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Itëłan is a language, born to be a possible evolution of the today standard Italian language (with some Tuscan influence). It was created by adopting some phonetical rules of change, fixed in the language. Very few phonetical laws can deeply modify a language. And some morphological parts of the language underwent some analogical or redistributing change.

Phonetic changes

Vowels

Final vowels usually disappeared, and it opened the way for an important way of distinction: palatalization

• -o → falls
• -e → falls
• -i → falls, but it palatalized the previous consonant
• -a → -e
• -u → remains -u

• -io → -i, with palatalization of the previous consonant

Inside words, vowels underwent other kinds of changes:

• unstressed -a- became -ë-, if it is in syllables before the stressed one.
• open front vowel -e- became dipthong -ei-
• closed back vowel -o- became open back vowel -o-.
• dipthong -uo- became open back vowel -o-

Consonants

Differently from today Italian language, consonants developped a new way to distinguish among themselves: Palatalization.

The palatalization is a phonemic phenomenon that involves the tongue. The top point of the tongue gets higher than the normal position and the sound seems as the consonant would be followed by a soft "i". In fact consonants undergo palatalization only if in the past they was followed by an /i/.

But some consonants underwent some deeper changes. This was the case of palatalization of /s/, /t/, /d/ and /k/:

• -si- → -şi- or -ş in final
• -ti- → -çi- or -ç in final
• -di- → -ģi- or -ģ in final
• -chi- → -çi- or -ç in final

Also some groups of consonants can undergo palatalization or similar changes:

• -tt- → -st-
• final -tti → -ş
• final -ddi → -ģ

• -st- → -şt-
• -stiV- → -şV-
• -chiV- → -çV-
• -schiV- → -şV-'
• -quV- → -cV-
• -zi- → -si-

• -chio in final position → -çi, and its plural is regularly -chi → -ç.
• -schi in final position → -ş

At last, the most evident phenomenon is that every double consonant became simple.

Examples

Some examples of these changes may be: (singular/plural)

• Gatto/gatti (cat) → gast/gaş
• Tempo/tempi (time) → teimp/teimṕ
• Canale/canali (channel) → cënal/cënał
• Finestra/finestre (window) → fineiştre/fineiştr

Synchronic analysis

Now we will analyse Itëłan language as a singular language, its phonetic and morphological aspects, on a synchronic (means on the same time) point of view (but we will give also the historical origin of words, sounds, and of their changes)

Alphabet

• Capital letters:

A B (Ḃ) C Ç D E Ë F (Ḟ) G Ģ I L Ł M (Ṁ) N Ņ O P (Ṕ) R (Ṙ) S Ş T U V (Ṿ) Z (Ẓ)

• Normal letters:

a b (ḅ) c ç d e ë f (ḟ) g ģ i l ł m (ṃ) n ņ o p (ṕ) r (ṛ) s ş t u v (ṿ) z (ẓ)

Phonology

Letter

a

b

(ḅ)

c

ç

d

e

ë

f

(ḟ)

g

ģ

i

l

ł

m

(ṃ)

n

ņ

o

p

(ṕ)

r

(ṛ)

s

ş

t

u

v

(ṿ)

z

(ẓ)

Sound (IPA)

[a]

[b]

[bʲ]

[k]

[ʧ]

[d]

[e]

[ə]

[f]

[fʲ]

[g]

[ʤ]

[i]

[l]

[ʎ]

[m]

[mʲ]

[n]

[ŋ]

[o]

[p]

[pʲ]

[r]

[rʲ]

[s]

[ʃ]

[t]

[u]

[v]

[vʲ]

[ʣ], [ʦ]

[ʣʲ], [ʦʲ]

Morphology

Morphology doesn't differ too much from the original Italian one, even if some parts, like verbs, underwent deep changes.

Articles

Definited

The definited articles are:

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	ël	le
Plural	łë	lë

These articles developped a new final or initial ë, because the correct development would have given a simple l, which cannot easily said.

Indefinited

The indefinited articles are:

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	un	une

Nouns

The nouns, or substantives, developped a new system to build their plural, due to the loss of the final vowels. One of the main feature of this system is palatalization.

Singular ending	Plural formation	Particularities
-no ending	They palatalize the last consonant	-t → -ç -c → -ç -st → -ş -şt → -ş -d → -ģ -l → -ł -n → -ņ
-e	They drop the vowel
-i	They drop the vowel and palatalize the last consonant	Singular: -ci → plural: -ç Singular: -sci → -ş

Verbs

Also verbs suffered the loss of the final vowels. But the greatest loss has been the loss of the Italian passato remoto, the disappearing of subjunctive and the loss of the old future forms, replaced by a new analythic form of future tense. Due to the vowel loss it is usually required the presence of personal pronouns (it switched from the position of a pro-drop language to the one of a non-pro-drop language).

Verbs are divided in 3 conjugation, depending on the infinitival ending:

• 1 conjugation: -ar
• 2 conjugation: -er
• 3 conjugation: -ir

The third conjugation has a subgroup inside, the so-called -isc form (Verbs of this group differ from the others in some forms of present tense and in imperative forms)