Spreka

A Germanic language of people who span from the Sea of Azov to the Carpathian Mountains, south to Thrace and Northern Macedonia, approximately as high as Byzantium, north as high as Kiev, maybe up to the Pripyat river, but almost no trace of them is found higher than the source of the Teteriv river.

Mages from one of these people have created orcs. First, as a way of making strong soldiers for an army. Then, things got out of hand and the orcs ran away. They kept linguistic ties with Spreka but the orc language (Parman) is very different, partly due to the mutilation they suffered to become the monsters they now are.

These people are also (unofficially) found in the universe of the French tabletop roleplaying web-series Aventures. The orc language was based on the gibberish during one live session of the roleplaying web-series where they encountered an orc and the mage of the group communicated extensively with him. The details for the creation of the language can be found on the Tumblr for the language (in French).

The people speaking Spreka are completely unattested in the canon of the series, but posts on the Aventures forums (fr) as well as their use in fan-made roleplaying campaigns have been made.

They are part of a large universe in a long series of cross-media stories still in working progress.

Classification and Dialects
There are some different dialects but they are very close. The differences are mostly minor pronunciation changes, small spelling differences and very sporadic lexicon differences in the precise meaning of words, but they have similar general meaning. The main difference might be in foreign influences. There are dialects with Slavic influences, others with Greek ones, some with Celtic influences, and minor variations due to distance.

Consonants
The rhotic sound can be both a trill or a flap without changing the meaning. For pronunciation reasons, however, some are only pronounced as trills. However, most rhotic sounds can be changed from one to another to give a certain effect and depending on the context (whispering, singing, etc.)

/f/ and /v/ are possible, but very rare. They only appear in loan words from Middle-Persian and (to a lesser extent) Greek and Proto-Slavic.

/θ/ comes from specific mutations from Greek words, mostly, and is even more rare.

/ʃ/ is rare, mostly appearing in loan words from Persian and Greek or in the specific cluster where the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ mutates to post-alveolar /ʃ/.

Vowels
Diphthongs: aʊ, aɪ, εɪ

Phonotactics
It is rare to see two vowels following each other. There are only three diphthongs (aʊ, aɪ, εɪ). One example in the Southern dialect is the verb øan, to blow (of the wind). In the Northern dialect, rikiun (/'ri.kɪ.on/) is a word that can be encountered. It designates a realm, major division of a kingdom, a region in a way. There are generally only a couple in a Kingdom, ruled by the relatives (or most trusted people) of the king.

Two consecutive consonants are rare. Even if words can be spelled that way, there will most often be a schwa added in between when speaking. This is however mostly seen in a final vowel cluster.

There are few three-consonant clusters allowed. One is the, realised by changing the alveolar /s/ fricative to a post-alveolar /∫/ fricative. Other three-consonant clusters will in most cases have a schwa added, generally in between the first and the second consonant.

Northern Dialect (Notrisprik)
The vowels are shown as a set of two different vowels because they are pronounced differently depending on whether or not they are stressed. The first vowel is the stressed version, the second is the unstressed. The diphthongs are marked as long vowels (ː) but this is not always respected. Unstressed diphthongs will often be found as short, depending on the dialect.

The stress in a word in Spreka is always on the first syllable.

Alphabet
All these are simply the latin transcription of the alphabet, which is a highly deformed version of the Greek alphabet

Declension
Four cases: nominative, accusative, genitive and dative.

Three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter.

Adjectives decline according the noun that precedes them (nouns come before adjective).

Adjective Declension
Adjectives finish in -is in the main dialect. Their declensions goes as follows:

There are four exceptions: altezao (older), plaesao (more), and øjlkomao (welcome). These three decline as below:

That pattern is also that of the comparative adjectives (with the -umao suffix) and of superlatives who use the same suffix but come with the definite article.

The fourth exception is teksø (right - opposite of left), it has its separate, albeit very similar declension pattern:

Noun declension
In Spreka Nouns used to be split into two classes; those from ō-stem and u-stem nouns in Proto-Germanic followed the table above but the other ones had a -e final in Dative. Some dialects retain this although it is rapidly disappearing.

After consonants, that cannot combine with s, a schwa (/ə/) is used for pronunciation. E.g. lord - erl; in the genitive becomes erls (/ɛrləs/)

Finally, there is one last class of nouns in Spreka that derives from irregular (Kruge's law/amphikinetic pattern) an-stem nouns in Proto-Germanic that still remains in some dialects, although hypercorrection is changing the irregular stems back to a regular pattern. * see note under regular noun declension for explanation on the presence of the e

Noun Declension in Notrisprik The parts in brackets are generally used only if the word ends in a consonant.

Main dialect
In the main dialect of Spreka, the definite article is realised with a particle The neutre article tends to disappear and be replaced by the masculine one.

Northern dialect
In Notrisprik, the definite article is a suffix different for each gender * there are some exceptions such as "darkisnøs" (darkness) which is then "darkisnøsmañ"

Indefinite
The indefinite article is a preposition, much like in English. There is one for every gender:
 * 1) Feminine - anat
 * 2) Masculine - an
 * 3) Neuter - anar

Pronouns
* ek is in the main Spreka dialect and øk is in Notrisprik

Verbs
Verbs conjugate according to tense, mood and voice.

There are two tenses: past and present. Future is achieved with the use of adverbs or the modal verb bønan (benun in Notrisprik) followed by the present participle. This modal verb is also used to mark the future in the past with the past participle.

The anterior past is marked with the use of the modal verb øsanan (sanun in Notrisprik) in the past tense followed by a past participle for a finished action or a present participle for an ongoing one.

There are 3 main moods: indicative, subjunctive and imperative. Imperative only exists in the present tense, the other two exist in both present and past.

The indicative is used for declarative phrases and most of the common uses of verbs.

The subjunctive is used to express wishes, following "that" (tat) and it is also used to mark the conditional as well as for reported speech (most often in the form of "they said that").

There are two voices: active and passive. Passive forms that only exist in the present. They are used only for transitive verbs and mark that the action is performed on the object. It can be expressed in the past tense using the weak modal verb "to have" (habjan/habun) in the present tense, or in the past tense for an anterior past.

There are 2 main verb classes: strong and weak. An other one is kind of an exception that includes a few verbs. It is called anomalous.

The main verb will be the stem follow by the -an suffix of the infinitive in the Southern Dialect (and -un in Notrisprik).

The gerund is made with the suffix -uñgø that is added to the stem of the verb and the supine is formed by having the infinitive form of the verb following the proper modal verb (most often øsanan/sanun).

Strong verbs
1 the final consonant is sometimes devoiced

2 to ease pronunciation an unwritten schwa is added between penultimate and last consonants

* except after ø where it disappears

† except after ø where it becomes -ts

Stem changes
Strong verbs are split in five subclasses. Each subclass has a different mutation in the stem.

The present form is valid for every mood and voice: active, passive; indicative, subjunctive, imperative. It includes the present participle.

The past 1 form is valid for most of the past forms. The past 2 form is one for the first 3 persons of the indicative past.

The past participle form is, as it indicates, only for the past participle. It is not always different from the past but it can be.

D* diphthong that varies from stem to stem. In some cases it is a simple vowel instead, the form remains the same.

C* consonant at the beginning of the stem.

Weak verbs
2 to ease pronunciation an unwritten schwa is added between penultimate and last consonants

* except after ø where it disappears

The past passive form is done by using the auxiliary "ørtan" (to become, come to pass) with a past participle. This verb is also used to make the future, by adding the infinitive afterwards.

Anomalous
* except after ø where it disappears

Irregular Verbs
There are some irregular verbs. They are as follow: aegan (to possess, own, hold property), bønan (to become), dønan (to do), ølan (to want, desire, wish), øsanan (to be), gønan (to walk, go), skolan (to owe, shall), oldan (to weild magic, have power), stañdan (to stand), torban (to have, must), konan (to know), onan (to grant).

To possess, own, hold property (aegan)
1 to ease pronunciation an unwritten schwa is added between penultimate and last consonants

To become (bønan)
1 the final d is sometimes devoiced so it can be pronounced /od/ or /ot/ and /əd/ or /ət/ respectively

2 to ease pronunciation an unwritten schwa is added between penultimate and last consonants so it is pronounced /nət/

To do (dønan)
1 the final d is sometimes devoiced so it can be pronounced /ʌ̝d/ or /ʌ̝t/

2 to ease pronunciation an unwritten schwa is added between penultimate and last consonants so it is pronounced /nət/ and /nət͡s/

To want (ølan)
1 the final d is sometimes devoiced

2 to ease pronunciation an unwritten schwa is added between penultimate and last consonants

To be (øsanan)
1 the final d is sometimes devoiced

2 to ease pronunciation an unwritten schwa is added between penultimate and last consonants

To go, walk (gønan)
1 the final d is sometimes devoiced

2 to ease pronunciation an unwritten schwa is added between penultimate and last consonants

To shall, own (skolan)
1 the final consonant is sometimes devoiced

2 to ease pronunciation an unwritten schwa is added between penultimate and last consonants

To wield (magic), to have power (oldan)
1 ə between l and ts to ease pronunciation

2 z tends to devoice

To stand (stañdan)
1 to ease pronunciation an unwritten schwa is added between penultimate and last consonants

To have to, to must (torban)
1 to ease pronunciation an unwritten schwa is added between penultimate and last consonants

To know and to grant (Konan and Onan) 1 ə between n and ts to ease pronunciation

Syntax
The syntax is a very rigid SVO with the verb always in second position (strict V2). The subject may have to move after the verb because of that.