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 extreme reforms of late. Bear with me as I update the page. The revised version is currently accurate through Verbal morphology.

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

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.

Links

• Elbic Swadesh list