An Bhlaoighne
In-universe conlang stealing morphemes from Windermere (like 1sg r, 2sg ł), Irish (samhradh for summer etc.), Camalic, and Indo-Iranian/Greek?
Todo
gús 'and'
a fhloc a ghís 'etc.'
go dhxíogh 'good'
um... 'um...'
peighe 'street'
noir 'black'
líobh 'to want'
Gussnish inspired descendant
Phonology
Phonology of An Bhlaoighne: a e i o u á é í ó ú /ä e̞~ɛ i o̞~ɔ u a: ɛ: i: o: u:/ + far too many diphthongs to even count!
b c d f g h l m n p q r s t x /b k d̪ f g h l̪ m n̪ p tɬ r s t̪ ɬ/
The letters bcdfgpqstx can participate in two mutations. In addition, m can be aspirated.
Aspiration: bh ch dh fh gh mh ph qh sh th xh /bʰ kʰ d̪ʰ fʰ gʰ mʰ pʰ tɬʰ sʰ t̪ʰ ɬʰ/
Prenasalization: mb gc nd bhf ng _ mp nq dhs dt dhx /ᵐb ᵑk ⁿd̪ bʰf ᵑg ᵐp ⁿtɬ dʰs ⁿt̪ dʰɬ/
Sindarin analog
ai -> e
ái -> ä́ -> ia
ao -> å -> o
ea -> ia
ei -> e
eo -> ö́ -> io
aoi, eoi -> í
eo -> o
ia -> ie
io -> io
oi -> e
ua -> uo
uai -> í
éa -> é
eá -> á
eó -> ó
eói -> é
éi -> ei
ío -> io
iú -> ǘ -> iu
iúi -> í
ói -> é
oí -> í
úi, uí -> í
prepositions
to: eis -> sós, smedh, san, es
from: chois éinn go na -> hios, hiomedh, hion, hion
in: ni -> nis, nimedh, nin, nin
away from: ni amhaidh na -> aus, aumedh, aun, aun
with: ro -> ros, romedh, ron, ron
without: go ríste na -> rís, rímedh, rín, rín
like: qe -> qes, qemedh, qen, qen
unlike: xa aghabh na -> xás, xámedh, xán, xán
passive: go leath 'to pass'
causative: go dhaimh 'to give'
reflexive: go dhsinn 'to share'
causative construction:
to cause X to Y the/a Z = dhaimh Y Z ro X
ise = an bhl root for 'this'
ni n-uais ise -> nuaiste -> "sindarin" níst 'today'
ni dhxeóthaigh ise -> "sindarin" λioþis 'this year'
díse, keves, ξiche, saureð = fall, winter, spring, summer
díses, kevest, ξiches, saures = this fall, this winter, this spring, this summer
Prosody
Stress
Intonation
Phonotactics
Morphophonology
Morphology
Article
Both the definite and indefinite articles are 'an' in the singular, 'na' in the plural.
óis 'one' + plural definite and mhaidh 'some' + plural definite are often used instead of indefinite articles.
Gender and declensions
The An Bhlaoighne nominal system has ten declensions.
First declension masculine: indef. sg. aspiration; indef. pl. prenasalization; def. sg. no mutation; def. pl. no mutation
First declension feminine: indef. sg. prenasalization; indef. pl. aspiration; def. sg. aspiration; def. pl. prenasalization
First declension neuter: indef. sg. no mutation; indef. pl. no mutation; def. sg. prenasalization; def. pl. aspiration
Second declension masculine: indef. sg. aspiration; indef. pl. aspiration; def. sg. no mutation; def. pl. prenasalization
Second declension feminine: indef. sg. prenasalization; indef. pl. no mutation; def. sg. aspiration; def. pl. aspiration
Second declension neuter: indef. sg. no mutation; indef. pl. prenasalization; def. sg. prenasalization; def. pl. no mutation
Third declension masculine: indef. sg. aspiration; indef. pl. no mutation; def. sg. no mutation; def. pl. aspiration
Third declension feminine: indef. sg. prenasalization; indef. pl. prenasalization; def. sg. aspiration; def. pl. no mutation
Third declension neuter: indef. sg. no mutation; indef. pl. aspiration; def. sg. prenasalization; def. pl. prenasalization
Examples:
bheathra 'man' - 2nd decl. masc. | ||
---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |
Indefinite | an bheathra | na bheathra |
Definite | an beathra | na mbeathra |
chealim 'table' - 1st decl. masc. | ||
---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |
Indefinite | an chealim | na gcealim |
Definite | an cealim | na cealim |
mblaoighne 'language' - 1st decl. fem. | ||
---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |
Indefinite | an mblaoighne | na bhlaoighne |
Definite | an bhlaoighne | na mblaoighne |
fiodenn 'honor' - 3rd decl. neut. | ||
---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |
Indefinite | an fiodenn | na fhiodenn |
Definite | an bhfiodenn | na bhfiodenn |
páirín 'house' - 2nd decl. neut. | ||
---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |
Indefinite | an páirín | na bpáirín |
Definite | an bpáirín | na páirín |
(Nouns beginning with 'm' can only be 2nd decl masc, 2nd dec fem, 3rd decl masc or 1st decl fem)
There's also a 'grab bag' class of nouns that begin with consonants that can't be mutated. The gender of a noun in this class is determined solely by meaning, and there is no way to differentiate between its definite and indefinite form.
Tenses
present: ceis, cean (with the article) past: éadh, éan (with the article) future: liobh, lian (with the article) aorist ("timeless"): fo, fon
- Fon cealim go bhfóina. /fon kealim go bʰfo:jna/ 'The table is white'
- Cean beathra go dhxeathar. /kean beatʰra go dʰɬeatʰar/ 'The man is walking'
- Cean bheathra go mblaoigh. /kean bʰeatʰra go ᵐblaojgʰ/ 'A man is speaking'
(go+prenasalization literally means 'in')
Prepositions fusing with 'an'
- 'in': go + an = ni, go + na = in
- 'with': ro + an = ca, ro + na = ac
- 'to': eis + an = sa, eis + na = as
- 'like': qe + an = xa, qe + na = ax
Inflected prepositions
I, you, he/she, this, that, we, you, they
eisiúr, eiséiq, eisear, eiseannsa, eiseann, eisidh, eisibh, eiseanna
(originally he and she were distinguished as eisean, eiseas)
niúr, néiq, near, neannsa, neann, néidh, néibh, neanna
rúr, róiq, rór, rónnsa, rónn, róidh, róibh, rónna
qiúr, qéiq, qear, qeannsa, qeann, qéidh, qéibh, qeanna
Tense particles also inflect:
ceis: c(eis)iúr, ceisiq/cíq, c(eis)ear, c(eis)eannsa, c(eis)eann, ceisidh/cídh, c(eis)ibh/cíbh, c(eis)eanna
éadh: éadhúr, éiq, éar, éannsa, éann, éidh, éibh, éanna
liobh: liúr, líq, liar, liannsa, liann, lídh, líbh, lianna
fo: fúr, fóiq, fór, fónnsa, fónn, fóidh, fóibh, fónna
Syntax
Constituent order
Noun phrase
Verb phrase
Sentence phrase
Dependent clauses
Numerals
- 0 = dírabh /di:rabʰ/
- 1 = óis /o:js/
- 2 = réix /re:jɬ/
- 3 = daobhe /daobʰe/
- 4 = fuín /fwi:n/
- 5 = seamh /seamʰ/
- 6 = taca /taka/
- 7 = óista n-óis /o:jsta no:js/
- 8 = óista réix /o:jsta re:jɬ/
- 9 = óista ndaobhe /o:jsta ⁿdaobʰe/
- 10 = óista bhfuín /o:jsta bʰfwi:n/
- 11 = óista dhseamh /o:jsta dʰseamʰ/
- 12 = réixta /re:jɬta/
- 18 = daobheta /daobʰeta/ or daobhta /daobʰta/
- 24 = fuínta /fwi:nta/
- 30 = seamhta /seamʰta/
- 36 = gról /gro:l/
- 37 = gról d'óis /gro:l do:js/
- 38 = gról da réix /gro:l da re:jɬ/
...
- 72 = réix gról
...
- 1295 = seamhta dhseamh gról da seamhta dhseamh
- 1296 = qaoiche /tɬaojkʰe/
Example texts
Modern An Bhlaoighne
Modern An Bhlaoighne, or An Bhlaoighne do Dheofáid (pronounced /vlaːn ðɪfʊid/, or /vlaːnfʊid/ in rapid speech) is the most popular in-universe conlang in Crackfic Irta and has more native speakers in Cualuav than many natlangs (most of them immigrants from Irta). Its pronunciation is much simpler and more eroded but its orthography is pretty much the same as An Bhlaoighne, which makes for some really bloated spellings, and even whole words can be silent, like "na" which serves as a noun marker in written Dheofáid.
An Dheofáid uses a version of Square Word Calligraphy.
An Dheofáid has no noun genders or declensions; the definite plural is the only form of a noun that survives (except in the occasional instance where the definite singular becomes a singulative).
Phonology
Dheofáid phonology is not too different from Brythonic Celtic languages. There are lots of vowel/diphthong mergers though some An Bhlaoighne monophthongs turned into diphthongs like í /ei/.
Silent gh
Dheofáid has vowel coloring from former gh - íogh sounds like /iw/.
Consonant mergers and splits
q and x get merged completely into Welsh ll
c, g and ch undergo a broad/slender split: cealim sounds like /tʃələm/
Orthography
In addition to the standard orthography, An Dheofáid uses Ann An Leannathaimh na Fiolltagh /ɪn lant̪ɪv fɛlte/ (Children's Alphabet) which is more phonetic. The An Leannathaimh na Fiolltagh is also a romanization but has various invented and Greek letters for sounds not present in An Bhlaoighne.
The An Leannathaimh na Fiolltagh is standard in some parts of Cualand.
Grammar
Dheofáid has part of speech markers like Esperanto, but they're standalone words and are silent. Some of these part of speech markers are
- na for nouns
- an for singulative and mass nouns
- do for adjectives