[Eittlandic] Correct word order, merge strong masculine and feminine

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Lucien Cartier-Tilet 2022-12-09 12:33:34 +01:00
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@ -725,8 +725,8 @@ on its syntax as well as on grammatical particules rather than on its
morphology. Lets take the following sentence as an example.
1. barn fisk etar / a child is eating a fish
| barn | fisk | et-ar |
| child.NOM | fish.ACC | eat-3sg |
| barn | et-ar | fisk |
| child.NOM | eat-3sg | fish.ACC |
In this sentence, the word order helps us understand the child is the
subject of the sentence while its subject is /fisk/, although we have no
@ -734,38 +734,28 @@ information on their number; the sentence could also very well mean
/children are eating fishes/. Unlike in Old Eittlandic where we could
have the following sentences.
1. barn fiska etar
| barn | fisk-a | et-ar |
| child.NOM | fish-pl.ACC | eat-3sg |
2. fiska barn etar
| fisk-a | barn | et-ar |
| fish-pl.ACC | child.NOM | eat-3sg |
1. barn etar fiska
| barn | et-ar | fisk-a |
| child.NOM | eat-3sg | fish-pl.ACC |
2. fiska etar barn
| fisk-a | et-ar | barn |
| fish-pl.ACC | eat-3sg | child.NOM |
Both have the same meaning as the Eittlandic sentence. However, the
near-complete (or even complete in Standard Eittlandic) loss of case
marking makes the sentence /fisk barn etar/ much more gruesome.
1. fisk barn etar / a fish is eating a child
| fisk | barn | et-ar |
| fish.NOM | barn.ACC | eat-3sg |
1. fisk etar barn / a fish is eating a child
| fisk | et-ar | barn |
| fish.NOM | eat-3sg | barn.ACC |
Eittlandic is now a SOV language with a much stricter word order than
it used to be. This is an important change since Old Eittlandic which
main word order was VSO instead. For instance, here is the same
sentence in Old Eittlandic and in Modern Eittlandic, meaning /he
carried him to some lake/.
- Old Eittlandic :: Han bar hann til vatns nákkurs
| han | bar | han-n | til | vatn-s | nákkur-s |
| he.NOM | carry.3sg.pret | 3sg.m-ACC | to | lake-DAT | some-DAT |
- Modern Eittlandic :: Han til vatn nákkur hann bar
| han | til | vatn | nákkur | hann | bar |
| 3sg.m.NOM | to | lake | some | he.ACC | carry.3sg.pret |
Eittlandic still retains VSO word order in its relative and
interrogative clauses, as shown below.
- Han mér talð þat kom han hér í gær / he told me he came here yesterday
| han | mér | tal-ð | þat | kom | han | hér | í gær |
| 3sg.m.NOM | 1sg.DAT | tell-3sg.PRET | that | come.3sg.PRET | 3sg.m.NOM | here | yesterday |
Eittlandic is a V-2 language, meaning in most cases, finite verbs are
in second position in their clause and may be in first position
interrogative clauses and dependent clauses, as shown below.
- Han talð mér þat kom han hér í gær / he told me he came here
yesterday
| han | tal-ð | mér | þat | kom | han | hér | í gær |
| 3sg.m.NOM | tell-3sg.PRET | 1sg.DAT | that | come.3sg.PRET | 3sg.m.NOM | here | yesterday |
Loss of case marking also affected adjectives which share most of
their declensions with nouns. The parts where Eittlandic retains its
@ -1595,26 +1585,23 @@ table [[tbl:eittlandic-example-noun-inflexions]].
#+name: tbl:eittlandic-example-noun-inflexions
#+caption: Declensions for strong and weak nouns in Modern Eittlandic
| / | <r> | | | | |
| | | Strong Masculine | Strong Feminine | Strong Neuter | Weak Nouns |
|---+------------+------------------+-----------------+---------------+------------|
| | Sing. Nom. | heim-r | tíð | skip | tím |
| | Acc. | heim | tíð | skip | tím |
| | Gen. | heim-ar | tíð-ar | skip-s | tím |
| | Dat. | heim | tíð | skip | tím |
| | Plur. Nom. | heim-r | tíð-r | skip | tím-r |
| | Acc. | heim | tíð-r | skip | tím |
| | Gen. | heim | tíð | skip | tím |
| | Dat. | heim-um | tíð-um | skip-um | tím-um |
| / | <r> | | | |
| | | Strong Common | Strong Neuter | Weak Nouns |
|---+------------+---------------+---------------+------------|
| | Sing. Nom. | heim-r | skip | tím |
| | Acc. | heim | skip | tím |
| | Gen. | heim-ar | skip-s | tím-s |
| | Dat. | heim | skip | tím |
| | Plur. Nom. | heim-r | skip | tím-r |
| | Acc. | heim | skip | tím |
| | Gen. | heim-ar | skip-s | tím-s |
| | Dat. | heim-um | skip-um | tím-um |
As you can see, a good amount of declensions disappeared from nouns,
with only four marked cases for strong masculine and feminine nouns
and two for strong neuter and weak nouns. The declension system
completely merged for weak nouns which are no longer distinguished by
gender, as did the different declensions among the other categories
--- e.g. there is only one declension remaining for strong masculine
nouns as opposed to Old Norses three different possible declensions
for the nouns.
with only four marked cases for strong common nouns and two for strong
neuter and weak nouns. The declension system completely merged weak
nouns which are no longer distinguished by gender. Strong masculine
and strong feminine also got merged into strong common.
Declensions are no longer productive in almost all Modern Eittlandic
dialects. They are still mostly used in formal and written speech, but
@ -1629,13 +1616,14 @@ weak nouns.
The only exception to declensions no longer being productive is in the
Hylfjaltr Kingdoms exclave in southern Eittland where speakers of its
local dialect tend to instead favor strong nouns for newer terms.
local dialect tend instead to favor strong nouns for newer terms.
Hence, while most dialects agree on “internet” (pl.nom /internetr/,
pl.dat /internetum/) being a weak noun, this dialect treats it as either
a strong feminine (sg.gen /internetar/, pl.nom&acc /internetr/, pl.dat
/internetum/) or a strong neuter (sg.gen /internets/, pl.dat /internetum/)
--- the difference is due to subdivisions in said dialect between
rural and urban areas favoring the former and the latter respectively.
--- the difference is due to subdivisions in said dialect, mainly
between rural and urban areas favoring the former and the latter
respectively.
There are some regular exceptions to the declension system. The first
one, inherited from Old Norse, is the /-r/ suffix becoming /-n/ or /-l/ when
@ -1644,13 +1632,13 @@ a noun ends with an <n> or an <l> respectively, hence
masculine /himn/ (/heaven/) and strong feminine /hafn/ (/harbour/, /haven/).
#+name: tbl:irregular-noun-declensions
| / | <r> | | |
| | Sing. Nom. | himnn | hafn |
| | Sing. Nom. | himnn | hafnn |
| | Acc. | himn | hafn |
| | Gen. | himnar | hafnar |
| | Dat. | himn | hafn |
| | Plur. Nom. | himnn | hafnn |
| | Acc. | himn | hafnn |
| | Gen. | himn | hafn |
| | Acc. | himn | hafn |
| | Gen. | himnar | hafnar |
| | Dat. | himnum | hafnum |
During the last five centuries, the root of the word got regularized