Condialects

At present, I'm starting to consider dialects and regional accents for
Jameld. This will give me an oppportunity to try out some variant
pronunciation schemes and some alternative grammatical items.

There are 3 distinct dialects:
(I shall use the convention v" throughout for diacritical marks, for the
benefit of those who only receive 7-bit mail from Conlang and therefore get
accents mangled.)

For geographical reference, please see "The Jameld Line" PDF in the Archive
section of my website, which contains a fairly detailed map of
Zuraalant/Zuraland.

U"stzur (East Zur)
--------------------
The main literary and official dialect, spoken in the area in and around the
capital Wissembo"rg and the town of Su"lz, as documented by my first 17
years' work on Jameld. Viewed by some in the outer regions as a bit prim and
proper, but understood well by all Jameld-speakers. Roughly analogous to
RP/"BBC English".

Vestzur (West Zur)
--------------------
A progressive dialect, spoken in the southwest of Zuraland, which shows
signs of nearby French influence, particularly in pronunciation. For
example, the reduction of Jameld ch [x] and gh [C] to [h], of g^ [dZ] to
[Z], and the use of [R] for [r]. There is some grammatical simplification in
colloquial Vestzur (details to be worked out).

Bo"rgeslant (Land of the Castles)
---------------------------------
A conservative dialect, spoken in the north and northwest (a more secluded
and mountain-bordered area), retaining some vestigial features of Old Jameld
grammar: verb conjugations, grammatical gender, though simplified; also the
use of words which would be considered archaic in U"stzur speech.
Distinctive accent, with the reduction of j [Cj] to [C], the infinitive
ending -en to [@] (schwa), and most particularly different vowel values:
U"stzur a" e" i" o" u", which correspond to "standard" German a" ie ei o"
u", are pronounced in Bo"rgeslant as [}j] [ej] [@j] [oj] [uj] ( } = IPA
ae-lig). I already get the feeling that this dialect will seem a bit like
West Country English. Might be fun.

James

 =========================================================================
 James Campbell  james@zeugma.force9.co.uk  http://www.zeugma.force9.co.uk
            "Love's the only country I know" - The Blue Nile
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