Oscanez
L'oscanez
Pronunciation[/os.ka.ˈnez/]
Created by
Native speakers14,000 (2015)
Early forms
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General

Oscanez, or Oscan (English: /ɒs.kə.ˈnez, ˈɒs,kən/ primarily called Oscan in English) [os.ka.ˈnez] is a Romance language originatin in the destroyed Roman city of Oscanium, from the Vulgar Latin spoken around that region of Spain. It is spoken in the north of Spain, near southern France. It shares several features with the Benasque dialects and High Aragonese, as well as French and Spanish. Oscanez is spoken by around 14,000 people, primarily the older generation. It is a highly endangered language.

Its name, Oscanez, comes from the old city Oscansium (Oscanyo, in Oscanez), in northern Spain. Historically, the inhabitants of the Oscanez speaking region were ancient Iberians, and their language influenced Oscanez. The Oscanses were also influenced by the Arabs in the middle ages, and the French, Portuguese and Spanish in the modern age.


Phonology

Oscanez is a (C)(C)V(C)(C)(C) language, with basic phonological rules.

Consonants

Consonant Phonemes
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m n ɲ
Plosive Voiceless Plosive p t k
Voiced Plosive b d k g
Fricative Voiceless Fricative ɸ s ʃ
Voiced Fricative z ʒ
Approximant Semivowel j
Lateral l ʎ
Trill r

Notesː

  • /n/ assimilates to the place of articulation of the second consonant if it is a cluster. For example, the word ìnca /inka/ is pronounced [iŋka].
  • In certain environments with vowels, nasal consonants can become syllabic.
  • Betacism is a major part of Oscanez. /b/ and /v/ are in free variation. The sound /b/ also has the allophone /β/ between vowels, but all three are correct in every part of a phrase. Usually /b/ begins.
  • /p/ voices to /b/ when before plosives, such as in the word optimo [obtimo], [oβtimo] or [ovtimo].
  • Voiced plosives have the allophones [β], [ð], [ɣ] (/b/, /d/, /g/ respectively) between vowels. A similar phenomenon occurs in Portuguese and Spanish.
  • /t/ and /d/ are laminal denti-alveolar, but are called dental for simplicity.
  • /tʃ/ is not a common sound in Oscanez, but is found in loanwords, especially deriving from Spanish or English, but it is also an allophone of /ʎ/ at onset position.
  • /ɸ/ has the allophone [h] when it is after /m/, such as in the word triomfo [triomho]. /ɸ/ before /i/ or /e/ is preserved. It is in free variation otherwise.
  • /s/ turns to the allophone [s̪] before dental plosives.
  • Unvoiced fricatives become voiced before a voiced plosive or nasal. Unvoiced plosives become fricatives and voice as well. For example, the borrowed word atmosfera /atmosɸera/ is realized as [aðmosɸera] and is sometimes just dropped [amosɸera]. Ot examples include amigdala or administrajón.
  • /ʎ/ has a tendency to be pronounced as a fricative [ʝ].
  • /r/ and [ɾ] are in free variation, but it is always /r/ at the beginning of words and when represented by a double r. /r/ is the default pronunciation.

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a

There are 5 distinct vowels in Oscanez, but many more allophones for different environments, including nasality and stress.

Allophones

Phonemic Vowel Environment
Stressed position Unstressed position Nasalized (stressed or unstressed)
a a a ɑ̃
e e /e/ or /ə/
i i e y
o o o ɔ̃
u u o y

/a/ and /o/, being the most sonorous vowels have the least change besides nasalization. /e/ can be pronounced like a schwa (such as English creation) in unstressed position. /e/ with a nasal coda causes a loss of the nasal consonant. This leads to an articulation like [ẽtẽdẽmos] for entendemos. Note that vowels followed by nasals are also affected, but within words the consonant is still articulated if it is the onset. Only with /y/ is the nasal consonant always articulated.

Liaison

Final nasal vowels are pronounced with their consonant in environments when the next syllable begins with a vowel (including a mute h). This process is similar to French liaison and is called such by linguists studying Oscanez. In the grammar it is called Yajón, a cognate of English and French "liaison".

The conjunctions e and o ("and" and "or") become ei and u before /e/ and /o/, respectively.

Diphthongs and Triphthongs

Oscanez has nine rising diphthongs, and three falling diphthongs /au/ /ai/ and /ei/. The falling diphthongs include all instances of /j/ or /w/ followed by a vowel. A sequence of /kw/ can be analyzed as [kɥ]. If a diphthong is nasalized, the second vowel is nasalized and undergoes the changes that monophthong would.

Prosody

Oscanez is syllable-timed. All syllables take the same amount of time to produce.

Words generally have stress on the final or penultimate syllable. Some words have natural stress on the third syllable but this is not marked orthographically.

At the end of a question intonation rises at the first word, and also at the end of the phrase. Otherwise, it is exactly like English.

Phonotactics

Oscanez has a (C)(C)V(C)(C)(C) syllable structure.

  • Onset (can be null)
    • First consonant (C1): anything except for clusters including nasals or /s/. /
    • Second consonant (C2): rhotic, approximant or lateral (if C1 is a plosive). The clusters /tl/ and /dl/ are not allowed, and /ʎ/ is not allowed in clusters.
  • Nucleus
    • Any vowel or diphthong can be positioned in the nucleus.
  • Coda (can be null)
    • First consonant (C1): /f/ /r/ /s/ /t/ /z/ or null, or /n/ (with yajón).
    • Second consonant (C2): If there is a C1, then C2 is /s/, /t/ or /k/.
      • Third consonant (C<sub3): /s/ after /ts/ sequence.

Allowed clusters across syllable boundaries include plosives followed by a rhotic, and nasals by their place of articulation plosive (/nk/, but not /mk/). /s/ is followed by unvoiced plosives, but when beginning a word must have a prosthetic /e/ (escuila, not scuila). In terms of other clusters, a maximum of three consonants can be grouped. If there is a plosive + liquid cluster, a fricative can precede them. Note that these words are generally Latin loanwords into Oscanez.

Orthography

Oscanez has very regular spelling, with each letter almost having a 1 to 1 correspondence in pronunciation. Much of it is based on Italian and Spanish orthography, with few inventions.

Oscanez Spelling
Letter Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Ll Mm Nn
Sound a b k ~ s d e ɸ g ~ ʒ Ø i ʒ l m n
Letter Oo Pp Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Xx Yy Zz
Sound o p r s t u b i z

At the end of syllables the nasal letter shows that the vowel before is nasalized. An example of this is in the word formajón, formation /for.ma.ʒõ/.

Notesː

  • <b> and <v> represent the same sound, but generally <v> starts a word.
  • <c> is /s/ when followed by an /i/ or /e/, due to palatalization in Vulgar Latin. The same shift occurs with <g> to /ʒ/. To have a sequence like /ge/, it would be written with an <h>, such as Ghinea, an African country.
  • <h> is totally null, only occurring orthographically when etymology is wanted. This is showcased in the word honye which means man, but is pronounced [õɲe].
  • <y> is /ʎ/, such as in the world muyer.
  • /ɲ/ is represented by <ny>.

Accents

Oscanez uses the acute accent over any vowel á é í ó ú, and the grave accent over ì before a nasal vowel to show that the vowel is not /y/ but /i/. The accent determines stress and pronunciation in Oscanez. There are four types of words in Oscanezː adas, grabes, estrogelas, and sublestrogelas. They go ascending from stress on the ultimate syllable, penult, antepenult, and before the antepenult. Estrogelas and subestrogelas never have an accent.

  • All adas which do not end in t, z, r or l or a vowel must have an indicated acute accent. For example, cultivajón.
  • Graves which end in t, z, r, or l must have an indicated acute accent. For example, Gómez.

Oscanez orthography is influenced by Spanish orthography. While in Spanish accents are also used to break up different vowels (Spanish salía [sa.ˈli.a]), Oscanez accents are never used in this way, and these usually simplify to a diphthong (creit, not *creít). When a diphthong exists with an accent, it will always go on the stronger vowel. Thereforeː

Strong Vowels in Oscanez
á é ó
Word náutiz anyus déi leói
IPA /'nautiz/ /aɲus'dei/ /le'oi/
Meaning nautical lamb of god (liturgical chant) I read

If two weak vowels are creating a stressed and accented diphthong, the one which is after the semivowel is written with a stress. A good example would be the 3rd person singular past historic endings of -er verbs.

Contractions and Hypostrophes

Oscanez uses apostrophes and contractions much more than most other languages on the Iberian peninsula. An overview of them will be provided here.

Contractions
O La Los Las
A Al Ala A los A las
En Nel Na En los En las
De Del Da De los De las
Pol Polo Pola Polos Polas

The personal pronoun jo can be reduced to j' before a vowel and null "h". The same is true for the prepositions de and en, which convert to d' and n' respectively. In reflexive verbs (or situations where me, te, and se proceed a vowel), me, te, and se also lose their vowel (m'). The negative no also becomes n' in those situations.

Grammar

Oscanez grammar is how the language organizes itself. It is very similar to other Romance languages

Oscanez is a moderately inflected language. Nouns and most pronouns are inflected for number (singular or plural, though in most nouns the plural is pronounced the same as the singular even if spelled differently); adjectives, for number and gender (masculine or feminine) of their nouns; personal pronouns and a few other pronouns, for person, number, gender, and case; and verbs, for tense, aspect, mood, and the person and number of their subjects. Many verb affixes are preserved, and new compound tenses are created.

Nouns

The grammar follows the general structure of most Romance languages, differing from Latin in its syntax and loss of grammatical case.

Gender

Every noun is either masculine or feminine, with the old Latin neuter merging with the masculine. Regarding living things, most nouns correspond with the gender of the living thing described.

Not every noun can have its gender predicted, but there are several general rules. Generally, if a word ends in -o, -or, -n it is masculine. Nouns that refer to males such as par (father) are also masculine. If the word ends in -a, -at, -jón, -z, then it is feminine. Words referring to females are also feminine.

Number

There are two numbers: singular and plural. The singular is the lexical meaning of the noun, while the plural is counted as an inflection of the noun. Plurality in Oscanez is more complicated than most standard Romance languages.

Plurals
Cibdat Pelsona Maisón Paz Par
Plural Cibdats Pelsóns Masóns Pajes Pares

All nouns ending in t or n pluralize with a final /s/, creating consonant clusters with /t/. Nouns ending in z are changed to j and add -es.

Otherwise, plurals are identifiable with a -s or -es if it ends with a consonant (l'amor, los amores).

Most mass nouns are simply treated as plural, such as “las aréns” meaning English “sand.”

Adjectives

Adjectives in Oscanez either have a lemma ending in -o or don't. Those ending with -o (xaro, famous) inflect for number and gender. Thereforeː

  • xaro → xaro, xara / (plural) xaros, xaras

Adjectives with a lemma ending in a consonant or a different vowel than -o do not have a gender distinction. Thereforeː

  • fortfort, fort / (plural) forts, forts

The adjectives blanz and bon are the only exceptions to the above rule, inflecting blanz, blanca, blancos, blancas and bon, buina, bons, bons.

Similar to irregular pluralization, if the lemma of an adjective ends in t, no, n, z, it pluralizes according to the irregular noun rules.

Grammatically, an adjective can be substantive by pairing it with a definite article. Therefore a phrase such as O malo está alant means "The bad [man] is going." Adjectives can also be paired with the article lo to mean "the X thing, the X part." A similar construction occurs in Spanish.

Adjectives go after their noun, except for numbers (cardinal and ordinal) and certain adjectives. These adjectives are bon, malo, gran, belo, nuif, and vieyo.

Thereforeː

  • Cient honyes -- a hundred men
  • Una bela muyer -- a beautiful woman
  • Un cat trist -- a sad cat

Comparative and Superlative

The comparative and superlative from Latin was lost in all Romance languages. O superlatif asolut borrows the Classical Latin superlative, and adds the suffix -isimo/a to the end of the lemma, dropping any vowel. These forms are not grammatical superlatives, but are more emphatic than the normal muit adverb construction. Thereforeː

  • Un fortisimo honye -- an extremely strong man
  • Una malisima pelsona -- a really bad person
  • Voté está muit ayegre huie -- you are very happy today

The true comparative adds the adverb mes with the adjective. The adjective still inflects but is modified by that adverb. The superlative uses the same construction but with a definite article (depending on the gender and number of the noun modified). In a comparative expression, the conjunction cuan is used to mean "than." Thusː

  • El e meyor honye cuan tu -- he is better than you
  • Somos mes inteyegents -- we are smarter
  • Ela e la mes bela muyer del munt -- she is the most beautiful woman in the world

Irregular comparatives inherited from Latin are meyor and pior, for bon and malo respectively.

Articles & Determiners

Articles

Definite Masculine Feminine
Singular o, lo, l' la, l'
Plural los las

The masculine singular definite article has three acceptable forms. The most common are lo and o, with o most common and lo used with substantive adjectives suggesting generality, or with titles (lo senyor). Lo is also used with masculine names where English would have no article. La has this function for women.

The masculine and feminine singular forms elide to <l’> before null <h> and vowels. For example, the grammatically correct form is “l’abentura” instead of suspected *la abentura.

Thus:

  • o calo = "[the] horse"
  • los calos = "[the] horses"
  • la yenua = "[the] language "
  • las yenuas = "[the] languages"
Indefinite Masculine Feminine
Singular un una
Plural uns

Like the definite article, the singular forms elide. The feminine changes to un before vowels. For example, the grammatically correct form of “an ear” is un oreya

The article is almost always carried by the noun, with the only exceptions being when other determiners modify the noun. In places where English drops the article, the article is kept. These include the subject for general nouns, objects, and almost any place where English could delete its article. For example, to write “Summer is good,” one writes “O verán ens bon.”

Determiners

Possessive Determiners
Singular Plural
1st Singular Masculine meon mis
Feminine mean
Plural nostre nostres
2nd Singular Masculine ton tos
Feminine tan tas
Plural vostre vostres
3rd Singular son sos
Plural
  1. The formal second person voté takes its determiners from the 3rd person part of the chart, as does its plural votés. It can also take them from the vostre form as well.

Like other Romance languages, these determiners are used with the definite articles, creating la mean caisa meaning both "my house" and "the house of mine."

These agree in gender and number, which means that even if a group of people are possessing a singular noun, the noun takes the singular third person form.

Demonstrative Determiners

There are three degrees of proximity expressed by the four sets of determiners. They developed from Vulgar Latin eccuiste, iste and accuiste, respectively.

Proximal Mesio-proximal Distal
Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine
Singular ejest est ajel
Plural ejestes estos estas ajeyes

These roughly correspond to English “this here” "this / that" and “that over there,” with the remote determiners having a farther spatial distance than English “that.” For this reason, many speakers use est when referring to objects that in English would normally be determined with “that.” The singular determiner can be used as a pronoun. For added emphasis, contracted forms of the adverbs ací (ci) can be added to the end of the modified noun, and for the two remote determiners the forms of elaz (laz).

Interrogative Determiners

The interrogative determiner chol means what or which depending on the modified noun.

Chol can be used in exclamations meaning something along the lines of “how!” or “what!” For example, saying “Chol caisa!” means “What a house!”

Quantifiers

The Latin adjective multus evolved into Oscanez muit. This corresponds to “much, a lot, many” in English.

Masculine Feminine
Singular muit muita
Plural muits

As before, it agrees in gender and number. In adverb form, it is muit.

Its antonym meaning “very little, a small amount, little” is three different words strung together with an article. It is un poz de, cognate to Spanish un poco de.

There are other quantifiers which are vocabulary, such as tres de, meaning “three of.” Most use de to connect to a noun. One other major quantifier is the collective, shown by the adjective tot. Tot does not decline for gender and functions as an adverb. It translates to english "all of, all, every." When used with the article (tot los calos) it means "all of the horses" or "the entire horse" in the singular. Tot is cognate with Spanish todo/a.

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Nouns in Oscanez have lost their Latin case endings, but preserved two of the three Latin genders. Personal pronouns have distinct forms for their position in the sentence, and are the only words inflected for case.

Personal Pronouns Inflected in Oscanez
Nominative Dative Accusative Prepositional Comitative Agent
First person Singular Jo Me Comez Promí
Plural Inclusive Tonos Nuis Nos Conyoz Pronós
Exclusive Nosautres Con nosautres Pol nosautres
Second Person Singular Familiar Tu Ti Te Contez Protí
Formal Voté Con voté Pol voté
Plural Familiar Vos Vuis Vos Comboz Probós
Formal Vostés Con votés Pol votés
Third person Singular Masculine El Je O El Con el Pro
Feminine Ela A Ela Con ela Pra
Neuter Elo O Elo Con elo Pro
Plural Masculine Elos Jes Os Elos Elos Polos
Feminine Elas As Elas Elas Polas
Reflexive -- Se Cosez Prosé

Like other Romance languages, Oscanez is pro-drop, except with the use of the neuter elo. Also, Oscanez employs a T-V distinction between Tu and Voté. Tu is used among family members and friends, and voté with teachers, strangers, grandparents. God is referred to with tu. Because voté derives from a third person noun (votre melsé), it uses the third person paradigm.

Elo is used in impersonal expressions, with a similar semantic use to French ça or Spanish eso. It is also used in expressions of weather, where English would use "it." It is also used in expressions where Spanish would use se and French un, such as elo o-puide (we can do it, it can be done).

There is an inclusive-exclusive distinction in the first person plural, with tonos to include the person the speaker is addressing, and nosautres is used to exclude the person which the speaker is addressing.

The comitative inflection (with me) comes from Latin *cum (me)cum. Similar structures exist in Ibero-Romance.

The agentive inflection is an old contraction of the preposition pol with the prepositional form of the pronouns. It is used in a passive construction with a pronoun agent (it was eaten by me).

Reflexive pronouns are used medio-passively in special verbs. They are not intensifiers (Oscanez uses mesmo/a as this).

Object Pronouns

In Oscanez, the placement of object pronouns is optional in most cases. If there is one verb, the pronoun precedes it (Jo t'aimo, I love you). If there are more, the pronoun usually procedes, but can come after marked with a hyphen (Estonz dijent-te, I am telling you).

Third person object pronouns have different forms when they are used with an indirect object pronoun. They are also hyphened.

Contractions
default me te je nuis vuis jes
o mo to jelo noso voso jelo
a ma ta jela nosa vosa jela
os mos tos jelos nosos vosos jelos
as mas tas jelas nosas vosas jelas

Therefore Jo to-doz means "I give it to you."

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are the same as the object pronoun, except in the third person. They are used in specific pronomial verbs which are very similar to their Romance counterparts. It is used suchː

  • Lo Pielo se laba | Lo Pielo laba o cat (Peter washes himself | Peter washes the cat)
  • La Marea e lo Pielo s'aiman | La Marea aima lo Pielo (Mary and Peter love each other | Mary loves Peter)
  • Lo Pielo s'ofenuí (Peter got offended)
  • La porta s'ablié (the door opened)

Interrogative Pronouns

Most interrogative pronouns have 1ː1 correspondences with English.

Interrogative Words
Pronoun
Who / Whom Chen?
To whom Achén?
What Che?
Where On?
From where, whence Deón?
To where Aón?
When Cuán?
How Como?
Why Polché?
Which; what Chol?

The pronoun chol can also be used as an adjective, it does not inflect.

Relative Pronouns

There are two main relative pronouns in Oscanezː chen, meaning "who" and che. For non-living things the pronoun che is used. Neither have plurals. Che also means chen when it is the object of a preposition.

To refer to a situation or event, the pronoun loche is used (that which; what). The pronoun on "where" can also be used, as well as most interrogative pronouns (turned relative).

Adverbs

Oscanez adverbs are very similar to English, muit ("very, much, a lot"), poz ("a little") cosi ("almost"), etc. To form adverbs from adjectives, the adverbial suffix -ament is generally added to the feminine singular of the adjective, whether or not it differs from the masculine singular. This is due to the old derivation of ment (mind) being a feminine nown. Thus:

  • claro (clear) → clara (f) → clarament (clearly)
  • nadral (natural) → nadralament (naturally)
  • trist (sad) → tristament (sadly)

The adjectives bon (good) and malo (bad) have irregular adverbial forms: bien (well) and mal (badly), respectively. Mal also has the adverb malament, which means "evilly."

Some adverbs simply use the masculine singular form to create adverbial meanings. Muit is a good example.

In series of consecutive adverbs that would each end in -ament on their own, the phrase is restructured totally.

  • con ment rapida e facil -- "quickly and easily"

There are also a wide variety of compound adverbial phrases in Oscanez, such as pol tot parts (everywhere)

As with adjectives, the comparative of adverbs is almost always formed by placing mes (more) or menos (less) before the adverb. Thus mes tristament (more sadly). The superlative is formed by placing the article lo before the comparative. As with their corresponding adjectival forms, bien (well) and mal (badly) have irregular comparative forms (meyor (better) and pior (worse), respectively).

Verbs

Verbs in Oscanez are categorized into four classes of infinitives, those that end in -ar, -el, -er, and -ir. There are three moods in Oscanez, indicative, imperative, and subjunctive. There are five simple tenses in the indicative: future, present, imperfect, perfect, and conditional. Of these tenses, there are only two in the subjunctive: present, imperfect. All of the tenses can be combined with forms of haber to form perfect compound tenses. Using the gerundive and forms of estar, all continuous tenses can be formed. There are two copulas, estar and esir.

Present / O present

The present indicative is used to describe actions that exist currently and are inherently imperfect. It describes the subject in a state of being or in action. It is used to describe ongoing actions occurring at one time, states of being in a present time frame.

In general, O present is used forː

  • events happening in the present -- Nos vibimos na cibdat (We live in the city).
  • habitual actions -- Jo trayo pol las nuits (I work at night)
  • current states of being and conditions -- Agora, te remáns con lo Ayejandro? (Now, do you stay with Alexander?)
  • actions planned to occur in the future -- El estuja na univelsidat l'anyo projimo (He is studying in university next year)
Present Regular Conjugations of Oscanez Verbs
-ar verbs (aimar) -er/el verbs (veer) -ir verbs (dormir)
Jo aimo veo dormo
Tu aimas vees dormis
El / Ela / Voté aima vee dorme
Nos aimamos veemos dormimos
Bos aimaz veez dormiz
Elos / Elas / Vostés aiman veen dormon

Irregular Present Verbs

The present tense in Oscanez is full of irregular verbs in the first and third person singular. There are four classes of irregular verbs, and the irregularities go almost across all conjugations.

Irregular Verbs
Conjugation Singular T-stem N-stem Z-stem Inchoatives
-ar (cantar, ganar, sacar) 1st person Jo cant Jo gan Jo saz
2nd person Tu cants Tu gans Tu sacas
-er (soliter, moner, mecer) 1st person Jo solit Jo mon Jo mez
2nd person Tu solits Tu mons Tu meces
3rd person El solite El mon El mez
-el (batel, prenel, fajel, ofrecel) 1st person Jo bat Jo pren Jo faz Jo ofrez
2nd person Tu bats Tu prens Tu fajes Tu ofreces
3rd person El bate El pren El faje El ofrece
-ir (partir, finir, vincir) 1st person Jo part Jo fin Jo vinz
2nd person Tu parts Tu fins Tu vinces
3rd person El parte El fin El vince

There are some times where the irregularities are different in each conjugation.

  • T-stems are the present stems (the verb without the infinitive ending) ending in a /t/. For example, the verb sotar is a t-stem. These are the same across all conjugations, with the replacement of the thematic vowel (for example, sentar, although it is a t-stem does not have its 3rd person singular as sente).
  • N-stems have their present stem ending in a <n>. N-stems are irregular in the 3rd person singular in all conjugations except -ar. In those conjugations, the form is identical to the 1st. Otherwise, they are the same irregularity across conjugations.
  • Z-stems are a verb type whose infinitive stem can end in <j> or <c>. In -er verbs, Z-stems have the same 3rd and 1st person singular.
  • Inchoatives are -el verbs descending from verbs with the Latin infix -sc-, denoting a beginning. Such verbs in Oscanez are cognate to Spanish -ecer, and Portuguese -escer verb types.

If any of these irregularities cause the stress to fall on the last syllable, an accent is placed.

Other notable irregulars are in the following chartː

Irregular Present in Oscanez
Dijel Dar Fajel Ir Poder Saber Tener Venir
Jo Diz Doz Faz Voz Puiso Se Tenyo Venyo
Tu Dijes Das Fajes Vas Puides Sabes Tiens Viens
El / Ela / Voté Dije Da Faje Va Puide Sabe Tien Vien
Nos Dijimos Damos Fajimos Alamos Podemos Sabemos Tenemos Venimos
Vos Dijiz Daz Fajiz Alaz Podez Sabez Tenez Veniz
Elos / Elas / Vostés Digon Dan Fagon Van Puison Saben Tienen Vienon

As evidenced by a a few verbs above, in Oscanez short latin e and o diphthongized into ie and ui respectively. Over time, these developments became regularized and only apply to those few verbs and the isolated nouns with those changes, and are mostly marked on the infinitive as well.

Future and Conditional / O Futuro Simplice E Lo Condijonal

The non-periphrastic future in Oscanez refers to events which areː

  • probable or uncertain actions in the future -- Elo xoberá est nuit (It might rain tonight)
  • occurring in the future, with a specific lack of habituality -- Jo veajaré a París la semaina projima (I will travel to Paris next week)
  • commands and obligations more strong than the imperative -- Vos venirez cras (You will come tomorrow)

The conditional is an innovation of the Romance languages not found in Classical Latin. It is used forː

  • creates a future meaning in the past in a subordinate clause (analogous to English was going to or would) -- L'anyo pasat, jo pensé che serea duitor (Last year, I thought that I would be a doctor)
  • creates a sense of certainty in the past -- Estarean ací. (They must be here).
  • creates a polite and possible action used with verbs of wanting -- Jo chelelea ir a caisa (I would want to go home)
  • used in the apodosis of a condition when the protasis is in the imperfect subjunctive -- Si fuises meyor, ganareamos (If you were better, we might win)
Future Indicative Forms
Future Conditional
Jo -ea
Tu -és -eas
El / Ela / Voté -ea
Nos -emos -eamos
Vos -ez -éaz
Elos / Elas / Vostés -án -ean

In the future and conditional tense, the above endings are affixed to the infinitive stem.

There are several verbs in Oscanez which undergo a stem change in the future and conditional. These are those verbs.

Future stem changes
Verb Dijel Esir Fajel Haber Poner Tener Voyer
1st person singular future Diré Seré Faré Habré Poré Tendré Vodré

Past Tenses / Los Tempos del Pasat

There are two different past tenses in Oscanez, which are differentiated by aspect. The perfective aspect creates the preterite tense (also called the past historic), and the imperfective creates the imperfect.

Imperfect / L'imperfeit

The imperfect in Oscanez is used to denote habitual or continuous action in the past. In English, it can be translated as "used to X, or was Xing." There are certain words which, in the imperfect, can be translated with the English simple past. These include: sabre, conocer, voller, sentir, potre, and deber.

The imperfect is the most regular tense system in Oscanez, with its only irregulars in the words esir, haber and ir.

It expressesː

  • habitual or repetitive action in the past -- Con jo era rabaz... (When I was a boy...)
  • an action interrupted by another action as in conjunction -- Díntel jo correa, o-oí (While I was running, I heard him)
  • general description of the past -- Elo tronaia (It was thundering)
Imperfect Indicative forms
-ar -er, -el, -ir
Jo -aia -ea
Tu -aias -eas
El / Ela / Voté -aia -ea
Nos -aiamos -eamos
Vos -aiaz -eaz
Elos / Elas / Vostés -aian -ean

Preterite / O Pasat

The preterite in Oscanez views an action or state of being as fully completed, and as its own. It is analogous to the Spanish pretérito and French passé simple.

  • used as a singular act with a definite beginning and end -- Trayemos nel oficín pol dos semains (We worked in the office for two weeks)
  • used in a narrative as an interruption -- Jo correa con el me trobó (I was running when he found me)
  • used as a description / action fully completed -- Voté nacié nel 1977 (You were born in 1977)

Because of this, the verbs saber, conocel, chelel, voyer, poder, and deer are translated differently from an English simple past. In the preterite of Oscanez, since the verb is fully completed and has its own action unrelated to any other at any time, the verb "to know" would be translated as "he found out." That change is an act of knowing that is fully completed.

Irregular Changes in Meaning in the Preterite
Conocel Deer Poder Haber Saber Chelel Voyer
Simple past meaning knew should have was able to had knew wanted to have, looked for wanted
Approximate preterite met must have, had to managed to got, received found out tried to have, searched tried to
Negative preterite did not meet must have not, did not have to failed to did not get, did not receive was oblivious refused to take, did not search for refused to

The preterite is a tense with much irregularity, with several sets of endings and stem changes. All are added to the stem of the verb (formed by removing the infinitive).

Regular preterite endings
-ar -er -el -ir
Jo -ói
Tu -aste -uiste -iste
El / Ela / Voté -uí -ié
Nos -emos -uimos -imos
Vos -ástez -uístez -ístez
Elos / Elas / Vostés -aron -uiron -iron

There are several notable irregular preterite forms, and most have drastic stem changes.

Irregular Preterite Forms
Venir Chelel Dijel Fajel Haber Poder Poner Romper Saber Tener
Jo Vinye Chisi Diji Fici Hoi Pudi Pusi Rupi Sopi Tebi
Tu Vinyiste Chisiste Dijiste Ficiste Huiste Pudiste Pusiste Rupiste Sopiste Tebiste
El / Ela / Vostet Vinye Chise Dije Fice Hubo Pude Puse Rupe Sope Tebe
Nos Vinyimos Chisimos Dijimos Ficimos Huimos Pudimos Pusimos Rupimos Sopimos Tebimos
Vos Vinyístez Chisístez Dijístez Ficístez Hubístez Pudístez Pusístez Rupístez Sopístez Tebístez
Elos / Elas / Vostetes Vinyeron Chiseron Dijeron Ficeron Huiron Puderon Puseron Ruperon Soperon Teberon

Compounds of these verbs follow the pattern set by the uncompounded form (predijel follows the dijel pattern).
As can be seen, most irregular verbs have a similar set of endings matched with a stem change. This is similar to other Romance languages like Spanish and Portuguese. Inchoative verbs with the -sc- Latin infix are regular in the preterite.

The verbs esir and estar are also irregular in the preterite, but their conjugations are shown in the copular section.

Compound Tenses and Periphrastic Constructions / Tempos Perifrastijos

Perfect Constructions / Constroijóns Perfeits

The Oscanez perfect is formed with a form of the auxiliary verb haber together with the past participle of the main verb. The auxiliary is inflected for tense and mood, and can also appear in non-finite forms (infinitive or gerund), thus giving rise to a number of constructions which combine the perfect aspect with other verbal properties. All tenses can be combined with the auxiliary haber to add perfect aspect.

To form the past participle of an Oscanez verb, the infinitive stem (the verb minus -ar, -er, -el, and -ir).

  • -ar verbs add -at/ for masculine and feminine singular (he aimat, he aimá), and their respective plurals.
  • -er, -el, and -ir verbs ad -it/-ida for masculine and feminine singular (he partit, he partida), and their respective plurals.

These participles combine with haber in its present conjugation (he, hes, ha, hemos, hez, han) to create a meaning almost exactly like English "have X."

The participle is always in its masculine form unless there is a pronoun object explicitly stated. Thereforeː

  • I have loved him -- O he aimat
  • I have loved them (masculine) -- Os he aimats
  • I have loved her -- A he aimá
  • I have loved them (feminine) -- As he aimás
  • I have loved the houses -- He aimat las caisas

There are a few irregular past participles. These never agree with the object and always stay in their masculine singular form in perfect constructions. When functioning as an adjective, they decline for gender and number.

Forms
Ablir Escribel Fajel Poner
abelt (abelts) escrit (escrits) fait (faits) post (posts)
Present Perfect / O Present Perfeit

The present perfect is a past action with present results or consequences. It is the same as English "have X."

The forms of haber in this tense are he, hes, ha, hemos, hez, han.

Recent Pluperfect / O Pasat Pluscuamperfeit

The recent pluperfect (like all other tenses of haber and perfect combinations) uses the same rules of agreement as the present perfect. The only thing changing is the form of haber and consequently its meaning. In the recent pluperfect, it is similar to English "had X (recently)," or "had been Xing" with connotations of the simple imperfect. The forms of haber in this tense are hea, heas, habea, heamos, heaz, hean.

Remote Pluperfect / O Pasat Antepluscuamperfeit

The remote pluperfect is the recent pluperfect with a more distant meaning and different forms. Its meaning is similar to English "had X (some time ago)." It is used normally in conjunction with another action which occurs after the pluperfect (I had seen the cat before he jumped on me).

The forms of haber in this tense are hoi, huiste, hubo, huimos, huístez, huiron.

Future Perfect / O Futuro Perfeit

The future perfect in Oscanez is used with deadlines (by X), or with a sense of certainty "I must have left my coat at home". The "must have" translation is usually used in conjunction with certain adverbs, similar to English. Otherwise it is similar to English "will have X."

The forms of haber in this tense are habré, habrés, habrá, habremos, habrez, habrán.

Conditional Perfect / O Condijonal Perfeit

The conditional perfect is generally translated exactly like English "would have," with use in the apodosis of a condition, or by itself in a hypothetical statement "I would have liked to go, but I'm okay now." The conditional perfect also has a use of unconfirmed guesses. This is similar to English "may have" "might have" "had probably."

The forms of haber in this tense are habrea, habreas, habrea, habreamos, habréaz, habrean.

Progressive Constructions & Estar / Constroijóns Progresifs Ei Estar

There are three main verbs used with the gerundif, they areː estar, seghir, ir. These forms are combined with the gerundif, or the Classical Latin future passive participle. Similar constructions are present in other Romance languages.

Formation of the Gerund
Verbs -ar verbs -er/-el verbs -ir verbs
Ending -ant -ent -ient
Verb cantant partent partient

With estar, the verb has a progressive meaning. It is generally the same as English "is Xing," but cannot be used to mean in a future time. The simple present expresses that.

There is a distinction between imperfect estaia cantant and preterite esteji cantant. The imperfect is closer to "was Xing" but denoting more habituality, while the preterite is "has been Xing." Estar is never used in any other tense.

Seghir has a meaning of "continues Xing" or "keeps Xing." It is used in the imperfect or present tense only.

Like seghir, ir is only used with the imperfect and present tenses. It means "goes around Xing."

Subjunctive / O subjuntif

The Oscanez subjunctive most often, although not exclusively, is in subordinate clauses, introduced by che (that). It is used mostly with verbs or adverbs expressing desire, doubt, hypothetical statements or eventuality; it may also express an order in the third person, and in all negatives. There are several set adverbial phrases in Oscanez which take a subjunctive.

Present Subjunctive / O Present del Subjuntif

The present tense of the subjunctive mood is used to show emotion, opinion, or desire. It is also used in impersonal expressions, commands, and certain interrogative sentences. It is used when the main clause is in any tense except for the preterite, imperfect, or conditional (in any mood).

It is used forː

  • desiderative or jussive expressions -- (Che) elo xoba (Let (May) it rain)
  • Nos or Voté imperatives, and negative imperatives -- N' alen votésǃ (Do not goǃ)
  • concessive clauses -- Ena jo sia trist... (Although I am sad..)
  • question with a subordinate clause -- Pensa ch'ela esté ayegre? (Does he think that she is happy?)
  • indirect questions -- Se on tu estés (I know where you are)
  • expressions of doubt, denial or uncertainty -- No creo ch'el esté na cibdat (I don't think he is in the city)
  • impersonal expressions without certainty -- Elo e important ch'ela ale a l'escuila (It is important that she go to school)
  • indirect commands, recommendations or desires -- Oro che Deos nuis de salut (I pray that God give us health)
  • expressions with emotion -- Temo che l'ejercit venya (I fear that the army is coming)
  • in conditions where the main clause is in the future tense -- Si j'ale, ela dormirá bien (If I go, she will sleep well)
  • with certain adverbs to show anticipation -- Remanerá ací atá voya partir (He will stay here until he wants to leave)
  • with the particle ualá -- Ualá puida nadar (Hopefully he can swim)

The forms of the subjunctive are mostly irregular, with a few changes that must be memorized.

Regular Present Subjunctive Forms
-ar verbs -er/-el/-ir verbs
Jo aime vea
Tu aimes veas
El / Ela / Voté aime vea
Nos aimemos veamos
Vos aimez veaz
Elos / Elas / Votés aimen vean

Verbs change their thematic vowel to that of the other conjugation.

The verbs esir, estar, and haber are very irregular in the subjunctive, their conjugations are in the irregular verbs section. Regular verbs take their present stem (the Jo form) and then add the appropriate ending. There are certain irregular verbs.

Irregular Verbs
Dijel Dar Fajel Ir Poder Tener Venir
Jo Diga De Faga Ale Puida Tenga Venya
Tu Digas Des Fagas Ales Puidas Tengas Venyas
El / Ela / Voté Diga De Faga Ale Puida Tenga Venya
Nos Digamos Demos Fagamos Alemos Podamos Tengamos Venyamos
Vos Digaz Dez Fagaz Alez Podaz Tengaz Venyaz
Elos / Elas / Votés Digan Den Fagan Alen Puidan Tengan Venyan

Another notable irregularity is in the first, second, and third person singulars (which are the same) of -ar verbs of T, N, or Z stems.

Irregular -ar Verbs
1st & 3rd person singular 2nd person singular 1st person plural
T-stems Cant Cants Cantemos
N-stems Gan Gans Ganemos
Z-stems Saz Saz Sachemos1

1. The orthographical change to preserve the /k/ sound is to insert a <h> before the /e/ vowel. A similar process occurs in other Romance orthographies, and the process also happens with <g> (cargar becomes carghe).

Imperfect Subjunctive / L'imperfeit del Subjuntif

The imperfect subjunctive is mostly used the same way as the present subjunctive, just with a past or conditional main clause.

It is used forː

  • concessive clauses -- Ena jo fuis trist... (Although I was sad..)
  • questions with a subordinate clause -- Pensó ch'ela estejís ayegre? (Did he think that she was happy?)
  • indirect questions -- Sopi loche ficís (I found out what he was doing)
  • expressions of doubt, denial or uncertainty -- No creea ch'el estejís na cibdat (I didn't think that he was in the city)
  • impersonal expressions without certainty -- Elo era important ch'ela fuis a l'escuila (It was important that she go to school)
  • indirect commands, recommendations or desires -- Oraia che Deos nuis das salut (I prayed that God would give us health)
  • expressions with emotion -- Temói che l'ejercit vinyís (I feared that the army was coming)
  • in conditions where the main clause is in the conditional -- Si jo fuis, ela dormirea bien (If I were going, she would sleep well)
  • with the interjection Ualá -- Ualá pudís nadar (Hopefully he was able swim)

The imperfect subjunctive is a regular tense, with the same endings for all conjugations. Verbs irregular in the preterite are irregular in this tense as well.

The stem is taking from the tu form of the preterite (dijel, dijiste) and the -te is dropped.

Imperfect Subjunctive
Ending Example
Tu (preterite) -ste aimaste
Jo -- aimás
Tu -es aimases
El / Ela / Voté -- aimás
Nos -emos aimasemos
Vos -ez aimasez
Elos / Elas / Votés -en aimasen

Compound Tenses

In the subjunctive mood, the verb haber can be conjugated to show the perfect aspect, exactly like the indicative. It only has six forms, present and imperfect. These are combined with the past participle to create the new tense. This form is important to keep the sequence of tenses in the subjunctive, which is much stricter than the sequence of tenses in the indicative.

Sequence of Tenses
Main Verb Anterior Relationship Contemporaneous Relationship Posterior Relationship
Present, Perfect, Future, Future Perfect Perfect Present Present subjunctive of ir and the infinitive
Any Past Tense (and the conditional) Pluperfect Imperfect Conditional

Imperative / L'imperatif

There are 20 imperative forms, half of them negative and the other positive. They are for the informal (tu and vos) and the formal (voté and votés), and the nos imperative. Oscanez employs a present and a perfect imperative. If the imperative takes a pronoun, it is attached to the end with a hyphen in both positive and negative.

The present used thusː

  • As a command or order -- escribe-o agoraǃ (write it nowǃ)

The perfect is also used as a command, but always with a deadline. It is similar to English "have it done by X." It is almost always introduced with che.

  • Che haias trayat cras (work by tomorrow)
Imperatives of aimar
Tu Voté Nos Vos Votés
Present Aima Aime Aimemos Aimar Aimen
Perfect Haias aimat Haia aimat Haiamos aimat Háiaz aimat Haian aimat

The tu imperative is always the 3rd person singular indicative present of the verb, and the vos is the infinitive. Others use the subjunctive form (and the perfect uses the subjunctive of haber). If reflexive, the pronoun is put with a hyphen at the end (of haber in the perfect subjunctive too).

There are five irregular imperatives, the verbs esir, dijel, fajel, voyer, and all -(d)ujel verbs. They are di, fa, vol, -(d)ú. Esir imperatives are outlined in its section below.

Syntax

Oscanez is a strong SVO language with some variation for style and emphasis. It is also generally head-initial and right branching. Subjects are optional and in most cases discouraged from using. If the subject has been introduced in a previous sentence and it is clear that it is the same, the pronoun is dropped. Objects are to the left of the verb, with the indirect and then direct object.

A dependent clause is marked with che after the completion of the first. Generally these have different subjects (with verbs of influence and the subjunctive), but may have the same (I think that I know -- Penso che saba).

Passives are created with the conjugated form of esir and the past participle, but an impersonal (we speak, it is spoken, they speak) is formed with the third person conjugation with the reflexive pronoun.

Questions are marked with a rising intonation towards the end, though inversion is allowed in declarative sentences and questions for dramatic effect.

Oscanez, unlike English, requires double negatives in a negated clause. Clauses are negated through no, and for emphasis, no...poz, with the simple verb between them, and in an auxiliary tense before and after the auxiliary. Objects are also included between the two negators.

  • Jo no se poz (I do not know)
  • Jo no se (I do not know)
  • Jo n'a he poz aimá (I have not loved her)
  • Jo n'a he aimá (I have not loved her)

Certain words such as anything, anyone, or something, in a negative clause are different in Oscanez but the same in English. Thereforeː

  • Janyés vinye ací (I never came here)
  • El no sabe rená or El sabe rená (He doesn't know anything)
  • Negún correa (Nobody was running)

Irregular Verbs

Copulas

Esir

Esir is the essential copula. It descends from Vulgar Latin *essere, with major irregularity.

Indicative Tenses 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st plural 2nd plural 3rd plural
Present son iens en somos sonz son
Imperfect era eras era eramos eraz eran
Preterite (Past Historic) fi foiste foi foimos fístez firon
Future seré serés será seremos serez serán
Conditional serea sereas serea sereamos seréaz serean
Subjunctive Tenses
Present sia sias sia siamos síaz sian
Imperfect fuis fuises fuis fuisemos fuísez fuisen
Imperative tu voté nos vos vostés
se sia siamos esir sian

Esir is generally used as a personal linking verb describing occupation / profession, nationality / origin, personal (permanent) adjectives. When used as a simple linking verb, esir does not take articles. Generally, estar is used in emotional or physical condition, but esir can be used for permanent condition. For example, to say “She is a beautiful woman” with the specific connotation of this woman always being beautiful, one says “E muyer bela.”

Estar

Estar is the stative copula. It descends from Vulgar Latin *stare, with some irregularity.

Indicative Tenses 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st plural 2nd plural 3rd plural
Present estonz estáns están estamos estanz están
Imperfect estaia estaias estaia estaiamos estáiaz estaian
Preterite (Past Historic) esteji estejiste esteje estejimos estejístez estejeron
Future estaré estarés estará estaremos estarez estarán
Conditional estarea estareas estarea estareamos estaréaz estarean
Subjunctive Tenses
Present esté estés esté estemos estez estén
Imperfect estejís estejises estejís estejisemos estejísez estejisen
Imperative tu voté nos vos vostés
estáns esté estemos estar estén

Estar is generally used whenever esir would not be used. It is used in all progressive tenses with the gerundive, and in time, emotional or physical conditions, location. For example, to say, “She is beautiful today,” one says “Está bela huie.”

Haber

Indicative Tenses 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st plural 2nd plural 3rd plural
Present he hes ha hemos hez han
Imperfect hea heas habea heamos héaz hean
Preterite (Past Historic) hoi huiste hubo huimos huísez huiron
Future habré habrés habrá habremos habrez habrán
Conditional habrea habreas habrea habreamos habréaz habrean
Subjunctive Tenses
Present haia haias haia haiamos háiaz haian
Imperfect huis huises huis huisemos huísez huisen
Imperative tu voté nos vos vostés
ha haia haiamos haber haian

Haber cannot mean "to have" in the same way as in English (tener functions this way), and is used in special idiomatic expressions. These deal with temporal expressions ("it is three o'clock" -- elo ha tres horas), impersonal expressions of amount ("there is a person" -- elo i ha una pelsona) and expressions of hunger, shame, fear, thirst, warmth, cold, and tiredness ("I am hungry" -- J'he fanye).

Ir

Indicative Tenses 1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st plural 2nd plural 3rd plural
Present vonz vans van alamos alanz van
Imperfect iba ibas iba ibamos íbaz iban
Preterite (Past Historic) fi foiste foi foimos fístez firon
Future iré irés irá iremos irez irán
Conditional irea ireas irea ireamos iréaz irean
Subjunctive Tenses
Present ale ales ale alemos alez alen
Imperfect fuis fuises fuis fuisemos fuísez fuisen
Imperative Tu Voté Nos Vos Votés
van ale alemos ir alen

Ir is an irregular verb in forms but mostly regular in its meaning of "go." It can be used as a future indicator with the infinitive only in the subjunctive ("She knows that I will see her" -- Ela sabe che j'ale veer-a).

Conversational Words

As Oscanez has a distinction similar to Spanish in formal vs. informal speech, the conversational table reflects that. Informal takes the tu conjugation while the formal takes the vostet.

English (anglés) Oscanez
Yes Si
No No
Of course! Xaroǃ / Xaramentǃ
Hello! Haláǃ
Cheers! Salutǃ
How are you? Como estás? / Como pasa?
Good morning! Bonjáǃ
Good afternoonǃ Buina tarǃ
Good evening! Buina seraǃ
Good night! Buina nuitǃ
Have a nice day! Tenya un bon dea
Enjoy the meal! Aprofeit-te
Goodbye! Ajósǃ
Good luck! Buina sortǃ
I love you T'aimo
Welcome [to...] Bienvenit(ida) [a...]
Please Pol fabor
Thank you! Grajasǃ
You are welcome De renáǃ
Excuse me Con yejensa
Sorry Perdón
Again De nuif
How much? / How many? Cuant? / Cuants?
What is your name? Como te xamas? Como se xama voté?
My name is ... Me xamo...
Yes, I understand. Si, j'entén.
I do not understand. Jo n'entén
Do you speak English? Falas anglés? Fala anglés?
I do not understand Oscanez. Jo n'entén l'oscanez.
Help me! Ajut-meǃ
Where is the bathroom? On están o banyo?
How much is it? Cuant cost?
The bill, please. La conta, pol fabor.
Oscanez is a beautiful language. L'oscanez e una bela yenua.