Cleepoyish


Cleepoyish
Klippöisk
Flag of the Republic of Cleepoy.png
Flag of the Republic of Cleepoy
Pronunciation[ˈklɪpœɪ̯sk]
Created byVrianne
Date2024
SettingEurope with a sprinkle of Alt-History
Native toRepublic of Cleepoy
EthnicityCleepoyers
Native speakers40,149 (2019)
Indo-European
  • Germanic
    • Lesionic
      • Insular Lesionic
        • Cleepoyish
Early forms
Proto-Indo-European
Standard form
Standard Cleepoyish (Fåst Klippöisk)
Official status
Official language in
Republic of Cleepoy
Recognised minority
language in
Regulated byAcademy of the Cleepoyish Language
Cleepoyish Speakers.png
Distribution of Cleepoyish speakers in 1850 (left) vs. in 2019 (right)
  Majority of Cleepoyish speakers
  Minority of Cleepoyish speakers
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Cleepoyish (Standard Cleepoyish: Klippöisk /ˈklɪpœɪ̯sk/), also known as Cleepoyic, is a Lesionic (Central Germanic) language spoken on the island of Cleepoy. It is the second most spoken Lesionic language, with about 40,000 speakers all concentrated atop Cleepoy. It is also one of the two co-official languages of the Republic of Cleepoy (alongside Danish).

The modern standard form of the Cleepoyish Language, which this article mainly covers, stems from the pre-Danish dialects spoken in and around Růpläch, and was established in order to promote cleepoyish identity and phase out at-the-time dominating foreign languages such as Danish and Swedish on the island. As such, it employs a heavily etymological, yet consistent, orthography and a partly traditional phonology compared to that of other surviving dialects of Cleepoyish.

Due to Danish, in areas that lost traditional dialects, getting replaced by Standard Cleepoyish, much of Cleepoyish dialectical variation is purely phonological, more akin to accents than dialects. Though there exist areas in which traditional Cleepoyish dialects were not superseded and continue to be spoken.

History

 
The distribution of the primary Germanic languages in Europe in around AD 1:
  North Germanic, or Scandinavian
  North Sea Germanic, or Ingvaeonic
  Weser–Rhine Germanic, or Istvaeonic
  Elbe-Oder Germanic, or Lesionic
  Elbe Germanic, or Irminonic
  Oder-Vistula Germanic, or Vistulic

Cleepoyish is classified under the Germanic family of the Indo-European languages, specifically the Lesionic branch of Germanic (with the other branches being the Scandinavian, Ingvaeonic, Istvaeonic, Irminonic, and Vistulic branches). Cleepoyish is generally divided into two periods: Old Cleepoyish (500–1600), which existed as a dialect continuum between collections of settlements on Cleepoy, and Modern Cleepoyish (1600–), which are the remaining dialects (including the standard vernacular).

Etymology

The name Cleepoyish comes from the island of Cleepoy, attested in the English language from as early as 15th century. It is believed to have been imported from Middle Dutch Cleepoej(e), which in turn is ultimately from dialectical Old Cleepoyish Klippoujo (compare Růpläch Old Cleepoyish Klippæujœ, yielding Modern Cleepoyish Klippäuj), composed from klipp(e) ("rock"; a Middle Low German loan) and oujo ("island"). The native name Klippöisk comes from virtually the same derivation, a shortening of Old Klippæujœisk, from Klippæujœ plus -isk.

Old Cleepoyish

By the 6th century, the language spoken on Cleepoy by Lesionic peoples post-Slavic migration to Central Europe was discernably divergent enough to warrant its own language. The oldest attested Cleepoyish texts are of Late Old Cleepoyish in major cities and settlements, but due to descriptions of the language during that time and the great amount of inconsistency in writing, we can assume that Old Cleepoyish existed on an anomalously diverse dialect continuum, wherein each group of settlements would speak and attestedly write in a dialect slightly different from the neighboring settlements. For instance, "language" would be attested in forms ranging from mꜵþel (Růpläch) and maþl (Håsöl) all the way to mædel (Nykrįs), mofle (Kirpläch), and even metþil (Akripläch).

Modern Cleepoyish

Due to Cleepoy's strategic position and trade being the main source of income for many Cleepoyer cities, Cleepoyish would interact with a plethora of languages, ranging from Low German to Danish to Finnish. After the Danish invasion of the first unsuccessful independent Cleepoyer state in 1666, Cleepoy began to receive an increasing amount of Danish settlers, bringing their language with them. By 1800, nearly every major settlement had a Danish linguistic majority, with many dialect groups being permanently wiped and replaced by Danish.

By the mid-20th century, approximately 80 years after the second Cleepoyish republic was established, a total revitalization plan for the Cleepoyish language, partly influenced by fascist rhetoric, was put into place. A standardized form of the language based on surviving Růpläch Cleepoyish dialects would be made, and would be made the sole official language of all aspects of life. Harsh measures were implemented, especially against Danish speakers, to establish needed the foundation of Standard Cleepoyish all across the island, to the extent that Denmark issued official disapproval to the Cleepoyish parliament. Nevertheless, it only took just over one generation to re-establish Cleepoyish as a majority language in Cleepoy, and so far it holds the absolute majority.

Phonology

Standard Cleepoyish has an outlined set of 30 consonants 16 vowels. The fossilized dialects Standard Cleepoyish was based on differed from from other living dialects in the three-way /w/ /β/ /ʍ/ distinction, /h/-dropping, and denasalization of the Old Cleepoyish long nasal vowels.

Phonemes

Vowel phonemes of Standard Cleepoyish
Front Back
Unrounded Rounded
Short Long Short Long Short Long
Close (uː)
Close-Mid ɪ ʏ øː ʊ
Open-Mid ɛ œ ɔ ɔː
Open æ æː a
  • /uː/ only occurs in loanwords.
  • /a/ is central [ä], while /aː/ is back [ɑː]
Diphthong phonemes
-ɪ̯ -ʏ̯ -ʊ̯
ɛ- ɛɪ̯ ɛʏ̯
œ- œɪ̯ œʏ̯
ɔ- ɔɪ̯ ɔʊ̯
  • /œɪ̯ ɔʊ̯/ tend to merge with /œʏ̯ ɔː/ respectively in fast speech.
Consonant phonemes of Standard Cleepoyish
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal Voiceless
Voiced m n ŋ
Polsive Voiceless p t c k
Voiced b d ɟ (ɡ)
Fricative Voiceless ɸ θ s ʃ ʍ h
Voiced β ð z
Affricate (p͡ɸ) (t͡s) c͡ç (ɟ͡ʝ)
Trill/Tap Voiceless
Voiced r
Approximant l j w
  • /m n z l ʃ j w/ can become geminated. /r/ may also geminate but only in nonnative words like ⟨herr⟩ /ɛrː/.
  • /n̥/, depending on speaker, may be naturally geminated [n̥ː].
  • /ɡ/ is an allophone of /k/ intervocalically.
  • a rising number of speakers de-affricate /c͡ç/ to [ç].
  • /ɟ͡ʝ/ is now largely dated and is instead merged with /c͡ç/ for the vast majority of younger speakers.
  • /p͡ɸ t͡s/ appear only in loans from German like ⟨pferd⟩ /p͡ɸɛrt/ & ⟨cart⟩ /t͡sart/.
  • /r/ may either be:
    • a tap [ɾ], which is the most common.
    • a trill [r], less common but not rare.
    • a guttural [ʁ~ʀ], by far the least common and tends come off as haughty or pretentious.
  • ... though /r̥/ is always trilled [r̥(ˑ)].

Evolution from Old Cleepoyish

Phonotactics

Compared to other Germanic languages, Cleepoyish allows a modest maximum syllable structure of (C)(C)V(S)(C)(s), wherin S is a sonorant, and the onset cluster cannot be comprised of two consonants with the same manner of articulation, except for approximants. Voiceless /n̥ r̥/ are allowed only in the onset and cannot cluster, while /ŋ/ is only allowed in the coda, and a nasal cannot directly precede a fricative except for in compound words.

Orthography

The Cleepoyish Alphabet consists of 41 distinct letters (including letters with diacritics), 18 of which are vowels. The Cleepoyish Alphabet went through very minimal reforms and, while it may be a good alphabet for Old Cleepoyish per se, it is filled with redundancy and unusual spelling conventions.

Standard Cleepoyish alphabet
Letter Name IPA [Standard] Dialectical Variants
A, a a /a/ [ä] [ɑ] [ɑː]
Ä, ä a omlyyd /ɛ/ [æ]
Å, å a hring /ɔ/ [ɒ] [ɑ]
Ą, ą a stirt /a/ [ɑː] [ɑ̃]
B, b bee /b/, /p/ (syllable-final) [β] [ʋ] [v]
C, c cee /t͡s/ [ts] [sː]
D, d dee /d/, /t/ (syllable-final) [ð]
Ð, ð /ð/, /θ/ (syllable-final) [d] [z]
E, e ee /ɛ/ [æ] [ə]
Ę, ę ee stirt /æ/ [æː] [ɛ̃] [æ̃]
F, f ev /ɸ/ [f]
G, g gee /j/ (front vowels), /w/ (back vowels) [ɡ] [ɣ]
H, h håch /Ø/, /h/ (inter-vocalic) [h]
I, i ii /ɪ/ [i]
Į, į ii stirt /eː/ [iː] [ɪ̃]
J, j jåt /j/
K, k kee /k/, /ɡ/ (inter-vocalic), /ʃ/ (front vowels) [t͡ʃ]
L, l el /l/ [ɫ]
M, m em /m/
N, n en /n/
O, o oy /ɔ/
Ö, ö oy omlyyd /œ/
Ǫ, ǫ oy stirt /aː/ [oː] [ɔ̃] [ɑ̃]
Ǫ̈, ǫ̈ oy omlyyd stirt /æː/ [øː] [œ̃] [æ̃]
P, p pee /p/, /b/ (inter-vocalically)
Q, q quee only in ⟨qu⟩
R, r er /r/ [r] [ʁ] [ʀ]
S, s ez /s/ [z]
T, t tee /t/, /d/ (inter-vocalically)
U, u u /ʊ/ [u] [uː] [oː]
Ù, ù lomùk u /ɔ/ [u] [ʊ]
Ü, ü u omlyyd /œ/ [y] [ʏ]
Ů, ů u hring /ɔː/ [oʊ̯] [oː] [uː]
Ų, ų u stirt /oː/ [uː] [ʊ̃]
Ų̈, ų̈ u omlyyd stirt /øː/ [yː] [ʏ̃]
V, v vee /β/, /ɸ/ (syllable-final) [v] [ʋ]
W, w wee /w/ [v] [ʋ]
X, x ex /ks/ [k] [s(ː)]
Y, y ypsilon /ʏ/ [y]
Z, z zet /z/, /s/ (syllable-final) [ʒ]
Þ, þ þee /θ/, /ð/ (inter-vocalically) [t] [s]
Standard Cleepoyish alphabet digraphs
Digraph IPA [Standard] Dialectical Variants
Ää, ää /æ/ [æː] [eː] [ɛː]
Äi, äi /ɛɪ̯/ [æɪ̯]
Äu, äu /ɛʏ̯/ [ɛʊ̯] [æʊ̯]
Åå, åå /ɔː/ [ɔʊ̯] [oʊ̯] [ɑː] [ɒː]
Bb, bb /b/, /p/ (syllable-final)
Ch, ch /ʃ/
Dd, dd /ɟ/, /c/ (syllable-final) [ɟː] [d] [dj]
Dj, dj [ɟː] [dj]
Ee, ee /æː/ [eː] [ɛɪ̯]
Eu, eu /jɔ/ [jo] [jʊ]
Eü, eü /jœ/ [jø] [jʏ] [yː]
Gg, gg /ɟ/, /c/ (syllable-final) [ɟː] [ɡ] [ɡj]
Gw, gw /ɟ͡ʝ/ or /c͡ç/ [ʝ] [ɡw] [ɡʋ]
Hw, hw /ʍ/ [w] [hw] [ʋ] [v]
Hn, hn /n̥/ [n] [nː] [hn]
Hr, hr /r̥/ [ɾ̥] [r] [hɾ]
Ii, ii /ɛɪ̯/ [iː]
Jj, jj /jː/ [j]
Kk, kk /c/, /ʃ/ (front vowels), /ʃː/ (front vowels, inter-vocalic) [cː] [k] [t͡ʃ]
Ll, ll /lː/ [ɫː] [l] [ɫ]
Mm, mm /mː/ [m]
Mn, mn [mn] [m]
Nn, nn /nː/ [n]
Ng, ng /ŋ/ [ŋɡ] [ŋː]
Oo, oo /aː/ [oː] [ɔː] [oʊ̯]
Oy, oy /ɔʊ̯/ [oʊ̯] [œʏ̯] [æʊ̯] [æʏ̯]
Öö, öö /æː/ [øː] [œː] [øʏ̯]
Öi, öi /œɪ̯/ [œʏ̯] [ɛɪ̯]
Öu, öu /œʏ̯/ [ɛʏ̯]
Pf, pf /p͡ɸ/ [p͡f] [pf] [f] [fː]
Ph, ph /ɸ/ [f]
Pp, pp /p/
Qu, qu /c͡ç/ [ç] [cː] [kw] [kʋ]
Rh, rh /r̥/ [ɾ̥] [r] [ɾh]
Sk, sk /sk/ (back vowels), /ʃ/ (front vowels), /ʃː/ (front vowels, inter-vocalic) [t͡ʃ]
Tt, tt /c/ [cː] [t] [tj]
Uu, uu /uː/
Üü, üü /yː/ [œʏ̯]
Yy, yy /œʏ̯/ [yː] [ɛʏ̯]
Zz,zz /zː/, /s(ː)/ (syllable-final) [z] [ʒ]

Grammar

Cleepoyish Grammar is the simplest among Lesionic languages, owing to modest simplifications over time.

Nominals

Nominals decline for a non-oblique case (nominative and accusative mashed together) and a dative case.

Nouns

Nouns decline across two general paradigms: z-stem nouns and n-stem nouns, with each paradigm splitting into sub-stems: o-stem, i-stem, oo-stem, and weak-stem nouns pertaining to z-stem nouns, and o-stem and oo-stem nouns pertaining to the n-stem.

z-stem nouns

Z-stem nouns form their non-oblique plurals with either -oz, -iz, or -ooz depending on substem:

O-substem nouns are the most common, and are what modern loanwords are classified into. They form a non-oblique plural with -oz and feature umlauting in the dative case (except in loanwords):

o-substem declension
boþel, "house; dwelling" hnåpp, "cup"
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative/Accusative boþel boþloz hnåpp hnåpoz
Dative böþli böþlom hnäpi hnäpom

I-substem nouns are similar to o-substem nouns, except they form a non-oblique plural with -iz. In Old Cleepoyish, they featured umlauting in both the dative singular and the non-oblique plural, and in the Růpläch dialects that umlaut spread to the non-oblique singular as well:

i-substem declension
męð, "month" döör, "day"
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative/Accusative męð męðiz döör dööriz
Dative męði męðom dööri döörom

Oo-substem nouns form a non-oblique plural with -ooz, and do not feature umlauting:

oo-substem declension
skuro, "storm; tempest" äiþùng, "marriage"
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative/Accusative skuro skurooz äiþùng äiþùngooz
Dative skurom äiþùngom

Weak-substem nouns, as their name suggests, merge all non non-oblique singular declensions:

weak-substem declension
äulii, "likeness; resemblance" riik, "realm; domain"
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative/Accusative äulii äuliiz riik riikiz
Dative äuliiz riikiz
n-stem nouns

N-stem nouns form their non-oblique plurals with only -on and differ in umlauting the dative declensions:

O-substem nouns do not feature umlauting:

o-substem declension
ųdeu, "dawn; daybreak" gev, "gift (dated)"
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative/Accusative ųdeu ųdwon gev gevon
Dative ųdwon ųdwom gevon gevom

Oo-substem nouns, on the other hand, do feature umlauting:

oo-substem declension
sùnnoo, "sun" mönoo, "moon"
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative/Accusative sùnnoo sùnnon mönoo mönon
Dative sünnin sünnom mönin mönom

Pronouns

Cleepoyish Pronouns are largely conservative, owing to the Růpläch dialects not undergoing most phonological and inflectional simplifications in other dialects. Cleepoyish pronouns decline for the nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive cases independently, and maintain a gender distinction in the plural 3rd person:

Standard Cleepoyish personal pronouns
Singular Plural
1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person
masculine feminine neuter masculine feminine neuter
Nominative ik þu hiz hjo hit wiiz jiiz þoi þooz þo
Accusative mik þik hyn ųz swiz þoz, þåz2 þoz
Dative miz þiz hiz þoiz
Genitive1 miin þiin hym hyz ųsir swir þon, þån2
  1. The genitive case has become largely archaic beside poetry and literature. Possession is instead marked with the preposition ⟨ut⟩ alongside the dative case.
  2. Superseded spelling.

Articles

Cleepoyish employs indefinite and definite articles. The indefinite article, ⟨oi⟩ before consonants and ⟨oin⟩ before vowels, is always uninflected, and adjectives preceded by the indefinite article use the strong declension. Definite articles conversely do decline for case, gender, and number:

Standard Cleepoyish definite articles
Singular Plural
masculine feminine neuter masculine feminine neuter
Nominative þo, þå1 þo þot þoi þooz þo
Accusative þoz, þåz1 þoz
Dative þii, þäi1 þoiz
  1. Superseded spelling.

Adjectives

Adjectives in Cleepoyish decline for strong and weak paradigms.

Strong declension is used when the adjective is preceded by either an indefinite article or no article:

Strong declension
hron, "green" sąð, "truthful; factual"
Singular Plural Singular Plural
masculine feminine neuter masculine feminine neuter
Nominative/Accusative hron hronooz sąð sąðooz
Dative hronåm hronån hronyz hronoim sąðåm sąðån sąðyz sąðoim

Weak declension is used when the adjective is preceded by a definite article:

Weak declension
hron, "green" sąð, "truthful; factual"
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative hron hronån sąð sąðån
Accusative/Dative hronån hronåm sąðån sąðåm

Verbs

Cleepoyish word order is strictly SVO, with undeclined verbs directly following their auxiliaries. Verb conjugation is similar to that of other Germanic languages, with weak and strong verbs conjugating for person, number, tense, mood, and aspect.

Weak Verbs

Weak verbs' preterite stems are formed with -yð, and feature no stem vowel umlauting:

Weak verb conjugation
Infinitive fų̈lo, "to feel; sense"
Indicative Present Preterite
Singular 1st person fų̈li fų̈lyði
2nd person fų̈lez fų̈lyðez
3rd person fų̈l fų̈lyði
Plural 1st person fų̈lem fų̈lyðem
2nd person fų̈l fų̈lyðeð
3rd person fų̈len fų̈lyðen
Subjunctive Present Preterite
Singular 1st person fų̈lii fų̈lyðį
2nd person fų̈liiz fų̈lyðiiz
3rd person fų̈lii fų̈lyðį
Plural 1st person fų̈liim fų̈lyðiim
2nd person fų̈liið fų̈lyðiið
3rd person fų̈liin fų̈lyðiin
Imperative Present
Singular fų̈l
Plural fų̈l
Participle Present Past
fų̈länd fų̈lǫz, fų̈lyðǫz1
  1. Superseded

Strong Verbs

Strong verb conjugation
Infinitive kiiko, "to look; watch"
Indicative Present Preterite
Singular 1st person kiiki koik
2nd person kiikez koit
3rd person kiik koik
Plural 1st person kiikem kik
2nd person kiik
3rd person kiiken
Subjunctive Present Preterite
Singular 1st person kiikii koikį
2nd person kiikiiz koitiiz
3rd person kiikii koikį
Plural 1st person kiikiim kikiim
2nd person kiikiið
3rd person kiikiin
Imperative Present
Singular kiik
Plural kiik
Participle Present Past
kiikänd kikǫz
Strong Verb Classes
Strong verb ablaut patterns
Class Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Definition
1 skiino skoin skin skinǫz "to shine; seem"
2 beuðo bůð bùð bùðǫz "to offer; invite"
3 hilpo hålp hùlp hùlpǫz "to help, assist"
4 spriko språk sprek sprekǫz "to discuss"
umlaut fąho fęh fąhǫz "to catch, capture"
irregular gano üjj ijj ganǫz "to go; leave"

Umlaut

Morphological umlaut
Original Mutated Example
a ää cart → cäärtiz
åå [none so far]
å ä wåtor → wätri
ą ę sąð → sęðhed
eu hneuw → hneüwi
o ö boþel → böþli
oo öö [none so far]
ǫ ǫ̈ → kǫ̈
oi äi froiw → fräiwi
öi [none so far]
oy moy → möin
u y huz → hysi
ü skum → skümi
ù gùmoo → gümnin
ų ų̈ [none so far]
ů äu růð → räuðiz
äi brůn → bräini
ö růno → rö
öu flůno → flöu