Linkve

General information
Linkve [ˈli:ŋkve] is a language created by me and an old friend of mine in 2008, when we were students. At the beginning, our goal was to create a very brief language which could melt Latin, German and English. In a second time, I carried on this project on my own adding terms from Slavic languages (in particular from Serbian and Croatian) and from ancient Greek. Linkve had originally definite articles, but then they turned into suffixes at the end of the word, also because it was more practical to use them writing.

Linkve literature concerns especially poetry.

The current Linkve sounds like an ancient common language spoken in the Balcans, from Greece to Austria-Hungary passing through the Republic of Venice.

Today it’s spoken, but more frequently written, by a little community of friends (Drugu o linkve) in the North west of Italy to write messages and thoughts to each other. The community is always open to receive new members and active speakers, as well as people who wish to write in Linkve.

Alphabeth and phonemes
It’s also pronounced /y/ in the terms ipo [‘ypo] and daktile [ʽdaktyle].

Approximant consonants When a consonant is followed by ia, ie, io and iu, we read it as an approximant sound.

biali  /ˈbjali/

pedie /ˈpɛdje/

kioske /ˈkjɔske/

aviu /ˈavju/

When the letter "l" comes after the "z" it becomes the semivocal w.

zlobodi /ˈzwɔbɔdi/

Linkve Persons
Persons in Linkve are not always explicit. Sometimes they turn into a simple suffix at the end of the verb (see interrogative form and past participle) and other times they are implied. This will be explained better in the next chapters.





























[after the letters ‘d’, ‘t’, ‘m’]

Examples:

I soj Mark. = I am Mark.

Ju paz im. = You love me.

Ju gibu pome za ir. = You give me the apple (litt. You give the apple to me)

Ige soj iş dom = This is my house.

Verbs
One of the peculiarities of Linkve is that all the verbs are monosyllabic.

Plus, some of them, derive from germanic languages (English and German especially); some examples are: lif (eng. leave), kel (eng. kill), blieb (ger. bleiben), jit (eng. hit).

Sometimes verbs are combined with particular prepositions that change their meaning.

Conjugation of the Verb “Soj” (to be)
In Linkve the verb “to be” is somewhat atypical because it is never inflected in the affermative form. So the conjugation ramains the same for each person.

Sometimes you can find just “soj”, without any subject. In that case, the implied subject is “i”. This happens when someone talks in the first person singular introducing himself/herself:  ''Mire! Soj Mark. (''Hello! I’m Mark).

Conjugation of Regular Verbs
Example: ban [ba:n], (to go, to walk)

The regular conjugation of verbs in Linkve shows two forms: the first one is not inflected; the second one is inflected.

Generally we use the first form (base form) in principal clauses (e.g. I ban za kine - I go the cinema), whereas the second form (inflected) in coordinate and subordinate clauses (e.g. Ige soj place uba i bani - This is the place where I go).

Plus, we use the second form also when the ending letter of a verb is “incompatible” with the first letter of the word which follows. For example we have: I gobi pome.= I eat the apple (See Phonology chapter).

An irregular verb: "Na" (to have)
Other verbs in Linkve behave like “na”, for example “rei”(to flow). Also in that case a j is added (''i rei, ju reju, ja reje, ći rei...). ''This happens when we have a vowel instead of a consonant at the end of the verb.

Verbs Coupling
In Linkve there are no modal verbs. Therefore, a normal verb can’t be followed by an infinitive. For this reason, verbs are connected by a preposition po (“that”). Here some examples:

i zar po lerżi = I can read (literally: I can “that” I read);

ju nie krat po drumu = you must not smoke (literally: You must not “that” you smoke);

i najaşk po bani = I should go (literally: I should “that I” go”).

Nouns
First of all, it has to be specified that Linkve language has no articles. The noun in itself, if not followed by any special preposition, can be translated using the definite article ‘the’.

Dom = (The) house

Differently, to express the undefinite article ‘a’ or ‘an’, it has to be used the adjective ani [ˈani], (literally: single).

Ani dom = A house

It’s also common to see the contracted-form an’ before vowels:

An’ okule = An eye

Talking about desinences, in Linkve language there are two groups of nouns: They belong to the same gender (neuter), but they have two different declensions (see Paragraph on the 1st and the 2nd declension), although they are very similar.
 * 1) nouns ending in consonant: dom (house), kir (hand), maşin (car), etc...
 * 2) nouns ending in -e: druge (friend), bibie (book), pome (apple)

Accents (nouns)
First group accents Second group accents

First Declension (nouns ending in consonant)
Example: dom (house, home);
 * Nominative case - This is the case of the subject, for example: Dom soj manji (The house is big).
 * Accusative case - This is the case of the object; it answers to the question kel (who?) or kelse (what?), for example: i ken dome (I see the house).
 * Locative - This is the case which indicates a location; it’s often preceded by the preposition ne (in, at): i staz ne domu (I’m at home) or i vid ne Romu (I live in Rome); but also by other prepositions of beeing in place.

Second declension (nouns ending in -e)
Example: kioske (cafe, coffee shop);

Some esamples:

Kioske soj manji = The cafe is big

Kiosku soj ladi = The cafes are nice

I ken kioske = I see the cafe

I paz kiosku = I love cafes

I staz ne kioski = I’m in the cafe

Da tal ne kioskivi zimpera = We always talk in the cafes

Attention! The declension of nouns ending in -ie is a bit different.

Example: bibie [ˈbibje], (book):

Sentence Structure
The structure of the sentence in Linkve is always S-V-O (subject-verb-object): i lerż bibie. = I read the book.

You musn’t put the location complement at the beginning of the sentence. This is much important!

Ne domu I lerż bibie. > I lerż bibie ne domu. = I read the book at home.

Adjectives
Adjectives in Linkve are never inflected. They maintain always the same desinence, which is -i: omali (good), ladi (nice), manji (big), parvusi (little), etc.

Accents (adjectives)
Talking about adjectives, the position of the accent is always on the penultimate syllabF (mànji, làdi, parvùsi), except for adjectives which begin with a vowel (òmali, éteri, etc...).

Comparative and Superlative
Sarae soj ladi. (Sarah is nice)

Sarae soj mezma ladi od Anae / o Marije. (Sarah is as nice as Anne/Mary).

Sarae soj pluz ladi od Anae / o Marije. (Sarah is nicer than Anne/Mary).

Sarae soj ladi ćni puele ne skoli. (Sarah is the nicest girl in the school).

Negative form
Forming negative sentences is quite easy. It is needed just to put the adverb nie befor the verb:

''i soj Mark. (I am Mark) > i nie soj Mark ''(I am not Mark)

i na ani druge (I have a friend) > i nie na ani druge (I don't have a friend)

i paz kiosku (I love cafes) > i nie paz kiosku (I don't love cafes)

Interrogative form
Interrogative form is quite unusual in Linkve, because it's built removing the subject and inflecting the verb (saving the 1st person plural, where it needs a simple inversion). Plus, it's added the particle "ve".

If the question begin with an adverb, this construction must not be used; e.g. ''Uba ju ban? ''(Where do you go?)

Vocabulary