Northeastern Gothic

Northeastern Gothic or Sozh Gothic is an endangered East Germanic language, being the only one in this group that it is still spoken but only by few people in some remote parts of Keltsvia. Today it does not have any official status but it is taught locally in towns where it has some speakers. The other name of this languages comes from its location in the Sozh river valley, in central Keltsvia. The Keltsvian Statistic Institute estimates that this language is spoken by no more than 700 people. This minority is known in Keltsvia as Gotanan Keltsvihi (Keltsvian for "Keltsvian Goths"), which is considered a separated ethnic group from the Keltsvian Germans.

As a Germanic language, Northeastern Gothic is a part of the Indo-European language family. the language survived until today in remote and small communities. The closest languages are the extinct Crimean Gothic, that survived in the lower Danube area and in isolated mountain regions in Crimea and, the Bible Gothic.

Classification
Northeastern Gothic is an Indo-European language and belongs to the East Germanic group of the Germanic languages. Gothic originated from a Germanic tribe whose origin is still unknown, some scholars affirm that Goths were located in Scythia, the lower Danube and the European coasts of the Black Sea and from there, they migrated to different parts of Europe, some went to southern France and the Iberian Peninsula forming the Visigothic Kingdom, others went to Italy, known as Ostrogoths but some others remained in Eastern Europe. From those who stayed in Eastern Europe, two languages were derived, the already extinct Crimean Gothic, in Crimea and the Black Sea and the Northeastern Gothic, in the Sozh river valley, where they still have some small communities of speakers.

Being surrounded by other communities of speakers of other languages (Keltsvian, Russian, Belarusian, Romavian) but not from other Germanic speakers, the language acquired some influence in vocabulary and to a lesser extent phonology from these languages. But it still remained conservative in their language and it has some unique characteristics amongst the Germanic language family.

History
Due to the lack of sizeable texts in this language it is extremely difficult to know about the history of this language and it was mainly an only-spoken language. This language was not regulated until recently and it was taught only at homes.

There are some records from private letters written in this language, using the Cyrillic alphabet, the Latin alphabet or even the old Gothic Runic alphabet. What linguists know is that the language community, even it was spread in the Sozh valley, they were in contact with each other using the language, that could be the reason this language has no distinct dialects.

There was an attempt in 2015 to regularize this language by Nagav's government but it was stopped by the Keltsvian Civil War. In September 2019, the Keltsvian Academy of Gothic language was founded and they standardized the orthography of the language and adopted the Latin alphabet.

Consonants
There are 22 consonant phonemes in Northeastern Gothic language. Almost each one of this phonemes has an exclusive grapheme associated, which makes this language very easy to read:
 * The phoneme /b/ is only pronounced when the grapheme b is written at the beginning of a word after a stop or after a nasal consonant. Elsewhere, the phoneme /β/ is pronounced.
 * The phoneme /d/ is only pronounced when the grapheme d is written at the beginning of a word after a stop or after a nasal consonant. Elsewhere, the phoneme /ð/ is pronounced.
 * The phoneme /ɸ/ is always represented by the grapheme f.
 * The phoneme /g/ is only pronounced when the grapheme g is written at the beginning of a word after a stop or after a nasal consonant. Elsewhere, the phoneme /ɣ/ is pronounced.
 * The phoneme /h/ is always represented by the grapheme h.
 * The phoneme /j/ is always represented by the grapheme j.
 * The phoneme /k/ is always represented by the grapheme k.
 * The phoneme /l/ is always represented by the grapheme l.
 * The phoneme /m/ is always represented by the grapheme m.
 * The phoneme /n/ is always represented by the grapheme n.
 * The phoneme /ŋ/ is always represented by the digraph ng.
 * The phoneme /p/ is always represented by the grapheme p.
 * The phoneme /r/ is always represented by the grapheme r.
 * The phoneme /s/ is always represented by the grapheme s.
 * The phoneme /t/ is always represented by the grapheme t.
 * The phoneme /θ/ is always represented by the digraph th.
 * The phoneme /w/ is always represented by the grapheme w.
 * The phoneme /x/ is always represented by the grapheme x.
 * The phoneme /z/ is always represented by the grapheme z.

Vowels
Northeastern Gothic language has 7 different vowel phonemes, one of them has a long counterpart and another one can be only found as long vowel.
 * The phoneme /a/ is always represented by the grapheme a and its long counterpart (/a:/) by the duplication of the same grapheme, aa.
 * The phoneme /e/ is always represented by the grapheme e.
 * The phoneme /i/ is always represented by the grapheme i.
 * The phoneme /o/ is always represented by the grapheme o.
 * The phoneme /ʊ/ is always represented by the grapheme u.
 * The phoneme /u:/ is always represented by the graphemes uu. This phoneme can be only found as a long vowel.
 * The phoneme /y/ is always represented by the grapheme y.

Phonotactics
A Northeastern Gothic syllable includes a syllable nucleus consisting of a vowel sound. Syllable onset and coda (start and end) are optional. A syllable can start with up to three consonant sounds, as in spruutej /spru:tej/ "speed", and end with up to four, as in ansts /ansts/ "grace". This gives a Northeastern Gothic syllable the following structure, (CCC)V(CCCC) where C represents a consonant and V a vowel. The consonants that may appear together in onsets or codas are restricted, as is the order in which they may appear.

Stress, rhythm and intonation
Stress does not play an important role in Northeastern Gothic. One syllable is stressed, while the rest are not. The stress is always located in the first syllable of the stem of the word, regardlessly about how long is the word.

In terms of rhythm, Northeastern Gothic is generally described as a mora-timed language, meaning that there are different time values for syllables, but in the case of this language it is very simple. To determine the value of a syllable, the stress has no say in it, it always depends in the syllabic nucleus, the vowel. Syllables with short vowels have a value of 1 and syllables with a long vowel have a value of 2. A long vowel syllable take the double of time to be pronounced than a short vowel syllable. Additionally, a double consonant adds 1 point to the value of a word. For example: So, having all these words the same number of syllables, it takes a bit longer to pronounce thaarko than milith and it takes the double of time to pronounce usstass compared to milith.
 * The word usstass "resurrection" has two syllables: uss and tass. It has two syllables with a doble vowel each, so its syllabic value is 2+2=4.
 * The word thaarko "hole" has two syllables: thaar and ko. It has one long syllable and one short syllable, so its syllabic value is 2+1=3.
 * The word milith "honey" has two syllables: mi and lith. It has two short syllables, so its syllabic value is 1+1=2.

The intonation is almost flat in this language, giving an impression of "robot speech". The word order is the only way to know when a speaker is asking a question.

Grammar
Northeastern Gothic preserves many archaic Indo-European features that are not always present in other Germanic languages, in particular the rich Indo-European declension system. Northeastern Gothic has nominative, accusative, genitive and dative cases, as well as vestiges of a vocative case that is sometimes identical to the nominative and sometimes to the accusative. The three genders of Indo-European are all present. Nouns and adjectives are inflected according to one of two grammatical numbers: the singular and the plural.

Grammatical cases
Northeastern Gothic is an inflected language, and as such its nouns, pronouns, and adjectives must be declined in order to serve a grammatical function. A set of declined forms of the same word pattern is called a declension. there are five grammatical cases in Eastern Gothic with a few traces of an old sixth instrumental case.

The grammatical cases are:
 * Nominative: used to express the subject of a statement. It is also used with copulative verbs.
 * Vocative: used to address someone or something in direct speech. This case is indicated in English by intonation or punctuation, e.g. "Mary is going to the store" ("Mary" is nominative) compared to "Mary, are you going to the store?" or "Mary!" ("Mary" is vocative).
 * Accusative: expresses the direct object of a verb. In English, except for a small number of words which display a distinct accusative case (e.g., who > whom, I > me, he > him), the accusative and nominative cases are identical.
 * Genitive: expresses possession, measurement, or source. In English, the genitive case is represented analytically by the preposition of or by the enclitic "–'s", which itself developed from the genitive case. This –'s is related to the common Northeastern Gothic "-s".
 * Dative: expresses the recipient of an action, the indirect object of a verb. In English, the prepositions to, from and for most commonly denote this case analytically.
 * Instrumental: used to express the place in or on which, or the time at which, an action is performed. The instrumental case only survives in a few preposition forms in Northeastern Gothic.

Northeastern Gothic language grammars often follow the common NOM-ACC-GEN-DAT order used for the Germanic languages. VOC is usually attached to the same line as ACC as a combined VOC-ACC, but if not, it may be placed between NOM and ACC.

Nouns
Nouns can be divided into numerous declensions according to the form of the stem: a, o, i, u, an, on, ejn, r, etc.

Short and long stems
An important distinction in many of the declension classes below is the difference between "short" and "long" stems. Frequently declension classes are divided into two subclasses, one for short-stemmed nouns and one for long-stemmed nouns.

A short stem contains: A long stem is all other types of stems:
 * Either a short vowel followed by at most a single consonant (consonants at the beginning of an ending do not count),
 * Or a long vowel or diphthong with no following consonant (other than possibly a consonant at the beginning of an ending),
 * Either a long vowel or diphthong followed by at least a single consonant (not counting consonants at the beginning of an ending),
 * Or a short vowel followed by at least two consonants (same caveat concerning consonants at the beginning of an ending),
 * Or a word whose root (minus any prefixes and suffixes) is more than one syllable in length, e.g. raginejs "counsellor", with root ragin- and -ejs being the long-stemmed -ja declension ending.

The -a declension
This declension has as counterparts the second declension (-us/-um) of Latin, and the omicron declension (-os/-on) of Greek. It contains masculine and neuter nouns. A varied set of nouns have two stems, one occurring with endings that are null or begin with a consonant (the nominative, accusative and vocative singular) and another that occurs with endings beginning with a vowel (all but the previously listed forms). Other nouns with two stems are:
 * Stem ending in f changes in b. See table with further explanation below.
 * Stem ending in short vowel + r does not receive s (-z) in the nominative case.
 * Stem ending in -z does not lose the z in her nominative case. This has to do with the other cases and their pronounceability.
 * masculine thys "servant" (accusative singular thy but genitive singular thywis, nominative plural thywos, etc.)
 * neuter kny "knee" (accusative singular kny but genitive singular knywis, nominative plural knywa, etc.);
 * neuter try "tree" (forms parallel to kny).

The -ja declension
This declension is really just the -a declension with a j immediately preceding. However, due to various sound laws, a new declension subcategory has arisen that does not exactly follow the form of the plain -a declension. Similar developments occurred in Greek and the Slavic languages, among others. It has as counterparts the second declension nouns in (-ius/-ium) of Latin. The counterparts in Greek are some second declension nouns in (-ios/-ion), as well as many that show effects of palatalization (e.g., -zdos < *-gyos or *-dyos; -llos < *-lyos; -ptos < -*pyos; -ssos or -ttos < -*tyos; -airos/-ejros/-oiros < *-aryos/-eryos/-oryos; -ainos/-ejnos/-oinos < *-anyos/enyos/onyos; etc., and similarly for neuter nouns in -ion or *-yon). It contains masculine and neuter nouns. The masculine nouns have a distinction between short- and long-stemmed nouns, as described above. harjis "army" is a prototypical short-stem noun, and haardejs is a prototypical long-stem noun. Neuters, however, have merged the two types in favor of the short-stem endings. Properly, there should be a distinction in the genitive singular between short-stem -jis and long-stem -ejs, as for the masculine nouns, but -jis has mostly taken over. For a few nouns, however, both forms can be used, as in genitive andbahtejs or andbahtjis "of service", gawaarthejs or gawaarthjis "of peace", from neuter nouns andbahti "service" and gawaarthi "peace", respectively.

Note that the neuters in this declension can be said to follow the two-stem pattern (e.g. kuni vs. kunj-) described above for a-stems. A few neuters in this declension follow the same overall pattern but have additional vowel changes between the stems:
 * gawi "region, district" (genitive guujis)
 * hawi "hay" (genitive huujis)
 * tawi "deed, work" (genitive tuujis)

The -o declension
This declension counterparts the first declension (a) of Latin, and the alpha declension (-a/-as) of Greek. It contains feminine nouns.

The -jo declension
Nouns ending in -jo that have a short stem behave identically to normal -o stems, e.g. brakja "strife", sibja "relationship", sunja "truth". However, long-stemmed nouns in -jo have a different nominative singular ending in -i: Note that in this particular case the "long-stem" declension includes nouns with a long vowel or diphthong and no following consonant. In addition, these nouns have a different stem in the nominative singular from all other cases:
 * mawi (genitive maajos) "maiden"
 * thiwi (genitive thyjos) "maidservant"

The -i declension
This declension counterparts the vowel stems of the third declension (-is) of Latin, and the third declension of Greek. It contains masculine and feminine nouns. Note that masculine nouns have become identical to -a stem nouns in the singular, while feminine nouns have preserved the original declension. Similar to the situation with -a stems, some nouns have a different stem in the nominative and accusative singular than in other cases: Some additional complications:
 * drus (acc. drus, gen. drusis) "fall", masc.
 * buur (acc. buur, gen. buuris) "child, son", masc.
 * nuus (acc. nuu, gen. nawis) "corpse", masc.
 * bruuthfaths (gen. bruuthfadis) "bridegroom", masc.; similarly suuths "sacrifice", staths "place"
 * usstass (acc. usstass, gen. usstassaas) "resurrection", fem.
 * arbaaths (gen. arbaadaas) "labor", fem.; similarly deths "deed", faheths "joy"
 * haams "village" (fem.) is declined like a feminine -i stem in the singular, but like an -o stem in the plural.
 * Feminine abstract -i stems in -ejns are declined partly like -o stems in the plural:

The -u declension
This declension counterparts the fourth declension (-us) of Latin and parts of the third declension of Greek (cf. πῆχυς). It contains nouns of all genders. faahu "property" is a neuter -u stem, and like all neuters from the u stem it lacks a plural. Other remnants are the invariant neuter adjective filu "much" (with an adverbial genitive filuus), and kwaaru or gaaru "spike, goad", occurring once in a gloss. lejthu "cider, fruit wine" is attested only in the accusative singular and without any context to infer its gender, so it may have been masculine or neuter.

Weak declensions
The -an, -on and -ejn declensions constitute a Germanic word derivation, which is also used for adjectives in the weak form marking definiteness. The declension loosely parallels the Latin nouns in -o, genitive -onis/-inis, which shares the same Indo-European declensional origin (the Greek descendant being the more regularized -on, -onos class).

The -an declension
Masculines and neuters belong to this declension. There are a few neuter irregularities:

The -on declension
This declension is the feminine counterpart of the -an declension.

The -ejn declension
This declension contains abstract feminines only.

The -r declension
A few family nouns inherited from Proto-Indo-European have a very archaic declension. Feminines and masculines have identical forms. Inflected thus are also brothar m., brother, fadar m., father, duuhtar f., daughter.

The -nd declension
These nouns are old present participles, corresponding to nouns in -nt in Latin and Greek.

The root nouns
These nouns correspond to the consonant declensions in Latin and Greek (in both cases, part of the third declension). Examples of masculine nouns are menoths "month" (gen. sg. menothis, dat. pl. menothum); rejks "ruler, boss" (gen. sg. rejkis, dat. pl. rejkam); and wejtwods "witness" (gen. sg. wejtwodis, dat. pl. wejtwodum).

Note the following irregularities: Other feminine nouns are alhs "temple", buurgs "city", brusts "breast", miluks "milk", and spuurds "racecourse".
 * mitaths "measure" (gen. sg. mitads)
 * nahts "night" (dat. pl. nahtam, formed after dat. pl. dagam "days")
 * dulths "feast" and waahts "thing", also declined as i-stems.

Adjectives
Adjectives have two variants, indefinite and definite, with definite adjectives normally used in combination with the definite determiners (such as the definite article sa/thata/so) while indefinite adjectives are used in other circumstances. Indefinite adjectives generally use a combination of a-stem and o-stem endings, and definite adjectives use a combination of an-stem and on-stem endings. The concept of "strong" and "weak" declensions that is prevalent in the grammar of many other Germanic languages is less significant in Northeastern Gothic because of its conservative nature: the so-called "weak" declensions (those ending in n) are, in fact, no weaker in Northeastern Gothic (in terms of having fewer endings) than the "strong" declensions (those ending in a vowel), and the "strong" declensions do not form a coherent class that can be clearly distinguished from the "weak" declensions.

Although descriptive adjectives in Northeastern Gothic (as well as superlatives ending in -ist and -ost) and the past participle may take both definite and indefinite forms, some adjectival words are restricted to one variant. Some pronouns take only definite forms: for example, sama (English "same"), adjectives like unhwejla ("constantly", from the root hwejla, "time"; compare to the English "while"), comparative adjective and present participles. Others, such as aans ("some"), take only the indefinite forms.

Adjectives in Eastern Gothic, as in the other Germanic languages, can be declined according to two different paradigms, commonly called "strong" and "weak". this represents a significant innovation in Germanic, although a similar development has taken place in the Baltic and Slavic languages.

Adjectives in Proto-Indo-European - as is still the case in Latin, Greek, and most other daughters —are declined in exactly the same way as nouns. Germanic "strong" adjectives, however, take many of their endings from the declension of pronouns. these pronominal endings are likely to have entered the adjective inflection in the Germanic proto-language, via the inflection of possessive adjectives and other "pronominal" word classes, as evidenced by the variation between the bare stem and -ata in the neuter nominative and accusative singular of Eastern Gothic adjectives and possessive pronouns. "Weak" adjectives take the endings of -n stem nouns, regardless of the underlying stem class of the adjective.

In general, weak adjectival endings are used when the adjective is accompanied by a definite article, and strong endings are used in other situations. However, weak endings are occasionally used in the absence of a definite article, and cause the associated noun to have the same semantics as if a definite article were present. Weak adjectives are also used when the associated noun is in the vocative case. In addition, some adjectives are always declined weak or strong, regardless of any accompanying articles.

The strong -ja declension
Similar to the situation with nouns, the ja-stem adjectives are divided into two subtypes, depending on whether the stem is short or long.

Short-stemmed -ja declension
This declension has only the following extant adjectives: aljis "other", frejs "free", fullatojis "perfect", gawiljis "willing", midjis "middle", nyjis "new", sunjis "true", ubiltojis "evil-doing", and unsibjis "lawless".

Notes about the above adjectives:
 * fullatojis "perfect" and ubiltojis "evil-doing" should end in –tawi in the short-form nominative and accusative neuter singular.
 * Similarly, nyjis "new" should have niwi as its short-form nominative and accusative neuter singular.

Long-stemmed -ja declension
This declension is built out of long-stemmed -ja masculine and neuter nouns and long-stemmed -jo feminine nouns.

This declension has only five adjectives: aarzejs "astray", althejs "old", faarnejs "old", wilthejs "wild", and wothejs "sweet".

The strong -i declension
Adjectives of this class have replaced most forms with forms taken from the -ja declension. Only the nominative singular, the neuter accusative singular and the masculine and neuter genitive singular have genuine -i stem forms. Some of the adjectives of this type are: analuugns "hidden", anasyns "visible", andanems "pleasant", uuths "desert", bruuks "useful", gafuurs "well-behaved", gamaans "common", hraans "clean", sels "kind", skuuns "beautiful", skejrs "clear", suts "sweet".

The strong -u declension
Similarly to -i stem adjectives, -u stem adjectives have replaced most forms with those taken from the -ja declension. Other adjectives of this type are: anguus "narrow", aglus "difficult", hardus "hard", hnaskuus "soft", kuurus "heavy", manuus "ready", kwarus "gentle", sejthus "late", tulgus "steadfast", twalibwintrus "twelve years old", thuursus "withered", thlakuus "soft".

The weak delension
Weak adjectival endings are taken from the corresponding endings of masculine, feminine and neuter n-stems, e.g. masculine guma "man", feminine tungo "tongue", neuter haarto "heart". All adjectives have the same endings, regardless of the underlying stem class of the adjective. the only difference is that ja-stems, i-stems and u-stems have a -j- at the end of the stem, e.g. masculine singular nominative weak nyja "new", wilthja "wild", hraanja "clean", hardja "hard", corresponding to the strong forms nyjis (short ja-stem), wilthejs (long ja-stem), hraans (i-stem), hardus (u-stem).

Comparative and superlative adjectives
In general, comparative adjectives are easy to identify thanks to their suffix -iza or -oza and the superlatives are formed from the comparatives taking out the whole comparative suffix and adding the superlative suffix -ists. Northeastern Gothic has a dual system of comparatives that works similarly to Romance languages (probably influenced by Romavian), where the suffix -iza means "more X than" and -oza means "less X than" (place an adjective in the X), but the -oza form is not commonly used in daily speech. There are also irregular comparative adjectives, as they appear below: *Irregular form. **Irregular comparative without -iza/-oza duality.

Pronouns
Northeastern Gothic inherited the full set of Indo-European pronouns: personal pronouns (including reflexive pronouns for each of the three grammatical persons), possessive pronouns, both simple and compound demonstratives, relative pronouns, interrogatives and indefinite pronouns. Each follows a particular pattern of inflexion (partially mirroring the noun declension), much like other Indo-European languages. One particularly noteworthy characteristic is the preservation of the dual number, referring to two people or things; the plural was used only for quantities greater than two. thus, "the two of us" and "we" for numbers greater than two were expressed as wit and wejs respectively. While Proto-Indo-European used the dual for all grammatical categories that took a number (as did Classical Greek and Sanskrit), most Old Germanic languages are unusual in that they preserved it only for pronouns. Northeastern Gothic preserves an older system with dual marking on both pronouns and verbs (but not nouns or adjectives).

The simple demonstrative pronoun sa (neuter: thata, feminine: so, from the Indo-European root *so, *seh2, *tod; cognate to the Greek article ὁ, ἡ, τό and the Latin istud) is also used as the definite article, having both functions at the same time.

The interrogative pronouns begin with hw-, which derives from the proto-Indo-European consonant *kʷ that was present at the beginning of all interrogratives in proto-Indo-European. that is cognate with the wh- at the beginning of many English interrogative. the same etymology is present in the interrogatives of many other Indo-European languages": w- in German, hv- in Danish, the Latin qu- (which persists in modern Romance languages), the Greek τ- or π-, the Slavic and Indic k- as well as many others.

Possessive pronouns
Northeastern Gothic possessive pronouns are formed by adding the above shown suffixes to the genitive ("possessor") form of the given personal pronoun. Reflexive pronouns are inflected similarly. the form used outside of possession is derived from the nominative feminine singular. the possessor suffixes are the same in the possessee plural. Mejna "my, mine" and unsara "our, ours" are shown here for example, but others can apply.

Demonstrative pronouns
Note: The following pronouns appearing in the table below are also used as definite articles as in English the: Compound forms with the suffix -(u)h meaning "this, these; that/ those" and with -ej creating relative pronouns also exist. the suffix -ej can also be added to first and second person pronouns to create first and second person relatives. All compound forms drop the "u" in -uh after a vowel and change word-final -s to a -z if the next letter is a vowel.

Interrogative pronouns
The pronoun hwer "where" is undeclined. The following additional pronouns exist, all declined strong as a-stems:
 * hwilejks "what sort of"
 * hweluuths (stem hweluud-) "how great"
 * swalejks "such"
 * swaluuths (stem swaluud-) "so great"

Indenite pronouns
Three indefinite pronouns are formed by appending -uh "and" to the interrogative pronouns hwas "who, what", hwarjis "which (of many)", and hwathar "which of two"; compare the analogously formed Latin pronoun quisque "each", formed from quis "who" and -que "and". Both hwazuh and hwarjizuh mean "each, every"; hwatharuh means "each of two".

Before -uh, -s appears in the original form of -z-, and after long vowels and stressed short vowels, the u of -uh is elided. Ustressed short vowels are dropped before -uh in the declension of hwazuh; however, in the other two pronouns, long vowels appear in place of unstressed short vowels, preserving an older state of affairs, and the u of -uh is elided. Declension tables of hwazuh and hwarjizuh are presented below. Of hwatharuh, only a single form is extant, the dative singular hwatharammeh, occurring in the compound form aanhwatharammeh "to each one of two".

The plural form hwanzuh (masculine accusative) occurs once, in the expression insandida ins twans hwanzuh "he sent them forth two and two". Additional pronominal forms are:
 * aanhwarjizuh "every one"
 * hwazuh saej, sahwazuh saej, sahwazuh izej, all meaning "whoever" and involving the relative pronoun saej/izej. the corresponding neuter form is thatahwah thej "whatever", extant only in the accusative singular.
 * thishwazuh saej "whoever/whatever", formed from indeclinable this "of this" and hwazuh saej, extant in the following forms:
 * sums "some, a certain", declined as an -a stem with an associated genitive plural object.
 * sums ... sums "the one ... the other", in plural "some ... and others". -uh is generally attached to the second form and sometimes the first, as in nominative plural sumaa ... sumaah.
 * Negative pronouns ni hwashun, ni mannahun, ni aanshun, all meaning "no one, no, none, nothing"; compare the analogously formed Sanskrit pronoun ná káś caná "no one, none", lit. "not who and not". ni hwashun occurs only in the nominative masculine singular. ni mannahun (always masculine) and ni aanshun are declined as follows:
 * Plain hwas can be used indefinitely to mean "anyone, anything".
 * Plain aans can be used indefinitely to mean "one, a certain one".

Strong verbs
Germanic language strong verbs are verbs that change the vowel in the stem to form the past and past participle, rather than add a suffix. For an English example, contrast fall-fell-fallen (strong) from fell-felled (weak).

The following is a table of all the different types and subtypes of strong verbs. The "general" stem is used for the present tense, infinitive and imperative. the "past 1" stem is used for the past tense indicative singular, and the "past 2" is used for the dual and plural indicative past as well as the past optative past in all numbers.

Classes 5 and 6 have a small subclass of verbs that use the consonant suffix -j- in the general form, but drop it elsewhere

Reduplicating/ Class 7 strong verbs that begin with a vowel simply add aa- as a prefix, without adding a consonant to reduplicate or separate the "aa" prefix from the stem vowel.

The following are strong verbs in Northeastern Gothic:

The following is a sample paradigm of a strong verb, niman "to take" (Class 4):
 * Class 1: bejdan "to await" (baath), bejtan "to bite", dejgan "to knead", drejban "to drive" (draaf), grejpan "to sejze", hnejwan "to bow", bilejban "to remain" (bilaaf), galejthan "to go", urejsan "to arise", skejnan "to shine", disskrejtan "to rend", gasmejtan "to smear", snejthan "to cut", spejwan "to spit", stejgan "to ascend", swejban "to cease" (swaaf), wejpan "to crown", inwejtan "to worship";
 * Class 1, before h, hw, r: lejhwan "to lend", gatejhan "to tell", thejhan "to thrive", threjhan "to press upon", wejhan "to fight";
 * Class 2a: anabydan "to bid" (anabuuth), bygan "to bend", drygan "to serve as a soldier", drysan "to fall", gytan "to pour", hyfan "to mourn", dishnypan "to break asunder", kysan "to test", krystan "to gnash"; lydan "to grow" (luuth), lygan "to lie", fralysan "to lose", nytan "to enjoy", sykan "to be sick", afskyban "to push aside" (afskuuf), slypan "to slip", usthrytan "to trouble";
 * Class 2a, before h, hw, r: tyhan "to lead", thlyhan "to flee";
 * Class 2b: galuukan "to shut";
 * Class 3: bindan "to bind", blingwan "to beat", brinnan "to burn", drigkan "to drink", filhan "to hide", finthan "to find", usgildan "to repay", duginnan "to begin", hilpan "to help", frahinthan "to capture", aflinnan "to depart", rinnan "to run", singwan "to sing", sigkwan "to sink", fraslindan "to swallow up", spinnan "to spin", stigkwan "to thrust", swiltan "to die", anatrimpan "to tread on", atthinsan "to attract", thriskan "to thresh", wilwan "to rob", windan "to wind", winnan "to suffer", guuriskwan "to bear fruit";
 * Class 3, before h, hw, r: baargan "to keep", ufgaardan "to gird up", hwaarban "to walk", afswaarban "to wipe out", gathaarsan "to wither", waarpan "to throw", waarthan "to become";
 * Class 4a: brikan "to break", niman "to take", kwiman "to come", stilan "to steal", gatiman "to suit";
 * Class 4a, before h, hw, r: baaran "to bear", gataaran "to destroy";
 * Class 4b: trudan "to tread";
 * Class 5: diwan "to die" (duu), fitan "to travail in birth", giban "to give" (gaf), bigitan "to find", hlifan "to steal", ligan "to lie down", lisan "to gather", mitan "to measure", ganisan "to be saved", nithan "to help", kwithan "to say", rikan "to heap up", sitan "to sit", sniwan "to hasten" (snuu), gawidan "to bind" (gawath), gawigan "to shake down", wisan "to be, remain", wrikan "to persecute";
 * Class 5, j-present: bidjan "to pray"
 * Class 5, irregular: fraahunan "to ask"; itan "to eat";
 * Class 5; before h, hw, r: saahwan "to see";
 * Class 5; before h, hw, r; -n- present: fraahnan "to ask";
 * Class 6: alan "to grow", usanan "to expire", gadaban "to beseem" (gadof), gadraban "to hew out" (gadrof), gadragan "to heap up", faran "to go", graban "to dig" (grof), afhlathan "to lade", malan "to grind", sakan "to rebuke", skaban "to shave" (skof), slahan "to smite", swaran "to swear", thwahan "to wash", wakan "to wake";
 * Class 6, -j- present: frathjan "to understand", hafjan "to raise", hlahjan "to laugh", garathjan "to count", gaskapjan "to create", skathjan "to injure", wahsjan "to grow";
 * Class 6, irregular: standan "to stand" (stoth);
 * Class 7a; -a- present: usalthan "to grow old", blandan "to mix", falthan "to fold", gangan "to go" (past supplied by iddja), haldan "to hold", anaprangan "to oppress", saltan "to salt", gastaldan "to possess", waldan "to rule";
 * Class 7a; -aa- present: faahan "to sejze", haahan "to hang", afaakan "to deny", fraasan "to tempt", haatan "to call", laakan "to leap", maatan "to cut", skaadan "to divide" (skaaskaath), gathlaahan "to cherish, comfort";
 * Class 7a; -e- present: ufblesan "to blow up, puff up", slepan "to sleep", gretan "to weep", letan "to let", garedan "to reflect upon" (garaaroth), tekan "to touch";
 * Class 7a; -o- present: blotan "to worship", *flokan "to bewail", hwopan "to boast";
 * Class 7a; -aw- present: lawan "to revile" (*laalo); *bnawan "to rub";
 * Class 7a; -uu- present: uukan "to add", hluupan "to leap", stuutan "to smite";
 * Class 7b; -aj- present: sajan "to sow", wajan "to blow".

Weak verbs
Weak verbs in Germanic languages are defined by the past tense being formed by a suffix, rather than the stem vowel changing. In the case of Northeastern Gothic, further subclasses are defined by the vowel that comes before the past-tense prefix, as well as other forms of the verb. Generally, the present tense, infinitive, and imperative share the same personal suffixes with strong verbs.

The following table is outlines the common past-tense suffix between weak verbs; note that a thematic vowel is always used before this suffix:

Class 1
Class 1 verbs are defined by having the thematic vowel -i-; which becomes -j- before vowels and becomes -ej- after long stems before -i-. the following is a sample paradigm of two class 1 weak verbs, nasjan "to save" (short stem-syllable), and sokjan "to seek" (long stem-syllable; only differing forms shown): Some class 1 verbs have an irregular past due to the fact that the -i- in the past was lost in Proto-Germanic:
 * gangan is properly a Class 7 strong verb. iddja is declined like a weak verb. A weak past gangida also occurs once.
 * bringan is properly a Class 3 strong verb, with other parts taken from a lost verb from Old Northeastern Gothic *brangjan (cf. Old English breng(e)an, Old Saxon brengian).

Class 2
Class 2 weak verbs are defined by having the thematic vowel -o-.

The following is a sample paradigm of a class 2 weak verb, salbon "to anoint":

Class 3
Class 3 weak verbs are marked by having the vowels -a- and -aa- as the thematic vowels. the two thematic vowels are used differently depending on form, with only -aa- being used in the past tense.

The following is a sample paradigm of a class 3 weak verb, haban "to have": Class 3 is apparently a closed class, containing only the following verbs:

aastan "to reverence", anasilan "to be silent", andstuuran "to murmur against", arman "to pity", bawan "to dwell", fastan "to fast, hold firm", fijan "to hate", gagejgan "to gain", gakunnan "to recognize", haban "to have", hatan "to hate", jiukan "to contend", lejkan "to please", liban "to live", lygan "to marry", muurnan "to mourn", munan "to consider", rejran "to tremble", suurgan "to sorrow", sifan "to rejoice", skaman (sik) "to be ashamed", slawan "to be silent", trawan "to trust", sweran "to honour", thahan "to be silent", witan "to watch, observe", bnawan "to rub".

Class 4
Class 4 weak verbs have the suffix -n, in addition to a thematic vowel -o- in the past tense. In all other tenses, the suffix -n is used before strong verb suffixes.

The following is a sample paradigm of a class 4 weak verb, fullnan "to become full":

Preterite-present verbs
So-called "preterite-present verbs" are a feature of Germanic languages that have a present tense formed like the past tense (or "preterite") of strong verbs. the verbs often have the semantics of modal verbs, and in fact the present-day English modal verbs "can, could, may, might, shall, should, must" are descended from Old English preterite-present verbs. The past tense of these verbs is a new formation and has the endings of weak verbs. Arguably, all seven classes of strong verbs are represented in Northeastern Gothic by at least one preterite-present verb.

Futhermore, present participles are given a gloss, since the participle often has an unpredictable meaning; especially when the verb in question is inherently intransitive. ogan ("to fear") is the only verb in the group to have an imperative. Stem-final -g- in magan, ogan, and aagan is often changed to -h-, especially before voiceless consonants. aagan has the derivative faaraagan ("to partake of").

Verbal stemss: "Present 1" refers to the indicative present singular personal forms, and "Present 2" refers to all other forms in the present; as well as the imperative and infinitive.

Subject suffixes:

Wisan, "to be"
This highly irregular verb derives from two different Proto-Indo-European roots by suppletion.

Wiljan, "to want/will"
This irregular verb derives from the optative mood of a Proto-Indo-European verb.

Syntax
As modern English, Northeastern Gothic syntax language is moderately analytic. It has developed features such as modal verbs and word order as resources for conveying meaning. Auxiliary verbs mark constructions such as questions, negative polarity, the passive voice and progressive aspect.

Basic constituent order
Northeastern Gothic word order has moved from the Germanic verb-second (V2) word order, present in its parent language (Gothic), to being almost exclusively subject–verb–object (SVO), like English. The combination of SVO order and use of auxiliary verbs often creates clusters of two or more verbs at the centre of the sentence, such as is habaaths wensaada sokjan uslukan it "he had hoped to try to open it".

In most sentences, Northeastern Gothic marks grammatical relations through word order, but this is reinforced by the grammatical cases making word order not very strict (but SVO is overwhelmly used).

Hunds bejtith gumin "the dog bites the man" - SVO Guma bejtith hunda "the man bites the dog" - SVO

Types of clause
Clauses can be classified as independen (main clauses) and dependent (subordinate clauses). A typical sentence consists of one independent clause, possibly augmented by one or more dependent clauses.

An independent clause is a simple sentence. Sentences can be classified according to the purpose or function of the sentence into declarative (making a statement), interrogative (asking a question), exclamatory sentence or imperative (giving an order).

In interrogative main clauses, unless the subject is or contains the interrogative word, the verb precedes the subject: Is thu gredagana? "Are you hungry?"; Hwar im ix? "Where am I?" (but Hwa max thata? "Who did this?", without inversion, since the interrogative who is itself the subject).

In most imperative clauses the subject is absent: It thejnana unduurnimat! "Eat your dinner!" However imperative clauses may include the subject for emphasis: Thu it thejnana unduurnimat! "You eat your dinner!". The form of the verb is the base form of the verb, such as itan, meljan, wisan "eat, write, be".

A dependent clause may be finite (based on a finite verb, as independent clauses are), or non-finite (based on a verb in the form of an infinitive or participle). Particular types of dependent clause include relative clauses, content clauses and adverbial clauses.

Clauses can be nested within each other, sometimes up to several levels. For example, the sentence Ix kunna tho kwen hwo kwithith si saahu thejnana sunu drigkans alu "I know the woman who says she saw your son drinking beer" contains a non-finite clause (drigkans alu "drinking beer") within a content clause (si saahu thejnana sunu drigkans alu "she saw your son drinking beer") within a relative clause (hwo kwithith si saahu thejnana sunu drigkans alu "who says she saw your son drinking beer") within an independent declarative clause (the whole sentence).

Non-finite clauses
A non-finite clause is one in which the main verb is in a non-finite form, namely an infinitive or -nds form (present participle or gerund). Such a clause may also be referred to as an infinitive phrase, participial phrase, etc.

The internal syntax of a non-finite clause is generally similar to that of a finite clause, except that there is usually no subject (and in some cases a missing complement; see below). The following types exist:
 * bare infinitive clause, such as gangan du dulthaa "go to the party" in the sentence let izaa gangan du dulthaa "let her go to the party".
 * du-infinitive clause, such as du gangan du dulthaa "to go to the party". Although there is no subject in such a clause, the performer of the action can (in some contexts) be expressed with a preceding prepositional phrase using for: It sijuu gotha miton izaa du gangan du dulthaa "It would be a good idea for her to go to the party". The possibility of placing adjuncts between the to and the verb in such constructions has been the subject of dispute among prescriptive grammarians.
 * present participial clause, such as wisands in gothaam haalthaa "being in good health". When such a clause is used as an adjunct to a main clause, its subject is understood to be the same as that of the main clause; when this is not the case, a subject can be included in the participial clause: Sa Thydans wisands in gothaam haalthaa, sejnis lekejs mahta slepan fuwans dagans "The king being in good health, his physician was able to take a few days' rest".
 * gerund clause. This has the same form as the above, but serves as a noun rather than an adjective or adverb. The pre-appending of a subject in this case (as in ix nigkt galejka thuk drigkands "I don't like you drinking", rather than the arguably more correct ...thejnamma drigkands "...your drinking") is criticized by some prescriptive grammarians.

In certain uses, a non-finite clause contains a missing (zero) item – this may be an object or complement of the verb, or the complement of a preposition within the clause (leaving the preposition "stranded"). Examples of uses of such "passive" non-finite clauses are given below:
 * du-infinitive clauses – thata ist azetata du bruukjan "this is easy to use" (zero object of bruukjan "use"); is ist thana guman du rodjan du "he is the man to talk to" (zero complement of preposition du "to").
 * past participial clauses – as used in forming passive voice constructions (so koka was maxans "the cake was made", with zero object of maxans "made"). In many such cases the performer of the action can be expressed using a prepositional phrase with af "by", as in so koka was maxans af Alarejks "the cake was made by Alarejks".
 * gerund clauses – particularly after wiljan "want" and thuurban "need", as in Thejns kars wiljaa/thurbaath gahraands "Your car wants/needs cleaning" (zero object of gahraands "cleaning").

For details of the uses of such clauses, see Uses of non-finite constructions below.

Constituents of a clause
Northeastern Gothic is an SVO language, that is, in simple declarative sentences the order of the main components is subject–verb–object(s) (or subject–verb–complement).

A typical finite clause consists of a noun phrase functioning as the subject, a finite verb, followed by any number of dependents of the verb. In some theories of grammar the verb and its dependents are taken to be a single component called a verb phrase or the predicate of the clause; thus the clause can be said to consist of subject plus predicate.

Dependents include any number of complements (especially a noun phrase functioning as the object), and other modifiers of the verb. Noun phrase constituents which are personal pronouns or (in formal registers) the pronoun hwas "who(m)" are marked for case, but otherwise it is word order alone that indicates which noun phrase is the subject and which the object.

The presence of complements depends on the pattern followed by the verb (for example, whether it is a transitive verb, i.e. one taking a direct object). A given verb may allow a number of possible patterns (for example, the verb meljan "write" may be either transitive, as in Is meljith bokom "He writes letters", or intransitive, as in Is meljith ufta "He writes often").

Some verbs can take two objects: an indirect object and a direct object. An indirect object precedes a direct one, as in Is gib thamma hunda bajn "He gave the dog a bone" (where thamma hunda "the dog" is the indirect object and bajn "a bone" the direct object). However the indirect object may also be replaced with a prepositional phrase, usually with the preposition du "to" or fuur "for", as in Is gib bajn du thamma hunda "He gave a bone to the dog". The latter method is particularly common when the direct object is a personal pronoun and the indirect object is a stronger noun phrase: Is gib it du thamma hunda "He gave it to the dog" would be used rather than Is gib thamma hunda it "He gave the dog it".

Adverbial adjuncts are often placed after the verb and object, as in Ix withragangaada Johan fuurdagis "I met John yesterday". However other positions in the sentence are also possible and for "phrasal" particles. Another adverb which is subject to special rules is the negating word nigkt "not".

Objects normally precede other complements, as in Ix gatejh ina du niman it "I told him to fetch it" (where ina "him" is the object, and the infinitive phrase du niman it "to fetch it" is a further complement). Other possible complements include prepositional phrases, such as fuur Johan "for John" in the clause Ejs bejdaadedun fuur Johan "They waited for John"; predicative expressions, such as rots "red" in Sa balla ist rots "The ball is red"; subordinate clauses, which may be introduced by a subordinating conjunction such as jabaj/nibaj "if", hwen "when", duthe "because", thata "that", for example the thata-clause in Ix garagina thata thu bejdis fuur ija "I suggest that you wait for her"; and non-finite clauses, such as itands gela "eating jelly" in the sentence Ix galejka itands gela "I like eating jelly".

Northeastern Gothic is not a "pro-drop" (specifically, null-subject) language – that is, unlike some languages, it requires that the subject of a clause always be expressed explicitly, even if it can be deduced from the form of the verb and the context, and even if it has no meaningful referent, as in the sentence It ist rignjands "It is raining", where the subject it "it" is a dummy pronoun.

Adjuncts are constituents which are not required by the main verb, and can be removed without leaving behind something ungrammatical. Adjuncts are usually adverbs or adverbial phrases or clauses.

Many clauses have as their finite verb an auxiliary, which governs a non-finite form of a lexical (or other auxiliary) verb.

Variations on SVO pattern
Variations on the basic SVO pattern occur in certain types of clause. The subject is absent in most imperative clauses and most non-finite clauses.

The verb and subject are inverted in most interrogative clauses. This requires that the verb be an auxiliary or copula. The same type of inversion occurs in certain other types of clause, particularly main clauses beginning with an adjunct having negative force (Ni aaw haba ix wejtwoth swalejka sluuht "Never have I witnessed such carnage"), and some dependent clauses expressing a condition.

A somewhat different type of inversion may involve a wider set of verbs (as in Afar tho sunnon kwimith so rigna "After the sun comes the rain").

In certain types of clause an object or other complement becomes zero or is brought to the front of the clause.

Clauses with auxiliary verbs
In many Northeastern Gothic clauses, the finite verb is an auxiliary verb, whose complement is some type of non-finite clause. For example, in the clause is ist itands sejnana unduurnimat "he is eating his dinner", the finite verb is the auxiliary ist "is", whose complement is the participial clause itands sejnana unduurnimat "eating his dinner". In some cases the non-finite clause itself has an auxiliary as its main verb, with another embedded non-finite clause as complement. For example: Here itands sejnana unduurnimat "eating his dinner" is the complement of wisans "been", and wisans itands sejnana unduurnimat "been eating his dinner" is the complement of habaath "has".
 * Is habaath (wisans (itands sejnana unduurnimat)) = "He has (been (eating his dinner))"

The form of each lexical or auxiliary verb (apart from the first) is determined by the auxiliary preceding it. The first auxiliary is conjugated as a finite verb in present or past tense. If the clause being considered is a non-finite clause, then the initial auxiliary form may be habands "having", wisands "being" or inflected forms of haban "(to) have" nad wisan "(to) be".

The principal auxiliaries and the verb forms they govern are:
 * Modal verbs (wiljan "to will" (also acting as a modal verb equivalent to English "will", with the difference is that this verb has to be inflected), magan "can", etc.). They govern a bare infinitive.
 * The verb haban "have" (and its inflected forms) to express perfect aspect. These govern a past participle (with an active meaning).
 * The verb wisan "be" (and inflected forms) to express progressive aspect. These govern a present participle.
 * The verb wisan (and inflected forms) to express passive voice. These govern a past participle (used passively, i.e. with a zero object or preposition complement).
 * The verb maxan "do" (and inflected forms) to supply an auxiliary in functions where one is required, or to provide emphasis.

A modal verb, if present, comes first. Any other auxiliaries come in the order listed above, namely perfect haban "have" followed by progressive wisan "be" followed by passive wisan "be". The auxiliary maxan "do" is not used in combination with any other auxiliary. Otherwise, the above auxiliaries can be used in any combination (but with no more than one instance from each group).

A clause containing the maximum number of auxiliaries might therefore be Ix wiljaa haban wisans wisands wuurstwada ana fuur saahs hwejlos "I will have been being operated on for six hours". Here the modal wiljaa "will" is the finite verb; perfect haban "have" is in bare infinitive form (since it follows a modal), progressive wisan "be" is in the past participle form wisans "been" (following perfect haban "have"), passive wisan "wisan" is in the present participle form wisands "being" (following progressive wisan "be"), and the lexical verb is in the past participle form wuurstwada "operated" (following passive wisan "be"; here it is the dependent preposition ana "on" that has zero complement).

Constructions of this type serve a variety of functions, including the expression of aspect and voice.

Some of these constructions are described, particularly in teaching contexts, as tenses – for example, ist itands "is eating" is represented as the "present progressive tense" of itan "eat". The series of auxiliaries and non-finite verb form is treated as a unit. Thus in the examples above, the strings ist itands "is eating" and habaath wisans itands "has been eating" may be presented as forms of the verb itan "eat", with sejnana unduurnimat "his dinner" serving as their object.

Non-finite constructions exist for combinations of auxiliary verbs other than the modals verbs or maxan "do":
 * infinitive: niman "(to) take", wisan numans "(to) be taken", wisan nimands "(to) be taking", haban wisans nimands "(to) have been taking", etc.
 * present participial (or gerund): nimands "taking", wisands numans "being taken", habands numans "having taken", etc. (but not normally in the progressive cases)

The verb bruukjan (as in English "used to") differs from other modals in that it requires the du-infinitive rather than the bare infinitive, but it has one common thing with wiljan "will", it has to be inflected: Wejs bruuhtedun du gangan "We used to go" (for this reason it is not always classified as modal). There are certain other auxiliary-like expressions that are variously classified:
 * (wisan) gangands du "(be) going to"
 * haban du "have to"
 * (wisan) bi du "(be) about to"

Fronting and zeroing
In interrogative and relative clauses, hw-fronting occurs; that is, the interrogative word or relative pronoun (or in some cases a phrase containing it) is brought to the front of the clause: Hwa thu saahwaades? "What did you see?" (the interrogative word hwa "what" comes first even though it is the object); Sa guma hwamma thu gibaades tho boka... "The man to whom you gave the book..." (the phrase hwamma "to whom", containing the relative pronoun, comes to the front of the relative clause.

Fronting of various elements can also occur for reasons of focus; occasionally even an object or other verbal complement can be fronted rather than appear in its usual position after the verb, as in Ix withragangaada Tom fuurdagis, aba Jane ix haba nigkt saahwans fuur jer "I met Tom yesterday, but Jane I haven't seen for ages".

In certain types of non-finite clause ("passive" types), and in some relative clauses, an object or a preposition complement is absent (becomes zero). For example, in Ix galejka tho koka thu maxt "I like the cake you made", the words thu maxt "you made" form a reduced relative clause in which the verb maxt "made" has zero object. This can produce preposition stranding (as can hw-fronting): Ix galejka tho lyth thu wast huusjands du "I like the song you were listening to"; Hwarjis sitls thu sit ana? "Which chair did you sit on?"

Negation
A clause is negated by the inclusion of the word nigkt "not":
 * In a finite indicative clause in which the finite verb is an auxiliary or copula, the word nigkt "not" comes after that verb: Is wiljaa nigkt gagejgan "He will not (won't) win".
 * In a finite indicative clause in which there is otherwise no auxiliary or copula, du is used to provide one: Is wiljaa nigkt du gagejgan "He does not (doesn't) want to win".
 * In the above clause types, if there is inversion (for example, because the sentence is interrogative), the subject may come after the verb and before nigkt "not": Nigkt thu wiljaas du gagejgan? "Do you not (Don't you) want to win?"
 * Negative imperatives are formed without maxan-support: Nigkt sijaas unfroth! "Don't be silly!"
 * The negative of the present subjunctive is made by placing nigkt "not" before the verb: ...ej thu nigkt withragangaas ugkis "...that you not meet us"; ...ej is nigkt sijaa andabejtans "...that he not be punished".
 * A non-finite clause is negated by placing nigkt "not" before the verb form: nigkt wisan ufarthejhiths "not to be outdone", nigkt kunnands hwa maxan "not knowing what to do".