Rienench

Rienench (Rienenche)
Spoken in:	Bavaria Helvetia  EU  FR  IT  SX
Total speakers:	39.1 million
Language family:	Indo-European  Italic   Romance    Northern Romance     Rienench
Extra information
Author:	Peter Collier | ✎

Rienench (Rienenche, /rɪːnɛnxə/) is a Northern Romance language spoken in Bavaria and Helvetia.

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Geographic Distribution

The Romance languages in Europe

Geographic distribution of the dialects of Rienench

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History

Rienench is descended from the Latin of the Roman Empire, as are languages such as French, Italian, and Romanian. Its development was also influenced by the earlier Celtic and Teutonic languages of the Roman provinces of Germania Cisrhenania and Germania Transrhenania, and by the languages of the post-Roman Teutonic invaders.

The earliest beginnings of the northern dialects are dated to the founding of Roman settlements following Julius Ceasar's invasion in 57 BCE, during the Gallic Wars, of what would later become Germania Cisrhenania. Subsequent expansion of the Empire to the River Elbe during the reign of Augustus led to the widespread entrenchment of the Roman vernacular throughout the two provinces, although less so in the north, such that today the Harz and Sudeten mountain ranges form the approximate boundary between the Romance languages to the south and west and the Teutonic and Slavic langugaes to the north and east.

The history of Rienench as separate language from other Romance languages begins in the early Middle Ages with the Northern Romance Sound Shift. Old Rienench, Middle Rienench and Early Modern Rienench span the duration of the Holy Roman Empire. The 19th and 20th centuries saw the rise of Standard Rienench and a decrease of dialectal variety.

Proto-Northern Romance (ca. 50 BCE - 500 CE)

Initial linguistic developments parallel those of the other Vulgar Latin dialects, with some local peculiarities most likely due to the substantial teutonic substrate (such as the preservation of the distinction between long and short vowels). A significant linguistic development from about 200 CE is the shift in stress to the word stem, leading to a high degree of vowel syncope in final syllables. A change which marks separation of Northern Romance group from the other Vulgar Latin dialects.

Phonological Development

/m/ > Ø | _ #

• Exception: monosyllablic words

/ns/ > /s/
/b/ > /β/

• Exceptions: /bb/, #_ , /m/_

/d/ > /ð/

• Exceptions: /dd/, #_ , /n/_

/g/ > /ɣ/

• Exceptions: /gg/, /ŋ/_

/f/ > /θ/

• Exceptions: #_/l/, [C]_/l/

/pʰ/ > /φ/
/tʰ/ > /θ/
/pt/ > /ft/
/kt/ > /xt/
/ks/ > /sk/
/i/ > /j/ | [V]._, _.[V]
/e/ > /j/ | [V]._, _.[V]
[V]/ŋx/ > [Vː]/x/
/e/ > /i/ | _$/i/, _$/j/, _[N][C]
/u/ > /o/ | _$/aː/, _$/eː/, _$/oː/, _$/øː/

• Exceptions: _[N][C], _[Vː], or if followed by a consonant cluster including /j/ or /i/.

/y/ > /ø/ | _$/a/, _$/e/, _$/o/, _$/ø/

• Exceptions: _[N][C], _[Vː], or if followed by a consonant cluster including /j/ or /i/.

/i/ > /e/ | _$/a/, _$/e/, _$/o/, _$/ø/

• Exceptions: _[N][C], _[Vː], or if followed by a consonant cluster including /j/ or /i/.

/φ/ > /β/

• Exceptions: #_, _/t/, _/s/, stress in the preceeding syllable

/θ/ > /ð/

• Exceptions: #_, stress in the preceeding syllable

/x/ > /ɣ/

• Exceptions: #_, _/t/, _/s/, stress in the preceeding syllable

/s/ > /z/

• Exceptions: #_, _/p/, _/t/, _/k/, _/s/, stress in the preceeding syllable

/x/ > /h/ | #_[V], [V]_[V]

Stress moves to word stem in all instances.

/ej/ > /ejj/ > /eij/
/ew/ > /eww/ > /euw/
/aww/ > /ouw/
/m/ > /n/ | _#
/n/ > Ø | _#

• Exception: Monosyllabic words

/k/[V] > /k/ | _/l/, _/r/
/x/[V] > /x/ | _/l/, _/r/
/ei/ > /i:/

Words with 3 or more syllables:

/p/[N]/a/ > /ap/[N]Ø | _#

/t/[N]/a/ > /at/[N]Ø | _#

/k/[N]/a/ > /ak/[N]Ø | _#

/φ/[N]/a/ > /aφ/[N]Ø | _#

/f/[N]/a/ > /af/[N]Ø | _#

/θ/[N]/a/ > /aθ/[N]Ø | _#

/x/[N]/a/ > /ax/[N]Ø | _#

/pla/, /pra/ > /apl/, /apr/Ø | _#

/tla/, /tra/ > /atl/, /atr/Ø | _#

/kla/, /kra/ > /akl/, /akr/Ø | _#

/φla/, /φra/ > /aφl/, /aφr/Ø | _#

/fla/, /fra/ > /afl/, /afr/Ø | _#

/θla/, /θra/ > /aθl/, /aθr/Ø | _#

/xla/, /xra/ > /axl/, /axr/Ø | _#

[V] > Ø | _#

• Exception: [Vː]

Words with 2 syllables:

/p/[N]/a/ > /ap/[N]Ø | _#

/t/[N]/a/ > /at/[N]Ø | _#

/k/[N]/a/ > /ak/[N]Ø | _#

/φ/[N]/a/ > /aφ/[N]Ø | _#

/f/[N]/a/ > /af/[N]Ø | _#

/θ/[N]/a/ > /aθ/[N]Ø | _#

/x/[N]/a/ > /ax/[N]Ø | _#

/pla/, /pra/ > /apl/, /apr/Ø | _#

/tla/, /tra/ > /atl/, /atr/Ø | _#

/kla/, /kra/ > /akl/, /akr/Ø | _#

/φla/, /φra/ > /aφl/, /aφr/Ø | _#

/fla/, /fra/ > /afl/, /afr/Ø | _#

/θla/, /θra/ > /aθl/, /aθr/Ø | _#

/xla/, /xra/ > /axl/, /axr/Ø | _#

/a/, /e/ > Ø | _#

/i/, /u/ > Ø | _#

• Exception: if first syllable has short [V] followed by a single [C].
  

/oː/ > /u/ | $_$#
[Vː] > [V] | $_$#

• Exception: /oː/ (see above)

/rh/ > /rah/ | interior $
/lh/ > /lah/ | interior $
/rw/ > /raw/ | interior $
/lw/ > /law/ | interior $
/sw/ > /saw/ | interior $
/ai/ > /eː/ | _#, _/r/, _/h/, _/w/
/au/ > /oː/ | _/h/, _/t/, _/d/, _/s/, _/∫/, _/n/, _/r/, _/l/
/ai/ > /ei/
/au/ > /ou/
/eu/ > /y:/ | _/p/, _/b/, _/m/, _/g/, _/f/, _/β/, _/ɣ/, _/ŋ/, _$/i/, _$/j/, _$/u/
/eu/ > /eo/
/z/ > Ø | _#
/z/ > /r/ | interior $
[C]/j/ > [CC]Ø | [V]_

• Exception: /r/, [Vː]_

/p/ > /pp/ | _/r/, _/l/
/t/ > /tt/ | _/r/, _/l/
/p/ > /kk/ | _/r/, _/l/
/ßj/ > /bb/
/ðj/ > /dd/
/ɣ/ > /gg/
/ɣ/ > /g/ | #_
/ð/ > /d/

Old Rienench (ca. 500 - 1050 CE)

The Northern Romance Sound Shift takes place in three stages beginning in the late 5th / early 6th century, drastically reordering the consonant system of Northern Romance.

The earliest testimonies of Old Rienench are from scattered 6th century inscriptions, especially in Rhine Franconian, the earliest glosses date to the 8th century and the oldest coherent texts, such as the Stratkarter Oaths, to the 9th century.

Phonological Development

Northern Romance Sound Shift, 1st stage

/p/ > /f/ | [V]_#

/p/ > /ff/ | [V]_[V]

/t/ > /s/ | [V]_#

/t/ > /ss/ | [V]_[V]

• Exception: /ă/_

/k/ > /x/ | [V]_#

/k/ > /xx/ | [V]_[V]

[CC] > [C] | _#, _[C], [C]_ , [Vː]_$

Northern Romance Sound Shift, 2nd stage

/pp/ > /pf/

• Note: Alemannic and Swabian dialects also have /p/ > /pf/ | #_[V], /r/_, /l/_, /m/_, /n/_
  

/t/ > /ts/ | #_[V], /r/_, /l/_, /m/_, /n/_

• Exception: #/tr/_
  

/tt/ > /ts/

/k/ > /kx/ | /r/_, /l/_, /m/_, /n/_

• Note: Alemannic dialects also have /k/ > /kx/ | #_[V]
  
• Exception /kʷ/
  

/kk/ > /kx/

Northern Romance Sound Shift, 3rd stage

/β/ > /b/

/ɣ/ > /g/

/θ/ > /d/

/eː/ > /ea/
/oː/ > /uo/

• Exception: [-stress]
  

/ea/ > /ia/ > /ie/
/æː/ > /aː/
/e/ > /i/ | _$/u/
/a/$/i/, /a/$/j/ > /e/$Ø

• Exception: _/χ/, _/h/, _[C]/w/, _/l/[C], _/r/[C]
  

/pf/ > /f/ | /l/_, /r/ _
/d/ > /t/
/gg/ > /kk/
/g/ > /k/ | #_, _#
/aw/ > /oː/ | _#, _$
/ouw/ > /ou/ | _#, _$
/w/ > /o/ | _#, _$
/j/ > /i/ | _#
/o/ > Ø | [V:]_#, [V:]_$
/h/ > Ø | #_/l/, _/n/, _/r/, _/w/
/t/ > /d/ | /m/_, /n/_, /ŋ/_

Middle Rienench (ca 1050 - 1350 CE)

Middle Rienench is the term used for the period in the history of the Rienench language between approximately 1050 and 1350. This period is marked by the full development of i-mutation and by an extensive weakening of unstressed syllables, which brought all but the last vestiges of the original Latin case system to an end.

By the middle of the 14th century the language had evolved into what is now called Early Modern Rienench.

Phonological Development

/aː/$/i/, /aː/$j/ > /e/$Ø |

• Exception: _/h/, _/x/, _[C]/w/, _/l/[C], _/r/[C]
  

/o/$/i/, /o/$/j/ > /ø/$Ø

• Exception: _/h/, _/x/, _[C]/w/, _/l/[C], _/r/[C]
  

/oː/$/i/, /oː/$/j/ > /øː/$Ø

• Exception: _/h/, _/x/, _[C]/w/, _/l/[C], _/r/[C]
  

/u/$/i/, /u/$/j/ > /y/$Ø

• Exception: _/k/, _/pf/, _/ts/, _/h/, _/x/, _[C]/w/, _/l/[C], _/r/[C]
  

/uː/$/i/, /uː/$/j/ > /yː/$Ø

• Exception: _/h/, _/x/, _[C]/w/, _/l/[C], _/r/[C]
  

/ou/$/i, /ou/$/j/ > /øu/$Ø

• Exception: _/h/, _/x/, _[C]/w/, _/l/[C], _/r/[C]
  

/uo/$/i/, /uo/$/j/ > /ye/$Ø

• Exception: _/h/, _/x/, _[C]/w/, _/l/[C], _/r/[C]
  

[V -stress], [Vː -stress] > Ø | [V]/l/_, [V]/r/_

• Note: 2-syllable words only
  

[V -stress], [Vː -stress] > Ø | [Vː]$_$

• Note: 3-syllable words only
  

[V -stress], [Vː -stress] > Ø | [X]_[X], where [X] = /l/, /r/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/

• Note: 3-syllable words only
  

[V -stress], [Vː -stress] > Ø | [Vː]/l/, [Vː]/r/_

• Note: words with 3 or more syllables only
  

/sk/ > /∫/
/s/ > /∫/ | _/l/, _/m/, _/n/, _/p/, _/t/, _/w/ /f/ > /v/ | _[V]

Early Modern Rienench (ca. 1350 - 1650 CE)

The Early Modern Rinench period saw many changes to long vowels and diphthongs, and the loss of many unstressed vowels. The period is also marked by the beginning of the standardisation of written Rienench.

When Merten Luter translated the Bible in the 16th century he based his translation mainly on this already developed language, which was the most widely understood language at this time. This language was based on northern (i.e. Franconian) dialects and preserved much of the grammatical system of Middle Rienench. In the beginning, copies of the Bible had a long list for each region, which translated words unknown in the region into the regional dialect. It took until the beginning of the 18th century to create a standard that was widely accepted, thus ending the period of Early Modern Rienench.

Phonological Development

/iː/ > /ai/
/uː/ > /au/
/yː/ > /oi/
/ie/ > /iː/
/uo/ > /uː/
/ye/ > /yː/
/ei/ > /ai/
/øu/ > /oi/
/ou/ > /au/

All short vowels in open syllables are lengthened to long vowels.
All long vowels in closed syllables are reduced to short vowels.

/v/ > /f/ | _[V]
/s/ > /∫/ | #_[C]
/w/ > /v/

Modern Rienench (from ca. 1650 CE)

The Modern Rienench period is marked by a gradual standardisation of orthography and codification of grammar. These developments are brought about by the emergence of a standardised language and a consequent reduction in dialectal varience. This standardisation was due in no small part to the role the Rienench language played in the Bavaro-Hungarian Empire.

19th century and beyond

Rienench was the language of commerce and government in the Bavaro-Hungarian Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe until the early 20th century. Before the mid-19th century Rienench was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire. It indicated that the speaker was a merchant, an urbanite, rather than his nationality. A few cities excepted, such as Milan, most cities were primarily Rienench-speaking during the imperial period, though they were surrounded by territory where other languages were spoken. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Rienenched in the years after their abssorption into the Thalkarten lands. Others, such as Bratislava, were originally settled during the Thalkarten period and thus were primarily Rienench-speaking from the beginning.

Until about 1800, standard Rienench was almost solely a written language. At this time, people from region to region spoke dialects very different from standard Rienench and learnt it almost as a foreign language, trying to pronounce it as close to the spelling as possible. Prescriptive pronunciation guides of that time considered Viennese pronunciation to be the standard. However, the actual pronunciation of standard Rienench varied from region to region.

Today, media and written works are almost all produced in standard Rienench, which is understood in all Rienench-speaking areas (except by pre-school children in areas where only dialect is spoken, for example in central Helvetia).

Classification

Rienench is a member of the northern branch of the Romance language family, which in turn is part of the Indo-European language family.

Official status

Standard Rienench is the only official language in Bavaria; and it shares official status in Helvetia (with French, Italian and Romansch). It is used as a local official language in Rienench-speaking regions of France, Italy and Saxony. It is one of the 24 official languages of the European Union.

It is also a minority language in Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United States.

Rienench was once the lingua franca of Central and Eastern Europe and remains one of the most popular foreign languages in Europe.

Phonology & Orthography

Vowels

Rienench vowels (excluding diphthongs; see below) can be short or long, as detailed in the following table:

	A	Ä	E	I	O	Ö	U	Ü
short	/a/	/ɛ/	/ɛ/, /ǝ/	/ɪ/	/ɔ/	/œ/	/ʊ/	/ʏ/
long	/aː/	/ɛː/	/eː/	/iː/	/oː/	/øː/	/uː/	/yː/

Short /ɛ/ is realised as [ɛ] in stressed syllables (including secondary stress), but as [ǝ] in unstressed syllables. Note that stressed short /ɛ/ can be spelled either with e or with ä. In general, the short vowels are open and the long vowels are closed. The one exception is the open /ɛː/ sound of long Ä; in some varieties of standard German, /ɛː/ and /eː/ have merged into [eː], removing this anomaly.

In many varieties of standard Rienench, an unstressed /ɛr/ is not pronounced as [ər], but vocalised to [ɐ].

Whether any particular vowel letter represents the long or short phoneme is not completely predictable, although the following regularities exist:

• If a vowel (other than i) is at the end of a syllable or followed by a single consonant, it is usually pronounced long.
• If the vowel is followed by a double consonant (e.g. ff, ss or tt), ck, tz or a consonant cluster (e.g. st or nd), it is nearly always short. Double consonants are used only for this function of marking preciding vowels as short; the consonant itself is never pronounced lengthened or doubled.
• For an i that is neither in the combination ie (making it long) nor followed by a double consonant or cluster (making it short), there is no general rule.

Rienench vowels can form the following digraphs (in writing) and diphthongs (in pronunciation); note that the pronunciation of some of them (ei, äu, eu) is very different from what one would expect when considering the component letters:

spelling	ai, ei, ay, ey	au	äu, eu
pronunciation	/aɪ̯/	/aʊ̯/	/ɔʏ̯/

Additionally, the digraph ie generally represents the phoneme /iː/, which is not a diphthong. In many varieties, a /r/ at the end of a syllable is vocalised. However, a sequence of a vowel followed by such a vocalised /r/ is not considered a diphthong.

In many varieties of standard Rienench, word stems that begin with a vowel are preceded by a glottal stop [ʔ].

Consonants

• C standing by itself is not a Rienench letter. In borrowed words, it is usually pronounced [ʦ] (before ä, äu, e, i, ö, ü, y) or [k] (before a, o, u, or other consonants).
• Ch occurs most often and is pronounced either [ç] (after ä, ai, äu, e, ei, eu, i, ö, ü and other consonants) or [x] (after a, au, o, u). Ch never occurs at the beginning of a Rienench word. In borrowed words with initial Ch there is no single agreement on the pronunciation. For example, the word Chemie (chemistry) can be pronounced [keːˈmiː] or [çeːˈmiː], depending on dialect.
• H is pronounced [h] like in "Home" at the beginning of a syllable. After a vowel it is silent and serves only to lengthen the vowel.
• W is pronounced [v] like in "Vacation".
• S is pronounced [z] (as in "Zebra") if it forms the syllable onset), otherwise [s]. ss and ß are used in cases where [s] forms the syllable onset. St and sp at the beginning of words of Rienench origin are pronounced [ʃt] and [ʃp], respectively.
• Sch is pronounced [ʃ] (like "sh" in "Shine").
• Dsch is pronounced ʤ (like j in Jungle).
• Z is always pronounced [ʦ].
• F is pronounced [f] as in "Father".
• V is pronounced [f] in words of Rienench origin and [v] in other words.
• ß is never used at the beginning of a word. It is always pronounced [s].

Grammar

Rienench is an inflected language.

Noun inflection

Rienench nouns inflect into:

• one of three cases: direct, genitive, and dative.
• one of two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine.
• two numbers: singular and plural

Although Rienench is usually cited as an outstanding example of a highly inflected language (with about 39 million native speakers Rienench is by far the most spoken strongly inflecting Romance language in the world), the degree of inflection is considerably less than in Old Rienench, or in other old Indo-European languages such as Classical Latin, Ancient Greek, or Sanskrit. The two genders have collapsed in the plural, which now behaves, grammatically, somewhat as a third gender. With three cases and two genders plus plural there are nine distinct possible combinations of case and gender/number, but presently there are only seven forms of the definite article used for the nine possibilities (and four forms of the indefinite article). Inflection for case on the noun itself is required in most circumstances, but varies according to noun class. Both the genitive and dative cases are losing way to substitutes in informal speech. Certain dative plural endings in particular are considered somewhat old-fashioned in many contexts and often dropped, but are still used in sayings and in formal speech or in written language.

In the Rienench orthography, nouns and most words with the syntactical function of nouns are capitalised, which is supposed to make it easier for readers to find out what function a word has within the sentence. Among European languages this spelling convention is almost unique to Rienench.

Like the Teutonic languages, and perhaps not coincidentally given its origins and history, Rienench forms left-branching noun compounds, where the first noun modifies the category given by the second, for example: Kaffeekar (eng. coffee house; i.e. café). Unlike English, where newer compounds or combinations of longer nouns are often written in open form with separating spaces, Rienench nearly always uses the closed form without spaces. Like English, Rienench allows arbitrarily long compounds, but these are rare.

Verb inflection

Standard Rienench verbs inflect into:

• three persons: 1st, 2nd, 3rd.
• two numbers: singular and plural
• three moods: Indicative, Subjunctive, Imperative
• two voices: active and passive; the passive being composed and dividable into static and dynamic.
• two non-composed tenses (Present, Preterite) and three composed tenses (Perfect, Pluperfect, Future)

There are also many ways to expand, and sometimes radically change, the meaning of a base verb through a relatively small number of prefixes.

Syntax

For a basic present tense statement sentence, the word order is:

• Subject, verb, time element, indirect object, direct object.

Generally, for a basic spoken past tense sentence, the word order is:

• Subject, supporting verb, time element, indirect object, direct object, past tense verb.

The word order is generally more rigid than in Modern English. One word order is for a main and another for subordinate clauses. In normal positive sentences the inflected verb always has position 2; In questions, exclamations, and wishes, it always has position 1. In subordinate clauses the verb is supposed to occur at the very end.

Sentences using modal verbs separate the auxiliary putting the infinitive at the end. For example, the sentence in Modern English "Should he go home?" would be rearranged in Rienench to say "Should he (to) home go?". Thus in sentences with several subordinate or relative clauses verbs tend to gather at the end. The reader or listener then has the job of reconnecting these verbs individually to the subjects to which they belong.

Except for cases of emphasis adverbs of time have to appear in the third place in the sentence (just after the predicate). Otherwise the speaker would be recognised as non-native. For instance the Rienench word order (in Modern English) is: We're going tomorrow to town.

Many Rienench verbs have a separable prefix, often with an adverbial function. In finite verb forms this is split off and moved to the end of the clause, and is hence considered by some to be a "resultative particle".

Sample Text

Pater noster ie lü Klu, kesankte tiß zu Nüm.
Zu Riengne vinje.
Zu Volunde tacht, seichs ie lü Klu kwüsich suffer le Zerr.
Noster Pan te kestie Tschurne tune nu hotte.
Eß pertone nu noster Ottiere, seichs eß nu pertonam noster Öttendind.
Eß indauche nu ne ie lie Zinftetschen, meck leibre nu te lü Mäl.
Pur zu est le Riengne, eß le Posser, eß la Klür hacher eß issernemint.
Amen.

/paːtr nɔʃtər iː lyː kluː kəsanktə tɪs ʦuː nʏm/
/ʦuː riːŋnə fɪnjə/
/ʦuː foːlʏnd̥ə taxt zaɪxs iː lyː kluː kvyːzɪç zʊfər leː ʦɛr/
/nɔʃtər pan teː kɛʃtiː ʧʊrnə tuːnə nuː hɔtə/
/ɛs pɛrtoːnə nuː nɔʃtər ɔtɪːrə zaɪxs ɛs nuː pɛrtoːnam nɔʃtər œtndɪnd̥/
/ɛs ɪndaʊxə nuː neː iː liː ʦɪnfteːʧən mɛk laɪb̥r nuː teː lyː mɛl/
/pʊr ʦuː ɛʃt leː riːŋnə ɛs leː pɔsər ɛs laː klœr haxər ɛs ɪsɛrneːmɪnt/