Brytho-Hellenic

Revision as of 22:28, 3 January 2013 by Llyn (talk | contribs) (→‎Alphabet)
Brytho-Hellenic
Elynig (to kaen)
Pronunciation[[Help:IPA|ɛ'lənig 'tɔ 'kai̯n]]
Created by
Native toElas to Kaen
Native speakers52 millions (2012)
Indo-European
Official status
Official language in
Elas to Kaen
Language codes
ISO 639-1el
ISO 639-2ely
ISO 639-3ely
Elas mini.gif
New Greece or "Elas to Kaen"

General information

Brytho-Hellenic, Brythohellenic or simply Neohellenic (the native name is Elynig) is a language that is spoken nowadays in a different timeline in a country that corresponds almost exactly to our England. In that timeline the Persians have won the wars against Greece and the Greeks have been forced to emigrate and to flee. Firstly the Greeks find protection in Magna Graecia, but, as the Persians conquer those territories, they shift to Northern Italy, where the Romans withstand the Persian troops. In 389 b.C. Rome is destroyed and both Romans and Greeks flee to Carthage, enemy of the Persian empire. Together they try to attack the Persian fleet, but they are defeated again. In the last days of 382 b.C. an imposing expedition sails away from a harbour on the coast of New Carthage - our Cartagena in Spain. Its mission is to find new territories where they can live in peace and prosperity, far from the Persian threat. In 381 b.C. Conon the Athenian and his Greeks reach our Scilly Islands: they have chosen to sail northward, because they had heard about legends that spoke about a fertile and grassy island in the North. It is the beginning of the New Greece or Elas to Kaen (IPA ['ɛlas 'tɔ 'kai̯n]).

Phonology

Alphabet

After the defeat against the Persians almost the entire Greek people fled towards Roman territory: Rome triplicated its population and was greekized. During their living together Greeks and Romans used mainly the Greek language to communicate, whereas the Latin language became a secondary and socially lower language, spoken mainly by common people. Nevertheless - almost incomprehensibly - the Greeks adopted the Latin alphabet, maybe trying to be understood even by the lower social classes. As we are talking about the modern language, we don't consider the first versions of the alphabet that were used in ancient times. The alphabet of Brythohellenic contains 24 letters:

Letters Pronunciation Further informations
a [a] -
b [b] -
d [d] -
dh [ð] like the English 'th' in the word that
e [ɛ] / [e] it can pronounced either open or closed, but it doesn't affect the meaning
f [f] -
g [g] it is always pronunced as in the English word get
gh [h] it was pronounced as [x], but nowadays it is pronounced the same as 'h'
h [h] -
i [i] / [j] often it forms a diphthong when precedes or follows another vowel
k [k] -
l [l] -
m [m] -
n [n] -
o [ɔ] / [o] it can be either open or closed, but it doesn't affect the meaning
p [p] -
r [r] trilled just as in Italian
s [s] always voiceless
t [t] -
th [θ] like the English 'th' in the word thin
u [u] -
v [v] -
w [w] -
y [i] / [ǝ] / [j] in monosyllabic words it is read as [i], in polysyllabic words it is read [i] if in the last syllable, otherwise [ǝ]; often it is read [j] if precedes or follows another vowel

A circumflex accent over the y indicates that it is read as [i] even if it is in a position where it would be read as [ǝ] or [j], ex.: ŷthias, "fish (pl.)" (IPA ['iθjas]).

Consonantal phonemes

Brythohellenic has the following consonantic phonemes:

Phonemes Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop p b t d k g
Affricate
Nasal m (ɱ) n (ŋ)
Fricative f v θ ð s (x) h
Approximant r j w
Lateral approximant l

In the South-Western area (our Cornwall) the digraph gh is pronounced as [x].

Vocalic phonemes

Brythohellenic has the following vowel system:

Phonemes
Opening Front Back
Closed i u
Mid-closed e o
Mid-open ɛ ɔ
Open a


Diphthongs and digraphs

In Brythohellenic there are 23 diphthongs, that is clusters of two vowels pronounced with a single emission of air. These diphthongs are:

Diphthongs Pronunciation
ae, ai, ay [ai̯]
au [au̯]
ei, ey [ɛi̯] / [ei̯]
eu [ɛu̯] / [eu̯]
ia, ya [ja]
ie, ye [jɛ] / [je]
io, yo [jɔ] / [jo]
iu, yu [ju]
oe, oi, oy [ɔi̯] / [oi̯]
wa [wa]
we [wɛ] / [we]
wi [wi]
wo [wɔ] / [wo]
wy [wi] / [wə]

We have just seen the digraphs of Brythohellenic: dh [ð], gh [h], and th [θ].

Stress

Ancient Greek has undergone deep changes during its coexistence with Latin and above all with the Brythonic languages. Two main changes have been:

  • often the hiatus with 'i' has become a diphthong, ex.: σοφία > *σόφια > seifegh, "knowledge";
  • almost always the last syllable has fallen, ex.: καινός > kaen, "new"; θάνατος > thanadh, "death".

These two phoenomena have influenced heavily the stress system of Brythohellenic. Nowadays the stress steadily falls on the last but one syllable: this means that in the plural forms of nouns it shifts, ex.: thalas ['θalas], "sea" > thalasas [θa'lasas], "seas"; aelur ['ai̯lur], "cat" > aeluroe [ai̯'luroi̯], "cats".

Grammar

Nouns, gender and number

Even if Ancient Greek had three genders and three numbers, the system simplified a lot and Modern Elynig has got two genders - masculine and feminine - and two numbers - singular and plural. It is hard to distinguish the gender of a noun, because there are not specific gender-linked endings: mostly nouns ending with consonant regardless for the gender. Forming plural is not so complicated, as there are also three plural endings:

  • oe, that is typical of masculine nouns;
  • ae, that is used with feminine nouns;
  • as, less spread and used with both masculine and feminine nouns.

Unfortunately there are also some irregularities which have to be learned by heart, ex.: the plural of ŷth, "fish", is ŷthias; the plural of gy, "earth", is gae; the plural of yr, "water", is ŷdhas, and so on. Irregular nouns, however, are few. Here is a list of nouns with plural form:

Singular Plural Gender Meaning Singular Plural Gender Meaning
lidh lidhoe masculine stone pud podas masculine foot
hyr hyrae feminine land oran oranoe masculine sky, heaven
kryvid kryvidas feminine shoe fys fŷdhas masculine light
biodh biodhoe masculine life lys lysae feminine language
thyr thyras masculine animal bivyl bivloe masculine book
eyv avae feminine love lig ligoe masculine wolf
koeran koeranoe masculine lord koerein koeranae feminine lady
einyr annyr masculine man gnyg gnaeg feminine woman
kyr keirdae feminine heart kefeil kefalae feminine head
tov tovoe masculine place kron kronoe masculine time
odhyr odhroe masculine morning yver yverae feminine day
dyl dylae feminine afternoon efer eferae feminine evening
nith nithas feminine night helyn helynae feminine moon
keldh keldhoe masculine priest kyldh keldhae feminine priestess
denyr denyras masculine tree gadh gadhas masculine hand
dyr deras masculine star omadh omadhas masculine eye
keidydh keidydhas masculine teacher fil filoe masculine friend
ethyr ethroe masculine enemy edhaer edhaeroe masculine lover
kyn kinoe masculine dog kom komoe masculine world