Sähsch
Sähsch is a Germanic-based constructed language. Made by Ceige, it has previously been know by various names before, with various orthographies. Sähsch in its current incarnation is an attempt to consolidate previous versions of the language with a new and better balanced phonology, and discard features outside its scope. In-universe, it's speakers are largely European, and one could interpret the language and its culture as a reflection, parody, or idealisation of Northern continental Europe from the eyes of a descendent of its emigrants.
Introduction
Real world History
Phonology
Orthography
The Sessian orthography uses the Latin alphabet with diacritics such as the diaresis, popularly known as the umlaut.
Consonants
Labial | Dento-Alveolar | Post-Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosives & Affricates | p d | t d | tʃ (dʒ) | k g | |
Fricatives | f v | s z | ʃ (ʒ) | h | |
Nasals | m | n | ŋ | ||
Liquids | l r |
Vowels
Phonemic Monophthongs
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
High | i i: | ü ü: | u u: |
Mid | e e: | ö ö: | o o: |
Open | ä ä: | a a: | å å: |
Diphthongs
Some dialects have /ai/ and /au/ instead of /i:/ and /u:/, or in addition to them. Other dialects produce diphthongs from /e:/ and /o:/.
Phonetic Realisations
The underlying phonemic symmetry is often broken by the dialects of the language, including the standard language. Several popular processes underway which cause this include:
- "Vowel Breaking" (diphthongisation)
- U-Fronting (/u:/ and new diphthongs containing /u/ have this element centralised to /ü/)
- L-Vocalisation (sequences of a vowel followed by L result in a velarisation of the vowel)
In the standard dialect, the following broadly described phones are generally produced by the above-described underlying phonology:
Underlying Phoneme | Realisation |
---|---|
a | ɑ̈ |
a: | ɑ̈: |
ä | [e̞ ~ ɛ] |
ä: | [e̞ɪ ~ ɛɪ] |
e | [e̞ ~ ɛ] |
e: | [e̞ɪ ~ ɛɪ], or [ɪi ~ i: ~ e̞] |
i | [ɪ] |
i: | [äɪ], or [ɪi: ~ i:] |
o | [o̞] |
o: | [o̞ü], or [ɔʊ ~ u: ~ o̞:] |