Note: This site is completely a work of fiction, a background for my fictional language Wessisc. For real information on tourism on the Isle of Wight, a site we may suggest is http://www.iwight.com/.

Wight Tourist Information

Wessisc Language Primer Orthography

This is one of the orthographies in use for writing Wessisc.

It is the one that was generally used in older times, before an attempt at standardisation with United Wessisc. It must be noted that the elder texts were very irregular in their orthographies, with variants often found even within the same texts (the least of which to be noted is the use of 'þ' instead of 'ð', and vice versa). The ancient orthographies were attempted to be made standardised by the lecturers at Newhyth University, Isle of Wight, but not as a system for use by the Wessisc revival, but merely as an aid for students of the elder texts. Similarly, the gradual standardisation of texts to aid students when studying Chaucer and other Middle English texts in English is to be noted.

The generally accepted modern standard for the Revival Movement was United Wessisc, but a system proposed by Cynedd Geory has superceded it in use today amongst revivalists.

Here therefore is the standardised Elder Wessisc Orthography in use by academics studying the Elder Texts.

SHORT VOWELS
 

Vowel	Length	Elder
V	short	a
æ	short	æ
e	short	e
i	short	i
o	short	o
u	short	u
@	short	a

LONG VOWELS
 

Vowel	Length	Elder
a:	long	ah
æ:	long	æ (remains unaltered)
e:	long	ee
i:	long	y
o:	long	ow
u:	long	w

DIPTHONGS
 

Dipthong	Approx. English Example	Elder
ai	sky	ay
au	cow	aw
ei	day	eg, ei
eo	Beowulf	eo
ie	yen	ie
oi	boy	oy
ui	Screw you!	uy

CONSONANTS
 

Consonant	Elder	Consonant	Elder	Consonant	Elder
b	b	n	n	dZ	cg
d	d	p	p	þ	þ
f	f	r	r	ð	ð
g	g	s	s	N	ng
h	h	t	t	x	gh
j	y	v	v	ç	g
k	c	w	w	tS	cs
l	l	z	z	L	hl
m	m	S	sc	hr	hr
		hw	hw	Z	j

NOTES:

All Consonants
All consonants when doubled are sounded purely, contrary to the rules below. Thus in the word "classe" (Fem noun - class), although the word contains a medial 's', it is sounded as /s/, not as /z/.

b
When 'b' is final, it is sounded as /p/, except when followed immediately by a vowel in the sequential word, when it retains its /b/ sound

d
When 'd' final, it is sounded as 't' as in "dressed" (drest)

ð
Words ending with -þ often may be substituted with -ð and vice versa. This variation varied with accent and dialect.

f
When 'f' is medial or final, it is sounded as in "of"

g
When 'g' is medial or final, it is sounded as in German "ich". When 'g' is found before e or i pronounced as "yacht", except as in the situation when 'c' has been mutated to a 'g', in which case it remains hard as in 'God'. 'g' after 'e' is pronounced as "day".

gh
When /h/ is mutated to /ç/, it is spelled as 'gh' when initial.

s
when 's' is initial and final, it is sounded as in "sew". When 's' is medial, it is 'z' as in "houses".

sc
'sc' as in "ship", but 'scc' as in "Scotland".

w
'w' serves as both consonant and vowel.

y
'y' serves as both consonant and vowel. 'y' may also stand for all other vowels.

/Z/
The inclusion of /Z/ here is actually somewhat dubious in nature. The sound indeed did come to be part of the Wessisc language, but only within the last 50 years of its natural life; this is said to be due to 'poisoning' of the more powerful and influential English language in the region. However, it is claimed by United Wessisc Revived (UWR) supporters that the /Z/ sound is a natural progression from it's Germanic origins: both German and English have the /Z/ sound, thus it might be only fair to assume that Wessisc would also develop this sound. However, it is irrefutable that English seems to have borrowed this sound under French influence, as has the German language, as seen in the German pronunciation of 'Garage', clearly a loan-word from the French language.

The /Z/ sound is generally not used and ignored by serious students of the Wessisc language. In the surviving Wessisc literature of the last 50 years of the living Wessisc language, it indeed only occurs 14 times, according to a computer study by Cynedd Geory. It also occurs as a 'j' in those texts, indicating the French influence (cf. modern French 'j').

Other orthographies and other matters concerning the inclusion of certain sounds will be discussed in the chapter on Revived Wessisc.

(C) 2001 Damon M. Lord