Naeng/Classical

Classical Windermere
wănaang Dămee
Pronunciation	[wɔnaʱŋ dɔˈmeʱ]
Created by	IlL, Praimhín
Setting	Verse:Tricin
Native to	Talma
Language family	Lakovic Ashanic Classical Windermere
Writing system	Windermere script

Template:Windermere sidebar Classical Windermere (CWdm, native name: wănaang Dămee /wɔnaʱŋ dɔˈmeʱ/; Modern Wdm.: fi cduay Dămea Ăfur Bjeheondian [vɪ gduj dəmɛ ʔəvuɐ]; Skellan: a łynǿñ Dymée Yfẃr /ə wəˈnœŋ təˈmɛi əˈfur/ 'Noble Windermere') was a standardized variety of Windermere spoken in the Imperial Windermere territories (Wen Dămee), based on the language of Windermere texts written from ca. fT -300 through fT 500. Alongside its relative Classical Tseer, Classical Windermere served as a lingua franca of learning, governance, law, and religion in premodern Talma and lent many words to other Talman languages. Later Classical Windermere borrowed many words from Classical Tseer.

Why ă more common than ı?

Status

Classical Windermere is the language of Mărotłite sacred texts, such as the Imθumăytil, other Pidaic writings, and the oldest and most widespread complete edition of the Latlaseekh.

In Talma Classical Windermere has evolved into various Talman Windermere vernaculars. Classical Windermere is still used as the liturgical language of Mărotłism and is an official language of the city-state Yocneam.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/	n /n/			ng /ŋ/
Plosive	voiced	b /b~β/	d /d~ð/			g /g~ɣ/
	tenuis	p /p⁼/	t /t⁼/			c /k⁼/	' /ʔ/
	aspirated	φ /pʰ/	θ /tʰ/			χ /kʰ/
Affricate			ts /ts̪/	tł /ts̺~ʈʂ/
Fricative			s /s̪/	ł /s̺~ʂ/	ș /ʃ/		h /h/
Resonant		w /w/	r /r/	l /l/	y /j/

The glottal stop is not transcribed word-initially.

Vowels

Classical Windermere had six stressed vowels a e i o u ü /a e i o u ü/ (ü was central unlike in Modern Windermere). It also had breathy voiced vowels aa ee ii oo uu üü /aʱ eʱ iʱ oʱ uʱ üʱ/.

Late Classical Windermere also had ö /ø/ in Tseer loans.

In Middle Windermere, the clear vowels a e i o u ü became RTR vowels /ɑ ɛ ɪ ɔ ʊ ʏ/, while the breathy vowels aa ee ii oo uu üü became ATR vowels /æ e i o u y/.

Classical Windermere had more vowel contrasts in minor syllables: it had two reduced vowels, ă /ɔ/ and ĭ /ə~ɪ/, which merged to ă /ə/ in Modern Windermere. ă comes from Proto-Ashanic unstressed *a, *o, *u, and ĭ comes from Proto-Ashanic unstressed *i, *ü, *e. This contrast is retained in Pradiul as palatalization.

Phonotactics

CWdm allowed initial bd bg db dg gb gd.

Morphophonology

Sandhi

Classical Windermere had a complex sandhi system (somewhere between Biblical Hebrew and Sanskrit) which is no longer productive in Modern Windermere; most notably it affected plurals and verb forms, making them less predictable.

• th + fric → fric + t
  • θs → st, as in sèf 'go' → *thsèf → steeφ 'to drive' (Modern binsteaf 'energy', sămteaf 'to energize')
  • θφ → φθ, e.g. tăfi 'laugh' → *tithfi → tiφθi 'to mock' (Classical and Modern Wdm. tăfi, tifti)
  • θχ → χθ e.g. Proto-Windermere àrθχa → răχθa 'to die'
  • thł, thș → łt, șt
• ch + f, s, th, ł, ș → chw, ??? ??? ??? ??? ???
• s + f, th, ch → sp, st, sc
• rC, lC > Cr, Cl
• ps pn png → sp fn fng
• tp thp tsp kp chp → tw thw tsw cw chw; Proto-Windermere breathy vowel + tp tsp kp > dw tsw gw
• tsc cts tsp pts sts ts > sc sc sp sp st st

Sandhi table

Initial Consonant	Final Consonant
	f	p	b	m	th	t	d	n	ch	c	g	ng	s	ts	ł	tł	ș	h	'	l	r	w	y
f	f	p	sp	fn	ft	ft	ft	fn	fch	pc	pc	fng	ps	fts	pł	ftł	pș	f	f'	fl	fr	f	fy
p	f	p	sp	fn	ft	ft	ft	fn	pc	pc	pc	fng	ps	fts	pł	ftł	pș	f	p'	pl	pr	p	py
b	f	p	sp	fn	fth	ft	ft	fn	fch	pc	pc	fng	ps	fts	pł	ftł	pș	f	p'	bl	br	b	by
m	mf	mp/mb	mp/mb	m	mth	mt/md	mt/md	mn	mch	mc/mg	mc/mg	mng	ms	mts	mł	mtł	mș	mh	m'	ml	mr	m	my
th	ft	ft	sp	thm	th	t	st	thn	cht	cht	cht	thng	st	tst	łt	tłt	șt	th	t'	thl	thr	thw	thy
t	ft	ft	sp	tm	th	t	st	tn	cht	cht	cht	tng	st	tst	łt	tłt	șt	th	t'	tl	tr	tw	ty
d	ft	ft	sp	tm	th	t	st	tn	cht	cht	cht	tng	st	tst	łt	tłt	șt	th	d'	dl	dr	dw	dy
n	mp	mp	nf	nm	nth	nt	nt	nn	nch	ngc	ngc	nng	ns	nts	nł	ntł	nș	nth	n'	l	r	nw	ny
ch	chp	chp	chp	chm	cht	cht	cht	chn	ch	c	c	chng	chs	chts	chł	chtł	chș	cht	ch'	chl	chr	chw	chy
g	cp	cp	cp	cm	cht	cht	cht	gn	ch	g	c	cng	cs	cts	cł	ctł	cș	cht	g'	gl	gr	gw	gy
c
ng
s
ts
ł
tł
ș
h
'
l
r
w
y

Grassmann's law

Grassmann's law was productive in Classical Windermere: when there were two aspirated consonants before a stressed vowel in a word, the first was deaspirated. e.g. *χăφol > căφol 'to turn'.

Morphology

Nouns

Articles

There are two articles like in Modern Windermere, but with gender distinctions: the definite article fin (m sg), fis (f sg), fi (pl), from the distal demonstrative fi, and the specific article sen (m sg), ses (f sg), se (pl), from the proximal demonstrative se. Indefinite nonspecific nouns do not take an article.

Plurals

Classical Windermere had many irregular plurals due to the effects of sandhi.

Examples:

Regular reduplicated plurals:

• cnul 'leaf' > nălcnul 'leaves'

Sandhi plurals:

• drong 'kernel' > tăngrădong 'kernels'

Suppletive plurals:

• croth 'person' > hĭngüs 'people'

Concatenative plurals (especially for longer words):

• păltsif 'merchant' > impăltsif 'merchants'

Gender

Classical Windermere had grammatical gender, with masculine and feminine genders.

• For "basic" words, nouns with breathy voice were generally feminine: φin tger /pʰin tger/ 'the voice' was masculine, while φis trămaay 'the rain' was feminine.
• Exceptions were human nouns, for which the gender followed natural gender.
• Words with certain affixes
  • Words with the nominalizer ⟨ăy⟩ were masculine.
  • Words with nominalizers hăl- or să- were feminine.

Verbs

Trigger infixes and certain aspects had become derivational in Classical Windermere, but not other aspects or tenses.

Gender

The feminine agreement prefix u- goes before TAM markers. It becomes wă- before a single consonant that is not the glottal stop, and w- or u- replacing an initial glottal stop.

• șroy 'pays' > ușroy
• ămșroy 'paid' > umșroy
• tășăyșroy 'pays in installments' > wătășăyșroy

Tense

Verbs have the following principal parts: present, imperfect, perfect, future I, and verbal noun, which are marked with reduplication, ablaut, and/or prefixes. This complex and irregular system is probably a relic of transitioning from Proto-Lakovic aspects to tenses.

• Present: present or present progressive
• Imperfect: Past incomplete or ongoing action; sometimes like the English pluperfect
• Perfect: Past completed action
• Future/Subjunctive I: future imperfective
• Future/Subjunctive II: future perfective
• Imperative: Present or Subjunctive II

The exact paradigm depends on the verb. For stative verbs like plang 'to stand', present and perfect forms are identical.

Example:

• Present = Perfect: plang 'stands; (has) stood'; feminine uplang
• Imperfect: plăplang 'was standing; had stood' (from PLak reduplication for iterative); feminine upınglang
• Future: hepălang 'will stand' (from heφ- future tense marker + nominal grade pälŋ of root √pläŋ); feminine wepălang
• Infinitive: pălang (from nominal grade *pälng)

Personal pronouns

Pronouns were similar to later Windermere, but with feminine plural pronouns, possessive pronouns, and inflected prepositions.

Independent pronouns

The independent pronouns were used as subjects and direct objects.

• 1sg: ri
• 2sg: łen (m), łes (f)
• 3sg: in (m), is (f)
• 1pl exclusive: tsa
• 1pl inclusive: bang
• 2pl: łĭnam (m), łĭsam (f)
• 3pl: ĭnam (m), ĭsam (f)

Possessive prefixes

+V represents a voicing mutation on a following noun: /p t k/ > /b d g/.

• 1sg: rĭ- +V
• 2sg: hĭ- +V (m), hĭ- (f)
• 3sg: ĭ- +V (m), ĭ- (f)
• 1pl exclusive: tsă- +V
• 1pl inclusive: su- +V (from a fossilized seew 'here')
• 2pl: łăm-/łăn- (both m and f)
• 3pl: năm-/năn- (m), săm-/săn- (f)

Prepositions

Classical Windermere had inflected prepositions, like Tigol and most modern Talmic languages and unlike Modern Windermere. Some prepositions had suppletive forms when inflected.

The regular pronominal affixes:

• 1sg: -ir
• 2sg: -eł (m), -łes (f)
• 3sg: -in (m), -is (f)
• 1pl.ex: -tsa
• 1pl.in: -ang
• 2pl: -łam (both genders)
• 3pl: -nam (m), -sam (f)

Examples:

• mi 'in, at': mir, mił, miłes, min, mis, mitsa, ming, miłam, miłam, minam, misam
• șa 'to, for': șar, șał, șăłes, șan, șas, șatsa, șang, șăłam, șăłam, șănam, șăsam
• φa 'from': ăχir, ăχeł, ăχłes, ăχin, ăχis, ăχtsa, ăχang, ăχłam, ăχłam, ăχnam, ăχsam

Derivation

(Anything else?)

• *θ-/θă- (causative; denominal verbs)
• θu- = intensive
• pĭ- (agentive; triggers voicing of following voiceless stops p t c to b d g)
  • da (know) -> pĭda 'sage' (Medieval păda, Modern pda)
  • tüθ (to grasp) -> pĭdüθ 'meaning, intention'
• ha- (passive)

Breathy voice

Words with breathy voice alternations are explained by older affixes which have lost their productivity:

• feminine *-s for nouns, which often derives instruments from verbs: snar < *snär 'catch' (Modern Wdm. snar 'to know'), snaar < *snär-s 'trap, snare' (Modern Wdm. snär).
• an infix *⟨H⟩ for verbs?

Aktionsart

like Modern Wdm.

Syntax

The usual word order was VSO, unlike Modern Windermere's SVO.

Sample texts

"The Round Table", from the Imθumăytil

The following story is from the Imθumăytil, a major Talman religious text.

Ngiiθ dur se taχ χaaθ mogor. Tăbiits φin Pĭda Brăwid: "Măra łĭnam?" Mi-ăngnuung căχθaaθ năθa emrĭtsal sen doon: Șrüχ te-stiiw: taχ mognas, θaφ te-müts θraaφ, liw stăliiw, θaφ te-müts mălsaaχ, taχ mălüüts, doon tălaχ." Tăbits φin Pĭda Brăwid: "Ǎna mee ra, srü hĭdeen croθ năθa?" Eφθooc φin χaaθ, "Op cănga, φin Pĭda: tsor pădiχ φnărtaang, te ămsaχ păχwădiχ năθa ya φin croθ φi!" Esngim φin Pĭda Brăwid șa φin χaaθ șa-ngiil, "Ăruy șa-χaaθ ses tsărüng te sen θăpal φănaw φănaw."

Gloss

Ngiiθ dur se taχ χaaθ mogor. Tăbiits φin Pĭda Brăwid: "Măra łĭnam?"

time sit.STAT SP six child circle. ask.PFV DEF.M Master B.: "how_many 2PL?"

Once, six children were in a round table. Master Brăwiid asked them: "How many of you are here?"

Mi-ăngnuung căχθaaθ năθa emrĭtsal sen doon: Șrüχ te-stiiw: taχ mognas, θaφ te-müts θraaφ, liw stăliiw, θaφ te-müts mălsaaχ, taχ mălüüts, doon tălaχ."

in-PROG-count other PFV-call SP.M one: 63: six individual, 15 pair, 20 triad, 15 tetrad, 6 pentad, 1 hexad

While the others were still counting, one child replied: "Sixty-three: 6 individuals, 15 teams of two, 20 teams of 3, 15 teams of 4, 6 teams of 5, and one team of 6."

Tăbits φin Pĭda Brăwid: "Ǎna mee ra, srü hĭdeen croθ năθa?"

PFV-ask DEF.M Master B.: "then many what, if enter person other"

Now Master Brăwiid asked: "Well then, how many people will be there if another person enters?"

Eφθooc φin χaaθ, "Op cănga, φin Pĭda: tsor pădiχ φnărtaang, te ămsaχ păχwădiχ năθa ya φin croθ φi!"

PFV-answer DEF.M child "lo, clear DEF.M Master all team previous, and add PL-team other with-person that"

The child nonchalantly responded: "It is plain, Master: all of the old teams, as well as another set of teams with the new person!"

Esngim φin Pĭda Brăwid șa φin χaaθ șa-ngiil, "Ăruy șa-χaaθ ses tsărüng te sen θăpal φănaw φănaw."

PFV-praise DEF.M Master B. to DEF.M child to-say, "exist wisdom and understanding to DEF.M child this true true"

Master Brăwied praised the child saying, "This child has wisdom and understanding indeed."

Poetry

Early Classical poetry

Early Classical Windermere poetry, such as poetic parts of the Imθumăytil, was a form of rhymed prose. (cf. saj3 in the Qur'an)

Later Classical poetry

Classical Tseer poetry (which used both rhyme and meter) introduced meter to Windermere poetry. As in Tseer prosody, a meter was determined by the number of syllables per line and the placement of the caesura. The notation "m+n" denotes a meter of m syllables + caesura + n syllables.

Some meters were:

• 4+4
• 4+6
• 5+5
• 6+4
• 4+7
• 6+5
• 6+6
• 7+7

4+4

An average early Late-Classical philosophical poem:

Hay croθ φnărooχ / χĭrał mi-tliis,
Răwoł hĭspeel / tsor pĭχăngdiis.
Da hĭtsărüüng, / woch hogăsgiis,
Hĭdgun cămbey, / heneeb θăyφiis.

O fleeting man / swept by desire,
Your maw dissolves / all fine repast. (lit. your ear forgets all pĭχăngdiis, a type of joyful dance music)
Know your good sense / and light your fire;
Consume your food; / your life won't last.