Elbic

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Elbic is the Romance language of the Principality of Elba, an island off the coast of Dhāna. It is spoken by around 30,000 people and written in the Latin alphabet. It is an Indo-European language of the Italic branch, a South-Central 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 soft mutation (Tuscan Italian). It was created by Dhāna in May 2006 for Ill Bethisad, a collaborative alternative history project.

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 è ó
Mid à
Low-mid é 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 ɱ n ɲ
Plosive p b t d k g
Fricative ɸ β θ ð s ʃ ʒ x ɣ
Affricate dz t∫ kw (ks)
Approximants (w) (j)
Trill r
Lateral Approximant l ʎ

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. loan words) is /ks/. /ʒ/ in non-Elbic words is /dʒ/. /dz/ word-initially is /ts/.

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

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 (note that the final -u of the neuter singular article and of neuter singular nouns ending in -u is pronounced as the final -o of masculine singular nouns)
  • 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 frase

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 articles and neuter singular articles. Any word following these articles will experience the doubling. However, only certain consonants are doubled. Here is the list. It includes the soft mutation for future reference as well.

Initial Consonant Geminate Form Soft Form
t tt ht
d dd hd
c cc hc
g gg hg
s ss s
z zz z
p pp hp
b bb hb
ch cch hch
gh ggh hgh
qu cqu hcu
n nn hn
m mm hm
l ll hl
r rr hr
f ff hf
v vv hv
x xx x
j jj j

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 /frasɔ/>lu ffrasu /lo ffrasɔ/
  • nome /nomɛ/>lu nnome /lo 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: Simple Tenses

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.

First Conjugation Verbs

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 -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

Second and Third Conjugation Verbs

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

Irregular Verbs

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 srhi
2Ps sei fuiste erai sherai seai fuissai srhei
3Ps é fuo era shera sea fuissa srhi
1Pp sammo fuimo erammo sheremmo seammo fuissammo srhimmo
2Pp satte fuisti eratte sheratte seatte fuissatte srhitte
3Pp sanno fuino eranno sheranno seanno fuissanno srhinno

And here is the conjugation of avhe:

Present Indicative Simple Past Indicative Imperfect Indicative Future Indicative Present Subjunctive Imperfect Subjunctive Present Conditional
1Ps ho hi avevo avrho he hissa avrhi
2Ps hai histe avevai avrhai hei hissai avrhei
3Ps ha hio aveva avrha he hissa avrhi
1Pp hammo himo avevammo avrhemmo hemmo hissammo avrhimmo
2Pp hatte histi avevatte avrhatte hette hissatte avrhitte
3Pp hanno hino avevanno avrhanno henno hissanno avrhinno

Finally, the conjugationn of andha, "to go".

Present Indicative Simple Past Indicative Imperfect Indicative Future Indicative Present Subjunctive Imperfect Subjunctive Present Conditional
1Ps vo fui ivo vharo ve fuissa vrhi
2Ps vai fuiste ivai vharai vei fuissai vrhei
3Ps va fuo iva vhara ve fuissa vhri
1Pp andammo fuimo ivammo vharemmo vemmo fuissammo vrhimmo
2Pp andatte fuisti ivatte vharatte vette fuissatte vrhitte
3Pp vanno fuino ivanno vharanno venno fuissanno vrhinno

Verb Conjugation: Compound Tenses

Elbic compound tenses are formed by combining a conjugated form of one verb and one of the participles of another. Most are formed with avhe, but the passive and progressive tenses are formed with ésshe and the periphrastic future is formed with andha.

Forming the Participles

Elbic verbs have three participles. The Latin inflected passive has in Elbic become a passive participle. The Latin past and present participles are retained as well. To form any participle, add certain endings to the end of the full infinitive of a verb. These endings are:

  • Passive Participle: -tto
  • Perfect Participle: -tte
  • Present Participle: -nte

Compound Tenses with Avhe

The tenses formed with avhe are the perfect tenses. They are formed by placing the various tenses of avhe before the perfect participle. The various tenses are:

  • Perfect: present avhe+perfect participle (ho fazhetto: I have done)
  • Pluperfect: imperfect avhe+perfect participle (hia fazhetto: I had done)
  • Remote Pluperfect: simple past avhe+perfect participle (hi fazhetto: I had done)
  • Future Perfect: future avhe+perfect participle (avrho fazhetto: I will have done)
  • Conditional Perfect: conditional avhe+perfect participle (avrhi fazhetto: I would have done)

Compound Tenses with Ésshe

The "tenses" formed with ésshe are all of the passive voice tenses and the progressive tenses. The passive voice tenses are formed quite simply. The generic passive voice is the ésshe+the passive participle of a verb.

  • É disshitto chè...: it is said that...

Note, however, that the passive voice may also be formed in an impersonal manner, using the pronoun , one. We'll talk more about this later. There are also two progressive tenses, the present and imperfect progressives. They are formed simply: place the appropriate form of ésshe before the present participle of the verb.

  • Sonno disshinte chè...: I am saying that...
  • Erai disshinte chè...: you were saying that...

Compound Tenses with Andha

Andha is used in the construction of a periphrastic future tense. To form this tense, place an appropriately conjugated form of andha before the present participle of the verb.

  • Vo hdisshinte chè...: I'm going to say that...
  • Fuiste hdisshinte chè...: you were going to say that...

Verbal Morphology: Imperatives

The imperative is used to give commands. There are a number imperatives in Elbic. Firstly, the second person singular, covering the informal tu. Secondly, the first person plural, covering such constructions as let us go, and agreeing with the pronoun noi. Finally, the second person plural, covering voi, whether used as a singular or plural pronoun. The imperative forms differ depending on whether the command is affirmative (do that) or negative (don't do that). In many cases, object pronouns are affixed as clitics to the imperative verbs. In each entry, there is a note of how this is done. Note, finally, that there are a number of irregular imperatives. Where these exist, they will be noted.

  • The second person singular affirmative ending is the same as the third person singular present indicative ending. When clitic pronouns are attached to this imperative, place an -h- before the penultimate vowel of the word: parla speak>pharlame speak to me. If the imperative begins with a vowel or with h, the final vowel is instead removed from the clitic pronoun and precedes the verb: aprende learn>l'aprende learn it.
  • The second person singular negative ending is the same as the second person singular present subjunctive ending. When clitic pronouns are attached to this imperative, remove the final -i from it: non parlei don't speak>non parlemi>don't speak to me. If the imperative begins with a vowel or with h, the final vowel is instead removed from the clitic pronoun and it precedes the verb: non aprendai don't learn>non l'aprendai don't learn it.
  • The first person plural affirmative ending is the same as the first person plural present indicative ending. There are no changes when clitic pronouns are attached to this imperative: parlammo let's speak>parlammole let's speak to him. If the imperative begins with a vowel or with h, the final vowel is instead removed from the clitic pronoun and precedes the verb: aprendemmo let's learn>l'aprendemmo let's learn it.
  • The first person plural negative ending is the same as the first person plural present subjunctive ending. There are no changes when clitic pronouns are attached to this imperative: non parlemmo let's not speak>non parlemmole let's not speak to him. If the imperative begins with a vowel or with h, the final vowel is instead removed from the clitic pronoun and precedes the verb: non aprendammo let's not learn>non l'aprendammo let's not learn it.
  • The second person plural/formal affirmative ending is the same as the second person plural present subjunctive ending. There are no changes when clitic pronouns are attached to this imperative: parlette speak>parlettele speak to him. If the imperative begins with a vowel or with h, the final vowel is instead removed from the clitic pronoun and precedes the verb: aprendatte learn>l'aprendatte learn it.
  • The second person plural/formal negative ending is the same as the second person plural present indicative ending. There are no changes when clitic pronouns are attached to this imperative: non parlatte don't speak>non parlattele don't speak to him. If the imperative begins with a vowel or with h, the final vowel is instead removed from the clitic pronoun and precedes the verb: non aprendette don't learn>non l'aprendette don't learn it.

Tense Clarification: Simple Past

The simple past is in many ways the most complicated of Elbic's many tenses. This section will attempt to clarify it.

Simple Past vs. Imperfect

On the surface, these two tenses are similar. Both describe past events. However, there are many differences. The simple past is used to...

  • ...describe events that occurred at a specific past time, with definite beginnings and ends.
  • ...describe events that occurred only once.
  • ...describe events in a story.

The imperfect is used to...

  • ...describe events that occurred at an indefinite time, or over a long, undefined period.
  • ...describe events that occurred habitually.
  • ...form the imperfect progressive.

Simple Past vs. Perfect

The simple past is even closer to the perfect. In fact, the simple past is often used in place of the perfect. The perfect typically occurs once every paragraph or so and is from then on replaced with the simple past. Usually the perfect is not used more than once or twice every few minutes in colloquial speech, though the simple past is in contrast almost never used, replaced exclusively by the perfect, in formal discussions.

Simple Past vs. Pluperfects

The simple past and the pluperfects seem similar, but there is an important difference: the pluperfects is used in only one place: when describing events that occurred at a specific time, with definite beginnings and ends (or only occurring once), before other events. The pluperfects are only used where English would use had done something and similar constructions. The remote pluperfect is especially select: it can only be used when something pluperfect occurred at a distant past time (usually more than a year before the speaking).

The Soft Mutation

There are two cases where the soft mutation occurs. Every conjugated verb causes the soft mutation in the word following it. This often occurs with the periphrastic future, and in fact is seen in both of the examples above. It also occurs in any case of a conjugated verb followed by another word: nechésitha, chirhe, dovhe, anything.

  • Nechésito hchiamha a mme má: I need to call my mom.
  • Chiro hchiamha a mme má: I want to call my mom.
  • Dovo hchiamha a mme má: I should call my mom.

This seems an opportune time to mention also that a, to, causes the geminate mutation.

The other time where the soft mutation occurs is adjectives. Adjectives can either precede or follow the noun they modify, with the difference only in emphasis. When adjectives are describing feminine or neuter nouns, one of two things can happen:

  • The adjective precedes the feminine or neuter noun. If the adjective is singular, the soft mutation occurs on the noun. If the adjective is plural and feminine, the soft mutation occurs on the noun.
  • The feminine or neuter noun precedes the adjective. If the noun is singular, the soft mutation occurs on the adjective. If the noun is plural and feminine, the soft mutation occurs on the adjective.
  • Lu ffrasu hbuonu: the good sentence
  • Na nnova hcossina: a new kitchen
  • Gorde hnapolitanne: fat Neapolitans (an Elban sterotype)

Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe a noun. Adjectives must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. There are two types of adjectives: -o-a-u adjectives have six forms; -e adjectives only two. The adjectives inflect as follows:

Masculine Feminine Neuter
Singular -o-a-u -o -a -u
Plural -o-a-u -i -e -e
Singular -e -e -e -e
Plural -e -i -i -i

So "the good sentence" is lu ffrasu hbuonu (remember the soft mutation!), and "the beautiful kitchens" is le bbelle hcossine. An adjective always has the endings shown here, regardless of the ending of the noun: lo patre buono; la mmatre hbella.

Telling the Difference

-o-a-u adjectives are so named because of the different endings they take in the singular. When reading an unfamiliar adjective, try to determine whether the noun is singular or plural. Based on that, match the noun's gender and number on this table to the ending it has.