Nord-Brutlandese

Nord-Brutlandese is the official language of the United Kingdom of Brutland and Norden. As of March 2007, there are more than half a billion speakers of the language, mostly from Brutland and Norden.

Origins

Historically, the country is made up of two kingdoms with their own official languages, Brutland with its own Brutlander language, and Norden, with its own Nordense language. Though the inhabitants of Brutland and Norden historically spoke Gernamic languages derived from the Viking settlers, Ruman administration introduced Lattin, from which the present Nord-Brutlandese language was derived from.

Both Brutlander and Nordense descended from Lattin. However, due to the influence of Gernamic languages and its unique location, Brutlander and Nordense are classified in their own branch. Research had uncovered that Brutlander and Nordense may have diverged only about 450 years ago, and up to the present the two languages are still mutually comprehensible, except perhaps the ancient dialects still retaining heavy Gernamic influence. Other scholars maintain that the two languages are actually dialects of the same language and that the two had been artificially separated by the fact that they are the official languages in two different states.

After unification of the two Kingdoms, the government decided to ‘create’ an official language, Nord-Brutlandese. But given the history of the language, the ‘creation’ entailed only standardization and modernization of the alphabet. The citizens quickly accepted Nord-Brutlandese, and most believed that the change was just the name of the language they were speaking.

Orthography

The Nord-Brutlandese language was originally written in its own alphabet but the country switched to the Latin alphabet during its modernization. The language adapted well, as many of its phonemes can be easily represented in the Latin alphabet.

The traditional Nord-Brutlandese alphabet consists of 5 vowels and 17 consonants. It is similar to the English alphabet except that it lacks K, W, X, and Y. However, increased outside contact necessitated the addition of these five letters and the Nord-Brutlandese alphabet is the same as the English alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, and Z.

Phonology

Pronunciation of Nord-Brutlandese letters is markedly different from their English counterparts. There are still those that are pronounced the same are the following:

J is pronounced as an H, and H is used only in making diagraphs.

Q is used as in English. It must be followed with a u, and foreign loanwords containing a q followed by any letter except u such as qoph and Qatar, though usually taken ‘as is’ in English, is changed to K in Nord-Brutlandese: kof, Katar.

Doubling letters technically introduces a geminate stop before the doubled letter, though many dialects have changed this. Two doubled letters are exceptions and are considered diagraphs: NN and LL. (See below for more)

The most common pitfalls for learners of Nord-Brutlandese phonology are the letter C and its diagraphs. C and its related diagraphs change in articulation depending on the vowel next to it. C is always pronounced as /k/ before a consonant, but it differs before a vowel, as summarized in this table:

CC and CCH can occur at the beginning of a word but in those cases, the second C is replaced with ‘, as in c’e /tse/ and c’hiesse /khes-se/.

More diagraphs exist in Nord-Brutlandese. The following is a list of diagraphs and their pronunciations:

SH is pronounced as /sh/ as in shallow, but only occurs before A, O, and U. SC is used before E or I.

NG is pronounced as /ng/ as in being, but if the upcoming vowel has a grave accent (`), it is pronounced as /ngg/ as in tango.

LL is pronounced as /ly/ as in million, similar to the Italian diagraph GL and the Spanish letter LL.

NN is pronounced as /ny/ as in canyon, similar to the Italian diagraph GN and the Spanish letter Ñ. As in CC and CCH, the second N is contracted if it is at the beginning of the word.

ZZ may be pronounced as /zh/ as in azure. This is a dialectal difference, occurring in several discontiguous areas of the country.

Other consonant combinations are considered consonant blends and are pronounced in the same way as in English. These rules are applicable in common nouns, though this may not hold for names of places or people.

Two consecutive different vowels are considered as diphthongs. Doubled vowels represents two separately pronounced sounds. If two consecutive vowels are to be pronounced as separate sounds, the acute mark (´) is placed over the first vowel.

Vocabulary

Nord-Brutlandese is known for its ability to shift words from class to class and change their meanings with affixing. Many words derived this way do not have English equivalents.

For example, the noun defenze (=defense) describes something that was done to protect. Defenze is in the noun-abstract form. The noun-concrete form is defenzo, which is something physical that protects. From the same noun, we can derive action nouns defenzetto (=defender) and defenzesso (=defendant; or the thing being defended).

Derivation usually involves a string of words. From defenze we can get the verb defenzece (=defend), and the adjective defenza (=defensive), from which the adverb defenzal (=defensively) is derived. Likewise, from defenza we can derive another noun, defenzallíe (=defensiveness).

Alternative terms can be derived in the same vein. From defenzenissa (=defenseless) and defenzettía (=defendable), we can get the verbs (no equivalents in English) defenzenissece (=to make defenseless) and defenzettíece (=to make defendable). From the same adjectives, the nouns defenzenisse (=defenselessness) and defenzettíe (=defendability) can be derived, as are adverbs defenzenissal (=defenselessly) and defenzettíal (=defendably).

All of them are semantically acceptable in Nord-Brutlandese.

Syntax

Nord-Brutlandese syntax is also fairly complex. The basic sentence form is subject-verb-object, though instances of other syntactical forms may occur.

Dialects

Dialects are hard to describe in Nord-Brutlandese due to the homogeneity of the country. However, there is what the linguist-geographers call the 'gradients' that exist in the country. For example, as one moves from the northwest to southeast, gemination of many doubled letters decrease and instead the letters are just prolonged. For example, gemination of dd can be heard clearly in the Carocchi Valley of Norden (in the north), weakens in the grant of Borcenna in Dennland, occurs only sometimes in the capital (in the center of the country), and disappears around San Sbaccio in Brutland (in the south).

All dialects are mutually intelligible.

Sample Text

The Lord's Prayer in Nord-Brutlandese:

Noi Padre in Cello

santecho nostra Nome,

nostra Rinnosso craitteche

nostra fatte doche

on tero as in cello.

Breche noi odde nòi pani día

e rimotteche nòi pecadi

as noi rimottece pecadetto rescal nostra.

Do della porteche tu te la tettazione

no savoleche noi che mal. Amen.

Institution

The Royal Institute for the Advancement of the Nord-Brutlandese Language (Stiutte Rinna per l'Avanze di la Lingùe Nordèbrutelliense, SRALN) monitors the language and publishes a dictionary every year. It also has the task of maintaining, preserving, and enriching the language and at the same time adapting it to the changing times.