Folksprak: Difference between revisions

== Anthropology ==

The language can easily be understood by any speaker of a Germanic language (a group numbering over 110 million native speakers with an additional 300 to 900 million speaking English which is nearly-Germanic) without much teaching. For example, a native speaker of German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Afrikaans, Yiddish or some other Germanic language, can understand a sentence like {{Rune|ᛁᛣᛣ ᚻᚪᚹ ᛋᛣᚱᛁᚹᛏ ᛖᚾ ᛞᛖ ᛒᚢᛣ}}/Ik hav skrivt en de buk with little or no thought.

== Phonology ==

The rhotic varies across the region, and '''h''' is sometimes voiced, but neither of these pose a problem to intelligibility.  Icelandic-speakers would have to learn the traditional voiced-unvoiced distinction whatever language they wanted to learn!   

== Orthography ==

=== Consonants ===

English [th] and [z] are rather late additions to the alphabet, and not part of Folksprak today.  There are, in fact, many such letters which would be needed for place names around Europe. {{Rune|ᛊ}}/'''Z''', {{Rune|ᛢ}}/'''Q''', {{Rune|ᛝ}}/'''Ŋ''', and {{Rune|ᚦ}}/'''Þ''' are not productive and part of "historic" name spellings only.  Swedish /ɧ/ may be written {{Rune|ᚺ}}.  (Other "old" letters include {{Rune|ᛠ}}/'''Ä''', {{Rune|ᚫ}}/'''Æ''', {{Rune|ᛡ}}/'''Ï''', {{Rune|ᛥ}}/'''ST''', {{Rune|ᚸ}}/'''Ȝ''', and {{Rune|ᛤ}}/'''KK'''.)

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* definite article {{C|ᛞᛖ}}/de

* indefinite article {{C|ᛖᚾ}}/en, same as 'one' (different vowel length)

  ᛗᚪᚾᚾᛋmanns ᛗᚪᚾᚾᛖᚾᛋmannens

# the Subject may not be separated from the finite verb by any other word.  

# the ordinary position for the verb in a declarative sentence is as second element and in imperatives or questions as the first element.   

Adverb making suffix: -{{Rune|ᛚᛁᛣ}}'''lik''' (cp. English -ly).  Elatives need {{Rune|[[ᛗᛖᚱ]]}}'''mer''' more and {{Rune|[[ᛗᛖᛋᛏ]]}}'''mest''' most

[[Category:Folksprak]]

[[Category:Universal Languages]]