Cumbraek

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Cumbraek is a modern reconstruction of the lost medieval language of Cumbric, a Brythonic Celtic tongue once spoken in parts of southern Scotland and northern England.

Phonology and Orthography

Consonants

Bilabial Labio-dental Dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive p b t d k g
Fricative f v θ ð s (z) ʃ x h
Affricate t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
Approximant w y
Trill r
Flap or tap ɾ
Lateral app. l ɫ

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close iː y(ː) u(ː)
Near-close ɪ
Close-mid
Mid ə
Open-mid ɛ ʌ ɔ(ː)
Near-open æː
Open a(ː)

Vowel Length

Pure vowels have long and short forms, with vowel length being determined by environment:

  • Long vowels occur in monosyllables where the syllable ends in a single consonant or no consonant (-VC, -V)
  • Short vowels occur in all polysyllables; in monosyllables ending in more than one consonant (-VCC(C)) and in proclitics

Note that the digraphs th, dh and ch are considered to be single letters.

Orthography

Cumbraek is written with the Latin alphabet and uses the following letters.

a b c/k ch d dh e f g gw h hw i j l m n o p r s t th u v w y

The table below shows the correspondences between letters and pronounciation.

Graph IPA Comments
a /a(ː)/
ae, ay /æː/ takes stress in final syllables
ai /əɨ̯/
aw /au̯/
b /b/
c, k /k/ c occurs word initially and in the digraph ck, k occurs everywhere else
/g/ word-finally, before a voiced sound in the next word
ch /x/
d /d/
dh /ð/
e /eː/ long
/ɛ/ short
ea, ee /eː/ takes stress in final syllables
ey /ɛɨ̯/
ew /ɛu̯/
f /f/
g /g/
gw /gʷ/
h /h/ word-initially
Ø between vowels
hw /xw ~ ʍ/ the distinction between /xw/ and /ʍ/ is largely a matter of personal choice
i /iː/ long
/ɪ/ short
iw /ɪu̯/
j /d͡ʒ/
l /l/
l /ɫ/
m /m/
n /n/
ng /ŋ/
o /oː/ long
/ɔ ~ ɒ/ short (/ɒ/ is more common in the south)
oa /ɔː ~ ɒː/ /ɒː/ is more common in the south
oe /oː/ takes stress in final syllables
oo /uː/ long
/u/ short
ou /yː ~ ʉː/ long; /ʉː/ is the southern form
/y ~ ʉ/ short; /ʉ/ is the southern form
oy /ɔɨ̯/
ow /ɔu̯/
p /p/ in most environments
/b/ word-finally, before a voiced initial
r /r/
rr /r/
s /s/ generally written <ss> between vowels
t /t/ in most environments
/d/ word finally, before a voiced initial
u /uː/ long
/u/ short, in monosyllables
/ʌ/ in pretonic syllables and proclitics
uw /uː/
v /v/ v is a weak consonant, liable to be lost in final position unless a vowel initial follows
w /w/
y /j/ before vowels
/ɪ/ in word-final, unstressed syllables only

Diacritics

Cumbraek makes occasional use of three diacritics:

  • the acute accent is used to show an unexpected long vowel (e.g. bónt 'they may be'); when it occurs in the final syllable, it also marks stress (e.g. cantín 'canteen')
  • the grave accent is used to show an unexpected stressed syllable (e.g. gràvity 'gravity'); it is also used to mark a short vowel in monosyllables (e.g. bùs 'bus')
  • the trema is used to mark diaeresis and is place on the second vowel of a sequence (e.g. troäv 'I turn', troöun 'I was turning')

Grammar

Morphology

Syntax