User:Ceige/Voloshky

Voloshky (cf. *volšьskъ) is a language, or rather a group of closely related dialects, inspired by the Slavic languages. Voloshky's main concept is to be a Slavicised Latinate language. To clarify, rather than being a Romance language in sensu stricto, it is descended from Classical Latin with the sound changes from Proto-Balto-Slavic and Proto-Germanic to Proto-Slavic (and beyond) applied.

The following Wikimedia pages will be used as a reference:

• History of Proto-Slavic, for Latin to Common Voloshky sound changes
• History of the Slavic languages, for Common Voloshky to specific dialectal sound changes
• Proto-Slavic terms derived from Proto-Germanic, for reference
• Proto-Slavic terms derived from Proto-Balto-Slavic, for reference
• Proto-Balto-Slavic lemmas, for reference
• Proto-Slavic lemmas, for reference

The severe changes Slavic languages made to loan words can be demonstrated with some Germanic loanwords. The evolution of the Slavic languages is dominated by resyllabification and palatalisation processes which can result in roots being heavily modified. Many loans came in at just the right time for this to occur to them despite their foreign nature. For example:

• *kъnędzь (kŭnẽdzĭ) is cognate to the English word "king". Due to short /u/ and /i/ being reduced, and due to progressive palatalisation occurring to the Germanic *-ingaz suffix, the word is almost unrecognisable in daughter languages (e.g. East Slavic князь, knjaz').

(Compare with *kõrljь, "king", from Karl (Charlemagne)).

Comparisons within Conlanging

The most comparable conlang already in the wild would be Wenedyk by Jan van Steenbergen. However, so far it appears that Voloshky will differ in many ways to Wenedyk, while perhaps being similar in other areas. This appears to be due to Wenedyk using Proto-Romance more than Latin (which is sensible for an althistory project). For example:

punctus (La. "point")

• Wenedyk pąt < pǫt < pont- (presumably, I haven't asked!)
• Voloshky pyćь < *pykt' < *pųkt < *punkt- (cf. noťь)

*ambiantia (Cf. Fr. ambiance)

• Wenedyk jęblęca
• Voloshky ǫblьǫ́ća (ǫ is an exception to vowel fronting in Voloshky)

• amīcus (La. "friend")
• Wenedyk omik
• Voloshky omíc (with progressive palatalisation)

These are just some differences, and no doubt there will be many similarities. Regardless, the reason for this comparison is to highlight the creative options available within the seemingly small concept that is "a Slavic langauge but descended from Latin", and to highlight some of the creative differences that can be expected.

At this stage, Voloshky has no irregular sound shifts or colloquialisms yet, as it's still mostly a thought experiment.