"Sælir góðir nemendur!
It is a pleasant surprise to find others with an interest in
Gotland/Gutland and its language lurking around in the shadows
around the corners of norse_course. Gutniska is a lovely tongue
(forget the messy spelling found in old manuscripts and on stones)."
-- I have also found that out. I don't know exactly what you mean
with Gutniska, it's still developing and will probably have a
renaissance again if Propago turns out to manage in their struggle.
"I have been making a special study of this tongue, which is critical
to our understanding of the norse of the viking age and even
earlier. Just as Icelandic contains the oldest grammar, so Gutniska
contains the oldest sound-system."
-- In modern Gutniska they have become much like icelandic in the
vowel system: 'á' is pronunced [a:], 'é' like [ei:], 'í' like
[äi:], 'ó' like [ou:], 'ú' like [eu:] and 'ý' like [öi:]. Of course,
they also have the old diphtongs 'ai' [ai:], 'au' [au:] and 'oy'
[oi:].
But Old Guthnic up to 17th century probably had the most ancient
sound-system, like preserved 'algiz' sound in e.g. Gut. 'langR'
ON 'langr'. Old West Norse did drop this 'algiz' sound early in
Viking Age almost a millenium before.
To some extent, Guthnic has still today the differentiation
between 'algiz' sound and the ordinary r.
"If one wants to understand the
oldest language of the viking age, then one must make a perfect
blend of the furthest east and the furthest west, while also
incorporating the oldest aspects of the dialects found between these
two extremes."
-- Like 'Dalska', after Icelandic and together with Faroese and to
some extent Guthnic the oldest dialect group of Scandinavian today.
"Interested in ancient Gutniska? Post away."
-- Doing so...
"Also, if
anyone is interested in runic writing, I have found a way to
accurately represent any norse dialect, ancient or modern, using
only the historically "correct" 16 letter fúþárk and spelling words
just as they would appear on a runestone. Perhaps this sounds crazy
to some of you that are familiar with the wide array of sounds found
in any dialect of old norse, but I can assure you that it is not. I
have even found a way to write norse with greater phonological and
historical accuracy than the latin alphabet will allow, while using
only the 16 classical runes. The language appears precisely as on an
earlier viking age rune stone (complete with bars above and below
the letters), while at the same time representing the language more
accurately than the Latin will allow."
-- I have also come to the conclusion that the 16-type futhark is the
best for ON, with some adjustments. In fact, it worked for Dalska and
Guthnic to 19-20th century, so it is something that can be used also
for the modern Scandinavian language. Sweden was close to re-
introduce it in the 17th century, but only... close.
"If anyone is interested in
either of these topics, then please let me know."
-- I think you know now...
"Also, does anyone
have any questions so far about the Grammar that I have been posting?
Skiljið þið allt í henni? Eruð þið með engar spurnigar? Og hvað um
formálann að Brekkukotsannál? Er hann of erfiður?"
-- I'm not too good at reading your written Icelandic dialect.