Syltician language

Syltician is a language spoken in Syltheim, where it is spoken by a minority of the population. Only 14.2% of Sylthians speak Syltician, despite it being a national language. Syltician is generally written in one of two scripts, Runic Script or Modern Script, both of which have 36 characters. The grammar of Syltician is considered easier to learn compared to most languages, mostly due to simplicity and lack of irregular grammar. Syltician words can be divided into three categories: Classical, Poetic, and Vulgar. Syltician is sometimes compared to Wohltauk. Syltician is thought to have undergone syntactic borrowing from common.

Geographical distribution

Syltician is spoken in the country of Syltheim, where it is spoken primarily in the Blindvé, Mallarfjoll, and in Hilmrburg. No speakers are found outside of Syltheim, though some texts composed outside of Syltheim will occasionally have small portions of Syltician.

Orthography

Syltician is usually written in one of two scripts, Runic Script and Modern Script. Modern Script is easier to read in populations that speak primarily Common, and is used most often. Runic Script is older and has more cultural significance, but can only be read by a portion of the population. Both Scripts have 36 characters, which are usually divided up into 3 portions of 12 letters each.

Runic Script (RS)	Modern Script (MS)		Runic Script (RS)	Modern Script (MS)		Runic Script (RS)	Modern Script (MS)
ᚠ	f		ᚳ	k		ᛦ	z/ʀ
ᚴ	v		ᛱ	g		ᛋ	s
ᚢ	u		ᚹ	w		ᛏ	t
₼	ú		ᚼ	h		ᛨ	d
ᚦ	þ		ᛁ	i		ᛖ	m
₺	ð		ᛐ	í		ᛮ	l
ᚿ	a		ᛃ	y		₸	n
ᚾ	á		₪	j		₹	ng
ᚬ	å		ᛊ	e		ᛜ	o
ᛘ	ą		ᛵ	é		ᛝ	ó
ᛯ	æ, ǽ		ᛒ	b		ᛄ	ø
ᚱ	r		ᛈ	p		ᛰ	ǫ

Runic Script

Runic Script was what originally defined the letter order in the Syltician alphabet, with similar letters (f and v, k and g) both being grouped together and looking similar. It is theorized that many of these letters were at one time represented by one rune but later diversified. There are 36 runes in runic Syltician.

Modern Script

Modern Script is based off of Common script, and uses accents and letter combinations to denote different letters from the Runic Script. Like Runic Script, Modern Script is generally considered to have 36 characters, but it is often questioned if 37 is more accurate due to the ǽ falling under the same runic character as æ does.

Grammar

Verbs

The conjugation of verbs in Syltician are as follows:

This table uses the verb ‘be’, or ‘vera’ in Syltician.

vera	to be, is, are, am	(present tense)
verada	was, were	(past tense)
Veraj	being	(present participle)
Verajda	been	(past participle)
Til vera	will be	(future tense)

An example of these conjugations in action:

Hannj vera veraj dolsket	he is being foolish
Hannj hafa verajda dolsket	he has been foolish
Hannj til vera dolsket	He will be foolish

Pronouns

I= ek	me= mér/mjer	mine =minn	myself= minnsjálfr	my= min
He = hannj	Him= hann	his=sinn	Himself =hansjálfr	his =sinn
She =hon	Her =hana	hers= sín	Herself =honsjálfr	Her = hana
it=da	it=da	its= dan	Itself =dansjálfr	its= dan
we=vér, vi	us=oss	ours= várs	ourselves =ossjálfr	our = várr
you=Þú	you=þú	Yours=djin	yourself= þínnsjálfr yourselves= þínnsjálfar	your= þínn, ykkarr, din, djou
they=þeir	them= þeim	theirs = þein	themselves = þeinsjálfr	their = þínnur

Plurals

A plural can be created in three ways:

If a singular ends in a vowel, the word is pluralized with an -r ending.

If a singular ends in a consonant, the word is pluralized with a -ar ending

If a singular ends in a -r preceded by a consonant, the -r is replaced with an -ar.

Singular	Plural
Helli	Hellir
Bjorg	Bjorgar
Kǫttr	Kǫttar

Definates

The definite article ‘the’ in Syltician is usually a suffix that is added to the end of a noun, instead of ahead of it. The suffix itself can vary based on a variety of factors.

The following examples use the word kǫttr (cat), helli (cave), and gulrót (carrot).

Example 1:

-inn suffix applied to the end of a singular noun that ends in a consonant, and the -nir suffix is applied to plural nouns.

The cat	Kǫttrinn
The cats	Kǫttarnir

Example 2:

-nin suffix applied to the end of a singular noun that ends in a vowel. The -nir suffix is applied to plural nouns.

The cave	Hellinin
The caves	Hellirnir
The carrot	Gulrótinn
The carrots	Gulrótarnir

There are instances when this does not apply and the definite article is not a suffix. This is primarily due to Syltician word order having shifted to be more similar to common. The definite article ‘the’ is not used as a suffix when there is an adjective placed before the noun.  We will be using the example “the big cat”. Because there is the adjective ‘big’ ahead of the word ‘cat’, the definite article ‘the’ is not a suffix, but instead follows the common word order using the loanword ‘ði’. So the end result would be:

Correct	The big cat	Ði stig kǫttr
Incorrect	The big cat	Stig kǫttrinn

More examples of this in action:

Samfast, ði Syltskr ok Montroskr maðrar...	Together, the Syltian and Montrosian peoples...
Out of the dark place,	Ut af ði svarta staðr,

Possesives

Possessives are indicated by adding the -s ending to the end of a Syltician word.

The drifter’s boat

Hrindarinns båt

Dialects or Types

While Syltician has no ‘true’ dialects, there are often different words that are considered to lean formal or informal. These words sometimes are used in different places with different frequencies.

As an example, there are many different words for ‘cow’ in Syltician. Someone may be considered uncouth if they use the word ‘ku’ in a city such as Hilmrburg, but using the word ‘Brølek’ in Blindvé Village would be considered posh or snobby.

These divisions are usually categorized into Classical, Poetic, and Vulgar Syltician.

Classical Syltician

Classical Syltician words are generally considered ‘standard’, and are often perceived as ‘higher class’. If someone were writing an academic text, they would want to use words that are considered classical.

Poetic Syltician

Poetic Syltician words are generally characterized by the combination of two or more words into something that could be used in alliteration, the main literary device in Sylthian poetry. For example, ‘fyrfoder’, or ‘fur-footed’ to say ‘cat’ instead of the word kǫttr.

Vulgar Syltician

Vulgar Syltician is composed of words that are often considered slang. Many words in Vulgar Syltician are also loanwords from other languages. While these words are generally used in casual conversation in many places, they are often considered uncouth to use in polite society.