Cleepoyish

Cleepoyish
Klippöisk
Flag of the Republic of Cleepoy
Pronunciation	[ˈklɪpœɪ̯sk]
Created by	Vrianne
Date	2024
Setting	Europe with a sprinkle of Alt-History
Native to	Republic of Cleepoy
Ethnicity	Cleepoyers
Native speakers	40,149 (2019)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic Lesionic Insular Lesionic Cleepoyish
Early forms	Proto-Indo-European Proto-Germanic Proto-Lesionic Old Cleepoyish Růpläch Dialect
Standard form	Standard Cleepoyish (Fåst Klippöisk)
Official status
Official language in	Republic of Cleepoy
Recognised minority language in	Denmark (Zealand)
Regulated by	Academy of the Cleepoyish Language
Distribution of Cleepoyish speakers in 1850 (left) vs. in 2019 (right)   Majority of Cleepoyish speakers   Minority of Cleepoyish speakers

Cleepoyish (Standard Cleepoyish: Klippöisk /ˈklɪpœɪ̯sk/), also known as Cleepoyic, is a Lesionic (Insular Germanic) language spoken on the island of Cleepoy. It is the second most spoken Lesionic language, with about 40,000 speakers all concentrated atop Cleepoy. It is also one of the two co-official languages of the Republic of Cleepoy (alongside Danish).

The modern standard form of the Cleepoyish Language, which this article mainly covers, stems from the pre-Danish dialects spoken in and around Růpläch, and was established in order to promote cleepoyish identity and phase out at-the-time dominating foreign languages such as Danish and Swedish on the island. As such, it employs a heavily etymological, yet consistent, orthography and a partly traditional phonology compared to that of other surviving dialects of Cleepoyish.

Due to Danish, in areas that lost traditional dialects, getting replaced by Standard Cleepoyish, much of Cleepoyish dialectical variation is purely phonological, more akin to accents than dialects. Though there exist areas in which traditional Cleepoyish dialects were not superseded and continue to be spoken.

Phonology

Standard Cleepoyish has an outlined set of 30 consonants 16 vowels. The fossilized dialects Standard Cleepoyish was based on differed from from other living dialects in the three-way /w/ /β/ /ʍ/ distinction, /h/-dropping, and denasalization of the Old Cleepoyish long nasal vowels.

Phonemes

Vowel phonemes of Standard Cleepoyish

		Front				Back
		Unrounded		Rounded
		Short	Long	Short	Long	Short	Long
Close					yː		(uː)
Close-Mid		ɪ	eː	ʏ	øː	ʊ	oː
Open-Mid		ɛ		œ		ɔ	ɔː
Open		æ	æː			a	aː

• /uː/ only occurs in loanwords.
• /a/ is central [ä], while /aː/ is back [ɑː]

Diphthong phonemes

	-ɪ̯	-ʏ̯	-ʊ̯
ɛ-	ɛɪ̯	ɛʏ̯
œ-	œɪ̯	œʏ̯
ɔ-	ɔɪ̯		ɔʊ̯

• /œɪ̯ ɔʊ̯/ tend to merge with /œʏ̯ ɔː/ respectively in fast speech.

Consonant phonemes of Standard Cleepoyish

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	Voiceless		n̥
	Voiced	m	n			ŋ
Polsive	Voiceless	p	t		c	k
	Voiced	b	d		ɟ	(ɡ)
Fricative	Voiceless	ɸ	θ	s	ʃ	ʍ	h
	Voiced	β	ð	z
Affricate		(p͡ɸ)		(t͡s)	c͡ç	(ɟ͡ʝ)
Trill/Tap	Voiceless			r̥
	Voiced			r
Approximant				l	j	w

• /m n z l ʃ j w/ can become geminated. /r/ may also geminate but only in nonnative words like ⟨herr⟩ /ɛrː/.
• /n̥/, depending on speaker, may be naturally geminated [n̥ː].
• /ɡ/ is an allophone of /k/ intervocalically.
• a rising number of speakers de-affricate /c͡ç/ to [ç].
• /ɟ͡ʝ/ is now largely dated and is instead merged with /c͡ç/ for the vast majority of younger speakers.
• /p͡ɸ t͡s/ appear only in loans from German like ⟨pferd⟩ /p͡ɸɛrt/ & ⟨cart⟩ /t͡sart/.
• /r/ may either be:
  • a tap [ɾ], which is the most common.
  • a trill [r], less common but not rare.
  • a guttural [ʁ~ʀ], by far the least common and tends come off as haughty or pretentious.
• ... though /r̥/ is always trilled [r̥(ˑ)].

Phonotactics

Compared to other Germanic languages, Cleepoyish allows a modest maximum syllable structure of (C)(C)V(S)(C)(s), wherin S is a sonorant, and the onset cluster cannot be comprised of two consonants with the same manner of articulation, except for approximants. Voiceless /n̥ r̥/ are allowed only in the onset and cannot cluster, while /ŋ/ is only allowed in the coda, and a nasal cannot directly precede a fricative except for in compound words.

Orthography

The Cleepoyish Alphabet consists of 41 distinct letters (including letters with diacritics), 18 of which are vowels. The Cleepoyish Alphabet went through very minimal reforms and, while it may be a good alphabet for Old Cleepoyish per se, it is very redundant and bloated.

Standard Cleepoyish alphabet

Letter	Name	IPA [Standard]	Dialectical Variants
A, a	a	/a/	[ä] [ɑ] [ɑː]
Ä, ä	a omlyyd	/ɛ/	[æ]
Å, å	a hring	/ɔ/	[ɒ] [ɑ]
Ą, ą	a stirt	/a/	[ɑː] [ɑ̃]
B, b	bee	/b/, /p/ (syllable-final)	[β] [ʋ] [v]
C, c	cee	/t͡s/	[ts] [sː]
D, d	dee	/d/, /t/ (syllable-final)	[ð]
Ð, ð	eð	/ð/, /θ/ (syllable-final)	[d] [z]
E, e	ee	/ɛ/	[æ] [ə]
Ę, ę	ee stirt	/æ/	[æː] [ɛ̃] [æ̃]
F, f	ev	/ɸ/	[f]
G, g	gee	/j/ (front vowels), /w/ (back vowels)	[ɡ] [ɣ]
H, h	håch	/Ø/, /h/ (inter-vocalic)	[h]
I, i	ii	/ɪ/	[i]
Į, į	ii stirt	/eː/	[iː] [ɪ̃]
J, j	jåt	/j/
K, k	kee	/k/, /ɡ/ (inter-vocalic), /ʃ/ (front vowels)	[t͡ʃ]
L, l	el	/l/	[ɫ]
M, m	em	/m/
N, n	en	/n/
O, o	oy	/ɔ/
Ö, ö	oy omlyyd	/œ/
Ǫ, ǫ	oy stirt	/aː/	[oː] [ɔ̃] [ɑ̃]
Ǫ̈, ǫ̈	oy omlyyd stirt	/æː/	[øː] [œ̃] [æ̃]
P, p	pee	/p/, /b/ (inter-vocalically)
Q, q	quee	only in ⟨qu⟩
R, r	er	/r/	[r] [ʁ] [ʀ]
S, s	ez	/s/	[z]
T, t	tee	/t/, /d/ (inter-vocalically)
U, u	u	/ʊ/	[u] [uː] [oː]
Ù, ù	lomùk u	/ɔ/	[u] [ʊ]
Ü, ü	u omyyd	/œ/	[y] [ʏ]
Ů, ů	u hring	/ɔː/	[oʊ̯] [oː] [uː]
Ų, ų	u stirt	/oː/	[uː] [ʊ̃]
Ų̈, ų̈	u omlyyd stirt	/øː/	[yː] [ʏ̃]
V, v	vee	/β/, /ɸ/ (syllable-final)	[v] [ʋ]
W, w	wee	/w/	[v] [ʋ]
X, x	ex	/ks/	[k] [s(ː)]
Y, y	ypsilon	/ʏ/	[y]
Z, z	zet	/z/, /s/ (syllable-final)	[ʒ]
Þ, þ	þee	/θ/, /ð/ (inter-vocalically)	[t] [s]

Standard Cleepoyish alphabet digraphs

Digraph	IPA [Standard]	Dialectical Variants
Ää, ää	/æ/	[æː] [eː] [ɛː]
Äi, äi	/ɛɪ̯/	[æɪ̯]
Äu, äu	/ɛʏ̯/	[ɛʊ̯] [æʊ̯]
Åå, åå	/ɔː/	[ɔʊ̯] [oʊ̯] [ɑː] [ɒː]
Bb, bb	/b/, /p/ (syllable-final)
Ch, ch	/ʃ/
Dd, dd	/ɟ/, /c/ (syllable-final)	[ɟː] [d] [dj]
Dj, dj		[ɟː] [dj]
Ee, ee	/æː/	[eː] [ɛɪ̯]
Eu, eu	/jɔ/	[jo] [jʊ]
Eü, eü	/jœ/	[jø] [jʏ] [yː]
Gg, gg	/ɟ/, /c/ (syllable-final)	[ɟː] [ɡ] [ɡj]
Gw, gw	/ɟ͡ʝ/ or /c͡ç/	[ʝ] [ɡw] [ɡʋ]
Hw, hw	/ʍ/	[w] [hw] [ʋ] [v]
Hn, hn	/n̥/	[n] [nː] [hn]
Hr, hr	/r̥/	[ɾ̥] [r] [hɾ]
Ii, ii	/ɛɪ̯/	[iː]
Jj, jj	/jː/	[j]
Kk, kk	/c/, /ʃ/ (front vowels), /ʃː/ (front vowels, inter-vocalic)	[cː] [k] [t͡ʃ]
Ll, ll	/lː/	[ɫː] [l] [ɫ]
Mm, mm	/mː/	[m]
Nn, nn	/nː/	[n]
Ng, ng	/ŋ/	[ŋɡ] [ŋː]
Oo, oo	/aː/	[oː] [ɔː] [oʊ̯]
Oy, oy	/ɔʊ̯/	[oʊ̯] [œʏ̯] [æʊ̯] [æʏ̯]
Öö, öö	/æː/	[øː] [œː] [øʏ̯]
Öi, öi	/œɪ̯/	[œʏ̯] [ɛɪ̯]
Öu, öu	/œʏ̯/	[ɛʏ̯]
Pf, pf	/p͡ɸ/	[p͡f] [pf] [f] [fː]
Ph, ph	/ɸ/	[f]
Pp, pp	/p/
Qu, qu	/c͡ç/	[ç] [cː] [kw] [kʋ]
Rh, rh	/r̥/	[ɾ̥] [r] [ɾh]
Sk, sk	/sk/ (back vowels), /ʃ/ (front vowels), /ʃː/ (front vowels, inter-vocalic)	[t͡ʃ]
Tt, tt	/c/	[cː] [t] [tj]
Uu, uu	/uː/
Üü, üü	/yː/	[œʏ̯]
Yy, yy	/œʏ̯/	[yː] [ɛʏ̯]
Zz,zz	/zː/, /s(ː)/ (syllable-final)	[z] [ʒ]

Grammar

Cleepoyish Grammar is the simplest among Lesionic languages, owing to modest simplifications over time.

Nominals

Nominals decline for a non-oblique case (nominative and accusative mashed together) and a dative case.

Nouns

Nouns decline across two general paradigms: z-stem nouns and n-stem nouns, with each paradigm splitting into sub-stems: o-stem, i-stem, oo-stem, and weak-stem nouns pertaining to z-stem nouns, and o-stem and oo-stem nouns pertaining to the n-stem.

z-stem nouns

Z-stem nouns form their non-oblique plurals with either -oz, -iz, or -ooz depending on substem:

O-substem nouns are the most common, and are what modern loanwords are classified into. They form a non-oblique plural with -oz and feature umlauting in the dative case (except in loanwords):

o-substem declension

	boþel, "house; dwelling"		hnåpp, "cup"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative/Accusative	boþel	boþloz	hnåpp	hnåpoz
Dative	böþli	böþlom	hnäpi	hnäpom

I-substem nouns are similar to o-substem nouns, except they form a non-oblique plural with -iz. In Old Cleepoyish, they featured umlauting in both the dative singular and the non-oblique plural, and in the Růpläch dialects that umlaut spread to the non-oblique singular as well:

i-substem declension

	męð, "month"		döör, "day"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative/Accusative	męð	męðiz	döör	dööriz
Dative	męði	męðom	dööri	döörom

Oo-substem nouns form a non-oblique plural with -ooz, and do not feature umlauting:

oo-substem declension

	skuro, "storm; tempest"		äiþùng, "marriage"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative/Accusative	skuro	skurooz	äiþùng	äiþùngooz
Dative		skurom		äiþùngom

Weak-substem nouns, as their name suggests, merge all non non-oblique singular declensions:

weak-substem declension

	äulii, "likeness; resemblance"		riik, "realm; domain"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative/Accusative	äulii	äuliiz	riik	riikiz
Dative	äuliiz		riikiz

n-stem nouns

N-stem nouns form their non-oblique plurals with only -on and differ in umlauting the dative declensions:

O-substem nouns do not feature umlauting:

o-substem declension

	ųdeu, "dawn; daybreak"		gev, "gift (dated)"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative/Accusative	ųdeu	ųdwon	gev	gevon
Dative	ųdwon	ųdwom	gevon	gevom

Oo-substem nouns, on the other hand, do feature umlauting:

oo-substem declension

	sùnnoo, "sun"		mönoo, "moon"
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative/Accusative	sùnnoo	sùnnon	mönoo	mönon
Dative	sünnin	sünnom	mönin	mönom

Pronouns

Cleepoyish Pronouns are largely conservative, owing to the Růpläch dialects not undergoing most phonological and inflectional simplifications in other dialects. Cleepoyish pronouns decline for the nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive cases independently, and maintain a gender distinction in the plural 3rd person:

Standard Cleepoyish personal pronouns

		Singular					Plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person			1st person	2nd person	3rd person
				masculine	feminine	neuter			masculine	feminine	neuter
Nominative		ik	þu	hiz	hjo	hit	wiiz	jiiz	þoi	þooz	þo
Accusative		mik	þik	hyn			ųz	swiz	þoz, þåz2	þoz
Dative		miz	þiz	hiz					þoiz
Genitive1		miin	þiin	hym	hyz		ųsir	swir	þon, þån2

1. The genitive case has become largely archaic beside poetry and literature. Possession is instead marked with the preposition ⟨ut⟩ alongside the dative case.
2. Superseded spelling.

Articles

Cleepoyish employs indefinite and definite articles. The indefinite article, ⟨oi⟩ before consonants and ⟨oin⟩ before vowels, is always uninflected, and adjectives preceded by the indefinite article use the strong declension. Definite articles conversely do decline for case, gender, and number:

Standard Cleepoyish definite articles

		Singular			Plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
Nominative		þo, þå1	þo	þot	þoi	þooz	þo
Accusative					þoz, þåz1	þoz
Dative		þii, þäi1			þoiz

1. Superseded spelling.

Adjectives

Adjectives in Cleepoyish decline for strong and weak paradigms.

Strong declension is used when the adjective is preceded by either an indefinite article or no article:

Strong declension

		hron, "green"				sąð, "truthful; factual"
		Singular			Plural	Singular			Plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
Nominative/Accusative		hron			hronooz	sąð			sąðooz
Dative		hronåm	hronån	hronyz	hronoim	sąðåm	sąðån	sąðyz	sąðoim

Weak declension is used when the adjective is preceded by a definite article:

Weak declension

		hron, "green"		sąð, "truthful; factual"
		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative		hron	hronån	sąð	sąðån
Accusative/Dative		hronån	hronåm	sąðån	sąðåm

Verbs

Cleepoyish word order is strictly SVO, with undeclined verbs directly following their auxiliaries. Verb conjugation is similar to that of other Germanic languages, with weak and strong verbs conjugating for person, number, tense, mood, and aspect.

Weak Verbs

Weak verbs' preterite stems are formed with -yð, and feature no stem vowel umlauting:

Weak verb conjugation

Infinitive		fų̈lo, "to feel; sense"
Indicative		Present		Preterite
Singular	1st person	fų̈li		fų̈lyði
	2nd person	fų̈lez		fų̈lyðez
	3rd person	fų̈leð		fų̈lyði
Plural	1st person	fų̈lem		fų̈lyðem
	2nd person	fų̈leð		fų̈lyðeð
	3rd person	fų̈len		fų̈lyðen
Subjunctive		Present		Preterite
Singular	1st person	fų̈lii		fų̈lyðį
	2nd person	fų̈liiz		fų̈lyðiiz
	3rd person	fų̈lii		fų̈lyðį
Plural	1st person	fų̈liim		fų̈lyðiim
	2nd person	fų̈liið		fų̈lyðiið
	3rd person	fų̈liin		fų̈lyðiin
Imperative		Present		—
Singular		fų̈l		—
Plural		fų̈lið
Participle		Present		Past
		fų̈länd		fų̈lǫz, fų̈lyðǫz1

1. Superseded

Strong Verbs

Strong verb conjugation

Infinitive		kiiko, "to look; watch"
Indicative		Present		Preterite
Singular	1st person	kiiki		koik
	2nd person	kiikez		koit
	3rd person	kiikeð		koik
Plural	1st person	kiikem		kik
	2nd person	kiikeð
	3rd person	kiiken
Subjunctive		Present		Preterite
Singular	1st person	kiikii		koikį
	2nd person	kiikiiz		koitiiz
	3rd person	kiikii		koikį
Plural	1st person	kiikiim		kikiim
	2nd person	kiikiið
	3rd person	kiikiin
Imperative		Present		—
Singular		kiik		—
Plural		kiikið
Participle		Present		Past
		kiikänd		kikǫz

Strong Verb Classes

Strong verb ablaut patterns

Class	Part 1		Part 2		Part 3		Part 4		Definition
1	skiino		skoin		skin		skinǫz		"to shine; seem"
2	beuðo		bůð		bùð		bùðǫz		"to offer; invite"
3	hilpo		hålp		hùlp		hùlpǫz		"to help, assist"
4	spriko		språk		sprek		sprekǫz		"to discuss"
umlaut	fąho		fęh				fąhǫz		"to catch, capture"
irregular	gano		üjj		ijj		ganǫz		"to go; leave"