Valtamic

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Valtamic
Äljämhar, Аьляьмхар
Flag of the Republic of Valtamia.png
Flag of the Republic of Valtamia
Pronunciation[ˈæˑʎɛm̥ˌχʌɾ̥]
Created byVrianne
Date2024
SettingAlt-History Baltic
Native toValtamia
EthnicityValtamian, Livonian
Early forms
Standard form
Standard Valtamic (--)
Dialects
  • Northern Valtamic (--)
  • Southern Valtamic (--)
  • Eastern Valtamic (--)
  • Insular Valtamic (--)
Official status
Official language in
Valtamia
Recognised minority
language in
Map of Valtamic speakers.png
Map of areas where Vlatamic is spoken
  ...as a majority language
  ...as a minority language
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Valtamic (endonym: äljämhor lïcür [ˈæˑʎɛm̥ˌχɔ̞ɾ̥ ˈʎiˑ(t)s̪ʏɾ̥]), also known as Livonian, is an Italic language belonging to the Indo-European language family. It is spoken mostly in the Republic of Valtamia, wherein it is recognized as the official language, located within the Baltic. It is also the only continuously surviving member of the Italic language family, as well as being one of the two only non-extinct Italic languages, along with Latin.

Classification

Valtamic belongs to the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family, along with Latin and other extinct languages such as Faliscan, Oscan, and Umbrian. It is not to be mis-classified as a Romance language, due to its relation with Latin.

Comparison with Romance languages

Due to Valtamic being the only continuously surviving Italic language, it may be erroneously grouped with the Romance languages, which are directly descended from Vulgar Latin, as opposed to Valtamic being directly descended from Proto-Italic. Even though, evolutionarily, Valtamic much older and more conservative than modern Romance languages, its evolutionary path made quite different from even Classical Latin.

English translation Latin Romance Valtamic
French Italian Spanish Romanian
one ūnus un uno unu ljar
to eat edō, mandūcō manger mangiare comer mânca ṡëmëco
to know sciō, sapiō savoir sapere saber ști hnejo
to be familiar with cognōscō connaître conoscere conocer cunoaște
to hear audiō entendre udire oír auzi ozjo
language lingua langue lingua lengua, idioma limbă ljicür, tämva
cow vacca vache vacca, mucca vaca vacă aha
sheep ovis mouton pecora carnero, oveja oaie banar, ġüny
happy laetus, fēlīx heureux felice feliz fericit ilür
small parvus, paulus petit piccolo pequeño mic folër
all omnēs tous tutto todos tot mür

History

Etymology

The English exonym Valtamic is a loan from Latin Vāltamicus ("Valtamic; Livonian"), with the most likely source being from Proto-Valtamic *βältämu, from *βältä ("strange") + *ämu ("man, human"), a theorized calque of a Finnic exonym. Nearly all European languages follow with loaning the Latin exonym, such as German Waltamisch, French Valtamien, and Russian Валтамский (Valtamskij).

The native endonym Äljämhar is unrelated to the Latin exonym, instead coming from Proto-Valtamic *βärjämu, from *βäre ("foreign") + *ämu ("man, human"), + Modern Valtamic -har (adjective-nominalizing suffix) , with unexplained loss of the initial . It's also a theorized calque of another Finnic exonym.

Proto-Valtamic

Modern Valtamic

Phonology

Vowels

Standardized vowel phonemes of Valtamic
Front Central Back
Unrounded Rounded Unrounded Rounded
Close i y ɨ ɯ u
Mid e ɤ o (ɔ)1
Open æ ɑ
  • /ɔ/ only exists due to vowel harmony and isn't recognized as phonemic in it's own right. Its pronunciation can range from [ɒ] to [ɔ].

Phonemically, there exist 10–11 contrasting phones. In practice though, vowels are slightly lengthened [◌ˑ] when stressed and experience slight reduction when unstressed, either lowering or centralizing.

Vowel phones of Valtamic
Front Central Back
Unrounded Rounded Unrounded Rounded
Stressed Unstressed Stressed Unstressed Stressed Unstressed Stressed Unstressed Stressed Unstressed
Close [i(ˑ)] [ɪ] [y(ˑ)] [ʏ] [ɨ(ˑ)] [ᵻ] [ɯ(ˑ)] [ω] [u(ˑ)] [ʊ]
Mid [e̞(ˑ)] [ɛ] [ɤ̞(ˑ)] [ɜ] [o̞(ˑ)] [ɔ]
Open [æ(ˑ)] [ɑ̝(ˑ)] [ʌ] [ɔ̞]
  • [ᵻ ω] are unused IPA symbols representing near-close [ɪ̈ ɯ̽].
  • Back [ɑ̝(ˑ) ɤ̞(ˑ) o̞(ˑ) ɯ(ˑ) u(ˑ)] [ʌ ɜ ɔ ω ʊ ɔ̞] become central [ä̝(ˑ) ɘ̞(ˑ) ɵ̞(ˑ) ɨ(ˑ) ʉ(ˑ)] [ɐ ɜ ɞ ᵻ ᵿ ɐ] in the presence of a palatal consonant.
  • Unstressed [ᵻ] may alternatively be pronounced as central [ə].
  • Stressed [ɤ̞(ˑ)] may alternatively be pronounced as front [ø̞ˑ], even though it messes with the harmony of inflectional endings.
  • Unstressed [ɜ] may alternatively be pronounced as central [ə], merged with [ʌ], or (in the case of stressed [ø̞ˑ]) front [œ].
  • Stress-pairs [æ(ˑ) ɛ] [ɑ̝(ˑ) ʌ] may alternatively be pronounced as true open [æ̞(ˑ) ɛ̞] [ɑ(ˑ) ʌ̞].

Consonants

Standardized consonant phonemes of Valtamic
Labial Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n (ɳ) ɲ (ŋ)
Polsive Voiceless p t k
Voiced b d ɡ
Fricative Voiceless f θ s ʂ ɕ x ɦ
Voiced v (z) ʐ ~ ʑ
Affricate Voiceless t͡s t͡ʂ ~ t͡ɕ
Voiced (d͡z) (d͡ʐ ~ d͡ʑ)
Trill/Tap r
Lateral l ʎ
Non-lateral approximant j w
  • /m n ɲ r l ʎ/ become devoiced [m̥ n̥ ɲ̊ ɾ̥ l̥ ʎ̥] syllable-finally.
  • [ŋ ɳ] are allophones of /n/ near velar and retroflex consonants respectively.
  • /t l/ are pronounced as dental [t̪ l̪] while /n d/ as true alveolar [n d].
  • /f v/ are pronounced as approximants [ʋ̊ ʋ].
  • /θ/ only appears in the cluster ⟨tr⟩ /θr/.
  • /s/ is pronounced as apical/retracted [s̺] while /t͡s/, like /t/, is pronounced as dental/laminal [t̪͡s̪]. /t͡s/ de-affricates when unstressed and non-initial, giving rise to an apical/laminal distinction [s̺] [s̻] in unstressed syllables, as seen in words like ⟨uhsoucuh⟩ /ˈɯxsut͡sɯx/ [ˈɯˑχs̺ʊˌs̪ωχ].
  • /z/ appears in modern loanwords but is, in practice, in free variation with /ɕ/.
  • /x l w/ are pronounced as [χ ɫ w] near back vowels and [x̟ l ɥ] near front vowels.
  • /r/ is pronounced as a tap [ɾ] in most dialects.

Orthographies

Latin alphabet

Modern Valtamic employs the Latin alphabet, with the added vowel letters ä, ë, ï, ö, and ü and the extra consonant letters ċ, ġ, ľ, , , and ż. Prior to the post-Soviet spelling reform, various polish-adjacent digraphs, such as cz, ch, sz, etc. were used instead. The current orthography employs only three native digraphs, those being ou, lj, and nj.

Vowels
Grapheme Sound (IPA) Pre-Soviet spellings
Stressed Unstressed
a [ɑ̝(ˑ)] [ʌ]
ä [æ(ˑ)] [ɛ] a, æ, e, ě
e [e̞(ˑ)]
ë [ɤ̞(ˑ)] [ɜ] ö, ø, œ
i [i(ˑ)] [ɪ]
ï [ji(ˑ)] [jɪ] ji
o [o̞(ˑ)] [ɔ] or [ɔ̞] [a]
ö [y(ˑ)] ~ [e̞(ˑ)] ~ [ɤ̞(ˑ)] [b] [ʏ] ~ [ɛ] ~ [ɜ] [b]
ou [u(ˑ)] [ʊ] u
u [ɯ(ˑ)] [ω]
ü [y(ˑ)] [ʏ] ᵫ, y, u
y [ɨ(ˑ)] [ᵻ] i, u

[a] depending on vowel harmony

[b] non-native and restricted to loanwords

Consonants
Grapheme Sound (IPA) Pre-Soviet spellings Grapheme Sound (IPA) Pre-Soviet spellings
b [b] m [m]
c [t̪͡s̪] ts, tz n [n]
ċ [t͡ʂ] ~ [t͡ɕ] cz, tsj, tzj nj [d] [ɲ]
d [d] [d]
dz [c] [d͡z] p [p]
[c] [d͡ʐ] ~ [d͡ʑ] dzs, dj q [c] [k]
f [ʋ̊] r [ɾ]
g [ɡ] s [s̺]
ġ [ɦ] h, gh, vh [ʂ] sz, sj
h [x] ch t [t̪]
j [j] v [ʋ] w
k [k] w [w] u
l [l̪] x [c] [ks̺]
lj [d] [ʎ] z [ɕ] or [z] [e]
ľ [d] ż [ʐ] ~ [ʑ] zs, zj

[c] non-native and restricted to loanwords

[d] ľ and are only used word-finally like in ⟨veľ⟩ and ⟨terleṅ⟩.

[e] see phonology

Russian Cyrillic alphabet

During Soviet occupation, a Cyrillic orthography was created and is still in use by Valtamic communities in Russia

Vowels
Grapheme Sound (IPA) Grapheme Sound (IPA)
Stressed Unstressed Stressed Unstressed
а [ɑ̝(ˑ)] [ʌ] ө [ɤ̞(ˑ)] [ɜ]
ә [æ(ˑ)] [ɛ] у [ɯ(ˑ)] [ω]
е [je̞(ˑ)] [jɛ] ӱ [wɯ(ˑ)] [wω]
ё [jɵ̞(ˑ)] [jɞ] or [jɐ] ү [y(ˑ)] [ʏ]
и [i(ˑ)] [ɪ] ы [ɨ(ˑ)] [ᵻ]
ї [ji(ˑ)] [jɪ] э [e̞(ˑ)] [ɛ]
о [o̞(ˑ)] [ɔ] or [ɔ̞] ю [jɨ(ˑ)] or [jʉ(ˑ)] [jᵻ] or [jᵿ]
оу [u(ˑ)] [ʊ] я [jä̝(ˑ)] [jɐ]
Consonants
Grapheme Sound (IPA) Grapheme Sound (IPA)
б [b] н [n]
в [ʋ] нь [ɲ]
г [ɡ] п [p]
д [d] р [ɾ]
дз [a] [d͡z] с [s̺]
дж [a] [d͡ʐ] ~ [d͡ʑ] т [t̪]
ж [ʐ] ~ [ʑ] ў [w]
з [ɕ] or [z] [b] ф [ʋ̊]
һ [ɦ] х [x]
й [j] ц [t̪͡s̪]
к [k] ч [t͡ʂ] ~ [t͡ɕ]
л [l̪] ш [ʂ]
ль [ʎ] щ [a] [ɕ] or [z] [b]
м [m]

[a] non-native and restricted to loanwords

[b] see phonology

Grammar

Vowel harmony

Valtamic exhibits simple vowel height harmony, with high, middle, and low vowels. It has no neutral vowels, apart from ö, though it is grammatically classified as a middle vowel.

High i ü y u ou
Middle e ë o
Low ä a

Loanwords that do not conform to vowel harmony inflect based on the final vowel of their lemma forms:

...though with derivational suffixes that delete the final syllable of a lemma, they inflect based on the penultimate vowel instead:

  • diktätër + -cer → diktäcär → diktäcäm (accusative)
  • maṡyna + -elër → maṡynilur → maṡynilunu (essive)

Affixes also obey vowel harmony, with the general dictionary forms of affixes being the middle harmonic form.

Nominals

Nominals decline for one of 12 cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, lative, locative, separative, essive, translative, privative, comitative, and instrumental), with nouns also declining for 2 numbers (singular and plural). The gender system completely collapsed in Valtamic, except in pronouns. This vacancy led to the innovation of an animacy system, with animate and inanimate nouns.

Nominals decline according to four declension paradigms: type-I, type-II, type-III, and regular paradigms.

Type-I nouns

This paradigm corresponds with the Proto-Italic o-stem & Latin 2nd declension. Nominals of this type are characterized as ending with -r, which changes throughout the paradigm. Mono-syllabic nominals of this type are known as true type-I nominals, since they exhibit vowel height alteration throughout the paradigm.

Type-I paradigm
tlour, "day" mëkër, "great"
Singular Plural
Nominative tlour tloun mëkër
Accusative tloum mëkëm
Genitive tlou tloum mëkë
Dative tlouľ tloul mëkëľ
Lative
"into"
tlouṅ tlounjuľ mëkë
Locative
"in, on, at, by..."
tl tloljoľ mëkëľ
Separative
"out of, away from"
tlout tloudul mëkët
Essive
as/in a certain state
tlounu tlounou mëkë
Translative
change of/into a state
tloc tlo mëkëc
Privative
"without, absence of"
tlodek tlodok mëkëdek
Comitative
"with, alongside"
tlonek tlonok mëkënek
Instrumental
"with, using"
tlounouj tlounoumi mëkënoj

Type-II nouns

This paradigm corresponds with the Proto-Italic ā- & u-stems & Latin 1st & 4th declensions. Most nominals of this type end with a vowel, which changes throughout the paradigm. There has also been an increase in declining Type-II nominals according to the regular paradigm instead of the type-II paradigm.

Type-II paradigm
ṡynu, "automobile" cäto, "prussian"
Singular Plural
Nominative ṡynu ṡynur cäto
Accusative ṡynum ṡynun cätom
Genitive ṡynur ṡynuzum cätor
Dative ṡynuľ ṡynul cätoľ
Lative
"into"
ṡynu ṡynunjuľ cäto
Locative
"in, on, at, by..."
ṡynuľ ṡynuljuľ cätoľ
Separative
"out of, away from"
ṡynut ṡynudul cätot
Essive
as/in a certain state
ṡynunu ṡynunou cätona
Translative
change of/into a state
ṡynuc ṡynucu cätoc
Privative
"without, absence of"
ṡynudik ṡynudouk cätodäk
Comitative
"with, alongside"
ṡynunik ṡynunouk cätonäk
Instrumental
"with, using"
ṡynuju ṡynuïmi cätoja

Type-III nouns

This paradigm corresponds with the Proto-Italic consonant-stems & Latin 3rd declension. Most nominals of this type exhibit stem alteration from the nominative singular.

Type-III paradigm
fëcel, "father" gel, "blond(e)"
Singular Plural
Nominative fëcel fëtrer gel
Accusative fëtrem fëtren gelwëm
Genitive fëtrer fëtrom gelwer
Dative fëtreľ fëtreġ / fëtrel [a] gelw
Lative
"into"
fëtre fëtrenjël / fëtrenjëľ [a] gelweṅ
Locative
"in, on, at, by..."
fëtre / fëtreľ [a] fëtreljëľ gelwe / gelw [a]
Separative
"out of, away from"
fëtret fëtredël gelwët
Essive
as/in a certain state
fëtrë / fëtrenu [a] fëtreno gelwë / gelwënë [a]
Translative
change of/into a state
fëtrec fëtre gelwëc
Privative
"without, absence of"
fëtredek fëtredok gelwëdek
Comitative
"with, alongside"
fëtrenek fëtrenok gelwënek
Instrumental
"with, using"
fëtrom fëtrome / fëtreme [a] gelwom

[a] Southern Valtamic variants

Regular nouns

Regular paradigm
tämrä, "girl" ljux, "delux"
Singular Plural
Nominative tämrä tämrär ljux
Accusative tämräm tämrän ljuxum
Genitive tämrär tämräm ljuxir
Dative tämräľ ljux
Lative
"into"
tämrä tämränjal ljuxiṅ
Locative
"in, on, at, by..."
tämräľ fëtreljaľ ljux
Separative
"out of, away from"
tämrät tämrädaľ ljuxut
Essive
as/in a certain state
tämräna tämränano ljuxunu
Translative
change of/into a state
tämräc tämräca ljuxuc
Privative
"without, absence of"
tämrädäk tämrädok ljuxudik
Comitative
"with, alongside"
tämränäk tämränok ljuxunik
Instrumental
"with, using"
tämräjo tämräjämä ljuxujou

Verbs

Regular Verbs constitute the vast majority of Valtamic verbs. Verbs generally conjugate for three persons (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), two numbers (singular and plural), three moods (indicative, subjunctive, and imperative), two voices (active and passive), three basic tenses (present, past, and future), each with two forms, one synthetic (simple) and one analytic using an auxiliary copula (perfect).

Regular verb conjugation
Infinitive Bare ruhülou ("to dance")
Auxiliary ruhüliṅ
Participle Present ruhülinin
Past ruhüliti
Indicative Singular Plural
First (äk) Second (our) Third (ü, ä, o) First (nour) Second (ġë) Third (i)
Active Present Simple ruhülou ruhülur ruhülus ruhülumur ruhülusur ruhüluns
Perfect äz ruhüliṅ är ruhüliṅ äc ruhüliṅ äräm ruhüliṅ ätlär ruhüliṅ räns ruhüliṅ
Past Simple ruhülim ruhülir ruhülit ruhülimir ruhülisir ruhülint
Perfect ruhüliṅ ut ruhüliṅ umur ruhüliṅ utlir ruhüliṅ uls ruhüliṅ
Future Simple ruhülimbun ruhülirbun ruhülibun ruhülisbun
Perfect hruṡ ruhüliṅ hrur ruhüliṅ hruṡum ruhüliṅ hruṡur ruhüliṅ hrubun ruhüliṅ
Passive Present Simple ruhüloul ruhülusul ruhülumul ruhülunsul
Perfect ultil ruhüliṅ ulcul ruhüliṅ ultimul ruhüliṅ ultinsul ruhüliṅ
Past Simple ruhülil ruhüliz ruhülisil ruhülimil ruhülimiṅ ruhülinsil
Perfect uljil ruhüliṅ utliz ruhüliṅ utlisil ruhüliṅ umil ruhüliṅ utlimiṅ ruhüliṅ ulsinsil ruhüliṅ
Future Simple ruhüliblun ruhülizblun ruhüliblun ruhülirmiṅ
Perfect ultiblun ruhüliṅ ultizbun ruhüliṅ ultisbun ruhüliṅ ultirmiṅ ruhüliṅ
Subjunctive Singular Plural
First (äk) Second (our) Third (ü, ä, o) First (nour) Second (ġë) Third (i)
Active Present Simple ruhüloum ruhülus ruhülut ruhülumut
Perfect ramom ruhüliṅ ramas ruhüliṅ ramam ruhüliṅ ramrat ruhüliṅ
Past Simple ruhülourum ruhülirir ruhülirit ruhülurunt
Perfect ramrom ruhüliṅ ramrär ruhüliṅ ramräm ruhüliṅ ramrant ruhüliṅ
Passive Present Simple ruhüluṡ ruhülounsur
Perfect ramaṡ ruhüliṅ ramonsar ruhüliṅ
Past Simple ruhülouroul ruhüliriz ruhülirisil ruhülurunsul
Perfect ramrol ruhüliṅ ramräz ruhüliṅ ramräsäl ruhüliṅ ramransal ruhüliṅ
Imperative Singular Plural
First (äk) Second (our) Third (ü, ä, o) First (nour) Second (ġë) Third (i)
Active ruhüli ruhülic
Passive ruhüliz ruhülimiṅ

Valtamic verbs have two different verbal infinitives:

  • the bare infinitive, which acts as the basic non-finite infinitive and dictionary form of a given verb. It can also be declined using the type-III paradigm with no stem alteration.
  • the auxiliary infinitive, which is an indeclinable verbal infinitive used specifically alongside auxiliary verbs.

Both infinitives are also separate from verbal nouns, which are in turn formed using different suffixes, those being:

  • -eľ, which generally forms abstract nouns. It declines using the type-III paradigm with no stem alteration.
  • -tlo, which generally forms concrete, physical, or material nouns. It declines using the type-III paradigm with the stem alteration -tlon-.

Vocabulary

Example text

See also