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) |
Indo-European
| |
| 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.
Distinctive features
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 > cumpuruòi "to like" /kumpurˈwoi̯/ or LV̄DITĀRE > nauuidòi "to practice" /nau̯wiˈdoi̯/.
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 > nuiifigòi "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 front vowels or /a/) or /w/ (after back 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 > çìa "three (disj.)" /ˈtsi.a/ > /ˈsi.a/, GELĀRE > giuòi "to freeze" /dziˈwoi̯/ > /ziˈwoi̯/. -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/ > caistur "city" /ˈkaʃtur/[1].
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 > ecrug "cross"
- QVOQVE > *pubi > pub "also"
- CABALLVM > *caual > cauài "horse"
- PEDEM > *piði > piu "foot" /piu̯/
- FRIGIDVM > */wriɣiðu/ > */urijið/ > uriu "cold"
- MAGVM > */maɣu/ > mau "nomad"[2]
VI- /wi/ was reduced to /j/ if a vowel followed, as e.g. in VIĀTICVM > iodig "travel".
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/), capsaid "got" (Maur. /kapˈsadʒ/, Num. /kapˈsai̯d/).
- /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. dubridur "3SG is used" Maur. /ˈdubʒidur/, Num. /ˈdubridur/.
- /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/).
Not strictly a part of Mauritanian palatalization (as it was triggered by /i/ and not /j/), but also limited to (not all) Mauritanian dialects is the analogical palatalization of the last stem consonant in fifth conjugation 1SG and 3PL endings due to the /i/ of the other forms. Dialects, including the standard written language, with this trait therefore have e.g. capsiur, capsirit ... capsiuntur (I am got, you are got ... they are got) as /ˈkapʃur ˈkapʃirit ˈkapʃuntur/, while those without this trait only have a palatalized consonant in the forms other than 1SG and 3PL, like /ˈkapsur ˈkapʃirit ˈkapsuntur/ – accordingly, forms such as capsur and capsuntur are found in informal writings of speakers of those dialects, or in literature to specifically identify one of those.
Morphology
Verbs
Active and stative conjugations
Atlantic, uniquely among Romance languages, developed a split-S alignment from the Latin active and passive voices; more properly, the third conjugation passive (infinitive -ī) was generalized to all passives and many intransitive verbs as a further conjugation (also including many formerly deponent verbs); thus, there are many verbal doublets such as capsòi (1st conjugation, to get) and capsii (5th conjugation, to be got), taking different "subject" markers (the -ii conjugation uses the accusative forms of pronouns) and with a completely different conjugation.
| Person | Present | Past | Inferential Past | Future |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | caps | fui capsont(a) | capsai | su capsadùr(a) |
| 2SG | capsot | fuist capsont(a) | capsoist | es capsadùr(a) |
| 3SG | capsat | fuit capsont(a) | capsoit | ist capsadùr(a) |
| 1PL | capsòm | fuim capsontet/-ot | capsouim | sum capsadurot |
| 2PL | capsòç | fuiç capsontet/-ot | capsouiç | sest capsadurot |
| 3PL | capsant | fuirunt capsontet/-ot | capserunt | sunt capsadurot |
| Participles | capsont | – | capsadùr | |
| Person | Present | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | capsiur | fui capsaid(a) | su capsind(a) |
| 2SG | capsirit | fuist capsaid(a) | es capsind(a) |
| 3SG | capsidur | fuit capsaid(a) | ist capsind(a) |
| 1PL | capsimur | fuim capsaidot | sum capsindot |
| 2PL | capsimin | fuiç capsaidot | sest capsindot |
| 3PL | capsiuntur | fuirunt capsaidot | sunt capsindot |
| Participles | – | capsaid | capsind |
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). 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.
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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 |
Notes
- ^ Phonemic /ʃ/, however, only arose because of successive palatalizations, and before /tr/ only because of learned Latin or Greek borrowings, as stratòs /straˈtos/ "army" - cf. EXTRĀNEVM > *istroniu > istroin /iʃˈtroɲ/ "foreign".
- ^ Originally "magician, fortune-teller", this term came to identify wandering fortune-tellers.