Old Shax

General Information
This is the long lost North African romance language. It manifested in the Maghreb: specifically in modern-day Morocco, the Roman Empire's Mauritania. The East Roman Empire's side of North Africa was influenced by Greek and gave birth to coptic and other such languages.

("wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" <- for collapsible tables)

Sound Changes
´ = stressed, ` = unstressed, V = vowel, C - consonant, (S) = closed syllable, (Ṩ) = open syllable.

Classical Latin Stress Rules
Usually, stress is on the penultimata; however, if both the penultima and ultima are short and are not separated by two consonants, stress is on the antepenultima.

Rules of Assimilation
Usually the first consonants determins the assimilation (ex: zt > zd, gt > gd, etc), but fricatives hold more weight in these sound changes so the voicing goes to that (ex: gs > ks, ds > ts, bɬ > pɬ). Liquids don't have phonemic voice and are therefore irrelevant.

Classic Latin > Vulgar Latin

 * [yː], [ʏ] > [iː], [ɪ]
 * m > ∅/_# (except in monosyllable words)
 * m, n > ∅/(fricative)
 * w > β
 * h > ∅
 * b > β/V_V
 * syncope of vowels in unstressed medial syllables ending in [l] or [r]
 * oi̯ > e
 * ai̯ > ɛː
 * Removal of phonemic length (except in open stressed syllables and monosyllable words)
 * (e, i) > j/_V
 * ɪ > e
 * ʊ > o

Vulgar Latin > Mauritanian Romance
All masculine nouns are turned to the 3rd declension and feminine to first exceptions: feminine in the 3rd remaine and masculine in the 1st remain; other exceptions
 * (o, u) > w/_V
 * au̯ > ɔ
 * pʰ > f
 * tʰ > tː
 * kʰ > x
 * β > v
 * s > ∅/_#
 * s > z/_#
 * iː > i
 * uː > jo
 * aː > ɛa
 * eː > je
 * oː > we
 * ɛː > ɛ
 * z > θ
 * t > t͡ʃ/_(i, e, j)
 * d > d͡ʒ/_(i, e, j)
 * (e, i) > j/V_C
 * (o, u) > w/V_C
 * ú > jo/#_
 * s > θ/_(i, e, j)
 * á > ɑ/!ɛ_
 * à  > a
 * ì > e
 * í, è > i
 * é > ɛ
 * ó > ɔ
 * ɛ́ > je/!#_ (polysyllable)
 * ɔ > ɑ
 * V̀ > ∅/e, o, a, je_, jo_, ja_, we_, wo_, wa_ (unstressed closed syllable in multisyllabic words)
 * plosive + [l] > plosive + [r]
 * Arabic words
 * Arabic words' (Qur'anic) sound changes
 * ʕ > ∅
 * ħ > h
 * ʔ > ∅/#_
 * ʔ > t/!#_
 * tˤ, dˤ, sˤ, zˤ~ðˤ > ts, dz, sː, zː
 * aː > ɑɛ
 * iː > ea
 * uː > oa
 * tˤ, dˤ, sˤ, ðˤ, ɮˤ > ts, dz, sː, ðw, zː
 * ɟ > ʒ
 * q > k
 * χ > x
 * ʁ > ɣ
 * l > r/V_V
 * Lenition
 * b > β/V_V
 * d > ð/V_V
 * g > ɣ/V_V
 * s > z/V_V
 * z > j/V_V
 * k > x/V_V
 * t(r, l, w) > θ(r, l, w)
 * ɑ̀ >  ɤ/S
 * ɑ̀ >  ʌ/Ṩ
 * Vm > Ṽᵝ/!_V
 * V(n, ŋ) > Ṽ/!_V
 * Ṽ(plosive) > Vn(t, d); Vm(p, b); Vŋ(k, g)
 * p > w/#_
 * Final lenition
 * b > m/_#
 * d > n/_#
 * g > ŋ/_#
 * p > f/_#
 * t > d/_#
 * k > g/#_
 * kʷ(o, u) > ku
 * kʷ(i, e) > kʷʌ
 * kʷ(a, ɑ) > kʷɑ
 * kʷ > kf!_(ɑ, ʌ)
 * s, t, d > ∅/_#
 * Vk > Ṽ/_#

Mauritanian Romance > Old Shax
Stress moves to the penulimate syllable and monosyllable words carry no stress


 * l > ɬ/#_
 * θ > ∅/_#
 * l > ɬ/_VC
 * ɣ > j/V_V
 * ɣ > ∅
 * d͡ʒ > t͡ʃ
 * jo > ɤ
 * ʌ > ɤ
 * e, o, ɤ, ẽ, õ, ɤ˜ > ɛ, ɔ, ʌ, ɛ̃, ɔ̃, ʌ̃/Ṩ
 * ɛ, ɔ, ʌ, ɛ̃, ɔ̃, ʌ̃ > e, o, ɤ, ẽ, õ, ɤ˜/S, _#
 * u, o, ɤ > eu/C_#
 * (z, v, ð) > (θ, f, θ)/_#
 * Vj(i, e) > Vʒ(i, e)
 * b, m > β/_#
 * p > f/_#
 * w > v/V_V
 * eu > ju
 * h > ∅/_#
 * ɑ > a/S!_#
 * ɑ > a/#_
 * Vm > Ṽᵝ
 * Vn > Ṽ
 * Ṽ(plosive) > Vn(t, d); Vm(p, b); Vŋ(k, g)
 * ĩ, ẽ > ɪ̃
 * ɛ̃, ã > æ̃
 * ũ, õ, ɤ̃ > ø̃
 * ʌ̃, ɔ̃, ɑ̃ > ɔ̃
 * (ĩ, ẽ, ã, ɛ̃, ɤ, ʌ̃)ᵝ > ɯ̃ᵝ
 * (ũ, õ, ɔ̃)ᵝ > ỹᵝ
 * l(j, u, o) > ɬ(∅, u, ∅)
 * j > l/#_
 * ɬj, lj > ɬ
 * Cl(j, u, o) > t͡ʃ
 * Geminates
 * lː > ɫ
 * ɬː > t͡ʃ
 * jː > ʒ
 * wː > β
 * Cː > C

Old Shax > Modern Shax
Stress in VCV words becomes ultimate


 * ɑ > a
 * b > β/V_V
 * d > ð/V_V
 * g > ɣ/V_V
 * p > b/V́_V̀, _(r, l)
 * t > θ/V́_V̀; t > d/_r; tr > ðr/V́_V̀; tl > t͡ʃ
 * k > g/V́_V̀, _(r, l)
 * β > w
 * ɣ > j
 * ɫ > g
 * r > ə̯/_#, VrC
 * l > w/#_
 * ɬ > s/#_
 * (f, v)jɛ > (p, b)ɛ
 * je > i
 * ju > ø
 * (ɪ̃, ỹᵝ, æ̃, ø̃, ɯ̃, õ) > (i, ø, ɛ, ø, ø, ɔ)
 * ɛa > i
 * VhV > Vː (if they're the same)
 * h > ∅
 * Vi, e > Vj
 * Vu, o > Vʊ̯
 * o > u/_#
 * e > i/_#
 * ɯ > ø
 * (e, o, ø, ɤ) > (ɛ, ɔ, œ, ʌ)/Ṩ, #_
 * (ɛ, ɔ, œ, ʌ) > (e, o, ø, ɤ)/S, _#
 * ɛ̀ > je
 * V̀ > ∅/#_ !#_V; (i, e, u, o)V > (j, j, w, w)V
 * w(i, e) > ɥ(i, e)
 * w > ∅/(u, o, ɔ, ø, œ)

Vowel
O = rounded

– = unrounded

Stress
Stress always falls on the penultimate syllable.

Alphabet

 * 1)  and  is [ɛ] and [ɔ] respectivally in a closed syllable
 * 2)  is [ə̯] when a consonant follows it and a vowel precedes it
 * 3)  and are [j] and [w] respectivally before another vowel
 * 4) is [ɥ] before [i] or [e]
 * 5)  is [t͡ʃ] before, , <æ>, <œ>, , and 
 * 6)  is for loans

Multigraphs

 * 1)  is used for the [d͡ʒ] that was devoiced to [t͡ʃ]
 * 2) ,, and  are from Greek loans
 * 3)  is used for words that used to be [ɫ] but became [g] with sound changes

Diacritics

 * 1) <â> and <û> follow the same principle as  and 

Case
In the vulgar latin dialect Shax descended from, the first declension was kept for feminine nouns, and the third was kept masculine nouns. In the masculine, there are three cases: the nominative, the possessive, and the prepositional: the nominative is from the Latin nominative and vocative (which was replaced with the vocative); the possessive is from the merged Latin genitive and dative; the accusative is from the Latin accusative and ablative. Note that the prepositional case is used in prepositional phrases as well as the accusative.

In the feminine, there are two cases: the nom-acc and dat-gen: the nom-acc case comes from the merged Latin nominative, accusative, and ablative cases (where the nom-acc acts like the masculine prepositional too); the dat-gen comes from the Latin dative and genintive.

Plural
Early one, the plural was standardized to use a <-f> on the singular for indication though there are exceptions. Remenant of the old dual number system (where the singular would have the nominative, possessive, and prepositional cases and the plural would have the nom-acc and dat-gen), the nominative and possessive cases in the singular system merged and are the same.

Gender
There are two genders: masculine and feminine. Masculine can end in any vowel other than [a] and [e]. Feminine nouns always end in [a] or [e]. To make a feminine noun, you would convert the ending of the original masculine noun's vowel to one of these: [o, ɔ, ə, ʌ, œ] > [a] and [e, ɛ, ø, u, ɤ] > [i]. There are, of course, exceptions.

Masculine
Uazrer̀ [waθri] - father (formal)

Feminine
Zielua [θjɛlwa] — forest, woods, wooland, etc

Definite
The definite article is taken from the latin word hīc, for proximal, and ille, for medial-distal.

Indefinite
The indefinite is taken from the latin word ūnus, for proximal, and is, for medial-distal.

Zero
The zero article in Shax corresponds to the partative article.

Adjectives
Adjectives were heavily simplified in Shax: only the stem was kept and declention was removed; there are some exceptions (e.x.: bonus).

General Information
The perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect conjugations were supplanted by a periphrastic construction. The perfect and imperfect lost their meaning and merged into the preterite in the indicative; the subjunctive perfect merged with the imperfect semantically and became the general past. The conditional mood came from the antique latin future perfect tense. The interrogative tense came from the passive subjunctive tenses (the passive became paraphrastic where to be and the participle of the desired tense).

Perfect Tenses
Class one verbs are normal verbs; these use avfieri. Class two verbs are reflexive (class one verbs become class two when they're reflexive), arabic loan verbs, and abstract (ex: to wish vs to run) verbs; these use éseri. The perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect are made with paraphrastic phrases using the auxiallary of their respective class and the respective participle (present, past, or future).

Subjunctive
The future subjunctive is the class respective auxillary in the subjunctive present and the future participle. The future perfect is a tense used only with the 3rd conditional where it has the subjunctive past and the future participle.

Conditional
The second conditional uses the class respective auxillary in the 1st conditional then the past participle. The third uses the class respecitive auxillary in the subjunctive future perfect and the present participle.

Interrogative
The future interrogative uses the future of éser and the present participle.

Ézer
ézer [ɛzer] = to Be

Conditional
1st, 2nd, and 3rd Conditionals

Avir
avir [avir] = to Have

-ar Verbs
améar = to Love