User:IlL/Spare pages 1/53

English in the AETHER timeline is an Indo-European language and has pretty much the same vocabulary and grammar as our English, but is a Riphic language, not a Germanic one. It is native to our Germany and Poland area, not the British Isles.

Etymologies

• leitmotif: an opera which used a leitmotif for a character named Lait or Light? (it was an operatic version of Death Note)
• karma: a non-Earth Indo-Aryan language
• mana: from IA *manas
• Parmesan: unknown. A folk etymology derives it from a Cubrite woman's name (Parm Eshan?).
• German linguistic terminology: invented by Edna? The standard terms are:
  • affection not umlaut
  • apophony not ablaut
  • linguistic area not sprachbund
  • lexical aspect not aktionsart
  • case stacking not suffixaufnahme
  • place of origin not urheimat

Accents

Whelpington

name is placeholder

Philly + Boston; should inspire Shalaian and Netagin. Should be RP in ways that the Standard accent is not

• (Ph) Philly L
• (~Ph, ~RP) Philly-style reinforcement on preconsonantal vowels, but specifically before voiceless consonants; i.e. generalized Canadain-raising-esque effects
• (B, RP) non-rhotic
• (Ph, B, RP) Few or no mergers before prevocalic /r/
• (Ph, B, ~RP) Philly short-A system; lax A = [æ], tense A = [eə~ɛə]
• (Ph, RP) GOAT = [əʊ]; GOOSE = [üw]
• (Ph, ~RP) LOT = [ɑ], THOUGHT = NORTH = FORCE = POOR = [oə~ɔə]
• (B, ~RP) START = [ä]
• SQUARE (= tense A) = [eə~ɛə]
• NEAR = [iə~ɪə]
• NURSE = [ə:]
• /aɪ/, /aʊ/, /eɪ/, /oɪ/ = [aɪ], [aʊ], [eɪ], [oɪ]
• wine-whine merger (optional in Standard)

• /l/ is always dark [ɫ] and often vocalizes to a uvularized, pharyngealized or nasalized [ɰ].
• A 3-way distinction of Mary [meəɹi], merry [mɛɹi~mɤɹi], marry [mæɹi], unlike Standard English
• hurry [hɤɹi], furry [fəːɹi]
• orange [ɒɹɪndʒ]
• mirror [mɪɹə(ɹ)] != nearer [niəɹə(ɹ)]
• /iːg/ > /ɪg/, /eɪg/ > /ɛg/ in many words
• /θ ð/ are commonly [t̪ d̪].
• Philadelphian A-tensing system reminiscent of trap-bath split

A characteristic feature is reinforcement for certain vowels or diphthongs before consonants, which changes the pronunciation of the vowel:

• The nucleus is shortened.
• When the consonant is voiced, the offglide is lengthened: fame [fɪiːm]
• When the consonant is voiceless, the consonant is lengthened: face [fɪjsː]

A-Standard

Partly stolen from Lõis

Overview

Vowels
Feature	Standard	Whelpington
KIT	ɪ~ɪ̈
DRESS	ɛ
TRAP	a
BATH (the BATH lexical set is same as RP)	aː~æː
LOT	ɔ~ɒ
STRUT	ɜ̟~ɐ
FOOT	ʊ̈~ɘ
FLEECE	iː
FACE	eɪ
PRICE	ɑɪ
CHOICE	oɪ
MOUTH	æʊ
GOAT	əʏ~ʌʏ, ɔʊ~ɒʊ before [ɫ]
GOOSE	üw, uː before [ɫ]
PALM	ɑː
THOUGHT	ɔː~ɒː
NEAR	ɪɚ~ɪə
SQUARE	ɛɚ~ɛə
NURSE	ɚː~əː
START	ɑɚ~ɑː
NORTH	oɚ~oə
FORCE	oɚ~oə
POOR	uɚ~uə
CURE	juɚ~jɚː~juə~jəː
commA	ə
lettER	ɚ~ə
happY	iː~ɪj
Other phenomena
Feature	L-Standard	Whelpington
Rhoticity	Transitioning to non-rhotic; freely varies	Nonrhotic with intrusive R
Dark L	Only when non-prevocalic; vocalized L is [w]	Always; vocalized L is a uvular approximant
/θ ð/	[θ ð]	Often [t̪ d̪]
Aspiration of voiceless stops and t/d-tapping	As in BrE	As in AmE
Reinforcement	No "reinforcement" of any kind	Philly-reinforcement before voiceless consonants

A kind of "Transatlantic accent", inspired by Californian + Philadelphia + Modern RP/Estuary.

Intonation is mostly American + my own weird intonation

Vowels

• orange = [oːɹəndʒ]
• Mary-merry-marry merger
• Mirror-nearer merger
• Hurry-furry merger
• No mergers before /l/
• No trap-bath split

Consonants

• L is light [l] before vowels and dark [ɫ] otherwise, as in RP.
  • wholly-holy split.
• No glottal reinforcement before stops.
• /p t k/ are unaspirated after stressed syllables as in AmE.
• /d t/ has a tapped [ɾ] allophone in similar environments as in American English.
• wine-whine merger optional.
• /r/ may be [ʋ] between vowels.