Iermansc 1.0

=Overview=

Iermansc is a Romance language which developed in an alternate timeline in which the Romans conquered the area we know as southern Germany in the first century A.D. The subsequent Romanized German culture lasted long after the breakdown of the Empire several centuries later. The language has a strong family relationship to Rhaeto-Romance, Venetian, and Old French, with a sense of phonological and grammatical flavor from Germanic. The language has radically shifted towards the use of simplified grammatical particles and endings at the expense of rich inflected forms inherited from Latin.

=Phonology=

Iermânsc contains 8 vowel sounds / i u e ǝ o ɛ ɔ a / and 20 consonants /p b t d k g f v θ ð s x ʃ tʃ m n l w j r / including the semivowels /w/ and /j/.

=Orthography= The alphabet of Iermânsc consists of 21 letters, developed from the Roman alphabet with the addition of two runic letters:

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ðð Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Rr Ss Tt Þþ Uu Vv The vowels can also be marked for irregular syllabic stress. Stressed vowels are á é í ó ú (initial syllables are stressed by default and therefore these are never capitalized). The above graphemes represent the following sounds:

a	/a/ in most cases, /ɔ/ before a nasal, /ǝ/ in final syllables b 	/b/ c 	/k/ in most cases, /ʧ/ before e or i, /ʃ/ in the digraph sc d 	/d/ ð 	/ð/ e 	/e/ or /ɛ/, /ǝ/ in final syllables f 	/f/ g 	/g/ h 	/x/ i 	/i/ in most cases, /j/ when in combination with another vowel l 	/l/ m	/m/ n 	/n/ in most cases, /ŋ/ before g o 	/o/ p 	/p/ r 	/r/ s 	/s/ in most cases, /ʃ/ before p or t. sc	/ʃ/ t 	/t/ þ	/θ/ u	/u/ in most cases, /w/ in combination with another vowel v 	/v/

=Grammar=

Articles
There are three definite articles: il (m.sg.), la (f.sg.) and le (pl.) and three corresponding indefinite articles in, na and ne. The feminine and plural articles may elide to l' and n', respectively, before vowels (though not before i and u as /j/ and /w/).

il han "the dog" le hane "the dogs" l'ahua "the water" l'ahue "the waters" na iata "a cat" ne iate "some cats" in om "a man" n'one "the men"

Nouns
Nouns come in two genders, masculine and singular. Most masculine nouns end in a consonant and add -e in the plural. Most feminine nouns end in -a in singular and -e in the plural.

il dent "the tooth" le dente "the teeth" na stela "a star" ne stele "some stars"

However, there are complications to these simple rules. Many masculine nouns change vowels and consonants in the plural. The most common changes are that f þ h o u  shift to v ð i e i in the plural.

in foh "a fire" ne feie "some fires" il luf "the wolf" le live "the wolves"

Some words also have the following alternations:

profeta

il proveþ "the prophet" le provðe "the prophets" in amih "a friend" n'amie "some friends"

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