Northian language
| Northian | |
|---|---|
| lowatungus (tongue of the people) | |
| Native to | Northern States |
Native speakers | 17,420,000 (2010) |
Indo-European | |
Early forms |
|
| Official status | |
Official language in | Northern States |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
Northian or Northian language is an Indo-European language in the Germanic sub-family. The language is attested first in several forms of Epic Northian, through the corpus of ancient Northian poetry, parts of which date to as early as the 8th century BCE, by some authorities.
Genealogy
The majority view is that the Northian languages form the Peripheral-Germanic branch within the Germanic family of languages, while all other Germanic languages are considered to form the Central-Germanic or True-Germanic branch. This classification is based on the observation that many texts in the oldest stratum of Epic Northian show features that are "quite wayward" compared to the innovations common to the other Germanic languages, such as the absence of Grimm's law and Verner's law. However, Northian languages of all strata are affected by Cogwill's law, which confirms its place within the Germanic family.
Other authorities do not agree that Northian should be classified as a primary branch of the language family, and Northian is a branch of the (attested) Acrean language instead. They forward that most texts outside of formulaic spells and verse do show a primary influence of Grimm's and Verner's law and that words which do not should be considered archaicisms protected by poetic meter or subsequent restorations after these sound laws have already affected ordinary speech. The assert that words that show influence of Grimm's and Verner's laws cannot be flatly rejected as loans from Acrean or other Germanic languages. The analysis of such words are still contentious today.