West Germanic language

Westgẽmanix
Pronounced:	/west.geə.'mɑ:n.iʃ/
Timeline and Universe:	Present, Earth
Species:	Human
Spoken:	Europe
Total speakers:	Unknown
Writing system:	Latin alphabet (West Germanic variant)
Genealogy:	Indo-European  Germanic   West Germanic    Anglo-Frisian     Anglic      Old English       (New) West Germanic
Typology
Morphological type:	Inflecting
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Nominative-accusative
Basic word order:	V2
Credits
Creator:	S.C. Anderson
Created:	July 2008

(New) West Germanic (Westgẽmanix) is a recent West Germanic language, which is closely related to others such as Dutch, English, Frisian and German as well as sharing some traits with North Germanic languages. West Germanic is a descendant of Old English, with an amount of vocabulary derived from Modern Dutch.

West Germanic grammar is similar to that of Dutch and German, particularly its syntax, but has undergone a degree of deflexion, much more so than Dutch but mostly not to the extent of English. West Germanic has retained the usage of three genders, yet these have become simplified because they now relate purely to biological gender.

As Dutch and English, the consonant system of West Germanic did not undergo the High German consonant shift. Complex consonant clusters are, typically of Germanic languages, allowed by the syllable structure.

West Germanic vocabulary could be said to be more Germanic in origin than its predecessors due to drawing neologisms from compounds of old words whereas others have shunned native words in favour of Latin or Greek equivalents; German followed a similar process, which has however been taken a step further in West Germanic.

History

The Germanic languages in Europe are divided into North (blue) and West Germanic (green and orange) languages

West Germanic is artificially descended from the language - now known as Anglo-Saxon - of England's Germanic invaders, which displaced the indigenous Brythonic languages. As a result of this, New West Germanic maintains a link with the North Germanic family due to Old Norse's influence on English. Old English was deemed an appropriate root because, under the rule of Anglo-Saxon kings, it thrived, thought to have coined new words from native roots rather than borrow foreign words. This is a trend that continues in the West Germanic language. The Norman Conquest occurred in 1066, marking the beginning of the Middle English era; thereafter, there is no influence on West Germanic. New words added to the lexicon come from modern Dutch, a widely-spoken, present-day relative of Old English, which has linguistically evolved little since the late 16th century.

Sample

Here is a sample prose text, the beginning of The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan:

Old English

Ōhthere sǣde his hlāforde, Ælfrēde cyninge, ðæt hē ealra Norðmonna norþmest būde. Hē cwæð þæt hē būde on þǣm lande norþweardum wiþ þā Westsǣ. Hē sǣde þēah þæt þæt land sīe swīþe lang norþ þonan; ac hit is eal wēste, būton on fēawum stōwum styccemǣlum wīciað Finnas, on huntoðe on wintra, ond on sumera on fiscaþe be þǣre sǣ. Hē sǣde þæt hē æt sumum cirre wolde fandian hū longe þæt land noþryhte lǣge, oþþe hwæðer ǣnig mon be norðan þǣm wēstenne būde. Þā fōr hē norþryhte be þǣm lande: lēt him ealne weg þæt wēste land on ðæt stēorbord, ond þā wīdsǣ on ðæt bæcbord þrīe dagas. Þā wæs hē swā feor norþ swā þā hwælhuntan firrest faraþ. Þā fōr hē þā giet norþryhte swā feor swā hē meahte on þǣm ōþrum þrīm dagum gesiglau. Þā bēag þæt land, þǣr ēastryhte, oþþe sēo sǣ in on ðæt lond, hē nysse hwæðer, būton hē wisse ðæt hē ðǣr bād westanwindes ond hwōn norþan, ond siglde ðā ēast be lande swā swā hē meahte on fēower dagum gesiglan. Þā sceolde hē ðǣr bīdan ryhtnorþanwindes, for ðǣm þæt land bēag þǣr sūþryhte, oþþe sēo sǣ in on ðæt land, hē nysse hwæþer. Þā siglde hē þonan sūðryhte be lande swā swā hē meahte on fīf dagum gesiglan. Ðā læg þǣr ān micel ēa ūp on þæt land. Ðā cirdon hīe ūp in on ðā ēa for þǣm hīe ne dorston forþ bī þǣre ēa siglan for unfriþe; for þǣm ðæt land wæs eall gebūn on ōþre healfe þǣre ēas. Ne mētte hē ǣr nān gebūn land, siþþan hē from his āgnum hām fōr; ac him wæs ealne weg wēste land on þæt stēorbord, būtan fiscerum ond fugelerum ond huntum, ond þæt wǣron eall Finnas; ond him wæs āwīdsǣ on þæt bæcbord. Þā Boermas heafdon sīþe wel gebūd hiraland: ac hīe ne dorston þǣr on cuman. Ac þāra Terfinna land wæs eal wēste, būton ðǣr huntan gewīcodon, oþþe fisceras, oþþe fugeleras.

West Germanic

Oqthẽrê kwât his lafõdûm, Kun Âlfredê, tât he êl Nõtmênê nõtmest wuni. He kwât tât he wuni in tâm lõnd nõtwẽd be tâm Nõtsæ. He kwât tẽq tât tât lônd si swidê lôn tæêfrôm, ak hit is êl westêlônd, butôn in fẽ stedês stûtxêmâl witxê Fînz, hunti ât wintûm ônd ât sumûm fixi be tâm sæ. He kwât tât he ât sum tidûm wôldê hu lôn tât lônd nõtwẽd licê findôn, ôdê wâdê ânæ mân nõt westêlôndênê wuni. Ta fõ he nõt be tâm lôndûm. Jôld he êl wœ tis westêlônd ât his stxôbôdûm ônd tis widsæ ât his bâtxbôdûm txri dæs. Ta wâs he swa fjõ nõt wâlhuntês fjõst farê. Ta fõ he jît nõt swa fjõ he in odê txri dæsûm sîlê. Ta bugê tât lônd ẽst, ôdê tât sæ in tis lônd, he ne wîsê wâdê, ak he wîsê tât he tæê bad westwindzôn ônd won nõt, ônd sîldê ẽst be tâm lônd swa he in fjoê dæsûm sîlê. Ta xôldê he nõtwindzôn bidan, tu tât lônd sut bugê, ôdê tât sæ in tis lônd, he ne wîsê wâdê. Ta sîldê he tæêfrôm sut be tâm lônd swa he in fif dæsûm sîlê. Ta licê tæê mitxêl ẽ ûpôn tis lônd. Ta kiêdê hi ûpôn tis ẽ, tu hi ne dõstê fõt be tâm ẽ to andûm sîlôn, tu tât lônd si êl sât ât tâm odê hêlf tâs ẽ. He ne hâftê æê ânæ sât lônd meted, sîtôn he frôm his ajên hamûm fõ; ak êl wœ wâs tât westêlônd ât his stxõbõdûm, butôn fixẽrêsûm, fugôlẽrêsûm ônd huntêsûm, tât si êl Fînz; ond wâs tât widsæ êl wœ ât his bâtxbõdûm. Tât Boẽmês hâf hîrê lônd swidê wêl umbwõfên, ak hi ne dûrê tæêrin gan. Ak tât Tẽfînênê lônd si êl westê, butôn wæê huntês witxêdê, ôdê fixẽrês ôdê fugôlẽrês.

Modern English

Ohthere said to his lord, King Alfred, that he of all Norsemen lived north-most. He quoth that he lived in the land northward along the North Sea. He said though that the land was very long from there, but it is all wasteland, except that in a few places here and there Finns [i.e. Sami] encamp, hunting in winter and in summer fishing by the sea. He said that at some time he wanted to find out how long the land lay northward or whether any man lived north of the wasteland. Then he traveled north by the land. All the way he kept the waste land on his starboard and the wide sea on his port three days. Then he was as far north as whale hunters furthest travel. Then he traveled still north as far as he might sail in another three days. Then the land bowed east (or the sea into the land— he didn’t know which). But he knew that he waited there for west winds (and somewhat north), and sailed east by the land so as he might sail in four days. Then he had to wait due-north winds, because the land bowed south (or the sea into the land—he didn’t know which). Then he sailed from there south by the land so as he might sail in five days. Then a large river lay there up into the land. Then they turned up into the river, because they dared not sail forth past the river for hostility, because the land was all settled on the other side of the river. He hadn’t encountered earlier any settled land since he traveled from his own home; but all the way waste land was on his starboard (except fishers, fowlers and hunters, who were all Finns). And the wide sea was always on his port. The Bjarmians have cultivated their land very well, but they did not dare go in there. But the Terfinn’s land was all waste except where hunters encamped, or fishers or fowlers.

Phonology

Phonemes

Consonants

The following table shows the consonant phonemes found in West Germanic. When consonants appear in pairs, fortis consonants (i.e. aspirated or voiceless) appear on the left and lenis consonants (i.e. lightly voiced or voiced) appear on the right:

Consonant phonemes of West Germanic

	Bilabial	Labio- dental	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Plosive	p1  b		t1  d			k1  ɡ	(ʔ)2
Affricate				tʃ  dʒ
Fricative		f  v	s  z	ʃ		x	h
Approximant			ɹ		j	w
Lateral			l3

1. Voiceless bilabial, alveolar and velar plosives are aspirated initially.
2. [ʔ] is not a separate phoneme in West Germanic, but is inserted before vowel-initial syllables within words after vowels and often also at the beginning of a word.
3. /l/ is velarised in the syllable coda.

Vowels

Monophthongs of West Germanic

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	e		o
		ə
Open-mid	ɛ  œ		ɔ
	æ
Open			ɑ  ɒ

Three diphthongs are encountered in West Germanic: /eə/, /aɪ/ and /ɔɪ/