Language scratchpad/Altlangs

This subarticle lists alternate versions of real-life languages in Innocence Seekers. Due to the series incorprating aspects of alternate history, languages will evolve differently.

Alternate English

English is the lingua franca of Earth and one of the official languages of the Federation of Four Earths.

Orthography

The orthography is similar to Blylandic, except the hooked letters ę and ǫ are not used (/ɛː/ and /ɔː/ are represented as ea and oa, respectively), and that the letter s represents both /s/ and /z/.

Nouns

The declension of nouns is comparatively simple when compared to Old English. All declensional classes share the same declensions in the singular.

	Singular	Plural
Nominative Accusative	fisj	fisjes
Genitive	fisjes	fisje
Dative	fisje	fisjem

This is an example of a strong noun. Note that the nominative/accusative plural ending may differ between nouns. The genitive plural is -re if the stem ends in a vowel, while the dative singular ending disappears.

	Singular	Plural
Nominative Accusative	name	namen
Genitive	names	namne
Dative	name	namem

This is an example of a weak noun.

	Singular	Plural
Nominative Accusative	kjild	kjilder
Genitive	kjildes	kjildre
Dative	kjilde	kjildrem

This is an example of a noun that displays an -r- infix in the plural. This is largely a relic class.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

	First person		Second person
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ikj	wii	þau	jii
Accusative	mekj	auskj	þekj	juukj
Dative	mii	aus	þii	juu
Possessive	main-	aur-	þain-	juur-

The possessive forms decline as strong adjectives.

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	hii	sjii	hit	þou
Accusative	hain	hai	hit	þou
Genitive	his	hair	his	þoure
Dative	him	hair	him	þoum

Adjectives

Strong declension:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	-	-	-	-e
Accusative	-en	-	-	-e
Genitive	-es	-er	-es	-re
Dative	-em	-er	-em	-em

Weak declension:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	-e	-e	-e	-en
Accusative	-en	-en	-e	-en
Genitive	-en	-en	-en	-ne
Dative	-en	-en	-en	-em

Determiners

Definite article:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	þe	þi	þat	þo
Accusative	þon	þai	þat	þo
Genitive	þas	þer	þas	þore
Dative	þem	þer	þem	þom

Indefinite article:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	an	an	an	ane
Accusative	anen	an	an	ane
Genitive	anes	aner	anes	anre
Dative	anem	aner	anem	anem

Numerals

Cardinal numerals

1	oun	11	endleven	10	tiin
2	twain	12	twelf	20	twiinti
3	þrii	13	þretin	30	þraiti
4	fjuur	14	fjuurtin	40	fjuurti
5	faiv	15	faiftin	50	faifti
6	six	16	sixtin	60	sixti
7	seven	17	seventin	70	seventi
8	eit	18	eitin	80	eiti
9	nain	19	naintin	90	nainti
10	tiin	20	twiinti	100	hundred

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	oun	oun	oun	oune
Accusative	ounen	oun	oun	oune
Genitive	ounes	ouner	ounes	ounre
Dative	ounem	ouner	ounem	ounem

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative Accusative	twain	twou	tuu
Genitive	twaire
Dative	tweim

Nominative Accusative	þrii
Genitive	þriire
Dative	þrim

Numerals from 4 to 99 use the genitive suffix -re and the dative suffix -(e)m. The numerals hundred and þausend are strong nouns (plural hundred and þausend), not determiners.

Ordinal numerals

1st	first	11th	endleveðe	10th	tiiðe
2nd	uuðer	12th	twelfte	20th	twiintiðe
3rd	þridde	13th	þretinde	30th	þraitiðe
4th	fjuurðe	14th	fjuurtinde	40th	fjuurtiðe
5th	faifte	15th	faiftinde	50th	faiftiðe
6th	sixte	16th	sixtinde	60th	sixtiðe
7th	seveðe	17th	seventinde	70th	seventiðe
8th	eiteðe	18th	eitinde	80th	eitiðe
9th	naiðe	19th	naintinde	90th	naintiðe
10th	tiiðe	20th	twiintiðe	100th	hundredeðe

Verbs

Strong verbs

Strong verbs have five principal parts: the infinitive (stelen), the third person singular present indicative (stileþ), the third person singular past indicative (stal), the plural past indicative (steilen) and the past participle (stolen). There are huge variations between strong verbs, meaning that the principal parts must be learned separately.

	Singular			Plural
	First	Second	Third
Indicative mood
Present	stel	stilest	stileþ	stelen
Past	stal	stalest	stal	steilen
Subjunctive mood
Present	stele			stelen
Past	stale			steilen
Imperative mood
		stel		steleþ
Infinitive	stelen
Participles
Present	stelende
Past	stolen

Weak verbs

Weak verbs only have two principal parts: the infinitive (heilen) and the past participle (heild).

	Singular			Plural
	First	Second	Third
Indicative mood
Present	heil	heilest	heileþ	heilen
Past	heild	heildest	heild	heilden
Subjunctive mood
Present	heile			heilen
Past	heilde			heilden
Imperative mood
		heil		heileþ
Infinitive	heilen
Participles
Present	heilende
Past	heild

Irregular verbs

	Singular			Plural
	First	Second	Third
Indicative mood
Present	am	art	is	sind
Past	was	wast	was	weiren
Subjunctive mood
Present	sai			sain
Past	weire			weiren
Imperative mood
		wes		weseþ
Infinitive	wesen
Participles
Present	wesende
Past	weren

Syntax

Syntax is similar to real-life English. In poetry, both SVO and V2 word order can be used, but prose typically uses SVO.