Westlondic

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Westlondic, Westlondish
Westlondsch, Wesslonnsch
Progress: 91%
Type
Mixed
Alignment
Nominative-Accusative
Head direction
Initial Mixed Final
Primary word order
Subject-verb-object
Tonal
Yes
Declensions
No
Conjugations
Yes
Genders
2
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice Mood
Person Number
Tense Aspect


General informations

Westlondschspråkig jebiid - Westlondic-speaking area

Westlondic is an Oxman dialect, a West-Germanic language spoken in the Duché du Héron (= Shire of Le Héron), a shire that corresponds to the eastern region of Seine-Marirtime in France. This language has evolved from the Old Oxman dialect spoken in Westlands (Westlondes in Oxman, Westlonden or Wesslonnen in Westlondic). Old Oxman which evolved from Old Auregan which is the first recorded form of Auregan language. Auregan language area corresponds to the "Vexin Normand" (a region situated just south to "Duché du héron"). Westlondic is a West-Germanic language that is strongly linked to Oxman, Dutch, Modern English, Low German and Modern German.

Here is a table which sums up the main characteristics of this language:

Gender Cases Numbers Tenses Persons Moods Voices Aspects
Verb No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Nouns Yes No Yes No No No No No
Adjectives No No Yes No No No No No
Numbers No No No No No No No No
Participles No No Yes No No No Yes No
Adverb No No No No No No No No
Pronouns Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No
Adpositions Yes No Yes No No No No No
Article Yes Yes Yes No No No No No
Particle No No No No No No No No


Phonology

Alphabet

Oxman alphabet uses letters from Latin alphabet and contains 25 characters:

Letters Pronunciation Further information
a [a] short 'a'
b [b] like in English
ch [tʃ] like the English 'ch' in 'church'
d [d] like in English
e [ɛ] / [e:] in plural cluster -es it is not pronounced
f [f] like in English
g [g] it is always pronunced as in the English word "get"
h [h] like in English
i [ɪ] short 'i'
j [j] like English 'y'
k [k] like in English
l [l] like in English
m [m] like in English
n [n] like in English
o [ɔ] like in English
p [p] like in English
q [k] rare, Westlondic prefers to use kw istead of qu in Latin words
r [r] trilled just as in Dutch or in Italian
s [s] voiceless
t [t] like in English
u [œ] short 'u' in 'but'
v [v] like in English
w [ʋ] between 'v' and 'w', just as in Dutch
y [j] rare
z [z] voiced

Consonantic phonemes

Oxman language has the following consonantic phonemes:

Bilabial Labio-dental Dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Palatal Labio-Velar Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive p b t d k g
Fricative f v θ ð s z ʃ ç χ h
Affricate ts dz tʃ dʒ
Approximant r ɹ j w
Lateral l

Vocalic phonemes

Oxman shows the following vowels:

Phonemes Short Long
Front Back Front Back
Closed ɪ ʊ i: y: u:
Mid-closed e: o:
Mid-open ɛ ɔ
Open a ɑ:

Diphthongs and digraphs

Oxman has also twenty diphthongs, that is clusters of two vowels pronounced with a single emission of air. These diphthongs are:

Diphthongs Pronunciation
ao [ɑ:ʊ]
ee [e:ɪ]
eo [e:ʊ]

Stress

The position of stress in this language is quite regular, because it falls on the root and thus there are few rules to observe:

  • In substantives (and in adjectives and adverbs) the stress generally falls on the first syllable, but if they are compound nouns / adjectives, formed by prefix + noun / adjective, the stress falls on the root syllable of the noun / adjective. In compounds which are formed by noun / adjective + noun / adjective, the various words are read as if they were written separately;
  • In verbs the stress falls always on the root, even if they are compounds, ex.: jemâken, "to make up", is read as [ə'ma:kə].


Grammar

Nouns, gender and number

Oxman language has got only two genders: common gender and neuter gender. The previously masculine and feminine words have merged into the common gender, whereas neuter words have remained neuter, even if in some cases there has been a gender switch.

Nouns can be both singular (denoting just one object) and plural (denoting more than one object). The formation of plural is simple, because there is only one ways to form it:

  • All nouns take -es suffix (-s if the nouns ends with 'r' or 'l'), the <e> in this suffix is generally not pronounced;

However a few nouns show irregular endings.


Articles

Two kinds of article exist in Westlondic: indefinite and definite article.

The indefinite article has got no plural form and the singular one is the same for all the genders: e, en. This article is used to talk about things, facts, beings that are introduces for the first time into the conversation, that is we use the indefinite article to talk about new and not known informations, to talk about undetermined informations.

The definite article is de, die (dii, di) for common nouns and for all genders at plural forms, but for singular neuter it is dat. The definite article is used to talk about well known things, facts, beings instead.

Adjectives

The adjectives always precede the noun to whom they refer. Adjectives take a single -e ending when the noun it refers to is common, or at plural form. Singular neuter nouns don't cause endings on the adjectives.

Strong singular Strong plural / Weak Meaning
good gôde good
aod aode (also aowe) old
jung junge young
rood rode red
lonc longe long
heet hete hot

Comparative

The higher degree comparative is formed with the suffix '-er'. The second term of comparation is introduced by donn and is in the same case of the first, ex.:

  • E jebaow högher donn e treew - A building higher than a tree.

Just like in English and somtimes in Dutch, long adjectives form their comparative by adding the word 'meer' before the adjective. It corresponds to the 'more' formation in English.


Adjectives with an irregular higher degree comparative

Some adjectives have got an irregular form of higher degree comparative:

Positive Strong comparative Weak comparative
good beter betere
üvel (bad) wirre wirre
üvel (inferior) sommer (rare) sommere (rare)
lüttel småller smållere
wenig minner minnere
aod eoder eodere
junc, jung jünger jüngere
stronc (strict) strönger ströngere
lonc lönger löngere
föör (fore) förmer förmere
ver, verr, vern (far) verder verdere
monig/michel (many, much) meer mêre

Superlative

The superlative degree is formed with the suffix '-st/-est' (some irregular adjectives form it with '-st').

  • De schöönste bloom in den werlt - The most beautiful flower in the world.


Adjectives with an irregular superlative

The same adjectives that have an irregular higher degree comparative have got also an irregular superlative form:

Positive Strong superlative Weak superlative
good bes, betst beste, betste
üvel (bad) wirst wirste
üvel (inferior) sommst (rare) sommste (rare)
lüttol smållst smållste
wenig minnst, mindst minnste, mindste
aod eodst eodste
junc jüngst jüngste
ver, verr, vern verrst, verdst verrste, verdste
stronc ströngst ströngste
lonc löngst löngste
föör förmst förmste
monig/michel (many, much) meest meeste

Numerals

Numerals don't inflect. Here are the numerals from 0 to 100:

Number Cardinal Ordinal
0 nieght -
1 een eerst (time), fürst (place)
2 twee, two efter, tweede
3 drie, drii dirde, dridde
4 fier fierde
5 fiif fifte
6 sex sexte
7 seven sevende
8 oght oghtte
9 nejen nejende
10 teen tende
11 elve(n) elfte
12 twölf twölfte
13 dirten, driten dirtende
14 fierten fiertende
15 fiften fiftende
16 sexten sextende
17 seventen seventende
18 oghtten oghttende
19 nejenten nejentende
20 twintig twintigste
21 een-onn-twintig een-onn-twintigste
22 twee-onn-twintig twee-onn-twintigste
30 dirtig dirtigste
40 fiertig fiertigste
50 fiftig fiftigste
60 sextig sextigste
70 seventig seventigste
80 toghttig toghttigste
90 nejentig nejentigste
100 hunderd, hunnerd hunderdste

Personal pronouns

Case 1st person
Singular Plural
Subject ich wie, wii
Object 1 mie uus
Object 2 mie uus
Possessive miinn mien uuzer, uure
Case 2nd person
Singular Plural
Subject du jie
Object 1 di(e), dii jiw
Object 2 di(e), dii jiw
Possessive diin, dien jiire, jire
Case 3rd person
Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
Subject hii, hi(e) sii, si(e) et, het hee
Object 1 hin, him** sii, hir** him, hit** hee, heen**
Object 2 him hir et heen
Genitive siin, sien, (h)iss hir siin, sien, (h)iss heere
  • Dialectal or archaic forms.
    • Common errors, often found in vulgar language

Verbs

Inflections

Here are some very important verbs, their auxiliary verb for compound tenses and their meaning:

Infinitive 1st person 2nd person 3rd person plural persons singular preterit plural preterit past participle Auxiliary Meaning
hebben hebb hast hat hebbt had hadden jehafd hebben to have
wezen bi, biin, bien best is, es sinn, senn was wären jeweest, jewezen wezen to be
doon doo deest deet doot deed deden jedoon, jedåån hebben to do
gåån gåå geest geet gååt iide, jinc iiden, jingen jegåån wezen to go
våren våår veerst veert våårt voor vôren jevåren wezen to go
flêje, flieje fleej, fliej fleejst, fliejst fleejt, fliejt fleejt, fliejt flooj flôjen jeflôjen wezen to fly
ziin, zien zii ziist ziit ziit zåj zåjen jeziin hebben to see
lejjen lej lejst lejt lejt leide leiden jeleid hebben to lay
möten muut muust muut mööt(t) mööste möösten hebben to may, must
komen koom küümst küümt koomt kwam kwamen jekomen wezen to come
künnen kann kannst kann künnt küüde küden jeküüd hebben to can
sejje sej sejst, sajst sejt, sajt sejt seide seiden jeseid hebbe to say
fortellen fortell fortellst fortellt fortellt fortellde fortellden fortelld hebben to tell
witen weet weest weet witt wisse wissen jewiten hebben to know
knåwen knåw knewst knewth knåweth kniew kniewen jeknowen hebben to recognise
willen will willt, willst will willt wöllde wöllden jewilld hebben to want to
schüllen schall schallt, schallst schall schüllt schöllde schöllden hebben to shall, must
sterven sterf stirfst stirfth sterft storf storven jestorven wezen to die
måken mååk mååkst mååkt mååkt mååkte mååkten jemååkt hebben to make
êten eet itst itt eet åt åten jeëten hebben to eat
müjje maj majst, maght maj müjt moghte moghten — (jemoght) hebben to may
haoden haod heodst heodth haodeth heeod heeoden jehaoden, gehaoden hebben to hold
wirchen wirch wirchst wircht wircht wroghte wroghten jewroght, gewrocht hebben to work

Indefinites

Indefinites give us incomplete informations, because they don't define the precise quantity or the identity:

Indefinite Meaning
iemann somebody
ieeen someone
evending something/anything
evenwær somewhere
neaman nobody
newær nowhere
nene (also neëne) none
neding nothing
enyman anybody
enyene anyone
enyding anything
enywær anywhere
theyene the one (who)
thatean that one (which)
elc each
all all
othor other