Jugsnorsk

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Jugsnorsk
Ygranorska
Pronunciation[ˈyɡ.rɐ.ˌnor̥.kʰɐ]
Created byMelinoë
DateFebruary 23rd, 2026
Native toHúsnorsk republic
Altai mountain region
EthnicityJugsnorsk
Native speakers(L1) 400,000 (2018)
(L2) 20,000
Early forms
Standard form
Varhúsnorsk
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Regulated byThe Húsnorsk Academy (Unrecognized)
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Jugsnorsk (/jugz.norsk/; endonym: Ygranorska, [ˈyɡ.rɐ.ˌnor̥.kʰɐ]) is a dialect of Húsnorsk, or possibly a distinct but closely related language.

History

Middle Húsnorsk (1350AD~1600AD)

Common Húsnorsk (1600AD~1770AD)

In the early 1770's, a large exodus of Húsnorsk from Novgorod began, likely spurred on by the Russian plague, these fleeing families would move east, into Siberia (So-called "Jugra" by the Húsnorsk, from Russian Yugra). These Húsnorsk were once called "Plýggnorska" ("Fleeing Norse"), though this is a pejorative, and they are now called "Jugsnorsk" ("Yugra's Norse").

Modern Jugsnorsk (1850AD~Today)

Starting around 1880, Jugsnorsk developed its defining laudative and pejorative forms through -isti and -ki respectively, these suffixes were used so often that they developed into new forms of the noun.

Phonology

Labial Dental Alveolar Velar
Nasal m n
Stop Unvoiced p t k
Voiced b d g
Aspirated
Fricative Unvoiced f θ s x
Voiced ð
Approximant ʋ r², l j
  1. /b, d, g/ become /p, t, k/ next to voiceless stops and /s/, but not /f/, which becomes /ʋ/ next to these consonants.
  2. Realized as /t, p/ before /n, m/ (as in "ormj" /opmʲ/). Additionally, /rs/ may be realized as [tʰ] (or [r̥]).
  3. All geminates are realized as short in coda position (Thus "Plýgg" is /ˈplʏy̯ɡ/)


Stressed vowels
Front Back
Unround Round
Short Diph. Long Short Diph. Long Short Diph. Long
High i ɪi̯ y ʏy̯ u ʊu̯
Mid e e̞i̯ ø ø̞y̯ øː o o̞u̯
Low a ɐu̯
Unstressed vowels
Front Back
Unround Round
Short Diph. Long Short Diph. Long Short Diph. Long
High ɪ i ʏ y ʊ u
Mid ɛ e œ ø øː ɔ o
Low ɐ a

Within the "long" class is also overlongs that are exceedingly rare, occurring from Old Norse /VːN/, to Varhúsnorsk /Ṽː/, then modern /Vːː/.

/ɛ, ɔ/ also exist in stressed syllables as standalone sounds, but are rather rare, occuring from initial jV/wV assimilation (see "vatn"/"ǫtn" and "jaun"/"ęun"). There are also diphthongs formed from /Vi, Vu/ that aren't in the table, these occur from various sources.

Orthography

Acutes stand for diphthongs (old longs) and macrons stand for long vowels (new longs), there also exists vowels with graves standing for overlongs.

Many Old Norse conventions are still used in handwriting, especially by the highly literate, such as:

"v" as vend ("ꝩ") and a y with a tittle (looking like vend + dot, "ꝩ̇")
Long s is still used
Dotless i ("i" is also often used in place of "j")
Extensive use of ligatures
Shorthand (such as "⁊" and "ᛘ")
Use of a "zig-zag" for "er" and "ir" (such as "ꝩ͛a" for "vera"). Sometimes you may see it alone standing for "er", here it's larger, looking like the rune "ᛋ"
Noun endings are reduced significantly, the "-ʀ" (modern "-j") endings are often all reduced to a simple "j", often with a strike through it, like "ɟ".
Use of R rotunda ("ꝛ"), this often attaches to the preceding letter when it is a large curve (like in "oꝛ")

Runic script

Húsnorsk's defining script, "runic miniscule"

As both the Latin alphabet and the Runic alphabet are fully phonemic, there's a one-to-one correspondence between the two. This also means the Latin letters absent from Jugsnorsk should also have their rune equivalent discarded.

The "ʀ" rune acts for /j/

Jugsnorsk's overlongs should be written as macron + acute (like in Latin, eg. "ḗ"). Diacritic usage should closely follow Latin in Jugsnorsk, except with long consonants, which use an overring (eg. "b̊" for "bb")

This so-called "runic miniscule" is extremely unintuitive for most readers of any language, being written right to left, but also bottom to top (so written up the page, not down)

Morphology

Umlaut

Umlaut is a kind of nonconcatenative morphology defined by alternations in the stressed vowel.

All noun patterns exhibit umlaut, but some vowels are unaffected by certain kinds. Some of these have been "corrected" through regularization in Húsnorsk, though a lot of these are a result of false correlation, not actual correction. As with Old Norse "ríkjum" (dative plural of "ríki") becoming "rýkjum" through the dative plural getting analogized to have u-umlaut in all nominal patterns.

The general rules for Nordic umlaut are decently simple, going as follows:

U-umlaut rounds unround vowels (/i, e, ɛ, a/ > /y, ø, ø, ɔ/) and raises round vowels (/o/ > /u/).
I-umlaut raises unround vowels (/e, ɛ, a/ > /i, e, ɛ/) and fronts round vowels (/u, o/ > /y, ø/)
A-umlaut lowers high vowels (/i, u/ > /e, o/)

Some words exhibit both u-umlaut and i-umlaut, as with Proto-Germanic *garwijaną > Old Norse gøra.

Nouns

Húsnorsk, as with most other Germanic languages, has a distinction between strong and weak stem types. These types are divided into classes based on gender and ending, the ending is typically determined by the form in Proto-Germanic, which occasionally leads to potentially confusing stem names, such as "strong ō-stem" nouns, which now have a null ending, where Proto-Germanic had *-ō. The historic Proto-Germanic ending is what determines the modern umlaut patterns, due to this the stem name can help you figure out the type of umlaut the noun has, though, sometimes confusingly, a noun may exhibit a different kind of umlaut in some forms (see the strong u-stems).

Húsnorsk occasionally extends umlaut across patterns in a form of regularization or analogy, this can lead to irregular evolution but morphology that's easier to remember (note how umlaut was extended to almost all vowels)

Like many Nordic languages, Húsnorsk underwent the masculine/feminine merger that creates the modern common/neuter systems in the continental Nordic languages.

Strong nouns

Common patterns
Inflection of aulj - "hearth" (common a-stem)
neutral singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative aulj auljī aulé auléní
accusative aul aulī aula aulana
dative auli aulinū oulū oulunū
genitive aulis aulinūs oulūs oulunūs
laudative singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative aulsj aulsjī aulsé aulséní
accusative auls aulsī aulsa aulsana
dative aulsi aulsinū oulsū oulsunū
genitive aulsis aulsinūs oulsūs oulsunūs
pejorative singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative aulgj aulgjī aulgé aulgéní
accusative aulg aulgī aulga aulgana
dative aulgi aulginū oulgū oulgunū
genitive aulgis aulginūs oulgūs oulgunūs


Inflection of ǿ - "awl" (common i-stem)
neutral singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative ǿ ójī alé aléní
accusative ó alī ala alana
dative ali alinū olū olunū
genitive alis alinūs olūs olunūs
laudative singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative ósj ósjī alsé alséní
accusative ós alsī alsa alsana
dative alsi alsinū olsū olsunū
genitive alsis alsinūs olsūs olsunūs
pejorative singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative ógj ógjī algé algéní
accusative óg algī alga algana
dative algi alginū olgū olgunū
genitive algis alginūs olgūs olgunūs

As can be seen with this table, nouns can be irregular, especially when it consists of a vowel followed by l, as historic l-vocalization caused additional vowel alternations on top of umlaut.

Inflection of ósj - "(pagan) god" (common u-stem)
neutral singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative ósj ósjī ésí ésíní
accusative ós ósī ési ésina
dative ési ésinū ósū ósunū
genitive ésis ésinūs ósūs ósunūs
laudative singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative óssj óssjī éssé ésséní
accusative óss óssī éssa éssana
dative éssi éssinū óssū óssunū
genitive éssis éssinūs óssūs óssunūs
pejorative singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative ósgj ósgjī ésgé ésgéní
accusative ósg ósgī ésga ésgana
dative ésgi ésginū ósgū ósgunū
genitive ésgis ésginūs ósgūs ósgunūs


Inflection of najlj - "nail" (common consonant-stem)
neutral singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative najlj najljī nejl nejliní
accusative najl najlī nejl nejlina
dative najli najlinū nojlū nojlunū
genitive najlis najlinūs nojlūs nojlunūs
laudative singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative najlsj najlsjī nejls nejlsiní
accusative najls najlsī nejls nejlsina
dative najlsi najlsinū nojlsū nojlsunū
genitive najlsis najlsinūs nojlsūs nojlsunūs
pejorative singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative najlgj najlgjī nejlg nejlginí
accusative najlg najlgī nejlg nejlgina
dative najlgi najlginū nojlgū nojlgunū
genitive najlgis najlginūs nojlgūs nojlgunūs
Feminine patterns

The feminines have long since merged with the masculines to form the commons, this section will cover how each feminine pattern merged into the masculines.

feminine ō-stem:

Inflection of nasj - "nose" (common a-stem)
neutral singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative nasj nasjī nasé naséní
accusative nas nasī nasa nasana
dative nasi nasinū nosū nosunū
genitive nasis nasinūs nosūs nosunūs
laudative singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative nassj nassjī nassé nasséní
accusative nass nassī nassa nassana
dative nassi nassinū nossū nossunū
genitive nassis nassinūs nossūs nossunūs
pejorative singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative naskj naskjī naské naskéní
accusative nask naskī naska naskana
dative naski naskinū noskū noskunū
genitive naskis naskinūs noskūs noskunūs
Neuter patterns
Inflection of - "language" (neuter a-stem)
neutral singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative málit mólī
accusative málit mólī
dative máli málinū mólū mólunū
genitive mális málinūs mólūs mólunūs
laudative singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative mós málsit mós mólsī
accusative mós málsit mós mólsī
dative málsi málsinū mólsū mólsunū
genitive málsis málsinūs mólsūs mólsunūs
pejorative singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative móg málgit móg mólgī
accusative móg málgit móg mólgī
dative málgi málginū mólgū mólgunū
genitive málgis málginūs mólgūs mólgunūs
Inflection of ísladd - "ice land; (def. sg.) Iceland" (neuter a-stem)
neutral singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative ísladd ísladdit íslodd ísloddī
accusative ísladd ísladdit íslodd ísloddī
dative ísladdi ísladdinū ísloddū ísloddunū
genitive ísladdis ísladdinūs ísloddūs ísloddunūs
laudative singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative ísladds ísladdsit íslodds ísloddsī
accusative ísladds ísladdsit íslodds ísloddsī
dative ísladdsi ísladdsinū ísloddsū ísloddsunū
genitive ísladdsis ísladdsinūs ísloddsūs ísloddsunūs
pejorative singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative ísladdg ísladdgit ísloddg ísloddgī
accusative ísladdg ísladdgit ísloddg ísloddgī
dative ísladdgi ísladdginū ísloddgū ísloddgunū
genitive ísladdgis ísladdginūs ísloddgūs ísloddgunūs

forms where -g isn't followed by a vowel are occasionally seen as -gi

Verbs

Strong verbs

Strong verbs are characterized by ablaut in the past tense forms, rather than the dental suffix of the weak verbs.

Strong verbs have been falling out of use since the 17th century, and most verbs that once were strong are now weak, especially in Jugsnorsk, which is far more inclined to grammatical change than Nygadsnorsk.

An example of this is the verb "lýga".

Conjugation of lýga (weak)
non-finites active mediopassive
infinitive lýg-a lýg-ask
pr. part. lýg-addi lýg-addisk
pa. part. lýg-ðj lýg-tsk
indicative present past present past
singular lýg-u lýg-ðu lýg-usk lýg-ðusk
plural lýg-ū lýg-ðū lýg-ūsk lýg-ðūsk
subjunctive present past present past
singular lýg-i lýg-ði lýg-isk lýg-ðisk
plural lýg-ī lýg-ðī lýg-īsk lýg-ðīsk
imperative present present
singular lýg- lýg-sk
plural lýg-ið lýg-itsk
Class 1
Class 2
Class 3
Class 4
Class 5
Conjugation of geta (strong class 5)
non-finites active mediopassive
infinitive get-a get-ask
pr. part. get-addi get-addisk
pa. part. gát-tj gát-tsk
indicative present past present past
singular get- gát- get-sk gát-sk
plural get-ū gát-ū get-ūsk gát-ūsk
subjunctive present past present past
singular get-i gát-i get-isk gát-isk
plural get-ī gát-ī get-īsk gát-īsk
imperative present present
singular get- get-sk
plural get-ið get-itsk
Class 6
Class 7

Weak verbs

weak verbs have largely been leveled to one or two patterns, now called weak and j-weak. This first verb, bǿgja, is a j-weak.

Conjugation of bǿgja (weak)
non-finites active mediopassive
infinitive bǿg-ja bǿg-jask
pr. part. bǿg-jaddi bǿg-jaddisk
pa. part. bǿg-ðj bǿg-tsk
indicative present past present past
singular bǿg-ju bǿg-ðu bǿg-jusk bǿg-ðusk
plural bǿg-jū bǿg-ðū bǿg-jūsk bǿg-ðūsk
subjunctive present past present past
singular bǿg-i bǿg-ði bǿg-isk bǿg-ðisk
plural bǿg-ī bǿg-ðī bǿg-īsk bǿg-ðīsk
imperative present present
singular bǿg- bǿg-sk
plural bǿg-ið bǿg-itsk

This next verb, hava, is a plain weak.

Conjugation of hava (weak)
non-finites active mediopassive
infinitive hav-a hav-ask
pr. part. hav-addi hav-addisk
pa. part. hav-ðj hav-tsk
indicative present past present past
singular hav-u hav-ðu hav-usk hav-ðusk
plural hav-ū hav-ðū hav-ūsk hav-ðūsk
subjunctive present past present past
singular hav-i hav-ði hav-isk hav-ðisk
plural hav-ī hav-ðī hav-īsk hav-ðīsk
imperative present present
singular hav- hav-sk
plural hav-ið hav-itsk

Suppletive verbs

Jugsnorsk has a few suppletive verbs in which some forms were replaced by another verb's forms.

This first verb is the main copula.

Conjugation of véja (suppletive)
non-finites active mediopassive
infinitive véj-a
pr. part. véj-addi
pa. part. vé-ðj
indicative present past present past
singular é- vé-
plural éj-ū véj-ū
subjunctive present past present past
singular véj-i vé-ði
plural véj-ī vé-ðī
imperative present present
singular vé-
plural véj-ið
Conjugation of ǿja (suppletive)
non-finites active mediopassive
infinitive ǿj-a
pr. part. ǿj-addi
pa. part. ǿ-ðj
indicative present past present past
singular é- ǿ-
plural éj-ū ǿj-ū
subjunctive present past present past
singular ǿj-i ǿ-ði
plural ǿj-ī ǿ-ðī
imperative present present
singular ǿ-
plural ǿj-ið

Syntax

Jugsnorsk has relatively free word order, outside of requiring V2, allowing nouns to appear anywhere in the sentence as long as they're marked correctly.

These following examples will serve to illustrate sentence construction in Jugsnorsk. (subject in yellow, verb in blue, object in red).

mānpǿdī 1.500 The population was 1,500

In this example, the word order matches English relatively well, and we see "wą" ("was") in the second position.

In this next example, we see it break away from English order, with the verb still occupying V2 position.

árit 2000 mānpǿdī 1.500In 2000, the population was 1,500 (lit. The year 2000 was the population 1,500)

The prepositional phrase "árit 2000" (in green) counts as a single unit, thus the verb must come after 2000 rather than árit.

Unlike Icelandic, V2 order has no exceptions, as SV inversion isn't used for yes/no questions. In the following example, you'll see one method of question marking:

Ari havi sútīnAri is hungry (lit. Ari has hungry)

and as a question:

Ari havi sútīn?Is Ari hungry? (lit. Ari has hungry?)

Here you see the most common form of question, one without grammatical change, these use a rising vocal intonation as their marking (or a question mark in writing).

Another method is SO inversion, as in:

sútīn havi Ari?Is Ari hungry? (lit. Hungry has Ari?)

Something important you'll notice here is the use of "to have" where "to be" is used in other Germanic languages, this is a feature of Húsnorsk where permanent attributes use "to be" while temporary states use "to have", thus:

Ari véji sǿAri is happy (Ari is always happy)
Ari havi sǿAri is happy (Ari is happy right now)

While "hava" can generally only take a noun, when used this way, "hava" takes an adjective just like "vera". When both an adjective and a noun can be taken, there is a semantic difference between the two, so saying Ari havi sǿ is "Ari is happy", but saying Ari havi sǿd means she is possessing happiness, "having happiness" is roughly equivalent to saying "withholding/denying happiness".

This hava vs véja copula system is, in a way, similar to Spanish's two copulas.

Texts

Drømde mik en drøm i nat

The handwritten Latin Jugsnorsk text. The second displays extensive shortenings.
The Jugsnorsk text in runic miniscule.

Original (OEN):

Drømde mik en drøm i nat um : silki ok ærlik pæl

Jugsnorsk:

ęk drø̀ðu mik a drø̀s í nát ū : sýkis ok fýds
[ˌɛk ˈdrøːː.ðʊ ˌmik ɐ ˈdrøːːs i ˈnɐu̯t uː : ˈsʏy̯.kɪs ɔ ˈfʏy̯tʰ]
  1. "a" is a filler syllable to make it flow better, it has no semantic meaning.

English:

I dreamt a dream last night of : silk and fine fur.
literal: I dreamt me a dream last night about : silk and fine fur

UDHR Article 1

Original (English):

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Jugsnorsk:

ódmaðj er prǿsporīn ok ęun onnū virðiggi¹ ok rétti. meðj eru haft irki ok suvesti, ok meðj skulu gørt anna bróðurléki.
[ˈo̞u̯d.ˌmaðj ˈer ˈprø̞y̯.ˌpʰo.riːn ɔ ɛu̯n ˌon.nuː ˈʋir.ðɪɡ.ɡɪ¹ ɔ ˈre̞i̯t.tɪ ˈmeðj ˈe.rʊ xɐtʰ ˈir.kɪ ɔ ˈsu.ʋɛs.tɪ ɔ ˈmeðj kʰʊ.lɐ ˈɡørt ˈan.nɐ ˈbro̞u̯.ðʊr.ˌle̞i̯.kɪ]
  1. "virðiggi" also appears as "yrðiggi" [ˈyr.ðɪɡ.ɡɪ]

Literal translation:

Every human is free-born and the same to others, to value, and to rights. Humans will always have reason and conscience, and humans should (or "must") treat others to brotherhood.

Lexical comparison

  1. Not cognate
"spá" from Old Norse "spá", meaning "to foretell".