Caprish language

Caprish
Caprish
Caprisce
Pronunciation	[kəˈpriʃʌ]
Native to	Caproney
Native speakers	183,000 (date missing)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic North Sea Germanic Anglo-Frisian Caprish; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Official language in	Earldom of Caproney;
Regulated by	Det Caprisceacademye

Caprish (Caprish: Caprisce [kəˈpriʃʌ]) is a West Germanic language spoken in the Caprish Islands and the island of Heligoland in the North Sea. Caprish has official language status in the Earldom of Caproney. Caprish is most closely related to Frisian, Low German, and English, with which it forms the North Sea Germanic group of the West Germanic languages.

Classification

Indo-European languages
- Germanic
  - West Germanic
    - North Sea Germanic
      - Anglo-Frisian
        Caprish

The closest relatives of the Caprish language are English, West Frisian, the North Frisian languages (including Heligolandic), also known as the Ingvaeonic languages. Together with Low German, these languages form the North Sea Germanic group of the West Germanic languages. Caprish also exhibits similarities to Dutch and German, but has distinct features that distinguish Caprish from other West Germanic languages beyond the Ingvaeones.

History

North Sea Germanic

Around 500 CE, certain West Germanic varieties in the North Sea began to have similar linguistic characteristics, called North Sea Germanic, or Ingvaeonic. Old English, Old Saxon, Old Frisian, and Old Caprish later arose from this North Sea Germanic language family.

Old Caprish

Around 500 CE, the Germanic peoples of the North Sea began migrating from the continent to Caproney. The variety of Ingvaeonic spoken on the islands became Old Caprish. In the ninth century, Norse influence was felt across the islands as Crovaney came under Danish rule (Danlagh). The Norse were repelled by the 12th century, which led to the unification of the Caproneys under Ercebald III of Grattey.

Middle Caprish

In the 14th century, Caproney experienced greater economic and linguistic interaction with Low German, the language of the Hanseatic League. The cities of Aervigh and Saxhaven (Seghshafen) were home to many Hanse during this time, but its influence was largely limited to finance and navigation in the cities. During the Protestant Reformation, German became a prestige language for the first time. While the language of the church changed from Latin to Caprish, many terms pertaining to theology and philosophy are derived from the works of Martin Luther and Johannes Bugenhagen. German influence would be strengthened further in the seventeenth century when the islands became part of the Duchy of Teck, though in general Caproney was ignored by their Württemberg dukes in a state of benevolent negligence. By 1800, the orthography of Caprish looked little like it had in Old Caprish, superficially resembling Low Saxon.

Modern Caprish

During the Napoleonic Wars, the Duchy of Teck and Württemberg were dissolved into the Confederation of the Rhine, to which Caproney responded by declaring independence in 1806, following which a national revival began. In the wake of Romanticism and the restoration of an independent Caprish monarchy, a Caprish language movement arose which sought to restore a Caprish linguistic identity and character. The orthography of the language was reshaped to match that of Old and early Middle Caprish, evoking a pre-German Anglo-Saxon spirit. The standardisation of the Caprish language would begin in 1834 with the establishing of the Caprisceacademye (Caprish Academy). It took inspiration from the poetry of Eonas Freadman (1763-1828) and Old Caprish and Old English texts.

Geographic Distribution

Caprish is the official language of the Earldom of Caproney, located on the Caprish archipelago in the North Sea, and the island of Heligoland in the German Bight.

Academically, Caprish is taught at 5 universities across 3 countries; Caproney, Germany, and the United States. Caprish is rarely taught as a foreign language outside of academia or travel.

Small Caprish diaspora communities exist in several countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Canada, and the United States, with the largest such community residing in New York City, where some 200 people claim to speak the language. Due to the small size of the Caprish community outside the islands, most Caprish people living abroad speak the local language instead of Caprish. Around the world there were 50,000 people who spoke Caprish outside the country as of a 1984 survey.

As a daily colloquial language, Caprish is used by 90% of the population, with other languages spoken being English, German, or various languages from recent immigrants.

Dialects

There are four dialects of Caprish spoken across the islands.

The main dialects are:

Crovanic (Crovaneysce) on the island of Crovaney
- Vighelandish (Vighelandisce), a variety in the Vigheland area that includes Aervigh which experienced extensive Hanse Low-German influence
Syltic (Syltisce) on the Sylteys and the Terryngehunder on Crovaney
- Norumer, spoken on the island of Norum which shares similarities with Brender
Grattish (Grattisce) on the majority of the island of Grattey
- Grench (Grensce), a variety spoken in and around Gerns in Cenyngs
- Folsthamer, a variety spoken in the west of the island in Folland and south Doarn, sometimes considered its own dialect
- Hoccumic (Hoccynge) spoken on the south Brenderey island of Hoccum just off the coast of Ulfdor
- Saxhavener (Seghshafenere) spoken in the city of Saxhaven and surrounding area where there was Hanse influence; sometimes considered a Crovanic dialect
Brender (Brendsce, Brendere), a family of many divergent dialectal varieties across the Brendereys and northern Doarn, with nearly every island having their own dialect
- Cghobrennic (Cghobrennisce) spoken on Cghobren, the largest of the Brendereys
- Reghsic (Reghsce) spoken on the island of Reghs
- Doarner spoken around Spity and the Doarn coast

The dialects diverged due to two forces: foreign influence at different times, and isolation. Crovaney was occupied by the Norse between 780-1134 and would later be home to the largest Hanse kontor across the islands, seeing a mixed influence of Old Norse and Low German on top of the base Caprish. By contrast Grattey and the remaining two dialects remained largely free of foreign influence. Unlike the well-connected Grattish speakers, the smaller islands of the Sylteys and the Brendereys were more isolated, with nearly each island having their own variety or dialect that had diverged substantially from Standard Caprish.

Standard Caprish (Standardecaprisce) was modeled after the writings of Eonas Freadman (a Cenyngsman) and Anglo-Saxon Old Caprish texts. As the monarchy and cultural centre of Caproney and thus language reform was in Gerns, Standard Caprish is most similar to the dialect spoken on Grattey, with the village of Engeldor just upriver being said to speak the purest Caprish. With the rise of radio, television, travel, and mass communication and standardised education, the differences between dialects has lessened as Standard Caprish becomes the common tongue.

Alphabet

The Caprish Alphabet consists of 21 Latin letters, none of which have diacritics.

Capriscealfabet
Aa	Bb	Cc	Dd	Ee	Ff	Gg
Hh	Ii	Ll	Mm	Nn	Oo	Pp
Rr	Ss	Tt	Uu	Vv	Ww	Yy

The letter W only exists in Caprish in lowercase, as it is a digraph of a double-u, which when capitalised takes the form of 'Uu,' as in the word 'Uurd/wrd.' Sometimes foreign letters such as J,K,Q,X, and Z are included at the end of the standard Caprish alphabet, as media from languages including them is commonly encountered.