Difference between revisions of "Pacitalian"

Latest revision as of 11:40, 22 June 2007

Pacitalian is a centuries-old, descendant language of Latin native to the republic of Pacitalia. It is identified by its quick speaking consistency, its consonant-vowel flow, and in some cases its addition of Spanish/Mayan words. However, Pacitalian is different in that although it sounds similar to Italian, its structure and verb tensing is different because it is not from the same language family. Approximately 31 billion people speak Pacitalian, making it one of the most widely spoken languages in the NS world, usually competing with Dienstadi with the title of the most spoken NS-specific language.

History and general information on the language

The differences between Pacitalian and Italian developed, of course, because of the fact that Pacitalians first existed in their current land space around 24 AD, and this split Latin speakers from their homeland. The split caused a gentle but continuous tweak in the form and style of the language so that, when Latin in Italy morphed into Italian and Latin in Pacitalia became Pacitalian, there were marked differences present. These aforementioned differences began to appear most of all in the 1600s as Pacitalia established itself as a more imposing cultural and intellectual force.

The evolved lingua known as Pacitalian was declared an official language in April 1805. On a side note, English was not declared official until 1946. By the early 1900s, it was the principal language taught in schools and was widely used for literature not only in Pacitalia but in surrounding areas influenced directly or indirectly by Pacitalian culture.

Dialecting of Pacitalian

Pacitalian has also developed three main dialects - a top, middle and bottom level Pacitalian - in response to the vast area covered by the nearly eight billion fluent speakers. Foreign speakers of Pacitalian (whom already may have the purity of their speaking ability hindered by the accent or language they grew up using, such as the case in Hamptonshire and Knootoss) usually learn the normal, Niva Segnura (top level) Pacitalian, the "cleanest" in accent and vocabulary, spoken among the former aristocratic class of the 1500s - early 1900s.

Capitale, Beracanto, Pomentane, Amalfia and Fentomeria

The five southern provinces generally speak Niva Segnura because of the historical fact that most of Pacitalia's wealthier citizens have been centred in these five provinces, and that these five administrative subdivisions have consistently been the engine of Pacitalian economic growth for at least two hundred years. However, those living in Timiocato's Docklands have developed an infamous half-breed of Niva Segnura and Niva Simplista (bottom level) Pacitalian.

Antigonia, Liguria, Sambuca, Ciocanto and Meritate

The five northwestern provinces generally speak Niva Neutrali (mid-level) Pacitalian, but wealthier cities like Nortopalazzo, Sambuca, Pegrolisia, Città d'Ismuso and Rigunanta tend to have large sections of their cities that speak Niva Segnura and small sections that speak the poorer-class Niva Simplista.

Margheria, Gulfera and Caribero

The three eastern provinces mostly also speak Niva Neutrali, but because of the earlier dominance in Pacitalian history (in this region) of primary resource economies like fishing, agriculture and mining, these three provinces have the most prevalent amount of simplista speakers - numbering somewhere around 31% of the total population of the Tri'Orientale (Eastern Three).

Acqua Verdi, Palatinia and Sephalusia

Pacitalia's three island provinces speak a mixture of all three. However, Acqua Verdi has the most segnura speakers, Palatinia the most neutrali speakers, and Sephalusia the most simplista speakers. Cultural anthropologists assert that this is due entirely to the distribution of the aristocrats back in the 1600s on Acqua Verdian soil, and the segregation of common workers down in Sephalusia at that time.

Use of Pacitalian outside its homeland

Pacitalian is spoken not only in the nation of Pacitalia, but in nearly 720 other countries. 606 of them have more than five million speakers, and 77 of them have more than fifty million. Pacitalian is the official language of Pacitalia, Euroslavia and Rolatia. Below are quick descriptions about Pacitalia's use in its second and third-largest homelands, Euroslavia and Hamptonshire, as well as Rolatia.

The United Freedom Forces of Euroslavia

Euroslavia holds the second highest level of Pacitalian speakers at nearly 2.3 billion. A further 640 million Euroslavians are learning the language. Euroslavian schools are now making Pacitalian instruction mandatory at schools - to clarify, mandatory means that schools must teach the course, but students are not obliged to take it. However, with the increase in ties between Euroslavia and Pacitalia, one cannot expect to get ahead in Euroslavia unless they are inclined to learn at least a rudimentary amount of the language.

The Grand Duchy of Hamptonshire

Pacitalia's strongest ally holds the third-highest number of Pacitalian speakers at just under two billion, with a substantial population learning the language. Pacitalian has taken a great hold in Hamptonshire, not just because of Hamptonians' fascination with Pacitalian customs and culture, but for the language's ease of use and romantic sound.

The Educated Technological State of Rolatia

The state of Rolatia is ninth in total speakers, and generally has a strong focus on Pacitalian language in two ways. Firstly, the language has replaced Latin and Japanese as the language of the high classes. Many university students study the language, and over 60% of all secondary school students choose to learn it. The second key place it is popular is in the north-east of the country. The province of Natar is in fact a primarily Pacitalian province. Over 80% of the area speak it, most of which do so as a primary language. There are also large communities in close-by areas in Ahias and Siaos. A picture of this area can be found here. This only accounts for around a seventh of speakers however, and around 4% of the population at large.

Roach-Busters

Due to the formerly strong and cordial working relationship between Roach-Busters and Pacitalia, Pacitalian was a required language in most public schools. Even today, nearly all schools (both public and private) teach it, and at least 77% of Roach-Busterians can speak at least rudimentary Pacitalian. Due to extensive commercial relations between Roach-Busterian and Pacitalian businesses, Pacitalian is a major language of commerce, and businessmen in particular often speak the language fluently. There are also relatively large numbers of Pacitalian-descended people in RB, which also accounts for the prevalence of the language.

Pronunciation key

The pronunciation of Pacitalian letters is similar to Italian with slight augmentations.

Vowels

• a = ah as in are or bra
  
• e = ay as in pay or gray
  
• i = ih as in bit or stick
  
• o = oh as in grow or ode
  
• u = oo as in boot or stew
  

• For forward accented vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú) simply add volume to your voice (emphasis).
• For back-accented vowels (à, è, ì, ò, ù) draw the syllable out.

Consonants

• Note there is no w or y in the Pacitalian alphabet.

Apostrophisation

Another alternative to molding syllables when you have the two cases above is to bring in an apostrophe to bridge two words. This also makes pronunciation simpler and lowers the risk of a serious tongue-twister accident.

Example: anche io lo sai can be changed to anch'io lo sai

If you pronounce it you will notice it's easier to say the apostrophed version. However, both the unapostrophied and apostrophied versions are acceptable.

Verb stems to know

Unlike Spanish and Italian, there are no full verbs. Instead, there are verb stems and they are conjugated by adding a certain letter combination for usage (as seen below). Here are a few of the important ones you will find useful.

Verb tenses

There are seven verb tenses: Present (Basic), Past-Repetitive, Past-Singular, Past-Progressive, Present-Progressive, Future and Conditional. Here's a quick look at each.

Remember that there is no conjugation for each personal thought (ie. I eat, you eat), just one conjugation for each tense. This goes for every verb tense.

Verb tense: present/basic

This is the simplest of the verb tenses. When speaking in present tense, all you have to do is add the letter "a" to each verb stem to conjugate it.

Therefore, 'to call' would become veama and 'to grow' would become apra. 'To have' would be tema and 'to eat' would be cumera.

eg. I walk to school. Io camma a la escolara.

Verb tense: past-repetitive

This tense is used for events in the past that happened more than once, like "I used to go to school" or "I used to walk my dog".

In this tense, simply add -ela to every verb stem ending in a consonant. In that case, 'to buy' would become comprela. On verb stems ending in vowels, use -ala. On a verb stem like 'to ask a question', the verb now reads preggiala. On verb stems that already end in an 'a', just add -la, so 'to arrive' becomes legala instead of a weird-looking legaala.

eg. I used to walk to school. Io cammela a la escolara.

Verb tense: past-singular

As it suggests, and based on the information in the last-mentioned tense, you'll probably guess that this tense is used for events in the past that happened only once, for example - "I went to school" or "I walked my dog".

In this tense, add -ai to consonant-ended verb stems. That way, verbs like 'to destroy' will become deconstrai. On vowel-ended stems, add -rai, so that 'to drive' becomes condurai.

eg. I walked to school. Io cammai a la escolara.

Verb tense: past-progressive

This tense is meant for actions, as in "I was walking to school". This tense is always used for English "-ing" verbs.

In this tense, add -ando to verb stems ending in a consonant. 'To construct' becomes constrando. For stems ending in a vowel, add -rado. When you do, a verb stem like 'to travel' becomes virado.

eg. I was walking to school. Io cammando a la escolara.

Verb tense: present-progressive

This tense is meant for actions as they occur in the present, such as "I am walking to school". Again, it's used only for English verb-actions (those words ending in 'ing').

In this tense, add -ema to the consonant-ending verb stems, so that a verb like 'to climb' becomes astema. Add -rema to the vowel-ending ones to create a word out of the stem 'to stay' - anzerema.

eg. I am walking to school. Io cammema a la escolara.

Verb tense: future

In this tense, which is things like "I will be walking my dog tomorrow", you simply have to add an 'a' with a 'gravacenta' or what is known as a 'grave' in English. Therefore, your conjugation will look like this: -à.

eg. I will walk to school tomorrow. Io cammà a la escolara mandatto.

Verb tense: conditional

In this tense, you are meaning to express what you would do if an event occurred.

Add -aceti to consonant-ended verb stems to express that you, for example "would walk the dog" - Io cammaceti il porzo (Io cammacet'il porzo). On vowel-ended verb stems, add -ceti.

eg. I would walk to school, but I can get a ride. Io cammaceti a la escolara, pera io poda una conduciata.

Pluralisation

Add -mu to the end of a noun. Angels becomes angelicamu instead of angelica and apples become pomamu. When a consonant ends a noun (which is very rare), add -amu instead.

Pronoun conjugation

This is where conjugation differs within something, instead of on verbs where conjugation is universal in a tense. There are three pronoun types - masculina (masculine), feminena (feminine), and neutralità (neutral/unisex). Obviously, you should use masculine when talking about something of the male sex, feminine when talking about the female sex, and neutral/unisex when the noun/subject has no sexuality.

eg. I(f.) walk to school. Ie camma a la escolara. (yay cahm-mah a lah esh-coh-lah-ra)

Tricks with pronoun conjugation

One problem arises with the conjugation and subjectivisation of pronouns. Although the rules above state that the object and subject take whatever their article says they are (masculine/feminine), in cases like "I (verb) you" or "you (verb) me" etc., the rules are different. In this case, when a male is saying the above example to a female and vice versa, the sexuality is cancelled out (even amounts of masculine and feminine). Therefore, you must use a neutral pronoun. If a female is saying I love you to two males, or a male is saying it to two females (in other words, one sexuality outweighs the other), use the original rules.

• I love you = Iu te cuera
• You hate me = T'iu anacuera (Tu+Iu)

* pronounced shay and shaow

Basic useful info

Important nouns

Adjectives & adverbs

Adjectives

• Infinitives: molto (very), non molto (not very)

Adverbs

Add -fama or -menti to each adjective to create its adverb form. eg. sharp becomes scarpifama or scarpimenti. The suffixes are interchangeable.

Cardinal numbers

For all numbers after 30, it is simply the format _0 + _ -> so because 46 = 40 + 6, it is said as "cuarentia e sei".

• 1,425,745 - fanto quattro cento vinte cinque mila siepto cento e quattrando cinque