Slevan grammar outline

Note: This version of Slvanjec is outdated especially as regards the development of the vowels and hence some endings too. It will be updated ASAP. BPJ 10:06, 16 Jul 2005 (PDT)

Alphabet and pronunciation

The Slevan alphabet consists of the following letters:

a á b c ch cz d dj dz dzs e é f g h i í j k l lj m n nj o ó p r s sz t tj u ú v y ý z zs

The letters b d f h k m n p t z have approximately the same pronunciation as in English.

The pronunciation of the other letters is as follows:

Vowels

In general the vowels have the same pronunciation as in Italian or Spanish. Native speakers of English should note the following:

a	[a]	as in English father, but shorter.
e	[ɛ]	as in English dress.
i	[i]	as in English machine, but shorter.
o	[o]	as in English north, but shorter.
u	[u]	as in English brute, but shorter.
y	[ɨ]	is usually pronounced the same as i, but in some dialects y is pronounced similarly to English i in kit, though darker. Polish ryba or Russian рыба has the exact sound.

Vowel length

Vowels with an acute accent above (á é í ó ú ý) are in general pronounced the same as the vowels without such a mark, but longer. The exceptions are é and ó, which for many speakers -- perhaps a majority, although this pronunciation is not considered part of the standard language -- are pronounced as rising diphthongs [iɛ] and [uo], similar to ye in English yes and wa in English want respectively. In the pronunciation of these speakers the spellings é and je are pronounced the same.

Slvanjec vowel length does usually not reflect Latin vowel length, which was lost in Vulgar Latin, but was caused by the loss of a short ĭ or ŭ in the following syllable, hence the long vowels in the final syllable of the nominative/accusative of most second declension nouns.

There is a number of loanwords that have long vowels adopted from the pronunciation of other languages, e.g. táler 'dollar' from German Taler, or skóla from the Renaissance pronunciation of Latin.

Stress

The word stress in Slevan always falls on the first syllable of the word. It should be carefully noted that the acute accent mark does not indicate stress, but vowel length.

Consonants

The consonant letters and digraphs that differ from English are as follows:

c	[ts]	is in all positions pronounced like the tz in English waltz. English speakers should take special care to preserve this pronunciation also at the beginning of words, e.g. in cék 'blind'.
ch	[χ] or [x]	is pronounced as in Scots loch or in German Bach, or in the English interjection yech. It is not a very frequent sound in Slevan.
cz	[tʃ]	is pronounced like the English ch in church.
dj	[ɟ]	is pronounced approximately like the di in English medium.
dz	[dz]	is pronounced like the ds in English beds. As with c English speakers should take care to preserve the correct pronunciation at the beginning of words, e.g. in dzrn 'diurnal span (24 hours), date'.
dzs	[dʒ]	is pronounced like j or dg in English judge. It is an infrequent sound in Slevan, having mostly been replaced by simple zs.
g	[ɡ]	is always hard, like in English go or get, never soft like in English gem, e.g. gezél 'yourneyman'. The g sound isn't very frequent in Slevan, since it is found only in loan words.
j	[j]	has the sound of the English consonantal y in you, yet, yard. The English sound of j in judge is written dzs in Slevan, but this combination has in most cases been replaced by the simple zs.
l	[ɫ]	at the beginning of a word before the vowels a á o ó u ú y ý has the dark sound of l in English loll. Before the vowels e é i í or before dj nj tj the letter l is pronounced like the li in English million, i.e. the same as Slevan lj. Before other consonants or at the end of a word many speakers pronounce l like an English w, but this pronunciation is not considered part of the standard language.
lj	[ʎ]	is pronounced like the li in English million. Some speakers tend to pronounce lj as a simple (Slevan) j in some positions, but this is not considered part of the standard language.
nj	[ɲ]	is pronounced like the ny in English canyon, or more exactly like the ñ in Spanish cañón !
r	[r]	is a rolled sound like in Italian or Spanish carro. Note that Slevan r is never silent as in British English.
s	[s]	is always pronounced voiceless like in English sit, miss, never voiced, like z. When a voiced s occurs in loanwords it is replaced by z, e.g. in prezident.
sz	[ʃ]	is pronounced like the English sh in ship.
tj	[c]	is pronounced approximately like the te in the English word meteor.
v	[v] or [w]	is pronounced like in English, but before another consonant or at the end of a word many speakers pronounce v like an English w. Unlike the similar pronunciation of l this is accepted as part of the standard language.
zs	[ʒ]	has the sound of z in English azure or of j in French jour. Cf. j.

The letters q and x are never used in Slevan. They are always replaced by k and ks respectively,

e.g. kvarc 'quartz' and tekst.

Syllabic liquids

The letters l and r can in Slevan form a syllable of their own without a supporting vowel, e.g. slván 'Slevan man', blb 'onion', dzrn 'diurnal span, date', krce 'cross'.

A native Slevan speaker would never confuse tj with cz or dj with dzs, but Slevans are rather used to speakers of German or Romany confusing these pairs of sounds.

Nouns and adjectives

Nouns

Nouns in Slevan inflect for number and case, and adjectives in addition inflect for gender. There are three main declensions, with a few subtypes within each declension.

First declension nouns

First declension nouns are typically feminine in gender. Those few masculines of the first declension that existed in Latin have as a rule been superseded by other formations, and loanwords that belong to the first declension masculine in Latin are normally assigned to the second declension in Slevan.

The paradigms for the first declension are roza 'rose' and vilja 'daughter, girl':

	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative, Accusative	roza	roze	vilja	vilje
Genitive	roze	rozár	vilje	viljár
Dative	roze	rozav	vilje	viljav

Second declension nouns

The second declension in Slevan represents a merger of the second and fourth declension of Latin. The nouns belonging here are masculine, with a few exceptions like mán f. 'hand'. There is no neuter gender in Slevan, the neuter having merged into the masculine early on.

The paradigms for the second declension are mýr 'wall' and bánj 'bath':

	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative, Accusative	mýr	myry	bánj	bani
Genitive	myry	myrúr	bani	banjúr
Dative	myru	myrov	banju	banjov

The main subtypes of the second declension are represented by popol 'people' and lábelj 'lip'. Note the extra syllable in the nominative-accusative singular and the alternation between long and short vowel in the stem:

	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative, Accusative	popol	póply	lábelj	labli
Genitive	póply	póplúr	labli	labljúr
Dative	póplu	póplov	lablju	labljov/lablv

Two other subtypes are presented below. Áher 'field' is similar to the two previous types, while amec 'friend' together with other words which ended in -ICUS in Romance forms a subtype of their own:

	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative, Accusative	áher	ahry	amec	ameczi
Genitive	ahry	ahrúr	ameczi	amecúr
Dative	ahru	ahrov	amecu	amecov

Third declension nouns

The third declension includes both masculine and feminine nouns, without any difference in inflection based on gender. There are however, like in the second declension, a number of subtypes due to differences in the final sound of the stem. The most distinctive trait of the third declension is the lack of an ending (but lengthening of the vowel of the final syllable of the stem) in the genitive plural.

The two basic types of inflection in the third declension are represented by súlj 'sun' and pastúr 'shepherd':

	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative, Accusative	súlj	sulje	pastúr	pasturje
Genitive	suli	súlj	pasturi	pastúr
Dative	suli	suljev	pasturi	pasturev

Stems ending in cz and zs are represented by krcz 'cross' and ljézs 'law':

	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative, Accusative	krcz	krcze	ljézs	ljezse
Genitive	krczi	krcz	ljezsi	ljézs
Dative	krczi	krczev	ljezsi	ljezsev

Adjectives

Adjectives in Slevan are declined exactly like nouns of the corresponding declensions and types.

First and second declension adjectives

The first and largest class of adjectives follow the first declension in the feminine and the second declension in the masculine, e.g. nóv 'new':

	Masculine		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative, Accusative	nóv	novy	nova	nove
Genitive	novy	novúr	nove	novár
Dative	novu	novov	nove	novav

Third declension adjectives

Third declension adjectives also are declined just like nouns. The adjectives hrúde 'big' and hrave 'stern' represent yet two other inflection types in this declension:

	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative, Accusative	hrúdj	hrúdje	hráv	hravje
Genitive	hrúdi	hrúdj	hravi	hráv
Dative	hrúdi	hrudjev	hravi	hravev

Adverbs

To be added

Pronouns

To be added

Verbs

To be added

Conjunctions

To be added

Interjections

To be added

Syntax

To be added

BPJ 13:06, 27 Jul 2005 (PDT)