Albionian
Albionian (Alabenꞅcina ta or jiêzaic ten Alabenscaì) is a Slavic language spoken in Crackfic Irta Scotland. It has phonologically conservative features, such as the retention of the Proto-Balto-Slavic acute as stød, but is meant to be mutually intelligible with our Slavic languages, especially Czech and Slovak. It has as many Brythonic and Goidelic loanwords as Polish has German loanwords. It's notable for having vowel umlaut.
"What if Czech had a mixed OE-Gàidhlig-Icelandic orthography"
"what if Bulgarian had cases"
Todo
- u umlaut? a > au, e > i
- insular ꞅ for /s/, s for /ʃ/? or should it be the other way round (because Irish ꞅ would often be /ʃ/)
- -owat is sometimes -àliowat, which is the default when verbing new loans when not from Latin or Romance (-áil-ovatь, like Russian -ировать)
- skoràliowat 'to score', guglàliowat 'to google', etc. but produkowat 'to produce', synkretyzowat 'to syncretize', mnaithowat/pomnaithowat 'to thank'
- Use the grave accent for long vowels like Gàidhlig (and a little bit of a Gàidhlig accent)
- Should be less head-initial than canon Bjeheond; should be a German~Icelandic relex?
- Alabenin = Albionian man, Alabenka = Albionian woman, Alabenie = plural
- soft yer unconditionally causes umlaut (unless analogized away or blocked by /w/) and umlaut caused by i/j is stress dependent (o and lengthened á get umlaut if unstressed)
- the big Celtic things are: unaspirated-aspirated with some preaspiration, θ ð corresponding pretty much 1-1 to Polish c dz, lack of metathesis and some Irish-inspired things like how čelweak is pronounced /tʃʰɛləβɪhk/; articles
- sv, zv > skw, zgw
- Initial stress, vowel reduction of short vowels, some umlaut to get aù, no yer-deletion if syllable is initial
- Changes found in other Slavic languages like vowel length and relative lack of palatalization from Czech (especially Common Czech), PSlav v > /w/, as well as some /l/ > /w/ as in Ukrainian; some /g/ > /ɣ/, also reminiscent of Czech
- the b~β~w allophony
- Made some weird choices in verb forms, like generalizing the PSlav 1st person *-xǔ in imperfect and aorist to all past forms, getting 1sg -ns in present from -m azǔ/-ǫ azǔ
Methavir nalaminyl mekerylide ester axoram:
- Goworins o tej milausti al o taì nenauwisti.
- Ci charniꞅ tai to dlamnie?
- Miluêm mai jej, tož čtim mai jeo prichod.
Phonology
Consonants
Standard Albionian in Albion has a slightly larger-than-average consonant inventory of about 27 consonants.
(Albionian orthography is fairly deep; the orthographic values in the table shouldn't be taken completely at face value.)
| → PoA ↓ Manner |
Labial | Dental/Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | ň, ni /ɲ/ | ng /ŋ/ | |||
| Plosive | voiced | b /b/ | d /d/ | (dž /dž/) | ď, di /J/ | g /g/ | |
| voiceless | p /pʰ/ | t /tʰ/ | č /tʃʰ/ | ť, ti /cʰ/ | k /kʰ/ | ||
| Spirant | unvoiced | f /f/ | th /θ/ | ch /χ/ | |||
| voiced | w /β/ | ð /ð/ | [ɣ] | ||||
| Non-spirant | unvoiced | s /s/ | ꞅ /ʃ/ | ꞅci, /ɕː/ | -t etc. /h/ | ||
| voiced | z /z/ | ġ, zġ /ʒ/ | |||||
| Resonant | -w, -g etc. /w/ | l /l/ | ꞃ /ɾ/ | j, -i, -g etc. /j/, l̇, li /(Slovak ľ)/ | [ɤ̃ˤʶ] | ||
- Voiceless stops are usually at least as strongly aspirated as Japanese voiceless stops and at most as strongly as English ones. Voiced stops are fully voiced or partially devoiced.
- preaspiration of postvocalic aspirated stops in coda or before a consonant; in natural speech, -t weakens all the way to [h] in this environment, as in skweatlo [ˈskwɛːh(t)ɫo~ˈskwɛːɬˠːo] 'light'. Thus some analyze /h/ as a phonemic consonant appearing in clusters such as /hp hl/ and word-finally. However, the 2nd person plural verb ending -t is always pronounced as [tʰ].
- Word-final c is never preaspirated.
- Consonant assimilations:
- unaspirated stops voice before or after any voiced sound (vowel, resonant or voiced fricative)
- h is silent as in Romance languages (when not used in a digraph).
- w has many allophones:
- [w] or [ʍ] when it follows a consonant, according as whether the consonant is aspirated or not: skweat [skwɛ:h] 'world', kweat [kʰʍɛ:h] 'flower'.
- [w] when not before a vowel: e.g. staw [staw] '(flowery) state, condition', o wꞅich was [ɔwˈʃɪχʍas] 'about all of you'. However, between words it may still be dropped: o wꞅich was [ɔˈʃɪχʍas].
- [b] word-initially before a vowel and after /n/, thus merging with /b/: wečer [ˈbɛtʃʰɪɾ] 'evening'.
- When not after a vowel but before a consonant, it becomes [χʷ], [ʍ] or silent: wčera /χʷtʃɛrə~ʍtʃɛɾə~tʃɛɾə/ 'yesterday'.
- w as [v~f] is a feature of some dialects, which may be transcribed as vv, vf, or ff in eye dialects.
- */nk/ assimilates to /ŋk/ (cf. Czech).
- Medial g (when it is not ng) lenites and has complex pronunciation rules, similar to rules for writing the hamza in Arabic. These rules are listed in the order of decreasing priority (i.e. attempt to apply a rule if the conditions for the rules above it are not met):
- After /j/ or /w/, g is always silent: sag [saw] 'ledge', töga [tʰœjə] 'honey' (term of affection for spouse; a doublet of tunga [tʰuŋə] 'desire').
- After /r/ or /l/, g vocalizes to [ʊ] when non-prevocalic, and is pronounced [w] when prevocalic: darga /ˈdarwə/ 'a road'; darg /ˈdarʊ/ 'of roads'.
- After other consonants, g is pronounced /k/ and devoices a preceding fricative: mozg /mɔsk/ 'brain'.
- Unstressed go is pronounced /w/: jagoda 'berry' = [jawdə].
- Before the past tense affix -l-, it is silent: beagl [bjɛ:ɤ̃ʶ], beagla ['bjɛ:ɫə], beagli ['bjɛ:l'ɪ] 'he/she/they ran (ipfv)'.
- After back monophthongs, it is [w] and after front monophthongs, it is [j]. For example: rog [ɾɔw] 'horn; corner', beag [bjɛːj] 'running; race course', nogai [nɔwɪ] 'legs'.
- After a and diphthongs ie ů:
- If the g is not prevocalic or precedes /a ə a:/, it is silent and a preceding /a/ is lengthened to /a:/: sarchag /saɾəχə/ 'coffin'. In the case of ga, the following schwa /ə/ is dropped as well: braga [pɾa:] 'yeast'.
- If the g precedes a front unrounded vowel /ɛ ɪ/, it is pronounced /j/: bragai [pɾajɪ] 'yeast (gen. sg. or nom. pl.)'
- If the g precedes a front rounded vowel /œ ʏ/, it is pronounced /β/: sarchagum [saɾəχəβʏm] 'coffins (dat. pl.)'
- If the g precedes a back vowel /ɔ ʊ/, it is pronounced /w/: brago [prawʊ] 'yeast (voc. sg.)'
- If the g precedes an unreduced /a/, then it is pronounced [ʕ]: prebiega ['pʰɾɛbiəʕa] 'it is in progress'.
- w has many allophones:
- The letter ṙ for formerly palatalized /r/ was used inconsistently in Early Modern Albionian and quickly fell out of use. It corresponds to the Czech ř sound, voiceless /r/ or trilled /r/ in dialects.
- th ð = /θ ð/ in Standard Albionian. Nonstandard accents of Standard Albionian have various realizations for these sounds, such as [f v], [ts dz], slit fricatives or retroflexes: se nauth 'tonight' [sɨ'nœf~sɨ'nœθ̠~sɨ'nœʂ~sɨ'nœts].
- /l/ is velarized before back vowels. It is vocalized to a nasalized pharyngealized uvular approximant in coda: postel 'bed' [pʰɔstɤ̃ˤʶ].
- Voiced fricatives are not devoiced at ends of words.
h c q v x ph are used in Latin and Greek loanwords; they're pronounced the same as native ch k kw w ks f. For example: humanismus, calčium, qualita, variant, existowaṫ, philosophia [ˈʊmənʲɪsmʏs, kaltSi.ym, ˈkʰwalɪtʰə, ˈbaɾjənt, ˈɛksɪstoʊhtʲ, ˈfɪɫosofɪjə].
Pleophony
CVrC, CVlC is pronounced as CVrəC, CVləC; cf. Irish and Russian. e.g. smairt 'death' = /ˈsmɪɾəh/, galwa 'head' = /ˈgaɫəβə/, derwo 'tree' = /ˈdɛɾəβo/, welkej 'big' = /ˈbɛɫəkʰej/.
-w in word-final -rw and -lw is vocalized to [ʏ] and -g in word-final -rg and -lg becomes [ʊ]. For example: pozdarw [ˈpʰɔzdərʏ] 'greeting; regards (when signing a letter)'; dàrg /ˈtaːɾʊ/ 'of roads'.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | |||||||
| short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | i, ai /ɪ/ | ì, aì /iː/ | [ʏ] | [ɨ] | u /ʊ/ | ù /uː/ | ||
| Mid | e /ɛ/ | ea, oe /ɛː/ | au /œ/ | aù /œː/ | [ə] | o /ɔ~o/, l [ɤ̃ʶ] | ||
| Open | a /a/ | à /aː/ | ||||||
| Diphthong | ie /iə~ɪː/ | uo /uə/ | ||||||
a e i/y o u/w au (ag) à oe/è ea ì ò/og aù/uê ù au ê/iê ô eo/oeo ìo aị aì/ei/eu = (unreduced) /a ɛ ɪ ɔ u œ aː aw ɛː jɛː iː ow øː uː œj iə uə ɛw~əw ɪw iː ɛj/
- è is used in foreign loans
- cy gy are pronounced /kʰɪ kɪ/, not /kʰɨ kɨ/.
- In standard Albionian, ea is pronounced as palatalizing long /ɛː/ when not reduced: jeat wai [ˈjɛːtʰ ʍɪ] 'y'all (familiar) eat'. After alveolar sibilants /θ ð s z ʃ ʒ/ it becomes /ɛː/.
- /ɛː/ shifts to /iː/ in basilectal southern accents.
- Initial ji jì jê > i ì ê in casual speech. For example, jiezyk /'jiəzɪk/ 'tongue; language' is pronounced ['iəzɪk].
- In noninitial syllables, historical short vowels are reduced and longs are shortened.
- /a/ reduces to /ə/
- /ɛ e/ reduces to non-palatalizing /ɨ/
- /jɛː ɪ/ reduces to palatalizing /ɪ/
- /ɔ/ reduces to /o/
- slowo [sɫɔβo] 'a word'
- /œ ʊ/ reduces to /ʏ/
- steam deatum 'with the children' [scɪm ˈciətʰʏm]
- maužnaust 'possibility' [ˈmœʒnʏst]
- /ɛɪ/ reduces to /ɪj/
Stress and tone
Stress is always initial. Vowels have two possible registers: stød and no stød. Stød is marked in dictionaries using the underdot.
Intonation
Similar to Danish or Hiberno-English
Dialects
Albion
In Albion, the relationship between Albionian dialects and Standard Albionian is like the relationship between German dialects and Standard German. Traditionally, nonstandard dialects were used in local everyday speech and Standard Albionian is used in writing, formal or religious contexts or in contexts where speakers from different backgrounds need to understand each other. Today, regional dialects are under pressure due to modern societal conditions, such as public education and mass media. Some Albion dialects even have retroflex stops and resonants /ɳ ɭ ʈ ɖ/.
Crackfic Trician Albionian is much more uniform and closer to the standard, with comparatively minor regional differences in accent and vocabulary.
Various dialectal isoglosses:
- /dl/ (Standard) ~ /ɾl/ ~ /ɭ/ ~ /ɻ/ ~ /l/
- 'soap': maịdlo (Southern to Midlands) ~ mȳrlo/mȳḷo/mȳzho (Bristol) ~ mýlo (Northern England)
- Liquid pleophony vs metathesis vs none
- metathesis (Some Scottish dialects)
- pleophony (Standard British, Midlands and Northern England, some Scottish dialects)
- no pleophony or metathesis (Southern dialects)
- r + coronal > retroflex (Bristol area, now only elderly speakers)
- 'crow': wāṇa /'bǎ:ɳa/ (standard wàrna /'bawɾənə/)
- r + coronal > retroflex (Bristol area, now only elderly speakers)
- Common Slavic accent
- Common Slavic stress retained but not tone (northern and most Scottish dialects)
- 4-tone system (Shetland, Church Alb.)
- 3-tone systems (Midlands, Bristol area)
- 2-tone systems (Modern Standard British Alb.)
- only length (Wales)
- new stress accent from length (Standard American Alb.)
Writing
In-universe, Netažin uses a Latin orthography similar to that of Vietnamese. Certain letters can take a palatalizing i which works much like in Italian and Polish: nia, tia, dia, nie, tie, die, ni, ti, di, etc. are read as ň ť ď + ia, e, ê, i, ì. It is traditionally typeset in the Gaelic Uncial type (cf. Fraktur for Czech), a tradition which survives among Crackfic Trician Albionian speakers.
The orthography is based on the relatively conservative southern dialect of ___ of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the pronunciation of the standard koine has absorbed influences from other dialects, such as liquid pleophony from the Talmic-influenced northern dialects. The underdot diacritic indicates the stød in dictionaries.
Morphology
Nouns
Like our Slavic, Albionian has masculine, feminine and neuter genders, and has the same gender markers as our Slavic. Gender-neutral forms are sometimes created by concatenating masculine and feminine endings.
Modern Standard Netažin nouns and adjectives have retained five of the seven Proto-Slavic cases: nominative, dative, genitive, allative from the PSlav accusative after prepositions, and vocative. (Dialects differ in the number of cases; some conservative dialects retain all 7 Proto-Slavic cases, while some dialects, particularly in Cualand, have lost case entirely.) The nominative is used for both subjects and direct objects; the dative fills the role of dative nouns and of the locative after some prepositions in our Slavic languages. The instrumental (instrumentaùl) is semi-productive in forming adverbs and expressions, e.g. prawdau 'really'; beagom 'during'; wuzglaindom 'owing to, in view of'; pomauthi 'with, using'; inaìmi slowai 'in other words'.
The instrumental has been replaced with the dative in the following way:
- Instruments use the preposition se + dative (just like the comitative).
- After prepositions where our Slavic languages use the instrumental, such as nad 'above'.
- Predicate nouns and adjectives that denote becoming or change of state.
Some nouns have different stems for zero and nonzero endings: den 'day (nom.)' > dnea 'days (nom.)'; caùn 'horse (nom.)' > caunea 'horses (nom.)'.
Some hard stem declensions
| wailc (m.) = wolf | galwa (f.) = head ġena (f.) = woman |
perdseada (m.) = chairman | slowo (n.) = word | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | |
| Nominative | wailc | wailthi | galwa ġena |
galwai ġenai |
perdseada | perdseadi | slowo | slowa |
| Genitive | wailca | wailcow | galwai ġenai |
galw ġen |
perdseadai | perdseadow | slowa | slow |
| Dative | wailcu | wailcum | galwe ġenie |
gaulwum ġinum |
perdseadie | perdseadum | slowe | slowum |
| Allative | wailc | wailcai* | gaulwu ġinu |
galwai ġenai |
perdseadu | perdseadai* | slowo | slowa |
| Vocative | wailċe! | wailcai! | galwo! ġeno! |
galwai! ġenai! |
perdseado! | perdseadai! | slowo! | slowa! |
* Sometimes -owea for humans.
Some wailc nouns drop intervening e or ai (from PS hard and soft yer respectively) when adding endings: pes 'dog' > gen. psa; cauthec 'kitten' > gen. cauthca.
In wailc nouns, -u is used for nouns ending in velars and -e for others.
The ending -e in the above declensions causes second palatalization: n ng t c d g ch become ṅ nn ṫ th ḋ ð s, for example:
- stàrna 'side' > na taì stàrnie 'on the side'
- dàrga 'road' > na taì dàrðe 'on the road'
- tônga 'desire' > se tônne 'with desire'
- uċitelca 'teacher (f.)' > taì uċitelthe 'to/for the teacher'
Some soft-stem declensions
Some nouns like list 'leaf' and caust 'bone' end in a hard consonant in the nominative.
| muġ (m.) = man list (m.) = leaf |
caust (f.) = bone nauth (f.) = night |
zemea (f.) = earth | saiꞃthe (n.) = heart | zdaùniê (n.) = fact | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | |
| Nominative | muġ list |
muġowea, muġea listea |
caust nauth |
causti nauthi |
zemea | zemi | saiꞃthe | saiꞃtha | zdaùniê | zdaùnia |
| Genitive | muġea listea |
muġì listì |
causti nauthi |
caustì nauthì |
zemi | zemì | saiꞃtha | saiꞃth | zdaùnia | zdauṅ |
| Dative | muġi listi |
muġim listim |
causti nauthi |
caustum nauthum |
zemi | zemim | saiꞃthi | saiꞃthim | zdaùnì | zdaùnim |
| Allative | muġ list |
muġi listi |
caust nauth |
causti nauthi |
zemi | zemi | saiꞃthe | saiꞃtha | zdaùniê | zdaùnia |
| Vocative | muġi! listi! |
muġea! listea! |
causti! nauthi! |
causti! nauthi! |
zemie! | zemi! | saiꞃthe! | saiꞃtha! | zdaùniê! | zdaùnia! |
-ê nouns
| imê (n.) = name | zgwêrê (n.) = animal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | |
| Nominative | imê | imena | zgwêrê | zgwêrenta |
| Genitive | imenia | imen | zgwêrentia | zgwêrent |
| Dative | imeni | imenum | zgwêrenti | zgwêrentum |
| Allative | imê | imena | zgwêrê | zgwêrenta |
| Vocative | imê! | imena! | zgwêrê! | zgwêrenta! |
Nouns with pseudo-duals
| oco (n.) = eye | ucho (n.) = ear | runca (f.) = hand, arm | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | |
| Nominative | oco | auci | ucho | uꞅi | runca | runthe |
| Genitive | oca | aucì | ucha | uꞅì | runcai | runthì |
| Dative | othe | aucim | uꞅe | uꞅim | runthe | runcum |
| Allative | oco | auci | ucho | uꞅi | runcu | runthe |
| Vocative | oco! | auci! | ucho! | uꞅi! | runco! | runthe! |
Miscellaneous
| ċelweac (m.) = human, person | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| Nominative | ċelweac | lidea |
| Genitive | ċelweaca | lidì |
| Dative | ċelweacu | lidum |
| Allative | ċelweaca | lidi |
| Vocative | ċelweaċe! | lidea! |
| aùteth (m.) = father | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| Nominative | aùteth | aùthai |
| Genitive | aùtha | aùthow |
| Dative | aùthu | aùthum |
| Allative | aùtha | aùthi |
| Vocative | aùċe! | aùthai! |
| sluġineth (m.) = child | ||
|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |
| Nominative | sluġineth | deati |
| Genitive | sluġintha | deatì |
| Dative | sluġinthu | deatum |
| Allative | sluġintha | deati |
| Vocative | sluġinthe! | deati! |
archaic singular: diềtiê, diềtintia, diềtinti; diêtiê is still used as a vocative like "child" is in English (but is mainly literary).
Loan declension
Masculine and neuter words from Latin, Greek and Lithuanian remove their original nominative singular endings when declined.
- Second-declension nouns follow the wylc declension: for example, soċialismus 'socialism', mỳthos 'myth', Mindaugas 'Mindaugas (Lithuanian name)'.
- There is a tendency to keep nominative and oblique stems separate where the original languages do; this includes nouns such as thema, themata, thematu, thematu.
- Second-declension words in -um or -on follow the slowo or saiꞃthe declension: for example, practicum 'internship'; critèrion 'criterion'.
- Nouns in -oe (for example, Athoenoe 'Athena') decline as feminine -e nouns; -ia nouns are a declension class of their own.
- More unusual declensions are normatively treated as having one of the regular native declensions. The plural of oethos is oethosy; using forms such as oethy would be hypercorrect.
Newer foreign -u names decline like slowo and -i names decline like -e nouns (allowed by Albionian vowel reduction). Female names ending in a consonant decline like caust: Ester becomes Esteri in the non-nominative cases. Names that don't fit into native patterns are indeclinable, and simply add the definite article: the female name Hanako becomes ta Hanako. The definite article declines when the name needs to be declined: ty walsy taì Hanako 'Hanako's hair'.
| mìthos (m.) = myth | practicum (n.) = internship | critèrion (n.) = criterion | geometria (f.) = geometry | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | singular | plural | |
| Nominative | mỳthos | mỳthai | practicum | practica | critèrion | critèria | geometria | geometrii |
| Genitive | mỳtha | mỳthow | practica | practic | critèria | critèriì | geometrii | geometriì |
| Dative | mỳthu | mỳthum | practicu | practicum | critèrii | critèriim | geometrie | geometriim |
| Allative | mỳthos | mỳthy | practicum | practica | critèrion | critèrii | geometrii | geometrii |
| Vocative | mỳthe! | mỳthai! | practicum! | practica! | critèrion! | critèria! | geometrio! | geometrii |
The only irregular loan has a mixed Slavic-Latin declension (Christus 'Christ' is declined as a regular -us loan):
| Jèsus (m.) = Jesus | |
|---|---|
| singular | |
| Nominative | Jèsus |
| Genitive | Jèsu |
| Dative | Jèsu(i) |
| Allative | Jèsum, Jèsu |
| Vocative | Jèsu! |
Pluralia tantum
Neuter pluralia tantum in -a, such as ùsta 'mouth', warta 'door', nebesa 'sky', slowesa 'speech, words' (as opposed to slowa which is used for individual words), data, agenda are colloquially often feminine singular. (Propaganda is sometimes treated as neuter plural, which is hypercorrect.)
Articles (Articulai)
Like Irish and Welsh, Albionian has a definite article but no indefinite article; ġàba means 'a frog', and ġàba ta means 'the frog'.
| m. sg. | f. sg. | n. sg. | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ten | ta | to | ti (m/f), ta (n) |
| Genitive | teo | taì | teo | teach |
| Dative | tom | taì | tom | team |
| Allative | teo | tu | to | tai |
Prepositions (Preposiċii)
Prepositions have meanings similar to their cognates in our Slavic languages: na, o(b), od, u (+gen), cu (+dat), do (+gen), wu, po, za, se (+dat), bez (+gen), dla (+gen), perz, pri, nad, pod, perd, ... The prepositions na, nad, o, po, pod, za, pers, perd, pri, wu take the nominative/accusative when they denote motion, and the dative when they denote location (depending on the preposition; the dative is used where our Slavic languages would use the instrumental or the locative). Unlike in our Slavic languages, there's no difference between comitative and instrumental; the preposition sâ is used for both.
o is ob before a vowel.
Possession is indicated using the preposition u, as in Russian: Les umne prìclad. 'I have an example.'
Some things that look like prepositions are not: e.g. the se in fixed time expressions se den, se jitro, se weċer, se nauth 'today, this morning, this evening, tonight' is actually a fossilized demonstrative from Proto-Slavic *sŭ.
Preposition + pronoun combinations
If the prepositional object is a pronoun, the preposition + pronoun is written and pronounced as one word: Bunde weċerca u Catheriny, ċi poidem my cunì ċil ne? /pʊndɨ bɛtʃʰɪɾkʰə ʊ ˈkʰaθɨɾɪnɨ, tʃɪ ˈpɔɪdɨm mɨ ˈkʰʊnʲiː tʃɪw nɛ/ 'There's a party at Catherina's, are we going [to her house] or not?'. If a preposition combines with a personal pronoun, -e- may be added between the preposition and the pronoun: for example: nademnau, nadetau, podemnau, podetau, yzemnie, yzetwe, yzese, semnau, stau.
Preposition + article contractions
o, pri, na, cu, wu, po, za, se + tom > om, prim, nam, cum, wum, pom, zam, stom
se + team > steam
Adjectives (Adjectìva)
Predicative forms of -scaì adjectives are in -scai. Hard stems:
| m. sg. | f. sg. | n. sg. | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Predicative | dobr | ||||
| Adverbial | dobre, dobro | ||||
| Attributive | Nom., Voc. | dobraì | dobrà | dobroe | dobrì (m), dobrê (f), dobrà (n) |
| Genitive | dobroeo | dobraì | dobroeo | dobraìch | |
| Dative | dobroem | dobraì | dobroem | dobraìm | |
| Allative | dobroeo | dobrau | dobroe | dobrê (m/f), dobrà (n) | |
Soft stems:
| m. sg. | f. sg. | n. sg. | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Predicative | ostateṅ | ||||
| Adverbial | *ostatnie | ||||
| Attributive | Nom., Voc. | ostatnì | ostatnià | ostatniê | ostatniê (m/f), ostatnià (n) |
| Genitive | ostatnìo | ostatnì | ostatnìo | ostatnìch | |
| Dative | ostatnìm | ostatnì | ostatnìm | ostatnìm | |
| Allative | ostatnìo | ostatnì | ostatniê | ostatniê (m/f), ostatnià (n) | |
Possessive adjectives
In colloquial language, only nouns denoting family members have possessive adjective forms.
aùteth 'father' > aùthow, -owa, -owo 'father's'
matca 'mother' > matċin, -ina, -ino
For example: aùthow lewr /œ:θoʊ lɛʊr/ 'father's book'
In formal language, inherited possessive adjectives are used to denote concepts named after people (like German -sche); e.g. zcusitelnaust Bayesowa 'Bayesian probability'; functiä Wesselowa 'Bessel function'.
Verbs (Verba)
Verbs retain the Proto-Slavic aspectual distinction. There are a number of analytic tenses like in English and modern Celtic languages, but often only one of the two aspects allow the constructions.
The conditional form is a bit unusual from the perspective of our Slavic; it continues the PS 1sg -xŭ and 1pl -xomŭ imperfective and aorist form, analogized to other persons and numbers. It corresponds to the L-participle + by construction in Russian, Polish, etc.. There is no distinction between present and past conditional, unlike in English; the Albionian conditional makes an aspect distinction rather than a tense one.
- present habitual: imperfective
- present progressive: imperfective
- present perfect: perfective
- past imperfect: imperfective
- past progressive: imperfective
- preterite: perfective
- future imperfective: imperfective (formed with a (fused) auxiliary)
- future perfective: perfective (formed like present)
- conditional can be either
3pl forms of verbs are only used with the plural pronoun ꞅi (...nt wꞅi 'they all...'). Plural nouns and demonstratives take the 3sg form.
Special emphatic forms exist in the first person in formal language: senseꞅ 'it's me'.
Negation
Verbs are negated using the circumfix ne VERB als (etym. *ne ... wals 'not a hair of'), or colloquially, often just with VERB als. (als is pronounced /aws/) Als precedes the absolutive argument of a negated verb, as well as any absolutive argument of any lexical verb, UNLESS it is a subject personal pronoun for an intransitive verb (Chaudil sty als tam nicdy? = 'Have you never been there?').
- For intranstive verbs, especially ones that denote motion or a change of state, als precedes the subject (cf. German verbs that use the auxiliary sein).
- Otherwise, als precedes the direct object (cf. German verbs that use the auxiliary haben).
A noun preceded by als is required to be in the genitive: Cdoġ sparuê eaðeniê mynso? Ne sparuêns als eaðenia mynsa. [kʰtoʃ 'spaɾœ 'jɛðɪnʲiə 'mɨnsʊ || nɪ 'spaɾœns əws 'jɛðɪnʲə 'mɨnsə] (also eaðeniê mynsa in more informal contexts) = 'Who condones eating meat? I don't condone eating meat.' In the following tables, grayed-out forms are used in formal or literary language.
-aṫ
| tense | 1sg | 2sg fam. | 3sg | 1pl | 2pl | 3pl | impersonal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present | dealàns | dealàꞅ tai | dealà | dealàm mai | dealàt wai | dealàn ꞅi | dealà-sê |
| present prog. | sens dealànth | stai dealànth | les ton dealànth | smy dealànth | swy dealànth | len ꞅi dealànth | dealàmo |
| past | dealalns, dealalans | dealal(a) stai | dealal on, ona; dealal(a/o) NOUN | dealaï smai | dealaï swai | dealaï ꞅi | dealalo-sê |
| conditional | dealachas | dealach tai | dealach | dealachum mai | dealach wai, dealachet wai, dealast wai | dealach ꞅi, dealaꞅin ꞅi | dealach-sê |
| imperative | - | dealei! | - | dealeim! | dealeite! | - | - |
| present participle | dealànthaì | ||||||
| past participle | dealanaì | ||||||
| verbnoun | dealauniê | ||||||
-eaṫ, -iêṫ
| tense | 1sg | 2sg fam. | 3sg | 1pl | 2pl | 3pl | impersonal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present | wiðuns | widiêꞅ tai | widiê | widiêm mai | widiêt wai | wiðôn ꞅi | widiê-sê |
| present prog. | sens wiðônth | sty wiðônth | les ton wiðônth | smy wiðônth | swy wiðônth | len ꞅi wiðônth | wiðemo |
| past | widealns, widealans | wideal(a) stai | wideal on(a/o); wideal(a/o) NOUN | wideai smai | wideai swai | wideai ꞅi | widealo-sê |
| conditional | wideachas | wideach tai | wideach | wideachum mai | wideach wy, wideachet wy, wideast wy | wideach ꞅi, wideaꞅin ꞅi | wideach-sê |
| imperative | - | wið! | - | wiðem! | wiðete! | - | |
| present participle | wiðônthaì | ||||||
| past participle | wiðenaì | ||||||
| verbnoun | wiðeniê | ||||||
-iṫ
| tense | 1sg | 2sg fam. | 3sg | 1pl | 2pl | 3pl | impersonal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present | noꞅins | nosìꞅ tai | nosì | nosìm mai | nosìt wai | noꞅên ꞅi | nosì-sê |
| present prog. | sens noꞅênth | sty noꞅênth | les ton noꞅênth | smy noꞅênth | swy noꞅênth | len ꞅi noꞅênth | noꞅimo |
| past | nosilns, nosilans | nosil(a) stai | nosil on(a/o); nosil(a/o) NOUN | nosii smai | nosii swai | nosii ꞅi | nosilo-sê |
| conditional | nosichas | nosich tai | nosich | nosichum mai | nosich wy, nosichet wy, nosist wy | nosich ꞅi, nosiꞅin ꞅi | nosich-sê |
| imperative | - | nos! | - | nosem! | noste! | - | - |
| present participle | noꞅênthaì | ||||||
| past participle | noꞅenaì | ||||||
| verbnoun | noꞅeniê | ||||||
Changes in 1sg and 3pl present-system, participle and verbnoun forms: m p b n d t z s st > mj pj bj ṅ ð th ġ ꞅ sċ
- laumiṫ "to break, to split (impf)" > laumins, laumieniê
- taupiṫ "to heat (impf)" > taupins, taupieniê
- slabiṫ "to weaken (impf)" > slabins, slabieniê
- platiṫ "to pay (impf)" > plathins, platheniê
- raudiṫ-sê "to be born (pf)" > rauðins-sê, rauðeniê
- zmeaniṫ "to change (pf)" > zmeanins, zmeanieniê
- rozcaziṫ "to decompose (pf)" > rozcaġins, rozcaġeniê
- zcusiṫ "to try (pf)" > zcuꞅins, zcuꞅeniê
- odpustiṫ "to forgive (pf)" > odpusċins, odpusċeniê
-owaṫ, -naunṫ
The -owaṫ (the ending -owaṫ is pronounced /-oʊc/) verbs are from PSlav -ovati verbs, the perfective counterpart is -naunṫ from -nǫti.
| tense | 1sg | 2sg fam. | 3sg | 1pl | 2pl | 3pl | impersonal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present | beseaduêns | beseaduêꞅ tai | beseaduê | beseaduêm mai | beseaduêt wai | beseaduên ꞅi | beseaduê-sê |
| present prog. | sens beseaduênth | sty beseaduênth | les ton beseaduênth | smy beseaduênth | swy beseaduênth | len ꞅi beseaduênth | beseaduêmo |
| past | beseadowalns, beseadowalans | beseadowal(a) stai | beseadowal on(a/o); beseadowal(a/o) NOUN | beseadowai smai | beseadowai swai | beseadowai ꞅi | beseadowalo-sê |
| conditional | beseadochas | beseadoch tai | beseadoch | beseadochum mai | beseadoch wy, beseadochet wy, beseadost wy | beseadoch ꞅi, beseadoꞅin ꞅi | beseadoch-sê |
| imperative | - | beseadui! | - | beseaduim! | beseaduite! | - | - |
| present participle | beseaduênthaì | ||||||
| past participle | beseadowanaì | ||||||
| verbnoun | beseadowaniê | ||||||
| tense | 1sg | 2sg fam. | 3sg | 1pl | 2pl | 3pl | impersonal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| future perfective | beseadnuns | beseadneꞅ tai | beseadne | beseadnem mai | beseadnet wai | beseadnôn ꞅi | beseadne-sê |
| present perf. | sens beseadnunꞅi | sty beseadnunꞅi | les ton beseadnunꞅi | smy beseadnunꞅi | swy beseadnunꞅi | len ꞅi beseadnunꞅi | beseadnunto |
| preterite | beseadnôlns, beseadnôlans | beseadnôl(a) stai | beseadnôl on(a/o), beseadnôl(a/o) NOUN | beseadnôi smai | beseadnôi swai | beseadnôi ꞅi | beseadnôlo-sê |
| preterite | beseadnuchas | beseadnuch tai | beseadnuch | beseadnuchum mai | beseadnuch wy, beseadnuchet wy, beseadnust wy | beseadnuch ꞅi, beseadnôꞅin ꞅi | beseadnuch-sê |
| imperative | - | beseadni! | - | beseadnim! | beseadnite! | - | - |
| past participle | beseadnuntaì | ||||||
| verbnoun | beseadnuntiê | ||||||
Irregular verbs
| tense | 1sg | 2sg fam. | 3sg | 1pl | 2pl | 3pl | impersonal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present | prìmuns | prìmeꞅ tai | prìme | prìmem mai | prìmet wai | prìmôn | prìme-sê |
| present perf. | sens prìnꞅi | sty prìnꞅi | les ton prìnꞅi | smy prìnꞅi | swy prìnꞅi | len ꞅi prìnꞅi | prìnto |
| past | prìl(a)ns | prìl(a) stai | prìl on(a/o); prìl(a/o) NOUN | prì smai | prì swai | prì ꞅi | prìlo-sê |
| conditional | prijachas | prijach tai | prijach | prijachum mai | prijach wy, prijachet wy, prijast wy | prijach ꞅi, prijaꞅin ꞅi | prijach-sê |
| imperative | - | prìmi! | - | prìmeam! | prìmeate! | - | - |
| past active participle | prìnꞅi | ||||||
| past passive participle | prìnt | ||||||
| verbnoun | prìntiê | ||||||
-ṫ
doert 'to tear'
present: druns, dreꞅ ty, dre, drem my, dret wy, drôn
past: derl
conditional analytic: deroch
past participle: derto
verbnoun: dertiê
d/t-stems go like this:
ċìst, preċìst 'to read' (from a combination of *ċisti and *ċitati):
present: ċituns, ċiteꞅ ty, ċite ton, ċitem my, ċitet wy, ċitôn
past: ċitl
conditional analytic: ċitoch
past participle: ċiteno
verbnoun: ċiteniê
noest 'to carry (unidirectional)':
present: nesuns, neseꞅ ty, nese ton, nesem my, neset wy, nesôn ꞅi
past: nesl(a/o/i)
conditional analytic: nesoch
past participle: neseno
verbnoun: neseniê
imperative: nes! nesem! nesete!
iêsṫ, sêsṫ 'to eat' is irregular:
present: iêns, eaꞅ ty, ea ton, eam my, eat wy, eaðôn
past: eadl(a/o/i)
conditional analytic: eadeach
past participle: eaðeno
verbnoun: eaðeniê
Note: In consonant-stem verbs, the past tense plural ending is -li. eadli smai = we used to eat (cf. arbii smai = we used to work)
-th
boerth, loeth, mœ̀th, biêth, riêth, liênth, poeth, pônth, toeth, tiênth, stoerth, stìth, strìth, toelth, woelth, woerth, wyrth, ġoeth
From PS *-ťi verbs. Two subtypes: the *gti verbs and the *kti verbs.
| tense | 1sg | 2sg fam. | 3sg | 1pl | 2pl | 3pl | impersonal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present | berguns | berġeꞅ tai | berġe | berġem mai | berġet wai | bergôn ꞅi | berġe-sê |
| present prog. | sens bergônth | sty bergônth | les ton bergônth | smy bergônth | swy bergônth | len ꞅi bergônth | berġemo |
| past | berglns, berglans | bergl(a) stai | bergl on(a/o), bergl(a/o) NOUN | bergli smai | bergli swai | bergli ꞅi | berglo-sê |
| conditional | bergochas | bergoch tai | bergoch on(a/o) | bergochum mai | bergoch wy, bergochet wy, bergost wy | bergoch ꞅi, bergoꞅin ꞅi | bergoch-sê |
| imperative | - | berð! | - | berðem! | berðete! | - | - |
| present participle | bergônthaì | ||||||
| past participle | berġenaì | ||||||
| verbnoun | berġeniê | ||||||
| tense | 1sg | 2sg fam. | 3sg | 1pl | 2pl | 3pl | impersonal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| future perfective | reacuns | reaċeꞅ tai | reaċe | reaċem mai | reaċet wai | reacôn ꞅi | reaċe-sê |
| present perf. | sens reacꞅi | sty reacꞅi | les ton reacꞅi | smy reacꞅi | swy reacꞅi | len ꞅi reacꞅi | reaċeno |
| past | realns, realans | real(a) stai | real on(a/o), real(a/o) NOUN | reali smai | reali swai | reali ꞅi | realo-sê |
| conditional | reachas | reach tai | reach | reachum mai | reach wy, reachet wy, reacost wy | reach ꞅi, reacoꞅin ꞅi | reach-sê |
| imperative | - | reath! | - | reathem! | reathete! | - | - |
| past participle | reaċenaì | ||||||
| verbnoun | reaċeniê | ||||||
baịṫ 'to be'
| tense | 1sg | 2sg fam. | 3sg | 1pl | 2pl | 3pl | impersonal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present | sens | stai | les on, os on, los on (colloq.) ġes on (relative), ċis on (interrogative) | smai | swai | len ꞅi, òn ꞅi, lòn ꞅi (colloq.) ġen ꞅi (relative), ċin ꞅi (interrogative), lesun ꞅi, osun ꞅi, ġesun ꞅi, ċisun ꞅi | les-sê |
| habitual | baìwàns | baìwàꞅ tai | baìwà | baìwàm mai | baìwàt wai | baìwàn ꞅi | baìwà-sê |
| past | bylns, bylans | byl(a) stai | byl on(a/o); byl(a/o) NOUN | byi smai | byi swai | byi ꞅi | bylo-sê |
| conditional | bychas | bych ty, byꞅ tai | bych, by | bychum mai | bych wy, bychet wy, byst wy | bych ꞅi, by ꞅi, byꞅin ꞅi | bych-sê |
| future | bunduns | bundeꞅ tai | bunde | bundem mai | bundet wai | bundôn ꞅi | bunde-sê |
| imperative | - | bônḋ! | - | bôndiem! | bônḋte! | - | - |
| present participle | sônthaì | ||||||
| verbnoun | bytiê | ||||||
Verbs of motion
- to go by foot: ìsṫ (uni); chaudiṫ (multi)
- to go by vehicle: eachaṫ (uni); eazdiṫ (multi)
- to carry (by foot): noesṫ (uni); nausiṫ (multi)
- to carry (by vehicle): woezṫ (uni); wauziṫ (multi)
- to run: biêth (uni); biêgaṫ (multi)
- to swim: plauṫ (uni); plewaṫ (multi)
- to fly: leateaṫ (uni); liêtaṫ (multi)
- to lead: woesṫ (uni); waudiṫ (multi)
- to climb: liêzṫ (uni); laziṫ (multi)
- to chase: gnaṫ (uni); ganiaṫ (multi)
Pronouns (Pronòmina)
| case | 1sg. | 2sg. (Albion; familiar) | 3sg. | 1pl. | 2pl. (familiar in Albion) | 3pl., 2 formal in Albion | refl. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| m. | f. | n. | |||||||
| nom. (emphatic) | aseꞅ, -seꞅ | tyꞅ | (t)onꞅ | (t)onaꞅ | (t)onoꞅ (an.), toꞅ (inan.) | myꞅ | wyꞅ | ꞅiꞅ | - |
| acc. | miê, mnie, -mnie (prep) | tiê, tebe, -twe (prep) | jei, -niei (prep.) | ji, -ni (prep.) | to | nàs | wàs | je, -nie (prep.) | sê, -sê (prep) |
| gen. | men, -mnie (prep) | teb, -twe (prep) | jeo, -nieo (prep.) | jì, -nì (prep.) | teo | nàs | wàs | jich, -nich (prep.) | seb, -sê (prep) |
| dat. | mi, mnau, -mnau (prep) | ti, tau, -tau (prep) | jem, mu, -niem (prep.) | jì, -nì (prep.) | tom | nàm | wàm | jim, -nim (prep.) | si, sau, -sau (prep) |
| poss. | môi | tôi | jeo | jì | teo | nàꞅ | wàꞅ | jich | sôi; walsnaì |
The nominative forms ton etc. are used after verb forms ending in a vowel. Otherwise on etc. are used.
The form ꞅi is from *vьśi 'all'. ꞅi (same as the 3rd person plural) is also the standard polite pronoun in Albion. American Albionian uses wai for singular and plural familiar, wàsca for both singular and plural of neutral familiarity in the Americas, and tet pan, ta pani (pl. ty panowea, ty pani) are very polite.
Possessive pronouns
| m. sg. | f. sg. | n. sg. | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | môi | mà | moe | mì (m), mê (f), mà (n) |
| Genitive | moeo | maì | moeo | maìch |
| Dative | moem | maì | moem | maìm |
| Allative | moeo | mau | moe | mê (m/f), mà (n) |
| m. sg. | f. sg. | n. sg. | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | tôi | twà | twoe | twì (m), twê (f), twà (n) |
| Genitive | twoeo | twaì | twoeo | twaìch |
| Dative | twoem | twaì | twoem | twaìm |
| Allative | twoeo | tau | twoe | twê (m/f), twà (n) |
sôi is similar to tôi but with s- where tw- is used.
| m. sg. | f. sg. | n. sg. | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | nàꞅ | naꞅa | naꞅe | naꞅi (m/f), naꞅe (n) |
| Genitive | naꞅeo | naꞅì | naꞅeo | naꞅich |
| Dative | naꞅem | naꞅì | naꞅem | naꞅim |
| Allative | naꞅeo | naꞅi | naꞅe | naꞅi (m/f), naꞅe (n) |
wàꞅ is similar.
Uses of sam
| m. sg. | f. sg. | n. sg. | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | sam | sama | samo | sami (m); samy (f); sama (n) |
| Genitive | sameo | samaì | sameo | samaìch |
| Dative | samoem | samaì | samoem | samaìm |
| Allative | sameo | samu | samo | samy (m/f); sama (n) |
When sam is used in X sam (where sam agrees with the gender and number of X), it is an intensifier, meaniing "X himself/herself" or "the very X". Similarly, sie sam (where sam agrees with the subject) is an emphasized reflexive pronoun.
ten sam is a 3rd person pronoun in formal or literary language. They work like the German anaphoric use of dieser and are usually used to refer to the latest noun that has been used.
Demonstratives
Modern Netažin has no words for deictic 'this' or 'that', instead the words seam 'here' and tam 'there' are used for deictic purposes: to seam is used for 'this (thing)' and to NOUN seam is used for 'this NOUN'. For anaphoric use one can simply use a definite article or a third-person pronoun.
The formal language also has (strictly anaphoric) demonstratives tet (NOUN) zde or (pronominal) tet sam which is most commonly used to disambiguate the referent, like similar usage of German dieser.
- person: kto, tet/ta (NOUN) seam, tet/ta (NOUN) tam, nikt, neakto, wꞅekt/každej
- thing: þo, to (NOUN) seam, to (NOUN) tam, niþ, nieþo, wꞅeþ
- modifier: akej/kterej, takej ... seam, takej ... tam, žaden (with negative; aden with negative in flowery language), neajakej, wꞅestek/každej
- when: kdy, nyn, tom, nikdy, neakdy, wꞅewynþ
- where: kde, seam/tundy/tunde, tam, nikde, neakde, wꞅekde
- whither: kam, seam, tam, nikam, neakam, wꞅekam
- whence: od + "where"-words
| m. sg. | f. sg. | n. sg. | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | wꞅestec | wꞅesca | wꞅesco | wꞅescai (m/f), wꞅesca (n) |
| Genitive | wꞅeo | wꞅi | wꞅeo | wꞅech |
| Dative | wꞅem | wꞅi | wꞅem | wꞅem |
acaì 'what kind of, what (used to ask what X, given that it's an X)' tacaì 'such, like that', cteraì 'which (which item in a predetermined set of options)' decline as ordinary adjectives. The relativizer tacaìġ declines as tacaì + ġ. Wehn the relative clause has a copula, the relativizer combines with the copula to form tacaìġes etc.
Numerals (Numeràlia)
(colloquially those are just called ċìsla 'numbers')
0. nula; nultej
1. aden /'adɪn/; pairwaì '1st'
2. dwa /twa/; drugaì '2nd'
3. tri /tʰrɪ/; tretì '3rd'
4. ciri /'tʃʰɪrɪ/; ċcwairtaì
5. piênt /pʰiənt/; piêntaì
6. ꞅest /ʃɛst/; ꞅestaì
7. sedum /'sɛdʏm/; sedmaì
8. ausum /'œsʏm/; ausmaì
9. dewaint /'tɛβɨnt/; dewaintaì
10. desaint /'tɛsɨnt/; desaintaì
11.. 19: adnàst, dwanàst, trinàst, cirnàst, piêntnàst, ꞅestnàst, sednast, ausnast, dewaintnast /'adnast, 'twanast, .../; adnastej, dwanastej, ...
20: dwasti /'twastɪ/; dwastaì
21... 29: dwasti aden, ..., dwasti dewaint
30, 40, ... 90: tridesta, cirdesta, piêndesaint, ꞅesdesaint, sedumdesaint, ausumdesaint, dewaindesaint /'tʰrɪdɨstə, .../; tridestaì, ..., piêndesaintaì, ...
100: sto /'stɔ/; stotaì
200: dwestie
300, ..., 900: trista, cirista, piêntset, ꞅestset, sedumset, ausumset, dewaintset
1000: taisiênth /tʰɨsienθ/
Small numerals decline as follows:
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oba 'both' declines the same way:
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Nouns following numbers five and above require the genitive case, in contexts that require the nominative case.
Conjunctions (Conjunctii)
- i(l), a(l) = 'and'
- Though i and a had different meanings up to EMAlb, the choice between i and a is purely phonetically determined in the modern language. a(l) is used after /i: ɪ ɨ/, y(l) otherwise. The -l (from *li) is used iff a vowel follows.
- ċi, libo, alibo = 'or'
- àb = (literary) 'or'
- ale = 'but'
- aċcoi tac = 'however'
- estli = 'if'
- zaċ 'why?'
- nebo(ꞅ) = 'because'; can't be used at the beginning of the sentence
- tomże = because (can be used to start a sentence)
- reaċì teo ġe = (formal) 'because'
- dôwodem teo ġe = (formal) 'because'
- staùniêm teo, ġe = (formal) 'because'
- zato(ġ) 'that's why'
- abo(wêꞅ), boI(wêꞅ), nebowêꞅ = (literary) 'for'
- aġ 'so that'
- achġ (literary) 'in order that'
- cdyġ 'when'
- bônḋ... ċi... = 'either... or'
- ne telco... ale pac... = 'not only... but also...'
- neġ = 'than'
- choṫ, chotiaġ = 'although'
- aċcoi is more formal.
- ċil, ċili = question particle
Derivation
- -skej/-sky deletes a preceding *k (from a *θs~*ts > *s rule), umlauts and/or first palatalizes
- mod lokriskej = Locrian mode
- -en umlauts and/or 1st-palatalizes
- podöben 'similar' < podoba 'likeness, appearance'
- weačen 'eternal' < weak 'age'
- -öst, (i)-stwo, -öta, (i)-ba abstract noun suffixes
Syntax
Strict VSO; other aspects of syntax more SAE
Left-conjunct agreement
"There is" and "to have"
In the past tense, the verb bylo agrees with the gender of the (first) subject in affirmatives but defaults to masculine singular when negated:
- Byla ġena y piênt deatì unie. = He had a wife and five children.
- Ne byl als teo lewra semnau. = I didn't have the book with me.
To like
Lib X.DAT Y = X likes Y
e.g. Lib mi led wanilowaì. I like vanilla ice cream.
Niêst lib mi... = I don't like...
'To hate' simply uses the regular verb nenaùwideaṫ in formal language. In informal language the gnus mi construction is used.
Relative clauses
To form a relative clause, usually the relativizer cde (indeclinable) is used after the noun phrase. Formal or literary writing may use the relativizer tacaìġ, which declines but is not a true relative pronoun; it agrees with the case of the head in the matrix clause (cf. Arabic allaðī). Jeġ is only used archaically. In both cases, a resumptive pronoun is used when the head is not a subject or a direct object in the relative clause:
- Baila auwtha tacàġ ne bail unì als wolnai
- be.PST-3SG.F sheep-NOM.SG, REL.NOM.SG.F NEG be.PST.3SG.M by-(RES)3SG.F.GEN NEG wool-GEN.SG
- There was a sheep which had no wool
Vocabulary
Celtic loans
For Germanic words in our Slavic, Albionian uses Celtic or Latin words instead:
- briêntin (PCeltic *brigant-) = king
- tauwsàc, tauwsàċca (*tovĭsakŭ, from PCeltic *towissākos) = prince (all senses)
- draiw = wren
Latin loans
(mainly religious and official words)
- tet lewr (from Latin liber) = book
- wendìthiṫ, po- (from Latin benedico, via Brythonic) = to bless
- has doublet mnaithowaṫ, po- = to thank
- zamechtìthen (from maledico via Welsh melltithio) = (attributive only) goddamn, bloody
- zachtìthen is more vulgar.
Proto-English loans
- to melco = Borrowing from Proto-English?
Internationalisms
In Latin loans, vowel lengths are determined by the position of stress; long vowels are used where the Latin has a long vowel in the antepenultimate or the penultimate. In Greek loans, the original Greek length is used to determine the length of every vowel. e.g. misogynen (BrAlb. /ˈmɪsʊwɪnɪn/ AmAlb /mɪˈsɔwɪnɪn/) 'misogynistic' from μισογύνης.
- -iscaì '-ic, -ical' (soemantiscaì 'semantic')
- -aùlen '-al' (mùsicaùlen 'musical', mentaùlen 'awesome, amazing')
- -aùren '-ar, -ary' (militaùren 'military')
- -en '(when the source word does not have a suffix)' (homogenen 'homogeneous', intimen'intimate')
- -aùsen '-ous' (nervaùsen 'nervous')
- -ìven '-ive' (alternatìven 'alternative')
- -tiä '-tion, -ce, -cy'
- This causes Albionian speakers to sometimes confuse these suffixes in English.
- -tiën '-tional, -tionary'
- -ita '-ity', -itaùren '-itarian' (aùthorita BrAlb /ˈœjθɔɾɪtʰə/ AmAlb /œʏˈθɔɾɪtə/ 'authority', aùthoritaùren BrAlb /ˈœjθɔɾɪtœɾən/ AmAlb /œʏθɔɾɪˈtœɾən/ 'authoritarian')
- -se '-sis' (synthese 'synthesis')
- -tùra (literatùra 'literature')
- -ist '-ist' (noun)
- -istiscaì '-ist' (adjective)
Phrasebook
- Zdarw (informal), Zdarwte (formal) = Hello
- Tho ġes ta weath? = What's up? (lit. What's the thing?)
- Mnaithi = Thank you
- Mnaithi stocàrt /mniθi stokha:ST/ = Thank you so much (lit. thank you a hundred times)
Sample texts
Schleicher
Ta auwtha ai tai caunia
Baila auwtha tacàġ ne bail unì als wolnai, il uwideal ona tꞃi caunia: aden taingànth wôz tiêġcaì, aden nesônth noꞅe welcà, il aden nesônth ċelweac boꞃzo. ꞃeala ta auwtha team caunim: "Bolì moe saiꞃthe cdaiġ wiðuns ċelweac na eazdienì na caunia." Odpoweadeali tai caunia: "Sluchoì, auwtho! Bolì naꞅe saiꞃthe cdaiġ widiêm mai to: beꞃe ċelweac, ten gospodin, ta wolna taì auwthai a dealà ton oðeda teplà iznì. I nêst als wolnai u taì auwthai." Uslaiꞅꞅi to, nabeagla ta auwtha do teo pola.
UDHR
Ꞃaudì-sê wꞅescai lidea waulnê i sobie aꞃwnê wu saì dôstauinausti a saìm pꞃàwum. Lesun ꞅi nadàꞃenê ꞅe aꞃzumu i pꞃawoznaùnì, tedai les dolg nanim ċiniṫ aden wuzglaindem teo dꞃugoeo wu duchu teo bꞃatꞃstwa.