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Idoburgish
Eejpöögersj
Eejpööger Plàtj
Type Fusional, synthetic
Alignment Nominative-accusative
Head direction Initial
Tonal Yes
Declensions Yes
Conjugations Yes
Genders 1
Nouns decline according to...
Case Number
Definiteness Gender
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice Mood
Person Number
Tense Aspect
Meta-information
Progress 0%
Statistics
Nouns 0%
Verbs 0%
Adjectives 0%
Syntax 0%
Words of 1500
Creator The Kaufman

General information[]

Idoburgish is a (probably) West Germanic language by The Kaufman, and yes, I'm kinda mocking Limburgish è.

Phonology[]

Consonants[]

The Idoburgish consonant inventory is pretty conservative, with some innovations most of which have been introduced by the end of Proto-Idoburgish (i.e. by the time of tribes entering the central south of modern Germany).

Bilabial
Labiodental
Dental
Alveolar
Post-alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal /m/
m
/n/
n
/ŋ/
(n)
Plosive /p b/
p b
/t d/
t d
/c ɟ/
tj dj
/k g/
k gk
Fricative /f v/
f w
/s/
s
/ʃ/
sj
/ç/
ch
/x ɣ/
h g
Affricate /tʃ/
tsj
Approximant /j/
j
Trill /r/
r
Lateral app. /l~ɫ/
l

Vowels[]

Front Central Back
High /i i:/
i ie
/u u:/
u uu
High-mid /ø:/
öö
Mid /e e:/
e/ä ee
/o o:/
o oo
Mid-low /œ œ:/
ö äö
/ɔ:/
ao
Low /a/
a

Long vowels distinguish tone based on their height: high vowels (i.e. higher than mid) get a falling tone and low vowels get a drag tone, which is noticeably weaker than the falling tone and is technically a weak rising tone.

If a tone is present on a short vowel, it's indicated with an acute or a grave for drag and falling tone respectively.

There is also a grapheme <ë>, for further information on it see #Pharyngealization.

Morphophonology[]

Idoburgish has a few simple morphophonological rules.

  • All nouns with root ending with <t> replace that <t> with <sj> and get a zero ending in genitive.
  • Likewise, all nouns with root ending with <d> replace that <d> with <j> before <e i ö>, both in declensions and compounds.
    • After such <j>, all endings with -i- change the -i- to -e-. E.g. the genitive ending -is becomes -es.
  • <l> and other liquids become doubled between short vowels.

T-deletion[]

The process of t-deletion is pretty simple: <t d tj dj> can't occur word-finally after an obstruent, e.g. *wahtj (imp. of waoten, waht- "wait") > wách.

If the obstruent preceding the <t d tj dj> is one of <t d s h>, it's palatalized.

If the sound preceding the t-sound is <g>, it's hardened to <gk>.

<t tj> and <d dj> assimilate into the preceding <m> word-finally, becoming <p> and <b> after it, e.g. *sjtrömtj, *sjtrömd become sjtrömp, sjtrömb "it flows, y'all flow" respectively.

Certain verbs harden a <ch> or <h> to <gk> in forms affected by the t-deletion, that is, in 3sg pres. ind., 2pl pres. ind., 1/2/3sg past. ind. and 2nd person imperatives, e.g. séhjen (root sáh-) becomes ségk in 3sg pres. and singular past and ságk in 2nd person plural and imperative. All of those verbs are of 1st weak class and had a -g(i)janą infinitive ending in Proto-Germanic.

Umlaut[]

On a regular basis, Idoburgish uses only one type of umlaut: the common I-umlaut. It occurs if an unstressed <i> is present in a syllable which follows a syllable with any of <a o u ao oo uu>. The effect of this umlaut is a change of those vowels to <ä ö ö äö öö öö> respectively. Also, all verbs employ a regular I-umlaut in 1st and 3rd person indicative present and certain other environments (the latter being an innovation).

Non-consistent uses of umlaut (such as the #W-umlaut) will be explained.

Phonotactics[]

Allophony[]

Idoburgish has a moderate amount of allophony, mainly in vowels, which has been influenced by neighboring Limburgish.

Consonant allophony[]

One thing is certain: <h> is [x] intervocalically and before consonants and [h] word-initially.

<g> is realized as [j~ʝ] word-initially and, of course, before front vowels such as <i>.

Regular intervocalical voicing happens.

Vowel allophony[]

Stress[]

The vowel that is affected by stress the most is /e/ - it commonly becomes centralized to [ə~ɜ] in any unstressed position (although not in pre- or postpositions) and lowered to [ɐ] word-finally.

All vowels become slightly centralized in any unstressed position.

Pharyngealization[]

Pharyngealization is a feature in Idoburgish picked up rather recently from the German dialects. It occurs only in back vowels and <ie ee>, centralizes the latter, and is indicated by <r> and <ë> after back vowels and <ie ee> respectively.

For example, noord and eeësj ("north" and "first" respectively) are pronounced [no:ˤt] and [ə:ˤʃ] respectively.

If <ë> occurs after a single front vowel <i> or <e>, it's pronounced as a short schwa, e.g. eelich /e:lɪç/ "like, similar to" vs. eëlich /eəlɪç/ "every".

Writing System[]

Letter
Sound
Letter
Sound
Letter
Sound

Grammar[]

Pronouns[]

Personal pronouns[]

The personal pronouns are, surprisingly, the least irregular part,

1st person 2nd person 3rd person Reflexive
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative ik wi du jo hie, sie, dat de --
Accusative mik öös tik iewe hin, hi, dat den sik
Genitive mien ööser tien iewer des der sien
Dative mi öösj ie iewe him, her, dat dem si

The 3rd person pronouns hie, sie are used only when referring to people.

Nouns[]

Oh the endless declension classes and the declension conservativity... *disregards* I'll say I wanted it to be as irregular and messed up as humanly possible.

Most noun declensions are divided into 2 varieties: hard (non-changing) and soft (palatalizing; itself distinguishing initially non-palatalized and initially palatalized). A root's variety is detected in a really simple way - initially non-palatalized soft roots end in J <t d s g k h>, initially palatalized soft roots end in Jʲ <tj dj sj ch> and hard roots end in any other consonant (stems ending in <tsj> are initially palatalized soft stems). The declension differences between these two are very subtle.

W-umlaut[]

The W-umlaut (marked +W) is a recent introduction, involving lengthening of root vowels in plurals (much like the umlaut in German). Because of its recent introduction, it's applied after any other umlaut.

The effect of the W-umlaut is lengthening of short vowels (see the vowel table). <ie ee> affected by the W-umlaut acquire the semivowel <ë> after themselves.

The second W-umlaut (marked +WD) converts the V:ë sequences <eeë ieë> and long vowels <ao ee> into long vowels <ei ie> and diphthongs <ai ei> respectively.

The third W-umlaut (marked +Wd) converts all diphthongs and long vowels resulting from the previous W-umlaut processes into short vowels.

First declension: palatal/consonant stems[]

Those evolved from a wide variety of stems in Proto-Germanic, including the a-stems.

Hard[]

An example hard palatal stem noun is ölf, "wolf".

Singular Plural
Nom. ölf öölf
Acc. ölp* öölfan
Gen. ölfis öölfen
Dat. ölfi ölfim

Endings:

Singular Plural
Nom. -0 -0+W
Acc. -0* -an+WD
Gen. -is -en+WD
Dat. -i -im+Wd

*If the root ends in -f- or a -LF- sequence, the root-final fricative becomes a corresponding plosive.

Soft[]

An example soft palatal stem noun is peetj, "boat".

Singular Plural
Nom. peetj peeëtj
Acc. peet peitan
Gen. peesj* peiten
Dat. peeti petim

Endings:

Singular Plural
Nom. -j -j+W
Acc. -0 -an+WD
Gen. -is* -en+WD
Dat. -i -im+Wd

* If the root ends in -t, resulting <tis dis> become <sj>, e.g. peet-is, breed-is > peesj, breesj

If a root ends in -d, it's modified to -j in plural and declined like that of soft consonant stems.

Second declension: consonant stems[]

Hard[]

The hard consonant stems don't employ the W-umlaut in any form.

An example hard consonant stem noun is fel, "shape"

Singular Plural
Nom./Acc. fel felli
Gen. fellis fellen
Dat. felle fellim

Endings:

Singular Plural
Nom./Acc. -0 -i
Gen. -is -en
Dat. -e -im
Soft[]

The soft consonant stems do seldom employ the W-umlaut, in the same regular pattern. That will be indicated in the lexicon.

An example soft consonant stem noun is brööd, "bread"

Singular Plural
Nom./Acc. brööd bröödj
Gen. brööjes brööjen
Dat. brööje brööjem

Endings:

Singular Plural
Nom./Acc. -0 -j
Gen. -is -en
Dat. -e -im

Third declension: o-dative nouns[]

These have evolved from the Proto-Germanic ō-stem nouns.

Hard[]

Those include the stems ending in -h-.

An example hard o-dative noun is peni, "road; convict"

Singular Plural
Nom./Acc. pen peen
Gen. peinen
Dat. peno penim

Endings:

Singular Plural
Nom./Acc. -0 -0
Gen. -en
Dat. -o -im
Soft[]

The soft o-dative nouns do seldom employ the W-umlaut, in the same regular pattern. That will be indicated in the lexicon.

An example soft o-dative noun is bedj, "sentence, condemnation"

Singular Plural
Nom./Acc. bedj beedj
Gen. bejen
Dat. bedo bejem

Endings:

Singular Plural
Nom./Acc. -j -j
Gen. -en
Dat. -o -im

Fourth declension: consonant/-i stems[]

Those nouns have evolved mainly from Proto-Germanic consonant stems.

Hard[]

An example hard consonant/-i stem noun is tur, "door".

Singular Plural
Nom. tur töör
Acc. ture tuure
Gen. tör tuuren
Dat. töri turum

Endings:

Singular Plural
Nom. -0 -0+I
Acc. -e -e
Gen. -0+I -en
Dat. -i -um
Soft[]

An example of a soft consonant stem noun is naot, "night".

Singular Plural
Nom. naot naotj
Acc. naote naotje
Gen. naosj naoten
Dat. naoti naotum

Endings:

Singular Plural
Nom. -0 -j
Acc. -e -je
Gen. -is -en
Dat. -i** -um

**Doesn't employ palatalization.

Articles[]

There are two kinds of articles in Idoburgish (albeit rarely used): een (indefinite) and je (definite), een being used only in singular. They decline as follows:

je een
Singular Plural
Nom. je jene een
Acc. jenan
Gen. jes jenen ees
Dat. jeni jenem eeni

These articles are rarely used in any case other than nominative or genitive.

The article je often remains je in plural nominative and accusative.

Adjectives[]

The adjective declension is largely the same as that of consonant-stem nouns. An -en suffix (from *jainaz) is added before the case ending to make an adjective strong, with same case endings applied.

An example adjective is pöös "ill".

Singular Plural
Nom. pöös pööse
Acc. pööt pöösan
Gen. pöösis pöösen
Dat. pöösi pöösim

Verbs[]

So I'm honestly a newb in these. And no less a newb in describing things. (grin)

Anyways.

The verbs in Idoburgish are typically Germanic, having just one extra mood, the jussive (which is identical to a subjunctive with a tone change in most cases), most probably borrowed from neighboring Meuse-Rhenish languages.

Most conjugation features have been pathetically cribbed from influenced by neighboring languages, High and Low German oddly being the primary influences.

Auxiliaries, irregulars, etc.[]

Idoburgish employs a typical amount of auxiliary, usually suppletive and/or preterite-present verbs.

The (of course, irregular) copula in Idoburgish is wesan, and the conjugation is as follows:

Present Preterite
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Indicative 1st pöm örem was weerem
2nd pösj ööd wasj werd
3rd isj söndj was weeren
Subjunctive 1st sie siem was wirem
2nd siesj sie weere
3rd sie sin was wiren
Imperative 1st wisem
2nd wisj wise
Participle wesandj wesedj

(Note to self: the rounding of stressed <i> here was taken from Low German)

The auxverb used for future tense is sjölan (cognate to English "shall"). It's also used (in subjunctive voice) as a modal verb with the meaning "have to, should" similarly to those verbs in English. Its conjugation, which is pretty damn regular, is as follows:

Present Preterite
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Indicative 1st själ sjölem sjöldj sjöldem
2nd själt sjöld sjölde
3rd själ sjölen sjölden
Subjunctive 1st sjöle sjölem sjöldedj sjöldem
2nd sjöles sjöle sjölde
3rd sjöle sjölen sjölden
Participle sjölandj sjöldj

Weak[]

The weak verbs in Idoburgish follow a rather conservative conjugation pattern.

An odd feature is that some endings were realized as separate words during the sound changes.

The common endings for weak verbs are:

Present Preterite
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Indicative 1st -e+I -em -dj+I -dem
2nd -sj -d -de
3rd -tj+I -endj -den
Subjunctive 1st -e -em -dedj -dim+I
2nd -es -e -de
3rd -e -en -den
Imperative 1st -em*
2nd -tj -d**
Participle -andj -edj

* Imperatives involve a simple and regular tone change: regardless of vowel height, the root vowel acquires a rising tone.

** The 2nd plural imperative ending is always -d, regardless of the quantity of preceding consonants.

Class 1[]

The class 1 weak verbs have descended from the namesake class 1 verbs and class 3 -ja- verbs and have the ending -jen, from *-(i)janą. Those have a -j- infix in subjunctive forms.

An example class 1 weak verb is sjtrömjen "to flow".

Present Preterite
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Indicative 1st sjtrömme sjtrömmem sjtrömb sjtrömdem
2nd sjtrömsj sjtrömb sjtrömde
3rd sjtrömp sjtrömmendj sjtrömden
Subjunctive 1st sjtrömje sjtrömjem sjtrömdedj sjtrömdim
2nd sjtrömjes sjtrömje sjtrömde
3rd sjtrömje sjtrömjen sjtrömden
Imperative 1st sjtrömmem
2nd sjtrömp sjtrömb
Participle sjtrömmandj sjtrömmedj
Class 2[]

The class 2 weak verbs have the ending -en, a long way from *-ōną. These verbs have the base of R-e before all endings except infinitive and 2nd person plural imperative.

An example class 2 weak verb is halen, "to get, receive"

Present Preterite
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Indicative 1st hälle hällem hälledj halledem
2nd hallesj halled hallede
3rd hälletj hällendj halleden
Subjunctive 1st halle hallem hallededj hälledim
2nd halles halle hallede
3rd halle hallen halleden
Imperative 1st hallem
2nd halletj hald
Participle hallandj halledj
Class 3[]

The class 3 weak verbs have the ending -an, from *-āną, -aną. These verbs employ regular i-umlaut in all present indicative forms, unlike the other classes which only employ it in 1st and 3rd person present indicative forms.

An example class 3 weak verb is arman, "to have mercy, adopt; to give money to a beggar"

Present Preterite
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Indicative 1st ärme ärmem ärmedj armedem
2nd ärmesj ärmed armede
3rd ärmetj ärmendj armeden
Subjunctive 1st arme armem armededj ärmedim
2nd armes arme armede
3rd arme armen armeden
Imperative 1st armem
2nd armetj armb
Participle armandj armedj

Certain verbs ending in -jen belong to the 3rd class as well and are peculiar in neutralizing the -e- in certain forms which do employ the -e- in all other conjugations. The conjugation of one such verb, pööjen, "to build", is presented below:

Present Preterite
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Indicative 1st pööje pööjem pööjdj pööjdem
2nd pööjsj pööjd pööjde
3rd pööjtj pööjendj pööjden
Subjunctive 1st pööje pööj(e)m pööjdedj pööjdim
2nd pööj(e)s pööje pööjde
3rd pööje pööjen pööjden
Imperative 1st pööjem
2nd pööjtj pööjd
Participle pööjendj pööjedj

Strong[]

Ah, the 7 Ignominious Classes. Let's boogie! (c)

All strong verbs have the ending -an, from *-aną, the vowel gradation is reduced to 3 principal parts (general present, past indicative and past subj./participles/imperatives respectively) and the conjugation is following:

Present Preterite
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Indicative 1st 1-e 1-em 2-j/-0+I 2-en
2nd 1-sj 1-d 2-sj 2-d
3rd 1-tj 1-endj 2-j/-0+I 2-en
Subjunctive 1st 1-e 1-em 3-im+I 3-dim+I
2nd 1-es 1-e 3-e 3-e
3rd 1-e 1-en 3-en
Imperative 1st 3-em
2nd 3-tj 3-d
Participle 3-andj 3-edj
Class 1[]

The class 1 strong verbs are inherited from namesake class 1 in Proto-Germanic and exhibit the following variation:

Princ. Part Grade
1 -ie-
2 -ee-
3 -i-

A sample 1st class strong verb is kienan, "to put back to operation"

Present Preterite
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Indicative 1st kiene kienem keen keenen
2nd kiensj kiend keensj keend
3rd kientj kienendj keen keenen
Subjunctive 1st kiene kienem kinnim kindim
2nd kienes kiene kinne kinne
3rd kiene kienen kinnen
Imperative 1st kinnem
2nd kintj kind
Participle kinnandj kinnedj
Class 2[]

The class 2 strong verbs have been inherited from the namesake class in Proto-Germanic, with regular and anomalous verbs merged.

The vowel variation in those is as follows:

Princ. Part Grade
1 -öö-
2 -ööj-
3 -ö-

An example class 2 strong verb is sjöödan, "to shoot".

Present Preterite
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Indicative 1st sjööde sjöödem sjööjdj sjööjden
2nd sjöötsj sjööded sjööjtsj sjööjded
3rd sjöödetj sjöödendj sjööjdj sjööjden
Subjunctive 1st sjööde sjöödem sjödim sjödedim
2nd sjöödes sjööde sjöde sjöde
3rd sjööde sjööden sjöden
Imperative 1st sjödem
2nd sjödj sjöd
Participle sjödandj sjödedj
Class 3[]

The class 3 strong verbs have been inherited from the classes 3 and 4 in Proto-Germanic.

The vowel variation in those is as follows:

Princ. Part Grade
1 -i-/-e-
2 -a-
3 -ö-

An example class 3 strong verb is tsjesjen (< *tsjesj-an), "to thresh".

Present Preterite
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Indicative 1st tsjesje tsjesjem tsjäsj tsjasjen
2nd tsjesjesj tsjesjed tsjasjesj tsjasjed
3rd tsjesj tsjesjędj tsjäsj tsjasjen
Subjunctive 1st tsjesje tsjesjem tsjösjim tsjösjedim
tsjösjtim
2nd tsjesjes tsjesje tsjösje tsjösje
3rd tsjesje tsjesjen tsjösjen
Imperative 1st tsjösjem
2nd tsjösj tsjösj
Participle tsjösjendj tsjösjedj
Class 4[]

The class 4 strong verbs have been inherited from the class 5 in Proto-Germanic.

The vowel variation in those is as follows:

Princ. Part Grade
1 -e-
2 -a-
3 -ee-

An example class 4 strong verb is tsjepan "to massacre".

Present Preterite
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Indicative 1st tsjepe tsjepem tsjäp tsjapen
2nd tsjepsj tsjep tsjapsj tsjap
3rd tsjep tsjependj tsjäp tsjapen
Subjunctive 1st tsjepe tsjepem tsjeepim tsjeepedim
tsjeeptim
2nd tsjepes tsjepe tsjeepe tsjeepe
3rd tsjepe tsjepen tsjeepen
Imperative 1st tsjeepem
2nd tsjeep tsjeep
Participle tsjeepandj tsjeepedj
Class 5[]

The class 5 strong verbs have been inherited from the class 6 in Proto-Germanic.

The vowel variation in those is as follows:

Princ. Part Grade
1 -a-
2 -ao-
3 -ao-

An example class 5 strong verb is wadan "to limp".

Present Preterite
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Indicative 1st wäde wädem wäödj waoden
2nd watsj (< wad-sj) waded waotsj waoded
3rd wädj wädendj wäödj waoden
Subjunctive 1st wade wadem wäödim wäödedim
2nd wades wade waode waode
3rd wade waden waoden
Imperative 1st waodem
2nd waodj waodj
Participle waodandj waodedj

Syntax[]

The syntax of Idoburgish isn't very strict, to say the least.

Nouns[]

An ordinary noun phrase in Idoburgish consists of a noun itself and optional adjectives and/or an article. Adjectives precede the nouns, and articles precede the adjectives, like in English or most other Germanic languages, e.g. een sjerp saos "a sharp knife". All compounds are to be treated as single words (nouns), e.g. metsjer(i)s sjerp saos "butcher's sharp knife" vs. een sjerp metsjer(-)saos "a sharp butchering knife" (lit. a sharp butcher(-)knife)

Prepositions always go before articles and cause the noun they modify to decline for either dative or nominative case. The case applied to nouns modified by a preposition will be indicated in the lexicon, +N indicating nominative case and +D indicating dative.

Possessives (or nouns in genitive case) are essentially adjectives in, well, everything. Like adjectives (or English -'s constructs or possessives in NGermanic), they follow the articles and precede the nouns, though they come first if there are other adjectives in the noun phrase, as evident from aforementioned phrase metsjer(i)s sjerp saos "butcher's sharp knife".

Verbs[]

A verb phrase consists of a simple or possessive noun phrase or a pronoun, a verb and an adverb that modifies it, either before or after the verb phrase. Simple as that.

Reflexive verbs are expressed by a normal verb phrase and reflexive pronoun, except in 1st person where it's expressed by a 1st person pronoun instead of a reflexive one.

Passive voice is expressed by the class 3 strong verb werdan and an e-prefixed past participle, with one of the parts or even the whole passive construction being often placed in the end of a sentence or a clause, e.g. dat wärdj Albion eheetedj, dat Albion eheetedj wärdj, dat eheetedj Albion wärdj "that was called Albion" are all possible.

The copula is mandatory and often placed in the end of a clause in clauses with an introductory word, e.g. wendj dat een aldj séching isj "because that's an old saying" (lit. because that an old saying is). That rule applies to all clauses with an introductory word.

The jussive stems, which usually mean either an imperative or an optative, mostly differ from plain verb stems in the tone of the root vowel (usually switched to the drag tone), and take only the subjunctive endings, e.g. wérdes du een tein "may you become a hero". Jussive phrases usually have the VSO order.

Clauses[]

Independent[]

The independent clauses usually consist of a subject, verb and object. Extended independent clauses, excluding those with an indirect object, are relatively rare. The usual word order is V2, like in most Germanic languages, that is, either SVO or OVS, though the former is waaay more common. As mentioned earlier, the verb is frequently placed in the end of a clause.

If a pronoun or a noun which is an object of a clause was mentioned before, it's omitted in following clauses if the object is same.

The copula, wesan, is mandatory, except in interjections.

See also[]

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