Old Apsiska: Of the Axe

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Znex
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Old Apsiska: Of the Axe

Post by Znex »

Post by post, this will be my collection of stuff I've written for Apsiska already. Anything that's obsolete I'll try to update in the same post, so keep a look out. For the moment, this thread will cover Old Apsiska which I've been covering mostly in my conlanging. I might at some point connect the circuit all the way to some modern variety of Apsiska, but we'll see.

Old Apsiska was an East Germanic language spoken by some small communities in the Ukraine during the Rus Khaganate and early Kievan Rus' and preserved within a number of mostly extant poetic and proverbial texts, as well as an excerpt of an Apsiskan translation of the Gospel of Luke. Although not directly descended from Gothic, it would seem that Apsiska is the legacy of a little-known Gothic tribe recorded only by Pseudo-Strabo: the "Aquisones".

Old Apsiska is marked out from its Germanic relatives by a number of features, including purely vocalic suffixes, the general change from labiovelar consonants to labial (which while outside the Germanic family is occasionally common, is not really found inside), and a (conditional) merge between /s/ and /θ/.

Phonology
Consonants
/m n ɲ/
/p b~mb t d~nd k g~ŋg/
/tʃ dʒ~ɲdʒ/
/v ð ɣ/
/f s z ɬ ʃ ʒ ɕ ʑ~ɲʑ x/
/w* r rʲ l lʲ/

Voiceless stops and affricates are unaspirated. Vowels, excluding /a a:/, are preceded by their front/back counterpart approximant.

Short vowels
/i u/
/e a/

Long vowels
/i: u:/
/e: o:/
/ɛ: ɔ:/
/a:/

Diphthongs
/ai ɛi ei ɔi oi ui/
/au ɛu eu iu ɔu ou/

Orthography
Old Apsiska is written in a variant of the Early Cyrillic alphabet, but can be written in two styles. One, as preserved in Apsiskan poetry, is written mostly phonetically but for a few digraphs, letter for sound. The other is preserved in the translation of the Gospel of Luke, and largely favours the Gothic spelling, although there are many changes that reflect the Apsiskan language itself.

The Apsiskan Cyrillic uses the below letters, among others:
Аа Бб Вв Гг Дд Єє Жж Зз Ии Іı Кк Лл Лıлı Мм Нн Нıнı Оо Пп Рр Сс Тт Оуоу Фф Хх Чч Шш Ꙉꙉ

Apsiskan Poetic
Vowel length is unmarked, but can be indicated by the following consonants: a nasal-stop cluster or an aspirate-stop cluster. Incidentally, consonant qualities are indicated by the same device.
Spoiler:
Аа [a,a:]
Бб [b,v] (only occurs word-first or following a short vowel)
Вв [v,w]
Мвмв [:b~:mb]
Гг [g,ɣ]
Нгнг [:g~:ŋg]
Дд [d,ð]
Нднд [:d~:nd]
Єє [e,ɛ:,e:]
Жж [ʒ,ʑ]
Нжнж [:ʑ~:ɲʑ]
Зз [z] (only occurs intervocalically)
Ии [i,i:]
Іı [j]
Кк [k,g]
Хкхк [˘k]
Лл [l]
Лıлı [lʲ]
Мм [m]
Нн [n]
Нıнı [ɲ]
Оо [ɔ:,o:]
Пп [p,b]
Хпхп [˘p]
Рр [r]
Сс [s]
Тт [t,d]
Хтхт [˘t]
Оуоу [u,u:,w~v]
Фф [f]
Хх [x~h] (only appears before other consonants or in interjections)
Чч [tʃ]
Шш [ʃ,ɕ]
Ꙉꙉ [dʒ]
Нꙉнꙉ [:dʒ~:ɲdʒ]
Apsiskan Biblical
Vowel length is indicated by digraphs, while consonant qualities are indicated as above or with doubling. Where Apsiskan consonants are concerned, Apsiskan Biblical uses conservative spellings, but otherwise the word and syllable structure remains roughly the same as for Apsiskan Poetic. Nouns are indicated by capital letters as in Modern German.
Spoiler:
Аа [a,a:]
Бб [b,v] (only occurs word-first or following a short vowel)
Вв [v,w]
Гг [g,ɣ]
Дд [d,ð]
Єє [e,e:]
Аıаı [ɛ:]
Uu [p,b]
Жж [ʒ,ʑ]
Зз [z] (only occurs intervocalically)
Ѱѱ [s,f]
[i]
Єıєı [i:]
[j]
Кк [k,g]
Лл [l]
Лϛлϛ [lʲ]
Мм [m]
Нн [n]
Нϛнϛ [ɲ]
Оо [o:]
Аnan [ɔ:]
ᚢn [u,u:]
Пп [p,b]
Рр [r]
Сс [s]
Тт [t,d]
Уу [w~v]
Фф [f]
Хх [x~h,∅]
Ѳѳ [f,v]
Чч [tʃ]
Шш [ʃ,ɕ]
Ꙉꙉ [dʒ]
Some Samples
AP Года кари са фрижє модр жєни.
AB Года Карлı ѱа фрıжє Модр жϛєнı.
gōða kari sa friźē mōðr źēni
good-WK.M.SG.DIR young.man-SG.DIR DEF.M.SG.NOM familial.love-PRS.SG mother.SG.DIR 3-M.SG.GEN
A good man loves his mother.

AP Лиоунда гоума са н сиви нєнда.
AB Лıгnнда Гnма ѱа нє сıѳı Нєнда.
liuda guma sa n sivi nēda
lie-PART.WK.M.SG.DIR man-SG.NOM DEF.M.SG.NOM NEG see-PRS.SG nothing
A man asleep sees nothing.

AP Фа саи ави осона доу ошє, авє жєна ошє.
AB Ѳа са ı хавı Аnсона дn хanшϛє, хавaı жϛєна хanшϛє.
fā sai avi wɔ̄sōna du wɔ̄šē | avɛ̄ źēna wɔ̄šē
who.M.SG REL.M.SG ear-PL.DIR for=hear-INF | have-IMP.2SG 3-M.SG.DAT hear-INF
Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.
Last edited by Znex on 19 Dec 2017 06:47, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: Old Apsiska: Of the Axe

Post by Creyeditor »

Really nice feel. Also, another weapon based Germlang [:D] [:)]
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Znex
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Re: Old Apsiska: Of the Axe

Post by Znex »

I've just gone and finished a basic >300 word lexicon which can be found on Frathwiki if anyone wants access to the current list. I'll update it as I go on although I plan at some point to upload something more comprehensive.

In the meantime, I'll be writing the first of some topic-oriented/grammatical posts on Old Apsiska. Stay tuned! [;)]
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Re: Old Apsiska: Of the Axe

Post by Frislander »

I'm interested! The name sounds to me like a sister language to Blackfoot, weirdly, and if I didn't know it was spoken in the Ukraine, the look and feel of the example sentences might have me convinced it was a West-Africa language! I'm interested to see what happens with the grammar: will it shift a bit to a more Slavic slant? I can certainly see the verb-preposition compounds of Germanic becoming more like the aspectual prefixes of Slavic, for instance.
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