Hanian

General information
Hanian -- also known as "Hannä," or more properly as "Hannäsåg" -- is a language of North Germanic, with several undefined influences. Many trace these particular non-Germanicisms back to the influence of Slavic, Thracian, and Dacian languages. Despite these anomalous appearances, Hanian is classified as a North Germanic language.

Hanian is spoken among a diverse population across a wide geographical distribution, ranging from southern Sweden all the way over to parts of Poland.

Consonants
Below are all of the sounds contained within the Hanian language, with the exception of [ɧ] (voiceless coarticulated velar and palatoalveolar fricative), for which there was no appropriate place. {| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="wikitable article-table" style="width: 660px; text-align:center;" ! style="width: 68px; "| ! style="width: 68px; " |Bilabial ! style="width: 68px; " |Dental ! style="width: 68px; " |Alveolar ! style="width: 68px; " |Palatal ! style="width: 68px; " |Velar ! style="width: 68px; " |Glottal ! style="" |Nasal ! style="" |Plosive ! style="" |Fricative ! style="" |Approximant ! style="" |Trill ! style="" |Flap or tap ! style="" |Lateral app.
 * m
 * n
 * ɲ
 * ŋ
 * ŋ
 * p b
 * t̪d̪
 * k g
 * k g
 * k g
 * f v
 * s
 * h
 * h
 * h
 * h
 * j
 * j
 * j
 * j
 * r
 * r
 * r
 * ɾ
 * ɾ
 * ɾ
 * l
 * l
 * l

Alphabet
The alphabet is actually pretty simple. All of the nouns have a "long" and "short" form. For those with two listed pronunciations, the first is the "long form". The general rule of thumb is to use the long form for all stressed vowels, unless there's a double consonant following it, or a consonant cluster.


 * In some dialects, the short Æn makes an Ä sound.

As you can see, it's not always easy to distinguish between two words that differ only by vowel quality. The pitch accent makes that much easier, as long and short vowels are also differentiated by their pitch. (see Pitch Accent)

The double consonant appears quite often in Hanian, and it is realized differently, depending on where in the word it is. Most of the time, you pronounce it longer. If it's at the end of a word, it's dormant, only being pronounced longer if there is a suffix added on after it.

Phonotactics
The basic phonotactic structure demands only that there be at least one vowel. There can be up to three consonants preceeding and following the vowel nucleus. Therefore, the phonotactic structure can be writting with the following formula:

(C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C).

An example of this is the one-syllable word "strömst" [strømst̪], meaning "noisiest"

Pitch Accent ("Melodi")
Stressed syllables differentiate two "pitch accents". They are called pitches 1 and 2 -- pitch 1, in monosyllabic words, is (˥ ˧); pitch 2 is pronounced without a tone.

(Ex. "mat" [mɑ:t˥˧ ] ("snack-food") v.s. "matt" [m'ɑt] ("lost"))

In polysyllabic words, pitch 1 starts high and falls (˥ ˧ ˩), while pitch 2 starts in the middle, falls, then starts high and falls again (˧ ˩ ˥ ˩ )/

(Ex. "sjöne" ['ɧø:˥ ˧ nɛ˩ ] ("kinsmen") v.s. "sjönne" ['ɧø˧ ˩ nɛ<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'ArialUnicodeMS','LucidaSansUnicode';line-height:19px;">˥ <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'ArialUnicodeMS','LucidaSansUnicode';line-height:19px;">˩ ] ("to accept someone"))

You use pitch 1 if the stressed syllable is a long vowel. You use pitch 2 if it's a short vowel.

Irregularities:

If the word is a single vowel (i.e. a, e, i, å), you use tone 2.

If the word is more than two syllables, you use no tone except on stressed syllable if it is a long vowel.

Grammar
All nouns have four basic forms: singular indefinite, singular definite, plural indefinite, and plural definite. The way you form these changes depending on gender. For "in" words:
 * You only add an R if the last letter of the noun is a vowel.

For "ät" words, it becomes: Adjectives are also changed to match gender and number. For instance, here is the word "green" ("grön") applied to both genders and numbers: Many adjectives end in D. When the neuter -T is added, it makes a very challenging consonant cluster. In these cases, only the T is pronounced. (Ex. L'und [lund] > L'undt [lunt] "heavy")

Vocabulary
Most of the vocabulary is of Germanic/Norse decent. However, there are many words which have been retained from the Dacian and Thracian substrata. These have, however, gone through a lot of phonological change to acclimate to the Germanic vocabulary.

Example text
"Ælt å männäskenna är födt frie, a lige i verdihett a rättihetter. Si är klarvesteret med mansvit a hötanke, a skal lejandere med inandene i in bråskabännas ånd."

[ælt̪ o: 'mɛnːɛskɛnːɑ ɛ:r føt̪ frie ɑ: lige i: 'vɛrdɪhɛt̪ ɑ: 'rɛt̪ːɪˌhɛt̪ːɛr. Si: ɛ:r klɑr'vɛst̪ɛrɛt̪ me:d̪ 'mɑnsvit̪ ɑ: 'hø:t̪ɑnke ɑ: skɑ:l lejɑ'd̪e:rɛ me:d̪ in'ɑnd̪enɛ i: i:n 'broskɑbɛnːɑs ond̪.]

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."