Nordien

Nordien, a fictional language, was developed by Aaron Chapman, which is developing towards a international auxiliary language.

Design principles

Nordien is a simplified version of a Germanic conlang. It combines an easy grammar and easy phonology with a vocabulary from taken from other Germanic languages. In spite of the simplification its still sounds natural.

Language sources

Nordien vocabulary is based on German, English, Dutch and Scandinavian languages

Interest of Others

Recently a Wiki Space for Nordien was created, where different contributors develop the language further. A Yahoo Group for Nordien was established recently. Nordien is very easy to learn for speakers of at least one Germanic language.

Phonetics

Nordien's alphabet consists of only 21 letters:

A, B, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U, V, Z

Pronunciation of Nordien is very regular and consistent.

Consonants

The letters B, D, F, K, L, M, N, P, T, V, and Z are pronounced as in English. Note that:

   G is always pronounced as in go
   H is always pronounced as in have
   J is pronounced as Y in yes
   R is lightly trilled (or in the throat as in Danish, i.e. softer than in German and Dutch)
   S is always pronounced as in see

The sound of NG in ring is also written as NG in Nordien. This is the only consonant sound that is represented by more than one letter. NG should never be pronounced as two separate sounds.

Note that the consonant sounds in the words she, chew, and joy do not exist in Nordien.

Vowels

Nordien has only six vowel sounds:

   A -- as in ah!
   E -- as in get
   I -- as in machine
   O -- as in role
   U -- as in rule
   EE -- as in A in late

The vowels in Nordien are pronounced with more tension and precision than in English. The rounded vowels O and U are best pronounced with the lips held in a tight circle.

Grammar

Pronouns

The subject pronouns in Nordien are: singular plural first person eg (I) vi (we) second person du (you) jee (you) third person han (he) zi (she)het (it)man (one) dee (they) The object pronouns are: singular plural first person meg (me) os (us) second person deg (you) ir (you) third person han (him) zi (her)het (it)man (one) dem (them) Here are the possessive forms: singular plural first person min (my, mine) vor (our, ours) second person din (your, yours) jeer (your, yours) third person hans (his) zir (her, hers)hets (its)mans (one's) der (their, theirs)

Nouns

As in English, nouns in Nordien are not divided into genders or categories. Only the genetive (possessive) case is marked. The suffix -(e)s is used for this. Example: hund (dog); hunds (dog's) A plural noun is indicated by the suffix -ar. Example: kat (cat); katar (cats) The indefinite article is en, and the definite article is de. Example: en hus (a house); de hus (the house)

Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives and adverbs take the same form in Nordien. They can only be differentiated by context. Adjectives are placed before the noun they describe. Adverbs can be placed more freely in a sentence, but their most logical placement for the intended meaning is preferred. The comparative and superlative are always formed with the suffixes -re and -ste respectively.

Verbs

Verb formation in Nordien is simple and entirely regular. There are also no different conjugations for the different persons. There are three verb suffixes that are added to the root to arrive at the correct form:

-en is used for the infinitive
-e is used for the present tense
-ende is used for the progressive
-te is used for the past tense and past participle

The imperative form is the bare root itself. To form the future tense, the auxiliary skal is used. Similarly, for the conditional mode, skul is used. Examples: Zi vile singen (She wants to sing) Dee skal komen (They will come) Han skul haven spelte (He would have played) Note that verbs occur in the same place in the sentence as in English. They are not moved to the end of certain clauses as in German.

Word formation

Nordien uses affixes to modify the meaning of the root word. Here are some of these:

-bel - multiple (tvobel - double)
-er - agent, tool, person (baker - baker)
-et - ordinal number (tvoet - second)
-het - -ness (gladhet - happiness)
-ien - person from a place (Kanadien - Canadian)
-ig - adjective (pertaining to the root) (basig - basic)
-in - specifically female (levenin - lioness)
-ir - make, render (svartiren - to blacken)
-let - smaller (buklet - booklet)
-ling - offspring (hundling - puppy)
-mal - repetition (tvomal - twice)
-ning - noun from verb (beslisning - decision)
-ort - place (grindort - mill)
-sam - adjective (full of, like a) (smartsam - painful)
-ska - language or adjective of place (Svenska - Swedish)
-tel - fraction (tvotel - half) 

Numbers

The Nordien numbers are: 0 - nul 1 - en 2 - tvo 3 - tri 4 - fir 5 - fiv 6 - seks 7 - siven 8 - akt 9 - neen 10 - ten 100 - hundred 1000 - tusen 1,000,000 - miljon These are combined logically in a single word to form other numbers. Examples: tenen - eleven (ten and one) tvotenfir - twenty-four (two tens and four) tvotusenakthundredtenfir - two-thousand eight-hundred fourteen Ordinal numbers are formed by adding the suffix -et. Examples: tvoet - second fivet - fifth firtensivenet - forty-seventh

Questions

In Nordien, questions are formed by inverting the subject and verb. Examples: Kene du han? - Do you know him? Ere de stad grot? - Is the city large? Va skal vi lesen? - What will we read?

Sample Translation Nordien Translation: Sternlikt

   Eg skal jagen de sternlikt 
   Tils min livnings end 
   Eg vet neet als het er' vider tidvard 
   Holden deg i min armar 
   Eg nur vilte holden 
   deg i min armar 
   (Muse - Starlight) 

Original English Version Starlight

   I will be chasing the starlight 
   Until the end of my life 
   I don't know if it's worth it anymore 
   Hold you in my arms 
   I just wanted to hold 
   You in my arms 
   (Muse - Starlight) 

Links

http://www.geocities.com/aronoc Original version of the language by Aaron Chapman

http://nordien.wikispaces.com The recently created Nordien wikispace where the project is further developed.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nordien-language The newly established Yahoo Group for Nordien Language