Gnomish

Writing System

Writing Direction

Gnomish is written left to right (LTR), following the same direction as many alphabetic scripts.

Alphabet and Letterforms

Gnomish uses an alphabet-based writing system, with a letter for each phoneme.
The script has a compact, cursive aesthetic, designed for smooth, flowing handwriting.
Letters connect smoothly, forming a natural flow similar to cursive scripts.

Case Distinctions

Gnomish distinguishes between uppercase and lowercase letters.
Capitalization is used at the start of sentences and for proper names, but not for general nouns or grammatical features.

Diacritics and Phonetic Marking

Accent marks are used to indicate:

Pitch accent (distinguishing words with different tonal patterns).
Vowel length (distinguishing short and long vowels).
Consonant aspiration (marking aspirated stops if necessary).

Ligatures and Letter Connections

Gnomish features ligatures and connected letters, making the script highly fluid.
However, these ligatures are purely aesthetic and do not affect pronunciation.

Numeral System

Gnomish uses a base-2 (binary-inspired) numeral system, but numerals are entirely separate from the writing system.
Spoken numbers are rounded (e.g., 42 → 100000) and expressed as "1" followed by the word for "00000," while written numbers remain precise.

Spelling System

Gnomish follows a phonemic spelling system, meaning words are spelled exactly as they are pronounced.
There are no silent letters or historical spellings retained—each symbol represents a specific sound.

Phonology

Vowel System

Gnomish has a rich vowel inventory, including long vowels and diphthongs. Vowel length is phonemic and plays a crucial role in distinguishing meaning.

Vowel Inventory

Long Vowels: /iː, eː, oː, uː, yː, øː, ɛː, œː, åː, aː, ɑː/
Diphthongs: Gnomish features several diphthongs, which mostly occur in stressed syllables.
Vowel Reduction: In unstressed syllables, vowels typically reduce to /ə/, with /ɪ/ or /ʊ/ as alternative reductions. However, vowels adjacent to a high-pitched syllable resist reduction.

Consonant System

Gnomish has a diverse consonant inventory with a variety of stops, fricatives, nasals, and affricates.

Consonant Inventory

Stops: /p, t, k, b, d, ɖ, g/
Fricatives: /f, s, ʃ, ʂ, ʈ, θ, ð, h/
Affricates: /pf, ts/ (No voiced affricates; Gnomish lacks /dz/ and /bv/)
Nasals: /n/
Liquids: /l/
Glides: /j/

Voicing Contrasts

Voiceless sounds are common at the start of words, while voiced ones often appear in the middle or end.
Voiced stops at the end of a word become voiceless when the next word begins with a voiceless consonant, but if plural and case markers add vowels or voiced consonants, they block devoicing.

Consonant Cluster Constraints

Gnomish allows frequent consonant clusters, particularly in word-initial positions.
When suffixes are added, they break consonant clusters.
/h/ appears only at the beginning of words and does not participate in consonant clusters.
Affricates (/ts, pf/) tend to occur before front vowels like /iː, eː, yː/.

Syllable Structure

(C)(C)V(C) – Gnomish permits both simple and complex onsets and codas.
Stress usually falls on the first syllable of the word.
Since stressed syllables must be "heavy," the first syllable of the word will end up containing a long vowel or ending in a consonant cluster.

Stress & Pitch Accent

Gnomish has a pitch accent system that distinguishes words based on tonal contours. Pitch is explicitly written in the script.

Pitch Accents

Accent 1: A single, relatively level pitch.
Accent 2: A more complex rising-falling contour.

Rules Governing Pitch Accent

Complex onsets tend to lower the likelihood of Pitch Accent 2, as tonal variation is hindered by initial clusters.
Inflectional endings may shift a word from Accent 1 to Accent 2.
Words with three or more syllables experience a slight lowering of pitch on the second syllable.
In compounds, if the first element has a high pitch and the second has a low pitch, the second word’s pitch may be slightly raised, but this does not override vowel reduction.

Morphology

Nouns

Gnomish nouns do not have grammatical gender, but they inflect for number and case.

Plural Formation

Plurals are formed differently depending on noun class. Some nouns form the plural by vowel changes, while others take suffixes.

Case System

Gnomish has four grammatical cases, used to indicate syntactic roles in a sentence:

Nominative (subject)
Accusative (direct object)
Dative (indirect object)
Genitive (possession)

Verbs

Gnomish verbs inflect for number and tense, but not for person.

Number: Singular and plural forms of verbs are distinct.
Tense: Tense is marked by suffixes.

Adjectives

No Agreement: Adjectives do not change to match the noun in number or case.
Definiteness: Definiteness must always be present in adjectives for definite nouns, and is marked by pitch changes rather than inflection.

Compounding

Gnomish has a productive noun compounding system, allowing new words to be formed easily.

Pitch Assimilation: In compounds, the second word’s pitch is slightly raised if the first word has a high pitch, but this does not override vowel reduction.

Word Formation

Prefixes: Used for aspect and mood.
Suffixes: Used for tense and case marking.

Syntax

Word Order

Main Clauses: Gnomish follows a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) word order in main clauses.
Subordinate Clauses: Gnomish uses a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) order in subordinate clauses.
Fronted elements keep their stress.
Word order follows the defined SVO (main clauses) and SOV (subordinate clauses) rules, allowing meaning to be inferred based on clause type.

Verb Placement

Gnomish follows the Verb-Second (V2) rule in main clauses, meaning the verb always appears in the second position, regardless of what element starts the sentence.

Question Formation

Yes/No Questions: Gnomish forms yes/no questions by moving the verb to the front of the sentence.
Embedded questions maintain SVO word order like main clauses.

Definiteness

Definite articles appear before the noun, and definiteness in adjectives is marked by pitch changes.

Prepositions & Case Governance

Gnomish uses prepositions that govern specific cases.

Adjective Placement

Adjectives come before the noun and do not change to agree in gender, case, or number.

Negation

Negation is expressed using the word nöd, which appears after the verb.

Relative Clauses

Gnomish introduces relative clauses with the particle som (“that, which, who”).

Spoken by