Luthic

Luthic
Lûthica
Flag of the Luthic-speaking Ravenna
Pronunciation	[ˈlu.tʰi.xɐ]
Created by	Lëtzelúcia
Date	2023
Setting	Alternative history Italy
Native to	Ravenna; Ferrara and Bologna
Ethnicity	Luths
Native speakers	149,500 (2020)
Language family	Indo-European Italic Latino-Faliscan Italo-Western Gotho-Romance Italo-Luthian Romance Luthic
Writing systems	Latin Braille
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Italy (recognised by the Luthic Community of Ravenna)
Regulated by	Council for the Luthic Language
The areas where Luthic (red and orange) is spoken.

Luthic (/ˈluːθ.ɪk/ LOOTH-ik, less often /ˈlʌθ.ɪk/ LUTH-ik, also Luthish; endonym: Lûthica [ˈlu.tʰi.xɐ] or Rasda Lûthica [ˈʁaz.dɐ ˈlu.tʰi.xɐ]) is an Italic language that is spoken by the Luths, with strong East Germanic influence. Unlike other Romance languages, such as Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, Occitan and French, Luthic has a large inherited vocabulary from East Germanic, instead of only proper names that survived in historical accounts, and loanwords. About 250,000 people speak Luthic worldwide.

Luthic is the result of a prolonged contact among members of both regions after the Gothic raids towards the Roman Empire began, together with the later West Germanic merchants’ travels to and from the Western Roman Empire. These connections and the conquest by the Germanic tribes of the Roman Empire slowly formed a creole for mutual communication.

As a standard form of the Gotho-Romance language, Luthic has similarities with other Italo-Dalmatian languages, Western Romance languages and Sardinian. The status of Luthic as the regional language of Ravenna and the existence there of a regulatory body have removed Luthic, at least in part, from the domain of Standard Italian, its traditional Dachsprache. It is also related to the Florentine dialect spoken by the Italians in the Italian city of Florence and its immediate surroundings.

Luthic is an inflected fusional language, with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter); and two numbers (singular, plural).

Classification

Chart of Romance languages based on structural and comparative criteria, not on socio-functional ones. FP: Franco-Provençal, IR: Istro-Romanian.

Luthic is an Indo-European language that belongs to the Gotho-Romance group of the Italic languages, however Luthic has great Germanic influence; where the Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic, East Germanic, and West Germanic. The first of these branches survives in modern Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Elfdalian, Faroese, and Icelandic, all of which are descended from Old Norse. The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts; Luthic is the only surviving Indo-European language with extensive East Germanic derived vocabulary. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch, Yiddish, Afrikaans, and others.

Among the Romance languages, its classification has always been controversial, for example, it is one of the Italo-Dalmatian languages and most closely related to Istriot on the one hand and Tuscan-Italian on the other. Some authors include it among the Gallo-Italic languages, and according to others, it is not related to either one. Although both Ethnologue and Glottolog group Luthic into a new language group, the Gotho-Romance (opere citato) family is still somewhat dubious.

Luthic has been influenced by Italian, Frankish, Gothic and Langobardic since its first attestation, the great influence of these languages on the vocabulary and grammar of Modern Luthic is widely acknowledged. Most specialists in language contact do consider Luthic to be a true mixed language. Luthic is classified as a Romance langauge because it shares innovations with other Romance languages such as Italian, French and Spanish.

History

The Luthic philologist Aþalphonso Silva divided the history of Luthic into a period from 500 AD to 1740 to be “Mediaeval Luthic”, which he subdivided into “Gothic Luthic” (500–1100), “Mediaeval Luthic” (1100–1600) and “late Mediaeval Luthic” (1600–1740).

Gothic Luthic

The earliest varieties of a Luthic language, collectively known as Gothic Luthic or “Gotho-Luthic”, evolved from the contact of Latin dialects and East Germanic languages. A considerable amount of East Germanic vocabulary was incorporated into Luthic over some five centuries. Approximately 1,200 uncompounded Luthic words are derived from Gothic and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European. Of these 1,200, 700 are nouns, 300 are verbs and 200 are adjectives. Luthic has also absorbed many loanwords, most of which were borrowed from West Germanic languages of the Early Middle Ages.

Only a few documents in Gothic Luthic have survived – not enough for a complete reconstruction of the language. Most Gothic Luthic-language sources are translations or glosses of other languages (namely, Greek and Latin), so foreign linguistic elements most certainly influenced the texts. Nevertheless, Gothic Luthic was probably very close to Gothic (it is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizeable text corpus). These are the primary sources:

• Codex Luthicus (Ravenna), two parts: 87 leaves

It contains scattered passages from the New Testament (including parts of the gospels and the Epistles), from the Old Testament (Nehemiah), and some commentaries. The text likely had been somewhat modified by copyists. It was written using the Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used for writing the Gothic language. It was developed in the 4th century AD by Ulfilas (or Wulfila), a Gothic preacher of Cappadocian Greek descent, for the purpose of translating the Bible.

Detail of the Codex Luthicus, the word Luþiks is attested, referring to the Luths

• Codex Ravennas (Ravenna), four parts: 140 leaves

A civil code enacted under Theodoric the Great. The code covered the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy, but mainly Ravenna, as Theodoric devoted most of his architectural attention to his capital, Ravenna. Codex Ravennas was also written using the Gothic alphabet. The text likely had been somewhat modified by copyists. Together with four leaves, fragments of Romans 11–15 (a Luthic–Latin diglot).

Mediaeval Luthic

In the mediaeval period, Luthic emerged as a separate language from Gothic. The main written language was Latin, and the few Luthic-language texts preserved from this period are written in the Latin alphabet. From the 7th to the 16th centuries, Mediaeval Luthic gradually transformed through language contact with Old Italian, Langobardic and Frankish. During the Carolingian Empire (773–774), Charles conquered the Lombards and thus included northern Italy in his sphere of influence. He renewed the Vatican donation and the promise to the papacy of continued Frankish protection. Frankish was very strong, until Louis’ eldest surviving son Lothair I became Emperor in name but de facto only the ruler of the Middle Frankish Kingdom.

The first sentence is: “Luthica unsara rasda ist, e scolamos defendere unsarǫ raihtǫ di usare la rasda fremente, l’italiano nogca sarat l’unsara rasda fragca, car gli italiani non unse rispetanno.” English translation: “Luthic is our language, and we must defend our right to use it freely, Italian will never be our language, as the Italians don’t respect us”

Late Mediaeval Luthic

Fraugiani e Narri hanno rasda fre.
“Lords and jesters have free speech.”

“

”

Giuseppe il Lûthico, proverbs

Following the first Bible translation, the development of Luthic as a written language, as a language of religion, administration, and public discourse accelerated. In the second half of the 17th century, grammarians elaborated grammars of Luthic, first among them Þiudareico Bianchi’s 1657 Latin grammar De studio linguæ luthicæ.

De Studio Linguæ Luthicæ

De Studio Linguæ Luthicæ (English: On Study of the Luthic Language) often referred to as simply the Luthicæ (/lʌˈθiˌki, lʌθˈaɪˌki/), is a book by Þiudareico Bianchi that expounds Luthic grammar. The Luthicæ is written in Latin and comprises two volumes, and was first published on 9 September 1657.

Book 1, De grammatica

Book 1, subtitled De grammatica (On grammar) concerns fundamental grammar features present in Luthic. It opens a collection of examples and Luthic–Latin diglot lemmata.

Book 2, De orthographia

Book 2, subtitled De orthographia (On orthography), is an exposition of the many vernacular orthographies Luthic had, and eventual suggestions for a universal orthography.

Remounted cover, at Luthic Community of Ravenna

Geographical distribution

Luthic is spoken mainly in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, where it is primarily spoken in Ravenna and its adjacent communes. Although Luthic is spoken almost exclusively in Emilia-Romagna, it has also been spoken outside of Italy. Luth and general Italian emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in the Americas) sometimes employ Luthic as their primary language. The largest concentrations of Luthic speakers are found in the provinces of Ravenna, Ferrara and Bologna (Metropolitan City of Bologna). The people of Ravenna live in tetraglossia, as Romagnol, Emilian and Italian are spoken in those provinces alongside Luthic.

According to a census by ISTAT (The Italian National Institute of Statistics), Luthic is spoken by an estimated 250,000 people, however only 149,500 are considered de facto natives, and approximately 50,000 are monolinguals.

Status

As in most European countries, the minority languages are defined by legislation or constitutional documents and afforded some form of official support. In 1992, the Council of Europe adopted the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe.

Luthic is regulated by the Council for the Luthic Language (Luthic: Gafaurdo faul·la Rasda Lûthica [ɡɐˈfɔɾ.du fɔl‿lɐ ˈʁaz.dɐ ˈlu.tʰi.xɐ]) and the Luthic Community of Ravenna (Luthic: Gamainescape Lûthica Ravennai [ɡɐˌmɛ.neˈska.fe ˈlu.tʰi.xɐ ʁɐˈvẽ.nɛ]). The existence of a regulatory body has removed Luthic, at least in part, from the domain of Standard Italian, its traditional Dachsprache, Luthic was considered an Italian dialect like many others until about World War II, but then it underwent ausbau.

Luthic geographical distribution in the commune of Ravenna

Luthic regarded as an Italian dialect

Luthic lexicon is discrepant from those of other Romance languages, since most of the words present in Modern Luthic are ultimately of Germanic origin. The lexical differentiation was a big factor for the creation of an independent regulatory body. There were many attempts to assimilate Luthic into the Italian dialect continuum, as in recent centuries, the intermediate dialects between the major Romance languages have been moving toward extinction, as their speakers have switched to varieties closer to the more prestigious national standards. That has been most notable in France, owing to the French government’s refusal to recognise minority languages. For many decades since Italy’s unification, the attitude of the French government towards the ethnolinguistic minorities was copied by the Italian government. A movement called “Italianised Luthic Movement” (Luthic: Movimento Lûthicai Italianegiatai; Italian: Movimento per il Lutico Italianeggiato) tried to italianase Luthic’s vocabulary and reduce the inherited Germanic vocabulary, in order to assimilate Luthic as an Italian derived language; modern Luthic orthography was affected by this movement.

Almost all of the Romance languages spoken in Italy are native to the area in which they are spoken. Apart from Standard Italian, these languages are often referred to as dialetti “dialects”, both colloquially and in scholarly usage; however, the term may coexist with other labels like “minority languages” or “vernaculars” for some of them. Italian was first declared to be Italy's official language during the Fascist period, more specifically through the R.D.l., adopted on 15 October 1925, with the name of Sull'Obbligo della lingua italiana in tutti gli uffici giudiziari del Regno, salvo le eccezioni stabilite nei trattati internazionali per la città di Fiume. According to UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, there are 31 endangered languages in Italy.

Luthic is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Standard Luthic

The basis of Standard Luthic was developed by the popular language spoken by the Ravennese people, whose was highly influenced by Gothic, together with other East Germanic substrate, such as Vandalic and Burgundian and other ancient West Germanic languages, mainly Frankish and Langobardic. Standard Luthic orthography was further influenced by Italian. Increasing mobility of the population and the dissemination of the language through mass media such as radio and television are leading to a gradual standardisation towards a “Standard Luthic” through the process of koineization.

Alphabet

Luthic has a shallow orthography, meaning very regular spelling with an almost one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds. In linguistic terms, the writing system is close to being a phonemic orthography. The most important of the few exceptions are the following (see below for more details):

• The letter c represents the sound /k/ at the end of words and before the letters a, o, and u but represents the sound /t͡ʃ/ before the letters e and i.
• The letter g represents the sound /ɡ/ at the end of words and before the letters a, o, and u but represents the sound /d͡ʒ/ before the letters e and i. It also represents the sound /ŋ/ before c or g.
  • /ɡʷ/ only happens before a nasal and is spelled as ggu /ŋɡʷ/, or inherited from Gothic -ggw- as a regular outcome of Germanic *ww: 𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍅𐍃 [triɡʷːs], tregguo [ˈtɾɛɡ.ɡʷu].
• The letter r represents the sound /ʁ/ onset or stressed intervocalic, /ɾ/ when intervocalic or nearby another consonant or at the end of words and /ʀ/ if doubled.
• The cluster sc /sk/ before the letters e and i represents the sound /ʃ/, geminate if intervocalic.
• The spellings ci and gi before another vowel represent only /t͡ʃ/ or /d͡ʒ/ with no /i/ ~ /j/ sound.
• The spelling qu and gu always represent the sounds /k/ and /ɡ/.
• The spelling ġl and ġn represent the palatals /ʎ/ and /ɲ/ retrospectively; always geminate if intervocalic.

The Luthic alphabet is considered to consist of 22 letters; j, k, w, x, y are excluded, and often avoided in loanwords, as tacċi vs taxi, cċenophobo vs xenofobo, geins vs jeans, Giorque vs York, Valsar vs Walsar:

• The circumflex accent is used over vowels to indicate irregular stress.
  • The digraphs ⟨ai, au, ei⟩ are used to indicate stressed /ɛ ɔ i/ retrospectively.
  • In VCC structures and some Italian borrowings, the digraphs are not found.
• The overdot accent is used to over ⟨a, o⟩ to indicate coda /a o/.
  • The letter o always represents the sound /u/ in coda.
  • The overdot is also used over ⟨c, g⟩ to indicate palatalisation.
• The diaeresis accent is used to distinguish from a digraph or a diphthong.
• The letter ⟨s⟩ can symbolise voiced or voiceless consonants. ⟨s⟩ symbolises /s/ onset before a vowel, when clustered with a voiceless consonant (⟨p, f, c, q⟩), and when doubled (geminate); it symbolises /z/ when between vowels and when clustered with voiced consonants.
  • Similarly, the letter ⟨z⟩ can symbolise voiced or voiceless consonants. ⟨z⟩ symbolises /t͡s/ onset before a vowel, when clustered with a voiceless consonant (⟨p, f, c, q⟩), and when doubled (geminate); it symbolises /d͡z/ when between vowels and when clustered with voiced consonants.

Standard Luthic Alphabet

Letter	Name	Historical name	IPA	Diacritics
A, a	a [ˈa]	asga [ˈaz.ɡɐ]	/ɐ/ or /a/	â, ȧ
B, b	bi [bi]	bairka [ˈbɛɾ.kɐ]	/b/ or /ʋ/	—
C, c	ci [ˈt͡ʃi]	caunȯ [ˈkɔ.no]	/k/, /t͡ʃ/ or /x/	ċ
D, d	di [ˈdi]	dago [ˈda.ɣ˕u]	/d/ or /ð̞/	—
E, e	e [ˈɛ]	aiqqo [ˈɛk.kʷu]	/e/ or /ɛ/	ê
F, f	effe [ˈɛf.fe]	faiho [ˈfɛ.hu]	/f/ or /p͡f/	—
G, g	gi [ˈd͡ʒi]	giva [ˈd͡ʒi.vɐ]	/ɡ/, /d͡ʒ/, /ɣ˕/ or /ŋ/	ġ
H, h	acca [ˈak.kɐ]	haġlo [ˈhaʎ.ʎu]	/h/ or /ç/	—
I, i	i [ˈi]	eisso [ˈis.su]	/i/ or /j/	ï
L, l	elle [ˈɛl.le]	lago [ˈla.ɣ˕u]	/l/	—
M, m	emme [ˈẽ.me]	manno [ˈmɐ̃.nu]	/m/	—
N, n	enne [ˈẽ.ne]	nauþo [ˈnɔ.θu]	/n/	—
O, o	o [ˈɔ]	oþalȯ [oˈθa.lo]	/o/, /u/ or /ɔ/	ô, ȯ
P, p	pi [ˈpi]	pairþa [ˈpɛɾ.t͡θɐ]	/p/ or /f/	—
Q, q	qoppa [ˈkʷɔp.pɐ]	qairþa [ˈkʷɛɾ.t͡θɐ]	/kʷ/	—
R, r	erre [ɛˈʀe]	raida [ˈʁɛ.ð̞ɐ]	/ʀ/, /ʁ/ or /ɾ/	—
S, s	esse [ɛsˈse]	sauila [ˈsɔj.lɐ]	/s/, /t͡s/ or /z/	—
T, t	ti [ˈti]	teivo [ˈti.vu]	/t/ or /θ/	—
Þ, þ	eþþe [ˈɛθ.θe]	þaurno [ˈθɔɾ.nu]	/θ/ or /t͡θ/	—
U, u	u [ˈu]	uro [ˈu.ɾu]	/u/ or /w/	û, ü
V, v	vi [ˈvi]	viġna [ˈviɲ.ɲɐ]	/v/	—
Z, z	zi [ˈt͡si]	zetta [ˈt͡sɛt.tɐ]	/t͡s/ or /d͡z/	—

A Luthic computer keyboard layout.

Luthic has geminate, or double, consonants, which are distinguished by length and intensity. Length is distinctive for all consonants except for /d͡z/, /ʎ/, /ɲ/ , which are always geminate when between vowels, and /z/, which is always single. Geminate plosive and affricates are realised as lengthened closures. Geminate fricatives, nasals, and /l/ are realised as lengthened continuants. When triggered by Gorgia Toscana, voiceless fricatives are always constrictive, but voiced fricatives are not very constrictive and often closer to approximants.

Phonology

There is a maximum of 8 oral vowels, 5 nasal vowels, 2 semivowels and 35 consonants; though some varieties of the language have fewer phonemes. Gothic, Frankish, northern Suebi, Langobardic, Lepontic and Cisalpine Gaulish (Roman Gaul) influences were highly absorbed into the local Vulgar Latin dialect. An early form of Luthic was already spoken in the Ostrogothic Kingdom during Theodoric’s reign and by the year 600 Luthic had already become the vernacular of Ravenna. Luthic developed in the region of the former Ostrogothic capital of Ravenna, from Late Latin dialects and Vulgar Latin. As Theodoric emerged as the new ruler of Italy, he upheld a Roman legal administration and scholarly culture while promoting a major building program across Italy, his cultural and architectural attention to Ravenna led to a most conserved dialect, resulting in modern Luthic.

Vowels

Vowel phonemes of Standard Luthic

	Front		Central		Back
	oral	nasal	oral	nasal	oral	nasal
Close	i	ĩ			u	ũ
Close-mid	e	ẽ			o	õ
Open-mid	ɛ		ɐ	ɐ̃	ɔ
Open			a

Notes

When the mid vowels /ε, ɔ/ precede a nasal, they become close [ẽ] rather than [ε̃] and [õ] rather than [ɔ̃].

Oral monophthongs of Standard Luthic

• /i/ is close front unrounded [i].
• /u/ is close back rounded [u].
• /e/ is close-mid front unrounded [e].
• /o/ is close-mid back rounded [o].
• /ɛ/ has been variously described as mid front unrounded [ɛ̝] and open-mid front unrounded [ɛ].
• /ɔ/ is somewhat fronted open-mid back rounded [ɔ̟].
• /ɐ/ is near-open central unrounded [ɐ].
• /a/ has been variously described as open front unrounded [a] and open central unrounded [ä].

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Standard Luthic

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar		Uvular	Glottal
						plain	labialized
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	ŋ	(ŋʷ)
Plosive	voiceless	p	t			k	kʷ
	voiced	b	d			ɡ	ɡʷ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s θ	ʃ	ç	(x)			h
	voiced	v	z	ʒ				ʁ
Affricate	voiceless	(p͡f)	t͡s (t͡θ)	t͡ʃ
	voiceless		d͡z	d͡ʒ
Approximant	semivowel				j		w
	lateral		l		ʎ
	Gorgia Toscana	(ʋ)	(ð̞)			(ɣ˕)
Flap			ɾ
Trill								ʀ

Notes

• Nasals:
  • /n/ is laminal alveolar [n̻].
  • /ɲ/ is alveolo-palatal, always geminate when intervocalic.
  • /ŋ/ has a labio-velar allophone [ŋʷ] before labio-velar plosives.

• Plosives:
  • /p/, /pʰ/ and /b/ are purely labial.
  • /t/, /tʰ/ and /d/ are laminal dentialveolar [t̻, t̻ʰ, d̻].
  • /k/ and /ɡ/ are pre-velar [k̟, ɡ̟] before /i, e, ɛ, j/.
  • /kʷ/ and /ɡʷ/ are palato-labialised [kᶣ, ɡᶣ] before /i, e, ɛ, j/.

• Affricates:
  • /p͡f/ is bilabial–labiodental and is only found as a common allophone.
  • /t͡θ/ is dental and is only found as a common allophone.
  • /t͡s/ and /d͡z/ are dentalised laminal alveolar [t̻͡s̪, d̻͡z̪].
  • /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/ are strongly labialised palato-alveolar [t͡ʃʷ, d͡ʒʷ].

• Fricatives:
  • /f/ and /v/ are labiodental.
  • /θ/ is dental.
  • /s/ and /z/ are laminal alveolar [s̻, z̻].
  • /ʃ/ is strongly labialised palato-alveolar [ʃʷ].
  • /x/ is velar, and only found when triggered by Gorgia Toscana.
  • /ʁ/ is uvular, but in anlaut is in free variation with [h].
  • /h/ is glottal, but is in free variation with [x ~ ʁ], /h/ is palatal [ç] nearby /i, e, ɛ, j/.

• Approximants, flap, trill and laterals:
  • /ʋ/ is labiodental, and only found when triggered by Gorgia Toscana.
  • /ð̞/ is dental, and only found when triggered by Gorgia Toscana.
  • /j/ and /w/ are always geminate when intervocalic.
  • /ɾ/ is alveolar [ɾ].
  • /ɣ˕/ is velar, and only found when triggered by Gorgia Toscana.
  • /ʀ/ is uvular [ʀ], but is in free variation with alveolar [r].
  • /l/ is laminal alveolar [l̻].
  • /ʎ/ is alveolo-palatal, always geminate when intervocalic.

Historical phonology

The phonological system of the Luthic language underwent many changes during the period of its existence. These included the palatalisation of velar consonants in many positions and subsequent lenitions. A number of phonological processes affected Luthic in the period before the earliest documentation. The processes took place chronologically in roughly the order described below (with uncertainty in ordering as noted).

Vowel system

The most sonorous elements of the [[w:Syllable|syllable] are vowels, which occupy the nuclear position. They are prototypical mora-bearing elements, with simple vowels monomoraic, and long vowels bimoraic. Latin vowels occurred with one of five qualities and one of two weights, that is short and long /i e a o u/. At first, weight was realised by means of longer or shorter duration, and any articulatory differences were negligible, with the short:long opposition stable. Subtle articulatory differences eventually grow and lead to the abandonment of length, and reanalysis of vocal contrast is shifted solely to quality rather than both quality and quantity; specifically, the manifestation of weight as length came to include differences in tongue height and tenseness, and quite early on, /ī, ū/ began to differ from /ĭ, ŭ/ articulatorily, as did /ē, ō/ from /ĕ, ŏ/. The long vowels were stable, but the short vowels came to be realised lower and laxer, with the result that /ĭ, ŭ/ opened to [ɪ, ʊ], and /ĕ, ŏ/ opened to [ε, ɔ]. The result is the merger of Latin /ĭ, ŭ/ and /ē, ō/, since their contrast is now realised sufficiently be their distinct vowel quality, which would be easier to articulate and perceive than vowel duration.

Gotho-Romance vowel changes from Latin.

Vowels phoneme in Classical Latin

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː ĩː		u uː ũː
Mid	e eː ẽː		o oː õː
Open		ä äː ä̃ː

Vowels phoneme in Early Spoken Latin

	Front	Central	Back
Close	ɪ iː ĩː		ʊ uː ũː
Mid	ε eː ẽː		ɔ oː õː
Open		ä äː ä̃ː

Unstressed a resulted in a slightly raised a [ɐ]. In hiatus, unstressed front vowels become /j/, while unstressed back vowels become /w/.

In addition to monophthongs, Luthic has diphthongs, which, however, are both phonemically and phonetically simply combinations of the other vowels. None of the diphthongs are, however, considered to have distinct phonemic status since their constituents do not behave differently from how they occur in isolation, unlike the diphthongs in other languages like English and German. Grammatical tradition distinguishes “falling” from “rising” diphthongs, but since rising diphthongs are composed of one semiconsonantal sound [j] or [w] and one vowel sound, they are not actually diphthongs. The practice of referring to them as “diphthongs” has been criticised by phoneticians like Alareico Villavolfo.

Absorption of nasals before fricatives

This is the source of such alterations as modern Standard Luthic fimfe [ˈfĩ.(p͡)fe] “five”, monþo [ˈmõ.(t͡)θu] “mouth” versus Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌼𐍆 [ˈɸimɸ] “id.”, 𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌸𐍃 [ˈmunθs] “id.” and German fünf [fʏnf] “id.”, Mund [mʊnt] “id.”.

Monophthongization

The diphthongs au, ae and oe [au̯, ae̯, oe̯] were monophthongized (smoothed) to [ɔ, ɛ, e] by Gothic influence, as the Germanic diphthongs /ai/ and /au/ appear as digraphs written ⟨ai⟩ and ⟨au⟩ in Gothic. Researchers have disagreed over whether they were still pronounced as diphthongs /ai̯/ and /au̯/ in Ulfilas' time (4th century) or had become long open-mid vowels: /ɛː/ and /ɔː/: 𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (ains) [ains] / [ɛːns] “one” (German eins, Icelandic einn), 𐌰𐌿𐌲𐍉 (augō) [auɣoː] / [ɔːɣoː] “eye” (German Auge, Icelandic auga). It is most likely that the latter view is correct, as it is indisputable that the digraphs ⟨ai⟩ and ⟨au⟩ represent the sounds /ɛː/ and /ɔː/ in some circumstances (see below), and ⟨aj⟩ and ⟨aw⟩ were available to unambiguously represent the sounds /ai̯/ and /au̯/. The digraph ⟨aw⟩ is in fact used to represent /au/ in foreign words (such as 𐍀𐌰𐍅𐌻𐌿𐍃 (Pawlus) “Paul”), and alternations between ⟨ai⟩/⟨aj⟩ and ⟨au⟩/⟨aw⟩ are scrupulously maintained in paradigms where both variants occur (e.g. 𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌰𐌽 (taujan) “to do” vs. past tense 𐍄𐌰𐍅𐌹𐌳𐌰 (tawida) “did”). Evidence from transcriptions of Gothic names into Latin suggests that the sound change had occurred very recently when Gothic spelling was standardised: Gothic names with Germanic au are rendered with au in Latin until the 4th century and o later on (Austrogoti > Ostrogoti).

Palatalisation

Early evidence of palatalized pronunciations of /tj kj/ appears as early as the 2nd–3rd centuries AD in the form of spelling mistakes interchanging ⟨ti⟩ and ⟨ci⟩ before a following vowel, as in ⟨tribunitiae⟩ for tribuniciae. This is assumed to reflect the fronting of Latin /k/ in this environment to [c ~ t͡sʲ]. Palatalisation of the velar consonants /k/ and /ɡ/ occurred in certain environments, mostly involving front vowels; additional palatalisation is also found in dental consonants /t/, /d/, /l/ and /n/, however, these are not palatalised in word initial environment.

• Latin amīcus [äˈmiː.kus̠ ~ äˈmiː.kʊs̠], amīcī [äˈmiː.kiː] > Luthic amico [ɐˈmi.xu], amici [ɐˈmi.t͡ʃi].
• Gothic giba [ˈɡiβa] > Luthic giva [ˈd͡ʒi.vɐ].
• Latin ratiō [ˈrä.t̪i.oː] > Luthic razione [ʁɐˈd͡zjo.ne]
• Latin fīlius [ˈfiː.li.us̠ ~ ˈfiː.lʲi.ʊs̠] > Luthic fiġlo [ˈfiʎ.ʎu].
• Latin līnea [ˈliː.ne.ä ~ ˈlʲiː.ne.ä] , pugnus [ˈpuŋ.nus̠ ~ ˈpʊŋ.nʊs̠], ācrimōnia [äː.kriˈmoː.ni.ä ~ äː.krɪˈmoː.ni.ä] > Luthic liġna [ˈliɲ.ɲɐ], poġno [ˈpoɲ.ɲu], acremoġna [ɐ.kɾeˈmoɲ.ɲɐ].

Labio-velars remain unpalatalised, except in monosyllabic environment:

• Latin quis [kʷis̠ ~ kʷɪs̠] > Luthic ce [t͡ʃe].
• Gothic qiman [ˈkʷiman] > Luthic qemare [kʷeˈma.ɾe ~ kᶣeˈma.ɾe].

Lenition

The Gotho-Romance family suffered very few lenitions, but in most cases the stops /p t k/ are lenited to /b d ɡ/ if not in onset position, before or after a sonorant or in intervocalic position as a geminate. A similar process happens with /b/ that is lenited to /v/ in the same conditions. The non-geminate rhotic present in Latin is simplified to /ɾ ʁ/. The unstressed labio-velar /kʷ/ delabialises before hard vowels, as in:

• Gothic ƕan [ʍan] > *[kʷɐn] > Luthic can [kɐn].
• Latin nunquam [ˈnuŋ.kʷä̃ː ~ ˈnʊŋ.kʷä̃ː] > Luthic nogca [ˈnoŋ.kɐ].

Luthic is further affected by the Gorgia Toscana effect, where every plosive is spirantised (or further approximated if voiced). Plosives, however, are not affected if:

• Geminate.
• Labialised.
• Nearby another fricative.
• Nearby a rhotic, a lateral or nasal.
• Stressed and anlaut.

Fortition

In every case, /j/ and /w/ are fortified to /d͡ʒ/ and /v/, except when triggered by hiatus collapse. The Germanic /ð/ and /xʷ ~ hʷ ~ ʍ/ are also fortified to /d/ and /kʷ/ in every position; which can be further lenited to /d͡z/ and /k ~ t͡ʃ/ in the environments given above. The Germanic /h ~ x/ is fortified to /k/ before a rhotic or a lateral, as in:

• Gothic hlaifs [ˈhlɛːɸs] > Luthic claifo [ˈklɛ.fu].
• Gothic hriggs [ˈhriŋɡs ~ ˈhriŋks] > Luthic creggo [ˈkɾeŋ.ɡu].

Coda consonants with similar articulations often sandhi, triggering a kind of syntactic gemination, it also happens with oxytones:

• Il catto [i‿kˈkat.tu].
• Ed þû, ce taugis? [e‿θˈθu | t͡ʃe ˈtɔ.d͡ʒis?].
• La cittâ stâþ sporca [lɐ t͡ʃitˈta‿sˈsta‿sˈspoɾ.kɐ].

Regarding the absorption of nasals before fricatives, voiceless fricatives are often fortified to affricates after alveolar consonants, such as /n l ɾ/, or general nasals:

• Il monþo [i‿mˈmõ.t͡θu].
• L’inferno [l‿ĩˈp͡fɛɾ.nu].
• La salsa [lɐ ˈsal.t͡sɐ].
• L’arsenale [l‿ɐɾ.t͡seˈna.le].

Deletion

In some rare cases, the consonants are fully deleted (elision), as in the verb havere, akin to Italian avere, which followed a very similar paradigm and evolution:

• 1st person indicative present: Latin habeō, Gothic haba, Luthic hô, Italian ho.
• 2nd person indicative present: Latin habēs, Gothic habais, Luthic haïs, Italian hai.
• 3rd person indicative present: Latin habet, Gothic habaiþ, Luthic hâþ, Italian ha.

Vowels other than /a/ are often syncopated in unstressed word-internal syllables, especially when in contact with liquid consonants:

• Latin angulus [ˈäŋ.ɡu.ɫ̪us̠ ~ ˈäŋ.ɡʊ.ɫ̪ʊs̠] > Luthic agglo [ˈaŋ.ɡlu].
• Latin speculum [ˈs̠pɛ.ku.ɫ̪ũː ~ ˈs̠pɛ.kʊ.ɫ̪ũː] ~ Luthic speclȯ [ˈspɛ.klo].
• Latin avunculus [äˈu̯uŋ.ku.ɫ̪us̠ ~ äˈu̯ʊŋ.kʊ.ɫ̪ʊs̠] > Luthic avogclo [ɐˈvoŋ.klu].

Phonotactics

Luthic allows up to three consonants in syllable-initial position, though there are limitations. The syllable structure of Luthic is (C)(C)(C)(G)V(G)(C)(C). As with English, there exist many words that begin with three consonants. Luthic lacks bimoraic (diphthongs and long vowels), as the so-called diphthongs are composed of one semiconsonantal (glide) sound [j] or [w].

Onset

C₁	C₂	C₃
f v p b t d k ɡ	ɾ	j w
s	p k	ɾ l
s	f t	ɾ
z	b	l
z	d ɡ	ɾ
z	m n v d͡ʒ ɾ l	—
p b f v k ɡ	ɾ l	—
ɡ	n l	—
pʰ t tʰ kʰ d	ɾ	—
θ	v ɾ	—
kʷ ɡʷ t͡s t͡ʃ d͡ʒ ʃ h ð ʁ ɲ l ʎ	—	—

CC

• /s/ + any voiceless stop or /f/;
• /z/ + any voiced stop, /v d͡ʒ m n l ɾ/;
• /f v/, or any stop + /ɾ/;
• /f v/, or any stop except /t d/ + /l/;
• /f v s z/, or any stop or nasal + /j w/;
• In Graeco-Roman words origin which are only partially assimilated, other combinations such as /pn/ (e.g. pneumatico), /mn/ (e.g. mnemonico), /tm/ (e.g. tmesi), and /ps/ (e.g. pseudo-) occur.

As an onset, the cluster /s/ + voiceless consonant is inherently unstable. Phonetically, word-internal s+C normally syllabifies as [s.C]. A competing analysis accepts that while the syllabification /s.C/ is accurate historically, modern retreat of i-prosthesis before word initial /s/+C (e.g. miþ isforza “with effort” has generally given way to miþ sforzȧ) suggests that the structure is now underdetermined, with occurrence of /s.C/ or /.sC/ variable “according to the context and the idiosyncratic behaviour of the speakers.”

CCC

• /s/ + voiceless stop or /f/ + /ɾ/;
• /z/ + voiced stop + /ɾ/;
• /s/ + /p k/ + /l/;
• /z/ + /b/ + /l/;
• /f v/ or any stop + /ɾ/ + /j w/.

Nucleus

V₁	V₂	V₃
a ɐ e ɛ	i [j] u [w]	—
o ɔ	i [j]	—
i [j]	e o	—
i [j]	ɐ ɛ ɔ	i [j]
i [j]	u [w]	o
u [w]	ɐ ɛ ɔ	i [j]
u [w]	e o	—
u [w]	i	—

The nucleus is the only mandatory part of a syllable and must be a vowel or a diphthong. In a falling diphthong the most common second elements are /i̯/ or /u̯/. Combinations of /j w/ with vowels are often labelled diphthongs, allowing for combinations of /j w/ with falling diphthongs to be called triphthongs. One view holds that it is more accurate to label /j w/ as consonants and /jV wV/ as consonant-vowel sequences rather than rising diphthongs. In that interpretation, Luthic has only falling diphthongs (phonemically at least, cf. Synaeresis) and no triphthongs.

Coda

C₁	C₂
m n l ɾ	Cₓ
Cₓ	—

Luthic permits a small number of coda consonants. Outside of loanwords, the permitted consonants are:

• The first element of any geminate.
• A nasal consonant that is either /n/ (word-finally) or one that is homorganic to a following consonant.
• /ɾ/ and /l/.
• /s/ (though not before fricatives).

Prosody

Luthic is quasi-paroxytonic, meaning that most words receive stress on their penultimate (second-to-last) syllable. Monosyllabic words tend to lack stress in their only syllable, unless emphasised or accentuated. Enclitic and other unstressed personal pronouns do not affect stress patterns. Some monosyllabic words may have natural stress (even if not emphasised), but it is weaker than those in polysyllabic words.

• rasda (ʀᴀ-sda ~ ʀᴀs-da) /ˈʁa.zdɐ ~ ˈʁaz.dɐ/;
• Italia (i-ᴛᴀ-lia) /iˈta.ljɐ];
• approssimativamente (ap-pros-si-ma-ti-va-ᴍᴇɴ-te) /ɐp.pɾos.si.mɐ.θi.vɐˈmen.te/.

Compound words have secondary stress on their penultimate syllable. Some suffixes also maintain the suffixed word secondary stress.

• panzar + campo + vaġno > panzarcampovaġno (ᴘᴀɴ-zar-ᴄᴀᴍ-po-ᴠᴀ-ġno) /ˌpan.t͡sɐɾˌkam.poˈvaɲ.ɲu/;
• broþar + -scape > broþarscape (ʙʀᴏ-þar-sᴄᴀ-pe) /ˌbɾo.θɐɾˈska.fe/.

Secondary stress is however often omitted by Italian influence. Tetrasyllabic (and beyond) words may have a very weak secondary stress in the fourth-to-last syllable (i.e. two syllables before the main or primary stress).

Research

Luthic is a well-studied language, and multiple universities in Italy have departments devoted to Luthic or linguistics with active research projects on the language, mainly in Ravenna, such as the Linguistic Circle of Ravenna (Luthic: Creizzo Rasdavitascapetico Ravennai; Italian: Circolo Linguistico di Ravenna) at Ravenna University, and there are many dictionaries and technological resources on the language. The language council Gafaurdo faul·la Rasda Lûthica also publishes research on the language both nationally and internationally. Academic descriptions of the language are published both in Luthic, Italian and English. The most complete grammar is the Grammatica ġli Lûthicai Rasdai (Grammar of the Luthic Language) by Alessandro Fiscar & Luca Vaġnar, and it is written in Luthic and contains over 800 pages.

Ravenna University’s arms

Multiple corpora of Luthic language data are available. The Luthic Online Dictionary project provides a curated corpus of 35,000 words.

History

The Ravenna School of Linguistics evolved around Giovanni Laggobardi and his developing theory of language in linguistic structuralism. Together with Soġnafreþo Rossi he founded the Circle of Linguistics of Ravenna in 1964, a group of linguists based on the model of the Prague Linguistic Circle. From 1970, Ravenna University offered courses in languages and philosophy but the students were unable to finish their studies without going to Accademia della Crusca for their final examinations.

Ravenna University Circle of Phonological Development (Luthic: Creizzo Sviluppi Phonologici giȧ Accademiȧ Ravennȧ) was developed in 1990, however very little research has been done on the earliest stages of phonological development in Luthic.

Ravenna University Circle of Theology (Luthic: Creizzo Theologiai giȧ Accademiȧ Ravennȧ) was developed in 2000 in association with the Ravenna Cathedral or Metropolitan Cathedral of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Luthic: Cathedrale metropolitana deï Osstassi Unsari Signori Gesosi Christi; Italian: Cattedrale metropolitana della Risurrezione di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo; Duomo di Ravenna).

Aina lettura essenziale summȧ importanzȧ, inu andarogiugga.
“An essential lecture, of the highest importance, without equivalents.”

“

”

Lucia Giamane

The Handbook of Luthic Linguistics, Culture and Religion

In 2012, a collaboration of the Circle of Linguistics, the Circle of Phonological Development and the Circle of Theology resulted in The Handbook of Luthic Linguistics, Culture and Religion (Luthic: Il Handobuoco Rasdavitascapeticai, Colturai e Religioni Luthicai) initiated in 2005 by Lucia Giamane, designed to illuminate an area of knowledge that encompasses both general linguistics and specialised, philologically oriented linguistics as well as those fields of science that have developed in recent decades from the increasingly extensive research into the diverse phenomena of communicative action.

Grammar

Luthic grammar is almost typical of the grammar of Romance languages in general. Cases exist for personal pronouns (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive), and unlike other Romance languages (except Romanian), they also exist for nouns, but are often ignored in common speech, mainly because of the Italian influence, a language who lacks noun cases. There are three basic classes of nouns in Luthic, referred to as genders, masculine, feminine and neuter. Masculine nouns typically end in -o, with plural marked by -i, feminine nouns typically end in -a, with plural marked by -ai, and neuter nouns typically end in -ȯ, with plural marked by -a. A fourth category of nouns is unmarked for gender, ending in -e in the singular and -i in the plural; a variant of the unmarked declension is found ending in -r in the singular and -i in the plural, it lacks neuter nouns:

Examples:

Definition	Gender	Singular nominative	Plural nominative
Son	Masculine	Fiġlo	Fiġli
Flower	Feminine	Bloma	Blomai
Fruit	Neuter	Acranȯ	Acrana
Love	Masculine	Amore	Amori
Art	Feminine	Crafte	Crafti
Water	Neuter	Vadne	Vadni
King	Masculine	Regġe	Regġi
Heart	Neuter	Hairtene	Hairteni
Father	Masculine	Fadar	Fadari
Mother	Feminine	Modar	Modari

Declension paradigm in formal Standard Luthic:

Number	Case	o-stem m	a-stem f	o-stem n	i-stem unm	r-stem unm
Singular	nom.	dago	geva	hauviþȯ	crafte	broþar
	acc.	dagȯ	geva	hauviþȯ	crafte	broþare
	dat.	dagȧ	gevȧ	hauviþȧ	crafti	broþari
	gen.	dagi	gevai	hauviþi	crafti	broþari
Plural	nom.	dagi	gevai	hauviþa	crafti	broþari
	acc.	dagos	gevas	hauviþa	craftes	broþares
	dat.	dagom	gevam	hauviþom	craftivo	broþarivo
	gen.	dagoro	gevaro	hauviþoro	craftem	broþarem

Pronouns

Luthic, like Latin and Gothic, inherited the full set of Indo-European pronouns: personal pronouns (including reflexive pronouns for each of the three grammatical persons), possessive pronouns, both simple and compound demonstratives, relative pronouns, interrogatives and indefinite pronouns. Each follows a particular pattern of inflection (partially mirroring the noun declension), much like other Indo-European languages. Although Luthic inherited a paradigm extremely close to Gothic (and Common Germanic), the Italic influence is visible in the genitive and plural formations.

PIE	Latin	Gothic	German	Luthic
*u̯ei̯ nom, *n̥s acc	nōs nom/acc	weis nom, uns acc	wir nom, uns acc	vi nom, unse acc

Personal pronouns of Standard Luthic

Number	Case	1st person	2st person	3rd person			reflexive
				masculine	feminine	neuter
Singular	nom.	ic	þû	is	ia	ata	—
	acc.	mic	þuc	inȯ	ina	ata	sic
	dat.	mis	þus	iȧ	iȧ	iȧ	sis
	dat.	meina	þeina	eis	isai	eis	seina
Singular	nom.	vi	gi	eis	isai	ia	—
	acc.	unse	isve	eis	isas	ia	sic
	dat.	unsis	isvis	eis	eis	eis	sis
	gen.	unsara	isvara	eisôro	eisâro	eisôro	seina

Possessive pronouns of Standard Luthic

Number	Case	1st person singular			2st person singular			3rd person singular
		masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
Singular	nom.	meino	meina	meinȯ	þeino	þeina	þeinȯ	seino	seina	seinȯ
	acc.	meinȯ	meina	meinȯ	þeinȯ	þeina	þeinȯ	seinȯ	seina	seinȯ
	dat.	meinȧ	meinȧ	meinȧ	þeinȧ	þeinȧ	þeinȧ	seinȧ	seinȧ	seinȧ
	gen.	meini	meinai	meini	þeini	þeinai	þeini	seini	seinai	seini
Plural	nom.	meini	meinai	meina	þeini	þeinai	þeina	seini	seinai	seina
	acc.	meinos	meinas	meina	þeinos	þeinas	þeina	seinos	seinas	seina
	dat.	meinom	meinam	meinom	þeinom	þeinam	þeinom	seinom	seinam	seinom
	gen.	meinoro	meinaro	meinoro	þeinoro	þeinaro	þeinoro	seinoro	seinaro	seinoro

Possessive pronouns of Standard Luthic

Number	Case	1st person singular			2st person singular			3rd person singular
		masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
Singular	nom.	unsar	unsara	unsarȯ	isvar	isvara	isvarȯ	seino	seina	seinȯ
	acc.	unsare	unsara	unsarȯ	isvare	isvara	isvarȯ	seinȯ	seina	seinȯ
	dat.	unsari	unsarȧ	unsarȧ	isvari	isvarȧ	isvarȧ	seinȧ	seinȧ	seinȧ
	gen.	unsari	unsarai	unsari	isvari	isvarai	isvari	seini	seinai	seini
Plural	nom.	unsari	unsarai	unsara	isvari	isvarai	isvara	seini	seinai	seina
	acc.	unsares	unsaras	unsara	isvares	isvaras	isvara	seinos	seinas	seina
	dat.	unsarivo	unsaram	unsarom	isvarivo	isvaram	isvarom	seinom	seinam	seinom
	gen.	unsarem	unsararo	unsaroro	isvarem	isvararo	isvaroro	seinoro	seinaro	seinoro

The pronouns unsar, isvar have an irregular declension, being declined like an unmarked adjective in the masculine gender and marked in the other genders. Every possessive pronoun is declined like an o-stem adjective for masculine and neuter gender, while its feminine counterpart is declined as an a-stem adjective

Interrogative and indefinite pronouns are indeclinable by case and number:

Interrogative pronouns of Standard Luthic

Interrogative pronouns	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
What	ce	ce	ce
Who	qo	qa	qȯ
Whom	ci	ci	ci
Which	carge	carge	carge
Whose	cogio	cogia	cogiȯ

Indefinite pronouns of Standard Luthic

Indefinite pronouns	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Each	caso	casa	casȯ
Every	cargiso	cargisa	cargisȯ
Whoever/Whatever	þecargiso	þecargisa	þecargisȯ

The relative pronoun ei is fully indeclinable, it is sometimes called “common relative particle”.

Luthic has a Proximal-Medial-Distal demonstrative system:

Demonstrative pronouns of Standard Luthic

Number	Case	Proximal			Medial			Distal
		masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
Singular	nom.	so	sa	þata	este	esta	estȯ	giaino	giaina	giainȯ
	acc.	þȯ	þa	þata	este	esta	estȯ	giainȯ	giaina	giainȯ
	dat.	þammo	þisai	þammo	esti	estȧ	estȧ	giainȧ	giainȧ	giainȧ
	gen.	þis	þisai	þis	estis	estai	esti	giaini	giainai	giaini
Plural	nom.	þi	þai	þa	esti	estai	esta	giaini	giainai	giaina
	acc.	þos	þas	þa	estes	estas	esta	giainos	giainas	giaina
	dat.	þom	þam	þom	estivo	estam	estom	giainom	giainam	giainom
	gen.	þisaro	þisara	þisaro	estem	estaro	estoro	giainoro	giainaro	giainoro

Articles

Luthic articles are used similarly to the English articles, a and the. However, they are declined differently according to the number, gender and case of their nouns.

Number	Case	Indefinite			Definite
		masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
Singular	nom.	aino	aina	ainȯ	il	la	lata, ata
	acc.	ainȯ	aina	ainȯ	lȯ	la	lata, ata
	dat.	ainȧ	ainȧ	ainȧ	lȧ	lȧ	lȧ
	gen.	aini	ainai	aini	ġli, i	ġli, i	ġli, i
Plural	nom.	aini	ainai	aina	ġli, i	lai	la
	acc.	ainos	ainas	aina	los	las	la
	dat.	ainom	ainam	ainom	lom	lam	lom
	gen.	ainoro	ainaro	ainoro	loro	loro	loro

Adjectives

In Luthic, an adjective can be placed before or after the noun. The unmarked placement for most adjectives is after the noun. Placing the adjective after the noun can alter its meaning or indicate restrictiveness of reference.

• Aino buoco rosso “a red book” (unmarked)
• Aino rosso buoco “a book that is red” (marked)

Adjectives are inflected for case, gender and number, the paradigmata are identical to the nominal paradigmata.

Number	Case	o-stem m	a-stem f	o-stem n	i-stem unm	r-stem unm
Singular	nom.	rosso	rossa	rossȯ	felice	polchar
	acc.	rossȯ	rossa	rossȯ	felice	polchare
	dat.	rossȧ	rossȧ	rossȧ	felici	polchari
	gen.	rossi	rossai	rossi	felici	polchari
Plural	nom.	rossi	rossai	rossa	felici	polchari
	acc.	rossos	rossas	rossa	felices	polchares
	dat.	rossom	rossam	rossom	felicivo	polcharivo
	gen.	rossoro	rossaro	rossoro	felicem	polcharem

Luthic has two grammatical constructions for expressing comparison: comparative and superlative. The suffixes -izo (the “comparative”) and -issimo (the “superlative”) are of Indo-European origin and are cognate with the Latin suffixes -ior and -issimus and Ancient Greek -ῑ́ων (-īōn) and -ῐστος (-istos). This system also contains a number of irregular forms, mainly because of suppletion.

Regular examples are:

• rosso “red” > rossizo “redder”
• rosso “red” > rossissimo “reddest”
• polchar “beautiful” > polcharizo “more beautiful”
• polchar “beautiful” > polcharissimo “most beautiful”

Irregular examples are:

• buono “good” > betizo “better”
• buono “good” > betissimo “best”
• malo “bad” > vairsizo “worse”
• malo “bad” > vairsissimo “worst”

Comparative

Number	Case	o-stem m	a-stem f	o-stem n
Singular	nom.	-izo	-iza	-izȯ
	acc.	-izȯ	-iza	-izȯ
	dat.	-izȧ	-izȧ	-izȧ
	gen.	-izi	-izai	-izi
Plural	nom.	-izi	-izai	-iza
	acc.	-izos	-izas	-iza
	dat.	-izom	-izam	-izom
	gen.	-izoro	-izaro	-izoro

Superlative

Number	Case	o-stem m	a-stem f	o-stem n
Singular	nom.	-issimo	-issima	-issimȯ
	acc.	-issimȯ	-issima	-issimȯ
	dat.	-issimȧ	-issimȧ	-issimȧ
	gen.	-issimi	-issimai	-issimi
Plural	nom.	-issimi	-issimai	-issima
	acc.	-issimos	-issimas	-issima
	dat.	-issimom	-issimam	-issimom
	gen.	-issimoro	-issimaro	-issimoro

Numerals

Standard Luthic numbers

#	Cardinal		Ordinal
	Word	Declension	Word	Declension
1	aino	o-stem adjective	fromo	o-stem adjetive
2	tvi	o-stem adjective, plurale tantum	anþar	r-stem adjetive
3	þreis	indeclinable	þrigiane	i-stem adjetive
4	fidvor	indeclinable	fidvorêsimo	o-stem adjective
5	fimfe	indeclinable	fimfêsimo	o-stem adjective
6	sê	indeclinable	sesto	o-stem adjective
7	siu	indeclinable	siudo	o-stem adjective
8	ahtau	indeclinable	ahtudo	o-stem adjective
9	niu	indeclinable	niudo	o-stem adjective
10	ziu	indeclinable	ziudo	o-stem adjective
11	aillefe	indeclinable	aillefto	o-stem adjective
12	tvelefe	indeclinable	tvelefto	o-stem adjective
13	þreiziu	indeclinable	þreiziudo	o-stem adjective
14	fidvorziu	indeclinable	fidvorziudo	o-stem adjective
15	fimfeziu	indeclinable	fimfeziudo	o-stem adjective
16	seziu	indeclinable	seziudo	o-stem adjective
17	setteziu	indeclinable	setteziudo	o-stem adjective
18	tvedivinta	indeclinable	tvedivintêsimo	o-stem adjective
19	aindivinta	indeclinable	aindivintêsimo	o-stem adjective
20	vinta	indeclinable	vintêsimo	o-stem adjective
28	tvediþreinta	indeclinable	tvediþreintêsimo	o-stem adjective
29	aindiþreinta	indeclinable	aindiþreintêsimo	o-stem adjective
30	þreinta	indeclinable	þreintêsimo	o-stem adjective
38	tvedifidvorinta	indeclinable	tvedifidvorintêsimo	o-stem adjective
39	aindifidvorinta	indeclinable	aindifidvorintêsimo	o-stem adjective
40	fidvorinta	indeclinable	fidvorintêsimo	o-stem adjective
50	fimfinta	indeclinable	fimfintêsimo	o-stem adjective
60	sessanta	indeclinable	sessantêsimo	o-stem adjective
70	siunta	indeclinable	siuntêsimo	o-stem adjective
80	ahtanta	indeclinable	ahtantêsimo	o-stem adjective
90	niunta	indeclinable	niuntêsimo	o-stem adjective
98	tvedihondo	o-stem adjective	tvedihondêsimo	o-stem adjective
99	aindihondo	o-stem adjective	aindihondêsimo	o-stem adjective
100	hondo	o-stem adjective	hondêsimo	o-stem adjective

• Adverbial numbers are formed together with the noun vece: aina vece “once”, tvai veci “twice”.
• Multiplier numbers are formed together with the noun falþo: aino falþo “single, onefold”, hondi falþi “centuple, hundredfold”. This noun was originally a suffix, compare Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍆𐌰𐌻𐌸𐍃 (ainfalþs), English onefold, Icelandic einfaldur.
• Distributive numbers are formed together with the adjective falþoleico: þreis falþoleici “triply”.
• Collective numbers are formed together with the adjective somo: tvelefe somi “dozen”.
• Fractional numbers are formed together with the adjective integro: fidvor integri “quarter”.

Standard Luthic large numbers

#	Cardinal		Ordinal
	Word	Declension	Word	Declension
200	tvihondi α	o-stem adjective, plurale tantum	tvihondêsimo β	o-stem adjective
500	fimfehondi γ	o-stem adjective, plurale tantum	fimfehondêsimo	o-stem adjective
1 000	mille	i-stem	millêsimo	o-stem adjective
2 000	tvimilli α	i-stem adjective, plurale tantum	tvimillêsimo β	o-stem adjective
5 000	fimfemilli γ	i-stem adjective, plurale tantum	fimfemillêsimo	o-stem adjective
10 000	ziumilli γ	i-stem adjective, plurale tantum	ziumillêsimo	o-stem adjective
20 000	vintamilli γ	i-stem adjective, plurale tantum	vintamillêsimo	o-stem adjective
50 000	fimfintamilli γ	i-stem adjective, plurale tantum	fimfintamillêsimo	o-stem adjective
100 000	hondimilli α	i-stem adjective, plurale tantum	hondimillêsimo β	o-stem adjective
200 000	tvihondimilli δ	i-stem adjective, plurale tantum	tvihondimillêsimo β	o-stem adjective
500 000	fimfehondimilli ε	i-stem adjective, plurale tantum	fimfehondimillêsimo β	o-stem adjective
106	millione	i-stem adjective	millionêsimo	o-stem adjective
2 x 106	tvimillioni α	i-stem adjective, plurale tantum	tvimillionêsimo β	o-stem adjective
109	milliarde	i-stem adjective	milliardêsimo	o-stem adjective
1012	billione	i-stem adjective	billionêsimo	o-stem adjective
1015	billiarde	i-stem adjective	billiardêsimo	o-stem adjective
1019	trillione	i-stem adjective	trillionêsimo	o-stem adjective

^α Both elements are declinable, e.g. tvaihondai, tvahonda;

^β Only the last element is declinable, e.g. tvihondêsima, tvihondêsimoro;

^γ The first element is indeclinable;

^δ All the three elements are declinable, e.g. tvarohondaromillem, tvoshondosmilles;

^ε Only the two last elements are declinable, e.g. fimfehondommillivo.

Luthic uses the long scale, unlike English that uses the short scale instead. The long and short scales are two of several naming systems for integer powers of ten which use some of the same terms for different magnitudes. Luthic has a verbal system similar to Italian, German, Dutch and French:

Short and long scale usage throughout the world

  Long scale

  Short scale

  Short scale with milliard instead of billion

  Both scales

  Other naming system

  No data

	Luthic	Italian	German	Dutch	French	English
106	millione	milione	Million	miljoen	million	million
109	milliarde	miliardo	Milliarde	miljard	milliard	billion
1012	billione	bilione	Billion	biljoen	billion	trillion

Combinations of a decade and a unit are constructed in a regular way: the decade comes first followed by the unit. No spaces are written between them. Vowel collision triggers an interpunct. For example:

• 28 vinta·ahtau (lit “twenty eight”)
• 73 siuntaþreis (lit “seventy three”)
• 82 ahtantatvi (lit “eighty two”)
• 95 niuntafimfe (lit “ninety five”)

Combinations of a hundred and a lower number are expressed by just placing them together, with the hundred coming first.

• 111 hondoaillefe
• 164 hondosessantafidvor
• 225 tvihondivintafimfe
• 788 siuhondi·ahtanta·ahtau

Combinations of a thousand and a lower number are expressed by placing them together, with the thousand coming first. A space is written between them.

• 1 066 mille sessantasê
• 9 011 niumilli aillefe
• 61 500 sessanta·ainomilli fimfehondi
• 123 456 hondivintaþreismilli fidvorhondifimfintasê

For millions and above, combinations with lower numbers are much the same as with the thousands.

• 123 456 789 hondivintaþreis millioni fidvorhondifimfintasêhondi siuhondiniunta·ahtau
• 10 987 654 321 ziu milliardi niuhondi·ahtantasiumillioni sehondifimfintafidvorhondi þreishondivinta·aino

When alone, numbers are always in the masculine gender, however numbers always agree in gender and in case (if declinable) with the head noun. For example:

• aino vaire (“one man”)
• aina qena (“one woman”)
• aino harge hondom vairivo (“an army [composed] of hundred men”)
• il meino hareme hâþ tvashondas qenas (“my harem has two hundred women”)

Compound numbers have both elements declined (if possible):

tvihondi, tvaihondai, tvahonda

Number	Case	o-stem m	a-stem f	o-stem n
Plural	nom.	tvihondi	tvaihondai	tvahonda
	acc.	tvoshondos	tvashondas	tvahonda
	dat.	tvomhondom	tvamhondam	tvomhondom
	gen.	tvorohondoro	tvarohondaro	tvorohondoro

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