Valthungian: Difference between revisions

[[Category:Germanic_languages]]

[[Category:East_Germanic_languages]]

{{Infobox language

|nativename = Grējutungiška Rasta,<br />Sō Grējuga Tunga

|pronunciation = /ˈgrai̯.juˌtuŋ.giʃ.kɑ  ˈrɑs.tɑ,<br />sau̯ ˈgrai̯.ju.ɡɑ ˈtuŋ.gɑ/

<small>creator of:<br />

<ul>

<li>[[Brooding]]</li>

<li>[[Dlatci]]</li>

<li>''[[Middle Valthungian]]''</li>

</ul>

</ul>

</small>

Valthungian is an [[w:East_Germanic_languages|East Germanic]] language descended from a language that was probably mutually intelligible with [[w:Gothic_language|Gothic]], though much of its corpus cannot have been inherited from the language of [[w:Ulfilas|Wulfila]]. It is likely, however, that the speakers of the ancestor of Valthungian did consider themselves Goths (or Gutai or Gutþiudōs), and that their language was mutually intelligible with other dialects of Gothic. The Valthungian relationship to “Classical Gothic” can be thought of as analogous to the relationship between Modern High German and [[w:Old_High_German|Old High German]] – that is, not a direct lineage, but the modern languages are descended from neighboring dialects spoken by people who would likewise have considered themselves to be “Gutisks,” in the case of Valthungian, or “Diotisk” in the case of German.  

The name “Valthungian” comes from the name ''Walðungas'' meaning “Forest-dweller,” likely related to the [[w:Thervingi|Thervingians]] (''idem''), though the Valthungian people refer to themselves as ''Grējutungišk'', which is probably from an earlier ''[[w:Greuthungi|Griutuggs]]'' (the name of an Ostrogothic tribe living along the northern shore of the Black Sea), but which underwent some semantic reanalysis over the generations and came to mean ‘the grey-tongued ones’. In turn, they call their language ''Grējutungiška Rasta'' ‘Grey-tonguish Language’ or just ''Sō Grējuga Tunga'' ‘the Grey Tongue’.

===Alphabet & Pronunciation===

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===Orthography===

# The letter 〈n〉 is used before 〈g〉 or 〈k〉 to indicate the velar nasal [ŋ]. Specifically, 〈ng〉 is [ŋg] and 〈nk〉 is [ŋk]. (E.g. ''drinkna'' [driŋk.na] ‘to drink’.)

# In combinations where 〈ng〉 is followed by another nasal consonant, [g] is elided in speech: 〈ngm〉 is [ŋm] and 〈ngn〉 is [ŋn]. (E.g. ''gangna'' [gaŋ.na] ‘to go’; not **[gaŋg.na].) In rapid speech this may also occur to the other nasal-stop combinations 〈mbn〉, 〈mbm〉, 〈ndm〉, and 〈ndn〉; sometimes the stop may also become glottal.

Stress is indicated in the standard orthography with an acute accent only if:

#: (The rounded front vowels can only occur as the result of i-umlaut, which could only arise from a stressed vowel.)

====Ligatures & Liaisons====

**** ''þō ī, þu·ī'' ‘those which’

<!--===Alternative Writing Systems===

====Cursive====

''Coming soon...''-->

==Phonology==

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!'''Approximant'''

|''' · l'''<br />[l̪]

|''' · r'''<br />[r~ɾ]

===Voicing Alternation===

*v → f

Please note that because this rule is not persistent, there are several words which later developed an intervocalic 〈f〉 or 〈þ〉 from earlier 〈h〉 which is ''not'' affected by this rule.

**d or g + j → ǧ

**t or k + j → č

**z + j → ž (Actually, all instances of 〈z〉 eventually became 〈ž〉, but that’s not applicable to this section.)

===[b]/[v] Alternation===

For example, the adjective ''drœ̄vis'' ‘muddy’ (from Griutungi ''*drōbīs'', cf. Gothic ''drōbeis'') has the dative singular form ''drœ̄bia'' (from ''*drōbja'').

Umlaut is another of those sound laws that no longer happens actively in the language, but it has become indicative of specific tenses or cases in the language.  

*Most class 1 weak verbs and strong verbs ending in ''–jan'' in Gothic have umlaut in the present and imperative. These verbs all end with ''–in'' in Valthungian.

Later, beginning around the time of Middle Valthungian, this change was expanded analogously to other nouns and adjectives which had “heavy” syllables, and eventually the rule emerged that nouns and adjectives ending in 〈-r〉 and 〈-s〉 do not take an (additional) 〈-s〉 in the nominative singular, though they otherwise follow the paradigm of their particular stem. (E.g. ''*bērs'' → ''bēr'' ‘boar’, ''*stiur'' → ''sčur'' ‘steer’. One notable example of this phenomenon is the Germanic ''tersaz'' ‘''mentula''’ which became ''*ters'' in Griutungi, but was then reanalyzed as an exception to the original r-rule (instead of the s-rule that it actually is), and eventually it became ''ter'' in Valthungian. It remains, however, an unkind word.)

When a prefix ends in the same letter as the root, /a/ is inserted to break up the resulting geminate. /a/ may also be added to avoid awkward consonant clusters.  Some of the most frequent are:

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!1du  

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!2du  

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!1pl  

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!2pl  

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!1du

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!2du  

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!1pl

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!2pl

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{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; vertical-align:middle"

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! &nbsp; !!colspan=2| Ordinal

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! 1  

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! 2  

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! 3  

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! 4  

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! 5  

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! 6  

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! 7  

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! 8  

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! 9  

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! 10  

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! 11  

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! 12  

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! 13  

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! 20  

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! 100  

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! 1,000  

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! 1,000,000  

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===Alternative Numbers===

The number '19' is also sometimes called ''iþ'' by the same formulation.

A much more recent slang term that has evolved from this system is the use of the number '843' to represent the (unpronounceable) letter combination ''·omg·''.

==Nouns==

Every noun in Valthungian (and many of the older Germanic languages, as well as modern German and Icelandic) has eight possible forms. These are the singular and plural forms of the nominative (those nouns which comprise the subject of the sentence), genitive (those used to indicate possession or relation), dative (the indirect object), and accusative (the direct object).  

Masculine and feminine strong nouns usually take an ending of –s for the nominative singular, while neuter nouns take no ending. The genitive is almost universally indicated by –is (this is equivalent to the “ ’s ” of the English possessive). The dative usually takes –a. The accusative usually does not take any ending.

===A Note on Strong and Weak Nouns===

====wja-Stems====

{{Template:Valthungian/n.st.m.wja|nǭ|naug|neug|corpse}}

===ō-Stems (Feminine)===

====wjōn-Stem====

==Verbs==

===Strong Verbs===

{{Template:Valthungian/v.st.2p|strju|strǭ|stru|stry}}

{{Template:Valthungian/v.st.2čugun|}}

====Strong Verbs: Class IV (i – a – ē – u)====

In verbs where /r/ is the sonorant in question, the paradigm shifts to /e/ in the first principle part and /o/ in the third (due to the [[Valthungian/Rules#EGmc_Reflex_of_1st_Umlaut|East Germanic Reflex of First Umlaut]]).

====Strong Verbs: Class V (i – a – ē – i)====

====Strong Verbs: Class VI (a – ō – ō – a)====

===Anomalous Verbs===

{{Template:Valthungian/v.st.7dōn}}

{{Template:Valthungian/v.st.6stand}}

{{Template:Valthungian/v.st.5wis}}

In Gothic, there was no explicit perfect or perfective aspect in verbs. In order to express the perfect, sometimes the prefix ''ga-'' was added to verbs. Latin had a dedicated perfect inflection in verbs.  

**‘She has become a doctor.’

**‘He had gone home.’

*''S·ītmit '''gaf gā'''.''

**‘She had given it to him.’

! Agent:<br />Unintentional / Inanimate

|| ''þiǧin'' ‘to receive’<br />''lenǧin'' ‘to cause to succeed’<br />&nbsp;

|}

'''Agent/Patient Deliberate''': This tends to refer to things that happen as a result of mutual agreement

**‘I '''was paid''' for the work.’

*Þǣ ankýmbiðas '''langiðun''' þis borðaþjugis '''ganōguða'''.

'''Agent Deliberate / Patient Unintentional''': These auxiliaries are used mainly when the agent is a person and the patient is either an object or a person who is unaware of the agent’s intention or an unwilling participant in the action.

**‘I '''was hit''' by the man.’

**‘The car '''was driven''' by the girl.’

''NB: ''Straks'' is definitely a Germanic word, but cannot be descended from East Germanic. (If it were, we might expect ''strakis'' or perhaps ''straka''.) It is likely a more recent borrowing into Middle Valthungian from a West or North Germanic source. Cf. Dutch, Norwegian, and Danish ''straks'', Swedish and Icelandic ''strax'', German ''stracks'', &c.''

==Adjectives==