FS Wiki | Folkspraak / BaseSpraak

PLEASE NOTE - This page was done in rather a hurry and has lots of errors and inconsistencies and things not explained at the moment! Sorry about that!

Base Spraak, as I referred to it when I first came up with the idea, is a proposal to make a standard code (a "meta FS" as David Parke put it) which we can write long pieces (i.e. books and Wikipedia articles!) in without having to worry that they're not "standard" or will be superceded by changes made to the standard language in polls. Using a simple find-and-replace function, something written BS could be altered to conform to any changes to the language. I proposed a very complicated version a while back, but now I think such complication isn't needed. I'll now outline my proposal as it stands:

Vowels

Short vowels are unmarked. If they are followed by a single consonant phoneme, it is written double.

<a> for /a/ like in <mann>, <hand> etc.
<e> for /e/ like in <ett> (eat)
<i> for /i/ like in <iss>, <bitter>
<o> for /o/ like in <godd>
<u> for /u/ like in <under>
<ue> for umlauted PG /u/, e.g. <ruegg>

Long vowels and diphthongs are of two types: Latin sound-type unshifted long, and Proto Germanic historical long vowels (often shifted now)

The first type are as follows and are either marked by a trailing colon (what a horrid thought!), a trailing <h>, or by adding an accute accent:

<a:> for /a:/
<e:> for /e:/ like in <thhe:-ma> (theme)
<i:> for /i:/ like in <mu:-si:c> (music)
<o:> for /o:/ like in <o:-ver>, <phoo-too> (photo)
<u:> for /u:/ like in <mu:-si:c> (music)
<y:> for /y:/ like in <sy:-ste:m>
<au> for /au/ like in <auto:>
<ai> for /ai/ like in <haiku:>
<oi> for /oi/

The second type are as follows and i, o, and u can be marked doubling the vowel or by circumflex:

<ae> for PG /{:/ like in <slaep> (sleep)
<aa> for PG /a/ like in <naam> (name)
<ii> for PG /i:/ like in <tiid> (time ...well, tide!)
<oo> for PG /o:/ like in <good> (good)
<uu> for PG /u:/ like in <uut> (out)
<ooe> for umlauted PG /o:/, e.g. <grooen>
<aj> for PG /ai/ where it's a diphthong in German like in <ajn> (one)
<ej> for PG /ei/ where it's /e:/ in German, like in <sejr> (very ...well, sore!)
<aw> for PG /au/ where it's a diphthong in German like in <bawm> (tree ...well, beam!)
<ow> for PG /au/ where it's /o:/ in German, like in <bown> (bean)
<iw> for PG /eu/ where it's /i:/ in German and English
<ew> for PG /eu/ where it's /oi/ in German and /i:/ in English
<aiw> for PG /eu/ where it's /oi/ in German and /ai/ in English
<euw> for PG /eu/ followed by /w/ like in "treuw" (true - faithful)
<iuw> for PG /eu/ which is /i:/ in German but /u:/ in English, like in <skiuwt'n> (to shoot)
<ie> for when one finds an /e:/ in German and an /i/ in English, e.g. <niem'n>, <liebh'n>, <giebh'n>
<aje> is umlauted PG /ai/

Consonants

These are all pretty obvious apart from:

<w> for PG /w/, e.g. <wurm>
<hw> for PG /hw/ or /xw/, e.g. <hwat>
<th> or <T> for PG /T/ which hasn't become voiced, e.g. <thorn>
<dh> or <D> for PG /T/ which has become voiced in English and Scandinavian, e.g. <dhat>
<bh> or <B> for PG /b_h/ as in <giebh'n>
<ph> for Old Greek /p_h/
<thh> for Old Greek /t_h/
<x> for PG /x/ which has remained, e.g. <naxt>
<xj> for PG /x/ which has been lost, e.g. <sexj'n>
<sk> for PG /sk/
<v> for Latin or Romance /w/ or /v/, e.g. <vaa-se>
<qu> for Latin /kw/
<cs> for Latin /ks/
<c> for Latin or Romance /k/ (later /s/, /T/, /tS/ etc.)

Other aspects of notation

<.> comes after a stressed syllable in a polysylabic word
<..> is used for full-stop
The infinitive suffix is <'n> so that find-and-replace won't mess up words ending in "-an" or "-en" or "-a" or whatever
The plural suffix is <'e>
The genitive suffix is <'s>
The adverbial suffix is <'lik>
Past tense suffix is <'d>
/ik/ suffix (i.e. English <-y>) is <'ik>
"for-" prefix is <for'> or <fer'>
"ing" suffix is <'ung>
Continuous suffix is <'nd>
Romance "-al" suffix is <'a:l>
Romance "-ic" suffix is <'i:c>

A note on small words

Many small words like personal pronouns do not conform especially well to regular sound shifts and thus it's debatable how these should be written. For instance "ik" or "ek", "et" or "it" or even "het" or such. Thus the spelling of such words would be left up to the writer, and the writer should list their spelling for each debatable common word at the beginning of their piece of writing or in a similarly accesible place. With regards a word like "to be" where it's debatable what word to use at all, one should also state somewhere what you use.

A note on vowels before /g/

Vowels before /g/ like in <regen> are written singly and the <g> written singly too, as it's debatable whether they should be short or long and they're easy to change by find-and-replace anyway.

Examples

Now for an example, here's the Lord's Prayer in Base Spraak:

Un.ser faa.der in dhe hi.mmel

Dhiin naam we:s haj.l'ik

Dhiin riik komm, dhiin will we:s doo'd

So upp erth als in hi.mmel

Giebh uns dhis dag un.ser dag.'lik browd

End for'giebh uns un.ser skuld

Als wi for'giebh dhem hwe skuld ge.gen uns

End laed uns nit in for'soo.k'ung

Dhox maak uns fraje fron yy.bhil

.menn..

Romance-style = Capitals Version

This is a slightly different version/idea for Base Spraak. In order to minimise the number of letter combinations needed and to eliminate the two types of vowel length-marking one writes Romance/Greek words in capitals. Thus "ig hab1 gee't in miin AUTO dhurh dhe THEEMAA.t'isk boum-stamm'e" not "ig habh1 gee1'd in miin auto: dhurh dhe thhe:ma:t'isk bowm-stamm'e".

Here's the Lord's Prayer in that version:

u'n.ser faa.der inn dhe hi.mmel

dh'iin naam wees hai.l-ik

dh'iin riik komm, dhiin will wees doo-d

s'oa upp erth als inn hi.mmel

g'ieb uns dhiss dag un.ser dag.-lik broud

e'nd for-gieb uns un.ser skuld

a'ls wir for-gieb dhem hwe skuld ge.gen uns

e'nd laed uns nitt in for-soo.k-ung

dh'ohh maak uns fraie fronn yy.bil

aa'.menn..

Romance marked by <'> version

This would involve the Romance phonemes which "clash" with Germanic ones being marked by a trailing inverted comma <'> instead of capital letters being marked by this device (as above):

With this system a phrase like "ig gern hab1 av an:im-aa'l oorie'ntii'r-t th'ee'ma'-e" doesn't look too good, but the Lord's Prayer looks hunky-dory! ...

Un.ser faa.der inn dhe hi.mmel

Dhiin naam wees hai.l-ik

Dhiin riik komm, dhiin will wees doo-d

Soa upp erth als inn hi.mmel

Gieb uns dhiss dag un.ser dag.-lik broud

End for-gieb uns un.ser skuld

Als wir for-gieb dhem hwe skuld ge.gen uns

End laed uns nitt in for-soo.k-ung

Dhohh maak uns fraie fronn yy.bil

Aa.menn..