Northeadish

Northeadish (Druðþþȳðesc) 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.

The Letters

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 the final "Expansion of 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>.

Spelling Rules & Orthography

• The letter <a> doubles as a short open vowel [a] when stressed, and a schwa [ə] when unstressed. It is also a schwa in unstressed words, such as "þa" [θə] ('the').

• The letters <æ> and <e> are both pronounced as [ɛ]; however, <æ> only occurs as a result of the i-umlaut of earlier /a/.
• Similarly, <ǣ> and <ē> are both pronounced as [e:] (or [ɛj]), but <ǣ> only occurs as the i-umlaut of earlier /ā/, or as the product of the Proto-Germanic diphthong /ai/.
• The characters , <ʒ>, and <ƕ> have several possible pronunciations depending on their placement. The letter <ᵹ> in particular is the characterization of verschärfung, which comes from Proto-Germanic combinations such as /gg/, /gw/, /ww/, and /gwj/. The rules for these three letter, though many, are the same:
  • [k, g, x] Just the consonants are pronounced after a consonant at the end of a word, or between two consonants.
  • [kʊ, gʊ, xʊ] The consonants and a following ʊ are pronounced after a consonant and before a syllabic.
  • [kw, gw, xw] The consonants and a following glide are pronounced before a vowel when initial or following a consonant or syllabic. <ᵹ> only occurs initially in borrowed words, such as ᵹava ('guava').
  • [ukʊ, ugʊ, uxʊ] After a vowel and before a syllabic. The value of the syllabic’s inherent schwa changes to [ʊ].
  • [ukw, ugw, uxw] Between two vowels.
  • [uk, ug, ux] After a vowel, before a consonant or when word-final.
  • When any of these letters occur before <v>, the value of /v/ changes to [w] (though the spelling does not change).
• The pronunciation of <h> is:
  • [h] when initial, except before a sonorant.
    • hūs [hu:s] ('house')
    • hǣm [he:m] ('home')
  • [x] when initial before a sonorant (<hl>, <hn>, or <hr>).
    • hryg [xrʏg] ('back')
    • hnuta [xnʊtə] ('nut')
  • [x] after a back vowel.
    • þrūh [θru:x] ('through')
    • hlah [xlax] ('laugh')
  • [ç] after a front vowel.
    • tehn [tɛçn̩] ('ten')
    • līht [līçt] ('easy')
• The letter <s> is:
  • Unvoiced [s] when initial, final, or adjacent to an unvoiced consonant.
    • seʒlas [sɛugləs] ('sun’s')
    • bæst [bɛst] ('best')
  • Voiced [z] when between two vowels or after a vowel and before a syllabic.
    • lœ̄sɴ [lø:zn̩] ('to loosen')
    • rīsa [ri:zə] ('I arise')