Definite articles
| Number |
Masculine |
Feminine |
Neuter
|
| Singular
|
Le |
La |
Leu
|
| Plural
|
Les |
Las |
Leuw
|
Nouns
Nouns are gendered and usually very regular. Following is their declension between cases.
Masculine noun declension in Rhemeican
| Case |
Singular |
Plural
|
| Nominative |
Le lingweu |
Les lingweus
|
| Genitive |
De lingwes |
Des lingweces
|
Geographic Distribution and Demographics
Grekelin today has about 50 thousand speakers, spread out all across Central Europe. Out of them, 28.000 lived in Hungary, another 16.500 live in Serbia or Greece, and 15.500 live in Slovakia or Ukraine (Carpathia). It forms the majority language in villages of North Banat and some spread out parts of Slovakia and Ukraine. It forms a significant language in Hungary and is also spoken in Greece, primarily from learners. Generally, its speakers are considered of Greek descent or natives of the land they live in, adopting Grekelin as their language. The populations of Serbia and Slovakia speak the Slavic dialect whereas the Hungarian and Greek populations speak the Standard dialect.
Stress
Grekelin does not have any rules on the stress placement. The stress may go on any position unless the final vowel is doubled*, where the stress is automatically passed there.
The standard Grekelin dialect makes stressed syllables have longer length, a remnant of the Classical Greek vowel length feature. Slavic Grekelin instead makes all the phonemes have the same length.
Doubled vowels are largely extinct in Modern Grekelin, as oo for example would become olo.
Words
Conversation
| English (Egzlezikin) |
Grekelin (Grekelenikin) |
Pronunciation (IPA)
|
| Yes |
Ne |
/nɛ/
|
| No |
u |
/u/
|
| Hello! |
Jzoworzso! (Formal) / Gya! (Informal) |
/'d͡ʒoːβor̩ʐo/ /ɟʲɑː/
|
| Good morning! |
Jo regzetti! |
/d͡ʒoː r̩ɛ'ɟkʰɛːti/
|
| Good night! |
Jo niktra! |
/d͡ʒoː njk'tr̩ɑː/
|
| Have a nice day! |
Eis jodila sei! |
/jis 'd͡ʒoːdjlɑ si/
|
| Goodbye! |
Wisontlataszra |
/visontɭa'tɑːʃr̩a/
|
| Thank you! |
Jzommo! |
/ˈd͡ʒomo/
|
| Who? |
Pkios? |
/pkjoːs/
|
| What? |
Ti? |
/ti/
|
| When? |
Ponte? |
/ˈpo.ntɛ/
|
| Where? |
Pe? |
/pɛ/
|
| How? |
Posz? |
/ˈpoʃ/
|
| Why |
Jzatti? |
/'d͡ʒati/
|
| Again |
Uyra |
/ujˈrɑ/
|
| What is your name? |
Ti enta a noma sei? / Posz ˈen.tα a ˈno.ma sei? (Informal) |
/ti ˈɛnta ɑ ˈno.mɑ si/
|
| My name is... |
A noma mei enta ...' |
/ɑ ˈno.ma mi ˈenˌtα/
|
| Do you speak English? |
Relalite a egzlezikin? |
/rɛ.ɫɑˈɫ̩ita ɑ ɛɟkʱˈɫɛ.zikiŋ/
|
| I do not understand Grekelin. |
U njoo a gnujza Grekelenikin. |
/u ɲoː ɑ ˈɡnud͡ʒɑ ɡrɛˈkɛ.ɫɛnikiŋ/
|
| Help me! |
Woittya! |
/ˈvoˈitʲɑ/
|
| How much is it? |
Poszo enta? |
/ˈpoʃo ˈɛn.tɑ/
|
| The study of Grekelin sharpens the mind. |
Mattkiszi a Grekelenikibii peia a nu kowtoerta. |
/'matkisi grːɛkɛˈlɛ.nikibiː pjɑ α nu kovtoˈɛr.ta/
|
| Where are you from? |
Pe ente ecs szy? |
/pɛ ˈɛnte ɛt͡s ʃi/
|
Dialects
Grekelin has three dialects, depending on where each is or was spoken.
Slavic
The Slavic ("Dialekti Slawin", "/djɑˈɫɛ.kti sɫɑvin/" or "/diaˈɫʲekta sɫɑvʲin/") dialect can be distinguished by some certain features that aren't present in Standard Grekelin:
- Skipping of the verb "to be" (enta) in the present tense (Dawto esta egy wlemini -> Dawto egy wlemini), if the subject can be assumed.
- The letter "u" represents the /ɨ/ sound instead of the /u/ one, when unstressed.
- Borrow of Slavic words instead of using Grekelin ones (A karka -> A sztulla).
- Preserving the dative case (Eis a mira -> A mirajdu) (NOTE: The dative case fixes the stress on the last syllable, which must be an u).
The Slavic dialect is spoken fluently in the Vojvodina region of Serbia, where it is flourishing as a local language. It is also spoken by a tiny community living in Slovakia.
Urlogrockae
The Urlogrockae ("Urlegrekelin" dialect is the one used as the standard language. It's closer to Hungarian when it comes to phonetics but closer to Greek when it comes to orthography. Key features of this dialect, compared to the Slavic one and mainly to (Medieval) Greek are:
- Skipping the final vowel in pronounciation, if it's a short one (y or i).
- "E" does not use the Proto-Grekelin "/eː/" sound but the Urlogrok "/ε/".
- /k/ has replaced /s/ in many grammatical rules: Greek "Τους λέοντες" vs Grekelin "E keleontek".
- Higher effect of soft and hard Tsitakismos (/j/, /i/ become /d͡ʒ/, /k/ becomes /t͡s/, etc), similar to multiple Greek dialects.
- Rarely, voiced consonants become voiceless when unstressed
Western (Extinct)
A more archaic and richer dialect is Western Grekelin. While not as diversified as the Slavic dialect, it remains a very interesting dialect. Some features include:
- /o/ becomes /u/ when unstressed
- Softening of /s/ and /k/ into /ʃ/ and /x/ respectively
- Preservation of the final /s/ (Which was lost in the other dialects) as a softer /ʃ/, except for the plural: Standard /oˈr̩ɑˑnɑ/ (αυράνα) and Western /oˈr̩ɑˑɳoʃ/ (αυράνοs)
- Preservation of the dative case (Different from the one in Slavic Grekelin). The dative case of this dialect remains from Attic Greek whereas Slavic Grekelin invented it due to excessive Slavic influence.
This dialect went extinct in the 18th century, being replaced by Standard Grekelin.
Example texts
Basic sentence
English
I would like a coffee and biscuits, thank you.
Grekelin
(Go) tilko egy kave kia kebiszkotek, jzommo.
Lord's prayer
- Padre moi, para arte in paradiso
- scia agiasire toi nome
- scia
- in repatismy wasiley sei
- in pissi thilkin sei
- in gzea as enta eis ourana.
- Dogze kemek a jomi eisdilii
- kia bojsasze kearmatek kemek
- as kebojsaszomek kemek kedavtek p' kearmatek dimeksz
- kia haytasze kemek u eis jsabitasz
- ma lytrosze kemek ejs roszzi
- Amin.
|
- Our Father, who art in heaven,
- hallowed be thy name;
- thy kingdom come,
- thy will be done
- on earth as it is in heaven.
- Give us this day our daily bread,
- and forgive us our sins,
- as we forgive those who sin against us;
- and lead us not into temptation,
- but deliver us from evil.
- Amen.
|
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