Chelsian

Chelsian (Native: čelsa linga /ˈtɕɛɫsa ˈlʲɪŋɡɐ/, čelsōrų linga /tɕɛɫˈsoːruː ˈlʲɪŋɡɐ/) is a highly conservative Romance language with Baltic influence.

Chelsian
čelsōrų linga
Pronunciation	[tɕɛɫˈsoːruː ˈlʲɪŋɡɐ]
Created by	Shariifka
Language family	Indo-European Romance Chelsian
Early forms	Classical Latin Middle Chelsian

Introduction

Etymology

From Latin celsus.

Features

Phonological

• Preserves original vowel length and quality.
• Preserved long nasal vowels into its recent history, then merged them with plain long vowels (but they are kept distinct in writing).
• Original velars became alveolar/dental fricatives/affricates before /i/ and postalveolar fricatives/affricates before /e/.
  • This is because palatalization before /i/ and before /e/ occurred separately at different times.
• Original labiovelars became plain velars in all positions.
• Innovated hard/soft consonant distinction.
• Glide v- inserted before word-initial o- (long or short).
• Glide j- inserted before word-initial e- and i- (long or short).
• Original au preserved as a diphthong.
• Original ae merged with long e in most cases, but was kept distinct in 1st declension noun inflectional endings (later merged in pronunciation but without palatalization).
  • This may have actually been through an intermediate phase -āī rather than descending directly from Classical Latin -ae.
• Original oe merged with long e in all cases.

Grammatical

• Preserves case inflection.
• No articles.
• Modifier precedes noun.

Phonology

Orthography

Vowels

Grapheme	Sound (IPA)	Remarks
a	[ɐ]
ā	[äː]
ą
e	[ɛ ~ e̞]	[ɛ] before hard consonants. [e̞] before soft consonants and word-finally.
ē	[æː ~ ɛː ~ eː]	[æː] before hard consonants. [ɛː] before soft consonants. [eː] word-finally.
ę
æ
i	[ɪ]	/jɪ/ word-initially.
ī	[iː]	/jiː/ word-initially.
į
o	[ɔ]
ō	[oː]
ǫ
u	[ʊ]
ū	[uː]
ų
y	[ɪ]	Used to represent unpalatalized /ɪ/ and /iː/ in loanwords (especially word-initially).
ȳ	[iː]

Diphthongs

Grapheme	Sound (IPA)	Remarks
ai	[äɪ̯]
au	[ɐʊ̯]
eu	[e̞ʊ̯]

Consonants

Grapheme	Sound (IPA)
	Hard	Soft
b	b	bʲ
c	t̪͡s̪	t͡sʲ
č	t͡ʃ	t͡ɕ
ch	x	xʲ
d	d̪	dʲ
dz	d̪͡z̪	d͡zʲ
dž	d͡ʒ	d͡ʑ
f	f	fʲ
g	ɡ	ɡʲ
h	ɦ	ɣʲ
j	—	j
k	k	kʲ
l	ɫ	lʲ
m	m	mʲ
n	n̪	nʲ
p	p	pʲ
r	r	rʲ
s	s̪	sʲ
š	ʃ	ɕ
t	t̪	tʲ
v	ʋ	vʲ
z	z̪	zʲ
ž	ʒ	ʑ

Consonants are always palatalized (soft) before ⟨e, ē, ę, i, ī, į⟩. Before ⟨a, ā, ą, æ, o, ō, ǫ, u, ū, ų⟩, palatalization is denoted by inserting an ⟨i⟩ between the consonant and the vowel.

Uniquely, ⟨j⟩ is always palatalized regardless of position.

Prosody

Stress

Stress generally follows Classical Latin rules.

Morphology

Nouns

First declension

1st declension endings

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	-a	-æ
genitive	-æ	-ārų
dative	-æ	-āvīs
accusative	-ą	-ās
locative	-ā	-āvīs
vocative	-a	-æ

Second declension

2nd declension endings

Case	Singular		Plural
	m.	n.	m.	n.
nominative	-(i)us	-(i)ų	-ī	-(i)a
genitive	-ī		-(i)ōrų
dative	-(i)ō		-īs
accusative	-(i)ų		-(i)ōs	-(i)a
locative	-(i)ō		-īs
vocative	-e	-(i)ų	-ī	-(i)a

Third declension

3rd declension endings

Case	Singular		Plural
	m./f.	n.	m./f.	n.
nominative	(various)		-ēs	-(i)a
genitive	-is		-(i)ų
dative	-ī		-ivīs
accusative	-ę	(same as nom.)	-ēs	-(i)a
locative	-e		-ivīs
vocative	(same as nom.)		-ēs	-(i)a

Fourth declension

4th declension endings

Case	Singular		Plural
	m./f.	n.	m./f.	n.
nominative	-us	-ū	-ūs	-uva
genitive	-uvis, -ūs		-uvų, -ų
dative	-uvī, -ui		-uvīs
accusative	-ų	-ū	-ūs	-uva
locative	-ū		-uvīs
vocative	-us	-ū	-ūs	-uva

Fifth declension

4th declension endings

Case	Singular	Plural
	m./f.	m./f.
nominative	-ēs	-ēs
genitive	-ei	-ērų
dative	-ei	-ēvīs
accusative	-ę	-ēs
locative	-ē	-ēvīs
vocative	-ēs	-ēs

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Note: The cases have been reordered for convenience, since nominative & accusative forms are often identical as are dative & locative. The vocative has been excluded since it is always identical to the nominative.

Personal pronouns

Person	Number	Gender	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative
1	sg.	all	jehō	mē	mejus, -a, -ų	mivī
	pl.	all	nōs		nostrus, -a, -ų	nōvīs
2	sg.	all	tū	tē	tuvus, -a, -ų	tivī
	pl.	all	vōs		vostrus, -a, -ų	vōvīs
3	sg.	m.	isse	issų	issījus, -a, -ų	issui	issī
		f.	issa	issą	issējus, -a, -ų	issei	issæ
		n.	issut		issījus, -a, -ų	issui	issī
	pl.	m.	issī	issōs	issōrus, -a, -ų	issīs
		f.	issæ	issās	issārus, -a, -ų	issāvīs
		n.	issa		issōrus, -a, -ų	issīs
Reflexive		all	–	sē	suvus, -a, -ų	sivī

Verbs

Verbs are split into four conjugations that can be identified by their present active infinitive endings:

• 1st conjugation: -āre
• 2nd conjugation: -ēre
• 3rd conjugation: -ere
• 4th conjugation: -īre

Principal parts

The full conjugation of most verbs (except some irregular verbs such as essere "to be") can be derived from their principal parts.

The principle parts are:

• 1st person singular present indicative - from which the secondary present stem is derived
• Present active infinitive - from which the primary present stem is derived
• 1st person singular preterite - from which the perfect stem is derived
• Supine - from which the supine stem is derived

Forms based on the present stem

The present stem is obtained by removing the infinitive ending (-(i)āre, -ēre, -ere, or -īre) from the second principal part and (in the case of the first conjugation) maintaining its hardness/softness.

Many verbs in the second to fourth conjugations have a secondary present stem distinct from the primary present stem. This is obtained by removing -(i)ō from the first principal part and maintaining its hardness/softness.

Non-finite forms based on the present stem

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
Present active infinitive	-(i)āre	-ēre	-ere	-īre
Present active participle	-(i)ąs, -(i)antis, -(i)antių	-ęs, -entis, -entių¹
Future passive participle	-(i)andus, -a, -ų	-endus, -a, -ų¹

Notes:

¹ Uses the secondary present stem (if applicable).

Finite tenses based on the present stem

Person/ number	Present indicative				Present subjunctive				Imperfect indicative				Imperfect subjunctive
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
1S	-(i)ō	-(i)ō¹			-ę	-(i)ą¹			-(i)āvą	-ēvą¹			-(i)ārę	-ērę	-erę	-īrę
2S	-(i)ās	-ēs	-is	-īs	-ēs	-(i)ās¹			-āvās	-ēvās¹			-(i)ārēs	-ērēs	-erēs	-īrēs
3S	-(i)at	-et	-it	-it	-et	-(i)at¹			-āvat	-ēvat¹			-(i)āret	-ēret	-eret	-īret
1P	-(i)āmus	-ēmus	-imus	-īmus	-ēmus	-(i)āmus¹			-āvāmus	-ēvāmus¹			-(i)ārēmus	-ērēmus	-erēmus	-īrēmus
2P	-(i)ātis	-ētis	-itis	-ītis	-ētis	-(i)ātis¹			-āvātis	-ēvātis¹			-(i)ārētis	-ērētis	-erētis	-īrētis
3P	-(i)ant	-ent	-(i)unt¹	-(i)unt¹	-ent	-(i)ant¹			-āvant	-ēvant¹			-(i)ārent	-ērent	-erent	-īrent

Notes:

¹ Uses the secondary present stem (if applicable).

Example Texts

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1)

Tōtī vominēs naščunt līverī jet jekālēs in dinnitāte jet jūrivīs. Sunt dōtātī dē rācōne jet kǫscencæ, jet dēviunt ažere inter sē in frāternitātis spīritī.

[ˈtoːtʲiː ˈʋɔmʲɪnʲæːs ˈnɐʃtʃʊnt ˈlʲiːvʲɛrʲiː jɛt jɛˈkaːlʲæːs jɪn dʲɪnʲːɪˈtaːtʲe̞ jɛt ˈjuːrʲɪvʲiːs ‖ sʊnt doːˈtaːtʲiː dʲeː raːˈtsoːnʲɛ jɛt koːˈstsʲɛnʲtseː | jɛt dʲɛːvʲʊnt ˈɐʑe̞rʲe̞ ˈjɪnʲtʲɛr sʲeː jɪn fraːtʲɛrʲnʲɪˈtaːtʲɪs ˈsʲpʲiːrʲɪtʲiː]