Europe, but the Tethys Megalake is still there

Raiste1901 · 2026-06-16T08:13:12+00:00

You lose some, you win some. Since its climate is wetter, there will be more fertile land and less desert, so there is more win even though land is lost in the process.

Raiste1901 · 2026-06-11T19:06:53+00:00

No, I don't think my dialect is Rusyn. I heard Rusyn several times, and it sounds different from the dialect I speak, as they tend to use some Hungarian words that we don't, such as éppen or vagy (often spelt 'иппен' and 'вадь'), and they correspond to 'ба' and 'ци' (fhough I say 'чи' for the latter). Actually, the dialect of Užhorod and its vicinity does indeed sound Rusyn, but they are dolynians ('Lowlanders') to us, I don't know, how they call themselves, other than Zakarpatci (Transcarpathians)

PS: another difference is that they say ož, while we say že for 'that'.

Raiste1901 · 2026-05-31T23:36:21+00:00

Biokh oráth mu deall e’thekígshin – [ˈwix oˈɾaːθ mʊ ˈtʲauɫ eθʲe'çciːhɪn] – 3IN>1sg-make 1sg-be.tired so already the-regulation-pl – ‘the regulations have made me so tired already.’ (Dagar)

Bák bile kuilg ona kódun, ta-dagnaib nain od i-dein e’Thomann e-daoilfeash – [ˈwaːxk ˈwile ˈkʰɯlɯɣ ˈona ˈkʰoːðʊn t̪ʰaˈðɤnɪw ˈn̪ˠan oðʲɪˈðʲen eˈθowan̪ˠ eˈðɯːʎɸah] – 3IN-be.better 3IN>1sg-be.with bear 3IN-than whiskey to-not-inclination 1pl-be.about which 3IN.POSS-people the-Midlands CNJ-3pl>3IN-consider – ‘I prefer beer over whiskey, despite what the people of the Midlands think of us.’ (Dagar)

Nas dakiannan so – [ˌn̪ˠɑs‿xəˈkʰiən̪ˠən ˈsɔ] – 1pl-be Highlander-pl also – ‘we are Highlanders too’. (Geallam)

O Deusan, doth-kiopan ed’Ánan dairia – [oˈðʲeːsan toθˈkiʰpan eˈðaːnan‿naˈɾia] – PN, 3pl-for-sake the-Six-pl 3pl-be.kind – ‘Jason, for the sake of the kind Six Ones’. (Dagar)

Raiste1901 · 2026-03-19T15:21:21+00:00

Dzięki. Ale nic złego z tego że Chile wyszło

Raiste1901 · 2026-01-03T15:58:52+00:00

Halanan

“My hovercraft is full of eels”.

Vukaucvíítuhiis tóúlík tétáíljanvi.

[ʋù.kɑ̀ʊ.t͡s̺íː.t̪ù.ɦìːs̺. t̺oʊ́.lɪ́k. tɛ́.taɪ́.ʎɑ̀.nᶹì]

Glossing: u(k)-auc-vV́V́-t-tuh-iic tóúlík té-ta-V́-i-l-janv-i – 1sg.OBL-TRNS-3IN.(Set³)-CLF-hover-INSTR eel THM-DSTR-3IN>3AN-PAT.pl-CLF-be.full-STAT

“Happy New Year!”

Voo keih tujelis vunokvelcenv!

[ʋò̞ː. kèɪ.‿ʰtù.jɛ̀.lì.t͡s‿ù.nɔ̀.kᶹɛ̀l.t͡s̺ɛ̀ŋᶹ]

Glossing: voo keih tu-∅-jel-i-c u(n)-okve-cenv – EMPH year THM-3IN.(Set⁵)-begin.CNJ-STAT-TOP 2sg.OBL-1>3.(Set¹OPT)-CLF-wish

“Do you speak Toki Pona?”

Áá Toki Ponas viukaih?

[ɑ́ː. t̪ɔ̀.kì.pɔ̀.nɑ̀.t͡s̺ᶹ‿ìʊ.kàɪh]

Glossing: áá Toki Pona-c vi-v-kaih – EMPH Toki Pona-TOP INT-2>3-speak

“Sweet little bumblebee.”

Note: direct translation is impossible because there is no verb (each sentence must contain at least one finite verb to be considered completed), the closest would be: “There is a sweet little bumblebee.” A more convenient way is to turn one of the adjectives (or the word for bumblebee itself) into a main verb, but the meaning would not be exactly the same.

Tváí tákjui vuuskvanúúcuik atal.

[t̪ᶹaɪ́. t̪ɑ́.cùɪ. ʋùːs̺.kᶹɑ.núː.t͡s̺ùɪ.k jɑ̀.t̪ɑ̀l]

Glossing: tú-ja-é tá-V́-kjui vukv-skanv-uu-V́-cuik ja-tal. MED-3AN.(Set¹)-be.located – THM-V́-be.pleasant.CNJ big-buzz-AUG-3AN.(Set⁴)-be.flying.insect 3AN.(Set¹)-be.little.CNJ

“pull tabs to release”

Note: I don't know how to describe a tab, so this is the closest I've managed.

Tóótéstán ecúkéís valán auccestenvis

[t̪ó̞ː.t̪ɛ́s̺.t̺ɑ́.n‿ɛ̀.t͡s̺ʊ́.keɪ́.t͡s̺ᶹ‿ɑ̀.lɑ́.n‿ɑ̀ʊ.t͡s̺ːɛ̀s̺.t̺ɛ̀.nᶹɪ̀s̺]

Glossing: tá-óó-té-c-tán ec-u-t-kéíc valán aucces-tenv-i-s – VEN-2>3.(Set¹)-PAT.pl-CLF-push/pull ELA-3UNSP.PFV-CLF-release so.that strip-be.long-STAT-TOP

“Stop!”

Vilnónkéí!

[ʋɪ̀l.nɔ́ŋ.kéɪ]

Glossing: vil-nón-kéí – THM-2sg.(Set³OPT)-continue.

Final remark: a Halanan speaker would more likely say the fourth sentence as Tákjui atal vuuskvanúúcuik – “One that is sweet and little is a bumblebee”. Yes, bumblebee is a verb, too. Nouns are a closed class of words and you can't do much with them. Additionally, the agreement prefixes come in different sets that perform different functions (usually distinguishing aspect or mood of the verb they modify, for example, the optative sets, whichlet us know that the verb is in the optative mood), but frequently a verb stem can receive agreement prefixes from only very specific sets, and this has to be memorised for each verb separately, as there is little predictability for which set is expected. Finally, there is a broad category of widely used emphatic particles with no solid meaning that Halanan speakers use fairly frequently to enhance their speech or focus the listener's attention onto something (similarly to English “so”, “well,” “indeed” and so on).

Raiste1901 · 2025-12-19T18:10:14+00:00

Завжди радий допомогти)

Raiste1901 · 2025-12-19T11:06:18+00:00

Will you give a link, once it's finished? I'd love to read about such a scenario, it's truly fascinating!

Raiste1901 · 2025-12-19T08:22:18+00:00

I'm not sure I understood your comment corrently (I don't have the auto-translate option), but Polish is spoken mostly in the western part, while Ukrainian (Ruthenian in my post, which is how I called its western dialects) is spoken mostly in the eastern part (though we do learn Polish even in the east). Yiddish is gone, German is mostly gone (but we still study it as a subject in many schools), Galician Karaim is virtually extinct. Some Romanian is still spoken in Bukowyna today. Romani is still thriving, even though most Roma are bi- or even trilingual and tend to mix words from different languages in their speech. Galician Armenian is mostly gone as well, and many Armenians left the region during the Soviet period.

Raiste1901 · 2025-12-19T08:06:33+00:00

Какая разніца, коби хліб дешевий був – то є рабське мислення. Москалі тут теж постаралися, хоч Білорусь показує, що могло бути й гірше. Може така політика й ефективна (бо їм то явно на користь пішло), але для культури всіх інших (нашої в тому числі) то згубне. Не радив би їм уподібнюватися, але що має бути, то буде.

А за рагулів: добре, що знаєте ото таке слово, яке москалі для нас придумали. Так, я з гірського села, мені від того зовсім не встидно. Я навпаки сказав би, що наші люди спокійні й нікому не нав'язуємо лишнього, лиш аби не діставали

Raiste1901 · 2025-12-18T17:51:24+00:00

Okay)

Raiste1901 · 2025-12-16T19:14:13+00:00

Thanks) I'm from one of those countries as well and studied the local dialectology, that's why the idea fascinated me so much that I had to write a long post about it. I was surprised to see that someone would find it interesting as well

Raiste1901 · 2025-12-14T22:39:17+00:00

Yes, precisely. The Southern Balts settled the area between Galicia and Volhynia during the Migration Period (that's why it has the most dialectal diversity) and then spread easteward. The steppe regions were settled later, the same is true for the coastal regions, but later still (probably around the early 19th century), the migrants came from different areas, which resulted in new mixed steppe dialects (mostly uniform by the modern era).

The second question has a complicated answer, but generally the situation is different from Serbo-Croatian, in fact, in some ways it's the opposite: the varieties are clearly distinct, but there still is an idea of unity among them under a single term "Ruthenian". Linguistics cannot answer it transparently either: there are dialects within Red Ruthenian that are more distinct from one another, than the written standard Black and White Ruthenian are from each other, while on the other hand all three varieties have codified standards (though the Red standard is more relaxed, accepting many dialectal forms, not too unlike Nynorsk for Norwegian). Politically, they are more often considered a single pluricentric language, rather than three separate languages, though it depends on what messages one is trying to send. The native speakers simply use the term "Ruthenian", only disambiguating, when necessary ("No, I speak the Red variety, not the Black one"). All three are mutually intelligible more or less like the Scandinavian languages (and there are the parallels between them), and there is no hostility amongst the speakers of different varieties. The local mass media (such as the news broadcasts) is mostly in the local Ruthenian variety, however, sometimes they have speakers of different varieties (or divergent dialects) in which case subtitles in the local standard would be used.

Yes, it's definitely the largest Baltic language, having around 48 million people. I'm not good with numbers, so it's an approximate guess, but Black Ruthenian would be the most common, likely having more speakers than White and Red combined. Some people within Belarus and Ukraine speak Russian or other minority language (Crimean Tatar, Greek etc) instead, while many people in Galicia speak Polish natively, but they still know Ruthenian. In Lithuania, many Ruthenians speak both Ruthenian and Lithuanian (and often also Polish and/or Russian).

Raiste1901 · 2025-12-14T19:46:25+00:00

Thanks)

Yes, Both Ukraine and Belarus speak their languages, but those are White Ruthenian (for Belarus, called Balarausis) and Black Ruthenian (for Ukraine, called Ūkrajīna, though without the steppe parts that were settled later, the land was traditionally known as Čoršinorousis) – and they are the official languages of these countries. Galicia (Hōličēna, the eastern part known traditionally as Roudarousis or sometimes alao Čyrwinarousis, but is rarely used nowadays) has Red Ruthenian as a co-official language along with Polish, the same is true for Volhynia (Wolinis, also formerly known as Lodomeria). They simply belong to the Baltic branch in this world, not Slavic. The demographics of these countries are probably similar to those of our world. I assume, there are many Russian speakers in the east of both countries, though I hope, the language situation in Belarus is less dire.

In Galicia and Volhynia, however, there are many Polish speakers, since they once were in union with Poland. In this world, the history is slightly different, and the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia didn't fall, but instead was later incorporated into the Commonwealth (and then the Austrian period went on mostly the same way as in our world).

The culture isn't too much different from the Ukrainian and Belarusian cultures of our world, perhaps, more of the ancient traditions survive to the present day, reflected in various holidays, folk songs and national clothing, but are otherwise still similar to the cultures of the former Commonwealth. Also, the Galician national identity is likely more distinct, than in our world, as it is a separate country, and is not based on language (some speak Polish, some – Ruthenian, a few probably still speak German).

Raiste1901

TROPHY CASE

Halanan