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	Long vowels in the Reform alphabet take an acute accent instead of a macron.
Æ	æ	ɛ	This is phonetically equivalent to <e>, but is used only for the i-umlaut of <a>. In the Reform alphabet, this is merged with <e>.
Ǣ	ǣ	eː	In the Reform alphabet, this is merged with <ē>. Long vowels in the Reform alphabet also take an acute accent instead of a macron.
B	b	b
C	c	k	In the Reform alphabet, this is replaced by <k>.
Q	q	(u)k(w)	<Q, q> is used in romanization, but this character is actually a little more like a qu-ligature. (See rules below.) In the Reform alphabet, this letter is replaced by only its extant phonetic components; i.e. either k, kw, wkw, or wk.
D	d	d
Ð	ð	ð
E	e	ɛ
Ē	ē	eː	Long vowels in the Reform alphabet take an acute accent instead of a macron.
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.) In the Reform alphabet, this letter is replaced by only its extant phonetic components; i.e. either g, gw, wgw, or wg.
H	h	h, ç, x	(See rules below.)
Ƕ	ƕ ɧ	(u)x(w)	Written as <ɧ> only when final. (See rules below.) In the Reform alphabet, this letter is replaced by only its extant phonetic components; i.e. either h, hw, whw, or wh.
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	Long vowels in the Reform alphabet take an acute accent instead of a macron, though the diacritic is optional with since there is no short equivalent.
İ	i	j	In the Reform alphabet, <j> is used.
L	l	l
Λ	ʌ	ɫ̩	In the Reform alphabet, <al> is used.
M	m	m
M	ᴍ	m̩	In the Reform alphabet, <am> is used.
N	n	n
N	ɴ	n̩	In the Reform alphabet, <an> is used.
Ŋ	ŋ	ŋ	In the Reform alphabet, this is replaced by <ng> except before <k> or , where <g> is omitted.
X	x	ŋ̩	In the Reform alphabet, <ang> is used.
O	o	ɔ	The short vowel <o> is no longer used.
Ō	ō	oː	Long vowels in the Reform alphabet take an acute accent instead of a macron, though the diacritic is optional with <o> because there is no short equivalent.
Œ	œ	œ	The short vowel <œ> is no longer used.
Œ̄	œ̄	øː	In the reform alphabet, this is represented by the character <ø>. An acute accent above it is optional because there is no short equivalent.
P	p	p
R	r	ɾ
R	ʀ	ɾ̩	In the Reform alphabet, <ar> is used.
S	s	s, z	(See rules below.) In the reform alphabet, <z> is used when the letter is voiced.
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	Long vowels in the Reform alphabet take an acute accent instead of a macron.
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. In the Reform alphabet, <y> is used throughout.
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. <ý> is used in the Reform alphabet.
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.
    • seᵹlas [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')
• Final Obstruent Devoicing: Final voiced continuant obstruents (namely, <v> and <ð>) which become unvoiced due to the Final Obstruent Devoicing Rule retain their voiced consonants which are followed by their unvoiced counterparts.
  • Final [f] is written <vf>.
  • Final [θ] is written <ðþ>.
  • Final [s] is unchanged.
  • This rule is mandatory after a vowel or a sonorant, but not after a syllabic letter.

The Reform Alphabet

The Reform alphabet was an early attempt to bring the language into closer compliance with more common Unicode characters without losing some of the richness of the orthographic structure of the language. This was not necessarily successful, but it did make the language more efficient. One letter was added and several were merged or removed.

The Letters

Upper	Lower	IPA	Notes
A	a	a,ə
Á	á	aː
B	b	b
D	d	d
Ð	ð	ð
E	e	ɛ
É	é	eː
F	f	f
G	g	g
H	h	h
Í	í	iː	The acute diacritic is optional, since there is no short version.
J	j	j
K	k	k
L	l	l,ɫ
M	m	m
N	n	n
Ó	ó	oː	The acute diacritic is optional, since there is no short version.
Ø	ø	øː	The acute diacritic is optional, since there is no short version, and it is very rarely used, since it is not part of the basic Latin subset of Unicode.
P	p	p
R	r	ɾ
S	s	s
T	t	t
Þ	þ	θ
U	u	ʊ
Ú	ú	uː
V	v	v
W	w	w
Y	y	ʏ
Ý	ý	yː
Z	z	z

Spelling Rules & Orthography

The orthography of Northeadish using the Reform spelling is very "wysiwyh," that is, "what you see is what you hear." The one instance in which the Reform Orthography becomes more precise than the Standard Literary Orthography is in the case of the syllabic characters, which encode more vowel information than the traditional spelling. In particular:

• Most syllabic letters are written as a combination of <a> and their associated non-syllabic counterparts, with the exception of:
  • Words with /j/ in their Proto-Germanic ending, in which case <e> is used, or
  • Syllabics occurring after a labiovelar letter (, <ᵹ>, or <ƕ>) in which case the vowel is <u>.