Brithenig

Brithenig
Brithenig
Pronunciation	[/brɪθənˈig/]
Created by	Andrew Smith
Date	1996
Setting	A thought experiment in alternate history, Ill Bethisad, if Latin had replaced the Brittonic languages
Language family	Indo-European Italic Romance British Latin Brithenig
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bzt

Brithenig, [brɪθənˈig], was created as a hobby in 1996 by Andrew Smith from New Zealand, who also invented the alternate history of Ill Bethisad to "explain" it.

Brithenig was not developed to be used in the real world, like Esperanto or Interlingua, nor to provide detail to a work of fiction, like Klingon from the Star Trek scenarios. Rather, Brithenig started as a thought experiment to create a Romance language that might have evolved if Latin had displaced the native Celtic language as the spoken language of the people in Great Britain.

The result is an artificial sister language to French, Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Occitan and Italian which differs from them by having sound-changes similar to those that affected the Welsh language, and words that are borrowed from the Brittonic languages and from English throughout its pseudo-history. One important distinction between Brithenig and Welsh is that while Welsh is P-Celtic, Latin was a Q-Italic language (as opposed to P-Italic, like Oscan), and this trait was passed onto Brithenig.

Similar efforts to extrapolate Romance languages are Breathanach (influenced by the other branch of Celtic), Judajca (influenced by Hebrew), Þrjótrunn (a non-Ill Bethisad language influenced by Icelandic), Wenedyk (influenced by Polish), and Xliponian (which experienced a Grimm's law-like sound shift). It has also inspired Wessisc, a hypothetical Germanic language influenced by contact with Old Celtic.

Brithenig was granted the code BZT as part of ISO 639-3.

Andrew Smith was one of the conlangers featured in the exhibit "Esperanto, Elvish, and Beyond: The World of Constructed Languages" displayed at the Cleveland Public Library from May through August 2008. Smith's creation of Brithenig was cited as the reason for his inclusion in the exhibit (which also included the Babel Text in Smith's language).

Introduction

Brithenig started as a thought-experement to create a Romance language that might have evolved if Latin speakers had been a sufficient number to displace Old Celtic as the spoken language of the people in Great Britain. The result is a sister language to French, Spanish and Italian, albeit a test-tube child, which differs from them by having sound-changes similar to those that affected the Welsh language, and words that are borrowed from Old Celtic, and from English throughout its 'pseudo-history'. Although other Romance languages have Celtic influences, none of them are so thoroughly influenced as Brithenig.

Phonology

Consonant phonemes

	Labial		Dental/ alveolar		Post- alveolar/ palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m		n
Stop	p	b	t	d			k ⟨k, c⟩	ɡ ⟨g⟩
Affricate					t͡ʃ ⟨c⟩	d͡ʒ ⟨g⟩
Fricative	f	v	s	z ⟨s⟩					h
Approximant						j		w
Lateral				l
Trill				r

Vowel phonemes

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ⟨i, y⟩	ɨ ⟨u⟩	u ⟨w⟩
Near-close	ɪ ⟨i⟩		ʊ ⟨w⟩
Mid		ə ⟨a, e⟩
Open-mid	ɛ ⟨e⟩		ɔ ⟨o⟩
Open	a

Diphthongs

Letter	Pronunciation
ae	[æ], [aː]
ai	[aɪ]
au	[aʊ]
ei	[ɛɪ]
ew	[ɛʊ]
TBd

The letters j, q, v, x, and z are used in foreign words that have been borrowed into the language, especially modern words that have not been adapted to the Brithenig orthography. They are not included in the traditional alphabet.

Brithenig has final syllables consonants that are pronounced soft rather than hard. This is shown with special combinations of letters in these cases. Certain phrases are treated as diphthongs also. Sa es, 'she is, there is, there are' is pronounced as 'saes'. A es and O es are treated similarly. In the standard dialect of Brithenig, where 'ae' and 'oe' are pronounced as long vowels, instead of diphthongs, these phrases can be contracted to sa's, a's and o's. When it becomes necessary to prevent two sounds from eliding, to avoid confusion or loss of sound or meaning, the ending -dd is added to a word:

ys a-dd abrob, he has nearly...

The letter 'y' at the beginning of a word is often unstressed and when preceded by a word ending in a vowel it often elides.

Some monosyllablic words end with a consonant cluster with r or l as the last letter. It is the case here that the last letter is pronounced as if the vowel in the word is repeated before it. Llifr, book is pronounced as 'llifir'. Sometimes it is spelled this way. With longer words 'r' in this position is silent.

Stress in Brithenig is placed on the ultimate, or last syllable, for example, afur, love, is pronounced as 'a-FUR', not 'A-fur'. In diphthongs, the first vowel is pronounced as a stressed or unstressed vowel depending on whether it occured in the stressed syllable or not

Brithenig sometimes accents words with a circumflex, called a teithith, or little roof. Although the accent is always pronounced as 'long', more often than not it appears to be purely grammatical, for example, la and lâ.

Grammar

Noun

There are two genders in Brithenig: masculine and feminine. Unlike English where objects can be neuter, all nouns in Brithenig are recognised as being of one gender or the other. The gender of a noun is indicated by the form of the definite article which precedes it: ill (masculine); lla (feminine).

In some dialects the articles, including the plural form, llo are pronounced as if they were written as L instead of LL. While this is not discouraged, it is regarded by native speakers as a foreign or colonial feature and not an indigenous feature. Some dialects, notably the Kernow dialect found in the southern provinces of Cambria, do not have this sound at all.

The masculine article elides with prepositions that end with a consonant:

a to, at + ill → a'll

di of, from + ill → di'll

gwo under, below, beneath + ill → gwo'll

Four features distinguish feminine nouns from masculine nouns:

1. The initial consonant of the noun undergoes mutation after the feminine article, or after a possessive pronoun. The following prepositions are known to cause softening:

di, of, from

gwo, under, below, beneath

• The conjunctions e, and, and o, or both cause softening to following nouns
• Before these parts of speech, ll and rh do not do so before the article.
• The definate articles are exceptional and do not mutate.
• The prepositions tra, through and a, to, at cause spirant mutation rather than softening.
• Prepositions are pronounced in spoken Brithenig as though they were softened, although the written language does not reflect this:

di is pronounced as ddi

gwo is pronounced as wo

tra is pronounced as dra

2. Adjectives following a feminine noun always undergo soft mutation.

3. The demonstrative pronoun 'that' is o masculine nouns and a for feminine nouns. The demonstrative pronoun yst, 'this', is the same for nouns of both genders. The plural forms are ogyn and agyn for 'those' and ystyn for 'these'

O and a are not used as articles before nouns in modern Brithenig. For that the adverbs ci, 'here', and llâ, 'there', are added to the definate noun phrase. For example, 'this man' and 'that man' become ill of ci and ill hof llâ.

4. Feminine nouns are referred to as sa, 'she', masculine nouns as ys, 'he'.

Number

In Brithenig the plural ending has become silent and is no longer written. To indicate when a noun is plural the article changes from ill and lla to the plural form, llo. The plural article also causes spirant mutation:

ill of 'the man' → llo h-ôn 'the men'

ill of and llo h-ôn is one of the few cases in Brithenig where the singular and plural forms of the same noun are different.

lla gas 'the house' → llo chas 'the houses'

Among some speakers it seems that llo is loosing is definite quality and it is interpreted only as a plural marker. How, or if, they mark the definite plural noun has not been recorded.

Plural nouns after possessive pronouns also take the spirant mutation.

gwstr gas, your house

gwstr chas, your houses

llo wstr chas, your houses, is also common and grammatically acceptable.

Some words have special plurals created by changing from masculine to feminine gender:

ill bordd, hut, lla fordd, huts

ill busc, wood, lla fusc, woods

ill breich, arm, lla freich, arms

ill cil, eyebrow, lla gil, eyebrows

ill corn, horn, lla gorn, horns

ill ew, egg, lla ew, eggs

ill genygl, knee, lla enygl, knees

ill llafr, lip, lla llafr, lips

ill os, bone, lla os, bones

ill rham, branch, lla rham, branches

Many of these have a collective meaning, lla freich, a pair of arms joined to a body, contrasted to llo freich, arms in a general sense. This is often reinforced in natural pairs by adding dew, two, as a prefix: yn ddewfreich, a pair of arms.

The indefinite singular article is yn, which also means 'one'. It also causes initial consonants to mutate on feminine nouns. The indefinite plural article is the preposition di combined with the definite article: di llo h-on, some men. In the spoken language it is contracted and pronounced as ddlo. The same happens with feminine plurals: ddla. However the creator himself doesn't favor this particular feature.

Common nouns must always have an article. A notable exception is a genitive construction that alternatives with the use of di as possessive marker in Brithenig. Normally the only way to say 'the man's house' in Romance languages is to rearange it to mean 'the house of the man', lla gas di'll of. But there is an alternative form called the genitive construction. The preposition di is omitted along with the definate article of the possessed object. The possessed object comes first, followed by the possessor:

cas ill of, the man's house, the house of the man

cas yn of, a man's house, the house of a man

In this case the possessed object is always understood as being definate, it cannot be understood as 'a house of . . .' It is not uncommon in poetic literature, but can also be translated as lla gas di'll of, or lla gas d'yn of. It is often avoided when the possessed object is plural to avoid confusion, as there is no way to indicate plurality other than context.

Many words expressing unspecified quantities, such as asset, 'enough'; mullt, 'many'; tan, 'too much'; are also followed by di.

Brithenig has three suffixes which are used on nouns, two diminutives and one augmentative. -ith is the usual diminutive, teithith, 'little roof, circumflex', -in implies affection, Tomin, 'Tommy'. It is also used on collective nouns, plentin, 'child', from plant, 'children'. The augmentative is -un, ofun, 'big man'. Treat them as very productive.

Brithenig has cases of i-mutation in its history, which cause a to become e, and u to become y. These cases are distinct from the normal letters e and i because they do not cause c and g to become the soft affricate sounds of 'tch' and 'j'. Technically the diminutive suffixes cause these vowels to change, but it is not strictly adhered to in spoken Brithenig.

Pronouns

Pronouns have separate subject and object forms:

eo,	I;	mi,	me
ty,	you;	ti,	you
ys,	he;	llo,	him
sa,	she;	lla,	her
nu,	we;	nu,	us
gw,	you;	gw,	you
ys,	they;	llo,	them
sa,	they;	lla,	them

Brithenig has two ways of saying you: ty', thou', and gw, you. Ty is singular and used for addressing people that the speaker is familiar with, such as an immediate family member, a close friend, a child, an animal, or god. Gw is used as a singular when speaking to a stranger or a less familiar or more formal acquaintance. It is also used to address more than one person no matter the familiarity. Pronouns are subject to consonant mutation in the same way other words are. If ty or ti is mutated it is always written as dy to avoid confusion with the preposition di, which has a different pronounciation. Fi, the mutated form of mi, becomes 'i in the spoken language, especially after consonants.

Sa is used to mean 'they' when 'they' is exclusively feminine. For 'it' use the form appropriate to the gender of the noun. The impersonal pronoun 'it' is always sa: Sa es fel eidd, It is nice today.

There is a third person reflexive pronoun si', himself, themselves (etc.)'; it is used as the object case with the indefinite subject, yno, one', 'people', 'they, derived from yn of, a man.

The direct object form of the pronoun have the option of coming before or after a simple verb, but with a compound tense or an infinitive used in the sentence, it can only come after the past participle or the infinitive, to which it may be hyphenated.

Mi, ti and si also have special disjunctive forms mui or fui, tui or dui or thui, and sui. These are used after prepositions, after the conjunction ca, than, or when a sentence uses two pronouns as objects:

Eo widdef tui e llo in ill castr, I saw you and him in town

The disjunctive pronouns can also be emphatic, repeating the object pronoun:

Eo dy af tui, I love you!

Unlike English, subject pronouns and nouns always go in the order of first person (I, we), second person, (you), and third person (he, she, it, they). The verb usually agrees in number with the nearest subject:

Eo e Badrig gwa a'll castr, Patrick and I are going to town.

Similar is the use of the third person dative pronoun lle in place of llo or lla after a preposition. By itself it means 'to him, her, it, them' and can come before the simple verb or after it like a direct object pronoun, but with a preposition it can only come after the verb. Possessive pronouns precede the noun. Feminine singular nouns take the soft mutation after possessive pronouns, and plural nouns take the spirant mutation, masculine singular nouns do not mutate after possessive pronouns:

mew,	my
tew,	your
sew,	his, her, its
nustr,	our
gwstr,	your
sew,	their

Sew may refer to 'his, her, its or their'. To avoid ambiguity the phrase can be followed with the preposition di and llo, lla to clarify the meaning. With other pronouns this is used to be an emphatic construction:

mew gas, my house

mew gas di fui, MY house

The forms 'mine, yours, his (etc)' are translated into Brithenig as 'my one' or 'my ones' (etc):

mew yn, mew hyn,	mine
nustr yn, nustr hyn,	ours
tew yn, tew hyn,	yours
gwstr yn, gwstr hyn,	yours
sew yn, sew hyn,	his, hers, its, theirs

llo, lla do not mutate, but other pronouns do. The indirect object is often written with a prepostion such as a, to where the mutated forms are used: Ys dun yn llifr a fui, He gives me (to me) a book.

This is the usual order in Brithenig.

Brithenig has one case of personal prepositions which are derived from cun, with. Sometimes speakers reinforce the prepositions by prefixing cun-, but the first forms are more common:

meg, cunmeg,	with me
nusc, cunnusc,	with us
teg, cunneg,	with you
gwsc, cungwsc,	with you
seg, cunseg,	with him, her, them, it

Adjectives

Adjectives agree with their nouns in gender and number. Plural adjectives take the spirant mutation to agree with plural nouns. Feminine adjectives take the soft mutation when following feminine nouns. Adjectives tend to follow the noun. Only the adjectives bon, good, and mal, bad, can be used without any uncertainty before a noun. When an adjective precedes a noun it has a figurative rather than a literal meaning. This effects only a couple of adjectives: pobr, poor, has the meaning of 'destitute' after the noun, but 'unfortunate' when it comes before the noun. Likewise with gran, big, large, when it precedes the noun it means importance, not size:

Yn gran of, a great man

Yn of gran, a big man

Yn gran ddiwrn, a great day

Note that the initial consonant undergoes softening after a preceding adjective.

sul can come before or after the noun with a difference in meanings. After the noun it means 'lonely', yn blentin sul, a lonely child. Before a noun, it means 'only', yn sul blentin, an only child.

Brithenig can use an adjective as a noun by putting an article in front of it. It then refers to an object that has that quality: ill rhys, the red one; llo phog, the little ones.

For a comparative of an adjective, Brithenig puts the words ply, more and min, less before an adjective, with the spirant mutation of the initial consonant of the following adjective. 'Than' is translated as ca: ply hallt ca yn gas, taller than a house.

The superlative is formed by putting the definate article suitable for the gender of the noun before the comparative adjective: ill ply hallt', the tallest. When a noun is qualified, the definate article goes in front of the noun, replacing yn: lla gas bly hallt, the tallest house. It is omitted if the noun is proceeded by a possessive pronoun:

ill llifr ci es sew ober feilwr di llo, this book is his best work

mew ffradr maer, my older/oldest brother

Following a superlative the preposition di is used:

ill tyr ci es ill ply hallt di lla giwdad, this tower is the tallest in the city

If this is getting too complicated then the suffix -isaf, very can replace the superlative sometimes:

lla giwdad ci es felisaf, this city is very beautiful

Certain adjectives are irregular:

bon	good	meilwr	better
mal	bad	puir	worse
gran	big	maer	bigger
pog	little	min	less
mal	badly	pui	worse (adverb)
ben	well	myl	better (adverb)

The superlative form of these adjectives is the comparative form with the definate article, as per usual.

Most adverbs are derived from adjectives by adding the ending -fent. In spoken Brithenig this is usually pronounced 'fen' but the t is still written:

bel, beautiful → belfent, beautifully.

Adverbs cause soft mutation on following words.

Verbs

Verb endings change for person, number and tense. The infinitive is indicated with endings -ar, -er, -ir. The -r is usually left unpronounced. Brithenig verbs are divided into three conjugations according to which infinitive ending the verb takes:

Canhar to sing

Perdder to lose

Dorfir to sleep

In a sentence the infinitive is mutated more often than not due to the preposition a before the verb. The preposition is then dropped but the mutation is preserved. With auxiliaries the infinitive is unmutated. It is the unmutated form that is recorded in the lexicon. It used with other prepositions where English prefers to use `-ing':

'Eo wa per yn turn inawant gweddir a'll lleith, `I go for a walk before going to bed

'Dibos rher-mi eo bran, `After getting up I have breakfast

It is also used to replace the past tense:

Eo fi ref a ffôner-lla, I got up and phoned her

The preposition subr, on is translated as 'about to' before the infinitive:

Eo er subr ffôner-gw, I was about to phone you.

The present indicative describes an action happening at the present time:

eo gant	eo berdd	eo ddorf
ty gant	ty berdd	ty ddorf
ys cant	ys perdd	ys dorf
sa gant	sa berdd	sa ddorf
nu chanhan	nu pherdden	nu ddorfen
gw chanhath	gw pherddeth	gw ddorfith
ys/sa chanhant	ys/sa pherddent	ys/sa ddorfent

Brithenig distinguishes different endings to go with each person and and number. The singular forms are unmarked, -n goes with nu, -nt goes with ys and sa when they are plural, and -th goes with gw, and -nt goes with ys and sa when they are plural. The `-t' on the third person plural ending is silent, in the spoken language there is no difference between this and the ending of the first person plural verb. Also the initial consonant undergoes soft mutation in the singular verb (except after ys) or spirant mutation in the plural verb. Just as standard English always indicates the third person singular with the ending -s (he carries), so these endings must also always be used in Brithenig. If an object pronoun is inserted before the verb, then the verb always undergoes mutation, soft before a singular pronoun, spirant before a plural pronoun.

A verb is reflexive when when its subject and object are the same person: eo fi law, I wash (myself); in Brithenig the object is not omitted.

Llawarsi, to wash oneself:

eo fi law	nu nu lawan
ty dy law	gw 'w lawath
ys/sa si law	ys/sa si lawant

In speech the first `w' on gw 'w' loses it vocalic quality and the combination is pronounced `gwoo.

Sometimes `myself', etc are used for emphasis and not as the object of a reflexive verb. In such cases it is translated as medissif:

Eo fedissif widd llo char, I see the cars myself.

Brithenig makes the present participle by replacing the infinitive ending with -n:

canhan singing

perdden losing

dorfin sleeping

It forms a progressive tense with the verb ystar', `to stand:

Eo yst canhan: I am singing

Ys ystafant dorfin: they were sleeping

The present participle can also be an adjective:

ill of dorfin, the sleeping man

Lla ffuin ganhan, the singing woman

The Latin gerund ending in -nt, still exists in a handful of words in Brithenig that are used as adjectives and nouns, such as afent, wealthy, and president, president. But the survival of these is an historic feature and not a productive one, in Brithenig the present participle has taken over the role of the gerund.

The past participle has the ending -d:

canhad sung

perdded lost

dorfid slept

Some past participles are irregular:

ffaeth, done, made, from ffager, to do, to make;

dith, said from diger, to say;

yscrith, written from yscrifer, to write;

duith, led from duger, to lead;

gwist, seen from gwidder, to see;

rhuth, broken from rhumper, to break;

clos, closed from clodder, to close;

morth, dead from morir, to die.

The forms of the imperfect are:

eo ganhaf	eo berddef	eo ddorfif
ty ganhaf	ty berddef	ty ddorfif
ys canhaf	ys perddef	ys dorfif
sa ganhaf	sa berddef	sa ddorfif
nu chanafan	nu pherddefan	nu ddorfifan
gw chanafath	gw pherddefath	gw ddorfifath
ys/sa chanafant	ys/sa pherddefant	ys/sa ddorfifant

The imperfect is used to describe an action that happened in the past that is not concluded at this point due to it being an ongoing action, an interpreted action or an habitual action. So Eo ganhaf can be interpreted as either `I sang', `I was singing', or `I used to sing'.

`I was singing' can also be translated as eo ystaf canhan.

Remember that the final -f on the singular verb is silent.

The past definite describes a completed and unrepeatable action that happened in the past. Some verb endings have been lost and replaced with the imperfect, or with a compound past tense:

eo ganhaf	eo berddef	eo ddorfif
ty ganhast	ty berddest	ty ddorfist
ys canhaf	ys perddef	ys dorfif
sa ganhaf	sa berddef	sa ddorfif
nu chanafan	nu pherddefan	nu ddorfifan
gw chanhast	gw pherddest	gw ddorfist
ys/sa channarent	ys/sa pherdderent	ys/sa ddorfirent

The past definate is used particularly to describe an historical event; or in connection with a temporal adverb or adverbial phrase; or a `when' phrase; or a conclusive and final action.

There are a small number of verbs where the past definate is irregular, one such verb is diger, to say:

eo ddis	nu ddisen
ty ddisist	gw ddisist
ys dis/sa ddis	ys/sa ddisirent

Other irregular verbs are:

Clos from clodder, to close;

Compruis from comprêner, to understand;

Cyrs from cyrrir, to run;

Duis from duger, to lead;

Lleis from lleir, to read;

Mis from mither, to send;

Tens from tener, to stretch.

The future tense is translated `I will' or `I shall'. It is formed by adding the endings -ai, -a, -a, -an, -ath, -ant to the infinitive. All Brithenig verbs use these endings in the future tense:

eo ganarai	eo berdderai	eo ddorfirai
ty ganara	ty berddera	ty ddorfira
ys canara	ys perddera	ys dorfira
sa ganara	sa berddera	sa ddorfira
nu chanaran	nu pherdderan	nu ddorfiran
gw chanarath	gw pherdderath	gw ddorfirath
ys/sa chanarant	ys/sa pherdderant	ys/sa ddorfirant

For the immediate future tense Brithenig can use gweddir', `go with the infinitive tense of the verb:

Eo wa wenir gwsc, I am going to come with you.

The conditional tense translates to mean `might', `could', `would' or `should'. It is formed by adding a -ew ending to the infinitive:

eo ganarew	eo berdderew	eo ddorfirew
ty ganarew	ty berdderew	ty ddorfirew
ys canarew	ys perdderew	ys dorfirew
sa ganarew	sa berdderew	sa ddorfirew
nu chanarewn	nu pherdderewn	nu ddorfirewn
gw chanarewth	gw pherdderewth	gw ddorfirewth
ys/sa chanarewnt	ys/sa pherdderewnt	ys/sa ddorfirewnt

The conditional is used to indicate a future tense to a past action. It is used in indirect speech after a verb used to communicate ideas:

Ys yscrifera yn garth He will write a letter

Ys digef (ke) ys yscriferew yn garth He said that he would write a letter

The conditional tense is also used in a sentence after an `if' clause:

Se eo w h-er, eo ffagerew rhen If I were you, I would not do it.

Se eo ai gwist-llo, eo afrew parolad a lle If I had seen him, I would have spoken to him.

If the second clause does not have the sense of an action not happening then another tense replaces the conditional:

Se ys gwen eo barolarai a lle If he comes I will speak to him.

The conditional is also used in describing non-specific repetative action in the past:

I llo ddiwrn llâ nu h-amblarewn sempr a'll castr, In those days we would always walk into town, or, In those days we always used to walk into town.

The relative pronoun ke', `who, what, which, that is often omitted in Brithenig, especially the spoken language. Ke is the most common form of the relative pronoun. The alternative ill cal is used to avoid ambiguity in a sentence. It is variable in gender and number and cannot be omitted. Ke is more often encountered in speech.

`Whose' can be translated by ke sew before the noun or by di'll cal after it. `When' and `where' are translated respectively as can and ill llog (ke).

Brithenig uses disjunctive pronouns in dependent clauses:

Lla garth (k') eo yscrifef lla, The letter that I wrote

Lla ffuin (k') eo barolaf seg, The woman that I spoke with

The subjunctive tenses are no longer productive in modern Brithenig. They only survive in proverbial phrases such as:

Can in Rhufein, ffâ si llo Rhufan ffeigant, When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

There are two subjunctive tenses, past and present. The present tense is distinctive that it includes i-mutation in all three conjunctions, if only partially in the -ar conjunction. A, e, and o in the stem become ei, u becomes y, and aw, when it occurs, becomes ew; i is unaffected. The vowels in the ending also change, for -er and -ir verbs it becomes a, while for -ar verbs it becomes e.

eo gant	eo beirdd	eo ddeirf
ty gant	ty beirdd	ty ddeirf
ys cant	ys peidd	ys deirf
sa gant	sa beirdd	sa ddeirf
nu cheinhen	nu pheirddan	nu ddeirfan
gw cheinheth	gw pheirddath	gw ddeirfath
ys/sa chanhent	ys/sa pheirddant	ys/sa ddeirfant

The past subjunctive is simpler and is made by infixing -ss(e) between the normal stem and the ending:

eo ganhas	eo berddes	eo ddorfis
ty ganhas	ty berddes	ty ddorfis
ys canhas	ys perddes	ys dorfis
sa ganhas	sa berddes	sa dorfis
nu chanassen	nu pherddessen	nu ddorfissen
gw chanasseth	gw pherddesseth	gw ddorfisseth
ys/sa chanassent	ys/sa pherddessent	ys/sa ddorfissent

Compound tenses are made with two new verbs, esser', `to be' and afer, `to have. They are irregular and do not conform to the three conjugations that have been given so far. Present tense:

eo su	nu sun	eo ai	nu hafen
ty es	gw hes	ty a	gw hafeth
ys/sa es	ys/sa sunt	ys/s' a	ys/sa hant

Participles:

Present:	Past:
essen	ystad (from ystar, `to stand')
afen	afyd

Imperfect:

eo er	nu h-eran	eo afef	nu h-afefan
ty er	gw h-erath	ty afef	gw h-afefath
ys/sa er	ys/sa h-erant	ys/s' afef	ys/sa h-afefant

Past Definite:

eo ffew	nu ffewns	eo afew	nu h-afewn
ty ffewst	gw ffewth	ty afew	gw h-afewth
ys/sa ffew	ys/sa ffewrent	ys/sa afew	ys/sa h-afewrent

Future:

eo serai	nu seran	eo afrai	nu h-afran
ty sera	gw serath	ty afra	nu h-afrath
ys/sa sera	ys/sa serant	ys/sa afra	ys/sa h-afrant

Present Subjunctive:

eo sia	nu sian	eo ai	nu h-aian
ty sia	gw siath	ty ai	gw h-aiath
ys/sa sia	ys/sa siant	ys/sa ai	ys/sa h-aiant

Sia is pronounced as sha in the present subjunctive of 'to be'.

Past Subjunctive:

eo ffews	nu ffewssen	eo afews	nu h-afewssen
ty ffews	gw ffewsseth	ty afews	gw h-afewsseth
ys/sa ffews	ys/sa ffewssent	ys/sa afews	ys/sa h-afewssent

Gweddir, to go is irregular in the present tense:

eo wa	nu wan
ty wa	gw wath
ys gwa/sa wa	ys/sa want

Otherwise the verb is regular and uses the longer stem.

The word for `not' is rhen. It comes after the verb phrase:

'eo su rhen, `I am not

With verbs beginning with p, t, c, b, d, g, the nasal mutation is used on all verbs beginning with these letters when they are followed by a negative adverb:

Eo nghant rhen, I do not sing.

Gw mherddefan rhen, you did not lose.

Ys norfira rhen, he will not sleep.

Similar to rhen' is nonc, `never. In questions 'ever' is translated as nonc:

'E'gw ystad nonc ci inawant? 'Have you ever been here before?

No, eo su ystad nonc ci inawant, No, I have never been here before.

'Rhen is also used before nouns, rhen llaeth, `no milk.

`There is' or `there are' is sa es:

'Sa es yn char, `There are some cars.

When an object follows a negative verb then the preposition di is inserted between the verb and the following noun. Literally this would be translated as 'none of':

'Sa es rhen di yn char, 'There aren't any cars

Numbers

1	yn	6	sei	11	yndig	16	yn e ghindig
2	dew	7	seth	12	dewddig	17	dew e ghindig
3	trui	8	oeth	13	truiddig	18	dewnoe
4	cathr	9	noe	14	cathorddig	19	cathr e ghindig
5	cinc	10	deg	15	kindig	20	gweint

21	yn e weint

30	deg e weint	40	dew weint
50	deg e ddew weint	60	trui weint
70	deg e drui weint	80	cathr gweint
90	deg e gathr gweint	100	cent

1000

mil

1000000

milliwn

0

sero, rhen

.

puith

Numbers precede the noun being counted. Yn causes feminine nouns to soften; dew, trui and sei cause following nouns to undergo spirant mutation; other numbers come before nouns without causing mutation. When the noun following dew and trui is a feminine collective of a masculine noun (see above under nouns) then the noun undergoes soft mutation rather than spirant mutation.

Before a noun cinc, gweint and cent become cin, gwein and cen. The noun being counted is always singular.

Big numbers are put before nouns in two different ways:

yn of e ghindig, sixteen men

yn e ghindig di llo hof, sixteen (of the) men

Ordinal numbers exist for one to ten:

1st	prif	6th	seist
2nd	segunn	7th	sethif
3rd	terth	8th	oethif
4th	carth	9th	noef
5th	kint	10th	degif

In shorthand these are reduced to the number and the last two letters of the ordinal spelling.

`Once, twice, three times' are made with using the cardinal number with the noun gweg: yn weg, dew weg, trui weg, cathr gweg.

Syntax

Questions

Questions are formed by changing the word order of the subject and the verb:

'Gw pharolath Brithenig, `You speak Brithenig.

Parola'gw Frithenig?, `Do you speak Brithenig?

Note the change in sentence order causes softening to occur on following words. Also the -th ending on the verb has been elided.

When the subject is a noun it remains before the verb but the equivilent pronoun is placed after the verb:

'Ill car es llâ, `the car is there

Ill car es-ys llâ?, `is the car there?

Brithenig has a set of question words similar to English:

Ki?, who?

Di ghi?, whose?

Ke?, which?

Ke gos?, what?

K'log?, where?

A g'log?, to where?

Di g'log?, from where?

Co?, how, what kind of?

Cant?, how much, how many?

Ke sig?, how?

Ke dem?, when?

Perch?, why?

Question words come at the beginning of sentences, except for di ghi:

Ke gar es-o?, Which car is that?

Ill car di ghi es-o?, Whose car is that?

Coand ke replace the article and cause softening. Other question words which act adverbially cause following verbs to soften.

Ke sig? is used with adjectives:

Ke si wirdd er gwstr cum?, `How green was your valley?

In answering the word order is retained with the question word replaced:

Ke gos es gwstr nôn? - Rhaifun eo affell, `What is your name? - I am called Ray'.

Brithenig speakers can put the interrogative tag es-sa rhen, isn't it? at the end of sentences. The tense of the verb and the number and gender of the pronoun may change, but, unlike English, the negative rhen is not dropped:

Gw h-affellath Padrig, es-ys rhen?, Your name is Patrick, is it not?

Ty fi nglafaf rhen, er-ty rhen?, You didn't call me, did you?

Commands

The most common form of making a command is to add -th' to the verb; Gwenith per yn turn, `Come for a walk'. The familiar form of the command drops the ending along with the final vowel; Llaes mi sulfent, `Leave me alone.

Some imperative forms are irregular, being derived from a subjunctive tense which is no longer used in the spoken language:

Esser, to be, siath, sia (pronounced 'shath, sha')

Gwoler, to wish, gwolath, gwol

Afer, to have, aiath, ai

Saber, to know, seibath, seib

Three verbs have very curt familiar forms:

Diger, to say, digeth, dî

Duger, to lead, dugeth, dû

Ffager, to make, to do, ffageth, ffâ

The replacement of a blunt imperative with ffager is considered polite:

'Ffageth (a) wenir per yn turn, `Do come for a walk

'Ffagewth (a) wenir per yn turn, `Would you come for a walk

The verb calfar, to stop, cease is used to mean `don't':

Calfath (a) wedder, Don't go.

Calfath (a) weisar, Never mind

Gwan from gweddir, to go is used before another verb to mean `let's'. On its own it means `let's go'.

And always say: Se ddeg a'w, Please; and Greid, Thank you; and Sa es nyll, You're welcome, it's nothing. Brithenig speakers value courtesy and these little words will help to keep a learner in good standing every time he or she uses them.

'Mr' is ill maistr, 'Mrs, Miss' is lla faistres. The article is omitted when addressing someone by name. maistr and maistres are also used for sir and madam.

Vocabulary

Most of Brithenig's vocabulary is distinctively Romance, even though it is disguised as Welsh. The following list of 30 words gives an impression of what Brithenig looks like in comparison to nine other Romance languages including Wenedyk, and to Welsh. The similarity of about one-quarter of the Welsh words to Brithenig words (indicated by not being bracketed) is due to their common Indo-European background, although a few others, such as ysgol, were borrowings from Latin into Welsh.

Brithenig compared with Romance and Welsh

English	Brithenig	Latin	Portuguese	Galician	Spanish	Catalan	Occitan	French	Italian	Rhaeto-​Romance	Friulian	Romanian	Wenedyk	Welsh
arm	breich	brachium	braço	brazo	brazo	braç	braç	bras	braccio	bratsch	braç	braţ	brocz	braich
black	nîr	nĭger, nĭgrum	negro	negro	negro	negre	negre	noir	nero	nair	neri	negru	niegry	(du)
city, town	ciwdad	cīvĭtās, cīvĭtātem	cidade	cidade	ciudad	ciutat	ciutat	cité	città	citad	citât	oraş, cetate	czytać	(dinas)
death	morth	mŏrs, mŏrtem	morte	morte	muerte	mort	mòrt	mort	morte	mort	muart	moarte	mroć	(marwolaeth)
dog	can	canis	cão, cachorro	can	perro, can	gos, ca	gos, can	chien	cane	chaun	cjan	câine	kań	(ci)
ear	origl	auris, aurĭcŭla	orelha	orella	oreja	orella	aurelha	oreille	orecchio	ureglia	orele	ureche	urzykła	(clust)
egg	ew	ovum	ovo	ovo	huevo	ou	uòu	œuf	uovo	ov	ûf	ou	ów	wy
eye	ogl	ŏcŭlus	olho	ollo	ojo	ull	uèlh	œil	occhio	egl	voli	ochi	okieł	(llygad)
father	padr	pater, patrem	pai	pai	padre	pare	paire	père	padre	bab	pari	tată	poterz	(tad)
fire	ffog	ignis, fŏcus	fogo	lume, fogo	fuego	foc	fuòc	feu	fuoco	fieu	fûc	foc	fok	(tân)
fish	pisc	pĭscis	peixe	peixe	pez, pescado	peix	peis	poisson	pesce	pesch	pes	peşte	pieszcz	pysgodyn
foot	pedd	pĕs, pĕdem	pé	pé	pie	peu	pè	pied	piede	pe	pît	picior	piedź	(troed)
friend	efig	amīcus	amigo	amigo	amigo	amic	amic	ami	amico	ami	amì	amic	omik	(cyfaill)
green	gwirdd	vĭrĭdis	verde	verde	verde	verd	verd	vert	verde	verd	vert	verde	wierdzi	gwyrdd
horse	cafall	ĕquus, cabăllus	cavalo	cabalo	caballo	cavall	caval	cheval	cavallo	chaval	cjaval	cal	kawał	ceffyl
I	eo	ĕgo	eu	eu	yo	jo	ieu	je	io	jau	jo	eu	jo	(mi)
island	ysl	īnsŭla	ilha	illa	isla	illa	iscla	île	isola	insla	isule	insulă	izła	(ynys)
language, tongue	llinghedig, llingw	lĭngua	língua	lingua	lengua	llengua	lenga	langue	lingua	linguatg, lieunga	lenghe	limbă	lęgwa	(iaith)
life	gwid	vīta	vida	vida	vida	vida	vida	vie	vita	vita	vite	viaţă	wita	(bywyd)
milk	llaeth	lac, lactis	leite	leite	leche	llet	lach	lait	latte	latg	lat	lapte	łoc	llaeth
name	nôn	nōmen	nome	nome	nombre	nom	nom	nom	nome	num	non	nume	numię	(enw)
night	noeth	nŏx, nŏctem	noite	noite	noche	nit	nuèch	nuit	notte	notg	gnot	noapte	noc	(nos)
old	gwegl	vĕtus, vĕtŭlus	velho	vello	viejo	vell	vièlh	vieux	vecchio	vegl	vieli	vechi	wiekły	(hen)
school	yscol	schŏla	escola	escola	escuela	escola	escòla	école	scuola	scola	scuele	şcoală	szkoła	ysgol
sky	cel	caelum	céu	ceo	cielo	cel	cèl	ciel	cielo	tschiel	cîl	cer	czał	(awyr)
star	ystuil	stēlla	estrela	estrela	estrella	estel	estela	étoile	stella	staila	stele	stea	ścioła	(seren)
tooth	dent	dēns, dĕntem	dente	dente	diente	dent	dent	dent	dente	dent	dint	dinte	dzięć	dant
voice	gwg	vōx, vōcem	voz	voz	voz	veu	votz	voix	voce	vusch	vôs	voce	wucz	(llais)
water	ag	aqua	água	auga	agua	aigua	aiga	eau	acqua	aua	aghe	apă	jekwa	(dŵr)
wind	gwent	vĕntus	vento	vento	viento	vent	vent	vent	vento	vent	vint	vânt	więt	gwynt

Sample texts

The Lord's Prayer

Nustr Padr, ke sia i llo gel:

sia senghid tew nôn:

gwein tew rheon:

sia ffaeth tew wolont,

syrs lla der sig i llo gel.

Dun nustr pan diwrnal a nu h-eidd;

e pharddun llo nustr phechad a nu,

si nu pharddunan llo nustr phechadur.

E ngheidd rhen di nu in ill temp di drial,

mai llifr nu di'll mal.

Per ill rheon, ill cofaeth e lla leir es ill tew,

per segl e segl. Amen.

The Tower of Babel, Genesis 11:1-9

(This is a very early text, and hasn't been revised.)

Agur ill mun inteir afew yn llinghedig e yn cant comyn. Sig ill pobl sumodefant di'll llewent, ys ligarent yn lluin in Senar e llâ si ysteblirent. Ys ddisirent a sew alltr, "Gwath, gwan a ffager yn fric e gogher llo hinteirfent." Ys hýsafant llo fric in ill llog di'll pedr, e yn aerell per ill kelchin. Affos ys ddisirent, "Gwath, gwan a eddiffigar yn giwdad per nu, cun yn tyr ke dang a llo chel, ke nu ffagen yn nôn per nu e sun ysparied rhen syrs feig lla der inteir." Mai ill Dôn gwenif a fas a widder lla giwdad e'll tyr ke'll pobl eddiffigafant. Ill Dôn dis, "Ech, alltresig yn pobl ke barol ill llinghedig medissif, ys hyst ant cýnidiad a ffager. Agur sa sera negarad rhen a llo ke ys phrofarewnt a ffager. Gwath, gwan a fas a ystyrddir sew linghedig sig ys nhomprênerewnt rhen sew alltr." Sig ill Dôn llo hyspariaf di llâ syrs lla der inteir, e ys chalfarent a eddiffigar lla giwdad. A es perch sa affell Babel -- perch llâ ill Dôn ystyrdd llinghedig ill mun inteir. Di llâ ill Dôn llo hyspariaf syrs ffeig lla der inteir.

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As the people moved from the east, they found a plain in Sennar and there established themselves. They said to each other, "Come, let us make bricks and cook them thoroughly." They used bricks for stone, and clay for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build a city for ourselves, with a tower that touches the heavens, that we make a name for ourselves and are not scattered over the face of the entire land." But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people were building. The Lord said, "See, just as a people who speak the same language, they have begun to do this. Now it will not be denied to them that they would try to do. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other. So the Lord scattered them from there over the entire land, and they stopped building the city. That is why it is called Babel -- because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the entire land.

References

• "URUK: The construction of multilingualism in an electronic knowledge management tool". Geolinguistics. American Society of Geolinguistics. 25–26: 255. 1999. ISSN 0190-4671.
• Havliš, Jan (March 2008). "Výlet do Conlangey" (PDF). Interkom (in Czech). 243: 17–21.
• Frawley, William J., ed. (2003). International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford University Press. p. 154.
• Parkvall, Mikael (2008). Limits of Language: Almost Everything You Didn't Know You Didn't Know about Language and Languages. Wilsonville: Battlebridge Publications. pp. 91–93, 131. OCLC 70894631.

External links

• Smith, Andrew (23 December 2007). "The Page of Brithenig". Dunedin. http://hobbit.griffler.co.nz/introduction.html.
• Brown, Padraic. "Ill Bethisad". http://www.bethisad.com/.
• Fröhlich, Werner. "Romance glossary". http://www.geonames.de/wl-romance.html.