Elbic

Helvica
Pronounced:	/"ElvIk@/
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:	May 2006

Elbic is the language of the Principality of Elba, an island off the coast of Tuscany. It is a Central and Southern Italian language, related to Neapolitan and Tuscan Italian. It has two sets of changes to initial consonants, similar to the mutations found in the Celtic consonants: the geminate mutation (also found in Neapolitan), and the gorgic mutation (Tuscan Italian).

Phonotactics/Orthography/Stress

The Elbic alphabet contains 37 distinct letters. There are 15 vowel letters representing ten sounds. Elbic has the following vowels:

Vowels

Vowels
	Front		Near-front		Central		Near-back		Back
High	i									u
Near-high			ɪ					ʊ
High-mid			e							o
Mid					ə
Low-mid			ɛ							ɔ
Near-low
Low					a

Orthographically, these are represented by:

Vowels
	Front		Near-front		Central		Near-back		Back
High	í									ú
Near-high			ì					ù
High-mid			é							ó
Mid					à
Low-mid			è							ò
Near-low
Low					á

There are a set of unaccented vowels <a e i o u>. These, when stressed, are pronounced as the acute vowels, when unstressed as the grave vowels.

Consonants

Consonants
	Bilabial		Labiod.		Dental		Alveolar		Post-alv.		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m						n				ɲ
Plosive	p	b			t	d							k	g
Fricative	ɸ	β			θ	ð	s		ʃ				x	ɣ
Affricate						dz			t∫	dʒ		kw	(ks)
Approximants		(w)										(j)
Trill								r
Lateral Approximant								l

These are represented orthographically by the characters following. However, there are some important notes. /dz/ when adjacent to an unvoiced consonant or initially is [ts]. Double consonants <nn ss>, etc. are pronounced /nn ss/, etc. /t∫/ is [k] before <a o u> in all variations. /dʒ/ is [g] before <a o u> in all variations. There is also an orthographically represented <h>. <h> is non-phonemic, but rather represents /ˈ/, a movement of stress. <h> always precedes a vowel, and moves the stress of the word to that vowel. /kw/ is /k/ before <e i> in all variations. < i u> in diphthongs are pronounced /j w/. /ɲ ʎ/ before <a o u> in all variations are /gn gl/. /∫/ in non-Elbic words (i.e. lone words) is /ks/.

Consonants
	Bilabial		Labiod.		Dental		Alveolar		Post-alv.		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m						n				gn
Plosive	p	b			t	d							ch	gh
Fricative	hp	hb			ht	hd	s		x				hc	hg
Affricate						z			c	g		qu	(x)
Approximants		(u)										(i)
Trill								r
Lateral Approximant								l

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 phoneme is a vowel, stress moves back one syllable.
• If the final syllable ends in a nasal or an approximant, move the stress back one syllable.
• If anywhere in the word there is an <h> preceding a vowel, move the stress to the h-vowel.
• In monosyllabic words, the vowel is always treated as if it were stressed.

Thus, Mhexicó, the Elbic name for Mexico, is /mˈɛksɪko/, and Helva, the Elbic name for Elba, is /ˈɛlvə/. No Nápolitanno, or "a Neapolitan", is /no napɔlɪtˈannɔ/.

Nominal Morphology

Phew. That's over. Good. Now we can get onto the interesting bit. Nouns in Elbic belong to one of three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. There are also two numbers: singular and plural. All Elbic nouns end in vowels. The changes applied to vowels to go from singular to plural are as follows:

• -o>-i (in cases where the noun ends in -io, the i becomes -ì); gatto>gatti
• -a>-e; cossina>cossine
• -u>-e; frasu>frase
• -e>-i; traduzione>traduzioni
• -i>-e (very few nouns end in -i); spaghetti>spaghette

The singular endings can tell you a significant amount about the gender of a noun. Here are some basic guidelines.

• Most nouns ending in -o are masculine; lo gatto
• Most nouns ending in -a are feminine; la ccossina
• Most nouns ending in -u are neuter; lu ffrasu
• All nouns ending in -zione are feminine; la ttraduzione
• All nouns ending in -ismo are neuter; lu ffaxismo
• Nouns ending in -e or -i can be of any gender, and so you just have to memorize them; lo cambiatte, lu mmomenti

Articles

Along with nouns must come articles. Elbic has six definite articles and four indefinite articles. The definite articles are equivalent to English "the" and precede the noun they modify. There are both singular and plural definite articles. The indefinite articles are equivalent to English "a/an" and precede the noun they modify. There are only singular indefinite articles. The definite articles are as follows.

• lo: masculine singular; lo gatto
• la: feminine singular; la ccossina
• lu: neuter singular; lu ffrasu
• l: singular (substitutes for lo, la, or lu before a vowel); l'arbollo
• li: masculine plural; li gatti
• le: feminine and neuter plural; le ffrase

The indefinite articles are as follows.

• no: masculine singular; no gatto
• na: feminine singular: na ccossina
• nu: neuter singular; nu ffrasu
• n': singular (substitutes for no, na, or nu before a vowel); n'arbollo

Geminate Mutation

You may have noticed that some of the nouns changed when articles were placed in front of them. This is the geminate mutation, one of the more unique features of Elbic, shared with Neapolitan. The geminate mutation is a doubling of the initial consonant of a word. It is triggered by the feminine and neuter articles. Any word following these articles will experience the doubling. However, only certain consonants are doubled. Here is the list. It includes the gorgic mutation for future reference as well.

Initial Consonant	Geminate Form	Gorgic Form
t	tt	ht
d	dd	hd
c	cc	hc
g	gg	hg
z	zz	z
p	pp	hp
b	bb	hb
ch	cch	hch
gh	ggh	hgh
n	nn	n
m	mm	m
l	ll	l
r	rr	r
f	ff	f
v	vv	v
x	xx	x

So you can see how the transfer from frasu to lu ffrasu occurs.

• cossina /kɔssinə/>la ccossina /la kkɔssinə/
• nápolitanna /napɔlɪtannə/>la nnápolitanna /la nnapɔlɪtannə/
• frasu /frasʊ/>lu ffrasu /lu ffrasʊ/
• nome /nomɛ/>lu nnome /lu nnomɛ/

Verbal Morphology

Elbic has a great many verbs. All verbs belong to one of four types: -ha, -he, -hi, and irregular. This section will demonstrate the conjugations of verbs from each type.

Subject Pronouns

Before conjugating a verb, it is important to learn Elbic's subject pronouns. There are six personal subject pronouns, corresponding to English "I, you, he, she, we, you (all), and they". In Elbic, they are:

Person	Singular	Plural
1P	io	noi
2P	tu	voi
3Pm	lei	lori
3Pf	lui	lore

Like many European languages, Elbic differentiates between formal and informal pronouns. Similarly to French, Elbic uses the plural second person pronoun, voi, to refer to a person you wish to address formally. In practice, however, this is infrequently used, as the Elbans are a generally relaxed and informal group.

Verb Conjugation

Elbic verbs are composed of three parts:

stem+h+theme vowel

Elbic verbs are conjugated by removing the final -h-theme vowel from the verb stem and adding a different ending. Note that irregular verbs have stem vowels as regular verbs. For example, ésshe is an irregular verb, but appears as an -he verb. Elbic verb conjugations for -ha verbs are conveniently arranged on this table:

	Present Indicative	Simple Past Indicative	Imperfect Indicative	Future Indicative	Present Subjunctive	Imperfect Subjunctive	Present Conditional
1Ps	-o	-i	-avo	-*ro	-e	-assa	-*ri
2Ps	-ai	-aste	-avai	-*rai	-ei	-assai	-*rei
3Ps	-a	-ò	-ava	-*ra	-e	-assa	-*ri
1Pp	-ammo	-amo	-avammo	-*remmo	-emmo	-assammo	-*rimmo
2Pp	-atte	-asti	-avatte	-*ratte	-ette	-assatte	-*ritte
3Pp	-anno	-ano	-avanno	-*ranno	-enno	-assanno	-*rinno

The *asterisk indicates that the shown ending is added to the entire verb infinitive, not just to the verb stem. So, the full simple conjugation of cántha, to sing.

	Present Indicative	Simple Past Indicative	Imperfect Indicative	Future Indicative	Present Subjunctive	Imperfect Subjunctive	Present Conditional
1Ps	cánto	cánti	cántavo	cánthero	cánte	cántassa	cánthari
2Ps	cántai	cántaste	cántavai	cántharai	cántei	cántassai	cántharei
3Ps	cánta	cántò	cántava	cánthera	cánthare	cántassa	cánthari
1Pp	cántammo	cántamo	cántavammo	cántharemmo	cántemmo	cántassammo	cántharimmo
2Pp	cántatte	cántasti	cántavatte	cántharatte	cántette	cántassatte	cántharitte
3Pp	cántanno	cántano	cántavanno	cántharanno	cántenno	cántassanno	cántharinno

The conjugation paradigm for -he and -hi verbs is below. If there are two entries in a box, the second is the ending for -hi verbs. A parenthetical -iss- marks third conjugation (-hi) radical-shift verbs.

	Present Indicative	Simple Past Indicative	Imperfect Indicative	Future Indicative	Present Subjunctive	Imperfect Subjunctive	Present Conditional
1Ps	-o	-i	-ia	-*ro	-a	-issa	-*ri
2Ps	-ei	-iste	-iai	-*rai	-ai	-issai	-*rei
3Ps	-e	-io	-ia	-*ra	-a	-issa	-*ri
1Pp	-emmo/(iss)immo	-imo	-iammo	-*remmo	-ammo	-issammo	-*rimmo
2Pp	-ette/(iss)itte	-isti	-iatte	-*ratte	-atte	-issatte	-*ritte
3Pp	-(iss)enno	-ino	-ianno	-*ranno	-anno	-issanno	-*rinno

And the full conjugation of scrivhi, a regular -hi verb.

	Present Indicative	Simple Past Indicative	Imperfect Indicative	Future Indicative	Present Subjunctive	Imperfect Subjunctive	Present Conditional
1Ps	scrivo	scrivi	scrivia	scrivhiro	scriva	scrivissa	scrivhiri
2Ps	scrivei	scriviste	scriviai	scrivhirai	scrivai	scrivissai	scrivhirei
3Ps	scrive	scrivio	scrivia	scrivhira	scriva	scrivissa	scrivhiri
1Pp	scrivimmo	scriviimo	scriviammo	scrivhiremmo	scrivammo	scrivissammo	scrivhirimmo
2Pp	scrivitte	scrivisti	scriviatte	scrivhiratte	scrivatte	scrivissatte	scrivhiritte
3Pp	scrivenno	scrivino	scrivianno	scrivhiranno	scrivanno	scrivissanno	scrivhirinno

Elbic's radical-changing verbs developed from Latin fourth conjugation verbs, and the specific changes applied come from Elbic mixing with French. Here is the conjugation of sentendrhi, the verb for to hear.

	Present Indicative	Simple Past Indicative	Imperfect Indicative	Future Indicative	Present Subjunctive	Imperfect Subjunctive	Present Conditional
1Ps	sentendro	sentendri	sentendria	sentendrhiro	sentendra	sentendrissa	sentendrhiri
2Ps	sentendrei	sentendriste	sentendriai	sentendrhirai	sentendrai	sentendrissai	sentendrhirei
3Ps	sentendre	sentendrio	sentendria	sentendrhira	sentendra	sentendrissa	sentendrhiri
1Pp	sentendrissimmo	sentendrimo	sentendriammo	sentendrhiremmo	sentendrammo	sentendrissammo	sentendrhirimmo
2Pp	sentendrissitte	sentendristi	sentendriatte	sentendrhiratte	sentendratte	sentendrissatte	sentendrhiritte
3Pp	sentendrissenno	sentendrino	sentendrianno	sentendrhiranno	sentendranno	sentendrissanno	sentendrhirinno

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	sherí
2Ps	sei	fuiste	erai	sherai	seai	fuissai	sherei
3Ps	é	fuo	era	shera	sea	fuissa	sherí
1Pp	sammo	fuimo	erammo	sheremmo	seammo	fuissammo	sherímmo
2Pp	satte	fuisti	eratte	sheratte	seatte	fuissatte	sherítte
3Pp	sanno	fuino	eranno	sheranno	seanno	fuissanno	sherínno