An Bhlaoighne
Pages with the prefix 'An Bhlaoighne' in the and 'Talk' namespaces:
An Bhlaoighne Qheo /an bʰlaojgʰne tɬʰeo/ 'the special/holy speech', shortened as An Bhlaoighne, is a conlang inspired by reading Irish orthography literally (for example: seamh /seamh/). It was originally created by User:Praimhín.
In Tricin, it is an in-universe conlang created by Schlomo Schngellstein inspired by Tigol; in Crackfic Tricin, it is a conlang by Irish-Bjeheondian Oyffea Ni Făletbăheartec (Wiebisch: Aoife Nie Fleitbärteig, An Bhl.: Aoife Ní Fhlaithbheartaigh) inspired by Irish and Padmanábha. Though its grammar is Standard Average Talman, its (original) phonology is less so.
An Bhlaoighne is used in an in-universe fantasy work where it is the ceremonial language of demigods in a culture called Méir Bhaonnáig. The conlang steals morphemes from Talmic, Windermere (like 1sg r, 2sg ł), Irish (samhradh for summer etc.), Hebrew, Camalic, Mandarin, and Indo-Iranian, but the majority of the vocabulary is a priori (read: a significant fraction of which is Earth math Easter eggs).
Todo
Make the grammar as un-European as a Standard Average Talman language can get (Irish and Hebrew count as Standard Average Talman for this purpose, but we aren't using tricons)
Non-European Eevo features
- Specificity but no definiteness marking in articles in Dheofáid
- Lack of grammatical number in Dheofáid
- Prepositional suffixes for nouns, like Eevo hmawg lly etc.
- Topic-comment structure
- Construct state
- Natural gender in Dheofáid (rare in SAE)
- difference between is-a and is-the (only in Goidelic?)
Non-European Anbirese features
- Split ergativity
- Finnish-style infinitives
- Infinitive absolute
Non-European Windermere features
- No morphological comparatives
Non-European Tseer features
- Possessive pronoun suffixes
- Predicative pronoun suffixes (for "is-a")
- Telicity
- Pluractionality --- pluralize the verbal noun?
Phonology
Phonology of An Bhlaoighne: a e i o u á é í ó ú /ä e̞~ɛ i o̞~ɔ u a: ɛ: i: o: u:/ + far too many diphthongs to even count!
b c d f g h l m n p q r s t x /b k d̪ f g h l̪ m n̪ p tɬ r s t̪ ɬ/
The letters 0bcdfgpqstx can participate in two mutations. In addition, m can be aspirated.
Aspiration: h bh ch dh fh gh mh ph qh sh th xh /h bʰ kʰ d̪ʰ fʰ gʰ mʰ pʰ tɬʰ sʰ t̪ʰ ɬʰ/
Prenasalization: n- mb gc nd bhf ng _ bp dq dhs dt dhx /n̪ ᵐb ᵑk ⁿd̪ bʰf ᵑg ᵐp ⁿtɬ dʰs ⁿt̪ dʰɬ/
Intonation
Basically identical to our Finnish
Writing
An Bhlaoighne is written in the Latin alphabet in Gaelic type.
Morphology
Article
Both the definite and indefinite articles are 'an' in the singular, 'na' in the plural.
óis 'one' + plural definite and mhaidh 'some' + plural definite are often used instead of indefinite articles.
Gender and declensions
The An Bhlaoighne nominal system has ten declensions.
First declension masculine: indef. sg. aspiration; indef. pl. prenasalization; def. sg. no mutation; def. pl. no mutation
First declension feminine: indef. sg. prenasalization; indef. pl. aspiration; def. sg. aspiration; def. pl. prenasalization
First declension neuter: indef. sg. no mutation; indef. pl. no mutation; def. sg. prenasalization; def. pl. aspiration
Second declension masculine: indef. sg. aspiration; indef. pl. aspiration; def. sg. no mutation; def. pl. prenasalization
Second declension feminine: indef. sg. prenasalization; indef. pl. no mutation; def. sg. aspiration; def. pl. aspiration
Second declension neuter: indef. sg. no mutation; indef. pl. prenasalization; def. sg. prenasalization; def. pl. no mutation
Third declension masculine: indef. sg. aspiration; indef. pl. no mutation; def. sg. no mutation; def. pl. aspiration
Third declension feminine: indef. sg. prenasalization; indef. pl. prenasalization; def. sg. aspiration; def. pl. no mutation
Third declension neuter: indef. sg. no mutation; indef. pl. aspiration; def. sg. prenasalization; def. pl. prenasalization
Examples:
| bheathra 'man' - 2nd decl. masc. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| Indefinite | an bheathra | na bheathra |
| Definite | an beathra | na mbeathra |
| chealim 'table' - 1st decl. masc. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| Indefinite | an chealim | na gcealim |
| Definite | an cealim | na cealim |
| mblaoighne 'language' - 1st decl. fem. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| Indefinite | an mblaoighne | na bhlaoighne |
| Definite | an bhlaoighne | na mblaoighne |
| fiodenn 'honor' - 3rd decl. neut. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| Indefinite | an fiodenn | na fhiodenn |
| Definite | an bhfiodenn | na bhfiodenn |
| páirín 'house' - 2nd decl. neut. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |
| Indefinite | an páirín | na bpáirín |
| Definite | an bpáirín | na páirín |
(Nouns beginning with 'm' can only be 2nd decl masc, 2nd dec fem, 3rd decl masc or 1st decl fem)
There's also a 'grab bag' class of nouns that begin with consonants that can't be mutated. The gender of a noun in this class is determined solely by meaning, and there is no way to differentiate between its definite and indefinite form.
Adjectives
Adjectives agree with nouns in mutation, and they always take an/na (because Hebrew)?
Relative clauses
do
Demonstratives
- ann an bpairín = that house
- ann an bpairínse = this house
- the choice of -se or -sa is determined by "bwb sws": ann an beathrasa 'this man'
- ann = that
- annsa = this
Tenses
- present progressive: ceis, cean (with the article)
- past: éadh, éan (with the article)
- future: liobh, lian (with the article)
- originally aorist ("timeless"), now present habitual: fo, fon
- Fon cealim go bhfóina. /fon kealim go bʰfo:jna/ 'The table is white'
- Cean beathra go dhxeathar. /kean beatʰra go dʰɬeatʰar/ 'The man is walking'
- Cean bheathra go mblaoigh. /kean bʰeatʰra go ᵐblaojgʰ/ 'A man is speaking'
(go+prenasalization literally means 'in')
Prepositions
- 'in': go + an = ni, go + na = in
- 'with': ro + an = ca, ro + na = ac
- 'to': eis + an = sa, eis + na = as
- 'like': qe + an = xa, qe + na = ax
Inflected prepositions
I, you, he/she, this, that, we, you, they
eisiúr, eiséiq, eisear, eiseannsa, eiseann, eisid, eisibh, eiseanna
(originally he and she were distinguished as eisin, eisis; these forms are lost in Dheofáid)
niúr, néiq, near, neannsa, neann, néid, néibh, neanna
rúr, róiq, rór, rónnsa, rónn, róid, róibh, rónna
qiúr, qéiq, qear, qeannsa, qeann, qéid, qéibh, qeanna
Tense particles also inflect:
ceis: c(eis)iúr, ceisiq/cíq, c(eis)ear, c(eis)eannsa, c(eis)eann, ceisid/cíd, c(eis)ibh/cíbh, c(eis)eanna
éadh: é(adh)úr, éiq, éar, éannsa, éann, éid, éibh, éanna
liobh: liúr, líq, liar, liannsa, liann, líd, líbh, lianna
fo: fúr, fóiq, fór, fónnsa, fónn, fóid, fóibh, fónna
Noun possession prefixes are similar to preposition inflection (as in Hebrew):
pairín 'house(s)': pairíniúr, pairíniq, pairínear, pairíneannsa, pairíneann, pairínid, pairínibh, pairíneanna
Syntax
An Bhlaoighne is tense-subject-verb-object and strictly head-initial.
Constituent order
Noun phrase
Verb phrase
Sentence phrase
Dependent clauses
Numerals
- 0 = dírabh /di:rabʰ/
- 1 = óis /o:js/
- 2 = réix /re:jɬ/
- 3 = daobhe /daobʰe/, daobh
- 4 = fuín /fwi:n/
- 5 = seamh /seamʰ/
- 6 = taca /taka/
- 7 = óista n-óis /o:jsta no:js/
- 8 = óista réix /o:jsta re:jɬ/
- 9 = óista ndaobh /o:jsta ⁿdaobʰe/
- 10 = óista bhfuín /o:jsta bʰfwi:n/
- 11 = óista dhseamh /o:jsta dʰseamʰ/
- 12 = réixta /re:jɬta/
- 18 = daobheta /daobʰeta/ or daobhta /daobʰta/
- 24 = fuínta /fwi:nta/
- 30 = seamhta /seamʰta/
- 36 = gról /gro:l/
- 37 = gról d'óis /gro:l do:js/
- 38 = gról da réix /gro:l da re:jɬ/
...
- 72 = réix gról
...
- 1295 = seamhta dhseamh gról da seamhta dhseamh
- 1296 = qaoiche /tɬaojkʰe/
Example texts
Modern An Bhlaoighne
Modern An Bhlaoighne, or An Bhlaoighne do Dheofáid (pronounced /fl̤ːn θɪvʊið/, or /fl̤ːnfʊið/ in rapid speech) is the most popular in-universe conlang in Future Tricin/Crackfic Tricin and has more native speakers in Cualuav than many natlangs. Its pronunciation is much simpler and more eroded but its orthography is pretty much the same as An Bhlaoighne, which makes for some really bloated spellings, and even whole words can be silent, like "na" which serves as a noun marker in written Dheofáid.
An Dheofáid uses a version of Square Word Calligraphy.
An Dheofáid has no noun genders or declensions; the definite plural is the only form of a noun that survives (except in the occasional instance where the definite singular becomes a singulative).
Phonology
Initially all 4 stops of An Bhlaoighne remain distinct: t th d dh become /t̪ t̪ʰ ð θ/. However, posttonal t and th both become /d̪/, and posttonal d and dh both become /ð/. Dheofáid has suprasegmental breathy voice deriving from post-tonal aspirated or breathy voiced consonants: rámhann 'its homology' becomes /r̤̤m̤n/ but rámann 'its porch' becomes /raɨmən/. Breathy and modal voice are realized as modal and stød respectively by younger speakers, however. The phonology is otherwise not too different from Brythonic Celtic languages. There are lots of vowel/diphthong mergers though some An Bhlaoighne monophthongs turned into diphthongs like í /ei/.
Silent gh
Dheofáid has vowel coloring from former gh - íogh sounds like /iw/.
Consonant mergers and splits
q and x get merged completely into Welsh ll
c, g and ch undergo a broad/slender split: cealim sounds like /tʃələm/
Orthography
In addition to the standard orthography, An Dheofáid uses Ann An Leannathaimh na Fiolltagh /ɪn l̪ant̪ʰɪm fɛl̪t̪e/ (Children's Alphabet) which is more phonetic. The An Leannathaimh na Fiolltagh is also a romanization but has various invented and Greek letters for sounds not present in An Bhlaoighne.
The An Leannathaimh na Fiolltagh is standard in some parts of Cualuav/Cualand.
Grammar
Dheofáid has part of speech markers like Esperanto, but they're standalone words and are silent. Some of these part of speech markers are
- na for nouns
- an for proper, singulative and mass nouns
- do for adjectives -- it was originally a relative clause marker
Sociolinguistics
Speakers of Dheofáid think An Bhlaoighne is pronounced like it.