‘Est enculturé vegré Mal’/'It is enculturation that makes the man'.
- Benerian saying
Benerian (Benerian: Binerien, Croletian/Canalian/Northern Benerian: Bín; 2-letter code: BN) is a Romano-Germanic language and shorthand used by members of Confoederatio as a stenographic replacement in research notes and internal planning. Because traditional shorthands are principally symbolic (Gregg, Pitman, Tironian), they are effectively useless digitally since their input methods would make them slower than regular English. Benerian is the Latin-based replacement for these shorthands.
To achieve its brevity, Benerian has a unique polysynthetic grammar made up of Romano-Germanic morphemes, with Latin implication and word order. By tradition, it is split into three grammars: Binerien formaler, Neformbín, and Tecbín, representing formal Benerian (typically for literary use), Neformbín for internal publication, technical drafts, conversations, and research notes, and Tecbín as a highly condensed technical form of Benerian specialised for research. Ré Dict des Spraz Binerien (English: The Dictionary of the Benerian Language) is its principal reference dictionary, from which the following excerpts are largely taken.
Many Confoederatio project and plan names are taken from Benerian.
‘Ei ores g neon Histoir’/'All places are nothing without their history'.
- Apel Stenen, Visii author
The word Benerian is an anglicisation of the word Binerien (often called Bín in certain dialects). It is the most widely-spoken language of Hanseceltica, sometimes known as the Vérenfedern or VF, an archipelagic nation just west of the British Isles. Hanseceltica is the pen nation from which members of Confoederatio claim to be from.
From Early Modern Bínerien; from Old High German Bintan, likely phonetic translation of bíntotan, from Northern Brythonic ben- [woman/mother] and -totan [country]. Compare with Common Brythonic tōtābin.
Enepar, noun.
Perfect imperfection, the optimal amount of variation that humans find generally satisfying.
Benerian utilises a modified version of the Latin alphabet, with five vowel diacritics. For typing purposes, Benerian speakers generally utilise the GB-EN keyboard on PCs, which contain its core diacritics.
Standard Letters (22): ABCDEFGHIJLMNOPRSTUVZ
Diacritics (5): ÁÉÍÓÚ
Nominal Letters (4): KWXY
Nominal letters are only used in certain dialects, and are named such because they occur most often in foreign loanwords, names, or terms. Most notably, the letter K sometimes replaces C in Visii Benerian.
‘"Je eserné ecesit nue Mots freei enveg?"/"Iré interss v Stalandets", gesai ré Buro./"Ec soi mírd Sculer!"’.
‘Why should one not be free to make new words from time to time?’
‘In the interests of the standardisation of state’, said the bureaucrat.
‘But you are killing the student!’.
- Artur Renant, Benerian author, Form 15
Like many languages, the geographical layout of Benerian across Hanseceltica was historically important to the development of its dialects. As a hybrid Romano-Germanic language, a belt is formed across the middle of the island of Heltica from Crolet to Foglandet to the Lohr, where Benerian appears most ‘Romance’. This dissipates to the north and south, whereupon it becomes more ‘Germanic’.
As Benerian naturally evolved into a language rather than being constructed, a split emerged between what is known simply as Formal Benerian (Binerien formaler), and Informal Benerian (Neformbín). The difference mainly boils down to usage: one is used for formal texts, and the other for quickly expressing ideas.
Formally, Benerian can be described as a non-conjugative polysynthetic Romano-German language with 2VO (second-verb order) and postnominal adjectives.
The word Scihostvgeldbriefstérs in Benerian is a custom polysynthetic word meaning ‘the scientific community is held hostage by informal systems of profit-extracting academic journals’. Unlike compound words, polysynthetic words in Benerian can express entire sentences, paragraphs, or even complete lines of reasoning.
Scihostvgeldbriefstérs can be broken down as follows:
Sci- (Science, conceptual noun) + host (hostage, to be) + -v- (by, of, from) + geld (money, currency) + brief (journal) + s (plural, suffix) + tér (informal system, suffix) + s (plural, suffix).
Note that it is enough to be able to merely imply the end meaning to the reader. In Benerian grammar, this is called implicative structuring (Implér). As long as the end audience understands what someone says, it is technically considered correct grammar, though informal.
For example, Carfallsritinterstal implies that carbonisation is the fifth step in the intermediate production of steel in this particular production method. It is broken down as such: Car (carbonisation) + fall (five, fifth) + srit (step) + inter (intermediate) + stal (steel).
Compound words in Benerian are typically more clear and express only partial ideas. For example, a Buirteré means a ‘formal system of bureaucracy’, from Buir (bureaucracy, noun) + teré (formal system). It is not a complete idea and therefore not polysynthetic.
Mid-word capitalisation in polysynthetic phrases can also be used for noun modifiers or to mark the beginning of a new clause.
For example, the German word Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft can be rendered literally in Binerien as GrupvCapofDanushifEldiens, allowing the reader to more effectively break down the word.
The precise classification of what Benerian would be is not exactly clear, but the bulk of its grammar and vocabulary are clearly Romano-German. To maintain relative intelligibility whilst being phonetically pronounceable, its etymology is jumbled between a mix of acronyms in various languages, derivations, and completely original words. These can be classified as follows:
5% ‘Brythonic’ core (the most used words belong to this group, and are of uncertain provenance),
70% ‘Romance’ (Latin, French, Norman, Italian derived, etc).
25% ‘Germanic’ (English, German derived)
Because the core vocabulary is isolated from any real languages, the meaning of phrases, and especially polysynthetic ones, can be hard to decipher. Other words are derived and not typically directly imported, are false cognates, or have alternate forms.
Second-verb order (2VO) is a feature of all Germanic languages besides English, which uses a French sentence structure.
Ich habe einen neuen Computer gekauft, bevor ich abgereist bin (German).
I have a new computer bought, before I left had. (Literal translation).
Rís bent nue PC nért lís hád (Benerian).
I bought new computer, before left had. (Literal translation).
Only Formal Benerian uses a strictly 2VO structure. Note that in Benerian sentences, multiple verb phrases can also be chained together after a subject similar to a list. In Binerien formaler, the subject does not need to be repeated again until after the verb list.
In Benerian, adjectives can either go after a noun, similar to French, or be added to the noun to form a compound word. Unlike French, there are no exceptions when it comes to this rule.
Ex: Ré Bet veiscosé var Hompunc sonnér. (Lit. ‘The bed white comfortable was startpoint [for the] day’).
Arabic numerals can also be used at the beginning of a word to indicate its magnitude, or the verb’s repetition. For example, 5len indicates to lie five times, 3largelér indicates a growth rate three times as fast, etc.
Aranums zan pile sp en Motbeginnes Mag en meinten, od Verb repen. Vp, 5len vo len 5Its, 3largelér vo a Rat largelér 3x o vit, et.
Neformbín uses an implicative sentence structure rather than 2VO, similar to Latin. It is merely enough to imply the meaning of the sentence to the reader. Unlike Latin, there are no real conjugations in Benerian, though there are polysynthetic prefixes and suffixes that can act similar to conjugations when needed. Simply put, ‘he swims’ versus ‘he swim’ does not matter - they both convey the same amount of information. But ‘he swims’ versus ‘he swam’ does matter.
Note that ‘Informal’ does not carry a negative implication in Benerian. It is an equally correct way of writing documents as Formal Benerian, and is often used in academia. However, certain documents (legal, government/diplomatic speeches) almost always use Formal Benerian.
A Nés rest anré Tasé | A map rests on the table | The articles here are not necessary, since we know there is only a single table, and a single map, otherwise it would be ‘tables’ and ‘maps’.
Nés rest an Tasé | Map rests on table | This conveys just as much information as the last sentence, but the preposition ‘on’ is unnecessary, since the implied relationship of a map to a table is always that the map (rests) on the table. No floor is mentioned, so it can’t be under the table, and a map can’t rest on the sides of a table.
Nés rest Tasé | Map rests table | What does the map rest on? On the table. There is nothing else in the phrase it could rest on. The meaning here is fully implied to a reader, similar to a sentence in Latin.
‘Patos eré Catal vo ei Logiér. Rais, rísei zaer eur Patos ratiér’/
'Emotion is the catalyst for all human reason. Through reason, we can only rationalise our emotion'.
- Henri Motzen, national poet of Beneria.
Context Modifiers are used to declare the context of technical morphemes in the following clause, to prevent overlapping terminology. These context modifiers are used only when the context of following morphemes may be unclear in some regard.
For example, 4EaBamnetAnF23crí would translate to ‘Wartime experiences of the Hakka, and their diaspora in the Bamboo Network between 1815-1914AD’. Here, the initial context is (implied) historiographical (Hi). An signals that the morphemes following it are set in anthropological context, where F23 is the identifying code for Hakka.
If we wished to expand their economic activities, we might add ‘Eos3msL1’ to ‘4EaBamnetAnF23crí’, where Eo indicates that we are now talking about an economic context for the following clause, s3 referring to the Mercantilist nature of the Kongsi republics, with msL1 indicating that the majority of the non-diaspora population practised subsistence farming.
‘4EaBamnetAnF23críEos3msL1’ (25 characters) thereby literally translates to ‘Wartime experiences of the Hakka [during the Hakka-Punti clan wars], and their diaspora in the Bamboo Network between 1815-1914 AD. The kongsi republics were mainly mercantilist, whilst the majority of the non-diasporic population practised subsistence agriculture’ (229 characters).
That is an equivalent text length reduction of ~90%.
However, the usage of identifying numbers often comes with the added cost of appearing unreadable, or robotic. Because of this, Hanseceltican translators occasionally utilise a base-10 system from a-j, with line diacritics on top or bottom: ḋEaBamnetAnFb̄c̄críEosc̄msLā would therefore mean the same as 4EaBamnetAnF23críEos3msL1.
Such uses may also be avoided in Technical Benerian to preserve its feel as a natural language, i.e. ‘DTM/TFR Matsturelfelbot aer 4,1-decil-0,3 acen Autor’ (According to this author, the TFR as modelled according to a mathematical interpretation of the DTM has an elephant-trunk shaped curve as plotted against income. The former starting decile is 4,1 above the median, but the latter tail decile has only a rise of 0,3 in TFR).
The actual morpheme breakdown is as follows: DTM + TFR + (Matsturelfelbot > Mat (mathematical model; Mate would be pure mathematics), stur (income), elfel (elephant), bot (shape, curve)) + aer (only) + 4,1 (left-hand side) + decil (decile) + 0,3 (right-hand side, above median implied) + acen (according) + Autor (author).
‘Voré Dren, habvír eur Mots soen’/'For the printer, we have shortened our words'.
- Maximilian Kessel, Visii author
Common lists of Benerian words (numbers, dates, seasons, continents, superregions, and countries) are listed below. Other Benerian words can be found in Ré Dict des Spraz Binerien.
Dates.
January | Janes
February | Februér
March | Mars
April | Aprel
May | Mai
June | June
July | Foie
August | August
September | Sept
October | Deces
November | Novembre
December | Dossender
Monday | Munsonne/Mundag
Tuesday | Tuesonne/Tuedag
Wednesday | Midsonne/Middag
Thursday | Thorsonne/Thordag
Friday | Freeisonne/Freeidag
Saturday | Samsted
Sunday | Sonnested/Sonsted
Numbers.
-st/-nd/-th (Ordinal) | -t/-te
0/Zero | au/audevin
1/One | en
2/Two | deau
3/Three | res
4/Four | vér
5/Five | fall
6/Six | ces
7/Seven | sien
8/Eight | oct
9/Nine | non
10/Ten | senne
11/Eleven | euf/elf
12/Twelve | deausen
13/Thirteen | resen
14/Fourteen | véren
15/Fifteen | fallen
16/Sixteen | cesen
17/Seventeen | sienen
18/Eighteen | octen
19/Nineteen | nonen
20/Twenty | endeau
30/Thirty | resdeau
40/Forty | vérdeau
50/Fifty | falldeau
100/Hundred | Hund
1000/Thousand | Tausend
1000000/Million | Million
1000000000/Billion | Milliard
1000000000000/Trillion | Billion
Seasons.
Winter | Vinter/Vint
Spring | Herb
Summer | Somm
Autumn/Fall | Foi
Continents.
Africa | Afrie
Antarctica | Antarctic
Asia | Cathaie
Australia | Australie
Europe | Europaea
North America | Nordameric/Nordamerica/America nord
South America | Sudameric/Sudamerica/America sud
Countries.
Afghanistan | Afgan
Albania | Abani
Algeria | Algér
Andorra | And
Angola | Angol
Antigua and Barbuda | Antí et Barbé
Argentina | Platalandet
Armenia | Armenie
Australia | Australé
Austria | Oesterric
Azerbaijan | Azeri
Bahamas | Bahas
Bahrain | Manama
Bangladesh | Bangal
Barbados | Barba
Belarus | Bieló
Belgium | Flans-Vallone
Belize | Miscít
Benin | Benin
Bhutan | Utan
Bolivia | Pazé
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Beté
Botswana | Tsvana
Brazil | Brasil
Britain | Britainn
Brunei | Bruní
Bulgaria | Bulgari
Burkina Faso | Hocvolt
Burundi | Urundi
Cote d’Ivoire | Cotiv
Cabo Verde | Capvert
Cambodia | Cmer
Cameroon | Camrun
Canada | Canade
Central African Republic | Zenafrie
Chad | Chad
Chile | Silé
China | Chine
Colombia | Colombie
Comoros | Comor
Congo | Congo
Costa Rica | Cotrica
Croatia | Ilér
Cuba | Cuba
Cyprus | Cipré
Czechia | Bomorav
Democratic Republic of the Congo | Estcongo
Denmark | Danse
Djibouti | Díbouté
Dominica | Domin
Dominican Republic | Repdomér
Ecuador | Ecuador
Egypt | Agipt
El Salvador | Résalv
England | Angland
Equatorial Guinea | Midguinea
Eritrea | Aritrea
Estonia | Esti
Eswatini | Svazi
Ethiopia | Etiop
Fiji | Fiji
Finland | Suomi
France | Francie
Gabon | Gab
Gambia | Gam
Georgia | Carvali
Germany | Doishlandet
Ghana | Asanti
Greece | Greze
Grenada | Grenada
Guatemala | Cuatemal
Guinea | Guinea
Guinea-Bissau | Bissau
Guyana | Guíana
Haiti | Haité
Holy See | Rom
Honduras | Hondurat
Hungary | Panonia
Iceland | Island
India | Hind
Indonesia | Indo
Iran | Pers
Iraq | Erac
Ireland | Erlandet
Israel | Iraél
Italy | Italie
Jamaica | Jamaica
Japan | Japane
Jordan | Jordanie
Kazakhstan | Scotia
Kenya | Svalí
Kiribati | Ciribat
Kuwait | Cuvait
Kyrgyzstan | Cocan
Laos | Lao
Latvia | Lett/Lettlandet
Lebanon | Lebanon
Lesotho | Lesoto
Liberia | Librér
Libya | Libia
Liechtenstein | Licten
Lithuania | Liten
Luxembourg | Lucs
Macedonia | Macedon
Madagascar | Merina
Malawi | Nasa
Malaysia | Malaia
Maldives | Maldiv
Mali | Mali
Malta | Malté
Marshall Islands | Ismars
Mauritania | Moritania
Mauritius | Maurit
Mexico | Mecsico
Micronesia | Microsia
Moldova | Moldav
Monaco | Monaco
Mongolia | Mongolen
Montenegro | Montnegro
Morocco | Morroc
Mozambique | Maputania
Myanmar | Burma
Namibia | Namibie
Nauru | Nauru
Nepal | Nepal
Netherlands | Nederlandets
New Zealand | Zelandet
Nicaragua | Nicaria
Niger | Nigér
North Korea | Nordcoré
North Macedonia | Nordmac
Norway | Norveg
Oman | Oman
Pakistan | Pacistan
Palau | Palau
Palestine | Cisér
Panama | Panama
Papua New Guinea | Papue
Paraguay | Paragua
Peru | Peru
Philippines | Filipés
Poland | Polelandet/Polandet
Portugal | Lusitan
Qatar | Catar
Romania | Rumanie
Russia | Rusien
Rwanda | Cigal
Saint Kitts and Nevis | Santcíts et Nevis
Saint Lucia | Santlucie
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Santvicent etré Grenadés
Samoa | Samoa
Sao Tome and Principe | Santomé
Saudi Arabia | Saud
Scotland | Scottier
Senegal | Sene
Serbia | Serbi
Seychelles | Sesels
Sierra Leone | Siérleon
Singapore | Singapur
Slovakia | Slovac
Slovenia | Slové
Solomon Islands | Solomon
Somalia | Benalia
South Africa | Sudafrie
South Korea | Sudcoré
South Sudan | Sudsudan
Spain | Espan
Sri Lanka | Célon
Sudan | Sudan
Suriname | Nedguia
Syria | Siréa
Tajikistan | Tajér
Tanzania | Azand
Thailand | Siam
Timor-Leste | Timor
Togo | Togo
Tonga | Tonga
Trinidad | Trinidad
Tunisia | Tunisie
Turkey | Turcei
Turkmenistan | Turcmen
Tuvalu | Tuvalu
Uganda | Ugand
United Arab Emirates | Emirabvéren/UAE
UK/United Kingdom | Véren-Regenlandet/VR
Ukraine | Ucraína
United States | Véren-Provincs/VP
Uruguay | Monvidia
Uzbekistan | Ucsbec
Vanuatu | Vanér
Venezuela | Vuzelá
Vietnam | Dainam
Wales | Vells
Yemen | Felisie
Zambia | Zambér
Zimbabwe | Zimba
Superregions:
Altvelt. Old World:
Central Asia | Pamocs
Cyrillic Eurasia | Cirilica
Eastasia | Cathai
Indian Subcontinent (excluding Pakistan) | Hind
Maghreb-Egypt | Atlail
Middle East | Crecér
Southeast Asia | Djermala
Sub-Saharan Africa | Untafrie
West/Central Europe | Leuropa/Leuropaea
Nuevelt. New World:
Latin America | Riotrop
Northern America | Rionearct
Oceania | Ozea