Modern Gothic

Modern Gothic
Γnσɑvþɑʒɔ, Gusanrazd Γnσɜvþɑþɔ, Gusenrard
Pronunciation	[/ˈgu.sən.ˌrast/ /ˈgu.sən.ˌrɐrt/]
Created by	sjacik
Setting	Unnamed Alternate Timeline
Native to	Gothia
Language family	Indo-European Germanic East Germanic Biblical Gothic Modern Gothic
Early form	Biblical Gothic
Official status
Official language in	Gothia

Modern Gothic is an East Germanic language descended from a language similar to Biblical Gothic. Words will be given in Standard Modern Gothic and Colloquial Modern Gothic, if they differ.

Throughout this article I will be using a combination of Greek, Cyrillic, and Latin (both regular as well as some of the Insular forms that have Unicode representations) in order to write MG in a way that resembles its native script.

Introduction

Modern Gothic is used in an alternate timeline where the Ostrogoths survived as a culture to the modern day.The point of divergence is that around the 1st century AD, magic became real. Roughly speaking, from then until the 10th c. is the same. The 10th to 16th c. are marked by differences caused by the survival or death of various powers. While the 16th c. onward has become radically different.

By the end of the 5th c. A.D., the Ostrogoths had made a kingdom in northern Italy. Unlike in our timeline, the Goths retained some strength, enough so that when the Byzantine empire tried to retake the West they were repelled, at first. In the 9th c. the Byzantines were able to conquer the Goths. From then until the 15th c. they were a subject of the Byzantines.

In the early 14th c., the Byzantine-Seljuk wars started. The two empires had a series of wars, until the 16th c. when the Eastern Roman Empire fell. The Seljuk empire followed suit in the 19th c. When the East fell, the Seljuks attempted to claim their territories, but were only able to exert control into the Balkans.

When the Ostrogoths gained independence, they did so alongside the Slovenians forming the Kingdom of Gothia-Slovenia. Relations between the groups decayed until 1933, when the nation fell into a civil war which ended in 1936 with the formal seperation of the kingdom into the Republic of Gothia and the Republic of Slovenia, the latter of which joined Yugoslavia in 1937. Gothia joined the European Confederation in 2007.

Dialects

Modern Gothic is divided into 2 branches: Coastal and Eastern. Coastal is comprised of both the Standard form of the language, as well as the Colloquial form which is closer to how the language is spoken in the modern day. Eastern Gothic is the term for a group of dialects that have diverged heavily from the coastal varieties.

From the late 19th century until 1977, there existed an artificially archaic form of the language that was used as the literary standard.

Orthography

Modern Gothic is written in a version of Wulfilas' Gothic alphabet, albeit with Greek influences. These include the use of sigma form of σɑnɥл saujl, as well as the adoption of bicameralism with the Greek minuscules being used for the majuscules that resembled the Greek uppercase. There are also Romance influences, such as the way spirantized consonants are written with a following r h (called ɑqл awl). However in the modern day it has become a diacritic above the letter that resembles an inverted breve, e.g. μıʒ̑vɑ̑ꞇ mizhnaht.

Gothic				Name	IPA	Latin
Uppercase		Lowercase				Uppercase	Lowercase
	Ʌ		ɑ	ɑσp ask	a	A	a
	B		η	ηεþp berk	b	B	b
	Γ		c	cb gy	g	G	g
	Δ		ɔ	ɔɑp̑ dach	d	D	d
	Є		ε	bε ioe	ε	E	e
	Ɵ		ɵ	ɵþϕɑσσ eurthass	ɪ	Eu	eu
	Ɛ		e	eþϕ eorth	œ	Eo	eo
	Э		ɜ	σ̇ƚɑɑ shfaa	ə	A	a
	Z		ʒ	b io	z	Z	z
	Һ		r	ɑqл awl	h	H	h
	Ψ		ϕ	ϕuϕ thiuth	θ	Th	th
	I		ı	εıε eie	i	I	i
	U		u	μup̑ miuch	ɨ	Iu	iu
	Ю		b	cebл geiol	y	Io	io
	P		p	pnσɑμ kusam	k	K	k
	λ		л	лɑq law	l	L	l
	M		μ	μɑvv mann	m	M	m
	N		v	vɑnϕ nauth	n	N	n
	G		ɥ	ɥεεþ jeer	j	J	j
	Ƞ		n	onþε oure	u	U	u
	Ɱ		m	ponı koui	ʊ	Ui	ui
	Π		ϖ	ϖεþϕ perth	p	P	p
	Ꙡ		þ	þɑıɔ̑ raidh	r	R	r
	Σ		σ	σɑnɥл saujl	s	S	s
	T		ꞇ	ꞇεın teiu	t	T	t
	Ч		q	qıvɥ winj	w	W	w
	Y		ɣ	ɣε ve	v	V	v
	F		ƚ	ƚɑɑ faa	f	F	f
	O		o	ooϕɑл oothal	ɔ	O	o

Standard New Gothic

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Coronal	Dorsal	Glottal
Nasal	m		n	(ŋ)1
Stop	p2 b		t2 d	k2 g
Affricate			tʃ dʒ
Fricative	f v3	θ ð	t s ʃ ʒ	x	(h)4
Approximant				j
Trill			r

¹ /ŋ/ is found only before the velar stops
² The voiceless stops are unaspirated
³ /v/ is realized as [w] intervocally
⁴ /h/ is only found between vowels, and is used to break up vowel sequences

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
	Unrounded	Rounded
Close	i iː iə̯	y yː yə̯	ɨ ɨː	u uː uə̯
Close-mid	ɪ eː eə̯	øː øə̯		ʊ oː oə̯
Open-mid	ɛ ɛː ɛə̯	œ œː œə̯	ə	ɔ ɔː ɔə̯
Open	a aː aə̯			ɑ ɑː ɑə̯

/ɑə̯/ is incredibly rare, as the environment it comes from was mostly found only in compounds.
The centering diphthongs come from overlong vowels in Middle Gothic. No surviving dialect has kept them as overlong. They were either broken or shortened.

Sound changes from Biblical Gothic to Middle Gothic

General

/kʷ/ was re-analyzed as /kw/.

• Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 qiman → *kwiman → pbμɑʒ kiomaz / pıμɜσ kimes / pbμσ kyms, 'to come'.
  

/mn/ assimilated to /mː/.

• Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌹𐌽𐍃 himins → *himms → εμμ emm, 'heaven'.

Elision

Unstressed, short vowels are elided when near stressed and/or long occurrences of the same vowel.

• Gothic 𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌽𐍃 alamanns → *almanns → ɑлμɑvv almann, 'German'.

Metathesis

This primarily happened with liquids. if /l r/ are adjacent to /h/, they are switched so /h/ is either directly before or after a vowel.

• Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐍂𐌷𐍃 marhs → *mahrs → μɑ̑þ mȃr, 'horse'.
  
• Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌷𐌾𐌰𐌽 hlahjan → *lhahjn → лɑ̑ɑ̑ɥʒ / лɑ̑ɑ̑ɥσ lȃȃjz / lȃȃjs, 'to laugh'.

H-Lowering

V + h clusters, or h + V, caused the vowel to be lowered. If the /h/ was after the vowel, said vowel gets lengthened.

• Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌿𐍃 hardus → ɑ̑þɔ ȃrd, 'hard'.
  
• Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍃 saihs → *saas → σɑɑ saa, 'six'.

W-Rounding

V + w clusters, or w + V, caused the vowel to be rounded. If the /w/ or /u̯/ was after the vowel, said vowel gets lengthened. Back vowels, /u ɔ uː oː ɔː/, became longer regardless if /w/ followed or preceded.

• Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐍄𐍂𐌿𐍃 wintrus → *iontrus → bꞇꞇþɑ iottra / ıꞇꞇɜþ itter / bꞇꞇþ NMG yttr, 'winter'.
  
• Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌳𐍅𐍉𐍂 fidwor → ƚıɔoɑþ / ƚıɔoþ fidoar / fidor , 'four'.
  
• Gothic 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰 thiuda → ψuɔ̑ / ψuψ thiudh / thiuth, 'people'.

Grammar

Articles

Modern Gothic has two articles, the Definite and the Indefinite. Regardless of dialect, they are invariable.

	Standard MG		Colloquial MG		Eastern MG
	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine
Definite	σ-	ꞇɑ	σ-	ꞇε	tă
Indefinite	εv		εv (ɜv)		en

However, the underlying form of the definite may be invariable, but in the Coastal dialects they cause lenition of the following consonant.

σPɑrɑσ	ƚɑ̑ɑ	εv	Monσ
ˈsxa.həs	ˈfɑə̯	ɛn	ˈmuːs
σ-Pɑr-ɑσ	∅-ƚɑ̑ɑ-∅	εv	Monσ-∅
DEF-cat.M-NOM.SG	IMPF-catch-IND.PRS.3SG	INDEF	mouse.F-OBL.SG
The cat	is catching	a	mouse

Compare this to the indefinite ɛn Pɑrɑσ en Kahas /ɛn ˈka.həs/. However, the indefinite is not used as often as in other Germanic languages. In Gothic, it frequently remains to mean 'one', with indefiniteness being secondary.

Determiners

Modern Gothic has both proximal and distal demonstratives, and these are declined to agree with a noun in: case, number, and gender.

Proximal Demonstratives

	SMG				CMG				EMG
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine
Nominative	σɑ	ϕoo	σɑı	ϕooσ	σɑ	ϕoo	σɑı	ϕooσ̇	ta	tóv	tej	tos
Oblique	σɑv		σɑv		σɑv		σɑv		tan		tan
Genitive-Locative	σıσ	ϕıσɑσ	σıσɑ	ϕıσɑ	σıþ	ϕıþɜ			tis	zos	zéj	zóv

The proximal demonstratives are used to both deictically and anaphorically, to indicate that a noun (whether it be concrete or abstract) is somehow relevant. This relevance can be physical nearness or the topic of the clause.

σɑ	Ꙡɛıv	ıσσ	nvσꞇonσ̇
sa	ˈrin	ɪsː	ˌʊn.ˈstuʃ
σɑ	Ꙡɛıv-∅	∅-ıσσ	nv-nσꞇonꞇ-ɥ
DEM.M.NOM.SG	rain.M-CMN.SG	IMP-to_be.IND.PRS.3SG	un-end-M.CMN.SG
This	rain	is	unending

The distal demonstratives are used much the same as the proximal. The difference is that the distal set indicates distance, either deictically or anaphorically.

Distal Demonstratives

	SMG				CMG				EMG
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Feminine
Nominative	σɑ̑ɑ̑	ϕɑn	σɑı	ϕooσɑ	σɑ̑ɑ̑	ϕɑn	σɑɑ	ϕooþ	tȃv	tov	taj	zo
Oblique	σɑv		σɑvɑ		σɑvɜ		σɑvɜ		nȃv		tan
Genitive-Locative	σıσɑ	ϕıσɛ	σıσɑ	ϕıσo	σıþ	ϕıþɛ			zo	zóvz	zéjz	zov

While the proximal demonstratives can be used to mark the topic, the distal cannot be used to likewise mark the comment.

tov	kras	ist	rutnóv
tʷɔw	ˈkras	iʃtʲ	ˈrʷut.nʷow
tov	kras-∅	∅-ist	rut-n-óv
DEM.F.NOM.SG	pear.F-NOM.SG	IMP-to_be.IND.PRS.3SG	rot-PPRT-F.NOM.SG
That	pear	is	rotten

Nouns

In all three dialects discussed here, nouns have two numbers: Singular and Plural. In Colloquial Gothic, they are declined for two cases: Common and the Genitive-Locative. In both Standard and Eastern Modern Gothic nouns are marked for three cases: Nominative, Oblique, and the Genitive(-Locative).

Strong Declensions

Extended content

A-stem SMG CMG EMG Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative -∅ -ɑσ -∅ -ɜ -∅ -vs Oblique -ɑv -ăv Genitive -ɑσ -ɑ -ɜ -js -e Ja-stem SMG CMG EMG Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative -ɥɑσ -ɥɑσ -∅, -ɥ -ɥɜ -j -jvs Oblique -ɥɑv -jăv Genitive -ɥɑ -ɥɜ -js -je O-stem SMG CMG EMG Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative -∅ -ɑσ -∅ -ɜ -∅ -vs Oblique -vv Genitive -ɑσ -ɑ -ɜ -vs -u Jo-stem SMG CMG EMG Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative -∅ -ɑσ -∅, -ɥ -ɥɜ -∅ -jvs Oblique -jai Genitive -ɑσ -ɑ -ɥɜ -jvs -ju I-stem SMG CMG EMG Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative -∅ -ɑσ -∅ -ɜ -∅ -js Oblique -ɑv -jv Genitive -ɑσ -ɑ -ɜ -js -e U-stem SMG CMG EMG Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative -ɑσ -ɥɑσ -∅ -ɥɜ -∅ -jvs Oblique -ɥɑv -o -vv Genitive -ɥɑ -ɜ -ɜ -os

Weak Declensions

Extended content

An-stem SMG CMG EMG Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative -∅ -ɑv -∅ -ɜv -∅ -ăn Oblique -ɑʒ -vn Genitive -ɑv -vɑ -ɜv -vɜ -ni On-stem SMG CMG EMG Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative -ɑ -ɑv -ɜ -ɜv -u -vn Oblique -ɑʒ -vz -ov Genitive -ɑv -vɑ -ɜv -ɜvɜ -vn In-stem SMG CMG EMG Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative -ɑ -ɑv -ɜ -ɜv -i -jn Oblique -ɑʒ -jz -iv Genitive -ɑv -vɑ -ɜv -ɜvɜ -jn -inu R-stem SMG CMG EMG Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative -ɑþ -þɑσ -∅ -þɜ -r -rs Oblique -þɑv -rvv Genitive -ɑþσ -þɑ -ɜþ -ri Consonant stem SMG CMG EMG Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative -∅ -σɑ -∅ -∅ -∅ -s Oblique -ăv Genitive -ɑσ -ɑ -ɜ -js -i

Adjectives

Strong Adjective

Extended content

A-stem Masculine Feminine Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative -∅ -∅ -ɑ -ɑσ Oblique -ɑv -ɑv Genitive -ɑσ Ja-stem Masculine Feminine Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative -ɥɑσ -ɥɑ -ɥɑ -ɥɑσ Oblique -ɥɑv -ɥɑv Genitive -ɥɑσ I-stem Masculine Feminine Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative -∅ -∅ -ɥɑ -ɥɑσ Oblique -ɥɑv -ɥɑ -ɥɑv Genitive -ɥɑσ U-stem Masculine Feminine Singular Plural Singular Plural Nominative -ɑσ -ɑσ -ɥɑ Oblique -ɥɑv Genitive -ɑσ -ɥɑσ

Weak Adjectives

Extended content

= Weak stem SMG CMG EMG Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine Nominative -∅ -ɥɑv -∅, -ɥ -ɥɜ -ɥɜv -∅ -jouv -jn -jun Oblique -ɥɑʒ -jz -jun Genitive -ɥɑv -ɥɜv -jn -jouvn Weak a-stem SMG CMG EMG Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine Nominative -∅ -ɑv -∅ -ɜ -ɜv -∅ -ouv -ăn -un Oblique -ɑʒ -ăz -un Genitive -ɑv -ɜv -jn -ouvn

Verbs

Strong

Apart from a few exceptions, the ablaut of the strong verbs has largely collapsed.

Extended content

Standard Modern Gothic Strong Verbs Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Active Passive Active Passive Past Nonpast Imperfective Perfective Singular 1st -∅ -ɑϕ -ɑ -ɥɑ -ɑϕ Invalid 2nd -σ, -ꞇɑ -ɑσ -∅ 3rd -∅ -ɑϕ -ɑ -∅ -ɑϕ Dual 1st -ɑσ Invalid -e -b Invalid 2nd -ɑꞇ -ɑꞇ Plural 1st -ɑμ -ɑɔɔ -ɑμ -ɑɔɔ -ɑμ 2nd -ɑϕ -ɑϕ -ɑϕ 3rd -ɑv -ɑɔɔ -ɑv -ɑɔɔ Infinitive -ɑv Present Participle -ɑɔɔ Past Participle -ɑv Colloquial Modern Gothic Strong Verbs Indicative Imperative Subjunctive Passive Past Nonpast Singular 1st -∅ Invalid -∅ -ϕ, -ɜϕ 2nd -σ, -ɜꞇ -σ, -ɜσ -∅ 3rd -∅ -ϕ, -ɜϕ Plural 1st -ƚ, -ɜƚ -ɜμ -ꞇ, -ɜꞇ 2nd -ϕ, -ɜϕ 3rd -σ, -ɜσ -ꞇ, -ɜꞇ -ɜv Infinitive -ɜσ Present Participle -ɜꞇ Past Participle -ɜv Eastern Modern Gothic Strong Verbs Indicative Imperative Subjunctive Past Nonpast Perfective Imperfective Singular 1st -∅ Invalid -ü -ó 2nd -t -js -∅ -is -és 3rd -∅ -jt -ó -j -é Dual 1st -v -us Invalid -ü -ő 2nd -vt -ăt -it -ét Plural 1st -vv -ăv -im -ém 2nd -vt -jt -it -ét 3rd -vz -ăn -tó -in -én Infinitive -ăz Present Participle -ăz, -ănd- Past Participle -ăz, -ăn-

There is also a Perfective prefix: cɑ- ga-, cɜ- ge-, gă-. This is particularly common in the past tense.

Weak

The Modern Gothic Weak I conjugation corresponds to the Biblical Gothic Weak III verbs.

Extended content

Standard Modern Gothic Weak I Verbs Indicative Subjunctive Imperative Active Passive Active Passive Past Nonpast Imperfective Perfective Singular 1st -ɑ -ɑϕ -ɑ -ɑϕ -ɑϕ Invalid 2nd -ɑσ -ɑσ -ɑσ -ɑ 3rd -ɑ -ɑϕ -ɑ -ɑϕ Dual 1st -ɑϕ -ɑσ Invalid -e Invalid 2nd -ɑꞇ -ɑꞇ -ɑꞇ Plural 1st -ɑμ -ɑɔɔ -ɑμ -ɑɔɔ -ɑμ 2nd -ɑϕ -ɑϕ -ɑϕ 3rd -ɑɔɔ -ɑv -ɑɔɔ Infinitive -ɑv Present Participle -ɑɔɔ Past Participle -ɑv Colloquial Modern Gothic Weak I Verbs Indicative Imperative Subjunctive Passive Past Nonpast Singular 1st -ɜ -∅ Invalid -∅ -ϕ, -ɜϕ 2nd -σ, -ɜσ -∅ 3rd -ϕ, -ɜϕ Plural 1st -ϕ, -ɜϕ -ƚ, -ɜƚ -ɜμ -ꞇ, -ɜꞇ 2nd -ϕ, -ɜϕ -ɜϕ 3rd -ɜꞇ -ɜv Infinitive -ɜσ Present Participle -ɜꞇ Past Participle -ɜv The Coastal Gothic conjugations II, III, IV are the same as the first albeit with -j- (II), -w- (III), -n- (IV) between the root and the suffix. In Eastern Gothic, they have the same origin but they have diverged. Eastern Modern Gothic Weak I Verbs Indicative Imperative Subjunctive Past Nonpast Perfective Imperfective Singular 1st -é -∅ Invalid -ü -ó 2nd -és -é -is -és 3rd -ét -ó -it -é Dual 1st -ut -us Invalid -ü -ő 2nd -it -ăt -it -ét Plural 1st -ăv -im -ém 2nd -ăt -it -ét 3rd -nd -ntó -in -én Infinitive -n Present Participle -n, -nd- Past Participle -n Eastern Modern Gothic Weak II Verbs Indicative Imperative Subjunctive Past Nonpast Perfective Imperfective Singular 1st -j Invalid -ü -ó 2nd -is -js -j -is -és 3rd -jt -jó -it -é Dual 1st -it -üs Invalid -ü -ő 2nd -jt -it -ét Plural 1st -jv -im -ém 2nd -jt -it -ét 3rd -jnd -jtó -in -én Infinitive -jn Present Participle -jn, -jnd- Past Participle -jn Eastern Modern Gothic Weak III Verbs Indicative Imperative Subjunctive Past Nonpast Perfective Imperfective Singular 1st -v Invalid -ü -u 2nd -us -vs -v -üs -us 3rd -vt -vó -üt -u Dual 1st -ut -us Invalid -ü 2nd -vt -üt -ut Plural 1st -vv -üm -um 2nd -vt -üt -ut 3rd -vnd -vtó -ün -un Infinitive -vn Present Participle -vn, -vnd- Past Participle -vn Eastern Modern Gothic Weak IV Verbs Indicative Imperative Subjunctive Past Nonpast Perfective Imperfective Singular 1st -n Invalid -nvi -nó 2nd -nus -njs -n -nvis -nés 3rd -nvt -nvt -ndó -nvit -né Dual 1st -nut -nus Invalid -nvi 2nd -nvt -nvit -nét Plural 1st -nvv -nvim -ném 2nd -nvt -nvit -nét 3rd -nvnd -nvtó -nvin -nén Infinitive -nvn Present Participle -nvn, -nvnd- Past Participle -nvn