Atlantic/Older version

Atlantic
ondartigòr; ra nimba ondartigora
Pronunciation	[[Help:IPA|[[ɔndartiˈɡɔr], [ra ˈɲimba ɔndartiˈɡɔra]]]]
Created by	Lili21
Date	May 2018
Setting	Alt-Earth
Ethnicity	Atlantics (ondartigorot)
Native speakers	66,000,000 (2017)
Language family	Indo-European Italic Romance African Romance Atlantic
Official status
Official language in	Atlantic Provinces

Atlantic, also known as Atlantic Latin or Atlantic Romance, natively ondartigòr (ra nimba ondartigora) [ɔndartiˈɡɔr], [ra ˈɲimba ɔndartiˈɡɔra] is a Romance language spoken in an alternate history version of Earth in the Atlantic Provinces (Ondàrtigot [ɔnˈdartigot]), a country located in the northwestern corner of Africa. The country's name is a remnant of Roman history, when the area - including the Atlas Mountains as its main geographical feature - was divided in the provinces of Numidia, Mauretania Caesariensis, and Mauretania Tingitana.

It has various dialects, usually grouped in two main varieties called Mauritanian (muridoinens [muridɔˈɲens]), the one the standard is based on, and Numidian (numigens [numiˈzens] or [numiˈdzens]); some sources distinguish two further variants, Teneréïc (teneriens [teneˈʒens]) and Senegal Riparian (naia-uruminiens [ˌnæjæ.urumiˈɲens]); these two varieties are greatly influenced by the non-Romance languages they coexist with.

Diachronic development

Atlantic is part of its own branch among Romance languages, but shares many common features with Western Romance languages, notably Catalan.

The typical distinctive feature of Atlantic is its shifting of Vulgar Latin vowels which, while not completely unlike to how it developed in Sicilian, has a unique - and easily noticeable - change in having kept long and short /a/ distinct, with (Vulgar) Latin /aː/ being reflected as /o/. This is easily noted for example in all first conjugation verbs, as COMPROBĀRE > cumpuruò "to like" /kumpurˈwo/ or LV̄DITĀRE > nauuidò "to practice" /nau̯wiˈdo/.

Among mid vowels, the short ones were raised to /i u/ while the long ones remained /e o/, cf. TERRA > tira "land, earth, soil", FOCVM > fug "fire", RATIŌNEM > raçon "reason, cause", TRĒS > çet "three (m/f)".

Long vowels /iː uː/ were diphthongized to /ai̯ au̯/ when in open syllables, while they shortened and merged into /i u/ in other cases: LV̄NA > rauna "moon", VICĪNVM > uiçain "neighbour; close", MAURĪTĀNIAM > Muridonea "Mauritania", NV̄LLIFICĀRE > nuiifigò "to cancel, revoke". Latin /au̯/ had probably merged with /uː/ before, and shifted back to /au̯/ for the same reason, cf. AVRA > *ūra > aura "gold" (plurale tantum).

Short word-final vowels except for /a/ were lost as in Gallo-Romance, but in some words short vowels, usually /i/ or /u/, were later added again in order to break clusters; typically it was inserted into a -Cr cluster (CASTRVM > *castr > caistur "city", cf. CASTRA > caistra "cities") but after a -NC cluster (QVĪNQVE > *quingui > *pimb > pimbi "five"). /-ts/ (> /s/ today in most dialects) and /s/ + stop clusters were not changed, cf. LACTEM > *nasti > nast "milk". First-person singular verbs typically added /a/ to avoid difficult clusters, as in *ADOP(E)RŌ > *dubr > dubra "I use".

/l/ completely disappeared from the Vulgar Latin dialects that became Atlantic, often by dissimilation to /r/ before other consonants (cf. (PRŌVINCIĀS) ĀTLANTICĀS > *Ordanticot > Ondàrtigot), and usually by turning into /j/ (after back vowels or /a/) or /w/ (after front vowels), cf. CABALLVM > cauài "horse", MĪLLE > miu "thousand".
Word-initially, it most commonly turned into /n/ – cf. LINGVAM > nimba "language" – but if the word contained an onset nasal, then it turned into /r/, as in LV̄NA > rauna "moon". This is the origin of the two sets of definite articles used in Atlantic, with the usual forms being in and na, but with ir and ra being used if the word they attach to has a nasal in its first syllable (cf. na rauna "the moon" but ra nimba "the language"). Originally this only applied to the feminine article, and if the word had a nasal but in coda it didn't apply, but analogy has extended this to all cases (cf. ir ondartigòr "the Atlantic man").
/l/ changed this way also in the FL- initial cluster, where (just as in FR-) the initial /f/ became first an approximant /w/ and then got fully vocalized to /u/, giving ur- or un- in such words, like FLŌREM > */wnor/ > unòr /uˈnor/ "flower" or FLV̄MEN > */wrau̯m/ > uraum /uˈrau̯m/ "river". PL- and CR-, however, consistently became pr- and cr-, which means that /l/ got rhotacized there before it got lost in other places (cf. PLVVIAM > pruia "rain", ECCLĒSIAM > **ecclīsam > icraisa "church").
The -LI- cluster became a simple /j/, perhaps earlier */jj/, blocking the diphthongization of a preceding /uː iː/, as seen in the name of the Atlantic Provinces' second largest city, Iuia Uaìnça < IV̄LIAM VALENTIAM.

/l/ was later reintroduced into the language through Arabic loans and later Latin and Greek learned reborrowings – cf. luua "dialect" from Arabic لغة luḡa.

Atlantic palatalized /k ɡ/ as most Western Romance languages did, to /ts dz/; /ts/ also resulted from -TI- and -TR- (but not -STR-) clusters. These were later deaffricated to /s z/ in most dialects, but a few Numidian ones still retain the affricates. See RATIŌNEM > raçon "reason, cause" /raˈtson/ > /raˈson/, TRIA > cia "three (disj.)" /ˈtsi.a/ > /ˈsi.a/, GELĀRE > giuò "to freeze" /dziˈwo/ > /ziˈwo/. -DI- developed differently depending on whether it was followed by a front or by a non-front vowel. Before non-front vowels, the palatal element was lost so that it developed as regular intervocalic /d/ (see below); before front vowels, it palatalized to /dz/ much like -TI- did; cf. NVMIDIAM > *Numida > Numìua "Numidia" /nuˈmiwa/ and NVMIDIĒNSEM > numigens /numiˈdzens/ > /numiˈzens/ "Numidian".
As mentioned before, -S- blocked -TR- from shifting to /ts/; this /s/ was, in this environment, backed to /ʃ/, orthographically denoted by a preceding i, as in CASTRVM > *castr > */ˈkastur/ > càistur "city" /ˈkaʃtur/.

Intervocalic lenition of stops also follows the Western Romance pattern: unvoiced stops become voiced and voiced stops become fricatives, with original /d/ becoming */ð/ > /w/ and original /ɡ/ becoming */ɣ/ > /w/ or */ɣ/ > /j/ according to nearby vowels:

CAPERE > *cabi > cab "to make an effort to understand"

VĪTAM > uaida "life"

CRVCEM > *crugi > carug "cross"

QVOQVE > *pubi > pub "also"

CABALLVM > *caual > cauài "horse"

PEDEM > *piði > piu "foot" /piu̯/

FRIGIDVM > */wriɣiðu/ > */urijið/ > urìu "cold"

MAGVM > */maɣu/ > mau "nomad"

A preceding nasal prevented the consonant from being lenited, while a preceding /r/ or /l/ didn't, e.g. DIEM MARTIS > gimàrdit "Tuesday". /kt/ and /pt/ clusters were resolved by turning the backmost element to /s/, i.e. to /st/ and /ps/ respectively, see LACTEM > nast "milk"; APTVM > aps "ready".

VI- /wi/ was reduced to /j/ if a vowel followed, as e.g. in VIĀTICVM > iòdig "travel".
Sporadic posttonic syncope led to a range of newer clusters, which were often resolved through assimilation. For example, /mn/ assimilated to /nn/ and /nm/ to /mm/, as in FĒMINAM > *fēmna > fenna "woman"; ANIMAM > *anma > amma "person". Most modern dialects have further degeminated them (Senegal Riparian dialects are the main exception, as are a few ones in the Atlas valleys of Numidia), but they are still represented in the orthography.

Mauritanian palatalization

The so-called Mauritanian palatalization (palataligeoçon muridoinensa) is considered in Atlantic linguistics the main isogloss between Mauritanian and Numidian dialects; this change likely started in the 17th century and was successfully completed in the span of a few generations in the territories of Mauritania. Mauritanian palatalization, both progressive and regressive, was triggered by all instances of /j/, affecting nearby consonants (a very similar change before /i/ happened before and is reflected in all modern Atlantic dialects); the orthography still unambiguously reflects the situation as for a given word, Mauritanian dialects will have a palatalized consonant (not in the phonetic sense of "palatalized") while Numidian dialects will have /j/ and a "regular" consonant.
Mauritanian palatalization resulted in the following changes:

/t d/ > /tʃ dʒ/, cf. fuit "he was" (Mauritanian /futʃ/, Numidian /fui̯t/), nàidur "shore" (Maur. /ˈnadʒur/, Num. /ˈnai̯dur/).

/n/ > /ɲ/, cf. uiçain "neighbour" (Maur. /wiˈsaɲ/, Num. /wiˈsai̯n/).

/r/ > /ʒ/, cf. Uiolarea, capital city of the Atlantic Provinces (Maur. /ujoˈlaʒa/, Num. /ujoˈlarja/). This change also happened, as part of Mauritanian palatalization, before /i/; Numidian still has /r/ before /i/, cf. riduòi "ritual" Maur. /ʒiˈdwoi̯/, Num. /riˈdwoi̯/.

/s/ > /ʃ/, but /s/ from /ts/ was not affected (suggesting that deaffrication likely happened later), cf. fuist "you were" (Maur. /fuʃt/, Num. /fui̯st/), Asea "Asia" (Maur. /ˈaʃa/, Num. /ˈasja/).

/l/ > /ʎ/, cf. sail "flood" (Maur. /saʎ/, Num. /sai̯l/), Iulea, proper name (Maur. /ˈjuʎa/, Num. /ˈjulja/).

Morphology

Nouns

Atlantic nouns do not decline for case and are only inflected for number.

Grammatical gender is a pervasive feature of Atlantic morphology but, due to the loss of most final vowels, often there is no synchronic rule to determine the gender of the noun directly from its form; some particular word-forming suffixes are however always of the same gender, as for example the always feminine -odig (< -ĀTICVM; cf. na iodig "the journey", na curodig "courage"). Loss of Latin neuter and reassignment of those nouns to other genders often applied in different ways than in other Romance languages, so for example there's feminine ra nom "the name" (< NŌMEN) and na raum "the river" (< FLV̄MEN), and masculine it timpur "the time" (< reanalyzed nom/acc stem *temp-or, a regular development in Atlantic, see also in ginir "the type" < *gen-er, ir naidur "the shore" < *līt-or, in curbur "the body" < *corp-or).
Despite this, some feminine words not ending with -a in Latin were modified in order to end that way, a notable example being na uçora (< *uxōram < VXŌREM) "the wife".

Verbs

Example 1st conjugation verb: capsò "to get"

Person	Present	Imperfect	Past	Inferential Past	Future
1SG	caps	capsoua	fui capsont(a)	capsai	su capsadùr(a)
2SG	capsot	capsauot	fuist capsont(a)	capsoist	es capsadùr(a)
3SG	capsat	capsou	fuit capsont(a)	capsoit	ist capsadùr(a)
1PL	capsòm	capsauom	fuim capsontet/-ot	capsouim	sum capsadurot
2PL	capsòç	capsauaç	fuiç capsontet/-ot	capsouiç	sest capsadurot
3PL	capsant	capsouant	fuirunt capsontet/-ot	capserunt	sunt capsadurot
Active participles	capsont	–			capsadùr
Passive participles	–		capsod		capsand

To be

As common among Romance languages, "to be" is irregular in Atlantic. Like in Iberian Romance, some forms were taken from the conjugation of SEDEŌ "to sit" (with a new, stative verb *SEDITŌ being developed for that meaning); however, there is only one copulative verb, without the general Iberian distinction between essence and state: siuè /ʃiˈwe/ is used for both. However, there are two forms of the future: the one with the sisùr participle (< SESSV̄RVM) is used when the meaning is "to be in a place", while the fudùr (< FVTV̄RVM) is used in all other cases, cf.:

sambad i giumiga su sisùr imb Urumbi. "On Saturday and Sunday I'll be in Volubilis."

su fudùr auna istei! "I will be a star!"

siuè "to be"

Person	Present	Imperfect	Past	Future
1SG	su	ira	fui	su fudùr(a) su sisùr(a)
2SG	es	irot	fuist	es fudùr(a) es sisùr(a)
3SG	ist	irat	fuit	ist fudùr(a) ist sisùr(a)
1PL	sum	irom	fuim	sum fudurot sum sisurot
2PL	sest	iroç	fuiç	sest fudurot sest sisurot
3PL	sunt	irant	fuirunt	sunt fudurot sunt sisurot
Participles	siuent	–		fudùr sisùr

Numerals

Atlantic cardinal numerals are partially directly inherited from Latin (1-15, 17, and most tens and hundreds) and partially rebuilt on post-Vulgar Latin roots, especially where the numbers would have otherwise become too similar if not identical (as would have been the case with 13 and 16; the apparent irregularity in 7 is also a consequence of this, as *sips would have been too similar to siç). All numerals ending in 2 and 3 (except 12 and 13), as well as all hundreds except for 100, have a distinct form used only in disjunctive counting, derived from the Latin neuter.

0-9

Digit	Cardinal
1	(m) aun, (f) auna
2	(m) dut, (f) dot DISJ. du
3	(m/f) çet DISJ. çìa
4	patur
5	pimbi
6	siç
7	saps
8	ust
9	nou

10-19

Digit	Cardinal
10	dig
11	aundig
12	duuig
13	çeuig
14	paturuig
15	paindig
16	siçtig
17	sapstig
18	ustondig
19	nindig

Tens

Digit	Cardinal
20	uaiuint
30	ciùint
40	pageoint
50	pimboint
60	siçoint
70	sapsoint
80	ustoint
90	nonoint

Hundreds

Digit	Cardinal
100	çint
200	dugint DISJ. duginta
300	cigint DISJ. ciginta
400	paturgint DISJ. paturginta
500	pimbagint DISJ. pimbaginta
600	sisagint DISJ. sisaginta
700	sipsingint DISJ. sipsinginta
800	ustingint DISJ. ustinginta
900	nongint DISJ. nonginta
1000	miu

Vocabulary

Colours

Of the 11 basic colours in Atlantic, only four of them derive from Latin roots (ĀTRVM > oç; LIGNEVM > rin; *AMARELLVM > marìu; CANDIDVM > càndiu); all others are Arabic loanwords.

English	Atlantic	Prototypical example
Black	oç, oça / oçot
Blue	arsàc, arsaca / arsacot
Brown	rin, rinea / riniot
Gray	ramadi, ramadea / ramadiot
Green	marìu, maria / marìot
Orange	ranaing, ranaingea / ranaingiot
Pink	uardì, uardia / uardìot
Red	qirmìs, qirmisea / qirmisiot
Violet	nilac, nìlaca / nìlacot
White	càndiu, càndiua / càndiuot
Yellow	asfàr, asfara / asfarot