User:IlL/Spare pages 1/53

English in the AETHER timeline is an Indo-European language and has pretty much the same vocabulary and grammar as our English, but is a Riphic language, not a Germanic one. It is native to our Germany and Poland area, not the British Isles.

Etymologies

  • leitmotif: an opera which used a leitmotif for a character named Lait or Light? (it was an operatic version of Death Note)
  • karma: a non-Earth Indo-Aryan language
  • mana: from an IA word for 'mind'
  • Parmesan: unknown. A folk etymology derives it from a Cubrite woman's name (Parm Ezan?).
  • German linguistic terminology: invented by Edna? The standard terms are:
    • affection not umlaut
    • apophony not ablaut
    • linguistic area not sprachbund
    • lexical aspect not aktionsart
    • case stacking not suffixaufnahme
    • place of origin not urheimat

Accents

Overview

Vowels
Feature Standard Federation Welvington
KIT ɪ~ɪ̈ ɪ
DRESS ɛ ɛ
TRAP a æ; eə (before /m n/ in a closed syllable)
BATH (the BATH lexical set is same as RP) a
LOT ɔ~ɒ ɑ~ɒ
STRUT ɜ̟~ɐ ʌ~ɤ
FOOT ʊ̈~ɘ ʊ
FLEECE ɪj; iʝ (reinforced)
FACE ɛɪ; ɪj (reinforced)
PRICE ɑɪ ɑɪ, ʌɪ (reinforced)
CHOICE oɪ, ʊɪ (reinforced)
MOUTH æʊ aə~æə
GOAT oʊ, ɔʊ~ɒʊ before [ɫ] ɛʊ~əʊ, oʊ before [ɫ]
GOOSE üw, uː before [ɫ] üw, uː before [ɫ]
PALM ɑː ä(ɹ)~a(ɹ)
THOUGHT ɔː~ɒː oə(ɹ)
NEAR ɪɚ iə(ɹ)
SQUARE ɛɚ eə(ɹ)
NURSE ɚː əː(ɹ)~ɜː(ɹ)
START ɑɚ ä(ɹ)~a(ɹ)
NORTH oə(ɹ)
FORCE oə(ɹ)
POOR oə(ɹ)
CURE juɚ~jɚː jəː(ɹ)~jɜː(ɹ)~joə(ɹ)
commA ə ə(ɹ)
lettER ɚ ə(ɹ)
happY iː~ɪj i
Other phenomena
Feature Standard Federation Welvington
Rhoticity Fully rhotic Nonrhotic with intrusive R
Dark L Only when non-prevocalic; vocalized L is [w] Always; vocalized L is a uvular approximant
/θ ð/ [θ ð] Often [t̪ d̪]
Aspiration of voiceless stops and t/d-tapping As in AmE As in AmE
Reinforcement No "reinforcement" of any kind Philly-reinforcement before voiceless consonants

Welvington

The city name is pronounced "Wungton" [wʌŋʔn̩] by locals; it's nicknamed the "Womb of the Nation [Federation]"

Philly + Boston; should inspire Shalaian and Netagin. Should be RP in ways that the Standard accent is not

  • The most well-known feature of the broad Welvington accent is the MOUTH-START merger to /aː~æː/.
  • -ing becomes -in'; th-stopping to [t̪] and [d̪]
  • (Ph) Philly L (pharyngealized nasalized uvular approximant)
  • (~Ph, ~RP) Philly-style reinforcement before voiceless consonants; i.e. generalized Canadain-raising-esque effects
    • When the consonant is voiceless, the nucleus is shortened consonant is lengthened: face [fɪjsˑ]
    • Otherwise this does not happen: fame [fɛˑɪm]
  • (B, RP) non-rhotic
  • (Ph, B, RP) Few or no mergers before prevocalic /r/
  • (Ph, ~B, ~RP) Philly short-A system; lax A = [æ], tense A = [eə~ɛə]
  • (Ph, RP) GOAT = [əʊ]; GOOSE = [üw]ː
  • (~Ph, ~RP) LOT = [ɑ], THOUGHT = NORTH = FORCE = POOR = [oə~ɔə]
  • (B, ~RP) START = [ä]
  • SQUARE (= tense A) = [eə~ɛə]
  • NEAR = [iə~ɪə]
  • NURSE = [ə:]
  • wine-whine merger (optional in Standard)
  • A 3-way distinction of Mary [meəɹi], merry [mɛɹi~mɤɹi], marry [mæɹi], unlike Standard English
  • hurry [hɤɹi], furry [fəːɹi]
  • orange [ɑɹɪndʒ]
  • mirror [mɪɹə(ɹ)] != nearer [niəɹə(ɹ)]
  • /iːg/ > /ɪg/, /eɪg/ > /ɛg/ in many words
  • /θ ð/ are commonly [t̪ d̪].

Samples

oəʟ hjüwmən bɪjɪnz ɐ boən fɹɪj ən iʝkˑwəʟ ɪn dɪgnɪɾɪj ən ɹʌɪʔˑs. d̪eɪ əɹ ɪndæˑd wɪd ɹɪjzn ən kɒnʃns, ən ʃəd ækt toədz wʌn ənʌd̪əɹ ɪn ə spɪɹɪɾ əv bɾəd̪əhəd.

pliʝˑs koəʟ stɛʟə. eəsk ə ɾə bɹɪŋ d̪is t̪ɪŋz wɪd̪ ə fɹəm d̪ə stoə. sɪks spüwnz əf fɹɛʃˑ snəʊ pɪjz, fɑɪf t̪ɪkˑ sʟæbz əv blüw tʃɪjz, ən mɛɪbɪj ə snæk fəɹ ə bɹʌðə bɑˑb. wɪj oəʟsə nɪjɾ ə smoəʟ plæstɪk snɪjkˑ ən ə bɪg toɪ fɹoəg fə d̪ə kɪdz. ʃi kən sküwpˑ d̪is t̪ɪŋz ɪɾ̃ə t̪ɾɪj ɹɛd bægz, ən wiʟ gə miʝɾ ə wɛnsdɛɪ æʔ t̪ə tɹɛɪn stɪjʃˑən.

Standard Federation (North American)

A kind of "Transatlantic accent", inspired by Californian + Philadelphia + Modern RP/Estuary.

Intonation is mostly American + my own weird intonation

Vowels
  • orange = [oːɹəndʒ]
  • Mary-merry-marry merger
  • Mirror-nearer merger
  • Hurry-furry merger
  • No mergers before /l/
  • No trap-bath split
Consonants
  • L is light [l] before vowels and dark [ɫ] otherwise, as in RP.
    • wholly-holy split.
  • No glottal reinforcement before stops.
  • /p t k/ are unaspirated after stressed syllables as in AmE.
  • /d t/ has a tapped [ɾ] allophone in similar environments as in American English.
  • wine-whine merger optional.
  • /r/ may be [ʋ] between vowels.

Standard European

Irish + Aus + NZ?

horse = [hɔɹs], hoarse = [hœɹs~hɜɹs]

Much more dialectal diversity in Switzerland and Bavaria (like in our German; they are sometimes considered separate languages)

Italian

Exactly like our Australian