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| Brithenig | |
|---|---|
| Brithenig, Comroig | |
| Pronunciation | [bɾɪθɛˈniːɡ] |
| Created by | Andrew Smith |
| Date | 1996 |
| Setting and usage | Athought experiment inalternate history, Ill Bethisad, ifLatin had replaced theBrittonic languages |
| Purpose | Indo-European
|
| Sources | A posterioriRomance language[1] constructed from Vulgar Latin with aCeltic substrate |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bzt |
bzt | |
| Glottolog | brit1244 |
Brithenig, or also known asComroig,[2] is an invented language, orconstructed language ("conlang"). It was created as ahobby in 1996 by Andrew Smith fromNew Zealand, who also invented thealternate history ofIll Bethisad to "explain" it. Officially according to the Ill Bethisad Wiki, Brithenig is classified as a Britanno-Romance language, along with other Romance languages that displacedCeltic.[3]
Brithenig was not developed to be used in the real world, likeVolapük,Esperanto,Interlingua orInterslavic, or to provide detail to a work of fiction, likeKlingon from theStar Trek franchise. Rather, Brithenig started as athought experiment to create aRomance language that might have evolved ifLatin had displaced the nativeCeltic language as the spoken language of the people inGreat Britain.
The result is an artificial sister language toFrench,Catalan,Spanish,Portuguese,Romanian,Occitan andItalian which differs from them by having sound-changes similar to those that affectedWelsh, and words that are borrowed from theBrittonic languages and fromEnglish throughout its pseudo-history. One important distinction between Brithenig and Welsh is that Welsh isP-Celtic, but Latin was aQ-Italic language (as opposed toP-Italic, likeOscan), and the trait was passed onto Brithenig.
Similar efforts to extrapolate Romance languages areBreathanach (influenced by the other branch of Celtic),Judajca (influenced by Hebrew),Þrjótrunn (a non-Ill Bethisad language influenced by Icelandic),Venedic (influenced by Polish), andXliponian (which experienced aGrimm's law-like sound shift). It has also inspiredWessisc, a hypothetical Germanic language influenced by contact with Old Celtic.
Brithenig was granted the code BZT as part ofISO 639-3.
Andrew Smith was one of the conlangers featured in the exhibit "Esperanto, Elvish, and Beyond: The World of Constructed Languages" displayed at theCleveland Public Library from May through August 2008.[4] Smith's creation of Brithenig was cited as the reason for his inclusion in the exhibit (which also included theBabel Text[5] in Smith's language).
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Brithenig orthography is similar to that ofWelsh, except:
| Labial | Dental/ | Post-alveolar/ | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ||||
| Stop | Voiceless | p | t | k ⟨k, c⟩ | ||
| Voiced | b | d | ɡ ⟨g⟩ | |||
| Affricate | Voiceless | t͡ʃ ⟨c⟩ | ||||
| Voiced | d͡ʒ ⟨g⟩ | |||||
| Fricative | Voiceless | f | s | h | ||
| Voiced | v | z ⟨s⟩ | ||||
| Approximant | Central | j | w | |||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Trill | r | |||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i ⟨i, y⟩ | ɨ ⟨u⟩ | u ⟨w⟩ |
| Near-close | ɪ ⟨i⟩ | ʊ ⟨w⟩ | |
| Mid | ə ⟨a, e⟩ | ||
| Open-mid | ɛ ⟨e⟩ | ɔ ⟨o⟩ | |
| Open | a |
| Digraph | Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| ae | [æ], [aː] |
| ai | [aɪ] |
| au | [aʊ] |
| ei | [ɛɪ] |
| ew | [ɛʊ] |
Like Welsh and other Celtic languages, initialconsonant mutations (cluinediwn, lit. "declensions") in Brithenig is an important feature. Three mutations exist: soft (moillad), spirant (solwed), and nasal (naral).
| Radical | Soft | Spirant | Nasal |
|---|---|---|---|
| p- /p/ | b- /b/ | ph- /f/ | mh- /m̥/ |
| t- /t/ | d- /d/ | th- /θ/ | nh- /n̥/ |
| c- /k,tʃ/ | g- /ɡ/ | ch- /χ/ | ngh- /ŋ̥/ |
| g- /dʒ/[6] | |||
| b- /b/ | f- /v/ | m- /m/ | |
| d- /d/ | dd- /ð/ | n- /n/ | |
| g- /ɡ,dʒ/ | ∅- (silent) | ng- /ŋ/ | |
| m- /m/ | f- /v/ | not applicable | |
| ll- /ɬ/ | l- /l/ | not applicable | |
| rh- /r/ | r- /ɾ/ | not applicable | |
Soft mutation are used with feminine nouns, adjectives, verbs, change in word order, after an adverb, and prepositionsdi "of, from" andgwo "under". Spirant mutation are used for marking plurals on nouns, adjective, and verbs, but also after prepositionstra "through" anda "to, at", and the conjunctionmai "but". Nasal mutation are used after the negative adverb used to negate verbsrhen, and prepositionsin "in" andcun "with".
Before a vowel, the prepositionsa "to, at" ande "and" irregularly becamea-dd ande-dd.
| Soft | -x | dix | dibedd "of foot" |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spirant | -x | trax | traphedd "through foot" |
| Nasal | -x | cunx | cunmhedd "with foot" |
Gender in Brithenig nouns is lexical and unpredictable, as it obscured by historic sound changes. The indefinite article in Brithenig isynx "one".
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine | ill | llox |
| Feminine | llax orx |
Unlike Welsh with unpredictably-formed plurals, Brithenig has no dedicated separate plural suffix, thus, the singular and plural forms are almost always invariable (similar totransnumeral languages such asIndonesian andKorean). Instead, the plural definite article is generally placed before the noun (lla gas,llochas), but yet some exceptions to this rule exist. Exceptions include the plural of(ill) of "man",(llo) h-on; and some plurals that formed by placing feminine singular definite article before it with spirant lenition (ill bordd,lla fordd).
Dual forms of natural pairs (e.g. arms, legs), however, have their own prefix and formed by prefixingdew- "two" to the nouns. The similar feature also occurs inBreton. Diminutives and augmentatives are derived by suffixing-ith (usual)/-in (affection/collective) and-un, respectively.
| Person | Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Disjunctive | Possessive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | 1st | eox | mi | mui | mew | |
| 2nd | tyx | ti | tui | tew | ||
| Plural | 1st | nux | nustr | |||
| 2nd | gwx | gwstr | ||||
| Both | 3rd m. | ysx | llo | lle | sui | sew |
| 3rd f. | sax orx | lla | ||||
The third person has no distinction of numbers, but can be indicated by spirant lenition on succeeding nominals or verbs (before singulars the mutation is not used). Unlike nouns, pronouns are not just inflected for numbers, but also grammatical cases. Like many languages, Brithenig has aT–V distinction, withty being used for addressing people whom the speaker is familiar with or gods, whileGw is used when speaking to a stranger or a less familiar or more formal acquaintance (with capitals). Before feminine nouns, the succeeding noun(s) exhibit soft mutation, while before plural the noun(s) exhibit spirant mutation. When mutated,ty andti irregularly becomedyx to avoid confusion withdi "of". Unlike Welsh, Brithenig makes fewer use ofinflected prepositions, and such prepositions only found in the wordcun "with":
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person | cunmeg | cunnusc |
| 2nd person | cunneg | cungwsc |
| 3rd person | cunseg | |
Similar toSpanish andPortuguese, Brithenig verbs are divided into 3 conjugations according to their infinitive endings:-ar (canhar "to sing"),-er (perdder "to lose"), and-ir (dorfir "to sleep") (note that the final-r are usuallysilent). Brithenig is a non-null-subject language, that is, it requires pronouns before the verb forms (ys cant "he sings"). Note that the stem's final consonants also undergo lenition, but also unvoiced final stop consonants become voiced in the imperfect, past definite, and subjunctive past plurals; future, and conditional forms (that in verbs likecanhar those also undergo mutation as well).
Subjunctive forms nowadays only survive in fixed phrases, likecan in Rhufein, ffâ si llo Rhufanffeigant "when in Rome, do as the Romans do". Also in subjunctive present forms, final vowels are affected by i-affection (except in-ar verbs where it only happen in plural forms):
| Unaffected | Affected |
|---|---|
| -a- | -ei- |
| -e- | |
| -o- | |
| -u- | -y- |
| -aw- | -ew- |
| -i- | |
| infinitive | canhar | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present participle | canhan | ||||||||
| past participle | canhad | ||||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||||
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||||
| eo | tu | ys | sa | nu | gw | ys | sa | ||
| indicative | present | gant | gant | cant | gant | chanhan | chanhath | chanhant | |
| imperfect | ganhaf | ganhaf | canhaf | ganhaf | chanafan | chanafath | chanafant | ||
| past definite | ganhaf | ganhast | canhaf | ganhaf | chanafan | chanast | chanarent | ||
| future | ganarai | ganara | canara | ganara | chanaran | chanarath | chanarant | ||
| conditional | ganarew | ganarew | canarew | ganarew | chanarewn | chanarewth | chanarewnt | ||
| eo | tu | ys | sa | nu | gw | ys | sa | ||
| subjunctive | present | gant | gant | cant | gant | cheinhen | cheinheth | cheinhent | |
| past | ganhas | ganhas | canhas | ganhas | chanassen | chanasseth | chanassent | ||
| eo | tu | ys | sa | nu | gw | ys | sa | ||
| imperative | cant (familiar),canhath (formal) | ||||||||
| infinitive | perdder | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present participle | perdden | ||||||||
| past participle | perdded | ||||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||||
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||||
| eo | tu | ys | sa | nu | gw | ys | sa | ||
| indicative | present | berdd | berdd | perdd | berdd | pherdden | pherddeth | pherddent | |
| imperfect | berddef | berddef | perddef | pherddef | pherddefan | pherddefath | pherddefant | ||
| past definite | berddef | berddest | perddef | berddef | pherddefan | pherddest | pherdderent | ||
| future | berdderai | berddera | perddera | berddera | pherdderan | pherdderath | pherdderant | ||
| conditional | berdderew | berdderew | perdderew | berdderew | pherdderewn | pherdderewth | pherdderewnt | ||
| eo | tu | ys | sa | nu | gw | ys | sa | ||
| subjunctive | present | beirdd | beirdd | peirdd | beirdd | pheirddan | pheirddath | pheirddant | |
| past | berddes | berddes | perddes | berddes | pherddessen | pherddesseth | pherddessent | ||
| eo | tu | ys | sa | nu | gw | ys | sa | ||
| imperative | perdd (familiar),perddeth (formal) | ||||||||
| infinitive | dorfir | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present participle | dorfin | ||||||||
| past participle | dorfid | ||||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||||
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||||
| eo | tu | ys | sa | nu | gw | ys | sa | ||
| indicative | present | ddorf | ddorf | dorf | ddorf | ddorfen | ddorfith | ddorfent | |
| imperfect | ddorfif | ddorfif | dorfif | ddorfif | ddorfifan | ddorfifath | ddorfifant | ||
| past definite | ddorfif | ddorfist | dorfif | ddorfif | ddorfifan | ddorfist | ddorfirent | ||
| future | ddorfirai | ddorfira | dorfira | ddorfira | ddorfiran | ddorfirath | ddorfirant | ||
| conditional | ddorfirew | ddorfirew | dorfirew | ddorfirew | ddorfirewn | ddorfirewth | ddorfirewnt | ||
| eo | tu | ys | sa | nu | gw | ys | sa | ||
| subjunctive | present | ddeirf | ddeirf | deirf | ddeirf | ddeirfan | ddeirfath | ddeirfant | |
| past | ddorfis | ddorfis | dorfis | ddorfis | ddorfissen | ddorfisseth | ddorfissent | ||
| eo | tu | ys | sa | nu | gw | ys | sa | ||
| imperative | dorf (familiar),dorfith (formal) | ||||||||
While the Brithenig conjugation is mostly regular, there are some irregular verbs. In past definite tense, some verbs have s-stem preterite originating from Latin perfect tenses in-x- or-s- (eo ddis fromdiger "to say" for example):
| Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | ddis | ddisen | |
| 2nd person | ddisist | ddisist | |
| 3rd person | Masculine | dis | ddisirent |
| Feminine | ddis | ||
In past participles, instead of regular forms, some verbs have irregular participles inherited from Latinsupines in-tum (facere, factum →fager, faeth "to do"),-sum (claudere, clausum →clodder, clos "to close"), or even combinations of them (vidēre, *vistum →gwidder, gwist "to see"). Some verbs also have irregular imperative forms, either by lengthening the last vowel and deleting last consonant (only in the case of familiar imperatives,diger,dî,digeth), or taking forms from subjunctive (saber,seib,seibeth). The verbgweddir "to go", where it comes fromLatinvadō but it is not suppleted with other verbs, has irregularities in the present tense:eo wa,tu wa,ys wa,sa wa,nu wan,gw wath,ys/sa want.
Irregular forms areunderlined.
| infinitive | esser | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present participle | essen | ||||||||
| past participle | ystad | ||||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||||
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||||
| eo | tu | ys | sa | nu | gw | ys | sa | ||
| indicative | present | su | es | es | es | sun | hes | sunt | |
| imperfect | er | er | er | er | h-eran | h-erath | h-erant | ||
| past definite | ffew | ffewst | ffew | ffew | ffewns | ffewst | ffewrent | ||
| future | serai | sera | sera | sera | seran | serath | serant | ||
| conditional | serew | serew | serew | serew | serewn | serewth | serewnt | ||
| eo | tu | ys | sa | nu | gw | ys | sa | ||
| subjunctive | present | sia | sia | sia | sia | sian | siath | siant | |
| past | ffews | ffews | ffews | ffews | ffewssens | ffewsseth | ffewssent | ||
| eo | tu | ys | sa | nu | gw | ys | sa | ||
| imperative | sia (familiar),siath (formal) | ||||||||
| infinitive | afer | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present participle | afen | ||||||||
| past participle | afyd | ||||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||||
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||||
| eo | tu | ys | sa | nu | gw | ys | sa | ||
| indicative | present | ai | a | a | a | hafen | hafeth | hant | |
| imperfect | afef | afef | afef | afef | h-afefan | h-afefath | h-afefant | ||
| past definite | afew | afewst | afew | afew | h-afewns | h-afewst | h-afewrent | ||
| future | afrai | afra | afra | afra | afran | afrath | afrant | ||
| conditional | afrew | afrew | afrew | afrew | afrewn | afrewth | afrewnt | ||
| eo | tu | ys | sa | nu | gw | ys | sa | ||
| subjunctive | present | ai | ai | ai | ai | aian | aiath | aiant | |
| past | afews | afews | afews | afews | h-afewssens | h-afewsseth | h-afewssent | ||
| eo | tu | ys | sa | nu | gw | ys | sa | ||
| imperative | ai (familiar),aiath (formal) | ||||||||
The default word order in Brithenig issubject–verb–object (SVO), overall syntax is similar toFrench but unlike Welsh. However, when the verb coexists with an object pronoun the word order changes tosubject–object–verb. The word order for yes–no questions isverb–subject–object (gw pharolath Brithenig "you speak Brithenig" vs.parola'gw Frithenig? "are you speaking Brithenig?").[7]
Most of Brithenig's vocabulary is distinctively Romance even though it is disguised as Welsh. This list of 30 words gives an impression of what Brithenig looks like in comparison to nine other Romance languages, including Wenedyk, and to Welsh. The similarity of about one quarter of the Welsh words to Brithenig words (indicated by not being bracketed) is because of their commonIndo-European background, but a few others, such asysgol, were borrowings from Latin into Welsh.
| English | Brithenig | Latin | Picard | Portuguese | Galician | Spanish | Catalan | Occitan | French | Italian | Rhaeto-Romance | Friulian | Romanian | Wenedyk | Welsh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| arm | breich | brachium | bro | braço | brazo | brazo | braç | braç | bras | braccio | bratsch | braç | braţ | brocz | braich |
| black | nîr | nĭger, nĭgrum | noére | preto, negro | negro | negro | negre | negre | noir | nero | nair | neri | negru | niegry | (du) |
| city, town | ciwdad | cīvĭtās, cīvĭtātem | ville | cidade | cidade | ciudad | ciutat | ciutat | cité | città | citad | citât | oraş, [cetate] | czytać | (dinas) |
| death | morth | mŏrs, mŏrtem | mort | morte | morte | muerte | mort | mòrt | mort | morte | mort | muart | moarte | mroć | (marwolaeth) |
| dog | can | canis | quien | cão,cachorro | can | perro, can | gos, ca | gos, can | chien | cane | chaun | cjan | câine | kań | (ci) |
| ear | origl | auris, aurĭcŭla | orele | orelha | orella | oreja | orella | aurelha | oreille | orecchio | ureglia | orele | ureche | urzykła | (clust) |
| egg | ew | ovum | œué | ovo | ovo | huevo | ou | uòu | œuf | uovo | ov | ûf | ou | ów | wy |
| eye | ogl | ŏcŭlus | oeul | olho | ollo | ojo | ull | uèlh | œil | occhio | egl | voli | ochi | okieł | (llygad) |
| father | padr | pater, patrem | monpére | pai | pai | padre | pare | paire | père | padre | bab | pari | tată | poterz | (tad) |
| fire | ffog | ignis, fŏcus | fu | fogo | lume, fogo | fuego | foc | fuòc | feu | fuoco | fieu | fûc | foc | fok | (tân) |
| fish | pisc | pĭscis | pichon | peixe | peixe | pez, pescado | peix | peis | poisson | pesce | pesch | pes | peşte | pieszcz | pysgodyn |
| foot | pedd | pĕs, pĕdem | pied | pé | pé | pie | peu | pè | pied | piede | pe | pît | picior, [piez] | piedź | (troed) |
| friend | efig | amīcus | anmi | amigo | amigo | amigo | amic | amic | ami | amico | ami | amì | prieten, amic | omik | (cyfaill) |
| green | gwirdd | vĭrĭdis | vert | verde | verde | verde | verd | verd | vert | verde | verd | vert | verde | wierdzi | gwyrdd |
| horse | cafall | ĕquus, cabăllus | gval | cavalo | cabalo | caballo | cavall | caval | cheval | cavallo | chaval | cjaval | cal | kawał | ceffyl |
| I | eo | ĕgo | J'/euj | eu | eu | yo | jo | ieu | je | io | jau | jo | eu | jo | (mi) |
| island | ysl | īnsŭla | ile | ilha | illa | isla | illa | iscla | île | isola | insla | isule | insulă | izła | (ynys) |
| language, tongue | llinghedig, llingw | lĭngua | lingue | língua | lingua | lengua | llengua | lenga | langue | lingua | linguatg, lieunga | lenghe | limbă | lęgwa | (iaith) |
| life | gwid | vīta | vie | vida | vida | vida | vida | vida | vie | vita | vita | vite | viaţă, [vită] | wita | (bywyd) |
| milk | llaeth | lac, lactis | lé | leite | leite | leche | llet | lach | lait | latte | latg | lat | lapte | łoc | llaeth |
| name | nôn | nōmen | nom | nome | nome | nombre | nom | nom | nom | nome | num | non | nume | numię | (enw) |
| night | noeth | nŏx, nŏctem | nuit | noite | noite | noche | nit | nuèch | nuit | notte | notg | gnot | noapte | noc | (nos) |
| old | gwegl | vĕtus, vĕtŭlus | viu | velho | vello | viejo | vell | vièlh | vieux | vecchio | vegl | vieli | vechi | wiekły | (hen) |
| school | yscol | schŏla | école | escola | escola | escuela | escola | escòla | école | scuola | scola | scuele | şcoală | szkoła | ysgol |
| sky | cel | caelum | ciu | céu | ceo | cielo | cel | cèl | ciel | cielo | tschiel | cîl | cer | czał | (awyr) |
| star | ystuil | stēlla | étoéle | estrela | estrela | estrella | estel | estela | étoile | stella | staila | stele | stea | ścioła | (seren) |
| tooth | dent | dēns, dĕntem | dint | dente | dente | diente | dent | dent | dent | dente | dent | dint | dinte | dzięć | dant |
| voice | gwg | vōx, vōcem | voé | voz | voz | voz | veu | votz | voix | voce | vusch | vôs | voce, [boace] | wucz | (llais) |
| water | ag | aqua | ieu | água | auga | agua | aigua | aiga | eau | acqua | aua | aghe | apă | jekwa | (dŵr) |
| wind | gwent | vĕntus | vint | vento | vento | viento | vent | vent | vent | vento | vent | vint | vânt | więt | gwynt |
Nustr Padr, ke sia i llo gel:
sia senghid tew nôn:
gwein tew rheon:
sia ffaeth tew wolont,
syrs lla der sig i llo gel.
Dun nustr pan diwrnal a nu h-eidd;
e pharddun llo nustr phechad a nu,
si nu pharddunan llo nustr phechadur.
E ngheidd rhen di nu in ill temp di drial,
mai llifr nu di'll mal.
Per ill rheon, ill cofaeth e lla leir es ill tew,
per segl e segl. Amen.
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