Wölk

Wölk
Wölk is a language within the Coastal Atlans family, and is spoken in a mountainous highland region, directly north of Hammen.

Grammar
Wölk grammar is slightly more archaic than Standard Atlaans. Wölk has 2 genders and 4 cases.

Pronouns
S = Singular

P = Plural

M = Male

F = Female

C = Common

N = Neuter

3rd person pronouns referring to nouns in the Common gender that do not have a natural gender may take either the Masculine or Feminine pronouns.

Gender
Wölk has 2 genders, Common and Neuter. Grammatical gender is determined by the first vowel in a word. If the first vowel in a word is the letter 'a', 'o', or 'u' standing alone, the word is Neuter. A word is in the Common gender if the first vowel is the letter 'e,' 'i', or any vowel combination, including words that start with an umlaut version of 'a', 'o', or 'u'. The Common gender also includes all people. Words in the Neuter gender change depending on what case it is in. Neuter words in the nominative gain no ending, the accusative adds an '-e', the prepositional with an '-e', and the genitive with an '-r'. Before the ending, the last vowel of the word is repeated in the genitive, unless it already ends in a vowel. An example is 'aks', the last vowel of which is 'a', so the genitive form is 'aksar'. Umlauts effect the case endings, meaning that the plural accusative of 'aks' is 'äksär'. '_' - Represents the last vowel in the word. The word 'Kron' in the accusative would be 'Kronon', because the last vowel was 'o'.

Plural
Neuter words are made plural simply by adding an umlaut over the first vowel, and Neuter words are given the ending '-en' to form the plural. If a Neuter word already ends with a vowel, the shortened '-n' ending is added.

Cases
There are 4 cases in Wölk, Nominative, Accusative, Prepositional, and Genitive.

The definite article is formed by placing the adjective ending after 'd-', and the indefinite article does the same with 'én'. If an adjective ends with a vowel, the first 'e' of the adjective ending is removed, meaning 'blú' in the Neuter nominative is 'blú', and in the Common nominative 'blúß'. Comparative and superlative adjectives are formed with the endings '-eri' and '-est' respectively. Neuter nouns gain an '-_r' ending in the genitive, and Common words end in '-es' in the genitive, unless the word already ends in a vowel, in which case '-s' is added. The shortened '-s' ending for the genitive is also used when the word is plural, to form an '-ens' ending, such as in 'ringens'. When the gender of something is uncertain, such as when talking about something you do not know about, either case endings can be used. When using articles or adjectives that are describing two nouns which have conflicting genders, the gender of the noun that is closest to the adjective or article is used:

'''I see the strong axe and a bear. '''

Ig sín de starke akse en énen bér.

I see the strong bear and an axe.

Ig sín den starken bér en éne akse.

Verbs
Verbs are only altered for number and tense. The singular form of a verb has no ending in present tense, and a '-t' in past tense. The plural form of a verb has an 'en' in the present tense, and a '-te' in the past tense. If a word ends in a vowel, add a 'c' after the word if an ending is added. Words that end with 'd' or 't' gain an extra '-i-' in the past tense, making the ending '-it' or '-ite'. In a dependent clause, the verb goes to the end of the sentence and gains the 'ge-' prefix, or 'geg-' before a word that begins with a vowel.

I have bought a sword at the shop.

Ig hab énen swerd án dem gezéf gebínt.

Text Sample
The last knights who fought for the King had died in the last war.

Deß letseß réderen das vor dem Kóning gekampte habte in dem letsem órlok gestervte.

 'With my cows' he said, 'I will purchase your forest and its wood'.

'Med méner küm' ßákt hé, 'Ic zú déne skugene en ene holte gebín'.

His armies marched, with the sound of a thousand swords hitting against shields.

Hén ärmé marßírte, med der klange énes túsendes sverdens slak tén zilden.