User:IlL/Spare pages 1/53

English in the Unbegotten timeline is an Indo-European language and has pretty much the same vocabulary and grammar as our English, but is a Riphic language, not a Germanic one. It is native to our Germany and Poland area, not the British Isles.

Etymologies

• leitmotif: an opera which used a leitmotif for a character named Lait or Light? (it was an operatic version of Death Note)
• karma: a non-Earth Indo-Aryan language
• mana: from an IA word for 'mind'
• Parmesan: unknown. A folk etymology derives it from a Cubrite woman's name (Parm Ezan?).
• frequentative -le from h2el- (cf Hebrew "halakh ve-VERB" = continues to VERB)
• German linguistic terminology: invented by Edna? The standard terms are:
  • affection not umlaut
  • apophony not ablaut
  • linguistic area not sprachbund
  • lexical aspect not aktionsart
  • case stacking not suffixaufnahme
  • place of origin not urheimat

Orthography

In-universe, English has a Latin-based deep orthography reflecting different diachronics than our English. By translation convention, this is rendered as our written English but with American and British spellings in free variation.

Accents

Overview

Vowels
Feature	Pacific	Welvington	Standard European	Polish
KIT	ɪ~ɪ̈	ɪ	ɪ	ɪ
DRESS	ɛ	ɛ	ɛ	ɛ
TRAP	a	æ (Hungarian e); eə (before /m n/ in a closed syllable)	a	a
BATH (the BATH lexical set is same as RP)	a	eə; a: only in aunt and can't	a	a
LOT	ɔ~ɒ	ɔ~ɒ (Hungarian a)	ɑ	ɔ
STRUT	ɜ̟~ɐ	ʌ~ɤ	ə	ə
FOOT	ʊ̈~ɘ	ʊ	ʊ	ɪ
FLEECE	iː	ɪj; iʝ (reinforced)	iː	ej
FACE	eɪ	ɛɪ; ɪj (reinforced)	eɪ	aj
PRICE	aɪ	ɑɪ, ʌɪ (reinforced)	əɪ	aː
CHOICE	oɪ	oɪ, ʊɪ (reinforced)	ɒɪ	ɔj
MOUTH	ɑʊ	ɶ̝ː~œː~œə	ɑʊ	oː~ou
GOAT	oʊ, ɔʊ~ɒʊ before [ɫ]	ɛʊ~əʊ, oʊ before [ɫ]	ø:	ɔj
GOOSE	üw, uː before [ɫ]	üw, uː before [ɫ]	y:	iː
PALM	aː	äː(ɹ)~aː(ɹ) (Hungarian á)	aː	aː
THOUGHT	ɔː~ɒː	oə(ɹ); advanced oː(ɹ)	ɒː	uː
NEAR	ɪɚ	iə(ɹ)~ɪə(ɹ)	iɚ	iʀ
SQUARE	ɛɚ	eə(ɹ)~ɛə(ɹ)	eɚ	ejʀ
NURSE	ɚː	əː(ɹ)	ɚ	fern = ɛʀ, fir = ɪʀ, fur = əʀ
START	ɑɚ	äː(ɹ)~aː(ɹ) (Hungarian á)	aɚ~äɚ	aʀ
NORTH	oɚ	oə(ɹ) advanced oː(ɹ)	ɔɚ	ɔʀ
FORCE	oɚ	oə(ɹ) advanced oː(ɹ)	œɚ	ɔjʀ
POOR	uɚ	oə(ɹ) advanced oː(ɹ)	uɚ	uʀ
CURE	juɚ~jɚː	jəː(ɹ)~jɜː(ɹ)~joə(ɹ)	juɚ	juʀ
commA	ə	ə(ɹ)	ə	ə
lettER	ɚ	ə(ɹ)	ɚ	əʀ
happY	iː~ɪj	i	i	i
Other phenomena
Feature	Pacific	Welvington	Standard European	Polish
Rhoticity	Fully rhotic	Nonrhotic with intrusive R	Fully rhotic with postalveolar and retroflex R	Uvular R, no fern-fir-fur merger
Dark L	Only when non-prevocalic; vocalized L is [w]	Always; broad Welvington vocalized L is a uvular approximant	Never	Never
/θ ð/	[θ ð]	Often [t̪ d̪]	As in Irish English	Initially stops /t d/; otherwise retracted slit fricatives [ʂ ʐ]
Aspiration of voiceless stops and t/d-tapping	As in AmE	As in AmE	As in BrE	Never
Reinforcement	None	Philly-reinforcement before voiceless consonants	None	None
Wine-whine merger	Present	Optional	Absent	Present

Welvington

This is Edna's native accent.

The city name is pronounced "Wungton" [wʌŋʔn̩] by locals; it's nicknamed the "Womb of the Nation [Federation]"

Since the breakup of the Federation, the accent has been enjoying a resurgence among the younger generation.

Vocabulary

Stereotypical Boston words like "wicked" and "pissa"

Phonology

Philly + Boston; should inspire Shalaian and Netagin. It is meant to be RP in ways that the Pacific accent is not. Intonation is similar to American.

• MOUTH is monophthongized to [ɶ̝ː], sometimes with a MOUTH-START merger to /aː~æː/.
• -ing becomes -in'; th-stopping to [t̪] and [d̪]
• (Ph) Philly L (/l/ becomes a pharyngealized nasalized uvular approximant)
• (~Ph, ~RP) Philly-style reinforcement before voiceless consonants; i.e. generalized Canadain-raising-esque effects
  • When the consonant is voiceless, the nucleus is shortened consonant is lengthened: face [fɪjsˑ]
  • Otherwise this does not happen: fame [fɛˑɪm]
• (B, RP) non-rhotic
• (Ph, B, RP) Few or no mergers before prevocalic /r/
• (Ph, ~B, ~RP) Philly short-A system; lax A = [æ], tense A = [eə~ɛə]
• (Ph, RP) GOAT = [əʊ]; GOOSE = [üw]
• (~Ph, ~RP) LOT = [ɑ], THOUGHT = NORTH = FORCE = POOR = [oə~ɔə]
• (B, ~RP) START = [ä]
• SQUARE (= tense A) = [eə~ɛə]
• NEAR = [iə~ɪə]
• NURSE = [əː]
• wine-whine distinction is optional
• A 3-way distinction of Mary [meəɹi], merry [mɛɹi~mɤɹi], marry [mæɹi], unlike Pacific English
• hurry [hɤɹi], furry [fəːɹi]
• orange [ɑɹɪndʒ]
• mirror [mɪɹə(ɹ)] != nearer [niəɹə(ɹ)]
• /iːg/ > /ɪg/, /eɪg/ > /ɛg/ in many words
• /θ ð/ are commonly [t̪ d̪].
• "aunt" and "can't" use /a:/ traditionally. Younger speakers say /keənt/ for can't, though.
• wine-whine merger absent
• CLOTH = LOT, not THOUGHT

Sample (Broad Welvington)

oəʟ hjüwmən bɪjɪnz ə boən fɹɪj ən iʝkˑwəʟ ɪn dɪgnɪɾɪj ən ɹʌɪʔˑs. d̪eɪ əɹ ɪndœːd wɪd ɹɪjzn ən kɒnʃns, ən ʃəd ækt toədz wɤn ənɤd̪əɹ ɪn ə spɪɹɪɾ əv bɾɤd̪əhəd.

pliʝˑs koəʟ stɛʟə. eəsk ə ɾə bɹɪŋ d̪is t̪ɪŋz wɪd̪ ə fɹəm d̪ə stoə. sɪks spüwnz əf fɹɛʃˑ snəʊ pɪjz, fɑɪf t̪ɪkˑ sʟæbz əv blüw tʃɪjz, ən mɛɪbɪj ə snæk fəɹ ə bɹʌðə bɑˑb. wɪj oəʟsə nɪjɾ ə smoəʟ pʟæstɪk snɪjkˑ ən ə bɪg toɪ fɹoəg fə d̪ə kɪdz. ʃi kən sküwpˑ d̪is t̪ɪŋz ɪɾ̃ə t̪ɾɪj ɹɛd bægz, ən wiʟ gə miʝɾ ə wɛnsdɛɪ æʔ t̪ə tɹɛɪn stɪjʃˑən.

Sample (Cultivated Welvington)

oːɫ hjüwmən bɪjɪŋz ə boːn fɹɪj ən iʝkˑwəl ɪn dɪgnɪɾɪj ən ɹɑɪʔˑs. ðeɪ əɹ ɪndæʊd wɪð ɹɪjzn ən kɒnʃns, ən ʃəd æk toːdz wɜn ənɜðəɹ ɪn ə spɪɹɪɾ əv bɾɜðəhəd.

plɪjs koːʟ stɛlə. ask ə ɾə bɹɪŋ ðɪjs θɪŋz wɪð ə fɹəm ðə stoː. sɪks spüwnz əf fɹɛʃˑ snəʊ pɪjz, fɑɪf θɪkˑ slæbz əv blüw tʃɪjz, ən mɛɪbɪj ə snæk fəɹ ə bɹʌðə bɒb. wɪj oːɫsə nɪjɾ ə smoːɫ plæstɪk snɪjkˑ ən ə bɪg toɪ fɹɒg fə ðə kɪdz. ʃi kən sküwp ðɪjs θɪŋz ɪɾ̃ə θɾɪj ɹɛd bɛɪgz, ən wiʟ gə miʝɾ ə wɛnsdɛɪ æʔ θə tɹɛɪn stɪjʃˑən.

Pacific

A kind of "Transatlantic accent", inspired by Californian + Modern RP/Estuary.

Intonation: American + RP

Vocab

Mostly like our American English, with a limited number of Britishisms: knackered, mental, bollocks, bugger, fancy, ... the ones I sorta-know how to use

Vowels

• orange = [oːɹəndʒ]
• Mary-merry-marry merger
• Mirror-nearer merger
• Hurry-furry merger
• No mergers before /l/
• No trap-bath split
• No yod-coalescence

Consonants

• L is light [l] before vowels and dark [ɫ] otherwise, as in RP.
  • wholly-holy split.
• No glottal reinforcement before stops.
• /p t k/ are unaspirated after stressed syllables as in AmE.
• /d t/ has a tapped [ɾ] allophone in similar environments as in American English.
• wine-whine merger present.
• CLOTH = THOUGHT

Standard European

The classical singing accent for English is based on Standard European English, with r always trilled [r] and l always clear [l]. The wine-whine merger is absent.

Much more dialectal diversity in Switzerland and Bavaria (like in our German; they are sometimes considered separate languages)

Polish

"Poylish", spoken in Poland

Inspired by Polish Yiddish and Hiberno-English

Sample

uːl hiːmən biːnz əʀ bɔʀn fʀej ən ejkwəl in digniʂi ən ʀaːʂs. dej aʀ indɔud wid ʀejzn ən kɔnʃns ən ʃəd akt toʀdz wən ənəʐəʀ in ə spiʀiʂ əv bʀəʐəʀhəd

plejs kuːl stɛlə. ask əʀ tə bʀiŋg dis tiŋgz wɪʐ əʀ fʀəm də stɔʀ. siks spiːnz əf fʀɛʃ snɔj pejz, faːf tik slabz əv bliː tʃejz, ən mejbi ə snak fəʀ əʀ bʀəʐəʀ bɔb. wi uːlsɔj nejd ə smuːl plastik snajk ən ə big tɔj fʀɔg fəʀ də kidz. ʃi kn skiːp dis tiŋgz intə tʀej ʀɛd bagz, ən wiːl gɔj mejʂ əʀ wɛnzdej at də tʀajn stajʃn.