Iermansc 1.0

=Introduction=

Iermánsc is a Romance language which developed in an alternate timeline in which the Romans conquered the area we know as southern Germany in the first century A.D. The subsequent Romanized German culture lasted long after the breakdown of the Empire several centuries later. The language has a strong family relationship to Romansh, Venetian, and Old French (its closest Romance neighbors), with a sense of phonological, lexical and grammatical flavor from Germanic. One major repercussion of extensive long-term contact between Germanic and Romance is that the language has radically shifted towards the use of simplified grammatical particles and endings at the expense of rich inflected forms inherited from Latin.

Please note that this is a work in continual progress.

=Phonology= Iermánsc contains 8 vowel sounds / i u e ǝ o ɛ ɔ a / and 20 consonants /p b t d k g f v θ ð s x ʃ tʃ m n l w j r / including the semivowels /w/ and /j/.

=Orthography= The alphabet of Iermánsc consists of 21 letters, developed from the Roman alphabet with the addition of two runic letters:

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ðð Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Rr Ss Tt Þþ Uu Vv The vowels can also be marked for irregular syllabic stress. Stressed vowels are á é í ó ú (initial syllables are stressed by default and therefore these are never capitalized). The above graphemes represent the following sounds:

a	/a/ in most cases, /ɔ/ before a nasal, /ǝ/ in unstressed syllables au      /ɔ/ b 	/b/ c 	/k/ in most cases, /ʧ/ before e or i, /ʃ/ in the digraph sc d 	/d/ ð 	/ð/ e 	/e/ or /ɛ/, /ǝ/ in some unstressed syllables f 	/f/ g 	/g/ h 	/x/ i 	/i/ in most cases, /j/ when in combination with another vowel, /ǝ/ in some unstressed syllables l 	/l/ m	/m/ n 	/n/ in most cases, /ŋ/ before g o 	/o/ or /ɔ/ p 	/p/ r 	/r/ s 	/s/ in most cases, /ʃ/ before p or t. sc	/ʃ/ t 	/t/ þ	/θ/ u	/u/ in most cases, /w/ in combination with another vowel v 	/v/

=Grammar=

Articles
There are three definite articles: il (m.sg.), la (f.sg.) and le (pl.) and three corresponding indefinite articles in, na and ne. The feminine and plural articles may elide to l' and n', respectively, before vowels (though not before i and u as /j/ and /w/).

il han "the dog" /il xɔn/ le hane "the dogs" /lǝ xɔnǝ/ l'ahua "the water" /laxwǝ/ l'ahue "the waters" /laxwǝ/ na iata "a cat" /na jatǝ/ ne iate "some cats" /nǝ jatǝ/ in om "a man" /in om/ n'one "some men" /nonǝ/

Nouns
Nouns come in two genders, masculine and singular. Most masculine nouns end in a consonant and add -e in the plural. Most feminine nouns end in -a in singular and -e in the plural.

il dent "the tooth" /il dɛnt/ le dente "the teeth"/lǝ dɛntǝ/ na stela "a star" /na ʃtelǝ/ ne stele "some stars" /nǝ ʃtelǝ/

There are some complications, however. There are many alternations in both consonants and vowels between certain masculine plurals. The most common consonant changes are singular final f þ h  become v ð i(/j/) in the plural. While the common vowel alternations are o u become e i in the plural. The following examples have one two alternations in each word.

in foh "a fire" /in fox/ ne feie "some fires" /nǝ fejǝ/ il luf "the wolf" /il luf/ le live "the wolves" /lǝ livǝ/

Some singular words also alternate the final vowel and consonant.

il proveþ "the prophet" /il provǝθ/ le provðe "the prophets" /lǝ provðǝ/ in amih "a friend" /in amǝx/ n'amie "some friends" /namjǝ/

There are also some completely irregular nouns which don’t obey the general rules.

la man "the hand" /la mɔnǝ/ (f. irregular singular) le mane	"the hands" /la mɔnǝ/ in om "a man" /in om/ n’one "some men" /nonǝ/ (m. irregular plural)

Adjectives
Adjectives differ in how they agree with nouns. Some adjectives have distinct forms for all four number/gender combination.

il nof asen "the new donkey" /il nof asǝn/ le neve asne "the new donkeys" /lǝ nevǝ asnǝ/ la nova havra "the new goat" /la novǝ xavrǝ/ le nove havre "the new goats" /lǝ novǝ xavrǝ/ in forsc iuven "a strong boy" /il forʃ juvǝn/ na forca iuvna "a strong girl" /la forʧǝ juvnǝ/ ne ferce iuvne "some strong boys/children" /lǝ ferʧǝ juvnǝ/ ne force iuvne "some strong girls" /lǝ forʧǝ/ juvnǝ/

Others distinguish only m.sg., f.sg. and pl.

in grand om "a big man" /in grɔnd om/ ne grande one "some big men" /nǝ grɔndǝ onǝ/ na granda fiena	"a big woman" /na grɔndǝ fjɛnǝ/ ne grande fiene	"some big women" /nǝ grɔndǝ fjɛnǝ/ Some adjectives have a single form.

il blau ciel "the blue sky" /il blɔ ʧjɛl/ le blau ciele "the blue skies" /lǝ blɔ ʧjɛlǝ/ la blau ahua "the blue water" /la blɔ axwǝ/ le blau ahue "the blue waters" /lǝ blɔ axwǝ/

Personal Pronouns
There are eight subject pronouns.

iu "I" /ju/ ti "you" /ti/ el "he" /el/ ela "her" /elǝ/ nu "we" /nu/ vu "y'all/you (formal sg.)" /vu/ ele "they" /elǝ/ in "one" /in/

There are seven object pronouns.

me "me" /me/ te "you" /te/ le "him/it/they" /le/ la "her" /la/ se "self" /se/ nu "us" /nu/ vu "y'all/you (formal sg.)" /vu/

Present Tense
Regular verbs generally belong to the a-class or the e-class. A-class verbs inflect mostly regularly in the present indicative.

a hanta "to sing" /a xɔntǝ/

iu hant "i sing" /ju xɔnt/ ti hanta "you sing" /ti xɔntǝ/ el hanta "he sings" /el xɔntǝ/ nu hantan "we sing" /nu xɔntǝn/ vu hantaþ "y'all/you sing" /xɔntǝθ/ ele hantan "they sing" /elǝ xɔntǝn/

E-class verbs inflect very similarly.

a dice  "to say" /a diʧǝ/

iu dih "I say" /ju dix/ ti dice "you say" /ti diʧǝ/ el dice "he says" /el diʧǝ/ nu dicen "we say" /nu diʧǝn/ vu diceþ "y'all say" /vu diʧǝθ/ el dicen "they say" /el diʧǝn/

Future Tense
All verbs form the future with the correct form of vole + Infinitive.

iu vel dice "i will say" /iu vel diʧǝ/ ti vol dice "you will say" /ti vol diʧǝ/ nu volen hanta "we will sing" /nu volǝn xɔntǝ/ vu voleþ hanta "ya'll will sing" /vu volǝθ xɔntǝ/

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Irregular Verbs
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