Scellan: Difference between revisions

[[{{PAGENAME}}/Wordlist|Thematic word lists]]<br/>

[[{{PAGENAME}}/Phrasebook|Phrasebook]]<br/>

[[{{PAGENAME}}/Lexicon|{{PAGENAME}}-English lexicon]]<br/>

[[{{PAGENAME}}/Sketchbook|Sketchbook]]<br/>

[[{{PAGENAME}}/Swadesh list|Swadesh list]]<br/>

[[{{PAGENAME}}/Sample sentences|218 sample sentences]]<br/>

[[{{PAGENAME}}/Names|Names]]<br/>

[[Skellan/Skellan|Fia dlog dy Sgewlib (This page in Skellan)]]

|setting = [[Verse:Tricin]]

|nativename = a birits Eevo

|pronunciation={{small|Fyxoomian:}} /ə ˈpirits ˈɛivɔ/<br/>{{small|Skellan (Alcvean):}} /ˈə ˈprɪts ˈevɔ/

|fam2= [[Talmic languages|Talmic]]

|fam3= Thensaric

|fam4= Tigolic

|fam5= Central Tigolic

|nation=Skella, Fyxoom, ...

'''Skellan''' ''SKEL-ən'' (natively ''Sgewlib'' {{small|Fyxoomian:}} /ˈskœ̃ˁʟip/; {{small|Skellan (Alcvean):}} /ˈskɛːʟip/, [[Windermere]]: ''birits Scela''), in-universe often called '''Eevo''' ''AY-voh'' ({{small|Fyxoomian:}} /ˈɛivɔ/; {{small|Skellan (Alcvean):}} /ˈevɔ/;  from [[Tigol]] ''é-'' 'common' + ''bó'' 'language'), is a [[Talmic language]] belonging to the Tigolic branch. Skellan is modern [[Verse:Tricin|Tricin]]'s lingua franca, the third-most spoken language (after [[Hetomic]] and [[Sowaár]]) and the most spoken Quame language. Its vocabulary has been influenced by many languages, the most by Lakovic languages [[Windermere]] and [[Tseer]].

The beginning of the modern Skellan language, dated to ca. fT 1792, is often credited to the Skellan philosopher and poet Oovsari Vyhalv. The name ''Eevo'' refers to the fact that it had its origins as a Skellan koiné. Modern Skellan has been a living language for about 500 years, approximately fT 1792-2292. Typologically, Skellan is a mostly analytic, topic-prominent, head-initial, usually V2 language.

Skellan is official in the [[Talma]]n nation of [[Verse:Tricin/Skella|Skella]] (''Sgewla'') ''SKEL-ə''. It is also de facto official in [[Verse:Tricin/Fyxoom|Fyxoom]] ''fə-SHOME'', [[Verse:Tricin/Þrwhas|Þrwhas]] ''THROO-həs'', and many other countries. In real life, it is one of the official languages of the Facebook group The Pitcairns, Also Bhutan, And Also Possibly Tannara Mòr.

Skellan is inspired by Icelandic, Welsh, Hmong (orthography-wise), English (especially Philadelphian and Scottish English), Khmer, and Gaelic.

*Content-word-last word order (so possessive pronouns should be preposed)

*Goal: Duolingo courses

*The "21 accents" of Skellan

**No, but use llt > lt and make ''-l'' more common in Windermere

ceev (cébh or ceaf?), ainið, rrwswŋ, brawþ, heeg (séag)

<!-- BLACKLIST: reeb/reep, fyg/fyc, xit/xid/zid/zit, cynd/cynt, harvi, yrma/irma -->

*a > a

Many of the most drastic changes from Old Skellan are a result of rapid "creolization" as a result of second-language speakers learning the language.

*Old Skellan mutations were lost under the influence of Windermere.

*Smoothing of certain consonant clusters (e.g. -mn > -m, sñl- > sml-)

:''See also: [[Talmic languages]], [[Thensarian]], [[Tigol]], [[Middle Skellan]]''

===Consonants (''mosylisíh'')===

Skellan has a slightly larger-than-average consonant inventory of about 27 consonants.

{| class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"

!colspan="2"| → PoA<br/>↓ Manner!! Labial<br/><small>''mofysíñ''</small> !! Dental/Alveolar<br/><small>''mosybías''</small> !! Palatal<br/><small>''mojycléh''</small> !! Velar<br/><small>''mosgóñ''</small> !! Uvular<br/><small>''moçlyðóo''</small> !! Glottal<br/><small>''modyxáñ''</small>

| '''n''' /n/

!rowspan="2"|Plosive<br/><small>''motybtéb''</small>

| '''d''' /t/

| '''t''' /tʰ/

|rowspan="2"|'''ts''' /ts/

!rowspan="2"|Sibilant<br/><small>''mosyréf''</small>

!rowspan="2"| Resonant<br/><small>''binnydúah''</small>

*If not word-final, the unaspirated plosives /p t k/ are most likely to be fully voiced in the clusters /mp nt ŋk/, then after vowels, and never voiced after obstruents.

**The reason L is a uvular consonant in most modern Talman languages is that uvular L started to be used in the prestige language [[Windermere]], though [[Qazhrian]] was the first Talman language to develop uvular L.

*Coda /ç/ is disallowed; /ç/ > /h/ after a vowel.

*/sj, tsj/ become /ʃ tʃ/ in standard Skellan: ''Slysjon'' /ˈsχəʃɔn/ 'April'.

*/ʟj/ is viewed as a separate phoneme /j̃/ by people who analyze nasal vowels as vowel + /ʟ/ and may be pronounced [ɲ] by some speakers.

The vowel inventory of Skellan is also fairly large, with 8 or 11 basic vowel qualities depending on the accent. Skellan also has many diphthongs, in addition to nasal vowels (in "nasal" accents; these vowels are written ''l'' or ''ñ'' in the Skellan orthography).

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"

| '''i, iaj''' /i/

| '''u''' /y/

| '''y''' /ə/

| '''w''' /u/

| '''ee''' /e~ɛi/

| '''øø''' /ø~œy/

|  

| '''oo''' /o~ɔu/

|colspan="4"| /ai ui au ɛu iu iə yə uə/

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"

{| class="bluetable lightbluebg " style="text-align: center;"

The nasal vowels /ĩ ỹ ũ ẽ ø̃ ə̃ õ ɛ̃ œ̃ ã ɔ̃/ arose from historical V + /l/ and V + /ŋ/ sequences. In many accents they are also pharyngealized or diphthongized. To some extent most accents merge nasal vowels with each other or with other vowels. Certain, "non-nasal" accents realize them as long vowels (with no nasalization) - these accents may have "linking" and "intrusive L" realized as [ʁ] or [ɴ̆] analogous to linking and intrusive R in non-rhotic English accents. A handful of remote dialects pronounce them as pharyngealized vowels or vowels followed by [ɫ].

{| class="bluetable lightbluebg " style="text-align: center;"

Stress is not marked in the native orthography. Talmic words usually have initial stress, but prefixed verbs are usually not stressed on the prefix. Windermere loans have final stress.

{{SUBPAGENAME}} has a distinctive intonation paradigm. It originates from discursive uptalk in older stages of the language, which has since generalized to all declarative sentences. A few conservative accents in Skella do not use this pattern.

**Cl: bl, vl, fl, dl, ðl, tl, þl, gl, cl, ml, sl, sgl, sml, hml

**Cr: br, vr, fr, dr, ðr, tr, þr, gr, cr, mr, ñr, sr, sgr, smr, hmr

**sC: sb, sd, sg, sm, sn, sñ, sgl, sgr, sml, smr

**hC: hm, hn, hñ, hml, hmr

**çC: çm, çn, çñ, çl, çr

:''Main article: [[Skellan/Accents]]''

===Pronouncing Skellan words in English===

*An epenthetic schwa may be inserted for Skellan clusters that English lacks.

The sequences ''çm, çn, çl, çr'' are pronounced identically to ''hm, hn, ll, rr'' in most modern Skellan accents, except that ''çm, çn, çr'' are [xm, xn, xr] in accents that have [x] for ''ç''. ''çł'' is also usually pronounced [hw].

Skellan uses a base-12 positional numeral system. The digits are as follows:

 

 

 

π = 3.184809493b918...dd = ɺ:ıɴħ·ɴɔк·ħкɺ·кʋı·ɴ... or ɺ:ıɴħɴɔкħкɺкʋıɴ...

Skellan inflectional morphology tends to be simpler than most other Talmic languages; for example, it has no grammatical gender and no construct state.

Verbs have little inflection, and the bulk of verbs are completely regular.

The imperative is formed with ''im [VERB]'' (from "now VERB"). The ''im'' is not used when the verb is preceded by ''ðelláws'' 'please'.

Cohortative: ''[VERB] gwm'', ''[VERB] wm'' (from "VERB with us.EXC")

:'''''Tar gwm helt na llawm rreem.'''''

The present uses the unmarked form of the verb followed by the subject. For example, ''Duvwñ, mol naw tlaw'' means "Teacher, I thank you".

 

This is often replaced by the progressive in casual speech.

Archaic Skellan (still used in historical fiction) uses the following personal endings in the present tense:

{| class="bluetable lightbluebg " style=" text-align: center;"

|''-an''||''-ir''||''-ab''||''-e''||''-0''||''-em''||''-ad''||''-ag''||''-að''||''-ag''||''-av''

The conditional uses the suffix ''-ð''. It continues the Old Skellan past subjunctive.

Verbs referring to emotional states also use the progressive. For example, ''Dy ell naw'r'' means "I love you."

The preterite uses the ergative particle ''w''. This particle is conflated with ''ry'' in some nonstandard dialects, which often use ergative syntax in all tenses.

*''Vesin w naw na ahdyn.'' = I painted the pictures.

Example: ''Tynd iant naw sdawb pug.'' = I have slept for 6 [Trician] hours. (sdawb pug = 6 hours continuously?)

The future imperfective uses the ''-t'' affix inherited from Old Skellan. It is used for:

The future perfective tense is formed with ''hly'' + VERB. It is used for:

The jussive is high-register and is formed with the suffix ''-or''. It can be used in conditional statements expressing a generally true rule.

:'''''Fohor a cliam slahah Ⅎ, coþ...'''''

:be-JUSS number counting [variable], then

:''Let ''n'' be/If ''n'' is a natural number, then...''

The copula is the most irregular verb in Skellan. In the present tense, zero copula is used.

 

Skellan uses a collective-singulative-plurative system. Number is marked with determiners, not by affixes:

**''im-'' may be used as a plurative marker for Windermere nouns. This is seen as extremely posh, though.

 

Singulative and plurative (called "singular" and "plural" below for convenience) refer to one resp. more than one specific instances of the noun. A noun in the collective form refers to "[noun] in general" or "the set of all [noun]". This distinction also applies to abstract nouns (which often use unmarked collectives). The collective of an abstract noun refers to the quality in general, and the singulative and plurative refer to one or more specific instances or manifestations of the abstraction. For example, the collective ''bo fosgu'' means 'valor (in general)'; the singulative ''a fosgu'' means 'a valiant deed'; the plurative ''na fosgu'' means 'valiant deeds'.

 

 

{| class="bluetable lightbluebg " style=" text-align: center;"

!|

!I!!you (sg.)!!he!!she!!it!!we (exc.)!!we (inc.)!!you (pl.)!!they!!impersonal!!you (polite)

!|Direct

|''naw, no''||''(h)iar, jar, 'r''||''(h)ob''||''(h)ee''||''(h)e''||''awb''||''gwad''||''swad''||''(h)awr''||''car''||''tlaw''

!|Possessive

|''ny''||''ty''||''in''||''ih''||''iñ''||''my''||''fy''||''sy''||''in''||''ry çar''||''ry tlaw''

!|Dative

|''llyn''||''lles''||''lleb''||''llee''||''llyñ''||''llib''||''lleg''||''lled''||''ller''||''lly çar''||''lly tlaw''

The forms ''no'' and ''ir'', '' 'r'' are casual forms.

 

Polite pronouns are much less common in Fyxoomian Eevo than in Skellan Eevo.

Skellan has a 4-way contrast in demonstratives:

{| class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:middle; width:1100px;"

|

|

|  

|''-''

|''-''

|''niltua''

|''javo''

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|  

|

|

|''tin''

*''mia/mið, min''

*''fia/fið, fin''

*''cee/ceð, cin''

*''ñee/ñeð, ñin''

Eevo has lost the Tigol reduplicated comparative and ''-us'' superlative. However, some fossilized comparative forms have become new words in the modern language.

*''føs X'' = comparative

*''nuab X'' = superlative

A few adjectives have suppletive comparative and superlative forms:

*''slawb'' 'good': ''cølly'' 'better', ''cøllws'' 'best'

*''orð'' 'big': ''jwmt'' 'bigger', ''jwmt'' 'biggest'

*''dum'' 'far': ''yñí'' 'farther', ''yñít'' or ''nuab yñí'' 'farthest' (from [[Windermere]] ''ăngi'' 'to surpass')

*''ñawð'' 'few': ''boost'' 'less', ''boosws'' 'least'

====Construct adjectives====

Noun-noun compounds are head-final; however, head-initial "noun noun" juxtaposition is preferred. "Noun verb" juxtaposition is also common.

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;"

| ''-wñ'' (agentive)<br/>''-os'' (instrument)<br/>''-id'' (diminutive)<br/>''-óm'' (augmentative; Tseer)<br/>''-emb'' (female suffix)<br/>''ni-'' (non-)<br/>''ir-'' (un-)<br/>''bah-'' (sub-)<br/>''ñal-'' 'before'<br/>''tynd-'' 'after'<br/>''-arn'' (collective)

| ''so-'' (verbing nouns)

|  

| ''-ahd''<br/>''-on''<br/>''-ib''<br/>''-ín'' (Netagin)<br/>''-ol'' (Clofabic)<br/>''-flen''

| ''-i''<br/>''-in'' (-ee)<br/>''-go,'' (-able, but ergative)

*''-ló'' is a Windermere augmentative suffix.

*''nw-'' is a Windermere agentive suffix.

*''-ad'' is a common noun suffix, from Thensarian ''-sdos''.

*''peñ-'' = 'X-to-be'; from Windermere future tense particle ''peng''

Skellan also has phrasal nouns: these are noun-preposition combinations that are stressed on the preposition.

Old Skellan prefixes remain productive in Modern Skellan.  

*''fr(a)-'' (usually pronounced /frə-/) was formerly only found in some frozen "causative" verbs but is gaining productivity in modern Skellan.

 

Skellan has phrasal verbs like English does.

*''-flen'' /-fʟɛn/ is an adjectival suffix with the same meaning as Korean ''-tapta'' and Japanese ''-rashii'': it means 'like an X is supposed to be' or 'like a typical X'. The suffix comes from Old Skellan compound adjectives of the form ''X-fheileán'' (from ''feil'' 'name' + ''-án'' adjectivizer; i.e. 'like the name X' or 'worthy of the name X'). Some words with the suffix have undergone semantic shifts, e.g. carflen /ˈkʰarfʟɛn/ 'humane, moral, ethical' (from Old Skellan car "human" + -flen).

*''jy-'' (''jyn-'' before C) is a [[Windermere]] adjectival suffix.

*''-on'' is a Talmic adjectival suffix, from Old Skellan -án (itself from Thensarian ''-aħnam'', Proto-Talmic ''*-aʁnəm'').

*''-wid'' = from Tigol ''-óid'' via Windermere ''-oyd''

:''Að arm, a hylrygéen's a çipóoj faiðlan''

:'''''Fia birits go rogóhdin car ym ñe ciwr.'''''

Juah gyl Snawhasewl,

Asgyrr awb, smogin nai sdu,

Ai bas ___, að awþdiaba res!

:<small>Skellan (Alcve):</small> [tʰiːɾ, æː bɔ ʁ̃‿am aˈθɛnə, ə tʰənt ar̥ˈkiəχ nə numəwˈʟe ɾən jə suːt, tʰum ˈkʰuχən ə dep]

:how, VOC COL person Athens, A PERF affect COM PL accuser GEN.1SG 2PL, NEG can.1SG A deduce

:SALEM: ''Swal damol a hugas am dy entsybytsẃal na fosgu ry øøl as llypsid, as gønd ab ñwar dy ciar noos, emb dyb orjyn gwad, odosméd ry ymdáł røsandin.''

:/suʟ ˈtamɔʟ ə ˈhygəs am tə ɛntsəpəˈtsuʟ nə ˈfɔsky ɾə œʟ əs ˈχəpsit, əs kœnt əp ŋuəɾ tə kiəɾ nɔus, ɛmp təp ˈoɾjən kuət, ɔtɔsˈmɛt ɾə əmˈtaw ˈɾœsəntin/

:SALEM: ''Am – sñøøin ab gyl a Si – jo cleðn, øøvr, as esginað ñadl ab.''

:SALEM: ''Ah ab dy smøøh erlóhyn a jo sñøøin reb.''

:SALEM: ''Jo sñawrand min pirúaf, as dewhyn jo vriþ a maslan lly fwltáwm a hylhyþús ñai ryb Am llyð errah.''

:SALEM: ''Ñyv im simynd na nwfiþlóñ red, im dyfían plesit llia smøøh red ñi maint red, ah im broos fiah... dy lleed twm sobt swad a huv.''

:''Bo am rygéen as þur nai hyltlás as zin awr gyl sñøø. Awr fyójin nai hylynbyþín as binþoçúr awr, ñyþ beð rer a þwrynúf hið velc dy heeb eeðagu.''

:DET.COL human free and equal INS dignity-COL and right-COL 3PL from be_born. 3PL bestow-PST.PART INS rationality-COL and conscience-COL 3PL, therefore part GEN.3PL DET act towards one_another in spirit brotherhood

:''Depanjẃn, ry givolín pnaþafol tamyr tlaméni e, að øømt riav hreem.''

:''Twm øør bo bintxynóv tamẃx depanjẃn hnoh, as gøørws ñi bannẃts lly bisçǿð as efataþol að txynób car e.''

:''Bo slawb ys dy bo hñyl mawr savísi, bo fehd øølyb, as bo jysn hwrðon a heþál ñe?''

:<small>Fyxoomian:</small> [pɔ sχaup əs tə bɔ ŋɔ̃ˁ mauɾ səˈvisi, pɔ fɛht œ̃ˁʁ̃əp, əs pɔ ˈjəsən ˈhuːɾəðɔn ə hɛˈθãˁ ŋɛ]

:<small>Skellan (Alcve):</small> [pɔ sχɑup əs tə bɔ ŋ̊ɔ mɑuɾ səˈvɪsɪ, pɔ fɛht ˈoːʁəp, əs pɔ ˈjəsən ˈhuɾəðɔn ə hɛˈθɑː ŋɛ]

:COL good Q in DET.COL trunk tree towering, DET.COL lake heaven and DET.COL mountain craggy DET reside 3PL

:''Ia, dy lwm hiar res a sdeevi ryñ.''

:<small>Fyxoomian:</small> [iə, tə ʁ̃uːm hiəɾ ɾɛs ə ˈstɛɪvi ɾɔ̃ˁ]

:<small>Skellan (Alcve):</small> [iː, tə ʁum hiːɾ ɾɛs ə ˈstevɪ ɾɔ]

:nay in interior 2SG GEN.2SG DET dwell GEN.it

I room llyð am cail as twm llia sdawol reb, as sgoð ab cail lly mi diraþ nai binsymrua emb beð mi lly behn as dymiseeþ ym hnawb ðav çawlþ, sec fahað ñe xyvehflen? Ter, hegn dyb tałswñg jydiþwn ry binzycþia ñe! Jahanor að am ñi nwþyvwr desranin nai boosws, nai taw arm ab ar as bosg ab llyð øltu. Ñyv, a mogynxin ryd es rofeel ñe i geeb naw "glawð" dy xam "am"?

===Poetry===

Skellan poetry can use either rhyme or rhythmic alliteration or both.

 

====Alliterative poetry====

The older, more native tradition is poems with rhythmic alliteration.

# the beginning syllables of sub-lines, e.g. in the pattern a ... | a ... or a ... | b ... | a ...

# the above two may be combined, e.g. a _ a ... | b _ b ... ‖ b _ b ... | c _ c ... ‖ c _ c ... | d _ d ...

[[Category:Tricin]]

[[Category:Pseudo-English]]