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Weddish is a conservative Judeo-Christian auxlanglanguage 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 two unusual letters) is used as a partial abjad, though the Hebrew alphabet can be used. The writing of vowels is typically skipped, except in dictionaries and some poetry. A, H, and E (and W and Y) are used a mater lectionis, i.e. hints as to the unwritten vowels. A usually means an /a/ or /o/ at the beginning of a word, H at the end. E indicates initial /e/ or /i/

Y is not used. H is placed after S and Z in electronic contexts where Š and Ž are not available (i.e. SH=Š and ZH=Ž).

Consonants

There are about 25 consonants in Weddish, which is average. This is consistent with English, German, Yiddish, and Modern Hebrew.

Consonants in IPA
	Labial		Alveolar		Post-alv.		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m		n						ŋ
Plosive	p	b	t	d					k	g	ʔ
Fricative	f	v	s	z	ʃ	ʒ			x~χ		h
Affricate					tʃ~θ	dʒ~ð
Approximants		w		l				j
Trill				r~ʁ (ɻ)

Consonants as Written
	Labial		Alveolar		Post-alv.		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		M		N
Plosive	P	B	T	D					K	G
Fricative	F	V	S	Z	Š	Ž			X		H
Affricate					C	J
Approximants		U~W		L				I~II
Trill				R

Consonants in Hebrew Alphabet
	Labial		Alveolar		Post-alv.		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		מ/ם		נ/ן
Plosive	פּ/ףּ	בּ	ת	ד					כ/ך	ג
Fricative	פ/ף	ב	שׂ	ז	שׁ	ס			ח		ה
Affricate					צ/ץ	ט
Approximants		ו~װ		ל				י~ײ
Trill				ר

Q (ק) is used for the uvular sound /q/ (as in Quran/Koran), but is /k/ in everything but one dialect. R is pronounced as a alveolar or uvular trill, but Americans tend to produce it as a retroflex approximant (which can make them hard to understand!).

Latin	Hebrew	Name	Name
A	א	A̱L̩F	ālef
B	בּ	B̤YT	beyt
C	שׁ	C̣N	shīn
D	דּ	ḎL̩T	dalet
E	ע	E̤ỴN	eyin
F	פ/ף	E̤F	ēff
G	ג	G̣M̩L	gimel
H	ה	H̤H	hēh
Ð	ס	Ð̱M̩K	zhāmek
K	כ/ך	ḴF	kāf
L	ל	ḺM̩D	lamed
M	מ/ם	M̤M	mēm
N	נ/ן	N̖N	nūn
P	פּ/ףּ	P̤Y	pei
Q	ק	Q̇F	qōf
R	ר	R̤C	rēsh
S	שׂ	E̤S	ēss
T	ת	ṮW	tau
V	ב	ṾY	vī
W	ו	W̱W	wau
X	ח	X̤T	xēt
Y	י	ẎD	yōd
Z	ז	ẔỴN	zayin
J	ט	J̤T	jēt
C	צ/ץ	C̱D̤Y	chādei

Vowels

Weddish has 7 vowels (just above average), which is more than Hebrew and Yiddish, but far less than English and German. Like English, vowel length is not phonemic. Technically, there are three vowel qualities (long, short, and reduced), but functionally it is better to contrast schwa with everything else. Similar to the Hebrew practice of ketiv male, certain letters are used to "hint" which vowels are meant.

Vowels
	Front		Near-front		Central		Back
High	i~ɪ							u~ʊ
High-mid			e~ɛ					o~ɔ
Mid					ə
Near-low			æ
Low					a

Full Spelling

	Initially	Medially	Finally
/a/	A	A
/æ/		E	No
/e/	E	Ø	No
/i/		I	E
/j/	I	II	No
/o/	O		No
/u/	U
/w/	UU		No
/ai/	AI
/ei/	EI	I
/oi/	OI
/au/	AU
/ou/	OU		O
/ə/	No	'	No
cluster	Ø

Defective Spelling

	Initially	Medially	Finally
/a/	A	Ø	A
/æ/			No
/e/	E		No
/i/			E
/j/	I	I	No
/o/	O	O	No
/u/		U	U
/w/	U		No
/ai/	AI	I
/ei/	EI
/oi/	OI
/au/	AU	U
/ou/	OU
/ə/	No	Ø	No
cluster	Ø

Niqqud

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/ḤR̩Q
A̤	/e/ as in bet or bait	Sereh/S̤R̩H
A̞	/æ/ as in Sally	Qæmets/Q̞M̩T̩S
ֻA	/u/ as in boot	Shureq/C̖R̩Q	3 dots is formal. A slanted line is also used, i.e. A̖
Ȧ	/o/ as in boat*	Holem/ḢL̩M
A̱	/a/ as in father	Pātax/P̱AṮX
ְ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.

Vowel nazalization is non-phonemic.

Phonotactics/Prosody

Weddish has an average consonant-to-vowel ratio, which is the same as Hebrew and Yiddish, but higher than English or German. Neither vowel length nor stress is phonemic. Long vowels indicate stress. This is like German, English, and Yiddish, but unlike Hebrew. So too, if the word is very long, one of the last three syllables must be primary 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. This syllable structure may be relatively simpler, but it is still highly complex on the global scale, like English, German, Yiddish, and Hebrew.

The default rhythm of Weddish is trochaic, stress-unstressed.

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, ÐR	but not PW, PY, BW, BY, TL, TR, TY, DL, DR, DY, ÐL, ÐY, ÐW
Fricative plus approximant	FW, FL, FR, FY, VW, VL, VR, VY, SW, SL, ZW, CW, CL, CR, JW, JL, JR, XW, XL, XR	but not 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, LÐ, LK, LG
Lateral approximant + fricative:	LF, LV, LS, LZ, LC, LJ, LX
Lateral approximant + nasal:	LM, LN	but not LNG
Nasal + homorganic stop or affricate	MP, MB, NT, ND, NŦ, NÐ, NGK, NGG	NGK and NGG are just spelled NK and NG
Voiceless fricative plus voiceless stop:	FP, FT, FK, SP, ST, SK, CP, CT, CK, XP, XT, XK
Two voiceless fricatives:	FS, FC, CS, XS, XC	But not FX, SF, SC, SX, CF, CX, XF
Two voiceless stops:	PK, PT, KT,	But not KP, TK, TP
Stop plus voice-matching fricative:	PS, PC, BZ, BJ, TS, TX, DZ, KF, KS, KC, KX, GZ, GJ	But not PF, PX, BV, TF, DV, GV TC=Ŧ, DJ=Ð

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 lacks the full 3-person distinction on verbs but not in pronouns. Recall the limited circumstances where this language is spoken. To encourage the couple to remember that they are one, only "we" statements are possible, though non-subject pronouns exist for "me" and "you". Thus, it is possible to say "I did this" by paraphrasis: "We did this via me."

Person	Singular	Dual	Plural
1st (Ego)	Pronoun Only	Yes	No
2nd (Spouse)	Pronoun Only		No
3 Animate	Yes	Yes	Yes
3 Nanimate	Yes	Yes

Case

Weddish is not a language with case, per se. Instead, like English, there are vestigial cases on the pronouns only

Like Hebrew (and a little like English), inseparable preposition mark the cases. In more poetic registers, these pronouns as exist as whole words. The attach before the articles.

Proclitic form	Independent form	Meaning
H	HN	Ergative
D	DY	Genitive
L	LMO	Dative
B	BMO	Ablative
M	MN	Partitive/Elative
K	KMO	Equative
EL	EL	Locative
AL	AL	Lative
ED	ED	Terminative
EM	EM	Comitative
TXT	TXT	Subessive
BED	BED	Behind
AXR	AXRY	After
LFN	LNFY	Before

There are no truly 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 three different plurals: collective, distributive and associative. 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)
Ð̩Ŧ̱YLD̤YR	the child and his/her associates

Gender/Animacy

There is more gender in Weddish than in English but less than in Hebrew, Yiddish, or German. Basically, things of high animacy or importance are grammatically animate. However, as in English, there is no agreement to keep track of, other than on the third person pronouns.

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.

Hollow Verb Paradigm

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.

Copulative

Past						1M	TYYTY
1F	TYYNW
2M	HYYT
2F	HYYT
2D	HYYTW
3	HT
Present						1M

Noun Incorporation

The Object of a verb may be folded into the verb. Examples from English include "to sit" + "baby" = "to babysit", and "to pick" + "cherry" = "to cherry-pick". This is only done with habitual actions, and implies a certain frequency to the action. For example, only a professional student would say "to paper-write". Such verbs may take an ergative or absolutive subject, or be made anti-passive.

Nouns

Relative clauses immediately follow the noun they modify, as do adjectives and demonstratives, but not numerals. Genitives are post-nominal, expressed by a postclitic.

"If in apposition the proper noun usually precedes the common noun, then the language is one in which the governing noun precedes its dependent genitive. With much better than chance frequency, if the common noun usually precedes the proper noun, the dependent genitive precedes its governing noun." #23

Pronoun table

#	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative	Ablative
1S	No	MR	NW	NY	BNW
1D	ẈY	O̖S	O̱AS	WY	BRS
2S	No	DK/DX	DYN	DY	DR
3AS	HW	O
3AD
3AP
3NS
3NP

Adjectives/Participles

Adjectives may not be used as substantives without being changed into a noun. Only then may they take inflection for number. Otherwise, adjectives are always unadorned and follow the noun they modify.

"When any or all of the items (demonstrative, numeral, and descriptive adjective) precede the noun, they are always found in that order. If they follow, the order is either the same or its exact opposite." #20

Derivational Morphology

Grammatical parts of speech are somewhere stricter than in English. For example, adjectives cannot be used substantively without a suffix. Somewhat like German, however, rich compounding and word-building is possible

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.

"With well more than chance frequency, when question particles or affixes are specified in position by reference to the sentence as a whole, if initial, such elements are found in prepositional languages, and, if final, in postpositional." - Greenberg's linguistic universals #9

Lexicon

LYP	to jump	Hollow