Deddyg

Deddyg (pronounced D-eh-th-ik) is a P-Celtic, Indo-European language spoken in the small archipelago of Deland (Deddyder) in the Arctic Ocean (north of Svalbard).

=Setting= The language was originally brought to the Arctic by Brythonic wanderers who fled the British Isles during the Anglo-Saxon invasion. It is closely related to Welsh, Cornish and Breton, and more distantly Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx. Since the first Britons settled in Deland in the 7th century, the constant influx of Welsh immigration up until the 19th century has heavily influenced the language in terms of vocabulary, but its grammar has been far more conservative to Brythonic than Modern Welsh and Breton.

Deddyg is a synthetic language with moderately high levels of verb and noun inflection. Verbs conjugate for person, tense, mood and interrogation. Nouns decline into the nominative, accusative, dative and vocative cases. Nouns have two genders, masculine and feminine; and two numbers, singular and plural.

Modern day Deland has a population of 1,000,000. Its inhabitants enjoy some of the highest standards of living in the world. There is heavy snowfall for most of the year but the average temperature is higher than the average of its latitude as a result of the Gulf Stream. Traditionally Delanders have lived in small fishing communities travelling far and wide to hunt Polar Bear by dog sled. Delanders have always been pagan, earth-loving people who see the divine whole in all of nature, and practice meditation to clear the mind. In a 2006 survey, 80% of the population claimed to adhere to some sort of pagan belief.

Today three-quarters of its inhabitants live in the capital city, Lewys di Aðerem, with the rest of the population living more traditional lifestyles in small rural communities.

=Basic Grammar= Grammatical features of the Deddyg include:
 * A synthetic language with high levels of verb and noun inflection.
 * VSO word order which is notable of P-Celtic languages.
 * Inflected prepositions which is also a feature of all Brythonic languages.

Gender
Nouns are either masculine or feminine. Although noun gender must be learnt by rote, there are some nominative endings that are always one gender or the other.


 * Nouns that end in "-eth" are always feminine. E.g. gweðonieth (science)
 * Nouns that end in "-ad" are always masculine. E.g. mœnad (enjoyment)

Case declensions
Nouns decline into 4 cases: nominative, accusative, dative and vocative. The table below shows the declension patterns.

Before being able to decline the noun, the root must be established.


 * In nouns with the endings "-eth" and "-ad" (as well as various other endings), the endings break off to reveal the root. E.g. the feminine noun "gweðonieth" inflects as follows:


 * gweðonieth (nominative singular)
 * gweðoniwm (accusative singular)
 * gweðoniem (dative singular)
 * gweðonias (vocative singular)
 * gweðoniethi (nominative plural)
 * gweðonine (accusative plural)
 * gweðonina (dative plural)
 * gweðoninas (vocative plural)


 * In some nouns the ending is added onto the nominative (i.e the nominative is the root of the word). E.g. the masculine noun "moch" (pig) inflects as follows:


 * moch (nominative singular)
 * mochws (accusative singular)
 * mochen (dative singular)
 * moches (vocative singular)
 * mochi (nominarive plural)
 * mochine (accusative plural)
 * mochino (dative plural)
 * mochines (vocative plural)


 * In most nouns ending in an adjective, the adjective breaks off when declined. E.g. the feminine noun "madre" (mother) inflects as follows:


 * madre (nominative singular)
 * madrwm (accusative singular)
 * madrem (dative singular)
 * madras (vocative singular)
 * madri (nominative plural)
 * madrine (accusative plural)
 * madrina (dative plural)
 * madrinas (vocative plural)

In the dictionary, the noun is given in the nominative, with the root given beside.

Verb Conjugations
Deddyg verbs conjugate for person, tense and mood. They also mutate for interrogation. The regular Deddyg verb has 50 inflected forms.

Conjugation of regular verbs
Most Deddyg verbs are regular. All regular Deddyg verbs end in "-er".

The verb "gweler" (to see) conjugates as follows. All regular verbs follow the same pattern. Note that the perfect and pluperfect tenses are formed with the auxiliary verb "keler" meaning "to have" which is also regular.

Present Indicative
 * Gwelev - I see
 * Gwelem - We see
 * Gwelet - You see
 * Gwelech - You see
 * Gwelo - He sees
 * Gwela - She sees
 * Gwelent - They see
 * Gwelir - One sees

Simple Past Indicative
 * Gweläs - I saw
 * Gwelom - We saw
 * Gwelot - You saw (informal singular)
 * Gweloch - You saw (formal or plural)
 * Gweloð - He saw
 * Gwelað - She saw
 * Gwelont - They saw
 * Gwelwyd - One saw

Perfect (*1)
 * Kelev wel - I have seen
 * Kelem wel - We haveseen
 * Kelet wel - You have seen
 * Kelech wel - You have seen
 * Kelo wel - He has seen
 * Kela wel - She has seen
 * Kelant wel - They have seen
 * Kelir wel - One has seen

Pluperfect (*2)
 * Keläs wel - I had seen
 * Kelom wel - We had seen
 * Kelot wel - You had seen
 * Keloch wel - You had seen
 * Keloð wel - He had seen
 * Kelað wel - She had seen
 * Kelont wel - They had seen
 * Kelwyd wel - One had seen

Conditional
 * Gweleriev - I would see
 * Gweleriem - We would see
 * Gweleriet - You would see
 * Gweleriech - You would see
 * Gwelerio - He would see
 * Gweleria - She would see
 * Gwelerient - They would see
 * Gwelerïr - One would see

Future
 * Gwelerev - I will see
 * Gwelerem - We will see
 * Gweleret - You will see
 * Gwelerech - You will see
 * Gwelero - He will see
 * Gwelera - She will see
 * Gwelerent - They will see
 * Gwelerir - One will see

Present Subjunctive
 * Gwelsev - I see
 * Gwelsem - We see
 * Gwelset - You see
 * Gwelsech - You see
 * Gwelso - He see
 * Gwelsa - She see
 * Gwelsent - They see
 * Gwelsir - One see

Past Subjunctive
 * Gwelsäs - I saw
 * Gwelsom - We saw
 * Gwelsot - You saw
 * Gwelsoch - You saw
 * Gwelsoð - He saw
 * Gwelsað - She saw
 * Gwelsont - They saw
 * Gwelswyd - One saw

NOTES
 * (*1) The perfect is formed with the present tense form of "keler" (to have) just like in English, with a softly mutated form of the root of the main verb (in this case "gweler").
 * (*2) The pluperfect is formed with the simple past tense form of "keler" (to have) with a softly mutated form of the main verb. (See below for more on mutations.)

Interrogative of regular verbs
When asking a question, the first letter of the verb softly mutates.
 * Welev gathwm? - Do I see a cat?

The modal "deler"
The English modal verb "should" is a fully inflectiol regular verb in Deddyg, "deler".
 * I should sing - Delev ganer
 * I should have gone - Delais mender

Imperatives
Imperatives are commands and are formed with the first person plural and the second person. The imperatives of the regular verb "mender" are shown below.


 * Mendet! - Go! (informal singular)
 * Mendech! - Go! (formal and plural)
 * Mendem! - Let's go!

There is normally an exclamation mark at the end of an imperative sentence:


 * Gwnet gwethws awr! - Do the work now!

The copular "to be"
The Deddyg verb "esma" meaning "to be" is highly irregular and inflects as follows:

Present Indicative
 * Œv - I am
 * Rym - We are
 * Rœt - You are
 * Rŷch - You are
 * Mä - He is
 * Mä - She is
 * Män - They are
 * Ber - One is

Simple Past Indicative
 * Rœðwn - I was
 * Rœðem - We were
 * Rœðet - You were
 * Rœðech - You were
 * Rœð - He was
 * Rœð - She was
 * Rœðent - They were
 * Boir - One was

Perfect
 * Kelev vūd - I have been
 * Kelem vūd - We have been
 * etc.

Pluperfect
 * Kelais vūd - I had been
 * Kelom vūd - We had been
 * etc.

Conditional
 * Basïev - I would be
 * Basïem - We would be
 * etc.

Future
 * Bedev - I will be
 * Bedem - We will be
 * etc.

Present Subjunctive
 * Būev - I be
 * Būem - We be
 * etc.

Simple Past Subjunctive
 * Būais - I were
 * Būom - We were
 * etc.

There are also interrogative forms of this verb in the present and simple past tenses:

Present Interrogative
 * Edo? - Am I?
 * Edem? - Are we?
 * Œt? - Are you?
 * Edech? - Are you?
 * Eda? - Is he?
 * Eda? - Is she?
 * Edent? - Are they?

Simple past Interrogative
 * Œðwn? - Was I?
 * Œðem? - Were we?
 * etc.

Miscellaneous
=Phonology=

=Dictionary= ...

=Example text= ...