SamSkandinavisk

SamSkandinavisk (Samska for short) is naturalistic a-posteriori auxlang based on the continental North Germanic languages (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish).

It is intended to be a tool for inter-Nordic communication and integration. It also is intended to be used as a tool for people from outside the Scandinavian region to communicate with Scandinavians -- as an alternative to learning one or all of the natural Scandinavian languages.

Samska includes complex grammatical feature, but only when they are present in all of the source languages. It should theoretically be easier and more regular than any one of the natural Scandinavian languages.

The status of the language is currently under construction. There is a lexicon of approximately 3000 words available, but it still lacks many essential words for basic conversation.

Design Philosophy and Practice

It is generally intended that linguistic features that are common to two or more of the Scandinavian languages will be included in the language. A linguistic feature is for example a word carrying a particular meaning, a sound in the phonology, a spelling practice or a grammatical rule.

In regards to the grammar, grammatical features must be present in all three of the source languages to be represented in SamSka. This allows certain complex grammatical features and irregularities to be present, but only when they are present in all the source languages and are thus considered intrinsic to the Scandinavian linguistic experience. When there is not total agreement in the grammar, it defaults to what is considered the most regular, simple and schematic solution used by one the source languages.

For example in some cases a verb may have an irregular way of forming the past tense such as being a strong verb that changes the stem vowel. If all 3 of the source languages use this method in their cognates to this verb then in SamSkandinavisk its equivalent will likewise form the past tense by ablaut. But if only only or two of the source languages use ablaut, or the verb has cognates in only two of the source languages, then the SamSka equivalent will form the past tense according to the default verb rules. For a word to be represented in SamSka, it needs to have cognates with the same meaning in two or more of the source languages. When cognates are present in all three languages but due to semantic drift no common meanings, then a cognate word will not be present in SamSka. Where a word has cognates with multiple meanings in all three languages, only the meanings that are shared will be in the canonical definition of the SamSka cognate.

The form of words is determined by the Etymological Prototype, using a prototyping scheme inspired by Interlingua. This means the form of SamSka words tend to be relatively close to the original common source of the word in the Scandinavian languages (be that Old Norse, Middle Low German or French). Where the form of the etymological prototype is ambiguous or debatable SamSka allows variant forms. For example the adjective tykk /tʏkː/ (thick, fat) has an alternative form of tjukk /ʧʊkː/.

Orthography

SamSka uses the standard 26 letter Roman alphabet, plus three additional letters; Å, Ä, and Ö. The letters Q, W, X are rare - only used in names and in very recent borrowings. Ä and Ö can be substituted with Æ and Ø which are considered equally valid substitutes. When Å, Ä and Ö may not be easily used or input (for example on primitive computer systems or manual typewriters), they may be substituted with the digraphs AA, AE and OE. The pronunciation of letters in the orthography is often dependent on neighboring letters in the same word. For example the letter G may be pronounced as /ɡ/ or as /j/ depending on the following vowels. (It is /j/ before E,I,Y,Ä or Ö). The length of vowels is marked by the following consonants. Short vowels tend to be followed by a cluster of consonants or a doubled consonant. The same sound may be spelled in more than one way, the choice of letters depends on the etymology of the word and related words. For example short E /ɛ/ can be spelled in some words with e, in other words with ä.

Phonology

SamSka’s phonology resembles its Scandinavian source languages – it is particularly close to Norwegian and Swedish. It has a large number of vowels which have a long and short distinction. Consonants also have a long-short distinction. Consonant length and vowel length have complimentary relationship. Short vowels are followed by long consonants, long vowels are followed by short consonants.

Because SamSka is an auxiliary language, a range of pronunciations are accepted and some phonemes have alternative forms.

Many consonants have been subject to palatization when before a frontal vowel. For example sk- is normally /sk/ but before e, i, y, ä and ö it is /ʃ/. This means that related words may have quite different consonants. This can even be the case with the inflections of a word - if the vowel changes due to an inflection, then the consonant may be palatized as a result.

Word Final G

In the case of the G consonant, when at the end of word it will be pronounced as /g/. But adding a suffix such as -en will change the pronunciation to /j/. For example dag /dɑːg/ > dagen /ˈdɑːjən/.

Word Final V

Some phonemes have allophones that are quite far from the phonemic pronunciation. For example V after a vowel, at the end of a word can be pronounced as /ʋ/ or even as the vowel /ʊ/. If /ʊ/ it will form a dipthong with the preceding vowel. For example brav (good, great) can be pronounced /brɑːv/, /brɑːʋ/ or /braʊ/. This also applies to v at the end of a syllable when the following syllable begins with a consonant. For example havde (past tense of ha) may be pronounced as /ˈhɑːʊdə/

Retroflex Consonants

Clusters of r followed by a dental consonant such as rd, rt, rn, rl, rs merge to form the retroflex consonants /ɖ/, /ʈ/, /ɳ/, /ɭ/, /ʂ/. For example hard /haɖː/.

Tone

At this stage it is undecided whether SamSka will have phonemic tone. A pitch accent may be added as a tool to disambiguate homonyms.

Sample Texts

File:Samska snart skall vi dverger.ogg Snart skall vi dverger endeligt besegre våre nuvärende fjender ok hevne alle gammle vanärer. Då skall det väre en ny gulltid för den skeggige slekt. Hvis männene ok halflingerne kenner sin rang ok klasse, de skall have ären för at tjäne oss. Halflingerne skall röre vår gröt ok bäre våre ölkrus. Männene skall slite i våre gullgruber ok hente før oss ting som står på höge hyller.

(Soon we dwarfs will finally defeat our current enemies and avenge all ancient dishonors. Then it will be a new golden age for the bearded race. If the men and halflings know their place, they will have the honor of serving us. The halflings will stir our porridge and bear our ale tankards. The men will toil in our gold mines and fetch for us things that are located on high shelves.)

I den mörke tommrumm af tidens begynnelse, kämpen Ymir blev födet af gift ok frost, ok han diede hos den store ku Auðumbla. Frå henne kåm vesnet Búri som avlede Burr som avlede guderne Óðinn, Vili ok Vé. Burrs söner drepede Ymir ok skapede Jorden af hans lik. Den förste mann samt den förste kvinne, Ask ok Embla, blev skapet frå ett asktre ok ett almtre henhåldsvist.

(In the dark void of time's beginning, the giant Ymir was born of poison and frost, and he suckled at the great cow Auðumbla. From her came the being Búri who begat Burr who begat the gods Óðinn, Vili and Vé. Burr's sons slew Ymir and created the Earth from his corpse. The first man and woman, Ask and Embla were created from an ash-tree and an elm respectively.)

Durianen er en tropiskt frukt som er meket populär i landerne i Sydöstasie. Den omdömes at have en meket sterk ok särskilt lukt ok mange folk anser den at have en motbjudelig smak. Men hvardan smaker durianen faktiskt? Förestell eder en meken stor lök som har blivet litt rotten. Nå förestell eder at en seksgalen ape har knullt denne rottene lök. Durian er precist likesom det... men i ett godt vis. Min hustru er uenig. Hon seger at det er likesom at kysse mig tidlig på morgenen förut för jeg har rengort mine tänner. Likesom smaken af denne kysse men med ekstra sukker. Underligt, efter den förste provning af Durian, blir smaken ok den vämmelige duft ufornuftigt tvingende — likesom stanken af de svetige trusser af den Brazilianiske kvinners volleyballlag.

(The Durian is a tropical fruit that is very popular in the lands of South-East-Asia. It has a repuation to have a very strong and distinctive odour and many people consider to have a revolting flavour. But in fact how does the durian taste? Imagine a very large onion that has gone a little rotten. Now imagine that a sex-crazed monkey has fucked this rotten onion. Durian is precisely like that... but in a good way. My wife doesn't agree. She says that it is like kissing me early in the morning before I have cleaned my teeth. Like the smell of this kiss but with extra sugar. Curiously, after that first taste of durian, the taste and the horrid aroma become inexplicably compelling — like the stench of the sweaty panties of the Brazial women's volleyball team.)