The Norse nation

[Kaiser Ayreon IV]

The main ethnolinguistic group of Normark is the Norse.

The Norse are historically, culturally and genetically related to the Hurmu tribes, the Arminians, Storish Lyrican, Crandishmen, Luthorians, and Slobovians. Their language is Norse, which is closely related to Hurmu (in Elwynn known as Farewellish).

Language:

The Norse language is a moderately agglutinating language. It has two to three grammatical genders (depending on dialect): masculine, feminine, and neuter, or common (masculine and feminine merged) and neuter. The standard Norse, however, uses the two-gender system.

It is the most common language in Normark – spoken by almost everyone. It is the language of commerce, law, literature, culture, military – indeed it is predominant throughout all society in Normark – except in relations with non-Norse members of the Elian government. The country prides itself that its king, Ayreon, speaks Norse natively (his mother Liv Djupvik being Norse). Their only chagrin is that he has the Elwynnese accent rather than the Nordiskehjem accent when speaking, but it's generally endearing and considered "an educated speech".

Norse is therefore also spoken in parts of Elwynn.

So yes, although the standard form of Norse in Elwynn is highly similar to that of Normark, the prosody is the distinctive feature between them. Elwynnese Norse has a less distinctive pitch accent compared to Normark Norse, and in some Elwynnese Norse accents, the pitch accent is lost, given rise to a more monotonous prosody, similar to Elw, Hurmu, Babkhi, and Præta.


Demography

The Norse nation is largely divided in two parts: the people of Normark and the Norse people of Elwynn/Shireroth. After the Norse union with Elwynn in 1592, large flows of immigration followed, which only grew larger with the collapse of the Norse independent state about a decade letter. Famous Shirerithian or Elwynnese Norse include the present Kaiser, Liv Dravot (née Djupvik), Daniel Dravot, Aasmund Vigeland, and Jack Lewis.

The Shirerithian Norse population numbers approximately 7 million, while the Norse population of Normark is smaller (approx. 4 million).

[Kaiser Ayreon IV]

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