Alfinu

Alfinu
Alfinu
Pronunciation	[[Help:IPA|ˈalfinu]]
Created by	–
Native speakers	- (2014)
Language family	Indo-European Italic Romance Alfinu
Early form	Old Alfinu (?)

Alfinu is a romance languages spoken in the Alps. It is a rather conservative language since it retains four cases and three genders, unlike most other Romance languages. Its phonology is also rather conservative - the most notable dinstinction is the lack of Romance palatalisations since only the first palatalisation applies (a feature shared with Sardinian) and vowel changes, but there are several peculiar phonological innovations. Another feature shared with Sardinian are the Alfinu definite articles: they are derived from Latin ipse rather than ille as it's the case with other Romance languages.

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m		n
Plosive	p b		t d			k g
Fricative		f v	s z	(ʃ ʒ)?
Affricate			t͡s d͡z	t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
Approximant					j	w
Trill			r
Lateral app.			l

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Close-mid	e	o
Open	a

Grammar

Articles

Alfinu has both definite and indefinite articles. Both are inflected for number and gender, as well as case. The indefinite articles are derived from Latin ūnus and the definite articles are derived from Latin ipse, similar to Sardinian but unlike all other Romance languages. The articles are also often shortened when followed by a word beginning in a vowel. The definite articles also combine with prepositions, similar to the Italian system.

Definite articles
Case	Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	se	sa	su	si	se	sa
Accusative	su			soi	sai
Genitive	si			sor	sar	sor
Dative	so			sii

Indefinite articles
Case	Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	unu	una	unu	uni	une	una
Accusative				unoi	unai
Genitive	uni			unor	unar	unor
Dative	uno			unii

Prepositional articles
Preposition	Case	Forms
in	dative	niro; nirii
	accusative	niru, nira; niroi, nirai, nira
a	dative	aro; arii
	accusative	aru, ara; aroi, arai, ara
de	genitive	deri; deror, derar
dia	genitive	diari; diaror, diarar
cu(n)	dative	curo; curii
su	dative	suro; surii

Nouns

Nouns in Alfinu belong to one of the three genders preserved from Latin: masculine, feminine, and neuter. There are also four cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative. Nomiantive and accusative are almost always the same, in both singular and plural. Genitive and dative forms have been generalised and regularised. While the system is fairly conservative compared to other Romance languages, there is a high level of syncretism across all forms.

Declensions

First declension
Case	Feminine and masculine
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-a	-e
Accusative		-ai
Genitive	-e	-ar
Dative		-ii

Second declension
Case	Masculine and neuter
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-u/-iui-stem	-im	-an/-ian i-stem
Accusative		-oim/-ioim i-stem
Genitive	-i	-or/-iori-stem
Dative	-o/-ioi-stem	-ii

Third declension
Case	Masculine, feminine, neuter
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-e	-eim; f i-stem -an/-ian i-stem
Accusative
Genitive	-i	-urm/n/-iuri-stem
Dative	-om/n/-ioi-stem	-ii

Fourth declension
Case	Masculine, feminine, neuter
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-u	-im/f/-ui?	-uan
Accusative		-oim/f
Genitive	-i	-ur
Dative	-o	-ii

Fifth declension
Case	Masculine and feminine
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-ie/-e	-iei/-ei
Accusative
Genitive	-iei/-ei	-ier/er
Dative	-io/-o	-ii

Adjectives

Adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number, and case. There are two adjectival declensions, akin to those of Latin: the first/second declension and the third declension.

Adjectival declension
Case	First and second declension				Third declension
	Singular		Plural		Singular	Plural
Nominative	-um/n/-af		-im/-ef	-an	-e	-eim/f/-ian
Accusative			-oim/-aif
Genitive1	-im/n	-ef	-orm/n/-arf		-i	-iur
Dative	-om/n		-ii		-io	-ii

¹—A small number of irregular adjectives have the ending -ui in genitive singular for all three genders.