
[u(ː)]	ου
[e(ː)]	ε, αι
[ø]	οε
[o(ː)]	ο, ω
[æ(ː)]	αε
[ɑ(ː)]	α
[iʊ̯]	ευ, εϋ, ιυ, ιϋ
[i(ː)ɔ̯]	εο, ιο
[i(ː)œ̯]	εοε, ιοε
[i(ː)ɐ̯]	εα, ια

Consonants

Phoneme	Glyph(s)		Phoneme	Glyph(s)
[m]	μ		[θ]	θ, ρ[1], ρρ[1]
[n]	ν		[s]	ς
[ŋ]	γγ		[ʃ]	σι, ς, ς́
[pʰ]	π		[ç, x~χ, h]	χ
[tʰ]	τ		[v]	β
[t͡ʃ]	τσι, τς, τς́		[ð]	δ
[kʰ]	κ		[z]	ζ
[b]	μπ, ββ, πβ		[ʝ, ʁ]	γ, ρ, λ
[d]	ντ, δδ, τδ		[r]	ρ
[d͡ʒ]	τζι, τζ, τζ́		[l]	λ
[ɡ]	γκ, κγ		[j]	ι
[f]	φ		[w]	ου

1. only used in loanwords with historical Greek /r̥(ː)/

Cyrillic script

Although diplomatic relations with the Russians were mostly sour, proposals to shift Middle and Early Modern Jovlish into being written in Eastern Cyrillic were nonetheless constantly springing up, well into and after the Soviet invasion of Jovaia. These reforms, although reforming an orthography with much bigger and more common disparities between it and the spoken language, suffered from much of the same pitfalls as the Greek proposals that came before it, such as being tied to pro-russian or pro-russification agendas.

Vowels

Phoneme	Glyph(s)		Phoneme	Glyph(s)
[iː]	і, ї, ий		[ɔ]	о
[yː]	ѵ, оуэ, ү		[ɐ]	а, аэ, ә
[uː]	оу		[æ]	аэ, а, ә
[ɪ]	и		[ɑ]	а, о
[ʏ]	ы, уэ		[iɐ̯]	эа, иа, я
[ʊ]	у		[yɐ̯]	эѵ, эу, эо, иѵ, иу, ю
[eː]	ѣ, эй		[ɯʊ̯]	иу, уу, эу, ю
[ɛ]	э		[jə]	е, ё, ъя, ъе, ъё
[œ]	оэ, ө		[ɥə]	ъѵ, ъоуэ, ъю
[ə]	а, э, о		[wə]	ъу, ъоу

Consonants

Phoneme	Glyph(s)		Phoneme	Glyph(s)
[m]	м		[θ]	ѳ, þ
[n]	н		[s]	с
[ŋ]	нг		[ʃ]	ш
[pʰ]	п		[ç, χ]	х
[tʰ]	т		[v]	в
[t͡ʃ]	ч		[ð]	ѳ, þ
[kʰ]	к		[z]	з
[b]	б		[ʝ, ʁ]	г, л, ԯ, ӆ
[d]	д		[r]	р
[d͡ʒ]	(д)ж		[l]	л, ль
[ɡ]	ґ, г		[j]	й
[f]	ф		[w]	ў, в

Grammar

Syntax

Jovlish exhibits subject–object–verb (SOV) word order by default, though in practice its word order is relatively flexible:

• in declarative clauses, SOV is by far the most common word order.
  • Mişal sbók zē — Mişal sbók zē — "Mişal read his book"
• negation tends to shift the word order to VSO.
  • nzē Mişal sbók — nzē Mişal sbók — "Mişal did not read his book"
• interrogative clauses also do the same.
  • zē Mişal sbók? — zē Mişal sbók? — "did Mişal read his book?"
• ... though interrogative clauses using SOV is of generally equal distribution.
  • Mişal sbók zē? — Mişal sbók zē? — "did Mişal read his book?"
• interrogative pronouns are placed clause-initially but do not interfere with verb placement.
  • fat zē Mişal? — fat zē Mişal? — "what did Mişal read?"
  • fat Mişal zē? — fat Mişal zē? — "what did Mişal read?"

Clitics

Some pronouns, postpositions, and adjectives get affixed onto nouns or verbs.

• Oblique pronouns suffix onto their relevant verb and follow.
  • düdeşejo — düdeşejo — "I did that"
  • luvīeh — luvīeh — "she loves you"
  • zomerzűen — zomerzűen — "he may freeze it"
• Postpositions directly suffix onto nouns.
  • yarsçıtsnoŋ — yarsçıtsnoŋ — "along the street"
  • űsthoh — űsthoh — "in a language"
  • üradārem — üradārem — "using the radar"
• In the case of a pronoun being the object of a preposition, the Jovlish Royal Academy prescribes suffixing postpositions onto the pronominal clitics.
  • nbéŋşeheon — nbéŋşeheon — "I did not agree to this"
• ...though most colloquial Jovaian varieties perfer to instead suffix the postposition onto an independent pronoun.
  • nbéŋş hőson — nbéŋş hőson — "I did not agree to this"
• Color adjectives, cardinal adjectives, gentilic/linguistic adjectives, and Old English prefixes that got re-appropriated as adjectives in Jovlish act not as regular adjectives, but as prefixes when not predicative.
  • blakgüq — blakgüq — "black gold"
  • Jóstöröpşa — Jóstöröpşa — "Eastern Europe"
  • rossüniversite — rossüniversite — "russian universities"
  • sünvüq — sünvüq — "private event"

Nominals

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Jovlish pronouns decline for person, number, and gender. The old accusative and dative forms reduced and merged into enclitics that attach to a given verb. It is also important to note that Jovlish is pro-drop, meaning that its subject pronouns are omitted, and they are only used emphatically or disjunctively.

	Singular				Plural
	1st person	2nd person	3rd person		1st person	2nd person	3rd person
			Masculine	Feminine
Nominative (Disjunctive)	eş eş	hō hō	et et	jó jó	vé vé	hō hō	ű ű
Reflexive	māz māz	hāz hāz	ens ens		űs űs	józ józ	űz űz
Standalone genitive	me me	he he	es es	er er	ar ar	jor jor	űr űr
Genitive clitic	m- m-	h- h-	s- s-	er- er-	ar- ar-	jor- jor-	űr- űr-
Oblique clitic	-em -em	-eh -eh	-en -en	-ej -ej	-es -es	-eh -eh	-ev -ev

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstratives decline similarly to pronouns, except they retain full accusative and dative forms alongside the enclitics.

Proximal demonstratives (this, these)

	Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine
Nominative	hes hes	hīs hīs	hós hós
Accusative	hezn hezn
Genitive	hes hes
Dative	hős hős
Oblique clitic	-ehe -ehe	-ehi -ehi	-eho -eho

Distal demonstratives (that, those)

	Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine
Nominative	jon jon		jön jön
Accusative	jön jön
Genitive	jons jons	jor jor	jor jor
Dative	jone jone		jone jone
Oblique clitic	-ejo -ejo		-ejö -ejö

Interrogative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns also decline in a similar manner, this time lacking enclitic forms althogether.

	"who"	"what"	"which"
Nominative	fó fó	fat fat	feqş feqş
Accusative	fön fön
Genitive	fós fós	fās fās	feqşes feqşes
Dative	fón fón	fāy fāy	feqşn feqşn

• fıd (fıd, "when")
• fon (fon, "where from, whence")
• for (for, "where to, whither")
• fő (fő, "how")

Articles and Relative Pronouns

Both the definite article i- (i-) and the relative pronoun hé (hé) are doublets, diverging from Middle Jovlish demonstrative and pronoun "þé", which in-turn is ultimately from Old English "sē, þē". As such ,they both decline in very similar ways.

Middle Jovlish "þé" tended to have two pronunciations: an unstressed /ðɛ/ and a stressed /θɛi̯/. Initially, they were used interchangeably, though, over time, the unstressed pronunciation tended to be favored as the article, while the stressed pronunciation tended to be favored as the pronoun.

Definite article (the)

	Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine
Nominative	i-, it-[1] i-, it-		yo-, yot-[1] yo-, yot-
Accusative
Genitive	iz- iz-	ir- ir-	yor- yor-
Dative	ü-, üt-[1] ü-, üt-		yon- yon-

Relative pronouns (who, whose, which, that)

	Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine
Nominative	hé hé	hī hī	hó hó
Accusative
Genitive	has has	har har	hor hor
Dative	hü hü		hón hón

1. the forms ending in t are used before vowels

Nouns

Jovlish nouns have lost distinct forms for most of the noun cases and currently decline only for two case groupings: Direct (nominative, accusative) and Oblique (dative, genitive), themselves being only distinguished in the singular. Nouns are grouped into one of four declensions, regardless of gender:

• 1st declension nouns, oblique by root ablaut or -(e)s (-(e)s), equivalent to Old English a-, i-, ō-, and u-stem nouns.
• 2nd declension nouns, oblique by -(e)n (-(e)n), equivalent to Old English n-stem nouns.
• 3rd declension nouns, plural by -re (-re), oblique by -s (-s), equivalent to Old English r- and z-stem nouns.
• 4th declension nouns, plural and oblique irregular, equivalent to Old English ablauting consonant stem nouns and nouns with irregular forms.

1st Declension

	ōn ōn ("dog")		köşt köşt ("house")
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Direct	ōn ōn	ōne ōne	köşt köşt	köşte köşte
Oblique	őn őn		köşts köşts

2nd Declension

	veş veş ("week")		vón vón ("flag")
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Direct	veş veş	veşe veşe	vón vón	vóne vóne
Oblique	veşn veşn		vónen vónen

3rd Declension

	brıh brıh ("brother")		ē ē ("egg")
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Direct	brıh brıh	brıhre brıhre	ē ē	ēre ēre
Oblique	brıts brıts		ēs ēs

4th Declension

	mon mon ("man")		jol jol ("beer")
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Direct	mon mon	men men	jol jol	jōh jōh
Oblique	men men		jōh jōh

Within these classes there exist irregular nouns that decline slightly differently to the other nouns in their respective classes but still follow the general declension guidelines within those classes.

Irregularities

	apş apş ("fruit") ɪ		Sīl Sīl ("the Sun") ɪ		ūjıpş ūjıpş ("apple") ɪ		mēh mēh ("girl") ɪᴠ
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Direct	apş apş	apşe apşe	Sīl Sīl	Sīle Sīle	ūjıpş ūjıpş	ūjıpşe ūjıpşe	mēh mēh	mēdne mēdne
Oblique	appös appös		Sűs Sűs		ūjıψ ūjıps

Adjectives

The strong-weak distinction common across other Germanic languages was leveled in Jovlish, leaving only one set of endings irrelevant to the presence of an article. Adjectives still retain declension for case, number, and gender however.

Positive declension

	şīk şīk ("warm")			īş īş ("tall, high")			grīt grīt ("big, large")
	Singular		Plural	Singular		Plural	Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine		Masculine	Feminine		Masculine	Feminine
Direct	şīk şīk	şīkī şīkī	şīke şīke	īş īş	īşī īşī	īşe īşe	grīt grīt	grītī grītī	grīte grīte
Genitive	şīx şīx	şīkre şīkre		īşes īşes	īşre īşre		grīts grīts	grītre grītre
Dative	şīke şīke			īşe īşe			grīte grīte
	müy müy ("stupid")			ūqóh ūqóh ("angry")			vıç vıç ("few")
	Singular		Plural	Singular		Plural	Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine		Masculine	Feminine		Masculine	Feminine
Direct	müy müy	müyī müyī	müye müye	ūqóh ūqóh	ūqóhī ūqóhī	ūqóhe ūqóhe	vıç vıç	vıçī vıçī	vıçe vıçe
Genitive	müys müys	müyre müyre		ūqóts ūqóts	ūqóhre ūqóhre		vıçes vıçes	vıçre vıçre
Dative	müye müye			ūqóhe ūqóhe			vıçe vıçe

Comparatives and superlatives are formed regularly using -(e)r (-(e)r) and -(e)st (-(e)st) respectively, with a large portion also employing umlauting. Irregular forms can arise out of either phonological shifts that obscure the forms or by full suppletion.

Comparative declension

	şīk şīk ("warm")			īş īş ("tall, high")			grīt grīt ("big, large")
	Singular		Plural	Singular		Plural	Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine		Masculine	Feminine		Masculine	Feminine
Direct	şīker şīker	şīkrī şīkrī	şīkre şīkre	īrr īrr	īrrī īrrī	īrre īrre	mór mór	mórī mórī	móre móre
Oblique	şīkern şīkern	şīkernī şīkernī		īrrn īrrn	īrrnī īrrnī		mórn mórn	mórnī mórnī
	müy müy ("stupid")			ūqóh ūqóh ("angry")			vıç vıç ("few")
	Singular		Plural	Singular		Plural	Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine		Masculine	Feminine		Masculine	Feminine
Direct	müyr müyr	müyrī müyrī	müyre müyre	űqér űqér	űqérī űqérī	űqére űqére	yıs yıs	yısī yısī	yıse yıse
Oblique	müyrn müyrn	müyrnī müyrnī		űqérn űqérn	űqérnī űqérnī		yısn yısn	yısnī yısnī

Superlative declension

	şīk şīk ("warm")			īş īş ("tall, high")			grīt grīt ("big, large")
	Singular		Plural	Singular		Plural	Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine		Masculine	Feminine		Masculine	Feminine
Direct	şīxt şīxt	şīxtī şīxtī	şīxte şīxte	īşt īşt	īştī īştī	īşte īşte	mēst mēst	mēstī mēstī	mēste mēste
Oblique	şīxtn şīxtn	şīxtnī şīxtnī		īştn īştn	īştnī īştnī		mēstn mēstn	mēstnī mēstnī
	müy müy ("stupid")			ūqóh ūqóh ("angry")			vıç vıç ("few")
	Singular		Plural	Singular		Plural	Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine		Masculine	Feminine		Masculine	Feminine
Direct	müyst müyst	müystī müystī	müyste müyste	űqést űqést	űqéstī űqéstī	űqéste űqéste	yıst yıst	yıstī yıstī	yıste yıste
Oblique	müystn müystn	müystnī müystnī		űqéstn űqéstn	űqéstnī űqéstnī		yıstn yıstn	yıstnī yıstnī

Verbs

Jovlish verbs conjugate for person, number, gender, tense, aspect, and mood using simple endings, and for voice using phrasal constructions. A given verb can fall into one of four categories:

• Weak verbs (see Germanic weak verb)
• Strong verbs (see Germanic strong verb)
• Preterite-present verbs (see Preterite presents)
• Irregular verbs

Endings

A given weak verb has 9 sets of verbal endings, while a strong verb has 8. Simple verbal endings cover all persons by default, but mainly disambiguate tense (simple past, simple present, simple future), aspect (perfect) for all the aforementioned tenses, and mood (indicative, subjunctive) for some tense-aspect combinations. Apart from the future and perfect sets of endings which were formed from the reduction of verbal phrasal constructions, they were formed from the fusion (and sometimes full dropping) of post-verbal pronouns with the endings inherited from Old English:

• Primary Endings used for the present indicative of both weak and strong verbs (ʟᴏᴊ ić clýs ić → ᴊ şvızeş (şvızeş))
• Strong Secondary Endings used for the present subjunctive, the past indicative, and the past subjunctive of strong verbs (ʟᴏᴊ ić sćéaf ić → ᴊ şīfş (şīfş))
• Weak Subjunctive Endings used for the present subjunctive of weak verbs (ʟᴏᴊ ić clýsa ić → ᴊ şvızāş (şvızāş))
• Weak Past Endings used for the past indicative of weak verbs (ʟᴏᴊ ić clýsod ić → ᴊ şvızdeş (şvızdeş))
• Future Indicative Endings used for the future indicative of both weak and strong verbs (ʟᴍᴊ ić... clýsn þeałf ić → ᴊ şvızēş (şvızēş))
• Future Subjunctive Endings used for the future subjunctive of both weak and strong verbs (ʟᴍᴊ ić... clýsn þyłfa ić → ᴊ şvızűş (şvızűş))
• Present Perfect Indicative Endings used for the present perfect indicative of both weak and strong verbs (ʟᴍᴊ ić... clýsod éo ić → ᴊ şvızöş (şvızöş))
• Present Perfect Subjunctive Endings used for the present perfect subjunctive of both weak and strong verbs (ʟᴍᴊ ić... clýsod béo ić → ᴊ şvızīş (şvızīş))
• Past Perfect Endings used for the past perfect of both weak and strong verbs (ʟᴍᴊ ić... clýsod hæd ić → ᴊ şvızeç (şvızeç))
• Future Perfect Endings used for the future perfect of both weak and strong verbs (ʟᴍᴊ ić... clýsod þołft ić → ᴊ şvızōç (şvızōç))

Summary table

Corresponding Pronoun	Simple						Perfect
	Primary	Strong Secondary	Weak		Future		Present		Past	Future
			Past	Subjunctive	Indicative	Subjunctive	Indicative	Subjunctive
eş eş	-(e)ş -(e)ş		-deş -deş	-āş -āş	-ēş -ēş	-űş -űş	-öş -öş	-īş -īş	-eç -eç	-ōç -ōç
hō hō	-(e)st -(e)st	-(e)h -(e)h	-etst -etst	-āh -āh	-ēh -ēh	-űh -űh	-ösh -ösh	-īh -īh	-er -er	-ōst -ōst
et et	-(e)h -(e)h	—	-(e)d -(e)d	-ā -ā	-ēf -ēf	-ű -ű	-öh -öh	-īf -īf	-eth -eth	-ōf -ōf
jó jó	-ī -ī		-dī -dī		-ēvī -ēvī		-öhī -öhī	-īvī -īvī	-ethī -ethī	-ōvī -ōvī
vé vé	-é -é	-né -né			-ūné -ūné	-űné -űné	-öhé -öhé	-īné -īné	-erné -erné	-ōné -ōné
hō hō	-(e)st -(e)st	-n -n			-ūv -ūv	-űv -űv	-ösh -ösh	-īv -īv	-ern -ern	-ōn -ōn
ű ű	-ö -ö	-nö -nö			-ūnö -ūnö	-űnö -űnö	-öhö -öhö	-īnö -īnö	-ernö -ernö	-ōnö -ōnö

Present

The present tense is used for actions/states happening in the present, future actions/states if context is clear, and atelic verbs. Weak and strong verbs share the indicative and imperative endings, but differ on the subjunctive endings.

Weak verbs

		şvızn şvızn ("to close")
		Simple		Perfect		Imperative
		Indicative	Subjunctive	Indicative	Subjunctive
Singular	eş	şvızeş şvızeş	şvızāş şvızāş	şvızöş şvızöş	şvızīş şvızīş	—
	hō	şvızest şvızest	şvızāh şvızāh	şvızösh şvızösh	şvızīh şvızīh	şvız şvız
	et	şvızh şvızh	şvızā şvızā	şvızöh şvızöh	şvızīf şvızīf	—
	jó	şvızī şvızī		şvızöhī şvızöhī	şvızīvī şvızīvī
Plural	vé	şvızé şvızé	şvızné şvızné	şvızöhé şvızöhé	şvızīné şvızīné
	hō	şvızest şvızest	şvızn şvızn	şvızösh şvızösh	şvızīn şvızīn	şvız şvız
	ű	şvızö şvızö	şvıznö şvıznö	şvızöhö şvızöhö	şvızīnö şvızīnö	—

Strong verbs

		şővn şővn ("to push")
		Simple		Perfect		Imperative
		Indicative	Subjunctive	Indicative	Subjunctive
Singular	eş	şőfş şőfş	şōfş şōfş	şovöş şovöş	şovīş şovīş	—
	hō	şőfst şőfst	şōfh şōfh	şovösh şovösh	şovīh şovīh	şőf şőf
	et	şőfh şőfh	şōf şōf	şovöh şovöh	şovīf şovīf	—
	jó	şővī şővī	şōvī şōvī	şovöhī şovöhī	şovīvī şovīvī
Plural	vé	şōvé şōvé	şōvné şōvné	şovöhé şovöhé	şovīné şovīné
	hō	şōfst şōfst	şōvn şōvn	şovösh şovösh	şovīn şovīn	şōf şōf
	ű	şōvö şōvö	şōvnö şōvnö	şovöhö şovöhö	şovīnö şovīnö	—

Past

The past tense is used for actions/states which happened in the past, regardless of telicity. Weak verbs have dental-infixed endings in the singular, and both weak and strong verbs share the same nasal-infixed endings in the plural. It is of note that weak verbs do not have a distinct past subjunctive from the past indicative and that strong verbs use the same set of endings for the past indicative, present subjunctive, and past subjunctive.

Weak verbs

		şvızn şvızn ("to close")
		Simple	Perfect
Singular	eş	şvızdeş şvızdeş	şvızeç şvızeç
	hō	şvızetst şvızetst	şvızer şvızer
	et	şvızd şvızd	şvızeth şvızeth
	jó	şvızdī şvızdī	şvızethī şvızethī
Plural	vé	şvızné şvızné	şvızerné şvızerné
	hō	şvızn şvızn	şvızern şvızern
	ű	şvıznö şvıznö	şvızernö şvızernö

Strong verbs

		şővn şővn ("to push")
		Simple		Perfect
		Indicative	Subjunctive
Singular	eş	şīfş şīfş	şufş şufş	şoveç şoveç
	hō	şīfh şīfh	şufh şufh	şover şover
	et	şīf şīf	şuf şuf	şoveth şoveth
	jó	şīvī şīvī	şuvī şuvī	şovethī şovethī
Plural	vé	şuvné şuvné		şoverné şoverné
	hō	şuvn şuvn		şovern şovern
	ű	şuvnö şuvnö		şovernö şovernö

Future

The future tense is used for actions/states that will happen in the future, usually being telic.

Weak verbs

		şvızn şvızn ("to close")
		Simple		Perfect
		Indicative	Subjunctive
Singular	eş	şvızēş şvızēş	şvızűş şvızűş	şvızōç şvızōç
	hō	şvızēh şvızēh	şvızűh şvızűh	şvızōst şvızōst
	et	şvızēf şvızēf	şvızű şvızű	şvızōf şvızōf
	jó	şvızēvī şvızēvī		şvızōvī şvızōvī
Plural	vé	şvızūné şvızūné	şvızűné şvızűné	şvızōné şvızōné
	hō	şvızūv şvızūv	şvızűv şvızűv	şvızōn şvızōn
	ű	şvızūnö şvızūnö	şvızűnö şvızűnö	şvızōnö şvızōnö

Strong verbs

		şővn şővn ("to push")
		Simple		Perfect
		Indicative	Subjunctive
Singular	eş	şōvēş şōvēş	şōvűş şōvűş	şōvōç şōvōç
	hō	şōvēh şōvēh	şōvűh şōvűh	şōvōst şōvōst
	et	şōvēf şōvēf	şōvű şōvű	şōvōf şōvōf
	jó	şōvēvī şōvēvī		şōvōvī şōvōvī
Plural	vé	şōvūné şōvūné	şōvűné şōvűné	şōvōné şōvōné
	hō	şōvūv şōvūv	şōvűv şōvűv	şōvōn şōvōn
	ű	şōvūnö şōvūnö	şōvűnö şōvűnö	şōvōnö şōvōnö

Preterite present verbs

Jovlish preterite-present verbs behave like those of other germanic languages, using strong secondary endings for the present indicative, dental-infixless weak past endings for the past indicative, and weak subjunctive endings for the present subjunctive. Jovlish preterite-presents are completely irregular in regards to the Jovlish verbal system, though there exist some patterns and groupings between these verbs.

Preterite-Present stems

Stem		vün vün ("to want")	nün nün ("to not want")		konn konn ("to be familiar with")	onn onn ("to wish")	monn monn ("to think")	münn münn ("to remember")		vótn vótn ("to know")	nótn nótn ("to not know")
Indicative	Present singular	v- v-	n- n-		kon- kon-	on- on-	mon- mon-	mün- mün-		vót- vót-	nót- nót-
	Present plural	vel- vel-	nül- nül-							vit- vit-	nüt- nüt-
	Past	vód- vód-	nód- nód-		kōy- kōy-	ōy- ōy-	mōy- mōy-	mőy- mőy-		ves- ves-	nüs- nüs-
Subjunctive present		vel- vel-	nül- nül-		kon- kon-	on- on-	mon- mon-	mün- mün-		vit- vit-	nüt- nüt-
Future
Perfect					kōy- kōy-	ōy- ōy-	mōy- mōy-	mőy- mőy-		ves- ves-	nüs- nüs-

Stem		mēn mēn ("can; to fare")		mótn mótn ("may")		şēvn şēvn ("must; should; to owe ")	dērrn dērrn ("to dare")		nēhn nēhn ("to have")	dīşn dīşn ("to function")		óhn óhn ("to own")		vőqn vőqn ("to become")
Indicative	Present singular	mē- mē-		mót- mót-		şēv- şēv-	dērr- dērr-		nēh- nēh-	dīş- dīş-		óh- óh-		vőq- vőq-
	Present plural	moq- moq-				şul- şul-	dürr- dürr-		nüq- nüq-	duq- duq-		oq- oq-		vūh- vūh-
	Past	meş- meş-		mós- mós-		şēvd- şēvd-	dorr- dorr-		nöş- nöş-	doht- doht-		óht- óht-		vuqd- vuqd-
Subjunctive present		mē- mē-		mót- mót-		şül- şül-	dürr- dürr-		nüq- nüq-	dű- dű-		oq- oq-		vūh- vūh-
Future		moq- moq-				şul- şul-				duq- duq-
Perfect		meş- meş-		mós- mós-		şēvd- şēvd-	dorr- dorr-		nöş- nöş-	doht- doht-		óht- óht-		vuqd- vuqd-

Irregular verbs

"Irregularity" in Jovlish verbs is an umbrella term that covers multiple types of anomalous verbs:

• Irregular weak verbs, anomalous verbs that use weak endings
• Irregular strong verbs, anomalous verbs that use strong endings
• the Copula

Irregular weak verbs

Irregular weak verbs are weak verbs that display some form of irregularity in their principle stems. A considerable portion of these verbs are continuations of Old English Irregular weak verbs, such as bringan and byċġan. This subset of verbs has one for the present singular (bű-, bű-), one for the present plural and subjunctive (büc-, büc-), and one for the past (boh-, boh-).Only one Old English class 3 weak verb, seċġan, didn't get leveled and remains as an irregular weak verb with one stem for the present singular and past (sē-, sē-) and one for the present plural (sec-, sec-).

The rest of the irregular weak verbs tend to come about due to phonological processes either within Jovlish that cause a disparity in the stem of an otherwise regular weak old English verb (such as şīvn, şīvn) or from an already anomalous Old English class 2 strong verb that had unleveled stems (such as ītn, ītn).

Irregular strong verbs

Irregular strong verbs behave similarly to irregular weak verbs but use strong endings instead. Irregular strong verbs can develop either from suppletion or from phonological processes similar to those found in irregular weak verbs.

Pseudo-suppletion

Pseudo-suppletion is a phenomenon found in which the aforementioned phonological processes can diverge two stems of the same verb (normally in a present-past split) so much that they end up perceived as, and by extension behave as, having underwent suppletion, even though both stems come from the same Old English source verb. These verbs contrast with, but are treated identically to, verbs that have underwent actual suppletion (such as gēn, gēn). These verbs are a result of either already-anomalous Old English stems becoming less alike (ᴊ jı-, dü- ← ᴏᴇ dō-/dē-, dy(d)-) or already-regular Old English stems becoming less alike (ᴊ īt-, gu- ← ᴏᴇ ġēot-/ġēa(t)-, gu(t)-). The most common origin of these verbs is class 2 strong verbs beginning with ċ-/ġ-, and predictably alternate with c-/g- based on the following vowel, levelling into a preudo-suppletive strong verb:

Verb	Jovlish stems		Old English stems
şīzn şīzn ("to like")	şīz- şīz-	kur- kur-	ċēos-, ċīes-, ċēas-	cur-
şīn şīn ("to eat")	şī- şī-	kū- kū-	ċēow-, ċīew-, ċēaw-	cuw-
ītn ītn ("to shed")	īt- īt-	gu- gu-	ġēo-, ġīe-, ġēa-	gut-

the Copula

		vezn vezn ("to be")
		Simple						Perfect				Imperative
		Indicative			Subjunctive			Indicative			Subjunctive
		Present	Past	Future	Present	Past	Future	Present	Past	Future	Present
Singular	eş	jöm jöm	vaş vaş	īş īş	sőş sőş	varş varş	yāş yāş	vezöş vezöş	vezeç vezeç	vezōç vezōç	vezīş vezīş	—
	hō	joq joq	vah vah	esh esh	sőh sőh	varh varh	yāh yāh	vezösh vezösh	vezer vezer	vezōst vezōst	vezīh vezīh	ves ves
	et	ēs ēs	ős ős	ēh ēh	ső ső	var var	yā yā	vezöh vezöh	vezeth vezeth	vezōf vezōf	vezīf vezīf	—
	jó	űs űs	vosī vosī	ehī ehī				vezöhī vezöhī	vezethī vezethī	vezōvī vezōvī	vezīvī vezīvī
Plural	vé	zé zé	ver ver	īhé īhé	sőné sőné	varné varné	īné īné	vezöhé vezöhé	vezerné vezerné	vezōné vezōné	vezīné vezīné
	hō	zest zest	jer jer	īst īst	sőn sőn	varn varn	īn īn	vezösh vezösh	vezern vezern	vezōn vezōn	vezīv vezīv	ves ves
	ű	züd züd	űr űr	űh űh	sőnö sőnö	varnö varnö	īnö īnö	vezöhö vezöhö	vezernö vezernö	vezōnö vezōnö	vezīnö vezīnö	—

		nezn nezn ("to not be")
		Simple present
Singular	eş	nēm nēm
	hō	nēq nēq
Plural	vé	né né
	hō	nest nest
	ű	nüd nüd

Vocabulary

Numerals

yonümre (yonümre)
	Cardinal			Ordinal				Adverbial Multiplier
	Direct	Genitive	Dative	Singular			Plural
				Direct	Genitive	Dative	Direct / Oblique
0	sifr sifr	sifre sifre		sifret sifret	sifrets sifrets	sifrete sifrete		sifrevēq sifrevēq
1	on on	ons ons	one one	ork ork	orx orx	orke orke		ēn ēn
2	tvó tvó	tvér tvér	tvón tvón	óh óh	órs órs	óre óre		tvé tvé
3	qzı qzı	qzır qzır	qzı qzın	qzıt qzıt	qzıts qzıts	qzıte qzıte		qzï qzï
4	fī fī	fīr fīr	fīn fīn	fīt fīt	fīts fīts	fīte fīte		fīvēq fīvēq
5	vēf vēf	vēfs vēfs	vēfe vēfe	vēft vēft	vēfts vēfts	vēfte vēfte		vēfēq vēffēq
6	sex sex		sexe sexe	sext sext	sexts sexts	sexte sexte		sexvēq sexvēq
7	süv süv	süvs süvs	süve süve	süvt süvt	süvts süvts	süvte süvte		süvvēq süvvēq
8	eş eş		eşe eşe	eşt eşt	eşts eşts	eşte eşte		eşvēq eşvēq
9	ney ney	neys neys	neye neye	neyt neyt	neyts neyts	neyte neyte		neyvēq neyvēq
10	şın şın	şıs şıs	şıne şıne	şït şït	şïts şïts	şïte şïte		şınvēq şınvēq
11	eddüv eddüv	eddüvs eddüvs	eddüve eddüve	eddüvt eddüvt	eddüvts eddüvts	eddüvte eddüvte		eddüvvēq eddüvvēq
12	tűv tűv	tűvs tűvs	tűve tűve	tűvt tűvt	tűvts tűvts	tűvte tűvte		tűvvēq tűvvēq
13	htüv htüv	htüvs htüvs	htüve htüve	htüvt htüvt	htüvts htüvts	htüvte htüvte		htüvvēq htüvvēq
14	fűv fűv	fűvs fűvs	fűve fűve	fűvt fűvt	fűvts fűvts	fűvte fűvte		fűvvēq fűvvēq
15	fēvüv fēvüv	fēvüvs fēvüvs	fēvüve fēvüve	fēvüvt fēvüvt	fēvüvts fēvüvts	fēvüvte fēvüvte		fēvüvvēq fēvüvvēq
16	söxüv söxüv	söxüvs söxüvs	söxüve söxüve	söxüvt söxüvt	söxüvts söxüvts	söxüvte söxüvte		söxüvvēq söxüvvēq
17	sünüv sünüv	sünüvs sünüvs	sünüve sünüve	sünüvt sünüvt	sünüvts sünüvts	sünüvte sünüvte		sünüvvēq sünüvvēq
18	öşüv öşüv	öşüvs öşüvs	öşüve öşüve	öşüvt öşüvt	öşüvts öşüvts	öşüvte öşüvte		öşüvvēq öşüvvēq
19	nattüv nattüv	natüvs natüvs	natüve natüve	natüvt natüvt	natüvts natüvts	natüvte natüvte		natüvvēq natüvvēq
20	tvētej tvētej	tvēteş tvēteş	tvēçe tvēçe	tvēteşt tvēteşt	tvēteşts tvēteşts	tvēteşte tvēteşte		tvētejvēq tvētejvēq
28	eş&tvētej eşortvētej	eş&tvēteş eşortvēteş	eş&tvēçe eşortvēçe	eş&tvēteşt eşortvēteşt	eş&tvēteşts eşortvēteşts	eş&tvēteşte eşortvēteşte		eş&tvētejvēq eşortvētejvēq
29	ney&tvētej neyortvētej	ney&tvēteş neyortvēteş	ney&tvēçe neyortvēçe	ney&tvēteşt neyortvēteşt	ney&tvēteşts neyortvēteşts	ney&tvēteşte neyortvēteşte		ney&tvētejvēq neyortvētejvēq
30	qzētej qzētej	qzēteş qzēteş	qzēçe qzēçe	qzēteşt qzēteşt	qzēteşts qzēteşts	qzēteşte qzēteşte		qzētejvēq qzētejvēq
80	eştej eştej	eşteş eşteş	eşçe eşçe	eşteşt eşteşt	eşteşts eşteşts	eşteşte eşteşte		eştejvēq eştejvēq
90	neytej neytej	neyteş neyteş	neyçe neyçe	neyteşt neyteşt	neyteşts neyteşts	neyteşte neyteşte		neytejvēq neytejvēq
100	nunīttej nunīttej	nunītteş nunītteş	nunīççe nunīççe	nunītteşt nunītteşt	nunītteşts nunītteşts	nunītteşte nunītteşte		nunīttejvēq nunīttejvēq
180	öşüvīttej öşüvīttej	öşüvītteş öşüvītteş	öşüvīççe öşüvīççe	öşüvītteşt öşüvītteşt	öşüvītteşts öşüvītteşts	öşüvītteşte öşüvītteşte		öşüvīttejvēq öşüvīttejvēq
190	nattüvīttej nattüvīttej	nattüvītteş nattüvītteş	nattüvīççe nattüvīççe	nattüvītteşt nattüvītteşt	nattüvītteşts nattüvītteşts	nattüvītteşte nattüvītteşte		nattüvīttejvēq nattüvīttejvēq
1,000	jıyn jıyn	jıyns jıyns	jıyne jıyne	jıynt jıynt	jıynts jıynts	jıynte jıynte		jıynvēq jıynvēq
1,000,000	millyon millyon			millyont millyont	millyonts millyonts	millyonte millyonte		millyonvēq millyonvēq

Colors

yoşīe (yoşīe)
Light colors					Base colors					Dark colors
şınűqş şınűqş	vıcırd vıcırd	şınpérızej şınpérızej	īqzın īqzın		űqş űqş	byïn byïn	pérızej pérızej	xın xın		blörd blörd	dīyolbyïn dīyolbyïn	dīyolpérızej dīyolpérızej	oşekş oşekş
şınīl şınīl	şınűrid şınűrid	rozov rozov	fēt fēt		īl īl	űrid űrid	macenta macenta	gzī gzī		dīyolīl dīyolīl	brın brın	pörfür pörfür	blak blak

Units of time

Times of Day

iküşles çıde (iküşles çıde)
Jovlish	nüş nüş	ōhtoŋ ōhtoŋ	dē dē	mın mın	ovmın ovmın	ēvoŋ ēvoŋ	förnüş förnüş
English	night	dawn	morning	noon	afternoon	dusk	evening

Weekdays

yoveşküşle (yoveşküşle)
Jovlish	Móndē Móndē	Çïzdē Çïzdē	Vótsdē Vótsdē	Hozdē Hozdē	Frejdē Frejdē	Sovdē Sovdē	Sonndē Sonndē
English	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday

Months

yoslene (yoslene)
Jovlish	Janüar Janüar	Förüar Förüar	Mart Mart	Aψıl Apsıl	Maj Maj	Yöne Yöne
English	January	February	March	April	May	June
Jovlish	Yöle Yöle	Oqost Oqost	Sektembar Sektembar	Oktembar Oktembar	Nöembar Nöembar	Yektembar Yektembar
English	July	August	September	October	November	December

Planets and Major Moons

planete& mēste slene (planeteor mēste slene)
	Merkür Merkür (Mercury)		Afröyet Afröyet (Venus)		iJöq iJöq (the Earth)		Pröwent Pröwent (Mars)		Fyewent Fyewent (Jupiter)		Nemewent Nemewent (Saturn)		Uran Uran (Uranus)		Neptun Neptun (Neptune)
					iSlen iSlen (the Moon)		Fobos Fobos (Phobos)		İo İo (Io)		Titan Titan (Titan)		Titanya Titanya (Titanya)		Trıton Trıton (Triton)
							Démos Démos (Deimos)		Öröpa Öröpa (Europa)		Reya Reya (Rhea)		Oberon Oberon (Oberon)
									Ganimed Ganimed (Ganymede)		Yapet Yapet (Iapetus)		Ümbriyel Ümbriyel (Umbriel)
									Kallisto Kallisto (Callisto)		Diöna Diöna (Dione)		Ariyel Ariyel (Ariel)

Sample texts

The Cold Winter is Near

Jovlish		English
İşőjī veçıl bē jī, smıvbüqén kumēvī. (İşőjī veçıl bē jī, smıvbüqén kumēvī.)		The cold winter is near, a snowstorm will come.
Mvēqmī köştdın küm, mfrīn. (Mvēqmī köştdın küm, mfrīn.)		Come in my warm house, my friend.
Bövküm! segg& koş, huq& drekk. (Bövküm! seggor koş, huqor drekk.)		Welcome! Come here, sing and dance, eat and drink.
Hīs mplan jī. (Hīs mplan jī.)		That is my plan.
Feh, jol& kōvēqm mēqk nüqné. (Feh, jolor kōvēqm mēqk nüqné.)		We have water, beer, and milk fresh from the cow.
Ó, &şīkī joşt! (Ó, orşīkī joşt!)		Oh, and warm soup!

Lord's Prayer

Jovlish		English
ArFód — ütUronsyon, (ArFód — ütUronsyon,)		Our Father in heaven,
hnon oqqd vūhā, (hnon oqqd vūhā,)		hallowed be your name,
hvozya komn vūhā, (hvozya komn vūhā,)		thy kingdom come,
hhöm jın vūhā … üJöqnbov reş ütUronsyon. (hhöm jın vūhā … üJöqnbov reş ütUronsyon.)		thy will be done … on earth as it is in heaven.
Arepşóf vőd űfes. (Arepşóf vőd űfes.)		Give us today our daily bread.
Arşüq förűfes … yünarşyqre förűvöhé. (Arşüq förűfes … yünarşyqre förűvöhé.)		Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Ornçışes pirazemdın, okirüvnesov şoψes, (Ornçışes pirazemdın, okirüvnesov şopses,)		And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,
yünHe ivozya& imeş& itūq űs. (yünHe ivozyaor imeşor itūq űs.)		for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory.
Amen. (Amen.)		Amen.

Jovaia Founding Legend

Jovlish		English
YoProtögge ovgöŋbed inohhoh, imüş Űzzıdglöşests Sīvēq, fïqvol vēf&qzētejīççe sencesteaf, Konstontinupolon sīleth. (YoProtögge ovgöŋbed inohhoh, imüş Űzzıdglöşests Sīvēq, fïqvol vēforqzētejīççe sencesteaf, Konstontinupolon sīleth.)		After the Angles' defeat by the bastard, the Great Sīvēq of Glöşest, with a host of 350 ships, sailed towards constantinople.
Freŋyabe, Eψónyaün, Mawritanyaor Sikilyanoŋ sīleth, hīs lone yononēvröfeov frīénhoh, hfōhorsesenceste zıdernö. (Freŋyabe, Epsónyaün, Mawritanyaor Sikilyanoŋ sīleth, hīs lone yononēvröfeov frīénhoh, hfōh&sesenceste zıdernö.)		He sailed past France, around Hispania, along Mauretania and Sicily, liberating these lands from indefels as he and his host traveled.
Vīsmehos Konstontinupolon sīleth, &yoyolotre üyöde besloyeth. (Vīsmehos Konstontinupolon sīleth, oryoyolotre üyöde besloyeth.)		He sailed to constantnople as a hero and defeated the heathen fleets.
Alex Vüzentyaktsor ümüşe Sīvēq-s ilone irÖxinőts yojóstvatece fēşeftt, ifspédleş yoyolotre dzīvn meşā, hō bőö'v. (Alex Vüzentyaktsor ümüşe Sīvēq-s ilone irÖxinőts yojóstvatece fēşeftt, ifspédleş yoyolotre dzīvn meşā, hō bőö'v.)		Byzantine Emperor Alexius gifted Great Sīvēq the lands on the eastern shores of the Black Sea, if he can succesfully drive out the heathens occupying it.
Orhos, Jóvaya opbüşd vuqd'thī. (Orhos, Jóvaya opbüşd vuqd'thī.)		And thus, Jovaia was established.