Difference between revisions of "Gosian"

Revision as of 02:07, 9 December 2005

The language

Gosene (go-SAY-nay) The Gosian language (Ediome Gosiane) is an age-old derivative of Salentino and Italian. First documented in a two-verse biblical translation found on the walls of Silema’s famous Cathedral of the Lord Jesus Christ (Catedral dio Don Isus di Nasareti) which has been dated to the mid 14th Century, Gosian is considered a ‘recent’ linguistic creation by many scholars, not truly coming into its own until long after the Renaissance. Oral tradition, however, holds that the language has existed centuries before the first recorded writings. Despite this disagreement, however, most scholars still hold Gosian to be a product of the Middle Ages and the heavy Latin influence therein.

Phonetically Gosian is a very close derivative of simple Italian, and structurally is likewise similar to its northern neighbor. For this reason, it is generally lumped into the Romance linguistic category. However, because of a strong Spanish overture, as well as a variety of English, French, Maltese, and Sicilian cognates, a current debate exists as to whether Gosian should belong to the Southern-Romance or Italio-Western subgroups.

History of Gosian

The most common story as to the origins of the Gosian language comes to us from the writings of Gosian scholar Leonarde di Nasareti Nove in his text The History of Italy and her Principalities (Io Istorie di Italia at Principalias dila). Written in 1482, it states that in 1096, following Pope Urban II’s call for a Crusade to the holy land, this island was established as a small stopping-point for ships on their trek across the Mediterranean. Those first sailors found an isolated local population, speaking some unknown variation of Salentino, Latin, and Maltese and, following the establishment of Italian and Spanish ports to facilitate the Knights Hospitaller in their travels to the holy land during later Crusades, the dialects mixed with those languages brought from overseas. When the Crusading had ended, those left continued on with their father’s linguistic traditions, and ultimately the bend became some early form of modern Gosian.

In 1688, having been largely ignored by their former Italian masters and with the Knights of Malta a dwindling presence even in the central Mediterranean, the people still living in Goso and Comino took the next step towards independence, establishing their own cultural and historic center in The University of Silema (Io Universitas di Silema), which included a center for Gosian linguistics. Well over a century later, in May 1818, Gosian was declared an official world language, coinciding with the Gosian and Cominan declarations of independence.

Dialects

Modern Gosian can be divided into three distinct dialects. In much of Goso – including the majority of urban areas – a Luzian Dialect (Gosene Luziane), so named for Luzia the capital of Goso, is used. In Comino, as well as some rural areas of Goso, a different dialect, Cominan (Gosene Cominiane or simply Comene) is used. While the difference between the two is lost on many non-native speakers, it lies principally in the length of spoken vowels (Comene is noticeably more drawn-out than its quicker, highly urbanized cousin) and in the use of the articles io, um, and uma (again, Comene has held on to this traditional manner of speech rather than shortening the language for a more urban environment.)

Pronunciation

Vowels

Bold text''a – ah, as in are e – ay, as in may i – ee, as in see o – oh, as in show u – oo, as in boot

Consonants

b – buh c – ss or kuh (ss before ‘i' and ‘e’) d – duh f – ef or fuh g – guh l – luh m – em or muh n – en or nuh p – puh qu - kw r – rruh (trilled) s – ss t – tuh v – vuh z – zee

Dipthongs

ai – ahy, as in aye, but shortened oi – ohy, as in joy

Accents

A forward accented i (í) is used to denote separation between the i and the preceding vowel. It is pronounce exactly like i, but can not be part of a diphthong. Thus noíe is pronounced noh-ee-ay, not noy-ay.

Verb Tenses

Gosian is divided into eight distinct verb tenses, and each of these tenses is in turn divided into five different conjugations according to subject. Verb tenses are as follows: Present Indicative, Present Progressive, Past Indicative (Preterit), Past Progressive, Future, Conditional, Subjunctive and Imperative. Each tense has five conjugations according to subjects, the subjects being i, lo, la, and le (I, he, she, and it), ti (you), noíe (we), tis (you plural), and los or les (they).

Present Indicative

Used to express happenings in the immediate present, generally as simple statements. To conjugate, remove the final syllable (vowel and –m or –n) and add the following:

-e, for i -es, for ti -e, for lo, la, or le -esum, for noíe -esti, for tis -en, for los or les

For example, using the verb cogitum (to think):

i cogite (I think) ti cogites (You think) lo, la, or le cogite (He/she/it thinks) noíe cogitem (We think) tis cogitestem (You pl. think) los or les cogiten (They think)

Present Progressive

Used to replace the English conjugation “is/am/are ___________ing.” The Present Progressive expresses actions which are happening as the speaker is speaking, but are not finished yet. To conjugate, drop the final syllable and add the following:

-a, for i -as, for ti -a, for lo, la, or le -asum, for noíe -asti, for tis -an, for los or les

For example, again with the verb cogitum (to think):

i cogita (I am thinking) ti cogitas (You are thinking) lo, la, or le cogita (He/she/it is thinking) noíe cogitasum (We are thinking) tis cogitasti (You pl. are thinking) los or les cogitan (They are thinking)

Past Indicative

Used to express things which have happened in the past but are not happening now, or to express actions which interrupted other actions. Typically replaces the English “-ed.” To conjugate, drop the final syllable and add the following:

-ere, for i -eres, for ti -ere, for lo, la, or le -eresem, for noíe -eresti, for tis -eren, for los or les

Example:

i cogitere (I thought) ti cogiteres (You thought) lo, la, or le cogitere (He/she/it thought) noíe cogiteresem (We thought) tis cogiteresti (You pl. thought) los or les cogiteren (They thought)

Past Progressive

Used to express actions which were interrupted or have only recently stopped. Generally replaces the English “was/were ___________ing.” To conjugate, drop the final syllable and add the following:

-era, for i -eras, for ti -era, for lo, la, or le -erasum, for noíe -erasti, for tis -eran, for los of les

Example:

i cogitera (I was thinking) ti cogiteras (You were thinking) lo, la, or le cogitera (He/she/it was thinking) noíe cogiterasum (We were thinking) tis cogiterasti (You pl. were thinking) los or les cogiteran (They were thinking)

Future

Used to express things that will happen for certain, or are otherwise non-conditional. Very similar to the English future tense. To conjugate, add the following to the infinitive of the verb:

-e, for i -es, for ti -e, for lo, la, or le -et, for noíe -est, for tis -en, for los or les

Example:

i cogitume (I will think) ti cogitumes (You will think) lo, la, or le cogitume (He/she/it will think) noíe cogitumet (We will think) tis cogitumest (You pl. will think) los or les cogitumen (They will think)

Conditional

Used to express things that would happen or that will take place if a certain event occurs. Often requires an “if” statement. To conjugate, drop the final consonant (-m or –n) and add an –s for singular subjects or –sem for plural subjects. (This requires a subject pronoun before the verb.)

Example:

i cogitus (I would think) ti cogitus (You would think) lo, la, or le cogitus (He/she/it would think) noíe cogitusem (We would think) tis cogitusem (You pl. would think) los or les cogitusem (They would think)

Subjunctive

Used to express actions which bring about a particular emotion, or to express the object of a hope or dream. Often requires the word qui (that) before the verb. To conjugate, drop the final syllable and add the following:

-ale, for i -alas, for ti -ala, for lo, la, or le -alesum, for noíe -alasti, for tis -alen, for los or les

Example:

i cogitale (I think) ti cogitalas (You think) lo, la, or le cogitala (He/she/it thinks) noíe cogitalesum (We think) tis cogitalasti (You pl. think) los or les cogitalen (They think)

Imperative

Used to for commands. Conjugate by dropping the final syllable and adding –i for singular subjects, and –is for plural subjects.

Example:

cogiti (Think!) cogitis (Think!)

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