Dogrish

Introduction

Distribution of languages on Dogger: the red area is monolingually Dogrish.

Dogrish (Dogrish: Dågrisk; Frisian: Doggersk; Dutch: Doggerlands) is a constructed language created for the purpose of being used in a constructed alternative world where, amongst other relatively minor additions, an island approximately the size of the Benelux exists on the location of the "real world" Dogger Bank.

Within the confines of the constructed universe, Dogrish is one of four languages spoken on the island of Dogger and its much smaller satellite islands, in addition to Dogric Frisian, English and Dutch. It is the most widely spoken language on the island and the official language of the national government, with minority language rights reserved for regional and local government use.

Situation

Dogrish is a North Germanic language belonging to the Insular Nordic sub-branch. As such it is most closely related to Icelandic, Faroese and extinct Norn. Most notable similarities include the preserved case system and the continued usage of the letters ð and þ to represent the voiced and voiceless dentale frictative respectively.

Varieties of Dogrish

Standard Dogrish

There are two officially recognised standard varieties of Dogrish: Formal Dogrish (Dogrish: Formaldågrisk) covers the Central Dogrish dialects around Greywater Lake, Redwater Lake and the Reddow Valley, whilst Valley Dogrish (Dogrish: Dalarnerdågrisk) covers the Valley Dogrish dialects of Twoway, the Giants' Fields, the Two Dales, the Riding of Northern Cliffland and the municipality of Westland.

In practice, the usage of these standard varieties in generally limited to the written word and supraregional interactions, as everyday interactions mostly take place in the local dialect.

Uniquely amongst Germanic languages, Formal Dogrish has preserved six grammatical cases, whereas Valley Dogrish has preserved five. However, it should be noted that of all grammatical aspects of Dogrish, both the number of preserved cases as well as the specific cases being preserved vary considerably between dialects and localities, with some local varieties preserving only the nominative and the genitive in the declension of nouns.

Other differences include the pronunciation of final -ð: whereas Central Dogrish generally realises the final -ð as a voiced alveolar lateral approximant [l], Valley Dogrish realises it as a voiced dental frictative [ð]; and the år-ór merger: whereas Central Dogrish generally realises both å and ó as [o:], Valley Dogrish differentiates between [o:] and [ou̯].

Friso-Dogrish

Friso-Dogrish is the variety of Dogrish spoken in the southeast of Dogger, most notably in the Lochsteads, Idunna's Dunes, the Feurth Valley and the Ridings of Leyland and Southern Cliffland. It is the third most spoken variety of Dogrish and is written using Formal Dogrish.

Friso-Dogrish is characterised for using only four cases: the nominative, the genitive, the dative and the accusative. Whilst Friso-Dogrish differentiates between masculine, feminine and neuter in definite nouns, the masculine and neuter have merged in the declension of indefinite articles.

In terms of phonology, Friso-Dogrish is typified by its realisation of the letter ð as a voiced alveolar tap or flap /ɾ/ under all circumstances.

Anglo-Dogrish

Anglo-Dogrish is the variety of Dogrish spoken in Queensgarth in the northernmost reaches of the island and in the Anglodale in the province of Islesmidst. It is the fourth most widely spoken variety of Dogrish and is written using Valley Dogrish.

Anglo-Dogrish is characterised by using only the nominative and the genitive in the declension of nouns, adding the accusative only in the declension of pronouns. It also does not differentiate nouns based on grammatical gender and is the only variety of Dogrish to use an article instead of a suffix to indicate definiteness.

In terms of phonology, Anglo-Dogrish is most notably characterised by the lack of both preaspiration and consonant lengthening, e.g. þótt, "thought", is pronounced [θou̯ʰt] in Formal Dogrish, but [θot] in Anglo-Dogrish, seggja, "to say", is pronounced [ˈsej:ɐ] in Formal Dogrish, but [sej] in Anglo-Dogrish.

Dutch Dogrish

Dutch Dogrish is the least used variety of Dogrish and spoken in the Whispermere, the Uva Valley and in the Skow. It is written using Valley Dogrish, with the exception of the Skow, where Formal Dogrish is used instead.

Dutch Dogrish is characterised by the declension of nouns and pronouns in accordance with three cases: the nominative, the genitive and the accusative; and in accordance with only two grammatical genders, namely gendered and neuter, with no differentiation whatsoever for indefinite articles.

In terms of phonology, Dutch Dogrish is notable for being the only variety to devoice voiced consonants at the end of a word, including a final -ð being realised as a voiceless dental frictative /θ/. It is also notable for the rá-ró merger, with both á and ó realised as [ɑu̯], and the mann-månd merger, with both a and å being realised as /ɔ/ and any plosives following a nasal consonant being dropped.

Usage

Despite certain areas of the island being monolingually Frisian, English or Dutch, Dogrish is taught nationwide and understood by almost all inhabitants. In monolingually Frisian, English or Dutch areas of the island, bilingualism between the local language and one of the two standard varieties of Dogrish is the norm. The only exception to this is the urban area of St George's Haven in the northernmost corner of the island, where all signage, education and government communication is done only in English.

Syntax

Constituent order

In general, the Dogrish language is classified as a V2 language, meaning that the finite verb of a sentence or clause is placed in the clause's second position. The main exception to this is Anglo-Dogrish: the Anglo-Dogrish spoken around St George's Haven strictly uses SVO or subject-object-verb, whereas the Anglo-Dogrish spoken in the Anglodale uses VSO or verb-subject-object.

Word order comparison

English	Formal Dogrish (V2)	Anglo-Dogrish (SVO)	Anglo-Dogrish (VSO)
María did not want to read the newspaper today.	Íþægen villt María tíðningen inte lesa.	María villt inte lesa tíðningen íþægen.	Lesa villt inte María tíðningen íþægen.
Today I'm going to walk in the woods.	Íþægen gå jag í skógent tråða.	Jag skylje gå tråða í skógen íþægen.	Gå tråða jag í skógen íþægen.

Word order rigidity

Rigidity of the word order is generally dependent on the morphological characteristics of the local dialect. In general, the more cases the local variety of Dogrish maintains, the less rigid the word order becomes.

Low-rigidity word order

This is especially true in literary and poetic Dogrish, where word order may be greatly varied as long as the declension of nouns indicates the function of said noun within the clause. Compare:

V2 word order

1. Í morgonen gång jag með hynna á vísereinnt, á bryggenar gaf jag hynna en kyss á kindent

"In the morning_DAT went I_NOM with her_DAT on the fields_LOC, on the bridge_LOC gave I_NOM her_DAT a kiss_ACC on the cheek_LOC"

Poetic word order

2. Í morgonen á visereinnt jag gång með hynna, á kindent jag hynna gaf á bryggenar en kyss

"In the morning_DAT on the fields_LOC I_NOM went with her_DAT, on the cheek_LOC I_NOM her_DAT gave on the bridge_LOC a kiss_ACC"

In the standard word order, the finite verb is placed in the second position in the clause. Poetic word order, or literary word order, however, allows for the shifting of positions: in this case, the first sentence in (2) follows the SVO worder order, or subject-verb-object ("I went with her"), with the verb falling in the fourth position, whereas the second sentence follows the SOV word order, or subject-object-verb ("I her gave"), with the verb once again falling in the fourth position.

Compare this to the second phrase of the poem:

V2 word order

1. Hven ví hlejer sammar í sólensljós og skríer av ångar í skadyvens ryst, vinden röyret grasið

1. When we_NOM laugh together in sunlight_LOC and cry of joy_GEN in the shadow's_GEN shade_LOC, the wind_NOM touches the grass_ACC

Poetic word order

2. Grasið vinden röyret hven sammar ví í sólensljós hlejer og av ångar skríer í skadyvens ryst

2. The grass_ACC the wind_NOM touches when together we_NOM in sunlight_LOC laugh and of joy_GEN cry in the shadow's_GEN shade_LOC

Here, in (2), three separate clauses are made into one continuous one, with the secondary clause of (1) becoming a primary clause in (2) following the OSV word order "the grass the wind touches", whilst the second clause follows the SOV word order ("we in sunlight laugh") and the third clause follows the SVO word order ("[we] cry in [the] shade").

High-rigidity word order

As the number of grammatical cases is dramatically lower, Anglo-Dogrish maintains a very rigid word order.

Example texts

Dogrish proverbs

Dogrish	English translation	Meaning
Kitlið en drekka, þakið í flammar (Formal Dogrish) Kitlið en drækka, þakið í flammar (Valley Dogrish)	If you tickle a dragon, your roof will catch fire You tickle a dragon, the roof in flames (literally)	Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Að komma á andensrupp.	To come at the duck's call.	To come right away.
Þrí veller í skógen, mörðrar ert flógen (Formal Dogrish) Þrí veller í skógen, mördrer ært flógen	Three wells in the woods, the killer has fled	To run behind the facts.