Batavian

Batavian, also known as Bachtish or, historically, Lower Batavian, is a West Germanic language spoken by roughly 2 million people as a first language and 500,000 as a second language, primarily in the Federal Republic of Batavia, southern areas of the Netherlands, and northwestern Germany.

Standard Batavian
Standard Batavian is based off the Batavian spoken between Mesträicht (Maastricht) and Eachen (Aachen).

Northern Dialect
Associated with Endhoven (Eindhoven) and Hellmud (Helmond) rural areas

Central Dialect
Associated with Mesträicht (Maastricht) and Eachen (Aachen)

Southwestern Dialect
Associated with Liek (Liège) and Äspe (Spa)

Intercity North
Associated with downtown, impoverished areas of Endhoven (Eindhoven) and Hellmud (Helmond)

ee-ei-ij-äi
The pronunciation of these four diphthongs is often considered the strongest signal for where a person is from. In general, in the Northern dialects, ee, ei, and äi are pronounced as /ei/ while ij/y is pronounced as /ai/, whereas in the South, äi and ei pronounced as /ai/ while ee and ij/y are pronounced /ei/. In the Intercity North dialect, all four are usually pronounced as /e:/, while in the dialects in and around Äspe (Spa) pronounce each differently: äi /εi/, ei /ei/, ee /e:/, and ij/y /ai/. The standard dialect officially calls for what-is-now the Äspis pronunciation, as it had once been the majority pronunciation at the beginning of the Republic, and many do use it, but most high register speech defaults to the Northern isoglosses for these vowels.

sch-s
Proto-West Germanic *sk had three main reflexes in the modern language. In the Northern dialects, s dominates, while sch dominates in the Southern dialects. The Central dialects prefers the sch onset, but s in the coda, which is relfected in the standard language. Some northern rural areas demonstrate /sx/ and /sk/, but, even there, it is mostly restricted to elderly speakers.

Orthographic conventions
YCCy, but Ccijcc (e.g., yzen "iron", but tijd "time")

Vy, but ViC (e.g., säy "sea", but lüig "lie, falsehood"), though there are a few exceptions (e.g., aai "egg")

Nouns
Batavian nouns are separated into three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. This is maintained mostly in archaisms and in explaining some irregularities in modern parlance. Today, the only grammatical function is demonstrated by the combination of masculine and feminine into a "common" gender and the neuter gender, though even this is falling out of favor in colloquial Batavian, particularly in the southwestern region.

a-stem
Masculine a-stem nouns follow regular, weak declension patterns; neuter a-stem nouns normally follow an indeterminate plural, but internal vowel mutation is also present; CVVC → CVCe plural, CVVCs genitive.

ja-stem
The ja-stem is functionally identical to the a-stem, with a general trend towards umlauting stems but not alternation.

ōn-stem
Exclusively feminine, ōn-stem nouns are identical to a-stem nouns, except that their genitive forms are -e, not -s

Consonant stem
Consonant stems generally pluralize and genitivize with vowel alteration and or palatalization. Predominately masculine or feminine, but neuter consonant stems do exist.

i-stem
i-stem nouns are identical to ōn-stem nouns in function and form, except that i-stem nouns can be masculine and neuter, though the former is more common.

an-stem
Masculine an-stem nouns have, CVVC to CVCen plural and a genitive form with umlaut and -en. Neuter an-stems follow the same pattern, except the plural is -e only. The long-o in the nominative is likely inconsistent in Pre-Old Batavian.

īn-stem
Exclusively feminine, īn-stem nouns do not have any plurals, but their genitives are -en.

ō-stem
Exclusively feminine, ō-stem nouns show a final -e and sometimes vowel mutation in plural, and no mutation or suffix in the genitive.

u-stem
Both masculine and feminine u-stem nouns show vowel alternation in the stem or no change at all and the genitive is marked with a -e suffix. PWGmc suggests -iwi in the nominative plural, but this was likely reduced to -i in Pre-Old Batavian. Rarely, u-stem nouns were neuter, but they usually assimilate to masculine or feminine (e.g., *fehu → föch "livestock" was originally neuter, but is now masculine).

Class 1
Class 1 strong verbs demonstrate a historical -ī- in their root vowel, which does not cause palatalization in the past tense. A short vowel is present in the past participle.

Class 2
Class 2 strong verbs demonstrate a historical -eu- or -ū- in their root vowel. A short vowel is present in the past participle.

Class 3
Class 3 strong verbs demonstrate a historical short -i- or -e- in their root vowel followed by two consonants or one geminate. A short vowel is present in the past participle.

Class 4
Class 4 strong verbs demonstrate a historical short -e- in their root vowel. A short vowel is present in the past participle.

Class 5
Class 5 strong verbs demonstrate a historical short -e- in their root vowel. A medium vowel is present in the past participle.

Class 6
Class 6 strong verbs demonstrate a historical short -a- in their root vowel. A medium vowel is present in the past participle.

Class 7a
-ai-

Class 7b
-au-

Class 7d
-ā-

Class 7e
-ō-

Originally, the infinitive had a short -a-, but was made regular through association with the finite forms.

Habitual
The habitual mood is marked by the verb plechen. However, it is not a strict habitual. In general, it is translated with "keep" or "always" and/or marked by an adverb that would indicate habit. Consider the following:

Sie plecht searsdags die ördlich czerke te helpen. "She always helps the local church on Saturdays."

Note that in many cases where habitual marking may be necessary in other languages, it is not marked in Batavian. For this reason, some grammarians have challenged the title of "habitual" in lieu of a more fitting title, such as "iterative" or "semelfactive". Consider the following:

De foarman plecht thies mei te opropen, dus sogant arbäid ik svoar underdags. "My boss keeps calling me at home, even though I work hard during the day."

From Latin
Latin loans exploded during the Middle Ages. Many of these loans are similarly derived as they are in German and Dutch, partially through linguistic overlap and partially through standard convention among learned circles of the era, particularly in the Church. Some terms were loaned in their exact form, though most of these are late loans dating around the 1800s, but most were adapted.

ae and oe
For , older texts and affected type use <æ>, it is usually rendered as , or occasionally <äi>, in modern spelling. For , there are mixed strategies, often based on intra-European standards Latin's effect on internationalist vocabulary is obvious and regularly derived. Earlier spelling conventions tended towards Dutch-styled orthography, and some still persist, but the majority is Germanicized for ease of use.

Pronouns
1 Daams is considered to be incorrect in most circles; it is akin to Inland North/Pennsylvania youse, yinz. Nevertheless, it remains common in everyday parlance, especially rural speech. 1 Variant dette (coll. det) became more common during the late Middle Ages to distinguish it from the dative singular definite article, dem. That said, it remained common in the east and, with the collapse of the case system, saw a reemergence and was deemed valid in the 1910 standardization efforts as the common gender plural demonstrative.

Separable (Prepositional) Prefixes
In subordinate clauses and nonfinite forms, the prefix remains attached; however, in main clauses and finite forms, the prefix behaves as a preposition. Some prefixes can be both separable and inseparable with semantic implications based on the form.

Ik ansah n' man vöm Köning. "I beheld a man before the King." or "I saw a man in front of the King." vs. Ik sah 'n man an vöm Köning. "I mistook a man for the King."

Chemical elements
If the chemical is missing, it is identical to the English.

"Your Jowls Bring Me Joy" (~1455)
Written in the margin of a commentary of on 1 Corinthians by a monk at a Franciscan monastery outside Aachen initialed T.d.B. The monk was writing about a dog that had been adopted by the monastery, whom they had named "Basilius".

Däidkolm ("Regret", 1957)
Batavia is well-known for its art films, especially short ones. One of its most famous is Däidkolm, a story about a member of the Batavian resistance who discovers years later that he killed his best friend's brother during the war. The term däidkolm is often translated into English as "regret", though the literal translation is "deed nausea" and was largely popularized by this film as a more constrained form of bedrieren, the usual term for "to regret". In the first scene, the main character, Aalf, meets his best friend, Gierig, after many years apart at a bar in their hometown, Gräfloch, on the German border (German: Grefrath). Writer and director Thoam Yzenhauer, whose own mother was German and father Batavian, wrote the characters to reflect the moral ambiguity of the era; Aalf was a part of the Batavian resistance against the Nazi occupation, but treats the barmaid poorly and acts boorishly, while Gierig is respectful and conservative, but seeks reconciliation with the German people.

"A Story about my Grandfather" (1984)
This story was transcribed from a 1984 recording of World War I veteran and then-pensioner Lazaar Vandack (1894-1988), telling a story about his grandfather, Gaart Vandack (1824-1912).

Tests
Ik hab m' die gehölt spreken geworden, conversieren m' die imme geworden, end da alle säigen de sam verdammt ding. "I've been talking to the trees, conversing with the bees, and they all say the same damn thing."

So jiet gaan 'n freag maar vörs leven salt verslechten, ever föller voe lang ik it noch sall loten verslechten. "It's no longer a question of if life will get worse, but rather of how long I will allow it to get worse."

Die mäid sall oaig dieren. "The sadness will last forever."

Ever seich ik m' gaan hülp! "But I'm breathing with no assistance!"