Northeadish

Northeadish is a Germanic language which, while similar to North and West Germanic languages due to many areal similarities, does not belong to either of these branches. The name “Northeadish” is a compound of ‘north’ and ‘thead’ (an ancient word referring to a folk or people). A late sound change (metathesis) in the language caused the word *nurþ ‘north’ to become *nruþ, which, being difficult to pronounce, corrected itself through a process of stop-insertion (becoming *n̩druþ). Later still, the nasal component of word-initial pre-nasalized stops (all of which occur only because of this process) were deleted, leaving present-day druðþ. A similar process occurs with other Germanic words such as ‘morning’ (*murganaz → mrugan → m̩brugan → brugɴ).

Writing Systems

Alphabet & Pronunciation

[a,ə] aſc ‘ash’	[ɑː] āher ‘maple’	[ɛ] æſʌ ‘ass’	[eː] ǣðra ‘vein’	[b] berca ‘birch’	[k] cᵫn ‘family’	[(u̯)k(w)] qᵫtɴ ‘quince’	[d] dag ‘day’	[ð,θ] ǣða ‘either’
[ɛ] eɧ ‘horse’	[eː] ēc ‘oak’	[f] feha ‘cattle’	[ɡ] geva ‘gift’	[(u̯)ɡ(w)] aᵹa ‘terror’	[h,ç,x] hagʌ ‘hail’	[(u̯)x(w)] ƕal ‘whale’	[ɪ] iecʌ ‘shard’	[iː] īs ‘ice’
[j] iār ‘year’	[l] laga ‘lake’	[ɫ̩,əɫ] lītʌ ‘small’	[m] man ‘man’	[m̩,əm] meðᴍ ‘gift’	[n] nōðþ ‘need’	[n̩,ən] nevɴ ‘nephew’	[ŋ(ɡ)] eŋᵹ ‘Ingwaz’	[ŋ̍(ɡ),əŋ(ɡ)] cᵫnx ‘king’
[ɔ] åns ‘deity’	[oː] ōðʌ ‘land’	[œ] œ̄l ‘oil’	[øː] œ̄g ‘island’	[p] perðþ ‘luck’	[ɾ] rēðþ ‘wheel’	[ɾ̩,əɾ] regʌ ‘rule’	[s,z] ſeᵹʌ ‘sun’	[t] treᵹ ‘tree’
[θ] þrun ‘thorn’	[ʊ] ucs ‘ox’	[uː] ūra ‘aurochs’	[ʏ] ᵫvʌ ‘evil’	[yː] ȳq ‘toad’	[v,w] veða ‘wood’	[w] wᵫn ‘joy’	[ɔ,ɒ] ål ‘ale’	[ɔː] ā̊hʌ ‘seed’

(NB: The Northeadish alphabet, while latin-based, contains several characters which are not readily representable using the standard Unicode latin subsets. The forms presented are a rough approximation of the actual letters shown in the table above. Typically, however, when appropriate characters or fonts are unavailable, Northeadish is written using the Reform Alphabet)

Orthography

a

The letter ‹a› can double as a short open low vowel and a schwa.

• ‹a› is pronounced as [ə]:
  • At the end of a word or morpheme when unstressed.
    • vata ‘water’ [vá.tə]
    • (ec) vacna ‘(I) awake’ [vák.nə]
  • In the definite article:
    • þa ‘the’ [θə]
    • þas ‘of the’ [θəs]
  • When unstressed before non-sonorant phonemes (usually before /s/ or /t/).
    • mīnas ‘of my’ [mí:n.əs]
    • grōtat ‘big’ [gróːtət]
  • In unstressed prefixes ba-, ga-, ha-, and ta-.
    • haqelðþ ‘this evening’ [hə.kwɛ́lθ]
    • balīvɴ ‘to stay behind’ [bə.líːv.n̩]
  • In inflexional suffixes; specifically, in the past and subjunctive tenses of verbs, in the second person conjugation of verbs (all tenses), in the third person present singular indicative, and in the superlative forms of adjectives.
    • grœ̄taſt ‘biggest’ [grǿː.təst]
    • helpaðþ ‘helps’ [hɛ́l.pəθ]
  • In other common unstressed suffixes:
    • -ag (‘-y’ adjective ending)
    • -cunðag ‘able’ [cʊ́n.ðəg]
    • dǣgag ‘doughy’ [déː.gəg]
  • -tag (‘-ty’ decimal ending)
    • tvæntag ‘twenty’ [tvɛn.təg]
    • ſecstag ‘sixty’ [sɛks.təg]
  • -aðþ (‘th’ nominal ending)
    • daᵹaðþ ‘death’ [daug.wəθ]
    • hœ̄gaðþ ‘coziness’ [høː.gəθ]
  • -at (nominative and accusative neuter ending for adjectives)
    • gōðat ‘good’ [goː.ðət] (also gōðþt.)
    • yvlat ‘bad’ [ʏ.vlət] (also yvʌt.)
• ‹a› is pronounced as [a] in all other cases.
  • man ‘man’ [man]
  • ſcap ‘shape’ [skap]

æ and e

The letters ‹æ› and ‹e› are both pronounced as [ɛ]; however, ‹æ› only occurs as the i-umlaut of ‹a›. (Historically, ‹æ› was pronounced [æ].)

• hændɴ ‘to catch’ [hɛn.dn̩], from *handjaną
• henðɴ ‘to catch’ [hɛn.ðn̩], from *henþaną

ǣ and ē

Similarly, ‹ǣ› and ‹ē› are both pronounced as [eː], but ‹ǣ› only occurs as the i-umlaut of ‹ā› while ‹ē› is the realization of the Proto-Germanic diphthong *ai or the result of ŋ-deletion after *e. (Historically, ‹ǣ› was pronounced [æː].)

• bǣgʀ ‘quarrels’, plural of bāg.
• ſtēn ‘stone’, from *stainaz.
• þēht ‘tight’, from *þenhtaz.

q, ᵹ, and ƕ

The “labiovelar” letters ‹q›, ‹ᵹ›, and ‹ƕ› have several possible articulations depending on their placement in a word and their proximities to other vowels and consonants. The letter ‹ᵹ› in particular is the realization of Germanic verschärfung, which comes from Proto-Germanic combinations such as *gg, *gw, *ww, and *gwj. It may also arise from an intervocalic *w in certain circumstances. The other labiovelar consonants, *hw and *kw, followed the pattern of *gw later in the development of Northeadish. The rules for these letters, while many, are all the same. ‹q›, ‹ᵹ›, and ‹ƕ› are pronounced as:

• [k, g, x], respectively, between two consonants, or after a consonant when word-final.
  • ſteŋqdȳr ‘skunk’ [stɛŋk.dyːr]
  • æŋᵹleſca ‘English’ [ɛŋg.lɛs.kə]
  • hulɧ ‘hollow’ [hʊlx]
• [kʊ, gʊ, xʊ], respectively, after a consonant and before a syllabic.
  • ſeŋqɴ ‘to sink’ [sɛŋ.kʊn]
  • æŋᵹʌ ‘angle’ [ɛŋ.gʊl]
  • arƕʀ ‘arrows’ [ar.xʊr]
• [kw, gw, xw] before a vowel, when after a consonant or word-initial.
  • qerna ‘millstone’ [kwɛr.nə]
  • aŋᵹa ‘narrow’ [aŋ.gwə]
  • melcƕīt ‘calcium’ [mɛlk.xwiːt]
• [ukʊ, ugʊ, uxʊ] after a vowel and before a syllabic.
  • ſleqɴ ‘to extinguish’ [slɛu.kʊn]
  • baᵹᴍ ‘tree’ [bau.gʊm]
  • ſeƕɴ ‘to see’ [sɛu.xʊn]
• [ukw, ugw, uxw] when intervocalic.
  • eqarn ‘acorn’ [ɛu.kwarn]
  • beᵹa ‘grain, cereal’ [bɛu.gwə]
  • aƕa ‘water’ [au.xwə]
• [uk, ug, ux] after a vowel and before a consonant or when word-final.
  • þeq ‘thick’ [θɛuk]
  • daᵹ ‘dew’ [daug]
  • ſeɧcunðag ‘visible’ [sɛ́ux.kʊn.ðəg]
• In simpler terms:
  • The “nucleus” (k, g, or x) is always fully pronounced.
  • The onset labiovelar is not pronounced when not preceded by a vowel.
  • The coda labiovelar is not pronounced when word-final or before a consonant.
  • The coda labiovelar becomes vocalic ([ʊ]) when followed by a syllabic.
• When any labiovelar consonant is followed by ‹v›, the pronunciation of ‹v› changes from [v] to [w].
  • treᵹvetſcap ‘dendrology’ [trɛug.wɛt.skap]
  • naɧventʀ ‘next winter’ [naux.wɛnt.r̩]

h

The letter h may have three different pronunciations depending on its position relative to neighboring phonemes.

• ‹h› is pronounced as [h] when initial except before a sonorant.
  • hūs ‘house’ [huːs]
  • helpɴ ‘to help’ [hɛl.pn̩]
• Before a sonorant, ‹h› is pronounced as [x].
  • hryg ‘back’ [xɾʏg]
  • hnuta ‘nut’ [xnʊ.tə]
• After a back vowel, ‹h› is pronounced as [x] (c.f. German “ach-laut”).
  • þrūh ‘through’ [θruːx]
  • hlah ‘laugh’ [xlax]
• After a front vowel, ‹h› is pronounced as [ç] (c.f. German “ich-laut”).
  • tehɴ ‘ten’ [tɛç.n̩]
  • līht ‘easy’ [liːçt]

ƕ, ɧ

In addition to the pronunciation complexities mentioned above, the letter ƕ has the additional complication of an orthographic convention whereby it is written as ‹ɧ› when in final position in a word or word segment.

ſ, s

The letter ‹s› sports both phonemic and orthographic variation.

• It is written as s when word- or word-segment-final; otherwise it is written as ſ.
  • þas ſeᵹlas ſcīn ‘the sun’s rays’ [θəs sɛugləs skiːn]
• It is voiced [z] when intervocalic or after a vowel before a syllabic; otherwise, it is always unvoiced [s].
  • rīſɴ ‘to rise’ [riː.zn̩]
  • æſʌ ‘donkey’ [ɛ.zl̩]

v

The letter ‹v› has two pronunciations.

• It is pronounced [w] after a labiovelar consonant (‹q›, ‹ᵹ›, or ‹ƕ›).
  • treᵹvetſcap ‘dendrology’ [trɛug.wɛt.skap]
  • naɧventʀ ‘next winter’ [naux.wɛnt.r̩]
• In all other instances, it is pronounced as [v].
  • varm ‘warm’ [varm]
  • vruðþ ‘word’ [vrʊθ]

ðþ, vf

The letters ‹ð› and ‹v› become unvoiced at the end of a word or before another unvoiced consonant (see Obstruent Devoicing), but when they occur word- or word-segment-finally, the voiced consonants remain in the orthography.

Deprecated Characters

Three letters – all of them short vowels – are no longer used in Northeadish: ‹ı›, ‹o›, and ‹œ›. NB: This may have to change if I bring ı back into the language in light of the new rules surrounding i-umlaut and first umlaut. TBD...

Syllabics

There are five “syllabics” in the Northeadish alphabet, all of which stem from syllabic sonorants (or, depending on dialect, a sonorant – specifically a nasal or liquid – preceded by a schwa). When a schwa is followed by a sonorant consonant, it becomes a syllabic. Conversely, when a syllabic is followed by a vowel, it reverts to its non-syllabic equivalent. (We do this in English too; in fact, most languages have some version of this – we just don’t usually have the same sort of rules around how it’s spelled.)

• When a schwa is followed by a sonorant, they form a syllabic:
  • a+l → ʌ, *apalaz ‘apple’ → apʌ
  • a+m → ᴍ, *aþala-dōmaz ‘nobility’ → aðʌdᴍ
  • a+n → ɴ, *etaną ‘to eat’ → etɴ
  • a+ŋ → x, *kuningaz ‘king’ → cȳnx
  • a+r → ʀ, *fader ‘father’ → faðʀ
• When a syllabic is followed by a vowel, it reverts to a non-syllabic sonorant; however, this change does not apply to x:
  • ʌ+V → lV, yvʌ ‘bad’ → neuter yvlat
  • ᴍ+V → mV, mēðᴍ ‘gift’ → dative mēðma
  • ɴ+V → nV, œ̄ðbrucɴ ‘fragile’ → feminine œ̄ðbrucna
  • ʀ+V → rV, faðʀ ‘father’ → gentive plural fæðra
  • but x+V → xV, cynx ‘king’ → genitive plural cynxa, not **cynŋa
• When two syllabics occur in succession, the first syllabic is reduced to a non-syllabic sonorant (since, per the rule above, a syllabic may also be interpreted as beginning with a schwa). The same exception also exists for x.
  • ʌ+S → lS, yvʌ ‘bad’ → masculine yvlʀ
  • ᴍ+S → mS, mēðᴍ ‘gift’ → accusative plural mēðmɴ
  • ɴ+S → nS, œ̄ðbrucɴ ‘fragile’ → masculine œ̄ðbrucnʀ
  • ʀ+S → rS, faðʀ ‘father’ → dative plural fæðrᴍ
  • but x+V → xV, cynx ‘king’ → plural cynxʀ, not **cynŋʀ

Punctuation

For the most part, punctuation in Northeadish is the same as it is in English or most European languages. There tend to be a few more commas than English, (for example, commas are required before any subordinate conjunction), though not quite as many as might be found in German. Quotation marks, which tend to vary in every language, are represented by a single mid-level (reverse) comma (just as single quotes in English, but slightly lower). E.g.

‘She said, “Let them eat cake!”’ (For display purposes, standard-height quotes are used exclusively in this text.)

There are also some spacing conventions regarding quotation marks which allow for most base-level punctuation to occupy the same space as the quotation mark(s), so a series like ,” would be stacked:

The only truly odd punctuation mark in Northeadish is the question mark, which is really more of a comma over a period, or a sort of inverse semicolon:

This sign is falling out of use, however, and a standard question mark is used now almost interchangeably with the older symbol.

Abbreviations

Logographemes: Symbols

There are several common abbreviations found in Northeadish, most inherited from early Germanic writings in Old English or Old Norse. The following symbols are considered proper for most writing in Northeadish:

	ænðþ, ōc, iah, ōɧ	This is equivalent to the ampersand used in most modern writing. It can stand in for all translations of ‘and’. When used to replace the suffix ‘-ōɧ’, it is written as if it were a letter of the word.
	þa, þɴ, þet, þas, þer, þᴍ	This character fills in for any declension of the definite article, though in some texts or scenarios it may be appropriate to add a letter to indicate case or number.
	het, hī, hes, hem, hen	Like the previous symbol, this originally stood for the proximal definite article, though now it has been relegated to the neuter pronoun ‘it’ and is sometimes also used as an abbreviation for the masculine hī.
	þæt	This symbol stands in for the subordinate conjunction þæt.
	-r, -ʀ	The raised comma may be added to particles (determiners, pronouns, prepositions, &c) to indicate a rhotic ending. It is sometimes used in longer words to indicate a plural or masculine declension, though this is not generally acceptable in professional writing. The most common examples can be found below.
	þer	This symbol, while widely used, is more correctly transcribed as þr in professional writing (see above).
	her	‘her, hers’
	ner	‘noöne’
	ƕer	‘who’
	tel	This indicates the preposition tel. This differs from other abbreviations using the raised comma in that the rest all indicate some form of rhotic (either ‹r› or ‹ʀ›).

Morphographemes: Scribal Shorthand

In addition to the common abbreviations above, some texts use a sort of “scribal shorthand” which takes the place of most common inflections of both nouns and verbs, as well as adjectives (if they are inflected at all). Most commonly, this type of shorthand replaces pronouns with a single-character signifier, surrounded by periods, appended to the front of their accompanying verb. Inflection of the verb is thereby also elided. In cases where i-umlaut occurs in the paradigm (usually in the second and third person singular), the vowel may optionally change, or a raised comma may be added to the vowel.

Normally only the root of the verb is used, but in some cases, there are also further abbreviations for common verbs.

[more details coming soon]

Alternative Writing Systems

The Reform Alphabet

In addition to the standard alphabet (also called the “Standard Literary Alphabet”), Northeadish can also be written with a simplified script called simply the “Reform Alphabet.” Whereas the Standard Literary Alphabet conforms to many of the rules of more traditional Germanic languages such as Old English, Old Norse, Old Saxon, &c, the Reform Alphabet is much more consistent with the orthographic conventions of modern Germanic languages like Swedish, Icelandic, or Dutch, and can be a bit of a stickler for function and efficiency at the expense of form and æsthetics.

á	bé	dé	eðe	é	ef	gé	hé	i
Aa	Bb	Dd	Ðð	Ee	Ff	Gg	Hh	Ii
[a]	[b]	[d]	[ð]	[e,ə]	[f]	[g]	[h,x]	[iː]
jot	ké	el	em	en	ó	pé	er	es
Jj	Kk	Ll	Mm	Nn	Oo	Pp	Rr	Ss
[j]	[k]	[l]	[m]	[n]	[ɔ]	[p]	[r]	[s]
té	ú	vé	wo	ý	azet	þé	å	ø
Tt	Uu	Vv	Ww	Yy	Zz	Þþ	Åå	Øø
[t]	[ʊ]	[v]	[w]	[ʏ]	[z]	[θ]	[ɔː]	[øː]

Non-alphabetic variants:

Áá	Éé	el	em	en	eng	er
[ɑː]	[eː]	[ɫ̩]	[m̩]	[n̩]	[ŋ̩]	[r̩]
ng	Óó	Úú	ugw	uhw	ukw	Ýý
[ŋ]	[oː]	[uː]	[ʊgw]	[ʊxw]	[ʊkw]	[yː]

The Reform Alphabet has many fewer letters than the Standard Literary Alphabet (twenty-seven as opposed to forty-four), and, alphabetically, long and short variants of vowels are considered the same letter. It follows the standard alphabetical order of other Germanic languages (that is, the standard Latin order, followed by thorn, a-ring, and o-slash). Unlike Icelandic, however, long vowels are not considered separate letters alphabetically. Long vowels are indicated by an acute accent, as in Icelandic or Faroese; those long vowels which no longer have a short equivalent (i, and ø) can be written without any diacritic.

The names of the letters are standardized to Latin letters and are no longer associated with earlier runic names. All characters fall within the Basic Latin and Latin-1 Supplement Unicode character ranges. The schwa is represented by ‘e’ rather than ‘a’. Syllabics do not have their own characters, but are instead represented by digraphs of a vowel (usually ‘e’) and the corresponding sonorant. The labiovelar letters are broken down by their equivalent onsets (always ‘u’), nuclei (g, h, or k), and codas (always ‘w’), and only those parts which are pronounced are written out; i.e., they are written as Cw- when word-initial, -uCw- when medial, and -uC when word-final. (A ‘u’ is used before a syllabic instead of ‘w’.) The velar nasal is represented by the digraph ‘ng’.

Punctuation in the reform alphabet uses no special symbols (such as the lowered quotation mark). Single- and double-quotes are written at their standard height and are not kerned with lower punctuation, and only the standard question mark is used.

The Hyper-Reform Alphabet

There is also the “hyper-reform alphabet,” which does not have official status, but is in common use on the internet. It is largely based on the rules of the Standard Reform Alphabet, but, whereas the Reform Alphabet is simplified to the Basic Latin and Latin-1 Unicode Subsets, the Hyper-Reform Alphabet is further simplified to include only twenty-three letters of the Basic Latin set; no Latin-1 Supplement characters are used, nor are ‘c’, nor ‘q’, nor ‘x’. All other sounds are represented by digraphs.

Aa	Bb	Dd	Ee	Ff	Gg	Hh	Ii	Jj
Kk	Ll	Mm	Nn	Oo	Pp	Rr	Ss	Tt
Uu	Vv	Ww	Yy	Zz

Non-alphabetic variants:

aa

dh

ee

ng

oa

aw

oe

th

oo

ue

The Eastheadish Alphabet

[NB: table coming soon... updating fonts...]

Some phonetic differences exist in Eastheadish in the table above, mainly because this alphabet represents an earlier realization of the Northeadish language; for instance, the sounds /ɪ/, /o/, and /œ/ still existed in the language at that time, and syllabics had not yet developed from earlier /ə/+sonorant. Initial sonorants after /h/ were merely unvoiced. Other differences include /z/ as a separate grapheme from /s/, /ɛ/ and /eː/ not distinct because of umlaut. However, even as many of these sounds or conventions are no longer used, the Eastheadish alphabet continues to be used to transcribe modern Northeadish in a sort of nostalgically sentimental way.

Approximately 500 years ago, the Eastheadish alphabet was used nearly exclusively to write what is now considered Middle Northeadish. The name ‘Eastheadish’ came into being when the Eastern dialect of Northeadish started to diverge. Many years later, the few remaining speakers of Eastheadish found themselves part of the Soviet Union in what is modern-day Slovakia and Hungary. An effort was made by the Soviets in the 1940s to create a Cyrillic-based alphabet for the language, but this was eventually abandoned as the population was so small. Vladimir Zubarev, the last known native speaker of Eastheadish, died on August 31st, 1977 at the age of 103.

Phonology

In opposition to historical sound changes which have shaped the development of the language so far, this section refers to those synchronic changes which occur within the present spoken language when certain sounds find themselves in certain positions.

Final Obstruent Devoicing

This is a phenomenon common to all Germanic languages at some stage of their evolution. What this means for Northeadish is that the voiced continuant obstruents (i.e. ‘ð’, ‘v’, and ‘ſ’) become unvoiced at the end of a word. Orthographically, this does not affect ‘ſ’, since it is not voiced when final anyway. However, ‘ð’ and ‘v’ would be expected to change to ‘þ’ and ‘f’, respectively. In order to preserve the root of the words to which this rule applies, however, ‘ð’ and ‘v’ are preserved and merely followed by ‘þ’ and ‘f’, respectively.

• dœ̄vnɴ ‘to become deaf’, but dōvf [doːf] ‘deaf’.
• clǣðʀ ‘clothes’, but clǣðþ [kleːθ] ‘cloth’.

See also Orthography

Assimilation and Insertion of [ð]

The letter ‹ð› is slippery. It appears in the darnedest places. In addition to its refusal to go away when it is unvoiced, as above, it also pops up as a result of two specific sound changes when other letters get near /r/.

Do you have one of those friends who just wants everyone to get along and goes around trying to make everyone happy? In the Northeadish alphabet, ‹ð› is that friend. Meanwhile, ‹r› is that friend that you all sort of have to be nice to but no one really likes. ‹d› and ‹n› in particular can’t stand to be around ‹r›. Whenever ‹d› finds itself stuck talking to ‹r›, it usually just kind of walks away, leaving ‹ð› to take over the conversation. ‹n›, on the other hand, is ready to punch it out with ‹r›, and ‹ð› is always rushing in to break things up. At least that’s how I like to think of them, but some might say I’m spending too much time with my letters.

Change of [d] to [ð]: d → ð / __r

This means simply that the letter ‹d› becomes ‹ð› when followed by ‹r› or ‹ʀ›. While this is an historical sound change in the language, it is persistent, which means that it is still going on in the language and may appear without warning in inflections. So, in other words, some words are permanently and irrevocably altered (e.g. *fader ‘father’ → /fadr̩/ → faðʀ: this word will never be written with a ‹d› in any form), while others will dither depending on what tense or case they may find themselves in (e.g. ænd ‘end’, but ænðʀ ‘ends’).

Insertion of [ð]: Ø → ð / n__r

Very similar to the above rule, this means simply that whenever ‹n› finds itself next to ‹r› or ‹ʀ›, ‹ð› magically appears between then. Once again, some of these are permanent sound changes (e.g. *þunraz ‘thunder’ → /þunr̩/ → þunðʀ, which will never become **þunʀ again), while others are variable (e.g. mīn ‘mine’, but with dative feminine ending ‘-ʀ’ → mīnðʀ). (We actually had a variant of this rule in English, too, which is no longer persistent, but which gave us words like thunder from the same PGmc. *þunraz.)

Assimilation of Coronal Consonants before [st]: t,d,þ,ð → Ø / __st

That is, the letters /t/, /d/, /þ/, and /ð/ are deleted when followed by /st/ in the same syllable. This rule is common to most older Germanic languages in various forms, and is a reflex of an earlier rule of IndoEuropean. This is the same rule that gives us the word best from earlier *'batistaz: batist → betest → betst → best, or last, a reflex of latest. In Northeadish this specifically applies to superlative adjectives (where –ſt is added to an adjective) and to the second person singular indicative past and present forms of verbs.

I-Umlaut: V[+back] → [+front]

While i-umlaut (also known as “i/j-umlaut” or sometimes just “umlaut”) is no longer productive in Northeadish, it does continue to have an impact on inflections (much as it does in modern German), appearing in the following environments:

• Verbs:
  • Second person present indicative of strong verbs
  • Third person present indicative of strong verbs
  • Second person imperative of strong verbs
• Nouns:
  • Plural forms of monosyllabic nouns.
  • Feminine nouns with the suffix –aðþ (nominal ending)
  • Feminine nouns with the suffix -x (nominal ending)
  • Nouns with the suffix -a (masculine agentive ending)
  • Nouns with the suffix -ena (feminine ending)
  • Nouns with the suffix -aſtra (feminine agentive ending)
• Adjectives:
  • Comparative adjectives
  • Superlative adjectives
  • Adjectives with the suffix –ag
  • Adjectives with the suffix –lec
• Adverbs
  • Adverbs with the suffix –ega
  • Adverbs with the suffix –līga

Syllabics

There are five “syllabics” in the Northeadish alphabet, all of which stem from syllabic sonorants (or, depending on dialect, a sonorant – specifically a nasal or liquid – preceded by a schwa). When a schwa is followed by a sonorant consonant, it becomes a syllabic. Conversely, when a syllabic is followed by a vowel, it reverts to its non-syllabic equivalent. (We do this in English too; in fact, most languages have some version of this – we just don’t usually have the same sort of rules around how it’s spelled.)

• When a schwa is followed by a sonorant, they form a syllabic:
  • a+l → ʌ, *apalaz ‘apple’ → apʌ
  • a+m → ᴍ, *aþala-dōmaz ‘nobility’ → aðʌdᴍ
  • a+n → ɴ, *etaną ‘to eat’ → etɴ
  • a+ŋ → x, *kuningaz ‘king’ → cᵫnx
  • a+r → ʀ, *fader ‘father’ → faðʀ
• When a syllabic is followed by a vowel, it reverts to a non-syllabic sonorant; however, this change does not apply to x:
  • ʌ+V → lV, ᵫvʌ ‘bad’ → neuter ᵫvlat
  • ᴍ+V → mV, mēðᴍ ‘gift’ → dative mēðma
  • ɴ+V → nV, œ̄ðbrucɴ ‘fragile’ → feminine œ̄ðbrucna
  • ʀ+V → rV, faðʀ ‘father’ → gentive plural fæðra
  • but x+V → xV, cᵫnx ‘king’ → genitive plural cᵫnxa, not **cᵫnŋa
• When two syllabics occur in succession, the first syllabic is reduced to a non-syllabic sonorant (since, per the rule above, a syllabic may also be interpreted as beginning with a schwa). The same exception also exists for x.
  • ʌ+S → lS, 'ᵫvʌ ‘bad’ → masculine ᵫvlʀ
  • ᴍ+S → mS, mēðᴍ ‘gift’ → accusative plural mēðmɴ
  • ɴ+S → nS, œ̄ðbrucɴ ‘fragile’ → masculine œ̄ðbrucnʀ
  • ʀ+S → rS, faðʀ ‘father’ → dative plural fæðrᴍ
  • but x+V → xV, cᵫnx ‘king’ → plural cᵫnxʀ, not **cᵫnŋʀ

Assimilation of [ɾ]: ɾ → Ø / __ɾ̩

A complicated name for a simple sound change: when ‹r› is followed by ‹ʀ›, it is deleted. This applies mostly to nominative plural nouns and comparative adjectives ending in ‹-ʀ›.

Insertion of [ə] after Voiced Obstruent: Ø → ə / C[+voice]___+[-voice]

When a root ends in a voiced obstruent (i.e. ‹b›, ‹d›, ‹g›, ‹v›, ‹ð›, or ‹ſ›), a schwa is inserted before unvoiced suffixes, (e.g. second person singular indiciative -ſt, third person singular present indicative -ðþ, nominal ending -ðþ, feminine agentive ending -aſtra, or superlative ending -ſt). This also applies to ‹t› – an unvoiced obstruent – before the third person present indicative and nominal -ðþ. (However, as already discussed in the Coronal Consonant Assimilation rule, ‹t› is deleted before ſt.)

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
1sg	ec	mīn	mīr	mec	I, my, (to) me, me
2sg	þū	þīn	þīr	þec	thou, thy, (to) thee, thee
3sg.masc	hīi	hes	hem	hen	he, his, (to) him, him
3sg.neu	het	hesii	hem	het	it, its, (to) it, it
3sg.fem	ſīi	her	her	ſī	she, her, (to) her, her
1du	vet	xcʀ	xc	xc	we two, our, (to) us, us
2du	iᵫt	iᵫŋcʀ	iᵫŋc	iᵫŋc	you/ye two, your, (to) you, you
1pl	vīi	ɴſʀ	ɴs	ɴs	we all, our, (to) us, us
2pl	iȳi	iȳr	iȳc	iȳc	you/ye all, your, (to) you, you
3pl	ſīi	hīr	hīm	ſīn	they, their, (to) them, them

Oblique Pronouns

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
inter.	ƕer	ƕes	ƕem	ƕen	who, whose, to whom, whom
inter.pl.	ƕīr	ƕīr	ƕīm	ƕīn	who, &c, plural.
rel.	qer	qes	qem	qen	who/which, &c
rel.pl.	qīr	qīr	qīm	qīn	who/which, &c, plural.
gen.	man	hes	hem	man	one, one’s, &c
non-sp.	þer	þes	þem	þen	“singular ‘they’”
neg.	ner	nes	nem	nen	noöne, noöne’s, &c
sel.	ƕet	ƕesii	ƕem	ƕet	which (one), &c
sel.rel.	qet	qesii	qem	qet	that/which, &c

Relative Pronouns

What follows here are the “true” relative pronouns, though several words may take over this function, such as those mentioned in the “oblique pronouns” above (qer, qīr, and qet), the word ſᴍ.

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	ſā	þaſɴ	þᴍ	þɴ
neu.	het	þaſɴ	þᴍ	þat
fem.	ſū	þera	þera	þā
pl.	þē	þera	þᴍ	þā

Reflexive Pronouns

	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.iii
1sg	mīn	mīſc	meſc
2sg	þīn	þīſc	þeſc
3sg	ſīn	ſīr, ſīſciv	ſec, ſeſciv
1du	xcʀ	xcſc	xcſc
2du	iᵫŋcʀ	iᵫŋcſc	iᵫŋcſc
1pl	ɴſʀ	ɴſc	ɴſc
2pl	iȳr	iȳſc	iȳſc
3pl	ſīr	ſīm, ſīſciv	ſec, ſeſciv

ⁱ When the following word begins with a vowel, numerals and pronouns ending in a vowel are followed by ‹r›. This applies to the numbers tvē, tvō, and þrī, and the pronouns hī, ſī, vī, and iȳ. E.g. ſī gǣðþ ‘she goes’, but ſīr ærðþ ‘she is’.

ⁱⁱ The neuter genitive forms may also be rendered as hets, ƕets, and qets, though that is more vernacular and not standard.

ⁱⁱⁱ By definition, reflexive pronouns cannot exist in the nominative case.

^iv Though it is in common usage, having been assimilated from the other reflexive pronouns, the words ſeſc and ſīſc are technically not correct. The common –ſc ending on the reflexive dative and accusative pronouns comes from an earlier compounding of the third person reflexive pronoun (ſec) onto the non-reflexive pronouns, much in the same way that the North Germanic medio-passive was formed. Appending ſec onto itself is redundant, but assimilation will out.

Numbers

The first three numbers decline according to case and gender. In addition, all higher numbers ending in these numbers will decline accordingly (e.g. 21, 22, 23, 31, 32, 33, &c. Eleven and twelve are exceptions: see Indeclinable Numerals.)

In addition to the numerals, ‘two’ and ‘three’ also have distributive forms. The dual distributive is equivalent to the English ‘both’; there is not a direct equivalent for the trial distributive, but it would translate to ‘all three’.

(For the declension of the number ‘one’, see the Indefinite Article.)

Dual Numeral (‘two’)

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	tvēi	tvēg	tvēm	tvan
neu.	tvōi	tvēg	tvēm	tvōi
fem.	tvōi	tvēg	tvēm	tvōi

Dual Distributive (‘both’)

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	bēðþ	bēg	bēðᴍ	þrēðɴ
neu.	bōðþ	bēg	bēðᴍ	bōðþ
fem.	bōðþ	bēg	bēðᴍ	bōðþ

Trial Numeral (‘three’)

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	þrīi	þrēg	þrem	þren
neu.	þrīi	þrēg	þrem	þren
fem.	þrīi	þrēg	þrem	þrīi

Trial Distributive (‘all three’)

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	þrēðþ	þrēg	þrēðᴍ	þrēðɴ
neu.	þrēðþ	þrēg	þrēðᴍ	þrēðþ
fem.	þrēðþ	þrēg	þrēðᴍ	þrēðþ

Undeclinable Numerals

	#	1#	#0	#00	#000	#000#
0	(nat)	-tehɴ	-tag	hundraðþi	þūshund	-liōnii
1	(ēn)	elevf	tehɴ	ent hund	ēn þūshund	meliōn
2	(tvō)	tvelevf	tventag	tvō hundraðþ	tvō þūshᵫnðʀ	beliōn
3	(þrī)	þrītehɴ	þrītag	þrī hundraðþ	þrī þūshᵫnðʀ	þreliōn
4	feur	feurtehɴ	feurtag	feur hundraðþ	feur þūshᵫnðʀ	qaðreliōn
5	fem	femtehɴ	femtag	fem hundraðþ	fem þūshᵫnðʀ	qenteliōn
6	ſecs	ſecſtehɴ	ſecſtag	ſecs hundraðþ	ſecs þūshᵫnðʀ	ſecſteliōn
7	ſevɴ	ſevɴtehɴ	ſevɴtag	ſevɴ hundraðþ	ſevɴ þūshᵫnðʀ	ſevɴteliōn
8	aht	ahtehɴ	ahtag	aht hundraðþ	aht þūshᵫnðʀ	ahteliōn
9	neᵹɴ	neᵹɴtehɴ	neᵹɴtag	neᵹɴ hundraðþ	neᵹɴ þūshᵫnðʀ	neᵹɴteliōn
10	tehɴ	tventag	tehɴtagiii	tehɴ hundraðþ	tehɴ þūshᵫnðʀ	decteliōn
11	elevf	tventag ēn	eleftagiii	elevf hundraðþ	elevf þūshᵫnðʀ	undecteliōn
12	tvelevf	tventag tvō	tveleftagiii	tvelevf hundraðþ	tvelevf þūshᵫnðʀ	dūdecteliōn…

Ordinal Numbers

To make most numbers ordinal, simply add –ðþ to the end of its cardinal counterpart. When a number ends in an unvoiced consonant or a syllabic (most notably -ɴ), add -þ. The numbers ‘one’ and ‘two’, as well as any numbers ending with them, are the only glaring exceptions to this rule.

0	-	9	neᵹɴþ
1	fᵫrſt	10	tehɴþ
2	anðʀ	11	elefþ
3	þrīðþ	12	tvelefþ
4	feurðþ	1X	-tehɴþ
5	femðþ	X0	-tagaðþ
6	ſehſþ	X00	hundaðþi
7	ſevɴþ	X000	þūshundaðþ
8	ahtaðþ	X000x	-liōnðþ

ⁱ Our English word ‘hundred’ is actually a compound of two words, from Proto-Germanic *hundą ‘hundred’ and *raþjō ‘count’. In Northeadish, the singular word hund ‘hundred’ does not have the –raðþ ending, but it is added in the plural. Note, however, that –raðþ is dropped for ordinals.

ⁱⁱ The larger “-illion” numbers, borrowed in most languages from Latin roots, start out simply enough in Northeadish: meliōn and beliōn are fairly direct borrowing. By the third iteration, ‘trillion’, the initial ‹t› has been replaced to make it resemble the native word for ‘three.’ The fourth through sixth iterations are also fairly standard, but the seventh through ninth are indisputably nativized. The tenth iteration, dectiliōn, is back to a Latin root, but the ‹te› preceding –liōn since the fifth iteration has been retained. Numerals higher than dectiliōn are still in dispute among Northeadish scholars; fortunately they are not used often enough to cause many problems.

ⁱⁱⁱ In addition to the standard forms (“one hundred, one hundred ten, &c.”) Northeadish also retains the terms tehɴtag ‘“ten-ty’”, eleftag ‘“eleven-ty’”, and tveleftag ‘“twelf-ty’”, hearkening back to an earlier duodecimal system.

Articles & Determiner

Definite Article (‘the’)

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	þa, þɴi	þas	þᴍ	þɴ
neu.	þet	þas	þᴍ	þet
fem.	þa, þɴi	þer	þer	þa, þɴi
pl.	þa, þɴi	þer	þᴍ	þa, þɴi

ⁱ When the following word begins with a vowel, the masculine, feminine, and plural nominative article and the feminine and plural accusative article change from þa to þɴ (much in the same way English a changes to an.)

Indefinite Article (‘a’, ‘an’, ‘one’)

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	ēn	ēnas	ēnᴍ	ēnɴ
neu.	ent	ēnas	ēnᴍ	ent
fem.	ēna	ēnðʀ	ēnðʀ	ēna

Possessives & other Determiners (‘my’, ‘this’, ‘which’, &c)

Possessives, demonstratives, and other determiners decline like ēn, but also have a plural. (Ēn does have a plural which is used in very specific circumstances, but in those cases it is not considered a determiner.) All determiners in Northeadish end in ‹n›, ‹r›, ‹ʀ›, ‹s›, or ‹t›. Each will have a slightly different declension depending on this final letter. (NB: These are not dissimilar to the declension of adjectives, but since these words are used more frequently and have a few other quirks, I do not want to conflate the two categories here.)

‹n›-stem

All determiners which end in ‹n› follow the first paradigm, which is like ēn. (Note that, as with the indefinite article, the stressed vowel is shortened for the neuter singular nominative and accusative. This is common to all determiner paradigms, because the phonology of Northeadish does not allow a long vowel in a “heavy” syllable, i.e. when a long vowel is followed by more than one consonant.)

Unique to these determiners in ‹n› is the declension of the feminine genitive and dative and the plural genitive, where ‹ð› is inserted before the ending to break up the illegal ‹nr› combination that would otherwise result (see Phonology: Insertion of [ð]). Included in this first category are mīn ‘my’, þīn ‘thy, your’, ſīn ‘his, her, its’, ēn ‘a, an, one’, and iēn ‘yon, yonder’.

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
	iēn ‘that, yon’					mīn ‘my, mine’					ſīn ‘his, her, hers, its’					þīn ‘thy, thine, your, yours (sg.)’
Masc.	iēn	iēnas	iēnᴍ	iēnɴ		mīn	mīnas	mīnᴍ	mīnɴ		ſīn	ſīnas	ſīnᴍ	ſīnɴ		þīn	þīnas	þīnᴍ	þīnɴ
Neu.	ient			ient		ment			ment		ſent			ſent		þent			þent
Fem.	iēna	iēnðʀ	iēnðʀ	iēna		mīna	mīnðʀ	mīnðʀ	mīna		ſīna	ſīnðʀ	ſīnðʀ	ſīna		þīna	þīnðʀ	þīnðʀ	þīna
Pl.			iēnᴍ					mīnᴍ					ſīnᴍ					þīnᴍ

‹r›-stem

Those determiners ending in ‹r›, including her ‘her’, hīr ‘their’, ƕīr ‘whose’, iȳr ‘your’, qīr ‘whose’, and ſīr ‘their (rfl.)’ decline as follows. (Her does not have a long vowel, so the neuter singular is not shortened.) The main distinction with this and the next group is that those declensions in ‹ʀ› (feminine genitive and dative and plural genitive) are deleted because of the phonology of the language (See Phonology: Assimilation of [ɾ].)

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
	her ‘her, hers’					hīr ‘their, theirs’					ƕīr ‘whose (pl.)’					iȳr ‘your, yours (pl.)’					qīr ‘whose (rel. pl.)’
Masc.	her	heras	herᴍ	herɴ		hīr	hīras	hīrᴍ	hīrɴ		ƕīr	ƕīras	ƕīrᴍ	ƕīrɴ		iȳr	iȳras	iȳrᴍ	iȳrɴ		qīr	qīras	qīrᴍ	qīrɴ
Neu.	hert			hert		hert			hert		ƕert			ƕert		iᵫrt			iᵫrt		qert			qert
Fem.	hera	her	her	hera		hīra	hīr	hīr	hīra		ƕīra	ƕīr	ƕīr	ƕīra		iȳra	iȳr	iȳr	iȳra		qīra	qīr	qīr	qīra
Pl.			herᴍ					hīrᴍ					ƕīrᴍ					iȳrᴍ					qīrᴍ

‹ʀ›-stem

Similar to those determiners in ‹r› are those in ‹ʀ›; the main difference between them is that the syllabic becomes non-syllabic is all but a few of the declensions. This group includes the first and second person dual and plural possessives iᵫŋcʀ ‘your’, ɴſʀ ‘our’, and xcʀ ‘our’.

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
	iᵫŋcʀ ‘your, yours (du.)’					ɴſʀ ‘our, ours (pl.)’					xcʀ ‘our, ours (du.)’
Masc.	iᵫŋcʀ	iᵫŋcras	iᵫŋcrᴍ	iᵫŋcrɴ		ɴſʀ	ɴſras	ɴſrᴍ	ɴſrɴ		xcʀ	xcras	xcrᴍ	xcrɴ
Neu.	iᵫŋcʀt			iᵫŋcʀt		ɴſʀt			ɴſʀt		xcʀt			xcʀt
Fem.	iᵫŋcra	iᵫŋcʀ	iᵫŋcʀ	iᵫŋcra		ɴſra	ɴſʀ	ɴſʀ	ɴſra		xcra	xcʀ	xcʀ	xcra
Pl.			iᵫŋcrᴍ					ɴſrᴍ					xcrᴍ

‹s›- and ‹t›-stems

Finally the last two groups are those determiners in ‹s› (hes ‘his, its’, ƕes ‘whose’, nes ‘noöne’s’, qes ‘whose’, and þes ‘their’) and those in ‹t› (hat ‘this’, ƕat ‘what’, ƕet ‘which’, iat ‘that, yonder’, nat ‘no, none’, qat ‘which’, qet ‘which’, and þat ‘that’). The only difference between the two is the neuter singular, which is elided after ‹t›.

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
	hes ‘his, its’					ƕes ‘whose (sg.)’					nes ‘noöne’s’					qes ‘whose (rel.)’					þes ‘“their” (sg.), someone’s’
Masc.	hes	heſas	heſᴍ	heſɴ		ƕes	ƕeſas	ƕeſᴍ	ƕeſɴ		nes	neſas	neſᴍ	neſɴ		qes	qeſas	qeſᴍ	qeſɴ		þes	þeſas	þeſᴍ	þeſɴ
Neu.	heſt			heſt		ƕeſt			ƕeſt		neſt			neſt		þeſt			þeſt		qeſt			qeſt
Fem.	heſa	heſʀ	heſʀ	heſa		ƕeſa	ƕeſʀ	ƕeſʀ	ƕeſa		neſa	neſʀ	neſʀ	neſa		qeſa	qeſʀ	qeſʀ	qeſa		þeſa	þeſʀ	þeſʀ	þeſa
Pl.			heſᴍ					ƕeſᴍ					neſᴍ					qeſᴍ					þeſᴍ

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
	hat ‘this’					ƕat ‘what’				ƕet ‘which one’						iat ‘that, yonder’
Masc.	hat	hatas	hatᴍ	hatɴ		ƕat	ƕatas	ƕatᴍ	ƕatɴ		ƕet	ƕetas	ƕetᴍ	ƕetɴ		iat	iatas	iatᴍ	iatɴ
Neu.				hat					ƕet					ƕat					iat
Fem.	hata	hatʀ	hatʀ	hata		ƕata	ƕatʀ	ƕatʀ	ƕata		ƕeta	ƕetʀ	ƕetʀ	ƕeta		iata	iatʀ	iatʀ	iata
Pl.			hatᴍ					ƕatᴍ					ƕetᴍ					iatᴍ

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
	nat ‘no, none’					qat ‘what (rel.)’					qet ‘which one (rel.)’					þat ‘that’
Masc.	nat	natas	natᴍ	natɴ		qat	qatas	qatᴍ	qatɴ		qet	qetas	qetᴍ	qetɴ		þat	þatas	þatᴍ	þatɴ
Neu.				nat					qat					qet					þat
Fem.	nata	natʀ	natʀ	nata		qata	qatʀ	qatʀ	qata		qeta	qetʀ	qetʀ	qeta		þata	þatʀ	þatʀ	þata
Pl.			natᴍ					qatᴍ					qetᴍ					þatᴍ