Elbic

Élbica
Pronounced:	'ɛlbika
Timeline and Universe:	Ill Bethisad
Species:	Human
Spoken:	Elba
Total speakers:	30,000
Writing system:	Latin
Genealogy:	Indo-European  Italic   Romance    South-Central Romance     Central-Southern Italian      Elbic
Typology
Morphological type:	Inflecting
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Nominative-Accusative
Basic word order:	SVO
Credits
Creator:	Sectori
Created:	July, 2009

Nota bene: Elbic has undergone some changes since this page was last updated, especially to nominal morphology but also limited changes to verbal morphology. I'm not sure if/when this page will be up-to-date.

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

Written Elbic utilizes four diacritics:

• the circumflex is used to mark the vowels /e/ and /o/ (written ê and ô)
• the diaeresis is used to mark the diphthong /jɛ/ (written ië)
• the acute accent is used to mark irregular stress on a non-final syllable
• the grave accent is used to mark irregular stress on a final syllable

Note that an acute or grave takes precedence over the diaeresis (e.g. Miéxxicu Mexico).

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". The definite article contracts with the prepositions a (at, to, towards), da (from, of), in (in, at, on), and su (around, on).

Contraction with a

a	Masc.	Fem.	Before vowel
Sing.	allu	alla	all'
Plur.	allus	allas	*

Contraction with da

da	Masc.	Fem.	Before vowel
Sing.	dallu	dalla	dall'
Plur.	dallus	dallas	*

Contraction with in

in	Masc.	Fem.	Before vowel
Sing.	gnellu	gnella	gnell'
Plur.	gnellus	gnellas	*

Contraction with su

a	Masc.	Fem.	Before vowel
Sing.	sullu	sulla	sull'
Plur.	sullus	sullas	*

Pronominal morphology

Elbic pronouns, like nouns, distinguish two numbers and between two and five cases. In the third person, there is a masculine-feminine distinction, as well. The cases shown by the pronouns are the following: for the first and second person pronouns, nominative, genitive, and oblique-reflexive cases are distinguished. For the impersonal pronoun si, the nominative and the oblique-reflexive are identical. For the third person pronouns, nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, and reflexive are distinguished, and there exist special disjunctive forms, as well.

First person

The first person pronoun declines as follows:

	Sing.	Plur.
Nom.	giu	nus
Gen.	miu	nuostru
O.-R.	mi	nui

Second person

The second person pronoun declines as follows:

	Sing.	Plur.
Nom.	tu	vus
Gen.	tiu	vuostru
O.-R.	ti	vui

Third person

The third person pronoun declines as follows:

	Masc.		Fem.
	Sing.	Plur.	Sing.	Plur.
Nom.	ell	ells	ella	ellas
Gen.	siu	lôrru	siu	larru
Dat.	lhi	lhis	lhi	lhis
Acc.	lu/l'	lus	la/l'	las
Ref.	si	si	si	si
Disj.	ellu	ellus	ella	ellas

Verbal morphology

Elbic verbs can be classified into five groups; four of them are distinguished by their infinitive endings while the fifth comprises irregular verbs.

• First conjugation infinitives end in arri, e.g. parlarri speak
• Second conjugation infinitives end in erri, e.g. vêderri see
• Third conjugation infinitives end in ri, e.g. priëndri take
• Fourth conjugation infinitives end in irri, e.g. finirri finish
• Irregular verbs' infinitives look like infinitives for one of the other four conjugations

There are two important notes about verb conjugation. Some finite endings cause palatalization of the preceding consonant:

Normal	Palatalized
c	x
ch	c
g	gi
gh	g
t	ç
d	z
l	lh
n	gn

Additionally, any verbs, most notably verbs of the third conjugation, whose final stem vowel is short e or o will diphthongize when that vowel is stressed to ië or uo. Thus, the stem of the third conjugation verb priëndri is actually *prend, but because the stress falls on the stem vowel, it has diphthongized even in the infinitive.

All verbs are conjugated by removing the infinitive ending and adding various suffixes. The conjugation patterns for regular verbs, as well as for the irregular verbs esserri be and averri have. Additionally, it should be noted that many verbs, especially of the second and third conjugations, have irregular preterite stems. For example, vêderri see has the preterite stem vid (e.g. vidì I saw). The irregular preterite stem is used in both the indicative and the subjunctive.

First conjugation

The conjugation of first conjugation verbs in arri is shown below.

Finite forms

The finite forms of the first conjugation are as follows:

	Present Indicative	Preterite Indicative	Imperfect Indicative	Future Indicative	Present Subjunctive	Preterite Subjunctive	Imperative
1 sg.	u	ai	abba	arò	i	assi	—
2 sg.	as	asti	abbas	aràs	is	assis	a
3 sg.	a	ò	abba	arà	i	assi	—
1 pl.	ammu	ammu	ábbamu	aremmu	immu	ássimu	immu
2 pl.	atti	astis	ábbati	aretti	itti	ássiti	atti
3 pl.	an	arrun	abban	aràn	in	assin	—

Non-finite forms

The non-finite forms of the first conjugation are as follows:

Infinitive	arri
Past part.	attu
Present part.	anti

Sample conjugation

The finite conjugation of the verb cantarri sing:

	Present Indicative	Preterite Indicative	Imperfect Indicative	Future Indicative	Present Subjunctive	Preterite Subjunctive	Imperative
1 sg.	cantu	cantai	cantabba	cantarò	canti	cantassi	—
2 sg.	cantas	cantasti	cantabbas	cantaràs	cantis	cantassis	canta
3 sg.	canta	cantò	cantabba	cantarà	canti	cantassi	—
1 pl.	cantammu	cantammu	cantábbamu	cantaremmu	cantimmu	cantássimu	cantimmu
2 pl.	cantatti	cantastis	cantábbati	cantaretti	cantitti	cantássiti	cantatti
3 pl.	cantan	cantarrun	cantabban	cantaràn	cantin	cantassin	—

And the non-finite forms:

Infinitive	cantarri
Past part.	cantattu
Present part.	cantanti

Second conjugation

The conjugation of second conjugation verbs in erri is shown below:

Finite forms

The finite forms of the second conjugation are as follows:

	Present Indicative	Preterite Indicative	Imperfect Indicative	Future Indicative	Present Subjunctive	Preterite Subjunctive	Imperative
1 sg.	*u	ì	ebba	erò	*a	essi	—
2 sg.	es	isti	ebbas	eràs	*as	essis	i
3 sg.	i	ò	ebba	erà	*a	essi	—
1 pl.	emmu	immu	ébbamu	eremmu	*ammu	éssimu	*ammu
2 pl.	etti	istis	ébbati	eretti	*atti	éssiti	etti
3 pl.	*un	*errun	ebban	eràn	*an	essin	—

Non-finite forms

The non-finite forms of the second conjugation are as follows:

Infinitive	erri
Past part.	ittu
Present part.	enti

Sample conjugation

The finite conjugation of vêderri see:

	Present Indicative	Preterite Indicative	Imperfect Indicative	Future Indicative	Present Subjunctive	Preterite Subjunctive	Imperative
1 sg.	vêzu	vidì	vêdebba	vêderò	vêza	videssi	—
2 sg.	vêdes	vidisti	vêdebbas	vêderàs	vêzas	videssis	vêdi
3 sg.	vêdi	vidò	vêdebba	vêderà	vêza	videssi	—
1 pl.	vêdemmu	vidimmu	vêdébbamu	vêderemmu	vêzammu	vidéssimu	vêzammu
2 pl.	vêdetti	vidistis	vêdébbati	vêderetti	vêzatti	vidéssiti	vêdetti
3 pl.	vêzun	vizerrun	vêdebban	vêderàn	vêzan	videssin	—

And the non-finite forms; note the irregular past participle:

Infinitive	vêderri
Past part.	vistu
Present part.	vêdenti

Third conjugation

The conjugation of third conjugation verbs in ri.

Finite forms

The finite forms of the third conjugation are as follows:

	Present Indicative	Preterite Indicative	Imperfect Indicative	Future Indicative	Present Subjunctive	Preterite Subjunctive	Imperative
1 sg.	u	ì	*ebba	rò	a	essi	—
2 sg.	is	isti	*ebbas	ràs	as	essis	i
3 sg.	i	ò	*ebba	rà	a	essi	—
1 pl.	emmu	immu	*ébbamu	remmu	ammu	éssimu	ammu
2 pl.	etti	istis	*ébbati	retti	atti	éssiti	etti
3 pl.	un	*errun	*ebban	ràn	an	essin	—

Non-finite forms

The non-finite forms of the second conjugation are as follows:

Infinitive	ri
Past part.	ittu
Present part.	*enti

Sample conjugation

The finite conjugation of piërdri lose (stem perd):

	Present Indicative	Preterite Indicative	Imperfect Indicative	Future Indicative	Present Subjunctive	Preterite Subjunctive	Imperative
1 sg.	piërdu	perdì	perzebba	perdrò	piërda	perdessi	—
2 sg.	piërdis	perdisti	perzebbas	perdràs	piërdas	perdessis	piërdi
3 sg.	piërdi	perdò	perzebba	perdrà	piërda	perdessi	—
1 pl.	perdemmu	perdimmu	perzébbamu	perdremmu	perdammu	perdéssimu	perdammu
2 pl.	perdetti	perdistis	perzébbati	perdretti	perdatti	perdéssiti	perdetti
3 pl.	piërdun	perzerrun	perzebban	perdràn	piërdan	perdessin	—

And the non-finite forms:

Infinitive	piërdri
Past part.	perdittu
Present part.	perzenti

Fourth conjugation

The conjugation of fourth conjugation verbs in irri.

Finite forms

The finite forms of the fourth conjugation are as follows:

	Present Indicative	Preterite Indicative	Imperfect Indicative	Future Indicative	Present Subjunctive	Preterite Subjunctive	Imperative
1 sg.	*u	ì	*ebba	irò	*a	essi	—
2 sg.	is	isti	*ebbas	iràs	*as	essis	i
3 sg.	i	ò	*ebba	irà	*a	essi	—
1 pl.	immu	immu	*ébbamu	iremmu	*ammu	éssimu	*ammu
2 pl.	itti	istis	*ébbati	iretti	*atti	éssiti	itti
3 pl.	*un	*errun	*ebban	iràn	*an	essin	—

Non-finite forms

The non-finite forms of the fourth conjugation are as follows:

Infinitive	irri
Past part.	ittu
Present part.	*enti

Sample conjugation

The finite conjugation of finirri finish:

	Present Indicative	Preterite Indicative	Imperfect Indicative	Future Indicative	Present Subjunctive	Preterite Subjunctive	Imperative
1 sg.	fignu	finì	fignebba	finirò	figna	finessi	—
2 sg.	finis	finisti	fignebbas	finiràs	fignas	finessis	fini
3 sg.	fini	finò	fignebba	finirà	figna	finessi	—
1 pl.	finimmu	finimmu	fignébbamu	finiremmu	fignammu	finéssimu	fignammu
2 pl.	finitti	finistis	fignébbati	finiretti	fignatti	finéssiti	finitti
3 pl.	fignun	fignerrun	fignebban	finiràn	fignan	finessin	—

And the non-finite forms:

Infinitive	finirri
Past part.	finittu
Present part.	fignenti