Maríshan

Note: This page is in-progress.

Maríshan is a romance-derived conlang that is fictionally spoken by the natives of the island of Maríshe, which is located not terribly far from France and other European countries and governments. For this reason Maríshe has a lot of similarity with French with regards to loanwords and some grammar, but there is also a very distinct "formal" version which has a distinct OSV layout that is very unusual. Fictionally the modern period runs from 1545 to the current day though the middle period would be understandable to most (though spelling was often arbitrary).

Setting
The history of the language is broadly categorized into three periods: old, middle and modern Maríshan. Like French and English, most native speakers would have trouble reading, much less understanding Old Maríshan. A native speaker might understand spoken middle Maríshan after a period of acclimation, but spelling was largely arbitrary, so reading would be difficult. The Old period is roughly 900 - 1390, and the middle period starts in 1390 and runs to 1545, the date at which the Maríshan people gained independence. After gaining their freedom, the language continued to evolve into what is considered modern Maríshan today.

Old Maríshan was a considerably different language than even Middle Maríshan. This drastic difference from Old to Middle Maríshan has caused many to consider that Middle Maríshan was actually a creole since France had started occupation in 1386, and it is from this contact that most scholars believe that Maríshan picked up its largely Romance vocabulary. The creole theory is largely controversial, however, and there are many who dismiss it. They reason that any language sufficiently exposed to another will tend to pick up the vocabulary of the other, especially if one language is the language of the courts, and the other is not. Considering that Maríshan has always been OSV in its lowest register seems to indicate that the creole theory is wrong, or at least flawed, though others believe that a generation of exposure to both Old Maríshan and French could have also lead to the newer generation picking up the OSV tendencies. It is interesting to note that Maríshan did not obtain a high register form that allowed flexible placement of subject and object via re-ordering of the pronouns until the middle period, and many have speculated that it was a concession to allow a more readily understood conversation between the occupiers and the natives.

Nevertheless, scholars point to the complicated pronoun system, and conjugation system as reasons why the creole theory is incorrect. The toi- prefix on conditional verbs, for example, is traceable to taoa- in Old Maríshan, which functioned the same way as the current prefix. The -soí postfix on pronouns (-soae Old. Mar.), as well as the definite and indefinite classes of pronouns also trace directly back to Old Maríshan.

Middle Maríshan would be reasonably well tolerated by a modern speaker once they acclimated to the accent. Speaking would be possible once the required vowel changes were made, but reading would still be difficult. Reading even in the early modern period would have been difficult, as it wasn't until 1634 that the Academy formalized the language, grammar, and spelling. Modern Maríshan grammar itself has not changed much from Middle Maríshan, but as loan words gain acceptance, the vocabulary is drifting slowly away from the mostly French influence. Englaisismen include words like oqaé which is abbreviated to the familiar ok that is replacing the French inspired word acord meaning roughly the same thing.

Phonology
Maríshan uses the standard latin alphabet. The letters W, K, X are not often used; though K does show up in two oft-used pronouns (ki (this) and kili (that)). W appears in foreign names, and words usually borrowed from other languages.

Vowels

 * A
 * IPA: /æ/ and /a:/
 * Written: < a á ä â >
 * Examples: lu quat /ly kæt/ (the cat), loinas /lwa:na:/ (away)
 * Pronunciation Rules: A is nearly always pronounced /a:/, but there are many words that use /æ/. There is no specific rule to indicate when one should use /æ/, and so those words are generally memorized. Note: The diacritics on A do not modify pronunciation; they only serve to distinguish between homophones.
 * E
 * IPA: /e/ and /ɛ/
 * Written: < e é ë ê >
 * Examples: demandev /dma~de/ (to demand), avé /a:ve/ (with)
 * Pronunciation Rules:  are all pronounced /ɛ/. <é> is pronounced /e/.
 * Exceptions:  is occasionally silent in a word, affecting pronunciation of vowels near it, but not itself being pronounced.  at the end of a word is never pronounced, but it does force the pronunciation of the previous consonants. Thus, academíe is pronounced /akadɛmi:/, demandev /dma~de/, dîtanse /di:ta~s/. Unfortunately, the exceptions must generally be memorized.
 * I
 * IPA: /i:/ and /ɪ/
 * Written: < i í ï î >
 * Examples: riv /ʁi:v/ (to read)
 * Pronunciation Rules: < i, í, î > are all pronounced /i:/. <ï> is pronounced /ɪ/.
 * O
 * IPA: /o/
 * Written: < o ó ö ô >
 * Examples: shoze /ʃoz/ (thing)
 * Pronunciation Rules: Diacritics do not affect pronunciation; only pronounced /o/.
 * U
 * IPA: /y/ and /ə/
 * Written: < u ú ü û >
 * Examples: lu /ly/ (the)
 * Pronunciation Rules: < u, ú, û > is pronounced /y/. <ü> is pronounced /ə/.
 * Y
 * IPA: /i:/
 * Written: 
 * Examples: y /i:/ (and)

Nasal Vowels
There has been a recent trend to merge several of the nasal vowels in the southern provinces, resulting in the nasal A, E, and U being pronounced as /a~/. Thus sans, pensée, brun are pronounced with the same nasal vowel and results in /sa~s/, /pa~ze/, and /bʁa~/. In the northern provinces and the capital, all the nasals are still used, though a speaker from the north will understand a speaker from the south, and vice versa, with very few problems.
 * A (nasal)
 * IPA: /a~/
 * Written: an, am, ain, aim
 * Examples: sans /sa~z/ (without)
 * E (nasal)
 * IPA: /e~/
 * Written: en, em, ein, eim
 * Examples: pensée /pe~ze/ (thought)
 * I (nasal)
 * IPA: /i~/ and /ɪ~/
 * Written: in, im
 * Examples: minte /mi~t/ (mint), motin /motɪ~/ (words)
 * Pronunciation Rules: When found at the end of the word, pronounced /ɪ~/, otherwise as /i~/.
 * O (nasal)
 * IPA: /o~/
 * Written: on, om, aun, aum
 * Examples: monde /mo~d/ (world)
 * U (nasal)
 * IPA: /u~/
 * Written: un, um
 * Examples: brun /bʁu~/

Digraphs/Diphthongs

 * AI
 * IPA: /e/ or /ai/
 * AE
 * IPA: /ɛ/
 * AU
 * IPA: /o/
 * EU
 * IPA: /y/
 * IU
 * IPA: /jy/
 * OI
 * IPA: /wa:/

Diacritics
Maríshan uses the standard 26-letter latin alphabet, but also adds several diacritics on the vowels. Diphthongs and digraphs are pronounced, even if one of the letters has a diacritic, so aú would be pronounced the same as au. The tréma, however, indicates that the vowel should be pronounced separately, so aü would not be pronounced /o/, but /ay/.

Consonants
Maríshan has the following consonants:

Here, voiced means consonants which would cause a noun to take a -en ending, instead of -in, as well as the consonants that are usually pronounced at the end of a word (all others are mute).

+ 'C' is considered to be unvoiced, but is always pronounced at the end of a word.

++ 'G' is considered to be voiced because it forces a -en ending, but does not pronounce at the end of a word if the final sound.

While most consonants don't change pronunciations based on the following letter, the following do:


 * C


 * Pronounced /s/ when followed by (and all accented variants). Otherwise, /k/.


 * Examples: cycle /si:kl/ (circle)


 * G


 * Pronounced /g/ when followed by, but /ʒ/ when followed by an < e >. When followed by an at the beginning of a word, however, it is pronounced /dʒ/.


 * Examples: regale /rɛga:l/ (trifle), longe /lo~ʒ/ (length), George /dʒoʁʒ/


 * H


 * Never pronounced; considered mute. When found in a combination, pronounced /t/.


 * Q


 * Always pronounced /k/, but is usually written < Qu >. < U > in this combination is silent, but if it is not present, the next vowel is pronounced in full, thus, is /qwa:/. But if a word like existed, it would also be pronounced /kwa:/.


 * S


 * Pronounced /s/ at the beginning of a word and when followed by . Pronounced /z/ when followed by < e > or when blended into the next word.


 * W


 * Only found in foreign names or borrowed words. When pronounced, always /v/.

Finally, it is important to note, that there are always exceptions to the rules, and a simple word illustrates such exceptions perfectly: lu quat (the cat) is pronounced /ly kat/, not /ly ka:/ as the rules would suggest. The exceptions must generally be memorized.

Verb Ending Pronunciation
====Verbs have some special pronunciation rules which are not followed by the rest of the language. These pronunciation rules end up making spoken verbs simpler than their written counterparts because the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person singular forms sound similar, if not exactly the same as, each other in each tense. However, pronouns aren't always required to know which form the verb is in, because in low register speech, the language is OSV - thus the conjugated verb directly follows its subject. In higher register speech, the pronoun floats, based on its subject prhase, but one can determine the conjugation based on the subject pronoun used. ====

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 * Ending EV
 * Pronounced /e/
 * Indicates the infinitive form of an -ev verb.
 * Example: pensev /pe~ze/ (to think)
 * Ending AV
 * Pronounced /a:/
 * Indicates the infinitive form of an -av verb.
 * Example: tocav /toka:/ (to play an instrument/sports)
 * Ending IV
 * Pronounced /i:/ or not at all
 * Indicates the infinitive form of an -iv verb.
 * Example: arriviziv /aʁi:vi:zi:/ or /aʁi:vi:z/ (to arrive)
 * Ending ER
 * Pronounced /e/
 * Indicates the imperative form of a -ev or -iv verb.
 * Example: penser /pe~se/ (think!)
 * Ending AR
 * Pronounced /a:/
 * Indicates the imperative form of an -av verb.
 * Example: tocetar /tokɛta:/ (play!)
 * Ending S, Z
 * Mute
 * Examples: dé (I say), dés (you say), and déz (he, she, it says) are all pronounced /de/, as are dev (to say) and der (say!).
 * Final S before conjugation stem in imperatives
 * Pronounced /s/; S tends to stay /s/ when using an imperative form, even though the above states /s/ before E becomes /z/.
 * Example: penser /pe~se/ (think!)
 * C
 * Sometimes pronounced /s/, other times /k/
 * When the final sound of the root of the verb is /s/, the letter is pronounced /s/ even though the above rules indicate it would be pronounced /k/. However, when the final sound is /k/, the letter is pronounced /k/ even though the above rules indicate it would be pronounced /s/.
 * Examples: The verbs marciv and tocav are good examples of each phenomenon. Marcais is very commonly used as "Thank you" (though high regiser would add the pronouns: Ve më marcais). The infintive marciv is pronounced /ma:ʁsi:/ (or /ma:ʁs/), and so when conjuaged, marcais should sound like /ma:ʁse/, NOT /ma:ʁke/, even though the rules are that C becomes /k/ before an A. Likewise, the infinitive tocav is pronounced /toka:/, and thus its imperative form of tocetar should be pronounced /tokɛta:/, NOT /tosɛta:/, even though the rules indicate that C becomes /s/ before an E. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 36.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica}