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Itëłan is a language, born to be a possible evolution of the today standard Italian language (with some Tuscan influence). It was created by adopting some phonetical rules of change, fixed in the language. Very few phonetical laws can deeply modify a language. And some morphological parts of the language underwent some analogical or redistributing change.
Phonetic changes
Vowels
Final vowels usually disappeared, and it opened the way for an important way of distinction: palatalization
- -o → falls
- -e → falls
- -i → falls, but it palatalized the previous consonant
- -a → -e
- -u → remains -u
- -io → -i, with palatalization of the previous consonant
Inside words, vowels underwent other kinds of changes:
- unstressed -a- became -ë-, if it is in syllables before the stressed one.
- open front vowel -e- became dipthong -ei-
- closed back vowel -o- became open back vowel -o-.
- dipthong -uo- became open back vowel -o-
Consonants
Differently from today Italian language, consonants developped a new way to distinguish among themselves: Palatalization.
The palatalization is a phonemic phenomenon that involves the tongue. The top point of the tongue gets higher than the normal position and the sound seems as the consonant would be followed by a soft "i". In fact consonants undergo palatalization only if in the past they was followed by an /i/.
But some consonants underwent some deeper changes. This was the case of palatalization of /s/, /t/, /d/ and /k/:
- -si- → -şi- or -ş in final
- -ti- → -çi- or -ç in final
- -di- → -ģi- or -ģ in final
- -chi- → -çi- or -ç in final
Also some groups of consonants can undergo palatalization or similar changes:
- -tt- → -st-
- final -tti → -ş
- final -ddi → -ģ
- -st- → -şt-
- -stiV- → -şV-
- -chiV- → -çV-
- -schiV- → -şV-'
- -quV- → -cV-
- -zi- → -si-
- -chio in final position → -çi, and its plural is regularly -chi → -ç.
- -schi in final position → -ş
At last, the most evident phenomenon is that every double consonant became simple.
Examples
Some examples of these changes may be: (singular/plural)
- Gatto/gatti (cat) → gast/gaş
- Tempo/tempi (time) → teimp/teimṕ
- Canale/canali (channel) → cënal/cënał
- Finestra/finestre (window) → fineiştre/fineiştr
Synchronic analysis
Now we will analyse Itëłan language as a singular language, its phonetic and morphological aspects, on a synchronic (means on the same time) point of view (but we will give also the historical origin of words, sounds, and of their changes)
Alphabet
- Capital letters:
- A B (Ḃ) C Ç D E Ë F (Ḟ) G Ģ I L Ł M (Ṁ) N Ņ O P (Ṕ) R (Ṙ) S Ş T U V (Ṿ) Z (Ẓ)
- Normal letters:
- a b (ḅ) c ç d e ë f (ḟ) g ģ i l ł m (ṃ) n ņ o p (ṕ) r (ṛ) s ş t u v (ṿ) z (ẓ)
Phonology
| Letter | a | b | (ḅ) | c | ç | d | e | ë | f | (ḟ) | g | ģ | i | l | ł | m | (ṃ) | n | ņ | o | p | (ṕ) | r | (ṛ) | s | ş | t | u | v | (ṿ) | z | (ẓ) |
| Sound (IPA) | [a] | [b] | [bʲ] | [k] | [ʧ] | [d] | [e] | [ə] | [f] | [fʲ] | [g] | [ʤ] | [i] | [l] | [ʎ] | [m] | [mʲ] | [n] | [ŋ] | [o] | [p] | [pʲ] | [r] | [rʲ] | [s] | [ʃ] | [t] | [u] | [v] | [vʲ] | [ʣ], [ʦ] | [ʣʲ], [ʦʲ] |
Palatalization
Palatalization can affect every consonant. So each consonant has a palatalized counterpart. These are the couples:
| Non palatalized | b | c | d | f | g | l | m | n | p | r | s | t | v | z |
| Palatalized | (ḅ) | ç | ģ | (ḟ) | ģ | ł | (ṃ) | ņ | (ṕ) | (ṛ) | ş | ç | (ṿ) | (ẓ) |
Morphology
Morphology doesn't differ too much from the original Italian one, even if some parts, like verbs, underwent deep changes.
Articles
Definited
The definited articles are:
| Masculine | Feminine | |
|---|---|---|
| Singular | ël | le |
| Plural | łë | lë |
These articles developped a new final or initial ë, because the correct development would have given a simple l, which cannot easily said.
Indefinited
The indefinited articles are:
| Masculine | Feminine | |
|---|---|---|
| Singular | un | une |
Nouns
The nouns, or substantives, developped a new system to build their plural, due to the loss of the final vowels. One of the main feature of this system is palatalization.
| Singular ending | Plural formation | Particularities |
|---|---|---|
| -no ending | They palatalize the last consonant | -t → -ç -c → -ç -st → -ş -şt → -ş -d → -ģ -l → -ł -n → -ņ |
| -e | They drop the vowel | |
| -i | They drop the vowel and palatalize the last consonant | Singular: -ci → plural: -ç Singular: -sci → -ş |
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
| Person | Subject form Nominative form |
Long direct object form Long accusative form |
Short direct object form Short accusative form |
Indirect object form Dative form |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st sing | I | më | mi | mi |
| 2nd sing | tu | të | çi | çi |
| 3rd sing (masculine) |
eł | lu | lë | łi |
| 3rd sing (feminine) |
la | lei | le | łi |
| 1nd plur | noaltŗ | noi | ni | ni |
| 2nd plur | voaltŗ | voi | vi | vi |
| 3nd plur | lor | lor | lor | łi |
Also personal pronouns suffered of the general vowel loss, but often some final vowels have been restored by speakers under the influence of analogy, because those forms would have been too short or confused.
The accusative group of pronouns is divided in two subgroups: Long forms and Short forms. Usually long forms are found with prepositions, while short forms are used with verbs in the sentences. Examples:
- Do you see us?: Tu ni veģ?
- She will come with you: La à dë venir con të
Usually short forms are stressless and they need another word which can substain them. They are usually placed before the verb in the sentence.
The dative form express the meaning of the indirect object, which can also be expressed by the preposition a (to). It's possible to find both forms in sentences, used to make stronger the meaning of the dative form. As short accusative forms, dative forms are stressless and they need to be placed before the verb. Examples:
- I tell you that he didn't tell him anything: I ti dic çë eł no łi à dest nient
- I like it: A më mi piaç (instead of simple Mi piaç)
Verbs
Also verbs suffered the loss of the final vowels. But the greatest loss has been the loss of the Italian passato remoto, the disappearing of subjunctive and the loss of the old future forms, replaced by a new analythic form of future tense. Due to the vowel loss it is usually required the presence of personal pronouns (it switched from the position of a pro-drop language to the one of a non-pro-drop language).
Verbs are divided in 3 conjugation, depending on the infinitival ending:
- 1 conjugation: -ar
- 2 conjugation: -er
- 3 conjugation: -ir
The third conjugation has a subgroup inside, the so-called -isc form (Verbs of this group differ from the others in some forms of present tense and in imperative forms).
There are three verbal moods (indicative, conditional and imperative), six tenses (present, imperfect, perfect, plusquamperfect, future and anterior future) and one infinitive form and two participles (present and past)
Indicative mood
Present
The present tense is one of the most irregular tenses of the entire verbal system. Most of all irregularities are in the first three persons and in the third person in plural. The sign -Ø means that there is no ending.
| 1 conjugation | 2 conjugation | 3 conjugation | 3 -isc form | Particularities | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st sing | -Ø | -Ø | -Ø | -ìsc | |
| 2nd sing | -Ø | -Ø | -Ø | -ìş | The previous consonant usually undergoes palatalization, except for the -isc group |
| 3rd sing | -e | -Ø | -Ø | -ìş | |
| 1st plur | -iàm | -iàm | -iàm | -iàm | |
| 2nd plur | -àt | -èt | -ìt | -ìt | |
| 3rd plur | -an | -on | -on | -ìscon |
The bold endings have no stress, and this fall on the previous vowel. This can lead to a change in the verbal root (mind the change a → ë and open e → ei, which usually was under stress). Some examples:
| cëntar | sentir | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st sing | cànt | sèint |
| 2nd sing | cànç | sèinç |
| 3rd sing | cànte | sèint |
| 1st plur | cëntiàm | sentiàm |
| 2nd plur | cëntàt | sentìt |
| 3rd plur | càntan | sèinton |
Imperfect
This past tense indicates a continuos action, a repeated action, or that the action is on run in the moment we are speaking about.
| 1 conjugation | 2 conjugation | 3 conjugation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st sing | -àv | -èv | -ìv |
| 2nd sing | -àṿ | -èṿ | -ìṿ |
| 3rd sing | -àve | -ève | -ìve |
| 1st plur | -ëvàm | -evàm | -ivàm |
| 2nd plur | -ëvàt | -evàt | -ivàt |
| 3rd plur | -àvan | -èvan | -ìvan |
Perfect
This tense indicates an unidentified action in the past, already completed.
It is built with the conjugated forms in the present of the auxiliary verb ëvèr or èser + the past participle (declined in presence of eser). Examples:
- I sang: I ò cëntat
- We went: Noaltŗ siam ëndaç
Plusquamperfect
This tense indicates an action placed in the past of another past action.
It is built with the conjugated forms in the imperfect of the auxiliary verb ëvèr or èser + the past participle (declined in presence of eser). Examples:
- I had sung: I ëvev cëntat
- We had gone: Noaltŗ eirim ëndaç
Future
The future tense is built with the declined forms of the auxiliary verb ëver + dë (d' in front of a vowel) + the infinitive form of the main verb. Examples:
- I will sing: I ò dë cëntar
- We will go: Noaltŗ ëbiam d'ëndar
Anterior future
The anterior future tense indicates an action which happens before another future action. It is built with the declined forms of the auxiliary verb ëver + dë (d' in front of a vowel) + ëver + the past participle of the main verb. Examples:
- I will have sung: I ò d'ëver cëntat
- We will have gone: Noaltŗ ëbiam d'ëver ëndat
Conditional
Present
The conditional present tense is built by adding the following endings at the infinitive forms of the verbs. For verbs of the first conjugation, the adfix -ar- becomes -er- before adding.
| Endings | |
|---|---|
| 1st sing | -èi |
| 2nd sing | -èş |
| 3rd sing | -èib |
| 1st plur | -èm |
| 2nd plur | -èşt |
| 3rd plur | -èiber |
Some examples:
- I would sing: I cënterei
- We will spend: Noaltŗ spenderem
- They would listen: Lor sentireiber
Past
The conditional present indicates an action placed in the past of an action expressed by the conditional present, or usually indicate an action placed in the past of a future moment, or an hypothesis.
It is built with the conjugated forms in the present conditional of the auxiliary verb ëvèr or èser + the past participle (declined in presence of eser). Examples:
- I would have sung: I ëvrei cëntat
- We would have gone: Noaltŗ sërem ëndaç
Irregular verbs
Itëłan is very full of irregular verbs, most of all born after the phonetic changes. Here we'll give a list of the most common irregular verbs. Usually irregular forms are only in some tenses, and we will give only those forms. (Pres: present tense; Imperf: imperfect; Cond: conditional present; Part pres: present participle; Part pass: past participle)
- Ber - to drink - pres: bev, beṿ, bev, beviam, bevet, bevon; imperf: bevev, beveṿ, beveve, bevevam, bevevat, bevevan; part pres: beveint; part pass: bevut
- Dar - to give - pres: do, da, da, diam, dat, dan; imperf: dav, daṿ, dave, dëvam, dëvat, davan; cond: dërei, dëreş, dëreib, dërem, dëreşt, dëreiber; part pass: dat
- Dir - to say - pres: dic, diç, diç, diçam, dit, dicon; imperf: diçev, diçeṿ, diçeve, diçevam, diçevat, diçevan; part pres: diçeint; part pass: dest
- Ëndar - to go - pres: vo, va, va, ëndiam, ëndat, van; cond: ëndrei, ëndreş, ëndreib, ëndrem, ëndreşt, ëndreiber
- Poter - to can - pres: pos, pò, pol, posiam, potet, poson; cond: potrei, potreş, potreib, potrem, potreşt, potreiber
- Sëper - to know - pres: so, sa, sa, sëpiam, sëpet, san; cond: sëprei, sëpreş, sëpreib, sëprem, sëpreşt, sëpreiber; part pres: sapieint
- Ştar - to stay - pres: şto, şta, şta, ştiam, ştat, ştan; imperf: ştav, ştaṿ, ştave, ştëvam, ştëvat, ştavan; cond: ştërei, ştëreş, ştëreib, ştërem, ştëreşt, ştëreiber; part pass: ştat
- Voler - to want - pres: voł, vu, vol, vołam, volet, vołon; cond: vorei, voreş, voreib, vorem, voreşt, voreiber;
Half-irregular verbs
We created this separated list because many of these verbs have no real irregularities, but they are only affected by the phonetical change under stress. There are two group:
- These verbs are affected by the change a → ë. At the first three persons and in the third plural person in the present tense, the stress fall on the root syllable of these verbs, and the ancient a is restored. An example is the verb cëntar.
- These verbs are affected by the change open e → ei. As the previous group, at the first three persons and in the third plural person in the present tense, the stress fall on the root syllable of these verbs; usually under stress the ancient closed e turned into open e and then became the diphtong ei. An example is the verb sentir.
| cëntar | sentir | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st sing | cànt | sèint |
| 2nd sing | cànç | sèinç |
| 3rd sing | cànte | sèint |
| 1st plur | cëntiàm | sentiàm |
| 2nd plur | cëntàt | sentìt |
| 3rd plur | càntan | sèinton |
- Group 1: cëntar, çëmar, ëmar, mënģar
- Group 2: pensar, sentir
