Skaalinska

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All4Ɇn
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Skaalinska

Post by All4Ɇn »

So this language is one I've been working on for a few months. It's a member of the North Germanic family spoken in an as of yet undecided location. Grammatically, while it approaches the continental languages, it is still more conservative than them in many situations. It maintains a 3 case system: nominative, oblique, and genitive with the distinction between the first two lost in most feminine nouns, some masculine, and all neuter. Like Icelandic, Faroese, and some varieties of Norwegian it has 3 genders. Like I normally do, I'll start off with the phonetics. I'll cover orthography in the next post.

Phonology
Consonants
/m n ŋ/ <m n ng (n before k)>
/p b t d c k ɡ/ <p b t d kj~tj k g>
/f v s ɕ h/ <f v s sj h>
/r l/ <r l>

Vowels
/ɪ iː ʊ uː/ <i~y i~y u u~ó>
/eː oː/ <e~ei o>
/ɛ ɛː ɜ ɜː ɔ ɔː/ <e~æ æ ö ö~ey~au o~aa~á aa~á>
/a ɑː/ <a a>

Pitch Accent
Skaalinska maintains a pitch accent similar to that of Norwegian and Swedish and uses it in much the same way as them:
-Pitch one is roughly pronounced as /˥˧/ in the first syllable and /˩/ in the second
-Pitch two is roughly pronounced as /˧˥/ in the first syllable and /˥˩/ in the second

Allophones
/p t c k/ are typically aspirated except after /s/
Wherever /ŋt ɡt/ would occur in a native word, they are pronounced /ŋkt kt/ instead
/v l r/ are devoiced before or after a voiceless stop
/d/ is silent between any combination of /l r n/ together (e.g: handla or handna) or in /lds nds rds/
The consonant following a stressed short vowel is geminated if followed by another vowel
/ɛ ɛː/ are pronounced as [æ æː] when before /r/
Some words where /eːr/ would be expected are instead pronounced [æːr] but not all
/ɛ/ is pronounced as [ə] when unstressed including before /r/
/ɪ/ is [ɨ] word-finally
/iː/ approaches [ɨː] especially before /ŋ/

Major Distinct Sound Changes
1. Like in Icelandic, Old Norse /ɔ/ becomes /œ(ː)/ and /ʏ yː/ merges with /ɪ iː/
2. /œ(ː)/ is backed and unrounded to /ɜ(ː)/
3. Old Norse /oː/ is shortened to /ɔ/ rather than /ʊ/, but long /oː/ still becomes /uː/ like in the continental languages. Old Norse /ʊ uː/ undergo no change in pronunciation.
3. All vowels lengthen before /ŋ/. /aŋ/ irregularly becomes /ɔːŋ/ (merging with /ɔ(ː)/ the reflex of Old Norse /aː/)
4. The phoneme /j/ was completely lost, having instead merged with the following vowel into a front vowel. This can often give the word the appearance of not having undergone North Germanic vowel breaking, e.g: Örd (Earth) or Fæll (Mountain). After /t k s sk/, /j/ also changed the pronunciation of the consonant before it before being lost, with the consonants becoming /c c ɕ ɕ/.
5. Because the phoneme /j/ does not exist in the language, when borrowed words are nativized into Skaalinska this sound is typically replaced with /ɕ/ syllable initially e.g: Sjapan /ˈ¹ɕɑːpan/ (Japan) & /ɪ/ syllable finally e.g: mai /¹mɑː.ɪ/ (May). Sometimes /ɪ/ may occur syllable initially as well such as in iuni /ɪˈ²uːnɪ/ (June)
Last edited by All4Ɇn on 02 Jun 2022 17:44, edited 4 times in total.
Porphyrogenitos
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by Porphyrogenitos »

I like it! Especially that kind of "inverse umlaut" you have going on. I'm curious to see the full table of outcomes for that change.

Although, a Germanic language without /j/ at all...that puts me on edge a little bit. [O.o] I'd want to give it a new /j/, maybe from nj lj → ɲ ʎ → j j or something. Or maybe it's just the use of <j> in digraphs but not in isolation that irks me.

Still, though, looks interesting!
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All4Ɇn
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by All4Ɇn »

Porphyrogenitos wrote: 21 Dec 2020 19:38 I like it! Especially that kind of "inverse umlaut" you have going on. I'm curious to see the full table of outcomes for that change.
Here's what all of these changes look like:
/ja(ː)/ -> /jɛ(ː)/ -> /ɛ(ː)/
/jɔ/ -> /iœ̯/ -> /œ(ː) -> /ɜ(ː)/
/juː/ -> /iʏ̯/ -> /ʏ yː/ -> /ɪ iː/
/joː/ ->/juː/ -> /iʏ̯/ -> /ʏ yː/ -> /ɪ iː/
/tjuː tjoː sjuː sjoː/ -> /cuː cuː ɕuː ɕuː/
Porphyrogenitos wrote: 21 Dec 2020 19:38Although, a Germanic language without /j/ at all...that puts me on edge a little bit. [O.o] I'd want to give it a new /j/, maybe from nj lj → ɲ ʎ → j j or something. Or maybe it's just the use of <j> in digraphs but not in isolation that irks me.
The idea of having a Germanic language without /j/ was actually one of the main driving factors behind the language. It definitely makes it feel a bit off but that's part of what I like about it [:)]
Porphyrogenitos wrote: 21 Dec 2020 19:38Still, though, looks interesting!
Glad to hear it!
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by All4Ɇn »

Orthography

Alphabet
Aa Áá Bb (Cc) Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ij Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Óó Pp (Qq) Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv (Ww) Xx Yy (Zz) Ææ Öö

<j> is not seen as a separate letter but as an orthographic variant of <i> used in the digraphs <kj sj tj>. Alphabetically <j> is sorted with <i> except at the beginning of a word in unassimilated borrowings where it’s sorted directly after it. On alphabet charts and in dictionary headings, these two letters are most often represented as Ij. When writing or typing a native word in all caps, <J> is very commonly replaced with <I>.

<c q w z> are only used in unassimilated borrowings and in names and are often not considered to be part of the alphabet

Sounds with Multiple Spellings
Aa vs. Á vs. O
/ɔ/ is the short equivalent of both /oː/ and /ɔː/ and because of this can either be spelled <o> or <aa á> depending on which of the two vowels in originates from. In some rare cases, a short /ɔ/ derived from /ɔː/ may instead be spelled <o> as in <otta> (eight) which comes from Old Norse <átta>. As for the distinction between <aa> and <á>, <á> is used in 4 situations while <aa> is used everywhere else:

1. Whenever there is some kind of sound change that leads to a noun with /ɔ ɔː/ having a related form or word with /a ɑː ɛ ɛː/, e.g: <mál> (measure/measurement) & <mæla> (to measure) or <tá> (toe) & <tær> (toes)

2. In the conjugation of some strong and irregular verbs, e.g: <hár> (have PRS), <láta> (leave/let INF), or <sá> (see PST). All verbs whose infinitives end in /ɔː(s)/ end in <á(s)>

3. In the words tvá (two), vár (our), and hvárannar (each of the two/either)

4. Before /ŋ/ <ng>. This is the result of a sound change in which all instances of /ɑːŋ/ became pronounced /ɔːŋ/. Thus for grammatical purposes, words with /ɔːŋ/ are treated as though they were still /ɑːŋ/.

E vs Æ
/ɛ/ is the short equivalent of both /eː/ and /ɛː/ and because of this can either be spelled <e> or <æ> depending on which of the two vowels it originates from.

<æ> is by far more commonly used to express the i-umlaut changes of /a ɔ/ -> /ɛ ɛ/ but <e> is rarely used here too as in <menn> (men).

The use of <ær> to represent /ɛr ɛːr/ is almost universal regardless of the origin of the word as <er> typically represents /eːr/. However there are some words where <er> represents not only /ɛr/ but even /ɛːr/. These include: the ending -er /ɛr/ in tone-2 words, er /ɛːr/ (be in present tense), era /ˈ²ɛːra/ (era), and Sverige /ˈ¹svɛːrgə/ (Sweden)

E vs. Ei & Ö vs. Ey/Au
/eː ɜː/ are by far most commonly spelled <e ö> respectively but rarely may be spelled instead with <ei> and <ey au>. These spellings are sometimes used to distinguish homophones and are sometimes etymological but are overall pretty rare.

Er vs. Ur
The spelling <ur> is borrowed directly from Icelandic and is used in three situations:

1. In the nominative singular of masculine nouns and adjectives. In this purpose it shows that this form is pronounced with tone 1 as opposed to tone 2. Most masculine nouns and adjectives only distinguish the nominative singular and plural forms entirely by their tone, e.g: /ˈ¹dumɛr/ <dómur> (conviction) & /ˈ²dumɛr/ <dómer> (convictions). For those nouns which undergo an umlaut in the plural and change their tone to tone 1, /ɛr/ is still written as <er> as the umlaut is enough to infer the pronunciation of the tone.

2. In the nouns fingur (finger) and vettur (winter) in which the nominative and accusative singular are both /¹fiːŋɛr ¹vɛtɛr/, the genitive singular forms are /¹fiːŋɛrs ¹vɛtɛrs/, and the nominative and accusative plural are /²fiːŋɛr ²vɛtɛr/. The singular forms are spelled <fingur vettur> and <fingurs vetturs> while the plural forms are spelled <finger vetter>.

3. In adjectives whose stems end in tone 1 /ɛr/. For these adjectives, any singular form ending in /ɛr/ or /ɛrt/ is written <ur> or <urt>, e.g: /¹fɑːɡɛrt/ <fagurt> (pretty STR N SIN).

Kj vs. Tj
The use of these two spellings is entirely etymologically based with words from Norse /kj/ being spelled <kj> and those from Norse /tj/ being spelled <tj>

Ó vs. U
The distinction between <ó> and <u> is very similar to that between <á> and <aa>. Whenever there is some kind of sound change that leads to a noun with /uː/ having a morphological form or related word with /ɔ oː ɜ ɜː/ the letter <ó> is used, e.g: <gódur> (good STR M NOM) & <gott> (good STR N SING), dómur (conviction M NOM) & döma (judge INF), or dö (die) & dó (died). Some of these connections can be a bit far-fetched like sól (sun) & sóla (tan INF) being spelled with <ó> due to their connection with solarium (tanning bed/solarium). The difference between these two letters is completely coincidentally very similar to the distinction between ó and u in Polish.
Last edited by All4Ɇn on 25 Mar 2024 18:55, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by Ælfwine »

I love north germanic languages as some here know so I find this very cool.

As for location, if you want to be conservative but don't want to copy Icelandic, you could place this language perhaps in Finland or further east? It would be peripheral and conservative but not "western." There are a few things that separate Old East Norse from Old West Norse that you want to be aware of, feel free to ask if you want more of an explanation.
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All4Ɇn
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by All4Ɇn »

Ælfwine wrote: 22 Dec 2020 00:35 I love north germanic languages as some here know so I find this very cool.

As for location, if you want to be conservative but don't want to copy Icelandic, you could place this language perhaps in Finland or further east? It would be peripheral and conservative but not "western." There are a few things that separate Old East Norse from Old West Norse that you want to be aware of, feel free to ask if you want more of an explanation.
This is a really interesting suggestion. Finland was certainly not something I would've thought of but it's actually a really great idea. I've seen certain words that are distinct between Old East and Old West but I'm not familiar with the rules that separate the two so I'd certainly be interested in knowing more about that.
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by All4Ɇn »

Having looked at East Norse, I've decided I'm going to have to keep it as a West Norse language as one of the main reasons old grammatical features of Old Norse have been maintained in Skaalinska is due to the U-umlaut which from my understanding East Norse dropped early on. With this in mind, I'm going to start by covering strong masculine nouns.

Major Changes from Old Norse in Noun Declension
1. The Old Norse plural endings -ar, -ir, -r have all been regularized to -er /ɛr/ for all genders. Those coming from -ar & -ir typically are pronounced with tone 2 while those from -r are pronounced with tone 1.
2. The Old Norse dative case is completely lost and its functions are instead taken over by the former accusative case
3. The Old Norse genitive has been regularized to the ending -s in the singular and -a/-na in the plural for all nouns regardless of gender. The genitive stem is always identical to the nominative one.

Strong Masculine Nouns
Nominative Singular: -ur (-r after a vowel)
Oblique Singular: -
Genitive Singular: -s (-' after /s/)

Nominative Plural: -er (-r after /ɛː eː/)
Oblique Plural: -er (-r after /ɛː eː/)
Genitive Plural: -a

Umlaut
Two strong masculine nouns undergo a sort of umlaut in the nominative/oblique plural:
Fótur (foot) -> Föter (feet) (pronounced with tone 1 in the plural)
Sonur (son) -> Syner (sons) (pronounced with tone 2 in the plural)

U-Stem Nouns 1
Those u-stem masculine nouns which underwent the stem change jǫ -> i in Old Norse typically undergo the stem change ö -> i in Skaalinska:
Fördur (fjord) -> Firder (fjords)
Hörtur (deer) -> Hirter (deer)

The noun Bjǫrn (a weak noun in Skaalinska) has exceptionally analogized the <i> to the singular form due to the expected form börn being identical to the word for children:
Birn (bear) -> Birner (bears)

Like in other North Germanic languages, skjǫldr has been split into two different nouns by analogizing both the singular and the plural forms:
Sjöldur (shield) -> Sjölder (shields)
Skildur (sign) -> Skilder (signs)

U-Stem Nouns 2
Those u-stem masculine nouns which underwent the stem change ǫ -> e in Old Norse typically undergo the stem change ö -> e in Skaalinska:
Spoiler:
Böllur (ball) -> Beller (balls)
Göltur (boar/hog) -> Gelter (boars/hogs)
Höttur (hat) -> Hetter (hats)
Köttur (cat) -> Ketter (cats)
Söppur (mushroom) -> Sepper (mushrooms)
Tröstur (thrush) -> Trester (thrushes)
Völlur (field/meadow) -> Veller (fields/meadows)
Vöttur (glove) -> Vetter (gloves)
Vöxtur (plant) -> Vexter (plants)
As it was originally the only noun to survive in this paradigm with a long vowel mǫlr -> melir has been regularized with short vowels:
Möllur (moth) -> Meller (moths)

Ǫrn (the only Skaalinska masculine weak noun to keep this vowel change) has been regularized to a number of feminine nouns which undergo the same vowel change. This has resulted in it taking tone 1 in the plural. The spelling <æ> is just a consequence of it being before /r/:
Örn (eagle) -> Ærner (eagles)
Last edited by All4Ɇn on 09 Jan 2021 17:37, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by All4Ɇn »

Strong Feminine & Weak Masculine Nouns
Rather confusingly, these two categories share the same declension pattern. For masculine nouns its used for nouns ending in a vowel or /r/, those from Old Norse ending in /l n s/ which did not have the nominative ending -ʀ, as well as the noun Gud (God). For feminine nouns it's used for all of those not ending in -a. The only difference with these nouns from the previous one is the lack of an ending in the nominative singular.

Nominative Singular: -
Oblique Singular: -
Genitive Singular: -s (-' after /s/)

Nominative Plural: -er (-r after /ɛ ɛː eː/)
Oblique Plural: -er (-r after /ɛ ɛː eː/)
Genitive Plural: -a (final /ɛ/ is dropped before the ending is added)

Umlaut
Three weak masculine nouns undergo an umlaut and switch to pitch 2 in the plural:
Ás (Áss) -> Æser (Æsir)
Bónde (farmer) -> Bönder (farmers)
Nagel (nail) -> Nægler (nails) (pitch 1 in singular too)

Thirteen strong feminine nouns undergo an umlaut and switch to pitch 2 in the plural:
Spoiler:
Bók (book) -> Böker (books)
Bót (fine) -> Böter (fines)
Dotter (daughter) -> Döttrer (daughters)
Födder (feather) -> Feddrer (feathers) (pitch 1 in singular too)
Móder (mother) -> Mödrer (mothers)
Natt (night) -> Nætter (nights)
Önd (duck) -> Ender (ducks)
Örd (earth/ground/land) -> Ærder (earths/lands)
Rót (root) -> Röter (roots)
Rönd (edge/brim) -> Render (edges/brims)
Strönd (beach/shore) -> Strender (beaches/shores)
Töng (plier/pincer/tong) -> Tenger (pliers/pincers/tongs)
Tönn (tooth) -> Tenner (teeth)
I-Stem Regularization
Those i-stem nouns which underwent the stem change ǫ -> a in Old Norse, have regularized the a in all forms, e.g:
Sagen (story) -> Sagner (stories)
Sak (thing) -> Saker (things)

-Are Nouns
Masculine nouns ending in -are take the irregular nominative/oblique plural ending -rer, e.g:
Bakare (baker) -> Bakrer (bakers)
Dómare (judge) -> Dómrer (judges)
Ledare (leader) -> Ledrer (leaders)
Last edited by All4Ɇn on 21 Mar 2024 17:17, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by All4Ɇn »

Weak Feminine Nouns
All feminine nouns ending in -a take this pattern. The use of the spelling <or> in the plural for /ʊr/ is a borrowing from Swedish and solely used to distinguish this ending from the ending <ur> which is pronounced /ər/. <o> does not represent /ʊ/ anywhere else in Skaalinska.

Nominative Singular: -a
Oblique Singular: -
Genitive Singular: -as

Nominative Plural: -or (pronounced /ʊr/)
Oblique Plural: -or (pronounced /ʊr/)
Genitive Plural: -na

U-Umlaut
All nouns of this category whose final vowel is /a ɑː ɔː_ŋ/ undergo the u-umlaut change to /ɜ ɜː/ in the oblique singular, nominative plural, and oblique plural. The sample noun krada (toad) is used below
Nominative Singular: Krada
Oblique Singular: Kröd
Genitive Singular: Kradas

Nominative Plural: Krödor
Oblique Plural: Krödor
Genitive Plural: Kradna
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by All4Ɇn »

Neuter Nouns
The strong and weak neuter nouns have identical declensions with the exception of the genitive plural. All neuter nouns ending in -a take the weak declension pattern. Only 2 native nouns, lunga (lung) and hærta (heart) take this pattern (and only lunga is regular); all other nouns with this pattern are borrowed nouns, e.g: delta. Left is the strong declension while the right is the weak.

Nominative Singular: -/-a
Oblique Singular: -/-a
Genitive Singular: -s (-‘ after /s/)/-as

Nominative Plural: -/-a
Oblique Plural: -/-a
Genitive Plural: -a (final /ɛ/ is dropped before the ending is added)/-na

U-Umlaut
1. All nouns of the strong neuter declension whose final vowel is /a ɑː ɔː_ŋ/ undergo the u-umlaut change to /ɜ ɜː ɜː_ŋ/ in the nominative and oblique plural form, e.g: Barn (child) -> Börn (children)
2. One strong neuter noun undergoes the change /ɛ/ -> /ɜ/ in the nominative and oblique plural form: Fæll (mountain) -> Föll (mountains)
3. One weak neuter noun undergoes the change /ɛ/ -> /ɜ/ in the nominative and oblique plural form: Hærta (heart) -> Hörta (hearts)
Last edited by All4Ɇn on 17 Oct 2021 22:41, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by All4Ɇn »

Irregular Nouns
14 nouns don't fit into the previous declension patterns. With the exception of madur, all of these exceptions occur in nominative/oblique plural form

Umlaut
Two masculine nouns undergo an umlaut and pitch change with no suffix in the nominative/oblique plural:
1. Fader (father) -> Feder (fathers)
2. Bróder (brother) -> Bröder (brothers/brethren)

Three feminine nouns undergo an umlaut with no suffix in the nominative/oblique plural:
1. Gás (goose) -> Gæs (geese)
2. Lus (louse) -> Lys (lice)
3. Mus (mouse) -> Mys (mice)

Four feminine nouns undergo an umlaut with the suffix -r in the nominative/oblique plural:
1. Kló (claw) -> Klör (claws)
2. Ku (cow) -> Kyr (cows)
3. Su (sow) -> Syr (sows)
4. Tá (toe) -> Tær (toes)

Auga (Eye) & Eyra (Ear)
These two neuter nouns have irregular nominative/oblique plural forms:
1. Auga (eye) -> Augun (eyes)
2. Eyra (ear) -> Eyrun (ears)

Fingur (Finger) & Vettur (Winter)
The -ur in fingur & vettur is part of the stem (thus the oblique singular forms are still fingur & vettur). The plural forms are also irregular:
1. Fingur (finger) -> Finger (fingers)
2. Vettur (winter) -> Vetter (winters)

Madur (Man)
Madur has a completely differently stem in the nominative and an irregular nominative/oblique plural stem
Nominative Singular: Madur
Oblique Singular: Mann
Genitive Singular: Manns

Nominative Plural: Menn
Oblique Plural: Menn
Genitive Plural: Manna
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by All4Ɇn »

Definite Articles
Definite articles are encliticized after the noun they refer to. The left is for masculine/feminine nouns while the right is for neuter nouns. All articles other than -na cause a single syllable noun to take pitch 1.

Nominative Singular: -en/-et
Oblique Singular: -en/-et
Genitive Singular: -ens/-ets (-s dropped from noun stem)

Nominative Plural: -na/-en
Oblique Plural: -na/-en
Genitive Plural: -na/-na

Irregularities
1. Nouns ending in unstressed -el/-en/-er/-ur drop the final -e/-u in the stem before -en(s) & -et(s): fingur (finger) -> fingren (the finger)
2. Nouns ending in unstressed -e/-a drop the -e in -en(s) & -et(s): kaka (cake) -> kakan (the cake)
3. Nouns ending in all other vowels drop the -a in the genitive plural and take the article -nna: kua (cows') -> kunna (the cows')
4. The feminine plural nouns gæs, lys, & mys take the article -en instead of -na
5. Menn (men) has the irregular nominative/oblique definite form mennerna (the men)
6. Augun (eyes) and eyrun (ears) have the irregular nominative/oblique definite forms augnen (the eyes) and eyrnen (the ears).
7. Kló (claw), the only noun to end in -ó, has the irregular definite genitive plural form klonna (the claws’) due to the vowel ó only ever being long. “Æg rædas klonna birnens” (I’m scared of the bear’s claws)
Last edited by All4Ɇn on 20 Jan 2021 02:39, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by eldin raigmore »

Suffixed? Or encliticized?
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by All4Ɇn »

eldin raigmore wrote: 20 Jan 2021 02:21 Suffixed? Or encliticized?
Encliticized is definitely the more accurate term here. Updating the original post.
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by All4Ɇn »

Interrogatives
All interrogatives in Skaalinska are spelled with an etymological silent <h>

Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns agree in gender

Hver (m/f)
Nominative: Hver (who)
Oblique: Hvem (whom)
Genitive: Hvess (whose)

Hva (n)
Nominative/Oblique: Hva (what)
Genitive: Hvas (of what)


Interrogative Determiners
Skaalinska does not properly have interrogative determiners (which/what), opting instead for a paraphrastic construction. If the noun is a singular count noun, this paraphrastic construction consists of the appropriate interrogative pronoun followed by the genitive plural of the desired noun. If the noun is a mass noun, the genitive singular is used instead. Here are samples:
hver politimanna? (which policeman), hver snys? (what snow), hva bluma? (which flower)

If the noun is a plural count noun, specialized plural forms of the interrogative pronouns (seen below) are used. This construction is the only use of the plural interrogative pronouns in Skaalinska.

Hverer (m/f/n)
Nominative/Oblique: Hverer (which/what)
Genitive: Hvera (of which/of what)

Unlike in the singular, the plural interrogative does not change depending on the noun's gender. Unlike hver which is pronounced /veːr/, hverer and hvera are pronounced /ˈ²vɛːrɛr/ and /ˈ²vɛːra/ with the notable [æ] allophone. Here is a sample sentence:
Hvera filma rædastu? (what movies are you scared of?)


Hvatings/Hvastings
Hvatings (genitive form Hvastings) is a special interrogative pronoun meaning "which one" or "which ones". This pronoun is the same for all 3 genders and in both the singular and plural

Interrogative Adverbs
Hvenner: When
Hvar: Where or Where To
Hvarfrá: Where From
Hvarfyr: Why
Hviva: How (a respelling of "vid hva" (by what) that was changed to match the other interrogatives)
Last edited by All4Ɇn on 22 Mar 2024 01:25, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by Arayaz »

I hadn't seen this before! It's very well-done!
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by All4Ɇn »

Arayaz wrote: 21 Mar 2024 17:13 I hadn't seen this before! It's very well-done!
Thanks [:)]
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by Ælfwine »

Rediscovered this. Impressive, better than I did trying to make my Western Norse flavored conlang. I especially like how you regularized the -na plural from the genitive. As you may know this was really only in Icelandic (I think the continental Norse languages used -ja there.)
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Re: Skaalinska

Post by All4Ɇn »

Ælfwine wrote: 22 Mar 2024 16:50 Rediscovered this. Impressive, better than I did trying to make my Western Norse flavored conlang. I especially like how you regularized the -na plural from the genitive. As you may know this was really only in Icelandic (I think the continental Norse languages used -ja there.)
Thank you [:D] . Do you mean the -na genitive plural for nouns ending in -a? I wasn't actually aware this only occurred in Icelandic. Was this a trait separating the West and East dialects of Norse?
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Re: Skaalinska

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Indefinite Articles
The indefinite articles do not agree in case when used as an article but do agree in gender. There are no indefinite plural articles and simply the plural form of the noun is used instead.
Masculine: En
Feminine: Na
Neuter: Ett

Use as numeral and pronoun
The neuter form ett is also used as the generic word for the numeral "one". "One two three" would be translated as "ett tvá try" in Skaalinska. When using "one" to refer back to a previously mentioned/implied noun, declined versions are used. Important to note that unlike for the indefinite articles, the masculine and feminine forms are identical.

Masculine/Feminine:
Nominative/Oblique: En
Genitive: Ens

Neuter:
Nominative/Oblique: Ett
Genitive: Etts

Sample Sentences:
"Hárdu na bók? Ei, æg hár en."- Do you have a book? Yes, I have one.


Use in numbers derives from En
All numbers ending in "one" follow the same rules above. Thus the generic form ends in -ett such as Tryttiett (thirty one), but they also agree with the noun following it & agree in case if not followed by noun. In these numbers, the feminine form becomes -en instead of -na, thus becoming identical to the masculine form. Numbers ending in -en/-ett also irregularly take the singular form the noun following it instead of the plural, e.g: tjugogett barn (twenty-one children) instead of the expected tjuogogett börn.


Negative Indefinite Article
Specialized negated versions of the indefinite articles exist in Skaalinska. Unlike their positive counterparts, there are negated plural indefinite articles. These translate to "not a/not one/no" in English

Masculine Singular: Engen
Feminine Singular: Enga
Neuter Singular: Entet

Masculine/Feminine Plural: Enger
Neuter Plural: Engen


Negative Indefinite Pronouns
These pronouns typically translate to "not one/nobody" when used in the singular for the masculine/feminine, "nothing" when used in the singular for the neuter, and "none" when used in the plural. This pronoun agrees in number, gender, and case with the noun it refers to. It can be followed by a plural genitive noun for the meaning "none of x".

Singular Forms
Masculine Singular Nominative/Oblique: Engen
Masculine Singular Genitive: Engens
Feminine Singular Nominative/Oblique: Enga
Feminine Singular Genitive: Engas
Neuter Singular Nominative/Oblique: Entet
Neuter Singular Genitive: Entets

Plural Forms
Masculine/Feminine Plural Nominative/Oblique: Enger
Masculine/Feminine Plural Genitive: Engra
Neuter Plural Nominative/Oblique: Engen
Neuter Plural Genitive: Engra
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