Petersburgian is a descendant of the Modern Russian language, spoken in Saint Petersburg and most surrounding areas.
| Petersburgian пиичирски /piːtʃirski/ | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | |||
| Fusional | |||
| Word origins | |||
| Alignment | |||
| Nominative-Accusative | |||
| Head direction | |||
| Mixed | |||
| Tonal | |||
| No | |||
| Declensions | |||
| Yes | |||
| Conjugations | |||
| Yes | |||
| Genders | |||
| Yes | |||
| Nouns decline according to... | |||
| Case | Number | ||
| Definiteness | Gender | ||
| Verbs conjugate according to... | |||
| Voice | Mood | ||
| Person | Number | ||
| Tense | Aspect | ||
Classification and Dialects[]
Petersburgian evolved from a local accent of Russian. It has been influenced by neighbouring languages, including North Russian dialects, Estonian and Finnish. It is closely related and partly mutually intelligible with other descendants of Russian, including "Standard Russian" (the language spoken in Moscow).
Phonology[]
Consonants[]
| Labial | Dental | Postalveolar | Palatal | Dorsal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | |||
| Occlusive | unv. | p | t | tʃ | c | k |
| v. | b | d | dʒ | ɟ | g | |
| Fricative | unv. | s | ʃ | ç | x | |
| v. | z | ʒ | ɣ | |||
| Approximant | w | ɫ | j | |||
Vowels[]
All monophthongs can be short or long. /ɨə/ is the usual realization of long /ɨː/.
| Front | Non-front | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| unr. | r. | unr. | r. | |
| Close | i | y | ɨ~ə | u |
| Close-mid | e | ø | o | |
| Open | ɛ | a | ||
| Diphthongs | je | ɥø | (ɨə) | wo |
Writing System[]
Petersburgian uses its variant of the Cyrillic alphabet. This article, however, will use its romanization in inflection tables.
Grammar[]
Root alternations[]
Petersburgian features heavy root alternations, including ablaut and consonant gradation.
| Voiced grade | Voiceless grade | Example |
|---|---|---|
| b | p | lip/ljeb |
| d | t | gut/gwod |
| dz | c | |
| dž | č | prèč/prèèdž |
| g | k | druk/druug |
| ğ | h | muh/muuğ |
| z | s | ňis/ňiiz |
| ž | š | maš/maaž |
Verbs[]
In the non-past tense, verbs inflect for person and number, while in the past tense they inflect for gender and number. The future tense is formed by adding the infinitive of the lexical verb to the non-past form of the copula. Similarly, the plurperfect is formed by adding the infinitive of the verb to the past form of the copula.
Inflection table[]
| -è verbs | -avè verbs | -nø verbs | -ny verbs | -e verbs | -i verbs | -i/-e verbs | bə | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-past | Singular | 1 | -èè | -yy | -n | -nu | - | -y | -ii | buud |
| 2 | -èèh | -yyh | -ňh | -ňyh | -h | -ih | -jeh | buuč | ||
| 3 | -èè | -yy | -ň | -ňy | - | -i | -je | buudž | ||
| Plural | 1 | -èèm | -yym | -ňym | -ňym | -ym | -im | -jem | buudžym | |
| 2 | -èèč | -yyč | -ňč | -ňyč | -č | -ič | -ječ | buušč | ||
| 3 | -èè | -yy | -n | -nu | - | -a | -je | buud | ||
| Participle | Active | -èèši | -yyši | \ | -ši | -aši | -ješi | buuči | ||
| Passive | -èèmə | -yymə | -mə | -imə | \ | \ | ||||
| Past | Singular | -aaw | -avaaw | -ow | -nuuw | -iw | -iiw | -jew | bəw | |
| Plural | -aaj | -avaaj | -oj | -nuuj | -ij | -iij | -jej | bəj | ||
| Participle | Active | -aahə | -avaahə | -nhə | -nuuhə | -hə | -ihə | -jehə | bəhə | |
| Passive | -aanə | -avaanə | -ntə | -nuutə | -nə | -ønə | \ | \ | ||
Nouns[]
Nouns in Petersburgian decline for gender, number and case. Nouns also take possession marking.
In the following table, (short) means that the vowel in the root, if long in all other forms, shortens, and if the root ends in a voiced obstruent, the latter will be devoiced to a voiceless one. If the root contains a diphthong (je, wo, ɥø), it simplifies to a monophthong (i, u, y). Various words can have different gradation patterns which change the quality vowel within the root.
| a-stems | ja-stems | o-stems | e-stems | hard cons-stems | soft cons-stems | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| strong | weak | strong | weak | strong | weak | strong | weak | strong | weak | strong | weak | ||
| Singular | Nominative | -a | - | -(j)a | -j | -wo | - | -ɥø | -j | - (short) | -j (short) | ||
| Genitive | -ə | - | -(j)i | -j | -a | - | -(j)a | -j | -a | - | -(j)a | -j | |
| Dative | -je | -j | -je | -j | -u | - | -(j)y | -j | -u | - | -(j)y | -j | |
| Accusative | -u | - | -(j)y | -j | -wo | - | -ɥø | -j | -a | - | -(j)e | -j | |
| Instrumental | -y | -ə | -(j)y | -i | -um | -ym | -um | -ym | |||||
| Locative | -je | -j | -je | -j | -je | -j | -je | -j | -je | -j | -je | -j | |
| Vocative | - (short) | identical to nominative | |||||||||||
| Plural | Nominative | -ə | - | -(j)i | -i | -a | - | -(j)a | -j | -a | - | -(j)a | -j |
| Genitive | - (short) | - (short) | -(j)ii | -(i) | -uf | -f | -(j)ii | -(i) | |||||
| Dative | -am | -um | -(j)am | -ym | -am | -um | -(j)am | -ym | -am | -um | -(j)am | -ym | |
| Accusative | - (short) | -a | - | -(j)a | -j | -a | - | -(j)a | -j | ||||
| Instrumental | -aam | -əm | -(j)aam | -im | -aam | -əm | -(j)aam | -im | -aam | -əm | -(j)aam | -im | |
| Locative | -aa | -a | -(j)aa | -(j)e | -aa | -a | -(j)aa | -(j)e | -aa | -a | -(j)aa | -(j)e | |
Possession markers[]
| Singular | 1 | -mə |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | -tə | |
| 3 | -(ɥ)ø | |
| Plural | 1 | -(u)nh |
| 2 | -(u)h | |
| 3 | -(ə)j | |
Pronouns[]
Pronouns in Petersburgian decline more than nouns do. They also have different cases not present in nouns, like the adessive case, used to create possessive constructions.
| Personal | Impersonal | Demonstrative | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | 2SG | 3SG.FEM | 3SG
MASC |
1PL | 2PL | 3PL | Proximal | Proximal
PL |
Distal | Distal
PL | ||
| Nominative | jaa | təə | naa | won | məə | vəə | ňii | ∅ | èèt | èèč | two | čje |
| Gen/Acc | mèè | čèè | ɥø | uns | as | ij | šè | èèt | èèči | two | čij | |
| Dative | mje | čje | jii | muu | num | um | im | šje | èètum | èèčym | tamu | čim |
| Instrumental | muj | tuj | jii | jim | nèm | èm | im | suj | èètə | èèčim | twoj | čjem |
| Prepositional | bamje | ačje | aňii | aňym | nas | aas | ňii | ašje | bèètè | bèèči | atum | ačij |
| Adessive | omè | očè | oɥø | ons | oas | oňij | ošè | wèètè | wèèči | otwo | očij | |
Lexicon[]
Numerals[]
| Numeral | English | Cardinal | Ordinal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | zero | nuj | nuljy |
| 1 | one | adžin | pirvə |
| 2 | two | dwaa | tary |
| 3 | three | trii | trječi |
| 4 | four | četəər | četyrtə |
| 5 | five | peč | pjetə |
| 6 | six | heš | hesty |
| 7 | seven | šim | šimy |
| 8 | eight | wošym | ašmy |
| 9 | nine | džiič | džejèètə |
| 10 | ten | džiš | džešèètə |
| 20 | twenty | dwašč | dwacaatə |
| 30 | thirty | trišč | tricaatə |
| 40 | forty | swork | surkawy |
| 50 | fifty | pečèt | pečèètə |
| 60 | sixty | hešèt | hešèètə |
| 70 | seventy | šimšèt | šimšèètə |
| 80 | eighty | wošymšèt | wošymšèètə |
| 90 | ninety | džiimšèt | džiimšèètə |
| 100 | hundred | stwo | swotə |
| 1000 | thousand | təəš | təəšnə |