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I'm currently looking for comments (and advice?) on the grammatical cases (will they work? are they intuitive? etc) and the spelling and word order. As a Germanic language, the grammar will be fairly complex, and I'll probably throw in the V1-V2 thing like German has (if not, then all verbs in a clause will be right next to each other).

Oy, I'm at it again!

Thread Table of Contents
1. Introduction and Updates Log
2. Writing Systems and Romanization
3. Phonetics and Speech
4. Morphology, Spelling, Sample Vocab
5. Grammar, Syntax, Cases
6. Verbs and Conjugation
7. Extended Vocab
8. Sentences, Translations, Prose
9. Culture and Background
10. Other Notes/Misc/To Do

1~~~INTRODUCTION

This time, I've got a rune writing system, 7 noun cases with declensions, and some basic ancient-Germanic-looking spelling conventions (watered down or spiced up to my liking).

Anzer Pex is the big daddy, independent, and totally systematic.

Maccetu is the Romance style one, not unlike some Romance languages widely spoken today.

But this one... This one is gonna be more like Old English or Old Norse. Think Beowulf and Vikings.

The grammatical cases so far:
1. Nominative
2. Accusative
3. Dative
4. Genitive
5. Prepositional
6. Inclusive*
7. Vocative

*This pretty much marks any noun not already marked by another case. I kinda made this one up. I needed a good case for the purpose this one serves, and I couldn't find a good example anywhere. I chose this over "utilitative" which would have marked the instrument noun.

The first person singular pronoun, in all it's declensions (temporary):
1. enk
2. est
3. eth
4. erk
5. ekki
6. ekko
7. ekyt

The rune-based writing system has letters corresponding to the following sounds and English letters:
T, D, TH, K, G, J, B, P, H, F, V, N, M, S, Z, W, Y, O, I, A, E, '

They're all pretty straightforward except the O, which can sound like the vowel sounds in any of the following words:
good, spoon, gut, snow, poke

The Y can be a bit weird. When preceding a vowel, it takes the usual Y sound as in "yo" or "ya," but when alone or between two consonants it takes on the sound "ih" (or "uh," no difference).

And also the ' apostrophe, which generally sounds like a sort of quick, sharp "huh" or "uh" sound. Kind of like a hiccup, but it doesn't really make a sound. It's a sort of rough interruption in a word. Between two of the same consonant, this is a germinator to force enunciation of both consonants (similar to English "calm man," "black coat," etc). Between two vowels or non-matching consonants, it simply interrupts diphthongs and syllables. A word like rheolk would be one syllable, thus a word like rhe'olk would be two syllables, with a tiny pause or hiccup or "uh" sound in between.

Note on J and G...
J is always a J sound, except when followed by a K (see below)
G is usually a hard G sound before vowels, but before a consonant it is the softer G (J) sound and in specific situations it can be pronounced as a Y.

Some of the spelling/pronunciation conventions include...
-"ekki" but not "eki" (double consonants between vowels)
-"jk" sounds like a CH sound with a hard K sound (like a sneeze)
-"er" sounds like "air" when there is no consonant directly after

More to come, including the (cool) rune writing system!

(And a name, that's one of the most fun parts!)

3~~~PHONETICS AND SPEECH

A happy diphthong,

Some gleeful germinations,

Some content pauses.

5 ~~~ GRAMMAR, SYNTAX, CASES

~Syntax and Word Order~

The word order is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) and the basic syntax is very similar to English and other Germanic languages. Typical sentence structure is as follows--

Basic Sentence Structure
[subject][verb][direct object][indirect object].
EX: I / give / the sword / to you.

Case Hierarchy
[NOM], [GEN]; [ACC], [GEN]; [DAT], [GEN]
EX: The king / of Scotland ...
EX: ... the sword / of Nekwylf ...
EX: ... to son / of king.

[PRP] - independent (noun after preposition)
[VOC] - independent


~Grammatical Cases~

1. Nominative (subject of finite/conjugated verb or copula)

|the boy| goes
|a house| is
|women| are

2. Accusative (direct object of trans verb)

hit |the boy|
bake |a cake|
give |books|
the murder |of the king| (OR |the king's| murder)
----*ONLY IF the king was murdered
----*Marks the experiencer or patient of an action noun
take this sword and kill |the dragon|
-----LIT. take this sword then kill |the dragon|

3. Dative (indirect object of transitive verb; to/for)

gave a book |to the boy| (OR gave |the boy| a book)
baked a cake |for the boy| (OR baked |the boy| a cake)
kill the king |for me| (when indicating benefactor)
chop the onions |for the soup| (when indicating purpose or use)
take this sword for killing |the dragon| (purpose, intent)

4. Genitive (indicates "of the" relationship; possession or relation)

shoes |of the boy| (OR the |boy's| shoes)
a stack |of books|
the murder |of(by) the killer| (the killer's murder)
----**ONLY IF the killer did the murdering
----**Marks the agent of an action noun

5. Prepositional (indicates the object of a prepostion)

at |the store|
up |the mountain|
around |the castle|
in |the house|
under |a tree|

6. Inclusive (marks nouns included with a noun of another case)

the man(NOM) and his(GEN) |wife|(INC) went to the shop(PRP)
the king(NOM) killed a dragon(ACC) with only a sword(PRP) and |a shield|(INC)

NOTE:Inclusive case also marks all nouns in a compound noun before the final noun in the compound. See compound noun rules.
the king(NOM) gave the hero(DAT) the dragon(INC)-killer(INC)-country(INC)-conqueror(INC)-sword(ACC)
the |spear|(INC)-Danes(NOM) burned our(GEN) homes(ACC) and crops(INC) and meadhall(INC)

7. Vocative (used for directly addressing someone

lo, Hrathmyl!
Hrathmyl!
yes, my |king|!

*With a noun of action, sometimes a verb functioning as a noun, the Accusative case is still used to indicate to whom or to what the action is done to (performed on). In this situation, the noun taking the Accusative case would be functioning as a patient or experiencer as if it were the object of a verb, and the action noun can be any case. See ***

**With a noun of action, sometimes a verb functioning as a noun, the Genitive case is still used to indicate who or what the action is done by (performed by). In this situation, the noun taking the Genitive case would be functioning as an agent as if it were the subject of a verb, and the action noun can be any case. See ***

***To express a complex noun phrase such as "the murder of the king by the thief" you may simply use the following structures: "the murder(ANY) king(ACC) thief(GEN)." A noun in the Accusative generally follows a verb or other case taking item, with the Dative following next, and the Genetive following last. Prepositional case takes precedence when present, and Genetive takes precedence when speaking of direct possession of or relation to a noun (unlike the example).


~Grammar Illustrations~

He killed the king!
--he.NOM kill.PAST the king.ACCDO
Have you heard of the sword?
LIT. Did you hear about the sword?
--do.MOD.PAST hear.INF you.NOM about the sword.PRP?
The thief's execution will be tomorrow.
--the execution.NOM thief.GEN will.MOD.PRES be.INF tomorrow(ADV).
--tomorrow.NOM will.MOD.PRES be.INF the execution.NOM theif.GEN.
The murder of the king happened on Tuesday.
LIT. The killing of the king happened on Tuesday.
--the murder.NOM king.ACC happen.PAST on(PRP) Tuesday.PRP.

7 ~~~ EXTENDED VOCAB

Word
Words
More Words
Even More Words
The Most Words
Words Ad Infinitum~

9 ~~~ CULTURE AND BACKGROUND

~Background~

is an a posteriori conlang, based mostly off of Old Norse (and its dialects), Old English, Old Icelandic and bits of some other closely related ancient Germanic languages. It has been designed from the ground up to imitate the grammatical, morphological, lexical, and phonological aspects of such ancient Germanic languages while retaining its own mild, unique style. would have likely had at least a minor influence on what are now modern German, Icelandic, and possibly other closely related Germanic languages.

~ConCulture~

-Geography-
The speakers of would have resided mostly in northern Europe, in areas around Scandinavia, Iceland, Scotland, Norway, or even England. Villages popped up along coastlines, set back into the woods for safety, but also could be found along rivers and beside lakes or other bodies of water.

-Culture's Effect on Language-
The speakers' culture was an integral part of , contributing mostly to vocabulary and word usage. As appropriate, the language of a Viking people reflects their culture in being heavy with words and idioms pertaining to trade, the ocean and sea travel, killing and violence, polytheistic religion, and the geography around them, among vast other factors.

-Real Life Cousins (Fiction and History)-
To get a good feel of what kind of people the speakers of would have been, you can observe existing works such as Beowulf and its adaptations, including Eaters of the Dead (AKA The Thirteenth Warrior), or other viking related material such as Norse Mythology (not all of which is completely relevant to , but it all shares similar characteristics).

-What the People Were Like-
In a nutshell, the speakers of would have been "barbarian warriors and tradesmen, either sailing from coast to coast trading goods such as swords, spears, fur, slaves, women, armor, grains, crops, and livestock OR they would have been sailing from coast to coast pillaging and burning the villages they encountered, slaughtering the men and children and taking the women for their own. Some of the speakers may have been farmers tending small crops for their villages, or kings ruling over small regions, their thrones no more than humble seats at the far ends of banquet tables in vast meadhalls.

-Social Structure-
As could be expected, the society was predominantly male with females only taking importance in the roles of queens, princesses, and an occasional witch or crafty hag. Men generally tended small farms or traded raw and finished goods overseas. Women usually did the chores and cooking and child-rearing typical of the times.

-Government-
The specific area where was spoken most strongly would have been ruled by a king who also reigned over the adjacent plains and forest land, but ruled mostly only the people living in the same village as him. Rather than a castle, the king would reside in a huge meadhall, which would also serve as the king's court, banquet hall, headquarters, and meeting room. The king would likely have a council of the strongest, bravest, smartest warriors to aid him and help run the country.

-Weapons and Equipment-
The people held their weapons and armor and other equipment very dear. They named them with proper names if some legendary feat were accomplished, but otherwise named them with long compound nouns such as "dragon-slayer-country-conqueror-Geat-stabber-sword." Armor and other equipments were often named in sets, such as "the Helmet of Narthrek and the Mantle of Narthrek."

-Views on Murder-
Murder was so commonplace as to be reduced to a misdemeanor requiring little more than monetary reparations to the closest kin of the deceased as well as a small tax to the king. Killing one's kin, even a distant cousin or marriage-relative, was, however, taboo and considered treachery leading to banishment. Interestingly, attempted murder was not a crime. Also, assassination would likely mean the killer would be the new king, but if he is one of the king's kin, he would not be trusted and would be branded as a "self traitor."

-Views on Death-
Death during war or battle was honorable and favorable. Being killed by a woman, child, or forest creature was lowly and detestable. Dying by natural causes such as poison, disease, or old age, were not preferable but still "good" ways to die. Generally, the more painful and horrific (and the more taken out with you) the better. Often, there would be typical viking funerals including a funeral pyre aboard a ship piled with the deceased's belongings, slaves, a virgin, and any material gifts given to aid him in the afterlife. While disease was common, it was surprisingly not widespread; famine probably took far more lives each winter than disease or plague.

-Religion-
The people were also polytheistic, believing in gods not unlike the Norse Mythological gods most other cultures in their surroundings. Their gods had different names (by language differences, most likely) and somewhat different characteristics, and the concept Valhalla and the Valkyries differed quite a bit. Their main god, or the God of Gods, was Ottyn (as opposed to Odin). Consider how the Romans adopted the Greek religion.

(I hope it's OK to post now).

Like... This is for sure the coolest conlang so far - I love it! biggrin Vikings rock! cool Blodet mitt är av Ronja och vikingasort!

I'll post more comments later, keep up the good work. ^-^

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! mrgreen

Alright. Could you send me fonts and samples of the Anzer Pex?