Cironean

Cironean (natively: rethró athenam Cirónei, "language of the men of Cirone") is a language in the Redhrácic family of tongues spoken by the Homo antiquus Cironeans.

Phonology

Roman-alphabet transliteration reveals a principally Indo-European-equivalency in pronunciation, with an equivalency bias toward Latinate and Romance forms with a few deviations.

Phonemes

Consonants

Consonantal phonemes, as observed above, are principally Latinate. The list below is the sum total of native consonants recognized in Cironean.

C	CH	D	F	G	H	J	L
M	N	P	Q	U	R	S	SH
T	TH	V	W	X	Y	Z

A few notes:

• The C phoneme is not orthographically bifurcated as in modern Latin/Latinate languages or in English. It is universally an aspirated, voiceless velar plosive. It's voiced brother, G, in similar fashion always expressed a voiced velar plosive.
• CH is never gutteral as the Germanic form. It never represents x. It always represents the initial phoneme as expressed in words such as the English cherry.
• J is not, as in Latin, a form evolved to express a consonantal I-form. it invariably expresses the phoneme dʒ.
• SH is always voiceless; also TH, which under no circumstances represents ð. That phoneme, while present in parallel Redhrácic family members, dropped out of use in Cironean.
• X universally expresses a "KS" phoneme.
• Z is always a voiced alveolar fricative.

Vowels

The vowel phonemes in Cironean are analogical with Latinate vowels, with a vanishingly slight degree of variation. They are laid out below.

• a – Latin pater
• o – Latin possum
• ó – Latin laudo
• u – Latin puto
• e – Latin moneo
• i – Latin fio
• ai (archaic) – approx. to Latin caelum
• oi – English point
• ou – English pout

Syllabic Structure

Cironean organizes its phonemes very flexibly. There is no general format that morphemes tend to follow; however, there are certain consonantal phonemes that do not appear together under any circumstances. Those are listed below.

• C
• F
• H
• J
• QU
• V
• W
• Y
• Z

Consonantal phonemes may cluster at the beginning of words or syllables. These are the permissible initial clusters in Cironean:

1. B and C - can form clusters with L and R
2. D, G, P, and T - can form clusters with R
3. S - can form clusters with C and T

Stress rules in Cironean are similar to those in Redhrácic. Words of a single syllable are unaccented, while words of two to five syllables stress the antepenult. Those words of six syllables or more stress the second syllable as well as the antepenult.

Grammar

Nouns

Nouns in Cironean are inflected and organized into four declensions. While there is some aspect of grammatical gender behind this organization (i.e., the first declension is "feminine," the second declension is "masculine," the third is "neuter") this is not strictly adhered to (e.g., the fourth declension is "mixed" in terms of gender). Generally speaking, personal nouns such as proper names are declined according to the actual gender of the antecedent.

As to the mechanics of nouns:

Nouns in Cironean are declined into four cases - nominative, genitive, predicative, and prepositive. The nominative and genitive cases are so named because they correspond substantially to the Indo-European versions of those cases. The predicative case is used for any direct object of a verb, inclusive of the copulae (see Appendix II) and the objects of passive verbs. Thus, a literal translation of a passive Cironean sentence is grammatically incorrect in English: "I am called by you" is literally "Me am called by you."

1st Declension: “Feminine” Nouns Ending in –Ó

Model: Rethró, language

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Rethró	Rethróth
Genitive	Rethroi	Rethroith
Predicative	Rethrou	Rethrouth
Prepositive	Rethroe	Rethroeth

2nd Declension: “Masculine” Nouns Ending in –E

Model: Alve, house

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Alve	Alven
Genitive	Alvei	Alvein
Predicative	Alveu	Alveun
Prepositive	Alveó	Alveón

3rd Declension: “Neuter” Nouns Ending in –U

Model: Oithu, mountain

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Oithu	Oithus
Genitive	Oithui	Oithuis
Predicative	Oithue	Oithues
Prepositive	Oithua	Oithuas

4th Declension: “Mixed” Nouns Ending in Consonants

Model: Athen, man

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Athen	Atheni
Genitive	Athena	Athenam
Predicative	Athenu	Athenum
Prepositive	Athene	Athenem

Adjectives

There are two forms of adjectives. The first form takes endings from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Declensions, taking these endings according to the gender, number, and case of the substantive that is being modified. This holds true regardless of the declension of the noun, i.e., a type-1 adjective can modify a 4th Declension masculine noun by taking the 2nd Declension forms of the noun in question, e.g. Athen thane, a tall man. Similarly, the second type takes the endings of the 4th Declension, modifying a noun with these endings regardless of the form of the noun itself.

Comparison of Adjectives: The four degrees of comparison are the positive, comparative, α-superlative, and β-superlative. They are indicated by affixing the following particles to the adjective:

Pos: — Comp: af(a)- α-sup: ef(e)- β-sup: of(o)-

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

1st Person Pronoun

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Shó	Shol
Genitive	Shoe	Shoel
Predicative	Shou	Shoül
Prepositive	Shoi	Shoïl

2nd Person Pronoun

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	The	Thech
Genitive	Thea	Theach
Predicative	Theó	Theóch
Prepositive	Theu	Theuch

3rd Person Pronoun

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Eó, Ie, Eu	Eóth, Ien, Eus
Genitive	Eoi, Iei, Eue	Eoith, Iein, Eues
Predicative	Eou, Ieu, Eui	Eouth, Ieun, Euis
Prepositive	Eoe, Ieó, Eua	Eoeth, Ieón, Euas

Other Pronouns

• Proximate (This, These) ruó, rue, raü; declined like 3rd personal pronoun

• Distant (That, Those) eruó, erue, eraü; declined like 3rd personal pronoun

• Relative Pronouns (Who, Which) tuó, tue, taü; declined like 3rd personal pronoun

• Interrogative Pronouns (Who, What, Which [adj]) duó, due, daü; declined like 3rd personal pronoun

• Intensive Pronouns (Emphatics) cuó, cue, caü; declined like 3rd personal pronoun

• Reflexive Pronouns (-self) suó, sue, saü; declined like 3rd personal pronoun

Verbs

The 1st Conjugation: Roots Ending in –A, -O/-Ó, or –U + Consonant

Model/Imperative: Rath, See

Principal Forms: Rath (Imperative); Rathran (Verbal Noun); Rathion (Analytic)

Tense	1st S	2nd S	3rd S	1st Pl	2nd Pl	3rd Pl
Present (S)	Root + ash	Analytic + the	Analytic + eó	Root + oish	Analytic + thech	Analytic + eóth
Past (S)	Root + il + ash	Analytic + il + the	Analytic + il + eó	Root + il + oish	Analytic + il + thech	Analytic + il + eóth
Future (S)	Pres. CTQ + VN	Pres. CTQ + VN	Pres. CTQ + VN	Pres. CTQ + VN	Pres. CTQ + VN	Pres. CTQ + VN
Perfect (D)	Past CPQ + VN	Past CPQ + VN	Past CPQ + VN	Past CPQ + VN	Past CPQ + VN	Past CPQ + VN
Pluperfect	Root + ril + ash	Analytic + ril + the	Analytic + ril + eó	Root + ril + oish	Analytic + ril + thech	Analytic + ril + eóth
Future (P)	Future CPQ + VN	Future CPQ + VN	Future CPQ + VN	Future CPQ + VN	Future CPQ + VN	Future CPQ + VN

To form Subjunctive: Interpose -dó- after Root and before any other phonemes

The 2nd Conjugation: Roots Ending in –E, -I, -OI, -OU + Consonant

Model/Imperative: Urgin, do

Principal Forms: Urigin (Imperative); Urginach (Verbal Noun); Urginait (Analytic)

Tense	1st S	2nd S	3rd S	1st Pl	2nd Pl	3rd Pl
Present (S)	Root + esh	Analytic + the	Analytic + eó	Root + eshol	Analytic + thech	Analytic + eóth
Past (S)	Root + oi + esh	Analytic + oi + the	Analytic + oi + eó	Root + oi + eshol	Analytic + oi + thech	Analytic + oi + eóth
Future (S)	Pres. CTQ + VN	Pres. CTQ + VN	Pres. CTQ + VN	Pres. CTQ + VN	Pres. CTQ + VN	Pres. CTQ + VN
Perfect (D)	Past CPQ + VN	Past CPQ + VN	Past CPQ + VN	Past CPQ + VN	Past CPQ + VN	Past CPQ + VN
Pluperfect	Root + coi + esh	Analytic + coi + the	Analytic + coi + eó	Root + coi + eshol	Analytic + coi + thech	Analytic + coi + eóth
Future (P)	Future CPQ + VN	Future CPQ + VN	Future CPQ + VN	Future CPQ + VN	Future CPQ + VN	Future CPQ + VN

To form Subjunctive: Interpose -fi- after the Root and before any other phonemes

The 3rd Conjugation: Roots Ending in Any Vowel

Model: Vevu, go

Principal Forms: Vevu (Imperative); Vevuchou (Verbal Noun); Vevun (Analytic)

Tense	1st S	2nd S	3rd S	1st Pl	2nd Pl	3rd Pl
Present (S)	Root + nosh	Analytic + the	Analytic + eó	Root + noshol	Analytic + thech	Analytic + eóth
Past (S)	Root + nin + osh	Analytic + nin + the	Analytic + nin + eó	Root + nin + oshol	Analytic + nin + thech	Analytic + nin + eóth
Future (S)	Pres. CTQ + VN	Pres. CTQ + VN	Pres. CTQ + VN	Pres. CTQ + VN	Pres. CTQ + VN	Pres. CTQ + VN
Perfect (D)	Past CPQ + VN	Past CPQ + VN	Past CPQ + VN	Past CPQ + VN	Past CPQ + VN	Past CPQ + VN
Pluperfect	Root + rin + osh	Analytic + rin + the	Analytic + rin + eó	Root + rin + oshol	Analytic + rin + thech	Analytic + rin + eóth
Future (P)	Future CPQ + VN	Future CPQ + VN	Future CPQ + VN	Future CPQ + VN	Future CPQ + VN	Future CPQ + VN

To form Subjunctive: Interpose -na- after the Root and before any other phonemes

Adverbs

Adverbs precede and modify verbs in a way similar to that adjectives use to modify substantives. There is no gender, number, or case to match, and the tense, person, mood, and voice are not mimicked. Comparison of adverbs utilizes the same prefixes as the comparison of adjectives.

Appendix I: Numerals

Numeral	Cironean
0	Nachen
1	inó
2	wothó
3	cetó
4	nouró
5	linó
6	thequó
7	síbó
8	foió
9	ató
10	quenó
11	inquenó
12	woquenó
13	cequenó
14	nouquenó
15	linquenó
16	thequenó
17	shiquenó
18	foiquenó
19	atquenó
20	quewodó
21	inquewodó
30	quecetó
40	quenouró
50	quelinó
60	quethequó
70	queshibó
80	quefoió
90	queató
100	quequenó; unejó
200	wodó quequenori; wodunejó
1,000	quenó quequenori; quenó unejori; yorathó
2,000	wodó quenori quequenori; wodó quenori unejori; woyorathó

Appendix II: The Copulae

Nanzun: The Copula of Temporary Qualities

Principal Parts: Nanzish; Nanzun; Nanzó, -ze, -zu

Passive Particle: N/A Mood Markers: Demonstrative: -z- Imperative: -za- Subjunctive: -zó-

Tense	1st S	2nd S	3rd S	1st Pl	2nd Pl	3rd Pl
Present	-ish	-ith	-i	-ishol	-itheg	-in
Past	-ash	-ath	-a	-ashol	-atheg	-an
Future	-esh	-eth	-e	-eshol	-etheg	-en
Present Perfect	-ishu	-ithu	-iu	-ishul	-ithug	-ium
Past Perfect	-ashu	-athu	-aü	-ashul	-athug	-aüm
Future Perfect	-eshu	-ethu	-eu	-eshul	-ethug	-eüm

Nonquon: The Copula of Permanent Qualities

Principal Parts: Nonquish; Nonquon; Nonquó, -que, -quu

Passive Particle: N/A Mood Markers: Demonstrative: -qu- Imperative: -qua- Subjunctive: -quo-

Tense:	1st S	2nd S	3rd S	1st Pl	2nd Pl	3rd Pl
Present	-ish	-ith	-i	-ishol	-itheg	-in
Past	-ash	-ath	-a	-ashol	-atheg	-an
Future	-esh	-eth	-e	-eshol	-etheg	-en
Present Perfect	-ishu	-ithu	-iu	-ishul	-ithug	-ium
Past Perfect	-ashu	-athu	-aü	-ashul	-athug	-aüm
Future Perfect	-eshu	-ethu	-eu	-eshul	-ethug	-eum