Amerikaens: Difference between revisions
Redid phonology and reformatted; will do updated orthography section later.
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{{Infobox language|boxsize=200px|name=
'''Amerikaens''' (<small>Amerikaens:</small> /ɑː.mi.riˈkɑːns/) is a West Germanic language spoken across and native to vast swathes of North America. The language is a descendant of numerous [[Dutch languages|Dutch]] dialects introduced to [[New Netherland]] in the 17th century which were spoken by settlers from [[Netherlands|the Netherlands]]. Distance from Europe, the impact of indigenous and immigrant lects, as well as preservation of archaic dialectal features caused Amerikaens to develop distinguishing characteristics over the next few centuries. In 1910, a standardized orthography devised by the [[Amerikaens Taelkomisie]] and based on the prestigious [[New Amsterdam|New Amsterdammer]] accent was adopted.
Today,
==
==Phonology==
Due to Amerikaens phonology differing greatly by dialect, the ''Juys Mondordt'' (/jœus mondɔːrt/, 'correct speech') accent of [[New Amsterdam]] is widely considered to be the standard and most prestigious variety of the language. It has 21 consonants, 12 vowels, and 6 diphthong phonemes.
==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! colspan="2" |
! Labial
!Alveolar
! Post-alveolar
!Dorsal
! Glottal
|-
! colspan="2" |Nasal
|m
| n
|
|ŋ
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |Plosive
!<small>voiceless</small>
|
| t
|
|k
|
|-
!<small>voiced</small>
|b
|d
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Affricate
|
|
|t͡ʃ
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |Fricative
!<small>
|f
|s
|ʃ
|χ
| h
|-
! <small>voiced</small>
|v
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Approximant
|
|l
|
| j
|
|-
! colspan="2" |Rhotic
|
| colspan="3" |r
|
|}
====Vowels====
{|
| style="vertical-align: top" |
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! rowspan="3" |
! colspan="2" | Front
! rowspan="3" |Central
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |Back
|-
! rowspan="2" |<small>unrounded</small>
! rowspan="2" |<small>rounded</small>
|-
!<small>lax</small>
!<small>tense</small>
|-
! Close
|i
|y
|
|u
|
|-
!Close-mid
|
|øː
|
|o
|
|-
!Mid
|ɛ
|œː
|ə
|ɔː
|
|-
!Open
|æ
|
|
|ɑ
|ɑː
|}
| style="vertical-align: top" |
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" |Front
! colspan="2" |Back
|-
!<small>fronting</small>
!<small>backing</small>
|-
!Close
|iu
|ui
|
|-
!Mid
|œu
|ɔi
| rowspan="2" |ɑu
|-
!Open
|
|ɑi
|
|}
====Differences from Dutch ====
The ''Juys Mondordt'' accent, as well as several other Amerikaens varieties, are incredibly phonologically distinct from the [[Dutch language|standard Dutch]] of [[Netherlands|the Netherlands]] and non-American [[Batavosphere]] countries. The phonological base for Amerikaens largely rests upon the lects spoken by the founding settlers — dialects which evidently share a strong similarity with modern dialects spoken in Utrecht, north Brabant, and south Holland.
Generally, short front vowels were lowered while long front vowels were backed; meanwhile, back vowels were variously raised, rounded and umlaut-ed. This vowel shift can be described as counterclockwise (''Linksom''). Consonants remain relatively closer to Dutch despite some undergoing palatalization and mergers.
{|
| style="vertical-align: top" |
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="text-align: center;"
!Context
!Sound change
|-
|All contexts
|/eː/ > /i/
|-
|Syllable-medial
|/eː/ > /ɛ<sup>ə</sup>/
|-
| rowspan="6" |All contexts
|/ɪ/ >/ɛ/
|-
| /ɛ/ > /æ/
|-
|/aː/ > /ɔː/
|-
|/aː/ > /ɑː/
|-
|/ɔ/ > /o/
|-
|/oː/ > /u/
|-
| rowspan="2" |Closed syllable, not before /t/, /s/, /nt/, /ɑr/
|/oː/ > /øː/
|-
|/u/ > /øː/
|-
|All contexts
|/øː/ > /œː/
|-
|Closed syllable
|/ʏ/
|-
| rowspan="3" | Syllable-medial, final
|/œy/ > /œu/
|-
|/ɛi/ > /ɑi/
|-
|/eːu/ > /iu/
|-
| rowspan="3" |All contexts
|/aːi/ > /ɔi/
|-
|/oːi/ > /ui/
|-
|/ɔu/ > /ɑu/
|}
| style="vertical-align: top" |
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="text-align: center;"
!Context
!Sound change
|-
| rowspan="4" |Syllable-initial
|/sx/ > /ʃ/
|-
|/sj/ > /ʃ/
|-
|/tj/ > /t͡ʃ/
|-
|/ɦ/ > /h/
|-
| rowspan="2" |All contexts
|/ɣ/ > /χ/
|-
|/x/ > /χ/
|}
|}
==
Amerikaens uses a heavily modified form of the Latin alphabet The language's orthography was first formally standardized in 1910 with the publication of the first edition of the [[Taelbück]] in New Netherland. Since then, the Taelbück has been considered the unequivocal authority on Amerikaens orthography in North America. Its conventions, derived mainly from old Dutch orthography, has also incorporated innovations and formalized the use of diacritics.
==Grammar==
Generally speaking, Amerikaens grammar is largely based on the grammars of early modern Dutch, English, and Flemish. It is often considered to have one of the, if not the simplest syntax and morphology among the Germanic languages.
====Nouns and pronouns====
{| class="wikitable floatright"
! Person
!Subject
!Object
!Possessive
|-
| 1st singular
|Ik (''<nowiki/>'k'')
|Mÿ (''me'')
| Mÿn (''men'')
|-
|2nd singular
|Jÿ (''je'')
| Jou (''ju'')
|Jouw (''juw'')
|-
|3rd singular, masculine
|Hÿ (''he'')
|Hem (''em'')
Line 501 ⟶ 261:
|-
|2nd plural
| colspan="2" |Jul
|
|-
|
| colspan="2" |Hun
|Huns
Line 512 ⟶ 273:
|Its
|}
Amerikaens only differs between the singular and plural forms, much like English. The plural form is usually created by the addition of the suffix ''-s''. If a word already ends in an ''s'', then an ''-en'' is added to signify plurality. Amerikaens also preserves the possessive genitive case from archaic Dutch declension unlike other Netherlandic varieties. Its survival beyond the early 18th century most probably was influenced by [[English language|English]].
Like Dutch, Amerikaens pronouns retain case distinction; subject (nominative), object (accusative), and possessive (genitive). Pronouns occur in a stressed form and an unstressed form (shown in brackets). The stressed form retains the whole original vowel and is used mainly in formal situations or when distinction is necessary.
==== Determiners ====
Only two articles, a definitive (''de'') and an indefinitive (''în''), exist in Amerikaens. They may be inflected in the genitive form (for example, ''Koninckrÿck <u>der</u> Nederlands'' lit. '[[Netherlands|Kingdom of the Netherlands]]').
Demonstratives are words used to distinguish entities being referred to. As grammatical gender does not exist, there are only four demonstrative determiners in Amerikaens. Proximal indicates that the entities are close to the speaker, while distal incidates that they are far away.
{|
| style="vertical-align: top" |
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
Line 522 ⟶ 292:
!Indefinite
|-
!
| colspan="2" |de
|în (''<nowiki/>'n'')
|-
!Genitive
|des
|der
|îns (''<nowiki/>'ns'')
|}
| style="vertical-align: top" |
{| class="wikitable
|-
!
Line 542 ⟶ 312:
| colspan="2" |dese
|'This', 'these'
|-
!Distal
| colspan="2" |dat
|'That', 'those'
|-
!Possessive
|dies
|dier
|'Their's', 'the latter's'
|}
|}
====Verbs====
{| class="wikitable floatright"
|-
!Tense
!
!Amerikaens
!
!English
|-
! colspan="2" |Infinitive
|''Ît(e)''
|''Eten''
|''(To) eat''
|-
!Present
|Pronoun + verb
|''Ik ît''
|''Ik eet''
|''I eat''
|-
Line 580 ⟶ 350:
|''Ik at''
|''I ate''
|-
!Future
|Pronoun + ''zhal'' + verb
|''Ik zhal ît''
Line 592 ⟶ 364:
|Pronoun + ''dü'' + verb
|''Ik dü ît''
|
| ''I am eating''
|-
!Past
Line 599 ⟶ 371:
|''Ik dîd ît''
|''Ik was aan het eten''
|
|-
!Future
Line 607 ⟶ 379:
|''I will be eating''
|}
Amerikaens is considered a tenseless language as verbs do not have morphological tenses; they do not conjugate or inflect. The infinitive form of the verb is complimented by a pronoun and an auxiliary verb to indicate different tenses.
==See also==
*[[List of languages]]
*[[Amerikaener|Amerikaeners]]
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