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Slevian is a costructed language, created to be related to the Slavic languages' family.

Differently from most Slavic languages, but similar to Bulgarian and Macedonian languages, it losts all the original cases, and developed a definite and indefinite article (but set before its substantive). Differently from Bulgarian and Macedonian it has a semplified verbal system.

It is written with the Latin Alphabet, but can be adapted to the Cyrillic one.

Phonology

Vowels

Slevian has a reduced vocalic system, with only six vowels:

Front Near-front Central Near-back Back
Close
i
  ɨ
u



ɛ
ɔ


     a
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Consonants

Bilabial Labio-
dental
Dental Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Palatal Velar
Plosive
p b
t d
k ɡ
Nasal
   m
   ɱ
   n
   ɲ
   
Vibrant
   
   r
Fricative
f v
s z
ʃ ʒ
   
Affricate
ʦ   
ʧ   
   
 
Approximant
   
   
   
   j
   ɰ
Lateral approximant
   l
   
   

Alphabet

IPA consonant
Latin
   /p/   
    p    
   /b/   
    b    
   /t/   
    t    
   /d/   
    d    
   /k/   
    k    
   /g/   
    g    
   /m/   
    m    
   /n/   
    n    
   /ʦ/   
    c    
   /ʧ/   
    č    
   /ʒ/   
    ž    
   /f/   
    f    
   /v/   
    v    
   /s/   
    s    
   /z/   
    z    
   /ʃ/   
    š    
   /r/   
    r    
   /j/   
    j    
   /ɰ/   
    u    
   /l/   
    l    


Š, ž, č, s, z, l, j are called soft consonants and they tend to modify the use of the morphological endings.


IPA vowel
Latin
   /i/   
    i    
   /ɨ/   
    y    
   /u/   
    u    
   /ɛ/   
    e    
   /a/   
    a    
   /ɔ/   
    o    

Morphology

Slevian has a semplified morphology, in contrast with other Slavic languages.

Substantives

Substantives have three genres (masculine, feminine and neuter) and two numbers (singular and 'plural)

Number

Substantives form their plural by modifying their endings oder by adding a new one:

  • If they end with normal consonants, they add -y
  • If they end with -š, -ž, -č, -s, -z, -l, -j (called soft consonants): they add -i
  • If they end with -a, -e, -u: they drop these vowels and add -y
  • If -a, -e, -u, are preceded by a soft consonant, they add -i instead of -y.
  • If they end with -o: they drop it and add -a
  • If they end with -ja, -je: they drop them and add -ji

Gender

Slevian substantives can be masculine, feminine or neuter.

  • If the substantive ends with a consonant, it is masculine
  • If it ends with -a, it is feminine
  • If it ends with -o, it is neuter
  • If it ends with -e, it can be feminine or neuter:
  • Normal consonant + -e, it is neuter
  • Soft consonant + -e, it is feminine

The plural substantives have no genre.

Articles

Slevian developed a system of articles, differently from the other Slavic languages, and similar to Bulgarian and Macedonian, but it places its articles before the substantives, as in English and contrary to the two Slavic languages:

Indefinite Articles

Articles
Masculine Jedin
Feminine Jedna
Neuter Jedno
Plural Jedny

The plural form is used as the English adjectives some, any.

Definite Articles

Articles
Masculine Ton
Feminine Ta
Neuter To
Plural Ti

Slevian has not an independent form for this and that: they are built by adding an adverbial particle to the articles:

  • To- + Articles = this
  • Tam- + Articles = that

Examples:

  • Mjesto = city, neuter
Jedno mjesto = a city
To mjesto = the city
Toto mjesto = this city
Tamto mjesto = that city

Adjectives

Adjectives do agree with their substantives in genre and number. They are placed after before their substantives as in English. The base form is masculine which generally ends with -y or -i, but some adjectives (most of all passive participles) can end with another consonant. To agree, they modify their endings:

  • If the root ends with normal consonants, the masculine form is -y
  • If the root ends with soft consonants, the masculine form is -i
  • To form the feminine, just drop the masculine ending and add -a
  • To form the neuter, just drop the masculine ending and add -o
  • To form the plural, just drop the masculine ending and add -e

Examples:

  • Ton krasny mir = the beautiful world, masculine
  • Ta krasna noče = the beautiful night, feminine
  • To krasno mjesto = the beautiful city, neuter
  • Ti krasne mjesta = the beautiful cities, plural (no genre recognized)

Comparative

To form the comparative degree, drop the masculine ending and add:

Ending
Masculine -eji
Feminine -eja
Neuter -ejo
Plural -eje

The comparison is made by the particle čim.

Example:

  • Mojo mjesto je krasnejo čim tvojo: My city is more beautiful than yours

Superlative

To form the superlative, place before the declined adjective the particle samej

Example:

  • Tota je ta samej interesna kniga mežo toti ktere počital jeso: This is the most interesting book among the ones I read

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Slevian retains an accusative/object form for the personal pronouns, similar to the difference between the English I / me:

Person Nominative
Subject
Accusative
Object
1st sing.
ja
mine
2nd sing.
ty
tibe
3rd. masc.
on
jego
3rd fem.
ona
jeji
3rd neu.
to
to
1st plu.
my
nas
2nd plu.
vy
vas
3rd fem.
oni
ich

As the verbs already show their person with conjugation, the nominative/subject personal pronouns are not very used.

Possessive pronoun/adjectives

Slevian use the same forms for possessive adjectives and pronouns (contrary to English my / mine). They agree with their substantives according to genre and number as adjectives.

Person Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
1st sing.
moj
moja
mojo
moje
2nd sing.
tvoj
tvoja
tvojo
tvoje
3rd. masc.
jevo
3rd fem.
jejo
3rd neu.
togo
1st plu.
naš
naša
našo
naše
2nd plu.
vaš
vaša
vašo
vaše
3rd fem.
jejich

If the subject coincide with the owner, for the 3rd persons you have to use svoj:

Person Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
refl.
svoj
svoja
svojo
svoje

Examples:

  • On jede se svoja mašina: He goes with his own car
  • On jede s jevo mašina: He goes with his (of another man) car

You can use svoj also with the other person:

  • Ja jedu se svoja mašina: I go with my own car
  • Ja jedu s moja mašina: I go with my own car

Both sentences are correct.

Interrogative pronouns

  • Čto: what?

For the pronoun who there are a subject/nominative form and a separated object/accusative form:

  • Kto: who? (subject/nominative)
  • Kogo: who(m) (object/accusative, it is used with prepositions)
Gender Which?
Masculine
kaky
Feminine
kaka
Neuter
kako
Plural
kake

The word for Where has two forms, according if there is a static situation or a motion:

  • Gde: where? (state)
  • Kud: where? (motion)

Examples:

  • Čto maš?: What do you have?
  • Kto ješ?: Who are you?
  • Kogo ješ povidel?: Who did you see?
  • S kogo ješ pogovoril?: Whom did you talk with?
  • Kaka kniga ona je počitala?: Which book did she read?
  • Gde ješ?: Where are you?
  • Kud jdeš?: Where are you going?

Relative pronoun

Gender That/Which
Masculine
ktery
Feminine
ktera
Neuter
ktero
Plural
ktere

Example:

  • Tamta je kniga ktera jeso počital: This is the book (that) I read

Prepositions

Since Slevian does not use any case, it makes use of a lot of prepositions. Main prepositions are:

Preposition English counterpart
u
of, genitive
e
to, dative
s
with strumental
v
in, state/motion
na
on state/motion
od
from
k
towards, motions to someone
prid
by, with passive voice
pre
in front of
dla
for, benefactive
nad
over, without contact
pod
under
mežo
between, among
po
it has many functions

Two prepositions can change when used:

  • s: an -e is added before a word beginning with s- or z-
  • v: an -e is added before a word beginning with v- or f-

Numbers

Cardinal

The first 10 numbers are irregular:

Number Name of the number
1
Jedin
2
Dva
3
Tri
4
Četyri
5
Pjat
6
Šest
7
Sem
8
Osem
9
Devet
10
Deset

Numbers from 11 to 19 are constructed regularly unit+na+deset, except for 11:

Number Name of the number
11
Odennadeset
12
Dvanadeset
13
Trinadeset
14
Četyrinadeset
15
Pjatnadeset
...
...

Numbers 20, 30, 40, etc are costructed regularly, more than 100 are irregular:

Number Name of the number
20
Dvadeset
30
Trideset
40
Četyrideset
50
Pjatdeset
60
Šestdeset
70
Semdeset
80
Osemdeset
90
Devetdeset
100
Sto
1.000
Tisiče
1.000.000
Miljon
1.000.000.0000
Miljard

Until Sto, cardinal numbers behave like invariable adjectives, i.e they do not change. Sto, Tisiče, Miljon and Miljard behave like nouns and they have a plural form.

Composed numbers are formed with the linker i, and, between the penultimate and the last name of the number:

  • 32: Trideset i dva
  • 345: Tri sta četyrideset i pjat
  • 2007: Dva tisiči i sem
  • 1.976.845.203: Jedin miljard devet sta semdeset šest miljony osem sta četyrideset pjat tisiči dva sta i tri

Ordinal

Ordinal numbers are mostly regularly formed, except for some forms. Usually they form from the cardinal form + the adjectival endings. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 8th are irregular, and the numbers which behave like nouns are irregularly formed:

Number Name of the number
1st
Pervy, perva, pervo, perve
2nd
Duvy
3rd
Trety
4th
Četyrny
5th
Pjaty
6th
Šesty
7th
Semy
8th
Osmy
9th
Devety
10th
Desety
11th
Odennadesety
20th
Dvadesety
100th
Stoty
1.000th
Tisičny
1.000.000th
Miljonty
1.000.000.000th
Miljardny

In composed numbers only the last noun of the numbers take the ordinal form:

  • 32nd: Trideset i duvy, -a, -o, -e
  • 345th: Tri sta četyrideset i pjaty
  • 2008th: Dva tisiči i osmy
  • 1.976.845.203rd: Jedin miljard devet sta semdeset šest miljony osem sta četyrideset pjat tisiči dva sta i trety

Verbs

Slevian verbs do conjugate according to tense, aspect, person, number and in the past tense with genre of the subject.

Aspect

The Aspect reflects the completeness/incompleteness of the action the verb expresses.

  • The Imperfective aspect denotes an action which has not come to an end, or an action which happens/happened/will happen many times
  • The Perfective aspect denotes an action which has completely come to an end, an action which is complete, or an action which happened/will happen only once

A verb can be perfective or imperfective, never both ones. Typically the verb has a counter-part and both they appear in pair, the Aspectual pair, two verbs with different aspect, but the same meaning. The aspectual pair usually appears as "imperfective verb-perfective verb

  • čitat-počitat: to read
  • pisat-napisat: to write

Examples:

  • Ja jeso čital tamta kniga: I was reading that book (and in that moment I did not finish it)
  • Ja jeso počital tamta kniga: I read that book (and I finished it)
  • Ja budu pisat jedno pismo: I will be writing a letter (and I don't know if I'll finish it)
  • Ja napišu jedno pismo: I'll write a letter (and I will surely finish it)

Tense

Slevian verbs have only three tenses: past, present and future.