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Ponish
| Ponish | |
|---|---|
| Eohwisc | |
| Pronunciation | [[IPA for Ponish|ɤ:iʃ]] |
| Created by | The Ramosian |
| Date | 2024 |
| Setting | Equestria |
| Native to | Equestria |
Early form | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Equestria |
Ponish (/ˈpoʊ.nɪʃ/ POH-nish, or /ˈpɔː.nɪʃ/, [ɤ:iʃ]) is a West Germanic language spoken by the Equestrians in in Equestria. It developed out of Middle Ponish around 400 CE.[1] Unlike Old Ponish, is is no mention of Ponish in the Friendship is Magic Series as most of the dialouge in the show is in English. Even with this limitation, it is a popular headcanon the the show itself is "dubbed" into English from Ponish. Around 50 million ponies speak Ponish worldwide.
Etymology
The autoglossonym of Ponish, Eohwisc, means 'pertaining to the ponies', the name comes from Old Ponish Eohwisċ, which the Proto-West-Germanic word *ehw, from earlier Proto-Germanic *ehwaz.
History
In-universe
The first records of Ponish, known as Old Ponish, evolved from a group of Anglo-Frisian dialects around what is modern day Manehattan. Middle Ponish began began in 100 CE just a few centuries after Luna's banishment to the moon. There, French and Latin Influenced the language, with many borrowings, mostly being for scientific terms. Modern Ponish arose buring 400 CE with the most notale sound change being w-umlaut[2]. Around 1500 CE[3]. Ponish split into 3 languages: Niosh, Havougish, and Wealdish. This split was primarily caused by the 3 pony species to seperate an isolate each other,
Out-of-character
Phonology
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ* | ||||||||||||||
| Plosive | p | b | t | d | k | ɡ | |||||||||||
| Affricate | tʃ | dʒ | |||||||||||||||
| Fricative | f | θ | s | ʃ | x | h | |||||||||||
| Approximant | Central | j | w | ||||||||||||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||||||||||||
| Trill | r | ||||||||||||||||
Grammar
Articles
Ponish, like most West Germanic languages, has both the definate and indefinate article. Like English, Ponish only has one form for both articles: ain for the indefinate and se for the definate.
Demonstratives
Nouns
Ponish grammar is almost typical of the grammar of Germanic languages in general. Nouns are conjucate by cases (nominative, accusative, genitive). Unlike Old Ponish, Ponish does not have gender.
Examples:
Declension paradigm in Ponish:
| Number | Case | a-stem | u-stem | o-stem | i-stem | r-stem |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | nom. | dag | luft | raid | saiw | brooþer |
| acc. | dag | luft | raida | saiw | brooþar | |
| gen. | dagas | lofto | raid | saiw | brooþur | |
| Plural | nom. | daga | liftiw | raida | saiwi | brooþar |
| acc. | daga | luftu | raida | saiwi | brooþar | |
| gen. | daga | liftiwa | raida | saiwja | brooþra |
Verbs
Ponish, like other Germanic lanuages, can be clessified into 2 main categories, being weak and strong.
Conjugation
Below, the weak verb luboon "to love" and the strong verb heolpan "to help" are conjugated.
| Strong verbs | Weak verbs | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present | Past | Present | Past | |
| ic | heolp | healp | luba | lubooda |
| þuu | heolpir | hulp | luboos | luboodes |
| hi/hja/hit | hulpid | healp | lubooþ | luboode |
| wi | heolpum | hulpum | luboom | luboodum |
| ii | heolpid | hulpud | lubooþ | luboodud |
| hii/hja | heolpand | hulpun | lubaaþ | luboodun |
Pronouns
| Number | Case | 1st person | 2st person | 3rd person | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | neuter | ||||
| Singular | nom. | ic | þuu | hi | hja | hit |
| acc. | mi | þi | hina | hjo | hit | |
| gen. | miin | þiin | hes | heo | hes | |
| Plural | nom. | wi | ii | hii | hja | hja |
| acc. | uus | aiw | hin | hjo | hja | |
| gen. | uuser | aiw | hea | hea | hea | |
Ajectives
Numerals
Verbs
Orthography
Ponish does not have an official in-universe orthography, For Equestria is not on Earth, therfore it is unlikely it uses Latin or a version of Germanic Runes. Any version of conscripts within Equestria are mostly inconsistant[4]. For meta purposes, the Ponish language uses a modified version of the Latin alphabet.
| IPA | [æ] | [b] | [k] | [d] | [e] | [f] | [g] | [h], [x] | [i] | [ɑi] | [j] | [l] | [m] | [n] | [ŋ] | [o] | [p] | [r] | [s] | [t] | [θ] | [u] | [w] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ponish | a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | ii | j | l | m | n | ng | o | p | r | s | t | þ | u | w |
| Futhark | ᚨ | ᛒ | ᚲ | ᛞ | ᛖ | ᚠ | ᚷ | ᚻ | ᛁ | ᛇ | ᛃ | ᛚ | ᛗ | ᚾ | ᛜ | ᛟ | ᛈ | ᚱ | ᛋ | ᛏ | ᚦ | ᚢ | ᚹ |
The spelling system, or orthography, of Ponish is complex, with phonemes represente by di or trigraphs. Ponish has not gone through a spelling reform.
Samples
Mare in the Moon
|
Ponish Se Mearhe in þan Maanan, myt fram ealden eohwisc tiiman. Ain wealfbull eohw hwaa winscide wealdan Eohwland, defete bii se Firisþingo Aileodi and cajje in þan maanan. Lejjendas sageeþ un se langemest dag þuusunjja jaar, se steorran waill hailpid in hesa fleoh, and hja waill sceaweeþ neahttiima eac. |
English |
Notes & References
- ^ Celestial Era (0 CE is during Luna's Banishment to the moon.
- ^ A spelling quirk of Ponish where a w-vowel combination causes umlaut to the vowel, ex. wi is pronounced /y/, aiw is prounounced /ʏ/, an wea is pronouned /wɞ/.
- ^ There is no exact date for this, since Hasbro has not sai a exact time skip frm G4 to G5.
- ^ the Alphabet of the Unicornsis an insctance which was introuced in the start of the show, way before Old Ponish was introduced in season 7, aroun this time it was assumed Ponish was a priori https://mlpforums.com/topic/45522-alphabet-of-the-unicorns/