Írsc

Phonology

Írsc has the phonology of a North Germanic language under considerable influence from Irish and Scottish Gaelic. An extensive system of palatalization has developed, the Old Norse falling diphthongs have been monophthongized, the Old Norse rounded front vowels have been unrounded, the Old Norse long consonants have been shortened (except for long sonorants, and note that long fortis plosives' length is preserved as preaspiration), the Old Norse non-sibilant coronal fricatives have been stopped, and an Irish-style system of tense and lax vowels has developed.

Consonants

• ʰpˠ ʰpʲ ʰt̪ˠ ʰtʲ ʰc ʰk
• pˠʰ pʲʰ t̪ˠʰ tʲʰ cʰ kʰ
• bˠ bʲ d̪ˠ dʲ ɟ g
• mˠ mʲ n̪ˠ nʲ (ɲ ŋ)
• fˠ fʲ sˠ ʃ ç h
• w vʲ j ɣ
• rˠ rʲ lˠ lʲ

From this point out, these will be known as:

• ʰp ʰpʲ ʰt ʰtʲ ʰc ʰk
• pʰ pʲʰ tʰ tʲʰ cʰ kʰ
• b bʲ d dʲ ɟ g
• m mʲ n nʲ (ɲ ŋ)
• f fʲ s ʃ ç h
• w vʲ j ɣ
• r rʲ l lʲ

Vowels

• iː uː
• ɪ ʊ
• eː oː
• ə
• ɛ ɔ
• a aː

Orthography

Írsc orthography is influenced by Irish orthography, but due to the differences between Írsc and Irish phonologies has remained separate in practice.

One of the obvious ways in which Írsc orthography is influenced by Irish orthography is its heavy use of the fada to mark long vowels. Another way in which Irish orthography has influenced Írsc orthography is the use of vowel letters to mark palatalization and velarization on consonants.

However, marking of palatalization is different in Írsc orthography from in Irish orthography. A palatalized consonant in Írsc must be followed by a vowel in the same word, so there is no need to mark palatalization both before and after palatalized consonants (clusters of consonants must agree in palatalization). Therefore, palatalization of consonants is marked solely with the following vowel letter.

The vowel letters, by themselves, are:

• i í e é a á o ó u ú, for /ɪ iː ɛ eː a aː ɔ oː ʊ uː/

Front vowel letters (e é i í, for /ɛ eː ɪ iː/ as well as /ə/) by themselves automatically palatalize preceding consonants. Central or back vowels must be marked with a front vowel letter to palatalize preceding consonants (ea eá eo eó iu iú, for /a aː ɔ oː ʊ uː/).

There is another vowel phoneme, /ə/, which is marked a if the preceding consonant is not palatalized and e if the preceding consonant is palatalized.

The following consonants are marked as shown below:

• pp pp tt tt cc cc, for /ʰp ʰpʲ ʰt ʰtʲ ʰc ʰk/
• p p t t c c, for /pʰ pʲʰ tʰ tʲʰ cʰ kʰ/
• b b d d g g, for /b bʲ d dʲ ɟ g/
• mm mm nn nn, for /mː mʲː nː nʲː/
• m m n n n n, for /m mʲ n nʲ (ɲ ŋ)/
• f f s s h h, for /f fʲ s ʃ ç h/
• v v j gh, for /w vʲ j ɣ/
• rr rr ll ll, for /rː rʲː lː lʲː/
• r r l l, for /r rʲ l lʲ/

The pairs of identical graphemes are non-palatalized/palatalized pairs, which are distinguished by the following vowel letter.

Personal Pronouns

Írsc has the following personal pronouns:

Definite Article Declension

Independent Definite Article Declension

Clitic Definite Article Declension

Posessive Determiner Declension

mín

Tín and sín decline analogously.

vór

ídar

Nominal Declension

Masculine Strong Nouns

Long-Stem Palatalizing Masculine Strong Nouns

Short-Stem Palatalizing Masculine Strong Nouns

Feminine Strong Nouns

Long-Stem Palatalizing Feminine Strong Nouns

Short-Stem Palatalizing Feminine Strong Nouns

Neuter Strong Nouns

Long-Stem Palatalizing Neuter Strong Nouns

Short-Stem Palatalizing Neuter Strong Nouns

Masculine Weak Nouns

Feminine Weak Nouns

Neuter Weak Nouns

Adjectival Declension

Strong Adjectival Declension

Weak Adjectival Declension

Active Participle/Comparative Degree Declension

Degree Declension

Verb Conjugation

• First conjugation weak verbs are distinguished by palatalization of the infinitive and present participle and i-umlaut, for short-stem first conjugation weak verbs in all forms except the past participle and the past indicative, and for long-stem first conjugation weak verbs in all forms. Finite stem vowels are leveled to the 3rd sg.
• -ar (or after vowels, -r) is the present indicative active ending, except for long-stem first conjugation and third conjugation weak verbs, which take -er when the stem does not end in a vowel.
• -ast (or after vowels, -st) is the present indicative middle ending, except for long-stem first conjugation and third conjugation weak verbs, which take -est when the stem does not end in a vowel.
• -ast (or after vowels, -st) is the strong preterite indicative middle ending.
• -a is the infinitive ending, except for first conjugation weak verbs where then it is -e.
• -de (or after fortis obstruents, -te) is the weak preterite indicative active ending, except for second conjugation weak verbs, for which it is -ade.
• -dest (or after fortis obstruents, -test) is the weak preterite indicative middle ending, except for second conjugation weak verbs, for which it is -adest.
• Second conjugation weak verbs ending in consonants have -a as an imperative ending.
• -e is the present subjunctive active ending.
• -est with palatalization is the present subjunctive middle ending.
• F -e is the strong past subjunctive active ending.
• F -est is the strong past subjunctive middle ending.
• F -de (or after fortis obstruents, F -te) is the weak past subjunctive active ending, except for second conjugation weak verbs, for which it is F -ade.
• F -dest (or after fortis obstruents, F -test) is the weak past subjunctive middle ending, except for second conjugation weak verbs, for which it is F -adest.

Relativizer

The relativizer is som, which is normally used without a relative pronoun.

Non-Personal Pronoun Declension

Proximal Demonstrative Declension

Distal Demonstrative Declension

Indefinite Pronoun Declension

Negative Pronoun Declension

Interrogative Pronoun Declension

Numbers

Cardinal Numbers

One

The ordinal form of one is first.

Numbers Greater than One

Trítegh, feórtegh, fimtegh, secstegh, seótegh, óttegh, and nítegh function as masculine plural nouns. Hundrad functions as a masculine noun, while túsand functions as a feminine noun.

Ordinal Numbers

Adpositions

• (í) gegnam +acc ‘through’
• ov +acc
• (a) [motion] ‘over’, ‘across’
• (b) [time] ‘during’, ‘in’
• um +acc
• (a) [motion] ‘around’, ‘over’, ‘across’
• (b) [time] ‘during’, ‘in’
• (c) ‘about’, ‘concerning’
• innan +gen ‘within’
• (ó/í) médal +gen ‘among’, ‘between’
• (ó/í) mille/millam +gen ‘among’, ‘between’
• til +gen
• (a) ‘to’, ‘towards’
• (b) ‘regarding’, ‘concerning’
• (c) ‘to’, ‘until’
• av +dat
• (a) ‘off’, ‘from’
• (b) [time] ‘from’
• (c) [partitive] ‘of’
• (d) [passive] ‘by’
• (e) [cause] ‘of’, ‘from’, ‘because of’
• ad +dat
• (a) ‘at’, ‘to’, ‘towards’
• (b) ‘at’, ‘in’
• (c) ‘from’
• (d) ‘according to’
• fró +dat
• (a) ‘from’
• (b) ‘concerning’, ‘about’
• (í) gegan +dat
• (a) ‘against’
• (b) ‘towards’
• heó +dat
• (a) ‘at someone’s (house)’
• (b) ‘close to’, ‘next to’, ‘by’
• (c) ‘past’
• (d) ‘compared with’
• nér +dat ‘near’
• ór +dat ‘out of’, ‘from’
• undan +dat ‘away from’
• ó +acc
• (a) ‘onto’, ‘on’, ‘to’
• (b) ‘during’, ‘at’, ‘in’
• ó +dat
• (a) ‘on’, ‘to’
• (b) ‘during’, ‘at’, ‘in’
• (c) inalienable possession
• efter +acc [time] ‘after’
• efter +dat [motion] ‘after’, ‘following’
• fíre +acc
• (a) [motion] ‘before’, ‘in front of’
• (b) [directional] ‘over’, ‘past’
• (c) [time] ‘before’
• (d) ‘in return for’, ‘in place of’
• fíre +dat
• (a) [location] ‘before’, ‘in front of’
• (b) ‘ago’
• í +acc
• (a) ‘into, ‘in’, ‘to’
• (b) [time] ‘during’, ‘in’, ‘at’
• í +dat ‘in’
• med +acc ‘with’
• med +dat
• (a) ‘together with’
• (b) [instrumental] ‘with’
• (c) [manner] ‘with’, ‘in’, ‘by’
• (d) ‘among’
• under +acc [motion] ‘under’
• under +dat [location] ‘under’
• vid +acc
• (a) ‘near’, ‘by’
• (b) [directional] ‘to’, ‘towards’, ‘vis-à-vis’
• vid +dat ‘against’
• íver +acc [motion] ‘over’, ‘above’
• íver +dat [location] ‘over’, ‘above’
• útan +acc/gen
• (a) ‘outside’
• (b) ‘without’
• ón +acc/dat/gen ‘without’

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