Niw Englisch/Grammar/Alphabet and Pronunciation

The Niw Englisc alphabet consists of 32 letters:

• Capital: A, Æ, B, C, D, Ð, E, F, G, Ȝ, H, Ƕ, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, Œ, P, Q, R, S, T, Þ, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
• Lowercase: a, æ, b, c, d, ð, e, f, g, ȝ, h, ƕ, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, œ, p, q, r, s, t, þ, u, v, w, x, y, z
• Pronunciation: ah, aesh, beh, cheh, deh, eth, eh, eff, geh, yogh, hah, hwair, ee, yot, kah, ell, em, en, oh, oethel, peh, kuu, er, ess, teh, thorn, oo, veh, twifald veh, iks, yppsilon, tsett

Note: if you do not have æ or œ on your keyboard, you can use ae/oe or ä/ö insted; th for þ, dh for ð; hw for ƕ; j for ȝ

Vowels

Vowel	short	long
Aa	[a] as in German Wasser, ab	[aː] as in English father
Ææ	[æ],[ɛ] as in English hat, German Männer	[ɛː],[eː] as in English air, German gäbe
Ee	[ɛ] as in English west, German Bett	[eː] as in German reh, See
Ii	[ɪ] as in English bit	[iː] as in German ihn
Oo	[ɔ] as in German Gott	[oː] as in German Bote
Œœ	[œ] as in German Götter	[øː] as in German schön
Uu	[ʊ] as in German Mutter	[uː] as in German gut, food
Ẏẏ	[ʏ] as in German Müller	[yː] as in German grün

Consonants

Consonant	initial	middle, final
B	[b]	[b], [p] next to voiceless consonants
C	[tʃ]	[tʃ]
D	[d]	[d], [t] if not doubled in some dialects at ends of syllables
Ð	- this letter never occurs initially	[ð] only between vowels, alternates with þ
F	[f]	[v] between vowels, [f] final position
G	[g]	[g], [x] when alternating with ȝ after back vowels [ç]/[x] when alternating with ȝ after front vowels
Ȝ	[j]	[j] between vowels, or finally alternates with [g] with inflections added
H	[h]	[j] between vowels, or finally
Ƕ	[hw]	never final
J	[j]	[j] between vowels, or finally
L	[l] in all positions
M	[m] in all positions
N	[n] in all positions
P	[p] in all positions
Q	[kw], only in foreign words native words use kw
R	r, trilled as in Scottish English	[r], regular American English r, always pronounced
S	[s]	[z] between vowels, [s] finally
T	[s]	[z] between vowels, [s] finally
Þ	[θ] initially	[θ] finally alternates with ð between vowels to indicate voiced sound
V	[v]	[v]
W	[w]	[w]
X	[z] only in foreign words	[ks]
Z	[ts]	[ts], between vowels or in stressed syllables, [dz]

Diphthongs

Diphthong	pronunciation
ai, aȝ	[aɪ] as in English mine
æȝ	[eɪ] as in English main
au	[aʊ] as in English house
ea	[ɛː] as in English main, German gäbe some speakers add a slight schwa sound too
ei, eȝ	[ɛ] as in English fine, German mein
eo	[eo] as in Old English deorc, [eːo] as in Old English fréo
ie, iȝ	[iː] as in English mean
io	[i̯o] as in German Aktion, not English action

Runes

Niw Englisc can be written in Runes, an older Germanic alphabet. In this system the words can be written left-to-right, right-to-left (where the runs face towards the left), and boustrephedonically (alternating left-to-right, then right-to-left on the second line, then back to left-to-right).

Runes

Rune	Letter
ᚪ	A
ᚫ	Æ
ᛒ	B
ᚳ	C
ᛞ	D
ᚧ	Ð
ᛖ	E
ᚠ	F
ᚸ	G
ᚷ	Ȝ
ᚻ	H
ᚼ	Ƕ
ᛁ	I
ᛄ	J
ᛣ	K
ᛚ	L
ᛗ	M
ᚾ	N
ᚩ	O
ᛟ	Œ
ᛈ	P
ᛢ	Q
ᚱ	R
ᛋ	S
ᛏ	T
ᚢ	U
ᚡ	V
ᚹ	W
ᛉ	X
ᚣ	Y
ᛊ	Z
ᛝ	NG
ᛠ	EA
ᛇ	EO
ᛡ	IA/IO
ᛣ	KK, CK (in foreign words)
ᛥ	ST (only within a syllable, not when combining words)

Punctuation

Rune	Punctuation Mark
᛬	(space)
᛫	period
᛭	end of text/paragraph
ᛑ	question mark
ᚽ	exclamation mark
ᚮ ᚭ	parentheses
ᛧ	comma
ᛌ	single quotation mark, apostrophe
ᛃ	double quotation mark

Example:

• ᛣᚩᛗᛗ᛬ᚻᛁᛖᚱᚽ komm hier! Come here!
• ᛋᚳᛁᛖ᛬ᛋᚫᚷᛞᛖᛧᛃᚻᚪᛚᛚᚩ᛫ᛃ Scie sæȝde, "Hallo." She said, "hello."