Spelling conventions
Traditional Yorkish
The traditional (and to this day still very common) Yorkish spelling is little different from the spelling of Old Yorkish, although in the last century it has received some reform to reflect the modern-day pronunciation and regularise rhyming correspondences. It is also variable, and many common words may have alternate or dialectal spellings that can also be found in the historical corpus.
Alphabet
The traditional alphabet consists of 25 letters.
Code: Select all
Letter | Name | Most common representation(s)
Aa [ɛa] /a ɛa/
Bb [pɪə] /p/
Cc [cçɪə] /c(ç)/
Dd [tɪə] /t/
Ee [ɪə] /ε əi ɪə/
Ff [εf] /f/
Gg [cɪə] /k c/
Hh [ɛac] /h ç/
Ii [ɛi] /ɪ ɛi/
Ʒʒ [jʊək] /j ʲ Ø/
Kk [kʰʊə] /k(ʰ)/
Ll [ɛl] /l/
Mm [ɛm] /m/
Nn [ɛn] /n/
Oo [ʊə] /ɒ ʊə/
Pp [pʰɪə] /p(ʰ)/
Rr [ɒːr] /r/
Ss [ɛs] /s/
Tt [tʰɪə] /t(ʰ)/
Uu [jʏə] /ʊ ʏə/
Vv [fɪə] /f/
Ww [tʰweːvɒld̻ fɪə] /w/
Xx [ɛxs] /ks/
Yy [krɛk ɛi] /ɪ ɛi/
Zz [sɛt] /s j/
The choice between <p t c k> and <b d g> when word-internal is etymological, but the use of <b d g> generally has become more common in the last century, although proscribed in formal and standard usage. Double consonants spelled after a vowel are used to indicate the vowel is short, while singleton consonant spellings indicate the vowel is long, although there are many cases where a singleton spelling after a monograph vowel when ending a word is simply read to indicate a short vowel. eg. <cisse> /cçɪs/, <cuise> /cçʏəs/, but <cet> /cçɛt/.
<x y z> mostly appear in loanwords, but <y> is sometimes also used to reflect the etymological spelling of some native Yorkish words, and <z> is a sometime variant of <ʒ>.
Spelling-to-sound correspondences
When it comes to spelling vowels especially, traditional Yorkish spelling broadly does not reflect the actual pronunciation letter by letter as in continental Nordic usage, but the correspondence is not always unpredictable. There are common practices of spelling with some exceptions.
It must be noted also that there are some common cases where the spelling is defective and multiple sound values correspond to the same spelling; there is no predictable rule to these other than etymological. These cases are sometimes met with alternative spellings.
Code: Select all
Letter(s) | Environment | IPA | Examples
a in stressed syllables (before cons.) + <e> /ɛa/ gate, sae, tale, thae
in stressed syllables before <r> /ɒː/ giare, harthle, igiar
in stressed syllables before mult. cons. /a/ bank, glath, mat, watter
or before word-final cons.
stressed word-final /ɒː/ bra, ma, tha, oʒsa
in unstressed syllables pre-stress /a/ aback, aweʒ
otherwise /ə~ɪ/ annar, aikarn, fella
ai in stressed syllables /ɛa/ aikarn, gait, hwair
historically, but now uncommon /eː/ baithe, haim, laipe
aʒ in stressed syllables /ei~eː/ faʒr
au/w in stressed syllables /ɒː/ braw, daw, aull, lauth
otherwise /ə/ feilaw
e in stressed syllables (before cons.) + <e> /ɪə/ breve, cere, spele, tree
in stressed syllables before mult. cons. /ɛ/ cenne, cet, dreppe, ether, merk
or before word-final cons.
in unstressed syllables pre-stress /ɛ/ ennae
otherwise /ə~ɪ/ druccen, ether, ien, watter
ea in stressed syllables after palatals /ɛa/ geate, sceathe
ei in stressed syllables /əi/ ceike, feithe, meite
/eː/ beithe, geime, leipe, reice
e(i)ʒ in stressed syllables /ei/ eʒ, seʒe, weʒ
eu/w in stressed syllables /ʏə/ beuthe, leuthe
/ɪʊ/ reuke, sʒeuk
i in stressed syllables (before cons.) + <e> /ɛi/ flie, liʒe, sithe, skrive
in stressed syllables before mult. cons. /ɪ/ big, cisse, finne, ill
or before word-final cons.
in unstressed syllables word-finally /i/ forthi
otherwise /ə~ɪ/
iʒ in stressed syllables before stops /ɪç/ biʒt
otherwise /ɛi/
in unstressed syllables word-finally /i/ hwarniʒ
o in stressed syllables (before cons.) + <e> /ʊə/ kone, noe
in stressed syllables before mult. cons. /ɒ/ komme, morʒen, stoppe, thot
or before word-final cons.
ou in stressed syllables /uː/ hous, nou, out
/ʊə/ boue, douth, houth
u in stressed syllables before mult. cons. /ʊ/ guth, kunne, skulle
or before word-final cons.
/ʏ/ druccen, sulten
ui in stressed syllables /ʏə/ bluith, cuise, guith, luith
y in stressed syllables (before cons.) + <e> /ɛi/ bye, styre
in stressed syllables before mult. cons. /ɪ/ bygʒe, cyrre, fylle, nytte
or before word-final cons.
Normalised Yorkish (or Scandinavian Yorkish) as a spelling system was developed in the 1800's as an effort to boost Yorkish cultural prestige in the eyes of the broader European world. It still enjoys official and governmental usage today and is frequently taught to foreigners and migrants as part of their Yorkish language classes, but Normalised Yorkish does not have much popular usage among the broader populace.
Alphabet
The normalised alphabet consists of 31 letters, identical to the Danish alphabet, with additional letters borrowed from Icelandic to represent the dental fricatives lost in Mainland Scandinavian.
Code: Select all
Letter | Name | Most common representation(s)
Aa [ɛa] /a ɛa/
Bb [pɪə] /p/
Cc [sɪə] /k(ʰ) c(ç) s/
Dd [tɪə] /t/
Ðð [εθ] /θ/
Ee [ɪə] /ε əi ɪə/
Ff [εf] /f/
Gg [cɪə] /k c/
Hh [hɒː] /h ç/
Ii [ɛi] /ɪ ɛi/
Jj [jɒθ] /j ʲ Ø/
Kk [kʰɒː] /k(ʰ)/
Ll [ɛl] /l/
Mm [ɛm] /m/
Nn [ɛn] /n/
Oo [ʊə] /ɒ ʊə/
Pp [pʰɪə] /p(ʰ)/
Qq [kʰʊə] /kʰw/
Rr [ɒːr] /r/
Ss [ɛs] /s/
Tt [tʰɪə] /t(ʰ)/
Uu [jʏə] /ʊ ʏə/
Vv [fɪə] /w f/
Ww [tɒbəl fɪə] /w/
Xx [ɛxs] /ks/
Yy [krɛk ɛi] /ɪ ɛi/
Zz [sɛt] /s j/
Þþ [θɒrn] /θ/
Ææ [anər ɛa] /ɛa/
Øø [ʏə] /ʏə/
Åå [ɒː] /ɒː/
Normalised Yorkish follows the rule of writing Yorkish as if it were Danish. This includes adding extra vowels and consonants where they are never sounded in Yorkish because they reflect the phonetic state of affairs in Mainland Scandinavian. Some of these differences don't add up to much, but full sentences in Normalised Yorkish can look very different to the Traditional equivalent.
eg.
TY :
The norwind oʒ the suil war thretten um hwilk war the starker, hwan ei undrer kom wi at sweipt i warm cape.
NY :
Ðen norðenvind og ðen søl var þretten om hvilk var ðen starkere, hvan en undrer kom við at sveipet i varme kjæpe.
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