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 language which could express ideas briefly and meld Latin, German and English. I continued this project on my own, adding terms from Slavic languages (in particular from Serbo-Croatian) and from Ancient Greek. Linkve originally had definite articles, but then they turned into suffixes because it was more practical to use them in writing.

Poems are the most popular form of literature in Linkve.

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

Today it’s spoken, but more frequently written, by a small community of friends (Drugu o linkve) in the northwest 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 never changes; the second one is conjugated and different for every person.

Generally we use the first form (base form) when a verb is at the end of the sentence (i ban !: I go! || Ige soj place uba i ban : this is the place where I go);  or in when verbs are followed by personal pronouns ( i kon am : I know it); whereas the second form (inflected) in  all the other cases, for example when a verb is followed by any kind of complement: i  gobi  pome  (I eat the apple), ju   ban  u   za kine'' (You go to the cinema), etc... ''

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, which is 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”).

GRAMMAR RULE! In verbs coupling we always have the 1st verb in the base form, and the 2nd verb conjugated and without explicit subject.

Cases
Differently than English language, there are no articles in Linkve, either definite and undefinite:

Dom can mean: the house, a house, house

The context of the sentence will show you how to translate a noun.

Nouns are declined in order to the group they belong (first, second), the number (singular, plural) and the function they have in the sentence. This function is expressed by three cases:
 * nominative, the case of the subject


 * accusative, the case of the object

Numerals and demonstratives are declined as nouns.
 * locative, the case of location

Personal pronouns are also declined using two adding cases:
 * genitive, the case of possesion
 * dative, the case of the indirect object

Nouns
Nouns are divided in two main groups:

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 keni 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 stazi ne domu (I’m at home) or i vidi 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 keni kioske = I see the cafe

I pazi kiosku = I love cafes

I stazi ne kioski = I’m in the cafe

Da tala 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 lerżi 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 lerżi 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 syllab (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 pazi kiosku (I love cafes) > i nie pazi 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".

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

Adverbs
Generally, adverbs are ending in -a and they are positioned at the beginning of a sentence or at the end of it.

Omala ju tun. = You do well/in the right way.

Odana i bani za skole. = Today I go to school.

I lerżi bibiu zimpera.= I always read books.

Pola  i na gegobi = I ate so much.

Adverbs Construction

 * First construction: omal-e (noun) > omal-i (adj.) > omal-a (adv.) || the good (noun) > good (adj) > well (adv.)
 * Second construction (adverbs of manner): felic-e > feli > felic-ita || the happinness > happy > happily
 * Third construction (kum + adj.); actually Linkve doesn't use many adverbs, so they are often translated with the following form: Ći zmakari jem kum paze = She kissed him lovingly (litt. She kissed him with love).

Tenses
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 * Sometimes future tense can be contracted: i skribere ć am!  (I will write it).

Vocabulary