| Ambanian ' | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | |||
| fusional, agglutinating | |||
| Alignment | |||
| nominative | |||
| Head direction | |||
| initial | |||
| Tonal | |||
| No | |||
| Declensions | |||
| Yes | |||
| Conjugations | |||
| Yes | |||
| Genders | |||
| No | |||
| Nouns decline according to... | |||
| Case | Number | ||
| Definiteness | Gender | ||
| Verbs conjugate according to... | |||
| Voice | Mood | ||
| Person | Number | ||
| Tense | Aspect | ||
General information[]
The Ambanian language is spoken by the Ambanī people in the Caucasus region. The Ambanī are the descendants of a failed Roman weaponised quantum teleportation project that razed the town of Pompēiī and shuffled its inhabitants across space and time. The history of the Ambanī begins in 79 AD in their timeline, with them having appeared here around 1000 BC in modern-day Armenia.
A large amount of modern-day Ambanians are practitioners of Zoroastrianism and Yazdanism, although there also exist significant Shia and Sunni Muslim minorities.
History[]
Ambanian is technically a Romance language, being derived from a colloquial variety of Latin (though not exactly the Vulgate), but the categorisation itself is flimsy as the language predates the proto-language it descended from. It has its roots in a pre-Vulgar Latin vernacular, exemplified below:
---> h > 0 / #_ (hik > ik) pʰ tʰ kʰ > f t x (tʰea:trum > *tea:trum) Vm Vn > Ṽʷ Ṽ /_#, _C (*tea:trum > *tea:trũʷ; veniunt > *veniũt) o͡i > ø: (po͡ina > *pø:na) s > z / V_V (kaisar > *kaizar) s > θ? /_# (sena:tus > *sena:tuθ) [explains the very light nature of the final <-s> and its occasional diappearance)
The ur-Ambanian speakers were most likely literate, as evidenced by fragmentary historical reports and a handful of written records left behind by them.
The development of Ambanian can be divided into six stages:
- Ur-Ambanian [1000 BC -- 600 BC]
- Old Ambanian [600 BC -- 320 BC]
- Classical Ambanian [320 BC -- 620 AD]
- Early Ambanian [620 AD -- 1250 AD]
- Middle Ambanian [1250 AD -- 1600 AD]
- Modern Ambanian [1600 AD ==>]
Ur-Ambanian[]
The earliest stages of the language, termed ur-Ambanian, were still characteristically very much Romance, but the language, losing more and more of its characteristics over time due to evolution and influence from neighbouring languages, was by the end of the period noticeably different from its Latin roots. At this stage in its development the language acquired some Akkadian and Hittite loanwords. At this early stage it was still mostly indistinguishable from late Latin.
The oldest changes in Ambanian were mostly motivated by processes extant in mid-1st century Latin.
---> Vowel reductions
i u > é ó / _#, V́C(C)_(CC)V (venio: > *venéo:)
ĩ ũ > ẽ́ ṍ (*veniũt > *veniṍt)
ĩʷ ũʷ > ĩ ũ (*sena:tuũʷ > *sena:tuũ)
eo eu ue > ø: (*eũt > *ø̃:t)
eo: > jo: (*eo: > *jo:)
V1Ṽ1 > Ṽ1: (*sena:tuũ > *sena:tũ:)
i > ó / 'VC(C)_(C(C)){u ó o}; ...'{u ó o} (*maksimuθ > *maksómuθ; !*maksimi: > *maksimi:)
u > é / 'VC(C)_(C(C)){i é e}; ...'{i é e} (*doku'mẽtũ > *doké'mẽtũ)
e: o: > é: ó: / _# (deleo: > *deleó:)
Ṽ: > Ṽŋ / _# (*sena:tũ: > *sena:tũŋ; !*sena:tũ > *sena:tũ)
ã ã: > ą̃ ą̃: (*pø:llã > *pø:llą̃)
a: > ą: (*ma:rkuθ > *mą:rkuθ) [some back-like vowel]
'o: > 'ó: (*'bo:nuθ > 'bó:nuθ)
---> Consonant changes
l > ł / _{u ó o}, {u ó o}_ (*populuθ > *popułuθ)
{łd ld} rd > ll dd (*drakó: > *ddakó:; *dó:drãθ > *dó:ddãθ; *kalduθ > *kadduθ)
d > ð / #_V, V_V (*dié:θ > *ðié:θ)
dd > d / #_ (*ddakó: > *dakó:)
ł v > w / V_V (*avą:ruθ > *awą:ruθ; *é:łi:ðó: > *é:wi:ðó:)
s x > š / _{i é e} (*'sileks > *'šileks)
k g > c ɟ / _{i é e} (*kiwiθ > *ciwiθ)
Ambanian phonetics in this period is somewhat well-attested, although most of its (by now unique) features (such as the lenition of word-final /s/ and the majority of the changes in vowel qualities) aren't reflected in texts; the written content still adheres to some semblance of Roman orthography, with frequent errors such as <senātun> for <senātuum>, <alarus> for <avarus> and <cumuvus> for <cumulus>.
---> Stress-conditioned changes >>> Unstressed <<< ą̃ ą̃: ą: > õ õ: o: (*amą:'visti: > *amo:'visti:) 'V(C(C))V > V:(C(C)) / _(C(C)V(C(C)) (*'populuθ > *'po:pluθ) ai > e: (*feminai > *femine:) au > o: (*au'taršéa > *o:'taršéa) >>> Stressed <<< ai > oj (*kailũ > *kojlũ) au > ov (*'auró: > *'ovró:)
Similar to other Vulgar languages, Ambanian uses a determiner pronoun as a sort of a pseudo-definiteness marker. The marker in question in Ambanian was initially ipse, ipsa, ipsum, but by the time of the mid-to-late Ur-Ambanian period the pronoun had become metipse, metipsa, metipsum, sometimes colloquially shortened to mipse, mipsa, mipsum. It was already decidedly postfixed. The pronoun ipse, ipsa, ipsum had decidedly become the third person pronoun by that stage. Inanimate objects could additionally be referred to with a reinforced "res ipsa" generically, instead of taking a regular pronoun.
A peculiarity of this stage of Ambanian was that, while indefinite nouns got their adpositions as prepositions when undefined by "mipse", all nouns got their adpositions as postpositions when defined; in effect, the adpositions attach as prepositions to the determiner pronoun. Example:
- /kũ pø:ró: venió:/ -- I come with a boy
- /pø:ró: kũ mipsó: venió:/ -- I come with the boy
By now, the dative had gotten replaced with the accusative with preposition /ad/, while the genitive with the ablative with the preposition /ðé:/.
Old Ambanian[]
Old Ambanian refers to the language of the Ambanī under the Median and Achamenian emperors. It is characterised by a heavy Iranian influence that's reflected both in that specific stratum of loanwords and multiple grammatical structures borrowed almost wholesale from Old Persian.
This stage of Ambanian is responsible for some paradox-loans into Persian, where words that Ambanian had inherited from Latin from Persian, found their way into Persian before they were actually loaned out, and thus finding their way back into Latin.
One of the most characteristic features of Old Ambanian is the collapse of the vowel system, thus bringing about a stage of the language that for the first time looks strikingly different from Latin.
---> Diphthongisations
ą: > əu / _C[+velar] (*ka'ką:re > *ka'kəure; 'a:mbwó: > 'əumbwó:)
e: > jə (*'e:ɟi: > *'jəɟi:)
u: > əu (*'ku:wuθ > *'kəuwuθ)
i: > əj / _C[+velar] (*'i:kó: > *'əjkó:)
i: > jə (*'i:beks > *'jəbeks)
ó: > wə / ! _# (*'kó:ló: > *'kwəló: ! *'ðó: > *'ðó:)
V > jV / {e é}_ (*'ðeweó: > *'ðewejó:)
V > wV / {a o ó u}_ (*'potui: > *'potuwi:)
w > j / {əu wə}_V (*'kəuwuθ > *'kəujuθ)
---> Unstressed reductions
i > j / _V (*'venió: > *'venjó:)
u > w / _V (*se'nəutui: > se'nəutwi:)
---> Stressed lengthening
a > əu / _CC, _$$ (*'ambuwó: > *'əumbuwó:)
a > a: (*'amó: > *'a:mó:)
o > u: / _CC (*'orbiθ > *'u:rbiθ)
o > wə (*'kowor > *'kwəwor)
e > jə / _CC (*'eksø: > *'jəksø:)
e > e: (*'emó: > *'e:mó:)
au > wu / _CC (*'aušpeks > *'wušpeks)
---> Umlaut
'i 'i: > y y: / _${u u: o o:} (*pəjkuθ > *py:kuθ)
u > ú / _${u u:} (*ulmuθ > *úlmuθ)
u: > ú: / _${u u: o o:} (*u:suθ > *ú:suθ)
{u u:} > wə (*'u:li:go > *'wəli:go)
y y: > ø ø: / _CC (*sykkuθ > *søkkuθ)
{əu əj} > y: / _${i i: əj} (*'səuliks > *'sy:liks)
{wə a:} > wø / _${i i: əj} (*a:'məjkuθ > *wø'məjkuθ)
{əj əu} > ᴇ: (*wø'məjkuθ > *wø'mᴇ:kuθ)
ᴇ: > əu / _$V[+back] (*wø'mᴇ:kuθ > *wø'məukuθ)
ᴇ: > əj (*'ᴇ:mbi: > *'əjmbi:)
{wə jə} > ᴇ: (*gwəri'wəsuθ >*gᴇ:ri'ᴇ:suθ)
ᴇ: > wə / _$V[+back] (*gjəri'wəsuθ)
---> Vowel Reductions
{r s f} > x / _V[+front] (*am'bjəre > *am'bjəxe)
{u o i e} > Ø / _# (*am'bjəxe > *am'bjəx)
V > Ø / 'VC_C (*py:kuθ > *py:kθ)
əj əu > ə ʉ / unstressed (*əjn'fəumax > *ən'fəumax)
wə jə > ə ʉ / unstressed (*gjəri'wəsθ > *gʉri'wəsθ)
{a e o} > ə / _C(C)'V (*am'bjəx > *əm'bjəx)
---> Simplifications
{sθ s:θ} > st (*pa:s:θ > *pa:st)
{pθ tθ kθ} > pt (*py:kθ > *py:pt)
rθ > rp (*kləurθ > *kləurp)
mθ nθ > mb (*manθ > *mamb)
{šθ kšθ} > kt (*prəjkšθ > *prəjkt)
---> Lenition
{p b} > f / #_CV (*prəjkt > *frəjkt)
g > x / #_CV (*gnəupt > *xnəupt)
xn > ŋ (*xnəupt > *ŋəupt)
{t d} > θ / #_CV (*'txebduθ > *'θxebduθ)
{θx θr} > š (*'θxebduθ > *'šebduθ)
θ > f (*'ka:lduθ > *'ka:lduf)
x > k / V_ (*əm'bjəx > *əm'bjək)
Classical Ambanian[]
The term Classical Ambanian encompasses the Hellenistic and late Antique periods, up to the subjugation of the Ambanī by the Rashidun Caliphs. Classical Ambanian was the state language of Ambania, whence the name of the people and language.
Early Ambanian[]
The early stages of modern Ambanian, also called early Ambanian, represent the language as it was during the rule of various foreigner states, starting with the Caliphates and ending with the Mongol conquest of Ambania.
Middle and Modern Ambanian[]
The last two stages of the language, divided into middle and modern Ambanian, represent the language in its traditional modern form.
Vocabulary[]
Ambanian/Lexicon