Valthungian: Difference between revisions

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 [[wiki:Thervingi|Thervingians]] (''idem''), though the Valthungian people refer to themselves as ''Grējutungišk'', which is probably from an earlier ''[[wiki: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 ''So Grējuga Tunga'' ‘the Grey Tongue’.

===Orthography===

# 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 combination ⟨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. ''sneugna'' [snɛu̯g.na] ‘to snow’.)

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

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

# For some speakers, medial ⟨tl⟩ (usually derived from earlier /ll/) may be realised as [dɮ].

# 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.)

This determiner is inflectionally a little interesting because it has evolved an insertive /t/ in parts of the inflection due to changes to the geminates in [[Old Valthungian]]. When ''[[Contionary: als#Valthungian|als]]'' is used in conjunction with another determiner, it is declined as a weak adjective and has the meaning of ‘entire’ or ‘complete’.

|rowspan=2| atlis

|rowspan=2| atlatma

| atlan

|rowspan=3| atla

| atlažis

|colspan=2| atla

|rowspan=3| atlaža

|rowspan=3| atlam

| atlans

| atla

| atlas

| atlas

====''[[Contionary: fǭs#Valthungian|fǭs]]'', ''[[Contionary: mitnums#Valthungian|mitnums]]'', ''[[Contionary: faugist#Valthungian|faugist]], ''[[Contionary: mitnist#Valthungian|mitnist]]'', ‘few, little, fewer, less, fewest, least’====

! !!width=100px| # !!width=100px| 1# !!width=100px| 2# ||width=100px| #0 !!width=100px| #00 !!width=100px| #000 !!width=100px| #000

| nīþun || tǣjun (tǣn) || tuǣtiǧis|| ''‑tiǧis''|| ''tēhund'' || ''þūsunde'' || ''‑ljǭn''

| ([[Valthungian#Singular_.28.E2.80.98one.E2.80.99.29|ǣns]]) || ǣnlif || tuǣtiǧis ǣns|| ''tǣjun'' || ǣn hund || ǣna þūsunde || miljǭn

| ([[Valthungian#Dual_.28.E2.80.98two.2C_both.E2.80.99.29|tuǣ]]) || tualif || tuǣtiǧi tuǣ|| tuǣtiǧis || tuā hunda || tuōs þūsunǧis || biljǭn

| ([[Valthungian#Trial_.28.E2.80.98three.2C_all_three.E2.80.99.29|þrīs]]) || þrižatǣn || tuǣtiǧi þrīs|| þrīstiǧis || þrī hunda || þrīs þūsunǧis || þriljǭn

| fiður (fiðra) || fiðratǣn || tuǣtiǧi fiður|| fiðratiǧis || fiður hunda || fiður þūsunǧis || friljǭn

| fim || fimfatǣn || tuǣtiǧi fim|| fimtiǧis || fim hunda || fim þūsunǧis || fimfiljǭn

| sǣs || sǣstatǣn || tuǣtiǧi sǣs|| sǣstiǧis || sǣs hunda || sǣs þūsunǧis || sǣsiljǭn

| sivun (sivna) || sivnatǣn || tuǣtiǧi sivun|| sivnatiǧis || sivun hunda || sivun þūsunǧis || sivniljǭn

| āta (āt) || ātatǣn || tuǣtiǧis āta|| ātatiǧis || āta hunda || āta þūsunǧis || ātatiljǭn

| njun || njunatǣn || tuǣtiǧi njun|| njuntiǧis || njun hunda || njun þūsunǧis || njuniljǭn

The number ‘seven’ has the expected form of ''sivun'', but also a lenited form of ''sivna'', again, required in compounds but otherwise optional. ‘Eight’ is ''āta'', but may optionally be lenited to ''āt''. (This is a newer innovation, and is not considered to be correct in writing.) Finally ‘ten’ is ''tǣjun'' or lenited ''tǣn'', the latter being used exclusively in the “teen” numbers.

For compounding numbers, Griutungi and Gothic separated each of the number’s components with the word ''jah'' (‘and’, now ''jā''), but Valthungian has dispensed with this and now uses ''i'' – possibly a shortened form of ''jā'' – only before the last component. For numbers ending with ''‑tiǧis'', a further contraction has become standard, and the new suffix is shortened to ''‑tiǧi'', e.g. ''þrīstiǧi fim'' ‘thirty-five’. ''Hund'' becomes ''hundi'' and ''hunda'' is also contracted to ''hund·i'', ''þūsunde'' to ''þūsund·i'', and ''þūsunǧis'' to ''þūsunǧi''. (Note the lack of apostrophic interpunct in ''‑tiǧi'', ''hundi'', and ''þūsunǧi''.) No ''‑i‑'' is added before numbers beginning with a vowel, i.e. ''ǣn‑'' and ''āta''.  

| sivna dǣlaro

| ǣnlift

| ǣnlifta

| ǣnliftis

| ǣnliva dǣlaro

| þrižatǣnþs

| þrižatǣnþa

| þrižatǣnþis

| þrižatǣjun dǣlaro

| tuǣtiǧist

| tuǣtiǧista

| tuǣtiǧistis

The Gothic number system, modeled after the Greek system (in turn modeled after the Hebrew), which used the letters of the alphabet instead of separate unique characters, continued to be used well into the middle ages ([[Middle Valthungian]]), and certain taboo numbers came to be called by their character representation rather than their numeric form.  Primarily among these numbers was ‘13’, which was written in Gothic as ''·ig·''.  This also occurred with the numbers ‘113’ (''rig''), ‘213’ (''sig''), ‘313’ (''tig''), ‘413’ (''wig''), and ‘513’ (''fig''). (This was not mirrored in the higher numbers of the hundreds, because most of those combinations would have been unpronounceable.)

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

Certain slang terms have also developed out of this system, in reverse, as it were. For example, the homophony of hortative particle ''iþ'' with the number ''19'' gives rise to a nominal form ''þat njunatǣn'' referring to a duty or obligation. Similarly, a ‘road’ or ‘highway’ is sometimes referred to as a ‘413’ (''fiður-þrižatǣn''), written ''wig'' (the accusative of ''wiǧ'' (‘road’).

|| ''gitna'' ‘to get’<br />''þiǧin'' ‘to receive’

|| ''skīčin'' ‘to cause to happen’<br />''skeǧin'' ‘to cause to happen’<br />''verðan'' ‘to become’

*''Þe lǭvas '''skagiðun''' þižis rynins '''avbrón'''.''

Historically, adverbs are formed from adjectives in a variety of ways. The most common, however, is to add the suffix '''''‑sua''''' (often reduced to '''''‑so''''', especially in speech) after the stem vowel.

* '''''mikils''''' ‘big’ → '''''mikilasua''''' ‘largely’

* '''''synikus''''' ‘honest’ → '''''synikusua''''' ‘honestly’

* '''''mǣst''''' ‘most’ → '''''mǣstasua''''' ‘mostly’

| '''''gōþs''''' ‘good’

| '''''wǣla''''' ‘well’

| '''''uvils''''' ‘bad’  

| '''''uvilasua''''' ‘badly’

| '''''mǣstasua''''' ‘mostly’

| '''[[Contionary: stǣns#Valthungian|stǣns]]''' (''m''), '''[[Contionary: hatlus#Valthungian|hatlus]]''' (''m'')