Ŕønnåsk | |||||||||||||
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Type | North Germanic | ||||||||||||
Alignment | Nominative-Accusative | ||||||||||||
Head direction | Initial | ||||||||||||
Tonal | Yes | ||||||||||||
Declensions | Yes | ||||||||||||
Conjugations | Yes | ||||||||||||
Genders | yes | ||||||||||||
Nouns decline according to... | |||||||||||||
Case | Number | ||||||||||||
Definiteness | Gender | ||||||||||||
Verbs conjugate according to... | |||||||||||||
Voice | Mood | ||||||||||||
Person | Number | ||||||||||||
Tense | Aspect | ||||||||||||
Meta-information | |||||||||||||
Progress | 0% | ||||||||||||
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Creator | [[User:|]] |
Introduction[]
Ŕønnåsk /ɾ̞œnːoːə̯sk/is a North Germanic language related to Norwegian, Icelandic and Swedish. It descends from Old Norse, though neither a descendant from Old East or West Norse, though it has features from both of them. Like many Scandinavian languages, Ŕønnåsk is a tonal language similar to that of Norwegian. Ŕønnåsk roughly means "language of the Rowan tree people" referring to the abundance of the Rowan trees of Northern Scandinavia to which the Ŕønni tribe is native. It is believed that a myth from Norse mythology gave name to the now modern-day language:
In Norse mythology, according to Skáldskaparmál, the Rowan is called "the salvation of Thor" because Thor once saved himself by clinging to it. It has been hypothesized that Thor's wife Sif was once conceived in the form of a Rowan to which Thor clung. Because of this, the Rowan tree is celebrated in Ŕønni culture every Midsommar when it flowers.
Etymology[]
Ŕønnåsk
From Old Norse ʀönni "Rowan tree tribe" from Old East Norse ʀön (“rowan”) minus the -i noun ending. Contraction of mål "speech, tongue" into å plus the adjectival ending -sk >> ŕønn + å + sk.
Phonology[]
Consonants[]
Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Dorsal | Glottal | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n̪ | (ɳ) | ŋ | ||||
Plosive | p b | t̪ d̪ | (ʈ ɖ3) | k g | ||||
Fricative | Sibilant fricative | s̪ | (ʂ) | ɕ | h | |||
Non-sibilant fricative | f | θ ð | ç | |||||
Approximant | ʋ | l | (ɭ) | j | ||||
Flap or tap | Plain | ɾ1 | ||||||
Fricative | ɾ̞1 |
1 The rhotic consonants may either be trills [r̝ r] or taps [ɾ̞ ɾ], depending on the speaker.
3 /ɖ/, the voiced retroflex plosive, may be replaced by /ɽ/ in some dialects.
Notes[]
- /p, t, k/ are aspirated fully voiceless [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ], whereas /b, d, ɡ/ are unaspirated fully voiceless [p˭, t˭, k˭] or partially voiced. After /s/ within the same syllable, only unaspirated voiceless stops occur.
- /ʂ/ is pronounced with protruded lips [ʂʷ]. The degree of protrusion depends on the rounding of the following vowel.
- /h/ is a (usually voiceless) fricative. The friction is normally glottal [h], but sometimes it is dorsal: palatal [ç] when near front vowels. It can be voiced [ɦ ~ ʝ] between two voiced sounds.
- /l/ is velarised [ɫ] when near back vowels.
- /ɾ/ is a voiced alveolar flap. It is occasionally trilled [r], e.g. in emphatic speech.
- /ŋ, k, ɡ/ are velar, whereas /ç, j/ are palatal and /ɕ/ is alveolo-palatal.
The retroflex consonants are mutations of [ɾ]+any other dental consonant; rn /rn/ > [ɳ], rt /rt/ > [ʈ], rl /rl/ > [ɭ], rs /rs/ > [ʂ], etc. /rd/ across word boundaries (sandhi) and in loanwords.
Vowels[]
Front | Central | Back | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
unrounded | rounded | |||||||
short | long | short | long | short | long | short | long | |
Close | ɪ | iː | ʏ | yː | ʉː | |||
Mid | ɛ | eː | œ | øː | (ə) ɵ | ɔ | oː | |
Open | æ | æː | ɑ | ɑː | ||||
Diphthongs | æɪ̯, oːə̯, œʏ̯ |
Examples[]
Monophthongs | |||
---|---|---|---|
Vowel | Example | Vowel | Example |
iː | /siːl/ sil ('sieve') | ɪ | /sɪlː/ sill ('herring') |
eː | /heːl/ hel ('whole') | ɛ | /hɛlː/ helle ('cave') |
æː | /væːrɑ/ ('to be') | æ | /æʈ/ ært ('pea') |
ɑː | /mɑːt/ mat ('food') | ɑ | /mɑtː/ matt ('listless; matte') |
oː | /goːl/ gol ('goal') | ɔ | /mɔlː/ moll ('minor (music)') |
ʉː | /fʉːl/ ful ('sly') | ɵ | /fɵlː/ full ('full') |
yː | /syːl/ syl ('awl') | ʏ | /sʏlː/ syll ('sleeper (railroad tie)') |
øː | /øːl/ øl ('beer') | œ | /nœtː/ nøtt ('nut') |
Diphthongs | |||
æɪ̯ | /næɪ̯/ nei ('no') | ||
œʏ̯ | /snœʏ̯/ snøy ('snow') | ||
oːə̯ | /ɾ̞œnːoːə̯sk/ Ŕønnåsk |
Notes[]
- /ə/ is an unstressed allophone of /ɛ/, which occurs on the last syllable of words.
- /ɵ/ is an unstressed allophone of /ʉ/.
- /ɪ, iː, ɛ, eː, æ, æː, ɑ, ɑː/ are unrounded, whereas /ʏ, yː, ɵ, ʉː, œ, øː, ɔ, oː/ are rounded.
- The close /ʏ, yː, ɵ, ʉː/ are more accurately transcribed as protruded [ʏʷ, yʷː] and compressed [ɵ͍, ʉ͍ː] as well as compressed [ʏ͍, y͍ː] and protruded [ɵʷ, ʉʷː].
- The mid /œ, øː, ɔ, oː/ are also protruded [œʷ, øʷː, ɔʷ, oʷː].
Pitch Accent[]
Ŕønnåsk is a pitch-accent language with two distinct pitch patterns, like Swedish and Norwegian. They are used to differentiate two-syllable words with otherwise identical pronunciations. For example, the word balen ('the ball [danse event') is pronounced using the simpler tone 1, while balen ('the nest') uses the more complex tone 2. Though spelling differences can differentiate written words, minimal pairs are often written alike, since written Ŕønnåsk has no explicit accent marks. Accent 1 uses a low flat pitch in the first syllable, while accent 2 uses a high, sharply falling pitch in the first syllable and a low pitch in the beginning of the second syllable. In both accents, these pitch movements are followed by a rise of intonational nature (phrase accent) — the size (and presence) of which signals emphasis or focus. That rise culminates in the final syllable of an accentual phrase, while the utterance-final fall common in most languages is either very small or absent.
The pitch accents give the Ŕønnåsk language a "singing" quality that makes it easy to distinguish from other languages.
Writing System[]
Letter | Aa | Bb | Dd | Ðð | Ee | Ff | Gg | Hh | Ii | Jj | Kk | Ll |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sound | /ɑ/ | /b/ | /d̪/ | /ð/ | /ɛ~e/ | /f/ | /g/ | /h/ | /i/ | /j/ | /k/ | /ɫ/ |
Letter | Mm | Nn | Oo | Pp | Rr1 | Ŕŕ 2 | Ss | Tt | Uu | Vv | Yy | |
Sound | /m/ | /n̪/ | /ɔ~o/ | /p/ | /ɾ~r/ | /ɾ̞~r̝/ | /s̪/ | /t̪/ | /ʉ~ɵ/ | /ʋ/ | /ʏ~y/ | |
Letter | Þþ | Ææ | Øø | Åå | ||||||||
Sound | /θ/ | /æ/ | /ø~œ/ | /oːə̯/ |
1 ⟨Rr⟩ is a flap /ɾ/ word-initially, a voiceless flapped fricative /ɾ̞̊/ word-finally, /ɾː/ when geminated and /ɾ/ everywhere else.
2 ⟨Ŕŕ⟩ is a voiced flapped fricative /ɾ̞/ everywhere except word-finally, where it is voiceless /ɾ̞̊/.
Grammar[]
Ŕønnåsk is an inflected language with four cases: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive. Ŕønnåsk can have one of three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine or neuter. Nouns, adjectives and pronouns are declined in four cases and two numbers, singular and plural.
Morphology[]
Ŕønnåsk morphology is typical of other Germanic/Indo-European languages. Nouns are declined for case, number, definiteness and gender; adjectives for case, number, gender and definiteness with weak and strong inflections.
Ŕønnåsk possesses definite and indefinite articles. The definite article is usually a suffix added to the noun, however, definite inflection of adjectives plus den, dea, det and dei can also be used. Verbs are conjugated for tense, mood, person, number and voice. There are two voices: active and medio-passive. There are only two simple tenses, past and present, along with a number of auxiliary constructions, some of which may be regarded as tenses, others as aspects.
Nouns[]
Ŕønnåsk nouns are declined in five cases: nominative, accusative, dative, genitive and vocative. They belong to three main noun classes (masculine, feminine, neuter) and can be inflected for number (singular, plural) and definiteness (definite, indefinite). The following table shows four examples of strong declension:
number | case | masculine | feminine | neuter |
---|---|---|---|---|
singular | nom. | hattur | borg | glas |
acc. | hatt | borgu | ||
dat. | hatti | borgi | glasi | |
gen. | hatts | borgar | glass | |
voc. | hatto | borge | glaso | |
plural | nom. | hattar | borgir | glös |
acc. | hatta | |||
dat. | hattum | borgum | glösum | |
gen. | hattas | borgis | glasas | |
voc. | hattar | borgir | glös |
The gender of a noun can often be deduced by looking at the ending of the word:
- Masculine nouns — often end in -ur, -nn -het.
- Feminine nouns — often end in -a, -e, -ing, -else.
- Neuter nouns — usually have no specific ending or have a final accented vowel.
Declension of orðsending (f)
Feminine -i
Stem |
singular | plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
nominative | orðsending | orðsendingin | orðsendingir | orðsendingirna |
accusative | orðsendingu | orðsendinguna | ||
dative | orðsendingi | orðsendinginni | orðsendingum | orðsendinginum |
genitive | orðsendingar | orðsendingarinna | orðsendingis | orðsendinginas |
vocative | orðsendinge | orðsendingen | orðsendingir | orðsendingirna |
Articles[]
Ŕønnåsk has both indefinite articles (a/an in English), and definite articles (the in English) and is usually joined to the end of the word. The table below shows the different suffix forms for the three genders in the nominative. There are, however, some exceptions in every case.
No article | Definite article | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | masculine | feminine | neuter | ||||||
sg. | pl. | sg. | pl. | sg. | pl. | sg. | pl. | sg. | pl. | sg. | pl. |
-ur | -ar | –ing | -ir | – | – | -uren | -arna | -in | -irna | -it | -in |
-het | -a | -heten | -an | -orna | |||||||
-nn | -nnen |
The examples below show three nouns, one for each respective gender, declined in the nominative:
- masculine: en pojkur— "a boy" becomes pojkuren—"the boy"
- feminine: ea jenta— "a girl" becomes jentan—"the girl"
- neuter: ett barn — "a child" becomes barnit—"the child"
Pronouns[]
Personal[]
The personal pronouns in Ŕønnåsk are as follows:
case | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | feminine | neuter | impersonal | ||||
singular | nom. | jen | ðu | hann | hun | det | man |
acc. | mei | ðei | hana | en | |||
dat. | meir | ðeir | honom | henni | detti | enom | |
gen. | min | ðin | hans | hennes | dess | ens | |
plural | nom. | vi | dere | þei | |||
acc. | oss | þem | |||||
dat. | derur | þeim | |||||
gen. | vor | eder | þeier |
Ŕønnåsk possesses a reflexive pronoun, functioning in much the same way as German sich. The nominative case does not exist.
case | pronoun |
---|---|
acc. | sei |
dat. | seir |
gen. | sin |
For example,
- hann þvættar seir — he washes himself,
as opposed to being bathed by another,
- hun klæðir sei — she dresses herself,
as opposed to being dressed. The pronoun does not distinguish gender or number.
Possessive[]
Modern Ŕønnåsk has only possessive pronouns for the first- and second-person singular and plural as well as the third-person reflexive. They are as follows, where the three columns for each person represent masculine, feminine and neuter genders respectively:
case | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
singular | nom. | minn | mi | mitt | dinn | di | ditt | sinn | si | sitt |
acc. | ||||||||||
dat. | minum | minni | minu | dinum | dinni | dinu | sinum | sinni | sinu | |
gen. | mins | minnes | mins | dins | dinnes | dins | sins | sinnes | sins | |
plural | nom. | minar | minir | min | dinar | dinir | din | sinar | sinir | sin |
acc. | mina | dina | sina | |||||||
dat. | minum | dinum | sinum | |||||||
gen. | minna | dinna | sinna |
Minn means mine, dinn means (singular) yours and sinn (which is a reflexive possessive pronoun) means his, her, its or theirs.
case | 1st person | 2nd person | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
singular | nom. | vor | vort | eder | edert | ||
acc. | |||||||
dat. | vorum | vorri | voru | edrum | edri | edru | |
gen. | vors | vores | vors | eders | edres | eders | |
plural | nom. | vorar | vorir | vor | edrar | edrir | eder |
acc. | |||||||
dat. | vorum | edrum | |||||
gen. | vorra | edra |
If one is to indicate possession for a person and number not amongst these pronouns (e.g. non-reflexive his, hers, its and theirs) the genitive of the corresponding (same person and number) personal pronoun is used.
Definite Articles[]
Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|---|
"The" | den (the) | dea (the) | det (the) | dei (the) |
Denni "this", tann "that"
case | "this" | "that" | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
singular | nom. | denni | denna | detta | tann | tanna | tað |
acc. | dennan | dessa | tessa | ||||
dat. | dennum | dessi | dettu | tennum | tessi | tessu | |
gen. | dess | dessas | dess | tess | tessas | tess | |
plural | nom. | dessar | dessir | dessur | tessar | tessir | tessur |
acc. | dau | tau | |||||
dat. | deimum | teimum | |||||
gen. | dessara | tessara |
Adjectives[]
hyggeligur
singular | masculine | feminine | neuter |
---|---|---|---|
nominative | hyggeligur | hyggelig | hyggeligt |
accusative | hyggelig | hyggeliga | |
dative | hyggeligum | hyggeligri | hyggeligu |
genitive | hyggeligs | hyggeligas | hyggeligs |
plural | masculine | feminine | neuter |
nominative | hyggeligar | hyggeligir | hyggeligar |
accusative | |||
dative | hyggeligum | hyggeligum | hyggeligum |
genitive | hyggeligra | hyggeligra | hyggeligra |
Verbs[]
There are four moods in Ŕønnåsk: indicative, imperative, conditional, and subjunctive.
Tenses[]
Strictly speaking, there are only two simple tenses of the indicative in Ŕønnåsk, simple present and simple past. All other tenses are formed using auxiliary constructions (some of these are regarded as tenses). For example, the present continuous tense is formed similarly to English, thus:
- viða + present participle
- Jen vir lærende
- I am learning
- Literally, I become learning
This construction, however, is not usually used with stative verbs. For example, to sit would not use this construction. Instead, the simple present should be used (jeg sitter).
The compound tenses are:
- Conditional = formed by conjugating the verb skula in the past tense + infinitive
- Future = formed by conjugating the auxillary verbs myna (will), værða (will be), skula (shall; intend to) into the present tense + infinitive
- Past
- continuous = viða in past tense + present participle
- perfect = ha in past tense + supine
- Present
- continuous = viða in present tense + present participle
- perfect = ha in present tense + supine
In the infinitive, most verbs end in -a. Some exceptions include a few verbs ending in -å, such as må ('may'); slå ('hit'); flå ('flay'). There are three main groups of weak verbs in Ŕønnåsk: -ar, -ir, and -er, referring to the endings that these verbs take when conjugated in the third person singular present. The strong and weak (irregular) verbs (auxiliaries, ri-verbs and valda) are separate. Take the infinitive tala ('to talk'), for example:
Present Indicative
Number | Singular | Plural | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Person | Jen
I |
Ðu
you (sg.) |
Hann/Hun/Det
he/she/it |
Vi
we |
Dere
you (pl.) |
Þei
they |
tala
to talk |
talar
talk |
talart
talk |
talar
talks |
tølum
talk |
talen
talk |
tala
talk |
væra
to be |
er
am |
ert
are |
er
is |
erum
are |
erun
are |
eru
are |
viða
to become |
vir | virt | vir | viðum | viðen | viða |
læra
to learn |
lær
learn |
lærirt
learn |
lærir
learns |
lærum
learn |
lærin
learn |
læra
learn |
bjuða
to invite |
bjuðer
invite |
bjuðert
invite |
bjuðer
invites |
bjuðum
invite |
bjuðen
invite |
bjuða
invite |
velja
to choose |
vel
choose |
veljert
choose |
veljer
chooses |
veljum
choose |
veljen
choose |
velja
choose |
trua
to believe |
trur
believe |
truirt
believe |
truir
believes |
trum
believe |
truen
believe |
trua
believe |
bŕaun-a
to burn |
brenn
burn |
brennert
burn |
brenner
burns |
bŕennum
burn |
bŕennen
burn |
bŕenna
burn |
Past Indicative
Number | Singular | Plural | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Person | Jen
I |
Ðu
you (sg.) |
Hann/Hun/Det
he/she/it |
Vi
we |
Dere
you (pl.) |
Þei
they |
tal-a
to talk |
talaðe
talked |
talaðert
talked |
talaðe
talked |
tølaðum
talked |
talaðen
talked |
talaðu
talked |
vær-a
to be |
var
was |
varst
were |
var
was |
vorum
were |
voren
were |
voru
were |
lær-a
to learn |
lærde
learned |
lærdert
learned |
lærde
learned |
lærdum
learned |
lærden
learned |
lærdu
learned |
bjuð-a
to invite |
bjøde
invited |
bjødert
invited |
bjøde
invited |
bjødum
invited |
bjøden
invited |
bjødu
invited |
velj-a
to choose |
valde
chose |
valdert
chose |
valde
chose |
vøldum
chose |
vølden
chose |
vøldu
chose |
tru-a
to believe |
trodde
believed |
troddert
believed |
trodde
believed |
troddum
believed |
trodden
believed |
troddu
believed |
bŕaun-a
to burn |
brann
burnt |
brannt
burnt |
brann
burnt |
brunnum
burnt |
brunnen
burnt |
brunnu
burnt |
Participles and Supines[]
The supine is the base form of the past participle which is used in the perfect tenses and always follows the verb (att) ha. The past participles have a specific form for each gender and one for the plural. They are in order of gender: Masculine (top), Feminine, Neuter and Plural (bottom).
Examples[]
- Jeg har ikke læst tessa bokk. I have not read this book.
- Vi vorum ikke bjuðna till festen. We were not invited to the party.
Stem | Infinitive | Preterite 3rd P. | Supine | Past participle | English | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
kalla- | kalla | — | kallaðe | -ðe | kallat | -t | -kallað
-kallaði -kallat -kallaða |
-ð
-ði -t -ða |
to call | |
steng- | stenga | -a | stengde | -de | stengt | -t | -stengd
-stengdi -stengt -stengda |
-d
-di -t -da |
to close | |
læs- | læsa | -a | læste | -te | læst | -t | -læst
-læsti -læst -læsta |
-t
-ti -t -ta |
to read | |
sy- | sy | — | sydde | -dde | sytt | -tt | sydd
syddi sytt sydda |
-dd
-ddi -tt -dda |
to sew | |
bjuð- | bjuða | -a | bjød | — | bjuðit | -it | bjuðen
bjuði bjuðet bjuðna |
-en
-i -et -na |
to invite | |
Irregular | var- | vara | var | varit | -it | — | to be |
Voice[]
Ŕønnåsk possesses the middle voice, or medio-passive, in addition to both the active and passive. Verbs in the middle voice always end in -s(t); this ending can be added to both the infinitive and conjugated verb forms. For the conjugated forms, second and third person endings (i.e. -(e)r, -(a)r and -(i)r) must be removed, sometimes the final n of -en endings in the second person plural also need to be reversed to the front. Middle voice verbs in the past often feature ablaut. Compare the verb bryta ('to break') to its medio-passive forms, for example:
bryta
(active) |
bryter
break |
brytert
break |
bryter
breaks |
brytum
break |
bryten
break |
bryta
break |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
brytas
(middle) |
brytes
break |
brytest
break |
brytes
breaks |
brytumst
break |
brytnist
break |
brytast
break |
brytas
(middle in the past) |
brautes
break |
brautest
break |
brautes
breaks |
brutumst
break |
brutnist
break |
brutast
break |
The medio-passive voice is generally used in the following situations to express:
- Reflexivity — The middle voice form of a verb may be used in lieu of a reflexive pronoun, for example: Þor klæðir sej ⇒ Þor klæðis ('Þor gets dressed')
- Reciprocity — Here the medio-passive voice is used to mean 'each other', for example: Þor talar till Stefan okk Stefan talar till Þor ⇒ Þor okk Stefan talar med alkandra ⇒ Þor okk Stefan talast ('Thor and Stefan talk to each other')
- The passive — In certain situations, the medio-passive voice may express an idea for which English would use the passive. For example, the phrase, Biluren ses ikke, translates as 'The car cannot be seen'. Most often the medio-passive voice is used in this context when there is no direct reference to any grammatical person.
Mood[]
Subjunctive[]
Like many other Indo-European languages, Ŕønnåsk has the subjunctive mood. It is often used to refer to situations with a degree of hypotheticity, but more specifically in the following situations:
- In reported speech—It is used with the verb siga in the following sense: Jon segir att hun kommi ('Jon says that she's coming').
- To express attitudes—Used after the verbs våna ('to hope'), øska ('to wish'), halda ('to believe'), bua till ('to expect'), øttas, væra ræddur om ('to fear') and mistænka ('to suspect'): jeg vånar att hun blivi bettre ('I hope that she gets better')
- Interrogative sentences—Specifically after certain verbs, i.e. spørja ('to ask'): Jon spørjer vort du skulir att æta með oss ('Jon asks whether you're going to eat with us')
- With conjunctions—The subjunctive is used after the conjunctions neima ('unless'), þo att ('although'), svå att ('so that'), til dess att ('in order to')
Person | Jen
I |
Ðu
you (sg.) |
Hann/Hun/Det
he/she/it |
Vi
we |
Dere
you (pl.) |
Þei
they |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
tala
to talk |
talir
talk |
tali
talks |
talim
talk |
talin
talk |
taleir
talk | |
tala
to talk |
talaðir
talk |
talaði
talks |
talaðim
talk |
talaðin
talk |
talaðeir
talk |
Presumptive[]
The presumptive mood, in Ŕønnåsk, is used to express presupposition or hypothesis, regardless of the fact denoted by the verb, as well as other more or less similar attitudes: doubt, curiosity, concern, condition, indifference, and inevitability. The suffix -v is used.
Person | Jen
I |
Ðu
you (sg.) |
Hann/Hun/Det
he/she/it |
Vi
we |
Dere
you (pl.) |
Þei
they |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
tala
to talk |
talaver
talk |
talave
talks |
talavum
talk |
talaven
talk |
talaveir
talk | |
tala
to talk |
talað vir
talk |
talað virt
talk |
talað vire
talks |
talaða virum
talk |
talaða viren
talk |
talaða vireir
talk |
Orthography[]
Vowels[]
- Vowel length can usually be deduced from the spelling based on the rule that short vowels are followed by two or more consonant letters, while long vowels are followed by at most one consonant letter. There are, however, certain exceptions to this rule where vowel length must be memorised.
- In those cases where the same letter can represent two different vowel qualities, the first given vowel is by far predominant (for example, short o is usually /ɔ/, long o is usually /oː/).
Consonants[]
Orthography | IPA |
---|---|
b | /b/ |
d | /d/ |
f | /f/ |
g | /j/ before ⟨i⟩ or ⟨e⟩, /ɡ/ elsewhere |
gj | usually /ʝː/, may also be /jː/ |
gn | /ɡn/ word-initially, /ŋn/ elsewhere |
h | /h/ |
hj | /ç/ |
j | /j/ |
k | /k/ |
l | /l/ |
m | /m/ |
n | /n/ |
ng | /ŋ/ |
p | /p/ |
r | /ɾ/, /ɾ̞/ word-finally |
ŕ | /ɾ̞/ |
rd | [ɖ] |
rl | [ɭ] |
rn | [ɳ] |
rs | [ʂ] |
rt | [ʈ] |
s | /s/ |
sj | /ɕ/ |
sk | /sk/ |
t | /t/ |
v | /ʋ/ |
ð | /ð/ |
þ | /θ/ |
- Any other combinations of letters plus the semi-vowel j, are pronounced as separate phonemes.
- Some consonant letters in Ŕønnåsk are silent - the G is silent in the suffixes -ig, -lig and in some other words like selg ("sell!").
Syntax[]
Basic word order[]
Ŕønnåsk word order is generally SVO (subject–verb–object), with the subject and verb inverted in questions and when a sentence begins with an adverb. However, the inflectional system allows for considerable freedom in word order. For poetical or emphatic purposes, every combination is possible, even the rare OSV which can be found in certain phrases like va siger du? ("what say you") instead of the usual va sigert du? and svarg gav hann ikkert ("answer gave he none").
Despite this, certain rules of syntax are relatively inflexible. For example, the finite verb must always be the second constituent of declarative sentences (this is a feature known as V2 word order, as is common to many Germanic languages). Take the example below (subject in yellow, verb in blue, object in red):
- Folkemengden var 1.500 — The population was 1,500
Here the element var (the past tense third person singular form of the verb vaera, 'to be', i.e. 'was') is the second constituent of the sentence. If we change the sentence, however:
- Årit 2000 var folkemengden 1.500 — In 2000, the population was 1,500 (lit. The year 2000 was the population 1,500)
Here, var is still the second constituent of the sentence, despite the fact that it is not the second word in the sentence. The prepositional phrase årit 2000 counts as one constituent, and so for the verb to be the second constituent, it must come after 2000 and not after årit. The subject and object of the verb then follow. An exception to this rule arises when forming questions by inversion:
- Stefan er svangur—Stefan is hungry.
and when turned into a question:
- Er Stefan svangur?—Is Stefan hungry?
Here the subject and verb have been inverted to form a question, meaning the verb is the first constituent in the sentence as opposed to the second. This method of forming questions is used in many languages, including English.
Questions[]
As we have seen, questions can be easily formed by rearranging the order of the sentence from subject–verb–object to verb–subject–object. For example:
- Ðu talart Ŕønnåsk. — You speak Ŕønnåsk.
can be made into a question as follows:
- Talart ðu Ŕønnåsk? — Do you speak Ŕønnåsk? (lit. Speak you Ŕønnåsk?)
The inversion rule still applies when interrogatives are involved, which are simply added to the front of the sentence. The interrogatives in Ŕønnåsk are:
- Vat?—what
- Vat vir ðu gerende?—What are you doing? (lit. What become you doing?)
- Vilken?—which/what?
- Vilken hundur?—What dog?
- Vem?—who?
- Vem ert ðu?—Who are you?
- Værnis?—how?
- Værnis havur ðu det?—How are you? (lit. How have you it?)
- Værnis myjet makser det?—How much does it cost?
- Vor/Veråt/Vaðan?—where/whither/whence?
- Vor erum vi?—Where are we?
- Veråt viða þei farande?—Where are you going? (lit. Whither become they going?)
- Vaðan kommen dere?—Where do you come from? (lit. Whence come you?)
- Venær?—when?
- Venær kommer ðu?—When do you come? (lit. When come you?)
- Vorfor?—why?
- Vorfor ikke?—Why not?
- Vort?—whether/which?
- Vort hann kommi, veit jen ikke.—I don't know whether he's coming or not. (lit. Whether he comes, know I not.)
- Vort vilt ðu?—Which do you want? (lit. Which want you?, implying a choice between two alternatives.)
Causatives[]
Ŕønnåsk has a causative construction that can feel quite alien to English speakers (but which is similar to constructions in other languages). The word måta is used to mean "make" in the sense of 'make [sb] do something'. In one use, it is quite similar to English.
- Hun mette mei bygga husit. — She made me build the house.
However, in another use, the intermediate subject is left out, but the second verb is still in the infinitive.
- Hun mette bygga husit. — She had the house built. (lit. "She made build the house"; however, compare correct French 'Elle a fait construire la maison' and Dutch 'Ze liet het huis bouwen')
The syntax here seems somewhat similar to a use of the verb help in English, when speakers say She helped build the house.