Roman Germanech
Germanech | |
Spoken in: | Germany |
Timeline/Universe: | League of Lost Languages |
Total speakers: | ca. 5,000 |
Genealogical classification: | Indo-European |
Basic word order: | SVO (V2), SOV in subclauses |
Morphological type: | fusional |
Morphosyntactic alignment: | accusative |
Created by: | |
Jörg Rhiemeier | 2001 |
Germanech ([ʒɛʀ'manɛç], also known as Mosel Romance) is a conlang invented by Jörg Rhiemeier. It is a Romance language of Germany which was inspired by Andrew Smith's Brithenig. In the world of the League of Lost Languages, it is spoken in a few villages in the vicinity of Trier, Germany.
Germanech has undergone certain sound changes similar to the ones of German, including the High German consonant shift and i-umlaut. Otherwise, it is a pretty normal Romance language without any "cool" features.
Phonology
Consonants
Germanech has the following consonant phonemes:
Labial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
Voiceless stops | /p/ | /t/ | /k/ | ||
Voiced stops | /b/ | /d/ | /g/ | ||
Voiceless affricates | /pf/ | /ts/ | /tʃ/ | ||
Voiced affricates | /dʒ/ | ||||
Voiceless fricatives | /f/ | /s/ | /ʃ/ | /ç/ | [x] |
Voiced fricatives | /v/ | [z] | /ʒ/ | ||
Nasals | /m/ | /n/ | /ŋ/ | ||
Lateral | /l/ | ||||
Trill | /ʀ/ (uvular) | ||||
Semivowel | /j/ |
[x] is an allophine of /ç/ that occurs after back vowels. [z] is an allophone of /s/ that occurs between vowels.
Vowels
Germanech has the vowels /a ɛ i ɔ u/ (spelled a e i o u) plus the front rounded vowels /œ y/ (spelled ö ü). The letter ä represents the same vowel as e; it is used where the vowel represents an umlauted /a/.
Alphabet and pronunciation
The consonants are pronounced as in English, with the following exceptions:
c | like sh before front vowels, like k elsewhere |
ch | as in German |
cj | always like sh |
dj | like j in job |
g | like s in measure before front vowels, like g in good elsewhere |
gj | like s in measure |
gu | as in guitar before front vowels |
h | very lightly pronounced if at all |
j | like y in yes (but see cj, dj, gj and tj) |
qu | like k before front vowels |
r | uvular r as in French |
s | always as in sing |
tj | like ch in chin |
x | the same as s |
z | the same as s |
The vowels are pronounced as in German.
Accent
Accent falls on the last non-e vowel, unless there is an e with an acute accent (é), in which case the latter is stressed.