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==Nominal Morphology== | ==Nominal Morphology== | ||
Nouns in Elbic belong to one of two genders, masculine or feminine. The vast majority of nouns end in a vowel, and all nouns form their plurals by suffixing '''s''': | |||
* | * '''duomnu''' (lord) —> '''duomnus''' | ||
* | * '''acqua''' (water) —> '''acquas''' | ||
* | * '''princêppi''' (prince) —> '''princêppis | ||
* | * '''parti''' (part, section) —> '''partis''' | ||
* | * '''mannu''' (hand) —> '''mannus''' | ||
* '''zi''' (day) —> '''zis''' | |||
Generally speaking, nouns that end in '''u''' are masculine and nouns that end in '''a''' are feminine (although this is not always so: '''mannu''' is feminine, for example). Nouns ending in other vowels might belong to either gender, although there are some observable patterns. For example, | |||
* | * nouns ending in '''ionni''' ('''stazionni''' "station", e.g.) are feminine | ||
* nouns ending in '''atti''' ('''universitatti''' "university", e.g.) are feminine | |||
* | * nouns ending in '''orri''' ('''amorri''' "love", e.g.) are masculine | ||
* | |||
===Articles=== | ===Articles=== | ||
Elbic has two types of articles, definite and indefinite, each of which has five forms. The forms of the definite article are as follows: | |||
{| | |||
! || Masc. || Fem. || Before vowel | |||
|- | |||
| '''Sing.''' || lu || la || l' | |||
|- | |||
| '''Plur.''' || lus || las || * | |||
|} | |||
Plural nouns that begin with a vowel use the normal plural forms. For example, '''lu duomnu''' (the lord), '''las mannus''' (the hands), '''l'universitatti''' (the university), '''lus amorris''' (the loves). | |||
The forms of the indefinite article are as follows: | |||
{| | |||
! || Masc. || Fem. || Before vowel | |||
|- | |||
| '''Sing.''' || nu || na || n' | |||
|- | |||
| '''Plur.''' || nus || nas || * | |||
|} | |||
Plural nouns that begin with a vowel use the normal plural forms. The plural indefinite article is equivalent to English "some" or French "des". | |||
==Verbal Morphology== | ==Verbal Morphology== |
Revision as of 18:10, 26 July 2009
Élbica | |
---|---|
Pronounced: | 'ɛlbika |
Timeline and Universe: | Ill Bethisad |
Species: | Human |
Spoken: | Elba |
Total speakers: | 30,000 |
Writing system: | Latin |
Genealogy: | Indo-European Italic |
Typology | |
Morphological type: | Inflecting |
Morphosyntactic alignment: | Nominative-Accusative |
Basic word order: | SVO |
Credits | |
Creator: | Sectori |
Created: | July, 2009 |
Nota bene: Elbic has undergone extreme reforms of late. Bear with me as I update the page.
Elbic is the language of the Principality of Elba, an island off the coast of Tuscany. It is a Central and Southern Italian language, although it has been relatively isolated, related to Neapolitan and Tuscan Italian.
Phonology
Elbic phonology is fairly ordinary for a Romance language.
Vowels
Elbic has a straightforward seven-vowel system inherited from Vulgar Latin. It also has three diphthongs, two falling and one rising: /jɛ/, /wɔ/, and /ai/.
Vowels | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Front | Near-front | Central | Near-back | Back | ||||||
High | i | u | ||||||||
Near-high | ||||||||||
High-mid | ê | ô | ||||||||
Mid | e | o | ||||||||
Low-mid | ||||||||||
Near-low | ||||||||||
Low | a |
Orthographically, it should be noted that e and o occasionally represent /e/ and /o/; as a general rule, only the first vowel in a word that would receive a circumflex does. The diphthong /jɛ/ is represented orthographically as ië, the diphthong /wɔ/ as uo, and the diphthong /ai/ as ai.
Consonants
Elbic has either 22 or 24 consonants, depending on whether the semivowels /w/ and /j/ are treated as allophonic realizations of /i/ and /u/ or as consonants in their own right.
Consonants | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bilabial | Labiod. | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alv. | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | |||||||||
Nasal | m | n | gn | |||||||||||||
Plosive | p | b | t | d | c(h) | g(h) | qu | gu | ||||||||
Fricative | f | v | s | x | g(i) | |||||||||||
Affricate | ç | z | c(i) | |||||||||||||
Approximants | (u) | (i) | ||||||||||||||
Trill | r | |||||||||||||||
Lateral Approximant | l | lh |
Orthographically, ch and gh are used for /k/ and /g/ before front vowels, c and g before back vowels. c and g are used for /tʃ/ and /ʒ/ before front vowels, ci and gi before back vowels. All consonants can be geminated, in which case they are written twice, with the following exceptions:
- geminated lh is written llh
- geminated ç is written tç
- geminated qu is written cqu
- geminated gn is written ggn
Stress
To place the stress of a word, follow these rules in the order they are presented here.
- When determining the stress of a word, always initially place it on the final syllable.
- If the final sound is a vowel, stress moves back one syllable.
- If anywhere in the word there is a vowel with an acute or grave, move the stress to the accented vowel.
- In monosyllabic words, the vowel is generally treated as if it were unstressed.
Thus, Miéxxicu, the Elbic name for Mexico, is /'mjɛʃ:iku/, Êlba, the Elbic name for Elba, is /'elba/, the definite article la is /la/, and nu napoletannu "a Neapolitan" is /nu napolɛ'tan:u/.
Nominal Morphology
Nouns in Elbic belong to one of two genders, masculine or feminine. The vast majority of nouns end in a vowel, and all nouns form their plurals by suffixing s:
- duomnu (lord) —> duomnus
- acqua (water) —> acquas
- princêppi (prince) —> princêppis
- parti (part, section) —> partis
- mannu (hand) —> mannus
- zi (day) —> zis
Generally speaking, nouns that end in u are masculine and nouns that end in a are feminine (although this is not always so: mannu is feminine, for example). Nouns ending in other vowels might belong to either gender, although there are some observable patterns. For example,
- nouns ending in ionni (stazionni "station", e.g.) are feminine
- nouns ending in atti (universitatti "university", e.g.) are feminine
- nouns ending in orri (amorri "love", e.g.) are masculine
Articles
Elbic has two types of articles, definite and indefinite, each of which has five forms. The forms of the definite article are as follows:
Masc. | Fem. | Before vowel | |
---|---|---|---|
Sing. | lu | la | l' |
Plur. | lus | las | * |
Plural nouns that begin with a vowel use the normal plural forms. For example, lu duomnu (the lord), las mannus (the hands), l'universitatti (the university), lus amorris (the loves).
The forms of the indefinite article are as follows:
Masc. | Fem. | Before vowel | |
---|---|---|---|
Sing. | nu | na | n' |
Plur. | nus | nas | * |
Plural nouns that begin with a vowel use the normal plural forms. The plural indefinite article is equivalent to English "some" or French "des".
Verbal Morphology
Elbic has a great many verbs. All verbs belong to one of four types: -ha, -he, -hi, and irregular. This section will demonstrate the conjugations of verbs from each type.
Subject Pronouns
Before conjugating a verb, it is important to learn Elbic's subject pronouns. There are six personal subject pronouns, corresponding to English "I, you, he, she, we, you (all), and they". In Elbic, they are:
Person | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
1P | io | noi |
2P | tu | voi |
3Pm | lei | lori |
3Pf | lui | lore |
Like many European languages, Elbic differentiates between formal and informal pronouns. Similarly to French, Elbic uses the plural second person pronoun, voi, to refer to a person you wish to address formally. In practice, however, this is infrequently used, as the Elbans are a generally relaxed and informal group.
Verb Conjugation: Simple Tenses
Elbic verbs are composed of three parts:
stem+h+theme vowel
Elbic verbs are conjugated by removing the final -h-theme vowel from the verb stem and adding a different ending. Note that irregular verbs have stem vowels as regular verbs. For example, ésshe is an irregular verb, but appears as an -he verb.
First Conjugation Verbs
Elbic verb conjugations for -ha verbs are conveniently arranged on this table:
Present Indicative | Simple Past Indicative | Imperfect Indicative | Future Indicative | Present Subjunctive | Imperfect Subjunctive | Present Conditional | |
1Ps | -o | -i | -avo | -*ro | -e | -assa | -*ri |
2Ps | -ai | -aste | -avai | -*rai | -ei | -assai | -*rei |
3Ps | -a | -ò | -ava | -*ra | -e | -assa | -*ri |
1Pp | -ammo | -amo | -avammo | -*rammo | -emmo | -assammo | -*rimmo |
2Pp | -atte | -asti | -avatte | -*ratte | -ette | -assatte | -*ritte |
3Pp | -anno | -arono | -avanno | -*ranno | -enno | -assanno | -*rinno |
The *asterisk indicates that the shown ending is added to the entire verb infinitive, not just to the verb stem. So, the full simple conjugation of cántha, to sing.
Present Indicative | Simple Past Indicative | Imperfect Indicative | Future Indicative | Present Subjunctive | Imperfect Subjunctive | Present Conditional | |
1Ps | cánto | cánti | cántavo | cánthero | cánte | cántassa | cánthari |
2Ps | cántai | cántaste | cántavai | cántharai | cántei | cántassai | cántharei |
3Ps | cánta | cántò | cántava | cánthera | cánthare | cántassa | cánthari |
1Pp | cántammo | cántamo | cántavammo | cántharammo | cántemmo | cántassammo | cántharimmo |
2Pp | cántatte | cántasti | cántavatte | cántharatte | cántette | cántassatte | cántharitte |
3Pp | cántanno | cántarono | cántavanno | cántharanno | cántenno | cántassanno | cántharinno |
Second and Third Conjugation Verbs
The conjugation paradigm for -he and -hi verbs is below. If there are two entries in a box, the second is the ending for -hi verbs. A parenthetical -iss- marks third conjugation (-hi) radical-shift verbs.
Present Indicative | Simple Past Indicative | Imperfect Indicative | Future Indicative | Present Subjunctive | Imperfect Subjunctive | Present Conditional | |
1Ps | -o | -i | -ia | -*ro | -a | -issa | -*ri |
2Ps | -ei | -iste | -iai | -*rai | -ai | -issai | -*rei |
3Ps | -e | -io | -ia | -*ra | -a | -issa | -*ri |
1Pp | -emmo/(iss)immo | -imo | -iammo | -*rammo | -ammo | -issammo | -*rimmo |
2Pp | -ette/(iss)itte | -isti | -iatte | -*ratte | -atte | -issatte | -*ritte |
3Pp | -(iss)enno | -irono | -ianno | -*ranno | -anno | -issanno | -*rinno |
And the full conjugation of scrivhi, a regular -hi verb.
Present Indicative | Simple Past Indicative | Imperfect Indicative | Future Indicative | Present Subjunctive | Imperfect Subjunctive | Present Conditional | |
1Ps | scrivo | scrivi | scrivia | scrivhiro | scriva | scrivissa | scrivhiri |
2Ps | scrivei | scriviste | scriviai | scrivhirai | scrivai | scrivissai | scrivhirei |
3Ps | scrive | scrivio | scrivia | scrivhira | scriva | scrivissa | scrivhiri |
1Pp | scrivimmo | scriviimo | scriviammo | scrivhirammo | scrivammo | scrivissammo | scrivhirimmo |
2Pp | scrivitte | scrivisti | scriviatte | scrivhiratte | scrivatte | scrivissatte | scrivhiritte |
3Pp | scrivenno | scrivirono | scrivianno | scrivhiranno | scrivanno | scrivissanno | scrivhirinno |
Elbic's radical-changing verbs developed from Latin fourth conjugation verbs, and the specific changes applied come from Elbic mixing with French. Here is the conjugation of sentendrhi, the verb for to hear.
Present Indicative | Simple Past Indicative | Imperfect Indicative | Future Indicative | Present Subjunctive | Imperfect Subjunctive | Present Conditional | |
1Ps | sentendro | sentendri | sentendria | sentendrhiro | sentendra | sentendrissa | sentendrhiri |
2Ps | sentendrei | sentendriste | sentendriai | sentendrhirai | sentendrai | sentendrissai | sentendrhirei |
3Ps | sentendre | sentendrio | sentendria | sentendrhira | sentendra | sentendrissa | sentendrhiri |
1Pp | sentendrissimmo | sentendrimo | sentendriammo | sentendrhirammo | sentendrammo | sentendrissammo | sentendrhirimmo |
2Pp | sentendrissitte | sentendristi | sentendriatte | sentendrhiratte | sentendratte | sentendrissatte | sentendrhiritte |
3Pp | sentendrissenno | sentendrirono | sentendrianno | sentendrhiranno | sentendranno | sentendrissanno | sentendrhirinno |
Irregular Verbs
Elbic has many irregular verbs. Most belong to the second conjugation. Two of the most important are ésshe and avhe. ésshe means "to be", and avhe "to have". Avhe also is "to have" in the auxiliary sense, e.g. "I have done this before". Ésshe is conjugated as follows:
Present Indicative | Simple Past Indicative | Imperfect Indicative | Future Indicative | Present Subjunctive | Imperfect Subjunctive | Present Conditional | |
1Ps | sonno | fui | ero | shero | sea | fuissa | srhi |
2Ps | sei | fuiste | erai | sherai | seai | fuissai | srhei |
3Ps | é | fuo | era | shera | sea | fuissa | srhi |
1Pp | sammo | fuimo | erammo | sheremmo | seammo | fuissammo | srhimmo |
2Pp | satte | fuisti | eratte | sheratte | seatte | fuissatte | srhitte |
3Pp | sanno | fuirono | eranno | sheranno | seanno | fuissanno | srhinno |
And here is the conjugation of avhe:
Present Indicative | Simple Past Indicative | Imperfect Indicative | Future Indicative | Present Subjunctive | Imperfect Subjunctive | Present Conditional | |
1Ps | ho | hi | avevo | avrho | he | hissa | avrhi |
2Ps | hai | histe | avevai | avrhai | hei | hissai | avrhei |
3Ps | ha | hio | aveva | avrha | he | hissa | avrhi |
1Pp | hammo | himo | avevammo | avrhemmo | hemmo | hissammo | avrhimmo |
2Pp | hatte | histi | avevatte | avrhatte | hette | hissatte | avrhitte |
3Pp | hanno | hirono | avevanno | avrhanno | henno | hissanno | avrhinno |
Also, the conjugationn of andha, "to go".
Present Indicative | Simple Past Indicative | Imperfect Indicative | Future Indicative | Present Subjunctive | Imperfect Subjunctive | Present Conditional | |
1Ps | vo | fui | ivo | vharo | ve | fuissa | vrhi |
2Ps | vai | fuiste | ivai | vharai | vei | fuissai | vrhei |
3Ps | va | fuo | iva | vhara | ve | fuissa | vhri |
1Pp | andammo | fuimo | ivammo | vharemmo | vemmo | fuissammo | vrhimmo |
2Pp | andatte | fuisti | ivatte | vharatte | vette | fuissatte | vrhitte |
3Pp | vanno | fuirono | ivanno | vharanno | venno | fuissanno | vrhinno |
The conjugation of bhe, "to drink".
Present Indicative | Simple Past Indicative | Imperfect Indicative | Future Indicative | Present Subjunctive | Imperfect Subjunctive | Present Conditional | |
1Ps | beo | bi | bia | bhero | bea | beissa | brhi |
2Ps | bei | beiste | biai | bherai | beai | beissai | brhei |
3Ps | bè | beio | bia | bhera | bea | beissa | brhi |
1Pp | bemmo | beimo | biammo | bheremmo | beammo | beissammo | brhimmo |
2Pp | bette | beisti | biatte | bheratte | beatte | beissatte | brhitte |
3Pp | benno | beirono | bianno | bheranno | beanno | beissanno | brhinno |
The conjugation of dha, "to give".
Present Indicative | Simple Past Indicative | Imperfect Indicative | Future Indicative | Present Subjunctive | Imperfect Subjunctive | Present Conditional | |
1Ps | duo | di | dia | dharo | due | dassa | drhi |
2Ps | duai | daste | diai | dharai | duei | dassai | drhei |
3Ps | dua | dò | dia | dhara | due | dassa | drhi |
1Pp | duammo | damo | diammo | dharemmo | duemmo | dassammo | drhimmo |
2Pp | duatte | dasti | diatte | dharatte | duette | dassatte | drhitte |
3Pp | duanno | darono | dianno | dharanno | duenno | dassanno | drhinno |
Finally, the conjugation of fha, "to make; do".
Present Indicative | Simple Past Indicative | Imperfect Indicative | Future Indicative | Present Subjunctive | Imperfect Subjunctive | Present Conditional | |
1Ps | fuo | fi | fia | fharo | fue | fassa | frhi |
2Ps | fuai | faste | fiai | fharai | fuei | fassai | frhei |
3Ps | fua | fò | fia | fhara | fue | fassa | frhi |
1Pp | fuammo | famo | fiammo | frhemmo | fuemmo | fassammo | frhimmo |
2Pp | fuatte | fasti | fiatte | fharatte | fuette | fassatte | frhitte |
3Pp | fuanno | farono | fianno | fharanno | fuenno | fassanno | frhinno |
Verb Conjugation: Compound Tenses
Elbic compound tenses are formed by combining a conjugated form of one verb and one of the participles of another. Most are formed with avhe, but the passive and progressive tenses are formed with ésshe and the periphrastic future is formed with andha.
Forming the Participles
Elbic verbs have three participles. The Latin inflected passive has in Elbic become a passive participle. The Latin past and present participles are retained as well. To form any participle, add certain endings to the end of the full infinitive of a verb. These endings are:
- Passive Participle: -tto
- Perfect Participle: -tte
- Present Participle: -nte
Compound Tenses with Avhe
The tenses formed with avhe are the perfect tenses. They are formed by placing the various tenses of avhe before the perfect participle. The various tenses are:
- Perfect: present avhe+perfect participle (ho fhatte: I have done)
- Pluperfect: imperfect avhe+perfect participle (hia fhatte: I had done)
- Remote Pluperfect: simple past avhe+perfect participle (hi fhatte: I had done)
- Future Perfect: future avhe+perfect participle (avrho fhatte: I will have done)
- Conditional Perfect: conditional avhe+perfect participle (avrhi fhatte: I would have done)
Compound Tenses with Ésshe
The "tenses" formed with ésshe are all of the passive voice tenses and the progressive tenses. The passive voice tenses are formed quite simply. The generic passive voice is the ésshe+the passive participle of a verb.
- É disshitto chè...: it is said that...
Note, however, that the passive voice may also be formed in an impersonal manner, using the pronoun sè, one. We'll talk more about this later. There are also two progressive tenses, the present and imperfect progressives. They are formed simply: place the appropriate form of ésshe before the present participle of the verb.
- Sonno disshinte chè...: I am saying that...
- Erai disshinte chè...: you were saying that...
Compound Tenses with Andha
Andha is used in the construction of a periphrastic future tense. To form this tense, place an appropriately conjugated form of andha before the present participle of the verb.
- Vo hdisshinte chè...: I'm going to say that...
- Fuiste hdisshinte chè...: you were going to say that...
Verbal Morphology: Imperatives
The imperative is used to give commands. There are a number imperatives in Elbic. Firstly, the second person singular, covering the informal tu. Secondly, the first person plural, covering such constructions as let us go, and agreeing with the pronoun noi. Finally, the second person plural, covering voi, whether used as a singular or plural pronoun. The imperative forms differ depending on whether the command is affirmative (do that) or negative (don't do that). In many cases, object pronouns are affixed as clitics to the imperative verbs. In each entry, there is a note of how this is done. Note, finally, that there are a number of irregular imperatives. Where these exist, they will be noted.
- The second person singular affirmative ending is the same as the third person singular present indicative ending. When clitic pronouns are attached to this imperative, place an -h- before the penultimate vowel of the word: parla speak>pharlame speak to me. If the imperative begins with a vowel or with h, the final vowel is instead removed from the clitic pronoun and precedes the verb: aprende learn>l'aprende learn it.
- The second person singular negative ending is the same as the second person singular present subjunctive ending. When clitic pronouns are attached to this imperative, remove the final -i from it: non parlei don't speak>non parlemi>don't speak to me. If the imperative begins with a vowel or with h, the final vowel is instead removed from the clitic pronoun and it precedes the verb: non aprendai don't learn>non l'aprendai don't learn it.
- The first person plural affirmative ending is the same as the first person plural present indicative ending. There are no changes when clitic pronouns are attached to this imperative: parlammo let's speak>parlammole let's speak to him. If the imperative begins with a vowel or with h, the final vowel is instead removed from the clitic pronoun and precedes the verb: aprendemmo let's learn>l'aprendemmo let's learn it.
- The first person plural negative ending is the same as the first person plural present subjunctive ending. There are no changes when clitic pronouns are attached to this imperative: non parlemmo let's not speak>non parlemmole let's not speak to him. If the imperative begins with a vowel or with h, the final vowel is instead removed from the clitic pronoun and precedes the verb: non aprendammo let's not learn>non l'aprendammo let's not learn it.
- The second person plural/formal affirmative ending is the same as the second person plural present subjunctive ending. There are no changes when clitic pronouns are attached to this imperative: parlette speak>parlettele speak to him. If the imperative begins with a vowel or with h, the final vowel is instead removed from the clitic pronoun and precedes the verb: aprendatte learn>l'aprendatte learn it.
- The second person plural/formal negative ending is the same as the second person plural present indicative ending. There are no changes when clitic pronouns are attached to this imperative: non parlatte don't speak>non parlattele don't speak to him. If the imperative begins with a vowel or with h, the final vowel is instead removed from the clitic pronoun and precedes the verb: non aprendette don't learn>non l'aprendette don't learn it.
Tense Clarification: Simple Past
The simple past is in many ways the most complicated of Elbic's many tenses. This section will attempt to clarify it.
Simple Past vs. Imperfect
On the surface, these two tenses are similar. Both describe past events. However, there are many differences. The simple past is used to...
- ...describe events that occurred at a specific past time, with definite beginnings and ends.
- ...describe events that occurred only once.
- ...describe events in a story.
The imperfect is used to...
- ...describe events that occurred at an indefinite time, or over a long, undefined period.
- ...describe events that occurred habitually.
- ...form the imperfect progressive.
Simple Past vs. Perfect
The simple past is even closer to the perfect. In fact, the simple past is often used in place of the perfect. The perfect typically occurs once every paragraph or so and is from then on replaced with the simple past. Usually the perfect is not used more than once or twice every few minutes in colloquial speech, though the simple past is in contrast almost never used, replaced exclusively by the perfect, in formal discussions.
Simple Past vs. Pluperfects
The simple past and the pluperfects seem similar, but there is an important difference: the pluperfects are used in only one place: when describing events that occurred at a specific time, with definite beginnings and ends (or only occurring once), before other events. The pluperfects are only used where English would use had done something and similar constructions. The remote pluperfect is especially select: it can only be used when something pluperfect occurred at a distant past time (usually more than a year before the speaking).
The Soft Mutation
There are two cases where the soft mutation occurs. Every conjugated verb causes the soft mutation in the word following it. This often occurs with the periphrastic future, and in fact is seen in both of the examples above. It also occurs in any case of a conjugated verb followed by another word: nechésitha, chirhe, dovhe, anything.
- Nechésito hchiamha a mme má: I need to call my mom.
- Chiro hchiamha a mme má: I want to call my mom.
- Dovo hchiamha a mme má: I should call my mom.
This seems an opportune time to mention also that a, to, causes the geminate mutation, and de, of, from, causes the soft mutation.
The other time where the soft mutation occurs is adjectives. Adjectives can either precede or follow the noun they modify, with the difference only in emphasis. When adjectives are describing feminine or neuter nouns, one of two things can happen:
- The adjective precedes the feminine or neuter noun. If the adjective is singular, the soft mutation occurs on the noun. If the adjective is plural and feminine, the soft mutation occurs on the noun.
- The feminine or neuter noun precedes the adjective. If the noun is singular, the soft mutation occurs on the adjective. If the noun is plural and feminine, the soft mutation occurs on the adjective.
- Lu ffrasu hbuonu: the good sentence
- Na nnova hcossina: a new kitchen
- Gorde hnapolitanne: fat Neapolitans (an Elban sterotype)
Adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe a noun. Adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. There are two types of adjectives: -o-a-u adjectives have six forms; -e adjectives only two. The adjectives inflect as follows:
Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
Singular -o-a-u | -o | -a | -u |
Plural -o-a-u | -i | -e | -e |
Singular -e | -e | -e | -e |
Plural -e | -i | -i | -i |
So "the good sentence" is lu ffrasu hbuonu (remember the soft mutation!), and "the beautiful kitchens" is le bbelle hcossine. An adjective always has the endings shown here, regardless of the ending of the noun: il patre buono; la mmatre hbella.
Telling the Difference
-o-a-u adjectives are so named because of the different endings they take in the singular. When reading an unfamiliar adjective, try to determine whether the noun is singular or plural. Based on that, match the noun's gender and number on this table to the ending it has.
The Origin of Mutations
This section describes, briefly, the generally agreed upon origin of the Elbic consonantal mutations.
The Geminate Mutation
The soft mutation's origin is quite simple. It occurs in two places: after the feminine and neuter articles, and after the preposition a. The geminate mutation originated in the town dialect of La Mmarina de hMarcianna
- The description of the geminate mutation after a is simple: a comes from the Latin ad. The -d, over time, shifted to attach itself to the word after it: ad cassa > a dcassa. This extraneous d- soon shifted to match the initial consonant of the word it was applying to: a ccassa.
- The progression for the feminine and neuter articles is a bit less straightforward. The Elbic article derives from Latin demonstratives. These gradually shifted in meaning from a classifier ("this sentence") to a definer ("the sentence"). The geminate after the article evolved by a vague analogy to the a ccassa situation. There were originally two l's in the Latin demonstratives. When the initial vowel disappeared in those, the now-initial l moved to be word-final. Gradually, it slipped across to the adjacent word and was assimilated similarly to (though over a longer period of time than) the -d of ad (it shifted first to a non-lateral approximant, r, then by analogy with ad to a voiced plosive, d, then assimilated at in the same manner that the -d did): illa cassa > lla cassa > la lcassa > la rcassa > la dcassa > la ccassa.
Of course, this is mostly speculation, and it may just be a borrowing from Neapolitan: there was a fairly large influx of Neapolitan immigrants to Elba in the mid-16th century.
The Soft Mutation
The soft mutation is a bit more difficult to rationalize as an Elbic-only developement. Fortunately, it is not. It evolved as a dialectical variation on the pronunciation of initial consonants, similar to the famed "Tuscan gorgia". In Elbic, the soft mutation originally began as a stress movement. But gradually, by way of trade with neighboring Tuscany, it began to soften or change the initial consonant. The reasons for its placement are yet unknown: it probably began as a stress shift in words starting with a consonant after de, and a similar shift in the context of feminine and neuter adjectives, then evolved parallel to the Tuscan gorgia. The soft mutation was originally a dialectical variation of Portoferraho.
Standardization
Little observed by the world, the Elbic language was ruthlessly standardized in the mid-17th century, around the time of its emergence as an individual language. The Elban Forza Par Independenza, a movement for independence from Italy, devised a new spelling system for Elbic, still used to this day, and also standardized both mutations to further differentiate between Elbic and Italian. There was some grumbling, but the Elbans seemed to know that the independence movement would be the second most interesting thing about their island in the future, so they grudgingly, gradually accepted it. In fact, this proved to be for the better, as the FPI instituted a number of public schools where children were taught the FPI-approved standard dialect. Thus, in a mere generation, and about the time that the FPI came to an end, collapsing in on itself, the Elbic langauge was standardized. In the centuries since, there are still few dialects of Elbic, and overall the dialects that there are (most notably a minority group in Tuscany which does not use the geminate mutation) are small enough that they will probably disappear, incorporated into mainstream Italian, within another century or so.
Spelling Conventions
There are a few important spelling rules in Elbic.
- First, and most important: always spell correctly. This applies to any language, really.
- Second: always include an orthographic h. Even if it's redundant (as in cánthara). It's an important part of the spelling of a word, even if it doesn't seem like it.
- Third: when geminating a capitalized noun, the first of the pair of geminated consonants is capitalized. As in La Mmarina de hMarcianna.
- Fourth: when softening a capitalized noun, the softening h is lowercase. As in parlo hFrancesse.
- Fifth: i (and) before i is spelt (and pronounced) as e. As in Tintin e i Picari.