Vinnish

Vinnish
Created by	Shinobhi
Native to	Commonwealth of Vinland
Language family	Indo-European Germanic North Germanic Far West Norse Old Vinnish Vinnish

Introduction

Vinnish is a North Germanic language spoken in the Commonwealth of Vinland. When the Viking expeditions to the New World were launched in our world, the settlements that the Vikings formed died out, but in this timeline, they hold on and eventually fructify into a a country called Vinland. This is the language they speak, descended from Old Norse. While in some ways it resembles its cousins in Iceland, the Faroes, and Scandinavia, in many others, Vinnish has developed in its own direction due to its relative isolation from the other North Germanic languages.

Orthography

Vinnish Alphabet
Aa	Bb	Cc	Dd	Ðð	Ee	Ff	Gg	Hh	Ii	Jj	Kk	Ll	Mm	Nn	Oo	Pp	Qq	Rr	Ss	Tt	Uu	Vv	Ww	Xx	Yy	Zz	Ææ	Øø	Åå

The Vinnish orthography is based on the Latin alphabet, with the addition of four extra letters, Ð, Æ, Ø, and Å. The alphabet was codified with the translation of the Bible into Vinnish by scholar Johan Goðmundsson around the time of the Protestant Reformation in Vinland. Until then, Vinnish was largely unwritten, with the exception of a few runestones written in Medieval Runes, as well as several documents in churches written in ad hoc orthographies based on the Latin script.

Phonology

The pronunciation of each letter is as follows. Vinnish words are almost always stressed on the first syllable. In non-diphthong syllables stress is shown by lengthening the vowel.

	Pronunciation	Example	IPA	Translation
a	[aː] when stressed	take	[ˈtʰaːkə]	to take
	[a] when unstressed	vinskap	[viːnʃkap]	friendship (n)
	[ə] word-finally (only loanwords)	pasta	[ˈpʰaːʂtə]	pasta; noodles (c)
au	[oʊ]	ðau	[ˈðoʊ]	they (referring to neuter nouns)
b	[b] (in some dialects, [p])	bogi	[ˈboːgi]	bow (c)
bl	[pl]	blår	[ˈplɔːr]	blue
br	[pr]	broðar	[ˈproːðər]	brother (c)
c	same as “k” (loanwords only)	Canade	[ˈkʰaːnadə]	Canada
	[s] before i/e (loanwords only)	center	[ˈseːntr̩]	center; central office (n)
ch	same as “k” (loanwords only)	chronologi	[ˈkroːnologi]	chronology (c)
d	[d] (in some dialects, [t])	dager	[ˈdaːgr̩]	day (c)
dr	[tr]	drepe	[ˈtreːpə]	to kill
ð	[ð]	staðer	[ˈʂtaːðr̩]	town, city (c)
e	[eː] when stressed	skere	[ʂkeːrə]	to cut, to part
	[e] when unstressed	Vinlendenger	[ˈviːnlendeŋkr̩]	Vinnish (person)
	[ə] word-finally	Else	[ˈeːlsə]	a proper name; Elsa
ei	[ei]	ðeir	[ˈðeir]	they (common pl)
er	syllabic word-finally	maðer	[ˈmaːðr̩]	man, person (c)
el		kombel	[ˈkʰoːmbl̩]	grave, monument (n)
em	[əm] word-finally	skåpem	[ˈʂkɔːpəm]	“we do”
en	[ən] word-finally	vaten	[ˈvaːtən]	water (n)
es	[əs] word-finally in mediopassive verbs	høres	[ˈhøːrəs]	mediopassive infinitive of “høre”
et	[ət] word-finally in definite articles and neuter adjectives	barnet	[ˈbaːrnət]	the child (n)
eu	[øy]	Europe	[ˈøyropə]	Europe (c)
f	[f]	få	[ˈfɔː]	to obtain, to get
g	[g] (in some dialects, [k])	gøre	[ˈgøːrə]	to make
	[ʂ] before i/e in certain loanwords	geographi	[ˈʂeːokrafi]	geography
	[ɣ] word-finally, post-vocalically before a consonant	eg	[ˈeːɣ]	I (first person pronoun)
gr	[kr]	grår	[ˈkrɔːr]	gray; gloomy
gl	[kl]	glåpe	[ˈklɔːpə]	to stare (+d); to focus on (+a)
gv	[kv]	gver	[ˈkveːr]	who
h	[h]	hester	[ˈheːstr̩]	horse (c)
hl	[l̥] for older speakers; otherwise same as “l”	hlaupe	[ˈl̥oʊpə]	to jump
hr	[r̥]~[ɹ̥] for older speakers; otherwise same as “r”	hringer	[ˈr̥iːŋkr̩]	ring (c)
i	[iː] when stressed	filgi	[ˈfiːlgi]	friend; pal (c)
	[i] when unstressed	filgi
j	[j]	jeter	[ˈjeːtr̩]	hot (adj.)
k	[kʰ] prevocalically outside of clusters	kone	[ˈkʰoːnə]	woman (c)
	[k] in clusters and at the end of a word	kristni	[ˈkriːʂtni]	Christianity (c)
l	[l]	langer	[ˈlaːŋkr̩]	long, tall (adj)
m	[m]	mame	[ˈmaːmə]	mom; mama (c)
n	[n]	neme	[ˈneːmə]	to take; to grab
ng	[ŋk]	gange	[ˈgaːŋkə]	to go
o	[oː] when stressed	motor	[ˈmoːtor]	motor (c)
	[o] when unstressed
p	[pʰ] prevocalically outside of clusters	pape	[ˈpʰaːpʰə]	dad; papa (c)
	[p] in clusters and at the end of a word	skip	[ˈʂkiːp]	ship (n)
ph	[f] (only used in Greek loanwords)	photo	[ˈfoːto]	photograph (n)
qu	[kv]~[gv] (only used in French/Latin loanwords)	quantite	[ˈkvaːntitə]	quantity (c)
r	[r]	rauðer	[ˈroʊðr̩]	red (adj)
s	[s] prevocalically and in any cluster where it precedes f, l, n, r, v; also at the end of genitives in compound nouns	sorter	[ˈsoːrtr̩]	black (adj)
		Egilsdottar	[ˈeːɡilsdottər]	a patronymic; daughter of Egil
	[ʂ] word-initially/after a vowel and before a consonant	sterker	[ˈʂteːrkr̩]	strong (adj)
	[ʃ] between two consonants	vinske	[ˈviːnʃkə]	Vinnish (language) (c)
sj	[ʂ]	sjør	[ˈʂøːr]	sea (c)
t	[tʰ] prevocalically outside of clusters	til	[ˈtʰil]	towards; lative preposition
	[t] in clusters and at the end of a word	sort	[ˈsoːrt]	neuter of “sorter” (black)
th	same as “t” (only used in Greek loanwords)	theologi	[tʰeˈoːlogi]	theology (c)
tj	[tʂ]	gvitjøre	[ˈkviːtʂørə]	kenning for a goose; literally “white-ear” (n)
u	[uː] when stressed	rum	[ˈruːm]	bed (n)
v	[v]	vinder	[ˈviːndr̩]	wind (c)
w	[v]~[w]	Wisconsin	[viˈʂkoːnsin]	Wisconsin
x	[ks]	sex	[ˈseːks]	six
y	[yː] when stressed	gryn	[ˈkryːn]	green
z	[z]~[s]	zebre	[ˈzeːprə]	zebra (c)
æ	[æː] when stressed	sæl	[ˈsæːl]	well, healthy (adj)
	[æ] when unstressed	gvenær	[ˈgveːnær]	when (interrogative)
ø	[øː] when stressed	spørje	[ˈʂpøːrjə]	to ask
	[ø] when unstressed	førgefe	[førˈɡeːfə]	to forgive
å	[ɔː]~[oː] when stressed	våge	[ˈvɔːgə]	eye (n)
	[ɔ]~[o] when unstressed	Olåfer	[ˈoːlɔfr̩]	Olaf (male name)

Common Phonological Processes in Vinnish

Elision

Certain letters in Vinnish are subject to elision when inflectional endings follow them. In particular, -en, -er, and -el are prone to this sort of change:

• kristen > kristne
• kombel > kombli
• maðer > maðren

In multisyllabic adjective stems, this is particularly prominent.

Vowel Assimilation

Often, two vowels that are adjacent to each other will undergo elision, with the “double” vowel merging into the first vowel.

• hå-ar -> hår
• hå-a -> hå
• tru-em -> trum

R-Assimilation

In addition, the -er suffix is prone to being dropped when added to stems that end in -l, -n, -r, -s, and -x. This is due to it being a word-final “-r” in Old Norse which would assimilate to one of the aforementioned consonants.

• far + er > far
• mikel + er > mikel
• vinlos + er > vinlos
• gryn + er > gryn

This also shows up with the genitive plural adjectival suffix, -re, which will assimilate by doubling the stem consonant that comes before it:

• far + re > farre
• vinlos + re > vinlosse
• gryn + re > grynne

U-Umlaut

U-umlaut in Vinnish is fairly simple: certain suffixes and grammatical endings trigger u-umlaut, which only surfaces in the vowel “a” earlier on in the word. This change causes the vowel “a” to become “å” instead.

• skap- > skåpem
• barn > bårn

In syllables whose stem vowel is not “a”, this change does not visibly surface.

• mæl- > mælem
• skip > skip

In multisyllabic words (often verbs) that undergo u-umlaut, generally the stressed “a” will mutate to “å” while the remaining “a” vowels until the ending will mutate to “e”.

Throughout this document, the shorthand (+u) will be used to denote the triggering of u-umlaut.

I-Umlaut

I-Umlaut is a somewhat more complicated process: It affects many more vowels than u-umlaut does, and as such, each pattern needs to be memorized separately. Note that also in some cases, one vowel can have multiple realizations after i-umlaut for etymological reasons relating to Old Norse. In these cases, I try to list the most common realization first and the less common ones last.

Vowel	I-Umlauted
a, ja	e
au, o	ø
vå	jø
å	æ, ø
u, ø, ju, jø, o	y

Throughout this document, the shorthand (+i) will be used to denote the triggering of i-umlaut.

Dental Assimilation

When a suffix beginning in a dental sound follows another dental, some assimilation takes place between the two sounds.

• ð + d > dd, d word-finally
  • fyð- + -de > fydde
• ð + t > tt, t word-finally
  • rauð- + t > raut
• ð + t > st word-finally (more in verbs)
  • bað- + t > bast
• t + t > tt, t word-finally
  • flat- + t > flat
• t + t > st word-finally (more in verbs)
  • galt- + t > galst

Morphology

Nouns

Vinnish nouns fall into one of two genders, common and neuter. The common gender comes from the conflation of the masculine and feminine genders in Old Norse. Nouns inflect for number and case.

Common Nouns

On the whole, common nouns show a much larger variance in declension patterns than neuter nouns. There are two overarching declension patterns among common nouns: strong and weak.

Note that "(u)" refers to the presence of u-umlaut and "∅" refers to a null ending.

Strong Common Nouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Dative	Genitive
Singular	-er, ∅	∅	-i	-s, -ar
Plural	-ar	-e	(u)-em	-e

Definite Article

Definiteness is shown via a cliticized definite article on the end of a noun. This definite article inflects for gender, case, and number.

Adjectives

Adjectives in Vinnish agree with the nouns they modify in gender, case, number, and definiteness. There are two inflections for adjectives: strong and weak adjectives.

Strong Adjectives

Strong adjectives are used attributively with indefinite nouns and predicatively with all nouns. They inflect for gender, case, and number.

	Common	Neuter
Singular
Nom	-er	-t
Acc	-en
Dat	(u)-em	(u)-e
Gen	-s
Plural
Nom	-ar	(u)
Acc	-e
Dat	(u)-em
Gen	-re

Weak Adjectives

Weak adjectives are formed by adding an ending of -e to the stem of the adjective, and do not change form for case or number in Modern Vinnish. They are used with definite nouns and nouns modified by a demonstrative.

In more archaic texts in Vinnish, a naturally or semantically masculine noun can optionally take the ending -i in the nominative singular case. In all other cases of the noun, the ending -e is used.

Verbs

There are two overarching types of verbs in Vinnish, strong and weak verbs. Weak verbs form the past stem via a dental suffix on the present stem, while strong verbs form the past stem via vowel alternation. Vinnish verbs inflect for two tenses (past and present), person, and number. In addition, they make use of certain auxiliary verbs to show aspect, and one of two moods: indicative and subjunctive. Verbs also have both a past and a present participle, and inflect for active and mediopassive voice.

Weak Verbs

Weak verbs are characterized by their usage of a dental consonant to form their past stem. This dental consonant can be either -d, -ð, or -t. Which consonant is used is not always readily predictable for a weak verb, and so must simply be memorized along with the verb; however, the majority of Vinnish verbs use -ð.

The below table shows the basic inflection pattern for a weak verb. Note that the symbol "D" refers to the dental consonant used.

	Singular	Plural
Present
1st	-i	(u)-em
2nd	-ar	-ið
3rd		-e
Past
1st	-De	(u)-Dem
2nd	-Dar	(u)-Deð
3rd	-Di	(u)-De

Strong Verbs

Strong verbs show tense via a change in the stem vowel. There are seven classes of strong verbs in Vinnish, each characterized by a different alternation pattern.