Introduction
The idea of the Sjætlan website is to present the Shetlandic language as it might be represented in a parallel universe.
The language is essentially the same as the real one. But in contrast to the real one, it is developed as most languages are developed. The main difference is the spelling. In order to explicitly represent the underlying sound structure of the language as a whole, I have used a spelling based on Old Icelandic.
Orthography is the interface between speech and writing which makes speakers of any language literate. The procedure used in most languages is to identify the underlying phonemes - sounds which can carry meaning - and give each one a distinct written form. It would be possible to represent the Shetlandic phonemes using an English-based spelling system, but since English spelling is so inconsistent, it is more efficient to use a different system which represents each phoneme explicitly.
The vocabulary and grammar used on the website are essentially the same as those published in various Shetland dictionaries, and in J.J. Graham and T.A. Robertson’s Grammar and Usage of the Shetland Dialect. The illustrative texts are mainly from my own writings in the past, transliterated into the Sjætlan orthography.
This website is new in 2022, and most of the real world material has been taken from my old Scotsthreip website, on Scots. I will continue to add material, especially to the Sjætlan - Shetlandic in a Parallel Universe - section.
The following link gives an explanation of reasons behind the Sjætlan website.