Yaenar

Yaenar (Yaenar /jei.naʁ/, from Latin Gēinar is a Romlang (that is, a constructed language derived from Latin).

From Latin to Yaenar

Yaenar is quite divergent in comparison to Latin, but in many instances, spelling was fossilized, preserving spelling while diverging in sound.

Sound Changes

C = consonant, but when used in the case of eg. eCF, this means a consonant that was deleted that was between e and a front vowel.
V = vowel
B = back vowel
F = front vowel
0 = deleted
` = retroflex consonant


h > 0
i u > j w / _V
i: u: > i u / _V
s > z_a / V_V
s ks > s_a
sk sj > ɕ
V: > V / _V

aCB > ɑo
aCF > ei
FCa, FCa: > eə
FCo, FCo:, FCu: > øy
eCu > o:
eCF > ei
iCF > øi
iCu > ɨu
oCF > i:
oCB > u:
uCF > o
uCB > ou

a a: > a
e e: > ɨ e
i i: > ɪ i
o o: > ɔ ø
u u: > o u
ai oi > ɛ ɔe

j > z_a
i u > j w / _V
gn, nj > ɲ
gm mj > mʲ
gl lj > j
tj > tɕ

k g > tɕ ʑ / _F
kw gw > k g
rC > C` / C=(t,d,l)
r > ʁ
m s_a n t d > 0 / _# (specifically in that order)
u > y
ou > u
ɪ ɛ ɔ > 0 / #_(multisyllable words only)
e ɛ i ɪ y ø > ɛ a e ɨ u ɔ / _...(a,ɨ)#
a o ɔ u ɨ > ɛ a ɛ y ɪ / _...(i I)#
a ɨ i ɪ > 0 / _# (multisyllable words only)

b d g > v ð 0 / V_V
p t k > b d g / V_V
pp tt kk > p t k / V_V
CC > C
ʑ > j
ʈ ɖ ɭ > tɕ ʑ ɬ
ø > u
ɨ > ɨ
tɕ > ɕ
w > v
o u > 0 / _#(multisyllable words only)

e ɛ ɔ > ie iɛ uɔ / open, stressed syllables
C1C2C3 > C1C3

Grammar Changes

As with most Romance languages (if not all), Yaenar lost the rich inflectional system that was found in Latin:
-the accusative and ablative cases merged quite early
-the 4th and 5th declensions were replaced with the 2nd and 1st (respectively) declensions
-the dative case was replaced with the construction: a + accusative
-the genitive case was replaced with the construction: de + accusative
-plurals, like in Western Romance, were taken from the accusative. However, due to sound changes, many of the plural forms of words sound identical to their respective singular forms, and therefore, articles are REQUIRED.
-articles were derived from the forms of ūnus (a) and ille (the)
-nearly all the original Latin tenses and moods were lost, in favor of the following constructions: the imperfect was replaced with present tense + habēre in the perfect, the future was replaced with infitive + īre in the present, the conditional was formed with infitive + īre in the perfect, the perfect constructions were replaced with habēre + perfect participle, and the passive was replaced with esse + perfect participle. Of these, all but the last two became fused to the verb and became endings.