Phonology

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You've seen it here and there, the Sedunnic language, but how do you really pronounce it? Below is a less formal guide with references to the English language on how to pronounce Sedunnic words. Did you get it right from the beginning?

Vowels
If you know how the Swedes, Finns and Italians pronounce their vowels, you're half way there!

The vowels in Sedunnic are A/a, E/e, I/i, O/o, U/u, and Y/y. Standard Sedunnic does not have any diphthongs, but all vowels come in short and long versions.

Long vowels:
a /ɑː/
e /eː/
i /iː/
o /uː/
u /ʉː/
y /yː/

- English approximations:
a as /a/ in "lard"
e as first /e/ in "here"
i as /ee/ in "bee"
o as /oo/ in "boo"
u no English equivalent; it is pronounced approximately as the Swedish u, an o produced by letting the tip of the tongue be closer to the teeth.
y (no good example) as long version of /y/ in "physical"

Short vowels:
a /ɑ/
e /e/
i /i/
o /u/
u /ʉ/
y /y/

- English approximations:
a as /a/ "sofa"
e approximately between /e/ in "bed" and /i/ in "bid"
i as /i/ in "bid"
o as /ou/ "could"
u short version of above description
y as /y/ in "physical"

How do you know when a vowel is short or long?
Vowels before double consonants are always short. Vowels in the end of single-syllable words are often short. Inflections ending with a vowel, like -e for present tense singular, are always short, except for possessive (-o).

Consonants
The consonants in Sedunnic are B/b, D/d, F/f, G/g, H/h, J/j, K/k, L/l, M/m, N/n, P/p, R/r, S/s, T/t, and V/v.

Continuous consonants (consonants pronounced by continuous airflow):
f /f/
h /h/
j /j/
m /m/
n /n/
r /r/
v /v/

- Dental:
l /l̪/
s /s̪/

F, h, m, n, s, and v are pronounced approximately as in English. J is pronounced as /y/ in "yellow". L is pronounced like in Swedish or Italian. R is pronounced as in Italian, Swedish, or Finnish (rolling r).

Stop/plosive consonants (consonants that cannot be pronounced by continuous airflow):
b /b/
d /d/
g /ɡ/
k /k/ or /kʰ/ if it is the first letter in the word
p /p/ or /pʰ/ if it is the first letter in the word

- Dental:
t /t̪/ or /t̪ʰ/ if it is the first letter in the word

B, d, k, and p are approximately pronounced like in English. T is pronounced like in Spanish or Swedish.

Lexical/word stress
Learning how to stress words in a foreign language is difficult and is often what takes the most time to master. How you normally stress words in your native language is often reflected on the new language, giving you a foreign accent.

In Sedunnic you normally stress the first syllable. You do this by pronouncing the vowel occurring first more loudly.

Examples
Let's try and put this together. Here are a few examples.

Short vowels are indicated by upper-case letters, long by lower-case letters, syllables by dashes, and stressing by bold letters.

Allpfe (Good): Allp-fe (two-syllable word with short first vowel)
Ufel (We): u-fel (no double consonants)
Dre (To): drE (one-syllable word)
Kassei (imperative mood of to doubt) kAss-e-I (short first vowel, imperative inflection)
Sedunn: se-dUnn (short vowel in second syllable)
Sedunnejj (Sedunnic): se-dUnn-Ejj (short vowel in second syllable, double consonants)
vannu (to have): vAnn-U (inflection)

Note, these are only approximations.

Grammar

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Nouns
Sedunnic nouns are genderless.

Forms

	Singular	Plural
Indefinite form	-	-le (-e)
Definite form	-d (-ed)	-led

Examples:

• nevv (student); nevvle (students); nevvd (the student); nevvled (the students)
  
• vassat (university); vassatle (universities); vassated (the university); vassatled (the universities)
  
• dreyvell (admission); dreyvelle (admissions); dreyvelld (the admission); dreyvelled (the the admissions)
  

Determiners
In Sedunnic the article sy or sydd, is used for expressing determination for both singular and plural form nouns. The indefinite form is vol, which also is the cardinal number 1. No inflection is added to the noun in either case.

Examples:

• vol lim (a house)
  
• sy lim (this house); sy limle (these houses)
  
• sydd lim (that house); sydd limle (those houses).
  

Genitive
To express possession, the suffix -o is added to the noun, unless the word already ends with an o.

Example

• [vu] nuvno ([a] friend's); nuvnleo (friends'); nuvndo (the friend's); nuvnledo (the friends')
  

Pronouns
Sedunnic pronouns work similar to as in English (or even more so to Swedish, and to some extent French).

Personal pronouns:

Person	Nominative	Objective	Possessive: singular/plural
1	um (I)	jum (me)	sum/sume (my, mine)
2	ann (you)	jann (you)	sann/sanne (your, yours)
3 Masculine	gro (he)	jagro (him)	sugro (his)
3 Femenine	gre (she)	jagre (her)	sugre (hers)
3 Common	ver (it)	javer (it)	suver (its)
3 Indefinite	sve (one)	jasve (-)	susve (one's)
(3 Reflexive)	-	jed ("self")	sujed (-)

 

Person	Nominative	Objective	Possessive: common/plural
1	ufe (we)	jufe (us)	sufe (our, ours)
2	afe (you)	jafe (you)	safe (your, yours)
3	grel (they)	jagrel (them)	sugrel (their, theirs)
(3 Reflexive)	-	jed ("selves")	sujed (-)

Adjectives

Construction
Adjectives can be constructed from nouns and verbs by adding -et to the stem. If the stem ends with a long e only -t is added.

Example:

• Nuvnet (friendly, from nuvn - friend)
  
• Ileet (immature, from ile - child)
  
• Lannet (lively, from lanneu - to run)
  

Comparison
The Sedunnic language has (just like English) morphological comparison, meaning an inflection is added to the adjective. For the comparative form -y is added, and for the superlative form -yvv is added. The y is short in both cases. If the adjective ends with y, and the y is long, it becomes short. If the y is short it becomes a short i in the comparative form, but the superlative form is the same as for the other cases.

Example:

• rass (smart); rassy (smarter); rassyvv (smartest)
  
• long y: fay (bad); fay (worse); fayvv (worst)
  
• short y: hy* (thin); hi (thinner); hyvv (thinnest)
  

*Remember, if the word is single-syllable and ends with a vowel, the vowel is short.

Verbs
There are no irregular verbs in Sedunnic, and verbs do not inflect for person or number other than for present tense plural. Sedunnic verbs, on the other hand, inflect for most established tenses and moods, namely: the present, future, and past tense and imperative, subjunctive, conditional, optative, potential, and hypothetical mood. This is done by adding a suffix to the stem (that is, removing the infinitive form). If the last letter in a suffix is a vowel, it is always short.

Infinitive
Infinitive is a single word in Sedunnic. All verbs in their basic form end with u. New verbs are easily created by adding -u to, for example, a noun. If the word already ends with a short u, no inflection is added.

Examples:

• oppu (to be), where 'opp' is the stem
  
• gjellu (to confirm), where 'gjell' is the stem
  
• eleu (to plan), where 'ele' is the stem, originating from the noun 'ele' (plan)
  
• tu (to get), where 'tu' also is the stem
  

Present tense
For present tense singular, -e is added, and -ess for plural. If the stem ends with a short e, the plural form is also used for singular.

Examples:

• oppe (is), oppess (are)
  
• gjelle (confirms), gjelless (confirm)
  
• eless (plans/plan)
  
• te (gets), tess (get)
  

- Present progressive:
When something is happening at the exact moment of speech or taking place in general, -se is added to the stem.

Examples:

• oppse (is/are walking)
  
• gjellse (is/are confirming)
  
• else (is/are planning)
  
• tuse (is/are getting)
  

Imperative
In strictly formal or older Sedunnic, or in certain dialects, commands, requests, and instructions are constructed by adding -i  to the present tense form (plural if addressing more than one person). I daily speech in standard Sedunnic, however, the -u from the infinite form is often removed to produce imperative.

Examples (formal):

• oppei (be!)
  
• gjellei! (confirm!)
  
• elessi! (plan!)
  
• tei! (get!)
  

Examples (informal):

• opp! (be!)
  
• gjell! (confirm!)
  
• el! (plan!)
  
• tu! (get!)
  

Future tense
There are two forms of future tense, expressing probability (what is expected to happen) and intent (what is planned to be made happen) respectively.

-Probability form:
If something is expected to happen in the future, like "it will rain" or "the train is going to be late", -im is added to the stem. If the stem already ends with a long i, only -m is added.

Examples:

• oppim (will/shall/going to be)
  
• brim (will/shall/going to choose), where 'bri' is the stem in 'briu' (to choose)
  

-Intent form:
If you plan to do something, like you "will eat" something or "going to go" somewhere, -er can be added instead to express this. If the stem ends with a long e, only -r is added.


Past tense
There are three forms for the past tense.

-Unspecified past:
Unspecified past is used for single complete events in the past without specifying a time for the occurrence. -a is added, unless the stem already ends with a short a.

Examples:

• oppa (has/have been)
  
• havvmya (has/have contacted)
  
• pasa (has/have spoken), where the stem is 'pasa' with a short a
  

-Specified past:
Specified past is used for single complete events in the past when time is specified (e.g. yesterday, last year, an hour ago). The suffix -add is added, unless the stem already ends with a short a, then only -dd.

Examples:

• oppadd (was)
  
• havvmyadd  (contacted)
  
• pasadd (spoke), where the stem is 'pasa' with a short a
  

-Progressive past:
Passed ongoing actions are constructed by adding -mm to the unspecified past-form.

Examples:

• oppamm (was/were being)
  
• havvmyav (was/were contacting)
  
• pasamm (was/were speaking)
  

Passive voice
When the subject receives the action of the verb, like in "the cat is fed by the mother", -v is added to the verb, which can be in the infinitive, present, past or future tenses. If the verb ends with a vowel, -ev is added.

Examples:

• herrtyppuv (to be fooled)
  
• havvmyamm (was/were contacted)
  
• mahitev (is/are kissed)
  

The Sedunnic language is highly conservative and has few foreign words in its vocabulary. Existing foreign words are often words associated with unique cultural phenomena or standard units for measuring, etc. Foreign geographical features are often transcribed using the Sedunnic alphabet, some are translated for various reasons (see map below). New words are formed by compounding or suffixes.

A Sedunnic dictionary can be accessed here.


Basic conversation

Here you will find the history behind some Sedunnic words, names and terms.

This is a collection of various printed work in Sedunnic.