Weddish
| Weddish | |
|---|---|
| Weðisk | |
| Created by | Robert Murphy |
| Native speakers | 40 000 (2015 census) |
Early forms | |
| Official status | |
| Regulated by | Beth Diyn d'Weddisk |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | wds |
Weddish is a w:West Germanic language spoken by several small communities within w:Wales. Approximately 40,000 people speak Weddish as their L1. It is of considerable interest to linguists and ethnographers, because of its complex history and unique place in the world.
Weddish appears to have begun as a dialect of w:Old Frisian, which fell under the influence of its Welsh-speaking neighbors (unlike its Anglo-Saxon kin). It was "conquered" by Jews in 1066, and "freed" by the w:Edict of Expulsion in 1290, and so returned to being under Welsh influence.
Design Goals
While I have taken elaborate pains to make Weddish appear naturalistic and give it a rich history, it is nevertheless an auxlang, designed for me to work on my philosophical ideas and methodologies of translations. I welcome feedback and appreciate any advice you might give, but people are often surprised to find out my primary goal is not to avoid artificiality.
My goals are 1) anti-abstraction, 2) marking marriage, 3) lots of Hebrew, 4) close to English, 5) Welsh influence
History
Early Antiquity
Weddish was born under a different name: Frisian. While there are individual words that cannot be explained under this rubric, the overwhelming majority of Weddish vocabulary is clearly of Frisian – not Anglo-Saxon – ancestry. While the differences are small, the evidence is clear. Unlike the Frisians of the continent, however, and unlike the conquering Anglo-Saxons, the ancestors of the Wedds were heavily influenced by the nearby Celts. The Old Welsh language rubbed off on Old Weddish, winnowing many consonant clusters, producing significant vowel changes, and greatly altering the phonology and phonotactics.
Old Welsh (Proto-Brythonic) also gave Weddish is system of consonantal mutations. Certain words and grammatical processes trigger regular changes in the first consonant of the next word. This is also the only period where Latin words came into the language (until the modern, international terminology).
Late Antiquity
Some time in the eighth or ninth century, a charismatic leader supposedly brought the Weddish community into his quasi-Jewish cult. He also introduced two key elements of the Basque language into Weddish: ergative-absolutive morphosyntax and animate-inanimate distinctions in noun phrases. Folk stories continue to warn young Wedds of the danger of crying wolf, i.e. being like Horsa and hiding under the auspice of false-Judaism, when he was actually just creating a cult.
1066
With the arrival of William the Conqueror, actual Jews arrived from the Continent and called the Wedd's bluff. Mandatory Hebrew schools were formed, and a similar situation to the rest of the U.K. developed for two centuries. The elites and leaders spoke Hebrew, Aramaic, and Judeo-Arabic. Ethnic Jews arrived from Spain and the continent. The common folk spoke Weddish, but like England with the Norman language, Hebrew dominated the upper crust.
1290
When Edward I issued the edict of expulsion in 1290, the influence of external Jewry ceased, and all appearance of Judaism had to be removed from the public eye. The Wedds had their own Domus Conversorum set up, and were allowed to create their own monastic order, where the vows of marriage were conjoined with the vows of holy orders. Hebrew schools continued in private, with Talmud and Maimonides studies ongoing on for several more centuries. Because they were not allowed to officiate over the Mass, Weddish "convents" avoided much of the accreting philosophy, and were among the hotbeds of Protestant theology, until the w:Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542.
With the decline of the surrounding Welsh culture, Wedds happily retreated into the background. By the 19th century, however, a growing concern over the state of the Western world had settled in, and after several Weddish-wide councils, a missions-through-monasticism philosophy was official ensconced in the Weddish laws. Since then, they have actively been involved in evangelism and scholarly theology. w:James B. Jordan and his w:Christian Reconstructionist theology have become the mainstay of Weddish discourse.
Phonology
| Consonant phonemes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post. | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
| Nasals | voiced | m | n | ŋ | ||||
| unvoiced | m̥ | n̥ | ŋ̊ | |||||
| Obstruent | voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | g | |||
| unvoiced | p | t͡θ | t | t͡ʃ | k | ʔ | ||
| Fricative | voiced | v | ð | z | ||||
| unvoiced | f | θ | s | ʃ | χ | h | ||
| Trills | voiced | r | ||||||
| unvoiced | r̥ | |||||||
| Approximant | voiced | w | l | j | ||||
| unvoiced | ʍ | ɬ | ç | |||||
Weddish consonants primarily center around a voiced-unvoiced contrast. Several sounds do not occur in the lexical forms of words, but are nevertheless common as the result of consonant mutation.
| Vowel phonemes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Mid | Back | ||||||
| High | ɪi | ɨː | ʊu | |||||
| Near-high | ɪ | ʊ | ||||||
| High-mid | ǝ | oʊ | ||||||
| Low-mid | ɛː | ʌ | ɔ | |||||
| Low | æ | aː | ||||||
Weddish vowels are most easily characterized a six-vowel system: the typical five, plus a central vowel. They all occur in "long" and "short" versions, though (as in English) those terms are used colloquially, and not as linguists mean them.
There are also many diphthongs, as in Welsh: eu, ei, au, ai, oi, ui, and the palatalized iu, ie, ia.
Orthography
Weddish is written with the letters of Hebrew abjad and the "points" (Hebrew niqqud). Romanization is unheard of, apart from our linguistics literature.
| Consonant graphemes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post. | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
| Nasals | voiced | מ m | נ n | ע ŋ | ||||
| unvoiced | מה mh | נה nh | עה ŋh | |||||
| Obstruent | voiced | בּ b | דּ d | ג j | גּ g | |||
| unvoiced | פּ p | צ x | ט t | כ k | ק q | א ` | ||
| Fricative | voiced | ב v | ד ð | ז z | ||||
| unvoiced | פ f | ת þ | ס s | סי sy | ח c | ה h | ||
| Trills | voiced | ר r | ||||||
| unvoiced | רה rh | |||||||
| Approximant | voiced | ו w | ל l | י y | ||||
| unvoiced | הו wh | ש ł | יה yh | |||||
Vowels are written (when they are written at all) above or below the consonantal letters as little dots. The stress-pattern of the word typically indicates whether a given syllable should be "long" or "short", except in the case of high-vowels and the center vowel.
| Forced Long | Normal | Forced Short | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | אַא a` | אַ a | אֲ ǎ |
| E | אֶה eh | אֵ e | אֶ ě |
| I | אִי iy | ø | אִ i |
| O | אֹו ow | אָ o | אֳ ǒ |
| U | וּ u | ø | אֻ ǔ |
| Ə | אֱ ɨ | אְ ǝ | ø |
The diphthongs are generally written as expected, except wy (ui) and yw (iu), which are never written with vowel-points, under any orthography.
Phonotactics
Initials
- With S
- ,סק, סמ, סנ and סל. Older versions of the language forbid st-, but it is now permissible. The same could be said of ספּר, סטר, סקר, ספּל, and סקל.
- With C
- חל, חר, and חו. New words no longer force sl- to change to cl-.
- With Þ/X
- In a few Semitic words, תנ and צנ begin the syllable, e.g. צנוע (modest), or תנוך (earlobe).
The bulk of onset consonant clusters are subject to mutation. There are many doubles on this table, but it is important to note the lexical form of a word, and follow the correct mutation path:
| first | second | Form | Soft | Nasal | Aspirate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| p | l | pl- | bl- | mhl- | fl- |
| r | pr- | br- | mhr- | fr- | |
| t | r | tr- | dr- | nhr- | þr- |
| w | tw- | dw- | nhw- | bw- | |
| q | r | qr- | gr- | ŋhr- | cr- |
| l | ql- | ql- | ŋhl- | cl- | |
| w | qw- | gw- | ŋhw- | cw- | |
| b | l | bl- | vl- | ml- | |
| d | r | dr- | ðr- | nr- | |
| g | r | gr- | jr- | ŋr- | |
| l | gl- | jl- | ŋl- | ||
| w | gw- | jw- | ŋw- |
Morphophonology
Mutation
| Initial | Soft | Nasal | Aspirate |
|---|---|---|---|
| p | b | mh | f |
| t | d | nh | þ |
| q | g | ŋh | c |
| b | v | m | |
| d | ð | n | |
| g | j | ŋ | |
| m | w | ||
| ll | l | ||
| rh | r | ||
| wh | w | ||
| yh | y |
| Weddish ודסק | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Progress: 60% | |||
| |||
| Type | |||
| fusional | |||
| Alignment | |||
| Ergative-Absolutive | |||
| Head direction | |||
| Initial | Mixed | Final | |
| |||
| Primary word order | |||
| Subject-verb-object | |||
| Tonal | |||
| No | |||
| Declensions | |||
| Yes | |||
| Conjugations | |||
| Yes | |||
| Genders | |||
| 3 | |||
| Nouns decline according to... | |||
| Case | Number | ||
| Definiteness | Gender | ||
| Verbs conjugate according to... | |||
| Voice | Mood | ||
| Person | Number | ||
| Tense | Aspect | ||
Pronouns
Weddish pronouns are split in two groups. The 1st and 2nd person are nominative-accusative. The third person pronouns are ergative-absolutive.
1st and 2nd
| Person | Number | Nominative | Accusative | Suffixing | Dative | Genitive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | singular | אִח | מִח | ־מִי | מֵה | מִין |
| antinomic/dual | וִט | אֹוק | ־אֹוח | אֹוע | אֹונְקֵנְז | |
| pl. | וִי | וס | ־וּס | וֵה | וּסר | |
| Second | singular | תוּ | תִיק | ־תִי | תֵה | תִין |
| antinomic/dual | יְהַט | אִינְק | ־אִנְך | יְהִח | אִינְקִנְז | |
| plural | יְהִי | יְהוּק | ־יְהוּ | יְהֹו | יְהוּור |
3rd
| Gender | Number | Absolutive | Ergative | Suffixing | Dative | Genitive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | singular | אֵי | אֵיק | ־אֵי | אֵיס | הִיס |
| feminine | הַר | |||||
| inanimate | singular/antinomic | אִט | ø | ־אִט | טֹו אִט | דְּ־אִט |
| masculine | antinomic | פֹו | גּוּר | ־אִם | הִם | הִיס |
| feminine | הִי | גּוּרַיגּ | ־אִיר | הִיר | הַר | |
| all | dual | בֵּית | בֵּיק | ־אֵיר | טֹו בֵּית | סִיר |
| all | plural | יְהַא | יְהַק | ־יְהַא | טֹו יְהַא | סִיר |
Wh-words
- what
- וְהַט
- who
- Absolutive - וְהַא ; Ergative - וְהַק ; Genitive - וְהַמֵס ; Dative - וְהַם
- when
- וְהֵן
- how
- וְהֹו
- which
- וְהִלְך
- why
- וְהִיד
Nominals
It is important to be aware of case, number, and gender (animacy) when dealing with Weddish nouns.
Animacy
Vowel vs consonant ending ... sometimes
Number
Singular vs. Plural, but also antinomic vs. dual
Genitive
Animate vs דְּ־
Dative
Prepositions טֹו
Ergative
Determiners
Every noun that isn't proper must be covered by a determiner.
Articles
The two articles of Weddish are definite and specific.
| Singular | Antinomic | Dual | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Animate | Genitive | דֵס | דִיס | ||
| Ergative | דֵק | דִיק | |||
| Absolutive | דֵר | דִיר | דֵור | דַאר | |
| Inanimate | Absolutive | דֵה | דִי | דֵו | דַא |
| Singular | Antinomic | Dual | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Animate | Genitive | אֵנְס | אִנִיס | ||
| Absolutive | אֵן | אֵנִיר | אִנֵור | אִנַאר | |
| Inanimate | Absolutive | אֵנֶה | אֵנִי | אִנֵו | אִנַא |
On the one hand, it is tempting to say that only ðeh is an article. It has more forms (because it can be ergative) and the lexical form is the inanimate singular (unlike the more adjectival specific article). However, both trigger mutation in feminine nouns. 'En is clearly closer to English an than Englih one, so for conventions sake, we say it is an article too.
Anarthrous
Anarthrous clauses might un-adorned vocative phrase, or non-specific and indefinite. That is, they typically refer to an entity not immediately discernible from discourse and not any particular entity.
Quantifiers
Most of the remaining determiner not mentioned heretofore, are quantifiers, determiners that describe the quantity of an item. Weddish very particular with its quantifiers, distinguishing very particularly between determiners and adjectives based on position. Linguists note that these differences are off a very unique kind, what they call 'evidentials'. Quantifiers used as determiners betray a kind of "God's eye point of view" or "omniscient evidentiality" which is not present when used as an adjective.
For example, consider the two following phrases
- all men
- the men all (of them)
While these phrases are synonymous in English, in Weddish they indicate a difference in level of confidence in the information presented: all men is a phrase used when God himself would make, whereas the men, all of them is completely human and normal, allowing for natural exceptions and exceptions.
Others
Distributives, numerals, and possessives make up the remaining determiners (Interrogatives make-up an overlapping category).
Clauses
Verbs
Weddish textbooks call their verb conjugations, present, past, and future, and then list all the ways they aren't. It seems better to call then what they are: aspects and moods. The Continuous, the Perfective, and the Subjunctive are available in most verbs. What makes it more confusing is that two verbs -- to be and to have -- do indeed conjugate for tense, and are used extensively at the start of discourses, and at jumps in the relative time.
Adnominals
Adjectives is an open class in Weddish. They follow the noun and need not agree in any way, though they often do so in a way that keeps the trochaic meter going (see Prosody). Prepositional phrases and relative clauses follow adjectives. Verbs conjugated as participles are adjectives, taking the head noun as their absolutive argument. Other uses of verbs require relative clauses.
Nouns can be made adnominal, either by being put into the genitive or by certain suffixes. For example ־סק -(i)sq attaches to nouns or adjectives and makes them into adjectives mean "of or pertaining to x" (cp. English -ish).
Adverbials
Like in English, nouns of time can be used as adverbs with zero-derivation. The suffix ־לך '-lik (cp. English -ly) is the most common adverb-maker.
Numerals
Weddish numbers are a true anomaly. The technical description is that they are "sexagesimal, with a duodecimal sub-base". That means, they start off counting by twelves, and then group those into sixties.
Lexicography
For the complete Swadesh list with relative language comparisons, see Weddish/Swadesh
Weddish words are well-defined by historical epochs. From their inception to 1066, the Wedds were warriors, and then farmers. Agrarian words and grammatical words are of Germanic origin, and most illustrate that Weddish came from Old Frisian, though a few look more like Old English. Also, some Welsh words entered in this time, including some Latin words which where already in Old Welsh.
Next, Biblical and religious words came from Hebrew and related languages. These were the words of the ruling class, the educated, and the elite. The end of Jewish dominance may have come in 1290, but new words were still being coined from Hebrew for some time afterwards. Eventually, Welsh served as the conduit for outside influence until the 16th century, at which point English began to enter the scene.
Texts
The Lord's prayer
- 'Ow 'Av-us 'in llâmayiym,
- qǎðowll beþ þiyněh nowm
- þiyněh mamlâk qowměþ
The Tower of Babel
See also article on Weddish/218
