Valthungian: Difference between revisions

[[Category: Germanic languages]]

[[Category: East Germanic languages]]

{{construction}}

{{Bpnjohnson.info|Valthungian, the Grey Tongue|Grējutungiška Rasta, So Grējuga Tunga|ˈgrai̯.juˌtuŋ.giɕ.kɑ ˈrɑs.tɑ, so̞ ˈgrai̯.ju.ɡɑ ˈtuŋ.gɑ|2010|Europe, vaguely|Indo-European|Indo-European|Germanic|East Germanic|Griutungi|Old Valthungian|Middle Valthungian||qgt|grey}}

Valthungian is an [[wiki:East_Germanic_languages|East Germanic]] language descended from a language that was probably mutually intelligible with [[wiki:Gothic_language|Gothic]], though much of its corpus cannot have been inherited from the language of [[wiki: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 [[wiki: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.  

While Valthungian shares many of the areal changes common to [[wiki:North_Germanic_languages|North]] and [[wiki:West_Germanic_languages|West Germanic languages]], it is also marked by distinctive changes in palatalisation, which, while similar to those of Old English, are most likely influenced by contact with Romance and Slavic languages. Modern Valthungian can be traced back to [[Middle Valthungian]] (spoken from around 1200‒1600ᴀᴅ) through [[Old Valthungian]] (800‒1200ᴀᴅ) and ultimately to [[Griutungi]], which would likely have been thought of as a dialect of Gothic (400‒800ᴀᴅ).

The name “Valthungian” comes from the name ''Valthungi'' – a Latin term likely derived from a pre-Old Valthungian name *''Walþungae'' – meaning “Forest-dweller,” likely a branch of or related to the [[w: Thervingi|Thervingians]] (''idem''), though the Valthungian people refer to themselves as '''''[[Contionary: grējutungišk#Valthungian|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 '''''[[Contionary: grējutungišk#Valthungian|Grējutungiška]] [[Contionary: rasta#Valthungian|Rasta]]''''' ‘Grey-tonguish Language’ or just '''''[[Contionary: so#Valthungian|So]] [[Contionary: grējus#Valthungian|Grējuga]] [[Contionary: tunga#Valthungian|Tunga]]''''' ‘the Grey Tongue’.

!'''[[wiki:International_Phonetic_Alphabet|IPA]]'''

!'''[[wiki:International_Phonetic_Alphabet|IPA]]'''

|style="text-align:left;"|‘colour’

|style="text-align:left;"|‘Teu’

|style="text-align:left;"|‘choice’

!'''[[wiki:International_Phonetic_Alphabet|IPA]]'''

Though the seven long vowels of the Non-Alphabetic Variants have individual names, they are not considered part of the standard alphabet or alphabetical order. Instead, each long vowel is considered alphabetically equivalent to its doubled short counterpart. That is, ⟨ā⟩ is equivalent to ⟨aa⟩, ⟨ē⟩ to ⟨ee⟩, ⟨ī⟩ to ⟨ii⟩, and so on. (The long vowels ⟨ǣ⟩ and ⟨ǭ⟩ are included in the standard alphabetical order, and do not have short forms, though they are written with macrons in their romanised forms.)

(NB: The Valthungian alphabet, while mainly latin‑ and cyrillic-based, contains several characters which are not readily representable using the standard Unicode characters. The forms presented throughout this wiki are a [[Valthungian#Romanisation|romanisation]] of the letters shown in the table above.)

===Orthography & Allophony===

* The letter ⟨n⟩ before ⟨g⟩ or ⟨k⟩ is realised as a velar nasal [ŋ]. Specifically, ⟨ng⟩ is [ŋɡ] and ⟨nk⟩ is [ŋk]. (E.g. ''drinkna'' [driŋk.na] ‘to drink’.)

** In combinations where ⟨ng⟩ is followed by another nasal consonant, [ɡ] is elided in speech: ⟨ngm⟩ is [ŋm] and ⟨ngn⟩ is [ŋn]. (E.g. ''gangna'' [gaŋ.na] ‘to go’; not **[gaŋɡ.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.

* In the combinations ⟨hw⟩ (i.e. ⟨hu⟩ followed by a vowel), ⟨hl⟩, and ⟨hr⟩,⟨h⟩ is realised as [x].

* The sequence ⟨rju⟩ is realised as [rɛu̯] (rather than the expected [rju]). (E.g. ''frjusna'' [frɛu̯s.na] ‘to freeze’.)

* The diphthong ⟨eu⟩ is realised as [ɛu̯] (rather than the expected [e̞u̯]). (E.g. ''þreugi'' [θrɛu̯.ɡi] ‘wrath’.)

* The diphthong ⟨œu⟩ is realised as [œy̑] (rather than the expected [ø̞u̯]). (E.g. ''grœunis'' [ɡrœy̑.nis] ‘green’.)

* Medial ⟨dl⟩ (usually derived from earlier /ll/) is realised as [dɮ]. (E.g. ''hadla'' [ha.dɮa] ‘mansion’.)

* For some speakers, word-final ⟨þs⟩ may be realised as [t̪s].

* Inexplicably, the letter ''wynia'', while quite regular in and of itself, has a rather irregular romanisation. It is sometimes romanised quite regularly as ⟨w⟩, though in combination with consonants before a vowel (/dw/, /tw/, /þw/, /hw/, /gw/, /kw/, or /sw/), it is romanised as ⟨u⟩ (i.e. ⟨du⟩, ⟨tu⟩, ⟨þu⟩, ⟨hu⟩, ⟨gu⟩,⟨ku⟩ and ⟨su⟩.)

** This process cannot cross morpheme boundaries, so ''iþ'' + ''wītna'' → ''iþwītna'', not **''iþuītna''.

* The stress is ''not'' on the first syllable.

** (By default, stress falls on the primary syllable.)

* The stressed vowel is short.

** (All unstressed long vowels were reduced to short vowels in the [[Middle Valthungian]] period.)

* The stressed vowel is not ⟨œ⟩ or ⟨y⟩.

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

For example, ''in'''í'''la '' ‘excuse’, ''ak'''é'''čim'' 'even so'; but ''gar'''ǣ'''ts'' ‘correct’ or ''gavr'''œ'''čin'' ‘to handle’.

** ''ǧukospríngna'' ‘to leap up’ → ''ǧùkospringna'' or ''ǧùkospríngna''

''(Pardon the compactified consonant table. I know it doesn't quite all line up “properly,” but it does make more sense this way as regards the Valthungian language. If in doubt, rely on the transcription and not the row or column.)''

 

|'''č · ǧ'''<br />[ʨ · ʥ]

|'''k · g'''<br />[k~kʰ · ɡ]

|''' · n'''<ref>Before ⟨g⟩ or ⟨k⟩.</ref><br />[ŋ]

|'''š · ž'''<br />[ɕ · ʑ]

|'''h ·'''<br />[h~x]

|''' · w/u'''<br />[w~v]

This rule is inherited from Proto-Germanic. The rule is not persistent, but the variation in forms still affects the inflections of nouns, verbs, and adjectives in Valthungian, and is readily assimilated into neologisms and borrowings.  (A similar v/f alternation rule exists in English, for example in singular ''knife'' and plural ''knives'', or the noun ''strife'' and the verb ''strive''.) The Gothic version of this rule caused alternation between ⟨f⟩, used only at the end of a word or before an unvoiced consonant, and ⟨b⟩ used elsewhere, e.g. ''giban'', ‘to give’, ''gaf'', ‘gave’.  Likewise the relationship between ⟨þ⟩ and⟨d⟩. There are three main realisations of this rule in Valthungian:  

*⟨f⟩ or ⟨þ⟩ occur before ⟨s⟩ in the nominative singular of masculine or some feminine strong nouns, e.g. ''þlǣfs'' ‘loaf of bread’, but genitive ''þlǣvis''.

*⟨f⟩ or ⟨þ⟩ occur when word-final in the accusative of masculine or some feminine strong nouns, and the nominative and accusative of neuter strong nouns, e.g. ''blōþ'' ‘blood’, but genitive ''blōðis''.

*⟨f⟩ occurs when word-final or before ⟨t⟩ in the preterit singular and the second person imperative singular of strong verbs, e.g. ''gaf'', ''gaft'', ‘gave’, but infinitive ''givna''.

*⟨þ⟩ also occurs when word-final in the preterit singular and imperative, but is assimilated to ⟨s⟩ before ⟨t⟩ in the second person preterit (see Coronal Consonant Assimilation below), e.g. ''biǧin'' ‘to bid’ has the first‑ and third-person preterit ''baþ'' but second-person ''bast''.

*The implications for ⟨s⟩ and ⟨ž⟩ can be a little trickier, because this split was not uniform in Gothic, and intervocalic /s/ was not later voiced (as it was in many other Germanic languages, leveling out this particular conundrum), so many words retain ⟨s⟩ throughout the paradigm. These are noted in the lexicon.

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.

*Masculine and feminine nouns whose roots end in ⟨d⟩ or ⟨g⟩ become palatalised before ⟨s⟩ in the nominative singular of a‑, i‑, and u‑stems (but not feminine ō‑stems).  E.g. Griutungi ''*dags'' ‘day’, ''*gards'' ‘yard’ become ''daǧ'', ''graǧ''. This type of palatalisation only occurs when there was a /dz/ or /gz/ present in the language at some point historically (from Griutungi/Gothic /ds/ or /gs/).

*A much more common form of palatalisation, however, is that which occurs whenever the ending of a noun, verb, or adjective begins with ⟨j⟩, e.g. strong masculine ja‑stem nouns or adjectives or class 1 weak verbs. In these cases, the following occurs:

**z + j → ž (Actually, all instances of ⟨z⟩ eventually became ⟨ž⟩.)

A less common alternation is that of ⟨b⟩ and ⟨v⟩.  This occurs in the same environment as the second type of palatalisation (above), but instead of a true palatalisation, instead there is a shift of ⟨v⟩ to ⟨b⟩; or, more accurately, some paradigms without an original ⟨j⟩ are able to shift from ⟨b⟩ to ⟨v⟩ when intervocalic, but those with ⟨j⟩ are blocked from spirantizing.  

*Verbs ending in ''‑jan'' in Gothic have umlaut in the present and imperative. These verbs all end with ''‑in'' in Valthungian.

*ǭ (''Got''. ⟨áu⟩) → œ̄ - ''*h'''ǭ'''sjan'' ‘to hear’ → ''h'''œ̄'''šin''

*o (''Got''. ⟨aú⟩) → œ - ''*þ'''o'''rsjan'' ‘to thirst’ → ''þr'''œ'''šin''

NB: The word “Umlaut” can refer to several different types of vowel change in Germanic languages – i/j‑umlaut, u/w‑umlaut, and a‑umlaut most commonly – but only one type ever occurred in Valthungian: Umlaut here is used to refer specifically to i/j‑umlaut, also known as i‑umlaut, front umlaut, or i‑mutation.

This rule has a formidable name, but it is actually common to all Germanic languages. This rule states that whenever a coronal consonant (namely, d, t, or þ) is directly followed by ⟨t⟩ or ⟨st⟩, the former consonant ⟨s⟩. This accounts for the English word ''best'', from earlier ''betst'', from *''batest''. This applies mainly to second person singular preterit of strong verbs, e.g. ''ǧutna'' ‘to pour’ and ''biǧin'' ‘to bid’ have a second person preterit of ''gǭst'' ‘you poured’ and ''bast'' ‘you bade’, rather than the otherwise expected **''gǭtt'' and **''baþt''.

Another formidable name, but what this means is that at various times historically, sound changes caused unstressed /a/ to disappear before sonorants (/l/, /r/, /m/, or /n/), turning them into syllabics. This happened at least once before the Gothic era, giving rise to words like *''bagms'' and *''aþn'', and again before Valthungian, most notably collapsing the infinitive ending ''‑an'' to ''‑n''. Later on, syllabics were “unpacked;” that is, they regained the /a/ that had been lost, but it now appeared after the sonorant instead of before it. For example, Griutungi *''brōþar'' ‘brother’ (Gothic ''brōþar'') and later Old Valthungian ''brouðar'' became Middle Valthungian ''brôðʀ'' with syllabic /r̩/, and eventually Modern Valthungian ''brōðra''. However, there are a few instances where this unpacking didn’t happen because the restoration of ⟨a⟩after the sonorant would have rendered the word unpronounceable, in which case the word reverts back to its pre-syllabic state.

*Dative plural a‑stem nouns whose roots end in ⟨‑m⟩ have the ending of ⟨‑am⟩ rather than ⟨‑ma⟩, e.g. ''vroms'' ‘worm’ has the dative plural of ''vromam'' rather than **''vromma''.

*Masculine strong a‑stem nouns ending in ⟨‑n⟩ have the the dative plural ending of ⟨‑am⟩ (as above) and the accusative plural ending of ⟨‑ans⟩ rather than ⟨‑nas⟩, e.g. ''ǭns'' ‘oven’ has the dative plural of ''ǭnam'' and the accusative plural of ''ǭnans'' rather than **''ǭnma'' and **''ǭnnas''.

*Strong a‑stem adjectives ending in ⟨‑n⟩ have a masculine accusative singular of ⟨‑an⟩ rather than ⟨‑na⟩, e.g. ''ǣns'' → ''ǣnan'', not ''**ǣnna''

*The third person plural indicative of strong verbs and weak class 3 verbs end in ''‑anþ'' rather than **''‑naþ''.

The change initially applies to “light”‑syllable nouns with stems ending in ⟨‑s⟩ or ⟨‑r⟩ in the masculine and feminine classes that take a final ⟨‑z⟩ in the nominative singular.  E.g. PGmc. *''weraz'', *''drusiz'' → (Post-Germanic Short Unstressed Vowel Deletion) → *''werz'', *''drusz'' → (Final Obstruent Devoicing) → *''wers'', *''druss'' → (r/s‑Assimilation) → Griutungi ''wer'', ''drus'' (cf. Gothic ''waír'' /wer/, ''drus'').

Later, beginning around the time of Early 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⟩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.)

*af+f: Griutungi ''*affilhan'' → ''af'''a'''flījan'' ‘to hide away’

However, the prefix ''us‑'' becomes ''ut‑'': Griutungi ''*ussandjan'' → ''utsenǧin'' ‘to send out’

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

!width=100px| &nbsp; !!width=65px| Nom. !!width=65px| Gen. !!width=65px| Dat. !!width=65px| Acc. !!

| sī || ižis || iža || ī, iža ||align="left"| ''she, her, (to) her, her''

| wit || unkra || unkis || unk ||align="left"| ''we two, our, (to) us, us''

| wīs || unstra || unsis || uns ||align="left"| ''we all, our, (to) us, us''

| jūs || ižur ||colspan=2| ižus ||align="left"| ''you/ye all, your, (to) you, you''

!2sg

|-

| ižur sīn ||colspan=2| ižusk ||align="left"| ''yourselves''

| sīn || sis || sik ||align="left"| ''themselves''

| huō || huižis || huiža || huō ||align="left"| ''who, &c''

!expl.

| im || - || - || (im) ||align="left"| ''it, there''

| ižahuerituþ || ižahuerituþ ||align="left"| ''each of them''

| ižashueriþ || ižashueriþ ||align="left"| ''each of them''