Þiudiskon

Old Ravenish
þiudiskon
Pronunciation	[θiu̯.ðiʃ.køn]
Created by	wfosøra
Language family	Indo-European Germanic Proto-Ravenish Old Ravenish
Early form	Proto-Ravenish (Sparsely attested)
Writing system	Latin
ConWorkShop	MCORV

Ravenish (autoglossonym: þiudiskon; Ravenish: [θiu̯.ðiʃ.køn]) is a Germanic language, with strong influence from Finnish. It is the result of a prolonged contact among members of both groups after the Ravenish tribe migrated to the area that is now North Ostrobothnia. These connections slowly formed the modern language, which, under influence of Finnish for centuries, led to the innovation of several new forms, such as a conditional verb form and definiteness distinctions in nouns.

While its vocabulary derives for the most part from Proto-Germanic, Finnish influence is most notable in its phonology and its grammar.

Introduction

Goals

• Fun
• Learn more Germanic

Setting

• North Ostrobothnia

Inspiration

• Finnish
• Proto-Germanic
• My love for old Germanic languages

Etymology

The language name derives from the same source as German Deutsch, þiudiskaz. The English name is in reference to a cultural aspect of the people, their unusually large reverence for Ravens, they place an oddly high importance on Ravens even for a Germanic tribe.

Phonology

Orthography

Orthography

IPA	Letter
/ɑ, ɑː/	a, aa
/v/	b
/ʁ/	g
/ð/	d
/e, eː/	e, ee
/ɤ, ɤː/	ë, ëë
/kʷ/	kw
/z, ʒ/	z
/χ/	h
/θ/	þ
/i, iː/	i, ii
/y, yː/	ï, ïï
/k/	k
/l/	l
/l̥/	hl
/m/	m
/n/	n
/j/	j
/u, uː/	u, uu
/p/	p
/æ, æː/	ä, ää
/r/	r
/r̥/	hr
/s, ʃ/	s
/t/	t
/w/	w
/f/	f
/χʷ/	hw
/o, oː/	o, oo
/ø, øː/	ö, öö

Consonants

Consonants have remained relatively close to Proto-Germanic, except for the few stops that had fricative allophones, these shifted fully to fricatives, the opposite of all other Germanic langs, the Velar fricatives also shifted to Uvular.

Consonant phonemes

	Labial		Dental		alveolar		post- alveolar		palatal		Velar /Uvular
Nasal		m				n						(ŋ)¹, ŋʷ²
Stop	p		t̪, t̪ʷ								k, kʷ
Fricative	f	v	θ	ð	s, sʷ	z	(ʃ)³	(ʒ)⁴			χ, χʷ	ʁ, ʁʷ
Approximant		w			l̥	l				j
Trill					r̥	r

1. allophone of /n/ before /k/
2. allophone of /n/ before /kʷ/
3. allophone of /s/ before velars and at word ends
4. allophone of /z/ before velars and at word ends, in modern colloquial forms this has roticized to /r/

Vowels

Vowels divert from PG more than the consonants, they've shifted closer to Finnish, also gaining harmony from Finnish.

Vowel phonemes

	Front								Back
	unrounded				rounded				unrounded				rounded
	short		long		short		long		short		long		short		long
Close	i		iː		y		yː						u		uː
mid	e		eː		ø		øː		ɤ		ɤː		o		oː
Open	æ		æː						ɑ		ɑː

Diphthongs

Diphthongs	Ending with /i/	Ending with /u/	Ending with /y/	Opening
Starting with /ɑ/	⟨ai⟩ [ɑi̯]	⟨au⟩ [ɑu̯]
Starting with /æ/	⟨äi⟩ [æi̯]		⟨äy⟩ [æy̯]
Starting with /o/	⟨oi⟩ [oi̯]	⟨ou⟩ [ou̯]
Starting with /e/	⟨ei⟩ [ei̯]	⟨eu⟩ [eu̯]	⟨ey⟩ [ey̯]
Starting with /ø/	⟨öi⟩ [øi̯]		⟨öy⟩ [øy̯]
Starting with /u/	⟨ui⟩ [ui̯]			⟨uo⟩ [uo̯]
Starting with /i/		⟨iu⟩ [iu̯]	⟨iy⟩ [iy̯]	⟨ie⟩ [ie̯]

Sound Changes from OR

Overlong /ɑ/ to /æ/, overlong /e/ to /ɤ/

Prosody

Stress

Stress, like in PG, still lies solely on the first syllable unless prefixed, where stress moves with the root word.

Morphology

Take ALL forms with '^?' with caution, the proto-Germanic form is unknown so this is me doing very, VERY basic comparisons to figure out a Possible form.

Pronouns

Formal personal pronouns

			Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative
first person	singular		ik	mik	mïïnäz	miz
	dual		wit	unk	unkëraz	unkiz
	plural		wiz	uns	unsëraz	unsiz
second person	singular		þuu	þik	þïïnäz	þiz
	dual		jut	ïnkw	ïnkweräz	ïnkwiz
	plural		juuz	izwiz	izweräz	izwiz
third person	singular	masculine	iz	ïnön	es	ïmmäi
		feminine	sii	iijon	ezäz	ezöi
		neuter	it	it	es	ïmmäi
	plural	masculine	iiz	ïnz	ezöön	ïmäz
		feminine	ijääz	ijaaz	ezöön	ïmäz
		neuter	ijo	ijo	ezöön	ïmäz
reflexive			se	sik	sïïnäz	siz

The form used in formal situations by natives and highly fluent speakers.

Standard personal pronouns

			Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative
first person	singular		mïk	muk	mukëraz	mukiz
	dual		ïnk	unk	unkëraz	unkiz
	plural		ïns	uns	unsëraz	unsiz
second person	singular		þïk	þuk	þukëraz	þukiz
	dual		ïnkw	unkw	unkwëraz	unkwiz
	plural		ïzw	uzw	uzwëraz	uzwiz
third person	singular	masculine	ïz	uz	es	ymmäi
		feminine	sïï	suu
		neuter	ït	ut
	plural	masculine	ïïz	uuz	ezöön	ymäz
		feminine	ïjääz	ujaaz
		neuter	ïjö	ujo
reflexive			se	së	sëëraz	sëiz

The standard form taught to foreigners, understood by everyone, like MSA where almost no natives actually speak it.

Colloquial personal pronouns

			Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative
first person	singular		mïk	muk	mukërar	mukir
	dual		ïnk	unk	unkërar	unkir
	plural		ïns	uns	unsërar	unsir
second person	singular		þïk	þuk	þukërar	þukir
	dual		ïnkw	unkw	unkwërar	unkwir
	plural		ïzw	uzw	uzwërar	uzwir
third person	singular		ïz	uz	uzërar	uzir
	plural		ïïr	uur	uuzërar	uuzir
reflexive			se	së	sëërar	sëir

The day-to-day form, an interesting forced change happens here, where the original instrumental endings become particles, 'ö' for singular and 'iz' for plural. The dual forms are becoming quite rare, to the point they're not taught till considerably later than everything else.

Nouns

Stems are named in accordance with their PG equivalent.

Syntax

Constituent order

The word order is mostly free, the base order is SOV, but this is subject to change when importance needs to be stressed on one word.

Example texts

Beowulf Sentence 1

Language	Sentence 1 of Beowulf
English	Indeed (or 'Yes!')! We of the Spear-Danes, in days old, had our great kings who discovered the glory of what that man's courage could do.
Old English	Hƿæt! Ƿē Gār-Dena in geār‐dagum þēod‐cyninga ⁠þrym gefrūnon, hu ðā æðelingas ellen fremedon.
Ravenish (Formal)	hwat! wiz gaizdanjoon ïn järändägämäz þeïdöökïnïngöön þrumjaz gafrëëgun, hwo þo aþulungoz aljanan framidëëdun
Pronunciation (Formal)	/χʷɑt wiʒ ʁɑi̯z.ðɑn.joːn yn jæ.ræn.ðæ.ʁæ.mæʒ θey̯.ðøː.ky.nyn.ʁøːn θrum.jɑʒ ʁɑ.frɤː.ʁun χʷo θo ɑ.θu.lun.ʁɑːʒ ɑl.jɑ.nɑn frɑ.mi.ðɤː.ðun/

Other resources

• Swadesh
• Phrases
• lemmas