Urban Basanawa

Basanawa(Basanawa-dji: ばさなわ) is a West-Germanic (constructed) language, it is an Ingvaeonic language(or a North Sea Germanic language) and is very close to English(in terms of basic words), it is spoken on another planet called "Dë Niuland"(also called "Dë Niuwerld", Basanawa-dji: だ新世界), as the speakers were accidentally transferred by a wormhole to "Dë Niuland".

Basanawa is the main language of the Detch people(or Deetch people), more than 99.9% of the Detch people speak Basanawa as their native tongue.

Like English, Yiddish and Wymysorys, Basanawa is a west-germanic language with a large amount of loanwords. Basanawa developed from Old Saxon, but the inflection system has been greatly reduced; There are many loanwords from Slavic languages(Mainly a language closely related to Polish, perhaps a dialect of Polish), Malay and Japanese, also, due to the influence of Japanese, and being isolated from other germanic languages, Basanawa doesn't use Latin or Ancient Greek as its source of academic terms.

Despite not being an Anglo-Frisian language, many words of Basanawa are pronunced the same or similar to their English cognates, like feet("feet", pronunciation /fi:t/), fish("fish", pronunciation /fiʃ/), bring("to bring", pronunciation /briŋ/), green("green", pronunciation /gri:n/); but some words are pronunced differently from their English cognates, like ook("eye", pronunciation /u:x/), eggë("edge", pronunciation /ek/), etë("to eat", pronunciation /e:t/); also, there are words which are false friends to their English cognates, for example, deer("animal", pronunciation /di:r/, cognate to English "deer"), selfish("private", pronunciation /selfiʃ/, cognate to English "selfish" but with very different meanings to its English cognates), sood("to prove", pronunciation /su:t/, cognate to English "soothe").

It is thought that Toka na Musume, a language of anime-girl-like girls, is derived from Basanawa, or a creolized form of Basanawa.

Origin of words
It is said that most classical languagew of Eurasia of our word, including Classical Chinese(mainly via Japanese), Sanskrit(mainly via Malay-indonesia), Arabic(mainly via Malay-indonesia), Latin and Ancient Greek have all contributed some words to Basanawa.

Germanic
Basanawa is a germanic language, it evolves from Old Saxon, most germanic words in Basanawa are inherited from Old Saxon(through sound changes), thus, Basanawa could be seen as a dialect of Low German, but the merger between front rounded vowel into their unrounded counterparts, the breaking of Old Saxon /i:/ and /u:/(Old Saxon /i:/ and /u:/ have become /ai/ and /au/ respectively in Basanawa), the raising of Old Saxon /e:/ and /o:/(the breaking of Old Saxon /i:/ and /u:/, and the raising of Old Saxon /e:/ and /o:/ have made some Basanawa words sound like their English or Standard German cognates), the preservation of the distinction between Old Saxon short /o/ and /u/, lexical differences(Besides loanwords, semantic shift of native words can also create obstacles in communication) and grammatical changes(Basanawa has lost all nominal cases, and has also lost the germanic V2 order, becoming a SVO language, also, Basanawa has lost all verbal agreements, and adjectival inflections in Basanawa have also become unproductive and fossilized) can hinder the mutual intelligibility between Basanawa and Low German dialects.

Unlike Low German dialects, the distinction between short /o/ and /u/ of Old Saxon is still maintained in Basanawa.

Besides words that are inherited from Old Saxon, some germanic-origin words in Basanawa are borrowed, some of them are early borrowings borrowed from other germanic dialects in Old Saxon Period, some others are borrowed later indirect through Slavic languages or Japanese, which created some doublets:


 * land("land", a native word inherited from Old Saxon) - lond("owned land, owned field, property", a slavic borrowing)
 * ring("ring", a native word inherited from Old Saxon) - rinek("market", a slavic borrowing)
 * shirt("apron", a native word inherited from Old Saxon) - shatzu("shirt", a japanese borrowing)

Although Basanawa has borrowed kinship terms from Japanese, kinship terms of germanic origin are actually still used in daily communications, also, the pronominal system of Basanawa is still germanic, not influenced by other languages.

Austronesian
Basanawa has some from Malay-Indonesian and other Austronesian languages, many Sanskrit(including the word "Basa") and Arabic(the word for The Bible is "Alkitab" in Basanawa, but Arabic terms are largely restricted to religious terms) terms are also borrowed indirectly through Austronesian languages, it is thought that Austronesian languages(mainly Malay-Indonesian) were probably substratums among the speakers of Basanawa.

Slavic
Basanawa has words from slavic languages, especially Polish and/or Polish-like languages(words borrowed from other slavic languages also exist), before Basanawa speakers started to adopt Japanese, a Polish-like slavic language was served as the superstratum among the speakers of Basanawa.

Besides some lexical words, many proper nouns in Basanawa are influenced by slavic languages, for example, some village names are ended with -vitze, which is considered to be from Polish -wice, also, many given names are of Slavic origin, and there are even non-slavic-origin family names ended with -ski(for example, Umeski).

The existence of slavic words may indicte that the direct ancestor of Basanawa(before the speakers being accidentally transferred) was spoken in Poland(of our world) in Middle Ages.

Slavic words for animals are also used as euphemisms by hunters, fishers and butchers speaking Basanawa, as they consider germanic names of animals will bring bad luck when these words are referred in hunting/fishing.

Greek and Latin-Romance
Compared to other Germanic languages, Basanawa has less influence from Ancient Greek and Latin/Romance languages, most words from Ancient Greek and Latin/Romance languages in Basanawa were borrowed in the Old Saxon period or earlier.

Japanese and Chinese
It is known that Japanese culture has a profound impact on Basanawa-speakers, so Japanese language(Modern Japanese) also has significant influence on Basanawa, Japanese lexicon, especially Sino-japanese ones, is used as a source for academic terms in Basanawa, many modern concepts in Basanawa are from Japanese, Basanawa speakers has even adopted Japanese kana and kanji to write Basanawa.

Japanese people never ruled or colonized the Basanawa speakers, but Japanese was seen as a superior language by Basanawa speakers; also, as some Japanese words are very common in Basanawa, it is supposed that Japanese may also served as an substratum in an earlier stage.

Most of the Sinitic words in Basanawa are borrowed through Sino-Japanese words, but there are Sinitic words in Basanawa that are not borrowed through Sino-Japanese words, some of them are borrowed through Malay-Indonesian but others are probably not. Below are some supposed Sinitic words that are not from Sino-Japanese words:
 * lobak - radish(through Malay-Indonesian)
 * lonkang - drain(through Malay-Indonesian)
 * lomuwa~loma - gangster
 * bulahi~blahi - whitebait

Dialects
There are several dialects of Basanawa, they are listed below:
 * The Western Tongue(westtungë)
 * The Midwest Tongue(midwesttungë)
 * The Midland Tongue(midlandtungë)
 * The Mideast Tongue(midosttungë)
 * The East Tongue(osttungë)

The pronounciation of The Midwest Tongue or The Midwest Tongue is usually seen as the most "standard" form of Basanawa, however, the pronounciation of The East Tongue and The Mideast Tongue are the most common, and the pronounciation of The East Tongue and The Mideast Tongue are spreading westwards.

Besides those five tongues, there are also an extinct dialect, called "The Tongue of the learned"(Basanawa Oldwriting: Gëlernëdmannëstungë), also called "The Tongue of the Nobilities"(Basanawa Oldwriting: Shlachtatungë). "The Tongue of the learned" preserved more inflections than any other dialects, and "The Tongue of the learned" did not belong to any particular place of the Detch society, but belonged to people of the upper class(nobilities and some wealthy citizens), As the original aristocratic government was overthrown, "The Tongue of the learned" became extinct soon after the government of the Detch people started to become democratized.

Below are the pronounciations of some words in different dialects:

It is thought that The Tongue of the learned is the most conservative, and The East Tongue is the most innovative.

Grammatically, it is very common to use object pronouns in place of subject pronoouns in colloquial speech, many speakers never use subject pronouns except when talking in formal situations, and in many subdialects of The Western Tongue, The Mideast Tongue and The East Tongue, it is common to use the perfect form in place of the simple past, and there's a tendency to use infinitive/present forms in place of past participle forms, so in colloquial speech, people usually say sentences like "mi bocht dat haus", "mi havë bocht dat haus" or "mi havë biggë dat haus"(all of which mean "I bought that house") rather than the more "standard" sentences like "ik bocht dat haus".

Consonants

 * /v/ is actually the labiodental approximant [ʋ] rather than the labiodental fricative [v] in the actual speech of many speakers.
 * /dz/ is sometimes realized as [z]
 * /ŋ/ is only contrastive with /n/ at the end of a word, in other places, /ŋ/ is an allophone of /n/ before velars.
 * /h/ is pronounced as [x] when it is not followed by a vowel and is preceded by a non-front consonant; /h/ is pronounced as [ç] when it is not followed by a vowel and is preceded by a front consonant
 * the contrast between /p/ and /b/, /t/ and /d/, and /k/ and /g/ is in fact a contrast between fortis and lenis plosives, rather than a contrast between voiceless and voiced plosives, or a contrast between aspirated and non-aspirated plosives.
 * /b/, /d/, /g/, /dz/, /dʒ/, /v/ are neutralized respectively with /p/, /t/, /k/, /ts/, /tʃ/, /f/ word-finally.

Vowels
Like English and Yiddish, but unlike other Germanic languages, Basanawa doesn't have front rounded vowels, the vowel system of Basanawa is more similar to that of Spanish or Japanese:


 * In some dialects, the actual pronunciations of the short vowels /i e a o u/ are [ɪ ɛ ɐ ɔ ʊ]

Writing systems
There are several ways to write Basanawa. two of them are introduced below:

Roman Script/Oldwriting
The Roman Script for Basanawa, also called the "Oldwriting"(Basanawa-dji: 古文/古書てぃんﾟ) in Basanawa, is a way to write Basanawa. Roman Script never became widespread among the Detch people, and it has become obsolete, but for the sake of the readers, most Basanawa contents in this article will be written using Roman Scripts.


 * A - /a/
 * AA - /a:/
 * A$Ë - /a:/
 * AI - /ai/
 * AU - /au/
 * B - /b/
 * BB - /b/
 * CH - /x/
 * CK - /k/
 * D - /d/
 * DD - /d/
 * DJ - /dʒ/
 * DZ - /dz~z/
 * E - /e/
 * Ë - /ə/, if it ends a word and is not followed by any consonant, it is silent
 * EE - /i:/
 * EI - /e:/
 * E$Ë - /e:/
 * F - /f/
 * G - /g/
 * GG - /g/
 * H - /h/
 * I - /i/
 * IE - /i:/
 * I$Ë - /ai/
 * K - /k/
 * L - /l/
 * M - /m/
 * N - /n/
 * O - /o/
 * OO - /u:/
 * OU - /o:/
 * OW - /o:/
 * O$Ë - /o:/
 * P - /p/
 * PP - /p/
 * R - /r/
 * S - /s/
 * SS - /s/
 * SH - /ʃ/
 * T - /t/
 * TT - /t/
 * TZ - /ts/
 * TCH - /tʃ/
 * U - /u/
 * U$Ë - /au/
 * UË - /u:/
 * UU - /u:/
 * V - /v/
 * W - /w/
 * WR - /r/~/ur/
 * Y - /j/(as a consonant),/ai/(as a vowel)

Note:
 * 1) $ represents any single consonant
 * A, E, O are lengthened to /a:/,/e:/,/o:/ in open syllables
 * 1) &Euml; is not used in actual manuscripts of Basanawa.

Kanji and Kana
Basanawa is highly influenced by the Japanese language, and the Detch people have even adopted Japanese Kanji and Kana to write Basanawa, Kanji and Kana for Basanawa has become the most widespread way to write Basanawa among the Detch people.

The Kanji and Kana system used to write Basanawa is called the "Basanawa-dji"(Basanawa-dji: ばさなわ字)

Grammar
Being a germanic language, it shares many common structures with English, but there are also differences.

Word Order
The word order of Basanawa is very similar to English: Basanawa does not have V2 order at all, and word order inversion is not used for interrogatives, and Basanawa has even developed an initial yes-no question particle.
 * Basic word order: Subject-Verb-Object(SVO)
 * Adpositions are prepositions
 * Demonstratives and Numerals precede the noun they modify, relative clauses follow the noun they modify, adjectives can precede or follow the noun they modify(prenominal adjectives are more common)

Interrogatives
In Basanawa, word order inversion is not used for interrogatives:
 * Du sach wat? - what did you see?
 * Hau du feel? - how do you feel?

Basanawa has even developed an initial particle for yes-no questions "is-it dat":
 * is-it dat it is de haus fon dy tomodatchi? - is it the house of your friend?

"is-it dat" is frequently contracted to "ista".

It is also possible to ask yes-no questions simply by using a raising intonation on a sentence(In Basanawa, like English, declarative sentences usually have a falling intonation):


 * Noire havë fallën in koi mid Nep-nep? - has Noire fallen in love with Nep-nep?

which is equivalent to the following sentence:


 * is-it dat Noire havë fallën in koi mid Nep-nep? - has Noire fallen in love with Nep-nep?

Tag question is formed by adding the negation word "ne" to the end of the sentence:


 * Noire havë fallën in koi mid Nep-nep, ne? - Noire has fallen in love with Nep-nep, hasn't she?

Relative clauses
Relative clauses start with the invariant relativizers dë and dat:
 * dë haus, dë is by dë strand, was bocht faif yaars beforë - the house, which is by the beach, was bought five years ago.
 * dë musume, dë Nepgear luëvë, is dë imowto fon Noire - the girl, whom Nepgear loves, is the younger sister of Noire.

dat can also be used to form nominal clauses:
 * it is good, dat all kindër kan gaa to gackows. - it is good that all children can go to schools.
 * Nep-nep ne ken dat Noire, dë Megami fon Lastation, havë fallën in koi mid iem. - Nep-nep doesn't know that Noire, the Goddess of Lastation, has fallen in love with her.

Unlike most European languages, interrogative words(the so-called relative pronouns) are not used for relative clauses except for relative clauses without antecedents.

Negation
negation is formed by using the negation word ne, the word ne precedes the word it negates:


 * Leanbox ne havë Megami Kouhosei - Leanbox doesn't have CPU candidates.
 * In dë miestze, dë havë fishbeens swimmënd, Uni sheedë mid Nepgear, for Uni dacht, dat Nepgear ne heelëd Noire, dë oneisan fon Uni. - in the place where there are swimming fishbones, Uni broke up with Nepgear, for Uni thought that Nepgear didn't save Noire, Uni's big sister.

ne usually follows an aux verb:


 * Nepgear konst ne fërstand, wai Uni weld ne feech iem. - Nepgear couldn't understand why Uni didn't want to join her.

It is supposed that the Basanawa ne is not directly from Proto-Germanic ne, but rather a contraction of earlier negations.

Possession
Possession can be formed by using prepositions, the most common preposition for possession is "fon", if a preposition is used for possession, the possessor follows the possessed:


 * dë haus fon dë megami - the goddess's house
 * dë wagën fon dy fadër - the car of your father

also, a structure similar to the "His-genitive" in English is also used, where the 3rd singular possessive pronoun "sy" is used, if the structure similar to the English "His-genitive" is used for possession, the possessor follows the possessed:


 * dë megami sy haus - the goddess's house
 * dy fadër sy wagën - the car of your father

The "sy" in this usage does not influenced by the number of possessor or possessed:


 * dë werker sy gereed - the tool of the worker
 * dë werker sy gereeds - the tools of the worker
 * dë werkers sy gereed - the tool of the workers
 * dë werkers sy gereeds - the tools of the workers

the structure similar to the English "His-genitive" is standard in Basanawa.

there was an genitive case suffix -s, but the genitive -s suffix has fallen out of use and has become a derivative affix used for some compounds.

Noun
Nouns has lost the distinction between genders and cases, but it still has the distinction between singular and plural forms.

there are different types of nouns: s-nouns, n-nouns, r-nouns, umlaut-nouns.

the plural form of a s-noun is formed by adding the -s/-ës suffix to the end of the noun, it seems that most nouns belong to this class:


 * man("man") - mans
 * fingër("finger") - fingërs
 * boom("tree") - booms
 * fish("fish") - fishës
 * ring("ring") - rings
 * dag("day") - dagës
 * maud("mouth") - maudës

the plural form of a n-noun is formed by adding the -n/-ën suffix to the end of the noun:


 * oog("eye") - oogën
 * erd("earth") - erdën

the plural form of a r-noun is formed by adding the -r/-ër suffix to the end of the noun, and the stem vowel may undergo umlaut:


 * lamb("lamb") - lembër
 * kalf("calf") - kelvër
 * kind("child") - kindër

the plural form of a umlaut-noun is formed by changing the stem vowel:


 * foot("foot") - feet
 * book("book") - beek
 * kau("cow") - kai
 * maus("mouse") - mais
 * gast("guest") - gest
 * burg("city") - birg

Plural forms are not obliged in Basanawa, and in colloquial speech it is common to use singular forms in place of plural forms.

Verb
Verbs don't agree with subjects, but they still conjugate according to tense-aspect-moods.

Verbs have infinitive, present, past, present participle, past participle forms, in earlier forms of Basanawa, the infinitive form of a verb ends with -ën, but the -ën ending has been dropped, and they are identical to the present form in almost every case(some verbs still maintain different infinitive forms), the infinitive form ending in -ën is largely considered as an archaic form.

as most germanic languages, Basanawa verbs can be devided into two classes: strong verb and weak verb.

the past tense of a verb is formed by adding -ëd/-d/-t to the end of the infinitive form if it is a weak verb, formed by changing the stem vowel if it is a strong verb

the present participle of a verb, no matter it is a strong or weak verb, is formed by adding -ënd to the end of the infinitive form.

the past participle of a verb is formed by adding -ëd/-d/-t to the end of the infinitive form if it is a weak verb, formed by changing the stem vowel and then adding -ën to the end if it is a strong verb, in more archaic or some dialectical usages, the prefix gë- is used for past participle forms also.

some examples are shown below:

Strong verb:
 * Nep-nep etë gohan - Nep-nep eats a meal
 * Nep-nep is etënd gohan/Nep-nep is an etënd gohan - Nep-nep is eating a meal
 * Nep-nep doo etënd gohan - Nep-nep is eating a meal
 * Nep-nep atë gohan - Nep-nep ate a meal
 * Nep-nep havë etën gohan - Nep-nep has eaten a meal

Weak verb:
 * hi makë rings - he/she makes ring.
 * hi is makënd rings/hi is an makënd rings - he/she is making rings.
 * hi doo makënd rings - he/she is making rings.
 * hi makëd rings - he/she made rings.
 * hi havë makëd rings - he/she has made rings.

Like English, infinitives of Basanawa can be preceded by the particle "to", but the to-infinitive is not frequently used in some dialects of Basanawa.

In Basanawa, the verbal noun of a verb is formed by using the -ing suffix, also, in many strong verbs, the verbal noun can be formed by simply applying the ablaut of the stem:


 * (to) makë("to make") - making("act of making")
 * (to) sing ("to sing") - sang/singing("act of singing")
 * (to) find ("to find") - fand/finding("act of finding")

however, ablaut forms are largely fossilized in Basanawa, and the -ing forms are more common even for strong verbs.

the usage of verbal nouns in Basanawa is similar to that of English:


 * warding folks is en megami sy shigoto. - protecting people is the job of a goddess.
 * drinking alë smert eener sy rau - drinking beers harms one's body.

-ing forms cannot be used for present particles, and present particles cannot be used for gerunds, so the sentences below are incorrect:
 * *hi is making rings(the correct form is "hi is makënd rings" or "hi is an makënd rings")
 * *drinkënd alë smert eener sy rau(the correct form is "drinking alë smert eener sy rau")

Agreements
The standard form of Basanawa does not have any verbal agreements, however, in many dialects of Basanawa, there are verbal agreements, and they are sometimes even seen in writings, when agreements are used in writing, they are deemed to be archaisms by Basanawa speakers:

present:
 * 1st person singular: -
 * 2nd person singular: -st/-est
 * 3rd person singular: -t/-et(same as 1st person singular in modal verbs)
 * plural: -t/-et(-en in modal verbs)

preterite:
 * 1st person singular: -
 * 2nd person singular: -st/-est
 * 3rd person singular: -
 * plural: -n/-en

the verb "wese"("to be") and "have"("to have") have irregular forms:

"wese"("to be"): present:
 * 1st person singular: bin
 * 2nd person singular: bist
 * 3rd person singular: is
 * plural: sind

preterite:
 * 1st person singular: was
 * 2nd person singular: weer
 * 3rd person singular: was
 * plural: warn

"have"("to have"): present:
 * 1st person singular: have
 * 2nd person singular: hast
 * 3rd person singular: hat~haft
 * plural: have

preterite:
 * 1st person singular: had
 * 2nd person singular: haddest
 * 3rd person singular: had
 * plural: hadden

Copula
The copula is highly irregluar, but it does not agree with persons either: In Colloquial usage, copulae can be omitted, especially the present copula "is":
 * infinitive: wesë
 * present: is
 * past: was
 * past particle: wesën
 * dat man en ribanik - that man is a fisher.
 * dat ovët sweet - the fruit is sweet.

Strong verbs
Like other germanic languages, there are strong verbs in Basanawa, and they follow certain patterns to produce different forms, although there are anomalies in strong verbs, making the patterns less regular.

Besides these patterns of stem vowel changes, the past participle forms of strong verbs require an -ën/-あ*ん(あ* is an A-dan kana where the consonant corresponds the ending consonant of the infinitive/present form of the verb it attaches to) ending.

The stem vowel of different classes of strong verbs are listed below(arranged in the form of "Present Tense - Past Tense - Past Participle"):

In Oldwriting：
 * Class I: i$ë - ie$ - i$($)*
 * Class II: au/ee - oo - o
 * Class III:
 * i - a - u
 * e - a - o
 * Class IV: e - a - o
 * Class V: e/i - a - e
 * Class VI: a - oo - a
 * Class VII*:
 * a/o - e/(ee/ie) - a/o
 * aa/oo - ee - a/o

In Basanawa-dji:
 * Class I: あい - いい - い
 * Class II: あう/いい - うう - お
 * Class III:
 * い - あ - う
 * え - あ - お
 * Class IV: えい - ああ - お
 * Class V:
 * えい - ああ - え
 * い - あ - え
 * Class VI: あ/ああ - うう - あ
 * Class VII*:
 * あ/お - え/(いい) - あ/お
 * ああ/おう - いい - あ/お

Note:
 * 1) In General, in Class VII strong verbs, if the stem vowel of the present tense form is short, then the stem vowel of the past tense form is also short; if the stem vowel of the present tense form is long, then the stem vowel of the past tense form is also long; however, in the past tense forms of some Class VII strong verbs, while the stem vowel of the present tense form is short, the stem vowel of the past tense form is also short, although in these verbs, there are usually more regular alternatives.
 * 2) The $ in the Class I strong verb pattern is a single consonant letter in Oldwriting.

Adjective
Like English, adjectives in the standard form don't agree with nouns they modify in Basanawa, however, in archaic usages, adjectives for indefinite plural nouns and definite singular nouns are ended with -ë, adjectives for definite plural nouns are ended with -ën:


 * en good dag - 一ん良ど日 - a good day
 * goodë dagës - 良だ日す - good days
 * dë goodë dag - だ良だ日 - the good day
 * dë goodën dagës - だ良だん日す - the good days

Adjectives of Germanic origin have comparative and superlative forms:
 * comparative: -ër
 * superlative: -ëst

for example:


 * fondag is heet - 今日いす暑と - today is hot
 * fondag is heetër dan gestërn - 今日いす暑たるだん昨日 - today is hotter than yesterday
 * fondag is dë heetëst dag in dis yaar - 今日いすだ暑たすと日中ん此年 - today is the hottest day in this year

These forms are sometimes used on adjectives of non-Germanic origins, but its use is largely restricted to Germanic adjectives.

Due to the large amount of Japanese words in Basanawa, there are also na-adjectives in Basanawa. In Basanawa, all na-adjectives are ended with -na(-な) or -no(-の), the -na(-な) and -no(-の) are not dropped when these adjectives are used predicatively:


 * en okubiyow-na kuroneko - 一ん臆病な黒猫 - a timid black-cat.
 * dë kuroneko is okubiyow-na - だ黒猫いす臆病な - the black-cat is timid.

the -no(-の) ending can also be used for possessive adjectives.

personal pronouns
Pronouns have cases, but the usage of subject pronouns is declining, and many dialects don't use subject pronouns at all.

1st person singular:
 * subject: ik(吾)
 * object: mi(我)
 * genitive: my/minë(我い/我ん)

2nd person singular:
 * subject: du(汝)
 * object: di(爾)
 * genitive: dy/dinë(爾い/爾ん)

3rd person singular:
 * subject it(彼と)(inanimate)/hi(彼)(animate)
 * object: it(彼と)(inanimate)/ien(彼ん)(animate)
 * genitive: sy/sinë(彼い/彼ん)

1st person plural:
 * subject: wi(我等)
 * object: us(我等す)
 * genitive: uns(我等んす)
 * subject/object(in some dialects): mi allër(generic or exclusive)/yumi(inclusive, from yu+mi)

2nd person plural:
 * subject: yi(汝等)
 * object: yu(爾等)
 * genitive: yur(爾等る)

3rd person plural:
 * subject/object: allër/sie(彼等)
 * genitiv: ier(彼等る)

reflexive: self(己)

demonstratives

 * this: dis/dit(此)
 * that: dat(彼)
 * these: dese(此す)
 * those: die(彼い)
 * here: hier(ひいる/此る)
 * there: daar(だある/彼る)
 * the(definite article): dë(だ)

interrogative pronouns
Interrogatives are not used to start relative clauses when there are antecedents.
 * who: wee(誰い)
 * what: wat(何と)
 * when: wan(何ん)
 * where: wor(をる/何る)/war(わる/何る)
 * how: hau(はう/何う)
 * why: wai/warum(わい/何い)
 * which: wilk(ゐるﾟく/何く)

Numerals

 * 1: een/en(一)
 * 2: twee(二)
 * 3: drai(三)
 * 4: fiur/fier(四)
 * 5: faif/fimf(五)
 * 6: sex(六)
 * 7: sivën~sif(七)
 * 8: acht(八)
 * 9: niun/nigën(九)
 * 10: ten(十)
 * 11: elvën~elf(十一)
 * 12: twelf(十二)
 * 13: draitin(十三)
 * 14: fiurtin/fiertin(十四)
 * 15: fiftin(十五)
 * 16: sextin(十六)
 * 17: sivëntin(十七)
 * 18: achtin(十八)
 * 19: niuntin(十九)
 * 20: twentig(二十)
 * 30: drietig(三十)
 * 40: fiurtig/fiertig(四十)
 * 50: fiftig(五十)
 * 60: sextig(六十)
 * 70: sivëntig(七十)
 * 80: achtig(八十)
 * 90: niuntig(九十)
 * hundred: hundërd(百)
 * thousand: dausënd(千)


 * ordinal number marker: -t/-ët(番)

For ordinal numbers, first and second have special forms:
 * first: erst(一番)
 * second: odër(二番/他る)(also means "other", the regular form "twee-t" is also used)

Conjunctions

 * when/if: wen(ゑん)
 * if: ef(えふ)
 * before: bëforë(ば前る/前る)
 * after: aftër(後た)
 * and: end/en(えん/又ん)
 * or: ed/eddë(えだ)
 * but: ack(あく)
 * then/than: dan(だん)

Names of Months
Basanawa has two set set of names of months, one is Slavic-origin, the other is Japanese-origin, the set of the latin-derived calendar month names used in many western europe languages(like English) is not used in Basanawa:

Japanese-origin:
 * 1) January: Mutzuki(睦月)
 * 2) February: Kisaragi(如月)
 * 3) March: Yayoi(弥生)
 * 4) April: Udzuki(卯月)
 * 5) May: Satzuki(皐月)/Sanaetzuki(早苗月)
 * 6) June: Minadzuki(水無月)
 * 7) July: Fumidzuki(文月)
 * 8) August: Hadzuki(葉月)
 * 9) September: Nagatzuki(長月)
 * 10) October: Kannadzuki(神無月)
 * 11) November: Shimotzuki(霜月)
 * 12) December: Shiwasu(師走)

Slavic-origin:
 * 1) January: Stitchen
 * 2) February: Luti
 * 3) March: Madjetz
 * 4) April: kvitchen
 * 5) May: Mai
 * 6) June: Tchervitz
 * 7) July: Lipitz
 * 8) August: Sherpin
 * 9) September: Vdjeshen
 * 10) October: Pazdjernik
 * 11) November: Listopat
 * 12) December: Grudjen

Days of a week
The word "sobota" is the most common term for saturday in Basanawa
 * 1) Monday: maandag(月日)/getzuyowbi(月曜日)
 * 2) Tuesday: firedag(火日)/kayowbi(火曜日)
 * 3) Wednsday: waterdag(水日)/suiyowbi(水曜日)
 * 4) Thursday: wieddag(木日)/mokuyowbi(木曜日)
 * 5) Friday: golddag(金日)/kinyowbi(金曜日)
 * 6) Saturday: sobota/erddag(土日)/doyowbi(土曜日)*
 * 7) Sunday: sundag(日日)/nitchiyowbi(日曜日)

Comparison with other West-Germanic languages
Note:
 * 1) In Basanawa, the word "frind" is considered obsolete in Basanawa, the japanese loan tomodatchi is much more common.
 * 2) In Basanawa, besides the germanic word "food", the synonym borrowed from Malay/Indonesian "pangan" is also used.

Similarities to English and other west-germanic languages
While talking about things of the everyday life, Basanawa does not differ much from other west germanic languages, except for the writing system:


 * dë man is in dë Haus /də man is in də haus/ - だ男いす中んだ屋 - The man is in the house
 * du havë twee kau /du ha:f twi: kau/ - 汝持うﾟ二牛 - you have two cows
 * dat is ne dy ball, it is my ball /dat is ne dai bal it is mai bal/ - 彼いす非爾い球、彼といす我い球 - that is not your ball, it is my ball.

Some sentences are even identical or near-identical to their counterparts in other west germanic languages:
 * It is good. - /it is gu:t/ - 彼といす良ど - It is good.(similar to its counterpart in English when written in Oldwriting)
 * My hand is in warm watër. - /mai hant is in warm watər/ - 我い手いす中ん温む水 - My hand is in warm water.(similar to its counterpart in English and Afrikaans when written in Oldwriting)
 * Dat is en hund. - /it is en hunt/ - 彼いす一ん犬 - that is a dog(similar to its counterpart in Low German when written in Oldwriting)

But when it comes to more academic ideas, Basanawa sometimes can be almost completely alien to speakers of other germanic languages:


 * Bibunsekibungaku is dë kihontekina bubun fon kaisekigaku, it doo kenkiyuu bibunhow en sekibunhow /bibunsekibungaku is də kihontekina bubun fon kaisekigaku it du: kenkju: bibunho: en sekibunho:/ - 微分積分学いすだ基本的な部分ふぉん解析学、彼とどぅう研究微分法又ん積分法 - Calculus is the fundamental part of mathematical analysis, it researches differentiation and integration.

Example sentences
(Oldwriting - Basanawa-dji - English translation)
 * Nepgear is en kawaii musume, Uni is ook en kawaii musume. - ネプギアいす一ん可愛い娘、ユニいすううく一ん可愛い娘. - Nepgear is a cute girl, Uni is also a cute girl.
 * Noire weepëd an dë svadba fon Nepgear en Uni, for Uni, dë imowto fon Noire, havë wordën dë hanayome fon Nepgear, dë imowto fon Nep-nep. - ノワール泣ぱど在んだ 結婚式(svadba) ふぉんネプギア又んユニ、為るユニ、だ妹ふぉんノワール、はうﾟ成おるだんだ花嫁ふぉんネプギア、だ妹ふぉんねぷねぷ. - Noire weeped at the wedding ceremony of Nepgear and Uni, for Uni, the little sister of Noire, has become the bride of Nepgear, the little sister of Nep-nep.


 * Bunkatekina mixing en fërbettëring is dë dentow fon dë Basanawa sprekërs. - 文化的な混しんﾟ又ん変る良たりんﾟいすだ伝統ふぉんだばさなわ話者す - Cultural mixing and enhancing is the tradition of the Basanawa speakers.
 * en Basa is en howgen mid en guntai en kaigun. - 一ん語いす一ん方言みど一ん軍隊又ん海軍 - A language is a dialect with an Army and Navy(אַ שפּראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמיי און פֿלאָט)
 * ne neme af my seiraafuku - ね脫む去ふ我いセーラー服 - Don't take off my sailor suit.

UDHR Article 1 in Basanawa:
 * All ningen is born fry en gelike in songen en rechts, sie is geven mid risei en riyowshin, en shall doo mid en-oder in en gest fon kinnigheid.(全るﾟ人間いす生おるん自由えん同く中ん尊厳えん権、彼等いす与えわﾟんみど理性えん良心、えんしゃるﾟ為う互るﾟ中ん一ん精神ふぉん親族にきﾟへいど) - 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.

Lord's prayer in Basanawa:

Oldwriting:


 * uns Fader, d'is an heven,
 * hope dy name doo heeliged,
 * hope dy kingdom kome,
 * hope dy will wese doon
 * an erd like an heven.
 * uns daglik brood, hope du geve to us fondag
 * en hope du fergeve uns shuldes,
 * like wi fergeve uns beshulders
 * en hope du ne leed us into yuwaku
 * ak friche us weg fon ivel.
 * Amen

Basanawa-dji:


 * 我等之父，だいす在ん天
 * 望爾い名為う聖りﾟがど
 * 望爾い(王)国来む
 * 望爾い志ゑいす成ん
 * 在ん地如く在ん天
 * 我等之日りﾟく食望汝与うﾟと我等す今日
 * 又ん望汝赦えうﾟ我等之債
 * 如く我等赦えうﾟ我等之負者
 * 又ん望汝無ん率ど我等す入と誘惑
 * 但く救るﾟ我等す離ぐふぉん邪悪
 * あめん

The following Basanawa sentences are same to the corrsponding sentences in some other languages in respect of both written forms and meanings:
 * It is good.(when written in "Oldwritting", it is same to the corresponding sentence in English)
 * My hand is in warm watër.(when written in "Oldwritting", it is same to the corresponding sentence in English and Afrikaans)
 * Dat is en hund.(when written in "Oldwritting", it is same to the corresponding sentence in Low German)
 * Oneitchan daisuki(お姉ちゃん大好き) - (when written in "Basanawa-dji", it is same to the corresponding sentence in Japanese)