Difference between revisions of "Anglish"

Revision as of 17:57, 23 March 2006

Anglish is an old language, descendent from Anglo-Saxon native to the Kingdom of Anglisc Landbit. It is similar to many modern Germanic languages, such as German and English, and is in some ways intelligable with English. However, not all phrases can be understood by an English speaker; there are far more Germanic roots in this language than English.

History and general information on the language

Anglish is, in essence, a form of English with an older flair. As the language is spoken in Anglisc Landbit, the language was started by the founding fathers of that nation. These founders, explorers that set out from England in the year 1042 AD, wrecked their ships on the coast of Anglisc Landbit. Various other shipwrecks from this time caused the population to grow to a few thousand, and it is from this thousand that Anglish evolved.

Distinguishing Characteristics

Most notable about Anglish is its Germanic vocabularly. Words such as democracy have been replaced with folcsmight, which is literally "people power." This evolved from the thousand original founders of Anglisc Landbit, which were wrecked on the island in a time before the Norman Conquest. This allowed the Germanic roots to live on.

Also notable is the continued use of the letter eth (Ð, ð), which is pronounced as a th in English. Also, V is used for both the English V and U. Thus, words such as "the" are rendered as "ðe," "thou" as "ðov." This has led to some confusion with English speakers, and some movements seek the elimination of the letter eth.

Steadðingworden (Pronouns)

Outspeacunglearnung (Pronunciation)

Generally, all the vowel and consonant sounds follow that of English. There are some exceptions, however. First and foremost is the letter eth (Ð, ð) which is pronounced as an English "th" (IPA:ð). Also, the letter thorn (Þ, þ) is sometimes used for the "th" in "thin." Though this usage is not common in practice, Ðe Kinghead's Learnedfolcen of Anglisc Landbit, the regulator of the Anglish language, has decreed that this usage is the only way to represent this sound. Thus, "ðin" is incorrect while "þin" is correct. This is not always how it is written, and both spellings should be memorized for older texts or writters who have not adjusted to using the letter.

Another important exception is the use of sc. This letter combination forms an English "sh" sound (IPA:ʃ). As part of its ongoing adjustment of the language, Ðe Kinghead's Learnedfolk of Anglisc Landbit has declared the use of esh (Ʃ, ʃ) is also acceptable, even preferable. However, this usage is almost always seen in the official documents of Ðe Kinghead's Learnedfolk of Anglisc Landbit or formal government documents.

Tonglearnung (Grammar)

Worcworden (Verbs)

Generally, verbs in Anglish follow that of English. Conjugation of verbs is also similar. An example of conjugation is as follows:

There are some differences, as can be seen above. A regular infinitive (weacworcworden) is usually written in the form "worcan," and the -an is dropped when conjugating. "I work" would become "Ig worce." "He works" would be "He worcs" or "He worceð."

Strongworcworden (irregular verbs)

Manysome Formen (Plural Forms)

The plural forms of many words is created by adding -en to the end of the word. Thus, "forms" would be "formen." There are exceptions, however. "Men" would be rendered as "manen" and "men." Both are used interchangeably.

Wordlingen (Participles)

In Anglish, participles (both past and present) are formed similarly to that of English. However, there is a slight difference.

1. the present participle, also known as the imperfect participle, is formed by adding the suffix "-ing" to a verb (the form is not to be confused with that of a gerund, which uses "-ung")
2. the past participle, sometimes known as the perfect participle, which is formed by adding the suffix "-ed". This is identical to that of English.

Ilcworden (Adjectives)

Adjectives are usually placed before the noun that they describe. Adjectives must agree in number with that of the noun. An example of this would be "fine man" becomming "gooden manen" or "gooden men."

Articelen (Articles)

In Anglish, an is to be used as both the English "a" and "an." That is, "a dog" would be rendered as "an hund." In the southern dialect of Anglish, an has been dropped for "a." This usage is nonstandard, however, and instantly marks one as a southernor.

For the (ðe), there are two words. The (written as ðe) is used for singular and thi (ði) is used for plural. Thus, "the dog" is "ðe hund" and "the dogs" is "ði hunden." Other cases where ði is used are "the homework," where it becomes "ði homeworcen." This applies only if the use of homework is intended to be multiple assignments, or if one was asking what someone had for homework.

Wordensteadung (Word Order)

Word order, in comparison to that of English, is a little different. If translated litterally, it would look as if one were trying to ask a question in many cases. The order in Anglish usually goes verb, noun, object. However, the English order of verb, noun, object is acceptable and is fully understandable. Thus, "he eats it" could become "eateþ he it." Alternatively, this could be spelt using eth(ð) instead of thorn (þ), but it is generally more acceptable to use thorn for the TH in "thin" sound and eth for the TH in "thou."