Andusoan

Setting
Morlagoan (Morlagonno) is one of the official languages of the United Islands of Morlago (Las Islas Unitas de Mòrlago). It is a partial Romance language that shares some characteristics with Spanish, Italian, and to a lesser extent, French and Portuguese, but has also been influenced by Old Morlagoan, an a priori conlang.

Diphthongs and Triphthongs
The five vowels are divided into strong vowels (a, e, o) and weak vowels (i, u, ü). Diphthongs are formed when a strong vowel is followed by a weak vowel (e.g. ai, eu, oi) or the reverse (e.g. ia, ue), or when two weak vowels are together (i.e. iu, ui). Ü is special in that the only diphthong it can form is üi. When they are desired to be pronounced separately, an grave accent is added to the first vowel (e.g. agua water ['agwa] and fueron they were ['fweron], but geografìa geography [d͡ʒeogɾa'fi.a] and policìa police [poli'ʃi.a]). Triphthongs are formed when two weak vowels enclose a strong vowel. Ü cannot form triphthongs.

Vowel Strength
In Morlagoan, vowels are divided into two groups and have a strength order, and the weakening of vowels play a major part in the conjugations of Morlagoan verbs, as well as other aspects. The two groups are (> means is stronger than):


 * a > e > i
 * o > u > ü

This is the basis of the native conjugations (see Verbs), plural nouns (see Nouns) and

Phonotactics
The basic syllabic structure is C(C)(C)V(C), where C represents consonants, V represents vowels or vowel clusters and letters in parentheses (e.g. (C)) are optional. The following are the phonological rules of Morlagoan:


 * The beginning consonant can be any consonant, except for ñ /ŋ/


 * If the initial consonant is s, b, p, t, d, f, g or c, a second consonant is possible.
 * If it is s, the second consonant must be p or t.
 * If it is b or p, the second consonant must be r or l.
 * If it is t, d, f, c, or g, the second consonant must be r.


 * A third consonant is only available if the first two were either st or sp. St can only be followed by r while sp can be followed by r or l.


 * If the vowel is a triphthong, it cannot be followed by a consonant.


 * Any consonant can end a syllable.
 * One forbidden structure is yi. This is the only exception to the rule. All verb conjugations that would normally have such a construction is reduced to i.

Therefore, the consonant clusters accepted are (s)pr, (s)tr, br, bl, cr, gr or fr. However, it must noted that this only applies to sounds of the same syllable (since the definition of a consonant cluster is disputed). Ducto /dukto/ (past participle of ducire - to lead) is accepted because the cluster /kt/ are not in the same syllable. Therefore, it is actually possible to create a word such as *reglaclotla, which would contain the forbidden clusters of gl, cl and tl, as long as it is pronounced as so: [ɾeg.lak.lot.la]. However, such a word is most likely going to result in [ɾeglaklotla] in fast speech, which is why such a word does not exist.

Pronunciation and Orthography
Morlagoan uses the Latin alphabet, with the addition of ñ and exception and k, making a total of 25 letters. In order they are:

A B C Ch D E F G H I J L M N Ñ O P Q R S T Tz U Ü V W X Y Z a b c ch d e f g h i j l m n ñ o p q r s t tz u ü v w x y z

They are pronounced as follows:

The pronunciation of S
S is the most complicated letter with regards to phonological rules. It can represent three different phonemes: /ʃ/, /s/ and /z/.


 * S can be pronounced as /ʃ/ in the clusters st(r) and sp(r), so st(r) and sp(r) can be pronounced /st(ɾ)/ and /sp(ɾ)/, or /ʃt(ɾ)/ and /ʃp(ɾ)/


 * S is pronounced as /s/ when it is:
 * in a word initial/final position
 * followed by a consonant
 * in the digraph ss
 * intervocalic and following a syllable that does not begin with an affricate or fricative (i.e. does not begin with /s/, /z/, /f/, /v/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /t͡ʃ/, /d͡ʒ/), or contains a rhotic consonant (i.e. contains /r/ or /ɾ/) or no initial (i.e. a vocalic syllable).


 * S is pronounced as /z/ when it is intervocalic and following a syllable that begins with an affricate or fricative (i.e. begins with /s/, /z/, /f/, /v/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /t͡ʃ/, /d͡ʒ/)

So necesare (to need) would be pronounced /neʃezaɾe/, while nesare (to worship) would be pronounced /nesaɾe/. However, the voicing of s varies from dialect to dialect, region to region, even from individual to individual.

Double consonants
Some double consonants have special pronunciation rules.


 * nn is pronounced as a palatal nasal (e.g. anno year [aɲo]


 * rr is pronounced as a an alveolar trill (i.e. trilled r - /r/)


 * ss is always pronounced as /s/, regardless of voicing rules (e.g. fessaga to pull [fesaga])


 * tt is pronounced as /tt/, like Italian (e.g. motto prohibited [motto])

Other double consonants exist, but solely due to etymological reasons and have no effect on pronunciation.

Gender
All nouns are assigned into one of the two genders in Morlagoan: masculine or feminine. While in some situations it is predictable, such as a bull being masculine and a cow being feminine, the gender of inanimate objects is arbitrary and the gender of each noun must be learnt. A rule of thumb is that nouns ending in -o are usually masculine and those ending in -a are feminine, like in Spanish and Italian.

Number
Nouns are made plural by the following rules:


 * If the noun ends in a vowel (e.g. deo god, mura wall), the noun is made plural by vowel weakening (i.e. a > e > i or o > u > ü - e.g. deo > deu mura > mure), unless it ends in either nn /ɲ/ or y /j/, which weakens from o > ü (e.g. danno curse > dannü curses)


 * If the noun ends in a consonant other than -l (e.g. mar sea, condisiòn condition), -es is added to the end (e.g. mar > mares, condisiòn > condisiones †).


 * If the noun ends in -l (e.g. nivel level, degree), the -l is removed, -is is added and the vowel before it is accented (e.g. nivel > nivèis). Double i's merge (e.g. sil small wood, bush > *sìis > sìs).

† Note the loss of the diacritic. This will be explained in the Stress section.

Definiteness and Case
Morlagoan has lost the case system which exists in Latin, and nouns do not decline according to definiteness. Instead, articles are added to show definitiveness, and this will be explained below in the Articles section.

Adjectives
Adjectives decline according to the number and gender of the noun that it compliments. The declensions of adjectivesare shown in the tables below.

Comparatives
The comparative form of the adjective is formed by adding plu (more) in front of the adjective (e.g. alto high, tall > plu alto higher, taller). The adjective declines as usual according to the rules above (e.g. plu alto/alta/altu/alte).

The comparative form of bono (good) and malo (bad) are irregular:
 * bono good > meyor better (meyora/meyores/meyoras)
 * malo bad > peor worse (peora/peores/peoras)

When used to compare two objects, the adjective is usually followed by de (that) (e.g. Lo elefante è plu gran del gato. The elephant is bigger than the cat.). Like in English, the second object can be omitted when the context is clear (e.g. Lo elefante è plu gran. The elephant is bigger.)

However, the comparative can be used with the definite article lo (e.g. Cual è lo meyor? Which is the better one?). Lo morphs according to the rules shown in the Article section. (e.g. Jon è lo plu inteligente de lu ru pelochu. John is the cleverer one of the two children.; Cual mesa debo comprar? Va, cual è la meyor? Which table should I buy? Well, which is the better one?)

Superlatives
The superlative is formed as such:


 * If the adjective ends in a vowel, the last vowel is removed and -ìssimo is added (e.g. masculino masculine, manly > masculinìssimo most masculine, most manly; triste sad > tristìssimo saddest).


 * If the adjective ends in a consonant, -ìssimo is directly added to the word (e.g. dificil difficult > dificilìssimo most difficult).
 * The superlative declines according to the declensions above (e.g. tristìssimo/tristìssima/tristìssimu/tristìssime)

The superlative form of bono (good) and malo (bad) are irregular:
 * bono good > òptimo best
 * malo bad > pèsimo worst

When used to compare objects, lo (the) usually precedes the adjective, which is followed by de (of) (e.g. Petro è l'òptimo futbolator del mondo, mai Cristiana è la pèsima. Peter is the best footballer in the world, but Christiana is the worst.). Note the gender agreement between Cristiana, la and pèsima.

Prepositions and Conjunctions
Like all other Romance languages, Morlagoan has lost the original case system found in Latin and has turned to using prepositions to show the relationship between words. These are mostly derived from Latin. Many of these form contractions with articles and will be explained in the Articles section.

Most conjunctions are also derived from Latin. E (and) and O (or) are special and will morph under certain conditions.


 * E morphs into I when preceding a word beginning with /e/
 * O morphs into U when preceding a word beginning with /o/

Articles
Articles determines the definiteness of a noun. Like English, there is a definite and indefinite article, each having four forms to represent masculine and feminine, and singular and plural. The definite article is lo, while the indefinite article is un. The following table shows how it morphs according to the gender and number of the noun.

The neuter article O
There is also a neuter article in Morlagoan, o, not to be confused with o (or). This is used in the following situations:


 * Used to mean "the thing" in the phrases o que (the thing that/what - e.g. O que vulòu pro la Natività è... The thing that/What I want for Christmas is...) and o de (the thing of/the matter of - e.g. O de que seo una beza enorma na cità è la vertà. The thing about/The matter about there being a gigantic beast in the city is true.; La gente spe do del goberno. The people know of the problem/matter with the government.).


 * Used with adjectives to create abstract nouns (e.g. Mìa madre me demanda o imposibel. My mother demands the impossible from me.; O bono de vivir n'essurbe è que noi seo muicho tràfico. The good thing about living in the countryside is that there isn't much traffic.). O morphs into u when it precedes a word starting with o- or ho- (e.g. Tottro mondo vulè u òptimo. Everyone wants the best.)


 * Used with infinitives to create a noun (usually translated as the gerund in English) (e.g. O fumar sta prohipto. Smoking is prohibited.; O fayare morlagonno è muicho dificil. Speaking Morlagoan is very difficult.). O morphs to u when preceding an infinitive starting with o- or ho- (e.g. U oìrte me vesa. Listening to you annoys me.)


 * Used with nouns as an honorific (e.g. O senor/senora vulè alco de bebere? Would the fine gentleman/lady like something to drink?). It can be used in conjunction with determiners (e.g. O isto senor This fine gentleman), adjectives (e.g. O Sua Majestà His/Her Majesty, O suave voce do dama The oh-so sweet voice of the lady) etc.

Contractions
Some forms of the articles contract when they precede certain nouns: *lo ojo the eye > l'ojo, *lo hotel the hotel > l'hotel
 * The definite articles (lo/la/lu/le) contract to l' when it precedes a noun/adjective with the same initial phonetic sound as its own (i.e. lo when before o-/ho-, la when before a-/ha-, lu when before u-/hu-, le when before e-/he-). Examples:

*la arena the sand, arena > l'arena, *la habità habitat > l'habità

*lu humanu the human > l'humanu

*le essurbe the outskirts > l'essurbe
 * un does not contract
 * una, unu, une contract according to their definite counterparts above.
 * o does not contract with nouns

Lo (lu), la (le) and o also contract with many prepositions and conjunctions:

† colloquial

Contractions can combine where necessary. This will simply be adding the noun or adjective to the presposition-article combination in the case of contractions ending with -l(a) (e.g. al'hotel to the hotel, del'homo of the man, prol'ojo for the eye, pel'arena through the arena/sand). The contractions of en, con and tot contract even further to n'-, con'- and tottr'- to preserve the phonetic value of the contractions (e.g. n'hotel in the hotel, con'agua with the water, tottr'habità the entire/whole habitat). However, the neuter article o cannot form such complex contractions. When preceding a word with the initial sound as its final sound (o-/ho- for do,no, cono and vo; u-/hu- for eu and peu), it does not further contract or morph to u as it normally does.

Verbs
Verbs are conjugated according to aspect, voice, person, number, mood and tense. There are officially five conjugation groups in Morlagoan, three derived from Latin (Latin conjugations) and two from Old Morlagoan (native conjugations), but because the 4th and 5th groups (from Old Morlagoan) have complicated rules which seem to produce two different patterns in each group, they are sometimes split into a total of four groups. For the sake of clarity, we will do that here and name them Groups 4a, 4b, 5a and 5b respectively.

Some main differences between Morlagoan and other Romance languages is the use of four different auxiliary verbs for the perfective and progressive/continuous aspects, compared to the two or three in other Romance languages, as well as the retention of a synthetic structure for the passive voice, like Latin.

Copula
There are three copulae in Morlagoan: sere and stare from Latin, and saga from Old Morlagoan. Each have strict rules of application.


 * sere is used for permanent qualities (e.g. nationality, colour, character), general truths (e.g. The Earth is round.), time and with past participles to form to form the passive perfect tenses for verbs in groups 1, 2 and 3 (English - to have been etc.)


 * stare is used for transient qualities (e.g. emotions, state of health), certain phrases, with past participles when used as adjectives and with present participles to form the continuous tenses (English - to be -ing)


 * saga is used for location, showing the existence of something (translated as there is/are; Seo un fùtbol acà. There is a football here.) and to form the perfect tenses for verbs in groups 4 and 5

Compare the following two sentences:

Petro è doreo. Peter is nice (character - permanent).

Petro sta sumagat. Peter is sick (state of health - transient).

The use of one over the other can imply different meanings:

Petro è doreo. Peter is nice (and has always been a nice person).

Petro sta doreo. Peter is (being) nice (only currently).

Impersonal forms
The infinitive has two forms:


 * The literary form (also called the full or formal form) is the original form descended from Latin or Old Morlagoan. All of the examples above are given in this form. As the name implies, nowadays it is only used for literature, formal writing and very formal speaking, e.g. meeting a Head of State, talking to a person you respect very much, praying etc. Traditionally, even less formal situations, such as balls and other upper class activities or talking to an elder, would use this form, but rather recently most of those have switched to the apocopic form (below). It is also worthy to note that while this is the form used in literature, a mixture of both forms can be found in poetry, prose, songs etc., even from hundreds of years ago for reasons such as rhyme, meter etc.


 * The apocopic form (also called the short, abbreviated or informal form) is the form used mostly today for informal written and spoken Morlagoan. It is also the grammatically correct form when clitics are added to the verb (e.g. omocte to desire you). This form is formed by removing the e from -re (Groups 1, 2 and 3 - amare > amar) or changing the -ga ending to -c (Groups 4 and 5 - tenega > tenec).

The stem of the is simply the root of the conjugations. It is formed by removing the -ar(e)/-er(e)/-ir(e) in Groups 1-3, or the -aga (ac)/-ega (ec)/-oga (oc)/-uga (uc) from the infinitive. It is to this we end endings to from the different forms of the verb.

The past participle is formed more complicatedly in groups 2 and 3:

Group 2:
 * If the stem consists of only a consonant/consonant cluster (e.g. spere to know - stem sp), -uto is added to the stem (spere > sputo). This rule is almost exclusively for the highly irregular verbs, but exceptions exist (e.g. dere to give > duto)


 * If the stem consists of a complete syllable or more (i.e. most verbs - bebere to drink - stem beb), -ito is added to the stem (bebere > bebito). Stems ending in -y (e.g. leyere to read - stem ley) has the y removed and -ito added to that (leyere > leito). Note that the stress is changed in this rule (leyere [le'jeɾe] > leito ['leito]; compare with bebere [be'beɾe] > bebito [be'bito])

Group 3:
 * If the stem ends in /n/, /k/, /p/, /s/, /t͡ʃ/, /ʃ/, /l/, /ɾ/ or /f/ (e.g. venire to come - stem ven), -to is added to the stem (venire > vento). Note that this applies to verbs ending in -quire as well (pronounced /kiɾe/) - -qu morphs to -c. Also, phonological changes will apply to -cire verbs (e.g. ducire to lead /duʃiɾe/), as the 'soft c' /ʃ/ will become a 'hard c' /k/ when the -to is added (ducire [duʃiɾe] > ducto [dukto]).


 * If the stem ends in /g/, /b/, /z/ (disregarding voiced s), /v/, /d͡ʒ/, /ʒ/ or /m/ (e.g. prohibire to prohibit/ban - prohib), the final consonant is morphed to its unvoiced counterpart, or /n/ in the case of /m/ (i.e. /g/ > /k/, /b/ > /p/, /z/ > /s/, /v/ > /f/, /d͡ʒ/ > /t͡ʃ/, /ʒ/ > /ʃ/), then -to is added (e.g. stem prohib > *prohip > prohipto. Note that this also applies to verbs ending in -guire (pronounced /giɾe/) - -gu morphs to -c.


 * If the stem ends in a vowel (e.g. oìre to hear/listen - stem o) -tto is added to the stem (oìre > otto)


 * If the stem ends in a consonant cluster (e.g. dormire to sleep - stem dorm), -uto is added to the end (dormire > dormuto).

The past participle can be used as adjectives with the verb stare. It morphs like a regular -o adjective (Groups 1, 2 and 3) or as a regular -t adjective (Groups 4 and 5).

The highly irregular verbs
There are eleven verbs in Morlagoan that are classified as highly irregular. These have irregular constructions in almost every tense and need to be memorised.

They are:
 * sere to be (permanent)
 * stare to be (transient)
 * pozere to be able to (can)
 * fazere to do/make
 * dizere to say/tell
 * habere to have
 * ire to go
 * spere to know
 * vòilere to want †
 * saga to exist
 * choga to leave

† vòilere has an irregular apocopic infinitive - voler

Present indicative
The highly irregular verbs (note that fazere has two different set of conjugations that are acceptable):

The present indicative is used to express:


 * single statements (Bebo agua. I drink water.)
 * habitual or regular actions (Vou al mercato cuotidiamèn. I go to the market every day.)
 * general truths (Seo roppòn segundu en un minuto. There are sixty seconds in a minute.)
 * actions happening at the present moment (Ile tsün. He is swimming.)
 * actions in the near future, normally with a time expression (Lo tren cheo a la ruti. The train leaves at two o'clock.)
 * conditions which lead to regular action (Cuando noi seo sol, noi pozòu laborare. When there is no sun, I cannot work.)
 * hypotheses that are highly possible (Si noi laboro, noi haròu yaru. If I don't work, I will have no money.)