Beloruthenian

Classification and Dialects
The Beloruthenian language is a the only surviving East Germanic language and it is the official language of the Beloruthenian Commonwealth (in Beloruthenian : Бѣлоруценско Ржъечьпоспоблiто). This language has absorbed many features of the surrounding Slavic languages, namely Russian, Polish and Ukrainian. It is also the only Germanic language being written in Cyrillic.

Writing System
The Beloruthenian language has retained a relatively archaic spelling with a lot of orthographic conventions :


 * The letter B preceding a consonant is pronounced as /w/, e.g. : ав т а /aw t a/ (=car)
 * The letter Г followed by a palatalized letter (notably E, Ё, И, I, Ю, Я and Ѭ) is pronounced as /ç/, but followed by the letter O, it changes to /vw/, e.g. г i во /ç i va/ (=gift) vs. г о дасъ /vw ɔ das/ (=good)
 * Ikanya (in Beloruthenian : Iканя) is the reduction of the unstressed E to an /i/-sound, e.g. : объéщенiя /ab ɛ ʃtɕiɲija/ (=promise)
 * Okanya (in Beloruthenian : Oканя) is the reduction of the unstressed E following another vowel to a /jɔ/-sound, e.g. : лёк е е /ʎɔcijɔ/ (=easily)
 * The letter И is only to be found in final position, e.g. : Джiми Картеръ (=Jimmy Carter)
 * The letter Л preceding a consonant is also pronounced as /w/, e.g. : вол ф съ /vɔw f s/ (=wolf)
 * Akanya (in Beloruthenian : Aканя) is the reduction of the unstressed O to an /a/-sound, e.g. : гíво /ç i va/ (=gift)
 * The letter Ъ is in final position after a consonant or stops the palatalization induced by E, e.g. : объ e щенiя /ab ɛ ʃtɕiɲija/ (=promise)
 * The letters Ѫ and Ѭ are purely etymological, as they stand for a nasal vowel having evolved to /a/, respectively /ja/
 * Iotified letters (notably Ё, Ю, Я and Ѭ) can never be reduced

Nouns
Nouns in Beloruthenian have highly complex flexions, even arguably the most complex ones out of all the living Germanic languages. Having been surrounded by Slavic and Baltic languages, the Beloruthenian tongue tended to preserve its declension system inherited from Proto-Germanic. Even if Germanic languages like German and Icelandic retained four cases (nominative, accusative, dative and genitive) out of the six from Proto-Germanic, Beloruthenian managed to keep all the six cases (nominative, vocative, accusative, dative, genitive and instrumental).

First Declension
The First Declension groups masculine nouns, mostly ending in -съ, and neuter nouns ending in -а. Some stems of masculine nouns cannot take in the nominative singular the ending -съ due to their last consonant. The consonants that forbid the final /s/-sound are ж, з, s, с, х, ц, ч, ш and щ. Other consonants soften the -съ to -зъ, notably б and ґ. Finally, some consonants change by including the /s/-, respectively /z/-sound : т+съ = цъ and д+зъ = sъ.

Second Declension
The Second Declension contains only feminine nouns ending in -о. The Second Declension, which includes flexions with palatalized letters (here : ё), shows an important phenomenon in Beloruthenian inherited from the Slavic languages : iotified softening. Some consonant of the noun (or adjective or verb) stem get softened after a palatalized letter. The iotified softening goes as it follows :


 * м -> мл
 * п -> пл
 * б -> бл
 * в -> вл
 * ф -> фл
 * т -> ц
 * д -> s
 * к -> ч
 * г –> ш
 * ґ -> ж

The reader must also take care of the fact that the letter B followed by its softening Л is pronounced as /w/ as the convention obliges, e.g. : гiв л ё /çiw ʎ ɔ/ (note also that the iotified letter isn't reduced to /a/, i.e. it omits the akanya as the convention obliges).

Third Declension
The Third Declension contains nouns being either masculine, feminine or neuter, all ending in -ь. The masculine declension doesn't differ from its feminine counterpart, however the neuter does.

Fourth Declension
The Fourth Declension groups masculine nouns ending in -усъ and neuter nouns ending in -у. Some neuter nouns of this declension type end in -ў (e.g. : пречiцеў = lecture) add an intermediate -в-, when declined, e.g. : пречiцеў, пречiцев и, пречiцев аў ...

Fifth Declension
The Fifth Declension only contains nouns of kinship, which may be masculine or feminine (however there is no difference in the endings between the two genders). Only five nouns follow this declension : фаsеръ (=father), моsеръ (=mother), броsеръ (=brother), свесцеръ (=sister) and духчеръ (=daughter). The intermediate -e- falls off the same way for all the other nouns of the Fifth Declension. However when the intermediate -e- falls off, the letter S of фаsеръ, моsеръ and броsеръ changes to Д and the letter Ц of свесцеръ changes to T.

Definiteness
The definite form is produced by adding -тъ incase of an ending with a vowel, respectively -атъ, if the word ends with a consonant, e.g. : гiв о тъ (=the gift) vs. гiво с атъ (=of the gift). However if the word ends in a consonant followed by the soft sign -ь instead of the hard sign -ъ, the definite ending alters to -ятъ, e.g. : гасць -> гасцятъ (=the guest). The indefinite form is the noun in its simple form, e.g. : Белхaцей гасць. (=I'm angering a guest.) vs. Белхѫsiмъ гасц ятъ. (=I'm angering the guest.). The definite form developed through the borrowing of the Proto-Slavic pronoun tъ, which meant this or that.

Dative shift
The word order in Beloruthenian is mostly free, even though the most common syntax is SVO. Nonetheless, the indirect object put in the dative case can present itself by an independent dative or prepositional dative being accompanied by the prepositions па or надъ. The independent dative is used if the indirect object is put before the direct object, e.g. : Сендь гасцiтъ лiстѫ ! (=Send the guest a letter !). If the direct object is put in front of the indirect object, the prepositional dative must be used, e.g. : Сендь лiстѫ па гасцiтъ! (=Send a letter to the guest!). Па and надъ convey the exact same meaning just with that small difference that па is from Germanic inheritance, while надъ is a Slavic borrowing. In order to know, whether па or надъ is to be used, the learner has to learn the dative preposition with its corresponding verb.

Adjectives and pronouns
Adjectives and pronouns follow similar declension logic and sometimes even pattern as the nouns.

Strong declension
The strong declension of an adjective highly resembles the First Declension for the masculine and neuter forms and the Second Declension for the feminine form. The biggest difference is that the plural is the same for the three genders. Note that the instrumental feminine singular form will always lead to an iotified softening. The strong declension is used for adjectives following nouns that are indefinite, e.g. : Бакѫsiмъ пешно чясто. (=I'm baking a tasty cake.).

Weak declension
The weak declension has its own declension paradigm. However exactly like the strong declension, the three genders share the same plural form. The weak adjectival declension is used for the adjectives that follow a definite noun, e.g. : Бакѫsiмъ пешной чястотъ. (=I'm baking the tasty cake.). The weak declension paradigm leads to more iotified softening than the strong declension, so the learner must take care of those changes.

Verbs
Verbs in Beloruthenian show a lot of tenses and moods, which have arisen organically due to the Slavic and Baltic influences.

Specificity
Specificity defines, whether or not the noun (mostly the direct object), which is talked about, is specified. Specificity is mainly done in Beloruthenian through the difference of the synthetic and analytic verb conjugation. The synthetic conjugation (also called the synthetic I) is used to express specificity, e.g. : Бакѫsiмъ чясто. (=I'm baking a [ certain ] cake.) ; while the analytic conjugation is used to express the contrary, e.g. : Ей бакатъ чясто. (=I'm baking a cake [ whichever it might be ].). As expressed by their linguistic names, the synthetic I contains verb endings expressing the subject in it, while the analytic form needs the personal pronoun in the nominative case. However, the analytic form can be rendered into a synthetic form, called the synthetic II, which is done by inverting subject and verb and gluing the subject into the verb. The analytic and the synthetic II convey the same meaning : Ей бакатъ чясто. = Бакацей чясто. (=I'm baking a cake [ whichever it might be ].). The specific synthetic I is considered as the default verb form, whereas the unspecific analytic and synthetic II are the usual verb forms, if :


 * the sentence is negative
 * the sentence is interrogative
 * the sentence has to convey some form of evidentiality
 * the direct object is undefined and unspecified

Infinitive
There are two infinitives in Beloruthenian : the infinitive present and the infinitive perfect. Both infinitives are stated in the dictionary, because both are needed for the formation of the verb. Some tenses base their stem on the stem of the infinitive present (e.g. : indicative present, indicative imperfect...), others however construct their stem on the stem of the infinitive perfect (e.g. : indicative aorist I, subjunctive imperfect...). The independent infinitive almost doesn't exist (except if it is the nominative form of the gerund as those two are the same form). Indeed, the infinitive conventionally placed in final position of the sentence is preceded by the particle а, respectively адъ if the verb starts with a vowel, e.g. : Гiнѭsiмъ гасцiтъ лiстѫ а врiтѫ. (=I'm beginning to write the guest a letter.).

Modal verbs change the infinitives. The typical infinitive ending -ѫ (respectively -ѭ if palatalized) drops off and there only remains the verb stem. That form is called the modal infinitive. As there are two infinitives, there are also two modal infinitives : modal infinitive present and modal infinitive perfect. As the default infinitive, the modal infinitive is conventionally placed in final position, but without any particle, e.g. : Ей канъ лiстѫ надъ гасцiтъ врiтъ. (=I can write a letter to the guest.).

Present tense
Every verb except of the modal verbs (which are defective) and the verb верѫ meaning "to be" follows a regular conjugation pattern, not only in the present tense of the indicative mood, but in every tense and mood. The stem of the present tense derives from the stem of the infinitive present. Bерѫ, like the modal verbs, doesn't differ in specificity, so it doesn't have a synthetic-analytic distinction. The present tense of the indicative mood expresses actions or states that are taking place in the present moment, e.g. : Бакѫsiмъ чясто нунее. (=I'm baking a cake now.). The synthetic I of the present tense derives from the fusion of the participle present active and the verb верѫ in the present tense, e.g. : бакѫдъ + iмъ = бакѫsiмъ.

Perfect tense
The perfect tense is a compound tense formed by the verb габѫ, meaning "to have", and the modal infinitive perfect (note that the verb габѫ is not considered as a modal verb). The main verb comes here in final position. Note that no compound tense will do the difference in specificity (something like габацей бокъ would be considered highly ungrammatical). The indicative perfect is used to :


 * express a past action or state that causes a result in the past, e.g. : Габѫsiмъ клучѫтъ лаўсъ. (=I have lost the key.)
 * expresses a past action or state that is considered as doubtful, e.g. : Габѫsiтъ клучѫтъ нямъ. (=[ I doubt that ] He might have taken the key.)

In the literary language, the auxiliary verb can be omitted (which often happens in classical literature), e.g. : Такъ ночее ге расеsекѫтъ лаўсъ. (=That way, he has lost his mind overnight. - from : Меркаторятъ Константiнополiсъ - The Marketeer of Constantinople).