Verse:Irta/English

English
Inglish
Pronunciation[/ˈɪŋglɪʃ/]
Created by
SettingVerse:Lõis
Indo-European
  • Azalic
    • L-Middle English
      • English

English in the Lõis timeline is an Azalic language: it is an Indo-European language with pretty much exactly the same vocabulary and grammar as our English, but with a very different (in particular not descending from Proto-Germanic) history and orthography. (Also there are no loans from other Germanic languages, such as schadenfreude.)

It is part of a sprachbund with Togarmite, Modern An Bhlaoighne and L-Persian.

Diachronics

PTTA to Middle TT-English

Middle TT-English to Modern TT-English

Orthography

uon, tô, thrê, phuor, phîv, six, sevn, aiht, nyn, ten

O Captin! My Captin! ûr phiêrphul trip is dôn;
Ðe ship has weđrd evrih rac, đe prise uê suht is wun;
Ðe port is niêr, đe bels ih hiêr, đe pơpul al exsulting,
Huîl pholo eihs đe stedih kêl, đe vessl grim and dâring;
But O hart! hart! hart!
O đe blêding drops of red,
Huer on đe dec my captin lihs,
Phalen cold and diêd.


pelth₂óm > PPTA pheldă > phêld "field"

Accents

There are 4 to 5 main dialects of English.

The "Philly-Estuary-Ashkenazi" continuum

L-Standard English belongs in a continuum of accents.

Overview:

Vowel phoneme Quasi-Philly L-Standard Quasi-Ashkenazi Hebrew
KIT ɪ~ɪ̈ ɪ~ɪ̈ ɪ~i
DRESS ɛ ɛ e
TRAP æ a a
LOT ɑ ɔ~ɒ o
STRUT ʌ~ɤ ɜ̟~ɐ ɜ
FOOT ʊ ʊ̈~ɘ ʏ
FLEECE i + reinforcement before C; ɪj otherwise iː~ɪj
FACE ɪj + reinforcement before C; ɛɪ otherwise ɛɪ
PRICE əɪ + reinforcement before C; ɑɪ otherwise ɑɪ
CHOICE oɪ~ʊɪ + reinforcement before C; oɪ otherwise
MOUTH æʊ~ɛɔ æʊ~æʏ
GOAT eʊ~əʊ, oʊ before [ɫ] əʊ~əʏ~ʌʏ , ɔʊ before [ɫ] ɔʏ~ɔɪ~oɪ
GOOSE üw~yː, uː before [ɫ] üː, uː before [ɫ]
PALM ɑː ɑː
THOUGHT oə~ʊə ɔː~ɒː
NEAR iə(ɹ) iə~iɚ
SQUARE eə(ɹ) ɛə~ɛɚ
NURSE əː(ɹ) ɜː~ɚː əʀ
START ɒː(ɹ) ɑː~ɑɚ
NORTH oə(ɹ) oə~oɚ
FORCE oə(ɹ) oə~oɚ ɔʏʀ~ɔɪʀ~oɪʀ
POOR oə(ɹ) uə~uɚ
CURE joə(ɹ)~jə(ɹ) juə~juɚ~jɜː~jɚː juʀ
commA ə(ɹ) ə ə
lettER ə(ɹ) ə~ɚ əʀ

Quasi-Philly

It's a non-rhotic version of the Philly accent.

L-Standard English

Californian + Modern RP/Estuary. Rhoticity in idiolectal or free variation.

Vowels
  • orange = [ɒɹɪndʒ~ɔɹɪndʒ]
  • Mary [mɛəɹi] ≈ merry [mɛɹi] ≠ marry [maɹi]
  • Mirror-nearer distinction
  • Hurry-furry distinction
  • No mergers before /l/

* L-English Jews speaking in an L-Standard English accent tend to not have the horse-hoarse merger, pronouncing horse (NORTH) as [hɔəɹs] and hoarse (FORCE) as [həʊəɹs~həʏəɹs].

Consonants
  • L is light [l] before vowels and dark [ɫ] otherwise, as in RP.
    • wholly-holy split.
  • No glottal reinforcement before stops.
  • /p t k/ are unaspirated after stressed syllables as in AmE.
  • /d t/ has a tapped [ɾ] allophone in similar environments as in American English.
  • wine-whine merger optional.
  • /r/ may be [ʋ] between vowels.

Ashkenazi Hebrew accent

Not a specifically Jewish accent; but when L-English Jews read Hebrew in it, it sounds just like the Ashkenazi accent. Source of "oy vey" (from oh woe /øɪ vøɪ/)

This is not a specifically Jewish accent, and not all L-English Jews (or even all Ultra-Orthodox Jews) speak it; however, a sizeable community of Ultra-Orthodox Jews speaks this accent.

  • KIT = ɪ
  • DRESS = ɛ
  • TRAP = BATH = a
  • PALM = ɑː
  • FOOT = STRUT = ʏ
  • LOT = CLOTH = THOUGHT = o
  • FLEECE = iː
  • FACE = ɛɪ~æɪ
  • PRICE = ɑɪ~ɒɪ
  • GOOSE = uː
  • GOAT = CHOICE = oɪ~øʏ
  • MOUTH = aʏ~aʊ
  • NEAR = FLEECE + ʀ
  • SQUARE = FACE + ʀ
  • NURSE = əʀ
  • START = TRAP + ʀ
  • NORTH = LOT + ʀ (the "horse" vowel)
  • FORCE = GOAT + ʀ (the "hoarse" vowel)
  • POOR = GOOSE + ʀ
  • CURE = juʀ
  • lettER = əʀ
  • commA = ə
  • happY = i
  • Mary [mɛɪʀi] ≠ merry [mɛʀi] ≠ marry [maʀi]
  • mirror [mɪʀəʀ] ≠ nearer [niʀəʀ]
  • hurry [hʏʀɪ] ≠ furry [fəʀɪ]
  • /w/ = [v]
  • /l/ is always light
  • /r/ = [ʀ~ʁ]
  • /s/ = Basque z
  • /θ/ = Basque s
  • /ð/ = [d]
  • Stops are unaspirated

[ol hu:mən bijənz əʀ boʀən fʀi: ən i:kwəl ɪn dɪgnɪti ən ʀɑɪts. ðɛɪ əʀ ɪndaʏd wið ʀi:zən ən konʃəns ən ʃʏd akt toʀds won ənʏðəʀ ɪn ə spɪʀɪt əv bʀʏðəχʏd]

The pronunciation of Hebrew words is similar to that in Yiddish:

  • Seder [ˈsɛɪdəʀ~ˈsɛɪdɛʀ]
  • Torah [ˈtoɪʀə~toɪˈʀo]
  • Shabbat [ʃaˈboθ̠~ˈʃabəθ̱]

A rhotic accent

Rhotic with R-colored vowels using uvular r

  • KIT = [ɪ],
  • DRESS = [ɛ] (but it gets raised before fricatives),
  • TRAP = [a] usually, /ɔ:/ before nasals
  • LOT merges with TRAP
  • THOUGHT = [uə]
  • GOAT = [oə]
  • FOOT = STRUT = [ɨ]
  • GOOSE = [y]
  • PRICE = [ei] before fricatives, [ae] otherwise
  • MOUTH = [ou] before fricatives, [ɑo] otherwise
  • FLEECE = Viby-i
  • FACE = [iɛ]
  • PALM = [a]

A pre-Grimm accent

Inspiration: Korean accent, British accents, New York accent

  • /f θ h hw/ = [pʰ tʰ h~x xw]
  • /p t k/ = unaspirated stops, ejective when word-final except after fricatives
  • /tʃ dʒ/ = [t͡ɕ d͡ʑ]
  • /v/ = [b~β]
  • /l/ = [l] (always clear L)
  • /r/ = [ɾ~ɹ]
  • /ð/ = [d~ð]
  • /ʃ/ = [sx~sʰ]
  • FLEECE = i:
  • FACE = e:
  • GOOSE = ü:
  • GOAT = o:~o̝:
  • PALM = BATH = a:
  • THOUGHT = NORTH = FORCE = ʌ:
  • CHOICE = oi
  • PRICE = aɪ
  • MOUTH = aʊ
  • KIT = i
  • DRESS = e
  • TRAP = ɛ
  • LOT = ʌ
  • FOOT/STRUT = u
  • NURSE = ɚ:
  • START = a:(ɹ)
  • SQUARE = e:ə(ɹ)
  • NEAR = i:ə(ɹ)
  • POOR = u:ə(ɹ)
  • CURE = ju:ə(ɹ)
  • lettER = commA = ə(ɹ)~ʌ̈(ɹ)

Yod-coalescence, with /tj dj θj sj/ = [t͡ɕ d͡ʑ t͡ɕʰ ɕ]

In broad accents: wu/wu:/wuə > u/u:/uə and ji/ji:/jiə > i/i:/iə; hence year/ear, yeast/east, swoon/soon are homophones

BATH [a:] occurs for L-Standard English /a/ usually where Korean commonly transcribes the English word as /a/. (The instances do not correspond to instances of BATH in RP.)

  • chance [t͡ɕa:ns]; but dance [dɛns], answer [ɛnsʌ̈]
  • plant [pla:ntʼ], Grant [gra:ntʼ]; but grant [grɛntʼ]
  • glass [gla:s], gas [ga:s]; but pass [pɛs], class [klɛs]
  • plastic [pla:stikʼ], last [la:st], master [ma:stʌ̈]
  • mask [ma:sk], flask [fla:sk]; but ask [ɛsk], task [tɛsk]
  • after [a:ftʌ̈], craft [kra:ft]
  • half [ha:pʰ]; but graph [grɛpʰ]
  • bath [ba:tʰ]; but math [mɛtʰ]

An "Old English" accent

  • CHOICE = œɪ
  • PRICE = ɑ:
  • MOUTH = æ:ɑ
  • PALM = æ:
  • FACE = æɪ
  • GOAT = e:o
  • THOUGHT = ɔ:
  • FLEECE = i:
  • GOOSE = u:
    • /ju:/ = y:
  • FERN = FIR = ør~yr (also MERRY and MIRROR)
  • FUR = ʊr (also HURRY)
  • NURSE, FORCE = e:or~ø:r
  • NORTH = ɔ:r
  • NEAR = CURE = iur~y:r
  • POOR = u:r
  • SQUARE = e:r
  • TRAP = ɑ, æɑ before /l r/ (also START and MARRY)
  • DRESS = ɛ, eo~œ before /l/
  • KIT = ɪ, ɪʊ~ʏ before /l/
  • LOT = ɔ
  • FOOT = STRUT = ʊ