Drevljanski

Classification and Dialects
Drevljanski /drɛvˈliɑnski/ (древляанскiй єзик drevljanskiy jezyk) is an East Slavic language native to southern Belarus and northern Ukraine, as well as in large diaspora communities in eastern Poland and across the United States. It has no official status in any country, but it a recognized minority language in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, and a handful of counties in northwestern New York. Written Drevljanski uses a variant of the Ukrainian alphabet with the addition of ⟨ё⟩ /jo/.

While traditionally grouped with East Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family, modern linguists are split as to the origins of the Drevljanski language. While some still argue for the traditional grouping, others suggest that Russification of the Drevljanski has caused it to absorb loanwords and some grammar but remains its own separate branch of the Slavic family, as its relation to Old East Slavic is unverified.

Drevljanski came into its modern form in the late 18th century, but with the Russian Empire banning minority languages such as Polish and Ukrainian, it fell out of popular use, except in small areas between Ukraine and Belarus, with some escaping into rural Poland as well. With the fall of the Soviet Union, many Drevljanski emigrated to the United States. Drevljanski has no regulatory body, but has a fair amount of mutual intelligibility with Russian and Ukrainian.

There are two major dialects of the language: Volynian and Polesian, also called West and East, respectively. Volynian dialects, common in Poland and Ukraine, tend toward full palatalization (/tʲ/ → /c/) and penulimate stress, as well as preferring the labiodental fricative to the approximant, while Polesian, common in eastern Ukraine and Belarus, prefers the retroflex fricatives and affricates

Consonants
1Allophonic sounds, found in all dialects

2Found in the Volynian dialects

3Found in the Polesian dialects

4Occur where an aspirated stop would normally be expected in other Slavic languages. /t͡θ/ more common in rural areas and American speakers.

5All consonants are subject to palatalization except for /j r̝/

Writing System
The Drevljanski alphabet is based on the Ukrainian and Russian alphabet and contains 33 letters. Most Drevljanski keyboards have the same layout as Ukrainian keyboards, sometimes with an added ⟨ё⟩ key because of of the host of words in the Drevljanski vocabulary with it.

Nouns
The nominal declension has seven cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative, and vocative), in three numbers (singular, dual, and plural), and obeying grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter). Adjectives, pronouns, and the first two cardinal numbers have gender specific forms. The forms, particularly noticeable in spelling, are also determined by whether the word ends in a "soft," palatalized, or "hard," unpalatalized consonant.

There are four major declension patterns for normal nouns: masculine, animate masculine, feminine, and neuter. Below are examples of regular declension patterns. Acute accents indicated stress and are only used in linguistic works.

Masculine inanimate
гроб "grave" and грïш "sin"

Masculine animate
сол "ambassador" and нeтoпирь "bat (flying mammal)"

Feminine
гyба "fungus, mushroom" and ёpoть "war" 1Unintegrated form ёротю also common.

Neuter
ёзеро "lake, pond" and полє "field"

Fleeting-A
Fleeting-A nouns are masculine nouns where the stemmed-A in the syllable nucleus before the final coda sound is removed, so-called because it seems as if the A is fleeting and has moved to the end before declining. This almost always occurs in polysyllabic words, but also in a few monosyllabic words as well. When the noun has a palatalized ending, the declension is usually unpalatalized, as in the example below. The Fleeting-A is comparable to Serbo-Croatian nouns in similar circumstances.

рибарь "fisherman"

Running-N
Running-N nouns are nouns which are inherited from Proto-Slavic words that end in *ę. This sound in Proto-Slavic was nasalized and was decoupled in declensions where the *ę is in the final syllable's coda in the nominative singular, where it is usually /ʲe/.

iме "name"

Pronouns
First-person 1Always capitalized as in English

2Used after prepositions

Second-person 1Used after prepositions

Third-person
1Used after prepositions

Reflexive
1Used after prepositions

Indefinite declension
бєлiй "white"

Verbs
Grammatical conjugation is subject to three persons in three numbers and three simple tenses (non-past, future, and past), with periphrastic forms for the future and conditional, as well as imperative forms. Drevljanski is unique in the Slavic family because it does not distinguish between the perfective and imperfective aspects; these are signified with grammar.

Typically, the imperfective aspect is the default for the past tense (i.e., Я чекал "I was waiting"), while the perfective is formed by using the Proto-Slavic aorist tense as a participle. The exact mechanics of how this came to be is hotly debated among Slavicists, but some linguists have suggested that the aorist's lack of tense-marking, and the perfect falling out of use, led to it fill the empty gap in grammar. In some dialects, the perfective is formed by using the past tense form of бить + по + active participle in the dative case (Я бил по чекалу "I waited/I (was) finished waiting" also cf. Irish English I was after eating), however this form is considered ungrammatical and only used by older speakers in the easternmost parts of the sprachbund. In everyday communication, the imperfective is typically preferred for simplicity, but it is common in writing, broadcasting, and formal events (esp. newspapers, television, etc.) to use the perfective. Old prefixes that indicated aspect as in other Slavic languages have been largely dropped, had their meaning changed through semantic drift, or been flatly ignored and used regardless of its original grammatical duty.

Regular conjugation
знать "to know" 1 For masculine nouns; a feminine or neuter agent would use the feminine and neuter gender forms of the active past participle and auxiliary verb, respectively.

2The use of a conjugated бить is highly variable among dialects; if used, its placement is in the second position.

3Palatalized forms also found in more rural areas (-i  m  / -є  f  / -я  n ).

4Used after verbs of motion. Uncommon in American and Polish speakers, who prefer the infinitive. Also used for purpose (рукавiца боротё "boxing gloves," lit. gloves for fighting), cf. Romanian. Found among all users.

Irregular conjugation
iщь "to go" 1 For masculine nouns; a feminine or neuter agent would use the feminine and neuter gender forms of the active past participle and auxiliary verb, respectively.

2The use of a conjugated бить is highly variable among dialects; if used, its placement is in the second position.

3Palatalized forms also found in more rural areas (-i  m  / -є  f  / -я  n ).

4Used after verbs of motion. Uncommon in American and Polish speakers, who prefer the infinitive. Also used for purpose (рукавiца боротё "boxing gloves," lit. gloves for fighting), cf. Romanian. Found among all users.

Suppletive conjugations
ячать "to wail; to moan" with suppletive гаять. 1 For masculine nouns; a feminine or neuter agent would use the feminine and neuter gender forms of the active past participle and auxiliary verb, respectively.

2The use of a conjugated бить is highly variable among dialects; if used, its placement is in the second position.

3Palatalized forms also found in more rural areas (-i  m  / -є  f  / -я  n ).

4Used after verbs of motion. Uncommon in American and Polish speakers, who prefer the infinitive. Also used for purpose (рукавiца боротё "boxing gloves," lit. gloves for fighting), cf. Romanian. Found among all users.

5In verbs with suppletive forms, the past form typically takes the supine position while the non-past takes the verbal noun position.

Prepositions and Case Marking
Most prepositions demand a certain case-marking for the affected noun and many prepositions have more than one case assigned to them, which can indicate movement, relation, and other such grammatical functions. Below is a list of prepositions and their assigned cases.

Affixes
Nominal prefixes Verbal prefixes

Numerals
Numbers in Drevljanski The verb iмать (1 Sg. маю) is usually translated as "to have," but in this context, it means "there is; there are."

Syntax
Because of Drevljanski's rich case system, word order is generally free and allows for different interpretations based on the order involved. In general, Drevljanski follows SVO word but, while this can be modified to SOV in many instances to emphasize the object, most other words orders are thought of as archaic and rarely used in everyday speech. In Drevljanski, adjectives precede the nouns they modify and are declined according to case as necessary.

Drevljanski syntax closely observes Wackernagel's Law, which demands that clitics be placed in the second position with the following hierarchy: Drevljanski grammar allows for multiple negatives (in European varieties, this is typically mandatory). Single negatives are often grammatically incorrect because when negation is used in complex sentences every part that could be grammatically negated should be negative. Objects of a negated verb declined as genitive, where they would normally be declined as accusative if the verb were not negated.
 * 1) The Question Particle лi, which is an optional yes-no particle in questions.
 * 2) Any form of бить (this includes буду, сам, бix, or any other form that has grammatical function other than as the central verb).
 * 3) Dative pronouns
 * 4) Accusative pronouns
 * 5) Reflexive pronouns

Drevljanski is also a pro-drop language. When a pronoun is implied or obvious from either context or other grammatical means, it can be dropped from the sentence.

When a preposition is necessary, it must immediately precede the noun or noun phrase (c бруснiцамi or c чирвeним бруснiцамi).

Basic Phrases
These recordings were made by an American speaker with Volynian features.

Example text
«[https://vocaroo.com/i/s1jf3o1kSCfG Значу, мiлiяард Iдiйскix чоловiк страшaн ворог. Нагло, чутю емпатiю за Пакiстан.]»

"I mean, one billion Indian men is a daunting foe. I suddenly feel empathy for Pakistan."