Fjæmsk

Updated 8/10/2013

Fjæmsk /fjɛmʃ/, (Femmish in English, or to give its full name, det fjæmsk språget), is an ongoing and developing artlang project first created by Owen Fish in September 2012. The language is based on the Scandinavian languages with a fictitious assumption that it was heavily influenced throughout its history by German and to some degree by Old Prussian. It is spoken by inhabitants of the Kingdom of Femland (Kongsreiket Fjæmøy), which is an island-nation located in the eastern Baltic Sea off the coast of Poland. Femland itself is a conworld project. At this time, the lexicon consists of around 3500 words with the potential for many more easily created through derivational means. The grammar at this stage is well-documented and based equally on Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish with some German.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why are you creating a language which is pretty much reglossed Scandinavian?

A: For the purposes of giving my conworld a language, I felt a natural-language approach was needed.

Q: How will Fjæmsk be different from say, Danish?

A: I am not a linguistics academic but by borrowing additional vocabulary from various dialects of Scandinavian as well as from Prussian and German, I hope to fulfill the intention that the language will show some deviation from standard Scandinavian but will, at the same time, look like a realistic language-relative of the region.

Q: What is your intention for this language?

A: Immediately, I plan to use this language to give realism and color to my conworld project, Fjæmøy, an alternate-history world. I also have a some short-stories I wrote set in Denmark. I want to develop the main character and write new stories but I want to have more control over the location of where the stories take place. The idea of having a tiny kingdom near Scandinavia/Poland gives me the option of bending the rules for my stories and as a conlanger, it seemed appropriate to be able to include language in my stories. I don't know how much Fjæmsk will feature in the stories but I want something more than just a "naming language" for the setting.

Q: What about native Scandinavians? Are you concerned they will take exception to what you're doing?

A: On the contrary; I am not a speaker of any Scandinavian language so I will accept all comments and criticisms and hopefully enough of them will be positive to help me develop this language further.