Valtamic: Difference between revisions

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|ancestor3        = Proto-Valtamic
|ancestor3        = Proto-Valtamic
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'''Valtamic''' (endonym: '''''äljämhor ljicür''''' [ˈæˑʎɛm̥ˌχɔ̞ɾ̥ ˈʎiˑ(t)s̪ʏɾ̥]), also known as '''Livonian''', is an [[w:Italic languages|Italic language]] belonging to the [[w:Indo-European languages|Indo-European language family]]. It is spoken mostly in the Republic of Valtamia, wherein it is recognized as the official language, located within the [[w:Baltic region|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 [[w:Latin|Latin]].
'''Valtamic''' (endonym: '''''äljämhor lïcür''''' [ˈæˑʎɛm̥ˌχɔ̞ɾ̥ ˈʎiˑ(t)s̪ʏɾ̥]), also known as '''Livonian''', is an [[w:Italic languages|Italic language]] belonging to the [[w:Indo-European languages|Indo-European language family]]. It is spoken mostly in the Republic of Valtamia, wherein it is recognized as the official language, located within the [[w:Baltic region|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 [[w:Latin|Latin]].


==Classification==
==Classification==
Line 360: Line 360:


===Latin alphabet===
===Latin alphabet===
Modern Valtamic employs the Latin alphabet, with the added vowel letters ''[[w:Ä|ä]]'', ''[[w:Ë|ë]]'', ''[[w:Ï|ï]]'', ''[[w:Ö|ö]]'', and ''[[w:Ü|ü]]'' and the extra consonant letters ''[[w:Ċ|ċ]]'', ''[[w:Ġ|ġ]]'', ''[[w:Ľ|ľ]]'', ''[[w:Ṅ|ṅ]]'', ''[[w:Ṡ|ṡ]]'', and ''[[w:Ż|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''.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Vowels'''
|- style="font-weight:bold;"
! rowspan="2" | Grapheme
! colspan="2" | Sound (IPA)
! rowspan="2" | Pre-Soviet spellings
|- style="font-weight:bold;"
! <small>Stressed</small>
! <small>Unstressed</small>
|-
| a
| [ɑ̝(ˑ)]
| [ʌ]
|
|-
| ä
| [æ(ˑ)]
| rowspan="2" | [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] <sup>[a]</sup>
|
|-
| ö
| [y(ˑ)] ~ [e̞(ˑ)] ~ [ɤ̞(ˑ)] <sup>[b]</sup>
| [ʏ] ~ [ɛ] ~ [ɜ] <sup>[b]</sup>
|
|-
| ou
| [u(ˑ)]
| [ʊ]
| u
|-
| u
| [ɯ(ˑ)]
| [ω]
|
|-
| ü
| [y(ˑ)]
| [ʏ]
| ᵫ, y, u
|-
| y
| [ɨ(ˑ)]
| [ᵻ]
| i, u
|}
<sup>[a]</sup> depending on vowel harmony
<sup>[b]</sup> non-native and restricted to loanwords
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ '''Consonants'''
|- style="font-weight:bold;"
! 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 <sup>[d]</sup>
| rowspan="2" | [ɲ]
|
|-
| d
| [d]
|
| ṅ <sup>[d]</sup>
|
|-
| dz <sup>[c]</sup>
| [d͡z]
|
| p
| [p]
|
|-
| dż <sup>[c]</sup>
| [d͡ʐ] ~ [d͡ʑ]
| dzs, dj
| q <sup>[c]</sup>
| [k]
|
|-
| f
| [ʋ̊]
|
| r
| [ɾ]
|
|-
| g
| [ɡ]
|
| s
| [s̺]
|
|-
| ġ
| [ɦ]
| h, gh, vh
| ṡ
| [ʂ]
| sz, sj
|-
| h
| [x]
| ch
| t
| [t̪]
|
|-
| j
| [j]
|
| v
| [ʋ]
| w
|-
| k
| [k]
|
| w
| [w]
| u
|-
| l
| [l̪]
|
| x <sup>[c]</sup>
| [ks̺]
|
|-
| lj <sup>[d]</sup>
| rowspan="2" | [ʎ]
|
| z
| [ɕ] ''or'' [z] <sup>[e]</sup>
|
|-
| ľ <sup>[d]</sup>
|
| ż
| [ʐ] ~ [ʑ]
| zs, zj
|}


===Cyrillic orthographies===
===Cyrillic orthographies===

Revision as of 15:00, 17 August 2024


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 ⟨uhsoucux⟩ /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

Cyrillic orthographies

Russian Cyrillic alphabet

Liturgical Cyrillic alphabet

Grammar

Vowel harmony

Nominals

Verbs

Vocabulary

Example text

See also