Cirtanian

General information
Cirtanian, known natively as Cirtaugnan/Χιρταυνιαν <ʃiɾ'tawn.i.ans> or Ling Cirtaugnan/Λινγ Χιρταυνιαν ('liŋg ʃiɾt'aw.ni.an) is a Romance language native to the island of Cirtania east of Italy in the Mediterranean sea. It split off from late Classical/ early Vulgar Latin and retains some aspects of Latin lost in other languages such as nouns that decline to case in number (though the ablative, dative and genitive cases merged, and all of the declensions have merged into one pattern for masculine/neuter and one for feminine with a number of complications) Due to its proximity to Greece, it picked up several Greek loanwords as well as phonological and grammatical influences. There is even a way of writing the language in the Attic alphabet used mainly in Greece and taught in most schools in Cirtania, though the Latin system is more common and will be used primarily in this grammar.

Consonants
Some notes about the orthography
 * The rule about c and g is the same as Italian: c and g are pronounced  and  except before i, e and their long variants. Ch and gh are variants of c and g used to maintain the hard pronunciation even before i and e. The Attic variant instead uses the separate letters χ and ζ to represent the soft pronunciation.
 * Z is pronounced as ts if it derives from a t in Latin (i.e. nātiō > nauziu <'naw. ts i.u>) and dz if it derives from a d (persuādeō > persuauziu 
 * X is a similar story doctus > dox <'doks>, vagus > vax <'vagz>. However, when it derives from an x in Latin, it follows other rules demonstrated in the following words: exemplum > exemplăs <'eg.zem.pləs>, excelsus > excels  and ēx > eix <'ejks>. In other words, it is pronounced  when intervocalic,  before c and a front vowel, and  elsεwhere.
 * I and u represent  and  before another vowel.
 * The letter h is always silent and is not even represented in the Attic variant.
 * N and l have palatal allophones when followed by an unstressed front vowel and another vowel. In the Latin writing system, the Italian convention of gn and gl is used, whereas no special spelling is used in Greek since a similar allophony already exists in Greek (when derived from Latin gn, it is writing νι, hence magno is written in Greek μανιo.)

Vowels
Greek borrowings usually use Greek-resembling spellings in the Attic variant even when they conflict with how Cirtanian is typically spelled. Thus anoits (stupid) is spelled ανοητσ instead of ανοιτσ, although it is not uncommon for native speakers to misspell these words.

Sound Changes
Cirtanian sound changes features extensive influence from both Greek and Italian, as well as some unique to itself.

Short initial unstressed vowels dropped initially and finally.
 * bonus (good) > bons


 * angustus (narrow) > gusz (arrogant) (commonly pronounced <'gus:> rather than <'gusts>

An m, n or l after the dropped vowel disappears and voices the following consonant. Long vowels diphthongize, shift place, or simply remain the same. Final vowels reduce Diphthongs become monophthongs E turns into i before another vowel and after a lenitable consonant.
 * imperium (empire) > berio (nation)
 * lātus (wide) > lauz
 * cēlō (hide) > cilu
 * rōmānus (Roman) > rumauns (Roman, urban, civilized)
 * crūdelis (rude, evil) > crodels
 * lauda (imp. sing. praise) > lodă
 * crimen (crime) > crimin
 * age (imp. sing. do) > agă
 * caelum > celo
 * deinde > (then) denz
 * deiciō (throw down) > deciu (defeat)
 * laus (praise) > los
 * Eurōpa > Efrup (the development of the f was due to Greek influence)
 * persuādeō (persuade) > persauziu

E before a vowel elsewhere disappears Double vowels simplify C and g palalize after i and e. D and t become affricates after i and another vowel I becomes gi before another vowel after another vowel or at the beginning of a word Labio-velars delabialize before front vowels L becomes i after a fricative or plosive Consonants degeminate Word-final M drops Sc and St metathesize at the beginning of a word (except sc doesn't metathesize before i or e)
 * iāceō (throw) > giaciu
 * pēior (worse) > peor > por
 * tuus (your) > tos (note, the short u > o was because of analogy with tū > to, not a regular sound change.)
 * vacuus (empty) > vacus > vax (ignorant)
 * circum > circo ('ʃir.co)
 * gēns (tribe) > gins ('ʒins)
 * deus (God) > zis
 * natiō (nation) > naziu
 * maior (greater) > magior
 * iubeō (order) > giubu
 * quī (relative pronoun) > chi
 * quīnque (five) > chinche
 * plūs (more) > pio
 * flōs (flower) > fiăs (the ă resulted from the masculine singular removing the stem vowel, not any sound change.)
 * callidus > caliz
 * templum > tempio (note the u > o resulted from analogy with the Greek neuter, not any sound change.)
 * quam > quă
 * stō (stand) > zu
 * σκιά (shadow) > xă
 * sciō (know) > sciu (study)

Nouns and Adjectives
As stated previously, nouns decline in two major groups to four cases and two numbers. Below are some examples of declined nouns and adjectives.

Masculine

Former second declension nouns (called masculi normali) are pretty much the same as Latin plus sound change. Former third declension nouns with a nominative singular ending with -r have been reanalyzed to follow the masculs normals paradigm, whereas those ending with anything other than -r in the nominative singular (called masculi gonditi) retain a declension closer to the third.

Feminine Former first declension nouns (called feminine normale) are also the same as Latin plus sound change. Former third declension nouns (feminine gondite) again retain a paradigm closer to the Latin third.

Neuter Again, both declensions remain mostly the same. Second declension nouns are called neutră normală and third neutră gondită.

As should be expected, adjectives must agree with the nouns they modify in number, gender and case. Thus large flower would be fios magnăs, large girl would be corít magn, and large nation would be berio magno.

Articles and Prepositions
Latin prepositions that governed the ablative or genitive case now govern the dative case, and Latin prepositions that governed the accusative case still govern that case, with a few exceptions and irregularities. A few common prepositions:

in (+ABL in, inside, +ACC in, into) > in (+DAT in, inside, +ACC in, into)

ēx (+ABL out of, outside of) > ăs (+DAT outside of, +ACC (moving) out of)

dē (+ABL down from, about) > di (+DAT about, +ACC down from)

sub (+ABL beneath) > suv (+DAT beneath, less than)

super (+ACC beyond) > sur

Like most Romance languages, Cirtanian's articles derive from Latin ille, illa illud.