Jovlish

Jovlish
Jóvleş
Ethnic flag used by most Jovlers
Pronunciation	[ˈʒoːvlɛʃ]
Created by	Vrianne
Date	2024
Setting	Earth
Native to	Türkiye
Ethnicity	Jovler
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic North Sea Germanic Anglic Jovlish
Early forms	Proto-Indo-European Proto-Germanic Old English Old Jovlish Middle Jovlish
Dialects	Turkish Jovlish (Türkjóvleş (Türkjóvleş)) Georgian Jovlish (Kortuljóvleş (Kortuljóvleş))
Writing systems	Jovlish Georgian Latin
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Türkiye, Georgia
Map of areas where Jovlish is spoken   ...as a majority language   ...as a minority language
Jovlish is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Jovlish (Jóvleş, Jóvleş [ˈʒoːvlɛʃ]) is an Anglic Germanic language whose speakers mainly reside in the Pontus region (Jovlish: Troψ, Trops [tɾɔps]) in the Republic of Türkiye. It is descended from the Old English spoken by the Anglo-Saxon refugees fleeing from the Norman invasion of England to the Black Sea, thus making it related to other Anglic languages such as English and Scots, and to other Anglo-Frisian languages such as the Frisian languages.

Classification

Jovlish is an Indo-European language that belongs to the Anglo-Frisian branch of the West Germanic languages, which in-turn is also a branch of the Germanic languages. It is specifically an Anglic language descending from the West Saxon dialect of Old English.

Anglo-Frisian Cognates with matching definitions

Jovlish	English	Scots	West Frisian
brıh (brıh)	brother	brither	broer
veş (veş)	week	wouk	wike
fód (fód)	father	faither	faar
Jöq (Jöq)	Earth	Erd	Ierde
grīt (grīt)	great	great	grut
mēqk (mēqk)	milk	milk	molke
reş (reş)	right	richt	rjocht
űvn (űvn)	give*	gie	jaan

History

Old Jovlish (12th–15th century)

By the late 12th and early 13th centuries, the speech of the Anglo-Saxon settlers had diverged noticeably from Old English, forming what is now referred to as Old Jovlish. During this period, extensive contact with the Byzantine Empire led to the incorporation of numerous Greek loanwords, particularly in religious, administrative, and scholarly domains. Additionally, some lexical influences from Adyghe and other nearby languages entered Jovlish, although its core grammatical structure remained largely unchanged from that of Old English.

Middle Jovlish (16th–17th century)

The 16th century marked the transition to Middle Jovlish, characterized by increased linguistic borrowing and grammatical transformation. During this period, Jovlish absorbed a substantial number of loanwords from Ottoman Turkish, Russian, and Classical Persian. These influences were particularly strong in trade, military, and governmental terminology.

One of the most significant grammatical developments in this period was the fusion of pronouns with conjugated verbs, leading to its characteristically un-Germanic verbal paradigm.

Jovlish's orthography remained largely static thus far, leading to a growing divergence between written and spoken forms. As such, words spelled as "mennisćmæn" ("human"), which reflected the Old Jovlish pronunciation /ˈmenniʃˌmæn/ quite accurately, would have been pronounced as /ˈmɛʃmæn/ by Middle Jovlish speakers.

The early 17th century saw the forced migration of many Jovlish-speaking communities due to Russian military campaigns in the Caucasus, which displaced numerous ethnic groups. Many Jovlish speakers were resettled in the Pontic region.

15th-century written form of "Ælfréd óþ" ("Alfred II")

Modern Jovlish (17th century–present)

The 17th century marked the definitive split of Jovlish into two primary dialects:

• Turkish Jovlish (Türkjóvleş, Türkjóvleş), spoken primarily in modern-day Turkey, especially in former Greek-populated areas along the Black Sea coast.
• Georgian Jovlish (Kortuljóvleş, Kortuljóvleş), concentrated in western Georgia.

In the 20th century, the Turkish Republican government initiated policies that suppressed minority languages, including Jovlish, leading to a sharp decline in its usage.

Phonology

Old Jovlish

Vowels

	Front		Back
	unrounded	rounded
Close	i iː ⟨í⟩	y yː ⟨ý⟩	u uː ⟨ú⟩
Mid	e eː ⟨é⟩	ø ⟨œ⟩	o oː ⟨ó⟩
Open	æ æː ⟨ǽ⟩		ɑ ⟨a⟩ ɑː ⟨á⟩

	Rising								Falling
	-yː	-u	-ø	-o	-oː	-æ	-ɑ	-ɑː	-ʊ̯	-ɔ̯	-œ̯	-ɐ̯
i-									iʊ̯ ⟨(ǵ)eu⟩	iɔ̯ ⟨(ǵ)eo⟩	iœ̯ ⟨(ǵ)eœ⟩	iɐ̯ ⟨(ǵ)ea⟩
iː-										iːɔ̯ ⟨(ǵ)éo⟩	iːœ̯ ⟨(ǵ)éy⟩	iːɐ̯ ⟨(ǵ)éa⟩
j-	jyː ⟨éy⟩	ju ⟨eu⟩	jø ⟨eœ⟩	jo ⟨eo⟩	joː ⟨éo⟩	jæ ⟨eæ⟩	jɑ ⟨ea⟩	jɑː ⟨éa⟩

Notes:

• /i y u e ø o/ may have been realized as [ɪ ʏ ʊ ɛ œ ɔ].

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Post-Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m		n			ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Plosive	voiceless	p		t	t͡ʃ ⟨ć⟩		k ⟨c⟩
	voiced	b		d	d͡ʒ ⟨cǵ⟩		ɡ ⟨g⟩
Fricative	voiceless	f	θ ⟨þ⟩	s	ʃ ⟨sć⟩	(ç)	x~χ ⟨h⟩		(h)
	voiced	v ⟨f, ƀ⟩	(ð)	z ⟨s⟩		(ʝ)		ʁ ⟨ǥ, ł, ɍ⟩
Trill				r
Approximant				l		j ⟨ǵ, i, e, é⟩	w ⟨uu⟩

Notes:

• /ð/ is an allophone of /θ/ when inter-vocalic or clustered with a voiced consonant. The same applies to the voicing pairs /v z/ and /f s/, though /v z/ have since become phonemic.
• /ç ʝ/ are allophones of /x~χ ʁ/ near /i(ː) y(ː) e(ː) ø/.
• /h/ is an allophone of /x~χ/ morpheme-initially.

Phonological shifts from Old English

• Homorganic lengthening and Pre-cluster shortening were carried over from the transition from Old English to Middle English.
• Geminated /ɡɡ, dd͡ʒ/ lose their gemination.
• Nasal-plosive sequences become pure nasals morpheme-finally and geminate plosives elsewhere.
  • /mp/ > /m/ morpheme-finally, /pp/ elsewhere.
  • /mb/ > /m/ morpheme-finally, /bb/ elsewhere.
  • /nt/ > /n/ morpheme-finally, /tt/ elsewhere.
  • /nd/ > /n/ morpheme-finally, /dd/ elsewhere.
  • /ŋk/ > /ŋ/ morpheme-finally, /kk/ elsewhere.
  • /ŋɡ/ > /ŋ/ morpheme-finally, /ɡɡ/ elsewhere.
• /m/ > /n/ morpheme-finally, though some words were unaffected.
• /kn, kl/ > /kʃn, kʃl/, though not orthographically represented.
• Voiceless sonorants become geminate fricatives.
  • /n̥/ > /xx/.
  • /r̥/ > /θθ/.
  • /l̥/ -> /ʃʃ/.
  • /w̥/ -> /ff/.
• /krV, klV/ > /kVrˠ, kVlˠ/ sporadically and with short vowels only.
• /ɣ, rˠ, lˠ/ merge into /ʁ/.
• /æ͜ɑ, e͜o, i͜y/ > /jæ, jø, jø/ word-initially, /jɑ, jo, ju/ word-initially and before either /ʁ/ or a syllable containing a back vowel, and /iɐ̯ iɔ̯ iœ̯/ elsewhere.
  • /e͜o/ > /iœ̯/ before a syllable containing a front vowel.
  • /i͜y/ > /iʊ̯/ before either /ʁ/ or a syllable containing a back vowel.
• /æ͜ɑː, e͜oː, i͜yː/ > /jɑː, joː, jyː/ word-initially and /iːɐ̯, iːɔ̯, iːœ̯/ elsewhere.
• /x, ʁ/ palatalize to /ç ʝ/ near front vowels /i(ː), y(ː), e(ː), ø/.
• Glides after the diphthongs /iɐ̯, iɔ̯, iœ̯, iʊ̯, iːɐ̯, iːɔ̯, iːœ̯/ are dropped.

Middle Jovlish

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
	unrounded	rounded
Close	iː ⟨ǵi, ii, (ǵ)éo, (ǵ)éy, (ǵ)éa⟩	yː ⟨ǵy, iy, éy, wy⟩		uː ⟨wu⟩
Near-close	ɪ ⟨i⟩	ʏ ⟨y⟩		ʊ ⟨u⟩
Close-mid	eː ⟨ǵe, ie⟩
Open-mid	ɛ ⟨e, i⟩	œ	(ə)	ɔ ⟨o, u⟩
Near-open			ɐ ⟨a⟩
Open	æ			ɑ ⟨a⟩

	Rising							Falling
	-ʊ	-œ	-ɔ	-ə	-ɔw	-æ	-ɑ	-j	-ɥ	-w	-ʊ̯	-œ̯	-ɐ̯
i-													iɐ̯ ⟨(ǵ)ea, (ǵ)eo⟩
y-												yɐ̯ ⟨(ǵ)eœ⟩
ɯ-											ɯʊ̯ ⟨(ǵ)eu⟩
j-	jʊ ⟨eu⟩	jœ ⟨eœ⟩	jɔ ⟨eo⟩	jə ⟨í, é, ǽ⟩	jɔw ⟨éo⟩	jæ ⟨eæ⟩	jɑ ⟨ea⟩
ɥ-				ɥə ⟨ý⟩
w-				wə ⟨ú, ó, á⟩
ɪ-										ɪw ⟨iu⟩
ɛ-								ɛj ⟨é⟩		ɛw ⟨eü⟩
ɔ-										ɔw ⟨ó, á⟩
ɐ-								ɐj ⟨í,ǽ⟩	ɐɥ ⟨ý⟩	ɐw ⟨ú⟩

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Post-Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular
Nasal		m		n			ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Plosive	voiceless	p		t	t͡ʃ ⟨tj⟩		k ⟨c⟩
	voiced	b		d	d͡ʒ ⟨cǵ, dj⟩		ɡ ⟨g⟩
Fricative	voiceless	f	θ ⟨þ⟩	s	ʃ ⟨sć, ć⟩	ç ⟨h, i⟩		χ ⟨h⟩
	voiced	v ⟨f, ƀ⟩	(ð)	z ⟨s⟩		(ʝ)		ʁ ⟨ł⟩
Trill				r
Approximant				l		j ⟨ǵ, j, e, é⟩	w ⟨w, l⟩

Notes:

• although Old Jovlish /t͡ʃ/ merges with /ʃ/, /t͡ʃ/ is re-introduced into Middle Jovlish through laonwords.

Phonological shifts from Old Jovlish

• /h/-dropping.
• /x/ fully shifts to /χ/.
• /t, d/ are dropped after /ʁ/.
• /l/ > /w/ before consonants.
• /t͡ʃ/ de-affricates to /ʃ/.
• Short /i, y, u, e, ø, o/ weaken to /ɪ, ʏ, ʊ, ɛ, œ, ɔ/.
• /i, u/ > /ɛ, ɔ/ in closed syllables.
• Long vowel breaking:
  • /iː, eː, æː/ and /uː, oː, ɑː/ merge to /jə/ and /wə/ respectively after alveolar consonants.
  • /yː/ > /ɥə/ after alveolar consonants.
  • /iː, yː, uː, eː, oː, æː, ɑː/ > /ɐi̯, ɐy̯, ɐu̯, ɛi̯, ɔu̯, ɐi̯, ɔu̯/ elsewhere.
• /ji(ː), je(ː), wu(ː), {w,j}y(ː)/ > /iː, eː, uː, yː/
• /iːɐ̯, iːɔ̯, iːœ̯/ merge into /iː/
• /iɔ̯, iœ̯, iʊ̯/ > /iɐ̯, yɐ̯, ɯʊ̯/
  • /iɐ̯, iɔ̯, iœ̯, iʊ̯/ > /çɐ, çɔ, çœ, çʊ/ after plosives and /χ/ (absorbing /χ/ into /ç/), though some instances of /χ/ were unaffected by the latter.

Modern Jovlish

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
	unrounded	rounded		unrounded	rounded
Close	iː	yː		ɯː	uː
Near-close	ɪ	ʏ		ω	ʊ
Close-mid	e(ː)				o(ː)
Open-mid	ɛ ɛː	œ œː	ə		ɔ ɔː
Near-open			ɐ
Open			aː

Notes:

• /aː/ is realized as true central [äː].
• the distinction between /eː oː/ and other mid vowels is more reliant on quality than length, and thus /eː oː/ are not always lengthened.
• in the case of consecutive long vowels, the second long vowel is held for a shorter period of time, such as in fēşēver (fēşēver) /ˈfɛːˌʃɛːvər/ [ˈfɛːˌʃɛˑv(ə)ɾ].

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Post-Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	t͡ʃ		k		(ʔ)
	voiced	b	d	d͡ʒ		ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ			χ
	voiced	v	z	ʒ			ʁ
Trill			r
Approximant			l		j

Phonological shifts from Middle Jovlish

• /ʊ/ > /ɔ/
• /w, j/ > /v, ʒ/
• /ç, ʝ/ > /ʃ, j/
• /θ, ð/ > /χ, j/
• /kʃn, kʃl/ > /ʃn, ʃl/
• Initial geminates lose their gemination.
• /iʁ, yʁ, uʁ/ > /iː, yː, uː/
• /ɐi̯, ɐy̯, ɐu̯, ɛi̯, ɔu̯/ lose their semivowel component before /r, ʁ/.
  • /ɐi̯-, ɐy̯-, ɐu̯-/ merge into /ɐ-/.
  • /ɛi̯-/ > /ɛ-/.
  • /ɔu̯-/ > /ɔ-/.
• /ʁ/ is dropped inter-vocalically.
• Diphthong smoothing:
  • /iɐ̯, yɐ̯, ɯʊ̯/ > /ɛː, œː, ɯː/.
  • /ɐi̯, ɐy̯, ɐu̯, ɛi̯, ɔu̯/ -> /ɛː, œː, ɔː, eː, oː/.
  • /ɛu̯, ɪu̯/ > /œ, ʏ/.
• /t, d/ get dropped after /ʃ/.
• Sequences of alveolar consonant-glide-/ə/ simplify:
  • /njə, nɥə, nwə/ > /ɲɯ, mɲɯ, mɯ/.
  • /tjə, tɥə, twə/ > /t͡ʃɯ, ʃɯ, tɯ/.
  • /djə, dɥə, dwə/ > /ʒɯ, ʒɯ, dɯ/.
  • /sjə, sɥə, swə/ > /ʃɯ/.
  • /zjə, zɥə, zwə/ > /ʒɯ/.
  • /rjə, rɥə, rwə/ > /zɯ, zɯ, rɯ/.
  • /ljə, lɥə, lwə/ > /jɯ, vɯ, vɯ/.
• /ɑ, æ/ > /ɔ, ɐ/.

Orthographies

Old and Middle Jovlish Latin

The Old Jovlish writing standard was a direct continuation of the Late West Saxon standard used for the writing of Old English in the period prior to the Norman Conquest. Acutes were added and standardized on consonants ⟨ć, cǵ, ǵ, sć⟩ in order to distinguish /t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ, j, ʃ/, and on vowels to mark length. /ʁ/ was spelled etymologically by adding a stroke to ⟨g, r, l⟩, thus /jɑːʁ, çiɔ̯ʁt, jɑʁd/ were spelled ⟨éaǥ, heoɍt, eałd⟩ (< OE ⟨eage, heorte, eald⟩) respectively. Edh ⟨ð⟩ and wynn ⟨ƿ⟩ also fully fell out of use in favor of ⟨þ⟩ and ⟨uu⟩, and word-initial/-final instances of /v/ were spelled as ⟨ƀ⟩.

Spelling was mostly not standardized and left etymological during the Middle Jovlish period. The only two changes seen regularly occurring in Middle Jovlish period were ⟨ł⟩ fully supplanting ⟨ǥ, ɍ⟩ in all instances (⟨éał, heoł, eał⟩) and ⟨t, d⟩ dropping after ⟨ł⟩.

Modern Script

handwritten sample of the Jovlish Script

The modern Jovlish script (Jovlish: jóvalhomhott, jóvalhomhott), also known as the Jelkyn Script (jöqkünhomhott, jöqkünhomhott) or the Royal Script (künhomhott, künhomhott), was commissioned by Jelkyn Aşşīş II in order to increase literacy and accessibly of the Jovlish language, as part of a wider response to suppression efforts of the Jovlish language. Most of its letters are direct derivations of the common Jovlish Latin lettering convention, alongside some derivations from Cyrillic, and newly-created letters. The wide adoption of the script effectively reformed Jovlish spelling to be much more phonemic.

Letter	Name	IPA	Romanization	Origin		Letter	Name	IPA	Romanization	Origin
Aa	ākhom [ˈʔäːkʰˌχɔm]	[ɐ]	a	Jovlish Latin ⟨a⟩		Ņņ	iņhom [ˈʔɪɲˌχɔm]	[ɲ]	ņ	artificial invention, contrasting ⟨ŋ⟩
Bb	bjohhom [ˈbʒɔχˌχɔm]	[b]	b	Jovlish Latin ⟨b⟩		Ŋŋ	aŋhom [ˈʔɐŋˌχɔm]	[ŋ]	ŋ	blend of ⟨n⟩ and ⟨g⟩
Vv	vűnhom [ˈvyːnˌχɔm]	[v]	v	⟨b⟩ with a top stroke		Oo	óshom [ˈʔo(ː)sˌχɔm]	[ɔ]	o	Jovlish Latin ⟨o⟩
Kk	kéhom [ˈkʰe(ː)ˌχɔm]	[kʰ]	k	Jovlish Latin ⟨c⟩		Öö	övhom [ˈʔœv̥ˌχɔm]	[œ]	ö	Jovlish Latin ⟨œ⟩
Çç	çéhom [ˈt͡ʃe(ː)ˌχɔm]	[t͡ʃ]	ç	artificial invention, likely drawn from Jovlish Latin ⟨ć⟩		Pp	pşohhom [ˈpʃɔχˌχɔm]	[pʰ]	p	Jovlish Latin ⟨p⟩
Dd	dēhom [ˈdɛːˌχɔm]	[d]	d	Jovlish Latin ⟨d⟩		Rr	róhom [ˈɾo(ː)ˌχɔm]	[ɾ]	r	Jovlish Latin ⟨r⟩
Ee	eşhom [ˈʔɛʃˌχɔm]	[ɛ]	e	Jovlish Latin ⟨e⟩		Ss	sijhom [ˈsɪʒ̊ˌχɔm]	[s]	s	Jovlish Latin ⟨s⟩
Ff	fēhhom [ˈfɛːə̯χˌχɔm]	[f]	f	Jovlish Latin ⟨f⟩		Şş	şéhom [ˈʃe(ː)ˌχɔm]	[ʃ]	ş	Cyrillic ⟨ш⟩
Jj	jűfhom [ˈʒyːfˌχɔm]	[ʒ]	j	Jovlish Latin ⟨ᵹ⟩, a variant of ⟨g⟩		Tt	tıvhom [ˈtʰωv̥ˌχɔm]	[tʰ]	t	Jovlish Latin ⟨t⟩
Gg	gűfhom [ˈɡyːfˌχɔm]	[ɡ]	g	Jovlish Latin ⟨g⟩		Cc	cıvhom [ˈd͡ʒωv̥ˌχɔm]	[d͡ʒ]	c	blend of ⟨t⟩ and ⟨z⟩
Hh	hēvhom [ˈχɛːv̥ˌχɔm]	[χ]	h	Jovlish Latin ⟨h⟩		Uu	ūhom [ˈʔuːə̯ˌχɔm]	[ʊ]	u	Jovlish Latin ⟨u⟩
Iı	ïhom [ˈʔɯːˌχɔm]	[ω]	ı	artificial invention		Ww	wūhom [ˈvuːə̯ˌχɔm]	[v]	w	⟨u⟩ with a breve, likely drawing inspiration from Cyrillic ⟨ў⟩
İi	īshom [ˈʔiːsˌχɔm]	[ɪ]	i	Jovlish Latin ⟨i⟩		Xx	xihom [ˈksɪˌχɔm]	[ks]	x	Jovlish Latin ⟨x⟩
Yy	yēshom [ˈjɛːsˌχɔm]	[j]	y	⟨i⟩ with a breve, likely drawing inspiration from Cyrillic ⟨й⟩		Üü	űrhom [ˈʔyːɾˌχɔm]	[ʏ]	ü	Jovlish Latin ⟨y⟩
Ll	lohhom [ˈlɔχˌχɔm]	[l]	l	Jovlish Latin ⟨l⟩		Zz	zetthom [ˈzɛttʰˌχɔm]	[z]	z	Jovlish Latin ⟨z⟩
Qq	qēnhom [ˈʁ̞ɛːnˌχɔm]	[ʁ̞], [Ø]	q	Jovlish Latin ⟨ł⟩		Ξξ	ξihom [ˈbzɪˌχɔm]	[bz]	bz	reversed Greek ⟨ψ⟩
Mm	monhom [ˈmɔnˌχɔm]	[m]	m	Jovlish Latin ⟨m⟩		Ψψ	ψihom [ˈpsɪˌχɔm]	[ps]	ps	Greek ⟨ψ⟩
Nn	nīdhom [ˈniːd̥ˌχɔm]	[n]	n	Jovlish Latin ⟨n⟩

Letter	Name	IPA	Romanization		Letter	Name	IPA	Romanization
Āā	loŋ ākhom [lɔŋ ˈʔäːkʰˌχɔm]	[äː]	ā		Ōō	loŋ óshom [lɔŋ ˈʔo(ː)sˌχɔm]	[ɔː]	ō
Ēē	loŋ eşhom [lɔŋ ˈʔɛʃˌχɔm]	[ɛː]	ē		Óó	frenşeş óshom [ˈfɾɛnʃɛʃ ˈʔo(ː)sˌχɔm]	[oː]	ó
Éé	frenşeş eşhom [ˈfɾɛnʃɛʃ ˈʔɛʃˌχɔm]	[e(ː)]	é		Őő	loŋ övhom [lɔŋ ˈʔœv̥ˌχɔm]	[œː]	ő, ȫ
Ïï	loŋ ïhom [lɔŋ ˈʔɯːˌχɔm]	[ɯː]	ï		Ūū	loŋ ūhom [lɔŋ ˈʔuːə̯ˌχɔm]	[uː]	ū
Īī	loŋ īshom [lɔŋ ˈʔiːsˌχɔm]	[iː]	ī		Űű	loŋ űrhom [lɔŋ ˈʔyːɾˌχɔm]	[yː]	ű, ǖ

Grammar

Syntax

Jovlish exhibits subject–object–verb (SOV) word order by default, though in practice its word order is relatively flexible:

• in declarative clauses, SOV is by far the most common word order.
  • Onton es bók eza — Onton es bók eza — "Anton read his book"
• negation tends to shift the word order to VSO.
  • neza Onton es bók — neza Onton es bók — "Anton did not read his book"
• interrogative clauses also do the same.
  • eza Onton es bók? — eza Onton es bók? — "did Anton read his book?"
• ... though interrogative clauses using SOV is of generally equal distribution.
  • Onton es bók eza? — Onton es bók eza? — "did Anton read his book?"
• interrogative pronouns are placed clause-initially but do not interfere with verb placement.
  • fat eza Onton? — fat eza Onton? — "what did Anton read?"
  • fat Onton eza? — fat Onton eza? — "what did Anton read?"

Nominals

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Jovlish pronouns decline for person, number, and gender. The old accusative and dative forms reduced and merged into enclitics that attach to a given verb. It is also important to note that Jovlish is pro-drop, meaning that its subject pronouns are omitted, and they are only used emphatically or disjunctively.

	Singular				Plural
	1st person	2nd person	3rd person		1st person	2nd person	3rd person
			Masculine	Feminine
Nominative	eş eş	hō hō	et et	jó jó	vé vé	hō hō	ű ű
Genitive	me me	he he	es es	er er	ar ar	jor jor	űr űr
Reflexive	māz māz	hāz hāz	ens ens		űs űs	józ józ	űz űz
Oblique clitic	-em -em	-eh -eh	-en -en	-ej -ej	-es -es	-eh -eh	-ev -ev

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstratives decline similarly to pronouns, except they retain full accusative and dative forms alongside the enclitics.

Proximal demonstratives (this, these)

	Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine
Nominative	hes hes	hīs hīs	hós hós
Accusative	hezn hezn
Genitive	hes hes
Dative	hős hős
Oblique clitic	-ehe -ehe	-ehi -ehi	-eho -eho

Distal demonstratives (that, those)

	Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine
Nominative	jon jon		jön jön
Accusative	jön jön
Genitive	jons jons	jor jor	jor jor
Dative	jone jone		jone jone
Oblique clitic	-ejo -ejo		-ejö -ejö

Nouns

Jovlish nouns have lost distinct forms for most of the noun cases and currently decline only for two case groupings: Direct (nominative, accusative) and Oblique (dative, genitive), themselves being only distinguished in the singular. Nouns are grouped into one of four declensions, regardless of gender:

• 1st declension nouns, oblique by root ablaut or -(e)s (-(e)s), equivalent to Old English a-, i-, ō-, and u-stem nouns.
• 2nd declension nouns, oblique by -(e)n (-(e)n), equivalent to Old English n-stem nouns.
• 3rd declension nouns, plural by -re (-re), oblique by -s (-s), equivalent to Old English r- and z-stem nouns.
• 4th declension nouns, plural and oblique irregular, equivalent to Old English ablauting consonant stem nouns and nouns with irregular forms.

1st Declension

	ōn ōn ("dog")		köşt köşt ("house")
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Direct	ōn ōn	ōne ōne	köşt köşt	köşte köşte
Oblique	őn őn		köşts köşts

2nd Declension

	veş veş ("week")		vón vón ("flag")
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Direct	veş veş	veşe veşe	vón vón	vóne vóne
Oblique	veşn veşn		vónen vónen

3rd Declension

	brıh brıh ("brother")		vēd vēd ("winter")
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Direct	brıh brıh	brıhre brıhre	vēd vēd	vēdre vēdre
Oblique	brıts brıts		vēds vēds

4th Declension

	mon mon ("man")		jol jol ("beer")
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Direct	mon mon	men men	jol jol	jōh jōh
Oblique	men men		jōh jōh

Verbs

Jovlish verbs conjugate for person, number, gender, tense (past, present), and mood using simple endings, and for tense (future), aspect, and voice using phrasal constructions. A given verb can fall into one of four categories:

• Weak verbs (see Germanic weak verb)
• Strong verbs (see Germanic strong verb)
• Preterite-present verbs (see Preterite presents)
• Irregular verbs

Present

The present tense is used for actions/states happening in the present, future actions/states if context is clear, and atelic verbs. Weak and strong verbs share the indicative and imperative endings, but differ on the subjunctive endings.

Weak verbs

		şvızn şvızn ("to close")			stüqn stüqn ("to move")
		Indicative	Subjunctive	Imperative	Indicative	Subjunctive	Imperative
Singular	eş	şvızeş şvızeş	şvızāş şvızāş	—	stüqş stüqş	stüqāş stüqāş	—
	hō	şvızest şvızest	şvızāh şvızāh	şvız şvız	stüqst stüqst	stüqāh stüqāh	stüq stüq
	et	şvızh şvızh	şvızā şvızā	—	stüqeh stüqeh	stüqā stüqā	—
	jó	şvızī şvızī			stüqī stüqī
Plural	vé	şvızé şvızé	şvızné şvızné		stüqé stüqé	stüqné stüqné
	hō	şvızest şvızest	şvızn şvızn	şvız şvız	stüqst stüqst	stüqn stüqn	stüq stüq
	ű	şvızö şvızö	şvıznö şvıznö	—	stüqö stüqö	stüqnö stüqnö	—

Strong verbs

		bőn bőn ("to yield")			űxn űxn ("to enlarge")
		Indicative	Subjunctive	Imperative	Indicative	Subjunctive	Imperative
Singular	eş	bőş bőş	bōş bōş	—	űxeş űxeş		—
	hō	bőst bőst	bōh bōh	bő bő	űxest űxest	űxeh űxeh	űx űx
	et	bőh bőh	bō bō	—	űxeh űxeh	űx űx	—
	jó	bőqī bőqī	bōqī bōqī		űxī űxī
Plural	vé	bōqé bōqé	bōné bōné		űxé űxé	űxné űxné
	hō	bōst bōst	bōn bōn	bō bō	űxest űxest	űxn űxn	űx űx
	ű	bōqö bōqö	bōnö bōnö	—	űxö űxö	űxnö űxnö	—

Past

The past tense is used for actions/states which happened in the past, regardless of telicity. Weak verbs have dental-infixed endings in the singular, and both weak and strong verbs share the same nasal-infixed endings in the plural. It is of note that weak verbs do not have a distinct past subjunctive from the past indicative and that strong verbs use the same set of endings for the past indicative, present subjunctive, and past subjunctive.

Weak verbs

		şvızn şvızn ("to close")	stüqn stüqn ("to move")
		Indicative-only	Indicative-only
Singular	eş	şvızdeş şvızdeş	stüqdeş stüqdeş
	hō	şvızetst şvızetst	stüqetst stüqetst
	et	şvızd şvızd	stüqd stüqd
	jó	şvızdī şvızdī	stüqdī stüqdī
Plural	vé	şvızné şvızné	stüqné stüqné
	hō	şvızn şvızn	stüqn stüqn
	ű	şvıznö şvıznö	stüqnö stüqnö

Strong verbs

		bőn bőn ("to yield")		űxn űxn ("to enlarge")
		Indicative	Subjunctive	Indicative	Subjunctive
Singular	eş	bīş bīş	buş buş	éxeş éxeş
	hō	bīh bīh	buh buh	éxeh éxeh
	et	bī bī	bu bu	éx éx
	jó	bīqī bīqī	buqī buqī	éxī éxī
Plural	vé	buné buné		éxné éxné
	hō	bun bun		éxn éxn
	ű	bunö bunö		éxnö éxnö

Vocabulary

Numerals

	Cardinal			Ordinal				Adverbial Multiplier
	Direct	Genitive	Dative	Singular			Plural
				Direct	Genitive	Dative	Direct / Oblique
0	sifr sifr	sifre sifre		sifret sifret	sifrets sifrets	sifrete sifrete		sifrevēq sifrevēq
1	on on	ons ons	one one	ork ork	orx orx	orke orke		ēn ēn
2	tvó tvó	tvér tvér	tvón tvón	óh óh	órs órs	óre óre		tvé tvé
3	qzı qzı	qzır qzır	qzı qzın	qzıt qzıt	qzıts qzıts	qzıte qzıte		qzï qzï
4	fī fī	fīr fīr	fīn fīn	fīt fīt	fīts fīts	fīte fīte		fīvēq fīvēq
5	vēf vēf	vēfs vēfs	vēfe vēfe	vēft vēft	vēfts vēfts	vēfte vēfte		vēfēq vēffēq
6	sex sex		sexe sexe	sext sext	sexts sexts	sexte sexte		sexvēq sexvēq
7	süv süv	süvs süvs	süve süve	süvt süvt	süvts süvts	süvte süvte		süvvēq süvvēq
8	eş eş		eşe eşe	eşt eşt	eşts eşts	eşte eşte		eşvēq eşvēq
9	ney ney	neys neys	neye neye	neyt neyt	neyts neyts	neyte neyte		neyvēq neyvēq
10	şın şın	şıs şıs	şıne şıne	şït şït	şïts şïts	şïte şïte		şınvēq şınvēq
11	eddüv eddüv	eddüvs eddüvs	eddüve eddüve	eddüvt eddüvt	eddüvts eddüvts	eddüvte eddüvte		eddüvvēq eddüvvēq
12	tűv tűv	tűvs tűvs	tűve tűve	tűvt tűvt	tűvts tűvts	tűvte tűvte		tűvvēq tűvvēq
13	htüv htüv	htüvs htüvs	htüve htüve	htüvt htüvt	htüvts htüvts	htüvte htüvte		htüvvēq htüvvēq
14	fűv fűv	fűvs fűvs	fűve fűve	fűvt fűvt	fűvts fűvts	fűvte fűvte		fűvvēq fűvvēq
15	fēvüv fēvüv	fēvüvs fēvüvs	fēvüve fēvüve	fēvüvt fēvüvt	fēvüvts fēvüvts	fēvüvte fēvüvte		fēvüvvēq fēvüvvēq
16	söxüv söxüv	söxüvs söxüvs	söxüve söxüve	söxüvt söxüvt	söxüvts söxüvts	söxüvte söxüvte		söxüvvēq söxüvvēq
17	sünüv sünüv	sünüvs sünüvs	sünüve sünüve	sünüvt sünüvt	sünüvts sünüvts	sünüvte sünüvte		sünüvvēq sünüvvēq
18	öşüv öşüv	öşüvs öşüvs	öşüve öşüve	öşüvt öşüvt	öşüvts öşüvts	öşüvte öşüvte		öşüvvēq öşüvvēq
19	nattüv nattüv	natüvs natüvs	natüve natüve	natüvt natüvt	natüvts natüvts	natüvte natüvte		natüvvēq natüvvēq
20	tvētej tvētej	tvēteş tvēteş	tvēçe tvēçe	tvēteşt tvēteşt	tvēteşts tvēteşts	tvēteşte tvēteşte		tvētejvēq tvētejvēq
28	eşon tvētej eşon tvētej	eşon tvēteş eşon tvēteş	eşon tvēçe eşon tvēçe	eşon tvēteşt eşon tvēteşt	eşon tvēteşts eşon tvēteşts	eşon tvēteşte eşon tvēteşte		eşon tvētejvēq eşon tvētejvēq
29	neyon tvētej neyon tvētej	neyon tvēteş neyon tvēteş	neyon tvēçe neyon tvēçe	neyon tvēteşt neyon tvēteşt	neyon tvēteşts neyon tvēteşts	neyon tvēteşte neyon tvēteşte		neyon tvētejvēq neyon tvētejvēq
30	qzētej qzētej	qzēteş qzēteş	qzēçe qzēçe	qzēteşt qzēteşt	qzēteşts qzēteşts	qzēteşte qzēteşte		qzētejvēq qzētejvēq
80	eştej eştej	eşteş eşteş	eşçe eşçe	eşteşt eşteşt	eşteşts eşteşts	eşteşte eşteşte		eştejvēq eştejvēq
90	neytej neytej	neyteş neyteş	neyçe neyçe	neyteşt neyteşt	neyteşts neyteşts	neyteşte neyteşte		neytejvēq neytejvēq
100	nunīttej nunīttej	nunītteş nunītteş	nunīççe nunīççe	nunītteşt nunītteşt	nunītteşts nunītteşts	nunītteşte nunītteşte		nunīttejvēq nunīttejvēq
180	öşüvīttej öşüvīttej	öşüvītteş öşüvītteş	öşüvīççe öşüvīççe	öşüvītteşt öşüvītteşt	öşüvītteşts öşüvītteşts	öşüvītteşte öşüvītteşte		öşüvīttejvēq öşüvīttejvēq
190	nattüvīttej nattüvīttej	nattüvītteş nattüvītteş	nattüvīççe nattüvīççe	nattüvītteşt nattüvītteşt	nattüvītteşts nattüvītteşts	nattüvītteşte nattüvītteşte		nattüvīttejvēq nattüvīttejvēq
1,000	jıyn jıyn	jıyns jıyns	jıyne jıyne	jıynt jıynt	jıynts jıynts	jıynte jıynte		jıynvēq jıynvēq
1,000,000	millyon millyon			millyont millyont	millyonts millyonts	millyonte millyonte		millyonvēq millyonvēq