View source for Erish language

#  
{{Region_icon_Ajax}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Erish
| altname          = 
| nativename       = ''ärsk''
| acceptance       = 
| image            = 
| imagesize        = <!-- or image_size -->
| imagealt         = 
| imagecaption     = 
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|[ˈæʁ̞sk]}}
| states           = [[Erishland]]
| region           = 
| creator          = 
| created          = 
| setting          = 
| ethnicity        = Erish
| extinct          = 
| era              = 
| speakers         = 7.5 million
| date             = 2019
| dateprefix       = 
| ref              = <!-- up to e21 (or current edition) if ref is ''Ethnologue'' --> 
| refname          = 
| speakers2        = 
| revived          = 
| revived-category = <!-- or revived-cat -->
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = {{wpl|Germanic languages|Germanic}}
| fam3             = {{wpl|West Germanic languages|West Germanic}}
| protoname        = 
| ancestor         = Old Erish
| ancestor2        = Old Erish
| ancestor3        = Middle Erish
| ancestor4        = Early Modern Erish
| standards        = 
| stand1           = 
| stand2           = <!-- up to stand6 -->
| dialects         = 
| listclass        = 
| dia1             = 
| dia2             = <!-- up to dia20 -->
| script           = {{wpl|Latin script|Latin}}
| sign             = 
| posteriori       = 
| nation           = [[Erishland]]
| minority         = 
| agency           = Erish Language Council
| iso1             = er
| iso1comment      = 
| iso2             = ers
| iso2b            = 
| iso2t            = 
| iso2comment      = 
| iso3             = ers
| iso3comment      = 
| lc1              = 
| ld1              = 
| lc2              = <!-- up to lc30 -->
| ld2              = <!-- up to ld30 --> 
| iso6             = 
| isoexception     = 
| linglist         = 
| lingname         = 
| linglist2        = <!-- up to linglist6 -->
| lingname2        = <!-- up to lingname6 -->
| glotto           = 
| glottoname       = 
| glottofoot       = 
| glottorefname    = 
| glotto2          = <!-- up to glotto5 -->
| glottoname2      = <!-- up to glottoname5 -->
| glottorefname2   = <!-- up to glottorefname5 -->
| aiatsis          = 
| aiatsisname      = 
| aiatsis2         = <!-- up to aiatsis6 -->
| aiatsisname2     = <!-- up to aiatsisname6 -->
| guthrie          = 
| lingua           = 
| lingua_ref       = 
| ietf             = 
| map              = 
| mapsize          = 
| mapalt           = 
| mapcaption       = 
| map2             = 
| mapalt2          = 
| mapcaption2      = 
| pushpin_map      =
| pushpin_image    =
| pushpin_map_alt  =
| pushpin_map_caption =
| pushpin_mapsize  =
| pushpin_label           = 
| pushpin_label_position  = 
| coordinates      = <!-- use {{Coord}} --> 
| wikibook         = <!-- an e-book in Wikibooks -->
| module           = 
| notice           = IPA
}}

'''Erish''' (Havnstead Erish: ''ärsk'' {{IPA|[ˈæʁ̞sk]}}) is a {{wpl|West Germanic language}} spoken by over seven million people, mainly in [[Erishland]], where it is the native and official language. It is most closely related to languages like {{wpl|English language|Anglish}} or [[Allamunnic language|Allamunnic]], though extended contact with {{wpl|North Germanic languages|Nordic languages}} has significantly influenced it. Erish is divided into the Bayland, Eastern, and Western dialect groups, which exist in a dialect continuum where Erish becomes increasingly mutually unintelligible the further one's dialects are from one another.

The earliest form of Erish, known as Old Erish, was brought to the region of modern Erishland by the Erish people during the Allamunnic migrations in the 400s. During this period, the Erish language somewhat evolved alongside {{wpl|Old Norse}}, adopting many features and changes alongside the language. After the introduction of the {{wpl|Latin script}} in the 900s, a literary period began which continued through the start of Middle Erish, marked by its independence from the Kingdom of Staalmark in 1297. Middle Erish would be marked by a drastic phonological and morphological restructuring, as the complex grammar of Old Erish changed under the pressure of the erosion of unstressed syllables, and the Erish dialects began to diverge. Modern Erish is traditionally distinguished from Early Modern Erish, the latter of which is considered to have begun in the late 1700s and ended with Ottonian annexation in 1867. Modern Erish itself is periodized as beginning with the literary movements of the early 20th century, which sought to reassert a new, modern Erish national identity, and later establish a modern standard language.

Though Erish is more closely related to West Germanic languages like Anglish or Allamunnic, extended contact with Nordic speakers has profoundly influenced the language. It has adopted many features of those languages, including vocabulary like ''kjåt'' ("meat"), and grammar like suffixed definite articles. Grammatically speaking, the language has features like {{wpl|Grammatical case|case}}, {{wpl|Grammatical gender|gender}}, and {{wpl|Grammatical conjugation#Verbal agreement|subject}} marking, though there is significant discontinuity between Old Erish and Modern Erish grammar, particularly with regards to verbs. Erish has a {{wpl|subject-verb-object}} word order that is subject to the {{wpl|V2 word order|V2 restriction}} similar to the Nordic languages, but it is considerably {{wpl|Word order#Pragmatic word order|flexible}}. It has a high number of vowels, with the major Havnstead dialect having 10 phonemic vowels, but Erish is also particularly notable for its system of allophonic fricatives for the voiced/unaspirated stops that leads to the "Erish lisp".

==Classification==

Erish is an {{wpl|Indo-European language}} which belongs to the {{wpl|West Germanic languages|West Germanic}} branch of the {{wpl|Germanic languages}}. The West Germanic languages are divided into four branches: {{wpl|North Sea Germanic|Ingvaeonic}}, which includes languages like {{wpl|English language|Anglish}}, {{wpl|Elbe Germanic|Irminonic}}, which includes {{wpl|German language|German}}, {{wpl|Weser-Rhine Germanic|Istvaeonic}}, which includes {{wpl|Dutch language|Dutch}}, and Northern, which includes Erish. Despite its West Germanic origins, extensive contact with Nordic languages has influenced the language to the point where it is much more in line with those languages than it is its sisters; up until the emergence of modern linguistics within the past two centuries, Erish was actually thought to be a ''Nordic'' Germanic language, if one with some peculiarities. Erish itself is divided into three dialect clusters: Bayland Erish, Eastern Erish, and Western Erish. These clusters exist in a dialect continuum in which, at the extreme ends, speakers of the same Erish language may find it difficult to understand one another, especially in informal registers.

Genetically speaking, Erish is a West Germanic language. This was not particularly apparent to many up until the emergence of modern linguistics, and the eventual realization that some of the apparent peculiarities of Erish as a Nordic language, meaning a language descended from {{wpl|Proto-Norse}}, were actually indications of its West Germanic origins. Some of the evidence pointing towards this includes:
* Word-final ''d'' - Erish has hardened the reflex of Proto-Germanic *ð to d in all positions, a sound change which occurred in Proto-West Germanic, but not in the Nordic languages. This results in vocabulary like ''blad'' ("leaf"), ''húd'' ("skin"), or ''vid'' ("wide"), which should have been ''*blað'', ''*húð'', and ''*við'' if Erish was Nordic. 
* Reflex of Proto-Germanic ''*z'' - In both Old Erish and Modern Erish, masculine nouns of the first declension like ''stein'' ("stone"), for example, have an indefinite/specific singular nominative form ''hund'', but an indefinite/specific plural nominative ''hundar''; were Erish Nordic, the Old Erish singular form would have been ''*hunds''. The singular form's lack of ''s'', the word-final reflex of ''*z'' in Erish, reflects the loss of unstressed word-final ''*z'' in Proto-West Germanic; the plural form's ''-r'' reflects a Proto-West Germanic ''-ōzi'', related to Old Frisian ''-ar''.
* Absence of {{wpl|Holtzmann's law}} - Erish reflexes of Proto-Germanic vocabulary with geminated semi-vowels ''*jj'' and ''*ww'' lack the expected hardening, and instead display the reanalysis of the first semi-vowel to the second element of diphthongs, a sound change common to West Germanic languages. Erish vocabulary like ''ei'' ("egg") and ''try'' ("true") would be ''egg'' and ''trygg'' were this the case.
* Core grammatical words - Erish has several key grammatical words which cannot be sufficiently explained as being Nordic in origin. Forms of Erish vocabulary like ''hira'' ("her") and ''júg'' ("you") should be ''*hirar'' and ''*iðr'' if that were the case, but are explainable from coming from a Proto-West Germanic ''*hezō'' and ''*iuw''.
* West Germanic gemination - Words like ''bidda'' ("to ask"), ''häbba'' ("to have"), ''sägga'' ("to say") should be ''*biða'', ''*hafa'', and ''*säggja'' if Erish was Nordic. Instead, their forms are an indication that Erish was affected by {{wpl|West Germanic gemination}}, where consonants other than *r or *z were lengthened before Proto-Germanic *j.

Despite its roots, the extended contact with speakers of {{wpl|North Germanic languages|Nordic}} Germanic languages has made Erish much more akin to a Nordic language than a West Germanic language. Indeed, Erish has changed enough through exposure to languages like {{wpl|Norwegian language|Norsk}} that it is considered to be in a North Germanic sprachbund with them, sharing features like:
* Common phonological developments - Old Erish underwent many of the same sound changes seen in Old Norse, possibly driven by the relative mutual intelligibility of the languages at their earliest stages.  such as loss of word-initial j or vowel breaking, resulting in Modern Erish vocabulary like ''ár'' "year" (cf. Norsk ''år'') and ''jårð'' (cf. Norsk ''jord'').
* Common vocabulary - Erish shares a great deal of basic vocabulary with these languages which were either directly inherited and maintained in Erish despite being usually lost in other closely related West Germanic languages, or was loaned from the Nordic languages. Examples of the former include ''skjy'' ("cloud") from Old Erish ''ský'' (cf. Norsk ''sky''), ''gammals'' ("old") from Old Erish ''gamals'' (cf. Norsk ''gammel''), and ''stór'' ("big") from Old Erish ''stœrs'' (cf. Norsk ''stor''). Old Norse loans include ''skóg'' ("forest") from Old Norse ''skógr'' (cf. Norsk ''skog''), ''kjåt'' ("meat") from Old Norse ''kjǫt'' (cf. Norsk ''kjøtt''), and, potentially, ''taka'' ("to take") from Old Norse ''taka'' (cf. Norsk ''taka'').
* Plural ''-r'' marker - The earliest runic inscriptions of Old Erish seem to indicate that the "r-plural" of nouns is a direct inheritance from Proto-Germanic, but it was initially restricted to certain masculine nouns. Old Norse influence, however, likely led to its extension as a generic plural marker for non-neuter nouns. 
* Suffixed definite article - The Erish definite article is suffixed to a noun, as seen in the sentence ''Ig se mannin'' ("I see the man"), where ''mann'' "man" has had the definite article attached (cf. Norsk ''Eg ser mannen''). In contrast to Nordic languages, however, a definite noun described by an adjective does not necessitate an independent definite article, as in ''Ig se gammla mannin'' ("I see the old man") (cf. Norsk ''Eg ser den gamle mannen'').
* Subject-verb-object V2 syntax - Erish has a main clause syntax far more similar to the Nordic languages than to most of its West Germanic relatives. The sentence ''Ig kann kjøyra Róbjart til Serdstad mið bilin min i dag'' "I can drive Robjart to Serdstead with my car today" has a very different word order from Dutch ''Ik kan Robjart vandaag met mijn auto naar Serdstad rijden'' (lit. "I can Robjart today with my car to Serdstead drive"), but one essentially identical to Norsk ''Eg kan køyra Robjart til Serdstad med bilen min i dag''. 
* Mediopassive construction - Erish has an analytic mediopassive voice formed by the verb ''blifa'' ("to become") and a present participle, which fulfills the same role as the ''-s/-st'' mediopassive found in Nordic languages. The sentences ''Rikarð and Fródi blifa slánda'' ("Rikard and Frodi are fighting") and ''Dyru kann blifa opnanda'' ("The door can be opened"), for example, corresponds to Norsk ''Rikard og Frodi slåst'' and ''Døra kan opnast''.

==History==

===Old Erish===

The history of the Erish language begins in the prehistory of the Erish people, who spoke West Germanic dialects. When the Allamunnic migrations occurred in the 400s, however, Erish would be isolated from its sister languages, and begin the extended contact with Nordic speakers which has occurred ever since. During this period of Erish history, the differences between Proto-Erish and Proto-Norse were so relatively minor that mutual intelligibility would have been possible. This likely played into Old Erish undergoing numerous phonological, grammatical, and lexical developments ''alongside'' Old Norse. By the end of the Old Erish period, Erish was far more similar to Old Norse than relatives like Old Anglish. The period also saw the emergence of the literary period which continues to be a cultural base for the Erish in the present day, though the Old Erish language itself can be difficult, if not impossible for Modern Erish speakers to understand without help.

The Erish people first settled what is now Erishland in the 400s, moving in the Allamunnic migrations. Though attestations are fairly scarce for Erish for the first few centuries, parts of even the modern Erish language itself attest to the extremely close contact which occurred even at its early stages. Core Erish vocabulary like ''kjåt'' ("meat") and ''ving'' ("wing") are Old Norse loans. Old Erish would also participate in many of the sound changes which occurred in the Nordic languages, resulting in Old Erish words like ''hjalpa'' ("to help"), ''jårð'' ("earth"), and ''yngs'' ("young") (cf. Old Norse ''hjalpa'', ''jǫrð'', ''ungr''). It would even develop grammatical features like suffixed definite articles or subject-verb-object word order, which are common to the Nordic languages. These commonalities perhaps reflect the degree to which Proto-Erish and Proto-Norse were similar enough that common developments could affect speakers of both languages. 

Old Erish did undergo a few distinct changes. One of the most important of these is the word-final devoicing of Proto-West Germanic ''*z'' to ''s'', facilitating, for example, the alternation between ''hundar'' ("dogs") and ''hundas'' ("the dogs") which occurs in Modern Erish. Although a suffixed definite article developed as in Old Norse, the root from which it developed was not a reflex of Proto-Germanic ''*jainaz'' ("yon"), but was instead from the Old Erish third-person pronouns. I-umlaut was also slightly more prominent in Old Erish, as the masculine singular forms had a form involving it due to the suffixal ''-s'' developing from Proto-West Germanic ''*siz'', though the effects of this are mostly lost in Modern Erish.

Early attestations of Erish in runic inscriptions appear throughout the latter half of the first millennium, sometimes being difficult to distinguish from Norse, but it was a predominantly oral language for the first part of its history. When Christianization missions reached Erishland in the 900s, they brought with them the {{wpl|Latin script}}. Though Erishland would ultimately remain pagan, local leaders saw the value of writing, and the Latin script remained. Though Old Erish became more consistently attested, it would take until the mid-1000s for the period most associated with Old Erish in Erish culture to finally begin, when poetry that had been oral for sometimes centuries began to be written down. These included heroic poetry like ''Gunnar Eldhúsis'' ("Gundar of the Burnt House"), which tells the tale of Gundar Grimuson and his efforts to avenge the death of his entire family, early poems describing ''Mannis'', the first being in what would come to be the Ardist creation myth. Gradually, this literary period exploded into the foundations for Erish culture, laying down the histories of the Lands, documenting the wisdom and accounts of {{wpl|Thyle|Thyles}}, and establishing the body of sacred texts for the Ardist faith. Though initially these texts were fairly varied, reflecting the Erish dialects of the time, the written Erish language gradually solidified into the standard based upon the dialect of Serdstead with the rise of the House of Tosk. After the creation of Erishland in 1297, the Old Erish period drew to a close, though the standardization of the literary language, combined with the cultural significance of the time, would mean that Old Erish would continue to be written well after it had stopped being spoken - as it may have already been doing.

The grammatical and even orthographic differences between Old Erish and Modern Erish can make reading difficult without either knowledge of Old Erish or a translation. Old Erish had a complex system of four grammatical cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative) for which nominals declined, and verbs conjugated for person in the plural, the subjunctive mood, and fell into many more irregular conjugations. Though the standard Erish language and many dialects are fairly conservative in some senses, the morphological differences between the two languages can make reading even more confusing. It is thought that the written language of Old Erish, especially starting in the 1200s, reflects an increasingly conservative version of the Erish language, given how certain errors which seem to be indicative of features associated with Middle Erish begin to appear. 

===Middle Erish===

Middle Erish is the most formative period of time for the shape of the modern Erish language, being the era in which the language was drastically restructured in terms of grammar and phonology. Unfortunately, it is also not particularly well attested - the best attestations usually come from scribes proscribing grammatical or pronunciation "errors" made in common speech. 

The Middle Erish language saw a number of changes which have shaped the nature of the modern Erish language spoken today. In terms of phonology, a few major changes occurred. The voiced stops became allophonically fricative in a variety of contexts, causing, amongst many features, the famous "Erish lisp" where ''d'' often sounds like ''th''. Late Old Erish's allophonic palatalization of velar and alveolar consonants in certain contexts became phonemic as a variety of mergers occurred, the specifics of which often vary by particular dialect. Vowel length ceased to be phonemic as length came to be dependent upon syllable structure, though the Old Erish long vowels ''á'', ''ó'', and ''ú'' shifted in non-Eastern dialects before this occured. One final important change was that many dialects changed the difference between voiceless and voiced stops to aspirated and unaspirated. The Old Erish unstressed vowels /ɑ,i,u/ resisted completely merging to /ə/, though the extent to which unstressed vowels remain distinct varies by dialect, and they were also completely dropped in several contexts.

These sound changes helped drive the grammatical changes which occurred during the period. Phonological erosion of the weak verb conjugations' past tense suffix eventually led to an analytic construction involving ''gjøra'' ("to do") that overtook a conjugated past tense in most verbs (though several common verbs retain it). Although Modern Erish has a fairly robust case system, the Old Erish case system underwent significant reductions: the genitive case disappeared outside of a few pronouns, whilst the accusative and dative cases merged into the modern oblique case. At the same time as these reductions took place, Erish verbs maintained robust subject marking through the grammaticalization of subject pronoun cliticization in the late Old Erish period.

Despite these changes to the language, the written language continued to be Old Erish, generally following the grammatical and spelling conventions established by the late 1200s. The only major changes arose from the introduction of the printing press, which led to the replacement of older characters like {{wpl|Eth|ð}} or {{wpl|Thorn (letter)|þ}} with digraphs like ''dh'' and ''th''. Despite this conservation of the Old Erish written language, there were early debates over modernizing the language. Queen Ljosna I notably attempted to mandate that the official written language reflect the modern court speech of Serdstead, but failed to achieve any lasting change. Nonetheless, these debates foreshadowed what would come during the Early Modern Erish era.

===Early Modern Erish===

The Early Modern Erish era was essentially defined by a widespread debate about the modernization of the written language, and, to a lesser extent, whether the dialect of Serdstead or Havnstead should form the basis for a modern spoken standard. With the sudden arrival of the Republican era of Erish history, and the rise of the Nationalist party, essentially resolved the debate by force, attempting to promote a modern, standardized language based on the dialect of Serdstead. Ultimately, the Early Modern Erish era would end with the annexation of Erishland by Ottonia and the failure of the Nationalist effort. 

Important features of Modern Erish arose during the Early Modern Erish period. Retroflexion of alveolar consonants after /r/ became a major feature of many Erish dialects during this time, as did the devoicing of all fricatives outside of intervocalic or unstressed contexts. Grammatically, the past tense began to further atrophy as dialects began replacing the Middle Erish ''gjøra'' ("to do") construction with the perfect tense; though the past tense is still present in Modern Erish, it is much less commonly used than the perfect, outside of Western dialects. Dialects in the East also lost pitch accent as well.

===Modern Erish===

Following Ottonian annexation, the written Erish language effectively ceased to exist, and the standard that the Nationalist regime had promoted died with it. With the new language of prestige being Anglish, the Erish language was relegated to being a spoken language, and, for decades, writing, much less reading Erish was a narrow pedantic pursuit. During this time, Anglish vocabulary began to more steadily enter the language.

The rebirth of the written Erish language, and the beginnings of Modern Erish, would in some ways perhaps be founded upon the realization that Erish was not a Nordic language. The renewed interest this brought in the older stages of Erish amongst those who were literate at the very least coincided with the emergence of new literary works in Erish like ''Ütlandlingas'' ("The Exiles") or ''Heuseh o' Gremehn'' ("The House of Grimm"), and authors like Thjudrik Rolfson. This new literary revival, in its early years, often was written according to the dialect of the author, and not in Old Erish or the Nationalist standard. As the Erish independence movement began to strengthen, and modern technologies like the radio emerged, Havnstead became prominent, but the historic Nationalist attempts to establish a spoken standard by force made and continue to make the establishment of a formal pronunciation unpopular. Nonetheless, old arguments about how the written language should be modernized re-emerged. Ultimately, the written ''grundmál'' standard promoted by philologist Jugar Raskson, which is primarily based upon the correspondences between the Erish dialects rather than a particular dialect, would be adopted by 1939 (though formally adopted in 1942). Despite some minor reforms since then, the 1939 modernization remains the basis of modern Erish orthography. 

==Written Erish==

Erish as a single, modern, and standardized language is most realized in the written language, which provides a unifying force amidst what can be a relative diversity amongst the Erish dialects. Being a fundamentally literary language, Erish speakers mostly speak using their own particular dialect, and only use the standard of the written language for writing. Whilst the dialect of Havnstead is prominent in media and foreign language learning materials, the official policy of the Erish Language Council is that Erish speakers should speak with their dialect. This is, in part, because the orthographic and grammatical standards of written Erish do not particularly reflect any dialect of Erish, instead representing the common sound correspondences and grammatical innovations of the dialects collectively. 

===Alphabet===

The Erish alphabet is a {{wpl|Latin script}} which utilizes 21 characters of the standard Latin alphabet, alongside accented variants of ''a'', ''o'', and ''u'', and the additional letters {{wpl|Eth|ð}}, {{wpl|Thorn (letter)|þ}}, {{wpl|Ä|ä}}, {{wpl|Å|å}}, and {{wpl|Ø|ø}}. In total, there are 29 letters in the Erish alphabet. In the following table, they and their names are listed alongside their pronunciation in the Havnstead dialect.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Letter || Name || {{wpl|IPA Chart|IPA}}
|-
| {{wpl|A}}, a || ''a'' || [ˈɑː]
|-
| {{wpl|Á}}, á || ''annað-a'' || [ˈãnːa ˈɑː]
|-
| {{wpl|B}}, b || ''be'' || [ˈpeː]
|-
| {{wpl|D}}, d || ''de'' || [ˈteː]
|-
| {{wpl|Eth|Ð}}, ð || ''edd'' || [ˈɛtː]
|-
| {{wpl|E}}, e || ''e'' || [ˈeː]
|-
| {{wpl|F}}, f || ''eff'' || [ˈɛfː]
|-
| {{wpl|G}}, g || ''ge'' || [ˈçeː]
|-
| {{wpl|H}}, h || ''há'' || [ˈhoː]
|-
| {{wpl|I}}, i || ''i'' || [ˈiː]
|-
| {{wpl|J}}, j || ''je'' || [ˈjeː]
|-
| {{wpl|K}}, k || ''ke'' || [ˈkʰeː]
|-
| {{wpl|L}}, l || ''ell'' || [ˈɛlː]
|-
| {{wpl|M}}, m || ''emm'' || [ˈæ̃mː]
|-
| {{wpl|N}}, n || ''enn'' || [ˈæ̃nː]
|-
| {{wpl|O}}, o || ''o'' || [ˈoː]
|-
| {{wpl|Ó}}, ó || ''annað-o'' || [ˈãnːa ˈoː]
|-
| {{wpl|P}}, p || ''pe'' || [ˈpʰeː]
|-
| {{wpl|R}}, r || ''err'' || [ˈæʀː]
|-
| {{wpl|S}}, s || ''ess'' || [ˈɛsː]
|-
| {{wpl|T}}, t || ''te'' || [ˈtʰeː]
|-
| {{wpl|U}}, u || ''u'' || [ˈuː]
|-
| {{wpl|Ú}}, ú || ''annað-u'' || [ˈãnːa ˈuː]
|-
| {{wpl|V}}, v || ''ve'' || [ˈʋeː]
|-
| {{wpl|Y}}, y || ''y'' || [ˈyː]
|-
| {{wpl|Thorn (letter)|Þ}}, þ || ''þorn'' || [ˈθɒʁ̞n]
|-
| {{wpl|Ä}}, ä || ''ä'' || [ˈɛː]
|-
| {{wpl|Å}}, å || ''å'' || [ˈɔː]
|-
| {{wpl|Ø}}, ø || ''ø'' || [ˈøː]
|}

⟨ð⟩ and ⟨þ⟩ are viewed by Erish speakers as uniquely Erish letters, though both can actually be found in other languages, both contemporary and historical. This has to do with their perceived cultural association with Erish orthography throughout its history - despite the interlude between the introduction of the printing press which supplanted them with ''th'' and ''dh'' and the Rolfson standard which reintroduced them. The sounds the two letters represent are not particularly distinct in Modern Erish - ⟨ð⟩ is either pronounced identically to ⟨d⟩ or is silent in the Erish dialects, whilst ⟨þ⟩ is only still distinct in Western Erish dialects.

The letters ⟨ä⟩, ⟨å⟩, and ⟨ø⟩ are sometimes rendered as ⟨æ⟩, ⟨ꜵ⟩, ⟨œ⟩ in poetic works, works trying to invoke an archaic mood, or by traditionalist writers. This has to do with the ligatures being the original forms of the modern-day vowel letters. Some conservatives have argued for the replacement of the three modern characters with their older counterparts, but the modern characters are viewed as being more brief and, in the case of ⟨ä⟩ and ⟨å⟩, more useful for words with umlaut, especially adjectives like ''gåmmul'' ("old") or verbs like ''häldi'' ("I hold"), which use them in their inflection paradigms.

The letters '''C''' (''se'' [ˈseː]), '''Q''' (''ku'' [ˈkʰuː]), '''W''' (''dobbult-ve'' [ˌtɔpːʊltˈʋeː]), '''X''' (''iks'' [ˈɪxs]), and '''Z''' (''seta'' [ˈseːtʰa]) are not official components of Erish orthography, and essentially only appear in proper names; otherwise, they are always replaced by ⟨k⟩ or ⟨s⟩, ⟨k⟩, ⟨v⟩, ⟨ks⟩, and ⟨s⟩. They are included on the Erish keyboard, and although they are not a part of the alphabet, computers sort them as part of the alphabet in the following order: a, á, b, c, d, ð, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, ó, p, q, r, s, t, u, ú, v, w, x, y, z, þ, ä, ø. Some reformers have argued for the reintroduction of the five letters, to the point that the Erish Language Council responded to one proposal in 1986, albeit with a rejection, stating that their inclusion is at odds with the principles underlying Erish orthography.

===Keyboard===
[[Image:KB_Erish.png|thumb|Erish {{wpl|keyboard layout}}]]

To write the language on a computer or typewriter, Erish uses a {{wpl|QWERTY}}-based {{wpl|keyboard layout}}. It has some influences from the keyboard layouts used to write the Nordic languages, but contains special adaptations for writing Modern Erish as well as Old Erish. Specific features of the Erish keyboard include:
* The letters Ð/ð, Þ/þ, Ä/ä, Å/å, and Ø/ø, which are entered using the dedicated keys '''Ð''', '''Þ''', '''Ä''', '''Å''', and '''Ø'''. Ð/ð is a letter also found in {{wpl|Faroese language|Faroese}} and {{wpl|Icelandic language|Icelandic}}, Þ/þ in Icelandic, Ä/ä in {{wpl|Swedish language|Swedish}}, Å/å in {{wpl|Danish language|Danish}}, {{wpl|Norwegian Language|Norsk}}, and Swedish, and Ø/ø in Danish, Faroese, and Norsk.
* The letters Á/á, Ó/ó, and Ú/ú, which are entered by pressing the {{wpl|dead key}} '''´''', which is located to the right of '''Ø''', and then the corresponding unaccented variant of the letter; the acute accent may also be applied to other letters. On standard Erish keyboards, these three letters are distinctly marked on the upper right hand of the key. All three letters are also found in Faroese and Icelandic.
* The letters Ï/ï, Ü/ü, and Ÿ/ÿ, which are entered by pressing '''AltGr''' and '''´''', and then the corresponding letter; the diaresis may also be applied to other letters. On standard Erish keyboards, these three letters are distinctly marked on the lower left hand of the key. 
* The letters Æ/æ and Œ/œ, which are entered by pressing '''AltGr''' and '''Ä''' or '''AltGr''' and '''Ø''' respectively. On standard Erish keyboards, these two letters are distinctly marked on the lower right hand of the key. They are primarily used for Old Erish texts, as the two letters do not have a place in modern Erish orthography. Æ/æ is also found in Danish, Faroese, Icelandic, and Norsk.

===Sound-spelling correspondences===

The following section describes the pronunciation correspondences between the written Erish language and the dialect of Havnstead, which has a strong presence in foreign language learning materials and major Erish media.

====Vowels====

Although several Erish vowel sounds can be represented by multiple graphemes, the pronunciation rules of Erish vowels are mostly regular, with each grapheme essentially having only one pronunciation. The main exception to this is the rule of vowel length, which is determined by stress and syllable structure: if a vowel is stressed and followed by no more than a single consonant, it is long; in any other context, it is short. Several unstressed grammatical words have irregular vowel pronunciations which simply have to be memorized by speakers.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan=3 | Grapheme(s) || colspan=4 | Pronunciation
|-
! colspan=2 | Long || colspan=2 | Short
|-
! Phoneme || Example || Phoneme || Example
|-
| ⟨a⟩ || /aː/ ([ɑː]) || ''haf'' "sea, ocean"<br />[ˈhɑːɸ] || /a/ ([a]) || ''sand'' "sand"<br />[ˈsant]
|-
| ⟨aj⟩ || /aj/ ([aɪ̯]) || ''brajn'' "brain"<br />[ˈpχaɪ̯n] || || 
|-
| ⟨av⟩ || /aʋ/ ([aʊ̯]) || ''ravn'' "raven"<br />[ˈʀaʊ̯n] || || 
|-
| ⟨á⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨ou⟩ || /oː/ ([oː]) || ''fá'' "few"<br />[ˈfoː] || /o/ ([ɔ]) || ''oust'' "east"<br />[ˈɔst]
|-
| ⟨áj⟩, ⟨oj⟩, ⟨ouj⟩, ⟨ój⟩, ⟨uj⟩, ⟨új⟩, ⟨åj⟩ || /oj/ ([oɪ̯]) || ''fujl'' "bird"<br />[ˈfoɪ̯l] || || 
|-
| ⟨áv⟩, ⟨ov⟩, ⟨ouv⟩, ⟨óv⟩, ⟨åv⟩ || /oʋ/ ([oʊ̯]) || ''håvn'' "harbor"<br />[ˈhoʊ̯n] || || 
|-
| ⟨e⟩, ⟨ei⟩ || /eː/ ([eː]) || ''ei'' "egg"<br />[ˈeː] || /e/ ([ɛ]) || ''eitt'' "one"<br />[ˈɛt͡sː] 
|-
| ⟨ej⟩, ⟨eij⟩, ⟨äj⟩ || /ej/ ([eɪ̯]) || ''sejl'' "sail"<br />[ˈseɪ̯l] || || 
|-
| ⟨ev⟩, ⟨eiv⟩, ⟨iv⟩, ⟨yv⟩, ⟨äv⟩, ⟨øv⟩, ⟨øyv⟩ || /eʋ/ ([eʊ̯]) || ''Hevn'' "(Christian) Heaven"<br />[ˈheʊ̯n] ||  ||  
|-
| ⟨i⟩, ⟨ij⟩ || /iː/ ([iː]) || ''ni'' "nine"<br />[ˈniː] || /i/ ([ɪ]) || ''timmur'' "timber"<br />[ˈtʰɪ̃mːʊχ] 
|-
| ⟨ó⟩, ⟨u⟩, ⟨uv⟩, ⟨úv⟩ || /uː/ ([uː]) || ''Ódun'' "Odin"<br />[ˈuːðʊn] || /u/ ([ʊ]) || ''hund'' "dog"<br />[ˈhʊnt] 
|-
| ⟨ú⟩ || /ʉː/ ([ʉː]) || ''húd'' "skin"<br />[ˈhʉːθ] || /ʉ/ ([ɵ]) || ''lúdt'' "loud"<br />[ˈlɵt͡sː] 
|-
| ⟨y⟩ || /yː/ ([yː]) || ''hy'' "complexion, skin"<br />[ˈhyː] || /y/ ([ʏ]) || ''tryth'' "true"<br />[ˈtχʏt͡sː] 
|-
| ⟨yj⟩, ⟨øj⟩, ⟨øyj⟩ || /øj/ ([øʏ̯]) || ''høyjri'' "higher"<br />[ˈhøʏ̯ʁɪ] || || 
|-
| ⟨ä⟩ || /ɛː/ || ''lägir'' "he lays"<br />[ˈlɛːʝɪχ] || /e/ ([ɛ]) || ''mänsk'' "person"<br />[ˈmɛnsk] 
|-
| ⟨å⟩ || /ɔː/ || ''nås'' "nose"<br />[ˈnɔːs] || /o/ ([ɔ]) || ''såkk'' "sack"<br />[ˈsɔk͡xː] 
|-
| ⟨ø⟩, ⟨øy⟩ || /øː/ ([øː]) || ''grøn'' "green"<br />[ˈχʀ̥øːn] || /ø/ ([œ]) || ''sløgt'' "sly"<br />[ˈsl̥œxt] 
|}

====Consonants====

Due to a combination of both the fairly etymological spelling and the slightly complex allophony of Erish consonants, explanatory notes about their pronunciation with allophonic details when necessary will be provided below. It must be noted that the pronunciation rules provided therein only apply within the context of a word, meaning that they are unaffected by being in a compound or by a non-grammatical affix.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Grapheme || Phoneme(s) || Example(s) || Notes
|-
| rowspan=4 | ⟨b⟩ || /b̥/ ([p]) || ''bidda'' "to ask"<br />[ˈpɪtːa] || rowspan=4 | At the beginning of words, ⟨b⟩ is pronounced as [p]. It only appears elsewhere in loanwords, where word-finally, it is realized as [ɸ]; before ⟨d⟩ or ⟨t⟩, as [f]; and, in other contexts, as [β].
|-
| /b̥/ ([ɸ]) || ''lab'' "lab"<br />[ˈlɑːɸ]
|-
| /f/ || ''Abdul''<br />[ˈaftʊl]
|-
| /b̥/ ([β]) || ''bebi'' "baby"<br />[ˈpeːβɪ]
|-
| rowspan=2 | ⟨bb⟩ || /b̥ː/ ([pː]) || ''krabbi'' "crab"<br />[ˈq͡χapːɪ] || rowspan=2 | ⟨bb⟩ normally represents [pː], but before ⟨d⟩ or ⟨t⟩, it represents [fː].
|-
| /fː/ || ''sibbt'' "kindred"<br />[ˈsɪfːt]
|-
| rowspan=4 | ⟨d⟩ || /d̥/ ([t]) || ''dóttur'' "daughter"<br />[ˈtʊt͡sːʊχ] || rowspan=4 | At the beginning of words, as well as after ⟨l⟩ or ⟨n⟩, ⟨d⟩ is pronounced as [t]. Word-finally, it is realized as [θ]. In other contexts, it is pronounced as [ð].
|-
| /d̥/ ([t]) || ''binda'' "to bind, tie"<br />[ˈpɪnta]
|-
| /d̥/ ([θ]) || ''gød'' "good"<br />[ˈxøːθ]
|-
| /d̥/ ([ð]) || ''bjóda'' "to ask, pray"<br />[ˈpyːða]
|-
| ⟨dd⟩ || /d̥ː/ ([tː]) || ''þreddi'' "third"<br />[ˈθʀ̥ɛtːɪ] || 
|-
| ⟨ddt⟩ || /tʰː/ ([t͡sː]) || ''middt'' "middle"<br />[ˈmɪt͡sː] || ⟨ddt⟩ is a morphological grapheme for adjectives, and indicates that the adjective root ends in ⟨dd⟩.
|-
| ⟨dt⟩ || /tʰː/ ([t͡sː]) || ''roudt'' "red"<br />[ˈʀɔt͡sː] || ⟨dt⟩ is a morphological grapheme for adjectives, and indicates that the adjective root ends in ⟨d⟩.
|-
| rowspan=5 | ⟨ð⟩ || /θ/ ([θ]) || ''ðár'' "there"<br />[ˈθoːχ] || rowspan=5 | Word-initially, ⟨ð⟩ represents [θ], though in all words where it appears in this context, there will be an unstressed variant with an initial [ð]. Word-finally, ⟨ð⟩ often represents [θ]; intervocalically between the stressed syllable and unstressed syllable, it represents [ð]. Elsewhere, ⟨ð⟩ is generally silent.
|-
| /θ/ ([ð]) || ''ðár'' "there"<br />[ðʊ]
|-
| /d̥/ ([θ]) || ''varð'' "I/he became"<br />[ˈʋaʁ̞θ]
|-
| /d̥/ ([ð]) || ''bóðu'' "the shop"<br />[ˈpuːðʊ]
|-
| /∅/ || ''faðr'' "father"<br />[ˈfɑːχ]
|-
| ⟨ðt⟩ || /tʰː/ ([t͡sː]) || ''báðt'' "sudden"<br />[ˈpɔt͡sː] ||
|-
| rowspan=4 | ⟨f⟩ || /f/ ([f]) || ''fjór'' "four"<br />[ˈfyːχ] || rowspan=4 | At the beginning of words, before ⟨d⟩ and ⟨t⟩, and when geminated, ⟨f⟩ normally represents [f]; in unstressed word-initial contexts, it represents [v]. Word-finally, it represents [ɸ], and elsewhere it represents [β].
|-
| /f/ ([v]) || ''furtälla'' "to tell"<br />[vʊˈtɛlːa]
|-
| /b̥/ ([ɸ]) || ''þjúf'' "thief"<br />[ˈθyːɸ]
|-
| /b̥/ ([β]) || ''hafir'' "he has"<br />[ˈhɑːβɪχ]
|-
| rowspan=5 | ⟨g⟩ || /ɣ̊/ ([x]) || ''gá'' "to go"<br />[ˈxoː] || rowspan=5 | The usual pronunciation for ⟨g⟩ is [x]. Word-initially before the vowels ⟨e⟩, ⟨ei⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨y⟩, ⟨ø⟩, or ⟨øy⟩, ⟨g⟩ represents [ç]. In unstressed syllables or grammatical words, ⟨g⟩ is often silent. In all other contexts, it is realized as a velar fricative [ɣ] or a palatal fricative [ʝ], with the latter occurring before the vowels ⟨e⟩, ⟨ei⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨y⟩, ⟨ø⟩, or ⟨øy⟩.
|-
| /ɣ̊/ ([ç]) || ''gerilla'' "guerrilla"<br />[çɛˈʁɪlːa]
|-
| /∅/ || ''ig'' "I"<br />[ɪ]
|-
| /ɣ̊/ ([ɣ]) || ''skógar'' "forests"<br />[ˈskuːɣaχ]
|-
| /ɣ̊/ ([ʝ]) || ''dagis'' "the day"<br />[ˈtɑːʝɪs]
|-
| ⟨gg⟩ || /ɣ̊ː/ ([kː]) || ''sägga'' "to say"<br />[ˈsɛkːa] || 
|-
| ⟨ggj⟩ || /xː(j)/ ([çː]) || ''byggja'' "to build"<br />[ˈpʏ˧˩çːa˥˩] || 
|-
| ⟨gj⟩ || /ɣ̊(j)/ ([ç]) || ''gjøra'' "to do"<br />[ˈçøː˧˩ʁa˥˩] ||
|-
| ⟨h⟩ || /x/ ([h]) || ''hár'' "hair"<br />[ˈhoːχ] || 
|-
| rowspan=2 | ⟨hh⟩ || /xː/ ([xː]) || ''lähha'' "to laugh"<br />[ˈlɛxːa] || rowspan=2 | ⟨hh⟩ represents [xː] before non-front vowels; before front vowels, it represents [çː].
|-
| /xː/ ([çː]) || ''lähhi'' "I laugh"<br />[ˈlɛçːɪ]
|-
| rowspan=2 | ⟨hj⟩ || /ɕ/ ([ɕ]) || ''hjelpa'' "to help" <br />[ˈɕɛlpʰa]  || rowspan=2 | In most contexts, ⟨hj⟩ is realized as [ɕ]. In some unstressed grammatical words, it is realized as [ʑ].
|-
| /ɕ/ ([ʑ]) || ''hjeis'' "they"<br />[ʑɪs]
|-
| rowspan=2 | ⟨hv⟩ || /f/ ([f]) || ''hvitt'' "white"<br />[ˈfɪt͡sː] || rowspan=2 | In most contexts, ⟨hv⟩ is realized as [f]. In some unstressed grammatical words, though, it is realized as [v].
|-
| /f/ ([v]) || ''hvað'' "what"<br />[va]
|-
| ⟨j⟩ || /j/ || ''júg'' "you (pl.)"<br />[ˈjʉːx] || At the beginning of words, ⟨j⟩ represents [j]. Non-initial contexts are covered in the section on vowels above.
|- 
| rowspan=2 | ⟨k⟩ || /k/ ([kʰ]) || ''kann'' "(I/he) can"<br />[ˈkʰãnː] || rowspan=2 | ⟨k⟩ generally represents [kʰ]. Before ⟨t⟩, where it represents /x/.
|-
| /x/ ([x]) || ''träkti'' "I/he pulled"<br />[ˈtχɛxtɪ]
|-
| ⟨kj⟩ || /ɕ/ || ''kjåt'' "meat"<br />[ˈɕɔːtʰ] || 
|-
| rowspan=3 | ⟨kk⟩ || /kː/ ([k͡xː]) || ''þakk'' "thanks"<br />[ˈθak͡xː] || rowspan=3 | ⟨kk⟩ is realized as a geminated velar affricate [k͡xː] before non-front vowels or the end of a word. Before front vowels, it represents a geminated palatal affricate [c͡çː]. Before ⟨t⟩, it represents /xː/.
|-
| /kː/ ([c͡çː]) || ''þakki'' "(I) thank"<br />[ˈθa˧˩c͡çːɪ˥˩]
|-
| /x/ ([x]) || ''þykkt'' "thick"<br />[ˈθʏxːt]
|-
| ⟨kkj⟩ || /ɕː/ || ''þäkkja'' "to think"<br />[ˈθɛ˧˩ɕːa˥˩] ||
|-
| ⟨l⟩ || /l/ || ''láta'' "to let"<br />[ˈloː˧˩tʰa˥˩] ||
|-
| ⟨m⟩ || /m/ || ''móta'' "must"<br />[ˈmuː˧˩tʰa˥˩] ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | ⟨n⟩ || /n/ || ''ny'' "new"<br />[ˈnyː] || rowspan=2 | ⟨n⟩ is generally pronounced as /n/, but before ⟨k⟩, it is pronounced as /ŋ/.
|-
| /ŋ/ || ''tank'' "tank (container)"<br />[ˈtʰaŋk]
|-
| ⟨ng⟩ || /ŋ/ ([ŋː]) || ''synga'' "to sing"<br />[ˈsʏ̃˧˩ŋːa˥˩] || 
|-
| rowspan=2 | ⟨p⟩ || /p/ ([pʰ]) || ''pakki'' "pack"<br />[ˈpʰa˧˩c͡çːɪ˥˩] || rowspan=2 | ⟨p⟩ is normally pronounced as /p/, but before ⟨t⟩, it is pronounced as /f/.
|-
| /f/ || ''kjøyptin'' "he bought"<br />[ˈɕœftɪn]
|-
| rowspan=2 | ⟨pp⟩ || /pː/ ([p͡ɸː]) || ''eitturkopp'' "spider"<br />[ˌɛt͡sːʊχˈkʰɔp͡ɸː] || rowspan=2 | ⟨pp⟩ normally represents [p͡ɸː], but before ⟨t⟩ it represents [fː].
|-
| /fː/ || ''toppt'' "top"<br />[ˈtʰɔfːt]
|-
| rowspan=4 | ⟨r⟩ || /r/ ([ʀ]) || ''rót'' "root"<br />[ˈʀuːtʰ] || rowspan=4 | At the beginning of words, after ⟨b⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨f⟩, ⟨g⟩, ⟨sk⟩, ⟨sp⟩, ⟨st⟩ or ⟨þ⟩, or when geminated, ⟨r⟩ is [ʀ]. In non-geminate, word-final contexts, or after ⟨k⟩, ⟨p⟩, or ⟨t⟩, it is [χ]. Elsewhere, it is [ʁ]. ⟨r⟩ is sometimes silent in unstressed grammatical words, but it is not consistent.
|-
| /r/ ([χ]) || ''ver'' "husband"<br />[ˈʋeːχ]
|-
| /r/ ([ʁ]) || ''ärfiða'' "to work"<br />[ˈæʁ̞βɪja]
|-
| /∅/ || ''fur'' "for"<br />[vʊ]
|-
| ⟨rg⟩ || /rɣ̊/ ([χː]) || ''bjarg'' "mountain"<br />[ˈpj̊aχː] ||
|-
| ⟨rk⟩ || /rk/ ([q͡χː]) || ''mårk'' "mark"<br />[ˈmaq͡χː] ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | ⟨s⟩ || /s/ ([s]) || ''sofa'' "to sleep"<br />[ˈsoːβa] || rowspan=2 | In most contexts, ⟨s⟩ is realized as [s]. When non-geminated and between two vowels, or when in an unstressed grammatical word, it is realized as [z].
|-
| /s/ ([z]) || ''sig'' "himself"<br />[zɪ]
|-
| ⟨sj⟩ || /ɕ/ || ''sjá'' "to see"<br />[ˈɕoː] ||
|-
| ⟨sk⟩ || /sk/ || ''skó'' "shoe"<br />[ˈskuː] || 
|-
| ⟨skj⟩ || /ɕ/ || ''skjåld'' "shield"<br />[ˈɕɔlt] ||
|-
| ⟨stj⟩ || /ɕ/ || ''stjarna'' "star"<br />[ˈɕaːɳa] ||
|-
| ⟨t⟩ || /t/ ([tʰ]) || ''taka'' "to take"<br />[ˈtʰɑːkʰa] || 
|-
| ⟨th⟩ || /tː/ ([t͡sː]) || ''bláth'' "blue"<br />[ˈpl̥ɔt͡sː] || ⟨th⟩ is a morphological grapheme for adjectives which indicates that the root does not have an ending consonant.
|-
| ⟨tj⟩ || /ɕ/ || ''tjúg'' "cloth; fabric"<br />[ˈɕʉːx] ||
|-
| rowspan=3 | ⟨tt⟩ || /tː/ ([t͡sː]) || ''kått'' "cat"<br />[ˈkʰɔt͡sː] || rowspan=3 | ⟨tt⟩ is realized as a geminated alveolar sibilant affricate [t͡sː] before non-front vowels or the end of a word, and a geminated post-alveolar sibilant affricate [t͡ʃː] elsewhere. In the neuter form of adjectives, a ⟨tt⟩ that is part of a consonant cluster represents /t/, as it is a morphological grapheme in this context, indicating that the adjective root ends in a single ⟨t⟩.
|-
| /tː/ ([t͡ʃː]) || ''kåttis'' "the cat"<br />[ˈkʰɔt͡ʃːɪs]
|-
| /t/ || ''kortt'' "short"<br />[ˈkʰɒːʈʰ]
|-
| ⟨v⟩ || /ʋ/ || ''villa'' "to want to"<br />[ˈʋɪlːa] || At the beginning of words, ⟨v⟩ represents [ʋ]. Non-initial contexts are covered in the section on vowels above.
|-
| ⟨þ⟩ || /θ/ || ''þing'' "thing"<br />[ˈθɪ̃ŋː] ||
|}

===History===

The earliest forms of Erish were written in the {{wpl|Runes|Runic}} script, the alphabet used to write ancient Germanic languages. After the introduction of the {{wpl|Latin script}} by Christian missionaries in the 900s, Erish rapidly transitioned into a literary stage which made use of that script. By the late 1200s and early 1300s, a written standard had developed that would remain in place into the 1800s, when a new written standard was briefly adopted before the annexation of Erishland by Ottonia, at which point both standards were dropped by most. The modern written standard arose during the early 1900s, and was formally adopted in 1942, and is periodically updated every five years by the Erish Language Council.

====Old Erish (900s-1824)====

For most of its history, Erish has more or less used a spelling system based upon the pronunciation of Old Erish. Whilst Erish was first written with the {{wpl|Runes|Runic}} script, writing with the {{wpl|Latin script}} introduced by Christian missionaries during the 900s constitutes the vast majority of all attested Old Erish. Between the 900s and 1100s, spelling was fairly flexible, reflecting the actual grammar and pronunciation of words. Characteristic traits of this period were the use of the runic characters ''{{wpl|Thorn (letter)|þorn}}'' and ''{{wpl|Vend (letter)|ꝩend}}'' for the sounds /θ/ and /w/, as well as the use of ''c'', ''k'', and ''q'' for /k/ in various contexts. Vowel length was not necessarily marked, though when it was, it usually involved doubling the vowel letter (Old Erish ''bók'', for example, would be spelled ''booc''); fairly unintuitively for Modern Erish speakers, the long vowel digraphs for ''i'', ''u'', and ''y'' were actually ''ei'', ''ou'', and ''ey''. Starting in the mid-1100s, a literary standard began to coalesce around the dialect of Serdstead, which had mostly entrenched itself by the early 1300s. 

Whilst the Erish language in speech dramatically changed over the centuries, this standard remained fairly inflexible, particularly due to the literary culture which had developed. Scribes were trained to read, write, and speak an ever-increasingly conservative and unintelligible language, generally confining the written language to the upper classes and literati. Whilst occasional errors occur and writers of the era often criticize the spoken language, providing insights as to the state of the language, the written language remained stable enough for the introduction of printing to completely cement it for centuries to come.

The introduction of printing in the 1500s did lead to some minor changes, if but for the lack of printing presses which could completely reflect the scribal practices which had built up to that point. The consonants ''þ'', ''ð'', and ''ꝩ'' were replaced with ''th'', ''dh'', and ''v'', whilst the long vowels ''æ'', ''ꜵ'' were replaced with ''ä'' and ''å'', and ''œ'' was replaced with ''ø''. Though Queen Ljosna I famously tried and failed in 1647 to force modernization of the literary standard, these would amount to the only real changes in the written standard until the early 1800s.

====The Rolfson standard (1824-49)====

By the late 1700s, much less early 1800s, the Old Erish language had become mostly unintelligible for anyone who spoke the Early Modern Erish language. With the gradual development of Erish democracy, controversy gradually inflamed over the issue of whether the language should be modernized. Traditionalists advocated the continuation of the Old Erish written language, arguing that anybody who was literate could understand the foundational works of Erish culture. As reformers pointed out, however, keeping Old Erish made actually becoming literate a difficult task, effectively confining it to a few. 

During this period, philologist Adolf Rolfson was amongst a few officially asked by the national Landthing in 1821 to come up with a modernization of Old Erish, to be presented before the Landthing. Amongst the proposals that followed from these requests, Rolfson's was one of, if not the most conservative proposal. Rolfson staunchly believed that not only would major reform disconnect Erish speakers from their past, but would unnecessarily engender the debates already taking place about which dialect should be the basis for the modern standard (though, in effect, his proposal slightly favored the Serdstead dialect). Consequently, his proposal primarily focused upon the principle of "one letter, one sound" for ''Old'' Erish, since the scribal practices had created inconsistencies. Old Erish vowel length was marked through either an acute accent or a ligature, the letters ''þ'' and ''ð'' were reintroduced, Old Erish /k/ was universally represented with ''k'', and the Old Erish diphthongs ''ai'' and ''ay'' were changed to ''ei'' and ''ey'' under the influence of Nordic languages. The grammar of Old Erish was essentially left in place, again in the interests of not undergoing too major a reform.

Ultimately, Rolfson's standard proved to be the most popular amongst the Landthing, and was officially adopted in 1824. Despite this official acceptance, widespread support of the reform was lacking. Many viewed it as little more than a token reform, meant to appease those interested in modernization without actually addressing the issues that were being fought over. Though this unpopularity would ultimately contribute to the downfall of the standard, the events which followed would eventually lead to its ultimate triumph.

====The Nationalist standard (1849-67)====

In the aftermath of the establishment of the Erish Republic in 1843, reform and modernization became the spirit of the age. In the issue of the written language, the tenor of debate changed from whether reform should take place to how it should take place, in particular whether a modernized standard language should be based upon the dialect of Serdstead, or the dialect of the rising Havnstead, which had become a major center of print media and liberal movements. With the election of 1846, the question would be resolved when the newly elected Nationalist government asked Jarlstead professor Frodi Roarson to devise a new standard. In 1849, but months before elections, Roarson presented his new standard, which was essentially based upon the dialect of Serdstead.

Despite several critics, the Roarson standard was well-received. Even if spellings and grammar like ''Ih kann skjo din nyi kottin his'' ("I can see his new cat") were often utter breaks from Rolfson's ''Ik kann sjå þann nýa kottin his'', the public generally viewed the modernization as finally bringing literacy within much closer reach of vast swathes of the public. Even if this essentially necessitated being taught the Serdstead dialect, most ultimately regarded the new standard positively. The popularity of the Nationalist standard ultimately soured, however, when the Nationalist party took increasingly ultranationalist policy stances. Private documents were required to follow the spelling standards, and speaking local dialects in public areas was made a punishable offense. Whilst the extent to which these were actually carried out varied, the perception remained well after Ottonian annexation that the Nationalists had used modernization as a tool to suppress areas outside of Serdstead. 

====The Raskson standard (c. 1930-present)====

After Ottonian annexation, both the Rolfson and Nationalist standards fell out of use as many switched to the now-prestige Anglish language. Beginning in the 1900s, however, Erish began to re-emerge as a written language alongside independence movements. As writers began using Erish, older standards were generally not followed in favor of writing according to one's dialect or experimenting with different standards. Anglish conventions often influenced writers like Gunnilda Smith, who based her spelling off of a regularization of English, whilst others more associated with independence movements distanced themselves and tried different conventions. This resulted in a wide variety of standards, where a word like Modern Erish ''djós'' ("animal") could be spelled anywhere between ''uce'' and ''dür''.

As the Erish independence movement began to strengthen, the debates which had occurred a hundred years prior began to resurface once again. Prominent authors of the time like Tjudrik Rolfsun began calling for the creation of a new unified written language, ultimately resulting in the Erish Language Conference of 1927, where a group of authors and scholars met to try and agree to some basic orthographic conventions. Despite the ambitions of the Conference, it failed, though the precedent it set of working together on the question laid the groundwork for the next Conference in 1930, where the standard underlying Modern Erish would be first presented by linguist Jugar Raskson.

In 1918, Jugar Raskson began attempting to reconstruct the pronunciation of Old Erish. Though the texts of the time gave hints, Raskson was interested in finding out the specifics of how the language would have actually sounded. This necessitated his travels to various corners of the Erish-speaking realm, noting sound developments and what the correspondences between them could suggest about the finer details he was interested in. By 1923, Raskson had developed a detailed enough analysis that he gathered a group of friends and family together to listen to a speech in Old Erish he proclaimed was the first time the language had truly been spoken in centuries. Despite certain inaccuracies, it was not a claim without merit. For his reconstruction, Raskson used the orthographic standards of Rolfson, viewing them as the most succinct method of describing Old Erish pronunciation. He did, however, introduce the letters ''ä'' and ''å'' for the Old Erish vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/, which had previously not been consistently reflected in the orthography, and replaced what had been ''å'' with ''á''.

Soon after his speech, Raskson gradually came to the realization that he had enough information that he could create a modernization of the written language. Over the next four years, Raskson worked to create a new written standard he viewed as reflecting the ''grundmál'' ("fundamental language") underlying Modern Erish. Raskson based his standard on a few fundamental principles: spelling and grammar should be updated insofar as it reflected common developments, and should not in principle favor a particular dialect; spelling and, to a much lesser extent, grammar should have consistent rules that are not arbitrary and are as regular as reasonably possible; and the form of words should not change based upon inflection, and, if they must, should change only as much as is necessary. Despite the fairly etymological standard Raskson ultimately devised as a consequence of his first principle, he explicitly rejected any etymological principles, stating that "it is as ridiculous to ask a student to learn to needlessly spell according to pronunciations long gone as it is to ask him to learn to read according to its grammar. A language changes with time, and so must its writing." 

Raskson initially intended to present his standard at the Erish Language Conference of 1927, but the death of his wife prevented him from attending. He spent another three years refining his project and gathered the money to print 250 copies of a ''Grundärsk'' ("Basic Erish") textbook which included a dictionary and grammar of Erish. When he presented his standard at the 1930 Erish Language Conference, his proposal was swiftly rejected. Though this proposal was a failure, it did pick up the interest of the editors of the rising Harbor Journal (today, ''Håvndagbladið''). The Harbor Journal would be the first Erish media source to adopt Raskson's standard, and media across Havnstead soon followed suit. By the time of the establishment of the Erish Language Committee by the provisional government in 1937, Raskson's standard had become widespread and popular enough that more "modern" proposals adopted by the Erish Language Conferences of 1931 and 1936 were passed over in its favor. Although it was effectively adopted in 1939 through the Erish Constitution's use of it, it would only formally be adopted in 1942 - a full year after Raskson's death.

Raskson's standard has, for the most part, remained the basis of modern Erish orthography ever since. Formal periodic updates of the orthography occur through the work of the Erish Language Committee, which publishes new editions of ''Grundärsk'' every five years, but Raskson's principles, spellings, and grammar generally remain in use into the present day. The most significant change since his original proposal has been the expansion of the use of ⟨b⟩ - in Raskson's original proposal, the non-geminated phoneme /b/ was universally represented in non-word initial contexts as ⟨f⟩, creating spellings like ''laf'' ("lab") and ''befi'' ("baby"). In 1997, ⟨b⟩ was introduced as a representation of /b/ in loanwords, making the modern spellings ''lab'' and ''bebi''. These changes have been controversial, as many argue that they are fundamentally at odds with Raskson's rejection of etymological principles. Nonetheless, they remain in place in Modern Erish.

===Old Erish-Modern Erish correspondences===

Written Modern Erish's central principle is the orthographic representation of the sound correspondences between modern Erish dialects, often called the ''grundmál'' ("fundamental language") underlying the language. Written Erish is thus fairly conservative by necessity, but there are more than a few differences between Old Erish and Modern Erish. The following table provides information about the most common and important spelling correspondences between Old Erish and Modern Erish, with Old Erish being spelled according to the standard devised by Jugar Raskson. Because Raskson's standard for Old Erish was never in general use as the means of writing Erish, the actual distance between Old Erish and Modern Erish spelling can be further than the systematic, regular correspondences provided below.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan=2 | Old Erish || colspan=3 | Modern Erish
|-
! Grapheme || Example || Grapheme || Example || Notes
|-
| ⟨au⟩ || ''rautt'' ("red") || ⟨ou⟩ || ''roudt'' ("red") || 
|-
| rowspan=2 | ⟨d⟩ || ''dýr'' ("animals") || ⟨d⟩ || ''dyr'' ("animals") || rowspan=2 | Old Erish ⟨d⟩ mostly continues into Modern Erish unchanged. Some grammatical words and unstressed syllables change Old Erish ⟨d⟩ to Modern Erish ⟨ð⟩.
|-
| ''håfud'' ("head") || ⟨ð⟩ || ''håfuð'' ("head")
|-
| ⟨ey⟩ || ''reyk'' ("smoke") || ⟨øy⟩ || ''røyk'' ("smoke") ||
|-
| ⟨é⟩ || ''hér'' ("here") || ⟨e⟩ || ''her'' ("here") ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | ⟨f⟩ || ''fisk'' ("fish") || ⟨f⟩ || ''fisk'' ("fish") || rowspan=2 | Old Erish ⟨f⟩ generally continues into Modern Erish as ⟨f⟩. In contexts where it is followed by a syllabic sonorant ⟨l⟩, ⟨m⟩, ⟨n⟩, or ⟨r⟩, it becomes Modern Erish ⟨v⟩.
|-
| ''lifr'' ("liver") || ⟨v⟩ || ''livr'' ("liver")
|-
| rowspan=3 | ⟨g⟩ || ''gás'' ("goose") || ⟨g⟩ || ''gás'' ("goose") || rowspan=3 | In most words, Old Erish ⟨g⟩ is continued in Modern Erish. However, at the beginning of a word where the stressed vowel is ⟨e⟩, ⟨ei⟩, ⟨ey⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨y⟩, ⟨ä⟩, ⟨ø⟩, or ⟨øy⟩, Old Erish ⟨g⟩ becomes Modern Erish ⟨gj⟩. Furthermore, in contexts where it is followed by a syllabic sonorant ⟨l⟩, ⟨m⟩, ⟨n⟩, or ⟨r⟩, it becomes Modern Erish ⟨j⟩.
|-
| ''gefa'' ("to give") || ⟨gj⟩ || ''gjefa'' ("to give")
|-
| ''þegn'' ("thane") || ⟨j⟩ || ''þejn'' ("thane")
|-
| ⟨hl⟩ || ''hleif'' ("loaf") || ⟨l⟩ || ''leif'' ("loaf") || 
|-
| ⟨hn⟩ || ''hnacki'' ("neck") || ⟨n⟩ || ''nakki'' ("neck") ||
|-
| ⟨hr⟩ || ''hring'' ("ring") || ⟨r⟩ || ''ring'' ("ring") || 
|-
| ⟨í⟩ || ''tíd'' ("time") || ⟨i⟩ || ''tid'' ("time") || 
|-
| rowspan=2 | ⟨jó⟩ || ''frjósa'' ("to freeze") || ⟨y⟩ || ''frysa'' ("to freeze") || rowspan=2 | Generally speaking, Old Erish ⟨jó⟩ becomes Modern Erish ⟨y⟩. The main exceptions occur when ⟨jó⟩ is word-initial, or is preceded by a word initial ⟨b⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨f⟩, ⟨g⟩, ⟨h⟩, ⟨k⟩, ⟨l⟩, ⟨m⟩, ⟨n⟩, ⟨p⟩, ⟨sk⟩, ⟨sp⟩, ⟨t⟩, or ⟨þ⟩.
|-
| ''njóta'' ("to enjoy") || ⟨(C)(C)jó⟩ || ''njóta'' ("to enjoy")
|-
| rowspan=2 | ⟨jú⟩ || ''drjúg'' ("lasting") || ⟨y⟩ || ''dryg'' ("lasting") || rowspan=2 | Similar to ⟨jó⟩, Old Erish ⟨jú⟩ usually becomes Modern Erish ⟨y⟩ unless it is word-initial or preceded by ⟨b⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨f⟩, ⟨g⟩, ⟨h⟩, ⟨k⟩, ⟨l⟩, ⟨m⟩, ⟨n⟩, ⟨p⟩, ⟨sk⟩, ⟨sp⟩, ⟨t⟩, or ⟨þ⟩.
|-
| ''ljúga'' ("to (tell a) lie") || ⟨(C)(C)jú⟩ || ''ljúga'' ("to (tell a) lie")
|-
| rowspan=3 | ⟨k⟩ || ''kona'' ("woman") || ⟨k⟩ || ''kona'' ("wife") || rowspan=3 | In most words, Old Erish ⟨k⟩ is preserved as Modern Erish ⟨k⟩. However, at the beginning of a word where the stressed vowel is ⟨e⟩, ⟨ei⟩, ⟨ey⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨y⟩, ⟨ä⟩, ⟨ø⟩, or ⟨øy⟩, Old Erish ⟨k⟩ becomes Modern Erish ⟨kj⟩. In unstressed syllables and some grammatical words, Old Erish ⟨k⟩ becomes Modern Erish ⟨g⟩.
|-
| ''känna'' ("to know") || ⟨kj⟩ || ''kjänna'' ("to know")
|-
| ''mik'' ("me") || ⟨g⟩ || ''mig'' ("me")
|-
| ⟨mb⟩ || ''lamb'' ("lamb") || ⟨mm⟩ || ''lamm'' ("lamb") ||
|-
| rowspan=2 | ⟨r⟩ || ''rád'' ("council") || ⟨r⟩ || ''rád'' ("council") || rowspan=2 | Old Erish ⟨r⟩ is generally preserved in Modern Erish. When proceeded by a consonant other than ⟨ð⟩, ⟨f⟩, or ⟨g⟩ and not at the beginning of a word, ⟨r⟩ oftentimes becomes ⟨ur⟩.
|-
| ''vatr'' ("water") || ⟨ur⟩ || ''vattur'' ("water")
|-
| rowspan=2 | ⟨sk⟩ || ''skafa'' ("to scrape") || ⟨sk⟩ || ''skafa'' ("to scrape") || rowspan=2 | Old Erish ⟨sk⟩ generally continues into Modern Erish as ⟨sk⟩. Before the stressed vowels ⟨e⟩, ⟨ei⟩, ⟨ey⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨y⟩, ⟨ä⟩, ⟨ø⟩, or ⟨øy⟩, however, it becomes Modern Erish ⟨skj⟩.
|-
| ''skera'' ("to shear") || ⟨skj⟩ || ''skjera'' ("to shear")
|-
| rowspan=2 | ⟨t⟩ || ''til'' ("to") || ⟨t⟩ || ''til'' ("to") || rowspan=2 | Old Erish ⟨t⟩ mostly continues into Modern Erish. In unstressed syllables or some grammatical words, ⟨t⟩ becomes ⟨ð⟩.
|-
| ''hvat'' ("what") || ⟨ð⟩ || ''hvað'' ("what")
|-
| rowspan=4 | ⟨tt⟩ || ''sätta'' ("to set") || ⟨tt⟩ || ''sätta'' ("to set") || rowspan=4 | ⟨tt⟩ is normally continued into Modern Erish. However, in cases of adjectives with a root ending in ⟨d⟩ or ⟨ð⟩ which changes to ⟨tt⟩ in the neuter, the ⟨tt⟩ becomes ⟨dt⟩ or ⟨ðt⟩. Adjectives without a ending root consonant change their neuter ⟨tt⟩ to ⟨th⟩.
|-
| ''dautt'' ("dead") || ⟨dt⟩ || ''doudt'' ("dead")
|-
| ''blátt'' ("sudden") || ⟨ðt⟩ || ''bláðt'' ("sudden")
|-
| ''sljótt'' ("slow") || ⟨th⟩ || ''sløth'' ("slow")
|-
| rowspan=3 | ⟨v⟩ || ''vis'' ("we") || ⟨v⟩ || ''vis'' ("we") || rowspan=3 | At the beginning of words, Old Erish ⟨v⟩ continues into Modern Erish; the only exceptions are before ⟨l⟩ and ⟨r⟩, where it becomes ⟨f⟩ instead. Elsewhere, it generally disappears.
|-
| ''vríða'' ("to twist") || ⟨f⟩ || ''friða'' ("to twist")
|-
| ''skauva'' ("to show") || ⟨∅⟩ || ''skoua'' ("to show") 
|-
| ⟨x⟩ || ''sex'' ("six") || ⟨ks⟩ || ''seks'' ("six") || 
|-
| ⟨ý⟩ || ''nýs'' ("new") || ⟨y⟩ || ''ny'' ("new") ||
|-
| ⟨z⟩ || ''bäzt'' ("best") || ⟨s⟩ || ''bäst'' ("best") || 
|-
| rowspan=2 | ⟨þ⟩ || ''þorn'' ("thorn") || ⟨þ⟩ || ''þorn'' ("thorn") || rowspan=2 | In almost all words, Old Erish ⟨þ⟩ continues as Modern Erish ⟨þ⟩. However, in a few core grammatical words, it instead becomes ⟨ð⟩.
|-
| ''þú'' ("you (sg.)") || ⟨ð⟩ || ''ðú'' ("you (sg.)")
|-
| ⟨æ⟩ || ''næri'' ("nearer") || ⟨ä⟩ || ''näri'' ("nearer") ||
|-
| ⟨œ⟩ || ''grœns'' ("green") || ⟨ø⟩ || ''grøn'' ("green") ||
|}

==Dialects==

Erish is divided into three broad dialectal groupings: Baylands Erish (''byttlandärsk''), Eastern Erish (''oustärsk''), and Western Erish (''vestärsk''). The Erish dialects exist in a dialectal continuum, where differences in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary make dialects of the same Erish language become increasingly unintelligible the further two speakers' dialects are from one another, though familiarity with a particular dialect often negates this gap. Regionalization of dialects is an ongoing trend in Baylands and Western Erish, specifically with the Baylands Serdstead dialect and Western Havnstead dialect influencing their respective dialect groups (though Havnstead's prominence in media is influencing other dialects as well). Eastern dialects have generally been immune to this trend, due to the relatively sparse population and lack of any major Eastern dialect.

In contrast to several other modern languages, Erish lacks any standardized dialect. Havnstead's presence in media has certainly leant it some prestige, but most Erish speakers use their dialect, even in formal circumstances. In part, this is enabled by the standardized written language not particularly reflecting any dialect, but there is also a general cultural aversion towards attempting to promote a spoken standard.

===Phonology===

====Consonants====

In terms of phonology, Erish dialects are generally more distinct from one another in terms of consonants than vowels. The general correspondences of vowels are well-known to speakers, but consonantal correspondences generally require some exposure to reduce the intelligibility gap.

=====Voicing versus aspiration=====

One of the most notable isoglosses between the Erish dialects is whether the Old Erish voiced stops /b,d,g/ preserve or lose their voicing. In the latter case, they become only phonemically distinct from the reflexes of the Old Erish voiceless stops /p,t,k/ through the voiced stops' lack of aspiration. Baylands dialects have a full voicing distinction, whilst Western and Eastern dialects have shifted to the aspiration distinction. The basics of the correspondences between dialects is described by the following table which lists the names of six letters of the Erish alphabet in the pronunciations of Serdstead, Dalthorp, and Havnstead Erish, which represent Baylands, Eastern, and Western dialects respectively.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Dialect || ''pe'' || ''be'' || ''te'' || ''de'' || ''ke'' || ''ge''
|-
! Serdstead Erish (Baylands)
| /ˈpeː/<br />[ˈpʰeː] || /ˈbeː/<br />[ˈbeː] || /ˈteː/<br />[ˈtʰeː] || /ˈdeː/<br />[ˈdeː] || /ˈkeː/<br />[ˈkʰeː] || /ˈgeː/<br />[ˈgeː]
|-
! Dalthorp Erish (Eastern)
| /ˈpeː/<br />[ˈpʰeː] || /ˈb̥eː/<br />[ˈpeː] || /ˈteː/<br />[ˈtʰeː] || /ˈd̥eː/<br />[ˈteː] || /ˈkeː/<br />[ˈkʰeː] || /ˈg̊eː/<br />[ˈkeː]
|-
! Havnstead Erish (Western)
| /ˈpeː/<br />[ˈpʰeː] || /ˈb̥eː/<br />[ˈpeː] || /ˈteː/<br />[ˈtʰeː] || /ˈd̥eː/<br />[ˈteː] || /ˈkeː/<br />[ˈkʰeː] || /ˈɣ̊eː/<br />[ˈçeː]
|}

In Erish phonemic notation, /b,d,g/ generally represent [b,d,g], whilst /b̥,d̥,g̊,ɣ̊/ generally represent voiceless [p,t,k,x]. Thusly, as the contrasts demonstrate, whilst aspiration is a feature of all Erish dialects, it only becomes contrastive when voicing is lost. As is shown in the pronunciation of ''ke'' versus ''ge'', the distinction is also one of plosive versus fricative in the case of Western dialects, which have preserved the original [ɣ] allophone of Old Erish /g/ (of course, these dialects having devoiced said allophone as well), whereas other dialects have hardened it to /g/ or /g̊/. In the particular context of ''ge'', the actual realization is not [ˈxeː] but [ˈçeː], demonstrating a phonemenon which is still somewhat allophonic in Western dialects, but was historically much more widespread across Erish: palatalization.

=====Palatalization=====

Late Old Erish had allophonic palatalization generally triggered by a velar consonant preceding a front vowel, front diphthong, or palatal approximant /j/, or a alveolar consonant followed by /j/. The extent to which palatalization affected the latter context, as well as the reflexes of this allophony vary by dialect, but can be generally characterized along dialectal group lines. The following table returns to the previous examples of dialects - Serdstead (Baylands), Dalthorp (Eastern), Havnstead (Western).

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Dialect || ''djúp''<br />"deep" || ''gjøra''<br />"to do" || ''hjú''<br />"she" || ''kjinn''<br />"chin" || ''ljúf''<br />"lovely" || ''sjalf''<br />"self" || ''skjera''<br />"to shear" || ''stjart''<br />"tail"  || ''tjúg''<br />"cloth" || ''þjúf''<br />"thief"
|-
! Serdstead Erish (Baylands)
| /ˈjʉːb/ || /ˈjøːra/ || /ˈjʉː/ || /ˈçinː/ || /ˈjʉːb/ || /ˈʂalb/ || /ˈʂeːra/ || /ˈʂart/ || /ˈʂʉːg/ || /ˈʂʉːb/
|-
! Dalthorp Erish (Eastern)
| /ˈd͡ʒ̥ub̥/ || /ˈçøra/ || /ˈçu/ || /ˈt͡ʃʰinː/ || /ˈjub̥/ || /ˈʃalb̥/ || /ˈçera/ || /ˈsart/ || /ˈt͡ʃʰug̊/ || /ˈt͡ʃʰub̥/
|-
! Havnstead Erish (Western)
| /ˈd̥yːb̥/ || /ˈɣ̊øːra/ || /ˈɕʉː/ || /ˈɕinː/ || /ˈlʉːb̥/ || /ˈɕalb̥/ || /ˈɕeːra/ || /ˈɕart/ || /ˈɕʉːɣ̊/ || /ˈθyːb̥/
|}

As can be seen, all Erish dialects are, to varying degrees, affected by palatalization. Baylands dialects are the most affected, with the palatalization having affected all environments, and produced a wide number of mergers to /j/ and /ʂ/. Eastern dialects are also affected by palatalization in all contexts, but they have preserved the affrication which has been lost in other dialect groups. Western dialects are only affected by palatalization when it involves consonants which were originally voiceless in Old Erish (though /θ/ is unaffected), and all of them merge to /ɕ/; otherwise, the palatal /j/ is dropped. The only exception involves /ɣ̊/, where [ç] occurs as an allophone before front vowels; cases of [ç] occurring before non-front vowels can be analyzed phonemically as /ɣ̊j/.

=====Development of /r/=====

Old Erish had an alveolar trill, /r/, which was and continues to be represented in Erish orthography as ⟨r⟩. Whilst all Erish dialects continue to have a phoneme that is broadly transcribed as /r/, the actual phoneme is split between the retroflex approximant [ɻ] of the Baylands, the uvular trill [ʀ] of Western dialects, and the original alveolar trill [r] of Eastern dialects. All Erish dialects generally have a word-initial/geminate allophone of /r/, and a short allophone. 

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Dialect || ''rópa''<br />"to call" || ''vera''<br />"to be"
|-
! Serdstead Erish (Baylands)
| [ˈɻuːpʰa] || [ˈʋeːɽa]
|-
! Dalthorp Erish (Eastern)
| [ˈruːpʰa] || [ˈfeːɾa]
|-
! Havnstead Erish (Western)
| [ˈʀuːpʰa] || [ˈʋeːʁa]
|}

The uvular /r/ of Western dialects is more fricated than the others, having both [χ] and [ʁ] allophones which are distributed similarly to the fricative allophones of /b/, /d/, and /g/. The /r/ of both Baylands and Western dialects tends to assimilate to a nearby consonant, although in different contexts. The Baylands /r/ retroflexes a following alveolar consonant and lengthen the preceding vowel, similar to {{wpl|Norwegian language|Norsk}}, whilst the Western /r/ tends to uvularize and lengthen a following velar consonant (preceding velars are also uvularized).

=====/θ/-/d/(-/t/) merger=====

Like most other old Germanic languages, Old Erish had a phonemic voiceless dental fricative /θ/. In Old Erish, it was only realized as voiceless if it was word-initial or geminated. Otherwise, it was a voiced [ð], a distinction that was and continues to be reflected in Erish orthography as ⟨ð⟩ (the Old Erish voiceless allophone being represented by ⟨þ⟩); during the Early Middle Erish period, word-initial [θ] became voiced [ð] when unstressed, a change which is also reflected in the orthography. All modern Erish dialects, however, have since lost this phoneme to varying degrees. 

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Dialect || ''þrång''<br />"narrow" || ''verð''<br />"worth" || ''ðätta''<br />"this" || ''móðr''<br />"mother"
|-
! Serdstead Erish (Baylands)
| /ˈtroŋ/ || /ˈʋeːr/ || /ˈdetːa/ || /ˈmuːr/
|-
! Dalthorp Erish (Eastern)
| /ˈtrɔŋ/ || /ˈferd̥/ || /ˈd̥ɛtːa/ || /ˈmud̥ːur/
|-
! Havnstead Erish (Western)
| /ˈθroŋ/ || /ˈʋerd̥/ || /ˈθetːa/ || /ˈmuːr/
|}

Outside of instances where there was a word-initial [ð], all instances of the [ð] allophone of /θ/ have been phonemically lost in Modern Erish dialects, either through disappearing as in Baylands dialects or some contexts in Western dialects, or through phonemically merging with /d/. Outside of Western dialects, /θ/ has been lost as well, merging with /t/ when voiceless [θ] and /d/ when voiceless [ð]. Western dialects have preserved the original /θ/, and devoiced the [ð] which arose during Early Middle Erish back to [θ] when stressed (unstressed ''ðätta'', though, is still [ðɪt͡sːa] in Western dialects).

=====/w/-/f/ merger=====

Old Erish had a distinct /w/ phoneme which, depending upon dialect, undergoes a partial or complete merger with /f/. This merger is the result of the early Middle Erish shift of word-initial Old Erish /w/ to /ʋ/, which then further shifted in many dialects to /v/ before being devoiced. There are two contexts in which the /w/-/f/ merger has taken place across all Erish dialects: Old Erish /wl/ and /wr/. This is, accordingly, reflected in the orthography, as seen in Old Erish ''vlit'' ("color") and ''vreitt'' ("angry") becoming Modern Erish ''flit'' ("color") and ''freiðt'' ("angry"). Other contexts in which this occurs are presented in the following table:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Dialect || ''fall'' "fall" || ''hvall'' "blockhead" || ''vall'' "vall"
|-
! Serdstead Erish (Baylands)
| /ˈfalː/ || /ˈʋalː/ || /ˈʋalː/
|-
! Dalthorp Erish (Eastern)
| /ˈfalː/ || /ˈfalː/ || /ˈfalː/
|-
! Havnstead Erish (Western)
| /ˈfalː/ || /ˈfalː/ || /ˈʋalː/
|}

Baylands dialects are the least affected by the /w/-/f/ merger, having only shifted in the contexts already reflected by the orthography; Old Erish /hw/ merges with Modern Erish /ʋ/ in those dialects. Most dialects north of the Baylands, however, have been completely affected by the merger, resulting in all three example words becoming homophones. A few southerly Western dialects, including the dialect of Havnstead, merge /w/ with /f/ when it is part of Old Erish /hw/, but otherwise keep it distinct.

====Vowels====

In contrast to the consonants, which have seen a fair amount of shifting from Old Erish, the Modern Erish dialects are generally more conservative with regards to the vowels. There are essentially five categories where changes have taken place: the vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/, the diphthongs, the glides, the long back vowels, and the unstressed vowels.

=====/ɛ/ and /ɔ/=====

Old Erish had two short vowels, /ɛ/ and /ɔ/, reflected in Erish orthography as ⟨ä⟩ and ⟨å⟩. In most Erish dialects, these eventually merged with /e/ and /o/ in closed syllables as long and short vowels gained separate qualities, and pre-Raskson Old Erish orthography generally reflected them as ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩. In Eastern dialects, however, vowel length never led to distinct long and short qualities, leading to /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ remaining distinct from /e/ and /o/. A consequence of this is that the short and long qualities of Erish are typically not analyzed as phonemic, although they are able to be outside of Eastern dialects.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Dialect || ''mänsk'' "person" || ''frekt'' "rude" || ''kått'' "cat" || ''þorfa'' "may"
|-
! Serdstead Erish (Baylands)
| /ˈmensk/ || /ˈfrext/ || /ˈkold/ || /ˈθorba/
|-
! Dalthorp Erish (Eastern)
| /ˈmɛnsk/ || /ˈfrext/ || /ˈkɔld̥/ || /ˈθorb̥a/
|-
! Havnstead Erish (Western)
| /ˈmensk/ || /ˈfrext/ || /ˈkold̥/ || /ˈθorb̥a/
|}

=====Diphthongs=====

Old Erish had three phonemic diphthongs, /au̯,ɛi̯,œy̯/. Outside of Baylands dialects, which preserve them as /ɔu̯,ɛi̯,øy̯/, these tend to monophthongize to /o,e,ø/.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Dialect || ''roud'' "red" || ''breid'' "broad" || ''røyk'' "smoke"
|-
! Serdstead Erish (Baylands)
| /ˈrɔu̯d/ || /ˈbrɛi̯d/ || /ˈrøy̯k/
|-
! Dalthorp Erish (Eastern)
| /ˈrot/ || /ˈb̥ret/ || /ˈrøk/
|-
! Havnstead Erish (Western)
| /ˈroːt/ || /ˈb̥reːt/ || /ˈrøːk/
|}

A few Western dialects, Havnstead included, have diphthongs in words like ''ravn'' ("raven") [ˈʀaʊ̯n], but these are unrelated to the Old Erish diphthongs, and were formed through the vocalization of Old Erish /f,g/ in some contexts. They are generally not considered phonemic, instead being sequences of vowel plus approximant /ʋ,j/.

=====Glides=====

Old Erish had two glide sequences, /joː,juː/, which, outside of Baylands dialects, have generally shifted to a monophthong if they are not word-initial and do not cause palatalization of the preceding consonant. 

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Dialect || ''njóta''<br />"to enjoy" || ''mjúk'' "soft"
|-
! Serdstead Erish (Baylands)
| /ˈnjuːta/ || /ˈmjʉːk/
|-
! Dalthorp Erish (Eastern)
| /ˈnøta/ || /ˈmyk/
|-
! Havnstead Erish (Western)
| /ˈnyːta/ || /ˈmyːk/
|}

=====Long back vowels=====

Old Erish had three long back vowels, /ɔː,oː,uː/, which were and continue to be represented in Erish orthography as ⟨á⟩, ⟨ó⟩, and ⟨ú⟩. During the Early Modern Erish period, Baylands dialects shifted these vowels to /o,u,ʉ/; Western dialects broke these into the diphthongs /au̯,ou̯,eu̯/, which then usually collapsed to /o,u,ʉ/, though several Western dialects preserve the diphthongs. In Eastern dialects, neither shift took place, and the old values are preserved.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Dialect || ''blá''<br />"blue" || ''bók''<br />"soft" || ''búk''<br />"belly"
|-
! Serdstead Erish
| /ˈbloː/ || /ˈbuːk/ || /ˈbʉːk/
|-
! Dalthorp Erish
| /ˈb̥lɔ/ || /ˈb̥ok/ || /ˈb̥uk/
|-
! Roudfell Erish
| /ˈb̥lau̯/ || /ˈb̥ou̯k/ || /ˈb̥eu̯k/
|}

=====Unstressed vowels=====

Old Erish had three unstressed vowels, /ɑ,i,u/, which were and continue to be represented in Modern Erish as ⟨a⟩, ⟨i⟩, and ⟨u⟩. As in other Germanic languages, the strong stress on the first syllable has driven the apocopation and syncopation of unstressed vowels in Erish. Nevertheless, all Erish dialects, if to varying degrees, have not completely reduced the unstressed vowels of Old Erish to /ə/. 

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Dialect || ''saga''<br />"story" || ''svarti''<br />"black" || ''hjårtu''<br />"hearts"
|-
! Serdstead Erish
| /ˈsaːga/ || /ˈsʋarte/ || /ˈjɔrto/
|-
! Dalthorp Erish
| /ˈsaːg̊a/ || /ˈsʋarti/ || /ˈçɔrtu/
|-
! Roudfell Erish
| /ˈsaːɣ̊o/ || /ˈsʋarte/ || /ˈɕɔrto/
|}

In general, most Erish dialects have preserved three distinct unstressed vowels. In the Baylands, however, the vowels /i,u/ shift to /e,o/, and in a few northern Western dialects, /ɑ,i,u/ shifts to /o,e,o/, reducing it to a two-vowel contrast. Eastern dialects, as well as southern Western dialects like Havnstead's, preserve the original system. The preservation of unstressed vowels is generally accepted to be the reason for why Erish dialects retain the relative morphological complexity they have. Nevertheless, the differences in development of these vowels, as well as of consonants, have helped drive some of the grammatical differences between dialects.

===Grammar===

====Gender system====

Alongside {{wpl|Icelandic language|Icelandic}}, {{wpl|Faroese language|Faroese}}, and some nonstandardized dialects of other Germanic languages, Erish, especially in its written form, is one of the few modern Germanic languages to preserve a tripartite gender distinction in both the singular and plural number. However, the actual extent to which the gender system has been preserved varies by dialect. Eastern dialects essentially use the gender system of the written language, but the divisions between gender systems do not otherwise cleanly correspond to dialect groups. The general dividing lines are over the degree to which the feminine plural's form is extended to the other genders. The following table provides examples of dialects with each system, as demonstrated by the third-person pronouns:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Dialect || "they (m.)" || "they (f.)" || "they (n.)"
|-
! Havnstead Erish
| ''hjeis'' || ''hjús'' || ''hjú''
|-
! Serdstead Erish
| ''hjeis'' || colspan=2 | ''hjús''
|-
! Roudfell Erish
| colspan=3 | ''hjús''
|}

Most dialects are divided between the three-gender system of Havnstead Erish, and the two-gender system of Serdstead Erish. The mergers are heavily correlated with the unstressed vowel system of a given dialect. /a,i,u/ dialects are mostly three-gender dialects, whilst /a,e,o/ dialects are divided between three and two genders. The one gender system is found exclusively with /e,o/ dialects, making it fairly rare. 

====Past tense====

In all Baylands and Western dialects, the Old Erish past tense has been replaced by an analytic construction involving ''gjøra'' ("to do"), or by the perfect tense. The written language and Eastern dialects, however, have held onto a morphological past tense. The following table provides a demonstration of the differences between the written, Baylands, Western, and Eastern past tenses through the translation of the strong verb ''skrifa'' ("to write") and the weak verb ''fiska'' ("to fish"):

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Dialect || "you wrote" || "you fished"
|-
! Written Erish
| ''skreifirt''<br />"you wrote" || ''fiskaðirt''<br />"you fished"
|-
! Serdstead Erish (Baylands)
| ''hafirt skrifað''<br />"you have written" || ''hafirt fiskað''<br />"you have fished"
|-
! Dalthorp Erish (Eastern)
| ''skreifirt''<br />"you wrote" || ''fiskað''<br />"fished"
|-
! Havnstead Erish (Western)
| ''gjørdirt skrifa''<br />"did write" || ''gjørdirt fiska''<br />"did fish"
|}

Whilst the Western and written distinction between past and perfect tense is absent in Baylands speech, speakers of those two dialect groups can generally communicate regardless, if sometimes losing out the finer details of what may be meant. Eastern retention of a morphological past tense for all verbs, however, is one of the largest intelligibility gaps between that dialect group and others. With the lack of any major Eastern dialect, few Erish speakers ever bother to do more than learn the past tense of the written language.

==Phonology==

The phonology of Erish has a degree of variability between dialects, especially with regards to consonants. Nevertheless, the Erish dialects have enough phonological commonalities that the phonemic notation used for individual dialects influences the phonemic analysis of other dialects. Consequently, the analysis provided below of the Havnstead Erish dialect, which is a prominent dialect in Erish media, is made in light of the phonologies of other Erish dialects. Notations more specific to Havnstead Erish will be provided in the notation below each general phoneme chart.

===Vowels===

Similar to other Germanic languages, Erish has a large vowel inventory. In a broad analysis, Havnstead Erish has 10 phonemic monophthongs, and lacks any phonemic diphthongs.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! rowspan="2" | || colspan="2" | {{wpl|Front vowel|Front}} || rowspan=2 | {{wpl|Central vowel|Central}} || rowspan=2 | {{wpl|Back vowel|Back}}
|-
! {{wpl|Roundedness|unrounded}} || {{wpl|Roundedness|rounded}}
|-
! {{wpl|Close vowel|Close}}
| {{wpl|Close front unrounded vowel|i}} || {{wpl|Close front rounded vowel|y}} || {{wpl|Close central rounded vowel|ʉ}} || {{wpl|Close back rounded vowel|u}}
|-
! {{wpl|Close-mid vowel|Close-mid}}
| {{wpl|Close-mid front unrounded vowel|e}} || {{wpl|Close-mid front rounded vowel|ø}} || || {{wpl|Close-mid back rounded vowel|o}}
|-
! {{wpl|Open-mid vowel|Open-mid}}
| {{wpl|Open-mid front unrounded vowel|ɛ}} || || || {{wpl|Open-mid back rounded vowel|ɔ}}
|-
! {{wpl|Open vowel|Open}}
| || || {{wpl|Open central unrounded vowel|a}} ||
|}

* Apart from the open-mid vowels, all Erish vowels have long and short allophones which involve a change in quality. Whilst the long allophones essentially use the phonemic value (except for /a/, which has the long allophone [ɑː]), the short allophones of /i,y,ʉ,u,e,ø,o/ are [ɪ,ʏ,ɵ,ʊ,ɛ,œ,ɔ]. The open-mid vowels only occur in open syllables, meaning they only have long allophones.
** Like all other Erish dialects, Havnstead Erish has a "complementary quantity" feature where long vowels occur in stressed positions where they are not followed by a consonant cluster or geminated consonant, and short vowels occur elsewhere. The only exception to this occurs with vowel plus coda-approximant /ʋ,j/ sequences, where the vowel is always a short (though non-open vowels will use the quality of their long allophone).
** This phonemic analysis is used in light of Eastern dialects, where long and short vowels use the same qualities, and, like all other Erish dialects, have a complementary quantity feature where the long vowels only occur in stressed syllables followed by hiatus, a single, non-geminate consonant, or word-end. More simply, Eastern dialects generally use the qualities of the phonemic inventory of Havnstead Erish, regardless of vowel length.
** Another analysis more specific to Havnstead Erish can interpret the dialect as having 18 phonemic monophthongs with complementary quantity: /ɪ~iː,ʏ~yː,ɵ~ʉː,ʊ~uː,ɛ~eː,œ~øː,ɔ~oː,ɛː,ɔː,a~ɑː/.
* Roundedness allophonically falls into two categories
** Compression, which is used by close non-front rounded vowels, making /ɵ~ʉː,ʊ~uː/ typically [ɘ<sup>β</sup>~ɨ<sup>β</sup>ː,ʊ<sup>β</sup>~ɯ<sup>β</sup>ː]. Because /ʉː/ typically has a fairly advanced quality, this makes compression one of the key distinguishing traits from /yː/.
** All other rounded vowels use protrusion, making /ɔ~oː,ɔ~ɔː,ʏ~yː,œ~øː/ typically [ʌʷ~ɤʷː,ʌʷ~ʌʷː,ɪʷ~iʷː,ɛʷ~eʷː]. Similar to the situation between the central and front rounded vowels, the long mid-close front rounded vowel is heavily distinguished from the short mid-close central vowel by protrusion (as well as length), as the latter vowel is also fairly advanced.
* Erish has seven diphthongs which can be analyzed as a sequence of vowel plus approximant, the latter of which is typically in syllable coda before another consonant.
** /aj/, as in ''Ragnar'' [ˈɽaɪ̯naɽ]
** /aʋ/, as in ''ravn'' "raven" [ˈɽaʊ̯n]
** /ej/, as in ''regn'' "rain" [ˈɽeɪ̯n]
** /eʋ/, as in ''stevn'' "voice" [ˈsteʊ̯n]
** /oj/, as in ''fugl'' "bird" [ˈfoɪ̯l]
** /oʋ/, as in ''Håvnstad'' "Havnstead" [ˌhoʊ̯nˈstɑːθ]
** /øj/, as in ''høyjri'' "higher" [ˈhøʏ̯ʁ̞ɪ]
* In the Havnstead dialect, only the vowels /a,i,u/ occur in unstressed syllables of native vocabulary or inflectional suffixes. Other vowels in these positions are only found in loanwords.

===Consonants===

Havnstead Erish has an average-sized consonant inventory, with 18 phonemic consonants. As with other Western Erish dialects, it preserves a distinct /θ/ phoneme, and has an aspiration instead of voicing distinction for the plosives. It is notable, like many Erish dialects (though most especially Western dialects), for the large presence of fricatives. Beyond the phonemic /f,θ,x/, Old Erish /g/ is still a fricative in most contexts, leading to the analysis of /ɣ̊/, and the phonemes /b,d,r/ are realized as fricatives in multiple contexts. 

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! || colspan=2 | {{wpl|Labial consonant|Labial}} || colspan=2 | {{wpl|Coronal consonant|Coronal}} || colspan=2 | {{wpl|Dorsal consonant|Dorsal}}
|-
! {{wpl|Nasal consonant|Nasal}}
| || {{wpl|Voiced bilabial nasal|m}} || || {{wpl|Voiced alveolar nasal|n}} || || {{wpl|Voiced velar nasal|ŋ}}
|-
! {{wpl|Stop consonant|Plosive}}
| {{wpl|Voiceless bilabial stop|p}} || rowspan=2 | {{wpl|Voiced bilabial stop|b̥}} || {{wpl|Voiceless alveolar stop|t}} || rowspan=2 | {{wpl|Voiced alveolar stop|d̥}} || {{wpl|Voiceless velar stop|k}} || rowspan=2 | {{wpl|Voiced velar fricative|ɣ̊}}
|-
! {{wpl|Fricative consonant|Fricative}}
| {{wpl|Voiceless labiodental fricative|f}} || {{wpl|Voiceless dental fricative|θ}} || {{wpl|Voiceless velar fricative|x}}
|-
! {{wpl|Sibilant}}
| || || {{wpl|Voiceless alveolar sibilant|s}} || || {{wpl|Voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative|ɕ}} ||
|-
! {{wpl|Approximant consonant|Approximant}}
| || {{wpl|Voiced labiodental approximant|ʋ}} || || {{wpl|Voiced alveolar lateral approximant|l}} || || {{wpl|Voiced palatal approximant|j}}
|-
! {{wpl|Rhotic consonant|Rhotic}}
| || || || || || {{wpl|Voiced uvular trill|r}}
|}

* Geminated nasal consonants /mː,nː/, as well as all instances of /ŋ/ where it is not followed by /k/ (phonetically [ŋː]), cause nasalization of the preceding vowel, as seen in ''kjynga'' "queen" [ˈɕʏ̃˧˩ŋːa˥˩]. In the case of /e,o/, they lower to [æ̃,ɒ̃].
* The stops /p,t,k/ are generally realized as aspirate [pʰ,tʰ,kʰ]. When geminated, they affricate to [p͡ɸː,t͡sː,k͡xː].
** Before front vowels the geminated /tː,kː/ instead affricate to [t͡ʃː,c͡çː]. 
** In word-initial contexts before the sonorants /ʋ,l/, /p,t,k/ have a few different allophones:
*** /p/ affricates to [p͡ɸ] before /l/, as in ''ple'' "to care for, nurse" [ˈp͡ɸl̥eː]
*** /t/ affricates to [t͡s] before /ʋ/, as in ''tveis'' "two" [ˈt͡sʋ̥eːs]
*** /k/ affricates to [k͡x] before /l/, as in ''kló'' "claw" [ˈk͡xl̥uː]
* The stops /b̥ d̥/ are realized as unaspirated [p,t,k] in word-initial, geminate, or post-nasal contexts (though /d/ is also [t] after /l/). Elsewhere, the stops lenit to [ɸ,θ], which are voiced intervocalically to [β,ð].
** Along with many of the fricative contexts of /ɣ̊/, this allophony is universal across the Erish dialects, and is a well known feature of Erish accents in other languages. It is often colloquially referred to as the "Erish lisp", as some Erish speakers with only a basic grasp of another language may automatically lenit and devoice voiced stops, leading, for example, to ''cube'', ''food'', and ''league'' being pronounced as /ˈkjuːf/, /ˈfuːθ/, and /ˈliːx/. However, this is somewhat stereotypical, as many Erish speakers will instead geminate voiced stops, leading to pronunciations like /ˈkjʊb/, /ˈfʊd/, /ˈlɪg/.
* The unaspirated velar is generally analyzed in Havnstead and other Western Erish dialects as /ɣ̊/, though some works instead transcribe it as /g̊/. It is only ever pronounced as a stop when geminated, as in ''rygg'' "back" [ˈʀʏkː]. Elsewhere, it is a fricative [x] which becomes voiced in intervocalic contexts to [ɣ]. Before front vowels or the phoneme /j/, the [x,ɣ] allophones of /g/ palatalize to [ç,ʝ].
** Some speakers use a distinct /g̊/ phoneme in loanwords like ''Genesis'' "Book of Genesis" [ˈkeːnɛsɪs], incidentally creating a distinct /h/ phoneme. However, this feature is frowned upon, as it is associated with someone trying to hide a dialectal accent. In general, though, /g/ in loanwords is automatically converted by most speakers to /ɣ̊/.
* In the unstressed variants of grammatical words, the fricative allophones of unaspirated stops are usually dropped, as seen in ''ðað'' "the; that" [ða] and ''mig'' "me" [mɪ]. The phoneme /r/ seemingly inconsistently drops in unstressed grammatical words, i.e., ''ðár'' "there" [ðʊ] versus ''ðeira'' "that" [ðɪχ], but the distribution lines up with the Old Erish /r/ versus /ʐ/, suggesting that the distinction continued into Early Middle Erish.
* The fricative phonemes /f,θ,x/ only ever occur word-initially or in geminated contexts (though /f/ and /x/ occur in the consonant clusters /ft/ and /xt/ as well); instances of word-final [ɸ,θ,x] are analyzed as phonemically /b,d,g/, even when the original phonemes were /f,θ,x/. 
** /f/ is generally realized as [f], but in some unstressed grammatical words, it may be realized as [v], as in ''hveim'' "whom" [vɪm]. 
** /θ/ similarly is generally realized as [θ], but is realized in unstressed grammatical words as [ð], as in ''ðeim'' "the; that" [ðɪm]. 
** /x/ is realized word-initially as [h]. In geminate contexts such as in ''lähha'' "to laugh" [ˈlɛxːa] and ''lähhi'' "I laugh" [ˈlɛçːɪ], [xː] occurs before non-front vowels, whilst [çː] appears before front vowels or the phoneme /j/. 
* The sonorants /n,ʋ,l/ have voiceless allophones when they are part of an onset in which they are preceded by a voiceless obstruent, as seen in ''flit'' "color" [ˈfl̥iːtʰ].
** /ʋ/ is realized as a fricative [f] after /k/, as in ''kvinna'' "woman" [ˈkfɪ̃˧˩nːa˥˩].
* The sibilants /s,ɕ/ become voiced when intervocalic and non-geminate, as in ''húsið'' "the house" [ˈhʉːzɪ], or when word-initial in an unstressed grammatical word, as in ''hjús'' "they (f.)" [ʑʊs].
* The rhotic /r/ is uvular in Havnstead Erish, similar to other Western dialects. Initially, after an unaspirated obstruent, or when geminated, /r/ is a uvular trill [ʀ]. Similar to the unaspirated stops, it spirantizes and devoices elsewhere to [χ], which is intervocalically voiced as [ʁ]; in syllable codas without a following velar stop, though, it is an approximant [ʁ̞].
** Velar consonants in contact with /r/ uvularize, namely causing /kr,ɣ̊r,rk,rɣ̊/ to become [q͡χ,χʀ̥,q͡χː,χː]. Because it phonetically lengthens the following consonant, an intervocalic /ɣ̊/ remains voiceless, as in ''bjargar'' "mountains" [ˈpj̊aχːaχ].
** Similar to the lowering caused by geminated nasals, /e,o,ɛ,ɔ/ lower to [æ,ɒ,æː,ɒː] before /r/.
* /ʋ,j/ only realize their phonemic values in syllable onsets; in syllable coda, they form diphthongs with the preceding vowel.
* Vowels standing in hiatus have an allophonic glide between them based upon their point of articulation:
** High front vowels are followed by an allophonic [j], as in ''nýa'' "new" [ˈnyːja]
** High back vowels are followed by an allophonic [w], as in ''rói'' "calm" [ˈʀuː˧˩wɪ˥˩]
** Non-high vowels before a front vowel are followed by [j], as in ''blái'' "blue" [ˈpl̥ɔːjɪ]
** Non-high vowels before a back vowel are followed by [w], as in ''bláu'' "blue" [ˈpl̥ɔːwʊ]
** Non-high vowels before an open vowel are followed by [ʔ], as in ''bláa'' "blue" [ˈpl̥ɔːʔa]

===Prosody===

Similar to several Nordic languages, Erish is a {{wpl|pitch-accent language}} with two tones: a neutral tone and a rising tone. Whilst the tone distinction is not particularly distinctive, there are nonetheless a few hundred Erish words which are only phonemically distinct by tone. For example, ''mannis'' "the man" [ˈmãnːɪs] has neutral tone, whilst ''Mannis'' "Manni (Erish god)" [ˈmã˧˩nːɪs˥˩]. These tones generally correspond to originally monosyllabic words (neutral tone) and polysyllabic words (rising tone) in Old Erish, though there are several exceptions, particularly with loanwords.

==Grammar==
{{Main|Erish grammar}}

Modern Erish is a {{wpl|fusional language}} which shares many features with the Nordic languages, particularly with regards to nominal morphology and syntax. Erish is a fairly conservative Germanic language in certain aspects, as it still retains a fairly robust morphological system with {{wpl|Grammatical case|case}} and {{wpl|Grammatical gender|gender}}, but, similar to many modern Germanic languages, it has undergone a considerable transition away from the complex grammars of older Indo-European languages. The morphological past tense is mostly moribund outside of the written language, as, barring a few commonly used verbs, the tense has been superseded by an analytic construction or the perfect tense (itself analytically formed). Its word order is similar to Nordic languages, being {{wpl|subject-verb-object}} with the {{wpl|V2 word order|V2 restriction}}; it mainly differs through its {{wpl|Word order#Pragmatic word order|flexibility}} and common use of {{wpl|Pro-drop language|pro-dropping}}.

===Nominals===

Erish nominals inflect for two {{wpl|Grammatical case|cases}} ({{wpl|Nominative case|nominative}}, {{wpl|Oblique case|oblique}}), three {{wpl|Grammatical gender|genders}} (masculine, feminine, neuter), and two {{wpl|Grammatical number|numbers}} (singular, plural); adjectives and nouns further inflect for {{wpl|definiteness}}, and adjectives inflect for three degrees of comparison (positive, comparative, superlative). Most nominals regularly inflect through suffixation, but certain adjectives, determiners, nouns and pronouns irregularly decline through some form of stem change.

====Case and gender====

The modern system of Erish case and gender arose during the Middle Erish period, when the complex Old Erish system partially collapsed. The Modern Erish system of gender is fairly faithful, as all three genders have been preserved in the singular and plural. The four-case system of Old Erish, though, has been heavily changed, as the genitive case has all but disappeared outside of a select few pronouns, whilst the accusative and dative cases have merged into an oblique case which generally follows the form of the dative. The nominative and oblique cases, though, are only distinct where the nominative and accusative were in Old Erish, namely the masculine singular, feminine singular, and masculine plural.

The function of the case system is primarily to indicate whether the noun is a subject (or complement), or not; the nominative case is used for the former, whilst the oblique case is for the latter. A noun in the oblique case without a preceding preposition generally indicates the direct object (''Djósið høyrdi'' '''''agarin''''' "The animal heard '''the hunter'''"), though in some contexts it may indicate the indirect object (''Drängis sang'' '''''móðrir sina''''' ''hymnir'' "The boy sang '''his mother''' the hymn"). Traces of the oblique's partial origins as the dative remain in some verbs and verbal expressions, such as in ''Konir mina er kaldt'' ("My wife is cold"), where the subject ''konir mina'' ("my wife") is in the oblique case instead of the nominative.

====Declension and definiteness====

Erish nouns generally fall into one of five regular declensions, alongside a somewhat irregular declension and an assortment of irregular nouns. Similar to the Nordic languages, Erish nouns use a suffixed definite article, but because Erish has somewhat preserved unstressed syllables, the form of the definite article can slightly vary depending upon declension. The following table provides examples of some of the various declension patterns Erish nouns can follow, with the definite articles bolded:

{| cellpadding="4" style="padding: 0.5em;"
|- align="center"
| <!--COL SEPARATOR ENABLING TABLES BESIDE EACHOTHER-->
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" width=500px
! rowspan=2 | number || rowspan=2 | case || colspan=2 | ''ver'' "husband" || colspan=2 | ''kona'' "wife" || colspan=2 | ''barn'' "child"
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|indf}}|indefinite}} || {{abbr|{{sc|def}}|definite}} || {{abbr|{{sc|indf}}|indefinite}} || {{abbr|{{sc|def}}|definite}} || {{abbr|{{sc|indf}}|indefinite}} || {{abbr|{{sc|def}}|definite}}
|-
! rowspan=2 | {{abbr|{{sc|sg}}|singular}} || {{abbr|{{sc|nom}}|nominative}}
| (eis) ver || ver'''is''' || (ei) kona || kon'''u''' || rowspan=2 | (eitt) barn || rowspan=2 | barn'''ið'''
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|obl}}|oblique}}
| (ein) ver || ver'''in''' || (eina) kona || kon'''ir'''
|-
! rowspan=2 | {{abbr|{{sc|pl}}|plural}} || {{abbr|{{sc|nom}}|nominative}}
| (einis) verar || ver'''as''' || rowspan=2 | (einas) konur || rowspan=2 | kon'''us''' || rowspan=2 | (ei) bårn || rowspan=2 | bårn'''u'''
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|obl}}|oblique}}
| (einun) verar || ver'''un'''
|}
|}

As opposed to the two-way article system found in most Germanic languages, Erish has a three-way system which indicates both {{wpl|definiteness}} and {{wpl|Specificity (linguistics)|specificity}}. The specific article ''eis'', which corresponds to English "a, an" though not necessarily vice versa, is only used if the speaker is referring to a specific noun or group of nouns. In the sentence ''Løyraris las bøk'' ("The teacher read books"), the teacher read books in general; by contrast, in ''Løyraris las einas bøk'' ("The teacher read (some) books"), the teacher read some particular books that the speaker may go on to describe.

====Adjectives====

As in Anglish, Erish adjectives are words which normally precede a noun and provide additional information about it. These Erish words, however, must also inflect for the case, gender, and number of their nouns, and also use different declensions and suffixes depending upon their definiteness and degree of comparison. The most basic division in the use of adjectives is that the "strong" declension is used when a noun is indefinite or is preceded by the specific article, and the weak declension before a noun using the definite article.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" width=500px
! rowspan=2 | number || rowspan=2 | case || colspan=3 | Strong declension || colspan=3 | Weak declension
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|m}}|masculine}} || {{abbr|{{sc|f}}|feminine}} || {{abbr|{{sc|n}}|neuter}} || {{abbr|{{sc|m}}|masculine}} || {{abbr|{{sc|f}}|feminine}} || {{abbr|{{sc|n}}|neuter}}
|-
! rowspan=2 | {{abbr|{{sc|sg}}|singular}} || {{abbr|{{sc|nom}}|nominative}}
| (eis) lang ver || (ei) lang kona || rowspan=2 | (eitt) lang'''t''' barn || lang'''i''' veris || lang'''a''' konu || rowspan=2 | lang'''a''' barnið
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|obl}}|oblique}}
| (ein) lang'''un''' ver || (eina) lang'''ra''' kona || lang'''a''' verin || lang'''u''' konir
|-
! rowspan=2 | {{abbr|{{sc|pl}}|plural}} || {{abbr|{{sc|nom}}|nominative}}
| (einis) lang'''is''' verar || rowspan=2 | (einas) lang'''as''' konur || rowspan=2 | (ei) lang bårn || lang'''a''' veras || rowspan=2 | lang'''u''' konus || rowspan=2 | lang'''u''' bårnu
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|obl}}|oblique}}
| (einun) lang'''un''' verar || lang'''u''' verun
|}

The comparative and superlative degrees are typically formed by the suffixes ''-ari'' and ''ast'' respectively, though some words like ''gød'' ("good") or ''yfils'' ("bad") have irregular degrees, using, for example, ''bättri'' ("better") or ''verst'' ("worst"). Comparative only use the weak adjective declension, whilst the superlative uses both the strong and weak declensions.

====Pronouns and determiners====

Pronouns are a class of words which are used in place of other words, with the most important being the personal, relative, and interrogative pronouns. These pronouns are actually fairly correspondent to their English counterparts because both languages retain grammatical case in these types of words, though Erish does so to a greater degree. An important difference between the two languages is that, instead of having a distinct reflexive ''-self'' form, Erish pronouns use their oblique forms or, if they are third-person, the dedicated reflexive pronoun ''sig''.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" width=500px
! rowspan=3 | || rowspan=3 | case || rowspan=3 | {{abbr|1|First person}} || rowspan=3 | {{abbr|2|Second person}} || colspan=10 | {{abbr|3|Third person}}
|-
! colspan=3 | {{abbr|{{sc|pers}}|Personal}} || colspan=3 | {{abbr|{{sc|rel}}|Relative}} || colspan=3 | {{abbr|{{sc|int}}|Interrogative}} || rowspan=2 | {{abbr|{{sc|refl}}|Reflexive}}
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|m}}|masculine}} || {{abbr|{{sc|f}}|feminine}} || {{abbr|{{sc|n}}|neuter}} || {{abbr|{{sc|m}}|masculine}} || {{abbr|{{sc|f}}|feminine}} || {{abbr|{{sc|n}}|neuter}} || {{abbr|{{sc|m}}|masculine}} || {{abbr|{{sc|f}}|feminine}} || {{abbr|{{sc|n}}|neuter}}
|-
! rowspan=2  | {{abbr|{{sc|sg}}|singular}}
! {{abbr|{{sc|nom}}|nominative}}
| ig || ðú || hin || hjú || rowspan=2 | hið || ðan || ðú || rowspan=2 | ðað || hvan || hvú || rowspan=2 | hvað || ―
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|obl}}|oblique}}
| mig || ðig || him || hira || ðeim || ðeira || hveim || hveira || sig
|-
! rowspan=2 | {{abbr|{{sc|pl}}|plural}}
! {{abbr|{{sc|nom}}|nominative}}
| vis || jis || hjeis || rowspan=2 | hjús || rowspan=2 | hjú || ðeis || rowspan=2 | ðús || rowspan=2 | ðú || hveis || rowspan=2 | hvús || rowspan=2 | hvú || ―
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|obl}}|oblique}}
| ús || júg || hjun || ðein || hvein || sig
|}

Determiners are a special class of pronouns which can be used both attributively and substantively, meaning that they can work either like an adjective (''Ig älski konir'' '''''mina''''' "I love '''my''' wife") or a noun (''Ig älski'' '''''mina''''' "I love '''mine'''"). One of the most important classes of determiners are the possessive determiners, which are used to indicate ownership, and normally follow the nouns they describe. The reflexive third-person possessive determiner is used when the possessor is the same as the subject of the sentence (''Hjú talar mið dóttrir'' '''''sina''''' "She speaks with '''her (own)''' daughter"), whilst the regular third-person possessive determiner is used when they are not (''Hjú talar mið dóttrir'' '''''hiras''''' "She speaks with '''her (some other woman's)''' daughter").

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" width=500px
! rowspan=3 | || rowspan=3 | {{abbr|1|First person}} || rowspan=3 | {{abbr|2|Second person}} || colspan=13 | {{abbr|3|Third person}}
|-
! colspan=3 | {{abbr|{{sc|pers}}|Personal}} || colspan=3 | {{abbr|{{sc|rel}}|Relative}} || colspan=3 | {{abbr|{{sc|int}}|Interrogative}} || rowspan=2 | {{abbr|{{sc|refl}}|Reflexive}}
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|m}}|masculine}} || {{abbr|{{sc|f}}|feminine}} || {{abbr|{{sc|n}}|neuter}} || {{abbr|{{sc|m}}|masculine}} || {{abbr|{{sc|f}}|feminine}} || {{abbr|{{sc|n}}|neuter}} || {{abbr|{{sc|m}}|masculine}} || {{abbr|{{sc|f}}|feminine}} || {{abbr|{{sc|n}}|neuter}}
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|sg}}|singular}}
| mis|| ðis || his || hiras || his || ðas || ðeiras || ðas || hvas || hveiras || hvas || sis
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|pl}}|plural}}
| värs || yrs || colspan=3 | hiras || colspan=3 | ðeiras || colspan=3 | hveiras || sis
|}

===Verbs===

Erish verbs have undergone some reduction in their morphology, and generally only conjugate for two {{wpl|Grammatical mood|moods}} (indicative, imperative), two {{wpl|Grammatical number|numbers}} (singular, plural), and three {{wpl|Grammatical person|persons}} (first, second, third). A morphological past tense is still present in the written language, but has been lost for most verbs in the majority of spoken dialects. However, these reductions have been replaced by the emergence of several analytic verbal constructions that rely on auxiliary verbs like ''vera'' ("to be"), ''blifa'' ("to become"), ''gjøra'' ("to do"), and ''häbba'' ("to have"). The conjugation paradigm of a typical Erish verb looks like that followed by ''fiska'' ("to fish"):

{| class="wikitable"
! Mood || Tense || Person,<br />Number || "to fish"
|-
! colspan=3 | {{abbr|{{sc|inf}}|Infinitive}}
| fisk'''a'''
|-
! rowspan=2 | {{abbr|{{sc|ptcp}}|Participle}} || colspan=2 | {{abbr|{{sc|prs}}|Present}}
| fisk'''andi'''
|-
! colspan=2 | {{abbr|{{sc|pst}}|Past}}
| fisk'''að'''
|-
! colspan=3 | {{abbr|{{sc|aux}}|Auxiliary verb}}
| häbba
|-
! rowspan=12 | {{abbr|{{sc|ind}}|Indicative mood}} || rowspan=6 | {{abbr|{{sc|prs}}|Present tense}} || {{abbr|{{sc|1sg}}|First-person singular}}
| fisk'''i'''
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|2sg}}|Second-person singular}}
| fisk'''art'''
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|3sg}}|Third-person singular}}
| fisk'''ar'''
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|1pl}}|First-person plural}}
| fisk'''us'''
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|2pl}}|Second-person plural}}
| fisk'''is'''
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|3pl}}|Third-person plural}}
| fisk'''a'''
|-
! rowspan=6 | {{abbr|{{sc|pst}}|Past tense}} || {{abbr|{{sc|1sg}}|First-person singular}}
| fisk'''aði'''
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|2sg}}|Second-person singular}}
| fisk'''aðirt'''
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|3sg}}|Third-person singular}}
| fisk'''aði'''
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|1pl}}|First-person plural}}
| fisk'''uðus'''
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|2pl}}|Second-person plural}}
| fisk'''aðis'''
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|3pl}}|Third-person plural}}
| fisk'''uðu'''
|-
! rowspan=2 colspan=2 | {{abbr|{{sc|imp}}|Imperative mood}} || {{abbr|{{sc|sg}}|Singular}}
| fisk'''a'''
|-
! {{abbr|{{sc|pl}}|Plural}}
| fisk'''ið'''
|}

In the written language, the past tense of most verbs is formed through the suffixes ''-að-'' and ''-uð-'', or, in the case of strong verbs, through ablaut of the root vowel. In common speech, however, these suffixes are not used outside of Eastern dialects, and the past tense is formed either through an analytic construction involving the past tense of ''gjøra'' ("to do") plus infinitive, or the perfect tense formed by ''häbba'' ("to have") plus supine. This means that, for example, the written equivalent of Anglish "I bathed the dog" is ''Ig baðaði hundin'' (lit. "I bathed the dog"), but the spoken equivalents are ''Ig gjørdi baða hundin'' (lit. "I did bathe the dog") or ''Ig häbbi baðað hundin'' (lit. "I have bathed the dog"). The perfect tense is normally formed by the verb ''häbba'' ("to have") and the supine, which is identical to the neuter singular of the past participle, but some verbs that relate to change and direction instead use ''vera'' ("to be") plus past participle. 

Late Old Erish and early Middle Erish had a mediopassive voice formed through the suffix ''-sk'', similar to the ''-s'' passive found in modern Nordic languages. However, that conjugated voice has been replaced by an analytic construction of ''blifa'' ("to become") and the present participle of a verb; the Erish equivalent of Norsk ''Rikard og Frodi slås'' ("Rikard and Frodi are fighting"), for example, is ''Rikarð end Fródi blifa slánda'' (lit. "Rikard and Frodi become fighting"). 

Erish has a fairly distinctive method of forming the future tense amongst Germanic languages. Similar to its relatives, the future tense can be formed simply by using the present tense and, usually, adding an adverb, as seen in ''Ärfiði i morgin'' ("I work tomorrow"). However, the future tense may also be formed by using ''vera'' ("to be"), specifically in its unique future tense conjugation ''bi-''. Whilst it can be used as a equivalent to English "will", as in ''Mannis bir lesa eina bók'' ("The man will read a book"), it often has {{wpl|Gnomic aspect|gnomic}} connotations, expressing fundamental or universal truths about something, as seen in ''Bårn bi leika'' ("Children play").

===Syntax===

Erish has a syntax which is mostly similar to the {{wpl|North Germanic languages|Nordic languages}} The basic word order is {{wpl|subject-verb-object}}, which is subject to the {{wpl|V2 word order|V2}} restriction that the first constituent, the topic (most often the subject), must be immediately followed by the finite verb, which acts as a topic marker. In interrogative and imperative clauses, however, the finite verb is fronted; Erish subject marking allows {{wpl|Pro-drop language|pro-dropping}} to take place, meaning sentences are often verb-object word order.

:{| style="font-style:italic"
| Mannis||syngur||sångin.
|- style="font-style:normal"
|The man||sings||the song
|-
| colspan=9 style="font-style:normal" | "The man sings the song."
|}

:{| style="font-style:italic"
| Syngur||mannis||sångin?
|- style="font-style:normal"
|Sings||the man||the song?
|-
| colspan=9 style="font-style:normal" | "Does the man sing the song?"
|}

:{| style="font-style:italic"
| Syng||(ðú)||sångin!
|- style="font-style:normal"
|Sing||(you)||the song!
|-
| colspan=9 style="font-style:normal" | "Sing the song!"
|}

:{| style="font-style:italic"
| Syngur||sångin.
|- style="font-style:normal"
|Sings||the song
|-
| colspan=9 style="font-style:normal" | "He sings the song."
|}

Because Erish morphologically marks the basic roles of subject and direct object through case and verbal subject marking, Erish word order can be fairly flexible. The following sentence provides some potential translations of the English sentence "The mother gave her son a cat":

:{| style="font-style:italic"
| Móðru||gaf||sonin sin||ein kått.
|- style="font-style:normal"
|The mother||gave||her son||a cat
|}

:{| style="font-style:italic"
| Móðru||gaf||ein kått||til sonin sin.
|- style="font-style:normal"
|The mother||gave||a cat||to her son
|}

:{| style="font-style:italic"
| Til sonin sin||gaf||móðru||ein kått.
|- style="font-style:normal"
|To her son||gave||the mother||a cat
|}

:{| style="font-style:italic"
| Gjefa||gjørdi||móðru||ein kått||til sonin sin.
|- style="font-style:normal"
|Give||did||the mother||a cat||to her son
|}

:{| style="font-style:italic"
| Ein kått||gaf||móðru||til sonin sin.
|- style="font-style:normal"
|A cat||gave||the mother||to her son
|}

Further variations on word order are possible, but, generally speaking, these are the ones that would normally occur in common speech. Any constituent of the sentence is able to be topicalized, and word order can be shifted around for matters of emphasis or style. However, when the indirect object is topicalized or does not immediately precede the direct object, it has to use the preposition ''til'' ("to"). Similarly, when the verb of a sentence is topicalized, if there is not already an auxiliary or modal verb there, the verb ''gjøra'' ("to do") must occupy the second slot of a sentence.

In {{wpl|Interrogative word|''wh''-questions}}, the interrogative word is almost always fronted.

:{| style="font-style:italic"
| Hvan||gjørdi||hjelpa||ðig?
|- style="font-style:normal"
|Who||did||help||you?
|-
| colspan=9 style="font-style:normal" | "Who helped you?"
|}

:{| style="font-style:italic"
| Hveim||gjørdirt||ðú||hjelpa?
|- style="font-style:normal"
|Whom||did||you||help?
|-
| colspan=9 style="font-style:normal" | "Whom did you help?"
|}

==Vocabulary==

The Erish lexicon is primarily composed of Germanic vocabulary, with vocabulary from Greco-Romance and other Germanic languages constituting the main sources of loanwords. The most basic wordstock of Erish is of Germanic origin, being either directly inherited from Old Erish or having been loaned from Old Norse during early Erish history. Examples of basic Erish vocabulary that was loaned from the common ancestor of the Nordic languages include ''gul'' ("yellow"), ''kjåt'' ("meat"), and ''skóg'' ("forest"). Other core vocabulary words like ''þyrr'' ("dry"), ''sky'' ("cloud"), and ''barn'' ("child") are probably original Erish words which developed in tandem with their cognates in the Nordic languages.

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 85%;"
! English || Erish
| rowspan=25 |
! English || Erish
| rowspan=25 |
! English || Erish
| rowspan=25 |
! English || Erish
| rowspan=25 |
! English || Erish
|-
| '''ant''' || myra || '''ash''' || aska || '''back''' || rygg || '''to bear, carry''' || bera || '''big''' || stór
|-
| '''bird''' (fowl) || fujl || '''to bite''' || bita || '''bitter''' || bittur || '''black''' || svart || '''blood''' || blód
|-
| '''to blow''' || blása || '''bone''' || knoki,<br />bein (leg) || '''breast''' || bryst || '''to burn''' (intransitive) || brinna || '''child''' || barn
|-
| '''to come''' || koma || '''to crush, grind''' || mala || '''to cry''' || gráta || '''to do, make''' || gjøra || '''dog''' || hund
|-
| '''to drink''' || drikka || '''ear''' || øyra || '''to eat''' || eta || '''egg''' || ei || '''eye''' || ouga
|-
| '''to fall''' || falla || '''far''' || fjärr || '''fire''' || eld || '''fish''' || fisk || '''flesh, meat''' || kjåt
|-
| '''fly''' || flyga || '''foot''' || fót || '''to give''' || gjefa || '''to go''' || gá || '''good''' || gød
|-
| '''hair''' || hár || '''hand''' || hånd || '''hard''' || hård || '''he, she, it''' || hin (m.),<br />hjú (f.), hið (n.) || '''to hear''' || høyra
|-
| '''heavy''' || svár || '''to hide''' || gøyma || '''to hit, beat''' || slá || '''horn''' || horn || '''house''' || hús
|-
| '''I''' || ig || '''in''' || i || '''knee''' || kne || '''to know''' || vita || '''to laugh''' || lähha
|-
| '''leaf''' || blad, louf || '''liver''' || livr || '''long''' || lang || '''louse''' || lús || '''mouth''' || munn
|-
| '''name''' || nami || '''navel''' || nåvli || '''neck''' || hals (front),<br />nakki (back) || '''new''' || ny || '''night''' || nátt
|-
| '''nose''' || nås || '''not''' || ikki || '''old''' || gammals || '''one''' || eis (m.),<br />ei (f.), eitt (n.) || '''rain''' || rejn
|-
| '''red''' || roud || '''root''' || rót || '''rope''' || reip, toug || '''to run''' || loupa || '''salt''' || salt
|-
| '''sand''' || sand || '''to say''' || sägga || '''to see''' || sjá || '''shade,<br />shadow''' || skú || '''skin, hide''' || húd
|-
| '''small, little''' || lyttils || '''smoke''' || røyk || '''soil,<br />earth''' || jårð || '''to stand''' || stá || '''star''' || stjarna
|-
| '''stone, rock''' || stein || '''to suck''' || súga || '''sweet''' || søt || '''tail''' || hali || '''to take''' || taka
|-
| '''thick''' || þykk || '''thigh''' || lá || '''this''' || ðänna (m.),<br />ðässa (f.), ðätta (n.) || '''to tie, bind''' || binda || '''tongue''' || tunga
|-
| '''tooth''' || tånn || '''water''' || vattur || '''what?''' || hvað || '''who?''' || hvan (m.), hvú (f.) || '''wide, broad''' || vid, breid
|-
| '''wind''' || vind || '''wing''' || ving || '''wood''' || tre, vid || '''yesterday''' || i gjistur || '''you''' (singular) || ðú
|-
! English || Erish || English || Erish || English || Erish || English || Erish || English || Erish
|}

==Examples==

The following table provides a comparison between Erish and other Germanic languages, including Old Erish, {{wpl|English language|Anglish}} (and {{wpl|Old English}}), the {{wpl|North Germanic languages|Nordic}} languages, {{wpl|German language|German}}, and some other {{wpl|West Germanic languages}}.

{| class=wikitable
! width="100px" | Language || colspan="4" | Phrase
|-
! scope="row" | {{wpl|English language|Modern Anglish}} || scope="col" | I come from Erishland || scope="col" | What is his name? || scope="col" | This is a horse || scope="col" | The rainbow has many colours
|-
! scope="row" | Erish
| ''(Ig) Kjømi frá Ärskland'' || ''Hvað heitur hin?'' || ''Ðänna er eis jó'' || ''Regnbogis hafir mangas fårur''
|-
! scope="row" | Old Erish
| ''Ik køm frá Ärsklandi'' || ''Hvat heitr his?'' || ''Þässi er eins jó'' /<br /> ''Þätta er eitt hross'' || ''Regnbogis er mangvlitir''
|-
! scope="row" | {{wpl|Danish language|Danish}}
| {{lang|da|Jeg kommer fra Erskland}} || {{lang|da|Hvad hedder han?}} || {{lang|da|Dette er en hest}} || {{lang|da|Regnbuen har mange farver}}
|-
! scope="row" | {{wpl|Bokmål|Norsk Bokmål}}
| {{lang|nb|Jeg kommer fra Erskland}} || {{lang|nb|Hva heter han?}} || {{lang|nb|Dette er en hest}} || {{lang|nb|Regnbuen har mange farger}}
|-
! scope="row" | {{wpl|Nynorsk}}
| {{lang|nn|Eg kjem frå Erskland}} || {{lang|nn|Kva heiter han?}} || {{lang|nn|Dette er ein hest}} || {{lang|nn|Regnbogen har mange fargar/leter}} /<br/> {{lang|nn|Regnbogen er mangleta}}
|-
! scope="row" | {{wpl|Swedish language|Swedish}}
| {{lang|sv|Jag kommer från Ärskland}} || {{lang|sv|Vad heter han?}} || {{lang|sv|Detta är en häst}} || {{lang|sv|Regnbågen har många färger}}
|-
! scope="row" | {{wpl|Old Norse}}
| {{lang|non|Ek kem frá Ersklandi}} || {{lang|non|Hvat heitir hann?}} || {{lang|non|Þetta er hross}} /<br/>{{lang|non|Þessi er hestr}} || {{lang|non|Regnboginn er marglitr}}
|-
! scope="row" | {{wpl|Icelandic language|Icelandic}}
| {{lang|is|Ég kem frá Ersklandi}} || {{lang|is|Hvað heitir hann?}} || {{lang|is|Þetta er hestur/hross}} || {{lang|is|Regnboginn er marglitur}}
|-
! scope="row" | {{wpl|Faroese language|Faroese}}
| {{lang|fo|Eg komi úr Ersklandi}} || {{lang|fo|Hvussu eitur hann?}} || {{lang|fo|Hetta er eitt ross / ein hestur}} || {{lang|fo|Ælabogin hevur nógvar litir}} /<br/>{{lang|fo|Ælabogin er marglittur}}
|-
! scope="row" | {{wpl|Old English|Old Anglish}}
| {{lang|ang|Ic cume fram Ærisclande}} || {{lang|ang|Hwat hāteþ he?}} || {{lang|ang|Þis is hors}} || {{lang|ang|Regnboga hæfð manige hiw}}
|-
! scope="row" | {{wpl|German language|German}}
| {{lang|de|Ich komme aus Erschland}} || {{lang|de|Wie heißt er?}} || {{lang|de|Das ist ein Pferd}} || {{lang|de|Der Regenbogen hat viele Farben}}
|-
! scope="row" | {{wpl|Dutch language|Dutch}}
| {{lang|nl|Ik kom uit Ersland}} || {{lang|nl|Hoe heet hij?}} || {{lang|nl|Dit is een paard}} || {{lang|nl|De regenboog heeft veel (vele) kleuren}}
|-
! scope="row" | {{wpl|Afrikaans}}
| {{lang|af|Ek kom van Ersland}} || {{lang|af|Wat is sy naam?}} /<br/>{{lang|af|Hoe heet hy?}} || {{lang|af|Dit is 'n perd}} || {{lang|af|Die reënboog het baie kleure}}
|-
! scope="row" | {{wpl|West Frisian language|West Frisian}}
| {{lang|fy|Ik kom út Irslân}} || {{lang|fy|Hoe hjit er?}} || {{lang|fy|Dit is in hynder}} || {{lang|fy|De reinbôge hat in protte kleuren}}
|-
! scope="row" | {{wpl|Low German|Low Saxon}}
| {{lang|nds|Ik kom üüt Ärskland}} || {{lang|nds|Ho hit e?}} || {{lang|nds|Dit is een peerd}} || {{lang|nds|De regenboge hev völe klören}}
|}