Dalmatica

Context Edit

The language is assumed to be spoken at "present" in an alt-historical setting. Among several other changes, this world has a tech level of about 1850 AD, with several centers of development (not only Europe, but southern and eastern Asia etc), still has Byzantium (the one true "Romania", albeit Greek-speaking) as an existing political reality of a certain geopolitical weight; and several Romance-speaking nations non-existing in our timeline (OTL).

I built it up as mashup of several linguistic influences: a strong Illyrian-Albanian sostrate, Rumanian, Old Dalmatian, even Friulian, with Greek and Slavic-influenced vocabulary. And presumably an Italian adstrate (Venetian, Apulian) related to navigation, trade, law etc.

"Dalmatia" is a two-century old independent polity, with its capital in Yeshpelc (OTL Split), albeit with an important ancestor state centuries before whose legendary doomed struggle for freedom against Constantinople rooted a national conscience. The language itself, profoundly innovative in sound but archaic in many other respects, came from the interior where this earlier kingdom had flourished, superseding and quickly replacing in the XVI-XVIIth centuries of the Christian Era a more Latinate-sounding cousin previously spoken along the coast and in the islands. This was due to intense immigration from the interior, coupled with lively emigration from the coast for trade/settlement elsewhere. Small communities in eastern and southern Italy still speak Old Dalmatian dialects.

The country is mostly Uniate Catholic, with relevant Orthodox presence; the language is indifferently written with the traditional Glagolitic script ("Ayëgrafyë", lit. Holy Writing), massively preferred in the interior, or with a clear Latin transliteration ("Vuarcë", in general parlance: the "orthodox", correct, modern writing) definitely fixed a couple centuries "ago" and in general use in cities.

Classification and DialectsEdit

*Aryan-Italic-NeoLatin-*IllyroLatin

"Aryan" languages are those we'd call Indo-European. *Here* India never was linguistically colonized by IE speakers, remaining broadly divided between Dravidian and Austroasiatic influence. The term "Aryan" *here* has no unsavory political characterization, this world having seen no Nazis. "IllyroLatin" is the definition used by linguists for the dialects that gave birth to the modern language, by contrast with "DacoLatin" for Megavlach (OTL Rumanian) and the dubious, possibly political insertion of Old Dalmatian into the "RhaetoLatin" phylum.

The dialects are noteworthy if not else for their variety. The core area from which the modern language emerged can be broadly defined along the axis of OTL Sarajevo to Podgorica. There are found the most archaic forms of the speech, also showing a more definite Slavic influence. The coastal dialects, in particular in the innumerable islands, still show significant trace of the old and more clearly Latinate Dalmatian language (that in turn ITTL still survives, ironically, as a local dialect in the Kvarner Islands of Merania, OUTSIDE of the Dalmatian republic's borders). Of peculiar relevance is the dialect of the southern metropolis of Rauzyë (Ragusa), strongly influenced by Venetian and Byzantine Greek, and the only one to have gemination of liquids and other phonetically Albanian traits. Obviously ITTL there's no Slavic admixture there: "Dubrovnik" it's a completely unknown placename.

PhonologyEdit

ConsonantsEdit

VowelsEdit

PhonotacticsEdit

Writing SystemEdit

GrammarEdit

NounsEdit

VerbsEdit

SyntaxEdit

LexiconEdit

Basic Numbers

1 Vuyën
2 Dvai
3 Tria
4 Tehër
5 Pyenc
6 Hëi
7 Hëp
8 Vuaic
9 Nuaiv
10 Zekë

Swadesh list Edit

Example textsEdit

Toic' nercër nes'tyen laivrët yekvertpë zë dain'ëcë zëpë draic. Avënhyet c'anen raugos' ye kauns'tyancën ye zëvyen ye hyezye vuyën yeltur n'aumku yezelpi.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

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Petër nieltrëm fo cëri yas', ayëxyas'tër Nuam Coi. Vën'ec ves'ail'ë Coi. Xaic vuancë Coi haik tari oic cëri. Dvaini haimërë pen'ën nieltrëm vuan'ezyes'ken, yas'koiznipë zëvyëtëz haik yas'koiznom zëvyëtvarz nieltri, nuzazaivinipë taindec'aunën, vaicë yelaivrini ekexi. Hëmb Coi yës't ves'ail'ë, Cuyë pus'të, Cuyë daus'ë, vuan'ayauni. Amën.

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

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• Dalmatica : Lë vuan'i herë pracërën pre fo yervës'ti
• Latin : Illa Claudit semper fenestram antequam cenat.
• Spanish : Ella siempre cierra la ventana antes de cenar.
• Portuguese : Ela Fecha sempre a janela antes de jantar.
• French : Elle ferme toujours la fenêtre avant de dîner/souper.
• Italian : Lei chiude sempre la finestra prima di cenare.
• Romanian : Ea închide totdeauna fereastra înainte de cină.
• Catalan : Ella sempre tanca la finestra abans de sopar.
• English : She always closes the window before dining.