Maerik grammar

Mærik grammar outline

BPJ 05:31, 8 May 2005 (PDT)

Mærik was a language isolate spoken in medieval Sweden. It is known from a wordlist with Latin glosses and some short fairy tales preserved in a single manuscript. The spelling relies quite heavily on that of Old Swedish and the sound structure of Mærik also seems to strongly resemble that of Old Swedish, yet Mærik is not genetically related to Old Swedish or other Germanic languages. Mærik words and sentences didn't make sense to somebody who only knew Old Swedish, and conversely Old Swedish would not have made sense to someone who only knew Mærik, although it is probable that all speakers of Mærik had also been speakers of North Scandinavian for very many generations. Although the phonetic and phonemic similarities indicate some kind of Sprachbund relationship between Mærik and Old Swedish, there are on the other hand few similarities in vocabulary or grammatic structure.

The name of the language

Mærik or mæriik is actually the genitive of the first person plural exlusive pronoun. Speakers of North Germanic mistook the phrase mærik skaw as parallelling their own dansk tunga. Probably they didn't grasp that there were two first person plural pronouns in Mærik Skaw.

Phonology

Mærik phonology is very much similar to Old Swedish phonology, due to the Sprachbund relationship between the languages.

Vowels

Front unrounded	Front rounded	Back unrounded		Back rounded
i	y		u/v	w
e	ø			o
æ		a

Quantity

Doubled vowels almost certainly represent long vowels. The status of u and w relative each other is not clarified. Possibly there is a single /u/ which is spelled w when long. Against this speaks the nonce occurrence of a ww spelling in nwwtlo 'ludere'. The other possibility is that there is one /u/ written w and one /ʉ/ written u/v, and that the spelling normally fails to mark quantity for these phonemes.

It is also likely that stressed single-written vowels in open syllables are long as well.

Long i /i:/ is usually spelled ij rather than ii.

Diphthongs

Some diphthongs seem to be spelled with an "extra" following vowel, probably because Old Swedish lacked diphthongs of this type:

• browom phonologically /browm/,
• brøwegha phonologically /brøwɣa/ or /brøjɣa/ [brøɥɣa],
• gawana phonologically /gawna/,
• jæwelia phonologically /jæwlja/ [jæɥlʲa],
• øwæmn phonologically /øwm/ or /øjm/ [øɥm],
• hæwey may be a spelling for /hæw/ [hæɥ],
• trøyel is probably /trøjl/ or /trøwl/ [trøɥl],
• øywe is probably /øje/ or /øwe/ [øɥe].
• reyit is probably /rɛjt/.

Umlaut

There is i-umlaut caused by a following theme vowel *-i- which may be lost or preserved as -e-, sometimes also spelled -i-.

Consonants

	Labial	Dental	(Palatal)	Velar	(Labiovelar)	Glottal
Voiceless stops	p	t	(ki [kʲ])	k	(qw [kʷ/kw])
Voiced stops	b	d	(gi [gʲ])	g	(gw [gʷ/gw])
Nasals	m	n	(ni [nʲ])	(ng [ŋ])	(ngw [ŋʷ/ŋw])
Voiceless fricatives	f	(th [θ, tθ])	(hi [ç])	(ch [x, kx])	(hw [ʍ])	h
Voiced fricatives	v/u/ffu [v]	dh [ð]	i [j]	gh [ɣ]	w
Sibilants		s	(si/ski [sʲ/ʃ])
Lateral		l
Trill		r

The letter z spells /ts/ arising from underlying //ts//, //ds// or //ðs//, and similarly x spells /ks/ arising from underlying //ks//, //gs// or //ɣs//.

It is not clear whether all these spellings represent distinct phonemes or whether they do so in all positions.

Unresolved issues in the phonology

The status of palatal(ized) and labiovelar sounds as phonemes or clusters also remains to be determined. Contemporary Old Swedish was in the process of developing palatal phonemes through palatalization of clusters ending in /j/ and of velars before front vowels. In contemporary Old Swedish /sj/ and /sk/ before /j/ and front vowels were probably in the process of developing into /ʃ/. If the same was true of Mærik cannot be determined. The nonce appearance of sch in schee 'adferre' is hardly decisive.

The status of /w/ vs /v/ is also to be determined. The many cases of w between vowels as opposed to ffu between vowels (e.g. priffua 'consolare') suggest that /w/ was indeed a separate phoneme and more widespread than the [w] of Old Swedish. It is therefore assumed that w is /w/ while initial v before vowels and ffu between vowels is /v/. There are even two occurrences of initial ffu before vowels, viz. fuaa 'wash clothes' and ffuea 'clear land'.

At the same time inherited /kʷ/ and /gʷ/ were probably not monophonemic any more in Old Swedish, while [w] had become an allophone of /v/. As /w/ was probably still a phoneme in Mærik it may be that qw and gw in spite of their low frequency should be analyzed similarly.

Sandhi allophones

The phonemic status of th and ch is not fully determined. It seems as if th between voiced sounds, or word finally after a voiced sound, always represents underlying phonemic /tð/ and phonetically is [tθ], and likewise ch between voiced sounds, or word finally after a voiced sound, represents phonemic /kɣ/ and phonetic [kx]. Thus in Mærik [x] and [θ] only occur as assimilation of /ɣ/ or /ð/ to a neighboring voiceless obstruent. On the other hand underlying //ðð// {and //ɣɣ// surface as /dd/ and /gg/, while ffu probably spells ungeminated voiced /v/ in complementary distribution with geminated voiceless /ff/ as in Old Swedish.

Morphology

Nouns and Adjectives

Case endings are as follows:

	Modern name	Marker	English translation	Name in the manuscript
1	Nominative/Vocative:	-0 (zero)	(subject)	nominativus vel vocativus
2	Accusative:	-dh	(direct object)	accusativus
3	Dative:	-s	'for'	dativus
4	Genitive:	-k	'of'	genitivus
5	Ablative:	-r	'from'/'out of'	ablativus
6	Instrumental:	-gh	'with'	ablativus instrumenti vel comitativus
7	Locative:	-m	'at'/'in'	ablativus loci
8	Allative:	-i	'to'/'into'	accusativus adeundi

The nominative marks the subject of the sentence.

The accusative marks the direct object.

Between these endings and the stem a theme vowel -e- or -o-, sometimes appears. Variant spellings are -i- and -u/w- respectively. With the allative the front alternant is -ei/-ij/-i and the back alternant -oi/-ui/-wj.

Suffixaufnahme

Mærik has Suffixaufnahme or "case stacking", i.e. a noun carrying a genitive ending may take a further grammatical or local case ending, e.g. dølk 'the farmer's', dølks or dølx 'for the farmer's' (dative of genitive). The usual sandhi phenomena apply, such as ablative dølkær 'from the farmer's', accusative dølkth. Special note should be taken of the frequent instrumental genitives in -ch, which suggest [kx] as a sandhi allophone for /kɣ/: dølch 'by the farmer's', hathfach [haθfakx] /haðfakɣ/ 'by the horse's'.

Plural

The plural morpheme is -n. It appears written most often as -in and -un respectively, more rarely -en or -on/-wn. To these plural terminations the same case endings as in the singular are added as follows:

1	Nominative:	-n
2	Accusative:	-nd
3	Dative:	-ns/-nz
4	Genitive:	-nk
5	Ablative:	-nnær
6	Instrumental:	-ng
7	Locative:	-num
8	Allative:	-ni

Note that in combining with the plural marker -n- the endings undergo some sandhi changes: the accusative -dh and the instrumental -gh become voiced stops. The dative has an optional epenthetic [t] (/nts/ written -nz) and the ablative and locative receive svarabhakti vowels. It is not clear whether the spelling -ni in the allative plural represents /ni/ or /nj/, since the spelling is deficient.

In Suffixaufnahme where the second ending takes the plural an epenthetic a vowel is inserted, e.g. vantkanz skonz 'for the men of the village'.

Adjectives

Adjectives inflect for case and number in congruence with their nouns, e.g. verghar trækker "From a big house", hughand skond "poor men (acc.)".

Sometimes the same word functions as an adjective and as a noun for the quality denoted by the adjective.

Adverbs

Most derived adverbs and some primary end in -m (with theme vowel). This formant is observed to coincide with the locative ending - probably not a coincidence!

Pronouns

Pronouns generally take adjectival inflection, i.e. with the plural ending -an

Personal pronouns

There are distinct inclusive and exclusive forms in first person plural.

wæll: 'me - I' wællk: 'my/ mine'

ton: 'you sg. (thou)' tonk: 'your(s) (thy/thine)'

ro: 'he' rook: 'his'

ni: 'she' niik: 'her(s)'

edd: 'it' ettk/etk: 'its'

foott: 'we incl.' ('I and you' or 'we and you') foottuk: 'our(s) incl.' ('Mine and yours' or 'Ours and yours')

mær: 'we excl.' (We but not you) mærik: 'our(s) excl.' (Ours but not yours)

han: 'you pl.' hank: 'your(s) pl.'

se: 'they' seek: 'their(s)'

Demonstrative pronouns

ordh: 'this', pl. ordhan 'these' (Lat. hic)

ann: that (nearby)' pl. annan 'those' (Lat. iste)

edd: 'that (far)' pl. eddan 'those' (Lat. ille)

The enclitic demonstrative pronoun/definite article

The demonstrative pronouns are often enclitically postposed to a noun, in which case their meaning is similar to a definite article. Both the noun and the "article" inflect for case.

The enclitic demonstratives/article demonstrated on the noun luk 'child'

	-ordh	-ann	-edd
Singular
Nom.:	lukordh	lukan	luked	'the child' (subject)
Acc.:	lukthord	lukthand	lukthed	'the child' (direct object)
Dat.:	luxorz	luxanz	luxez	'for the child'
Gen.:	lukkorthk	lukkank	lukketk	'of the child'
Abl.:	lukrordhær	lukrannær	lukreddær	'from the child'
Instr.:	luchordhgh	luchang	luchedg	'with the child'
Loc.:	lukmordhum	lukmannum	lukmeddum	'at/in the child'
All.:	lukiørdhi	lukiænni	lukieddi	'to/into the child'
Plural
Nom.:	lukunordhan	lukunan	lukuneddan	'the children' (subject)
Acc.:	lukundordhan	lukundand	lukundeddan	'the children' (direct object)
Dat.:	lukunzordhanz	lukunzanz	lukunzeddanz	'for the children'
Gen.:	lukankordhank	lukunkank	lukunketank	'of the children'
Abl.:	lukunærordhanær	lukunærannær	lukunæreddanær	'from the children'
Instr.:	lukungordhang	lukungang	lukungeddang	'with the children'
Loc.:	lukumordhanum	lukumannum	lukumeddanum	'at/in the children'
All.:	lukuniørdhani	lukuniænni	lukunieddani	'to/into the children'

Note the frequent haplology in the plural of the -ann forms! In practice it means that the plural marker of the -ann article disappears entirely, so that only the noun carries plural marking. The locative plural is especially treacherous.

It should be observed that the -ann forms are often used where the context would properly call for the -ordh or -edd forms.

Where an adjective precedes the noun the preposed demonstrative is used: edd grøtth lukth 'that small child (acc.)'.

Interrogative pronouns

fiørn: 'who?' pl. fiørnan

fann: 'what?' pl. fannan

fwnn: 'how much?' pl. fwnnan 'how many?'

følk: 'which?' pl. følkian

faat: 'when?'

fedd: 'where?'

fwdh: 'why?'

Relative pronouns

iørn: 'who' pl. iørnan

øll: 'which' pl. øllian

aat: when

wdh: therefore

Other pronouns

vek: 'self' (reflexive -- note genitive veck and dative vex!)

pl. vekan 'selves'

hyyn: 'each other' (pl.)

dødhzsk: 'respectively' (formally a genitive singular)

sakt: 'something, a thing' pl. saktan

gøm: 'you, one, they (indefinite)' pl. gømian

siæn: 'any' pl. siænan

hwalt: 'same'

Verbs

The present ends in -e/-o/-a, probably derived from earlier long theme vowels *-ē, *-ō, *-ā.

In not a few verbs the present marker contains a t (*-tē, *-tō, *-tā), most notably olto 'there is' and ganta 'not be'. Sometimes an intrusive -p- comes between the -t- present formant and a root ending in -m e.g. rampta 'know a person', with the past tense ramma.

The infinitive or gerund, the imperative and the supine all consist in the bare stem, and can be distinguished only by their function, except that the infinitive/gerund can be inflected like a noun and the imperative often but not always is followed by a pronoun in the nominative/vocative.

The past tense formant is -ma/-mo.

Where there is a -t- in the present tense formant this -t- disappears in the past tense: thus from the present olto there is the past olmo, and from the present kræfte 'departs' there is the past kraffma (Note also the lack of i-umlaut in the past tense!). N.B. gamma, the past of ganta (usually spelled gam̄a), and swmmo (also sunmo) 'covered' from swnto. However sometimes the -t- is part of the root, e.g. lita 'hear', p.t. lijtma.

The subjunctive formant is -sa/-so.

These two are fused as -sma/-smo in past subjunctive.

Note that the subjunctive marker s goes after the present tense marker t if that is present, e.g. kræftza 'would depart', but before the past tense marker ma, as in kræfsma 'would have departed'.

Person inflection on verbs

Singular
1.	-wl/-wVl/-l (-aw(a)l/-ew(e)l/-ol)	'I'
2.	-ck	'you'(sg.), 'thou'
3.	-∅ (zero)
Plural
1. excl.	-ff	'we'
1. incl.	-rr	'you and I', 'we and you'
2.	-n	'you'(pl.)
3.	-ss	'they'

Participles

There are active participles in -rt and passive participles in -t from both the present and past stems:

Present active:	lekart	"speaking"
Present passive:	lekat	"being spoken"
Past active:	leekmart	"been speaking"
Past passive:	leekmat	"spoken"

Compound tenses

There are some compound tenses and moods using participles. The most important is the passive formed with fere 'be' and the present passive participle:

Ferewæl lekat 'I am spoken'.

There is also a perfect and a pluperfect using fere and the past active participle:

Ferewæl leekmart 'I have spoken',

Fermawal leekmart 'I had spoken'.

Lastly there is a future using boko 'become' and the present active participle:

Bokwol lekart 'I will/shall/am going to speak'.

These compound tenses are not used nearly as often as the corresponding forms in English and other modern Germanic languages. Thus the simple present is usually found for future reference and the simple past for perfect and pluperfect reference.

Negation

Negation is made with the verb ganta 'there is not' + stem form of the verb + instrumental of agent:

ganta lek mærikth skawdh niigh 'she doesn't speak our language' (lit. 'there is not speak our language by her').

gan	-ta	-0	lek	-0	mæri	-k	-th	skaw	-dh	nii	-gh
not.be	-PRES	-3.sg.	speak	-SUP	we.exclusive	-GEN	-ACC	tongue	-ACC	she	-INSTR

Since the object stands in accusative this is not a true ergative, but may be indicative of transition between types.

Syntax

The main constituent order is VSO.

Mærik is a pro-drop language. As Mærik is concerned this means that subject pronouns in the nominative are normally left out since the subject is sufficiently expressed by the person ending on the verb, but object pronouns have to be expressed since the object is not expressed in the verb.

There are many idioms involving in particular the locative and the dative where other languages would use nominative or accusative.

Verbs of perception and experiencing take the experiencer in the dative.

The genitive can be used in partitive function.

Many adverbs are formally locatives of nouns or adjectives and constructed accordingly.