Adwan

Vowels

 * (ɐ) and (ə) are allophones of eachother, though (ə) is usually an allophone to [œ], while (ɐ) is an allophone of [a] when it follows another vowel.
 * [e] tends to become [ɪ] when final, unstressed and preceding a nasal consonant (usually [n]).

Of the 7 vowels, two of them are represented by letters that also represent consonants. The vowels [i] and [u] represent the consonants [j] and [w] when before vowels, respectively.

Irregular stress is also marked by acute accents (áéíóúẃý), though in some monosyllabic words, it marks historically irregular stress, such as the preposition ví, which used to be einví.

Alphabet
The Adwanic Alphabet consists of 22 letters. It does not include the letters Jj, Kk, Qq, or Xx.

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Yy Zz

Note, it is common for ‹i› to have a form similar to ‹J› in handwriting, in order to distinguish between a capital ‹i› and a lowercase ‹l›. It is indeed common for the capitalized, consonantal ‹i› to be represented by ‹J›. A lowercase ‹j› does not exist.

Orthography
Adwanic orthography is quite phonemic, marking stress and following a relatively logical set of spelling rules. Adwan makes heavy use of digraphs, and many letters produce different sounds depending on what they precede or succeed. Though not straightforward like many languages, the following rules are consistent in the governing of Adwanic orthography.

Note: orthographic pronunciation rules are explained via IPA.
 * hn is used between two vowels, one of which is nasalized. For example, nasalized [o] is written -on when final or preceding consonants. However, when a nasalized sound, such as [o] here, precedes another vowel, such as [a], the n solidifies and does not nasalize [o], thus ona is pronounced [ouna]. To nasalize a vowel, such as [o], before another vowel, hn is used, thus /õa/ would be written ohna.
 * in the sequence dd and tt, dental fricatives become silibants, thus dd, originally /ðd/ becomes /zd/ and tt, originally /θt/ becomes /st/.
 * the sequence aun, the conjunction meaning and, is irregularly pronounced [ɑw̃] though can be pronounced [ɑŋ], or even [auŋ].

W vs. Mh, I vs. Gh
There is a typically simple rule to follow when writing /i/, /u/, /j/ and /w/. Typically, both /i/ and /j/ are represented by ‹i›, as are /u/ and /w/ by ‹w›. However, this is not always true.

/i/ and /u/ are ALWAYS represented by ‹i› and ‹w›, though /j/ and /w/ are NOT always represented by ‹i› and ‹w›. ‹i› and ‹w› only represent /j/ and /w/ when preceding other vowels. This is typically seen either in the beginning of a word, or after a consonant but before a vowel. Intervocalic /j/ and /w/ are written completely different, using the digraphs ‹gh› and ‹mh›, respectively. Note the following uses in which ‹i› and ‹w› are used consonantally. Note, consonantal /j/ after many consonants palatalizes them, i.e. n, d, t, l, sg, zg, etc. Note the consonantal uses when used intervocalically.
 * iyth, /jɪθ/
 * wedda, /'weð.da/, /'wez.da/ in some dialects.
 * niety, /ɲe.tɪ/
 * gwyda, /'gwɪ.da/
 * boghyth, /bo.jɪθ/
 * gymha, /gɪ.wa/

Stress
Adwanic stress is pretty noticeable. Typically, stress falls on the penultimate syllable in a word. However, if the penultimate syllable consists of a syllabic consonant (l, n, m, r), stress is pushed back once more, thus essentially shaping up the rule to be not simply the penultimate syllable, but stress falling on the penultimate vowel.

The combination of vowels is contains specific rules in Adwan. Only rising and falling diphthongs (rising diphthongs consist of semivowel + vowel, and falling consist of vowel + semivowel) count as one syllable; others count as two, i.e. eo, ea, etc.

However, stress is an important part in Adwan, for it provides one of the most used morphological grammar uses. Irregular stressed is marked by an acute accent, which is important as there are many words that are spelt the same but have completely separate stress. This is seen mostly in conjugations of -en verbs, where the past is simply the present stressed at the final syllable, such as fusgeo, or I cook, while fusgeó means I cooked.

Typically, diaeresises are replaced by accute accents if said semivowel was irregularly stressed. If a semivowel is marked as a vowel and is in the default penultimate position, diaeresises are kept, while if the same occurs in irregular places, an accute accent is then used to not only differentiate the vowel from the consonant, but to indicate irregular stress.

Capitalization and Punctuation
The first letter of every sentence in Adwan is capitalized, as are Proper nouns. Note, however, that adjectives and any other sort of part of speech capitalized in English, such as languages and national adjectives (she's French, they're German, etc etc) are not capitalized, very much like other Indo-European languages. Adwan uses the standard set of punctuation, with a period to end sentences, a comma to split up separate ideas and typically indicate pauses, question marks to mark interrogative sentences and exclamation points to mark exclamations. Colons and semi-colons are also commonly used.

Note, however, Adwanic sentences tend to be much longer than their English counterparts. Run on sentences don't exist in Adwan, due to the certain inflections and positioning strategies. Commas are more commonly used not only to separate separate ideas in sentences, but to separate sentences as well. Typically, there are paragraphs that could be one full sentence long. Note the following wording in English, and then its literal Adwanic gloss.


 * The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky's adaptation of the story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" by E. T. A. Hoffmann was commissioned by the director of the Imperial Theatres Ivan Vsevolozhsky in 1891. The original production was staged by Marius Petipa on 18 December 1892, premiering on a double-bill with a now semi-forgotten Tchaikovsky opera, Iolanta.


 * Nutcracker ballet with two acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchakovsky is, adaptation of story of Tchaikovsky "Nutcracker and King of Mice" by E-T-A Hoffman, was commissioned and original production by director of Imperial Theaters Ivan Vsevolozhsky, was staged by Marius Petipa on day 18 of December in year of 1892, on a feature double with now somewhat opera forgotten Iolanta.

Commonly, however, with much influence, sentences tend to be shorter to make a stronger statement.

In general, names are never shortened to be such as E. T. A. Hoffman, as Adwanic names only consist of a first and a last name. However, in the event that names are shortened as so, dashes are used, therefore J.K Rowling would be J-K Rowling.

Grammar
Adwan is a heavily inflected language, with nouns, pronouns, adjectives, numbers and determiners declining for up to five cases, and verbs conjugating for a variety of criterias such as tense, person, mood, voice, and aspect.

One special aspect of Adwan is the fact that, although lacking in articles, it contains a particle, known as the nominalizing article, which nominalizes whatever succeeds it.

Nouns
Nouns decline for up to five cases, most shared with one European language or another: Typically, the Nominative is not governed by anything, as it marks subjects, though the verb to be does govern the nominative. The accusative is governed by most verbs and is thus named the verbal case (mesiud = verb). The genitive marks possession and movement from, while the dative marks movement to.
 * 1) Nominative, Lirádonif
 * 2) Accusative, Mesiúdonif
 * 3) Genitive, Pessénnonif
 * 4) Dative, Ioviétonif
 * 5) Locative, Sgwzídonif

Adwan declines for two number classes: singular and plural, though many declensions have collapsed the distinction between singular and plural.

Declensions in Adwan depend on the noun's gender, along with whether the consonant a noun ends in is voiced or unvoiced, along with what vowel they end in. Below is a list of voiced and unvoiced consonants.

Voiced:


 * b d dd dg dh g l m n r v z zg zgh

Voiceless:


 * c cg f h hg p s sg sgh t tt th

First Declension
The first declension consists of masculine nouns ending in voiced consonants. Nouns in the first declension:

Puzg (dog), nedh (wallet), covlidg (vacation), thematúm (computer), hovreg (gentleman)

Second Declension
The second declension consists of masculine nouns ending in a voiceless consonant. Nouns in the second declension:

Hosg (city), mlucg (dirt), cerógc (cabinet), mezdyt (pyramid)

Third Declension
The third declension consists of masculine nouns ending in -e. Nouns in this declension:

cote (coast), lovne (money), wpoyte (market), ceme (fire)

Fourth Declension
The fourth declension consists of masculine nouns ending in -o. Nouns in this declension:

Fifth Declension
The fifth declension consists of feminine nouns ending in voiced consonants.

Sixth Declension
The sixth declension consists of feminine nouns ending in voiceless consonants.

Seventh Declension
The seventh declension consists of feminine nouns that end in -a. In the dative plural and the locative singular and plural, the antepenultimate syllable is stressed.

Eighth Declension
The ninth declension consists of all neuter nouns ending in a consonant.

Ninth Declension
The ninth declension consists of all neuter nouns ending in a -i.

Gender Differences
Many nouns in Adwan have separate counterparts depending on the specific gender of the noun. This is common when animate nouns are involved, usually animals and people. Typically, in animate nouns, the original noun is masculine and a feminine ending is added, it usually being -ela for nouns ending in consonants, and -ldga for nouns ending in consonants. It is typical to find originally feminine nouns, which then change their gender to masculine by use of masculine endings such as -ono and -col.

Below is a short list of irregular nouns in their respective genders.
 * Poet: Poet (m.), Poetissa (f.)
 * Writer: Éscrovio (m.), Éucrova (f.)
 * Doctor: Tomprol, (m.), Tóbrola (f.)


 * Teacher: Fodur (m.), Braca (f.)


 * Dog: Puzg (m.), Pesca (f.)


 * Bear: Medhiev (m.), Méova (f.)


 * Cat: Mivewn* (m.), Mimha (f.); note, mivewn belongs to the first declension and it's stem becomes mívewnn- in declensions.


 * Student: Wrdho (m.), Sgtwnia (f.)


 * Cook: Fusger (m.), Frasva (f.)

Adjectives
There are two main declensions for adjectives. Hard declensions consist of declining adjectives that end in a thematic vowel. Typically, gender declinations are obvious in the nominative, for example, big, or rory, can be rory if it describes a neuter noun, or rora if it describes a feminine noun. Soft adjectives typically decline with less variety and don't end in a thematic vowel. Adjectives in Adwan always go after the noun, even when piling.

Note, adjectives can also go through separate declensions, though these work by prefixing. Comparative adjectives have the suffix tai- added, while superlative adjectives have miey- added. Note, if miey- precedes an adjective or adverb that begins with a vocal i, the prefix is then written miegh- and the following i becomes ae. If the i is consonantal, the i becomes gh, i.e ierdha, meaning loud, would be miegherdha in the superlative.
 * Big: rory
 * Bigger: tairory (comparative)
 * Biggest: mieyrory (superlative)

Determiners
Determiners in Adwan act some-what differently than other parts of speech. Determiners are always declined as soft adjectives, and always govern the genitive case. For example:


 * All = Twdh, therefore All the boys would be twdha evlosg, or all (of) (the) boys.

Typically, determiners take up the slot of the subject of the sentence while the original subject becomes partitive. Determiners come before the item they describe.

Pronouns
Personal pronouns are shown below.

Possession
While typical possession includes the use of the genitive case for nouns, the use of possession for personal pronouns occurs, typically, by using the possessive of an adjective denoting general possession. Unlike possessives in English my, your, our, the adjective is predicate, thus being closer to mine, yours, ours, etc. As stated, a typical possessive construction would literally mean of mine. Unlike general adjectives, possessive adjectives don't agree with gender, as they refer to the pronoun rather than the noun itself. Note, only a genitive form exists for said adjectives.

Wth
Adwanic relative pronouns do not make a distinction between animacy and inanimacy like many european languages do, such as English (compare that, which, and who). The relative pronoun mostly used in Adwan is the relative pronoun wth, which covers who, which, that, whom, and whose. Wth typically does not decline for gender, for a gender declined wth produces a completely different relative pronoun, neither does wth decline for number.

Wdháth
Wdháth declines for gender and for number. Wdháth has a connotation of "the one that" or "the thing that", which comes from the derivational morphology of the pronoun, w (which changes to wdh- when adding nominalizing articles when -dh- inserts between vowels), that, and ath, the nominalizing article. Essentially, the formation of this relative pronoun is simply using the correct form of wdh plus the respective nominalizing article affixed on, only with declensions for case being a newly added feature to the nominalizing article.

Note: typically, if the gender of an item is unspecified or unknown, the neuter is used.


 * What you said = Wdhýth theythẃsg.

Typically, when the gender is unknown or unspecified, or there is nothing to relate the gender to, the feminine is used.


 * The one that ate my food = Wdháth mozgóu migw mynn.

Cen
The relative pronoun cen roughly translates to the English relative pronoun of where. Cenn only declines for case. Note, cen is used both relatively and interrogatively, though the interogative adverb for where? in Adwan is taken over by iomhe. Cen is also the conjunction.

Sgou
The relative pronoun sgow roughly translates to the English relative pronoun when. Like cenn, sgow only declines for case.

Note, "siówn" and "siéwn" have accents brought over by their ancestor, dosgown, where "siówn" used to be dosiówn and "siéwn" used to be dosiéwn.

Interrogative when is expressed by "sio". Note, sgou can also be a conjunction.

Nominalizing Article
The nominalizing article in Adwan functions to convert every non-noun in the whole Adwanic language into a part of speech that, if not a noun, atleast functions like a noun. Typically, it's like saying the... one, though its usage is much more complicated than that.

Nominalizing articles are typically used on adjectives to nominalize adjectives. For example, an unspecified big object could be referred to ath rora rather than lossla rora. It is also used in omition, especially when the item beforehand is distinct. For example, if there was a red cat and a blue mouse, one could literally ask ath sgwzga mozgé ath hrowa? which, inexplicitely asks if the red cat ate the blue mouse, but, lazily, literally says the red one ate the blue one? Typically, the feminine article is used when gender is unknown, which proves to be unique due to the neuter generally being the default gender.

When inflected for gender, one could even specify things to people. For example, one could say mevo sguno for old man, but easily enough, one could replace mevo with eth and already assume that the old thing being specified is masculine. The nominalizing article does not inflect for case nor number, merely gender. Note, apart from the three given genders, a separate gender exists -- a non-gendered nominalizing article, which in effect, is used for all parts of speech not divided into gender, such as verbs and adverbs. This gender is not specifically taken into consideration, as it only appears in verbs and adverbs. Typically, for verbs, ath is used unless a negative particle precedes að, in which yth is used. The nominalizing article is used with most parts of speech, usually to convey different sets of information. Note the usages below:
 * Iag ioug dga ta yth mozganu, I stopped eating for now, lit. I do now not the eating.
 * Ena hgudge ziw yth moliý, She runs quickly, lit. She runs with the quickness.
 * Eth rwssco aun ath plossca mozgalúgh ag mozgasgwze Vondouli ziw ath cgessca, The Russian man and the Polish woman ate with the Czech woman at Vondola's restauraunt, lit. russian and polish ate at eatplace Vondola with czech.

Verbs
Verbs in Adwan conjugate according to person, tense and aspect, and mood, with certain constructions for voice. Interesting to its conjugation, it is quite common for a verb's conjugation to completely rely on stress (note, fenen is to think, feneo = i think, feneó = i thought, etc.).

Adwan's verbs have merged tense and aspect, thus leaving different meanings and endings for a simple past, a past perfective, and a past imperfective. The Adwanic perfective refers to completed actions, whilst imperfective verbs refer to ongoing, incomplete actions. Separately, the simple aspect does not specify the completion of an action and is used when the status of said action is unknown.

A verb's class is identified via its infinitive form, which may end in either AN or EN. Note the following paradigms.