Sarràno

An Iberian language spoken by the inhabitants of Sarranna.

General information
An important note : this conlang began as an entry to the romlang challenge that took place from April to July 2015. There is a page dedicated to the version submitted to voting, called Xarrano. Thus, further updates to the language will be presented on this page from now on.

. Sarran (endonym Sarràno /sæ'ræno/) is a romlang mainly inspired by Iberian Romance languages at their earliest times, also showing influence from Neapolitan. The goal is that it resemble a language of the Iberian family while having a vowel alternating plural system due to specific sound changes.

Its family tree can be traced as Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Western Romance, Ibero-Romance, Sarran.

Its speakers live in Sarrany (endonym: Sarranna /sɑ'rɑɲɑ/, "land of the Sierra"), a country that lies on a fictitious peninsula stretching from the southeastern part of Spain, as seen on the map.

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External history
There is a belief among the Sarran people that their homeland would have been originated after an ancient volcano emerged from the sea and rose a piece of land with it. This volcano is called Ezgo, from a Celtic source meaning "elder", and has had brief periods of activity through the centuries.

The first Latin settlers came from a region around Campania in Italy, including citizens of the extinct city of Pompei, which founded the capital city of POMPĒIA NOVA (now Nuàva Pompegha) at the foot of the volcano. The whole region was called SERRĀNIA because of its characteristic sierras and tall coasts, being important as strategic places to build fortresses to keep control over the southwestern part of the Mediterrean Sea.

When the Moors invaded the Iberian Peninsula, the Sarrans sought help from their Italian trade partners. The difficult access to the region by land together with well guarded fortresses and a joint navy allowed them to resist the constant Moorish attacks. The local citizens organized themselves into the Kingdom of Sarrany (Rrenno rela Sarranna) under the command of Plinno I and his descendants, but, by the time of the Reconquista, the eastern side of the Kingdom refused to get involved in the successive battles to repel the invaders out of Iberia and split off as the Kingdom of Sarra Vaxa, while the western side changed its name to Kingdom of Sarra Alta. Shortly after the Reconquista had been completed, the two Kingdoms reunited under the modern name of Sarranna. The new country slowly opened its gates to a common Iberian market and served as an important bridge between its neighbors on land and its allies from nearby islands and Italy.

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Historical sound changes
When compared to other Iberian languages, Sarran shows some conservative features, such as distinction between voiceless and voiced fricatives, while having innovated in other areas like its six-vowel system, the coalescence of alveolar consonants with /j/ and palatalization of final /s/, eventually causing the loss of distinction between masculine and feminine in most plural forms.

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General sound changes
a) Loss or lenition of final consonants:

AMAT, VĪTAM (polysyllables) > àma, vida

AUT, QUEM, SĪC (monosyllables) > o, quiàn (< *quene?), xi

b) Loss of /h/:

/h/ ADHAESIONEM,HABĒRE,PREHENDERE > /-/ adeson (learned), aver, prenner

c) Monophthongization of AE and OE:

/ai, oi/ CAELUM, GRAECUM, POENAM > /ɛ, e/ > /(j)æ, e/ zàlo, gràgo, pena

d) Minor changes:

/VnsV/ MENSEM, PREHENSUM > /VzV/ mes, preso

/CCC/ ASSŪMPTUM, FUNCTIONEM > /CC/ assunto, funzon

/lle#/ ILLĒ, MĪLLE, PELLEM > /l#/ el, mil, piàl

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Changes related to Western Romance
a) Monophthongization of AU (also in Italo-Western):

/au/ AURICULAM, *autoricare, PAUCUM, TAURUM > /o/ oregha, otorgàr, poco, toro

b) Assimilation processes (also in Italo-Western):

/bt, pt/ OBTENĒRE, SEPTEM > /tt/ > /t/ otener, sete

/bs, ps/ ABSOLŪTUM, PSALMUM > /ss/ > /s/ assoluto, salmo

c) Lenition of intervocalic plosives (not including semivowels):

/b, d, g/ BIBERE, NŪDUM, *vagativu > [β, ð, ɣ] > /v, -, -/ bever, nuo, vadio

/p, t, k/ capitia, RECIPERE, PRĀTUM, FOCUM > /v (< β < b), d, g/ cavezza, rrecever, prado, fuàgo

/pp, tt, kk/ STUPPAM, GUTTAM, PECCĀTUM > /p, t, k/ estopa, gota, pecado

d) Early process of syncope (between sonorants and plosives, and the sequence /sVt/):

/VCVCV/ COLAPHUM, OPERAM, COMITEM, POSITUM > /VCCV/ golpo, obra, conde, posto

/VCVCV/ *cosutura, NŌBILEM, LEPOREM, OCULUM, VIRIDEM > /VCCV/ costura, noble, lebre, ogho, verde

e) Palatalization processes:

/eV, iV/ FORTIAM, VĪNEAM > [jV] > /*V/ forza, vinna

/#j, VjV/ IAM, IEIŪNUM, IŪSTUM, MĀIOREM > /#ʒ, V(j/ʒ)V/ > /#ʒ, V(ɟ/ʒ)V/ ja, gejuno, justo, maghor

/ki, ke/ ACCEPTUM, CIRCĀ, CĪVĪLEM > [(c)cV] > /(t)tsV/ > /θV/ accecho, cerca, civil

- /Vki, Vke/ > ACĒTUM, COCĪNAM, LŪCEM > [VcV] > /VtsV/ > [VdzV] > /VðV/ acedo, cocina, luz

/gi, ge/ GENERUM, *pagense, VIGINTI > /jV/ > /ʒV/ or /-V/ gendro, país, vinte

/ski, ske/ PISCEM, CRĒSCERE > [scV] > /ʃʃV/ > /ʃV/ pexe, crexer

/tj, kj/ ALTIĀRE, BRA(C)CHIUM, FACIEM, LINTEOLUM > [(t)ts, (c)c] > /ts/ > /θ/ alzàr, brazzo, acce, lenzuàlo

/dj, gj/ *gaudia, INVIDIAM, RADIUM > /ʒ/ or /j/ goja, enveja, rraio > /ʒ/ or /ɟ/ goja, enveja, rragho

- /V(d/g)(i/e)#/ HŌDIE, LEGEM, MAGIS > /Vj#/ > oi, lei, mai > /*/ güe, lé, mai

/stj, skj/ BESTIAM, FASCIAM, QUAESITIONEM, SCIENTIAM > /st, ʃ/ vesta, axa, queston, xenza

/ptj, ktj/ ACTIONEM, OPTIONEM, *ruptia > /Cts/ > (C)θ/ azzon, ozzon, rrozza

/#sj, ssj/ *bassiu, MANSIONEM, PASSIONEM, RUSSEUM > /Vʃ/ vaxo, paxon, rroxo

/VsjV/ BĀSIUM, ECCLĒSIAM, *grisiu, PENSIONEM > /V(¨)ʒ/ bejo, egleja, grijo, pejon

/rj/ AREAM, CORIUM, DĒNĀRIUM, GLORIAM > /jr/ > /(¨)r/ era, qüero, denero, glera (< gloira)

/nj, lj/ FOLIAM, IŪNIUM, *maneana > /ɲ, ʎ/ folla, Junno, mannana > /ɲ, ɟ/ fogha, Junno, mannàna

f) Development of /kt/:

/kt/ FACTUM, FRUCTAM, NOCTEM, OCTŌ > /jt/ > /(¨)c/ echo, prucha, noche, ocho

g) Prothesis of initial /sC/:

/#sC/ SCĀLAM, SPATIUM, SPHINGEM, STĀRE > /#esC/ escàla, espazzo, esfinge (learned), tàr (< estàre)

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Changes related to Iberian Romance
a) Loss of final front vowels after single, dental/alveolar, voiced consonant:

/e#, i#/ FĒCĪ, MENSEM, PĀNEM, VĒRITĀTEM > eci, mese, pane, verdade > /#, (¨)#/ iz, mes, pàn, verdàz

b) Palatalization of geminated N and L:

/nn, gn, mn/ ANNUM, AUTUMNUM, DOMINAM, PUGNUM > [nn] > /ɲ/ anno, otonno, ronna, punno

/ll/ CASTELLUM, COLLĀREM, ILLAM > /ʎ/ castello, collar, ella > /ɟ/ castegho, coghàr, egha

c) Development of /kʷ/ and /gʷ/ (also in Gallo-Romance):

/gʷ/ *guadaniare, *guerra, *guidare, LINGUAM, SANGUINEM > /g/ gannàr, garra, guiàr, lenga, sangre

/kʷ/ LIQUOREM, QUANDŌ, QUINTUM, SQUĀMAM > /k, kw/ licor, quan, quinto, escàma

- /Vkʷ/ AEQUALITĀTEM, ANTĪQUUM, AQUAM > [Vgw] > /Vg(w)/ egualdàz, antigo, água

- (some) /kʷi, kʷe/ LAQUEUS, QUĪNQUE, TORQUERE > [ki, ke] > [(c)cV] > /tsV/ > /θV/ lazzo, cinque, torcer

d) fragmentaion of X:

/ksC/ DEXTERUM, EXPRESSIONEM, EXTENSUM > /(¨)sC/ destro, espresson (learned), esteso

- /kske, kski/ EXCELSUM, EXCEPTUM, EXCITĀRE > /kkV/ > [ccV] > /tsV/ > /θV/ eccelso, ecceto, eccitàr (learned)

/VksV/ COXAM, EXSŪCĀRE, FLUXUM, VEXĀMEN > /VʃʃV/ > /VʃV/ coxa, exugàr, ploxo, vexambre

/VksV/ AUXILIUM, EXAGIUM, MAXIMUM, PROXIMUM > /VssV/ > /VsV/ ossegho, essagho, mássimo, próssimo

/VksV/ EXHAURĪRE, EXŌTICUM, EXSULTĀTIONEM > /VzV/ esaurir (l.), esótico (l.), esultazzon

e) Evolution of consonant groups with /l, r/:

/Vbr, Vdr, Vgr/ CATHEDRAM, *libretto, NIGRUM > /Vbr, V(¨)r, V(¨)r/ cadera, libreto, nero

/Vpr, Vtr, Vkr/ SACRĀRE, MACRUM, OPERA, PETRAM > /Vbr, Vdr, Vgr/ sagràr, màgro, obra, piàdra

/Vppr, Vttr, Vkkr/ LETTERAM, QUATTUOR > /Vpr, Vtr, Vkr/ letra, quatro

/#fl, #pl, #kl/ CLĀMĀRE, FLŪMEN, PLŌRĀRE > /#c/ chamàr, chumbre, choràr

/#fl, #pl, #kl/ CLĒMENTIA, FLUXUM, PLATEAM, *subflare > /#pl, #kl/ clemenza, ploxo, plazza, soplàr

/Vp(V)l, Vt(V)l, Vk(V)l/ ARTICULUM, POPULUM, ROTULUM > /Vbl, Vʎ/ > /Vbl, Vɟ/ artegho, puàblo, rrogho

/bl, dl, gl/ *blanco, COĀGULĀRE > /bl, ʎ/ > /bl, ɟ/ blanco, quaghàr

MASCULUM, MŪSCULUM, UNGULAM, VINCULUM > maxo, buxo, unna, vencho

f) Later processes of syncope:

/nVr, mVr/ GENERUM, *nomine, HONŌRĀRE > [mr, nr] > /mbr, ndr/ gendro, nombre, ondràr

/inV/ DOMINAM, SĒMINAM, SŌLITŪDINEM, TERMINUM > /*/ ronna, sembra, soltuz, tarmo

/V/ ARBOREM, MŪSCULUM, SIMILĀRE, UNGULAM > /-/ arble, buxo, semblàr, unna

/CVC/ ADVĒRIFICĀRE, CAPITĀLEM, CUBITUM, DŪBITAM > /*C/ averiguàr, caduàl, codo, ruda

/CVC/ DECIMUM, FATIGĀRE, HOSPITĀLEM, PORTATICUM > /*C/ rezmo, azgàr, ostàl, portazgo

/CVC/ *quassicare, RECITĀRE, TRĪTICUM, UNDECIM, VINDICĀRE > /*C/ cascàr, rrezàr, trizgo, once, vengàr

g) Interactions between /l/ and /r/:

/l...l, r...r/ ARBOREM, *lusciniolu, MARMOREM, RŌBOR(EM) > /r...l/ arble, ruxinguàlo, marble, rroble

/l...l, r...r/ LOCĀLEM > /l...r/ logàr

/r...l/ MĪRACULUM, PARABOLAM, PERĪCULUM > /l...r/ milagro, palabra, paligro

/r/ BURSAM, PAPYRUM, TENEBRĀS > /l/ bolsa, papel, tenneble

h) Minor or incomplete changes:

GAUDIUM, RATIONEM, TRAHERE > [VtsV, VdzV] > /VdzV > /VðV gozo, rrazon, tracer

/l, n, r/ ANIMAM, LAMPADAM, LĀXĀRE, LIBELLUM, -MEN > alma, lampra, dexàr, nivegho, -mbre

/k/ *cocchleariu, NĒC ŪNUM, PECTEN > [ŋ] > /n, ng/ conchero, nennuno, prente (< pentre)

/j, r/ CRĪBRA, PARIĒTEM > /-/ criva, parede

/ls, rs/ *ad traversu, INSULSUM, PERSŌNAM, VERSICUM > /s/ atravas, insosso, passona, vesco

CAPSAM, CAPULUM, CRYPTAM, MĀTTIANA, PULSĀRE > caxa, cacho, grota, mazzàna, puxàr

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Specific changes in Sarran
a) Semivocalization of final /s/ with posterior changes:

(stressed) /s#/ MAGIS, DVŌS, NŌS, TRĒS > /j#/ mai, roi, noi, trei > /*/ mai, rue, nue, tre

(unstressed) /as#, es#, os#/ > [aj#, ej#, oj#] > /e#, i#, u#/ > [e#, (¨)e#, (¨)o#] > (analogy) /(¨)e#/

b) Evolution of the vowel system:

Stage 1: Shift from vowel quantity to vowel quality (also in Italo-Western):

/iː, i, eː, e, a(ː), o, oː, u, uː/ > /i, e, e, ɛ, a, ɔ, o, o, u/, with long allophones on stressed open syllables

Stage 2: First open vowel shift and rise of new diphthongs:

(stressed open syllable) [ɛː, aː, ɔː] CAELUM, CANEM, BONUM > [eə, aə, oə] > /iə, əː, uə/ cialo, cane, buano

(other syllables) /ɛ, a, ɔ/ SEMPER, PARTEM, NOSTRAM > /e, a, o/ sempre, parte, nostra

(before coda /r/) /ɛ/ CERTUM, ERVILIAM, SERPENS, *versoria > [æ] > /a/ > zarto, arvella, sarpe, vassura

CŌGITĀRE, FACTUM, GLORIAM, MAGIS, NŌS, LEGEM > /aj, ej, oj, uj/ cuidar, eito, gloira, mai, noi, lei

CASĀS, MANŪS, PONTĒS > [aj#, ej#, oj#] > /e#, i#, u#/ case, manu, ponti

CAPITĀLEM, CĪVITĀTEM, CUBITUM, EQUAM, VIDUUM > /aw, ew, iw, ow/ caudale, ciudade, coudo, euga, veudo

Stage 3: New loss of vowel quantity and shift from decrescent to crescent diphthongs:

/iə, əː, uə/ cialo, cane, buano > /jɛ, ɛ, wɛ/ ciàlo, càne, buàno

/aj, ej, oj, uj/ cuidar, eito, gloira, mai, noi, lei > /aj, e, we, wi/ or /VCʲ/ cughar, echo, gluera, mai, nue, lé

(final unstressed) /e, i, u/ case, manu, ponti > [e, (¨)e, (¨)o] > (analogy) /(¨)e/ càse, mene, punte

/e.(')V, i.(')V, o.(')V, u.(')V/ coallare, coerente, leone > /jV, wV/ quallàr, qüerente, lion

/aw, ew, iw, ow/ caudale, ciudade, coudo, euga, veudo > /aw/wa, jo/ju, ju, o/u/ caduàl, ciudàz, codo, ioga, viuda

Stage 4: Second open vowel shift and decrease of diphthongs:

/tj, jt, dj, jd/ cuidàr > /c, ɟ/ cughàr

/sj, js, zj, jz/ eglesia > /ʃ, ʒ/ egleja

/nj, jn, lj, jl/ colonia, liàve, lion, niàbla > /ɲ, ɟ/ colonna, gheve, ghon, nnàbla

/θj, ðj, rj/ ciudàz, eccion/faccion (learned), riàz, vigario (learned) > /θ, ð, r/ zudàz, ezzon/fazzon, ràz, vigaro

(other) /Cj/ quiedo, principio (learned), rra(b)bia, vision (l.) > /C(j)/ quiedo, principo, rraba, vison

/Cw/ arduo, guarra, individuo (learned) > /C(w)/ ardo, garra, individo

/Clj, Clw, Crj, Crw/ cliente (learned), gluera, griàgo, pruàva > /Cl, Cw/ clente, glera, gràgo, pràva

(stressed) /ɛ, a/ buàno, ciàlo, càn, danza, ha > /æ, ɑ/ buàno, zàlo, càn, danza, ha

(unstressed) /a/ casca, danzàr, mazzàna > /æ ~ ɑ/ casca, danzàr, mazzàna (*vowel harmony with stressed vowel)

c) Rhotacism of /d/ (at the time of general plosive lenition):

/d/ CAUDAM, DĒ, DECEM, DUPLUM, DVŌS > /ɾ/ cora, re, ràz (< riàz), roblo, rue

/d/ DĀRE, DEXTERUM, DĪRECTUM, DORMĪRE = /d/ dàr, destro, drecho, dormir (blocked by a near /ɾ/)

d) Assimilation of ND and related processes:

/nd/ CANDIDUM, FACIENDA, MUNDUM, PREHENDERE > /nn/ > /ɲ/ cando (<*cánnido), acenna, monno, prenner

(some) /nde#, ntV#/ *ad onde, CENTUM, GRANDEM, QUANTUM, SANCTUM > /n/ ron, cen, gran, quan, san

/mb/ LAMBERE, PLUMBUM > /mm/ > /m/ lamer, chomo

e) Fragmentation of F and analogous processes (also in Iberian):

(before back vowels) [Φ] FOCUM, FUNDUM, FŪMUM > /f/ fuàgo, fonno, fumo

(before non-back vowels) [Φ] FACTUM, FABAM, FĪCUM > [h] > /-/ echo, àva, igo

/fl, fr/ FLOREM, *flumine, FLFRĪGIDUM, SUFFLĀRE > /c, pl, pr/ > plor, chumbre, prio, soplàr

/vl, vr/ *haver hemos > /bl, br/ abremo

f) Merging of /j/ and /ʎ/ to become a voiced counterpart to /c/:

EGŌ, AD HERĪ, MEDIUM > /j/ io, aier, meio > /ɟ/ gho, agher, megho

CUBICULUM, FAMILIAM > /ʎ/ covello, amella > /ɟ/ covegho, amegha

g) Fortition of initial /w/:

AUDĪRE, HODIĒ, HOMŌ, OVUM > /#oV, #oj, #we/ oir, oi, huàmo, huàvo > /gwV/ güir, güe, guàmo, guàvo

h) Loss of final unstressed /n/:

ILLŌS AMANT, IUVENEM, VIRGINEM > /n#/ ellu àman, joven, vergen > /#/ eghe àma, jove, verge

(some) NŌN, *ad sic, HABENT > /n#/ non, axin, han > /#/ no, axí, ha (the latter is by analogy)

i) Minor changes:

* ad si, LĪLIUM, QUASĪ, SĪC, SŪCUM, VENĪRE, VESĪCAM > axí, ghigho, quàge, xi, xugo, vennir, vexiga

/b/ *barone, *bassiu, BUCCAM, EPISCOPUM > /v/ varon (sir, lord) / baron (baron) (borrowed), vaxo, voca, vispo

/Cr, Cs/ ABROGĀRE, EXAGIUM > /r, s/ arrogàr (*abrrogàr), essagho (< *ensagho)

QUATERNUM, *muliera, PECTEN, PIGNORAM > cardano, mughara, prente, prenda (< pendra)

PLUVIAM, QUAERERE, RECEPTAM > chuva (< chouva < choiva), queder, rrececha

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Consonants
- /n/ has many allophones that are homorganic with a following consonant.

- The phonemes /c, ɟ/ were conventioned in transcriptions because they are perceived as plosives by native speakers, They are realized as palatalized alveolars [tʲ, dʲ], with little frication but less frication in comparison to [tʃ, dʒ].

- A dental or alveolar fricative in coda position does not present voice distinction. That means, their voice parameter depends on the next sound (e. g. they assimilate). When before pause, they are devoiced.

- /r/ is fully contrastive with /ɾ/ even in word initial position. It is realized as a patalized [rʲ] that sounds like a combination of a trill and a voiced palatal fricative /ʝ/.

- /x/ is only used in some loanwords to convey the sound /h/ or any other back fricative. It is oftentimes not pronounced at all.

- /ʎ/ and /j/ have become rare in Sarran as independent consonants, since they historically merged and became /ɟ/. They appear in proper names and some loanwords. Some people tend to pronounce them as [ɟ] word initially, even though it is considered inappropriate.

- Similarly, the foreign phoneme /w/ has gained acceptance through borrowing from English, but it is sometimes mispronounced as [gw] word initially. It is gradually replacing the plain /v/ pronunciation on the letter W.

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Vowels
- The open phoneme /æ/ started as an allophone and became a partially independent phoneme. The unstressed archiphoneme /A/ varies between /æ/ and /ɑ/ through vowel harmony with the stressed vowel. The resulting vowel is usually notated in general transcriptions, even though some dialects merge final A into an unstressed [ɐ].

- The mid vowels are realized as close-mid vowels, but sometimes they can be a bit more open when they are in closed stressed syllables.

- When the final unstressed vowels /A, e, o/ are followed by an initial unstressed vowel, they are dropped. This also happens with weak monosyllables: in that case, they must have their vowel replaced by an apostrophe (') in orthography.

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Alphabet
Officially, all the 26 letters of modern Latin alphabet are taught, but K, W and Y don't appear in Sarran native vocabulary. Also, there are vowels with an acute accent to mark unpredictable stress and the vowel À to represent the stressed front open vowel. The letters C, N, R, S and Z (as well as L in proper names and loanwords) can be doubled. The additional characters are collated together with their simpler counterparts, and the double consonants are treated as simple sequences.

The letters are treated as feminine nouns and their names are as follows:

A - a /ɑ/, and À - a prontera /ˌɑ pɾon'teɾæ/ or just À - à /æ/

B - be /be/

C - ce /'θe/

D - de /de/

E - e /e/

F - efe /'efe/

G - ge /ʒe/

H - acha /'ɑcɑ/

I - i /i/

J - joda /'ʒodɑ/

K - kapa /'kɑpɑ/

L - ele /'ele/

M - eme /'eme/

N - ene /'ene/

O - o /o/

P - pe /pe/

Q - cu /ku/

R - arre /'ɑre/

S - esse /'ese/

T - te /te/

U - u /u/

V - ve /ve/

W - ve germánica /ve ʒeɾ'mɑnikɑ/, or less commonly ve robla /ve 'ɾoblɑ/

X - xe /ʃe/, former ics /iks/

Y - i gràga /i 'gɾægæ/

Z - zàda /'θædæ/

* The double consonants are called by their basic letter plus robla /'ɾoblɑ/ (double).

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Phonotactics
Most natively, Sarran phonotactics is composed of relatively simple syllables, in which the only mandatory part is a nucleus formed by at least one vowel sound. The basic Sarran syllable structure can be demonstrated as follows:

(C)(C)V(C): where the fist (C) can be any consonant; the second (C) can be L, R, I or U (as semivowels); and the last (C) can be L, N, R, S, I or U (as semivowels), or Z.

Post-aleveolar consonants (/ɲ, c, ɟ, ʃ, ʒ, r, ʎ/) don't appear in coda position for historical reasons, and sometimes they can be preceded by consonants. There is also a native Sarran restriction: if the second (C) is /l/ or /ɾ/, then the first (C) must be a plosive.

Beside that basic model, some more complex syllables may appear due to borrowing or preservation of original words in Latin, Greek or others.

Here go some examples:

V - a /ɑ/

CV - lé /le/

VC - en /en/

CCV - tre /tɾe/

CVC - sàl /sæl/

V.CV - anno /'ɑ.ɲo/

CV.CV.CV - cavagho /kɑ'vɑ.ɟo/

CVC.CCVC - mostràr /mos'tɾæɾ/

A distinctive feature in Sarran, as in most other Romance languages, is syllable stress. It can be placed in the last, second or third to last syllable on a word and it usually don't affect its phonotactics, except for one active restriction on post-tonic syllables: they tend to be reduced to a simple CV structure. For instance, when learning English, a native Sarran speaker tends to pronounce the English word shopping (/ˈʃɑːpɪŋ/) as xape, and dollar becomes dala.

Since most syllables are of the type CV, the overall utterance usually happens at a faster pace.

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Orthography
Sarran orthography is considered to be shallow. However, some traditions have been preserved. One feature preserved from older texts is the doubling of the consonants N, R and S (and also L in proper names and loanwords), even in word initial position, even though this is not as remarkable as the doubling of C and Z.

The letters B, D, E, F, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, T, U, V represent their basic phonemic values.

Other representations in writing are presented below:

/ɑ/ and /æ/: A and À when stressed; A when unstressed. Á is used when /ɑ/ is on an unpredictable stressed syllable.

/ɲ/: NN. (* Ñ can be seen in some texts from the past four centuries until recent times by Spanish influence)

/c/ and /ɟ/: CH and GH.

/k/: C before A, O, U; QU before E, I.

/g/: G before A, O, U; GU before E, I.

/kw/: QU before A, O; QÜ before E, I.

/gw/: GU before A, O; GÜ before E, I.

/θ/: Z before A, O, U; C before E, I; doubled when intervocalic.

/ð/: Z before A, O, U; C before E, I in intervocalic position.

/s/: S; doubled when intervocalic.

/z/: S in intervocalic position.

/ʃ/: X.

/ʒ/: J before A, O, U; G before E, I.

/ɾ/: R.

/r/: RR.

/x/ (or not pronounced at all): H, only in proper names and loanwords.

/ʎ/: LL, only in proper names and loanwords.

/j/: Y, only in proper names and loanwords; written as I in diphthongs.

/w/ (or /v/): W, only in proper names and loanwords; written as U in diphthongs.

The letters C and Z represent their "hard" sound when they are in coda position.

As for diacritics, the diaresis is used over U to keep it pronounceable before a front vowel. The acute accent marks a stressed syllable under the following conditions: a) open oxytone; b) paroxytone with a closed last syllable; c) proparoxytone; d) stressed open monosyllable if not using it may cause confusion. For /æ/, not only does the grave accent mark quality, but also any stressed circumstance.

An apostrophe is used when an unstressed vowel in a monosyllable is followed by another unstressed vowel. In that case, the first unstressed vowel is replaced. For instance, te in te amaró (I will love you) becomes t'amaró, but te in te àmo (I love you) is still pronounced and therefore remains. Similarly, the final a in ala is not dropped in orthography even if followed by an unstressed vowel such as in egleja (church) because the word is not a monosyllable.

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Historical grammatical changes
Sarran shows most traits from the Common and Western Romance period, with some Italian influence at first. Later on, it began to suffer some influence from Spanish as well as Portuguese and Catalan. This section will be focused on changes in nominal and verbal morphology and will also present some general information on syntax and vocabulary.

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Nominal morphology
In its first stage of development, Sarran is believed to have had a somewhat simple but still preserved case system for nouns and adjectives. The vocative case had been lost earlier (merged with nominative); the ablative, genitive and dative fused and formed an oblique case. The nominative and accusative were still distinguished at least in common nouns referring to persons and other living beings which were more likely to act as agents (some modern instances are: guàmo (man), ladro (thief) and sarpe (snake)). On the other hand, nouns referring to less animate concepts, such as objects and elements, tended to merge the two cases.

As prepositions assumed the role of giving information about case, the oblique case was absorbed by the accusative, not without leaving some traces, especially in former -men ending nouns. After a while, the nominative and accusative also merged, with preservation of nominative forms only in a few common, animate nouns.

The five Latin declensions were reduced to three (-a, -o, -(e)) since the fourth merged with the second, and the fifth merged with the third declension. Most neuter nouns were absorbed into the masculine gender while some were reinterpreted as feminine nouns, just as other Romance languages did. As for adjectives, the tendency was remodeling to an -o/-a declension, although several common adjectives, such as gran (big) and zarre (fast), resisted it. The comparative and superlative degrees eroded to the extent that only a handful of irregular words survived, such as meghor (better) and mássimo (most). The formation of adverbs from adjectives follows the common Western Romance construction "adjective (with -a or -e ending)"mente.

. . . ..

Formation of plural was firstly stabilized in -s. After that, there was a sound change that turned final -s into a palatal semivowel, written -i at first, and the resulting diphthongs underwent monothongization: -ai, -ei and -oi rapidly became -e, -i and -u. The high final vowels made preceding vowels raise their height by one level, while the final vowels were themselves merging with -e and -o. This caused singular nouns ending in -o (of masculine gender) to form their plural by metaphony in contrast to feminine nouns (most of them ending in -a) to form their plurals in -e without metaphony. It was by force of analogy that a new masculine plural was formed in the same way as the feminine plural, although the metaphonic vowels were mostly maintained in nouns of invariable gender of former ending -e and also some of singular -o (for instance, lo sol (the sun) and la màno (the hand) are pluralized as le sule (the suns) and le mene (the hands) whereas el mozzo (the boy, the male child) and la mozza (the girl, the female child) merge their plural into le mozze (the children)).

Sarran numerals are conservative when compared with other Romance languages, not only retaining sece from Latin SĒDECIM and cinque from Latin QUĪNQUE as in Italian, but also preserving the ending -enta from Latin -ĀGINTĀ and quinnente from Latin QUĪNGINTŌS as in Spanish and Portuguese. Another conservative trait is the retention of three points of reference in space shown, for intance, in the demonstrative pronouns questo, quesso, quegho (from *ac istu, *ac ipsu, *ac illu) and the so-called local pronouns ca, i, ghi/ghen (from VL eccu hac, AD HĪC, AD ILLĪ / AD ILLINC). Latin QUI and QUEM were preserved under the invariable forms que and quiàn, but CUI is seen as the variable cujo, cuja, cuje, which came from the old, declinable CUIUS. On the other hand, a number of combinations were created in Romance and are still used in Sarran. One of them is ECCE HOC, which became the neuter relative pronoun zo.

The personal pronouns underwent a simplification in their case system. All the cases apart from the nominative eventually collapsed into an objective case. Forms from Latin ILLE supplied the third person in gender, number and case, with the addition of the reflexive pronoun se. Old Sarran had a special dative pronoun lle, which was crystalized as modern ghe before lo, la, le to avoid cacophony. Unstressed forms from ILLE also gave rise to the formation of definite articles, which then caused the implementation of indefinite articles from ŪNUS and partitive articles from DĒ ILLE.

Latin had weak and strong forms for the possessives. It was the strong forms that survived into modern Sarran, although a few literary sources indicate that the weak forms were also used at the earliest stages of the language. Sarran has developed possessive constructions in combination with mandatory articles, just as in Italian. However, singular possessives drop their endings when they go before the noun. Compare the two viable constructions la càsa mia vs. la mi càsa (my house).

Apart from grammatical words, the general Sarran vocabulary has been formed mainly by inherited words from Vulgar Latin, but it also received influence from a number of other sources as well: firstly Celtic and Visigothic, then Arabic, Germanic, Greek, French, Latin and others through its relationship with other Romance languages, especially Spanish and Italian. More recently, it also has borrowed some words from French and English.

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Verbal morphology
When the verbal morphology of Classical Latin is compared to that of most known Romance languages, one can say it changed greatly. Sarran shared Common Romance developments and also some developments from its Iberian neighbors. That is not to say it did not have its own innovations. In this section, changes in verbal morphology will be presented as a list and then as comparison tables from classical to modern structures.

So, the changes in the verbal structure are (more or less ordered from Common to Sarran):

- Loss of passive synthetic forms, being replaced by a reflexive construction;

- Transformation of deponent verbs into active verbs;

- Loss of future indicative due to phonetic reasons, being replaced by a construction using the infinitive plus present indicative of HABĒRE, which in turn agglutinated and became the new synthetic future indicative;

- Creation of a conditional tense from the infinitive plus imperfect of HABĒRE in the same fashion as the one above;

- Merging of imperfect subjunctive and future subjunctive into modern future subjunctive using the main stem (except in a few irregular verbs, where the perfect stem is preserved);

- Displacement of pluperfect subjunctive into the role of past subjunctive, also being remodelled to the main stem, like the new future subjunctive;

- Use of the ending -ENT for third person plural in present indicative instead of -(I)UNT;

- Merger of new second and third conjugation in the imperfect indicative;

- Use of present subjunctive for the negative imperative, also supplying forms for the affirmative other than the second person;

- Merger of second and third conjugation, repelling some of their verbs to the fourth conjugation, in a way similar to Portuguese and Spanish;

- Interaction between -ESCERE and -ĪRE verbs, forming a group of hibrid conjugation verbs, with later redistribution to one or another category;

- Loss of the yod in first person singular in present indicative (hence, also in the whole present subjunctive), except in cases it could coalesce. This is somewhere between Portuguese and other Romance languages;

- Extension of first person singular -o ending from present indicative to imperfect and conditional but not to any tense of the subjunctive mood;

- Present participle forms in -and-, -end- and -ind- for each of the new three conjugations through merger of gerund and present participle, with gender/number agreement. Similarly, regularization of past participles forms in -àd-, -ud- and -id-, although many irregular past participles survive;

- Eventual loss of synthetic perfect, being completely replaced by analytical constructions using ESSE or HABĒRE plus the past participle, later extended to STĀRE;

- Merger of second, third singular and third plural personal endings due to loss of unstressed final consonants. Monosyllables were different at first, but the difference was lost by analogy. The same happened to final stressed forms in the future indicative. The exception is one verb, ser.

The tables below show the origins of Sarran conjugations: . . . . . . . ..

Syntax
As the inflectional cases collapsed, the SVO (subject-verb-object) word order became the main device to maintain the basic nominative-accusative distinction in the sentences when there is no other way to tell. In most other situations, however, different word orders are established in a number of commonly used constructions.

Examples of nominative-accusative distinction in basic sentences:

Latin: FELES MVREM EDIT (SOV, default) / FELES EDIT MVREM (SVO) / MVREM FELES EDIT (OSV) / ...

Sarran: Lo gato manja lo rrato. (SVO, default) / Al rrato manja lo gato. (OVS, enabled by accusative a)

English: The cat eats the rat. (SVO, default)

Nominative pronouns are still dropped when context is sufficient, but since second singular and both third persons now present the same endings in most verbs, the pronouns tu, el, egha and eghe started to appear more regularly. Both nominative and objective pronouns acquired a fixed unstressed position before the verb or a group of verbs, known as preverbal. The former adverbs of place ca, i, ghi and ghen were attracted to the preverbal position and started to be known as local pronouns.

Latin: PANEM NOSTRVM COTIDIANVM DA NOBIS HODIE (DVIA order)

Sarran: Ne da güe lo nostro pàn jornàl. (IVAD order, not fixed)

English: Give us this day our daily bread. (VIAD order, A not fixed)

Also, the verb migrated from the final position to an "opposing" position, causing a redistribution of arguments and adverbs around the sentence, similar to a V2 word order. The main verb became the first one when there is a series of verbs.

Latin: NAVIS VENIET (SV) / NAVIS CRAS VENIET (SAV)

Sarran:La nàve chegará. (SV, not fixed for intransitive verbs) / Remàn chegará la nàve. (AVS, not fixed but preferred)

English: The ship will come. (SV, fixed) / Tomorrow the ship will come. (ASV, but could be AVS through V2 order)

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Grammar
This section will mainly approach morphological as well as syntactical aspects of the language.

Sarran word classes are: sostantivo (noun), pronombre (pronoun), cipra (number), agetivo (adjective), averbàl (adverb), partegha (particle) (comprising articles, prepositions, conjunctions and exclamations) and verbo (verb).

Nouns, pronouns, numbers, adjectives and adverbs form a bigger class simply called nombre (name). They are believed to contribute to the mental process of creating and modifying stactic images. Particles are thought to relate those images to each other, while verbs give sense and movement to the whole sentence.

Morphologically, some grammatical distinctions can be observed in Sarran:

- gendro (gender): masculine vs. feminine; applied to nouns, pronouns and adjectives.

- cantidàz (number): singular vs. plural; applied to all classes but particles.

- caso (case): nominative vs. objective; only seen in personal pronouns and articles.

- passona (person): first, second and third; mainly applied to pronouns and verbs.

- tempo (tense) and megho (mode): applied to verbs.

Grammatical case inflection was lost since Latin, although it did survive in the personal pronouns and also can now be identified by looking at prepositions and the el article. Verbal inflections for voice and aspect were also lost and are now achieved through periphrasis. The table below summarizes the possibility of inflection among noun classes:

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Nouns
They can be used as the head of a subject, object or nominal complement. Morphologically, every noun is assigned a grammatical gender, masculine or feminine, that affects its own form and also the form of related adjectives and other modifying words. Beside gender, other parameters affecting their form are grammatical number, which can be defined as singular or plural, and degree, like diminutive, augmentative and superlative.

At the semantic level, nouns can be classified as:

concrete: barco (boat), mazzàna (apple) vs. abstract: canneza (beauty), rreduzzon (reduction)

common: zapato (shoe), chuva (rain) vs. proper: Mateo (Matthew), Ostragha (Australia)

simple: chàno (ground), plor (flower) vs. compound: lavarropa (washing machine, from làva and rropa)

primitive: triste (sad), piàdra (stone) vs. derived: tristeza (sadness), piadràda (stone strike)

collective: cacho (bunch), cardume (school (of fish))

Gender and number interact differently depending on the word, especially in the modern language since masculine and feminine plural endings have merged into -e. Such plural has been assigned a new gender category called comun (common) when singular words still are distinguished by their endings, although several words have preserved gender distinction in plural forms by suffixation. Thus, it is costumary to ommit number information on singular nouns and conversely to ommit gender information on plural nouns.

Most Latin vowel endings were preserved and became representative of the two genders, but a new group of nouns had their final vowel dropped or maintained in -e and now inflect for number through metaphony on the last stressed vowel (ɑ > æ, æ > e, e > i, i = i; o > u, u = u). Some common words ending in -o also show metaphony in plural forms for historical reasons. The following examples will be presented with the corresponding definite article.

Masculine: lo zàlo (m., the sky), le cele (p., the skies)

Feminine: la càsa (f., the house), le càse (p., the houses)

Variable: el conde, la condessa (m., the count, f. the countess), le cunde, le condesse ((m)p., (f)p.)

Semivariable: lo gato, la gata (m., f., the cat), le gate (p. the cats)

Invariable: la passona (f., the person), le passone (p., the people)

Nouns can also receive special endings denoting size, endearment, deprecation, collection and others. Information about size can be added by using the augmentative or diminutive degree. The main endings are -on (always of masculine gender) for augmentative and -ino (of variable gender) for diminutive but there are many others, including root changes in some words and substitutions. Analytical ways of expressing size, such as adding the adjective gran (big) after or before the noun, are also used.

gato ((male) cat), gata (female cat), gate (cats), gatino (little (male) cat), gatina (little female cat), gaton (big cat), gatucho (dear little cat), gateria (a lot of cats).

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Pronouns
This class contains a restricted number of words that can occupy the position of an argument in a sentence and whose meaning generally depends on another referent. They fullfill a variety of functions, from replacing an aforementioned noun to giving quantitative information. The personal pronouns are the only subgroup that has maintained case distinction.

- Passonele (personal pronouns): The objective pronouns reflect a variety of meanings that must be understood by context. For the reflexive meaning, there is a special form se for third person (both singular and plural). Also, a relic dative form ghe appears in combination with objective third person pronouns in order to avoid cacophony. For instance, compare ''Ghe l'ó dado. vs. *Lo l'ó dado. ''(I gave it to him/her/them.)

- Loquele (local pronouns):

ca (here, "where I am"), i (there, "where you are"), ghi (there, "where it is", proximal), ghen (there, "where it is", distal)

This classification is specific to Sarran. The above pronouns are usually classified as adverbs of place or adverbial pronouns in other Romance languages, but here they acquired the same syntactic and prosodic properties as the personal pronouns, differing only in their reference to places. They can even be related to the persons of speech: ca (1st), i (2nd) and ghi/ghen (3rd).

- Demostrative (demonstrative pronouns):

questo, questa, queste (this, these); quegho, quegha, queghe (that, those, the one(s)); tàl, tel (such); lo, la, le (the one(s)); and others.

- Enquiritive (interrogative pronouns):

que (what), quiàn (who), quàl, qüele (which (one(s))), ron (where), quan (when), como (how).

- Indefinide (indefinite pronouns):

alguno, alguna, algune (some(one)); algo (something); nennuno, nennuna, nennune (no(one)); nugha (nothing); todo, toda, tode (all, every(one)); molto, molta, molte (much, many); poco, poca, poque ((a) few); altro, altra, altre (other); cascuno, cascuna, cascune (each(one)); zarto, zarta, zarte ((a) certain); vare (various); tanto, tanta, tante (so much, so many, "an unspecified number"); calquiàr, calquiere (any); ame (both); and others.

- Relative (relative pronouns):

que (that, which), quiàn (who), ron (where); el quàl, la quàl, le qüele (who/which), cujo, cuja, cuje (whose); quanto, quanta, quante (who/which); zo (that); and others.

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Numbers
This class contains words indicating quantity and numerical order. In order to avoid confusion with the term nombre, used for names, Sarran speakers replaced the old term nombro with cipra, a term borrowed from Arabic and cognate with English cipher. There are basically four types of number: cardinàl, ordinàl, moltiplicativo (multiplicative) and prazzonaro (fractional).

The tables below show Sarran cardinal, ordinal and multiplicative numbers ranging from 1 to one bilion. Fractional numbers will be dealt below the tables. Fractional numbers are either the same as the ordinal numbers (from 3 to 13, then from 100 to one bilion) or the cardinal numbers followed by àve. Since they represent the bottom number in a fraction, they are preceded by an ordinal number and then inflect for number (for instance, 3/4 is tre quarte, and 5/16 is cinque sece àve or simply cinque cima sece). The fractional number for 2 has the special form megho (half).

As noted above, the conjunction e is used between hundreds and dozens but not between dozens and units.

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Adjectives
In this class are words that add information about a referent, usually a noun. Most adjectives have the same morphological properties tha can be found on nouns, although their inflection depends on the head in either attributive or predicative position. This is called concordanza (concord).

Inflection for comparative and superlative degrees fell into disuse as adverbs such as mai and assàz came to be combined with adjectives to convey the same meanings. Yet, adjectives can still inflect for the superlative degree (usually by adding -issim-), while a few words have retained the comparative degree as well.

El quàgo é buàno. (The (male) cook is good.)

La quàga é buàna. (The female cook is good.)

''Le quàgue son buàne. ''(The cooks are good.)

''Questo quàgo é meghor. ''(This cook is better.)

''Questo quàgo é ótimo. ''(This cook is great.)

Lo toro era forte. (The bull was strong.)

''Lo toro era mai forte quel torero. ''(The bull was stronger than the bullfighter.)

''Lo toro era fortissimo / assàz forte. ''(The bull was very strong.)

The possessive (possessives) form a subgroup of the adjective class and show information about who possesses the modified referent (they can inflect by person, gender and number) as well as gender and number of the possessed referent. In attributive position, an article must be used before the possessive: this allows singular person possessives to not inflect for gender and number when they are prepositioned.

''Lo mi gato tàva manjando. / Lo gato mio tàva manjando. ''(My cat was eating.)

Quegha tazza é tua? (Is that cup yours?)

''El Mateo é un amigo nostro. ''(Matthew is a friend of ours.)

''Somo chegàde cola vostra màdre. ''(We have arrived with your [pl.] mother.)

''Revo ajudàr le su amigue! / Revo ajudàr l'amigue sue!'' (I must help his/her/their friends!)

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Adverbs
This class is composed by invariable words that mofify a verb, an adjective, another adverb or a whole sentence as they add information about circumstance, doubt, intensity, mood, negation, place, time, and others. Most adjectives can become adverbs through the -mente suffix. Conversely, some adverbs can inflect to show information about degree (superlative, diminutive, etc) just as adjectives do.

Affirmation, negation, doubt: xi (yes), no (no), quissá (perhaps), talvez (maybe).

Mood: axí (this way, like this), biàn, meghor (well, better), màl (bad), -mente (-ly).

Time: agher (yesterday), güe (today), remàn (tomorrow); ance (before), ja (now, already), ora (now), pue (after); cedo (early), tarde (late).

Other: assàz (very, enough), quàge (almost), mai (more, anymore).

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Sample texts
Below are some examples of texts and excerpts from common sources used by conlangers.

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 Declarazzon Universal rele Dereche Umane  (Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

"Tode passone naxe libre e egüele en rennidàz e dereche. Pue sende rotàde re rrazon e coxenza, eghe se reve trechàr con espírito re jarmandàz."

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 Pàdre nostro  (Lord's Prayer)

Pàdre nostro que é nel zàlo:

se santifique lo tu nombre,

ca venna lo tu rrenno,

se azza la tu voluntàz

nela tarra e tamiàn nel zàlo.

Ne da güe lo nostro pàn jornàl,

e ne pardona le nostre ghode,

axí como pardonàmo le nostre ghodure,

e no ne dexa cair en tentazzon,

mai ne libra rel màlo.

(Pue son tue lo rrenno, lo poder e la glera par sempre. Amen.)

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 El Vento Norde e el Sol  (The North Wind and the Sun)

''El Vento Norde e el Sol tàva contennende quàl era mai forte, quan ghen vinna un viagero envolto en un manto caldo. Eghe á exàde que quiàn exisse àr primo lo viagero togher lo manto reva ser consideràdo mai forte quel altro.''

Repué el Vento Norde á soplàdo lo mai forte que podia, paro quan mai el soplàva, mai vecino lo viagero roblàva lo manto entorno; e, parin el Vento Norde á rrenunzàdo al entento.

''Repué ta brighàdo calorosamente el Sol, e re soto lo viagero á tolto lo manto. E axí el Vento Norde se ta obligàdo a confessàr quel Sol era lo mai forte rele rue.''

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 La torre re Babel  (The Babel Tower)

Entonce era una sola lenga nel monno e un solo gecho r'ablàr.

''Pue salinde rel Oriente le umbre, eghe á achàda una chanura en Xinàr e ghen se son assentàde. Eghe s'á dicho: "azzàmo ladreghe e le cozàmo biàn." Eghe á usàdo ladregho en vez re piàdra e asfalto en vez re mescla. Repué eghe s'á dicho: "n'eguàmo una zudàz con una torre que chegue al zàlo. Axí aremo famoso lo nostro nombre e no ne regecharemo pala tarra entera."''

''Mai el Sennor ta vaxàdo mo el vesse la zudàz e la torre quele umbre tàva eguande. E el Sennor á dicho: "Si como un puàblo que abla la mesma lenga eghe ta comenzàde a àr quesso, entonce nugha que eghe ententa le será impossible. Vennàmo, vaxàmo e confonnàmo la su lenga mo eghe ja no comprenna elexe."''

''Axí el Sennor l'á regechàde pala tarra entera e eghe son dexàde r'eguàr la zudàz. Par zo s'é chamàda Babel: pue el Sennor ghen á confonnida la lenga rel monno entero. Re quel logàr l'á regechàde pala tarra entera.''

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