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Ablaut

Words in Danetian are composed of one or more roots, with endings attached at the end to indicate grammatical information, such as case, number, tense, etc. These roots experience vowel mutations in different declinations of the same word. For example, dekmi “I do” versus dykmos “we do”. This process is known as ablaut. Danetian has kept the ablaut system from Proto-Indo-European largely intact.

Roots in Danetian can be cast in one of three grades:

  • grade 1: corresponds the e-grade from PIE.
  • grade 2: corresponds to the zero-grade.
  • grade 3: corresponds to the o-grade.
Meaning of root Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3
to stand sta- sty- sto-
to carry ber- byr- bor-
to do, to make do- dy- do-
to leave lip- lip- loip-
to gather, to build stru- stru- stru-
to speak vep- up- vop-
to throw jek- ik- jok-
door dver- dur- dvor-
water ved- ud- vod-
liver jep- ip- jop-
thought men- myn- mon-

From the examples above, we can draw the following generalities:

  • If grade 1 has vowels a, e, o, they reduce to y in grade 2, and mutate to o in grade 3.
  • If grade 1 has vowel i, then it stays the same in grade 2, but mutates to oi in grade 3.
  • If grade 1 has vowel u, then it stays the same in all grades.
  • If grade 1 has j, v plus a vowel, then the vowel will disappear in grade 2, and the j, v will vocalize into i, u.