User:Xipirho/Folksprak
This is the version of the language, known as "Folkspraak" more generally, favoured by Roland Sookias.
Phonology and orthography
Summary
My preferred phonology can be summed up as this:
- Long and short versions of /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/ (and possibly /y/)
- The diphthongs /au/ and /ai/, and the sort-of-diphthong /iu/. The diphthongs are really just combinations of the other vowels - i.e. they contain no new/other sounds.
- English/German consonants with /ʃ/ and /x/, no /θ/ or /ð/, /w/ as an alternative to /v/
My preferred orthography can be summed up as this:
- 'Roman-style' vowels and consonants plus<w>/<v>, <h>/<ch>, <sh>/<sch> for /w/, /x/ and /ʃ/ (difficult to decide, as Latin didn't have an extra letter for /w/ and didn't have the /ʃ/ and /x/ sounds)
- Vowels are short if unstressed or if followed by two or more consonants.
- As well as the unstressed syllables in polysyllabic words, certain groups (articles, interrogatives, prepositions, demonstratives, monosyllabic pronouns) monosyllabic words are considered 'unstressed', and thus do not need two consonants to mark a short vowel
Full Table
| Phoneme | Orthography | Pronunciation (IPA) | Proto-Germanic origin | Example word | Meaning of word |
| Short vowels | |||||
| /a/ | aCC (C=consonant) or unstressed non-terminal | [a], [ɑ], [æ], [ɐ] | Mostly /a/ | mann | man |
| /e/ | eCC or unstressed, <e> followed by <g> (alternative prono.) | [ɛ], [e] is acceptable, [ə] when unstressed | i-muated /a/, dimunition of other vowels | et | it |
| /i/ | iCC or unstressed non-terminal | /i/ mostly | in | in | |
| /o/ | oCC or unstressed non-terminal | /u/ with a-mutation, /a/ | frost | frost | |
| /u/ | uCC or unstressed non-terminal | /u/ without mutation | uss | us | |
| /y/ | yCC or unstressed non-terminal | /i/ mostly | in | in | |
| /i/ | iCC or unstressed non-terminal | /u/ with i-mutation | rygg | back (ridge is cognate) | |
| Long vowels | |||||
| /aː/ | aC stressed, terminal a | [aː], [ɑː], [ɐː] (poss. [æː], although could cause confusion with /a/ for American English speakers) | /æ/, sometimes /a/ | sprak | language, speech (latter is cognate) |
| /eː/ | eC stressed, terminal e | [eː], [ei], [ɛː] etc. | /e/ usually | breke | to break |
| /iː/ | iC stressed, terminal i | [iː] | /eu/ usually | dip | deep |
| /oː/ | oC stressed, terminal o | [oː], [ɔː], diphthong of /ou/ type | /u/, /a/, /au/ | over, so, bom | over, so, tree (beam is cognate) |
| /uː/ | uC stressed, terminal u | [uː] | /oː/ | gud | good |
| /yː/ | yC stressed, terminal y | [yː], N.B. Could be merged with /iː/, allowing [yː] as an alternative pronunciation for /uː/ | i-mutated /oː/ and /eu/ | gryn, dyr | green, expensive (cognate is dear) |
| Diphthongs | |||||
| /au/ | au | Diphthong of type /au/ | /uː/ | aut | out |
| /ai/ | ai | Diphthong of type /ai/ | /iː/ | main | my, mine |
| /iu/ | iu | [ˈiu], [ˈiːu], [iˈuː] | /euw/, /euhw/ | niu | new |
| Consonants | |||||
| /p/ | p | [pʰ], [p] | /p/ | help | help |
| /b/ | b | [b] | Initial /b/ | better | better |
| /f/ | f | [f] | /f/ | fader | father |
| /v/ | v | [v] | Non-initial /b/ | have | to have |
| /t/ | t | [tʰ], [t] | /t/, initial /θ/ except in pronouns and articles | ting | thing |
| /d/ | d | [d] | /d/, non-initial /θ/ and initial /θ/ in pronouns and articles | de | the |
| /s/ | s | [s], [z] | /s/ | wese | to be |
| /k/ | k | [kʰ], [k] | /k/ | kysse | to kiss |
| /g/ | g | g], [ɣ], [j] after a (us. palatal) vowel acceptable, although <eg> must either have a long /e/ or be clearly [ɛj] to avoid confusion with /eː/ | /g/ | gud, sege | good, to say |
| /x/ | ch/h | [x], [ç], [hʲ] | Non-initial /x/ | licht/liht | light |
| /h/ | h | [h] | Initial /x/ | hand | hand |
| /ʃ/ | sch/sh | [ʃ] | /sk/ | schall/shall | will, shall |
| /j/ | j | [j] | /j/ | jung | young |
| /w/ | w, possibly v | [v], [ʋ], [w] - just [v] if written "v" | Initial /w/ or /xw/ | wat/vat | what |
| /m/ | m | [m] | /m/ | milk | milk |
| /n/ | n | [n] | /n/ | nit | not |
| /ŋ/ | ng | [ŋ], [ŋg] | /ng/ | singe | to sing |
| /r/ | r | [r]ˌ [ʁ]ˌ [ɹ]ˌ [ʀ] | /r/ | rod | red |
| /l/ | l | [l] | /l/ | land | land |
Pronouns
The pronouns are as follows :
| Person | Nominative | Accusative and dative | Genitive |
| 1st singular | ig | mi | main |
| 2nd singular | du | di | dain |
| 3rd singular | hi/si/et | him/hir/et | his/hirs/ets |
| 1st plural | wi/vi | uss | usser |
| 2nd plural | ji | iu | iuer |
| 3rd plural | de/dé | dem | der |
Verbs
Verbs do not conjugate for person apart from "wes(e)" (to be) which has three present forms - "iss", "ar" and "bi". "iss" is probably best recommended for singular, and "ar" for plural, with "bi" being an option for first and second persons if you find "iss" jarring (as I do slightly). Use of any of these three for any person is totally correct though, as is use of "wes". The past is "was" or "war", again with "was" perhaps best used for singular and "war" for plural, but usage of either for any person is fine. The past participal is "wesen".
The past and past participal of regular verbs are identical and are formed with <-d> or <-t> (or <-ed> if the verb ends in <d> or <t>).Many common verbs have an optional 'strong' (i.e. ablauted, and thus irregular) form which is usually different in the past perfect and past participal. It is perfectly legitimate to use the regular form of all verbs though, even "wes(e)" (to be) if you want, and thus all that is required of the learner is to passively understand the irregular past tenses. Examples of strong verbs are as follows (present -> past -> past participal):
swimm -> swamm -> swummen (optionally "swimmd" instead) ...means "to swim"
find -> fand -> funden (optionally "finded") ...means "to find"
se -> sa -> sen (optionally "sed") ...means "to see"
raid -> red -> ridden (optionally "raided") ...means "to ride"
et -> at -> eten (eted) ...means "to eat"
flig -> flog -> flogen (fligd) ...means "to fly"
giv -> gav -> given (givd) ...means "to give"
A slight exception in that the irregularity is not due to ablaut is "hav(e)" (to have) which is "hadd" or "havd" in the past and past participal. Another is "wes(e)" (to be) which is "
Articles
The definite article is <de>, pronounced /də/ (or /dɛ/ or /deː/ if stressed), and the indefinite article is <en> pronounced /ən/ (or /ɛn/ or /eːn/ if stressed).
Adjectives and adverbs
As there's no gender or case system, adjectives are not affected by what they describe, so "de gryn haus" and "en gryn waiv" (the green house, a green woman/wife). Adverbs do not need an extra "-lig" suffix like "-ly" in most UK English, so "ig ga snell" (I go quickly) not "ig ga snellig". Both "snell" and "snellig" are correct, but there's no need for the "-lig" suffix.
Word order
Word order is really flexible and largely down to the speaker. Subject-verb-object order is normal really, and should come naturally to most speakers as this is the default/basic order in the Germanic and Romance languages and in Chinese. You're more than welcome to say "ig de fud et" instead of "ig et de fud" (I eat the food) if you really want to or for artistic purposes as the meaning's still utterly clear though! For questions one can use S-V-O order and raise your voice at the end or add ", ne?", or you can use V-S-O order with raising your voice, so "et ig de fud?". You can of course not raise your voice, but beware this may mean the sentence is taken as a mere statement as VSO order is OK for statements too!
Prepositions etc.
Here are some common prepostions and other little words and their meaning:
- "in" means "in"
- "up" or "up-an" mean "on"
- "bai" or "baisaid" means beside
- "av" means "of"
- "fron" means "from"
- "aut" means "out"
- "turch" means "through"
- "over" means "over" or "above"
- "under" means "under"
