User:Chrysophylax/Skājamāl/Writeup

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Introduction

Phonology

Spelling

Skájamál can be written using two different types of scripts: the native script and the Latin alphabet. The native script (askájaská rúnáh) is superficially strikingly similar to the early runic alphabets (futhark) common of other Germanic languages but either through contact-induced change, phonemic adaptations or wholesale innovation its values and conventions differ markedly from these.

Latin script

The Latin script has two competing orthographies with the basic distinction originating in the difficulty of representing certain graphemes on early modern computer devices. The most recently standardised orthographic variety is used in this article.

The following letters are used: a á b d e é g h i í j k l m n o ó p r s t u ú v w z.

The values of these letters usually correspond to their counterparts in the International Phonetic Alphabet with the following major differences:

  • ⟨v⟩ represents a voiced labiodental approximant [ʋ].
  • ⟨a⟩ represents a low, back unrounded vowel [ɑ]
  • ⟨e⟩ represents either a low-mid, front unrounded vowel [ɛ] or a mid, front unrounded vowel [e] with alternation being phonologically unpredictable.
  • ⟨i⟩ represents a near-high, near-front unrounded vowel [ɪ].
  • ⟨j⟩ represents a voiced, palatal fricative [ʝ] after a consonant and [j] elsewhere.
  • ⟨h⟩ represents either a voiceless, glottal fricative [h] or a voiceless, velar fricative [x] after a back vowel.

Long vowels are marked by an acute accent: ⟨á é í ú⟩. The long vowel⟨í⟩ differs in quality from its short counterpart and is pronounced noticeably higher [iː].

The combination ⟨mh⟩ represents a voiced, nasalised labiovelar approximant [w̃], ⟨wr⟩ represents a long velarised apical trill [rʷː], and ⟨hw⟩ represents a voiceless labiovelar approximant [ʍ].

Vowels

The Skájamál vowel inventory is relatively small compared to most of its Germanic siblings with relatively few innovations. The innovations present on the other hand strongly set the language apart from all the other Germanic languages.

There are five pairs of vowels distinguished by length and secondarily, quality: /ɑ e ɪ o u/ and /ɑ: e: i: o: u:/. There are three diphthongs in Skájamál: /au/ /ei/, /eu/. Of these, /ei/ and /eu/ contract in stressed syllables to /i:/ and /i̯u/.

The mid, front unrounded vowel denoted as /e/ alternates freely between [ɛ] and [e] with no particular preference or conditioning environment seemingly identifiable among speakers.

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labiovelar Glottal
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ nk, ng [ŋ] mh /w̃/
Stop p /p/ b /b/ t /t/ d /d/ k /k/ g /g/ kw /kʷ/
Fricative s /s/ z /z/ j [ʝ] h [x] hw /ʍ/ h /h/
Approximant v /ʋ/ l /l/ j /j/ w /w/
Trill wr /rʷː/ r /r/
  • The stops, nasals, the lateral approximant and the trill have palatal allophones when preceding a stressed -jV- sequence, as in brjúkaná [ˈbrʲu:kɑnɑ:].

Prosody

Stress

Stress is usually found on root syllables of words (root accentuation principle); usually this is the first syllable in a word, e.g. HWÁzáh, WANsás. In compounds, the first element receives primary stress regularly according to the root accentuation principle with the following element receiving a slightly weaker secondary stress, as in HRÁríWINih (primary stress marked in bold). This is however not true with verbal compounds - the stress falls then on the first syllable of the verbal element.

Morphophonology

Productive phonological rules

Short vowel deletion
Consonant simplification

Inflectional morphology

Case system

Nominal inflection

Noun declensions

Adjectival declensions

Demonstratives

Pronouns

Verbal inflection

The noun phrase

Determiner phrases

Prepositional phrases

The verb phrase

The sentence