Bearlandic

Bearlandic
Bʉrnlannts
Pronunciation	[/ˈbœːrnlɑnːts/]
Created by	–
Native speakers	Approximately 20 million (2653)
Language family	Iropo-Antilonian languages Berilonian languages Western Berilonian languages Bearlandic Bearlandic
Early form	Old Bearlandic

Background

Bearlandic (Bʉrnlannts, IPA: /ˈbœːrnlɑnːts/) is one of many languages of the planet which is called Virrolt in Bearlandic. The language belongs to the Berilonian language family, which in its turn is a branch of the Iropo-Antilonian language family.

Spoken natively by approximately 20 million people, it is one of the most spoken Berilonian languages. It is also one of the major lingua francas of the world, so it also has millions of second-language speakers.

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m /m/		n /n/			ng /ŋ/
Plosive	p b /p b/		t d /t d/			k q /k kʷ/
Fricative		f v /f v/	s z /s z/	(ʃ)	(ç)	g /x ~ ɣ/	h /h/
Approximant		w /ʋ/			j /j/
Trill			r /r/
Lateral app.			l /l/

[ʃ] and [ç] are quite common as allophones of /s/ before stops and /x/ after /i/ respectively. This is however nonstandard and typically associated with lower classes.

The velar fricative is often slightly fronted or palatalized in the standard dialect.

All consonants except /b d ŋ kʷ v z h/ can be geminated.

The velar fricative is pronounced /ɣ/ in onsets (except in the cluster /sx/) and /x/ in codas.

Coda consonants may be voiced when the following syllable begins with a voiced consonant.

Vowels

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	i u /i y/				ú /u/
Near-close		i u /ɪ ʏ/
Close-mid	e /e/				o /o/
Mid			e /ə/
Open-mid	e ʉ /ɛ œ/				o /ɔ/
Near-open
Open	a /a/				a /ɑ/

Bearlandic distinguishes "short" (ɑ ɛ ɪ ɔ ʏ) and "long" (a e i o y) vowels. However, the "long" vowels are actually only pronounced long when they're stressed. Ú and Ʉ (/u/ and /œ/) are usually considered to be neither short nor long, but are, just like the "long" vowels, pronounced long when they're stressed (except when followed by a geminated consonant) and short otherwise.

There are two diphthongs: y, pronounced /ɛɪ̯/ and au, pronounced /aʊ̯/.

Phonotactics

Bearlandic allows fairly complex syllables, which can begin in up to three and end in up to four consonants, making the maximal syllable structure (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C). The last consonant of final clusters with four consonants is always an -s, as is the first consonant of an initial cluster with three consonants. Note that geminated consonants count as single consonants, and can only appear directly after vowels.

Orthography

Most of the orthography is clear from the tables above, however, the way "short" and "long" vowels are distinguished isn't. "Short" vowels are indicated by doubling the following consonant (which indeed is geminated). If there is no consonant to double (=if the vowel is at the end of a word), a macron is used to indicate its "shortness".

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns don't have cases or genders, only numbers. The plural can be made in three different ways:

1. Adding -s
2. Adding -en
3. Adding -er

The first class contains by far most nouns. The second class contains almost all nouns that end in -s (except a few with -er plurals). The third class consists of about twenty irregular nouns, and also includes all nouns ending in -er, which have identical singular and plural forms. Note that the third class does not include nouns ending in -err.

Adjectives

The comparative is formed by adding -err to the end of the adjective, while the superlative ends in -iss. If the adjective ends in a vowel, a -t- is inserted between the stem and the ending.

Any adjective can be turned into an adverb by adding -lyk. This is however only needed and done with adjectives that end in -ig.

There are a few irregular adjectives, which are listed in the table below.

Meaning	Positive	Comparative	Superlative
"good"	gut	byterr	bisst
"many"	fill	mirr	filless
"far"	ferr	ferrtē	firrst

Verbs

Regular verbs

	"walk"	"shoot"	"improve"	"need"	"leave"
Present	lop	sgit	byterr	bihúf	ausdwyn, dwyn aus
Past	lop-ti	sgit-i	byterr-ti	bihúf-ti	ausdwyn-ti, dwyn-ti aus
Perfect	gi-lop-t	gi-sgit	gi-byterr-t	bihúf-t	aus-gi-dwyn-t
Byform1	lop-ē	sgit-ē	bytr-ē	bihúv-ē	ausdwyn-ē
Present participle	lop-nē	sgit-nē	bytre-nē	bihúf-nē	ausdwyn-nē
Past participle	gi-lop-t-nē	gi-sgit-nē	gi-byterrt-nē	bihúf-t-nē	aus-gi-dwyn-t-nē

1) The byform is a verb form that used to be an infinitive, but in modern Bearlandic its use extends to quite a few other things so "infinitive" isn't a very accurate description anymore.

As can be seen, there are some minor exceptions in the verb system (and also some major ones, which are described in more detail below). Although the above table mentions all of them, it is useful to explain them more clearly:

1. Verbs ending in -t don't add an extra -t in the past and perfect tenses.
2. Verbs ending in unstressed -Vr drop the V in the byform and the present participle, inserting a schwa in the latter form.
3. Verbs beginning with unstressed prefixes like bi- don't add gi-.
4. Verbs beginning with stressed prefixes like aus- are separable. The gi- prefix is added between the separable particle and the root.
5. The byform ending voices preceding fricatives, unless they're geminated.

Irregular verbs

	"be"	"have"	"eat"	"go"	"give"	"become"
Present	iss	heppt	et	ga	gef	vort
Past	wast	haptē	ati	gigti	giffti	virti
Perfect	giassit	gihapt	giotē	gigisst	gigifft	givirtē
Byform	zyt, zyti	hypē	ytē	gatē	gyvē	vortē
Present participle	zytnē	hepptnē	etnē	gatnē	gefnē	vortnē
Past participle	-	hassnē	giotnē	-	gigifftnē	-

Strong verbs

Strong verbs are irregular in that they are a more or less random set of verbs, but as the only difference between regular verbs are the more or less regular vowel changes, they are often not considered really irregular. These vowel changes can be summarised like this:

Present	Past	Perfect
a	i	o
e	a	short i
i	a	o
o	i	i
y	i	short i

The byform of these verbs always has a y.

As an example, this is the full conjugation of the strong verb sgryf "to write":

Present	sgryf
Past	sgrifti
Perfect	gisgrifft
Byform	sgryvē
Present participle	sgryfnē
Past participle	gisgrifftnē

Perfect tenses

The perfect tenses are made with an auxiliary verb (either heppt or iss) and a perfect participle, which can be placed either directly after the auxiliary (less common) or at the end of the sentence (more common).

Ig heppt a fiss gizit.
/ˈix ˈhɛpːt a ˈfɪsː ɣiˈziːt/
Ig heppt a fiss gi-zi-t.
1SG have a fish PERF-see.
I have seen a fish.

The passive

The passive is made like the perfect tenses, but uses vort as auxiliary verb, rather than heppt or iss.

Dē haus vort giklurrt.
/dɛ ˈhaʊ̯s ˈvoːrt ɣiˈklʏrːt/
Dē haus vort gi-klurr-t.
The house become PERF-paint.
The house is being painted.

The perfect tenses are made as normally, though the participle of vort may be left out.

Dē haus iss giklurrt (givirtē).
/dɛ ˈhaʊ̯s ˈɪsː ɣiˈklʏrːt (ɣiˈviːrtɛ)/
Dē haus iss gi-klurr-t (gi-vort-ē)
The house be.PRES PERF-paint (PERF-become)
The house has been painted.

Pronouns

Personal and possessive pronouns

Number	Person	Subject	Object/Reflexive	Possessive
Singular	1st	ig	mi	miess
	2nd	ji	ji	jiess
	3rd masculine	hi	emm, zigg	hiess
	3rd feminine	zē	zy, zigg	zess
	3rd neuter	dē	dē, zigg	dess
Plural	1st	wi	oss	oss
	2nd	jis	jis	jisiss
	3rd	zess	hunn, zess, zy	hʉn

Hunn may only be used when referring to people, whereas zess may always be used.

Relative pronouns

Referent	Without preposition	With preposition
Person	wē
Thing	dē	dy
Several things	di
Entire sentence	dy

Note that there are no specific relative pronouns for places, instead one says inn dy, which literally means "in which".

Other pronouns

	Which?	This	That	Every/all	Some	None
Adjective	willg	ditt, dē1	di, dē1	all, any	somm	gyn
Person	wi?	use personal pronoun, see the above section		anymann	imant, imants2	nimant
Thing	wass?	ditt, dē1	di, dē1	all, alltingiss3	itiss	nikktitiss, nititiss, nitiss4
Place	warr?	hirr	dirr	allpig	irgiss	nytirgiss
Time	wann?	nu	tann	alltyt	ojjit	nojjit, nauter3
Reason	werrmē?	darross
Manner	hu?	zoss

Notes:

1. Ditt and di are normally only used for emphasis. Dē can be used where English would use "that".
2. Imants can be used to stress that it's about more than one person. However, it isn't necessary.
3. Archaic.
4. Colloquial.

Articles

There are two articles, the definite article dē and the indefinite article a.

Numerals

1	a
2	to
3	tri
4	forr
5	vy
6	zett
7	safē
8	ottjo
9	nippē
10	tinn
11	atinn
12	totinn
20	totē
21	atotē
30	tritē
40	forrtē
50	vytē
60	zetttē
70	saftē
80	otttē
90	nipptē
100	horrt
1000	dass

Note: otttē derives from an earlier ottjotē.

Ordinal numbers are made by adding -stē. If a number ends in -ē, that -ē is dropped, so "first" is "astē" and "seventh" is "safstē". The -ē is however not left out in "zettēstē", as it otherwise would sound the same as "zettstē".

Derivational morphology

• -ig is a general adjectiviser:
  • attoll "nobility" -> attlig "noble"
  • statt "city" -> stattig "urban"
  • durr "door" -> durrig "door-ish"
• -ing is used to nominalise verbs:
  • sgryf "write" -> sgryfing "writing"
  • et "eat" -> eting "food"
• -hyt is used to nominalise adjectives:
  • bly "happy" -> blyhyt "happiness"
  • kunnig "possible" -> kunnighyt "possibility"
• nit- gives the word (which tends to be an adjective or a nominalisation thereof) the opposite meaning:
  • yntig "finite" -> nityntig "infinite"
• -ness forms a collective agentive noun of a verb. It's quite obvious that it's a pluralised participle, and there is indeed also a past form with the gi-t circumfix:
  • won "to live" -> wonness "population".
  • burr "to happen" -> giburrtness "history"

Syntax

Word order

Bearlandic normally has a SVO word order, but questions have a VSO order. Any constituent can be placed in front of the verb to add emphasis, but there can only be one constituent (which includes subordinate clauses) before the verb, which means that the subject is moved to after the verb when another constituent, or a subclause, is placed before the verb.

Dē jaggter sgit dē konin oss a sgiter.
/dɛ ˈjɑxːtər ˈsxiːt dɛ ˈkoːnin ɔsː a ˈsxiːtər/
The hunter shoot the rabbit with a gun.
The hunter shoots the rabbit with a gun.

Oss a sgiter sgit dē jaggter dē konin.
/ɔsː a ˈsxiːtər ˈsxiːt dɛ ˈjɑxːtər dɛ ˈkoːnin/
With a gun shoot the hunter the rabbit.
With a gun, the hunter shoots the rabbit.

Oss dē a konin zyt sgit dē jaggter dē oss a sgiter.
/ɔsː dɛ a ˈkoːnin ˈzɛɪ̯t ˈsxiːt dɛ ˈjɑxːtər dɛ ɔsː a sxiːtər/
If 3SG be.BYF a rabbit shoot the hunter 3SG with a gun.
If there is a rabbit, the hunter shoots it with a gun.

The object is rarely fronted. Instead the passive is used, although an OVS structure with a somewhat different intonation is possible as well:

Dē konin vort oss dē jaggter oss a sgiter gisgit.
/dɛ ˈkoːnin ˈvoːrt ɔsː dɛ ˈjɑxːtər ɔsː a ˈsxiːtər ɣiˈsxiːt/
The rabbit PASS by the hunter with a gun PERF-shoot.
The rabbit is shot by the hunter with a gun.

Dē konin sgit dē jaggter oss a sgiter.
/dɛ ˈkóːnin ˈsxìːt dɛ ˈjɑxːtər ɔsː a ˈsxiːtər/
The rabbit shoot the hunter with a gun.
The rabbit is shot by the hunter with a gun.

If there is more than one verb in the sentence, there are two possibile constructions: one with an SVVO and one with an SVOV order.

Dē jaggter will sgit dē konin.
/dɛ ˈjaxːtər ˈʋɪlː ˈsxiːt dɛ koːnin/
The hunter want shoot the rabbit.
The hunter wants to shoot the rabbit.

Dē jaggter will dē konin sgitē.
/dɛ ˈjaxːtər ˈʋɪlː dɛ ˈkoːnin ˈsxiːtɛ/
The hunter want the rabbit shoot-BYF.
The hunter wants to shoot the rabbit.

Note the use of a byform in the second sentence.

Subordinate clauses

In subordinate clauses the verb can generally be placed either directly after the first constituent or at the end. When it's at the end, the byform is used.

Ig wet dass dē jaggter sgit dē konin.
/ix ˈʋeːt dɑsː dɛ ˈjɑxːtər ˈsxiːt dɛ ˈkoːnin/
I know that the hunter shoot the rabbit.
I know that the hunter shoots the rabbit.

Ig wet dass dē jaggter dē konin sgitē.
/ix ˈʋeːt dɑsː dɛ ˈjaxːtər dɛ ˈkoːnin ˈsxiːtɛ/
I know that the hunter the rabbit shoot-BYF
I know that the hunter shoots the rabbit.

When there is more than one verb in the subordinate clause there are three different possible word orders: one in which the verbs are placed direclty after the first constituent, and two in which the verbs are placed at the end.

Ig wet dass dē jaggter will sgit dē konin.
/ix ˈʋeːt dɑsː dɛ ˈjɑxːtər ˈʋɪlː ˈsxiːt dɛ ˈkoːnin/
I know that the hunter want shoot the rabbit.
I know that the hunter wants to shoot the rabbit.

Ig wet dass dē jaggter dē konin will sgitē.
/ix ˈʋeːt dɑsː dɛ ˈjɑxːtər dɛ ˈkoːnin ˈʋɪlː ˈsxiːtɛ/
I know that the hunter the rabbit want shoot-BYF.
I know that the hunter wants to shoot the rabbit.

Ig wet dass dē jaggter dē konin sgitē willē.
/ix ʋeːt dɑsː dɛ ˈjɑxːtər dɛ ˈkoːnin ˈsxiːtɛ ˈʋɪlːɛ/
I know that the hunter the rabbit shoot-BYF want-BYF.
I know that the hunter wants to shoot the rabbit.

An SVO construction may imply a somewhat more hypothetical meaning than an SOV construction, which may imply some sort of obviousness. This difference is mostly relevant in clauses with oss. Compare:

Dē jaggter sgit dē konin oss dē iss hiess verking.
/dɛ ˈjɑxːtər ˈsxiːt dɛ ˈkoːnin ɔsː dɛ ˈɪsː ˈhiːɛsː veːrkiŋ/
The hunter shoot the rabbit if it be his job.
The hunter shoots the rabbit if it's his job.

Dē jaggter sgit dē konin oss dē hiess verking zyt.
/dɛ ˈjɑxːtər ˈsxiːt dɛ ˈkoːnin ɔsː dɛ ˈhiːɛsː ˈveːrkiŋ ˈzɛɪ̯t/
The hunter shoot the rabbit because it his job be.BYF.
The hunter shoots the rabbit because it's his job.

In the former of these two sentences, the fact that it's the hunter's job to shoot the rabbit is not necessarily true, so it's not clear whether the rabbit is shot or not. It the latter sentence however that definitely is the hunter's job, so it's rather obvious that he is going to shoot the rabbit.

Relative clauses

A special type of subordinate clauses are relative clauses. Relative clauses always begin with a relative pronoun, or a combination of a preposition and a relative pronoun. The place of the verb within the clause depends on which function the pronoun has:

• If the pronoun functions as a subject in the relative clause, the verb comes directly after it.
• If not, the subject comes after the pronoun, and the verb comes after that.

Just like in normal subordinate clauses, a byform is used clause-finally.

dē mann wē et a fiss
/dɛ ˈmɑnː ʋɛ ˈeːt a ˈfɪsː/
DEF man REL eat INDEF fish
the man who eats a fish.

dē fiss dē dē mann ytē
/dɛ ˈfɪsː dɛ dɛ ˈmɑnː ˈɛɪ̯tɛ/
DEF fish REL DEF man eat.BYF
the fish (that) the man eats

Separable verbs

Separable verbs are separated in independent clauses without auxiliary verbs and conjoined in subordinate clauses. When separated from the root, the separable particle comes directly after the object.

Ig frag emm aus.
/ix ˈfraːx ɛmː aʊ̯s/
I ask him out
I answer him.

... dass ig emm ausfragē.
/dɑsː ix ɛmː ˈaʊ̯sfraːɣɛ/
that I him out-ask-BYF
... that I answer him.

In main clauses with auxiliary verbs it's slightly more complicated. As mentioned in the word order section, both an SVVO and an SVOV word order can be used. This remains true when the main verb is separable, but with one extra addition: in the SVVO construction, the verb is separated, but not in the SVOV construction.

Ig kuss frag emm aus.
/ix kʏsː ˈfraːx ɛmː aʊ̯s/
I can ask him out
I can answer him.

Ig kuss emm ausfragē.
/ix kʏsː ɛmː ˈaʊ̯sfraːɣɛ/
I can him out-ask-BYF
I can answer him.

Questions

Yes-no questions are made by inverting the subject and the verb and raising the tone:

Sgit dē jaggter dē konin?
/ˈsxiːt dɛ ˈjɑxːtər dɛ ˈkóːnin/
Shoot the hunter the rabbit?
Does the hunter shoot the rabbit?

Interrogative pronouns are always placed at the beginning of the phrase:

Wi sgiti dē konin?
/ˈʋi ˈsxiːti dɛ ˈkóːnin/
Who shoot-PAST the rabbit?
Who shot the rabbit?

As interrogative pronouns don't distinguish subject and object forms, this question could also be translated as "Whom did the rabbit shoot?". This is however rare; the latter would normally be expressed using a passive: "Wi virti oss dē konin gisgit?".

Noun phrases

The word order in noun phrases is preposition-determiner-number-adjective(s)-noun-modifying phrase. The modifying phrase can be either a prepositional phrase or a relative clause. There can be multiple adjectives within a single noun phrase, but the other elements can all only appear once.

inn miess to aut klyn grys hausen inn dē tarrp
/ɪnːˈ miːɛsː toː aʊ̯t klɛɪ̯n ɣrɛɪ̯s ˈhaʊ̯sən ɪnː dɛ tɑrːp/
in my two old small grey house-PL in the village
in my two old small grey houses in the village

Samples

A bit of history

Oss dē a tingī zyti dē dē norrtig stattryks nikkt willti, wast dē ausgikrygt vortē oss dē Niwryk. Enn oss dē a tingī zytī dē dē Niwryk jagglyk willti, wast dē auskrygē dē norrtig stattryks. A kryg zʉllti kommē, mar wann?

Wyl dē kryg dē nikkt zyti makti dē norrtig stattryks grautig bihellfighyts. Kra murs fisgynti oss dē nikktitiss allig oss dē lannt enn oss sgillig plikks virti wasssgillts gimakt oss stoppē dē fikess. Oss dē tyt virti dē bihellfighyts gibyterrt enn oss zellig virti dē auslanntig veggs ferrgisligt. Oss yntighyt virti dē auslannt a sorrtig dwalstatt. Oss snell tyt wast dē bynē nitkunnig oss finntē dē vegg tʉssig oss dē statts. Zell dē dirrig manns bidwalti, enn fann nu wast difer dē lytness oss dē auslannt.

Dē statts makti oss zesszell aug bihellfighyts: dē graut vorrbylt oss dē iss dē statt Westēfúrt. Dirr virti oss atiss a fúrt gibaut oss sgilltē oss a dirrig lyter. Natig oss dē grúti a klyn statt ronnig oss dē fúrt enn darros virti niw murs gibaut. A mur virti nikkt oss nugig gidenkt, oss allig virti tri murs gibaut, enn tʉssig oss zess zyti dē wasssgillts enn fills.

Wann dē krygness oss dē Niwryk kimmti zyti dē dass dē bihellfighyts dē nikkt oss nititiss zyti: zess virti ausgilslomt, enn dē fillē viri gidot oss dē difer enn dē pylsgiter oss dē murs. Mar dē zyti a kra prʉl oss dē follk: dē etgyving wast sammig oss dē veggs ferrgisligt. Darross zyti dē minnig oss minnig oss ytē, enn dē makti dē follk wyg. Dē verletigti dē winnē oss dē Niwryk.

Ausgislomt virti dē stattryks ausgikrygt. Dē klyn tarrps wast dē letigess oss auskrygē, dʉs zess wast aug de astē oss vortē ausgikrygt. Oss dē nu hilliglyk gyn búrs oss mirr zyti di dē statts kussti bivútē ginnti a haping inn zess. Wylig oss dē poggti dē Niwryk oss ausbrykē dē murs oss inngatē dē krygness inn dē statts. Nat tyt virti aug dē statts ausgikrygt. Oss ynt virti virti Kyrgeffstatt, dē latiss bizytnē stattryk, ausgikrygt.

Dē hillig ylanntgrúp wast oss dē niwē agivirtē oss a kiksryk.

If there was one thing that the northern city-states did not want, it was to be conquered by the New Kingdom. And if there was one thing that the New Kingdom did want, it was to conquer the northern city-states. A war was to come, but when?

While the war hadn't started yet the northern city-states made impressive defenses. Great walls appeared all over the land and at several spots canals were dug to stop the enemies. Over time the defenses were improved and at the same time the roads got worse. Eventually the countryside literally became a labyrinth. Soon it had become nearly impossible to find a way between the cities. Even the local people got lost, and from now on bandits ruled the countryside.

The cities themselves also made defenses. The great example of this is the city of Westēfúrt. A fortress wast built there to protect a local chief. Afterwards a small town arose around the fortress and new walls were built. One wall wasn't considered enough, in total three walls were built, and between them there were moats and traps.

When the troops of the New Kingdom came it became clear that the defenses hadn't been completely useless: they were slowed down, and many were killed by the bandits and the archers on top of the walls. But the was one big problem for the people: the food supply had become worse together with the roads. Therefore there was increasingly less to eat, and that made the people weak. This made it easier to win for the New Kingdom.

Slowly the city-states were conquered. The smaller villages were the easiest to conquer, so they were also the first ones to be conquered. As there were no farmers at all who could feed the cities a famine began. In the meantime the New Kingdom tried to destroy the walls to let their warriors go inside the cities. After a while the cities were conquered as well. At last Krygeffstatt, the last remaining city-state, was conquered.

The whole archipelago was united in one kingdom again.

A random sentence

Dē fillgikentnē mann hermakti miess aut enn itig mojj bot nat dē pabrúr oss a stoppig mys dē oss pegging oss a aut zworrt zwart gisgat haptē.

The well-known man repaired my old and quite beautiful boat after a stupid girl's uncle by accident had damaged it with an old black sword.