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Walnerian orthography

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The Walnerian orthography (Walnerian: Rausbérisse ortografie) is a set of rules, that guide the written form of the Walnerian language.

Alphabet

Walnerian alphabet
Rausbérisses alfabét
Chodowiecki Basedow Tafel 21 c Z.jpg
First ever Walnerian printing press, 1650's
Type
Alphabet
Languages
Parent systems
A a
/a ~ ɑ/
Á á
/aː ~ ɑː/
B b
/b/
C c
/ts/
Cs cs
/tʃ/
D d
/d/
E e
/ɛ ~ e/
É é
/ɛː ~ eː/
Ë ë
/ə/
F f
/f/
G g
/ɡ/
H h
/ɦ ~ h/
Ch ch
/x/
I i
/i ~ ɪ/
Í í
/iː ~ ɪː/
J j
/j/
K k
/k/
L l
/l/
M m
/m/
N n
/n/
O o
/ɔ ~ o/
Ó ó
/ɔː ~ oː/
P p
/p/
Q q
/kv/
R r
/r/
Ŕ ŕ
/ʁ̩ ~ ə/
S s
/s/
Ss ss
/ʃ/
T t
/t/
U u
/u/
Ú ú
/uː/
V v
/v/
W w
/w/
X x
/ks/
Y y
/y ~ yː/
Z z
/z/

Historical development

From a historical digraph alphabet, the script developed from the Early New High German orthographies. The changes either follow the phonetic shifts (for example the phonetical shifts from /æ/ and /œ/ to /ɛː/, or shift from /a͡u/ to /ɔː/).

Changes in orthography without the phonetical shift include:

  • SS → S
  • S → Z
  • Z → C
  • Ü → Y

Later in the mid 17th century, accute was introduced for the long vowels, replacing the digraphs:

  • IE/IH/II → Í
  • AH/AA → Á
  • EH/EE → É
  • OH/OO → Ó
  • UH/UU → Ú

Current usage

R Accute

Ŕ ŕ
Ŕ ŕ

The letter R Accute (Ŕ) was introduced in early 19th century, replacing the digraph ER in cases, where the phonological shift /əˑʀ/ → /ʁ̩ ~ ə/ happened.

Digraphs

There are three digraphs in the Walnerian language (CS for /t͡ʃ/, CH for /x/, SS for /ʃ/). They are a remnant of the old digraph orthography and some people support their replacement with diacritic characters. The most popular of those proposal suggests replacing the digraphs with circumflexed letters C, H and S, possibly being inspired by Esperanto, which gained popularity in Walneria in mid 1950's.

  • Cs cs → Ĉ ĉ
  • Ch ch → Ĥ ĥ
  • Ss ss → Ŝ ŝ

E Diaeresis

Ë ë
Ë ë

The letter E Diaeresis (Ë) was introduced around the same time as the Accuted R (Ŕ), replacing the letter E in endings and other syllables, where it either became silent and another sound became syllabic, or the /ɛ/ sound was reduced to /ə/. The most common example may be the -ën ending in the infinite forms of the verbs. Examples of the words including multiple syllabic letters may be:

S vs. SS

Ss ss
Ss ss

In front of the letters P, T, if in the first syllable of a word, or a word compound, the letter SS, representing the /ʃ/ sound is written only as a S. Examples of the orthography may include:

First syllable of a word
Other syllables of a word
First syllables of a coumpound word
  • Haupstád (English: "Capital city", IPA: /ɦaupʃtaːd/)
  • Balspiel (English: "Ball game", IPA: /bɑlʃpiːl/)

J vs. I

J j
J j

For the sound /j/ behind a vowel, letter I is used instead of a J (That means that in -AJ- should be replaced with -AI-). This rule doesn't apply to the compound words.