Czecklish

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Czecklish
Czěcklíš
Pronunciation[[Help:IPA|ʈʂeːˈkɫiːɕ]]
Created byMcmisher
SettingParallel Earth
Native toSaxony
Native speakers52,724 (2019 census)
Czecklish Language Family
  • Czecklish
Official status
Regulated byCzecklish Revitalization Project
Language codes
ISO 639-1ck
ISO 639-2czk
ISO 639-3czk


The Czecklish language, or Czěcklíš is a language isolate of extraterrestrial origin. The humans who came into contact with these aliens adopted their language for their use, and it has since diverged and become its own language family. Czecklish is spoken by some 50,000 people, primarily in Saxony, Germany and Sudenland, Czechia. There is a current language shift towards Czecklish in the Erzebirgisch region of Saxony. All speakers are bilingual in German, and often speak at least 3 other languages fluently - usually Polish, Czech, English, French and Spanish. UNESCO considers Czecklish to be "vulnerable", as it is historically discouraged to speak it in public or at school.

History

Czěcklíš is originally spoken by the Dźhrajåinia [ɖ̥ʐr̊ə̤ˈxɒːi̯ɲə] extraterrestrial species. The Dźhrajåinia brought their language and beliefs to Earth circa 4000-3200 BCE. It is an astounding revelation that Czěcklíš is the native language of the Dźhrajåiña. Naturally, the Czěcklíš that the Dźhrajåiña speak is different from the Human variety. Czěcklíš is a vulnerable language isolate spoken in Saxony, Germany and Moravia, Czechia. Šäkkelíš, a very closely related language, is spoken solely within Prešov, Slovakia. Cigríş is spoken solely within the counties of Hunedoara and Caraş-Severin. Both Šäkkelíš and Cigríş are considered by UNESCO to be definitely endangered.

Before this project began, there were only a handful of mentions of Czěcklíš by Germans and Bohemians. The German linguist Friedrich Sauber created The Traveler’s Language Handbook for Czěcklíš in 1871 for those travelling through Czeckland. It is however, sadly outdated and contains gross misinformation regarding Czěcklíš grammar. It will be dismissed as a reference for this paper due to its innumerable grammatical inaccuracies. Before Sauber’s handbook, a Franciscan friar of the Grosse Brüdergasse Friary, named Göthe recorded some notes “on the strange, local tongue of Czeckland” circa 1506 CE. The original notes have since been lost since World War II. However, a record of an attempted translation by a local priest uses Göthe’s Czěcklíš alphabet, which is heavily inspired by the Polish orthography of that time.

During the Cold War, Czeckland was occupied by the Communists, and placed under a Communist regime. The Soviet Union changed the traditionally monarchist, feudal Czeckland into a industrialized Democratic Republic of Czeckland. President Ģaiň also developed a Cyrillic alphabet for Czěcklíš use during the Communist regime. His regime plunged Czeckland into an economic depression, resulting in widespread poverty and the migration of many Czěcklíš speakers to Erzgebirge District. Later in the 1970s, a mixed Latin-Cyrillic alphabet was used and developed by President Abhrahą Jozef. It was in use for only a decade, before most Czěcklíš reverted to the Cyrillic alphabet. To this day both Ģaiň’s Cyrillic Alphabet and Jozef’s Alphabet are not in active use. Because they have a communist stigma attached to them, their use can lead to most Czěcklíš thinking that you are a Communist, and cannot be trusted.

The Czěcklíš Revitalization Project (CRP) has recently began, with the aim of revitalizing Czěcklíš, Šäkkelíš and Cigríş language family. Alongside this project, a Czěcklíš Language Course for German Speakers will eventually be taught in the University of Leipzig; a Duolingo course and Memrise course will be developed for supplemental material. Additionally, a German-Czěcklíš and Czěcklíš-German translation website and online dictionary is in the process of being made.

Varieties

Phonology

Vowels

Monophthongs

Oral Monophthongs

22 total

Front Central Back
Close iː yː ɨ ɯː uː
Near-Close ɪ ʏ ɯ ʊ
Close-Mid eː øː ɤː oː
Mid ə
Open-Mid ɛ ɔ
Near-Open æː ɐ
Open ɑː ɒː


Nasal Monophthongs

5 total

Front Central Back
Close ĩː ũː
Mid ẽː õː
Open ɑ̃ː


Diphthongs

Oral Diphthongs
i̯- u̯- -i̯ -u̯ Open
i u̯i iu̯
u i̯u ui̯
e u̯e ei̯ eu̯ ey̯
o i̯o oi̯
ɑ i̯ɑ u̯ɑ ɑi̯ ɑu̯
ɒ i̯ɒ u̯ɒ ɒi̯ ɒu̯
ɯ i̯ɯ ɯi̯
ɤ i̯ɤ u̯ɤ ɤi̯ ɤu̯
y i̯y yi̯ yø̯
ø i̯ø u̯ø øi̯ øu̯ øy̯
æ i̯æ u̯æ æi̯ æu̯ æø


Nasal Diphthongs
i̯- u̯- -i̯ -u̯
ĩ u̯ĩ ĩu̯
ũ i̯ũ ũi̯
u̯ẽ ẽi̯ ẽu̯
õ i̯õ õi̯
ɑ̃ i̯ɑ̃ u̯ɑ̃ ɑ̃i̯ ɑ̃u̯


Vowel Distribution

Close Vowels

  • /iː/ ‹İ i› is only permitted when [V-] and before coronal consonants
    • /j/ ‹J j› is a permissible replacement between two single consonants, or when ‹İ i› is singular.
    • /iː/ ‹Y y› is only permitted before /g p b x ɣ v/
      • /i/ appears outside its usual positions in some foreign-derived words.
    • /ɨː/ ‹Ÿ ÿ› is only permitted when [-V] and where [C] is /k p x f/
      • Before /k/, ‹Ÿ ÿ› is written as ‹İ i›, where ‹İ i› is expected after ‹Qu qu›
      • /ɨː/ ‹Ÿ ÿ› contrasts with /iː/ ‹Y y› before /p x/
  • /iː/ ‹İJ ij› is permitted when [V-] and before coronal consonants.
  • The vowels /ɨː/ and /iː/ are considered to rhyme in poetry out of tradition, as in the past /ɨ/ was closer to [ɪ], which is acoustically more similar to [i].


Close-Mid vs. Open-Mid Vowels

  • Close-Mid and Open-Mid vowels are usually in complementary distinction:
    • Open-Syllable é ő ó [eː øː oː]
    • Closed-Syllable ė ö o [ɛ œ ɔ]


However, they do form minimal pairs in certain environments:

  • Word-Final
    • é [-eː] vs. ė [-ɛ]
    • ő [-øː] vs. ö [-œ]
    • ó [-oː] vs. o [-ɔ]
  • Closed Monosyllables:
    • [CøːC] vs. [CœC]
    • [CoːC] vs. [CɔC]


Open Vowels

  • á /ɑː/ and å /ɒː/
    • a /ɑː/ and å /ɒː/ appear in complementary distribution in stressed syllables
        • In unstressed syllables, á /ɑː/ may be reduced to [ə]
    • å /ɒː/ appears where it was an Old á /ɑː/
  • á /ɑː/ and a /ɐ/
    • á /ɑː/ appears in stressed syllables only
    • a /ɐ/ is a shortened /ɑː/ in unstressed syllables
  • á /ɑː/ and a̋ /æː/
    • á /ɑː/ appears in morphemes with all back vowels
    • a̋ /æː/ appears as a fronted /ɑː/ in morphemes with all front vowels
  • a̋ /æː/ and ä /ɛ/
    • a̋ /æː/ appears in stressed syllables only
    • ä /ɛ/ is a shortened a̋ /æː/ in unstressed syllables


Schwa

  • The schwa /ə/ is a very unstable phoneme which tends to merge with other vowels or be elided entirely. The schwa merges with /ø/ in the following environments:
    • [əσe] or [əσi]
  • In certain environments, it is elided entirely:
    • [σ-əC-σ]
  • It is sometimes pronounced in these environments:
    • [-ə.C-]


Nasal Vowels

  • Nasal [Ṽ] appears in stressed syllables only, in contrast with oral vowels.
  • Nasal Contrast
    • Nasal vowels contrast with oral vowels only before fricatives and velar/glottal consonants.
  • Nasal Metaphony
    • Nasalization is phonemic only in the vowel marked as nasal
  • Nasal Metaphony is progressive (i.e. left to right), meaning that all vowels to the right of the nasal vowel are nasalized.
    • This nasalization of surrounding vowels is allophonic and non-phonemic.


Vowel Harmony

Features

All vowels are either front or back in regards to the [±back] vowel feature. There are two sets of vocal harmony systems: a simple one and a complex one. The simple one is concerned with only the [±front] feature, allowing all front vowels in a word, regardless of rounding. The complex one is concerned with both [±front] and [±rounded] features, allowing only vowels that are front or back; additionally, all front or back vowels must be either rounded or unrounded. In a complex vowel system, both rounded and unrounded vowels cannot appear in a word.

Nasal Vowels

Nasal Vowels adhere only to the simple vowel harmony system, with only the [±front] feature being considered, regardless of rounding. Nasal Vowels may accompany Oral Vowels in vowel harmony.

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are for the most part not affected by vowel harmony, except for aspectual ablaut.

Exceptions

Compound words and morphemes are considered separate words with respect to vowel harmony: vowels do not have to harmonize between members of the compound. Vowel harmony does not apply for loanwords and some invariant suffixes. There are also a few native words that don’t follow the rule. In such words, suffixes harmonize with the final vowel. Disharmony tends to disappear through analogy, especially within loanwords. Suffixes drop disharmony to a lesser extent.


Consonants

Consonant Inventory

Pulmonic

  • 78 total
  • All Pulmonic Consonants have an independent geminate form.


Labial Dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m̊ m n̊ n ɳ̊ ɳ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ
Plosive p b
pʰ bʱ
t d
tʰ dʱ
ʈ ɖ
ʈʰ ɖʱ
c ɟ
cʰ ɟʱ
k g
kʰ gʱ
Affricate p͡f t͡s d͡z
t͡sʰ d̥͡zʱ
t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
t͡ʃʰ d̥͡ʒʱ
ʈ͡ʂ ɖ͡ʐ
ʈ͡ʂʰ ɖ̥͡ʐʱ
t͡ɕ d͡ʑ
t͡ɕʰ d̥͡ʑʱ
k͡x
Fricative f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ x ɣ h
Approximant ç j ʍ w
Trill r̊ r ɽ̊ ɽ r̝̊ r̝
L. Approx. ɬ l ɭ̝̊ ɭ ʎ̝̊ ʎ


Nota Bene:
For the rest of this document, affricates will be presented without the double inverted breve. This is to make reading IPA easier. If it is necessary to specify that a consonant cluster is not an affricate, a hyphen will be used.

Marginal Consonant Phonemes

These phonemes are recorded in only a handful of roots or bound morphemes:

  • /gʱ/ and /ɣ/
  • /ɸ/ and /θ/
  • /pʰ/ and /ʍ/


Aspiration

Czěcklíš has a distinction between non-aspirated and aspirated plosives and affricates (obstruents). Both voiceless and voiced obstruents can be aspirated. Non-aspirated obstruents are realized as unreleased obstruents [C̚], with little to no puff of air after release. Aspirated voiceless obstruents are accompanied by a strong burst of air after release. Aspirated voiced obstruents are partially devoiced. Aspirate obstruents only appear before long oral or nasal vowels. Aspirate obstruents contrast with non-aspirate obstruents before /ɑː ɒː ɨː/ and /ɑ̃ː/. Vowels are often murmured after an aspirated voiced obstruents. With aspirate voiced obstruents, this may be the only indicator that the obstruent was aspirated. This murmuring is not present with voiceless aspirate obstruents.

Schwa Epenthesis, Sonorant Devoicing

When [CʰC], where [Cʰ] is an aspirate obstruent and plain [C] is a sonorant, then a very weak schwa is inserted between the two consonants: [CʰCV] → [CʰəCV] Alternatively, the aspirate consonant becomes de-aspirated, and the aspiration is ‘carried over’ to the sonorant, which is then devoiced. The vowel gains a breathy quality. [CC̥V̤] Non-aspirate obstruents may insert a schwa here as well, but this varies by speaker

Palatal Offglide

Palatalization of labial, velar and alveolar consonants when /Ce/ has largely disappeared, with only ‹ě› /eː/ to mark its historical and orthographic effects on alveolars. In many dialects a palatal offglide /j/ persists when /i/ and /æ/ appear after labials, velars and retroflex consonants. This offglide is not phonemic, and most L1 speakers have difficulty noticing it, even if it’s been brought to their attention.

Nasal Vowels

Nasal front vowels do not cause palatalization of alveolars.

Allophones

Assimilation

Consonant Mutation

Syntactic Gemination

Liaison

Syllable Structure

Phonological Constraints

Stress

Orthography & Numerals

Alphabets

Unique Letters

Multigraphs

Palatal Multigraphs

Aspirate Multigraphs

Initial Mutation Multigraphs

Diacritics

Numerals

Cardinals

Ordinals

Morphology

Categories

Conjugation

Declension

Pronouns

Articles

Particles

Syntax