Carrick

Carrick (Ck. Kærthío /ˈkærðiˑo/) is a Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the mountain-dwelling Carthi (Ck. Kærthi) on the archipelago of Íni Oyir.

Phonology and Orthography

Carrick is written in the Latin alphabet:

a á æ ǽ b d e é f g h i í j k l m n o ó œ œ́ p r s t u ú v y ý

Vowels

There are 8 pure vowels and 7 diphthongs, each of which has long and short variants.

	Front	Near- front	Central	Near- back	Back
Close	i(ː) ʉ(ː) u(ː) e(ː) ɵ(ː) o(ː) ɛ(ː) ɔ(ː) ä(ː)
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Pure Vowels
Short	Long
a /ä/	á /äː/
æ /ɛ/	ǽ /ɛː/
e /e/	é /eː/
i /i//	í /iː/
o /o/	ó /oː/
œ /ɵ/	œ́ /ɵː/
ǫ /ɔ/	ǫ́ /ɔː/
u /u/	ú /uː/
y /y/	ý /yː/
Dipthongs
ai /æi/	ái /æiː/
au /au/	áu /auː/
ei /əi/	éi /əiː/
eu /əu/	éu /əuː/
ey /əy/	éy /əyː/
ou /ɔu/	óu /ɔuː/
oy /ɔy/	óy /ɔyː/

Consonants

Inherited Consonant Inventory of Common Brittonic

	Bilabial	Dental/ Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p /p/	b /b/	t /t/	d /d/			k /k/	g /g/
Fricative	f /ɸ/	f (/β/)	th /θ/ s /s/	th (/ð/) s (/z/)			h /x/
Nasal		m /m/		n /n/				ng /(ŋ)/
Approximant		v /w/		l /l/		j /j/
Trill				r /r/

Notes

• Fricatives f, th and s are voiceless word-finally and initially, but voiced medially.
• h only occurs word finally. When a word ends in a consonant + h, the h is dropped and the preceding vowel lengthens, if possible (e.g. marh 'horse', márau 'to the horses'). If the final -h follows a vowel is disappears, causing the preceding vowel to lengthen (e.g. dah 'good' (nsg), dóu 'good' (dsg.)).

Mutations

Mutations

Radical	I-Mutation	U-Mutation
Short Vowels
a	æ (e)	o
e	i	œ
i	-	y
o	œ (e)	-
u	y	-
Long Vowels
á	ǽ	ó
é	í	œ́
í	-	ý
ó	œ́	-
ú	ý	-
Diphthongs
au	ai	ou
ei	-	ey
eu	ey	-
ou	oy	-
je	ei	jo
vo	jo	-

When a, á or au, áu are affected by both i-mutation and u-mutation simultaneously, the result is œ, œ́ and oy, óy respectively.

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns may be masculine, feminine or neuter and decline for 4 cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative) in the singular and plural. There are 8 stem classes (a-, o-, u-, i-, Ø-, s-, n-, r-), within which are a number of sub-classes.

Stems can be divided into a number of types:

• short monosyllables (those with a short or long vowel)
• long monosyllables (those with a diphthong)
• polysyllables

A summary of the endings for monosyllables is given below.

		A-Stems	O-Stems	U-Stems	I-Stems	Ø-Stems	N-Stems	S-Stems	R-Stems
Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Masc/Fem.	Neut.	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Masc/Fem.	Neut.	Masc/Fem.	Neut.	Neut.	Masc/Fem.
Sg.	Nom.	―	-o	―U	―I	-iI	―	-uU	―	―	-irI
Acc.	―	―	―U	―I	―	-an	―	―	-er
Gen.	―I	-o	-o	-iI	-joI	―	-an	-iI	-iI	-r'
Dat.	-uU	-e	-o	-iI	-eI	-iI	-(e)ni	-iI	-riI
Pl.	Nom.	-iI	-o	-o	-o	-oU	-iI	-joI	-iI	―	-o	-an	-(a)no	-joI	-r
Acc.	-uU	-o	-o	-uU	-oU	-iI	-joI	-iI	―	-o	-(a)no	-joI	-ro
Gen.	―	-on	-uU	-iI	―I	―	-an	-iI	-r
Dat.	-au	-ou	-uU	-ifI	-jou	―	-amb	-ithI	-rif

Generally speaking, polysyllabic forms follow the same paradigms but do not undergo i- or u-mutation unless there is a following vowel (e.g. áratt "silver" (a, n.), g.sg. áratt but n.pl. árett). Polysyllabic forms are also liable to lose the final vowel of the stem when endings are added when the syllable is short and this may obstruct mutations from occurring (e.g. dafath (a, m.), g.sg. dafath but n.pl. dafthi).

The vocalic stem classes include stems with either j or v in the stem (e.g. dan 'man', d.sg. dænju; mor 'ant', d.sg. morvi):

• In -j- stems:
  • j occurs only before a, o, u
  • monosyllables undergo i-mutation throughout the paradigm, except in the n.sg. of masculine a-stems (e.g. dan 'man', a.sg. dæn but kærjo 'crime', a.sg. kær)
  • in polysyllables, the same is true but only pure vowels are affected (e.g. ...).
  • u-mutation is blocked
• In -v- stems:
  • v shows only before i, e (except following certain vowels, e.g. ý 'yew tree', a.sg. ývu)
  • monosyllables undergo u-mutation everywhere except the n.sg. of masculine a-stems (e.g. kar 'deer', a.sg. kor)
  • polysyllables do not show u-mutation except where the v survives (e.g. ...)
  • i-mutation is not blocked.

The following nouns are irregular:

• sovol 'sun' (Ø, n.), oblique stem seul-
• keu 'hound' (N, m.), oblique stem kun-
• bou 'cow' (Ø, f.), oblique stem ba(v)-
• sœ́ur 'sister' (R, f.):

width="40px;"	Singular	Plural
Nom.	soyur	soyar
Acc.	soyar	soyro
Gen.	soyr	soyr
Dat.	soyr	seyrif

Adjectives

Adjectives must agree with their noun in gender, number and case, and follow the same declension patterns as nouns. A-stem adjectives take the o-stem endings following a feminine noun (e.g. dæni sini 'old men' but rægi sjano 'old women', hœthlo sjano 'old stories').

Comparison

Comparative adjectives decline only for number and gender, not case. They are formed with the following suffixes:

	Singular	Plural
Masc/Fem.	-juI	-jaI
Neut.	―I	-joI

The comparative is used in two forms of sentence:

• with the copula, e.g. ih keu sant kænju ith sau 'this dog is nicer than that one'
• with a relative clause, e.g. rái-sei í koylju 'the woman who is thinner'.

Superlative adjectives take -jau^I, which declines like an a/o-stem adjective:

	Singular	Plural
Masc.	Neut.	Fem.	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nom.	-jau	-javo	-jevi	-javo
Acc.	-jau	-jou	-javo
Gen.	-jey	-javo	-jau	-javon
Dat.	-jou	-jave	-javau	-javou

The following adjectives are compared irregularly:

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
dah 'good'	vjall	villjau
druh 'bad'	vaut	vaudau
ljathan 'wide'	lithju	lithjau
mor 'big'	maju	mau
seir 'long'	siju	sijau
ail 'high	ai	au

Vocabulary

Nouns

• dan 1m man, husband
• vræᵹi 2f woman, wife
• maf 1m son, boy
• ginda 2f daughter, girl
• botha 2f house
• keu 4m dog (g.s. kun)
• kada 2f cat
• bau irr. f cow
• dauth 1m sheep
• mok 5f pig
• gaur 1m, gaura 2f goat
• prjann 1n tree
• klæthif 1m sword
• kolᵹa 2f short sword, dagger
• gau 1m spear
• skjauth 1m shield
• ekeutha 2f shoe
• rouga 2f tunic
• brada 1m cloak
• lauthr 1m trousers, hose
• kry 5m shirt
• vaᵹry 5m belt
• barᵹ 1m bread
• bleit 1m milk
• kyrf 3n