Verse:Irta/Judeo-Mandarin

In the Lõis timeline, Yudach or Judeo-Gaelic (natively: אניודאַך an-Yudach /ən 'judəx/ or אגאַלג'־יודאַך a-Ghalj-Yudach /ə ɣaldʒ judəx/) is the sole surviving Goidelic language. With over 10 million speakers, it is the main vernacular of the Jewish diaspora in Central Asia. It mainly borrows words from Hebrew, but also from English, Togarmite and Persian.

It is inspired by Yiddish.

Todo

é ó > ei ou (ea oa in some dialects)

syllabic n, l (and r)?

• tom byo = I live
• tom a zein = I do
• tom ag ith = I eat
• tom ag ouł = I to drink
• tom a ro = I say
• tom a lebh = I read
• tom a scribh = I write
• tom a łasagh = I light
• Interrogatives: Cad a to o zein agat? 'What are you doing?'
• Cleft construction: Še zein lešónouth a tom a zein anéš = It is making languages that I'm doing now.

Phonology

• Consonants: b c ch č d f g gh j h l ł m n p r s š t th tz v y z /b k χ tʃ d f g ɣ dʒ h l w m n p r s ʃ h ts j v z/.
• Lenitions: Note that d m are NOT lenitable.
  • b /b/ > bh /v/
  • f /f/ > fh /0/
  • g /g/ > gh /ɣ/
  • c /k/ > ch /χ/
  • č /tʃ/ > čh /ʃ/
  • p /p/ > ph /f/
  • s /s/ > sh /h/
  • t /t/ > th /h/
  • tz /ts/ > tzh /h/
  • j /dʒ/ > jh /j/
• ts z č j l arise from slender t d c g l.
• Vowels: a e i o u /a e i o u/, vowel reduction to /ə/ common. Vowel clusters exist.
• Stress is transcribed if not initial

Grammar

Verbs

Only the verbal noun and the imperative survive:

תּאָם אַ ל'אַסאַג נרות חנוכּה.

Tom a łasagh neroth hanuco.

/to me ə 'wasəɣ 'nerəh 'hanukə/

be.PRES 1SG PRES to_light.VN candle-PL Hanukkah

I'm lighting Hanukkah candles. (or I light Hanukkah candles)

נאָהּ סקריבב דאָ אות זע שבת!

Noh scribhabh do oth ze Šaboth!

PROH write-IMP.PL two character on_day Shabbat

Don't write two letters on Shabbat!

Verbs from Hebrew are usually borrowed in the deverbal noun form.

Tenses

Tenses are basically (pres, past/conditional, fut) x (imperfective, perfective).

• to še ag ith = he eats; he is eating
  • bhil še... = does he...?
  • chal še... = he does not...
  • nachil še... = doesn't he...?/that he does not
  • gu bhil še... = COMP he...
  • a to še... = REL he...
• to še triš ith = he ate/has eaten
• bei še ag ith = he will eat
  • bei še... = will he...?
  • cha bhei še... = he will not...
  • nach bhei še... = won't he...?
  • a bhi še... = REL he will...
• bha še ag ith = he was eating/he would eat
  • rou še... = was he...?/would he?
  • cha rou še... = he was not.../he would not...
  • nach rou še... = was he not...?/would he not...?
• ith! = Eat! (2sg)
• ithu! = Eat! (2pl)
• noh ith(u)! = Don't eat!

For stative verbs in imperfective tenses, i mo-, i do-, ina-, etc. + VN is used:

• tom i mo-chadel = I sleep
• tom i mo-shigh = I sit
• tom i mo-šesabh = I stand
• tom i mo-ligh = I lie (somewhere)
• tom i mo-fhirech = I live (I dwell)

Conjugation

• to, bhil, chal, and nachil are conjugated as follows:
  • tom, tor, to še/ši, toj, tothi, to šid
  • bhilim, bhilir, bhil še/ši, bhilij, bhilthi, bhil šid
  • chalim, chalir...
  • nachilim, nachilir...
• bha, robh:
  • bhas, bhaš, bha še/ši, bhimar, bhyur, bha šid
  • robhas, robhaš, rou še/ši, robhimar, robhyur, rou šid
• bei: beim, beir, bei še/ši, beij, beithi, bei šid

Nouns

Yudach has no grammatical case.

Plurals are more regular, marked with mostly -n/-an or -i, or less commonly umlaut of a o u to e e i.

Nouns in -a are usually pluralized with -i: madra 'a dog', madri 'dogs'.

Hebrew words have the same gender as in Hebrew. Hebrew words often use unstressed -im /im/ or -oth /əh/ but native Celtic words may use them too and not all Hebrew words use the Hebrew plural.

Masculine nouns: Nouns beginning with a vowel take ant-, before a labial am-, otherwise an

• ant-išče = the water
• am-bia = the food
• an-łath = the day
• an-tzech = the house
• an-nes = the miracle

Feminine nouns: Nouns beginning with a lenitable consonant (except t and tz) lenite and take a-; s becomes an-ts

• a-jhełach = the moon
• an-išo = the woman/wife
• an-outh = the letter (character)
• an-tsuca = the booth

Plural nouns: nah- /nə(h)/ (the h is only pronounced before a vowel)

• nah-tiš = the houses
• nah-łathan = the days
• nah-mno = the women/wives (irregular plural of išo)
• nah-outhyouth = the letters
• nah-sucouth = the booths
• nah-nisim = the miracles

Adjectives

Adjectives always have -a in the plural.

• pred: Tom beg. = I am short.
• m.sg.: fer beg = a short man; am-fer beg = the short man
• f.sg.: fyur bheg = a short sister; an-fhyur bheg = the short sister
• pl.: feran orda = tall men; nah-feran orda = the tall men

Comparatives are formed by adding nis 'more' and es 'most' before the adjective and using the comparative form of the adjective:

mour - nis mou - es mou = big - bigger - biggest

Pronouns

pronouns: me tu še ši šin šibh šid

Possessive prefixes:

• mo-bhrother /mo vrohəɾ/ 'my brother'; m-ather /mahəɾ/ 'my father'
• do-bhrother /do vrohəɾ/ 'thy brother'; d-ather /dahəɾ/ 'thy father'
• a-bhrother /ə vrohəɾ/ 'his brother'; a-ather /a ahəɾ/ 'his father'
• ah-brother /ə brohəɾ/ 'her brother'; ah-ather /əh ahəɾ/ 'her father'
• or-brother /oɾ brohəɾ/ 'our brother'; orn-ather /oɾn ahəɾ/ 'our father'
• bhar-brother /vəɾ brohəɾ/ 'your brother'; bharn-ather /vəɾn aheɾ/ 'your father'
• a-brother /ə brohəɾ/ 'their brother'; an-ather /ən ahəɾ/ 'their father'

m' and d' are used before a vowel, a /j/ or when a lenited f results in an initial vowel or /j/: ףיור fyur /fjuɾ/ 'sister'; מףיור m-fhyur /mjuɾ/ 'my sister'.

A possessive prefix must be used before every noun: 'my mother and my father' is mo-mother is m-ather, not *mo-mother is ather.

Prepositions

• ag 'at': agom, agat, aje, ači, agen, agebh, acu
• da 'to, for': dom, dit, de, di, din, dibh, du
• ze 'off, away from': zom, zit, ze, zi, zin, zibh, zu
• ou 'from': uom, uat, ua, uahi, uen, uev, uahu
• i(n) 'in': inom, inat, on, intzi, inen, inebh, intu
• ar 'on': orom, orat, er, erhi, oren, orebh, orhu
• as 'from': asom, asat, as, aši, asen, asebh, asu
• ru 'before, in front of': rum, rut, rebhe, rempi, run, rubh, rompu
• ri 'with': rjom, ret, reš, rei, rin, ribh, ryu
• um 'around': umom, umat, eme, empi, umen, umebh, umpu
• fo 'under': fum, fut, fu, fihi, fun, fubh, fuhu

Combinations

in + definite article is insa(n)- in the sg and insna- in the plural.

i + possessive a-: ina-

i + possessive or-: inar-

ou + an-/am-/a- : oun-/oum-/oun-

Syntax

Prepositions stick to every noun in a noun phrase: nah-fregertzen ou mo-mother is ou mo-bhrother 'the answers from my mother and brother' (Really tempted to make this nah-fregertzn...)

Syntax

Noun phrase

Since Yudach lost the genitive case, most genitives use the construction an-X ag Y (lit. the X at Y) when Y is a noun. For example, an-cat ag mo-mhac = my son's cat.

Phrasebook

• Šolam = Hello, goodbye
• Benacht agat/agebh = Thank you (lit. may you have blessing)