Annerish
| Annerish | |
|---|---|
| ın beàırlet Annrach ᛬ᛂᛓᛆᛁᛧᚳᛁᛐᛅᚱᚭᚷ᛬ | |
| Pronunciation | [əˈmbjɑˑɹləˈtʰɑ̃ɯ̯̃nɾʌ̹χ] |
| Created by | Aireanna |
| Setting | The Anneries, off the west coast of Ireland |
| Official status | |
Official language in | The Annerish Federation |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | qrz |
- created by Aireanna
The Annerish language (ın beàırlet Annrach / ᛂᛓᛆᛁᛧᚳᛁᛐᛅᚱᚭᚷ) is a medieval, early-split Germanic language spoken by the inhabitants of the Anneries (ın Annray / ᛂᛅᚱᛆᚢ), an archipelago emerging from the Porcupine Bank off the west coast of Ireland.
It is attested in two distinct forms, namely: Old Annerish and Middle Annerish. Only a handful of vital pagan religious texts survive in the older language, first put to manuscript in the 7th century, though possibly composed a couple of centuries earlier. Despite having been affected by a series of phonological and morphological changes that had radically altered its appearance compared to other old Germanic languages, these ancient verse and prose exhibit abundant vocabulary of Germanic stock, albeit under a prestigeous Goidelic superstratum.
By the time of the Middle period, after centuries of diglossia, the Celtic influence has made the cognate language unrecognizeable to the Norsemen, who ally with their distant cousins against the Christians of the British Isles and become integral to Annerish culture, lending doublets (mostly nominal) in the process.
Earlier, a unique substratum, likely Old European, had left its mark on the language and more specifically on the sociolect of men - the Ceccr - which is driving innovation ever since the earliest of texts. Influence from the original indigenous inhabitants of the archipelago can also be felt in the pragmatics of the different registers of speech. Despite the relentless invasions of Gaelic missionaries, an unmatched matriarchal social order and polytheistic worldview have been steadily developing in the nation for over a millennium which is reflected extensively throughout the known literature that has unfortunately declined after a brutal period of English colonisation in the 1700's.
In modern times, these rich culture and language are endangered and facing extinction in both the homeland and the diaspora in the New World.
Etymology
In English, the name "Annerish" is simply the endonym Annr, whose origin is disputed, and the suffix -ish. Similarly, the native term for "the Anneries" - ın Annray derives from a compound with Old Norse ey, translating to "the Annerish islands".
A leading native theory connects the ethnonym with the goddess Annarth, mentioned in the "Gospel of Evynn" (Lebor Ebuınne) as the matron of the Eıchenna, whose queen and chief priestess was Bóıdech. Still, many theologians consider the text itself failing to point out a connection as definitive proof against this theory. Instead, the native theonym Aınnr is regarded as the true origin of Annr.
Bernthaler (1907), the main foreign scholar on the Annerish, supports both propositions and argues that the dental ending in the dative (Aınnrte) must trace back to the former theonym, but the root itself is one and the same as *anderā ("woman").
Orthography
Latin
The Latin alphabet was introduced by the Irish Christians during the early 7th century. Another major factor in the Romanization of Anrish was the later advent of the printing press, created exclusively for Latin-based writing systems.
Ogham and runic
The Runic alphabet was reintroduced by the Viking migrants in the Middle ages.
History
From Proto-Germanic to Proto-Annerish
It is hypothesised that the Annerish people are either one and the same with, or a subgroup of the Balgae who migrated from the Gallo-Germanic confederation to southern Britain and later fled to Ireland at the wake of the Roman conquest. Many characteristic features of Brythonic and Goidelic languages are shared with the Annerish language, which had previously been regarded as Celtic. True classification has also been obscured by the crucial lack of Verner's law, along with sweeping sound changes by analogy with the mutation strategies of the dominant languages that reverse some of the effects of Grimm's law, though notably not in reflexes of *hw- and *þw- initials. A list of the most important changes will be given below (in approximate order):
- wu> *ū. This must have been a feature of the Proto-Germanic dialect of the Annerish people before influences from Brittonic, where *ū> ȳ, and also precedes *kw> p (*kwuruz> *kūrj-> cuír, not **puír.)
- ē2> ī (*ē2hiraz> íochr - maple)
Monophthongization of PG diphthongs:
| Diphthong | turns into: | merges with: |
|---|---|---|
| *ai | ǣ~ é/eà/éı | *ē1 |
| *au, eu, ōu | ȱ~ úa/úaı | - |
| *iu, *ōi | ȳ~ y/uí | - |
Nasal vowels merge: internally word-final
- ą, *am, *an> ã ã
- ǭ, *ô, *ǫ̂> -
- aNF, *ōm, *ōn> ā -
- iNF> ē -
- į̄> - ẽ
- uNF> ũ -
- ų, *um, *un> - ũ
Labiovelars become bilabials:
- kw> p-, -b- (*kwrammaz> *pramm~pram - damp, *nakwô> *nǫba~napa - ship); *gw> b-, -g- (*gwenþiz> *bũıḋ~bóıd - fight, *snaigwaz> *nnœ́ġ~neòg - snow); *ngw> -mb- (*slangwijō> *llaımb~laım - sling); *hw> f (*hwītaz> *fíd~fíot - white, *tēhwō> *téŭf~teòfa)
Celtic Influence
Pre-Annerish and Ceccr
Modern Annerish and revitalization
Phonology
Consonants
Vowels
Phonotactics
Syllable Structure: (C)(r)V(C)2
Where:
- C = Consonant
- r = /r/
- V = Vowel
- An epenthetic short vowel must occur between /r/ and a following labial in the coda.
Stress
Morphology
Mutation
Modifiers
The article
Particles
Adjectives
Nouns
Number
Inflection
Pronouns
- ·For the forms fused with the copula (mí, sé, sí, síb) see below
| Ⅰ ᴘᴇʀs. | ɴᴏᴍ. | ᴘᴏss. | ɴᴇɢ. | Ⅱ ᴘᴇʀs. | ɴᴏᴍ. | ᴘᴏss. | ɴᴇɢ. | Ⅲ ᴘᴇʀs. | ɴᴏᴍ. | ᴘᴏss. | ɴᴇɢ. |
| sɢ. | mé | muʟ | pé | sɢ. | thú | duʟ | tae | ꜰᴇᴍ. | í (h)ᴠ- | aʜ | tí |
| ᴇᴍᴘʜ. | mıse, méıse | muíse | ᴇᴍᴘʜ. | thusa, thúsa | duíse | ᴇᴍᴘʜ. | íse, híse | aíse | |||
| Qᴜᴏᴛ. | thy | suʟ | sae / tae |
ɪɴᴄʟ. | bé | suʟ [_ béɴ] / aɴ | pé | ᴍᴀsᴄ. | é, ed ᴠ- | aʟ | sae |
| ᴇᴍᴘʜ. | thysa | suíse | ᴇᴍᴘʜ. | béıse, bıse | suíse / bé(ıse)ɴ | ᴇᴍᴘʜ. | éta | áesa | |||
| ᴇxᴄʟ. | myr | aɴ, (n)arɴ | ré | ᴘʟ. | rıb | aɴ, (b)urɴ | sy | ᴘʟ. | néat ᴠ- | aɴ | ré |
| ᴇᴍᴘʜ. | muaıre | naora | ᴇᴍᴘʜ. | rıbse | bfuıre | ᴇᴍᴘʜ. | níere | aíre |
IIIsg masc. becomes (s)ed before vowels, while (s)í triggers h-prosthesis, which can surface even when the pronouns are dropped after finite verb forms; níe <verb-n ía which took over and survived older variants like ḋía, íaḋ, and ían (cf.: Gaelic íat), hence this leaves eclipsis when pro-dropping and t-prosthesis before vowels; emphatic with n- (-re <genitive, in analogy with muírre) is becoming more common, while h- in IIIfem. is declining. Similarly, myr <verb-m ụ́r (extended from ụ́ when infixed pronouns became the norm;) nuor, originally nụ́r(r), a less prominent variant of nár which gives the unstressed ar; The homophonic ur (<ᴏɪḃḟọr) in colloquial speech was ambiguous and thus both were proscribed, until the -r was deleted, merging all the plural possessives. Rıb [ɹuˑ] (<-r [ṡ]iḃ, influenced by ᴏɪsịḃ and the prepositional inflextion in -ḃ which was originally -ṗ from the dual, but those collapsed and the original plural fell obsolete due to the dissolution of an early T-V distinction) in the most modern language slowly morphs into [juˑ] under pressure from English, motivated further by the incidental similarity of the possessive eoır [ˈjɤɹə]. The original T-V was very short lived and mostly aided in the merger of the IIIsg and IIsg verbal forms with its corresponding phonetically similar endings (tho also see above for prep.), however the dual inflection was maintained into something of an inclusive Ipl. This later developed into a polite pronoun for both Isg; IIsg; and Ipl. with its inclusivity still usual, but not mandatory. The independent forms hail from *bai - N: bé, béıse~bıse; P: uor~ar~aɴ/suʟ ___ bé (<béıeɴ), while the determiner meaning both is modelled after the accusative *banz> C: báʜ [bʷɑ]; G: baıde~baíɴ [bʷæjə]; D: baí(b) [bʷæi̯(v)] (this can be combined with bé to explicitly mean '[exclusively] us both' - C: bá dbé(ɴ); G: aɴ/suʟ _ baín bé; D: baí bé.) A unique quotative pronoun, referring to the oneself in others' reported speech, has developed from the variant of the IIsg: thy (E: thysa.) The rest of the forms and inflextion is normally covered by the ordinary IIsg, tho the possessive su [ᴍ~ʟ], suíse was used (probably <*sīnaz.) The possessives were borrowed/remodelled after the Celtic clitic, with the adjectives seeing limited independent pronominal use, however in late OA literature the mixed mutation effect of the influence from the inflected forms showed through: mu(n)ᴍ, du(t)ᴍ, su(s)ᴍ, a(r)ᴍ (variant spellings: mo/ma; do/da/tho/thu/tha; so/sa; e/ı.) The IIIsg possessives were in conflict with the learned Old Irish forms, where masculine and neuter cause lenition, feminine – aspiration, while the expected Germanic reflexes all cause aspiration and that is still observed in the very earliest of Old Annerish texts where singular a/e/ı causes lenition less frequently, mostly with Gaelic vocab; later this was ironed out in the masc.ʟ and fem;ᴍ>ʜ but in the neuter the choice of mutation was rather chaotic until the class' dissolution by the E.Mod. period.
Adpositions
The copulae
Verbs
Verbal morphology is the most complex subject of Annerish grammar; despite the relative paucity of conjugated forms, categorising paradigms has proven difficult. Native scholarship, namely the Bésgnae Béırle, have used a minimal numbering system based on the present stem: in the Ist conjugation it ends with a broad consonant, in the IInd with a slender, in the IIIrd with a nasal that is dropped in the other stems, and in the IVth there is no closing consonant. Bernthaler (1907) proposes a weak—strong classification similar to German, however, the relationship between all six crucial stems and their formation more closely resembles that of Old Irish. This article largely follows Teagan et al. (2003).
Verbal noun
Every verb is lemmatised as a verbal noun which forms the periphrastic present. Derivational strategies have varied wildly, though most verbal nouns resemble the independent form of the "present" (see below for ᴛᴍᴀ.) Verbal number can be expressed by declining some verbal nouns for number, though most are lexically fixed as either singular or collective only.
Preverb
A preverb can fuse with all stems in their dependent forms, also known as the prototonic or augmented, including the verbal noun. Valency cannot be inferred from the presence of such augmentation, however. While transitivity is formally marked by a preverb and its absence otherwise, this nearly rigid system is a relatively recent development. Simplex bivalent verbs still see use in the Middle period, especially in sacred poetry and prose. A group of frequent, semantically transitive but formally stative verbs has evoked the term deponency in academic literature, with the concession that this cannot be considered a proper category in morphological classification.
The preverb is an essential component of transitive verbs since it "conjugates" for direct object pronouns. While they appear similar to prepositions, preverbs have somewhat different forms and are lexically bound to each verb instead of carrying their individual meaning. Whenever the direct object is a definite noun, marking for its gender and/or number is optional and fairly common in later, colloquial language. Otherwise every preverb has a default form (sometimes referred to as 'deutorotonic') which is mandatory in an absolute construction. Here is an exhaustive list of preverbs and their pronominal forms in Middle Annerish:
| ᴅᴇᴜᴛ.: | u (f-) | um | y(n)ɴ | ar | rı(n)ɴ | s | c | tar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1ᴘ.sɢ. | fumʟ | mumʟ | dumʟ | rumʟ | rıthemʟ | amʟ | gamʟ | - | |
| 1ᴘ.ɪɴᴄʟ. | fuch | much | duch | ruch | rıthech | ach | gach | trach | |
| 2ᴘ.sɢ. | futhʟ | muthʟ | duthʟ | ruthʟ | rıthethʟ | athʟ | gathʟ | - | |
| 2ᴘ.ᴘʟ. | fubʟ | mubʟ | dub | rub | rıtheb | ab | gab | trab | |
| 3ᴘ.ꜰᴇᴍ.sɢ. | fí | muí | dí | rí | í | gí | - | ||
| 3ᴘ.ᴍᴀsᴄ.sɢ.1 | fu(n)ɴ | mu(n)ɴ | du(n)ɴ | ru(n)ɴ | rıthe(n)ɴ | a(n)ɴ | ga(n)ɴ | (trann) | |
| 1ᴘ.ᴇxᴄʟ./3ᴘ.ᴘʟ. | fus | mus | dus | rus | rıthesʟ | as | gas | tras | |
| 1The full form with -n(n) is used when a 1ᴘ.ᴘʟ. referrent is qualified with a noun or relative clause; e.g.: Runn bíodas níe an oıgetha. - They fed us, their guests. Dunn báın neırs c láıbte haıs! - Bless us who pay a visit! | |||||||||
Aside from the verbal noun, there are four more stems to each verb, along with the imperative which takes after either the present or irrealis, if not suppletive. 4th-dimensional conjugation system consisting of an active/passive voice distinction, a 1/2/3 form-distinction, a non-past/past tense-distinction, and a subjunctive/indicative mood-distinction. Regarding the form-distinction in particular, the 3 forms correspond directly to a person-distinction, but are differentiated because of sound-changes merging archaic forms, as follows:
| Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | in | form 1 | |
| ex | form 1 | form 3 | |
| 2nd person | form 2 | ||
| 3rd person | form 2 | form 3 | |
Conjugation
Negation
Narrative
Preterite
Irrealis
Syntax
Alignment and order
The constituent order of words in any given sentence is typically verb-subject-object (VSO). It must be noted that the language is conventionally considered to be nominative-accusative in the sense that it's Centum and not ergative-absolutive. This is due to the fact that the language does not decline nouns according to aliğnment, rather thus placing the language more in the category of direct aliğnment; a situation similar to that of English.
Dependent clauses
Conditional sentenses
Pragmatics
Lexicography and the Bésgnae Béırle
Registers of speech
Modern diglossia
Example texts
Swadesh list