User:IlL/Spare pages 1/53

English in the AETHER timeline is an Indo-European language and has pretty much the same vocabulary and grammar as our English, but is a Riphic language, not a Germanic one. It is native to our Germany and Poland area, not the British Isles.

Etymologies

• leitmotif: an opera which used a leitmotif for a character named Lait or Light? (it was an operatic version of Death Note)
• karma: a non-Earth Indo-Aryan language
• mana: from an IA word for 'mind'
• Parmesan: unknown. A folk etymology derives it from a Cubrite woman's name (Parm Ezan?).
• German linguistic terminology: invented by Edna? The standard terms are:
  • affection not umlaut
  • apophony not ablaut
  • linguistic area not sprachbund
  • lexical aspect not aktionsart
  • case stacking not suffixaufnahme
  • place of origin not urheimat

Accents

Overview

Vowels
Feature	Standard Federation	Welvington	Polish
KIT	ɪ~ɪ̈	ɪ	i
DRESS	ɛ	ɛ	ɛ
TRAP	a	æ; eə (before /m n/ in a closed syllable)	a
BATH (the BATH lexical set is same as RP)	a	eə	a
LOT	ɔ~ɒ	ɑ~ɒ	ɔ
STRUT	ɜ̟~ɐ	ʌ~ɤ	ə
FOOT	ʊ̈~ɘ	ʊ	i
FLEECE	iː	ɪj; iʝ (reinforced)	iː
FACE	eɪ	ɛɪ; ɪj (reinforced)	eː~ej
PRICE	ɑɪ	ɑɪ, ʌɪ (reinforced)	aː
CHOICE	oɪ	oɪ, ʊɪ (reinforced)	ɔj
MOUTH	æʊ	aə~æə	oː~ou
GOAT	oʊ, ɔʊ~ɒʊ before [ɫ]	ɛʊ~əʊ, oʊ before [ɫ]	ɔj
GOOSE	üw, uː before [ɫ]	üw, uː before [ɫ]	iː
PALM	ɑː	ä(ɹ)~a(ɹ)	aː
THOUGHT	ɔː~ɒː	oə(ɹ)	uː
NEAR	ɪɚ	iə(ɹ)	iʀ
SQUARE	ɛɚ	eə(ɹ)	ejʀ
NURSE	ɚː	əː(ɹ)~ɜː(ɹ)	əʀ
START	ɑɚ	ä(ɹ)~a(ɹ)	aʀ
NORTH	oɚ	oə(ɹ)	ɔʀ
FORCE	oɚ	oə(ɹ)	ɔjʀ
POOR	uɚ	oə(ɹ)	uʀ
CURE	juɚ~jɚː	jəː(ɹ)~jɜː(ɹ)~joə(ɹ)	juʀ
commA	ə	ə(ɹ)	ə
lettER	ɚ	ə(ɹ)	əʀ
happY	iː~ɪj	i	i
Other phenomena
Feature	Standard Federation	Welvington	Polish
Rhoticity	Fully rhotic	Nonrhotic with intrusive R	Uvular R
Dark L	Only when non-prevocalic; vocalized L is [w]	Always; vocalized L is a uvular approximant	Never
/θ ð/	[θ ð]	Often [t̪ d̪]	Retracted slit fricatives [ʂ ʐ]
Aspiration of voiceless stops and t/d-tapping	As in AmE	As in AmE	Never
Reinforcement	None	Philly-reinforcement before voiceless consonants	None

Welvington

The city name is pronounced "Wungton" [wʌŋʔn̩] by locals; it's nicknamed the "Womb of the Nation [Federation]"

Philly + Boston; should inspire Shalaian and Netagin. Should be RP in ways that the Standard accent is not

• The most well-known feature of the broad Welvington accent is the MOUTH-START merger to /aː~æː/.
• -ing becomes -in'; th-stopping to [t̪] and [d̪]
• (Ph) Philly L (pharyngealized nasalized uvular approximant)
• (~Ph, ~RP) Philly-style reinforcement before voiceless consonants; i.e. generalized Canadain-raising-esque effects
  • When the consonant is voiceless, the nucleus is shortened consonant is lengthened: face [fɪjsˑ]
  • Otherwise this does not happen: fame [fɛˑɪm]
• (B, RP) non-rhotic
• (Ph, B, RP) Few or no mergers before prevocalic /r/
• (Ph, ~B, ~RP) Philly short-A system; lax A = [æ], tense A = [eə~ɛə]
• (Ph, RP) GOAT = [əʊ]; GOOSE = [üw]ː
• (~Ph, ~RP) LOT = [ɑ], THOUGHT = NORTH = FORCE = POOR = [oə~ɔə]
• (B, ~RP) START = [ä]
• SQUARE (= tense A) = [eə~ɛə]
• NEAR = [iə~ɪə]
• NURSE = [ə:]
• wine-whine merger (optional in Standard)
• A 3-way distinction of Mary [meəɹi], merry [mɛɹi~mɤɹi], marry [mæɹi], unlike Standard English
• hurry [hɤɹi], furry [fəːɹi]
• orange [ɑɹɪndʒ]
• mirror [mɪɹə(ɹ)] != nearer [niəɹə(ɹ)]
• /iːg/ > /ɪg/, /eɪg/ > /ɛg/ in many words
• /θ ð/ are commonly [t̪ d̪].

Sample (Broad Welvington)

oəʟ hjüwmən bɪjɪnz ə boən fɹɪj ən iʝkˑwəʟ ɪn dɪgnɪɾɪj ən ɹʌɪʔˑs. d̪eɪ əɹ ɪndæəd wɪd ɹɪjzn ən kɒnʃns, ən ʃəd ækt toədz wɤn ənɤd̪əɹ ɪn ə spɪɹɪɾ əv bɾɤd̪əhəd.

pliʝˑs koəʟ stɛʟə. eəsk ə ɾə bɹɪŋ d̪is t̪ɪŋz wɪd̪ ə fɹəm d̪ə stoə. sɪks spüwnz əf fɹɛʃˑ snəʊ pɪjz, fɑɪf t̪ɪkˑ sʟæbz əv blüw tʃɪjz, ən mɛɪbɪj ə snæk fəɹ ə bɹʌðə bɑˑb. wɪj oəʟsə nɪjɾ ə smoəʟ pʟæstɪk snɪjkˑ ən ə bɪg toɪ fɹoəg fə d̪ə kɪdz. ʃi kən sküwpˑ d̪is t̪ɪŋz ɪɾ̃ə t̪ɾɪj ɹɛd bægz, ən wiʟ gə miʝɾ ə wɛnsdɛɪ æʔ t̪ə tɹɛɪn stɪjʃˑən.

Sample (Cultivated Welvington)

oːɫ hjüwmən bɪjɪŋz ə boːn fɹɪj ən iʝkˑwəl ɪn dɪgnɪɾɪj ən ɹɑɪʔˑs. d̪eɪ əɹ ɪndæʊd wɪð ɹɪjzn ən kɒnʃns, ən ʃəd æk toːdz wɜn ənɜðəɹ ɪn ə spɪɹɪɾ əv bɾɜðəhəd.

pliʝˑs koːʟ stɛlə. ask ə ɾə bɹɪŋ d̪is t̪ɪŋz wɪd̪ ə fɹəm d̪ə stoː. sɪks spüwnz əf fɹɛʃˑ snəʊ pɪjz, fɑɪf t̪ɪkˑ slæbz əv blüw tʃɪjz, ən mɛɪbɪj ə snæk fəɹ ə bɹʌðə bɒb. wɪj oːɫsə nɪjɾ ə smoːɫ plæstɪk snɪjkˑ ən ə bɪg toɪ fɹɒg fə d̪ə kɪdz. ʃi kən sküwp d̪is t̪ɪŋz ɪɾ̃ə t̪ɾɪj ɹɛd bɛɪgz, ən wiʟ gə miʝɾ ə wɛnsdɛɪ æʔ t̪ə tɹɛɪn stɪjʃˑən.

Standard Federation (North American)

A kind of "Transatlantic accent", inspired by Californian + Philadelphia + Modern RP/Estuary.

Intonation is mostly American + my own weird intonation

Vowels

• orange = [oːɹəndʒ]
• Mary-merry-marry merger
• Mirror-nearer merger
• Hurry-furry merger
• No mergers before /l/
• No trap-bath split

Consonants

• L is light [l] before vowels and dark [ɫ] otherwise, as in RP.
  • wholly-holy split.
• No glottal reinforcement before stops.
• /p t k/ are unaspirated after stressed syllables as in AmE.
• /d t/ has a tapped [ɾ] allophone in similar environments as in American English.
• wine-whine merger optional.
• /r/ may be [ʋ] between vowels.

Standard European

Irish + Aus + NZ?

horse = [hɔɹs], hoarse = [hœɹs~hɜɹs]

Much more dialectal diversity in Switzerland and Bavaria (like in our German; they are sometimes considered separate languages)

Italian

Exactly like our Australian