Lutanian

           

The conlang uses the Latin script - basic alphabet with various diacritics. It is a pluricentric language regarding pronunciation, vocabulary and writing.

The letter W [vé doule, wau] is not a part of the alphabet, but the letter J is included instead representing the sound / ͡jʝ/ or  /j/ with the alphabetical name / ͡jʝe/ or /je/. The alphabetic letter C is read /ts/ like the sound in German.

Main characteristics of pronunciation

The main values of consonants in stressed syllables are:

A /a/, E /ɛ/ ~ /e/, I, Y /i/, O /o/, U /u/ (as found in the alphabet)

â, î = /ə/

Note: i, î, and y can represent intervocalic /j/ (a semiconsonant). Word initially, i (or y) in front of a vowel is pronounced /j/. The diacritic ^ on the vowel u (û) indicates the semivowel sound /w/.

The circumflex on o (ô) denotes a long open pronunciation or a diphthong: /wo/ ~ /(w)ɔ:/ ~ /wɔ:/ (equivalent alternative pronunciations).

The alphabetic consonants are pronouunced mainly as in English (unless indicated otherwise, see below). B /b/, D /d/, G /ɡ/, P /p/, T /t/, K /k/ are not aspirated.

There are three ways to read the alphabet:

1) The conventional: add the vowel sound /e/ after consonants B, C /͡tse/, D, G*/ɡe/ ~ /ʒe/, J /je/ ~ /͡jʝe/, Nj (ň), /nje/, P, Q* /ke/ or /ku:/*, T, V* /ʋe/, X* /ʃe/ or /iks/*, Lj /ʎe/, Z /ze/~ /dze/.

Add /ɛ/ ~ /e/ in front of consonant sounds: F /ɛ̯f:(ə)/, L /ɛ̯ɫ(ə)/ ~ /ɛ̯l(ə)/, M /ɛ̯m(ə)/, N /ɛ̯n(ə)/, R /ɛr:(ə)/, S /ɛ̯s:(ə)/ (long consonants are: /f:/, /r:/, /s:/)

Y= /ips/, used primarily as the conjunction "and", replaced by et /e/ either if the preceding word ends or the following word starts in a vowel.

Special consonants which are pronounced with the vowel: -a /a/ : H /xa(k)/, K /ka:/ or /ka̯p˺/

Special consonant that can be pronounced with /e/ or /u/: Q /ke:/ or /ku:/, V /ʋe/ or /ʋu:/

2) The simplified first: add /e/ to every consonant sound, pronounced as explained. Some differences are: F /f:e/, H /xe:/, L /le:/, S /s:e/ etc.

3) The simplified second: add /ə/ to every consonant sound, pronounced as explained. Some examples: H /xə/, L /lə/, S /s:ə/ etc.

Nasals - letters with ogonek diacritic (a, e, u with ogonek) are not included in the alphabet count as they are considered to be variants of the main vowel. They are pronounced the same in stressed and unstressed syllables:

Ą ą /ɑ̃/, non nasal variant /ɔ/,

Ę ę /ɛ̃/, non nasal variant /ɛ/, regionally /e:/

-on, alternative: Ų ų  /ɔ̃/, non-nasal variant /ɔ/, /on/, /ɔ(n)/.

These three letters are important as distinctive grammatical endings. They can sometimes appear inside a word root (like męs /mɛ̃:s/), but their pronunciation word internally can also be an oral equivalent of the vowel (similar or identical to a, e, u or o: męs /mɛ:s/ ~ /mẽ:s/).

Vowel reduction feature

Final syllable sound -e is reduced to /ə/ in an unstressed syllable, not applicable to diphthongs (like -ei) except dialectally. This is important for grammatical endings: -e (without diacritics) vs -ę. The exact distribution of stressed variants /ɛ/ vs /e/ and /o/ vs /ɔ/ is not significant, although it is suggested (sometimes by accent diacritics, see below). Unstressed -e- in other positions is /e/ in the standard variety, and /ə/ in certain dialects. Unstressed -o- is always /o/ in standard pronunciation (not /ɔ/).

Dialectally, variations are found with reduction of unstressed -e- in all syllables and also in the unstressed diphthong -ei-, reduction of unstressed -a- to /ɐ/ or /ə/, and/or unstressed -o- to /u/ (rare, region dependent), all by influence of the speakers' native languages.

Using accute and grave accents: The marked accent denotes the stressed (tonic) syllable. The existing forms are: á, é, í, ó, ú (with acute accent) and à, è, ò, ù (with grave accent).

Generally, the acute accent represents a slightly longer vowel in open syllables (like á /a:/), while the grave accent generally denotes a somewhat shorter vowel: à /a̯/ in closed syllables. As word final vowels, letters with accents may be used with grammatical value (as endings), so the brevity rule does not always apply (the grammar rule dictates pronunciation, like in the verbal infinitives: cantà /kan.'ta/ - to sing).

The acute or grave accent on e and o also have a recommended pronunciation with different qualities:

é /e/ and è /ɛ/ (as in French), ó /o/ and ò /ɔ/ (all recommended). The letter ô denotes a long, open sound /ɔ:/, or a diphthong /wɔ:/ ~ /wɔ:/ (recommended): as in: oôs/ous - eggs, dôs/dous/duos - two.

Monosyllabic words only may have acute or grave accent for grammatical reasons (example: bé - letter name, B, èsse - letter name, S).

Vowel combination: -ai- is pronounced as a monophthong /ɛ/, word finally /e/. This doesn't apply when diacritics are used: âi /əj/, ài /a̯j/, ái /a:j/, aí /a.'i/ (the latter example represents two syllables).

Diphthongs: diphthongs are formed with all of the vowels a, e, i, o, u except for the combinations: ae, oe, ai. The sound /ə/ makes the diphthongs /əj/ (âi, îi) and or /wə/ (uâ).

The strong components of the diphthongs are: a, e, o (/a/, /e/, /o/, "a" is the strongest), and the weak components are i, u. In diphtongs like ea, oa, e becomes the equivalent of weak -i- /j/, and o the equivalent of a semivocalic -u- /w/, so ea = /e̯a/ ~ /ja/, oa = ua = /wa/. If not marked by diacritics the weak (i, u) combinations are pronounced with the full first vowel: ui /uj/, iu /iw/, word initially iu-/ju/. The combinations eo and ao practically do not appear as they are identical in pronunciation to eu /ew/ and au /aw/. An accent mark may change the stressed part of the diphthong, or produce two separate syllables, as in eó /e̯o/ or /jo/ - identical to io /jo/; aí /a.'i/ - two syllables, as the vowel "a" cannot be made a weak part of a diphthong.

Some words morphologically have separate syllables in place of the diphthong, e.g. ei /'e.i/ or /e:j/ = they (from e + ending -i), eos /'e.os/ - them (from e- + -os), virtúe /ʋir.'tu.ə/ (stem + ending -e), melodíe /me.lo.'ði.ə/  ~ /mə-/.

Spelling considerations for the diphthong -ie

If the consonants D, N, R, T are followed by the diphthong -ie in an unstressed syllable, write ďe /djə/, ňe /ɲə/, ře /ɾjə/, ťe /tjə/. In stressed syllables you should write: dě /dje/, ně /nje/, rě /rje/, tě /tje/. With other consonants the unstressed form is written -ie /jə/, and the stressed form: -ě /je/. If the printing options are limited, every -ě can be replaced by -ie (alternative spelling).

Consonant sounds

We will explain consonants with diacritics, digraphs representing one sound and special sounds. With all consonants, word final devoicing may occur e.g. /b/ → /p/ etc., depending on the speaker.

B̌ b̌ (B with caron): /w/, identical to û /w/: example: pob̌l /powl/ (alternative script - B'/b' or B̌ and lowercase b').

C - /k/ in syllables ca, co, cu, câ /kə/, and in front of consonants like: CT /kt/;

/s/ or /ts/ in syllables ce, ci, cî. Note: cai = /kaj/ (avoided, breaks the ai /ɛ/ vowel rule in favour  the ca /ka/ rule).

CC - follows the rule of C + consonant (like CTI /kti/, CCI /ksi/)

Ç - word initially and finally /͡ts/, regionally /s/, word-internally: /s/ G /ɡ/ in syllables ga, go, gu (+a, â, o or cons.), gâ /ɡə/; /ʒ/ in syllables ge, gi, gî; /dʒ/ in word-final -eig /e̯dʒ/, -aig /a̯dʒ/ or /ɛ̯dʒ/, otherwise word finally /ɣ/ (recommended in unstressed syllables), or /k/, /k˺/, /ɡ/ (vowel linking sonorization, "liaison").

GU /ɡ/ in front of -i, -e, -î: gui /ɡi/, gue, guî; otherwise as other rules provide. In some areas (dialectally), GU + vowel always gives /g/.

TG - in intervocalic or word-final position: /dʒ/ (regionally spelt TJ)

Note*: gai = /ɡaj/, guai = /ɡɛ/, gûai /ɡwɛ/

J - pronounced as / ͡jʝ/ or  /j/.

Lj - /ʎ/ or regionally /j:/, /ʝ/ ~ /͡jʝ/, when geminated: jlj, regionally spelt: LH

H - mute (not pronounced), when pronunciation is needed it is written double: hh /x/ ~ /h/, as in the letter name: H: hhá /xa/.

Qu - /kw/ in syllables qua, quo, quâ, /k/ in syllables que, qui, quî. Note: quai = /kɛ/.

S - /s/, in intervocalic position /z/, even accross words (by linking). Regionally: always /s/. The geminated -SS- is always pronounced /s/.

X - /dz/ in syllables xa, xo, xu, (rare), /ʃ/ ~ /ɕ/ in syllables xe, xi, xî, xâ, eix /e(j)ʃ/, aix /a̯(j)ʃ/, and after T in all contexts (see TX).

May be /ks/ in internationalisms like taxi /'ta̯k.si/. Ortographically: xia /ʃa/ ~ /ɕa/, xiu /ʃju/~ /ɕ:u/ xio /ʃo/ ~ /ɕo/ (without diacritics).

** in -aix the a+i rule is broken in favour of the pronunciation: /a̯ʃ/, /ajʃ/.

* TX = /͡tʃ/ in all contexts.

Z - /z/,  only regionally /dz/.

The consonant D in intervocalic position can be pronounced as /ð/ - recommended.

The consonants D, N, R, T, have palatalised versions: Ď/ď /dj/~ /dʐ/, Ň/ň /ɲ/, Ř/ř /rj/ ~ /ɾj/, Ť/ť /tj/ ~ /tj/, used in front of vowels with a grammatical value. Alternative spellings are with an apostrophe or the tilde (~): D'/d', N'/ n' or Ñ/ñ, R'/r' and T'/t'. Since the ň can be geminated (-ňň-), the apostrophe would be used only once after double n: aňňos / añños / ann'os /'a̯.ɲ:os/.

Geminated consonants, if they appear, are pronounced long, e.g. -SS- /s:/, -RR- /r:/. They also may be separated by the rule of syllable boundaries: e.g. -cce /k.se/, -cca /k:a/, /k.ka/

Word stress (accent)

Variable nominal words (nouns, adjectives, pronouns) receive stress on the penultimate syllable of their plural nominative form (masculine for adjectives), except three specific subgroups mentioned below. The same place of stress is maintained in all other forms (including different genders of adjectives).

E.g.

cugine - cugines (subject form sg./pl.) - kitchen(s) /ku̯. 'ʒi.nə(s)/

câtâine - câtenes - chain(s) /kə. 'təj.nə/ /kə. 'te:.nəs/

natiú - natiunes - nation(s) /na̯.'tju.nəs/

natíu (natif, natí) - natíos - native /na̯.' tiw/ /na̯.'ti̯.os/ (adj. masculine sg./pl.)

The adjective forming suffix -ic- /i̯k/ and its variant -eg- /əɣ/ cannot be stressed, so the stress moves one syllable to the left in these forms: històric, classic /i̯.'stɔ̯.ri̯k/ /'kla̯.s:ik/. The default penultimate syllable stress in these masculine singular subject forms is maintained in all other forms: històricos, classicos.

Nouns with infixes in oblique and plural forms: A stressed infix always bears stress, when it is not present, the stress moves one syllable to the left, except if that particular syllable is based on the vowels -e- or -i-, in which case the stress moves one more syllable to the left.

tempesťe - tempestězes

câliťe - câlitězes

vèreťe - veretězes

An unstressed infix is usually non-syllabic and doesn't affect the general stress rule, if it is syllabic, it cannot receive stress, in which case the stress moves one syllable to the left:

gen(u) - genres           (variant: generes) /' ʒɛ̯n.rəs/ /'ʒɛ̯.nə̯.rəs/ unstressed infix -(e)r- /(ə)r/

corp(u) - corpres        (variant: curpures) /' kɔ:(r).prəs/ /'ku̯r.pu̯.rəs/ unstressed infix -(u)r- /(u)r/

Action doer element -or, -ur is unstressed when no ending follows (with -Ø ending), but stressed in the plural and other forms. In singular this stressed element diphthongizes in front of non-diphthongal endings:

pintur - pintores - painter(s); de pintoare - from a painter

The action doer suffix -ul- cannot be stressed:

consul - consules - a consul, de consule - from a consul

Verbal forms have the stress determined by grammatical form, but the default stress is on the penultimate syllable of the full form (also zero elements must be counted). The verbal forms have a feature of not pronouncing the final syllable -e is plural conjugation forms (which is also counted as a syllabic element).

cant-u or cant (-Ø) I sing (stem + ending).

Grammar

$1. Nouns and adjectives