Northeadish
Northeadish (Druðþþᵫ̄ðesc) is an a posteriori Germanic conlang. It is written in two main alphabets: a "Standard Literary Alphabet" and a more simplified "Reform Alphabet." I was created by BenJamin P. Johnson between 2000 and 2010.
Spelling & Orthography
The Standard Literary Alphabet
The Standard Literary Alphabet contains forty-three letters, three of which (I, O, and Œ) are not used because of particular vowel shifts that rendered them obsolete (though their long equivalents are still used extensively). Long vowels are marked with a macron, and alphabetically they count as separate letters from their short-vowel counterparts. There are also five syllabic sonorants which are alphabetically differentiated from their non-syllabic liquids and nasals. Finally, there are also three labiovelar letters with fairly complicated rules surrounding them which shall be further explained below.
| Upper | Lower | IPA | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | a | a, ə | (See rules below.) |
| Ā | ā | aː | |
| Æ | æ | ɛ | This is phonetically equivalent to <e>, but is used only for the i-umlaut of <a>. |
| Ǣ | ǣ | eː | |
| B | b | b | |
| C | c | k | |
| Q | q | (u)k(w) | (See rules below.) |
| D | d | d | |
| Ð | ð | ð | |
| E | e | ɛ | |
| Ē | ē | eː | |
| F | f | f | This should really be more of a lowered "insular" "f", almost like a digamma. |
| G | g | g | |
| Ӡ | ᵹ | (u)g(w) | The uppercase letter should really be more of an "insular" "g". (See rules below.) |
| H | h | h, ç, x | (See rules below.) |
| Ƕ | ƕ ɧ | (u)x(w) | Written as <ɧ> only when final. (See rules below.) |
| I | ı | ɪ | The short vowel <ı> is no longer used. Due to an expansion of the "First Umlaut" Rule, all instances of [ɪ] became [ɛ]. |
| Ī | ī | iː | |
| İ | i | j | |
| L | l | l | |
| Λ | ʌ | ɫ̩ | |
| M | m | m | |
| M | ᴍ | m̩ | |
| N | n | n | |
| N | ɴ | n̩ | |
| Ŋ | ŋ | ŋ | |
| X | x | ŋ̩ | |
| O | o | ɔ | The short vowel <o> is no longer used. |
| Ō | ō | oː | |
| Œ | œ | œ | The short vowel <œ> is no longer used. |
| Œ̄ | œ̄ | øː | |
| P | p | p | |
| R | r | ɾ | |
| R | ʀ | ɾ̩ | |
| S | s | s, z | (See rules below.) |
| T | t | t | The lowercase version of this letter was originally <τ>, but for simplicity's sake here we'll use <t>. |
| Þ | þ | θ | |
| U | u | ʊ | |
| Ū | ū | uː | |
| Y | ᵫ | ʏ | <Y> is used here for the uppercase version of this vowel, since there is not an appropriate Unicode equivalent for uppercase ue-ligature. |
| Ȳ | ȳ | yː | As above, <Ȳ> is used here for the uppercase, and for the time being, <ȳ> for the lowercase because of a problem with the spacing of the combining diacritics. |
| V | v | v | |
| W | w | w | The lowercase version of this letter was originally <ω>, but for simplicity's sake here we'll use <t>. |
