Valthungian

Valthungian is an East Germanic language descended from a language that was probably mutually intelligible with Gothic, though much of its corpus cannot have been inherited from the language of Wulfila. It is likely, however, that the speakers of the ancestor of Valthungian did consider themselves Goths (or Gutai or Gutþiudōs), and that their language was mutually intelligible with other dialects of Gothic. The Valthungian relationship to “Classical Gothic” can be thought of as analogous to the relationship between Modern High German and Old High German – that is, not a direct lineage, but the modern languages are descended from neighboring dialects spoken by people who would likewise have considered themselves to be “Gutisks,” in the case of Valthungian, or “Diotisk” in the case of German.

While Valthungian shares many of the areal changes common to North and West Germanic languages, it is also marked by distinctive changes in palatalisation, which, while similar to those of Old English, are most likely influenced by contact with Romance and Slavic languages. Modern Valthungian can be traced back to Middle Valthungian (spoken from around 1200‒1600ᴀᴅ) through Old Valthungian (800‒1200ᴀᴅ) and ultimately to Griutungi, which would likely have been thought of as a dialect of Gothic (400‒800ᴀᴅ).

The name “Valthungian” comes from the name Walðungas meaning “Forest-dweller,” likely related to the Thervingians (idem), though the Valthungian people refer to themselves as Grējutungišk, which is probably from an earlier Griutuggs (the name of an Ostrogothic tribe living along the northern shore of the Black Sea), but which underwent some semantic reanalysis over the generations and came to mean ‘the grey-tongued ones’. In turn, they call their language Grējutungiška Rasta ‘Grey-tonguish Language’ or just Sō Grējuga Tunga ‘the Grey Tongue’.

Writing System

Alphabet & Pronunciation

Here I give the traditional Valthungian letters followed by the romanisation I use for them in the second row. The romanisation is used throughout this article.

IPA Name Name Meaning A a [ɑ] aska ‘ash’ Ǣ ǣ [e̞ː] ǣjus ‘horse’ B b [b] breka ‘birch’ G g [ɡ] giva ‘gift’ Ǧ ǧ [ʤ] ǧus ‘beast’ D d [d̪] daǧ ‘day’ Ð ð [ð] ǣði ‘mother’ E e [e̞] eǧa ‘blade’ Ž ž [ʒ] akuže ‘axe’ H h [h~x] hagla ‘hail’ Þ þ [θ] þronus ‘thorn’ I i [i] igil ‘hedgehog’ J j [j] jēr ‘year’

IPA Name Name Meaning K k [k~kʰ] kune ‘family’ L l [l̪] lagus ‘lake’ M m [m] matna ‘person’ N n [n̪] nǭþs ‘need’ O o [o̞] ore ‘riverbank’ P p [p~pʰ] preðra ‘chance’ R r [r] rǣða ‘wheel’ S s [s] sōgila ‘sun’ Š š [ʃ] šuge ‘colour ’ T t [t̪~t̪ʰ] tījus ‘Teu ’ Č č [ʧ] čus ‘choice ’ U u [u] ungula ‘owl’ V v [v] ivra ‘boar’

IPA Name Name Meaning F f [f] fǣjo ‘cattle’ W w [w] wynia ‘joy’ Œ œ [ø̞̞] rœča ‘farmer’ Y y [y] ynča ‘ounce’ Ǭ ǭ [o̞ː] ǭsus ‘ox’ Non-Alphabetic Variants Ā ā [ɑː] āde ‘egg’ Ē ē [ɑi̯] ēmate ‘ant’ Ī ī [iː] īs ‘ice’ Ō ō [ɑu̯] ōðla ‘estate’ Ū ū [uː] ūrus ‘aurochs’ Œ̄ œ̄ [ø̞ː] œ̄ža ‘fortune’ Ȳ ȳ [yː] ȳfti ‘custom’

Though the seven long vowels of the Non-Alphabetic Variants have individual names, they are not considered to be part of the standard alphabet or alphabetical order. Instead, each long vowel is considered alphabetically to be the equivalent of its doubled short counterpart. That is, 〈ā〉 is equivalent to 〈aa〉, 〈ē〉 to 〈ee〉, 〈ī〉 to 〈ii〉, and so on. (The long vowels 〈ǣ〉 and 〈ǭ〉 are included in the standard alphabetical order, and do not have short forms, though they are written with macrons in their romanised forms.)

(NB: The Valthungian alphabet, while mainly latin- and cyrillic-based, contains several characters which are not readily representable using the standard Unicode characters. The forms presented in this wiki are a Romanisation of the letters shown in the table above.)

Orthography

The orthography of Valthungian is quite regular to its phonology; indeed, there are very few exceptions:

1. The letter 〈n〉 is used before 〈g〉 or 〈k〉 to indicate the velar nasal [ŋ]. Specifically, 〈ng〉 is [ŋg] and 〈nk〉 is [ŋk]. (E.g. drinkna [driŋk.na] ‘to drink’.)
2. In combinations where 〈ng〉 is followed by another nasal consonant, [g] is elided in speech: 〈ngm〉 is [ŋm] and 〈ngn〉 is [ŋn]. (E.g. gangna [gaŋ.na] ‘to go’; not **[gaŋg.na].) In rapid speech this may also occur to the other nasal-stop combinations 〈mbn〉, 〈mbm〉, 〈ndm〉, and 〈ndn〉; sometimes the stop may also become glottal.
3. The combination 〈rju〉 is realised as [rɛu̯] (rather than the expected [rju]). (E.g. frjusna [frɛu̯s.na] ‘to freeze’.)
4. The diphthong 〈eu〉 is realised as [ɛu̯] (rather than the expected [e̞u̯]). (E.g. sneugna [snɛu̯g.na] ‘to snow’.)
5. The diphthong 〈œu〉 is realised as [œy̑] (rather than the expected [ø̞u̯]).
6. For some speakers, word-final 〈þs〉 may be realised as [t̪s].
7. For some speakers, medial 〈tl〉 (usually derived from earlier /ll/) may be realised as [dɮ].
8. Inexplicably, the letter wynia, while quite regular in and of itself, has a rather irregular romanisation. It is sometimes romanised quite regularly as ⟨w⟩, but frequently it is rendered as ⟨v⟩ when initial and ⟨u⟩ when non-initial. Since ⟨v⟩ representing /v/ does not occur word-initially, this is not an issue, but when prefixes get involved, it can sometimes be ambiguous. E.g. vœrčin ‘to render’ → gavœrčin ‘idem’.

Stress is indicated in the standard orthography with an acute accent only if:

1. The stress is not on the first syllable.

   (By default, stress falls on the primary syllable.)

2. The stressed vowel is short.

   (All unstressed long vowels were reduced to short vowels in the Middle Valthungian period.)

3. The stressed vowel is not 〈œ〉 or 〈y〉.

   (The rounded front vowels can only occur as the result of i-umlaut, which could only arise from a stressed vowel.)

For example, fergúne ‘mountain’, ǧupsténǧin 'to set upright'; but garǣts ‘correct’ or gavœrčin ‘to handle’.

Ligatures & Liaisons

When two like vowels of equal value come together, the words may form a ligature. This is most common with the articles (sā + a-, sō + u-, etc.) and particles (e.g nī + i-).

• Articles
  • Mandatory:
    • sā, huā, tuā + a-, ā- → s·ā-, hu·ā-, tu·ā-
      • sā aplas → s·āplas, ‘the apple’
      • tuā aðna → tu’āðna ‘two seasons’
    • sō, þō, hō + u-, ō- → s·ō-, þ·ō-, h·ō-
      • sō uréča → s·ōréča, ‘the persuit’
      • sō ōs → s·ōs, ‘the ewe’
    • þǣ, tuǣ + e-, ǣ- → þ·ǣ-, tu·ǣ-
      • þǣ ǣjus → þ·ǣjus ‘the horses’
      • tuǣ elis → tu·ǣlis ‘two others’
    • nī, þrī, hī + i-, ī- → n·ī-, þr·ī-, h·ī-
      • nī ist → n·īst, ‘isn’t’
      • hī īsran → h·īsran ‘this iron’
  • Optional:
    • sō, þō + V- → su·V-, þu·V-
      • sō akuže, su·akuže ‘the axe’
      • þō ī, þu·ī ‘those which’

Orthographic Variants

There are a few regional and stylistic variations in the orthography of Valthungian romanisation.

• In some areas, rather than indicating non-initial stress by placing an acute diacritic on the stressed vowel, the vowel of the initial unstressed syllable is marked with a grave diacritic. This is not standard anywhere, but is often used in children’s books and language learning tools, as it is a more consistent indicator of stress than the acute, which is not deployed over long vowels or rounded front vowels. It is often used in combination with the acute stress system, and the acute may also be used on otherwise exempt characters. E.g.:
  • ǧupspríngna ‘to leap up’ → ǧùpspringna or ǧùpspríngna
  • gadrynis ‘symphony’ → gàdrynis or gàdrýnis
  • miðlǣði ‘sympathy’ → mìðlǣði or mìðlǣ́ði (sometimes mìðlǽði)
• ⟨w⟩ may be used in place of word-initial ⟨v⟩ or pre-vocalic ⟨u⟩ to represent /w/ as a more direct transliteration of the letter vynia. There is no logical or efficient reason for this transliteration to be split up the way it is in the standard language: Its existence is purely aesthetic, and many people are not as interested in aesthetics as efficiency.
• Conversely, there are some who romanise jēr as ⟨i⟩ rather than as ⟨j⟩, likely out of spite towards those who use ⟨w⟩ as above.

Phonology

Vowels

	Short Vowels			Long Vowels			Diphthongs
	Front	Back		Front	Back		Front	Back
Closed	i · y [i · y]	u [u]		ī · ȳ [iː · yː]	ū [uː]	Closed-to-
Mid	e · œ [e̞ · ø̞]	o [o̞]		ǣ · œ̄ [e̞ː · ø̞ː]	ǭ [o̞ː]	Mid-to-	œu [œy̑]	eu [ɛu̯]
Open		a [ɑ]			ā [ɑː]	Open-to-	ē [ai̯]	ō, au [au̯]

Consonants

(Pardon the compactified consonant table. I know it doesn't quite all line up “properly,” but it does make more sense this way as regards the Valthungian language. If in doubt, rely on the transcription and not the row or column.)

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Dorsal
Plosive	p · b [p~pʰ · b]	t · d [t̪~t̪ʰ · d̪]		č · ǧ [ʧ · ʤ]	k · g [k~kʰ · g]
Nasal	· m [m]	· n [n̪]			· n1 [ŋ]
Fricative	f · v [f · v]	ð · þ [ð · θ]	s · [s]	š · ž [ʃ · ʒ]	h · [h]
Approximant	· w/u [w]	· l [l̪]	· r [r~ɾ]	· j [j]

¹Before 〈g〉 or 〈k〉.

[r]-Assimilation

This is a persistent rule that does not have much effect on declensions within the language, but does have some effect on the development of certain words. This rule is described in the Rules chapter of this document in Assimilation of [ɾ]. Specifically, /r/ is deleted when immediately followed by /ž/. For example, the possessive adjective inkur ‘your’, from earlier *inkwar /inkwar/ (cf. Gothic igqar), has the genitive plural form inkuža from earlier *inkwarǣzō /inkwarɛːzoː/ (Gothic igqaraizō) rather than the otherwise expected **inkurža. Similarly, *marzjan ‘to offend’ and *borza /bɔrza/ ‘perch, bass’ → mežin, boža.

Voicing Alternation

This rule is inherited from Proto-Germanic. The rule is not persistent, but the variation in forms still affects the inflections of nouns, verbs, and adjectives in Valthungian. (A similar v/f alternation rule exists in English, for example in singular knife and plural knives, or the noun strife and the verb strive.) The Gothic version of this rule caused alternation between 〈f〉 or 〈þ〉, used only at the end of a word or before an unvoiced consonant, and 〈b〉 or 〈d〉, used elsewhere, e.g. giban, ‘to give’, gaf, ‘gave’. There are three main realisations of this rule in Valthungian:

• v → f
• ð → þ } at the end of a word, or before an unvoiced consonant.
• ž → s

The implications of this rule for Valthungian are:

• 〈f〉 or 〈þ〉 occur before 〈s〉 in the nominative singular of masculine or some feminine strong nouns, e.g. þlǣfs ‘loaf of bread’, but genitive þlǣvis.
• 〈f〉 or 〈þ〉 occur when word-final in the accusative of masculine or some feminine strong nouns, and the nominative and accusative of neuter strong nouns, e.g. blōþ ‘blood’, but genitive blōðis.
• 〈f〉 occurs when word-final or before 〈t〉 in the preterit singular and the second person imperative singular of strong verbs, e.g. gaf, gaft, ‘gave’, but infinitive givna.
• 〈þ〉 also occurs when word-final in the preterit singular and imperative, but is assimilated to 〈s〉 before 〈t〉 in the second person preterit (see Coronal Consonant Assimilation below), e.g. biǧin ‘to bid’ has the first- and third-person preterit baþ but second-person bast.
• The implications for 〈s〉 and 〈ž〉 can be a little trickier, because this split was not uniform in Gothic, and intervocalic /s/ was not later voiced (as it was in many other Germanic languages, leveling out this particular conundrum), so many words retain 〈s〉 throughout the paradigm. These are noted in the lexicon.

Please note that because this rule is not persistent, there are several words which later developed an intervocalic 〈f〉 or 〈þ〉 from earlier 〈h〉 which is not affected by this rule.

Palatalisation

Palatalisation is another historic rule that is no longer persistent in Valthungian, but has wide-ranging implications for inflections in Valthungian. There are actually several types of palatalisation that occur in Valthungian, but they can all be boiled down into the following rules:

• Masculine and feminine nouns whose roots end in 〈d〉 or 〈g〉 become palatalised before 〈s〉 in the nominative singular of a-, i-, and u-stems (but not feminine ō-stems). E.g. Griutungi *dags ‘day’, *gards ‘yard’ become daǧ, garǧ. This type of palatalisation only occurs when there was a /dz/ or /gz/ present in the language at some point historically (from Griutungi/Gothic /ds/ or /gs/).
• A much more common form of palatalisation, however, is that which occurs whenever the ending of a noun, verb, or adjective begins with 〈j〉, e.g. strong masculine ja-stem nouns or adjectives or class 1 weak verbs. In these cases, the following occurs:
  • d or g + j → ǧ
  • t or k + j → č
  • s or h + j → š
  • z + j → ž (Actually, all instances of 〈z〉 eventually became 〈ž〉, but that’s not applicable to this section.)

Palatalisation of the latter type usually goes hand in hand with Umlaut, below.

[b]/[v] Alternation

A less common alternation is that of 〈b〉 and 〈v〉. This occurs in the same environment as the second type of palatalisation (above), but instead of a true palatalisation, instead there is a shift of 〈v〉 to 〈b〉; or, more accurately, some paradigms without an original 〈j〉 are able to shift from 〈b〉 to 〈v〉 when intervocalic, but those with 〈j〉 are blocked from spirantizing.

For example, the adjective drœ̄vis ‘muddy’ (from Griutungi *drōbīs, cf. Gothic drōbeis) has the dative singular form drœ̄bia (from *drōbja).

Umlaut

Umlaut is another of those sound laws that no longer happens actively in the language, but it has become indicative of specific tenses or cases in the language.

• The accusative singular of nouns with palatalisation are not umlauted. All other forms of nouns with palatalisation are umlauted.
• The past subjunctive of verbs is umlauted (except for the 3rd person singular in formal speech). (First person singular is palatalised and umlauted.)
• Most class 1 weak verbs and strong verbs ending in –jan in Gothic have umlaut in the present and imperative. These verbs all end with –in in Valthungian.

Umlaut in Valthungian initiates the following changes in the stressed vowel of a word:

• a → e - *satjan ‘to set’ → sečin
• ā → ǣ - *hlahjan ‘to laugh’ → þlǣn
• ǭ (Got. 〈áu〉) → œ̄ - *hǭsjan ‘to hear’ → hœ̄šin
• o (Got. 〈aú〉) → œ - *þorsjan ‘to thirst’ → þœršin
• ō → œu - *hwōtjan ‘to threaten’ → huœučin
• u → y - *hugjan ‘to think’ → hyǧin
• ū → ȳ - *hrūkjan ‘to crow’ → þrȳčin

NB: The word “Umlaut” can refer to several different types of vowel change in Germanic languages – i/j-umlaut, u/w-umlaut, and a-umlaut most commonly – but only one type ever occurred in Valthungian: Umlaut here is used to refer specifically to i/j-umlaut, also known as i-umlaut, front umlaut, or i-mutation.

Coronal Consonant Assimilation

This rule has a formidable name, but is actually common to all Germanic languages. This rule states that whenever a coronal consonant (namely, d, t, or þ) is directly followed by 〈t〉 or 〈st〉, the coronal consonant becomes s. This accounts for the English word best, from earlier betst, from *batest. This applies mainly to second person preterit strong verbs, e.g. ǧutna ‘to pour’ and biǧin ‘to bid’ have a second person preterit of gǭst ‘you poured’ and bast ‘you bade’, rather than the otherwise expected **gǭtt and **baþt.

Blocking of Metathetical Unpacking

Another formidable name, but what this means is that at various times historically, sound changes caused unstressed /a/ to disappear before sonorants (/l/, /r/, /m/, or /n/), turning them into syllabics. This happened at least once before the Gothic era, giving rise to words like bagms and aþn, and again before Valthungian, most notably collapsing the infinitive -an to -n. Later on, syllabics were “unpacked;” that is, they regained the /a/ that had been lost, but it now appeared after the sonorant instead of before it. For example, *brōþar ‘brother’ became brōðra via an intermediate */brōðr̩/. However, there are a few instances where this unpacking didn’t happen because the restoration of 〈a〉after the sonorant would have rendered the word unpronounceable. This metathesis (which, in reality, is not really metathesis, but that’s what I’m calling it for now) is also blocked after any non-intervocalic voiced continuant; that is, V[v/ð]S shifts as expected (e.g. *widan > *wiðn̩ > viðna), but VC[v/ð]S does not (e.g. *haldan > halðan, not **halðna).

The practicality of this rule as it applies to modern Valthungian is that:

• Dative plural a-stem nouns whose roots end in 〈–m〉 have the ending of 〈–am〉 rather than 〈–ma〉, e.g. vorms ‘worm’ has the dative plural of vormam rather than **vormma.
• Masculine strong a-stem nouns ending in 〈–n〉 have the the dative plural ending of 〈–am〉 (as above) and the accusative plural ending of 〈–ans〉 rather than 〈–nas〉, e.g. ǭns ‘oven’ has the dative plural of ǭnam and the accusative plural of ǭnans rather than **ǭnma and **ǭnnas.
• Infinitives of strong verbs and weak class 3 verbs whose stems end with 〈lð〉, 〈lv〉, 〈rð〉, or 〈rv〉 have 〈–an〉 instead of 〈–na〉, e.g. *þorban becomes þorvan rather than the otherwise expected **þorvna.
• The third person plural indicative of strong verbs and weak class 3 verbs end in -anþ rather than **naþ.

Assimilation of [r] and [s]

Historically, this is a sound change that occurred in the transition from Proto-Germanic to Gothic and is no longer persistent, but it has specific reflexes that affect Valthungian paradigms.

The change initially applies to “light”-syllable nouns with stems ending in 〈-s〉 or 〈-r〉 in the masculine and feminine classes that take a final 〈-z〉 in the nominative singular. E.g. PGmc. *weraz, *drusiz → (Mora Loss: Short Unstressed Vowel Deletion) → *werz, *drusz → (Final Obstruent Devoicing) → *wers, *druss → (r/s-Assimilation) → Griutungi wer; Gothic waír /wer/, drus.

Later, beginning around the time of Middle Valthungian, this change was expanded analogously to other nouns and adjectives which had “heavy” syllables, and eventually the rule emerged that nouns and adjectives ending in 〈-r〉 and 〈-s〉 do not take an (additional) 〈-s〉 in the nominative singular, though they otherwise follow the paradigm of their particular stem. (E.g. *bērs → bēr ‘boar’, *stiur → sčur ‘steer’. One notable example of this phenomenon is the Germanic tersaz ‘mentula’ which became *ters in Griutungi, but was then reanalyzed as an exception to the original r-rule (instead of the s-rule that it actually is), and eventually it became ter in Valthungian. It remains, however, an unkind word.)

Affix Anaptyxis

When a prefix ends in the same letter as the root, /a/ is inserted to break up the resulting geminate. /a/ may also be added to avoid awkward consonant clusters. Some of the most frequent are:

• af+f: Griutungi *affilhan → afafílþna ‘to hide away’
• fer+r: Griutungi *ferrinnan → ferarítnan ‘to attain’
• un+n: Griutungi *unnutans → unanútans ‘unused; useless’

However, the prefix us- becomes ut-: Griutungi *ussandjan → utsenǧin ‘to send out’

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

The genitive pronouns form the base of the possessive determiners, but the third person non-reflexive genitives are never inflected. The third person singular and plural reflexive pronouns are identical. The non-singular pronouns may also take a reciprocal particle mīsa, roughly equivalent to ‘each other’ or ‘one another.’

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
1sg	ik	mīn	mis	mik	I, my, (to) me, me
2sg	þū	þīn	þis	þik	thou, thy, (to) thee, thee
3sg.masc	is	is	itma	in	he, his, (to) him, him
3sg.neu	it			it	it, its, (to) it, it
3sg.fem	sī	ižas	iža	ī, iža	she, her, (to) her, her
3sg.refl	-	sīn	sis	sik	himself, herself, itself, &c
1du	wit	unkar	unkis	unk	we two, our, (to) us, us
2du	ǧut	inkur	inkus	inko	you/ye two, your, (to) you, you
1pl	wīs	unsar	unsis	uns	we all, our, (to) us, us
2pl	jūs	ižur	ižus	ižus	you/ye all, your, (to) you, you
3pl.masc	īs	iža	im	ins	they, their, (to) them, them
3pl.neu	ī, iža			ī, iža
3pl.fem	ižas			ižas
3pl.refl	-	sīn	sis	sik	themselves

Indefinite Pronouns

The interrogative and negative pronouns can take the adverbial complement hun, which gives them the sense of ‘any’. Additionally, the interrogative pronouns may double as elective pronouns. For example, huat ‘what’ or ‘something’; huat hun ‘anything’.

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
inter.masc	huas	huis	huatma	huan	who, whose, to whom, whom
inter.neu	huat			huat	what, &c
inter.fem	huō	huižas	huiža	huō	who, &c
gen.	guma	gumins	gumin	gumna	one, one’s, &c
univ.masc	huažu	huižu	huatmaþ	huanu	everyone, everyone’s, &c
univ.neu	huā			huā	everything, everything’s, &c
univ.fem	huōþ		huižaþ	huōþ	everyone, everyone’s, &c
neg.masc	nījus	nījus	nījutma	nījun	noöne, noöne’s, &c
neg.neu	nījut			nījut	nothing, nothing’s, &c

Distributive Pronouns

The distributive pronouns are non-singular pronouns formed when the personal pronouns were fused with the distributive particles huaðru ‘each of two’ and huerižu ‘each of many’. In most forms they have now become inseparable from their root components; e.g. compare the dual genitive second person inkur and distributive huaðrižu, but the distributive pronoun inkuáðrižu. While the distributives as determiners, by definition, take a singular verb, the distributive pronouns take the non-singular verb of their respective pronouns, e.g. Aplas huerižu gatiða itnas ‘Each apple was eaten’, but Īshuerižu gatiðun itna ‘Each of them was eaten’.

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
1du	withuáðru	unkuáðrižu	unkuáðratmaþ	unkuáðranaþ	each of the two of us
2du	ǧuthuaðru	inkuaðrižu	inkuaðratmaþ	inkuaðranaþ	each of the two of you
1pl	wīshuerižu	unshuerižu	unshueritmaþ	unshuerinaþ	each of us
2pl	jūshuerižu	ižurhuerižu	ižushueritmaþ	ižushuerinaþ	each of you
3pl.masc	īshuerižu	ižahuerižu	imhueritmaþ	inshuerinaþ	each of them
3pl.neu	ižashueritaþ			ižashueritaþ	each of them
3pl.fem	ižahueriþ			ižahueriþ	each of them

Numbers

Declinable Numerals

Singular (‘one’)

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	ǣns	ǣnis	ǣnatma	ǣnan
neu.	ǣn(at)			ǣn(at)
fem.	ǣna	ǣnažas	ǣna	ǣna

Dual (‘two, both’)

	Numeral					Distributive (short)					Distributive (long)
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	tuǣ	tuǣǧa	tuǣm	tuans		bǣ	bǣǧa	bǣm	bans		bežiþs	bežiðaža	bežiðum	bežiðans
neu.	tuā			tuā		bā			bā		bežiða			bežiða
fem.	tuōs			tuōs		bōs			bōs		bežiþs			bežiþs

Trial (‘three, all three’)

	Numeral					Distributive
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	þrīs	þrīja	þrim	þrins		þrǣ	þrǣža	þrǣm	þrans
neu.	þrī			þrī		þrā			þrā
fem.	þrīs			þrins		þreǧis			þreǧis

Undeclinable Numerals

	#	1#	2#	#0	#00	#000	#000
0	(nǣns)	tǣjun, tǣn	tuǣtiǧis	-tiǧis	tēhund	þūsunde	-ljǭn
1	(ǣns)	ǣnlif	tuǣtiǧis ǣns	tǣjun	ǣn hund	ǣna þūsunde	miljǭn
2	(tuǣ)	tualif	tuǣtiǧi tuǣ	tuǣtiǧis	tuā hunda	tuōs þūsunǧis	biljǭn
3	(þrīs)	þrižatǣn	tuǣtiǧi þrīs	þrīstiǧis	þriža hunda	þrīs þūsunǧis	þriljǭn
4	fiður, fiðra	fiðratǣn	tuǣtiǧi fiður	fiðratiǧis	fiður hunda	fiður þūsunǧis	friljǭn
5	fim	fimfatǣn	tuǣtiǧi fim	fimtiǧis	fim hunda	fim þūsunǧis	fimfiljǭn
6	sǣs	sǣstatǣn	tuǣtiǧi sǣs	sǣstiǧis	sǣs hunda	sǣs þūsunǧis	sǣsiljǭn
7	sivun, sivna	sivnatǣn	tuǣtiǧi sivun	sivnatiǧis	sivun hunda	sivun þūsunǧis	sivniljǭn
8	āta	ātatǣn	tuǣtiǧis āta	ātatiǧis	āta hunda	āta þūsunǧis	ātatiljǭn
9	njun	njunatǣn	tuǣtiǧi njun	njuntiǧis	njun hunda	njun þūsunǧis	njuniljǭn

The numbers in Valthungian – as in most languages – have gone through more phonological change than other words, and as a result, there are some irregularities. Four numbers have two forms (some of which may be optional). There is also an innovated trial distributive (‘all three’), probably by assimilation from the dual (‘both’). The number ‘one’, usually alternating with the indefinite article in most languages, is used merely for counting purposes, as an indefinite article is not used in Valthungian.

The number ‘four’ is fiður, where we would normally expect **fidur through regular sound change (specifically, the change of /d/ to /ð/ would normally be blocked by the following /w/ in *fidwōr). There is also a further lenited form of fiðra, which is optional when it stands alone, but required in compounds. (Gothic also had two versions of ‘four’: fidwōr and a compound form fidur.)

The number ‘seven’ has the expected form of sivun, but also a lenited form of sivna, again, required in compounds but otherwise optional. ‘Eight’ is āta, but may optionally be lenited to āt. (This is a newer innovation, and is not considered to be correct in writing.) Finally ‘ten’ is tǣjun or lenited tǣn, the latter being used exclusively in the “teen” numbers, the former being preferred elsewhere, though still optional.

For compounding numbers, Griutungi and Gothic separated each of the number’s components with the word jah (‘and’, now jā), but Valthungian has dispensed with this and now uses i – believed to be a shortened form of jā – only before the last component. For numbers ending with –tiǧis, a further contraction has become standard, and it is shortened to –tiǧi, e.g. þrīstiǧi fim ‘thirty-five’. Hund becomes hundi and hunda is also contracted to hund·i, þūsunde to þūsund·i, and þūsunǧis to þūsunǧi. (Note the lack of apostrophic interpunct in -tiǧi, hundi, and þūsunǧi.) No -i- is added before numbers beginning with a vowel, i.e. ǣn- and āta.

Number terms higher than ‘thousand’ are ostensibly borrowed from Latin, though they contain their own Germanic innovations, e.g. þriljǭn ‘trillion’, fiðriljǭn ‘quadrillion’, fimfiljǭn ‘quintillion’, instead of the expected **triljǭn, **kuaðriljǭn, and **kuintiljǭn.

Another note concerning the higher numbers: Valthungian follows the short scale for higher numbers (whereas most European countries currently use the long scale); that is, each new number term is one thousand times larger than the previous term (whereas in the long scale, each new term is one million times larger). This is further confused by the now-standard European “hybrid” model where intermediate terms in the long scale are applied to the “thousands” with the suffix ‘-ard’. The following table is applicable to most modern standards:

N⁰	Numerals	Valthungian	Short	Hybrid	Long	Metric
10³	1,000	þūsunde	thousand			kilo
10⁶	1,000,000	miljǭn	million			Mega
10⁹	1,000,000,000	biljǭn	billion	milliard	thousand million	Giga
10¹²	1,000,000,000,000	þriljǭn	trillion	billion	billion	Tera
10¹⁵	1,000,000,000,000,000	fiðriljǭn	quadrillion	billiard	thousand billion	Peta
10¹⁸	1,000,000,000,000,000,000	fimfiljǭn	quintillion	trillion	trillion	Exa
10²¹	1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000	sǣsiljǭn	sextillion	trilliard	thousand trillion	Zetta
10²⁴	1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000	sivniljǭn	septillion	quadrillion	quadrillion	Yotta
10²⁷	1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000	ātatiljǭn	octillion	quadrilliard	thousand quadrillion	-
10³⁰	1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000	njuniljǭn	nonillion	quintillion	quintillion	-

Ordinal Numbers and Other Number Forms

Ordinal numbers are usually formed by adding a dental suffix to the end of a number, though there is some suppletion for the first and second ordinals, and the third is irregular (just as is the case in English). In Proto-Germanic and Gothic, all of the ordinals except for first and second used only the weak declension, but all ordinals now use both strong and weak declensions according to standard rules.

The multiplicative numbers arise from a conflation of the word þīfs ‘time, occurrence’ with the genitive singular form of the ordinal number, resulting in a robust albeit historically incorrect derivation system. In Griutungi, the concept of multiple occurrences was expressed simply as a number and the accusative of the word þīhs ‘time, occurrence’: ǣn þīhs ‘once’, tua þīhsa ‘twice’, þrija þīhsa ‘three times’, and so on. Gradually these constructions fused together (Old Valthungian: aenþijhs, tuaþijhsa, þrijþijhsa…) and perhaps based on the more common analogue of ‘twice’, around the time of Early Middle Valthungian they were reanalyzed as a genitive ending affixed to an ordinal (Middle Valthungian: ǣnþis, tuaþis, þriþis…) The forms of the first three multiplicatives aren’t even particularly odd, in terms of language evolution, but that apparent ordinal + genitive construction was then applied analogously to the rest of the numbers, so where we might otherwise expect fim þīfs ‘five times’ to have become fimþis, instead we find the ordinal form fimftis.

Fractions are formed from the archaic genitive plural form of numbers followed by dǣlaro, literally ‘of ___ parts’, e.g. ¾ = þrīs fiðra dǣlaro = ‘three of four parts’. (This is equivalent to the modern German construction of affixing -tel to the end of numbers – e.g. drittel, viertel, zehntel, &c – -tel being a direct equivalent of dǣl-.) The genitive numbers are a holdover from ancient times, and are rarely used outside of the context of fractions; in fact, most fractions are formed by simply adding a suffix of -a to the end of a number, without any consideration that it might have once been a genitive.

	Ordinal		Multiplicative		Fractional
1	frumist (frumista), frums (fruma)	first	ǣniþis	once, one time	--
2	anðra (anðra)	second	tuaþis	twice, two times	halbž, tuǣǧa dǣlaro	half
3	þrīǧis (þrīǧa)	third	þriþis	thrice, three times	þriža dǣlaro	third
4	fiðraþs (fiðraða)	fourth	fiðurþis	four times	fiðra dǣlaro	quarter/fourth
5	fimft (fimfta)	fifth	fimftis	five times	fimfa dǣlaro	fifth
6	sǣst (sǣsta)	sixth	sǣstis	six times	sǣsa dǣlaro	sixth
7	sivunþs (sivunþa)	seventh	sivunþis	seven times	sivna dǣlaro	seventh
8	ātuþs (ātuða)	eighth	ātuðis	eight times	āta dǣlaro	eighth
9	njunþs (njunþa)	ninth	njunþis	nine times	njuna dǣlaro	ninth
10	tǣjunþs (tǣjunþa), tǣnþs (tǣnþa)	tenth	tǣjunþis	ten times	tǣjun dǣlaro	tenth
11	ǣnlift (ǣnlifta)	eleventh	ǣnliftis	eleven times	ǣnliva dǣlaro	eleventh
12	tuālift (tuālifta)	twelfth	tuāliftis	twelve times	tuāliva dǣlaro	twelfth
13	þrižatǣnþs (þrižatǣnþa)	thirteenth	þrižatǣnþis	thirteen times	þrižatǣjun dǣlaro	thirteenth
20	tuǣtiǧist (twǣtiǧista)	twentieth	tuǣtiǧistis	twenty times	tuǣtiǧa dǣlaro	twentieth
100	hundaþs (hundaða)	hundredth	hundaðis	a hundred times	hunda dǣlaro	hundredth
1,000	þūsundiþs (þūsundiða)	thousandth	þūsundiðis	a thousand times	þūsunǧa dǣlaro	thousandth
1,000,000	miljǭnþs (miljǭnþa)	millionth	miljǭnþis	a million times	miljǭna dǣlaro	millionth

Alternative Numbers

The Gothic number system, modeled after the Greek system, which used the letters of the alphabet instead of separate unique characters, continued to be used well into the middle ages (Middle Valthungian), and certain taboo numbers came to be called by their character representation rather than their numeric form. Primarily among these numbers was ‘13’, which was written in Gothic as ·ig·. This also occurred with the numbers ‘113’ (rig), ‘213’ (sig), ‘313’ (tig), ‘413’ (wig), and ‘513’ (fig). (This was not mirrored in the higher numbers of the hundreds, because most of those combinations would have been unpronounceable.)

The number ‘19’ is also sometimes called iþ by the same formulation.

Certain slang terms have also developed out of this system, in reverse, as it were. For example, the homophony of hortative particle iþ with the number 19 gives rise to a nominal form þat njunatǣn referring to a duty or obligation. Similarly, a 'road' or 'highway' is sometimes referred to as a '413' (fiðrahunda þrižatǣn or fiður-þrižatǣn), written wig (the accusative of wiǧ ('road').

A much more recent slang term that has evolved from this system is the use of the number '843' to represent the (unpronounceable) letter combination ·omg·.

Articles & Determiners

Valthungian has two definite articles, sā and his, both of which are equivalent to ‘the,’ but may also be translated as ‘that’ and ‘this’, respectively. Where there is a lack of clear proximity-based dichotomy, sā is usually preferred.

There is no indefinite article in Valthungian.

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	sā	þis	þatma	þan		his	his	hitma	hin
neu.sg	þat			þat		hit			hit
fem.sg	sō	þižas	þiža	þō		hiža	hižas	hiža	hī, hiža
masc.pl	þǣ	þiža	þǣm	þans		hīs	hiža	him	hins
neu.pl	þō			þō		hī, hiža			hī, hiža
fem.pl	þōs			þōs		hižas			hižas

Nouns

Noun classes differ by suffix vowel class and by gender. They may also differ by glides (/j/ or /w/) suffixed to the stem and/or the presence of infixive /n/. The main classes are those stems in /a/ or /ō/, in /i/, in /u/, or in /n/ (as described below: See A Note on Strong and Weak Nouns). There is also a very small class in /r/ having to do with familial relations. Some former noun classes in Gothic (such as consontant-stem and nd-stem nouns) have been regularised in Valthungian through paradigmatic levelling, and their declensions have been assimilated into other classes.

Every noun in Valthungian (and many of the older Germanic languages, as well as modern German and Icelandic) has eight possible forms. These are the singular and plural forms of the nominative (those nouns which comprise the subject of the sentence), genitive (those used to indicate possession or relation), dative (the indirect object), and accusative (the direct object).

Masculine and feminine strong nouns usually take an ending of –s for the nominative singular, while neuter nouns take no ending. The genitive is almost universally indicated by –is (this is equivalent to the “ ’s ” of the English possessive). The dative usually takes –a. The accusative usually does not take any ending.

In the plural, Masculine and feminine nouns usually take –as as an ending; neuter takes –a. The genitive plural takes –aro, borrowed from Latin. The dative plural takes –am, but in many cases this ending undergoes a process of metathesis, rendering it –ma. Finally, the accusative plural of masculine and feminine nouns is usually –ans, but again may metathesise to –nas; neuter accusative plurals generally take –a.

Most of the actual declensions of nouns are fairly standard – much more standardised, in fact, than Gothic – however, the various phonological rules governing the language create a great deal of variation (See Phonology). It is important to be familiar with the rules set forth in the Phonology section of this document in order to fully understand some of the otherwise unexpected variants that emerge.

A Note on Strong and Weak Nouns

In most Germanic languages, nouns, verbs, and adjectives tend to be broken into categories considered “strong” and “weak.” In nouns and adjectives, “weak” means that the words cling to their determiner endings inherited from Proto-Indo-European, which usually have an /n/ inserted between the root and the ending. For the purposes of this text, I will dispense with the traditional strong and weak categories as relates to nouns and simply relate the various categories into which nouns can be classified, based on their inherited Proto-Germanic endings (which include the /n/ infix where applicable). Since these endings can be irregular and each class must be learned by rote anyway, there is no need in the context of the Valthungian language to add this additional arbitrary distinction.

a-Stems (Masculine & Neuter)

Pure a-Stems

Strong masculine a-stem noun slēps, ‘slēp’
	Nominative	Genitive	Dative	Accusative
Sg.	slēps	slēpis	slēpa	slēp
Pl.	slēpas	slēparo	slēpma	slēpnas

ja-Stems

Strong masculine ja-stem noun tapis, ‘carpet’
	Nominative	Genitive	Dative	Accusative
Sg.	tapis	tapis	tapia	tepe
Pl.	tapis	tapiro	tapim	tapins

ija-Stems

Strong masculine ja-stem noun enǧis, ‘and’
	Nominative	Genitive	Dative	Accusative
Sg.	enǧis	enǧis	enǧia	ende
Pl.	enǧis	enǧiro	enǧim	enǧins

wa-Stems

Strong masculine wa-stem noun skaðus, ‘skað’
	Nominative	Genitive	Dative	Accusative
Sg.	skaðus	skaðugis	skaðuga	skaðo
Pl.	skaðugas	skaðugaro	skaðugma	skaðugnas

Verbs

Strong Verbs

Strong Verbs: Class II (ju – ǭ – u – u)

Because of the shift of the vowel from iu to ju, when a class II verb begins with a consonant that is subject to palatalisation, some unusual patterns may emerge as a result. Template:Valthungian/v.st.2čugun

Those class II verbs which are descended from ProtoGermanic *-euwaną have a slightly different paradigm, as the medial /w/ undergoes Verschärfung in East Germanic to /ngw/, and the result, with the exception of the past singular, is remarkably similar to class III. Template:Valthungian/v.st.2w

Strong Verbs: Class III (i – a – u – u)

Class III strong verbs are those verbs with /i/ (historically /e/) as the root vowel which is followed by a sonorant (r, l, m, n) and an obstruent (p, t, k, b, d, g, f, þ, s, h), or, rarely, two obstruents (e.g. /hs/, /gd/). Ablaut causes the second principle part to shift to /a/, and the third and fourth to /u/.

In verbs where /r/ is the sonorant in question, the paradigm shifts to /e/ in the first principle part and /o/ in the third (due to the East Germanic Reflex of First Umlaut).

Strong Verbs: Class IV (i – a – ē – u)

In verbs where /r/ is the sonorant in question, the paradigm shifts to /e/ in the first principle part and /o/ in the third (due to the East Germanic Reflex of First Umlaut).

Preterit-Present Verbs

Finally, wilin is not actually a preterit-present verb, but a subjunctive-present verb. However, it seems to fit best here amongst its other quasi-anomalous quasi-auxiliary brethren.

Anomalous Verbs

Dōn is sometimes categorised as a Class VII strong verb, though it does not follow the same reduplication or ablaut patterns of other verbs in this class. Some Germanic philologists also argue that the ancestor of Proto-Germanic dōną actually gave rise to the /d/-reduplication in the past tense of weak and preterit-present verbs.

The present indicative tense of gǣn/gangna has two forms – a short and a long form – as did the non-finite forms (the infinitive and the participles) as well as most of the imperatives. The past tenses show suppletion, and have been replaced by īǧ- from Proto-Germanic *ijj-, the same source as Old English ēode, and ultimately related to the Latin verb ire.

The present indicative tense of stǣn/standna has two forms – a short and a long form – as did the non-finite forms (the infinitive and the participles) as well as most of the imperatives. Though it acts like a Class VI verb in how it ablauts in the past, there is also a parallel form with reduplication, indicating Class VII.

Visna is easily the most heavily suppleted of the Germanic verbs. Aside from the obvious vis- stem, which is completely missing from the present tenses, the present shows two other stems, i- and sī. The imperative also has an anomalous ī as an alternative for the second person singular, though it is unrelated to the i- stem of the present, and may actually come from Latin ī, imperative form of ire (‘to go’).

Compound Tenses

Forming the Perfect

In Gothic, there was no explicit perfect or perfective aspect in verbs. In order to express the perfect, sometimes the prefix ga- was added to verbs. Latin had a dedicated perfect inflection in verbs.

In later Germanic and Romance languages, the perfect was formed by combining an auxiliary verb (usually ‘have’ or ‘be’) with a participle. In languages which make the distinction (such as French, German, and Italian), ‘have’ is used with most transitive verbs, while ‘be’ is reserved for intransitive verbs dealing with change of state or motion. Valthungian maintains a similar transitive/intransitive distinction as the aforementioned languages, but the distinction is much broader (purely transitive/intransitive, rather than the various rules, exceptions, and sub-rules that govern “être/sein/essere” verbs), and the difference in the realisation of the two types is much more extreme.

Intransitive verbs are formed in the Romance style by creating a compound of the verb visna and the past participle. (The participle is an adjective, and must be declined to agree with the subject.)

• S·īst lēkare vorðna.
  • ‘She has become a doctor.’
• Is vas hǣma gangnas.
  • ‘He had gone home.’

Transitive verbs are formed in the Gothic manner, though the ga- prefix from Gothic has since been grammaticalised and stands on its own as an adverb which is usually placed clause-finally.

• S·ītmit gaf gā.
  • ‘She had given it to him.’
• Ik þik sǣja gā.
  • ‘I have seen you.’

Forming the Future

The future is formed by using the auxiliary genǧin ‘to go’ followed by an infinitive (not unlike future compound constructions with go in multiple European languages).

• Ik genǧa þō hord lūkna.
  • ‘I will lock the door.’
• Ik nī gangiða nījo þō livran af hǣða hun ligna.
  • ‘I was never going to read that book anyway.’

Forming the Passive

Gothic transitive verbs had a passive form, but this has disappeared from Valthungian. Instead, the passive may be formed using a variety of auxiliary verbs determined by the volition of the agent and the subject (patient). By their very nature, passives need not specify an agent, but an agent can be indicated using the genitive (as we would use ‘by’ in English).

	Patient: Deliberate	Patient: Unintentional / Inanimate
Agent: Deliberate	gečin ‘to cause to get’ lenǧin ‘to cause to succeed’	gitna ‘to get’ þiǧin ‘to receive’
Agent: Unintentional / Inanimate	þiǧin ‘to receive’ lenǧin ‘to cause to succeed’	skīčin ‘to cause to happen’ skeǧin ‘to cause to happen’ verðan ‘to become’

Agent/Patient Deliberate: This tends to refer to things that happen as a result of mutual agreement

• Ik gatiða forðat vork fergilðiþs.
  • ‘I was paid for the work.’
• Þǣ ankýmbiðas langiðun þis borðaþjugis ganōguða.
  • ‘The diners were served by the waiter.’

Agent Deliberate / Patient Unintentional: These auxiliaries are used mainly when the agent is a person and the patient is either an object or a person who is unaware of the agent’s intention or an unwilling participant in the action.

• Ik gat þis veris slaguns.
  • ‘I was hit by the man.’
• Sā vagnas þagiða þiža mœuǧis fariþs.
  • ‘The car was driven by the girl.’

Agent Unintentional / Patient Deliberate: This usually refers to agents (usually inanimate) that are being used by a patient for a specific purpose.

• Ik þagiða þižas fœ̄ðinis nutriškiþs.
  • ‘I was nourished by the food.’
• Þū langiðas (þiža intǣkninis) toðíža miðéndina tuguns.
  • ‘You were led to that conclusion (by the evidence).’

Agent/Patient Unintentional or Inanimate: This final group is possibly the most common, and refers to inanimate agent and patient, or when the agent or patient is an unwilling participant in the action. It may refer especially to natural phenomena, e.g. ‘blown down by wind’ or ‘rained on’.

• Ik skīkiða þis þljuðis angǣsiþs.
  • ‘I was startled by the noise.’
• Þǣ lǭvas skagiðun þižas rynins afbórna.
  • ‘The leaves were carried away by the stream.’

Immediacy: Forming the Recent Past and Immediate Future

The adverb straks can be used in conjunction with most tenses as an “immediacy particle.” In the past tenses, this translates roughly to the word ‘just’, as in “I just did that.” In the future, it is most closely translated as ‘about to’.

• Ik straks āt gā.
  • ‘I had just eaten.’
• Is straks gangiþ hǣma.
  • ‘He is about to go home.’

NB: Straks is definitely a Germanic word, but cannot be descended from East Germanic. (If it were, we might expect strakis or perhaps straka.) It is likely a more recent borrowing into Middle Valthungian from a West or North Germanic source. Cf. Dutch, Norwegian, and Danish straks, Swedish and Icelandic strax, German stracks, &c.

Forming the Progressive

The progressive tenses are not used often in Valthungian, but they can be a useful way to indicate that something is left unfinished, since the Perfect – originally a perfective indicating completed action – has taken on more of a perfect meaning, including that of a more generalised past tense.

The progressive is formed using the auxiliary verb sitna ‘to sit’ and the preposition bī ‘by’, followed by the infinitive. (In very formal language, you may encounter sitna bī followed by the dative of the nominalized form of the verb, e.g. ‘I am drawing’ may be rendered as Ik sita bī vrǣtina rather than the expected Ik sita bī vrǣčin.

• Ū sitistu njužis bī drinkna gā?
  • ‘Have you been drinking again?’
• Ik sita bī skrīvna þō bisāt mīna. Ranive sitik bī drinkna gā.
  • ‘I’m writing my dissertation. Of course I’ve been drinking.’

Adjectives

In Valthungian, adjectives can be strong or weak (as with adjectives in any Germanic language that declines). The general rule is: If a nouns takes a determiner (article, possessive, quantifier, &c), its accompanying adjective is weak; otherwise it is strong.

Predicative adjectives do not decline; they take the form of the strong neuter singular regardless of what they modify.

• Predicative
• Strong
• Weak

For example:

• Sā wer duala ist dual. ‘The stupid man is stupid.’
• Sō kuina duala ist dual. ‘The stupid woman is stupid.’
• Þat kliþ duala ist dual. ‘The stupid child is stupid.’
• Þǣ avnas dualnas sinþ dual. ‘The stupid husbands are stupid.’
• Þōs kwēnis dualans sinþ dual. ‘The stupid wives are stupid.’
• Þō brana dualan sinþ dual. ‘The stupid children are stupid.’

But strong declension for 3rd person possessives, since they don’t decline!

• Ižas brōðra duals ist dual. ‘Her stupid brother is stupid.’
• Is dǭtra duala ist dual. ‘His stupid daughter is stupid.’
• Iža bran dualat ist dual. ‘Their stupid child is stupid.’
• Iža synis duala sinþ dual. ‘Their stupid sons are stupid.’
• Is swistris dualas sinþ dual. ‘His stupid sisters are stupid.’
• Ižas kliða duala sinþ dual. ‘Her stupid children are stupid.’