Sunday, December 30, 2012

Amerysk Grammar from Spraek and Skryf Amerysk

From 'Spraek and Skryf Amerysk' by Paal Filssunu.

Amerysk is similar to its European brethren languages in that it uses a case system to denote the place of the nouns within a sentence or phrase. The articles, as in German, are similarly declined as are the adjectives which describe the nouns.

The verbs are very simple, as most are regularly conjugated with a few irregular exceptions. Two voices are used to denote the current and immediate actions of the person(s) using the verb.

The language is not difficult to master as its relation to English is seen quite clearly. Many words will not be all all foreign to the speaker. The grammar will seem familiar to those who have studied northern languages previously, and are themselves at home with German, Dutch, or any Scandinavian tongue.

This grammar, while by no means exhaustive, is presented as a key to the Amerykan speech so that it can be appreciated for what it is, as opposed to what a lesser tract could do in disservice to the interested individual who seeks to know the language.


INDEFINITE ARTICLE: A, AN

AEN
(a, an, one) is the Amerykan indefinite article, and it is declined according to case modifying the noun which it proceeds:

nominative: aen aen høll a hillaccusative: aen ik sy aen høll I see a hillgenitive: aens syde aens høll side of a hilldative: aenum faerung aenum høll journey to the hillDEFINITE ARTICLE: THE

THE
(the) is the Amerykan definite article singular form.
THE (the) is the Amerykan definite article plural form

As with the indefinite article, the definite article is declined in the manner below:

singular plural
nominative the thaaccusative thaen thagenitive thaes tharadative thaem thaem

EXAMPLES:
the mann
the man tha menn the men
syst thu thaen mann? do you see the man? syst thu tha menn? do you see the men?
the nama thaes mann is... the name of the man is... the naman thara menn the names of the men
ik gaa (til) thaem hus I'm going (to) to the house. wy gaan (til) thaem huse We're going (to) to the houses.


PRONOUNS AND DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES

PERSONAL PRONOUNS
I you he she it we you they
nominative ik thu hy hje hit wy jy hjeaccusative myg thyg hine haar hit us ju hjengenitive myn thyn his haar his wur jur hjeradative my thy him haar him us ju hjemDUAL FORMS

We Two You Two
nominative wyt jytaccusative wyt jytgenitive unser inserdative uns insCASE FUNCTION WITH PRONOUNS
ik gaa I am going
syst thu myg? do you see me?
myn hus my house
gyf't* my! give it to me!

* gyf't is a contraction of gyf hit (give it)

RELATIVE PRONOUN: SIK (self)
ik waske sik I wash myself
hje syth sik she sees herself
wy yrren sik we're angering ourselves

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN: THE (that, which, who)
ik haebbe aen hund
the bjarkath I have a dog that barks/ which barks/ who barks
wy finden thaen fynd
the haeth this gedøn we're finding the fiend who did this

INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS HWA (who) HWELK (which)
nominative hwa hwelk hwa aert thu? who are you? hwelk is this? which is this?accusative hwaen hwelk ik sy hwaen is hjaer I see who is heregenitive hwaes hwelkes hwaes hus is this? whose house is this?dative hwaem hwelke hwelke staed skul ik gaan? to which city should I go?

DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES
this that these those
nominative this thaet thaas thaaaccusative this thaet thaas thaagenitive thisse thaes thaasa thaaradative thisse thaem thaase thaem

VERBSAll verbs have an infinitive form which normally ends in -n, -an, or (i)jan
GAAN
to go FINDAN to find MAAKJAN to make OFFRIJAN to offer
In order to get the stem for conjugation, merely drop the infinitive ending:Stems: GAA FIND MAAK OFFRPERSONAL ENDINGS: different personal endings are attached to the verb stem according to what person is using the verb, and there are two essential verb forms.

PRESENT TENSE VERB ENDINGS

ik gaa (no ending necessary) I go, am going ik gaa I am going
thu gaast (+st) you go thu gaa you are going
hy gaath (+th) he goes hy gaa he is going
wy gaath (+th) we go wy gaan we are going (+n)

ik finde (+e) I find, am finding ik finde I am finding (+e)
thu findest (+est) you find thu finde you are finding (+e)
hy finde (+e) he finds hy finde he is finding (+e)
wy findath (+ath) we find wy finden we are finding (+en)

maak is conjugated in the same manner above: maake, maakest, maakath/maake, maaken

ik offre
(+e) I offer, am offering ik offre I am offering (+e)
thu offrest (+est) you offer thu offre you are offering (+e)
hy offrath (+ath) he offers hy offre he is offering (+e)
wy offrath (+ath) we offer wy offren we are offering (+en)

THE PAST TENSE
Using the helper verb HAE, combined with the prefix GE+ on the infinitive form of the verb, the past can be constructed:
ik hae ge/gaan I went, have gone
ik hae ge/findan I found, have found
ik hae ge/maakjan I made, have made HAEST is used with thu
ik hae ge/offrijan
I offered, have offered HAETH is used with hy, hje, hit, wy, jy, hje

thu haest gegaan
you went wy haeth gegaan we went
thu haest gemaakjan you made wy haeth gemaakjan we made
thu haest geoffrijan you offered we haeth geoffrijan we offered

Do not use prefix GE+ in front of verbs which already have BE+ or GE+!e.g. ik hae beginnan (I began, have begun) ik hae gelyfan (I believed, have believed)

THE FUTURE TENSE The present tense form -e/-en serves as basic future tense, although the future form for be, SJE can be used with the infinitive form as HAE is with the past tense: ik sje gaan (I shall go) thu sje gaan (you shall go) and so forth.

NEGATIVES: Use nyt (not) after the verb: ik gaa nyt! I'm not going
ik sje gaan nyt I shall not go
ik hae gegaan nyt I haven't gone

QUESTIONS: invert the pronoun/verb order: gaath hy? does he go/is he going?
hwaet maakest thu? what do you make?


NOUNSNouns come with a variety of forms, and their plural forms are just as varied. Unlike English, which uses -s on is plural in the most general sense, Amerykan nouns use three basic endings, -as, -an, and -e. There are of course other forms as well, but these three are the major forms:

baat boat baatas boats
bøm tree bømas trees
daeg day daegas days -AS plural
fugl bird fuglas birds
skøg shoe skøgas shoes

knapa boy knapan boys
nama name naman names
tunge tongue tungan tongues -AN plural
wyke warrior wykan warriors
tyma time tyman times

As * deity Ase deities (*Aesir--- Sky Gods)
Waen ** deity Waene deities (**Vanir---- Earth Gods)
Asen*** Goddess Asynje Goddesses -E plural (***Aesir Sky Goddesses)
fjørth fjord fjørthe fjords
skild shield skilde shields
haelf half haelfe halves

mann man menn men
baern child baern child
ey island eyjar islands irregular plurals
faar sheep faar sheep
village bør villages
GENERAL: Most nouns have the same genitive plural form, +A:
bømafjeld
"field of trees"
wyjaholm "warriors' isle"
Asagaerd Asgard/"Gods' Home"
Mennahaam "Men-Home"
Faaraeyjar "Sheep's Isles: Faeroe Islands"
(Note the single word constructions above in the formation of words and names!)

ADJECTIVESAdjectives modify nouns and are declined just like nouns in order to agree in case and number (singular or plural):
GRØT large LØTT little

nominative grøt løtt grøte løtteaccusative grøt løtt singular grøte løtte plural
genitive grøte løtte grøta løttadative grøte løtte grøta løttaEXAMPLES: the grøt hus the large house tha grøte huse the large houses
ik sy aen grøt hus I see a large house ik sy grøte huse I see large houses
the toft thaes grøte hus the roof of the large house
tha tofte thara grøta huse the rooves of the large houses
ik gaa til thaem løtte hus I'm going to the little house

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES: high high/er high/estAdjectives generally take on suffixes -ra and -ast

høg
high høgra higher høgast highest
laaw low laawra lower laawast lowest
gød good betra better betst best --- irregular form

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