Provitano

General information
Provitan is a Western Romance Language that is spoken around Catalonia in Spain and in Western France. The Provitano spoken in Catalonia is the Western Variant (Llengua Provitana del hueste)) and the Provitano spoken in France is Eastern Variant (Llengua Prôvitana del Este). The Standard (Llengua Provitana Oficiala) is mainly based on the Western Variant. This usually comes in to play with some forms of words, word final vowels, and some pronunciation variations.

Note that while is says verbs conjugate for all 6 parts, they use synthetic forms for all people, moods, and numbers and most tenses but analitic forms for voice, some aspects and some tenses.

Due to code restrictions, rather than using pointy brackets to represent orthography as per IPA standards, I will be using dashes on either side.

Regional Variants
Provitan is spoken in Catalonia and France. The main varieties are Western (Catalan) Provitan and Easter (French) Provitan. The differences between these two regions are usually minor but do affect the following areas (note that Standard Provitan is defined as the Western variant except where noted):
 * clusters originating as Latin -ct- reduce to -ch- in the West and to -it- in the East
 * [ʁ] is a nearly universal allophone of /r/ everywhere
 * While diphthongization of long vowels is more common than simply longer vowels, longer vowels do exist in the East while being totally absent in the West (Standard Provitan dictates lengthier vowels, not diphthongs, though diphthongs are widely accepted)
 * Geminate consonants -tl- -tll- -tm- -tn- are usually realized as short in the East.
 * 'ceu' is a recognized variant of 'cel' in the East and 'avec' as a variant of 'con'
 * Many forms of the verb 'fǽ' are different (see the page on irregular verbs)
 * In the East, long /aː/ is realized as the more velar /ɑː/.
 * In the East, intervocalic /s/ may be voiced and final /l/ maybe vocalized into /w/
 * In the East, the third person singular indicative form of 1st conjugation -á verbs is -æ rather than -a.
 * In the North of the Western variant, older speakers may be encountered that switch final /a/ and /aː/ with /ɔ/ and /ɔː/ respectively. (This is very rare now-a-days and completely non-standard).
 * Provitano is spelt without a long -o- in the West and with it in the East.
 * Some words vary slightly region to region but they are very rare. For example in the West 'díe' for 'day' is more common despite 'jorno' being standard.

Consonants
-c- represents /k/ before consonants and letters -a o u- (and variants such as â, ò etc.) and /s/ before -e i y- (and variants such as ê, í etc.). Furthermore, -ç- is used before -a o u- for /s/ where necessary such as in ''feliç, feliços. ''always represents /s/.

The sound /ʃ/ is represented by the cluster -iz- intervocalically and at the end of a word. It is also represented by -ș- before consonants, initially, and in conditions other than intervocalically and finally. Note that the -i- part of the digraph -iz- does not form a yod-diphthong with the preceding vowel unless it is written -ïz- then the -i- forms a diphthong with the previous vowel.

The sound /ʒ/ is represented by -g- before and variants and -j- before all else. Also it can be represented by  finally and intervocalically.

The sound /dʒ/ is represented by -tg- before and variants and -tj- before all else. Also it can be represented by finally and intervocalically.

†''[ʁ] is a dialectual variant of /r/ that occurs in Eastern Provitano. ''

Vowels
‡/ɔ/ occurs only in stressed syllables and has no long variant.

‡‡/ɑː/ occurs in place of /a:/ in the East.

/oː/ does not occur because due to a vowel shift, /oː/ shifted to /uː/ likewise /uː/ is not represented by -û- becuase the shift fronted that to /yː/.

Long vowels can occur in and out of stress syllables. Irregular stress is marked by an acute accent. The grave accent is only used on -ò- and works as states above.

Long vowels are represented with a circumflex and are usually realized as diphthongs. As follows:

â --aː ~ aɒ̯

æ̂ -- ɛː ~ ɛɪ̯

ê -- eː ~ eɪ̯ ~ aɛ̯

î -- iː ~ iɪ̯

ô -- uː ~ uʌ̯

ø̂ -- øː ~ øʏ̯

œ̂ -- œː ~ œɒ̯

û -- yː ~ yʏ̯

Alphabet
The alphabet does not include accents, circumflexes, or cedilla. It also does not include digraphs. In proper collating order the alphabet is:

a æ b c d e f g h i j k l m n o ø œ p q r s t u v w x y z (with -k- and -w- used only in borrowed words like kilowatt).

Note that -ø- comes after -o- and before -œ-.

There is also -á ǽ é í ó ǿ œ́ ú- which all mark stress on syllables in words where stress does not follow proper rules.

-ò- also exists to mark open /ɔ/ only in stressed syllables. (Note that /ɔ/ must always be marked even when stress on a word is predictable.)

Also long vowels are written -â æ̂ ê î ô ø̂ œ̂ û-.

Furthermore there are the digraphs: ch, gu, ll, ny, tg, tj, tl, tll, tm, tn, qu, sc, sç, ig, itg, itz, iz which are explained below section.

'''Please note: ae and oe ≠ æ and œ. These are different sounds and cannot be confused. '''

Diphthongs
Diphthongs are fairly straightforward when it comes to vowels:

With in a word vowels -a æ e o ò ø œ- can combine with -i- to form the respective falling diphthongs that is /aj ɛj ej oj ɔj øj œj/. The diphthong /uj/ does not exist and -ui- and -uy- are always realized as /wi/

In final positions or intervocalically, a -y- may be used instead of an -i-.

In any position -a æ e o ò ø œ- may combine with -u- to form the respective diphthongs, that is /aw ɛw ew ow ɔw øw œw/

Furthermore, when -i- appears before a vowel it becomes a rising diphthong /j/ + VOWEL. This can occur with any vowel. Also, -u- form the diphtong /w/ + VOWEL. -ô- and -û- do not create diphthongs because the long vowel always remains independent.

Long vowels do not appear in diphthongs but can be realized as diphthongs.

Combinations such as -ae- or -oa- are not technically diphthongs and in careful speech are two seperate vowels, though in fast speech -e- acts as -i- and -o- acts as -u- to form diphthongs.

Tremas ( ¨ ) can be used on letters to separate diphthongs as in països /paˈis.os/. An accent mark on the semivocalic part of a diphthong can also indicate stress as well as force a hiatus such as in país /paˈis/.

Consonant Clusters
In Latin, the initial clusters: -cl- -pl- -fl- -l- -bl- often palatalized in the Romance language. In Provitan, -cl- -pl- and -l- palatalize.

-cl- becomes -ch- pronounced /tʃ/. (Example: clamare ➜ chamá; Cf. Spanish llamar & Portuguese chamar).

-pl- becomes -pll- which is analyzed as /pʎ/ but realized as /ʎ/ in the West and /pj/ in the East. (Example: plenus ➜ plleno; Cf. Spanish lleno & Portuguese cheio).

-l- becomes -ll- pronounced /ʎ/. (Example: lavar ➜ llavá; Cf. Catalan llavar).

These are not universal in the Romance languages. For example -pl- -cl- mutations are unheard of in Catalan and -l- mutations are less common in Spanish while being heavily present in Catalan. Furthermore, -bl- mutations occur in Italian but not in Spanish (hence Italian bianco but Spanish blanco).

These mutations do not occur in borrowed words which often are taken directly from Latin and have slightly different meanings. In Spanish, for example, there is lleno "full" and pleno "broad" which both come from Latin plenus except that lleno evolved and pleno was borrowed.

Furthermore, in many cases, -ct- around vowels mutates as well. In Italian, this is seen as -tt- such as in ''otto, dottore, Vittoria, aspettare. In Spanish, this is less common but can be seen in ocho, and to a lesser extent in fruto''. In French and Catalan there is huit and ''fruit. ''

In Provitan, this mutation occurs differently in the East and West.

Western Mutations

act ➜ ach

ect ➜ ech (as in aspectare ➜ aspechá)

ict ➜ ich

oct ➜ och (as in octo ➜ ocho)

uct ➜ uch (as in fructus ➜ frucho)

Eastern Mutations 

act ➜ ait

ect ➜ eit (as in aspectare ➜ aspeitá)

ict ➜ eit

oct ➜ oit (as in octo ➜ oito) 

uct ➜ oit (as in fructus ➜ froito)

Digraphs
-ch- whcih makes the /tʃ/ sound.

-tg/tj- which makes the /dʒ/ sound.

-ny- which makes a /ɲ/ sound.

-ll- which makes a /ʎ/ sound.

-gu- which makes /gw/ normally but /g/ before -e i y- and variants

-qu- which makes /kw/ normally but /k/ before -e i y- and variants

-qü- which makes /kw/ before -e i y- and variants

-gü- which makes /gw/ before -e i y- and variants

-tl- which makes /lː/

-tll- which makes /ʎː/

-tn- which makes /nː/

-tm- which makes /mː/

-z- only after -i- and before another vowel or word final /ʃ/ (as in peiz /peʃ/ 'fish' or dormizé /dormiˈʃe/ 'fall asleep')

-tz- only after -i- and before another vowel or word final /tʃ/

-g- only after -i- and before another vowel or word final /ʒ/

-tg- only after -i- and before another vowel or word final /dʒ/ (as in maitg /madʒ/ 'May')

Cluster Reductions

Sometimes, at the end of words, consonant clusters are reduced in common speech.

Words like -temp- are analyzed as /temp/ but realized as [tem].

There is also -corp- which is analyzed as /corp/ but realized as [cor].

This kind of thing happens with most complex clusters however they are reduced when suffixes are added so that [cor] ➜ [cor.po'res]

Nouns
Nouns, like most Romance Languages, have no case but do have gender and can be singular or plural. Nouns may be either masculine or feminine and there is a small class of nouns which are irregular that are occasionally called neuter but are technically masculine.

Nouns usually pluralize with -s, -es, or -os. There are some exceptions however which mainly come from stem changing neuters in Latin (these nouns usually pluralize with -inés or -orés). Nouns endings in -a pluralize as -es. Nouns ending in other vowels take a +s. Nouns ending in consonants add +os if masc. and +es if fem.

Examples:

estudí "study" -- estudís "studies"

amante "lover" -- amantes "lovers"

ragazo "child" -- ragazos "children"

pae "father" -- paes "fathers/parents"

país "country" -- països "countries"

œll "eye" -- œllos "eyes"

llengua "tongue" -- llengües "tongues"

șientífic "scientist" -masculine -- șientíficos "scientists" -masculine

șientífica "scientist" -feminine -- șientífiques "scientists" -feminine

idea "idea" -- idees "ideas"

donya "lady" -- donyes "ladies"

animal "animal" -- animalos "animals"

muller "wife" -- mulleres "wives"

adúlt "adult" -- adultos "adults"

Irregulars:

hom "man" -- hominés "men"

nom "name" -- nominés "names"

temp "time" -- temporés "times"

corp "body" -- corporés "bodies"

òp "work" -- oporés "works"

These are the only irregular plurals in Provitan. Every other noun will pluralize with -s, -os, or -es, although some ending in -c may have to change to -qu- and ones ending in -gu- may need to change to -gü- etc.

Nouns also change for feminine and masculine gender.

Some are specialized like pae/mae or muller/marto but most can be derived.

When a noun is masculine that ends in a consonant or -i-, it becomes feminine by adding +a.

Examples:

adúlt m. -- adulta f. (singular)

adultos m. -- adultes f. (plural)

When a noun ends in an -o- the -o- changes to -a.

Examples:

ragazo m. -- ragaza f. (singular)

ragazos m. -- ragazes f. (plural)

Nouns ending in -e- do not change and can be either masculine or feminine.

amante m/f (singular) 

amantes m/f (plural)

Some Substantive Suffixes
As you may or may not be aware: many Latin suffixes descend quite regularly into the Romance language. These are important noun-creating suffixes that are found throughout Provitan.

-ción (plural: -ciones) (borrowed from Latin -tionem Cf. Spanish -ción; Catalan -ció; English -tion)

-çón (plural: -çones) (inherited from Latin -tionem Cf. Spanish -zón; Catalan -çó)

-itá (plural: -ités) (inherited form Latin -itatem Cf. Italian -ità; Catalan -itat)

-ia (plural: -ies) (borrowed from Latin -ia Cf. Italian -ia; Spanish -ia) (usually following -c-)

-a (plural: -es) (inherited from Latin -ia Cf. Italian -a; Spanish -a) (usually following -ç-)

-ment (plural: -mentos) inherited from Latin -mentum Cf. Italian -mento; Spanish -miento)

Some Examples include: râçón 'reason', transportación 'transportation', citá 'city', esperança 'hope', velocitá 'speed'.

Verbs
Much like other Romance Languages, Provitan has complex verb conjugations. There are 3 conjugations the 3rd of which breaks up into 3 sub-conjugations. Verbs conjugate for present, preterite, future, conditional, and imperfect in the indicative and some in the subjunctive. There is also an imperative and analytic tenses perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect.

Verbs, being lengthy, are divided into pages. Click below to go to those pages.

Conjugating verbs in moods, tenses, aspects, and for persons and numbers

Irregular Verbs Conjugated in Tenses

Vocabulary
208. cherry | cheréiz