Itëłan

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/ in final position of a word.

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

• -si → -ş in final
• -ti → -ç in final
• -di → -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]

Palatalization

Palatalization can affect every consonant. So each consonant has a palatalized counterpart. These are the couples:

Non palatalized

b

c

d

f

g

l

m

n

p

r

s

t

v

z

Palatalized

(ḅ)

ç

ģ

(ḟ)

ģ

ł

(ṃ)

ņ

(ṕ)

(ṛ)

ş

ç

(ṿ)

(ẓ)

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.

The definite articles usually merge with some prepositions to form one combined form: the articled prepositions:

	Singular		Plural
	masc	femm	masc	femm
dë (of)	dël	dële	dëł	dël
a (to)	al	ale	ał	al
de (from)	del	dele	deł	del
ën (in)	nel	nele	neł	nel
sur (on)	sul	sule	suł	sul

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

There are some irregular names:

• child: bëmbin → children: bimḅ
• man: om → men: omiņ

Adjectives

Demonstrative

Demonstrative pronouns underwent deep changes, because of the vowel loss. The pronoun ştoci is an union of şto- (from questo, this) and -ci (from qui, here), because the simple derived form would be too small. Cel is a regular derivation of quello.

This	Singular	Plural
Masculine	ştoci	şici
Feminine	şteci	ştëci

That	Singular	Plural
Masculine	cel	ceł
Feminine	cele	cel

Possessive

The ancient possessive system disappeared, and the forms were reduced to a single word for both two genres and two numbers. They are always placed before their nouns. Differently from their English counterparts, they may require the article before them, both definite and indefinite.

Person	Possessive adjective
1st sing	mi
2nd sing	tu
3rd sing (masculine)	su
3rd sing (feminine)	su
1nd plur	noştŗ
2nd plur	voştŗ
3nd plur	lor

Examples:

• This is our home: Şteci ei le noştŗ case
• She talked with a friend of mine: La à përlat con un mi ëmic
  

but

• Your mother wants to talk with you: Tu madër vol përlar con të

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Person	Subject form Nominative form	Long direct object form Long accusative form	Short direct object form Short accusative form	Indirect object form Dative form
1st sing	I	më	mi	mi
2nd sing	tu	të	çi	çi
3rd sing (masculine)	eł	lu	lë	łi
3rd sing (feminine)	la	lei	le	łi
1nd plur	noaltŗ	noi	ni	ni
2nd plur	voaltŗ	voi	vi	vi
3nd plur	lor	lor	lor	łi

Also personal pronouns suffered of the general vowel loss, but often some final vowels have been restored by speakers under the influence of analogy, because those forms would have been too short or confused.

The accusative group of pronouns is divided in two subgroups: Long forms and Short forms. Usually long forms are found with prepositions, while short forms are used with verbs in the sentences. Examples:

• Do you see us?: Tu ni veģ?
• She will come with you: La à dë venir con të

Usually short forms are stressless and they need another word which can substain them. They are usually placed before the verb in the sentence.

The dative form express the meaning of the indirect object, which can also be expressed by the preposition a (to). It's possible to find both forms in sentences, used to make stronger the meaning of the dative form. As short accusative forms, dative forms are stressless and they need to be placed before the verb. Examples:

• I tell you that he didn't tell him anything: I ti dic çë eł no łi à dest nient
• I like it: A më mi piaç (instead of simple Mi piaç)

Relative pronouns

There is only one kind of relative pronoun. The ancient relative pronoun che disappeared, and the other form il quale could develop instead, with some vowels reconstructed by analogy.

	Singular	Plural
Masc.	ëlcal	icał
Femm.	lecal	lëcal

Interrogative pronouns

These are the most common interrogative pronouns:

• Who?: çi
• What?: çë / cecòs
• Which?: cal (plur: cał)
• How much?: cant (plur mas: canç / sing fem: cante / plur fem: cant)
• Where?: ndë
• When?: cand
• Why?: percè
• How?: com

Çë and Cant can be used as adjectives before some nouns. Cal is usually used as adjective. Cecos is a neuter form to indicate something indefinite:

• What do you want?: Cecos tu vu?

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).

There are three verbal moods (indicative, conditional and imperative), six tenses (present, imperfect, perfect, plusquamperfect, future and anterior future) and one infinitive form and two participles (present and past)

Indicative mood

Present

The present tense is one of the most irregular tenses of the entire verbal system. Most of all irregularities are in the first three persons and in the third person in plural. The sign -Ø means that there is no ending.

	1 conjugation	2 conjugation	3 conjugation	3 -isc form	Particularities
1st sing	-Ø	-Ø	-Ø	-ìsc
2nd sing	-Ø	-Ø	-Ø	-ìş	The previous consonant usually undergoes palatalization, except for the -isc group
3rd sing	-e	-Ø	-Ø	-ìş
1st plur	-iàm	-iàm	-iàm	-iàm
2nd plur	-àt	-èt	-ìt	-ìt
3rd plur	-an	-on	-on	-ìscon

The bold endings have no stress, and this fall on the previous vowel. This can lead to a change in the verbal root (mind the change a → ë and open e → ei, which usually was under stress). Some examples:

	cëntar	sentir
1st sing	cànt	sèint
2nd sing	cànç	sèinç
3rd sing	cànte	sèint
1st plur	cëntiàm	sentiàm
2nd plur	cëntàt	sentìt
3rd plur	càntan	sèinton

Imperfect

This past tense indicates a continuos action, a repeated action, or that the action is on run in the moment we are speaking about.

	1 conjugation	2 conjugation	3 conjugation
1st sing	-àv	-èv	-ìv
2nd sing	-àṿ	-èṿ	-ìṿ
3rd sing	-àve	-ève	-ìve
1st plur	-ëvàm	-evàm	-ivàm
2nd plur	-ëvàt	-evàt	-ivàt
3rd plur	-àvan	-èvan	-ìvan

Perfect

This tense indicates an unidentified action in the past, already completed.

It is built with the conjugated forms in the present of the auxiliary verb ëvèr or èser + the past participle (declined in presence of eser). Examples:

• I sang: I ò cëntat
• We went: Noaltŗ siam ëndaç

Plusquamperfect

This tense indicates an action placed in the past of another past action.

It is built with the conjugated forms in the imperfect of the auxiliary verb ëvèr or èser + the past participle (declined in presence of eser). Examples:

• I had sung: I ëvev cëntat
• We had gone: Noaltŗ eirim ëndaç

Future

The future tense is built with the declined forms of the auxiliary verb ëver + dë (d' in front of a vowel) + the infinitive form of the main verb. Examples:

• I will sing: I ò dë cëntar
• We will go: Noaltŗ ëbiam d'ëndar

Anterior future

The anterior future tense indicates an action which happens before another future action. It is built with the declined forms of the auxiliary verb ëver + dë (d' in front of a vowel) + ëver/eser (the main verb's auxiliary verb) + the past participle of the main verb. Examples:

• I will have sung: I ò d'ëver cëntat
• We will have gone: Noaltŗ ëbiam d'eser ëndaç

Conditional

Present

The conditional present tense is built by adding the following endings at the infinitive forms of the verbs. For verbs of the first conjugation, the adfix -ar- becomes -er- before adding.

	Endings
1st sing	-èi
2nd sing	-èş
3rd sing	-èib
1st plur	-èm
2nd plur	-èşt
3rd plur	-èiber

Some examples:

• I would sing: I cënterei
• We will spend: Noaltŗ spenderem
• They would listen: Lor sentireiber

Past

The conditional present indicates an action placed in the past of an action expressed by the conditional present, or usually indicate an action placed in the past of a future moment, or an hypothesis.

It is built with the conjugated forms in the present conditional of the auxiliary verb ëvèr or èser + the past participle (declined in presence of eser). Examples:

• I would have sung: I ëvrei cëntat
• We would have gone: Noaltŗ sërem ëndaç

Imperative mood

The imperative mood indicates orders. There is only the present tense. As the indicative present tense, it retains many irregularities.

	1 conjugation	2 conjugation	3 conjugation	3 -isc form	Particularities
2nd sing	-e	-Ø	-Ø	-ìş	The previous consonant usually undergoes palatalization, except for 1st conjugation and the -isc group.
3rd sing	-Ø	-e	-e	-ìsce	The previous consonant in the 1st conjugation undergoes palatalization.
1st plur	-iàm	-iàm	-iàm	-iàm
2nd plur	-àt	-èt	-ìt	-ìt
3rd plur	-in	-an	-an	-ìscan

The sign -Ø means that there is no ending.

The bold endings have no stress, and this fall on the previous vowel. This can lead to a change in the verbal root (mind the change a → ë and open e → ei, which usually was under stress). Some examples:

	cëntar	sentir
2nd sing	cànte	sèinç
3rd sing	cànç	sèinte
1st plur	cëntiàm	sentiàm
2nd plur	cëntàt	sentìt
3rd plur	càntin	sèintan

Participle

Present

The past participle is an adjective form of the verb and can be used as adjective, but it is used also in tense formation. It is formed by adding these endings to the root:

	1st conj	2nd conj	3rd conj
sing	-ànt	-èint	-ièint
plur	-ànç	-èinç	-ièinç

The present participle is an adjective but it is most frequently used to form a progressive mood of verbs, similar to the English continous tenses. It is formed with the verb ştar + the present participle (declined by number):

• What are you doing?: Cecos tu şta façeint?
• They are eating: Lor ştan manģanç

Past

The past participle is an adjective form of the verb and can be used as adjective, but it is used also in past tense formation. It is formed by adding these endings to the root (which often is irregular in many irregular verbs):

	1st conj	2nd conj	3rd conj
masc sing	-àt	-ùt	-ìt
masc plur	-àç	-ùç	-ìç
femm sing	-àte	-ùte	-ìte
femm plur	-àt	-ùt	-ìt

Auxiliary verbs

There are two auxiliary verbs: èser (to be) and ëvèr (to have). Not as in English, both they are used in building past tenses.

Use: Usually all transitive verbs (which have an object) and some intransitive verbs have ëver as auxiliary, while verbs, which have eser, are always intransitive. These verbs usually have meanings of self-movement, feeling, location. Eser is used also in the formation of passive.

Éser	Present	Imperfect	Perfect	Plusquamperfect
1st sing	sò	eir	sò ştat	eir ştat
2nd sing	sè	eiŗ	sè ştat	eiŗ ştat
3rd sing	èi	eire	èi ştat	eire ştat
1st plur	siàm	eirim	siàm ştaç	eirim ştaç
2nd plur	sèit	eirit	seit ştaç	eirit ştaç
3rd plur	sòn	eiran	sòn ştaç	eiran ştaç
	Future	Anterior Future	Conditional	Conditional past
1st sing	ò d'eser	ò d'eser ştat	sërèi	sërèi ştat
2nd sing	à d'eser	à d'eser ştat	sërèş	sërèş ştat
3rd sing	à d'eser	à d'eser ştat	sërèib	sërèib ştat
1st plur	ëbian d'eser	ëbian d'eser ştaç	sërèm	sërèm ştaç
2nd plur	ëvet d'eser	ëvet d'eser ştaç	sërèşt	sërèşt ştaç
3rd plur	àn d'eser	àn d'eser ştaç	sërèiber	sërèiber ştaç
	Imperative		Present participle	Past participle
2nd sing	sì	sing masc	-	ştat
3rd sing	sì	sing fem	-	ştate
1st plur	siàm	plur masc	-	ştaç
2nd plur	siàt	plur fem	-	ştat

Éser	Present	Imperfect	Perfect	Plusquamperfect
1st sing	ò	ëvev	ò ëvut	ëvev ëvut
2nd sing	à	ëveṿ	à ëvut	ëveṿ ëvut
3rd sing	à	ëveve	à ëvut	ëveve ëvut
1st plur	ëbiàm	ëvevam	ëbiàm ëvut	ëvevam ëvut
2nd plur	ëvet	ëvevat	ëvet ëvut	ëvevat ëvut
3rd plur	àn	ëvevan	àn ëvut	ëvevan ëvut
	Future	Anterior Future	Conditional	Conditional past
1st sing	ò d'ëver	ò d'ëver ëvut	ëvrèi	ëvrèi ëvut
2nd sing	à d'ëver	à d'ëver ëvut	ëvrèş	ëvrèş ëvut
3rd sing	à d'ëver	à d'ëver ëvut	ëvrèib	ëvrèib ëvut
1st plur	ëbian d'ëver	ëbian d'ëver ëvut	ëvrèm	ëvrèm ëvut
2nd plur	ëbet d'ëver	ëbet d'ëver ëvut	ëvrèşt	ëvrèşt ëvut
3rd plur	àn d'ëver	àn d'ëver ëvut	ëvrèiber	ëvrèiber ëvut
	Imperative		Present participle	Past participle
2nd sing	àbi	sing masc	ëvent	ëvut
3rd sing	àbi	sing fem	ëvent	ëvute
1st plur	ëbiàm	plur masc	ëvenç	ëvuç
2nd plur	ëbiàt	plur fem	ëvenç	ëvut

Usually, when the auxiliary verb is eser, past particles agree in genre and number with the subject:

• We went home: Noaltŗ siam ëndaç a case
• She was born in Rome: La ei nate ën Rome

Reflexive verbs

Reflexive verbs are verbs whose action falls on their own subject, or the subject makes the action on itself or for itself. The auxiliary verb for past tense formation is always eser. A large part of normal transitive verbs can become reflexive by adding the following pronouns or the following endings.

Usually with normal tenses there are these pronouns, placed before the verb:

Person	Reflexive pronouns
1st sing	mi
2nd sing	çi
3rd sing	si
1nd plur	ni
2nd plur	vi
3nd plur	si

Examples:

• I wash myself: I mi lav.
• Her name is... (she is called...): La si çam...

With the infinitive this pronouns become endings, added in the end of the word. They are:

Person	Reflexive endings
1st sing	-ṃ
2nd sing	-ç
3rd sing	-ş
1nd plur	-ņ
2nd plur	-ṿ
3nd plur	-ş

Example:

• He wanted to wash himself: Eł voleve lëvarş

But you can find the pronoun moved before the first verb, without changing the general meaning:

• He wanted to wash himself: Eł si voleve lëvar

In dictionary you will find the 3rd singular form of the infinitive (ex: lëvarş) for reflexive verbs.

Irregular verbs

Itëłan is very full of irregular verbs, most of all born after the phonetic changes. Here we'll give a list of the most common irregular verbs. Usually irregular forms are only in some tenses, and we will give only those forms. (Pres: present tense; Imperf: imperfect; Cond: conditional present; Part pres: present participle; Part pass: past participle)

• Ber - to drink - pres: bev, beṿ, bev, beviam, bevet, bevon; imperf: bevev, beveṿ, beveve, bevevam, bevevat, bevevan; part pres: beveint; part pass: bevut
• Dar - to give - pres: do, da, da, diam, dat, dan; imperf: dav, daṿ, dave, dëvam, dëvat, davan; cond: dërei, dëreş, dëreib, dërem, dëreşt, dëreiber; part pass: dat
• Dir - to say - pres: dic, diç, diç, diçam, dit, dicon; imperf: diçev, diçeṿ, diçeve, diçevam, diçevat, diçevan; part pres: diçeint; part pass: dest
• Ëndar - to go - pres: vo, va, va, ëndiam, ëndat, van; cond: ëndrei, ëndreş, ëndreib, ëndrem, ëndreşt, ëndreiber
• Far - to do - pres: faç, fa, fa, fëçàm, fat, fan; imperf: fëçev, fëçeṿ, fëçeve, fëçevàm, fëçevat, fëçèvan; cond, farei, fareş, fareib, farem, fareşt, fareiber; part pres: façeint; part pass: fast
• Poter - to can - pres: pos, pò, pol, posiam, potet, poson; cond: potrei, potreş, potreib, potrem, potreşt, potreiber
• Sëper - to know - pres: so, sa, sa, sëpiam, sëpet, san; cond: sëprei, sëpreş, sëpreib, sëprem, sëpreşt, sëpreiber; part pres: sapieint
• Ştar - to stay - pres: şto, şta, şta, ştiam, ştat, ştan; imperf: ştav, ştaṿ, ştave, ştëvam, ştëvat, ştavan; cond: ştërei, ştëreş, ştëreib, ştërem, ştëreşt, ştëreiber; part pass: ştat
• Veder - to see - cond: vedrei, vedreş, vedreib, vedrem, vedreşt, vedreiber; part pass: vişt
• Venir - to come - pres: veing, vieņ, vien, veniam, venit, veingon; cond: verei, vereş, vereib, verem, vereşt, vereiber
• Voler - to want - pres: voł, vu, vol, vołam, volet, vołon; cond: vorei, voreş, voreib, vorem, voreşt, voreiber;

Half-irregular verbs

We created this separated list because many of these verbs have no real irregularities, but they are only affected by the phonetical change under stress. There are two group:

1. These verbs are affected by the change a → ë. At the first three persons and in the third plural person in the present tense, the stress fall on the root syllable of these verbs, and the ancient a is restored. An example is the verb cëntar.
2. These verbs are affected by the change open e → ei. As the previous group, at the first three persons and in the third plural person in the present tense, the stress fall on the root syllable of these verbs; usually under stress the ancient closed e turned into open e and thus became the diphtong ei. An example is the verb sentir.

	cëntar	sentir
1st sing	cànt	sèint
2nd sing	cànç	sèinç
3rd sing	cànte	sèint
1st plur	cëntiàm	sentiàm
2nd plur	cëntàt	sentìt
3rd plur	càntan	sèinton

• Group 1: bëlar, cëder, cëntar, çëmar, ëmar, lëvar, mënģar, përlar
• Group 2: pensar, sentir

Padër noştŗ - Lord's pray

Padër noştŗ, ëlcal sè ën çeil

Sì sëntificat ël Tu nom

Veinge ël Tu reņ

Sì fate le Tu volontè

Ştomod ën çel, ştomod ën teire

Dani oģ ël noştŗ pan cotidian

E rimeiç a noi łë noştŗ debiç

Ştomod com noaltŗ lor rimetiam ał noştŗ debitoŗ

E no ni portar ën tentësion

Me ni libere del mal

Amen

Le tor dë Bëbel - Babel text

Tute le teire përlave le ştese linge e usave lë ştes përol.

Mentr venivan del orieint, łë omiņ an trovat une piënure nel paes dë Şinear e si son fermaç ci.

Lor an dest a lor şteş: "Fëçàm dëł mëtoņ e lor coçiam con ël foc!" E an usat mëtoņ al poşt dël pieitr, e bitum al poşt dele calç.

E lor an dest: "Coştruiam une çite e une tor, le çime de lecal pol ërivar al çeil, ştomod çë no ëbiam d'eser disperş sur le façe dele teire".

E Di ei şes per veder le çite e le tor, lëcał łë fił dëł omiņ ştavan coştruieinç.

E Di a dest: "Ec, lor son un sol popol e tuç lor an ël ştes lingaģ; e ştoci ei ël inizi dël lor lëvor; ore, lor poson far tut ëlcal lor vołon.

Şendiam e confondiam ël lor lingaģ, ştomod çë lor no poson cëpirş!"

E Di lor a dispers de cel poşt sur le façe dele teire, e lor an smes dë coştruir le çite.

Ştomod şteci çite si çam Bëbel, perce ci Di a confus ël lingaģ dë tute le teire, e de ci Di lor a dispers sur tute le teire.