Modern Coptic

Introduction

Modern Coptic (natively, ⲙⲧ̀ⲣⲙ̀ⲛ̀ⲕⲏⲙⲉ ⲃⲣ̀ⲣⲉ Metremmenkeeme Verre [mətrm̩mn̩ˈkeːmə ˈvr̩rə]) is a revitalized vernacular version of Coptic, made to be a lingua franca for all varieties.

The language is written formally using the Coptic alphabet, however, since modern times a phonetic transliteration into the Latin Alphabet is preferred by the younger generations

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Post-Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n
Fricative	f	s	ʃ		(x)	h
Plosive	p	t	tʃ	(c)	k	(ʔ)
Approximant	β	l	j		w
		r

• x and c are minimal phonemes, while included in the standard and writing, they are free to merge with h and tʃ, respectivelly
• ʔ isn't phonemic and can only occur before a vowel, or to separate them
• β is most often realized as [v]
• the sequence /kj/ never occurs and colloquially changes to /c/ whenever it appears
• n assimilates to the place of articulation of the next sound, becoming /m/, [ɲ] or [ŋ] depending on the sound

Vowels

	Front			Back
High	i		(y)	u
Mid	e	eː	ə	o	oː
Low	a

• y only occurs in Greek and French borrowings.
• The sequences /əl/, /ər/, /əm/ and /ən/ are pronounced [l̩], [r̩], [m̩] and [n̩].
• Stress isn't phonemic, but normally occurs in either one of the long vowels (eː and oː) or the (3rd to) last vowel.
• ə normally doesn't bear the stress unless it is the only vowel in a word.
• Greek borrowings normally bear the stress 2nd to last instead.

Morphology

Pronouns

(Modern) Coptic distinguishes between 3 persons, 2 numbers and in the 2nd person and 3rd person singular distinguish masculine and feminine forms

Independent Pronouns

They are not used much, but are used for emphasis

		Singular	Plural
1st		anak	anan
2nd	M	entak	entooten
	F	ento
3rd	M	entof	entaw
	F	entos

Pronoun suffixes

Used on verbs and prepositions to mark the object and auxiliary and main verbs use similar affixes to mark the subject

		Singular	Plural
1st		-i/j* (-t)	-n
2nd	M	-k	-ten
	F	-(e)
3rd	M	-f	-u/w* (-se)
	F	-s

• -t and -se are used for verbal and prepositional objects, in other cases, -i/j and -u/w are used
• -(e) is more often a null suffix, only actual -e in verbal object suffixes

Nouns

Nouns inflect for definiteness (undefinite, definite and indefinite) and sometimes number (singular and plural).

They can also be preceded by possession prefixes, and a couple of them (although nowadays archaic) can take the pronominal suffixes to mark possession

Some of them also have a special "construct form", only used when compounding

	Singular	Plural
Undefinite	-
Definite	p/t(e)-*	n(e)-*
Indefinite	u/w-	hen-

• p(e)- is used for masculine nouns while t(e)- is used for feminine ones
• An epenthetic e is inserted when before a consonant that isn't h, when prefixed with consonants, h elides

The posessive prefixes are used in place of the definite article: they consist of the definite stem (p- for masculine, t- for feminine, n- for plural) + "é" + pronominal suffix, except in the case of the 1st person singular (pa-, ta-, na-) and the 3rd person plural (pu-, tu-, nu-).