Gussnish

Gussnish
dhuenanae Guqnanaer
Pronunciation	[/ˈðyːnanɛ ˈgʊɬnanɛr/]
Created by	Praimhín
Setting	Rulak
Language family	Pulchric Rencadic P-Rencadic Gussnish

Introduction

Gussnish is the most widely spoken language of the Rencadic branch of the Pulchric family. It is inspired by Irish, English and Welsh.

Phonology

Orthography

Gussnish uses its own native alphabet.

The phonetic value of any consonant letter is the first consonant in its name - so that <ʕ> for example sounds like 'ts' (i.e. /tsʰ/) and <ɧ> sounds like 'x' (i.e. /ɮ/)

The letters themselves are derived from pictograms.

• paesj = bear = ɤ
• taenweof = mushroom = ɷ
• tsopeol = hook = ʕ
• saen = head = ɵ
• tqiich = vine = ɖ
• qvaera = clock = ɸ
• tjiweoq = cloud = ɯ
• sjwaet = rose = ɘ
• cmath = jaw = ʟ
• banr = hill = ʌ
• drix = river = ʭ
• dzitra = fence = ʜ
• zaweoth = ant = ɶ
• dxeorsja = plough = ʄ
• xa = human being = ɧ
• djarva = seesaw = ʎ
• zji = hair = ɪ
• gaenu = foot = ʊ
• minth = arm = ʏ
• neoqa = rope = n
• ngeulaer = boat = ʁ
• reoxaeth = tree = ʔ
• rhoadzeot = pineapple = ð
• lif = moon = c
• wuthma = whale = ɚ
• yachta = navel = ʘ
• lenition sign = ː

The phonetic value of a vowel letter is the first vowel in its name.

• a: ʱ (called xa aereo, 'small human being')
• ae: ˠ (paesj aereo 'small bear')
• eo: ˀ (reoxaeth aereo 'small tree')
• i: ʷ (tjiweq aereo 'small cloud')
• o: ˁ (tsopeol aereo 'small hook')
• eu: ʶ (ngeulaer aereo 'small boat')
• u: ˞ (wuthma aereo 'small whale')

Punctuation is as follows:

• [ ] = quotation marks
• . = space/word boundary marker
• ɭ = period
• ɭɭ = comma
• ʕ̰ = semicolon
• ʕ = colon
• The punctuation mark ˈ is placed before sentences and clauses, and ˌ before proper names.

Example:

• ˈɤˠ.ɧʱnˠ.ʏˀnɤːʱʔnʱɯːɭɭ.[ˈʟˁ.ˀɤːɵʱ.ʭːˀ.ɘɚˠɷ.ʏˀ.ɖːˠʌʱnˠɭ]
  Pae xanae meonfarnasj, "Co eofsa dheo sjwaet meo qaebanae."
  /pʰɛ ˈɮanɛ mənˈfarnaʃ ǀ kʰɔ ˈəfsa ðə ˈʃwɛtʰ mə ˈɬɛpanɛ ‖ /
  pae xa-nae meon-farnasj co eofsa dheo sjwaet meo-L tqaeba-nae
  PAST person-SG.DEF.NOM AFF-speak PRES water.SG.INDEF.NOM and rose.SG.INDEF.NOM LOC goblet-SG.DEF.NOM
  The person said, "There's water and a rose in the goblet."

Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Lateral	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Aspirated Stop/Affricate	p /pʰ/	t /tʰ/	ts /tsʰ/	tq /tɬʰ/	tj /tʃʰ/		c /kʰ/
Unaspirated Stop/Affricate	b /p/	d /t/	dz /ts/	dx /tɬ/	dj /tʃ/		g /k/
Voiceless Fricative	f /f/	th /θ/	s /s/	q /ɬ/	sj /ʃ/		ch /x/	h /h/
Voiced Fricative	v /v/	dh /ð/	z /z/	x /ɮ/	zj /ʒ/		gh /ɣ/
Nasal	m /m/	n /n/					ng /ŋ/
Approximant				l /ɫ/		y /j/	w /w/
Voiceless Trill			rh /r̥/
Voiced Trill			r /r/

Notes

• In casual speech, the unaspirated stops and affricates /p t ts tɬ tʃ k/ are voiced intervocalically to [b d dz dɮ dʒ ɡ].

Vowels

The vowel values in the transliteration are based on the Revised Romanization of Korean.

Vowel	IPA
a	/a/
aa	/ɑː/
ae	/ɛ/
eo	/ə/
eeo	/əː/
i	/ɪ/
ii	/iː/
o	/ɔ/
oa	/ɔɑ ~ ɒɑ ~ ɒː/
eu	/ɨ/
u	/ʊ/
uu	/uː/
ue	/yː/

Lenition

Normal

p

t

ts

s

tq

q

tj

sj

c

b

d

dz

z

dx

x

dj

zj

g

Lenited

f

th

s

h

q

h

sj

h

ch

v

dh

z

0

x

0

zj

0

gh

Normal	m	n	ng	w	l	r	y
Lenited	w	n	w	w	w	r	y

Prosody

Stress

In native words stress is on the first syllable, not counting prefixes. In loans (e.g. from Vrushka) stress falls on the same syllable as in the source language.

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns have 2 genders (masculine and feminine) and 3 cases (nominative, comparative, and vocative). The genitive is archaic and survives in verbal nouns and stock expressions.

Noun stems often get lenited. Lenition works as follows:

• When the noun begins with a lenitable consonant (any consonant besides f, v, th, dh, ch and gh), the first consonant gets lenited. If the first consonant is z, x or zj and there's a prefix before the lenited stem, an epenthetic -n- is inserted between the prefix and the stem.
• When the noun begins with a vowel, an n- is inserted before the stem.
• When the noun begins with a nonlenitable consonant (f, v, th, dh, ch or gh), an n- is inserted before the stem if there's a prefix before the stem that ends in a vowel. Otherwise, neo- is inserted before the stem.

For example:

1. baer 'leaf' → vaer
2. rasj 'spouse' → rasj
3. zaweoth 'ant' → aweoth, ʙᴜᴛ:
4. xeu + lenited form of zaweoth 'like an ant' → xeu naweoth
5. eonsae 'fruit' → neonsae
6. farnath 'speech' → neofarnasj, ʙᴜᴛ:
7. meo + lenited form of farnasj 'speaking' → meonfarnasj
8. ow + lenited form of farnasj 'not speaking' → owneofarnasj

Feminine nouns

Most nouns are feminine and decline as follows:

Case	Indefinite Singular	Indefinite Plural	Definite Singular	Definite Plural
Nominative	[nom stem]	[nom stem]+meo	[nom stem]+nae	[nom stem]+neu
(Genitive)	[gen stem]	[nom stem]+meon	[nom stem]+naer	[nom stem]+neureo
Comparative	[acc stem]	[nom stem]+meoth	[nom stem]+naeth	[nom stem]+neuth
Vocative	[lenited nom stem]	[lenited nom stem]+meo	[lenited nom stem]+nae	[lenited nom stem]+neu

• [nom stem] is the dictionary form of a noun.
• [gen stem] is the genitive stem, formed by adding -eo if the noun ends in a consonant and -n if the noun ends in a vowel.
• [acc stem] is the accusative stem, formed by adding -eoth if the noun ends in a consonant and -th if the noun ends in a vowel.

Here are two examples:

eorim 'tail'	Indefinite Singular	Indefinite Plural	Definite Singular	Definite Plural
Nominative	eorim	eorimmeo	eorimnae	eorimneu
(Genitive)	eorimeo	eorimmeon	eorimnaer	eorimneur
Comparative	eorimeoth	eorimmeoth	eorimnaeth	eorimneuth
Vocative	neorim	neorimmeo	neorimnae	neorimneu

neoqa 'rope'	Indefinite Singular	Indefinite Plural	Definite Singular	Definite Plural
Nominative	neoqa	neoqameo	neoqanae	neoqaneu
(Genitive)	neoqan	neoqameon	neoqanaer	neoqaneur
Comparative	neoqath	neoqameoth	neoqanaeth	neoqaneuth
Vocative	neoqa	neoqameo	neoqanae	neoqaneu

Masculine nouns

First declension

First declension masculine nouns end in consonants and the genitive stem is identical to the nominative stem, unless the final consonant is th, dh, s or z, in which case this final consonant is replaced with sj, zj, sj or zj respectively. The accusative stem is formed from the nominative stem as follows:

• If the final consonant is th or dh, it's replaced with t or d respectively.
• If the final consonant is a voiced fricative that is not dh, -dh is suffixed.
• Otherwise, -th is suffixed.

The paradigm is:

Case	Indefinite Singular	Indefinite Plural	Definite Singular	Definite Plural
Nominative	[nom stem]	[nom stem]+meo	[nom stem]+ae	[nom stem]+eu
(Genitive)	[gen stem]	[nom stem]+meon	[nom stem]+aer	[nom stem]+eur
Comparative	[acc stem]	[nom stem]+meoth	[nom stem]+aeth	[nom stem]+euth
Vocative	[lenited nom stem]	[lenited nom stem]+meo	[lenited nom stem]+ae	[lenited nom stem]+eu

Here's an example:

neowaeth 'root'	Indefinite Singular	Indefinite Plural	Definite Singular	Definite Plural
Nominative	neowaeth	neowaethmeo	neowaethae	neowaetheu
(Genitive)	neowaesj	neowaethmeon	neowaethaer	neowaetheur
Comparative	neowaet	neowaethmeoth	neowaethaeth	neowaetheuth
Vocative	neowaeth	neowaethmeo	neowaethae	neowaetheu

Second declension

Second declension masculine nouns end in vowels. The genitive stem is formed by:

• suffixing -r if the last vowel is preceded immediately by a consonant cluster ending in a consonant that's not p, t, c, b, d, g, f, th, ch, v, dh or gh;
• otherwise, replacing the last vowel with -r.

The paradigm is as follows:

Case	Indefinite Singular	Indefinite Plural	Definite Singular	Definite Plural
Nominative	[nom stem]	[gen stem]+eom	[gen stem]+ae	[gen stem]+eu
(Genitive)	[gen stem]+eo	[gen stem]+eomeon	[gen stem]+aer	[gen stem]+eur
Comparative	[gen stem]+th	[gen stem]+eomeoth	[gen stem]+aeth	[gen stem]+euth
Vocative	[lenited nom stem]	[lenited gen stem]+eom	[lenited gen stem]+ae	[lenited gen stem]+eu

An example:

maexneu 'love'	Indefinite Singular	Indefinite Plural	Definite Singular	Definite Plural
Nominative	maexneu	maexneureom	maexneurae	maexneureu
(Genitive)	maexneureo	maexneureomeon	maexneuraer	maexneureur
Comparative	maexneurth	maexneureomeoth	maexneuraeth	maexneureuth
Vocative	waexneu	waexneureom	waexneurae	waexneureu

Verbal nouns ending in -reo are always second declension masculine.

• dexreo 'to rest'
• ithreo 'to eat'
• maerthreo 'to sit'

Syntax

Constituent order

The Gussnish word order is TSVO (tense-subject-verb-object) or TSOV (tense-subject-object-verb). The tense is indicated by a particle:

• co = present progressive
• ceuvo = simple present
• pae = past
• paenwae = past habitual (the equivalent of "used to" in English)
• sjin = future

Tense particles, like prepositions, may fuse with pronouns.

(yet to create tables)

Noun phrase

Noun phrases are consistently head-initial.

There are no adjectives per se in Gussnish, only abstract nouns whose genitives can function as adjectives:

• zjaereo = small (< zjaer 'smallness')
• doasc aereo = small number
• zaweoth zjaereo = small ant

Adjectives lenite after feminine nouns (e.g. doasc) but not after masculine nouns (e.g. zaweoth).

Relative clauses are marked with the words reo or tjeo (both meaning 'of', but 'reo' is used when the complement is definite). Gussnish uses resumptive pronouns a lot -- so "the man who the wolf ate" literally translates as "the man of the wolf eating him".

• xanae tjeo poreownae meo caew nitheu
  /ˈɮanɛ tʃʰə ˈpʰɔrəwnɛ mə kʰɛw ˈnɪθɨ/
  xa-nae tjeo poreow-nae meo caew-L ith-eu
  person-SG.DEF.NOM TJEO wolf-SG.DEF.NOM AFF 3SG.GEN eat
  the man who the wolf ate

• xanae reo nFrichorsjnae
  /ˈɮanɛ rə‿nfrɪˈxɔrʃnɛ/
  xa-nae reo-L Frichorsj-nae
  person-SG.DEF.NOM REO Frichorsj-SG.DEF.NOM
  the man from Frichorsj (a place)

• xanae tjeo meo nFrichorsjnae
  /ˈɮanɛ tʃʰə mə‿nfrɪˈxɔrʃnɛ/
  xa-nae tjeo meo-L Frichorsj-nae
  person-SG.DEF.NOM TJEO LOC Frichorsj-SG.DEF.NOM
  the man in Frichorsj

Numerals

Gussnish uses a base-6 numeral system.

Number	Gussnish symbol	Word
0	Ψ	dira
1	I	aeth
2	V	slonw
3	N	daenr
4	M	stjiw
5	E	dhasjtur
6	IΨ	maech
7	II	aethach
8	IV	slonwach
9	IN	daenrach
10	IM	stjiwach
11	IE	dhasjturach
12	VΨ	slonwaeq
13	VI	slonwaeq a naeth
14	VV	slonwaeq a hlonw
15	VN	slonwaeq a dhaenr
16	VM	slonwaeq a htjiw
17	VE	slonwaeq a ndhasjtur
18	NΨ	daenraeq
35	EE	dhasjturaeq a ndhasjtur
36	IΨΨ	raegh
1295	EEEE	dhasjturaeq a ndhasjtur raegh a dhasjturaeq a ndhasjtur
1296	IʼΨΨΨΨ	dmozj
2592	VʼΨΨΨΨ	slonw dmozj
3888	NʼΨΨΨΨ	daenr dmozj
5184	MʼΨΨΨΨ	stjiw dmozj
6480	EʼΨΨΨΨ	dhasjtur dmozj
7776	IΨʼΨΨΨΨ	maech dhmozj
9072	IIʼΨΨΨΨ	aethach dhmozj
1679616	IʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨ	dmozjir
2176782336	IʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨ	tsifeod
2821109907456	IʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨ	tsifeodir
3656158440062976	IʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨ	veorqiw
4738381338321616896	IʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨ	veorqiwir

Other resources

Gussnish/Lexicon