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Skälansk - History and Babel text

From:Pascal A. Kramm <pkramm@...>
Date:Tuesday, December 7, 2004, 0:14
This time, I've take the reverse approach. I've first created a phonology
and then made a language around it.
The special about this phonology is that it has no plosives :D
There are some other nifty features, like VSO syntax (which is pretty rare),
and the tenses are indicated by particles which are appended to the subject.
Is there any language that actually does this?

Anyway, the homepage is here:
http://www.choton.org/sk/

Here's the background info I came up with, right from the history page:
http://www.choton.org/sk/history.html

Skälansk is the language of the people inhabiting Skälann, which equals to
the islands Sjaelland, Lolland, Holster and Møn in Denmark in our world.
Back in the time of the big migrations, these islands were conquered by
Germanic tribes, who then settled down there. During the following time,
they were greatly influenced by the neighbouring countries. In the late
middle ages, a movement for more individuality and independece started,
which eventually, in the late middle ages, resulted in the decision to
create a language for themselves, which should be clearly distinct from that
of the surrounding countries, as a means to express their individuality.
After thorough research of the most versed scholars, this project was
eventually realized with some distinct and unique features:

    * It was decided to put the verb at the beginning, followed by subject
and object, since this structure was not found in any other known languages.
    * Verb conjugation was eliminated, making verbs immutable. Instead,
particles indicating time and modality would be placed after the subject.
Later, these particles were appended to the subject, but apostrophes were
inserted inbetween.
    * Articles were abandoned.
    * Many words were traced back to their roots as they could be
determined, which were often of Old Norse origin.
    * After some heated debates, the Latin alphabet found the most support.
Other alternatives considered included Norse runes, Gothic alphabet, Greece
alphabet and even Mongolic script.
    * Sound changes which had already happened in part were regularized:

Sound changes (no guarantee for completeness)

    * p -> ph /f/ -> f
    * b -> w /v/ (made intentionally to match the p change)
    * t -> th /T/ -> s
    * d -> th /D/ -> th /T/ -> s
    * k: split into two groups
          o k /k/ -> k /x/ (majority)
          o k /k/ -> c /c/ -> c /C/
    * g /g/ -> g /G/ -> g /xR/ -> /xR/ only before vowel, /x/ otherwise
    * sk: always /sk/ -> always /sx/ -> /S/ if initial -> /x/ in /sx/ at end
of word was eventually dropped

Here's the Babel text:
http://www.choton.org/sk/babel.html
1 Nu hefjan al jormungrunnr'a ein reors mes glik worsan.
2 Reisan sei'in osr, finsan mannan'a grunnr in Skinar en sesjan sei'a sasra.
3 Segjan sei'a to sic: "Koman jus'at! Makan wi'at skalja en brinnan es
grunnisk!" Njotan sei'a skalja ses fjall en sjara ses klajja.
4 Sa segjan sei'a: "Koman jus'at! Wawan wi'at skasr fir wi mes wurc upp to
himinn, so säs unfarsfrengan an'wi'or uwa al ersa."
5 Ak koman Hasem'a nisar to sjan skasr en wurc esan wawan mannan'a.
6 Segjan Hasem'a: "Ef kwesan as ein folk ein reors hafjan weginan sujan
sei'a sis, flanan tujan an'nics'or sei esan anmoglisk fir sei.
7 Koman jus'at! Skäwan wi'at nisar en farwerran seias reors, so säs
anskinjan sei'or sic.
8 So farsfrengan Hasem'a sei uwa al ersa, en wilan wawan sei'a skasr.
9 Sarum esan namjan skasr'a Wawel, wansa sasra farwerran Haskem'a reors af
al jormungrunnr; hinano farsfrengran Hasem'a sei uwa al ersa.

--
Pascal A. Kramm, author of Choton
official Choton homepage:
http://www.choton.org

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Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>