Weddish

Weddish
Ergative-Dual-Yiddish
Vediš
Pronunciation	[/ˈve(ː).dɪʃ/]
Created by	Robert Murphy
Date	2013
Setting	Jewish intermarriage
Native to	USA, UK, Spain, France, Israel
Ethnicity	Ashkenazi Jews
Native speakers	0.01 (2014)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic High German Yiddish Basque/Hebrew Weddish
Sources	Yiddish

Weddish (Weddish: װעדיש, X"Q: וֶדִש, Romanization: Vediš) is a constructed, a posteriori, naturalistic auxlang, made from Yiddish with heavy influences from Hebrew, English, German, and Basque. It has ergative-absolutive morphosyntactic alignment and a pervasive yet symbolic use of the dual. It is meant to promote the institution of marriage and foster better communication between persons. It is perhaps best suited as an auxlang for Jewish intermarriage.

The language was created in 2013 by Robert Murphy as part of an assignment at Covenant Theological Seminary for Professor Jerram Barrs.

Background

In 1946, a group of American Ashkenazi Orthodox and Messianic Jews founded a kibbutz near Bilbao, Spain. They were reacting to their perception that the nation of Israel was being founded on Zionist, anti-Yiddish principles. Weddish was created as an auxiliary language to bridge the gap between Yiddish, Hebrew, English, and some Basque. The decision was made early on to engineer in the dual number as a fundamental yet symbolically-rich part of the language. The Hebrew/Aramaic alphabet is the exclusive script, both as an alphabet and as a "pointed" abjad.

Phonology

Weddish has 25 consonantal sounds, which is typologically average , and common in Europe as well as the Middle East. English speakers will find it to be common, apart from the lack of /w/ and the ubiquity of /x/ (like the ch in Bach or loch). Weddish has 6 vowels, which is also average, as is the resulting consonant-to-vowel ration. This is typologically equivalent to Yiddish and Hebrew, but far less than German or English.

Consonants of Weddish

Consonant phonemes
		Labial	Alveolar	Post-Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasals		מ /m/	נ /n/			/ŋ/
Stops	voiceless	פ /p/	ט /t/			ק /k/	א /ʔ/
	voiced	ב /b/	ד /d/			ג /g/
Fricatives	voiceless	פֿ /f/	ס /s/	ש /ʃ/		כ /x/	ה /h/
	voiced	װ /v/	ז /z/	זש /ʒ/
Affricates	voiceless		צ /ts/	טש /tʃ/
	voiced		דז /dz/	דזש /dʒ/
Approximants			ל /l/		י /j/		ר /ʁ/

Vowel phonemes in Weddish

	Front	Central	Back
High	י /i/~/ɪ/		ו /u/~/ʊ/
Mid	ע /e/~/ɛ/	/ə/	אָ /o/~/ɔ/
Low		אַ /ɐ/~/ä/

Diphthongs in Weddish

	+y	+w
a	ײַ = ay	אַו = aw
e	ײ = ey
o	ױ = oy	אָו = ow

Voices is contrasted in both plosives and fricatives, like Yiddish and English. Vowel nasalization and rounding are not phonemic

There are several issues in the pronunciation of individual sounds. The rhotic of Weddish is either alveolar or uvular and may be anything from a flap, to a trill, to an actual approximant. No R-colors vowels are permitted. Words that begin with a vowel are separated from a prior open syllable by a glottal stop. The velar nasal only occurs when an "n" is assimilated in place of articular before or after an "x", "k", or "g", in a syllable coda. ng is pronounced /ŋg/, not just /ŋ/. L is typically dark (aka "velarized") except before i. Ayen is always romanized e, but signifies the schwa in unaccented syllables.

In the dialect of the Americas, central vowels retain a color of their original/short form. Elsewhere, they are all central, except /a/ before glottals and /ɪ/ before labials. Another dialect difference is that c and dž are pronounced /θ/ and /ð/. However, the rhotic is still not retroflex!

Orthography

Weddish written in the Hebrew alphabet, after the standard of YIVO Yiddish. There is a one-to-one correspondence between grapheme and phoneme, except for three digraphs and one trigraph. Weddish also has its own Romanization scheme, largely Slavic in appearance. In it, /ʃ/ is written š, /ʒ/ is written ž, /j/ is written y, /ts/ is written c, /tʃ/ is written č, /dʒ/ is written dž, and /ʁ/ is written r.

If the syllable after a diphthong begins with a vowel, the off-glide of the diphthong is doubled as the onset of that next syllable, without being written again. Thus zeyer is pronounced /zey.yer/.

As in Hebrew, five letters have "final" forms, when they occur at the end of a word. These forms do not affect pronunciation at all.

Initial/Medial	מ	נ	פֿ	צ	כ
Final	ם	ן	ף	ץ	ך

Alphabetical order is alef, alef pasex, alef komac, beys, (veys,) giml, dalet, dalet zayen, dalet zayen šin, hey, vov, gvovayin, šurek, zayen, zayen šin, (xes,) tes, tes šin, yud, yud xirik, gyudayin, gyudayin pasex, vov yud, xof, (xof dageš,) lamed, mem, nun, samex, ayen, pey, fey, cadek, kuf, reyš, (sin,) šin (, tav, sav).

When necessary to avoid confusion, /u/ can be precisely specified with a וּ, called a šurek. /i/ can be invoked as יִ, that is a yud xirek.

Others

Yiddish has many loanwords from Hebrew and Aramaic which are written using the Hebrew abjad in the Semitic way. Weddish, however, writes these words out according to its own orthographic conventions. However, in traditional setting it is sometimes necessary to use the ancient letters.

Lošn Koydeš Letter	בֿ	ח	כּ	שׂ	ת	תֿ
Equivalent	װ	כ	ק	ס	ט	ס

There is also a highly ornate style of writing Weddish, called xtiv qoydeš (holy writing, abbr. x"q) which featuring Hebrew roots spelling according to the ancient tradition and vowels written as diacritical marks ("points") around the consonants. In this style, v is usually written as ו and y as י. The other vowels are as follows, with the א written only for necessity's sake:

Standard	X"Q	Roman.
אַ	אַ	a
אָ	אָ	o
ע	אֶ	e
י	אִ	i
ו	אֻ	u
ײ	אֵ	ey
ײַ	אֱ	ay
ױ	אֹ	oy
אָו	אֳ	ow
אַו	אֲ	aw
ø	אְ	/ə/ or syllabic

Phonotactics

Weddish phonotactics are inherited from Yiddish, which is among the more permissive in the world. Which they do not rise to the level of Georgian or Salish, they are nevertheless daunting for new learners. Gemination only becomes phonemic across word boundaries. Consonant clusters are spontaneously broken up across syllables in order to make codas less complicated and onsets more so.

Syllabic Consonants

Liquids and fricatives may all be said syllabically. Apart from the inseparable prepositions l and m, and the proclitic conjunction v, syllabic consonants all occur at the end of a word. In an unstressed syllable, syllabic sonarants and syllables with a reduced vowel are indistinguishable. In stressed syllables, no vowel is written, the onset and coda are optional or may consist of a single stop.

Onsets

Onset Consonant Clusters
	b	g	d	dz	dž	h	v	z	ž	t	č	y	x	l	m	n	s	p	f	c	k	r	š
b		bg	bd									by		bl								br
g							gv	gz				gy		gl		gn						gr
d							dv	dz				dy		dl		dn						dr
dz							dzv					dzy
dž												džy
h												hy
v												vy		vl								vr
z	zb	zg					zv					zy		zl	zm	zn						zr
ž	žb	žg					žv					žy		žl	žm
t							tv					ty	tx	tl	tm	tn	c		tf		tk	tr	č
č							čv					čy
y
x							xv					xy		xl	xm	xn	xs			xc	xk	xr	xš
l
m												my		ml								mr
n												ny
s			sd				sv			st	sč	sy	sx	sl	sm	sn		sp	sf		sk	sr
p							pv			pt		py	px	pl		pn	ps		pf		pk	pr	pš
f												fy		fl								fr
c			cd				cv					cy		cl		cn						cr
k			kd				kv			kt		ky	kx	kl		kn	ks					kr
r
š							šv			št	šč	šy	šx	šl	šm	šn		šp	šf		šk	šr

There are three-consonant clusters allowed that begin with s or š plus a voiceless stop plus a liquid: spl, spr, str, skr, skl, špl, špr, štr, škl, and škr but not stl or štl.

American's should take care with dr, tr, štr, and str not to "africatize" the cluster.

Codas

Final t's and c's devoice any other code consonants. In writing, it may look like there are therefore combinations not possible on the chart below, but they are pronounced devoiced.

Coda Consonant Clusters
	b	g	d	dz	dž	h	v	z	ž	t	č	y	x	l	m	n	s	p	f	c	k	r	š
b			bd	bdz				bz	bž
g			gd	gdz				gz	gž
d								dz	dž
dz
dž
h
v								vz	vž
z
ž
t													tx				c						č
č
y
x												xt					xs	xp			xk		xš
l	lb	lg	ld	ldz	ldž		lv	lz	lž	lt	lč		lx		lm	ln	ls	lp	lf	lc	lk		lš
m	mb		md	mdz	mdž			=mdz	=mdž								=mps	mp	=mpf				=mpš
n		ng	nd	ndz	ndž			=ndz	=ndž	nt	nč		=nkx				=nc			nc	nk		=nč
s										st	sč							sp		sc	sk
p										pt	pč						ps		pf	pc	pk		pš
f										ft	fč						fs	fp		fc		fk	fš
c
k										kt	kč		kx				ks		kf	kc			kš
r	rb	rg	rd	rdz	rdž		rv	rz	rž	rt	rč		rx		rm	rn	rs	rp	rf	rc	rk		rš
š										št							šs	šp			šk

There are also liquids plus stop plus homorganic, alveolar fricative: lps, lbz, lks, lgz, rps, rbz, rks, rgz.

Suprasegmentals

Stress is predicable, if one knows the root of a word. The first syllable of the root receives primary stress, with secondary stresses proceeding out like ripples on a pond to every other syllable, forwards and backwards. (The major exception is the dual, which moves the stress of a word with an odd number of syllables.) The default rhythm of Weddish is trochaic: stressed-unstressed. Neither vowel length nor stress is phonemic. Long vowels indicate stress. If the word is long, one of the first three syllables must have primary stress. Prefixes and suffixes all have an underlying vowel which is expressed or repressed in order to maintain the rhythm pattern. Two syllables with reduced vowels may not follow each other. Polar and interrogative questions are both marked by a rising tone at the end of the utterance.

Syntax

Weddish וועדיש
Progress: 43%
Type
fusional
Alignment
Ergative-Absolutive
Head direction
Initial	Mixed		Final
Primary word order
Subject-verb-object
Tonal
No
Declensions
No
Conjugations
Yes
Genders
2
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice		Mood
Person		Number
Tense		Aspect

Weddish aims to be easy for speaker of English to learn. While the verbal-system is somewhat new, the noun-system should be easy. Nouns are not inflected, but pronouns do have unique forms that show what part of speech they can be. Like German, however, articles do inflect. Like Hebrew, there are two noun genders. The masculine is almost universally animate, while the feminine is not. Adjectives do not inflect unless substantive.

Purposefully chosen to stimulate thinking, Weddish has an ergative-absolutive morphosyntactic alignment. Most languages in the world consider the actor of transitive verb and the subject of an intransitive verb to be equivalent. The object of a transitive verb is special in these systems. It can be promoted to the subject via the passive voice. Normally, it must come after the verb. Weddish treats the object of a transitive verb and the subject of a transitive verb the same, called the "absolutive case". Actors of transitive verbs are specially in Weddish, called the "ergative case".

It would be tempting to classify Weddish as SVO (subject-veb-object) like English and Chinese, but that's not quite right. It is, in fact, a V2 language, which means the verb always wants to come second. Discourse particles and few other things do not count towards calculating where "second" is. An entire phrase is taken as a whole when counting this place. Because of core cases are marked almost solely by word order, the actor of a transitive verb (the ergative case) must come before the verb, i.e. first in the sentence.

The V2 Principle is carried throughout Weddish, to the point where it might be labeled a "head second" language. This is not a recognized typology, since languages are either head-initial, head-final, or mixed.

Number

English, Hebrew, Yiddish and many other languages have two numbers: singular and plural. Weddish (like Arabic) has three: singular, dual, and plural. Obviously, the dual is for two of something, and the plural therefore means three or more. However, in regards to persons, the dual is used on married people, even if only one of them is being spoken about. Exceptions can be made in every case except the ergative, which is reserved for the spouses to use on each other. This distinction does not apply in the third person for people not present.

Weddish also distinguishes whether actions were done as individuals or all as a group. It also possible to add "associates" of a noun to it.

Copula

The verb "to be", "to become", and "to have" are all copulas in Weddish. That means they all use only the absolutive case, never the ergative. However, "to be" and "to have" are more like "to equal" and "to exist". "I have shoes" is literally "Shoes exist to me". This can be easier for Far East Asians to learn than Westerners.

Morphology

Case

Genitive
פֿון/fun
Dative	Ablative	Partitive	Equative
ל־/l-	ב־/b-	מ־/m-	ק־/k-

By default, all nouns are in the absolutive case. But, if they are placed before the verb, then they are said to be in the ergative case, though their morphology is unchanged. The only exception is the masculine singular/dual definite article changes in the ergative case. Linguists call these two case the "core cases" of a language, since they are fundamental. There are five additional cases --- called "non-core" cases --- in Weddish that are also very important. Unlike many languages that have suffixing case marking, Weddish has prefixing. This is because they are derived from Hebrew Inseparable Prepositions (IP's). Phrases in the non-core cases either relate to the verb (and are hence, adverbial), or are in a noun phrase. In relation to nouns, the core cases are all seen as greater specificity within the genitive case.

Non-core cases all fall under the umbrella term "genitive". The generic genitive is not a case per se, but a preposition (meaning, a separable preposition). An expression like dos line fun gelt/the love of money is even more ambiguous in Weddish than in English. It may mean the love belonging to money, the love in/by money, the love from/composed of money, or the love as/according to money. After a genitive phrase has been established or is implicitly understood, the phrase may be into a compound noun using the "head-second" structure.

Case, Articles, and IP's

	Definite			Indefinite	Anarthrous
	m.sg/dl	f.sg/dl	pl	sg/dl
Erg.	der	dos	di	a(n)	ø
Abs.	dem
Dat.	lem	ler	li	lawn	l-
Abl.	bem	bos	bi	bawm	b-
Part.	mem	mos	mi	mawm	m-/min
Eq.	kem	kos	ki	kawm	k)-

Number

Weddish verbs conjugate for three numbers (singular, dual, and plural), but nouns inflect eleven different ways! However, these myriad ways can be easily understood as the optional adding of "associates" to a noun, and distinguishing between masses of individuals and collectives (one forest vs. many trees). The following table is color-coded to show verb conjugation in the singular (light background), dual (purple), and plural (brown).

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Distributive	פֿרײַנד fraynd a friend	פֿרינדײַים frindayim two friends each	פֿרײַנדין frayndin friends each
Collective		געפֿרינדײַים gefrindayim a couple of friends	געפֿרײַנדין gefrayndin a group of friends
Distributive Associative	פֿרײַנדז frayndz a friend and associates each	פֿרינדײַיםז frindayimz two friends and associates each	פֿרײַנדינז frayndinz friends and associates each
Collective Associative	געפֿרײַנז gefrayndz a group of a friend and associates	געפרינדײַימז gefrindayimz a group of two friends and associates	געפֿרײַנדינז gefrayndinz a group of friends and associates

The dual ending is unique, in that is shifts the accent pattern of the root to itself. It may be written -áyim to indicate that shift. This shift triggers vowel reduction of of the previous syllable, if it is a diphthong (cutting it down to its first vowel).

Forms lacking the collective plural endings are automatically distributive.

Pronouns

Independent Personal

Absolutive independent personal pronouns are most commonly used with ø-copula clauses to show predication. Such sentences are distinguished from those with the "to be" verb, which show absolute identity, as opposed to mere attribution. Gu Yidiš/We are Jewish vs. Big Džonzez/We are (the) Jones's.

		Ergative	Absolutive	Dative	Ablative	Partitive	Equative
1	sg	ix	mix	mir	bix	mix	kix
	dl	nanxu	gu	gir	bug	ming	kowg
	pl	undz	mir	undz	bu	minu	ku
2	sg	du	dix	dir	bed	mind	ked
	dl	stu	stuk	stire	bist	minst	kist
	pl	ir	ayx	ayx	bikm	mint	kat
3	m.sg	er	'im	inen	bo	mino	ko
	f.sg	zi	es	aya	ba	mina	ka
	dl	bera	hura	hav	bav	minav	'kav
	pl	zey	cey	čire	bouč	minč	kač

Interrogative

	Erg.	Abs.	Gen.	Dat.	Abl.	Part.	Eq.
Persons.	mi	ver	vermenc	vermen	bimi	mimi	komi
Impers.	ma	vos	fun vos	vu	vi	vat	ven

The interrogative pronouns do not inflect for person, number, or gender. Linguists would say they are animate and inanimate, though Weddish grammar calls them "personal" and "impersonal". They are identical to the relative pronoun (just as in English) and must match their antecedent in animacy, but not in case. Instead (just as in English) they indicate their new role in the relative clause.

Affixes

Like Hebrew, Weddish uses enclitic forms of pronouns to indicate several things. On verbs, pronominal suffixes mark the absolutive argument of the clause. On nouns, they mark a genitive relationship. Pronominal prefixes are used exclusively on transitive verbs to mark the ergative argument, and are obligatory. Weddish is not pro-drop, and an affix on both ends is required on transitive verbs. Remember, there are no ambi-transitive verbs in Weddish. Use of the independent personal pronouns when the person has been specified on either end of the verb is considered emphatic.

Person	#	Suffix	Prefix
1	sg	-(n)i	ni-
	dl	-(u)g	gu-
	pl	-(n)u	na-
2	sg	-(e)d	de-
	dl	-(e)st	sti-
	pl	-ti	ta-
3	m.sg	-o	ro-
	f.sg	-a	ya-
	dl	-av*	ø
	pl	-(ay/i)č	čay-

Verbs

Weddish verbs do not conjugate for tense, only aspect.

Aspect Ablaut

Perfective	Imperfective
-ei-	-i-
-au-	-ai-
-ou-	-u-
-e-	-a-
-o-	-oi-

Voices

1. Causative: š/že-
2. Reflexive: hit/hid-
3. Antipassive: V-u
4. Mixed

Non-finite

1. participle -ing
2. infinitive absolute: u-V
3. infinitive construct: ge-

Incorporation

On the Mithun scale, Weddish does type-I and type-II noun incorporation. This means 1) I picked berries -> I berry-picked, and 2) I washed his face -> I face-washed him.

Derivation

Compounding

When the relationships between nouns is genitive, and it has already been stated or can easily be implied, compound nouns. For example, a field for football/soccer may become fusbolfeld'. (Note the loss of abstraction suffixes.) Suppose it was an Australian rules football field. Would could make fusbolfeldeoystralie. Lastly, If one wanted to add that it is mgroz/composed of grass, this could become פֿוסבאָלפֿעלדעאויסטראליעגראָז/fusbolfeldeoystraliegroz. Words with greater than four parts are not common. Word order is almost "head initial", but with the first specifier coming at the very front.

Abstract Nouns

All nouns in Weddish are inherently concrete. Two levels of abstraction are possible through suffixation. The first signifies the practice, typically of one or more persons. The second signifies the understanding of the practice, usually universally. Both are available in both genders, with the masculine form referring to a person (of either gender), however, the "practice"-form occurs much more often in the masculine and the "understanding"-form occurs much more often in the feminine.

Suffix	"Tennis"	gloss	"Peace"	gloss
ø	a tenis	a game of tenis	a šolem	a season of peace
-ay	dos tenisayo	his tennis game	šolemaya	her (practice of) peace
	dem tenisayt	the tennis player	dem šolemayt	the peacemaker
-šaft	dos tenisšafte	the game of tennis / "tennisology"	'šolemšafte	peace know-how
	a tenisšaft	a tennisologist	a šolemšaft	a student of peace