Cantuath language

Cantuath
Cantuath
Road signs written in Cantuath
Ethnicity	Paleocacherians, Hapats, Kernevic
Native speakers	L1: 246 million L2/L3: ? (2023)
Language family	Gallaetic Goidelic Cantuath
Early form	Ayreoshubic Latin
Standard forms	written Seannan (lit. old tongue) written Dòinaudh (lit. new way)
Writing system	Iberic (Cantuath alphabet)
Official status
Official language in	Paleocacher Hapatmitas Kernev Ostlandet Union
Regulated by	Joint Institute and Commission for Cantuath
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ct
ISO 639-2	cnt
ISO 639-3	cnt – inclusive code Individual codes: csn – Seannan cdo – Dòinuadh

Cantuath is a Goidelic language in the Gallaetic language family, mainly spoken in northern Ostlandet. It is the most widely spoken and official and national language of Paleocacher and Hapatmitas. Cantuath also serves as a co-official language in Kernev and the Ostlandet Union, and a working language in ROKO. In Terraconserva, there are currently about 246 million people who speak it as their first language, with ? amount speaking it as their second language.

Cantuath's origins are traced back to Ayreoshubic Latin when the first humans crossed over to Ostlandet from Ecros 50,000 years ago. As part of the Gallaetic language family, it is related to the Gjorkan language and the Kernevic language. Though the language could be argued as a pluricentric language, the 1996 Mutual Language Agreement unified the standard systems of Paleocacher, Hapatmitas, and Kernev. Today, there are two official written forms of Cantuath, Seannan and Dòinuadh. Seannan developed from Ayreoshubic Latin and serves as the predominant standard system for Cantuath. Dòinuadh is a customary system developed by the Joint Institute between Paleocacher and Hapatmitas from a collective of regional dialects in the two countries; the system is not used in Kernev.

Writing standards

Seannan and Dòinuadh

Main articles: Seannan and Dòinuadh

The two recognized forms of written Cantuath are Seannan (literally 'old tongue') and Dòinuadh ('new way'), both of which are regulated by the Joint Institute and Commission for Cantuath (Co-Institiud agus Coimisean airson Cantuath; CICC). Seannan is the traditional and predominant writing standard, advanced individually throughout the divergence of Cantuath from Ayreoshubic Latin. Dòinuadh, on the other hand, was developed by the Joint Institute as part of an initiative to modernise the spelling of names and the grammar surrounding pronouns and possessive words.

Seannan and Dòinuadh provide the standards for writing Cantuath but do not provide ways to speak it. As such, any dialect of Cantuath and choice of using either writing standard is generally accepted as correctly spoken Cantuath. While Seannan is still predominant in other forms, the exclusive use of Dòinuadh has slowly emerged in the modern society of Paleocacher and Hapatmitas. Though it is not sanctioned by either government, most people have their names written in both the traditional Seannan form and the Dòinuadh form. Official municipal and county registrars in Hapatmitas, for example, have allowed citizens to register their name either in Seannan or Dòinuadh, though the latter has slowly become commonplace.

Alphabets

The modern Seannan alphabet has 18 letters. The letter ⟨h⟩ is mostly used to indicate lenition of a consonant and hence is not recognised as a letter by the Joint Institute. Vowels with a grave accent (à, è, ì, ò, ù) are pronounced longer.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

l

m

n

o

p

r

s

t

u

The Dòinuadh alphabet has 22 letters. Like Seannan, vowels denoted with a grave accent are pronounced longer.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

r

s

t

u

v

w

Dialects

Main article: Cantuath dialects

The Cantuath dialects are local varieties of the regions where the language is spoken. Some of the dialects are not mutually intelligible with each other.

There are three primary dialects, one respectively in each of the three countries where it is spoken. The Paleocacherian dialect is split into the western and eastern dialects, originating from the split of the country's respective regions. The Hapatmitasian dialect is separated into an Urban and Rural dialect. The Kernevic dialect, unlike its other counterparts, is not split, developed only in the country primarily as a second language due to the status of Cantuath as a co-official language in Kernev.

Grammar

Inflection for the word dog in Cantuath, which is cù for singular, chù for dual with the number dà ("two"), and coin for plural

Cantuath is a Gallaetic language with inflecting morphology and a verb-subject-object word order.

Noun inflection

Nouns inflect for, officially, five cases (nominative, accusative, vocative, genitive, and dative) and three numbers (singular, dual, and plural). They are also classified into masculine or feminine. Some words that are neuter-affiliated will show some form of gender confusion.

Verb inflection

There are 12 irregular inflecting verbs, including:

• Three persons/perspectives: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
• Two numbers, as opposed to the three noun counterparts: singular and plural
• Three non-composed forms expressing tense, aspect, and mood: non-past, conditional, and past
• Four moods: independent, relative, dependent, and subjunctive

Word order

The language's word order is strictly verb-subject-object.

Example text

An excerpt from the abdication speech of James VIII of Hapatmitas in Cantuath:

Air dhomh faicinn gu bheil misneachd an t-sluaigh annam air tuiteam, tha mi faicinn iomchuidh gu'n toir mi a steach na miannan a bha fo 'n Bhun-reachd anns an do mhionnaich mi mar Rìgh. Biodh fios agam nach robh mo dhìleab mar an tè mu dheireadh den mhonarcachd, ach am fear mu dheireadh de shliochd a tha air seirbheis dìleas don stàit agus don t-sluagh.

The excerpt in Jackian:

Seeing that the people's confidence in me has fallen, I see fit that I give in to the wishes under the Constitution I was sworn in as King. Let it be known that my legacy was not as the last of the monarchy, but the last of a dynasty that has faithfully served for the state and the people.

See also

• Languages of Terraconserva
• Gallaetic languages
• Goidelic languages