Boteyese: Difference between revisions

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|name              = Boteyese
|name              = Boteyese
|nativename        = botajkly
|nativename        = botajkly
|pronunciation    = ˈbotɐjklɨ
|pronunciation    = ˈbo.tɜj.klɨ
|pronunciation_key = IPA for Boteyese
|pronunciation_key = IPA for Boteyese
|states            = the Boteys
|states            = the Boteys
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}}
}}


'''Boteyese''' ([[w:Help:IPA|/ˌboʊteɪˈiːz, ˌboʊ-/]] [[w:Help:Pronunciation respelling key|''BOW-tay-EASE'']]; [[w:Endonym|endonym]]: ''botajkly'' [[IPA for Boteyese|[ˈbotɐjklɨ]]], ''botjar çopst'' [[IPA for Boteyese|[ˈbotjɐr ˈʃopst]]], or rarely ''botajsky'' [[IPA for Boteyese|[ˈbotɐjskɨ]]]) is a [[w:Language isolate|language isolate]] spoken as a [[w:First Language|first language]] by about 360,400 Boteyese of whom 35,700 reside outside of the Boteys, mainly in [[w:Germany|Germany]] and [[w:Russia|Russia]]. Alongside [[w:Basque|Basque]], it is one of the two known language isolates in [[w:Europe|Europe]].  
'''Boteyese''' ([[w:Help:IPA|/ˌboʊteɪˈiːz, ˌboʊ-/]] [[w:Help:Pronunciation respelling key|''BOW-tay-EASE'']]; [[w:Endonym|endonym]]: ''botajkly'' [[IPA for Boteyese|[ˈbo.tɜj.klɨ]]], ''botjar çopst'' [[IPA for Boteyese|[ˈbot.jɜr ˈʃopst]]], or rarely ''botajsky'' [[IPA for Boteyese|[ˈbo.tɜj.skɨ]]]) is a [[w:Language isolate|language isolate]] spoken as a [[w:First Language|first language]] by about 360,400 Boteyese of whom 35,700 reside outside of the Boteys, mainly in [[w:Germany|Germany]] and [[w:Russia|Russia]]. Alongside [[w:Basque|Basque]], it is one of the two known language isolates in [[w:Europe|Europe]].  


Owing to facts of Boteyese geography, history, and culture, the language is considered to feature many distinct regional varieties, not all of which are [[w:Mutually intelligibility|mutually intelligible]]. As of the mid-[[w:20th century|20th century]] however, the traditional [[w:Dialect|dialect]] areas have been in steep decline, with some already being effectively [[w:Endangered language|moribund]] or [[w:Extinct language|extinct]]. The profound [[w:Dialect levelling|dialect levelling]] taking place has been variously attributed to the events of [[w:World War II|World War II]], [[w:Urbanization|urbanization]], changes in societal attitudes, and the continued prevalence of the [[w:Standard language|standard language]].
Owing to facts of Boteyese geography, history, and culture, the language is considered to feature many distinct regional varieties, not all of which are [[w:Mutually intelligibility|mutually intelligible]]. As of the mid-[[w:20th century|20th century]] however, the traditional [[w:Dialect|dialect]] areas have been in steep decline, with some already being effectively [[w:Endangered language|moribund]] or [[w:Extinct language|extinct]]. The profound [[w:Dialect levelling|dialect levelling]] taking place has been variously attributed to the events of [[w:World War II|World War II]], [[w:Urbanization|urbanization]], changes in societal attitudes, and the continued prevalence of the [[w:Standard language|standard language]].
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The [[w:Archipelago|archipelago]]'s endonym ''Botjar'' and the [[w:English language|English]] exonym ''(the) Boteys'' both ultimately derive from [[w:Old Norse|Old Norse]] ''Bóteyjar'', a [[w:Compound (linguistics)|compound]] of {{mn|non|bót|t=bight, cove}} and {{mn|non|ey|eyjar|t=islands}}. The Norse [[w:Plural|plural]] was not adapted into English, thus the name takes the English plural instead; cf. [[w:Orkney|Orkney a.k.a. the Orkneys]]. It has been suggested that the conspicuous absence of a single native word referring to the entire people prior to the arrival of Norse settlement could be indicative of a fractious social order and/or lack of shared cultural consciousness.   
The [[w:Archipelago|archipelago]]'s endonym ''Botjar'' and the [[w:English language|English]] exonym ''(the) Boteys'' both ultimately derive from [[w:Old Norse|Old Norse]] ''Bóteyjar'', a [[w:Compound (linguistics)|compound]] of {{mn|non|bót|t=bight, cove}} and {{mn|non|ey|eyjar|t=islands}}. The Norse [[w:Plural|plural]] was not adapted into English, thus the name takes the English plural instead; cf. [[w:Orkney|Orkney a.k.a. the Orkneys]]. It has been suggested that the conspicuous absence of a single native word referring to the entire people prior to the arrival of Norse settlement could be indicative of a fractious social order and/or lack of shared cultural consciousness.   


The language names derive from the Old Norse lemma also. The modern term ''botajkly'' is the [[w:Participle|participle]] form of the verb ''botajky'' “to speak Boteyese”, while its [[w:Archaism|archaic]] equivalent ''botajsky'' is derived with the [[w:Suffix|suffix]] ''-sky'' (Old Boteyese ''-sku''), used to form language names. The archaic suffix is of uncertain origin, but it is presumably the result of mixed influences from the [[w:Dative|dative]] singular form of early [[w:Modern Swedish|Modern Swedish]] language names (such as in the [[w:Gustav Vasa Bible|Gustav Vasa Bible]] e.g. ''på swensko'') and continental [[w:Slavic languages|Slavic]] i.e. {{mn|zlw-opl|-ski}}.
The language names derive from the Old Norse lemma also. The modern term ''botajkly'' is the [[w:Participle|participle]] form of the verb ''botajky'' 'to speak Boteyese', while its [[w:Archaism|archaic]] equivalent ''botajsky'' is derived with the [[w:Suffix|suffix]] ''-sky'' (Old Boteyese ''-sku''), used to form language names. The archaic suffix is of uncertain origin, but it is presumably the result of mixed influences from the [[w:Dative|dative]] singular form of early [[w:Modern Swedish|Modern Swedish]] language names (such as in the [[w:Gustav Vasa Bible|Gustav Vasa Bible]] e.g. ''på swensko'' 'in Swedish') and continental [[w:Slavic languages|Slavic]] i.e. {{mn|zlw-opl|-ski}}.


==History==
==History==


==Phonology==
==Phonology==
===Segmental phonology===
====Vowels====
Standard Boteyese features a simple six-vowel inventory with no phonemic diphthongs nor contrastive vowel length, seen below.
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Vowel phonemes
|-
! !! colspan="2" | [[w:Front vowel|Front]] !! [[w:Central vowel|Central]] !! [[w:Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[w:Close vowel|Close]]
| colspan="2"| [[w:Close front unrounded vowel|i]] || [[w:Close central unrounded vowel|ɨ]] || [[w:Close back rounded vowel|u]]
|-
! [[w:Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
| colspan="2"| [[w:Close-mid front unrounded vowel|e]] || || [[w:Close-mid back rounded vowel|o]]
|-
! [[w:Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan="2"| || [[w:Open central vowel|a]] ||
|}
The front and back vowels /i, e, o, u/ are referred to as the strong (''panjo'', lit. 'inflexible') vowels and the central vowels form the weak (''bydaj'', lit. 'flexible') group. While strong vowels exhibit no allophony, weak vowels in positions of primary stress are relatively tensed.
* Stressed /ɨ/ approaches near-front [​[[w:Near-close near-front unrounded vowel|ɪ]]].
* Stressed /a/ (represented as [a]) is intermediate between open central [​[[w:Open central unrounded vowel|ä]]] and near-open near-front retracted [​[[w:Near-open front unrounded vowel|æ̈]]].
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left"
|+ Examples of stressed allophony
! Phoneme
! IPA
! Orthography
! English Translation
! Note
|-
| /ɨ/ || [ˈbɪs.sɨs] || ''byssys'' || 'silk' || [+stress] /ɨ/ → [ɪ]
|-
| /a/ || [ˈfa.mɜ] || ''fama'' || 'bear' || [+stress] /a/ → [a]
|}
In addition to stressed allophony, unstressed weak vowels assimilate to the rounding of a following strong or assimilated weak vowel, resulting in regressive rounding harmony on the phonetic level. Unassimilated weak vowels are realize their unrounded allophone.
* /ɨ/ is realized as close unrounded [​[[w:Close central unrounded vowel|ɨ]]] before /i, e/ and rounded [​[[w:Close central rounded vowel|ʉ]]] before /o, u/.
* /a/ is realized as either open-mid unrounded [​[[w:Open-mid central unrounded vowel|ɜ]]] before /i, e/ and rounded [​[[w:Open-mid central rounded vowel|ɞ]]] before /o, u/.
* If not subject to assimilation, /ɨ/ and /a/ default to [​[[w:Close central unrounded vowel|ɨ]]] and [​[[w:Open-mid central unrounded vowel|ɜ]]], respectively.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left"
|+ Examples of unstressed rounding harmony
! Phoneme
! IPA
! Orthography
! English Translation
! Note
|-
| /ɨ/ || [ɨnˈrij] || ''Ynrij'' || 'Ingrid' (name) || [-stress -rounded] /ɨ/ → [ɨ]
|-
| /ɨ/ || [tʉθˈmur] || ''tyşmur'' || 'flour' || [-stress +rounded] /ɨ/ → [ʉ]
|-
| /a/ || [nɜjˈlik] || ''najlik'' || 'snow' || [-stress -rounded] /a/ → [ɜ]
|-
| /a/ || [jɞlˈvo] || ''jalvo'' || 'tree' || [-stress +rounded] /a/ → [ɞ]
|}
====Consonants====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Consonant phonemes
|-
! colspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | [[w:Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="2" | [[w:Coronal consonant|Coronal]]
! colspan="2" | [[w:Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br>alveolar]]/<br>[[w:Palatal consonant|palatal]]
! colspan="2" | [[w:Velar consonant|Velar]]
! colspan="2" | [[w:Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan="2" | [[w:Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced bilabial nasal|m]]
| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced alveolar nasal|n]]
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" | ([[w:Voiced velar nasal|ŋ]])
| colspan="2" |
|-
! colspan="2" | [[w:Stop consonant|Stop]]
| style="border-right: 0;" | [[w:Voiceless bilabial stop|p]] || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced bilabial stop|b]]
| style="border-right: 0;" | [[w:Voiceless alveolar stop|t]] || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced alveolar stop|d]]
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | [[w:Voiceless velar stop|k]] || style="border-left: 0;" |
| colspan="2" |
|-
! colspan="2" | [[w:Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | [[w:Voiceless palato-alveolar affricate|t͡ʃ]] || style="border-left: 0;" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[w:Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! <small>Non-[[w:Sibilant|sibilant]]</small>
| style="border-right: 0;" | [[w:Voiceless labiodental fricative|f]] || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced labiodental fricative|v]]
| style="border-right: 0;" | [[w:Voiceless dental fricative|θ]] || style="border-left: 0;" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | [[w:Voiceless palato-alveolar fricative|ʃ]] || style="border-left: 0;" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced velar fricative|ɣ]]
| style="border-right: 0;" | [[w:Voiceless glottal fricative|h]] || style="border-left: 0;" |
|-
! <small>[[w:Sibilant|Sibilant]]</small>
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | [[w:Voiceless alveolar sibilant|s]] || style="border-left: 0;" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|-
! colspan="2" | [[w:Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced palatal approximant|j]]
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|-
! colspan="2" | [[w:Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced alveolar lateral approximant|l]]
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|-
! colspan="2" | [[w:Trill consonant|Trill]]
| colspan="2" |
| style="border-right: 0;" | || style="border-left: 0;" | [[w:Voiced alveolar trill|r]]
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|}


==Orthography==
==Orthography==
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In addition to the standard set, there are a few letters which have conventionalized names and pronunciations. The letters ⟨q⟩, ⟨w⟩, ⟨x⟩, and ⟨z⟩ are used mainly in the archaic spellings of [[w:Personal name|personal names]], [[w:Toponymy|toponyms]], and non-incorporated [[w:Loanword|loanwords]], while ⟨ž⟩ is mainly used for modern loanwords and [[w:Transliteration|transliterations]] from Russian and other [[w:Balto-Slavic languages|Balto-Slavic languages]], thus [[w:Leonid Brezhnev|Leonid Brezhnev]] is adapted as ''Lyjanit Brežnyf''.  
In addition to the standard set, there are a few letters which have conventionalized names and pronunciations. The letters ⟨q⟩, ⟨w⟩, ⟨x⟩, and ⟨z⟩ are used mainly in the archaic spellings of [[w:Personal name|personal names]], [[w:Toponymy|toponyms]], and non-incorporated [[w:Loanword|loanwords]], while ⟨ž⟩ is mainly used for modern loanwords and [[w:Transliteration|transliterations]] from Russian and other [[w:Balto-Slavic languages|Balto-Slavic languages]], thus [[w:Leonid Brezhnev|Leonid Brezhnev]] is adapted as ''Lyjanit Brežnyf''.  


The letters ⟨ç⟩ and ⟨ş⟩ are historically modified versions of the [[w:Digraph (orthography)|diagraphs]] ⟨cs⟩ and ⟨ts⟩. As such, they are formally considered to be separate characters and not diacritic character combinations. Nowadays, the original digraphs have seen use in [[Sensational spelling|stylistic spelling]] meant to evoke the [[w:Late Middle Ages|late medieval]] or [[w:Early modern period|early modern period]] even in contexts where this is [[w:Anachronistic|anachronistic]], such as spelling ''fçe'' “year” as ⟨fcse⟩ despite the fact that it would have been spelt ⟨fzē⟩ at the time.
The letters ⟨ç⟩ and ⟨ş⟩ are historically modified versions of the [[w:Digraph (orthography)|diagraphs]] ⟨cs⟩ and ⟨ts⟩. As such, they are formally considered to be separate characters and not diacritic character combinations. Nowadays, the original digraphs have seen use in [[Sensational spelling|stylistic spelling]] meant to evoke the [[w:Late Middle Ages|late medieval]] or [[w:Early modern period|early modern period]] even in contexts where this is [[w:Anachronistic|anachronistic]], such as spelling ''fçe'' 'year' as ⟨fcse⟩ despite the fact that it would be spelt ⟨fzē⟩ around this time.


In Boteyese orthography, the [[w:Apostrophe|aprostrophe]] is used to mark [[w:Contraction (grammar)|contraction]], as in many other languages. This most often applies to cliticizing words, such as the subordinator ''at'' (''t'=''), the expletive article ''ret'' (''='t''), or the adverbial negator ''aky'' (''k'='').  
In Boteyese orthography, the [[w:Apostrophe|aprostrophe]] is used to mark [[w:Contraction (grammar)|contraction]], as in many other languages. This most often applies to cliticizing words, such as the subordinator ''at'' (''t'=''), the expletive article ''ret'' (''='t''), or the adverbial negator ''aky'' (''k'='').  
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! style="width:14%;" | Phoneme
! style="width:14%;" | Phoneme
|-
|-
| A, a || ''a'' [ˈɑ] || /ɐ/  
| A, a || ''a'' [ˈa] || /a/  
|-
|-
| B, b || ''be'' [ˈbe] || /b/
| B, b || ''be'' [ˈbe] || /b/
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| E, e || ''e'' [ˈe] || /e/
| E, e || ''e'' [ˈe] || /e/
|-
|-
| F, f || ''af'' [ˈɑf] || /f/
| F, f || ''af'' [ˈaf] || /f/
|-
|-
| G, g || ''ge'' [ˈɣe] || /ɣ/
| G, g || ''ge'' [ˈɣe] || /ɣ/
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| K, k || ''ko'' [ˈko] || /k/
| K, k || ''ko'' [ˈko] || /k/
|-
|-
| L, l || ''al'' [ˈɑl] || /l/
| L, l || ''al'' [ˈal] || /l/
|-
|-
| M, m || ''am'' [ˈɑm] || /m/
| M, m || ''am'' [ˈam] || /m/
|-
|-
| N, n || ''an'' [ˈɑn] || /n/
| N, n || ''an'' [ˈan] || /n/
|-
|-
| O, o || ''o'' [ˈo] || /o/
| O, o || ''o'' [ˈo] || /o/
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| P, p || ''pe'' [ˈpe] || /p/
| P, p || ''pe'' [ˈpe] || /p/
|-
|-
| R, r || ''ar'' [ˈɑr] || /r/
| R, r || ''ar'' [ˈɑa] || /r/
|-
|-
| S, s || ''as'' [ˈɑs] || /s/
| S, s || ''as'' [ˈas] || /s/
|-
|-
| T, t || ''te'' [ˈte] || /t/
| T, t || ''te'' [ˈte] || /t/
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| Ç, ç || ''çe'' [ˈʃe] || /ʃ/
| Ç, ç || ''çe'' [ˈʃe] || /ʃ/
|-
|-
| Ş, ş || ''şe'' [ˈθ̠̞e] || /θ/
| Ş, ş || ''şe'' [ˈθe] || /θ/
|}
|}


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| Q, q || ''ku'' [ˈku] || /k/
| Q, q || ''ku'' [ˈku] || /k/
|-
|-
| W, W || ''dybal ve'' [ˈdɪbɐl ˈve] || /v/
| W, W || ''dybal ve'' [ˈdɪ.bɜl ˈve] || /v/
|-
|-
| X, x || ''ex'' [ˈes] || /s/
| X, x || ''ex'' [ˈes] || /s/
|-
|-
| Z, z || ''zeta'' [ˈʃetɐ] || /ʃ/
| Z, z || ''zeta'' [ˈʃe.tɜ] || /ʃ/
|-
|-
| Ž, ž || ''zeta oço't vli'' [ˈʃetɐ ˈoʃ.ot ˈvli] || /ʒ/
| Ž, ž || ''zeta oço't vli'' [ˈʃe.tɜ ˈo.ʃot ˈvli] || /ʒ/
|}
|}
   
   
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==Dialects==
==Dialects==
==Sample Texts==
===The Universal Declaration of Human Rights===
Article 1 of the [[w:Universal Declaration of Human Rights|Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] in Boteyese:
{{interlinear|indent=3|display-messages=no|italics2=no|italics3=no|ablist=COMP:comparative:comparison_(grammar)
|top=''Ybag reş deşmona kebsly o çoscely tinyr o inajmuls likarcely spimy. Çcoceş o repemafor kinajsy o kacepjanik ço't kojceş aduht.''
|Ybag reş deşmona keb-kly o ço-s-cely tinyr o inajmuls likar-cely s-pi-m-y. Çcoceş o repemafor k-inaj-s-y o ka-cep-jan-ik ço{{=}}'t kojceş a{{=}}duht.
|all EXPL.PL human.DEF/INDF.PL free-ACT.NTR.PTCP and INST-3.INDF dignity.INDF.PL and right.INDF.PL equal-STAT.NTR.PTCP 3.INDF-birth-ACT.TR-IPFV reason.INDF.SG and morality.INDF.SG 3.DEF-receive-3.INDF-IPFV and 3.DEF-treat-RECP-SBJV INST{{=}}EXPL.SG kinship.INDF.SG GEN{{=}}spirit.DEF.SG
|'All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.'}}

Latest revision as of 19:40, 26 April 2026


Boteyese
botajkly
Flag of the Republic of the Boteys
Pronunciation[ˈbo.tɜj.klɨ]
Created byForeseen
SettingAlternative history Europe, Southern Baltic Sea
Native tothe Boteys
EthnicityBoteyese
Native speakers≈360,400 (2024)
Early forms
Proto-Boteyese
  • Old Boteyese
    • Early Modern Boteyese
Standard form
Standard Boteyese (based on Kodenburg Skaheyese)
Dialects
  • Skaheyese (skahajkly)
  • Dearlandic (pallekockly)
  • Focheyese (focajkly)
  • Northern (forhaşkly/sfojkly)
  • Odallandic (ojalkockly)
  • Buhats (bjuhaşkly) †
Official status
Regulated byBoteyese Language Committee / Botjar çOpst aRoyjt
Map of the Boteys, where Boteyese is spoken
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Boteyese (/ˌboʊteɪˈiːz, ˌboʊ-/ BOW-tay-EASE; endonym: botajkly [ˈbo.tɜj.klɨ], botjar çopst [ˈbot.jɜr ˈʃopst], or rarely botajsky [ˈbo.tɜj.skɨ]) is a language isolate spoken as a first language by about 360,400 Boteyese of whom 35,700 reside outside of the Boteys, mainly in Germany and Russia. Alongside Basque, it is one of the two known language isolates in Europe.

Owing to facts of Boteyese geography, history, and culture, the language is considered to feature many distinct regional varieties, not all of which are mutually intelligible. As of the mid-20th century however, the traditional dialect areas have been in steep decline, with some already being effectively moribund or extinct. The profound dialect levelling taking place has been variously attributed to the events of World War II, urbanization, changes in societal attitudes, and the continued prevalence of the standard language.

Boteyese features agglutinative and fusional elements and is of mixed head directionality. Its phonology and nominal morphology show close typological convergence with surrounding Indo-European languages, particularly North Germanic, though featuring no system of grammatical gender. Verbs are conjugated for subject and object, definiteness of arguments, tense/mood, voice, and aspect, and can take several nonfinite forms. Basic word order is verb-final, topic–comment, though information structure and situational syntactic constraints lead to some variation.

Etymology

The archipelago's endonym Botjar and the English exonym (the) Boteys both ultimately derive from Old Norse Bóteyjar, a compound of Old Norse bót (“bight, cove”) and Old Norse eyjar (“islands”). The Norse plural was not adapted into English, thus the name takes the English plural instead; cf. Orkney a.k.a. the Orkneys. It has been suggested that the conspicuous absence of a single native word referring to the entire people prior to the arrival of Norse settlement could be indicative of a fractious social order and/or lack of shared cultural consciousness.

The language names derive from the Old Norse lemma also. The modern term botajkly is the participle form of the verb botajky 'to speak Boteyese', while its archaic equivalent botajsky is derived with the suffix -sky (Old Boteyese -sku), used to form language names. The archaic suffix is of uncertain origin, but it is presumably the result of mixed influences from the dative singular form of early Modern Swedish language names (such as in the Gustav Vasa Bible e.g. på swensko 'in Swedish') and continental Slavic i.e. Old Polish -ski.

History

Phonology

Segmental phonology

Vowels

Standard Boteyese features a simple six-vowel inventory with no phonemic diphthongs nor contrastive vowel length, seen below.

Vowel phonemes
Front Central Back
Close i ɨ u
Close-mid e o
Open a

The front and back vowels /i, e, o, u/ are referred to as the strong (panjo, lit. 'inflexible') vowels and the central vowels form the weak (bydaj, lit. 'flexible') group. While strong vowels exhibit no allophony, weak vowels in positions of primary stress are relatively tensed.

  • Stressed /ɨ/ approaches near-front [​ɪ].
  • Stressed /a/ (represented as [a]) is intermediate between open central [​ä] and near-open near-front retracted [​æ̈].
Examples of stressed allophony
Phoneme IPA Orthography English Translation Note
/ɨ/ [ˈbɪs.sɨs] byssys 'silk' [+stress] /ɨ/ → [ɪ]
/a/ [ˈfa.mɜ] fama 'bear' [+stress] /a/ → [a]

In addition to stressed allophony, unstressed weak vowels assimilate to the rounding of a following strong or assimilated weak vowel, resulting in regressive rounding harmony on the phonetic level. Unassimilated weak vowels are realize their unrounded allophone.

  • /ɨ/ is realized as close unrounded [​ɨ] before /i, e/ and rounded [​ʉ] before /o, u/.
  • /a/ is realized as either open-mid unrounded [​ɜ] before /i, e/ and rounded [​ɞ] before /o, u/.
  • If not subject to assimilation, /ɨ/ and /a/ default to [​ɨ] and [​ɜ], respectively.
Examples of unstressed rounding harmony
Phoneme IPA Orthography English Translation Note
/ɨ/ [ɨnˈrij] Ynrij 'Ingrid' (name) [-stress -rounded] /ɨ/ → [ɨ]
/ɨ/ [tʉθˈmur] tyşmur 'flour' [-stress +rounded] /ɨ/ → [ʉ]
/a/ [nɜjˈlik] najlik 'snow' [-stress -rounded] /a/ → [ɜ]
/a/ [jɞlˈvo] jalvo 'tree' [-stress +rounded] /a/ → [ɞ]

Consonants

Consonant phonemes
Labial Coronal Post-
alveolar/
palatal 		Velar Glottal
Nasal m n (ŋ)
Stop p b t d k
Affricate t͡ʃ
Fricative Non-sibilant f v θ ʃ ɣ h
Sibilant s
Approximant j
Lateral l
Trill r

Orthography

Boteyese is written in the Latin script with some additional characters formed with diacritics, comprising 23 letters in total. The modern orthography, based on the standard language, is completely phonemic with a one-to-one correspondence between phonemes and graphemes, though the pronunciation of some characters varies with respect to dialect and regular allophony.

In addition to the standard set, there are a few letters which have conventionalized names and pronunciations. The letters ⟨q⟩, ⟨w⟩, ⟨x⟩, and ⟨z⟩ are used mainly in the archaic spellings of personal names, toponyms, and non-incorporated loanwords, while ⟨ž⟩ is mainly used for modern loanwords and transliterations from Russian and other Balto-Slavic languages, thus Leonid Brezhnev is adapted as Lyjanit Brežnyf.

The letters ⟨ç⟩ and ⟨ş⟩ are historically modified versions of the diagraphs ⟨cs⟩ and ⟨ts⟩. As such, they are formally considered to be separate characters and not diacritic character combinations. Nowadays, the original digraphs have seen use in stylistic spelling meant to evoke the late medieval or early modern period even in contexts where this is anachronistic, such as spelling fçe 'year' as ⟨fcse⟩ despite the fact that it would be spelt ⟨fzē⟩ around this time.

In Boteyese orthography, the aprostrophe is used to mark contraction, as in many other languages. This most often applies to cliticizing words, such as the subordinator at (t'=), the expletive article ret (='t), or the adverbial negator aky (k'=).

Boteyese Alphabet
Grapheme Name Phoneme
A, a a [ˈa] /a/
B, b be [ˈbe] /b/
C, c ce [ˈt͡ʃe] /t͡ʃ/
D, d de [ˈde] /d/
E, e e [ˈe] /e/
F, f af [ˈaf] /f/
G, g ge [ˈɣe] /ɣ/
H, h ho [ˈho] /h
I, i i [ˈi] /i/
J, j ji [ˈji] /j/
K, k ko [ˈko] /k/
L, l al [ˈal] /l/
M, m am [ˈam] /m/
N, n an [ˈan] /n/
O, o o [ˈo] /o/
P, p pe [ˈpe] /p/
R, r ar [ˈɑa] /r/
S, s as [ˈas] /s/
T, t te [ˈte] /t/
U, u u [ˈu] /u/
V, v ve [ˈve] /v/
Y, y y [ˈɪ] /ɨ/
Ç, ç çe [ˈʃe] /ʃ/
Ş, ş şe [ˈθe] /θ/
Additional Letters
Grapheme Name Phoneme
Q, q ku [ˈku] /k/
W, W dybal ve [ˈdɪ.bɜl ˈve] /v/
X, x ex [ˈes] /s/
Z, z zeta [ˈʃe.tɜ] /ʃ/
Ž, ž zeta oço't vli [ˈʃe.tɜ ˈo.ʃot ˈvli] /ʒ/

Lexicon

Grammar

Dialects

Sample Texts

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Boteyese:

Ybag reş deşmona kebsly o çoscely tinyr o inajmuls likarcely spimy. Çcoceş o repemafor kinajsy o kacepjanik ço't kojceş aduht.

Ybag

all

reş

EXPL.PL

deşmona

human.DEF/INDF.PL

keb-kly

free-ACT.NTR.PTCP

o

and

ço-s-cely

INST-3.INDF

tinyr

dignity.INDF.PL

o

and

inajmuls

right.INDF.PL

likar-cely

equal-STAT.NTR.PTCP

s-pi-m-y.

3.INDF-birth-ACT.TR-IPFV

Çcoceş

reason.INDF.SG

o

and

repemafor

morality.INDF.SG

k-inaj-s-y

3.DEF-receive-3.INDF-IPFV

o

and

ka-cep-jan-ik

3.DEF-treat-RECP-SBJV

ço='t

INST=EXPL.SG

kojceş

kinship.INDF.SG

a=duht.

GEN=spirit.DEF.SG

Ybag reş deşmona keb-kly o ço-s-cely tinyr o inajmuls likar-cely s-pi-m-y. Çcoceş o repemafor k-inaj-s-y o ka-cep-jan-ik ço='t kojceş a=duht.

all EXPL.PL human.DEF/INDF.PL free-ACT.NTR.PTCP and INST-3.INDF dignity.INDF.PL and right.INDF.PL equal-STAT.NTR.PTCP 3.INDF-birth-ACT.TR-IPFV reason.INDF.SG and morality.INDF.SG 3.DEF-receive-3.INDF-IPFV and 3.DEF-treat-RECP-SBJV INST=EXPL.SG kinship.INDF.SG GEN=spirit.DEF.SG

'All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.'

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