Latitalian

Latitalian is a version of Standard Italian simulating the way Italian would be spoken if it had inherited the morphology of Classical Latin. As such, the vocabulary and phonology are fully equivalent to that of Standard Italian, and only some differences in morphology and syntax occur. Furthermore, just like Latin and Italian, it is regularly written in the Latin script.

Article
Like Italian, Latitalian possesses a definite and an indefinite article, whose declensions are as follows. The nominative masculine singular is usually il, but becomes le before a cluster beginning in /s/ or a vowel.

All articles lose their final vowel is the next word starts in a vowel. Like for the definite article, the masculine nominative is un, but becomes unu before a cluster beginning in /s/. Additionally, all the articles become un' before a vowel except for the masculine nominative.

Latitalian does not preserve the partitive articles of Italian; in their place, a zero article is used.

Nouns
Latitalian inherits three of the five noun declensions of Latin: the fourth declension is fully absorbed into the second, and the fifth, like sometimes even happened in Latin, is fully absorbed into the first.

First declension
The first declension comprises the majority of feminine nouns and a few masculines. The declension is as follow, with the noun casa "house" as the example, from the root cas-.

Notice that because the regular "-is" ending of Latin would yield -i in Latitalian, the ending -evo (Latin -ibus) has been borrowed from the third declension. This same pattern is observed in masculine nouns of the second declension.

An exception is presented by words whose nominative is accented on the third-to-last syllable, where the ending is shortened to -e. For example, tavola "table" has dative plural tavole rather than *tavolevo.

Other nouns with irregular dative-ablative plurals are dea ("goddess") and figlia ("daughter"), whose form is deàvo and figliàvo respectively.

Also notice that when the noun has a nominative singular in -ia, the declension is slightly altered. See as an example the noun media ("average"):

Second declension
The second declension comprises the majority of masculine nouns and the vast majority of neuter nouns (as Latitalian preserves the tripartite gender system of Latin). The declension is illustrated with the nouns lagu "lake" and tetto "roof". The dative and ablative plural follow the same rules as the second declension for masculine nouns.

A small group of masculine nouns, deriving from Latin nouns in -er, have likewise a nominative and vocative singular -er instead of -eru. One example is suocer. Notice that in these nouns the -e- is always preserved, unlike Latin; nouns that in Latin lose the -e- are regularized, so that for example Latin magister yields maestru.

Additionally, the noun diu ("God") has a slightly irregular declension, which is shown below. Notice that when a second declension noun ends in -iu or -io (in the nominative singular), the declension is altered to avoid contact of two /i/'s. As an example, see the declension of the nouns geniu ("genius") and olio ("oil"):

Third declension
The third declension contains a sizable amount of nouns of all genders. Like in Latin, the declension is split into a masculine-feminine version, and a neuter version.

The most irregular form of these nouns is the nominative singular, which must respect the prescription of Italian phonotactics and thus not have a final consonant unless it's a liquid. All other forms are obtained by adding a suffix to a stem.

We'll first illustrate the endings through the example declension of sol ("sun") as a masculine noun and then folgor ("lightning") as a neuter noun, and then the rules to derive the nominative singular (and the genitive plural). Notice that because this noun in ante-penult stressed, the ending -evo is truncated to -e.

When the stem ends in /t/, /d/, /l/ or /n/, those consonants palatalize in the genitive plural: for example, the noun vìrtu ("virtue") has genitive plural virtùzio.

As a rule, when deriving a nominative singular, all nouns with a stem ending in a stop or an affricate lose it: for example, the genitive singular piedi yields the nominative piè ("foot"). However, it must be noticed that some of these nouns may present a vowel change in the nominative singular: for example, the genitive singular lìmiti ("limit") yields the nominative lìme.

Nouns with a stem ending in /l/ and /r/ generally preserve it in the nominative singular; thus, while this was an oscillating phenomenon in Latin, nouns whose stem-final /s/ changed to /r/ due to rhotacism preserve this change throughout the declension (so that for example Latin flos, genitive floris, yields Latitalian fior). Notice that however, a small group of neuter nouns irregularly elides it: for example Latin tempus regularly yields tempo, though the Latitalian genitive remains to be tempori.

A more elaborate rule is reserved for stems in /n/. Masculine and feminine nouns generally have a nominative in -o, with regression of the stress and elision of the /n/. In the rest of the declension the /o/ may irregularly become /i/, for example from the nominative uomo ("man") we derive the genitive uòmini; and from the genitive naziòni ("nation") we derive the nominative nàzio.

A small group of nouns has irregular nominatives, which are listed below:


 * Pade, genitive padri
 * Made, genitive madri
 * Caro, genitive carni
 * Cani, genitive cani
 * Sede, genitive sedi

Some nouns also have a nominative singular in -i and a genitive plural in -io. An example is colli, genitive singular colli and genitive plural collio.

Another group of nouns preserves the Latin genitive plural in -io, and when neuter, a nominative-accusative-vocative plural -ia. These also tend to have irregular nominative singulars; for example, the noun nò ("night") has genitive singular notti and genitive plural nozzio.

A few neuter nouns, finally, present a slightly different declension, which we illustrate here with the noun mare ("sea").

Adjectives
Like in Latin, adjectives have to agree with the corresponding noun in gender, number and case.

First-class adjectives
Like in Latin and Italian, adjectives are divided into two classes, where the first follows the second declension for the masculine and neuter gender and the first for the feminine. This can be easily observed in the example adjective nuovo ("new"): Just like in nouns, a few adjectives may have a nominative-vocative masculine singular in -er.

Additionally, again like in nouns, if the adjective ends in -iu, the -i- is lost whenever the suffix is -i; additionally, these adjectives have dative-ablatives masculine and feminine plurals in -ìvo.

Like in Italian, adjectives stressed on the antepenult syllable whose stem ends in a velar palatalize it in the nominative-accusative-vocative masculine plural. For example, the adjective eticu ("ethical") has a nominative masculine plural etici (but accusative feminine plural etichi).

Like in Latin, any adjective can be used alone in the neuter to mean "X thing"; for example, the standalone adjective lo buono can mean "good thing".

Possessive adjectives
Possessive adjectives have a slightly irregular declension, which is presented below.

The same pattern is followed by the adjective suòu ("his/her").

The adjectives nostru("our") and vostru ("your", "of y'all") decline regularly, while the adjective loro ("their") is indeclinable.

Pronominal adjectives
Latitalian inherits some pronominal adjectives from Latin, which are altru ("other"), solu ("alone"), tuttu ("all") and all the pronouns compounded from unu, such as qualcunu ("someone") and nessunu ("none").

Those decline regularly except that for all genders their genitive singular ending is -ìo, while the dative singular has -i. For example, altru has genitive singular altrìo, and dative singular altri.

Second-class adjectives
These adjectives follow the third declension. They are further divided into two-way and one-way adjectives (the three-way adjectives of Latin are regularly assimilated into two-way adjectives). Their declension is here illustrated with the two adjectives forti ("strong") and vèlo ("fast"). Notice that adjectives stressed on the antepenult move the stress forward in the genitive plural and the neuter nominative-accusative-vocative plural. So the adjective tèssile ("related to fabric, to weaving") has genitive plural tessìlio.

Comparative
Latitalian preserves the Latin synthetic comparative, formed by means of a suffix -ior, -io, which then declines like a third declension noun. Just like in nouns, if the stem ends in a dental stop, this is palatalized: so the adjective forte has a comparative forzior. The same happens with stems in a velar with antepenult stress, where the stress also moves forward: miticu ("fantastic, mythical") has mitìcior, but sporco ("dirty") has sporchior. The movement of the stress actually happens with all antepenult-stressed adjectives.

The comparative, other than its primary comparison function, also serves as a mild intensifier (see the English adverbs "pretty", "somewhat").

The declension of the comparative is hereby illustrated with the adjective basso ("low, short"). N.B. The  of these suffixes when stressed, deriving from Latin long /o:/, is always pronounced as closed /o/.

Nouns ending in the suffixes -ficu and -volu add an infix -enz- before the comparative suffix: thus, the adjectives magnificu ("magnificient") and benevolu ("generous, of good heart") have comparatives magnificènzior and benevolènzior.

Also notice that the adjectives buonu, cattivu, grandi, piccolu e moltu have the irregular comparatives miglior, peggior, maggior, minor and più (genitive piuri).

Adjectives with a stem ending in a vowel have no synthetic comparative, and in its place the adverb più is used.

Latitalian preserves two way of translating "than". The first, inherited by Italian, is the use of a particle plus a noun in the same case as the adjective. This particle is di for the nominative, accusative and vocative, while it is che for the genitive, dative and ablative. The second way, inherited by Latin, is to substitute the construction di+noun with the bare noun in the ablative case.

Superlative
The superlative, which also exists in Italian, is used in Latitalian the way it is in Latin, that is, both as an absolute superlative and a relative superlative (and in this latter case the noun also gains a definite article).

It is formed through the suffix -issimu and inflects regularly as a first-class adjective. For example the adjective bellu ("beautiful") has superlative bellissimu. The superlative is however more irregular than the comparative; the exceptions are listed below.


 * Adjectives with a masculine nominative singular in -er or -ri use a suffix -errimu: thus miser and acri have superlatives miserrimu and acerrimu.
 * The six adjectives facili, difficili, simili, dissimili, umili and gracili have superlatives facillimu, difficillimu, simillimu, dissimillimu, umillimu and gracillimu.
 * Adjectives with the suffixes -ficu and -volu use a suffix -ficentissimu and -volentissimu: magnificentissimu, benevolentissimu.
 * The adjectives buonu, cattivu, grandi, piccolu and moltu have superlatives ottimu, pessimu, massimu, minimu and plurimu.
 * Adjectives whose stem ends in a vowel have no synthetic superlative, and in its place the locution "article+più" is used before the noun.

Demonstratives
Latitalian uses two demonstratives, a proximal queste ("this") and a distal quelle ("that"). The declension is similar to that of the determinative article; it is illustrated below.

Personal pronouns
Like in Italian, pronouns can have two forms, a full form and a clitic form; and like in Latin, these forms decline for case. Like in Italian, but unlike in Latin, the third person distinguishes a reflexive and a non-reflexive form. The nominative has no clitic forms, as these are simply indicated by dropping the pronoun. Their declension is given as following: Just like in Italian, a genitive/dative/ablative clitic can be followed by an accusative clitic. In that case, the form gli becomes glie.

Relative pronoun
The relative pronoun agrees in number and gender with the antecedent, while it is independetly declined for case, depending on its function within the relative clause. Its inflection is given below: Similarly to Latin and Italian, provided it is in the same case, the pronoun can be present in two different clauses; if not, a demonstrative must be added. See the sentence chi parla canta ("who talks, sings"), where chi is a nominative for both verbs, contrasting with quelle cui parlavo cantava ("the one I talked to sang"), where the pronoun can't be a nominative and a dative at the same time.

The nexus relativus is permitted in Latitalian: the relative pronoun can be used at the start of a sentence, with the same meaning as "and+third person pronoun".

Interrogatives
The three main interrogative words are chi? ("who?"), che? ("what?"), and the adjective chi or quali ("which"). Of the three, quali is declined like a regular second-class adjective, while chi has the same inflection as the nominative pronoun; che only has the nominative and the accusative, with the indirect cases being supplied by the circumlocutions cuo cose, cui cose, ca cosa. Only chi, of these, has a full inflection, which is chi, cuio, cui, che, co. These words can be reinforced with a suffix -na: china, chena, càrona.

Latitalian also preserves, along with normal Italian interrogative words, the interrogative utru? ("which of the two?", which, unlike Latin, is declined like a regular first-class adjective), còtu? ("which of this series?", again with a first-class-adjective inflection) and téni? ("how many each?", a distributive interrogative).

Numerals
Latitalian generally preserves the same cardinal and ordinal numbers as Italian. However, it also inherits from Latin the distributive and adverbial numerals.

The distributive numerals, with the meaning of "[number] each", are formed by adding the suffix -éni, like in undiceni ("eleven each") and are declined as plural first-class adjectives. The numbers from one to six are irregular, and have distributives singoli, bini, terni, quaterni, quini, sèni.

The adverbial numerals, with the meaning of "[number] times", are formed with the suffix -ie, like in nòvie ("nine times"). Again, the numbers from one to six are irregular, and their adverbials are sème, bésbe (Latin bisbis), tèrte (Latin terter), quate, cinchie, sessie.

Notably, unlike Italian, the numbers due ("two") and tre ("three") are inflected. Their inflection is given as following:

Adverbs
Unexpectedly, Latitalian preserves the Italian suffix for deriving adverbs from adjectives, which is -amente for first-class adjectives and -emente/-mente (after a liquid) for second-class adjectives. The corresponding comparative affix is -ioremente and the superlative affix, like in Italian, is -issimamente. Adverbs follow the same irregularities as adjectives in this regard: so for example from facili we derive the adverb facilmente, comparative faciglioremente and superlative facillimamente.

Conjunctions
By and large Latitalian preserves the same coordinating and subordinating conjunctions as Italian, with some differences.


 * The Latin enclitic conjunction -que is preserved as -che. This clitic has the property of attracting the stress directly to the syllable preceding it, and it also does not attach to articles. So for example e la casa can become la casàche.
 * Other than o (from Latin aut), Latitalian also preserves a conjunction ve (from Latin vel), with the same difference in meaning.
 * The enclitic -ve is also preserved. Like -che, it attracts the stress.
 * O can also be a subordinating conjunction (from Latin ut). Its negative equivalent is ni.
 * Con is also used as a conjunction in the costruction of the narrative con.

Prepositions
Latitalian preserves the same prepositions as Italian; however, some of them have slightly more restricted meanings, and like in Latin, each commands a specific case. A list is given below.


 * a ("to") and all its compounds take the accusative. Notice that in some Italian uses it is substituted by the bare dative or ablative.
 * contro ("against") takes the accusative.
 * con ("with") takes the ablative.
 * da ("from") takes the ablative. Notice that in some uses it is substituted by the ablative.
 * di ("of") takes the ablative. In some uses it is substituted by the genitive.
 * dopo ("after") takes the accusative.
 * durante ("during") takes the ablative.
 * fra/tra ("between") takes the accusative.
 * in ("in") may take either the accusative or the ablative depending on meaning.
 * per ("for") takes the accusative. It is sometimes substituted by the bare dative.
 * presso takes the accusative.
 * senza ("without") takes the ablative.
 * su, sopra and sotto all take the accusative.

Verbs
Verbs in Latitalian conjugate according to nine moods, six tenses, three persons, two numbers and two voices.

The moods are:


 * indicative, indicating a factual, real event; its use mirrors the one of Latin and Italian;
 * subjunctive, indicating a subjective or non-real condition; it is mostly used like in Italian, although this will be better explained in the syntax chapter;
 * conditional, indicating the consequence of a hypothetical, mirroring the Italian use;
 * imperative, expressing a command, like in Italian and Latin;
 * infinitive, which acts as a verbal noun, although its use will be better explained in the syntax chapter, and which has as its inflection the gerund (which, unlike in Italian, doesn't then act as a progressive marker);
 * participle, which acts as a substantivizable deverbal adjective, like in Latin;
 * gerundive, which is a deverbal adjective expressing necessity; its use will be explained in the syntax chapter;
 * supine, whose use mirrors Latin and is rather circumscribed, and will be explained in the syntax chapter.

The tenses are present, imperfect, future, perfect, pluperfect and plufuture, which are used in the same ways as Latin. The persons are first, second and third, distinguished as singular or plural, working exactly as in Italian and Latin. The voice can be, like in Latin, active or passive; notice that the synthetic passive also substitutes the Italian impersonal construction with si, and also a lot of reflexive verbs.

Specifically, the tenses belong either to the imperfect set (present, imperfect and future) or to the perfect set (perfect, pluperfect and plufuture), which largely express an aspectual distinction.

Latitalian also exhibits deponent verbs, which are always used in the passive voice even though they don't indicate an action being received; they also often substitute the reflexive verbs of Italian.

Each verb in Latitalian has three stems, alternating throughout the conjugation. There are three possible conjugation classes, like in Italian. Their conjugation is explained below.

Tenses from the present stem (imperfect set)
The conjugation is showcased through the verbs portare ("to bring"), prendere ("to take") and capire ("to understand").