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Brittainese: Difference between revisions
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==Introduction== | ==Introduction== | ||
Brittainese is a language created by user Llwcybwy, heavily inspired by Ray Brown's fantastic but yet [http://www.carolandray.plus.com/BART/index.html unfinished conlang with the same name]. I cannot however claim that this is a continuation of the language, as my conlanger skills are as of now very lackluster as compared to his. Furthermore, some features of the language are, while in my opinion realistic, also influenced by personal taste, and thus breaking one of the rules set up for continuing the conlang. | Brittainese is a language created by user Llwcybwy, heavily inspired by Ray Brown's fantastic but yet [http://www.carolandray.plus.com/BART/index.html unfinished conlang with the same name]. I cannot however claim that this is a continuation of the language, as my conlanger skills are as of now very lackluster as compared to his. Furthermore, some features of the language are, while in my opinion realistic, also influenced by personal taste, and thus breaking one of the rules set up for continuing the conlang. | ||
The goal of the language is basically the same as that which was described by Brown: it is a study of what Latin would have evolved into in the Brittish Isles, meaning that the language is meant to be as realistic as possible. The world is essentially the same as ours however. | The goal of the language is basically the same as that which was described by Brown: it is a study of what Latin would have evolved into in the Brittish Isles, meaning that the language is meant to be as realistic as possible. The world is essentially the same as ours however. | ||
==Orthography== | |||
The Brittainese alphabet consists of 26 letters, six of which are vowels and twenty consonants. It uses diacritics to distinguish between sounds as well as to mark irregular stress, and contractions make use of the apostrophe to mark vowel omission. | |||
<center> | |||
{| class="wikitable" style="width: 50em; text-align: center; border-collapse:collapse;" | |||
! colspan="26" | Letters of the Avendonian alphabet | |||
|- | |||
| Aa || Bb || Cc || Dd || Ee || Ff || Gg || Hh || Ḥḥ || Ii || Jj || Ll || Mm || Nn || Oo || Pp || Qq || Rr || Ss || Tt || Uu || Vv || Ww || Xx || Yy || Zz | |||
|} | |||
</center> | |||
While not considered part of the alphabet, Ââ represents a unique sound in the language and is listed along with Aa in dictionaries (compare [[w:German_language|German]] ''Öö'', ''Üü''). | |||
Much like in [[w:French_orthography|French's alphabet]], it is possible to know how to pronounce any given written word, although it is often difficult to know how to write a spoken one. The rules governing this are however much simpler, and are given as follows: | |||
===Consonants=== | |||
# The letters 〈c〉 and 〈g〉 are pronounced /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/, respectively, if followed by 〈e〉 or 〈i〉. A word-final /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/ sound can be made by adding an 〈e〉 (which becomes silent) after 〈c〉 and 〈g〉 respectively. Example: [[Contionary:brace|bra'''ce''']]. | |||
# The [[w:digraph_(Orthography)|digraph]] 〈sc〉 before 〈i〉 and 〈e〉 makes the sound /ʃ/. Final /ʃ/ is written as detailed above. | |||
# The sequence with 〈c〉 and 〈g〉 and a [[w:front_vowel|front vowel]] is made using the digraphs 〈qu〉 and 〈gu〉 respectively. Before a non-front vowel, they represent the sounds /kw/ and /gw/. | |||
# 〈h〉 is silent, but is used for etymological purposes, as well as to create a hiatus between vowels. The sound /h/ is made by using 〈ḥ〉. | |||
# All consonants except 〈h〉 and 〈ḥ〉can be ''geminated'', that is written twice next to each other. They can only be geminated between vowels or word-finally. Some consonants or clusters of consonants have a different form of gemination. 〈c〉 is geminated 〈cque〉 word-finally (with silent 〈e〉), and 〈qu〉 is geminated 〈cqu〉 word-medially. | |||
# Some consonants are always geminated. These are /t͡ʃ/, /d͡ʒ/ and /ʃ/. | |||
# 〈s〉 is pronounced /z/ between vowels and sonorants (〈r〉, 〈n〉, 〈m〉 and 〈l〉), and word finally. In all other situations, it is pronounced /s/. 〈ss〉 is always pronounced as /s/, but may not be written word-initially or next to a consonant as stated above. In situations where neither 〈s〉 nor 〈ss〉 can be used to represent /s/, 〈z〉 is used. It represents /z/ where 〈s〉 represents /s/. | |||
===Vowels=== | |||
Stressed vowels in most dialects of Brittainese can be either long or short, which is indirectly shown in the orthography as follows. Note at 'C' represents a single consonant, 'V' a vowel, 'CC' either a consonant cluster or a consonant geminate and '#' marks a word boundary. | |||
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" | |||
|+ Realisation of vowels | |||
|- | |||
! Letter\Syllable | |||
! V | |||
! VC# | |||
! VC or VCC# | |||
! Secondary stress | |||
! Unstressed | |||
|- | |||
! '''''a''''' | |||
|| /aː/ || /aː/ || /a/ || /ɐ/ || /ə/ | |||
|- | |||
! '''''â''''' | |||
|| -- || -- || /ɑ/ || -- || -- | |||
|- | |||
! '''''e''''' | |||
|| /eː/ || /ɛː/ || /ɛ/ || /ɛ/ || /ə/ | |||
|- | |||
! '''''i,y,u''''' | |||
|| /iː/ || /iː/ || /i/ || /i/ || /i/ | |||
|- | |||
! '''''o''''' | |||
|| /oː/ || /oː/ || /ɔ/ || /u/ || /u/ | |||
|- | |||
! colspan="6" | '''Digraphs''' | |||
|- | |||
! '''''ai''''' | |||
|| /ɛː/ || /ɛː/ || /ɛː/ || /ɐi/ || /əi/ | |||
|- | |||
! '''''ei''''' | |||
|| /eː/ || /eː/ || /eː/ || /ɛi/ || /əi/ | |||
|- | |||
! '''''ou''''' | |||
|| /uː/ || /uː/ || /u/ || /u/ || /u/ | |||
|- | |||
! '''''oi''''' | |||
|| /ui/ || /ui/ || /ui/ || /ui/ || /ui/ | |||
|- | |||
! '''''io,iu''''' | |||
|| /io/ || /io/ || /io/ || /io/ || /io/ | |||
|- | |||
! '''''au''''' | |||
|| /ɔː/ || /ɔː/ || /ɔː/ || /ɐu/ || /əu/ | |||
|- | |||
! '''''eu''''' | |||
|| /eu/ || /eu/ || /eu/ || /ɛu/ || /əu/ | |||
|- | |||
! colspan="6" | '''Diacritics''' | |||
|- | |||
!◌́ | |||
|colspan="5" | Irregularly stressed vowel (not last full vowel, i.e. some loan words). | |||
|- | |||
!◌̀ | |||
|colspan="5" | Pronounciation of accented diphthong as diphthong. | |||
|} | |||
==Phonology== | ==Phonology== | ||
The Brittainese phonology differs from all modern Romance languages, through the retention of archaisms, innovation and foreign influence. It has retained the [[w:Proto-West-Romance|Proto West Romance]] voiced dental fricative /ð/ and has developed its allophonic lengthening of vowels a phonemic distinction of length, a distinction rare in modern Romance Languages. | |||
===Consonants=== | ===Consonants=== | ||
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" | {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" | ||