Syrunian

SYRUNIAN al-linża sirunija : אל-לינזּא סירונײא
Pronunciation:	/ alːinˈʒa sirʊˈnija /
Spoken in:	once: Roman Province of Syria now: Syria, Israel
Timeline:	Alternate
Total speakers:	3 million
Genealogical classification:	Indo-European Italic Romance Levantine Syrunian
Written in:	a Hebraic alphabet and the Latin alphabet
Historically also written in:	the Hebrew, Arabic and Syriac abjads; the Greek and Coptic alphabets
Created by:
Iuhan Culmæria	December 2010
Relevant admired projects :	Carrajina; Bâzrâmani

Syrunian is a Romance conlang, or romlang. The goal was to create a plausible descendant of Latin, that sounds (and acts, at times) like a Semitic language.

It is derived from a Vulgar Latin used in Roman Syria. It has influences of Hebrew and the Syriac/Aramaic of the Early Christians. There are ‘late’ borrowings from Arabic and contemporary loans from French and English, like l-aurdinatur from the French “l’ordinateur” (computer).

Syrunian is more of a ‘personal language’ – it is an unnaturally regular language.

Etymology

“al Linża Sirunija” is derived from the Syrian-Latin phrase: illa lingua Siria Romane or ‘the language Syrian Roman’ (=the Syrian Latin language)
Siria + Rumania → Sirija + Runnia → Siri_+ Runija → Sirirunija → Sirunija

Alt-history

Syiac (a dialect of Aramaic) prevailed as a literary language throughout Mesopotamia. Hebrew was the liturgical language of Judaism. Both languages were used by the people as mother tongues.
The history of Syrunian begins with the Roman Empire, in the Province of Syria. As the Romans established their Empire they spread the Latin language.
The city of Antioch was the capital of Syria. It was one of the largest cities in the ancient world, as well as one of the largest centres of trade and industry. Syria was one of the wealthiest and more populous provinces of the Roman Empire. As a result, Latin was adopted as a common vernacular, despite the Latin giving way to Greek in the Eastern Empire.

Syrian Latin

As a result of this setting and the influences, the Latin used in Syria evolved differently to the Latin in other areas of the Empire which would eventually become the modern Romance languages. The exposure to Semitic languages like Hebrew and Aramaic greatly influenced the development of Syrian Latin, most superficially, in terms of pronunciation.
During the Roman and Early Christian periods, a number of Syriac and Hebrew terms (mostly terms for religion and geography) were absorbed into the language.

Islam and the First Crusade

From 637, the province was conquered by Islam, which was becoming popular in the Mediterranean; Arabic would become lingua franca of the entire Middle East.
The first Crusade and the establishment of Crusader States reintroduced Latin, but alongside Old French. In time, the Islamic part of Syria had become a centre of anti-crusader activity, and had strong Arabic traditions.

Post World War I

The Ottoman Empire eventually dissolved. In 1922 the League of Nations split the dominion of the former Syria. What was to become modern-day Syria was put under French mandate.
Syria under French mandate exposed Syrunian to French for a second time. The first encounter had been during the Crusades.

Syrunian in Modern times

The Syrunian language is that of a minority community in South-western Syria bordering Israel and Lebanon. Due to their language, Syrunian communities have been generally distanced from society – including the Israeli-Palestinian/ Arab conflict.

Phonology

Syrunian is written with a Hebraic alphabet, although the oficial Syrunian-Latin alpahbet is becoming more popular.

Note that ‹Ċ›‹Ġ› and ‹Ż› can be refered to as Ċadi, Ġimel and Żajn or Tsadi-dageσ, Gimel-dageσ and Zajn-dageσ. (The Syrunian dagesh functions differently to the Hebrew and Aramaic dagesh)

Consonants

Consonants
	Bilabial -		Labiodental -		Dental -		Alveolar -		Post-alveolar -		Palatal -		Velar -		Uvular -		Glottal
Nasal		/m/						/n/
Plosive	/p/	/b					/t/	/d/					/k/	/g/	[q]		/ʔ/
Fricative			/f/	/v/	/θ,ð/		/s/	/z/	/ʃ/	/ʒ/			/x/		[χ]		/h/
Affricate					/ts/				/ʧ/	/ʤ/
Approximants		/w/										/j/
Trill								[r]							[ʀ]
Lateral Approximant								/l/

Vowels

/a/ - /e, ə/ - /i/ - /u, ʊ/
/aj/ AI אי - /aw, ɔ/ AU או - /eɪ/ EI עי - /ij/ II ײ - /wi/ UI וי

Allophones

I, as creator reserve the right to create formal allophonic rules.
I don’t find phonology as interesting as the other parts of language and believe that any potential speaker community will naturally develop allophones.

General linguistic characteristics

Syntax

The predominant word order in Syrunian is VSO (Verb – Subject – Objects). VSO is the word order of Biblical Hebrew, Classical Arabic and probably Literary Syriac as well. Within the noun phrase, both adjectives and possessors follow nouns. Possessors precede adjectives when modifying the same noun. Syrunian uses prepositions, some of which are prefixing clitics.

• duna Heva ah-Adamim al-fruσtim
  

give (V) Eve (S) to Adam (O¹) the fruit (O²)
Eve gives the fruit to Adam

Most romance languages use the SOV order for question. Syrunian retains the order, but uses a question phrase as well:

• es-ċe qe duna Heva al-fruσtim ah-Adamim
  

it-it that give (V) Eve (S) the fruit (O¹) to Adam (O²)
Is it that Eve gives the fruit to Adam?

Morphology

Syrunian is more inflecting than most Romance languages and is comparable to Romanian. Nouns resemble Syriac/ Aramaic nouns, but their forms derive from Latin.

Pronouns

When using pronouns, there are optional isolated forms which may be used. The meaning does not change - only the emphasis and focus of the statement.

Isolated Pronoun Forms
	1 sg -	2 sg -	3M sg -	3F sg -	1 pl -	2 pl -	3M pl -	3F pl
Emphatic	iħ	ti	lu	la	nus	vus	ilar	ilat
Absolute	miħ	tiv	lui	nust	vust	luir
Construct	me	te	eu	eut	nuσt	vuσt	eur	eurit

Pronominal Forms
	1 sg -	2 sg -	3 sg -	1 pl -	2 pl -	3 pl -
Subject	-eħ	-ta	-le	-ni	-vi	-se
Direct object	-mi	-ti	-eu	-nuσ	-vuσ	-er

Indirect objects cannot be conjugated/ suffixed unto the verb

• sabaq Ihedas Ieσuim ahal-Senhedris
  betrays Judas Jesus to-the-Priests' Council
  Judas betrays Jesus to the Council of Priests.
  
  
• Pronominal form:
  sabaqleheu ahal-Senhedris
  sabaq-le-eu ah-al-Senhedris
  betrays-he-him to-the-Priests' Council
  --or--
  
• Isolated form:
  sabaq lu lui ahal-Senhedris
  betrays he him to-the-Priests' Council.
  
  Both forms translate to "He betrayed Him to the Council of Priests."
  

Nouns

Syrunian only has a definite article «al-» which is a contraction of the Latin pronoun illa and resembles the Arabic article al-.
Syrunian nouns have two genders: masculine (for explicitly the masculine) and feminine (or ‘common’). The gender is expressed in verb conjugation, not on the noun itself.
Three numbers in Syrunian: the singular, plural and dual, although the dual number only applies to certain nouns that come in pairs, like eyes, arms and socks.

There are three states in Syrunian, the emphatic, absolute and construct states. The inflection of many nouns make used of vowel shifts that resemble Semitic inflections.

• the Emphatic is used to emphasise the topic of a sentence and is comparable to a vocative case. It is also being used as a nominative case more and more.
• the Absolute is a prepositional case that also covers the role of an accusative.
• the Construct state is used to mark the possessèd, unlike the Latin Genetive which marked the possessor.
  
  Adjectives agree eith the noun in case and number/ (Dual numbers take plural adjectives. Adjectives never inflect for the dual.)

Inflection of "meleq" (govenor)
	singular	plural
Emphatic	meleq	meleqi
Absolute	melqim	melqis
Construct	melqe	melqes

Inflection of "regiσ" (king)
	singular	plural
Emphatic	regiσ	regiσi
Absolute	regσim	regσis
Construct	regσe	regσes

Inflection of "ejh" (eye)
	singular	plural	dual
Emphatic	ejh	ejhi	ejhajn
Absolute	ejhim	ejhis	a-ejhajn
Construct	ejhe	ejhes	d-ejhajn

Examples:

• duna al-meleq al-livre Cefa Iuhanim
  gives the-mayor the-book-(of) Peter (to)-John
• luqat al-meleq al-regσim
  speaks the-mayor (to)-the-king

Verbs

Syrunian verb conjugations only indicate tense. Verbs have simplifies immensely from thier Latin roots.
There are four different conjugations:

• The verb eʦer
• terminaison -er
• terminaison -ir
• terminaison -ar

Conjugation of "eʦer" (to be)
	Present -	Past -	Future -	Conjunctive
Masculine	es	fi	ser	etej
Feminine	es	fi	ser	esej
Gerund	al-esse
Imperative	ha-serta!
Descriptive	esse

Conjugation of "luqer" (to speak)
	Present -	Past -	Future -	Conjunctive
Masculine	luq	luqib	luqreh	luqeh
Feminine	luq	luqiv	luqr	luqej
Gerund	al-luqer
Imperative	ha-luqata!
Descriptive	luqis

Conjugation of "sabaqir" (to forsake)
	Present -	Past -	Future -	Conjunctive
Masculine	sabaq	sabaqab	sabaqib	sabaqaj
Feminine	slabqav	sabaqiv	sabqaj
Gerund	al-sabaqir
Imperative	ha-sabaqta!
Descriptive	sabaqs

Conjugation of "amar" (to love)
	Present -	Past -	Future -	Conjunctive
Masculine	am	amb	amr	amaj
Feminine	am	amv	amaθr	amθaj
Gerund	al-amar
Imperative	ha-amrata!
Descriptive	amah

Texts

These texts are outdated. Once I have completed the GRAMMAR REVISION, the texts will be revised as well.

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Sunt nasħuntaθs aunes ħuni libers, eħuals et sam al-dihnte al-żihursqe. Sunt dunati luir dal raσnim dal cusħentsimsqe et est-ċi avulet q’ agiσint ilar sifral-autres sam al-sfirte fraθres.

סונט נאסחוטאתס אונעס חוני ליבערס ,עחואלס עט סאם אל-דיהנטע אל-זּיהורסכע. סונט דונאטי לויר דאל-ראשנים דאל-קוסחעצימסכע עט עסט-צּי אוּולעט כ אגישינט ילאר סיףראל-אוטרעס סאם אל-סףירטע ףראתרעס.

Pronunciation

/sunt nasxʊ:ntaðz awnez xʊ:ni liberz exwa:ls et sam: al di:ntɛ: al ʒihʊ:rsqə sunt duna:ti lwir dal raʃni:m dal kusχɛ:ntsims qə et esttʃi avulɛ:t qagiʃi:nt ila:r sifralawtrɛ:s samal sfirtɛ: fraθrɛ:s/

• /q/ = [q] or [χ]
  

Gloss

• _sunt nasħuntaθs aunes ħuns libers, eħuals et sam al-dihnte al-żihurs| qe._
  

be.3P bornPP all people.E free , equal and with the-dignity.C the-rights| and.
“all people are born free, equal and with the dignity and the rights.”

• _sunt dunati luir d| al raσnim d| al cusħentsims| qe_
  

be.3P givePP them.A of| the-reason.A of| the-conscience.A| and
“to them are given of the reason and of the conscience”

• _et est-ċi avulet q’ agiσint ilar sifr| al-autres sam al-sfirte fraθres_

and is-it proper REL act.3P they.E unto| the-others.C with the-spirit.C brothers.C “and it is proper that they act unto the others with the spirit of brothers.”

Who wants us stopped?

desiθra eħ sħaver, est-ċe qis qi vult qej sums nus iħunʦezis ; ħraviuramenth, fer qhu ?

“I wish to know who it is who wishes us stopped, and moreover, why?”

ina σeh, fer qhu ? hatu, se ne-sħavrejms nus qej farvams, eħru qej ne sħavrejnt pazinna persuns auters ; et, se ne sħavrejnt persuns qej farams, aheh, fer qhu est qelci deθremin fral fruħibσun dal-le q’ etejt faħis ?

“Yes, why? For, if we do not know what we are doing, then it follows no one else does either; and, if no one knows what we are going to do, well then, why is someone so determined to prevent us from doing it?”

Gloss

• _desiθra eħ sħaver, est-ċe qis qi vult qej sums nus iħunʦezis ;_
  

desire I to.know, is-it who that wants that are we forbidden ;

• _ħraviuramenth, fer qhu ?_
  

more.weightily, for why?

• _ina ϭeh, fer qhu ? hatu, se ne-sħavrejms nus qej farvams,_
  

indeed yes, for why? For, if not-know we what we.do[subj],

• _eħru qej ne sħavrejnt pazinna persuns auters ;_
  

thus that not-know[subj] at.all persons other ;

• _et, se ne sħavrejnt persuns qej farams,_
  

and, if not-know[subj] persons what we.do[fut]

• _aheh, fer qhu est qelci deθremin fral fruħibϭun dal-le q’ etejt faħis ?_
  

well, for why is someone determined for.the-prohibiting of.the-it that be[subj] done ?