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{{wikipedia}} | {{wikipedia}} | ||
[[Category:Brithenig]] | |||
[[Category:Languages]] | |||
[[Category:Conlangs]] | |||
[[Category:A posteriori]] | |||
[[Category:Romance]] | |||
{{Infobox language | {{Infobox language | ||
|pronunciation=/brɪθənˈig/ | |pronunciation=/brɪθənˈig/ | ||
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}} | }} | ||
'''Brithenig''' | '''Brithenig''', [brɪθənˈig], was created as a hobby in 1996 by Andrew Smith from New Zealand, who also invented the [[w:alternate history|alternate history]] of [[w:Ill Bethisad|Ill Bethisad]] to "explain" it. | ||
Brithenig was not developed to be used in the real world, like [[Esperanto]] or [[Interlingua]], nor to provide detail to a work of fiction, like [[Klingon language|Klingon]] from the ''[[Star Trek]]'' scenarios. Rather, Brithenig started as a thought experiment to create a [[Romance languages|Romance]] language that might have evolved if | Brithenig was not developed to be used in the real world, like [[Esperanto]] or [[Interlingua]], nor to provide detail to a work of fiction, like [[Klingon language|Klingon]] from the ''[[w:Star Trek|Star Trek]]'' scenarios. Rather, Brithenig started as a thought experiment to create a [[w:Romance languages|Romance]] language that might have evolved if Latin had displaced the native [[w:Celtic languages|Celtic]] language as the spoken language of the people in Great Britain. | ||
The result is an artificial sister language to | The result is an artificial sister language to French, Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Occitan and Italian which differs from them by having sound-changes similar to those that affected the Welsh language, and words that are borrowed from the [[w:Brittonic languages|Brittonic languages]] and from English throughout its pseudo-history. One important distinction between Brithenig and Welsh is that while Welsh is [[w:Gallo-Brittonic languages|P-Celtic]], Latin was a [[w:Osco-Umbrian_languages#Differences_from_Latin|Q-Italic language]] (as opposed to [[w:Osco-Umbrian_languages#Differences_from_Latin|P-Italic]], like [[w:Oscan language|Oscan]]), and this trait was passed onto Brithenig. | ||
Similar efforts to extrapolate Romance languages are ''Breathanach'' (influenced by the other branch of Celtic), ''Judajca'' (influenced by Hebrew), ''Þrjótrunn'' (a non-Ill Bethisad language influenced by Icelandic), ''[[Wenedyk]]'' (influenced by Polish), and ''Xliponian'' (which experienced a [[Grimm's law]]-like sound shift). It has also inspired ''Wessisc'', a hypothetical Germanic language influenced by contact with Old Celtic. | Similar efforts to extrapolate Romance languages are ''Breathanach'' (influenced by the other branch of Celtic), ''Judajca'' (influenced by Hebrew), ''Þrjótrunn'' (a non-Ill Bethisad language influenced by Icelandic), ''[[w:Wenedyk|Wenedyk]]'' (influenced by Polish), and ''Xliponian'' (which experienced a [[w:Grimm's law|Grimm's law]]-like sound shift). It has also inspired ''Wessisc'', a hypothetical Germanic language influenced by contact with Old Celtic. | ||
Brithenig was granted the code BZT as part of [[ISO 639:b#bzt|ISO 639-3]]. | Brithenig was granted the code BZT as part of [[w:ISO 639:b#bzt|ISO 639-3]]. | ||
Andrew Smith was one of the conlangers featured in the exhibit "Esperanto, Elvish, and Beyond: The World of Constructed Languages" displayed at the [[Cleveland Public Library]] from May through August 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/26418663@N05/2478687117/ |title=Esperanto, Elvish, and Beyond |website=[[Flickr]] |access-date=2009-09-07}}</ref> Smith's creation of Brithenig was cited as the reason for his inclusion in the exhibit (which also included the Babel Text<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.langmaker.com/babelintro.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514232430/http://www.langmaker.com/babelintro.htm |title=Babel Text Introduction |archive-date=2011-05-14 |website=Langmarker |access-date=2009-09-07}}</ref> in Smith's language). | Andrew Smith was one of the conlangers featured in the exhibit "Esperanto, Elvish, and Beyond: The World of Constructed Languages" displayed at the [[w:Cleveland Public Library|Cleveland Public Library]] from May through August 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/26418663@N05/2478687117/ |title=Esperanto, Elvish, and Beyond |website=[[Flickr]] |access-date=2009-09-07}}</ref> Smith's creation of Brithenig was cited as the reason for his inclusion in the exhibit (which also included the Babel Text<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.langmaker.com/babelintro.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514232430/http://www.langmaker.com/babelintro.htm |title=Babel Text Introduction |archive-date=2011-05-14 |website=Langmarker |access-date=2009-09-07}}</ref> in Smith's language). | ||
==Introduction== | |||
Brithenig started as a thought-experement to create a Romance language that might have evolved if Latin speakers had been a sufficient number to displace Old Celtic as the spoken language of the people in Great Britain. The result is a sister language to French, Spanish and Italian, albeit a test-tube child, which differs from them by having sound-changes similar to those that affected the Welsh language, and words that are borrowed from Old Celtic, and from English throughout its `pseudo-history'. Although other Romance languages have Celtic influences, none of them are so thoroughly influenced as Brithenig. | |||
==Phonology== | ==Phonology== | ||
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The letters j, q, v, x, and z are used in foreign words that have been borrowed into the language, especially modern words that have not been adapted to the Brithenig orthography. They are not included in the traditional alphabet. | |||
Brithenig has final syllables consonants that are pronounced soft rather than hard. This is shown with special combinations of letters in these cases. | |||
Certain phrases are treated as diphthongs also. '''Sa es''', 'she is, there is, there are' is pronounced as 'saes'. '''A es''' and '''O es''' are treated similarly. In the standard dialect of Brithenig, where 'ae' and 'oe' are pronounced as long vowels, instead of diphthongs, these phrases can be contracted to '''sa's''', '''a's''' and '''o's'''. When it becomes necessary to prevent two sounds from eliding, to avoid confusion or loss of sound or meaning, the ending -''dd'' is added to a word: :'''ys a-dd abrob''', ''he has nearly...'' | |||
The letter 'y' at the beginning of a word is often unstressed and when preceded by a word ending in a vowel it often elides. | |||
Some monosyllablic words end with a consonant cluster with r or l as the last letter. It is the case here that the last letter is pronounced as if the vowel in the word is repeated before it. '''Llifr''', ''book'' is pronounced as 'llifir'. Sometimes it is spelled this way. With longer words 'r' in this position is silent. | |||
Stress in Brithenig is placed on the ultimate, or last syllable, for example, '''afur''', ''love'', is pronounced as 'a-FUR', not 'A-fur'. In diphthongs, the first vowel is pronounced as a stressed or unstressed vowel depending on whether it occured in the stressed syllable or not | |||
Brithenig sometimes accents words with a circumflex, called a '''teithith''', or ''little roof''. Although the accent is always pronounced as 'long', more often than not it appears to be purely grammatical, for example, '''la''' and '''lâ'''. | |||
==Vocabulary== | ==Vocabulary== | ||