Viteberger
Alphabet and Pronunciation - Tékenrol ok Utal
Viteberger uses an alphabet similar to English, but missing the letters c, j, q, w, x, and z. The letters ä and ö are added, following a and o respectively on the alphabet order. The vowels marked with diacritic accents, á, é, í, ó, and ú are not considered separate letters in the alphabet but just a variation of the original vowels because all they do is mark the stressed syllable (or syllables) of a word.
On foreign words and names the letters c, j, q, w, x, and z are used, but not in any Viteberger words.
<a> = [a] = a – on the vast majority of words it is pronounced short, like a in the Spanish casa, on a few rare words it is pronounced long, as the letter a in the English far.
<ä> = [ɛː] = ä – pronounced similar to the ai in fair, the same as a German ä.
= [b] - b – pronounced the same as in English.
<d> = [d] - d – same as English.
<e> = [ɛ] - e – pronounced as the e in deck, never as the e in deep.
<f> = [f] - f – same as in English.
<g> = [g] - g – always pronounced as the g in game with all vowels, never as the g in gesture.
<h> = [h] - h – same as in English.
= [i] - i – always as the e in be.
<k> = [k] - k – same as in English.
<l> = [l] - l – similar to English, but the sound is made with a flat tongue, not with its tip curled back as in English.
<ly> = [ʎ] - ly – pronounced as the Portuguese digraph lh as in baralho.
<m> = [m] - m – same as in English.
<n> = [n] - n – same as in English.
<o> = [ɔ] - o – always as the o in forward.
<ö> = [œ] - ö – same as a German ö.
= [p] – p - same as in English.
<r> = [ɾ] - r – pronounced like an English r but with a single strong thrill, similar to a Brazilian Portuguese r as in prato.
= [s] - s – always as the s in same, never as the s in Asian.
<sy> = [ʃ] - sy – pronounced as the sh in sheet, always followed by a vowel.
<t> = [t] - t - similar to English, but the sound is not retroflex, which means it is done with a flat tongue, not with it curled back.
<ty> = [ʧ] - ty – always pronounced as the ch in chili pepper.
<tv> - [dv] - tv – the t is pronounced as a d, and the v is fully pronounced.
<ty> - [ʧ] - ty - pronounced as the ch in chili pepper, always followed by a vowel.
= [u] - U – similar to the oo in boot but pronounced shorter.
<v> = [v] - v - same as in English
<y> = [j] - y – pronounced as the y in yellow, semi-vocalic.
Viteberger vowels are divided in two groups: back vowels (a, o, u), and front vowels (e, i, y, ä, ö). The soft vowels influence the pronunciation of the letters G, K, T and D, making them slightly more aspirated than when pronounced with back vowels.
The following digraphs are pronounced differently when used with back or front vowels:
sk - when used with a back vowel it is pronounced as the sc in scar, when used with a front vowel it is pronounced as the sh in shoot.
** Skotör – leap year, pronounced [skotœɾ] /skotör/
** Sköl – bowl, pronounced [ʃœl] /shöl/
*gn - pronounced as gn in agnostic when used with back vowels, pronounced as a long n when used with front vowels.
** Gnat – gnat, pronounced as a hard g sound followed by the word not: [gnot] /g-not/
** Bignid – building, pronounced as [binnid] /bin-nid/
When the letter k appears on the end of a syllable following a front vowel it sounds like a g:
*Försíktig - careful, pronounced [fœrsigtig] /försigtig/
Marking of syllable stress - Stavélsestrésenus Märkar
Word order - Ord Ordnin
Nouns and grammatical cases - Substantiven ok gramatisk Falen
Personal Pronouns - Persónlisk Förnáven
Regular Verbs - Régelbúnden Verber
Infinitive - Infínitiv
The infinitive of all verbs is marked with the suffix -an following the verbal root:
verkan - to work
hopan - to jump
ritan - to draw
regnan - to rain
Participles - Participer
Viteberger has different participles for past, present and future, which are used to form the perfect aspect for each tense. The past participle is the verb root plus -et suffix. The present tense is the root plus -ar. The future participle is the root plus -érei.
Past participle: verket
Present participle: verkar
Future participle: verkérei
Simple Present - Énkelnúutidspänt
The present tense is marked by the verb root used by the singular and the root plus the suffix -en for the plural:
ey verk - I work
du verk - you work
er verk - he works
zi verk - she works
en verk - it works
min verk - one works
vey verken - we work
ney verken - you work
dey verken - they work
Present Perfect - Fulkómignúutidspänt
The present perfect is formed by the use of the auxiliary verb haban "to have", followed by the present participle:
ey hav verkar - I have worked
du hav verkar - you have worked
er hav verkar - he has worked
zi hav verkear - she has werked
en hav verket - it has worked
vey haven verkar - we have worked
ney haven verkar - you have worked
dey haven verkar - they have worked
Simple Past - Énkelfórtidspänt
The past tense is formed by the verb root plus suffix -et:
ey verket - I worked
du verket - you worked
er verket - he worked
zi verket - she worked
en verket - it worked
vey verketen - we worked
ney verketen - you worked
dey verketen - they worked
Past Perfect - Fulkómigfóstidspänt
Formed by using the auxiliary verb haban in the past tense, plus the present participle:
ey hat verket - I had worked
du hat verket - you had worked
er hat verket - he had worked
zi hat verket - she had worked
en hat verket - it had worked
vey haten verket - we had worked
ney haten verket - you had worked
dey haten verket - they had worked
Simple Future - Énkelfrámtidspänt
Formed by adding the suffix -éra to the singular forms, and -éran to the plural forms. Notice how the syllable stress moves with the future tense.
ey vérkera - I will work
du vérkera - you will work
er vérkera - he will work
zi vérkera - she will work
en vérkera - it will work
vey vérkeran - we will work
ney vérkeran - you will work
dey vérkeran - they will work
Future Perfect - Fulkómigfrámtidspänt
Formed by using the auxiliary verb haban plus the future participle:
ey hátera verkérei - I will have worked
du hátera verkérei - you will have worked
er hátera verkérei - he will have worked
zi hátera verkérei - she will have worked
en hátera verkérei - it will have worked
vey háteran verkérei - we will have worked
ney háteran verkérei - you will have worked
dey háteran verkérei - they will have worked
Conditional mood - Vilkórligskap
Formed by using the suffix -erat after the verb root:
ey vérkerat - I would work
du vérkerat - you would work
er vérkerat - he would work
zi vérkerat - she would work
en vérkerat - it would work
min vérkerat - one would work
vey vérkeraten - we would work
ney vérkeraten - you would work
dey vérkeraten - they would work
Past conditional mood - Fórstidvilkórligskap
Formed by the use of the conditional form of the auxiliary verb haban with the past participle:
ey háterat verket - I would have worked
du háterat verket - you would have worked
er háterat verket - he would have worked
zi háterat verket - she would have worked
en háterat verket - it would have worked
vey háteraten verket - we would have worked
ney háteraten verket - you would have worked
dey háteraten verket - they would have worked
Suggestive - Fórslagskap
The suggestive is formed by using the present tense with the auxiliary verb skud:
ey skud verk - I should work
du skud verk - you should work
er skud verk - he should work
zi skud verk - she should work
en skud verk - it should work
min skud verk - one should work
vey skud verken - we should work
ney skud verken - you should work
dey skud verken - they should work
Imperative mood - Imperativskap
The imperative is formed by using the suffix -e attached to the root:
verke - work
The verbal prefix tig- - tig- vérbalisk Forskeytet
When making requests or wishes the verbal prefix tig- is used in conjunction with the imperative:
vaknan - to wake up
vakne! - wake up!
tigvakne - please wake up
Note: the prefix tig- comes from the verb tigan “to beg”.
Prepositions and the dative case - Forméninger ok dátiv Falet
In general, the dative is used to mark the indirect object of a Viteberger sentence. In the following example Man is in the dative:
Ey Manit Boket sendet - I sent the book to the man
In English, the same sentence may be rendered: “I sent the man the book.” The indirect object here is marked by standing in front of the direct object. The normal word order in Viteberger is also to put the dative in front of the accusative (as in the example above). However, since the Viteberger dative is marked in form, it can also be put after the accusative: Ey Boket Manit sendet.
Certain Viteberger prepositions require the dative: fra, nem, mot, med, efter, seden, av, fyer. Other prepositions (til, ö, bak, i, darauk, um, under, för, mil) may be used with dative (indicating current location), or accusative (indicating direction toward something). Boket ö Bordit li (dative: the book is lying on the table), but Ey Boket ö Bordet set (accusative: I put the book onto the table).
In addition, the four prepositions vegne (“because of”), trots (“in spite of”), anstät (“instead of”) and vid (“during”), which require the genitive in formal language, are most commonly used with the dative in colloquial Viteberger. For example, “because of the weather” is expressed as vegne Väterit instead of the formally correct vegen Väterus.
Note that the concept of an indirect object may be rendered by a prepositional phrase. In this case, the noun’s or pronoun’s case is determined by the preposition, NOT by its function in the sentence.
Some Viteberger verbs require the dative for their direct objects. Common examples include folgan, hyalpan, and svaran. In each case, the direct object of the verb is rendered in dative. For example:
Men Viner mir hyalp. - My friends help me.
W Words - V Order
Telling time - Tídmätar
Time, Manner, Place - Tid, Hat, Stat
How to start a conversation in Viteberger
Short texts - Kort Texter
Short texts in Viteberger can be found here: Viteberger short texts
Viteberger Culture - Viteberger Mening
Go to this page for: Viteberger Culture
