User:Aquatiki/Sandbox
Wedish is a conservative Judeo-Christian language spoken only between a husband and a wife. It is meant to appeal to Indo-European and Semitic language speakers. It sounds like Anglish (Germanic English without Latin influence), has Hebrew/Aramaic verbs but a variety of other influences.
Phonology
Generally speaking, Wedish has British English consonants, Spanish vowels, and Yiddish phonotactics. The Roman alphabet (plus four other letters) is used as an abjad, though the Hebrew alphabet can be used. The writing of vowels is typically skipped, except in dictionaries and some poetry. A, H, O, and E (and W and Y) are used a mater lectionis, i.e. hints as to the unwritten vowels. A usually means an /a/ at the beginning of a word, H at the end. O indicates /o/ or /u/ at the start of a word, but only means /o/ medially or finally. E indicates initial /e/ or /i/
I, and U are not used.
Consonants
| Consonants in IPA | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alv. | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||||||||||
| Plosive | p | b | t | d | k | g | ʔ | |||||||||
| Fricative | f | v | θ | ð | s | z | ʃ | ʒ | x | h | ||||||
| Affricate | tʃ | dʒ | ||||||||||||||
| Approximants | w | l | j | |||||||||||||
| Trill | r | |||||||||||||||
| Consonants as Written | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alv. | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||||||
| Nasal | M | N | NG | |||||||||||||
| Plosive | P | B | T | D | K | G | ||||||||||
| Fricative | F | V | Θ | Ð | S | Z | C | J | X | H | ||||||
| Affricate | Ŧ | Ɗ | ||||||||||||||
| Approximants | W | L | Y | |||||||||||||
| Trill | R | |||||||||||||||
| Consonants in Hebrew Alphabet | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alv. | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||||||
| Nasal | מ/ם | נ/ן | נג | |||||||||||||
| Plosive | פּ/ףּ | בּ | תּ | דּ | כּ/ךּ | ג | ||||||||||
| Fricative | פ/ף | ב | ת | ד | שׂ | ז | שׁ | ס | כ/ך | ה | ||||||
| Affricate | צ/ץ | ט | ||||||||||||||
| Approximants | ו | ל | י | |||||||||||||
| Trill | ר | |||||||||||||||
Q is used for the sound /q/ (as in Quran/Koran), but it almost universally pronounced /k/. Speakers from non-rhotic countries pronounce R as trilled, while Americans tend to make it retroflex (which can make them hard to understand!).
Vowels
| Vowels | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Near-front | Central | Back | |||||||
| High | i~ɪ | u | ||||||||
| High-mid | e~ɛ | o | ||||||||
| Mid | ə | |||||||||
| Near-low | æ | |||||||||
| Low | a | |||||||||
The Hebrew vowel points are used around Latin letters, with only slight modification. The glottal stop A is used here as a place holder.
| Written | Sound | Name | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ạ | /i/ as in feet or fit | Hireq/ḤR̤Q | |
| A̤ | /e/ as in bet or bait | Sereh/S̤R̤H | |
| A̞ | /æ/ as in Sally | Qæmets/Q̞M̤T̩S | |
| ֻA | /u/ as in boot | Qibuts/Q̣B̖T̩S | 3 dots is formal. A slanted line is also used, i.e. A̖ |
| Ȧ | /o/ as in boat* | Holem/ḢL̤M | |
| A̱ | /a/ as in father | Pathach/P̱Θ̱X | |
| ְA | /ə/ as in careen | Schwa/ְCW̱ | In typed contexts, the schwa is often written as a line: i.e. A̩ |
The Schwa may or may not be indicative of a separate syllable (see Phonotactics below).
A tilde above a letter makes it syllabic, that is, the nucleus of a syllable. Only M̃, Ñ, and L̃ may take the tilde.
There are many diphthongs in quick speech, but they are pronounced separately (i.e. two syllables) in careful speech.
- AY
- /ai/ (English long-I)
- EY
- /ei/ (English long-A)
- OY
- /oi/
- OW
- /ou/ (English long-O)
Phonotactics
Neither vowel length nor stress is phonemic. Long vowels indicate stress. Initial consonant clusters can only be two letters long, unless they start with S or C. Final consonant clusters can only be two letters long, which even limits even combinations which would produce a third, epenthetic consonant.
Onset
| All single consonant phonemes | except /ŋ/ | |
| Stop or affricate plus approximant | PL, PR, BL, BR, KW, KL, KR, KY, GW, GL, GR, GY, TW, DW, ŦW, ŦL, ŦR, ŦJ, ƊR | but not PW, PY, BW, BY, TL, TR, TY, DL, DR, DY, ƊL, ƊY, ƊW |
| Fricative plus approximant | FW, FL, FR, FY, VW, VL, VR, VY, ΘW, ΘL, ΘR, SW, SL, ZW, CW, CL, CR, JW, JL, JR, XW, XL, XR | but not ΘY, ÐW, ÐW, ÐR, ÐY, SR, SY, ZL, ZR, ZY, CY, JY, XY |
| S or C plus voiceless stop, M, or N | SP, ST, SK, SM, SN, CP, CT, CK, CM, CN | |
| S or C plus voiceless stop or affricate plus approximant: | SPL, SPR, SKW, SKL, SKR, SKY, STW, SŦW, SŦR, CPL, CPR, CKW, CKL, SKR, CKY, CTW, CŦW, CŦR | but not SPW, SPY, STL, STR, STY, SŦL, SŦJ, CPW, CPY, CTL, CTR, CTY, CŦL, CŦJ |
Coda
| The single consonant phonemes | except H, W, Y, R | |
| Lateral approximant plus stop or affricate: | LP, LB, LT, LD, LC, LJ, LŦ, LƊ, LK, LG | |
| Lateral approximant + fricative: | LF, LV, LΘ, LÐ, LS, LZ, LC, LJ, LX | |
| Lateral approximant + nasal: | LM, LN | but not LNG |
| Nasal + homorganic stop or affricate | MP, MB, NT, ND, NŦ, NƊ, NGK, NGG | NGK and NGG are just spelled NK and NG |
| Voiceless fricative plus voiceless stop: | FP, FT, FK, ΘP, ΘT, ΘK, SP, ST, SK, CP, CT, CK, XP, XT, XK | |
| Two voiceless fricatives: | FΘ, FS, FC, ΘS, ΘC, SΘ, CΘ, CS, XΘ, XS, XC | But not FX, ΘF, ΘX, SF, SC, SX, CF, CX, XF |
| Two voiceless stops: | PK, PT, KT, | But not KP, TK, TP |
| Stop plus voice-matching fricative: | PΘ, PS, PC, BÐ, BZ, BJ, TΘ, TS, TX, DÐ, DZ, KF, KΘ, KS, KC, KX, GÐ, GZ, GJ | But not PF, PX, BV, TF, DV, GV
TC=Ŧ, DÐ=Ɗ |
More complicated consonant clusters than these may be possible across syllable boundaries, but require epenthetic vowels.
Grammar
Because this language is only ever spoken between two, specific people, a great deal of narrowing in scope is possible.
Person
Wedish has the typical 3-person distinction. However, there are different forms for the husband and wife is almost every circumstance. Additionally, something like possession of the subject is marked on the verb. In the 3rd person, any number of objects may be referred to: what matters is whose "sphere" they are thought to belong to.
| # | Designation | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1M | 1st Person Masculine | Used by the husband to refer to himself. | AN /I am here |
| 1F | 1st Person Feminine | Used by the wife to refer to herself. | I am here |
| 1D | 1st Person Dual | Used by the couple to refer to themselves. | We are here |
| 2M | 2nd Person Masculine | Used by the wife to refer to her husband. | You are here |
| 2F | 2nd Person Feminine | Used by the husband to refer to his wife. | You are here |
| 3M | 3rd Person Masculine | Used by either to refer to that which is of the husband. | Your hair is gone |
| 3F | 3rd Person Feminine | Used by either to refer to that which is of the wife. | Your hair is perfect |
| 3D | 3rd Person Dual | Used by either to refer to that which is mutual. | Our children are eating (now) |
| 3N | 3rd Person Neither | Used by either to refer to that which is neither's. | Other people's kids are making noise. |
Case
There are no cases, per se. The ergative, or subject of a transitive clause must come before the verb,unless it is emphatic or a question (similar to English). The absolute (when denoting the object of the verb) must come after the verb, unless the clause is emphatic or a question. Genitive relationships are expressed through via the independent participle OV or its allomorph, the suffix '-V (cp. English "of"). Dative relationships come by T/T-. Ablative is handled by BO/B-. Only pronouns have separate morphology for these cases.
There are no ditransitive verbs in Wedish. All truly modal auxiliary verbs take infinitive verb objects.
Number
Broadly speaking, Wedish recognizes three numbers: singular, dual, and plural. However, there are two different plurals: collective and distributive. As with most languages, the unmarked form of the word is the singular.
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ð̩Ŧ̱YLD | the child (1) |
| Ð̩Ŧ̱YLD̤M | the children (2) |
| Ð̩Ŧ̱YLD̤Z | the children (many, as a group) |
| Ð̩Ŧ̱YLD̤N | the children (many, as individuals) |
Gender
There is not gender in Wedish, per se. Some nouns and pronouns refer to masculine things and some refer to feminine things, but there is no agreement necessary between parts of speech.
Definiteness
Exactly as in English, there are three kinds of definiteness in Wedish. The definite and indefinite articles are particles that attach the front of a word and may be applied to nouns of any number (unlike English). Without any article, nouns are by nature abstract. For example, ÐŦYLD (the child) refers to one specific child of the couples, NŦYLD refers to one non-specific child of the couples, but ŦYLD refers to "the state of being one a child of ours".
Verbs
Wedish verbs agree with the subject/actor in person only. Tense is the main idea encoded in the verb, with aspectual qualities typically requiring adverbs or postpositional phrases. Noun incorporation is common. Incorporated verb phrases may still take either an ergative or an absolutive subject, to indicate intentionality. There is poly-personal agreement.
The future tense is intentional for the 1st person and suppositional for the 2nd and 3rd.
The only (but exceedingly common) auxiliary verb is the "to be" verb, which precedes the verb it modifies and is conjugated the same way.
Kinds of Verbs
- Hollow Verbs
- The middle consonant is a semi-vowel (Y or W). The resulting forms all have a long vowel or diphthong in the stem-based syllable.
- Initial Consonant Cluster
- 2 or 3 consonants begin the verb and 1 ends it. The initial group stays together and the theme vowel is /a/ or /e/.
- Final Consonant Cluster
- The first consonant is alone, followed by the vowel /a/ or /e/, but then ended by a consonant cluster. This final group is often broken up in conjugation.
| Tense | Number | Form |
|---|---|---|
| Past | 1 | ḶYPN̖W |
| 2 | ḶYP̖W | |
| 3 | ḶYP̱H | |
| Present | 1 | LỴP̤N |
| 2 | LỴP | |
| 3 | LỴP̤T | |
| Future | 1 | N̖WḶYP |
| 2 | ṚḶYP | |
| 3 | W̞ḶYP |
The "to-be" verb is separated into two related verbs, like Korean 있다 and 이다, Japanese います and です, or Chinese 有 and 是.
| Past | 1M | TYYTY | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1F | TYYNW | ||||||
| 2M | HYYT | ||||||
| 2F | HYYT | ||||||
| 2D | HYYTW | ||||||
| 3 | HT | ||||||
| Present | 1M | ||||||
|}
Nouns
Relative clauses immediately follow the noun they modify, as do adjectives, demonstratives and numerals. Genitives are post-nominal, expressed by a postclitic.
| # | Ergative | Absolutive | Genitive | Dative | Ablative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1M | ANY | NXN | NW | NY | BNW |
| 1F | AK/AX | MK/MX | MYN | MY | MR |
| 1D | W | OS | ORS | WY | BRS |
| 2M | AT | YK | YW | YY | KWN |
| 2F | DW | DK/DX | DYN | DY | DR |
| 3M | HW | O | |||
| 3F | HY |
Derivational Morphology
Grammatical parts of speech are somewhere stricter than in English. For example, adjectives cannot be used substantively without a suffix
| Form | Expects | Produces | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| -NS | Adjective | Noun | "The quality of being ..." (cp. -ness) |
| C- | Noun | Noun | "The language of ..." (cp. -ish) |
| YY- | Noun | Noun | "An inhabitant of ..." |
Discourse Participles
- XTATY
- (Lit. Heb. "I have sinned") This is very much like the English opening phrase "I confess that". While (like everything) it is possible to abuse this phrase, it typically begins an utterance with an air of confession, humility and perhaps even admission of guilt.
Lexicon
| LYP | to jump | Hollow |
|---|
