Aarlaansk



Aarlaansk is a language spoken in The Aarlaans, a country that, in a different reality, inclues The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, a part of our Germany and a part of our France. It has been created by Llyn, imagining how the Latin would have evolved, if the Romans had conquered that territory and had imposed the use of Latin language. Llyn was inspired by Brithenig language and by Wenedyk language.

The term Aarlaansk means "the language of the Aarlaans". The origin of the ethnonym hasn't been completely explained yet: the most probable hypothesis explains that "Aarlaans" is a contraction of "Aarvers plaans", that is "plains of the tree", aarvers is an archaic genitive case of the term aarf, "tree", and plaans is the plural form of the term plaan, "plain". The fact that in old documents, the ethnonym Aarlane is also found and that the word "plaan" has got an archaic plural form plane, supports this hypothesis.

But why should the Romans have given this place the name of "plains of the tree"? The explanation was found only in 2609 ab U.c. (that is circa 1856 of our era): during an archaeological excavation it was found a table that dates back to 867 ab U.c. (circa 114 of our era), on this table was written the anecdote of the defeat of Germanic Tribes in a Northern territory by the Roman army of Trajan. According to this narration, the emperor had a prophetic dream: the Roman army would have won, only if it had attacked the Germanic tribes far from the forest, in an endless plain. The sign that would have shown the right place would have been a solitary tree, the only one within this immense plain. History teaches us that in the Battle of Vloerijgen (866 ab U.c. - 113 d.C.) the future country of Aarlaans became a part of Roman Empire.

Classification
Aarlaansk is a Romance language that descends from Vulgar Latin, even if, in spite of other languages of the same family, in Aarlaansk many common terms derive from Classical latin.

The lexicon is almost completely of Latin origin (99% of Aarlaansk words derive from Latin words).

Alphabet
The Aarlaansk alphabet contains 23 letters and 1 digraph that is considered a distinct letter: When voiced consonants are found in final position, they are devoiced and become voiceless. The g, z and v can be pronounced respectively [χ], [s] and [f] when at the beginning of a word, this pronounciation is not compulsory and is rather dialectal.

Consonants
In Aarlaansk the following consonantic phonemes are found:

Vowels
Here are the vowels of Aarlaansk: The short a is articulated rather in the front of mouth, while the long a is pronounced rather in the back of mouth.

Diphthongs, false diphthongs and vowel length
In Aarlaansk there are only three diphthongs:

There are also other "vocalic combinations" that represent a long vowel instead, thus they are called false diphthongs or just long vowels:
 * ei [ɛɪ];
 * ou [aʊ];
 * ui [œy].

A diaeresis divides two vowels that, otherwise, would form a diphthong, ex.: ïe [‘ie], they; zöuut [zo'y:t], greeting. The diphthongs, the false diphthongs and the letter ij (that really indicates the same diphthong as ei) are always long in Aarlaansk, while the letters i and y are always short. The letters a, e, o, and u can be both short and long, instead. To indicate the vowel length of these 4 vowels, this language uses a special system that is based on the kind of syllables.
 * eu [ø:];
 * ie [i:];
 * oe [u:].

There are two kind of syllables: they can be both open and closed. A syllable is open when it ends with a vowel (so ma, te, ko, su are all open syllables); a syllable is closed when it ends with a consonant (so mat, tek, kos, sum are all closed syllable).

The rules to indicate the length of a, e, o, u and says that:

«When a long vowel is found in an open syllable, it is written once, whereas if it is found in a closed syllable, it is written twice.» 

That is to say that short vowels are never found in open syllables, but only in short ones and in this case they are written once, because if a vowel is written twice in a shor syllable, it is long, ex.:


 * in ma and maat the a's are long; in mat the a is short;
 * in te and teek the e's are long; in tek the e is short;
 * in ko and koos the o's are long; in kos the o is short;
 * in su and suum the u's are long; in sum the u is short.

When to use i and when to use y
Both the letters i and y represent the same sound, that is [ɪ]. In the past their use wasn't neither regular nor systematic: they were used almost ever interchangeably. Only in the first Modern Age their use was regularised. It is to be used i in open syllables (in fact the letter i is always short, even if it is found in an open syllable) and y in closed syllables. In diphthongs and false diphthongs only i is used.

Note that this can cause alternation, ex.: gauvyn (yellow) has a definite form gauv i ne. However this is only a writing rule, it doesn't affect pronunciation.

Digraphs and trigraphs
Aarlaansk has got two digraphs, that are , that is read [χ], and , that is read [k] and represents the double k. There is only a trigraph, that is read [ʃ].

The stress
The stress follows some rules:


 * in two syllable words, if the last one is long (= it contains a long vowel or a diphthong), the stress falls on it, otherwise it falls on the last but one;
 * in words of three or more syllables, the stress cannot fall before the last but two syllable; if the last syllable is long, the accent falls here; if the last one is short and the last but one is long, the accent falls on the last but one; if both the last and the last but one are short, the accent falls on the last but two;


 * it is important to note that the final -e suffix that indicates a female individual (ex.: zenniere, "lady") or a plural form (ex.: zylve, "forests") is always short.

Nouns, gender and number
Nouns in Aarlaansk can be either common or neuter: the previously masculine and feminine genders have merged into the common gender, whereas the neuter has remained the same. Nouns have got two forms: singular, that indicates one object, person, animal, concept, and so forth, and plural, that indicates more than one object, person, animal, concept, and so on.

Generally the plural is formed with the terminations:

1) -s, if the noun ends with a vowel or -l, -n, -r;

2) -e, if the noun ends with a consonant (except -l, -n, -r).

The substantives that end with -f or -s mutate f into v and s into z, ex.: zylf, wood, forest, has got a plural zylve, woods, forests; tens, time, has got a plural tenze, times.

Some nouns with their plural form and their meaning
Here is a short list of substantives with their plural form, their gender and their meaning: Some nouns show some changes in their structure:


 * zylf > zylve;
 * baas > baze.

This is due to the phonetic rules: in the word zylf, the f becomes voiced due to its position between a voiced consonant and a vowel, so zylf becomes zylve.

The last word, baas, shows a change in the written form of the long vowel and at the same time a voicing of the last consonant.

Articles
In Aarlaansk there are two kinds of article: definite article and indefinite article. The first is used to talk about things, people, concepts that are already known by both the speaker and the listener, whereas the indefinite article introduces concepts, things, people that are new.

The indefinite article is just one: uin and it is used with both common and neuter nouns, it hasn't got a plural form, so the only way to make an indefinite plural is to avoid the article, ex.: uin masie, a house, masies, houses, but also some houses.

The definite article has got a gender differentiation in the singular but a common form in the plural: The articles always precede the noun they are referred to

Adjectives
The adjectives always precede the noun they are referred to and they have a special "declension": it is added an -e when the noun is in its plural form, the singular noun is preceded by a determiner (the indefinite article is NOT a determiner), and when the singular common gender noun is preceded by no article or by indefinite article. The adjectives remain uninflected when the noun is a singular neuter gender nound preceded by no article or by indefinite, and when a noun (both common and neuter) is preceded by nul (no/any), ouk (any), om (every), kwaal (what/which), taal (such), tant (so many/so much), pook (little/few), muut (many/much), kuucht (all).

Adjectives used as attribute, that is after a verb, are not declined, ex.:


 * Hij kat est magen > The cat is big.

Some examples with magen, big, great, and gouvyn, yellow:

Please note the loss of the -e- in the last syllable of magen. This happens to most nouns that end with -el, -em, -en, -er. Once again it is to be said that, in informal spoken language, adjective declension is rarely used.
 * Uin ma gne kat > A big cat (kat is a common gender noun);
 * Hij ma gne kat > The big cat;
 * Gouvyn oor > Yellow gold (oor is a neuter gender noun);
 * Hoe gouvin e oor > The yellow gold;
 * Nul magen kat > No big cat.

Comparative and superlative
The lower degree comparative is formed with the pattern myn + adjective + de + 2nd term (in the same case of the first, if it is a pronoun), ex.:


 * Noes zunt myn vackiet de toe > We are less beautiful than you.

The same degree comparative is formed with the pattern tam + adjective + kant + 2nd term (in the same case of the first, if it is a pronoun), ex.:


 * Noes zunt tam vackiet kant toe > We are as beautiful as you.

The higher degree comparative is formed with the pattern pluis + adjective + de + 2nd term (in the same case of the first, if it is a pronouns), ex.:

The superlative is formed with the pattern wou(d) + adjective, ex.:
 * Noes zunt pluis vackiet de toe > We are more beautiful than you.


 * Toe est wou vackiet > You are most beautiful.

If it is used as a relative superlative, wou(d) is substituted for hij/hoe pluis + adjective + de, ex.:


 * Toe est hij pluis vackiet de hij uurf > You are the most beautiful in the world.

Some adjectives: koud (hot), vrijcht (cold), zymplek (simple), vackel (easy), veed (ugly), zacker (sacred), verroek (fierce), kruidiel (cruel).

There are also adjectives that have got irregular higher degree comparative and superlative: The higher degree comparatives are always used with de, ex.:
 * Toe est mellier de eg > You are better than I.

Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns are the only words that inflect according to case. They have a nominative case, that is the case of the subject, and two kinds of accusative case, the case of the object - both direct and indirect. The accusative case has an unstressed form and a stressed one. The forms between parentheses are colloquial. The unstressed accusative form precedes the verb, while the stressed one follows it. The stressed forms are used after prepositions or to emphasize the complement.

Some examples:


 * Me oodt toe? > Do you hear me?
 * Toe wijst ym. > You see him.
 * (E)g ood ym, noen tie. > I hear him, not you.
 * (Y)s dijkt yd ar n(o)e(s). > He says it to us.

Possessives
Possessive adjectives are never preceded by article and they always precede the noun they are referred to. These adjectives are undeclinable, that is they have only a form for both singular and plural: Possessive pronouns are always preceded by article, ex.:


 * (Y)s est mies mijk, noen hij tuize. > He's my friend, not yours.

Sometimes the possessor is specified with de + pronoun to avoid ambiguity, above all in the case of the 3rd person, ex.:


 * Zuis mijk de iem or Hij  mijk de iem > *His friend of him = His friend;
 * Zuis mijks de ees or Hies  mijks de ees > *Their friends of them = Their friends.

Demonstratives
In this language, demonstratives always follow the name they are referred to, when they are used as adjectives.

Demonstratives are never preceded by article, not even if they are used as pronouns. There are three kinds of demonstratives:

Ex.:
 * those that show proximity to the speaker;
 * those that show proximity to the hearer;
 * those that show distance from both the speaker and the hearer.


 * Yll kat est nyt > That cat is cute;
 * Yst liver est hij tuize > That book (near you) is yours;
 * Eg wol huuk maal > I want this apple.

Indefinites
These pronouns and adjectives neither determine nor specify the substantives, that is they don't tell us anything about their quantity or identity: Some pronominal forms have got both a singular and a plural voice, but adjective forms have got ONLY one voice, that is both singular and plural. Except for niemen / neel and oukin / oukrie, indefinites don't have a gender distinction.

In brackets there are archaic forms (ex. nechel) or less used or dialectal forms (ex. toet).

As said in the chapter about adjectives, nul, om, ouk, kwaal, taal, pook, muut, tant, kuucht have no declension when used as adjectives.

The "prezent yndikatijf" (present tense of indicative mood)
The present tense, or prezent yndikatijf in Aarlaansk, expresses an action that happens regularly, that is habitual or that happens around the moment of the speech.

The "prezent yndikatijf" of the verbs zer (to be) and haar (to have)
The verbs zer and haar are two of the main verbs in almost every language. In Aarlaansk these verbs are irregular as in most other languages. Here it is the conjugation of these two verbs in the prezent of the y ndikatijf: In Aarlaansk the subject is always expressed, with impersonal verbs it is used the dummy subject "yd", ex.: (Y)d pluft > It rains.

The prezent indikatijf of regular verbs
The infinitive form of almost all verbs ends with -er. The regular verbs are formed adding particular endings to the root form. The root form of a verb is obtained just dropping the infinitive ending -er and adding the personal endings. Of course to obtain the root form is necessary to pay attention to the vowel lenght, that must be maintained (unless the verb is irregular). Moreover if the verb root ends with -v or -z, this letter becomes unvoiced in the three singular persons voices.

Here are four verbs: wijzer (to see), rijder (to laugh), legger (to read), oder (to hear): The endings of the present tense of indicative are thus: Pay attention the the verbs whose root form ends with a leng vowel or a diphthong followed by -d: in the 1st and 2nd singular persons of the present of indicative the -d(t) ending is often omitted in the colloquial and informal language.

The prezent of some irregular verbs
As all languages, Aarlaansk has got some irregular verbs too. Often the infinitive of these verbs doesn't end with -er, but with slightly different endings. Some other verbs have got the regular infinitive ending -er, but are irregular. Here it can be seen the present tense of the verbs vaar (to do), ijr (to go), daar (to give), duir (to lead) and vluer (to flow, to slip by): The irregularities are not systematic: how it can be seen, both vaar and daar have got an infinitive in -aar, but the former has got a root form vach- in the three singular persons, whereas the latter has got a root form doe-. More systematic (but not ever) are the verbs whose infinitive ends in -uer: in the three singular persons the root form ends in -uf (we have just seen it in the example yd pl uf t, it rains).

However it is best to control in the dictionary how the root form of the irregular verbs changes.

The "preterryt yndikatijf" (past tense of indicative)
The past tense, preterryt yndikatijf in Aarlaansk, is used to express an action that has happened in the past, independently on when it has happened, if it is ended or not, if it affects the present and so on. It corresponds to English past simple and present perfect.

The past tense of zer and haar
The preterryt yndikatijf of these two irregular verbs is, obviously, quite irregular: In this tense, the 2nd and the 3rd singular persons share the same ending, as in the present tense.

The preterryt yndikatijf of regular verbs
The past tense of regular verbs is formed by deleting the ending -er of the infinitive and by adding -euw for the singular first person and -euft for the other two singular persons. The plural persons voices are formed by adding -n to the infinitive form:

The preterryt of irregular verbs
Irregular verbs have, of course, irregular forms for the preterryt of the yndikatijf. It is important to remember that neither the singular forms nor the plural ones are made starting from the infinitive: Please, note that the radical -e- of the form vech/t is short, whereas in the form vechern it becomes long!

The "pervecht yndikatijf" and the "pluispervecht yndikatijf" (analytical past and past perfect of indicative)
Beside the preterryt there is another verbal form that expresses an action that has happened in the past: the pervecht of yndikatijf. This form is similar to the English present perfect, because it is formed with the prezent of the verb haar and the preterryt parkipie of the main verb. In Aarlaansk, however, this form is completely interchangeable with the preterryt form: it is just a matter of style and of formality, because the pervecht is more used among friends and in colloquial speech, whereas the preterryt is more used in written language and in formal meetings.

The pervecht of zer and haar
The auxiliary verb is always haar:

The pervecht of regular verbs
Even for the regular verbs, the auxiliary verbs is always haar: As it can be seen, the past participle of the regular verbs is formed by adding the ending -yt to the root form. It is also true that not all the regular verbs have got a regular past participle (cf. wijzer > wijst and legger > lecht), in these cases it is always best to use the dictionary.

The pervecht of irregular verbs
The irregular verbs maintain their irregularity in the form of the past participle used with the auxiliary:

The pluispervecht
This tense corresponds to the English past perfect, and it is used to express an action that happened before another one.

The pluispervecht is formed with the preterryt of the verb haar and the past participle of the main verb, ex.:
 * After I had watched a film, I went out > Diepst e g hu spechtyt uin plikel ak iseuw.

The "vottuur yndikatijf" (future simple)
It is used to speak about actions that have not happened yet and that will happen in the future. English has got three forms of future with three different functions, Aarlaans has got just one form that expresses these funcions: with the future it can be spoken about:


 * events that will happen in the future (but that are not planned);


 * events that are happening because they are planned and organised;


 * events that are going to happen because there is an intention.

Moreover the vottuur can be used to express assumptions.

This tense is analytical and it is formed by the present tense of the verb wader, that exists just as auxiliary of the future, and the infinitive of the main verb.

The vottuur of the verbs zer and haar
The 1st and 2nd singular persons can use the more colloquial and informal form wa instead of waad and waadt, because the root has got a long vowel before the -d-.

The future tense of regular and irregular verbs is formed the same way. In Aarlaansk doesn't exist a future perfect tense, instead of it they use the future simple.

The "prezent konjuchtijf" (present tense of subjunctive)
The present of subjunctive is used to express a desire, a polite exhortation, a supposition and everything that is disconnected from reality.

The prezent konjuchtijf of the verbs zer and haar
Here are the present of subjunctive of the verbs zer and haar, whose forms are irregular:

The prezent konjuchtijf of regular verbs
This tense is formed with the affix -a-: Some examples:


 * I think he reads a book > Eg pijn acki ys leggat uin liver;
 * I don't know where you are > Eg ne schij euf toe zijt.

but


 * I know where you are > Eg schij euf toe est.

In the 1st and the 2nd sentences, we are talking about something that we actually don't know, that is we aren't sure that they are REAL, so we have to use subjunctive. In the last sentence, we use indicative, because we know that the expressed action is real (or we believe of knowing it).

The prezent konjuchtijf of irregular verbs
Irregular verbs have got an irregular present of subjunctive, that often is formed starting from the 1st singular person of the present of indicative:

Greetings
The main zöuuts (greetings) in Aarlaansk are:


 * Zave matijn! > Good morning! (used in the first hours of the morning, till 10.00 am)


 * Zave juir! > Good morning! (used till 01.00 pm)


 * Zave wertijn! / Zaaf merrijd! > Good afternoon! (used till 07.00 pm)


 * Zave zier! > Good evening! (used till 22.00 pm)


 * Zave nocht! > Good night!


 * Zouw! / Zu! > Hello! / Hi!


 * Wal! > Bye!


 * Arriwijzerne! > Good bye!


 * Koem te ijt? / Koem we ijt? > How are you? / How are you, Mr.?


 * Recht, graat / graties, ak te / we? > Fine, thanks, and you (Mr.)?


 * Mou / eger. > Bad.