Asiamano

Asiamano Lingúe asijamano
Spoken in:	Slovenia, Malta, Italy
Total speakers:	75,000
Language family:	Indo-European  Romance   Italic    Italo-Dalmatian     Italian      Asiamano
Writing system:	Latin (Asiamano alphabet) Asiamano Braille
Official status
Official language of:	Italy Malta Slovenia European Union
Regulated by:	International Institute of the Asiamano Language
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	as
ISO 639-2:	asi
ISO 639-3:	—

Asiamano (Asijamano) is a constructed language prominent in Italy, Malta, and Slovenia, while also serving as an unofficial language of the European Union. Asiamano is descended from the Italian language. About 25% of the vocabulary is Italian loanwords, while the other 75% is a mixture of Maltese and Slovene vocabulary with occasional borrowings from other Indo-European languages. It is written using the Latin script, and is unique among Italic languages for having five major cases and a dual number (an attribute inherited from Slovene), and has the infinite fourth person (not inherited from any language). Otherwise, the grammar is based on Italian grammar and syntax.

• NOTE TO READERS: CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION. I LIKED THE WAY THE ARTICLE ON MALTESE WAS WRITTEN ON WIKIPEDIA SO I AM COPYING THE FORMAT, SO THERE IS INFORMATION ABOUT MALTESE ON HERE. IGNORE IT, IT WILL EVENTUALLY GO AWAY.*

Demographics

As of the current era, there are an estimated 75,000 native Asiamano speakers, of whom 70,000 currently reside in Malta, Slovenia, and Italy. Most of the native speakers reside in Ljubljana and Valletta, and are children of the first students of the language. The Slovenian native speakers of Asiamano are natively bilingual in both Asiamano and Slovene, while the Maltese native speakers are natively trilingual in Maltese, English, and Asiamano, and usually speak fluent Italian as a second language. There are small pockets of Asiamano speakers in Naples, Palermo, and Venice (it is a recognized language in the latter two cities). Around 5,000 of the native speakers live outside of those three countries, primarily southern France and Switzerland.

Classification

Asiamano is a Romance language descended from modern Italian, but has extreme influences by Maltese and Slovene. Today, the core vocabulary is a mixture of all three languages, roughly 25% Italian, 30% Maltese, 30% Slovene, and 15% other languages. Asiamano does not have any native singular nominative words other than slang, and depends on other languages for new vocabulary.

Phonology

Although Slovene has a large vowel system, Asiamano has only one phonemic value per vowel, so the pronunciation of Slovene words do change. Maltese's /ɐ/ shifts to an Italian /a/.

Consonants

Consonant phonemes

	Bilabial	Labio- dental	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyn -geal	Glottal
Nasal	m			n	ɲ
Stop	p b		t d			k g			ʔ
Affricate				t͡s d͡z	t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
Fricative		f v		s z	ʃ ʒ	ʁ	ħ
Trill				r
Approximant				l	j	w

Vowels

Monophthongs

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	i				u
Near-close
Close-mid	e				o
Mid
Open-mid					ɔ
Open	a

Diphthongs

/ɐʊ, ɐɪ, ɛʊ, ɛɪ, ɪʊ, ɔɪ, ɔʊ/ /a3 ac ec oI ou uI ja je jc jo ju wa we wi wo wc/

j-	w-	-ɪ	-ʊ	-ɔ	-ɛ
ja	wa	aɪ	aʊ	aɔ	aɛ
jɛ	wɛ	ɛɪ	ɛʊ	ɛɔ
	wi		iʊ
jo	wo	oɪ	oʊ
jɔ	wɔ	ɔɪ	ɔʊ
ju		uɪ

Stress

Stress is strictly on the penultimate syllable, unless if the grave accent (on à è ì ò ù) or circumflex (on ô) is added.

Orthography

Alphabet

The Asiamano alphabet is based on the Italian alphabet. It was the only orthographic system ever used for the language. Below is the Asiamano alphabet, with IPA symbols.

Letter	Name	IPA
A a	a	a
B b	bei	b
C c	cei	ʧ
D d	dei	d
E e	e	ɛ
F f	eff	f
G g	gei	g
Gz gz	gzei	ʤ
H h	ho	ʁ
I i	i	i
J j	jot	j
K k	kei	k
L l	ellei	l
Lh lh	elhei	/j/ (initial and final) /lj/ (medial)
M m	emmi	m
N n	enni	n
Nh nh	ennhi	ɲ
O o	o	o
Ó ó	ó	ɔ
P p	pei	p
'	'oti	ʔ
R r	rais	r
S s	sais	s
Sh sh	shin	ʃ
T t	ti	t
U u	u	u
Ú ú	wei	w
V v	vei	v
Z z	zei	z
Ź ź	źei	ʦ
Zh zh	zhei	ʒ

The grave accent can be seen on stressed vowels (à, è, ì, ò, ù) outside of the normal stress position. The circumflex (a orthographic combination of the acute and grave accents) is seen on a stressed version of ó (ô). These are mainly seen in Italian loanwords, like università (university).

There are also several loan letters from native German words and words of German origin in Slovene.

Letter	Name	IPA
Ä ä	a umlót	æ
Ö ö	o umlót	ø
Ü ü	u umlót	y

Vocabulary

This language is unique in that it lacks any native singular nominative words (its declensions and dualization/pluralization are unique to the language), it is made completely of loanwords, mostly from Italian, Slovene, and Maltese, although French loanwords are on the rise.

The historical source of modern Asiamano vocabulary is 25% Italian, 30% Slovene, 30% Maltese, 7% French, and much of the remaining 3% English and Portuguese. Most of the function words are Maltese and Italian words.

Italian

An analysis of the etymology of the 47,500 words in Serbin's Asiamano-Italian Dictionary shows that words of Romance origin make up 25% of the Asiamano vocabulary, with spelling differences to convey the proper sound in a different orthography. They are mostly derived from standard Italian.

Maltese	Italian	Slovene	Asiamano	English
skola	scuola	šola	skúola	school
gvern	governo	vlata	governo	government
repubblika	repubblica	republika	repubblika	republic
re	re	kralj	re	king
ħabib	amico	prijatelj	amiko	friend
fjura	flore	cvet	flore	flower
ors	orso	medved	orso	bear

It is tendency in modern Asiamano to adopt words from Italian, but this is quickly being replaced by French and Portuguese.

Slovene

Slovene is a huge source of Asiamano loanwords, totaling around 30% of all vocabulary.

Maltese	Italian	Slovene	Asiamano	English
natura	natura	narava	narava	nature
siġġu	sedia	stol	stol	chair
ħalib	latte	mleko	mleko	milk
qmis	camicia	srajca	sraiźa	shirt
ilma	acqua	voda	voda	water
id	mano	roka	roka	hand
flus	denaro	denar	denar	money

Maltese

Maltese and Slovene make up almost equal amounts of Asiamano vocabulary.

Maltese	Italian	Slovene	Asiamano	English
kteib	libro	knjiga	kteib	book
televixin	televizione	televizija	televishin	television
nar	fuoco	ogenj	nar	fire
lingwa	lingua	jezik	lingúa	language
qattus	gatto	maček	'attus	cat
aħmar	rosso	rdeč	ahmar	red
laħam	carne	meso	laham	meat

French, English, Portuguese, and German

Around 7% of all Asiamano words, mostly recent ones pertaining to technology and political terms, are formed from these four languages. French loanwords drop their diacritics and are phoneticized. English, German, and Portuguese words are phoneticized. English words can take on an umlaut (ä) for pronunciation. German words keep umlauts but "ß" is changed to "ss". Portuguese words take on a hybrid European and Brazilian phonology (words such as "principalmente" are pronounced /prin∫ipalmenʧi/ and are Asiamanocized as "prinshipalmenci").

French	English	Portuguese	German	Asiamano
téléphone	phone	telefono	Telefon	telefonu
pile	battery	pilha	Batterie	bäteri
ampoule	light bulb	lâmpada	Glühbirne	ampul
conduit	pipe	cano	Rohr	paip
qattus	gatto	maček	'attus	right (political)
droite	right (political)	direita	konservativ	konservativ
gauche	left (political)	esquerda	link	eskeirda

Grammar

Asiamano grammar is fairly regular and simple, like Italian.

Adjectives and adverbs

Adjectives follow nouns and are dual/pluralized as necessary. Maltese adjectives lack the definite article (lei flore ahmar as opposed to lei flore lei ahmar).

Nouns

Nouns can be dualized and pluralized, as well as declined into five different cases. Only the nominative singular forms of verbs are native to the language; its declension rules are unique but simple, but depend on the language of origin. Nouns are genderless, but are divided into three different categories for declension and dual/pluralization: Italian loanwords, Slovene loanwords, and other loanwords (including Maltese). Italian dual/pluralizations ar the most true to their native form.

Words of Romance origin are usually pluralized in two manners: addition of -i or -jiet. For example, lingwa, lingwi "languages", from Sicilian lingua, lingui.

Type A: Italian Loanword Declensions

Italian nouns end in a, e, or o. There is a special declension system for each.

Case	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	governo	governe	governi
Accusative	governom	governem	governim
Genitive	governodie	governedie	governidie
Dative	governove	governeve	governivi
Prepositional	governoci	governeci	governici

Case	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	flore	floru	flori
Accusative	florem	florum	florim
Genitive	floredie	florudie	floridie
Dative	floreve	floruve	florivi
Prepositional	floreci	floruci	florici

Case	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	kasa	kasu	kase
Accusative	kasam	kasum	kasem
Genitive	kasadie	kasudie	kasedie
Dative	kasave	kasuve	kasevi
Prepositional	kasaci	kasuci	kaseci

Type B: Slovene Loanword Declensions

Slovene nouns are classified by whether they end with a consonant or a vowel. Furthermore, consonant-final words are classified differently if the end in b, g, k, lh, m, n, nh, p, or ź.

Case	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	roka	rokasó	rokasi
Accusative	rokam	rokasóm	rokasim
Genitive	rokadie	rokasódie	rokasidie
Dative	rokave	rokasóve	rokasive
Prepositional	rokaci	rokasóci	rokasici

Case	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	stol	stoló	stoli
Accusative	stolm	stolóm	stolim
Genitive	stoldie	stolódie	stolidie
Dative	stolve	stolóve	stolive
Prepositional	stolci	stolóci	stolici

Case	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	brlog	brlogúo	brlogis
Accusative	brlogm	brlogúom	brlogism
Genitive	brlogdie	brlogúodie	brlogisdie
Dative	brlogve	brlogúove	brlogisve
Prepositional	brlogci	brlogúoci	brlogisci

Type C: Other Loanword Declensions

These words are declined the same way regardless of whether they end in a vowel or a consonant.

Case	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	telefonu	telefonue	telefonua
Accusative	telefonum	telefonuem	telefonuam
Genitive	telefonudie	telefonuedie	telefonuam
Dative	telefonuve	telefonueve	telefonuave
Prepositional	telefonuci	telefonueci	telefonuaci

Article

The singular definite article for non-Slovene words is lei, the dual article is lha, and the plural article is li. The indefinite articles, number regardless, are un (before a vowel) and uni (before a consonant).

Examples:

• lei flore, lha floru, li flori
• lei ragatźa, lha ragatźu, li ragatźa
• uni laham, uni lahama
• lei 'attus, lha 'attuse, li 'attusa

The definite articles for Slovene words are the suffixes -et and -t, for consonant-final and vowel-final words respectively. The indefinite article is zhe.

Examples:

• zhe mleko, mlekot
• zhe voda, vodat
• zhe denar, denaret
• zhe roka, rokat

Verbs

Verb infinitives end in -i, and are formed from a mix of Slovene verbs, Italian -ire verbs, and Portuguese -ir verbs. There are no copulas. Verbs are conjugated by person and number.

Indicative Verbs	Present	Pretirite	Imperfect	Future
1st sing.	-o	-ersi	-ivo	-irô
2nd sing.	-i	-isti	-ivi	-irai
3rd sing.	-e	-erse	-iva	-irà
1st & 4th dual/plu.	-iamo	-immo	-ivamo	-iremo
2nd dual/plu.	-ite	-iste	-ivate	-irete
3rd dual/plu.	-ono	-ersero	-ivano	-iranno

Conditional Verbs	Present
1st sing.	-irei
2nd sing.	-iresti
3rd sing.	-irebbe
1st & 4th dual/plu.	-iremmo
2nd plu.	-ireste
3rd plu.	-irebbero

Dialects

As a minor constructed language, there are only a few dialects. The standard dialect is the original dialect, created and spoken in Naples. There is a Maltese dialect, a Venetian/Slovene dialect, and a Riviera dialect (southern France). Since the language is not very widely spoken, these dialects are quite similar and mutually intelligible. The Riviera dialect is the most unique of all of the varieties, with a larger incorporation of French, Monégasque, and German words and a smaller incorporation of Maltese. Orthographic diacritics change in different regions, usually with the letters c, sh, zh, and ź, to fit in better with the local language. The letter "h" also has different pronunciations in different areas.

Media

There are currently two international newspapers printed in Asiamano: Okosó and Lei Karnival. Okosó is an opinion and current events paper sold throughout Northern Italy and Slovenia, but having some extent in Malta. It is based in Maribor and was founded in 2008. Lei Karnival is a celebrity and entertainment newspaper based in Qormi, sold in major Italian cities and Valletta, but having almost no influence in Slovenia. They are both biweekly editions, sold for €3 apiece. Due to growing unpopularity and lawsuits, Lei Karnival is soon to merge with a Maltese newspaper and be printed in Maltese rather than Asiamano.

Code-switching

The language already is, in a sense, a three-way code switch. Most natives use the language while travelling abroad, using Italian as a secondary language. Usually, Italian words replace the language that isn't that of the person's homeland (i.e. a Maltese person in Italy would code-switch in an Asiamano creole with a larger dominance of Italian words and less Slovene words).

See also

• Dictionary
• Grammar Charts and Rules
• Kobot
• Randot

References

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• Bugeja, Kaptan Pawlu, Kelmet il-Malti (Maltese—English, English—Maltese Dictionary). Associated News Group, Floriana. 1999.
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External links

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