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Modern Gothic is an East Germanic language descended from a language similar to Biblical Gothic. Words will be given in Standard Modern Gothic and Colloquial Modern Gothic, if they differ.
Throughout this article I will be using a combination of Greek, Cyrillic, and Latin (both regular as well as some of the Insular forms that have Unicode representations) in order to write MG in a way that resembles its native script.
Modern Gothic is used in an alternate timeline where the Ostrogoths survived as a culture to the modern day.The point of divergence is that around the 1st century AD, magic became real. Roughly speaking, from then until the 10th c. is the same. The 10th to 16th c. are marked by differences caused by the survival or death of various powers. While the 16th c. onward has become radically different.
By the end of the 5th c. A.D., the Ostrogoths had made a kingdom in northern Italy. Unlike in our timeline, the Goths retained some strength, enough so that when the Byzantine empire tried to retake the West they were repelled, at first. In the 9th c. the Byzantines were able to conquer the Goths. From then until the 15th c. they were a subject of the Byzantines.
In the early 14th c., the Byzantine-Seljuk wars started. The two empires had a series of wars, until the 16th c. when the Eastern Roman Empire fell. The Seljuk empire followed suit in the 19th c. When the East fell, the Seljuks attempted to claim their territories, but were only able to exert control into the Balkans.
When the Ostrogoths gained independence, they did so alongside the Slovenians forming the Kingdom of Gothia-Slovenia. Relations between the groups decayed until 1933, when the nation fell into a civil war which ended in 1936 with the formal seperation of the kingdom into the Republic of Gothia and the Republic of Slovenia, the latter of which joined Yugoslavia in 1937. Gothia joined the European Confederation in 2007.
Dialects
Modern Gothic is divided into 2 branches: Coastal and Eastern. Coastal is comprised of both the Standard form of the language, as well as the Colloquial form which is closer to how the language is spoken in the modern day. Eastern Gothic is the term for a group of dialects that have diverged heavily from the coastal varieties.
From the late 19th century until 1977, there existed an artificially archaic form of the language that was used as the literary standard.
Orthography
Modern Gothic is written in a version of Wulfilas' Gothic alphabet, albeit with Greek influences. These include the use of sigma form of σɑnɥл saujl, as well as the adoption of bicameralism with the Greek minuscules being used for the majuscules that resembled the Greek uppercase. There are also Romance influences, such as the way spirantized consonants are written with a following r h (called ɑqл awl). However in the modern day it has become a diacritic above the letter that resembles an inverted breve, e.g. μıʒ̑vɑ̑ꞇ mizhnaht.
Gothic
Name
IPA
Latin
Uppercase
Lowercase
Uppercase
Lowercase
Ʌ
ɑ
ɑσp ask
a
A
a
B
η
ηεþp berk
b
B
b
Γ
c
cb gy
g
G
g
Δ
ɔ
ɔɑp̑ dach
d
D
d
Є
ε
bε ioe
ε
E
e
Ɵ
ɵ
ɵþϕɑσσ eurthass
ɪ
Eu
eu
Ɛ
e
eþϕ eorth
œ
Eo
eo
Э
ɜ
σ̇ƚɑɑ shfaa
ə
A
a
Z
ʒ
b io
z
Z
z
Һ
r
ɑqл awl
h
H
h
Ψ
ϕ
ϕuϕ thiuth
θ
Th
th
I
ı
εıε eie
i
I
i
U
u
μup̑ miuch
ɨ
Iu
iu
Ю
b
cebл geiol
y
Io
io
P
p
pnσɑμ kusam
k
K
k
λ
л
лɑq law
l
L
l
M
μ
μɑvv mann
m
M
m
N
v
vɑnϕ nauth
n
N
n
G
ɥ
ɥεεþ jeer
j
J
j
Ƞ
n
onþε oure
u
U
u
Ɱ
m
ponı koui
ʊ
Ui
ui
Π
ϖ
ϖεþϕ perth
p
P
p
Ꙡ
þ
þɑıɔ̑ raidh
r
R
r
Σ
σ
σɑnɥл saujl
s
S
s
T
ꞇ
ꞇεın teiu
t
T
t
Ч
q
qıvɥ winj
w
W
w
Y
ɣ
ɣε ve
v
V
v
F
ƚ
ƚɑɑ faa
f
F
f
O
o
ooϕɑл oothal
ɔ
O
o
Standard New Gothic
Phonology
Consonants
Labial
Dental
Coronal
Dorsal
Glottal
Nasal
m
n
(ŋ)1
Stop
p2 b
t2 d
k2 g
Affricate
tʃ dʒ
Fricative
f v3
θ ð
t s ʃ ʒ
x
(h)4
Approximant
j
Trill
r
1 /ŋ/ is found only before the velar stops 2 The voiceless stops are unaspirated 3 /v/ is realized as [w] intervocally 4 /h/ is only found between vowels, and is used to break up vowel sequences
Vowels
Front
Central
Back
Unrounded
Rounded
Close
i iː iə̯
y yː yə̯
ɨ ɨː
u uː uə̯
Close-mid
ɪ eː eə̯
øː øə̯
ʊ oː oə̯
Open-mid
ɛ ɛː ɛə̯
œ œː œə̯
ə
ɔ ɔː ɔə̯
Open
a aː aə̯
ɑ ɑː ɑə̯
/ɑə̯/ is incredibly rare, as the environment it comes from was mostly found only in compounds.
The centering diphthongs come from overlong vowels in Middle Gothic. No surviving dialect has kept them as overlong. They were either broken or shortened.
Sound changes from Biblical Gothic to Middle Gothic
V + h clusters, or h + V, caused the vowel to be lowered. If the /h/ was after the vowel, said vowel gets lengthened.
Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌿𐍃 hardus → ɑ̑þɔ ȃrd, 'hard'.
Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍃 saihs → *saas → σɑɑ saa, 'six'.
W-Rounding
V + w clusters, or w + V, caused the vowel to be rounded. If the /w/ or /u̯/ was after the vowel, said vowel gets lengthened. Back vowels, /u ɔ uː oː ɔː/, became longer regardless if /w/ followed or preceded.
Apart from a few exceptions, the ablaut of the strong verbs has largely collapsed.
Standard Modern Gothic Strong Verbs
Indicative
Subjunctive
Imperative
Active
Passive
Active
Passive
Past
Nonpast
Imperfective
Perfective
Singular
1st
-∅
-ɑϕ
-ɑ
-ɥɑ
-ɑϕ
Invalid
2nd
-σ, -ꞇɑ
-ɑσ
-∅
3rd
-∅
-ɑϕ
-ɑ
-∅
-ɑϕ
Dual
1st
-ɑσ
Invalid
-e
-b
Invalid
2nd
-ɑꞇ
-ɑꞇ
Plural
1st
-ɑμ
-ɑɔɔ
-ɑμ
-ɑɔɔ
-ɑμ
2nd
-ɑϕ
-ɑϕ
-ɑϕ
3rd
-ɑv
-ɑɔɔ
-ɑv
-ɑɔɔ
Infinitive
-ɑv
Present Participle
-ɑɔɔ
Past Participle
-ɑv
Colloquial Modern Gothic Strong Verbs
Indicative
Imperative
Subjunctive
Passive
Past
Nonpast
Singular
1st
-∅
Invalid
-∅
-ϕ, -ɜϕ
2nd
-σ, -ɜꞇ
-σ, -ɜσ
-∅
3rd
-∅
-ϕ, -ɜϕ
Plural
1st
-ƚ, -ɜƚ
-ɜμ
-ꞇ, -ɜꞇ
2nd
-ϕ, -ɜϕ
3rd
-σ, -ɜσ
-ꞇ, -ɜꞇ
-ɜv
Infinitive
-ɜσ
Present Participle
-ɜꞇ
Past Participle
-ɜv
Eastern Modern Gothic Strong Verbs
Indicative
Imperative
Subjunctive
Past
Nonpast
Perfective
Imperfective
Singular
1st
-∅
Invalid
-ü
-ó
2nd
-t
-js
-∅
-is
-és
3rd
-∅
-jt
-ó
-j
-é
Dual
1st
-v
-us
Invalid
-ü
-ő
2nd
-vt
-ăt
-it
-ét
Plural
1st
-vv
-ăv
-im
-ém
2nd
-vt
-jt
-it
-ét
3rd
-vz
-ăn
-tó
-in
-én
Infinitive
-ăz
Present Participle
-ăz, -ănd-
Past Participle
-ăz, -ăn-
There is also a Perfective prefix: cɑ- ga-, cɜ- ge-, gă-. This is particularly common in the past tense.
Weak
The Modern Gothic Weak I conjugation corresponds to theBiblical Gothic Weak III verbs.
Standard Modern Gothic Weak I Verbs
Indicative
Subjunctive
Imperative
Active
Passive
Active
Passive
Past
Nonpast
Imperfective
Perfective
Singular
1st
-ɑ
-ɑϕ
-ɑ
-ɑϕ
-ɑϕ
Invalid
2nd
-ɑσ
-ɑσ
-ɑσ
-ɑ
3rd
-ɑ
-ɑϕ
-ɑ
-ɑϕ
Dual
1st
-ɑϕ
-ɑσ
Invalid
-e
Invalid
2nd
-ɑꞇ
-ɑꞇ
-ɑꞇ
Plural
1st
-ɑμ
-ɑɔɔ
-ɑμ
-ɑɔɔ
-ɑμ
2nd
-ɑϕ
-ɑϕ
-ɑϕ
3rd
-ɑɔɔ
-ɑv
-ɑɔɔ
Infinitive
-ɑv
Present Participle
-ɑɔɔ
Past Participle
-ɑv
Colloquial Modern Gothic Weak I Verbs
Indicative
Imperative
Subjunctive
Passive
Past
Nonpast
Singular
1st
-ɜ
-∅
Invalid
-∅
-ϕ, -ɜϕ
2nd
-σ, -ɜσ
-∅
3rd
-ϕ, -ɜϕ
Plural
1st
-ϕ, -ɜϕ
-ƚ, -ɜƚ
-ɜμ
-ꞇ, -ɜꞇ
2nd
-ϕ, -ɜϕ
-ɜϕ
3rd
-ɜꞇ
-ɜv
Infinitive
-ɜσ
Present Participle
-ɜꞇ
Past Participle
-ɜv
The Coastal Gothic conjugations II, III, IV are the same as the first albeit with -j- (II), -w- (III), -n- (IV) between the root and the suffix.
In Eastern Gothic, they have the same origin but they have diverged.
