Xarrano

General information
An Iberian language spoken by the inhabitants of Xarra Alta.

Please note that this page is part of a romlang challenge and it will continuously be subject to alteration until the deadline (around June). Xarrano (pronounced /ʃa'rano/) is a romlang mainly inspired by Iberian Romance languages at their earliest times, also showing influence from Italian. The goal is that it resemble a language of the Iberian family while having a vowel alternating plural system due to specific sound changes.

Its family tree can be traced as Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Western Romance, Ibero-Romance, Xarrano.

Its speakers live in Xarra Alta ("tall sierra"), a country that lies on a fictitious peninsula stretching from the southeastern part of Spain, as seen on the map.

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External history
There is a belief among the Xarrano people that their homeland would have been originated after an ancient volcano emerged from the sea and rose a piece of land with it. This volcano has had brief periods of activity through the centuries.

The first Latin settlers came from a region around Campania in Italy, including citizens of the extinct city of Pompei, which founded the capital city of Pompea Nova (now Nueva Pompea) at the foot of the volcano. The whole region was called SERRĀNIA because of its characteristic sierras and tall coasts, being important as a strategic place to build fortresses to keep control over the southwestern part of the Mediterrean Sea.

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Historical sound changes
When compared to other Iberian languages, Xarrano shows some conservative features, such as distinction between voiceless and voiced fricatives, while having innovated in other areas like the coalescence of alveolar consonants with /j/ and palatalization of final /s/, eventually causing the loss of distinction between masculine and feminine in plural forms.

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General changes
a) Loss or lenition of final consonants:

AMAT, LUPŌS, VĪTAM (polysyllables) > ama, lobe (< loboy), vida

AUT, MEL, QUEM, TAM, SĪC (monosyllables) > o, miel, quien, tan, xin

b) Loss of /h/:

/h/ ADHAESIONEM,HABĒRE,PREHENDERE > /-/ adeson, aver, prender

c) Monophthongization of AE and OE:

/ai, oi/ CAELUM, GRAECUM, POENAM > /ɛ, e/ > /(j)e, e/ cielo, grego, pena

d) Minor changes:

/VnsV/ MENSEM, PREHENSUM > /VzV/ mes, preso

/CCC/ ASSŪMPTUM, FUNCTIONEM > /CC/ assunto, funçon

/lle#/ ILLĒ, MĪLLE, PELLEM > /l#/ el, mil, piel

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Changes related to Western Romance
a) Shift from vowel quantity to vowel quality (also in Italo-Western):

/iː, i, eː, e, a(ː), o, oː, u, uː/ > /i, e, e, ɛ, a, ɔ, o, o, u/

/ɛ, ɔ/ > [jɛ, wɔ] > /je, we/ only in stressed open syllables

b) Monophthongization of AU (also in Italo-Western):

/au/ AURICULAM, AUT, *autoricare, PAUCUM, TAURUM > /o/ oregha, o, otorgar, poco, toro

c) Assimilation processes (also in Italo-Western):

/bt, pt/ OBTENĒRE, SEPTEM > /t/ otener, xete

/bs, ps/ ABSOLŪTUM, PSALMUM > /s/ assoluto, salmo

d) Lenition of intervocalic plosives:

/b, d, g/ BIBERE, NŪDUM, *vagativu > /v, -, -/ bever, nuo, vadio

/p, t, k/ CAEPULLAM, RECIPERE, PRĀTUM, FOCUM > /b-v, d, g/ cebogha, recivir, prado, fuego

/pp, tt, kk/ STUPPAM, GUTTAM, PECCĀTUM > /p, t, k/ estopa, gota, pecado

(plosives surrounded by a semivowel were somewhat preserved, but suffered other changes)

e) Early process of syncope (between sonorants and plosives, and the sequence /sVt/):

/VCVCV/ COLAPHUM, OPERAM, COMITEM, POSITUM > /VCCV/ golpo, obra, conde, posto

/VCVCV/ *cosutura, NŌBILEM, LEPOREM, OCULUM, VIRIDEM > /VCCV/ costura, noble, lebre, ogho, verde

f) Palatalization processes:

/eV, iV/ FORTIAM, VĪNEAM > [jV] > /*V/ força, viña

/#j, VjV/ IAM, IEIŪNUM, IŪSTUM, MĀIOREM > /#ʒ, V(j/ʒ)V/ > /#ʒ, V(dʒ/ʒ)V/ ja, gejuno, justo, maghor

/ki, ke/ ACCEPTUM, CIRCĀ, CĪVĪLEM > [tʃV] > /tsV/ > /θV/ aceto, cerca, civil

- /Vki, Vke/ > ACĒTUM, COCĪNAM, LŪCEM > [VtʃV] > /VtsV/ > [VdzV] > /VðV/ azedo, cozina, luz

/gi, ge/ GENERUM, *pagense, VIGINTI > /jV/ > /ʒV/ or /-V/ gendro, país, vinte

/ski, ske/ PISCEM, CRĒSCERE > [stʃV] > /ʃV/ pexe, crexer

/tj, kj/ ALTIĀRE, BRĀCHIUM, FACIEM, LINTEOLUM > [ts, tʃ] > /ts/ > /θ/ alçar, braço, face, lençuelo

/dj, gj/ INVIDIAM, RADIUM > /ʒ/ or /j/ enveja, rayo > /ʒ/ or /dʒ/ enveja, ragho

- /V(d/g)(i/e)#/ HŌDIE, LEGEM, MAGIS > /Vj#/ > oy, ley, may > /*/ güe, lé, may

/stj, skj/ *bestiu, FASCIAM, QUAESITIONEM, SCIENTIAM > /st, ʃ/ bixo, faxa, queston, xença

/ptj, ktj/ ACTIONEM, OPTIONEM, *ruptia > /Cts/ > (C)θ/ açon, opçon, roça

/#sj, ssj/ *bassiu, MANSIONEM, PASSIONEM, RUSSEUM > /ʃ/ or [sj]>/s/ baxo, manson, paxon, roxo

/VsjV/ BĀSIUM, ECCLĒSIAM, *grisiu, LAESIONEM > /(¨)ʒ/ or [zj]>/z/ bejo, egleja, grijo, leson

/rj/ AREAM, CORIUM, DĒNĀRIUM, GLORIAM > /(¨)r/ era, qüero, denero, glora

/nj, lj/ FOLIAM, IŪNIUM, *maneana > /ɲ, ʎ/ folla, Juño, mañana > /ɲ, dʒ/ fogha, Juño, mañana

g) Development of /kt/:

/kt/ FACTUM, FRUCTAM, NOCTEM, OCTŌ > /jt/ > /(¨)tʃ/ fecho, prucha, noche, ocho

h) Prothesis of initial /sC/:

/#sC/ SCĀLAM, SPATIUM, SPHINGEM, STĀRE > /#esC/ escala, espaço, esfinge, tar (< estar)

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Changes related to Iberian Romance
a) Loss of final front vowels after single, dental/alveolar, voiced consonant:

/e#, i#/ FĒCĪ, MENSEM, PĀNEM, VĒRITĀTEM > fezi, mese, pane, verdade > /#, (¨)#/ fiz, mes, pan, verdaz

b) Palatalization of geminated N and L:

/nn, gn, mn/ ANNUM, AUTUMNUM, DOMINAM, PUGNUM > [nn] > /ɲ/ año, otoño, doña, puño

/ll/ CASTELLUM, COLLĀREM, ILLAM > /ʎ/ castello, collar, ella > /dʒ/ castegho, coghar, egha

c) Development of /kʷ/ and /gʷ/ (also in Gallo-Romance):

/gʷ/ *guadaniare, *guerra, *guidare, SANGUINEM > /g/ gañar, garra, guiar, sangre

/kʷ/ LIQUOREM, QUANDŌ, QUINTUM, SQUĀMAM > /k, kw/ licor, quando, quinto, escama

- /Vkʷ/ AEQUALITĀTEM, ANTĪQUUM, AQUAM, QUIRĪTĀRE > [Vgw] > /Vg(w)/ egualdaz, antigo, agua, gridar

- (some) /kʷi, kʷe/ LAQUEUS, QUĪNQUE, TORQUERE > [ki, ke] > [tʃV] > /tsV/ > /θV/ laço, cinque, torcer

d) fragmentaion of /ks/:

/ksC/ DEXTERUM, EXPRESSIONEM, EXTENSUM > /(¨)sC/ destro, espresson, estenso

- /kske, kski/ EXCELSUM, EXCEPTUM, EXCITĀRE > /kkV/ > [ttʃV] > /tsV/ > /θV/ ecelso, eceto, ecitar

/VksV/ COXAM, FLUXUM, TOXICUM, VEXĀMEN > /VʃV/ coxa, ploxo, tóxico, vexambre

/VksV/ AUXILIUM, MAXIMUM, PROXIMUM > /VsV/ ossegho, mássimo, próssimo

/VksV/ EXHAURĪRE, EXŌTICUM, EXSULTĀTIONEM > /VzV/ esaurir, esótico, esultaçon

(some) /VksV/ EXAGIUM, EXĀMEN, EXSŪCĀRE > [VjsV] > /VnsV, VnʃV/ ensagho, enxambre, enxugar

e) Evolution of consonant groups with /l, r/:

/Vbr, Vdr, Vgr/ CATHEDRAM, LIBRUM, NIGRUM > /Vbr, V(¨)r, V(¨)r/ cadera, libro, nero

/Vpr, Vtr, Vkr/ SACRĀRE, MACRUM, OPERA, PETRAM > /Vbr, Vdr, Vgr/ sagrar, magro, obra, piedra

/Vppr, Vttr, Vkkr/ LETTERAM, QUATTUOR > /Vpr, Vtr, Vkr/ letra, quatro

/#fl, #pl, #kl/ CLĀMĀRE, FLŪMEN, PLŌRĀRE > /#tʃ/ chamar, chumbre, chorar

/#fl, #pl, #kl/ CLĒMENTIA, FLUXUM, PLATEAM, *subflare > /#pl, #kl/ clemença, ploxo, plaça, soplar

/Vp(V)l, Vt(V)l, Vk(V)l/ ARTICULUM, POPULUM, ROTULUM > /Vbl, Vʎ/ > /Vbl, Vdʒ/ artegho, pueblo, rogho

/bl, dl, gl/ *blanco, COĀGULĀRE > /bl, ʎ/ > /bl, dʒ/ blanco, quaghar

MASCULUM, MŪSCULUM, UNGULAM > maxo, buxo, uña

f) Later processes of syncope:

/nVr, mVr/ GENERUM, NUMERUM, HONŌRĀRE > [mr, nr] > /mbr, ndr/ gendro, nombro, ondrar

/inV/ DOMINAM, SĒMINAM, SŌLITŪDINEM, TERMINUM > /*/ dueña, sembra, soltuz, termo

/V/ ARBOREM, MŪSCULUM, SIMILANTEM, UNGULAM > /-/ arble, buxo, semblante, uña

/CVC/ ADVĒRIFICĀRE, CAPITĀLEM, CUBITUM, DŪBITAM > /*C/ averiguar, cadual, codo, duda

/CVC/ DECIMUM, IŪDICĀRE, HOSPITĀLEM, PORTATICUM > /*C/ ghezmo, juzgar, ostal, portazgo

/CVC/ *quassicare, RECITĀRE, TRĪTICUM, UNDECIM, VINDICĀRE > /*C/ cascar, rezar, trizgo, onze, vengar

g) Interactions between /l/ and /r/:

/l...l, r...r/ ARBOREM, *lusciniolu, MARMOREM, RŌBOR(EM) > /r...l/ arble, ruxingüelo, marble, roble

/l...l, r...r/ LOCĀLEM > /l...r/ logar

/r...l/ MĪRACULUM, PARABOLAM, PERĪCULUM > /l...r/ milagro, palabra, peligro

/r/ BURSAM, PAPYRUM, TENEBRĀS > /l/ bolsa, papel, teñeble

h) Minor or incomplete changes:

GAUDIUM, RATIONEM, TRAHERE > [VtsV, VdzV] > /VdzV > /VðV gozo, razon, trazer

/d, l, n, r/ ANIMAM, LAMPADAM, LĀXĀRE, LIBELLUM, -MEN > alma, lampra, dexar, nivegho, -mbre

/k/ *cocchleariu, NĒC ŪNUM, PECTEN > [ŋ] > /n, ng/ concharo, nenguno, penche

/#w/ > VERRERE, VERSŌRIAM, VŌTA, VULTUREM > [#β] > /#b/ barer, bassura, boda, boltre

/j, r/ CRĪBRA, PARIĒTEM > /-/ criva, parede

/ls, rs/ *ad traversu, INSULSUM, PERSŌNAM, VERSICUM > /s/ atraves, insosso, pessona, besco

CAPSAM, CAPULUM, CRYPTAM, MĀTTIANA, PULSĀRE > caxa, cacho, grota, mançana, puxar

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Specific changes in Xarrano
a) Semivocalization of final /s/ with posterior changes:

(stressed) /s#/ MAGIS, DVŌS, NŌS, TRĒS > /j#/ may, doy, noy, trey > /*/ may, due, nue, tre

(unstressed) /as#, es#, is#, os#, us#/ > [aj#, i#, (¨)i#, oj#, (¨)oj#] > /e#, (¨)e#, (¨)e#, e#, (¨)e#/

(metaphony of stressed vowels follows this direction: a > e; e > i; i = i; o > u; u = u)

b) Coalescence of dental/alveolar consonants and /j/:

CŌGITĀRE, DECEM, TERRAM > /tj, jt, dj, jd/ cuydar, diez, tierra > /tʃ, dʒ/ cughar, ghez, charra

ECCLĒSIAM, SERRAM, SEPTEM > /sj, js, zj, jz/ eglesia, sierra, siete > /ʃ, ʒ/ egleja, xarra, xete

COLŌNIAM, LEVEM, NEBULAM > /nj, jn, lj, jl/ colonia, lieve, niebla > /ɲ, dʒ/ coloña, gheve, ñebla

c) Loss of /j/ before back vowels where coalescence did not happen (except /ja/ from /je/):

CĪVĪTĀTEM, FACTIONEM > /Cj/ ciudaz (former /iw/), fecion/faccion > /C/ çudaz, feçon/facçon

FERRUM, PLUVIAM, VĪSIONEM > /Cj/ fierro, chuvia, vision > /C/ fiarro, chuva, vison

d) Merging of /j/ and /ʎ/ to become a voiced counterpart to /tʃ/:

EGŌ, EQUAM, HERĪ, MEDIUM > /j/ yo, yegua, yer, meyo > /dʒ/ gho, ghegua, gher, megho

BELLUM, CUBICULUM, FAMILIAM > /ʎ/ bello, covello, famella > /dʒ/ begho, covegho, famegha

e) Fortition of initial /w/:

AUDĪRE, HODIĒ, HOMŌ, OVUM > /#oV, #oj, #we/ oir, oy, huemo, huevo > /gwV/ güir, güe, güemo, güevo

f) Evolution of /je, we/ before /r(r)/:

ERRŌ, FERRUM, SERPENS > [jɛr] yerro, fierro, sierpe (irr.) > [jær] > /(j)ar/ gharro, fiarro, xarpe

* guerra, PORRUM > [wɛr] guerra, puerro > [wær] > /(w)ar/ garra, puarro

(some) /e/ ERVILIAM, MULIEREM, VERRERE, *versoria > [ɛ] > /a/ arvegha, mughara, barrer, bassura

g) Merging of /b/ and /v/ as well as the remaining /p/ and /f/ when before the sonorants /ɾ, l/:

* blancu, *haver hemos, PAUPER > /bl, br, vl, vr/ blanco, avremo, pobre > /bl, br/ blanco, abremo, pobre

FLOREM, FRĪGIDUM, PLACERE, PRŌVIDENTIAM > /fl, fr, pl, pr/ > /pl, pr/ plor, prio, plazer, prudença

h) Loss of final unstressed /n/:

ILLŌS AMANT, IUVENEM, VIRGINEM > /n#/ ellos aman, joven, vergen > /#/ eghe ama, jove, verge

i) Other general changes:

FRONTEM, GRAECUM, PROBAM > /C(l/r)(j/w)/ pruente, griego, prueva > /C(l/r)/ prente, grego, preva

CĪVĪTĀTEM, DĒBITAM > /ew, iw/ ciudaz, deuda > /(j)o, (j)u/ çudaz, ghoda

j) Minor changes:

DOMINAM, SOMNIUM, VERĒCUNDIAM > /oɲ/ doña, soño, vergoña > /weɲ/ dueña, sueño, vergüeña

* ad si, LĪLIUM, QUASĪ, SĪC, VENĪRE, VESĪCULAM > axin, ghigho, cage, xin, veñir, begiga

CELEREM, *pagense, THĒMAM > çarre, país, cema

Consonants
- /n/ has many allophones that are homorganic with a following consonant.

- A dental or alveolar fricative in coda position does not present voice distinction. That means, their voice parameter depends on the next sound (e. g. they assimilate). When before pause, they are devoiced.

- /h/ is only used in some loanwords. It is realized as a weak [x] or another back fricative, or not pronounced at all.

- /j/ has become rare in Xarrano as an independent consonant, since it historically merged with /ʎ/ and both became /dʒ/, but it is still preserved in the sequence /aj/. It also appears in some loanwords. Some people tend to pronounce it as [dʒ] word initially, even though it is considered inappropriate.

- Similarly to /j/, the foreign phoneme /w/ has gained acceptance through borrowing, but it is sometimes mispronounced as [gw] word initially.

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Vowels
- The mid vowels are realized as close-mid vowels, but sometimes they can be more open when they are in closed stressed syllables.

- Beside the basic vowels, there are two more vowel phonemes represented by the diphthongs /je/ and /we/. They are both regarded as front vowels. New crescent diphthongs were formed at the transition to the modern language.

- When the final unstressed vowels /a, e, o/ are followed by an initial unstressed vowel, they are dropped. This also happens with weak monosyllables.

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Alphabet
Officially, all the 26 letters of modern Latin alphabet are taught, but K, W don't appear in Xarrano native vocabulary. The letter Y, now rare, was once widely used in older versions of the language. Also, there are the additional letters Ç and Ñ which are collated after C and N.

The letters are treated as feminine nouns and their names are as follows:

A - a /a/

B - be /be/

C - ce /'θe/

Ç - cedegha /θe'dedʒa/

D - de /de/

E - e /e/

F - efe /'efe/

G - ge /ʒe/

H - acha /'atʃa/

I - i /i/

J - joda /'ʒoda/

K - ka /ka/

L - ele /'ele/

M - eme /'eme/

N - ene /'ene/

Ñ - eñe /'eɲe/

O - o /o/

P - pe /pe/

Q - cu /ku/

R - arre /'are/

S - esse /'ese/

T - te /te/

U - u /u/

V - ve /ve/

W - ve dobla /ve 'dobla/

X - xe /ʃe/, former ics /iks/

Y - i grega /i 'grega/

Z - ze /ðe/, former zeda /'ðeda/

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Phonotactics
Most natively, Xarrano phonotactics is composed of relatively simple syllables, in which the only mandatory part is a nucleus formed by at least one vowel sound. The basic Xarrano syllable structure can be demonstrated as follows:

(C)(C)V(C): where the fist (C) can be any consonant; the second (C) can be L, R, I or U (as semivowels); and the last (C) can be L, N, R, S, U or Y (as semivowels), or Z.

Beside that basic model, some more complex syllables may appear due to borrowing or preservation of original words in Latin, Greek or others.

Here go some examples:

V - a /a/

CV - lé /le/

VC - en /en/

CCV - tre /tɾe/

CVC - sal /sal/

V.CV - año /'a.ɲo/

CV.CV.CV - cavagho /ka'va.dʒo/

CVC.CCVC - mostrar /mos'tɾar/

A distinctive feature in Xarrano, as in most other Romance languages, is syllable stress. It can be placed in the last, second or third to last syllable on a word and it usually don't affect its phonotactics, except for one active restriction on post-tonic syllables: they tend to be reduced to a simple CV structure. For instance, when learning English, a native Xarrano speaker tends to pronounce the English word shopping (/ˈʃɑːpɪŋ/) as xapi or xope, and dollar becomes dala or dola.

Since most syllables are of the type CV, the overall utterance usually happens at a faster pace.

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Orthography
Xarrano's orthography is considered to be shallow. However, some traditions have been preserved.

The letters A, B, D, E, F, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, T, U, V, W represent their basic phonemic values.

Other representations in writing are presented below:

/ɲ/: Ñ.

/tʃ/ and /dʒ/: CH and GH. They are perceived as belonging to the plosive group.

/k/: C before A, O, U; QU before E, I.

/g/: G before A, O, U; GU before E, I.

/kw/ and /gw/: QU and GU before A, O; QÜ and GÜ before E, I.

/θ/: Ç before A, O, U; C before E, I.

/ð/: Z (rare word initially).

/s/: S word initially, after consonant and before consonant or pause; SS intervocalic.

/z/: S, only in intervocalic position.

/ʃ/: X.

/ʒ/: G before E, I; J before A, O, U.

/r/: R word initially and before consonant or pause; RR intervocalic.

/ɾ/: R, after a consonant and in intervocalic position.

/j/: Y, but written I in crescent diphthongs.

Since dental and alveolar fricatives appear in coda position without voice distinction, convention says they must be written Z and S.

As for diacritics, the diaresis is used over U to keep it pronounceable before a front vowel. The acute accent marks a stressed syllable under the following conditions: a) open oxytone; b) paroxytone with a closed last syllable; c) proparoxytone; d) stressed open monosyllable if not using it may cause confusion.

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Historical grammatical changes
Xarrano shows most traits from the Common and Western Romance period, with some Italian influence at first. Later on, it began to suffer influence from Spanish as well as Portuguese and Catalan.

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Morphology
In its first stage of development, Xarrano is believed to have had a somewhat simple but still preserved case system for nouns and adjectives. The vocative case had been lost earlier (merged with nominative); the ablative, genitive and dative fused and formed an oblique case. The nominative and accusative were still distinguished at least in common nouns referring to persons and other living beings which were more likely to act as agents (some modern instances are: güemo (man), ladro (thief) and xarpe (snake)). On the other hand, nouns referring to less animate concepts, such as objects and elements, tended to merge the two cases.

As prepositions assumed the role of giving information about case, the oblique case was absorbed by the accusative, not without leaving some traces, especially in -men ending nouns. After a while, the nominative and accusative also merged, with preservation of nominative forms only in a few common, animate nouns.

The five Latin declensions were reduced to three (-a, -o, -(e)) since the fourth merged with the second, and the fifth merged with the third declension. Most neuter nouns were absorbed into the masculine gender while some were reinterpreted as feminine nouns, just as other Romance languages did. As for adjectives, the tendency was remodeling to -o/-a declension, although a few common adjectives, such as grande (big) and çarre (fast), resisted it. The formation of adverbs from adjectives follows the common Western Romance construction "adjective (with feminine ending)"mente. . . ..

Xarrano's numerals are conservative when compared with other Romance languages, not only retaining seze from Latin SĒDECIM and cinque from Latin QUĪNQUE as in Italian, but also preserving the ending -enta from Latin -ĀGINTĀ and quiñente from Latin QUĪNGINTŌS as in Spanish and Portuguese. Another conservative trait is the retention of three points of reference in space in the demonstrative pronouns questo, quesso, quegho and related adverbs ca, i, lá. Latin QUI and QUEM were preserved under the invariable forms que and quien, but CUI is seen as the variable cujo, cuja, cuje, which came from the old, declinable CUIUS. On the other hand, a number of combinations were created in Romance and are still used in Xarrano. One of them is ECCE HOC, which became the neuter relative pronoun ço.

The personal pronouns underwent a simplification in their case system. All the cases apart from the nominative eventually collapsed into an objective case. Forms from Latin ILLE supplied the third person in gender, number and case. Old Xarrano had a special dative pronoun lle, which was crystalized as modern ghe before lo, la, le to avoid cacophony. Unstressed forms from ILLE also gave rise to the formation of definite articles, which then caused the implementation of indefinite articles from ŪNUS and partitive articles from DĒ ILLE.

Latin had weak and strong forms for the possessives. It was the strong forms that survived into modern Xarrano, although a few literary sources indicate that the weak forms were also used at the earliest stages of the language. Xarrano has developed possessive constructions in combination with mandatory articles, just as in Italian. However, singular possessives drop their endings when they go before the noun. Compare the two viable constructions la casa mia vs. la mi casa (my house).

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Grammar
This section will mainly approach morphological as well as syntactical aspects of the language.

Xarrano's word classes are: sostantivo (noun), pronombre (pronoun), cipra (number), agetivo (adjective), averbal (adverb), partegha (particle) (comprising articles, prepositions, conjunctions and exclamations) and verbo (verb).

Nouns, pronouns, numbers, adjectives and adverbs form a bigger class simply called nombre (name). They are believed to contribute to the mental process of creating and modifying stactic images. Particles are thought to relate those images to each other, while verbs give sense and movement to the whole sentence.

Morphologically, some grammatical distinctions can be observed in Xarrano:

- gendro (gender): masculine vs. feminine; applied to nouns, pronouns and adjectives.

- cantidaz (number): singular vs. plural; applied to all classes but particles.

- caso (case): nominative vs. objective; only seen in personal pronouns.

- pessona (person): first, second and third; mainly applied to pronouns and verbs.

- tempo (tense) and megho (mode): applied to verbs.

Grammatical case inflection was lost since Latin, although it did survive in the personal pronouns and also can now be identified by looking at prepositions. Verbal inflections for voice and aspect were also lost and are now achieved through periphrasis. The table below summarizes the possibility of inflection among noun classes: .

Nouns
They can be used as the head of a subject, object or nominal complement. Morphologically, every noun is assigned a grammatical gender, masculine or feminine, that affects its own form and also the form of related adjectives and other modifying words. Beside gender, another parameters affecting their form are grammatical number, which can be defined as singular or plural, and degree, like diminutive, augmentative and superlative.

At the semantic level, nouns can be classified as:

concrete: barco (boat), mançana (apple) vs. abstract: begheza (beauty), opçon (option)

common: çapato (shoe), chuva (rain) vs. proper: Mateo (Matthew), Ostragha (Australia)

simple: chano (ground), plor (flower) vs. compound: lavarropa (washing machine, from lava and ropa)

primitive: triste (sad), piedra (stone) vs. derived: tristeza (sadness), piedrada (stone strike)

collective: cacho (bunch), cardume (school (of fish))

Gender and number interact differently depending on the word, especially in the modern language because masculine and feminine plural endings have merged into -e. Such plural has been assigned a new gender category called comun (common) when singular words still are distinguished by their endings, although several words have preserved gender distinction in plural forms by suffixation.

Most Latin vowel endings were preserved and became representative of the two genders, but a new group of nouns had their final vowel dropped or maintained in -e and now inflect for number through metaphony on the last stressed vowel (a > e, e > i, i = i, o > u, u = u). The following examples will be presented with the corresponding definite article.

Masculine: el cielo (ms., the sky), le ciele (mp., the skies)

Feminine: la famegha (fs., the family), le fameghe (the families)

Variable: el conde, la condessa (ms., the count, fs. the countess), le cunde, le condesse (mp., fp.)

Semivariable: el gato, la gata (ms., fs., the cat), le gate (cp. the cats)

Invariable: la pessona (fs., the person), le pessone (fp., the people)

Nouns can also receive special endings denoting size, endearment, deprecation, collection and others. Information about size can be added by using the augmentative or diminutive degree. The main endings are -on (always of masculine gender) for augmentative and -ino (of variable gender) for diminutive but there are many others, including root changes in some words and substitutions. Analytical ways of expressing size, such as adding the adjective grande (big) after the noun, are also used.

gato ((male) cat), gata (female cat), gate (cats), gatino (little (male) cat), gatina (little (female) cat), gaton (big cat), gatucho (dear little cat), gateria (a lot of cats).

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Pronouns
This class contains a restricted number of words that can occupy the position of a noun in a sentence and whose meaning generally depends on another referent. They fullfill a variety of functions, from replacing an aforementioned noun to giving quantitative information. The personal pronouns are the only subgroup that has maintained case distinction.

- Pessonel (personal pronouns): A relic dative form ghe appears in combination with objective third person pronouns in order to avoid cacophony. For instance, compare ''Ghe lo ho dado. vs. *Lo lo ho dado. ''(I gave it to him/her/them.)

- Demostrative (demonstrative pronouns):

questo, questa, queste (this, these); quegho, quegha, queghe (that, those, the one(s)); tal, tel (such); lo, la, le (the one(s)); and others.

- Enquiritive (interrogative pronouns):

que (what), quien (who), qual, quel (which (one(s))), donde (where), quando (when), como (how).

- Indefinide (indefinite pronouns):

alguno, alguna, algune (some(one)); algo (something); neñuno, neñuna, neñune (no(one)); nugha (nothing); todo, toda, tode (all, every(one)); molto, molta, molte (much, many); poco, poca, poque ((a) few); altro, altra, altre (other); cascuno, cascuna, cascune (each(one)); certo, certa, certe ((a) certain); vare (various); tanto, tanta, tante (so much, so many, "an unspecified number"); calquier, calquir (any); ambe (both); and others.

- Relative (relative pronouns):

que (that, which), quien (who), donde (where); el qual, la qual, le quel (who/which), cujo, cuja, cuje (whose); quanto, quanta, quante (who/which); ço (that); and others.

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Numbers
This class contains words indicating quantity and numerical order. In order to avoid confusion with the term nombre, used for names, Xarrano speakers replaced the old term nombro with cipra, a term borrowed from Arabic and cognate with English cipher. There are basically four types of number: cardinal, ordinal, moltiplicativo (multiplicative) and praçonaro (fractional).

The tables below show Xarrano's cardinal, ordinal and multiplicative numbers ranging from 1 to ?. Fractional numbers will be dealt below the tables. Fractional numbers are either the same as the ordinal numbers (from 3 to 13, then from 100 to one bilion) or the cardinal numbers followed by ave. Since they represent the bottom number in a fraction, they are preceded by an ordinal number and then inflect for number (for instance, 3/4 is tre quarte, and 5/16 is cinque seze ave or simply cinque cima seze). The fractional number for 2 has the special form megho (half).

As noted above, the conjunction e is used between hundreds and dozens but not between dozens and units.

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Adjectives
In this class are words that add information about a referent, usually a noun. Most adjectives have the same morphological properties tha can be found on nouns, although their inflection depends on the head in either attributive or predicative position. This is called concordança (concord). Also, they can also inflect for the superlative degree, while a few words have retained the comparative degree as well.

El qüego é bueno . (The (male) cook is good)

La qüega é buena . (The female cook is good)

''Le qüegue son buene. ''(The cooks are good)

''Questo qüego é meghor. ''(This cook is better)

''Questo qüego é ótimo. ''(This cook is great)

The possessive (possessives) form a subgroup of the adjective class and show information about who possesses the modified referent (they can inflect by person, gender and number) as well as gender and number of the possessed referent. In attributive position, an article must be used before the possessive: this allows singular person possessives to not inflect for gender and number when they are prepositioned.

''El mi gato tava manjando. / El gato mio tava manjando. ''(My cat was eating.)

Quegha taça é tua ? (Is that cup yours?)

''El Mateo é un amigo nostro. ''(Matthew is a friend of ours.)

''Somo chegade cola vostra madre. ''(We have arrived with your [pl.] mother.)

''Devo osseghar le su amigue! / Devo osseghar le amigue sue !'' (I must help his/her/their friends!)

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Adverbs
This class is composed by invariable words (oftentimes resembling masculine adjectives) that mofify a verb, an adjective, another adverb or a whole sentence as they add information about circumstance, doubt, intensity, mood, negation, place, time, and others. Most adjectives can become adverbs through the -mente suffix. Conversely, some adverbs can inflect to show information about degree (superlative, diminutive, etc) just as adjectives do.

Affirmation, negation, doubt: xin (yes), non (no), quissá (perhaps), talvez (maybe).

Mood: axin (this way, like this), bien, meghor (well, better), mal (bad), -mente (-ly).

Place: ca (here), i (there), lá (there).

Time: gher (yesterday), güe (today), deman (tomorrow); ante (before), ja (now, already), ora (now), pue (after); cedo (early), tarde (late).

Other: assaz (very, enough), cage (almost), may (more, anymore).

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Particles
Words in this class don't have an independent or even dependent (anaphoric) semantic value but are important elements as they define relations among the arguments of a sentence, giving information about definiteness, grammatical case or linking different sentences in many ways. Isolated words like the entrejeçun (exclamations) are grouped in this class as well.

Articles: el (ms.), la (fs.), le (cp.) (the, "definite"); un (ms.), una (fs.), une (cp.) (a(n), some, "indefinite"); del (ms.), dela (fs.), dele (cp.) (some, "partitive").

Conjunctions: como (like, as), e (and), may, pero (but), nen (nor, "and not"), o (or), que (that), si (if); and others.

Exclamations: ay, au (ouch), chau (bye), ey (hey), ola (hi).

Prepositions: a (at, to), baxo (under), cima (on, over), con (with), de (of, from), en (in, at), entre (between, among), per (for), sin (without), sor (on, over); and others.

- The short prepositions a, con, de, en and per fuse with the definite articles, as shown in the table below: Articles and prepositions usually lose their final unstressed vowel when followed by a word beginning with an unstressed vowel. This actually happens with any boundaries with unstressed vowels, where only the last survives, and it is not shown in orthography. However, several short, common words, such as the pronoun el (he) and the noun agua (water), cause a preceding article or preposition to lose its final vowel as well. For instance, el (he) plus the preposition en becomes nel (or n'El if it is referring to God); de is contracted before agua in the sentence Ho carença d'agua (I need water).

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Verbs
In this class are words indicating action, state or phenomenon. They inflect differently from words in the nombre big class in order to supply information about tense and mood as well as agreeing with the subject in person and number. Verbs are the only mandatory part of a sentence, although in a few situations they can be ommited if one can retrieve them from a previous sentence.

When concerning verbs, Xarrano follows a similar path like other West-Iberian languages such as Portuguese and Spanish. The number of conjugations was reduced from four to three since its development from Latin, in that original or new verbs that were found on the third conjugation at the time of Common Romance migrated either to the second or fourth conjugation or even formed a restricted group of irregular verbs. As for the tenses, new future and conditional tenses were formed with the combination of the infinitive plus conjugated HABĒRE, the pluperfect subjunctive came to represent the imperfect subjunctive, and eventually the whole perfect was replaced by periphrastic constructions with ESSERE, STĀRE or HABĒRE. .

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The next tables show the conjugation of important, common but highly irregular verbs:

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Some Romance languages have developed a distinction between permanent and momentary actions and conditions. In Italian, there is a construction with estare plus the gerund indicating the continuous or progessive aspect (see, for instance, canto vs. sto cantando). In Spanish and Portuguese, not only can one find the same construction (cf. PT canto vs. estou cantando), but also one can choose between the linking verbs ser or estar to show whether a state is perceived as more permanent or not (see, for instance, SP ella es vieja vs. ella está vieja). Xarrano has gone further as it also benefits from the above constructions but, since it did not lose the transitive/intransitive distinction on the periphrastic perfect, it has found a way to express permanence through the use of ser or tar when intransitive. This is seen below.

The perfect aspect had once a sole survivor among the synthetic forms much like Spanish pretérito perfecto simple. However, Xarrano's personal forms gained an amount of irregularity due to phonological changes such as coalescence of coronals and /j/ and were eventually replaced by a periphrastic construction formed by conjugated ser, tar or aver plus the [past] participle. Forms with ser or tar (also showing the distinction between permanent and momentary) are used for instransitive and reflexive verbs and the participle agrees with the subject, while forms with aver are used for transitive verbs and the participle agrees with the object.

'' Ho perdude le cheve. ''(I lost my keys.)

 To ida al restorante. (I went to the restaurant.)

Me sue casado en 1985. (I got married in 1985.)

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Syntax
As the inflectional cases collapsed, the SVO (subject-verb-object) word order became the main device to maintain the basic nominative-accusative distinction in the sentences when there is no other way to tell. In most other situations, however, different word orders are established in a number of commonly used constructions.

There are two essential terms in a sentence: sogecho (subject), usually represented by a separate nominal phrase or encoded in the verb, and predicado (predicate), the verb and its arguments apart from the subject.

The subject can be classified as:

Simple:  El cavagho  se açarra libremente. (the horse runs freely.)

Compound:  Maria e gho  sempre imo ala plaça. (Mary and I always go to the market.)

Implicit: Avez dicho bien. ([You (pl.)] said well.)

Indeterminate: ''Se era feliz en quegha casa. ''(meaning: People were happy in that house.)

Inexistent: ''Non chovia molto nela çudaz. ''(It didn't rain much in the city.)

As for the predicate, it can be:

Verbal: ''La dueña cantava. ''(The woman sang.)

Nonimal:'' La dueña sembla gheda. ''(The woman seems excited.)

Double: ''La dueña cantava gheda. ''(The woman sang excited.)

Sometimes, the nominal predicate refers to the object:

''Antoño ha achada incoxente la moça. ''(Anthony found the girl unconscious.)

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Vocabulary
(Xarrano) - (English)

FAMEGHA - Family

figho, figha - son, daughter

madre (f.) - mother

padre (m.) - father

praz (m.) - brother

suera (f.) - sister

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OGECHE - Objects

cesto (m.) - basket

libro (m.) - book

tabla (f.) - table

segha (f.) - chair

taça (f.) - cup

Example text
Decharaçon Universal dele Dereche Umane:

"Tode pessone naxe libre e egüel en deñidaz e dereche. Pue sendo dotade de razon e coxença, eghe se deve trachar con espírito de germandaz."