Flewtish

Flewtish
Flũtṽa / Флӯтвьа
Created by	Aggelos Tselios
Date	2023
Native to	Russia, Finland
Native speakers	approx. 1 million (2023) ({{{date}}})
Language family	Language Isolate Flewtish
Writing systems
Official status
Official language in	Karelian Republic
Regulated by	Institutek Standardzabirokid Flutvast Glungt (Institute of Standardization of the Flewtish Language)

Flewtish (endonym: Flũtṽa (cyr. Флутвьа) [ˈɸluːtwa] or Flũtṽas glung [ˈɸluːtwas ɡluːŋ]) is a language spoken by the majority of the population in much of Northwest Russia and the Karelia region. Flewtish is a language isolate, meaning it does not genetically relate to any other known language on the planet.

Flewtish is typologically agglutinative, using almost exclusively suffixal affixation to indicate number, tense, person and case. Flewtish is partially a null-subject language, depending on whether the subject can be implicitly indicated with certainty or not. Due to the sprachbund effect, Flewtish is an SVO language, but more archaic dialects are actually SOV ones. It is a biscriptal language, using both the Latin and Cyrillic scripts to be written. An important aspect of the language is differentiating between labialized and non-labialized consonants (Referred in Flewtish as "rounded" and "unrounded") see eg. /ˈkʷa.θok/ "Warmth" and /ˈka.θok/ "Portability".

Etymology and history

Flũtṽa is an evolution of Proto-Flewtish */ɸlitʰa/, meaning "Blooming" or "Saturated". The reason for this name is that the regions that Flewtish speakers settled were far more greener and developed than their previous homeland. Flewtish is possibly a Paleo-siberian language that through migration reached it's current territory. This can be further supported by similarities with the Yeniseian languages, like being a tonal language and having vowel length distinction.

Orthography

Flewtish officially is written with the Cyrillic script as law enforces it in Russia. However the language is biscriptal and hence, it uses both the Latin and Cyrillic scripts to be written. Following are both scripts for writing the language:

Cyrillic Script for Flewtish
Аа /a/	Бб /b/	Вв /v/	Гг /ɣ/	Дд /d/	Ее /e/	Зз /z/	Ии /i/	Ыы /ɨ/	Кк /k/	Лл /l/	Мм /m/	Нн /n/	Оо /o/	Өө /θ/	Пп /p/	Рр /r/	Тт /t/	Сс /s/	Уу /u/	Фф /ɸ/	Ьь (See below)	Хх /h/	Цц /t͡s/	Чч /t͡ʃ/	Шш /ʃ/

Latin Script for Flewtish
Aa /a/	Bb /b/	Cc /θ/	Dd /d/	Đð /ð/	Ee /e/	Ff /ɸ/	Gg /g/	Hh /h/	Ii /i/	Yy /ɨ/	Jj /ɣ/	Kk /k/	Ll /l/	Mm /m/	Nn /n/	Oo /o/	Pp /p/	Rr /r/	Ss /s/	Tt /t/	Uu /u/	Vv /v/	Ṽṽ /w/	Xx /ʒ/	Zz /z/

*'Ьь' usually acts as a modifier letter on the preceding letter. Eg: Дь becomes /ð/, ВЬ becomes /w/, and Аь becomes /ɐ/.

The letters correspond always to their pronunciation. The orthography is considered a phonetic, as opposed to deep orthographies like French's.

Grammar

Genders

Flewtish does have male-female distinction, however it is only limited to human species. In some adjectives, there is an animate-non animate distinction.

Verbs

Flewtish does not have a present tense for the verb "to be". So things like "to be or not to be" can't be translated.

Unlike most languages, verbs in Flewtish aren't well distinguished. They don't have a specific ending and they can only be understood if their position indicates it within the sentence. Verbs are not inflected in any way, and to indicate tense, person, voice and number specific roots have to be attached to the end. eg. "Kṽuppa-tu-r-kog-ja" (kṽuppa) to ask - (tu) he/she/ti - (r) male gender - (kog) passive voice - (ja) past tense -- He was asked

Stress

Flewtish is a tonal language and the first syllable of each word acquires a specific tone. There are three tones:

1. The mild tone (Tonek midek) indicates that the pitch will rise in the first syllable and drop in the rest gradually.
2. The rising tone (Tonek buhtajek) means the pitch will rise as the word is pronounced
3. The falling tone (Tonek jebuhtajek) is the opposite of the rising one. Often however, it does not result in a falling pitch, but rather a longer vowel with the same pitch everywhere.

Basic Vocabulary

Numbers

Numbers from 0-10 in Flewtish

Number	English	Flewtish
0	Zero	Ěndul/Ендул
1	One	Fál/Фал
2	Two	Āy/Ааы
3	Three	Crǎx/Ѳраж
4	Four	Cũðes/‌Ѳудьес
5	Five	Jiǒg/Гьиог
6	Six	Gáṽo/Гавьо
7	Seven	Htájek/Хтагьек
8	Eight	Prǔnd/Прунд
9	Nine	Nãkk/Наак
10	Ten	Cárposht/Карпошт

Conversation

English	Flewtish	IPA
Yes	Gén	/ɡɛn/
No	Gěnde	/ˈɡɛn.dɛ/
Hello!	Scýṽugs	/ˈʃɨwœɡs/
Good morning!	Jūg hárṽag!	/ɣuːɡ ˈχaʁwaɡ/
Good night!	Jūg míkṽug	/ɣuːɡ ˈmikwuɡ/
Have a nice day!	Kãrṽazu júg cõjet!	/kaːʁ.wazu ɣuːɡ θoːɣɛt/
Goodbye!	Níkṽog	//
Thank you!	Scprēndevus!	//
Who?	Ǐṽa	//
What?	Xár	//
When?	Énṽo	//
Where?	Gṽā	//
How?	Ṽárcog	//
Why	Pēkket	//
Again	Ṽúj	//
What is your name?	Xár ṽãrpagzu?	//
My name is...	Ṽǎrpagṽo ...	//
Do you speak English?	Kiálltezu Anglitsékgog?	//
I do not understand Flewtish.	Gěnde kṽappasṽog Flutṽas.	//
Help me!	Pámagitekgṽo!	//
How much is it?	Ṽárcogitt	//
Where are you from?	Gṽǎzugyṽos?	//

Sample text

The lion and the boar (Aisop)

English:

On a summer day, when the great heat induced a general thirst, a Lion and a Boar came at the same moment to a small well to drink. They fiercely disputed which of them should drink first, and were soon engaged in the agonies of a mortal combat. On their stopping on a sudden to take breath for the fiercer renewal of the strife, they saw some Vultures waiting in the distance to feast on the one which should fall first. They at once made up their quarrel, saying: "It is better for us to make friends, than to become the food of Crows or Vultures, as will certainly happen if we are disabled."

Flewtish (Latin script):

Fál hãltacojetseg, âmge sîta fárki kāscibetuja génikeg tǐða, fál liōnda é fál kǎban stǎxanetuja kízyseg kalaðétsy kũngatuja. Ṽěgleptuja pãtomi htǒk ýpatuja fāleg kũngatuja, é lũnda htúkṽatuja ágonijokseg fál smērtelnig púpa. Kǒntegtukoseg fál stũja scǔnðag klãmnjo konfliktǎis, tíndakutsejoktuja kíttetuni lādotu fálgiseg htǒk patáppio. Shtísegtu bãloshtatu, kiēlitu: "Grǒta gũjid drúgok, kīd gũva sctǎtla vũrisid mé vũlturok, ǎndana ṽúd rikkigũjokiv.