#elysiskaa

There are 10 main isoglosses:

The umlauted vowels:

The pronunciation of the vowels ä, ö, y varies

æ ø y: the umlauted vowels are always /æ/ /ø/ /y/

e e iu: ä and ö are /e/, y is /i/ except in a few anharmonic words where it harmonises to /u/

(e e iu): in unstressed syllables behaves as e e iu, otherwise they take their standard values

((e e iu)): in unstressed syllables, short umlauted vowels behave as e e iu, otherwise vowels take their standard values

(((e e iu))): in syllables without primary stress behaves as e e iu, otherwise vowels take their standard values

Consonantal j:

The glides are phonemically divided between vocalic (where it appears after a consonant in the same syllable) and consonantal (all other occurrences)

j: there is no difference in pronunciation between consonantal and vocalic j

š: consonantal j is pronounced /ʃ/

h: consonantal j merges into h

g: consonantal j is pronounced /g/

Ø; consonantal j is dropped completely

Consonantal w:

The glides are phonemically divided between vocalic j (where it appears after a consonant in the same syllable) and consonantal j (all other occurrences)

w: there is no difference between consonantal and vocalic w

f: consonantal w is pronounced /f/

h: consonantal w merges into h

b: consonantal w is pronounced /b/

g: consonantal w is pronounced /g/

Ø: consonantal w is dropped completely

Voicing:

Differing varieties condition voicing in different environments, this is usually only directly represented in the fricatives and the affricate č

1: voicing occurs between vowels (or between a vowel and a vocalic glide), or adjacent to a nasal or voiced stop

V: voicing occurs between vowels (or between a vowel and a vocalic glide) 

N: voicing occurs between vowels (or between a vowel and a vocalic glide), or adjacent to a nasal

D: voicing occurs between vowels (or between a vowel and a vocalic glide), or adjacent to a voiced stop

Velar Nasal ň:

The velar nasal ň has many variant pronunciations

ŋ: ň is always pronounced /ŋ/

m: in clusters with a labial, ň merges into m

n: ň merges into n in all positions

(n): in clusters with a dental, alveolar, or postalveolar, ň merges into n, otherwise it is pronounced /ŋ/

nm: in clusters with a labial, ň merges into m, in clusters with a dental, alveolar, or postalveolar it merges into n, otherwise it is pronounced ŋ

j: ň is always pronounced /j/

(j): ň is pronounced /j/ in voiced positions, and /ŋ/ in all other positions

The Postalveolars š and č:

The postalveolars š and č have several different pronunciations

ʃ tʃ: the postalveolars are pronounced /ʃ/ & /tʃ/ when voiceless and /ʒ/ & /dʒ/ when voiced

s ts: the postalveolars are pronounced /s/ & /ts/ when voiceless and /z/ & /dz/ when voiced

z g: the postalveolars are pronounced /z/ and /g/ in all positions

h th: the postalveolars merge into h and ŝ

j j: the postalveolars merge into j in all positions

(j j): the postalveolars merge into j when voiced and /ʃ/ & /tʃ/ when voiceless

The clusters sj and tj:

In different dialects the clusters sj and tj are pronounced differently

sj tj: sj, tj, & dj are pronounced as the clusters /sj/, /tj/, & /dj/

š č: sj & tj merge into š & č, dj is pronounced /dʒ/

ž dž: sj, tj, & dj are pronounced as /ʒ/, /dʒ/, & /dʒ/

j š: sj merges into j; tj & dj are pronounced /ʃ/ & /ʒ/

j j: sj, tj, & dj merge into j

Voiced h:

The pronunciation of h in voiced positions varies between dialects

h: h is pronounced as h in voiced positions

ɣ: h is pronounced as /ɣ/ in voiced positions

Ø: h is dropped in voiced positions

Voiceless h:

The pronunciation of h in voiceless positions varies between dialects

h: h is pronounced h in voiceless positions in voiceless positions

k: in clusters voiceless h merges into k, otherwise it is /h/

2: in clusters voiceless h leads to gemination of the other consonant, otherwise it is /h/

(2): in clusters voiceless h leads to gemination of a preceding consonant, in all other positions it is /h/

L: voiceless h is lost with lengthening of any preceding vowel, even with intervening consonants

(L): voiceless h is lost with compensatory lengthening if immediately following a vowel, otherwise it is /h/

L2: in clusters, voiceless h is lost with compensatory lengthening of the preceding segment, leaving gemination of a preceding consonant, or lengthening of a preceding vowel; otherwise it is /h/

The dental ŝ:

The dental fricative has varying pronunciations in different dialects

θ: ŝ is pronounced /θ/ when voiceless and /ð/ in voiced positions

s: ŝ merges into s

f: ŝ merges into f

t: ŝ merges into t

h: ŝ merges into h

r: ŝ merges into r

(r): ŝ merges into r in voiced positions, is /θ/ otherwise

l: ŝ merges into l

Consonants

The Latin standard, representing the Kalevalsky variety has the following consonants

All consonants except /w/ & /j/ can be geminated. /h ~ x/ generally appears as /x/, with /h/ occurring word-initially and between vowels when ungeminated. Voicing is only phonemic in the stops, but the fricatives and affricate allophonically voice between vowels (even if followed by a semivowel), or if adjacent to a voiced stop, or nasal.

The Cyrillic standard, representing the Arkhangelsk variety has the following consonants

As in the Kalevalsky variety, all consonants (except /j/) can be geminated, and /h ~ x/ follows the same rules of allophony. /n ~ ŋ/ takes the form /ŋ/ in a cluster with a velar, but is otherwise alveolar. The Arkhangelsk variety (and the Cyrillic standard) shows considerable influence from Russian.

Vowels

Both varieties exhibit the same vowels

Each of these vowels can occur long or short. A word (even many compounds or recent loanwords) will generally only feature vowels of consistent harmony, i.e. it won’t include both front and back vowels. There are a wide array of diphthongs, each with the second element non-syllabic. As most pairs of compatible vowels can occur as diphthongs, it is more helpful to consider syllables with diphthongs as actually containing two vowels in the nucleus. The full set of available diphthongs are shown below

Syllables are of the form (C)(J)V(V)(C) where J is a semivowel. The phonotactics of the semivowels are not entirely simple though, they can occur after a consonant before a long vowel or diphthong, or most intervocalic positions. Stress is always initial, and polysyllabic words are required to have an even number of syllables to maintain trochaic rhythm. This is accomplished through the addition of an additional /e/ at the end of the word, between the stem and ending, or within certain clusters as needed; in some instances this is not possible and those words are allowed an odd number of syllables

Orthography

The Latin orthography uses the basic Latin alphabet with five additional letters (ä, č, ö, ŝ, & š), and five letters (c, q, v, and z) which are only used in loanwords.

<a> represents /ɑ/

<ä> represents /æ/

<b> represents /b/

<c> used in some loanwords to represent /k/ or /s/ before /i/ or /e/

<č> represents /tʃ/

<d> represents /d/

<e> represents /e/

<f> represents /f/

<g> represents /g/ or /tʃ/ in loanwords before /i/ or /e/

<h> represents /h ~ x/

<i> represents /i/

<j> represents /j/

<k> represents /k/

<l> represents /l/

<m> represents /m/

<n> represents /n/

<o> represents /ɔ/

<ö> represents /œ/

<p> represents /p/

<q> used in some loanwords to represent /k/ or the cluster /kw/ when followed by a <u>

<r> represents r

<s> represents /s/

<ŝ> represents /θ/

<š> represents /ʃ/

<t> represents /r/

<u> represents /u/

<v> used in some loanwords to represent /ʋ/, equivalent to native <w>

<w> represents /ʋ/

<x> used in some loanwords to represents the cluster /ks/

<y> represents /y/

<z> used in some loanwords to represents /s/

Any letter except the semivowels can be doubled in order to mark gemination of a consonant, or a long vowel. A sequence of two vowels marks the appropriate diphthong

The Cyrillic orthography

<а> represents /ɑ/

<а̄> represents /ɑ:/

<ӓ> represents /æ/

<ӓ̄> represents /æ:/

<б> represents /b/

<в> represents /v/

<г> represents /g/

<д> represents /d/

<дж> represents /dʒ/

<е> represents /e/

<е̄> represents /e:/

<ж> represents /ʒ/

<з> represents /z/

<и> represents /i/

<ӣ> represents /i:/

<й> represents /j/

<к> represents /k/

<л> represents /l/

<м> represents /m/

<н> represents /n/

<о> represents /ɔ/

<о̄> represents /ɔ:/

<ӧ> represents /œ/

<ӧ̄> represents /œ:/

<п> represents /p/

<р> represents /r/

<с> represents /s/

<т> represents /t/

<у> represents /u/

<ӯ> represents /u:/

<ӱ> represents /y/

<ӱ̄>  represents /y:/

<ф> represents /f/

<х> represents /h ~ x/

<ц> represents the cluster /ts/ in some loanwords

<ч> represents /tʃ/

<ш> represents /ʃ/

<щ> represents the geminate /ʃʃ/ in some loanwords

The Cyrillic orthography mark vowel length with a macron rather than doubling. Geminates are marked by doubling the consonant. The fact vowels can occur with both umlaut and macron diacritics can make it difficult to render correctly in some fonts (including those that tumblr seems to be using here)

Correspondences between the standards

Kalevalsky /h ~ x/ is usually absent in the Arkhangelsk variety surviving only in geminates (which Arkhangelsk reduces to single consonants), and word-initially; otherwise it is dropped with compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel or gemination of the preceding consonant

Kalevalsky /ʃ/ & /tʃ/ are usually preserved in the Arkhangelsk variety, but their voiced allophones are rendered /j/

Kalevalsky /sj/ & /tj/ are palatalised to /ʒ/ & /dʒ/ in the Arkhangelsk variety

otherwise, Kalevalsky /j/ & /w/ are strengthened to the voiced fricatives /ʒ/ & /v/ in the Arkhangelsk dialect

Kalevalsky /θ/ is fronted to /f/ (or /v/ depending on voicing) in the Arkhangelsk variety

Kalevalsky /ŋ/ assimilates to the consonant it is in a cluster with in the Arkhangelsk variety, it is /m/ in clusters with labials, /ŋ/ in clusters with velars, and /n/ otherwise

Kalevalsky geminate fricatives are degeminated in the Arkhangelsk variety introducing phonemic voicing in the fricatives

Sound Changes

The main sound changes in the history of Elyŝiskää from Proto-Indo-European are as follows:

the palatovelars and labiovelars merge into the plain velars with compensatory semivowels /j/ & /w/ added both before and after the stop

laryngeals colour /e/ and lengthen /i/ & /u/

stops become aspirated before a laryngeal

laryngeals between consonants, or between a consonant and the start or end of a word, vocalise to /e/, /a/, or /o/ as in Greek; otherwise they merge into /h/

voiced stops nasalise before a nasal, voiceless stops voice before a nasal, aspirates & fricatives become voiceless stops before a nasal. Before a homorganic nasal, voiceless stops, aspirates, and fricatives nasalise instead of their usual behaviour

aspirates become voiceless fricatives

stressed syllable determines vowel harmony; /i/, /i:/, /e/, & /e:/ set front harmony, /a/, /a:/, /o/, /o:/, /u/, & /u:/ set back harmony

Its speakers predominantly live in Russia, although there are small communities across the border on the Norwegian coast, and upstream in Finland and they largely fish for food. There are two written standards, a Latin standard based on the variety of Kalevalsky in Karelia, which is predominantly used by the Western part of the dialect continuum who are predominantly Lutherans; and a Cyrillic standard based on the variety of Arkhangelsk who are predominantly Orthodox Christians.

The people who would become the speakers of Elyŝiskaa migrated North from the Proto-Indo-European urheimat early on, but remained in contact with Germanic, and Balto-Slavic peoples. They presumably spent some time in the North of the Eurasian steppe, as evidenced by a number of Iranian borrowings. Most significant though is the influence of the neighbouring Uralic languages, particularly the Finnic languages.

Because of this influence, it has developed vowel harmony (with inherited vocabulary deriving their harmony from the syllable stressed in Proto-Indo-European, with the stress later moving to the initial syllable), a trochaic rhythm (where the vast majority of polysyllabic words have an even number of syllables alternating in stress), and a strong restriction on consonant clusters (with syllables restricted to the shapes (J)V(V) C(J)V(V) (J)V(V)C C(J)V(V)C with glides allowed only between vowels, or after a consonant and preceded by two vowels or a long vowel).

It retains all three Indo-European genders, and has three distinct declensions, a thematic declension, an athematic declension, and a consonant declension. Adjectives follow the same nominal morphology and can occur in any of these three declensions, but agree on gender, number, and case. The nominative, accusative, and locative cases are preserved with an innovative comitative case derived from the Indo-European suffix -kʷe (cf Latin -que). Many nominals retain remnants of ablaut with changes in stem between the nominative & accusative cases, and the locative & comitative cases. Genitive phrases are expressed using possessive suffixes derived from pronominal possessive adjectives, and an optional following locative.