Evonish
Evonish is a Germanic language of the Evonen language branch. It is based on General American phonology and uses grammar that descends far from Common Germanic, but in its own branch. The wordstock has many influences of Celtic languages, and has a priori features. The elder form is the runic Old Evonish, which was less standardized but had featured greater morphology. The two languages split on 25 May 2012 and will differentiate more over time. The objective of Evonish is to preserve old features of Germanic, preserve Celtic vocabulary, as well as eliminate any need for interpretation by context. Tables are horizontally flipped intentionally.
| Evonish ' | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Fusional | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alignment | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nominative-Accusative | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head direction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Initial | Mixed | Final | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Primary word order | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Subject-verb-object | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tonal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Declensions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Conjugations | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genders | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common, Neuter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nouns decline according to... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Case | Number | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Definiteness | Gender | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Verbs conjugate according to... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Voice | Mood | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Person | Number | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tense | Aspect | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Phonology
Aspiration is in free variation; it does not determine another phoneme. Palatalization has created related pairs of words with c, k, and x and is responsible for creating the /ʃ/ phoneme from /sk/. N is pronounced /ŋ/ before k while ng simplifies to /ŋ/. Æ-Tensing is a process by which the vowel /æ/ found in Evonish is raised and lengthened to produce /æ̝ˑ/ before a nasal consonant, yet this is merely an allophone and may be ignored.
Consonants
Parenthesis indicate allophones.
| Bilabial | Labio-dental | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Labio-velar | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /m/ | /n/ | (ŋ) | Nasal | ||||||
| /p/ /b/ | /t/ /d/ | /k/ /g/ | /ʔ/ | Plosive | |||||
| /f/ /v/ | /θ/ /ð/ | /s/ /z/ | /ʃ/ /ʒ/ | /ç/ | /x/ | /h/ | Fricative | ||
| /ɹ/ | /j/ | /ʍ/ /w/ | Approximant | ||||||
| /ɾ/ | Flap/Tap | ||||||||
| /l/ | Lateral | ||||||||
Vowels
Parenthesis indicate allophones. The following table includes the rhotic vowels as well.
| Front | Near-front | Central | Near-back | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /i/ | /u/ | Close | |||
| /ɪ/ | /ʊ/ | Near-close | |||
| /e/, /e˞ː/ | /o/ | Close-mid | |||
| /ə/ | Mid | ||||
| /ɛ/, /ɛ˞ː/ | /ɝː/ | /ʌ/ · /ɔ/, /ɔ˞ː/ | Open-mid | ||
| /æ/ (æ̝ˑ) | Near-open | ||||
| /ɑ/, /ɑ˞/ | Open |
Writing
The writing system is from right to left.
Alphabet
The twenty-eight letter Evonish alphabet is a modified Latin alphabet that contains the following characters.
a, p b, c, j, t, d, þ, ð, e, f, v, k, g, h, i, y, l, m, n, o, r, s, z, u, ƕ, w, x.
See IPA for Evonish for the pronunciations of the letters.
The following will be incorporated to the IPA page: *ar /ɑ˞/ (mark, dark)*er /ɛ˞ː/ (air, bear)*ir /e˞ː/ (deer, fear)*or /ɔ˞ː/ (or, cord)*ur /ɝː/ (fur, her)
Diacritics
Certain letters with the diaeresis will be used to express umlaut. The umlauts can be rewritten as the standard vowel with an e after. These can be entered with an international keyboard, or copied.
Digraphs
These represent further vowels otherwise impossible to write. aa - /a/, ee - /e/, ii - /i/, oo - /o/, uu - /u/, yy - /ai/
Pronouns
Personal pronouns feature a combination of the Germanic, h-stem, i-stem, and s-stem in third person. The sole relative pronoun is [TBD].
| Person | Number | Nominative | Accusative | Genitive | Dative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | Singular | ||||
| Plural | |||||
| Second | Singular | ||||
| Plural | |||||
| Third | Common | ||||
| Neuter | |||||
| Plural | |||||
| Indefinite | Reflexive | ||||
| Interrogative | Common | ||||
| Neuter |
Determiners
The negative article is understood as indefinite; there is no negative definite article so the verb of the sentence is negated instead.
| Determiners | Article | Demonstrative | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Definite | Indefinite | Negative | Proximal | Distal | ||
| Singular | Common | |||||
| Neuter | ||||||
| Plural | Common | |||||
| Neuter | ||||||
Morphology
Adjective
Certain adjectives decline only in an attributive position; they do not in a predicative position. Cf. German die schwarze Magd vs die Magd ist schwarz. Some adjectives undergo umlaut, such as old, ölder, and öldest. Furthermore, there are many common affixes which form adjectives, whose list will be available in time.
- Comparative: -err
- Superlative: -est
Umlaut
Umlaut is a process that occured after Proto-Germanic. It has led to the vowel change of many words and often creates pairs of semantically and grammatically similar words. Occurrences:
- Certain plurals of strong nouns
- Genitive and dative singular of some nouns
- Second and third person singular indicative of some verbs
- Comparatives and superlatives
- Derivative verbs (of nouns)
- Causative verbs
- Abstract nouns with the -þ suffix
- Nouns with the -enn feminine suffix
Noun
Old Evonish contained two more cases and three genders. Their declension depends upon case, gender, and number. Gender is a special factor in Evonish; a word does not determine a gender, rather a selected gender determines a different word. For example, a stone in common gender may be an igneous rock while a stone in neuter may be a sedimentary rock. The plural genitive ending is used in compound words much like kennings.
| Class I | Nominative | Accusative | Genitive | Dative | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Common | ||||
| Neuter | |||||
| Plural | Common | ||||
| Neuter | |||||
| Class I | Nominative | Accusative | Genitive | Dative | |
| Singular | Common | ||||
| Neuter | |||||
| Plural | Common | ||||
| Neuter | |||||
Verb
Verbs or verb forms in quotes are either an English equivalent or a work in progress. The infinitives of the frequentative aspects are -eln and -ern. The infinitive form in Evonish is the lemma form of the verb, meaning it is the one used in dictionaries. The primary aspects are simple, perfect, progressive, habitual, and frequentative. Simple aspect is used for:
- Stative verbs
- Gnomic aspect
- Near future
Further aspects are formed by nonstandard ways or purely by context.
| Aspects | Auxiliary/Suffix | Main Verb |
|---|---|---|
| Simple | -en | conjugation |
| Perfect | "to have" | past participle |
| Progressive | "to be" | present participle |
| Habitual | "to do" | infinitive |
| Frequentative | -eln, -ern | conjugation |
| Inchoative | "to begin" | supine |
Future is generally expressed by giving a time, or is implied in context with the simple present tense. There are auxiliary verbs that are standard as well.
| Auxiliary verbs | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| First Person | "I shall" | "we shall" |
| Second Person | "thou wilt" | "ye will" |
| Third Person | "he goes" | "we go" |
The particle "nict" after the main verb negates the verb. The following table shows the conjugation of the verb fällen, a weak 1 class verb. The auxiliary verbs in the table are the verbs used with the participles to form two different aspects.
| Weak | Class 1 | To fell | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nonfinite | Infinitive | Gerund | Supine |
| fällen | fälling | tofäll | |
| Adjectival | |||
| Participle | Positive | Negative | Auxiliary |
| Active | fällend | nefällend | "to be" |
| Passive | gefälled | unfälled | "to have" |
| Mood | Tense | Singular | Plural |
| Indicative | Nonpast | fälle | a |
| fällest | b | ||
| fälleþ | c | ||
| Past | fälled | d | |
| e | f | ||
| g | h | ||
| Subjunctive | Nonpast | fälle | fällen |
| Past | fällde | fällden | |
| Imperative | Present | fäll! | fälleþ! |
Syntax
Comparisons
Comparative forms use the particle "ðann" followed by the noun(s) being compared to. Depending on that noun's case will determine which noun is first making the comparison. These can imply drastically different meanings, for example:
- "He ate pie quicker than I" would yield "than I ate pie" (in this example the compared noun is in the nominative).
- "He ate pie quicker than me" would yield "than he ate me" (in this example the compared noun is in the accusative).
Word Order
The standard word order is SVO and is V2. Questions without interrogative pronouns(yes or no) have verb first and subject second. Dependent clauses have this special word order: Subject - Indirect Object - Direct Object - Instrument - Verb. Relative clauses have their own.
Dictionary
| Kinship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grandmother | Grandfather | Grandmother | Grandfather | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Uncles Wife | Uncle | Uncles Wife | Uncle | Uncles Wife | Uncle | Aunts husband | Aunt | Aunts husband | Aunt | Aunts husband | Aunt | Father | Mother | Uncles Wife | Uncle | Uncles Wife | Uncle | Uncles Wife | Uncle | Aunts husband | Aunt | Aunts husband | Aunt | Aunts husband | Aunt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Male Cousin | Female Cousin | Male Cousin | Female Cousin | Male Cousin | Female Cousin | Male Cousin | Female Cousin | Male Cousin | Female Cousin | Male Cousin | Female Cousin | Male Cousin | Female Cousin | Male Cousin | Female Cousin | Male Cousin | Female Cousin | Male Cousin | Female Cousin | Male Cousin | Female Cousin | Male Cousin | Female Cousin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Twin Sisters Husband | Twin Sister | Little Sisters Husband | Little Sister | Big Sisters Huband | Big Sister | Wife | Self | Husband | Big Brother | Big Brothers Wife | Little Brother | Little Brothers Wife | Twin Brother | Twin Brothers Wife | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Niece | Nephew | Niece | Nephew | Niece | Nephew | Son | Daughter | Son | Daughter | Niece | Nephew | Niece | Nephew | Niece | Nephew | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||