Alfinu

Alfinu
Alfinu
Pronunciation	[[Help:IPA\|ˈalfinu]]
Created by	–
Native speakers	- (2014)
Language family	Indo-European Italic Romance Alfinu
Early form	Old Alfinu (?)

Alfinu is a romance languages spoken in the Alps. It is a rather conservative language since it retains four cases and three genders, unlike most other Romance languages. Its phonology is also rather conservative - the most notable dinstinction is the lack of Romance palatalisations since only the first palatalisation applies (a feature shared with Sardinian) and vowel changes, but there are several peculiar phonological innovations. Another feature shared with Sardinian are the Alfinu definite articles: they are derived from Latin ipse rather than ille as it's the case with other Romance languages.

Background

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m		n
Plosive	p b		t d			k g
Fricative		f v	s z	(ʃ ʒ)?
Affricate			t͡s d͡z	t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
Approximant					j	w
Trill			r
Lateral app.			l

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Close-mid	e	o
Open	a

Phonotactics

Orthography

Grammar

Articles

Alfinu has both definite and indefinite articles. Both are inflected for number and gender, as well as case. The indefinite articles are derived from Latin ūnus and the definite articles are derived from Latin ipse, similar to Sardinian but unlike all other Romance languages. The articles are also often shortened when followed by a word beginning in a vowel. The definite articles also combine with prepositions, similar to the Italian system.

Definite articles
Case	Singular			Plural
Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	se	sa	su	si	se	sa
Accusative	su	sa	su	soi	sai	sa
Genitive	si			sor	sar	sor
Dative	so			sii

Indefinite articles
Case	Singular			Plural
Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	unu	una	unu	uni	une	una
Accusative	unu	una	unu	unoi	unai	una
Genitive	uni			unor	unar	unor
Dative	uno			unii

Prepositional articles
Preposition	Case	Forms
in	dative	niro; nirii
in	accusative	niru, nira; niroi, nirai, nira
a	dative	aro; arii
a	accusative	aru, ara; aroi, arai, ara
de	genitive	deri; deror, derar
dia	genitive	diari; diaror, diarar
cu(n)	dative	curo; curii
su	dative	suro; surii

Nouns

Nouns in Alfinu belong to one of the three genders preserved from Latin: masculine, feminine, and neuter. There are also four cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative. Nomiantive and accusative are almost always the same, in both singular and plural. Genitive and dative forms have been generalised and regularised. While the system is fairly conservative compared to other Romance languages, there is a high level of syncretism across all forms.

Declensions

First declension
Case	Feminine and masculine
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-a	-e
Accusative	-a	-ai
Genitive	-e	-ar
Dative	-e	-ii

Second declension
Case	Masculine and neuter
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-u/-iu^i-stem	-i^m	-aⁿ/-ia^{n i-stem}
Accusative	-u/-iu^i-stem	-oi^m/-ioi^{m i-stem}	-aⁿ/-ia^{n i-stem}
Genitive	-i	-or/-ior^i-stem
Dative	-o/-io^i-stem	-ii

Third declension
Case	Masculine, feminine, neuter
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-e	-ei^{m; f i-stem} -aⁿ/-ia^{n i-stem}
Accusative	-e	-ei^{m; f i-stem} -aⁿ/-ia^{n i-stem}
Genitive	-i	-ur^m/n/-iur^i-stem
Dative	-o^m/n/-io^i-stem	-ii

Fourth declension
Case	Masculine, feminine, neuter
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-u	-i^m/f/-ui^?	-uaⁿ
Accusative	-u	-oi^m/f	-uaⁿ
Genitive	-i	-ur
Dative	-o	-ii

Fifth declension
Case	Masculine and feminine
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-ie/-e	-iei/-ei
Accusative	-ie/-e	-iei/-ei
Genitive	-iei/-ei	-ier/er
Dative	-io/-o	-ii

Pronouns

Adjectives

Adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number, and case. There are two adjectival declensions, akin to those of Latin: the first/second declension and the third declension.

Adjectival declension
Case	First and second declension				Third declension
Case	Singular		Plural		Singular	Plural
Nominative	-u^m/n/-a^f		-i^m/-e^f	-aⁿ	-e	-ei^m/f/-iaⁿ
Accusative	-u^m/n/-a^f		-oi^m/-ai^f	-aⁿ	-e	-ei^m/f/-iaⁿ
Genitive¹	-i^m/n	-e^f	-or^m/n/-ar^f		-i	-iur
Dative	-o^m/n	-e^f	-ii		-io	-ii

¹—A small number of irregular adjectives have the ending -ui in genitive singular for all three genders.

Verbs

Verbs are relatively well inflected, similar to the verbal system of Italian or Spanish. There are three conjugations: -are, -ere, and -ire. The system has been somewhat symplified nonetheless; for example, the Latin second and third conjugations have merged into a signle paradigm, and as Romance languages go, there are no special passive forms. Apart from the indicative, Alfinu has three other moods: subjunctive, conditional, and imperative. In total, eight tenses are formed synthetically across the moods (not counting the imperative); four in the indicative, one in the conditional, and three in the subjunctive. Aside from that, there are several tenses formed periphrastically.

Verbal conjugations
	-ARE Conjugation
Person & number	Indicative				Subjunctive			Conditional	Imperative
Person & number	Present	Imperfect	Preterite	Future	Present	Imperfect	Future	Present	Imperative
1^st p. sg.	-o	-avo	-ái	-aró	-eo	-aseo	-areo	-áro
2^nd p. sg.	-ai	-avai	-asti	-arái	-ei	-asei	-arei	-árai
3^rd p. sg.	-a	-ava	-au	-ará	-e	-ase	-are	-ára
1^st p. pl.	-amu	-avamu	-almu	-arámu	-emu	-asemu	-aremu	-áramu
2^nd p. pl.	-aie	-avaie	-aste	-aráie	-eie	-aseie	-areie	-áraie
3^rd p. pl.	-an	-avan	-aron	-arán	-en	-asen	-aren	-áran
	-ERE Conjugation
1^st p. sg.	-o	-evo	-éi	-eró	-ao	-eseo	-ereo	-éro
2^nd p. sg.	-ei	-evai	-esti	-erái	-ai	-esei	-erei	-érai
3^rd p. sg.	-e	-eva	-eu	-erá	-a	-ese	-ere	-éra
1^st p. pl.	-emu	-evamu	-elmu	-erámu	-amu	-esemu	-eremu	-éramu
2^nd p. pl.	-eie	-evaie	-este	-eráie	-aie	-eseie	-ereie	-éraie
3^rd p. pl.	-en	-evan	-eron	-erán	-an	-esen	-eren	-éran
	-IRE Conjugation
1^st p. sg.	-o	-ivo	-íi	-iró	-ao	-iseo	-ireo	-íro
2^nd p. sg.	-i(i)	-ivai	-isti	-irái	-ai	-isei	-irei	-írai
3^rd p. sg.	-e	-iva	-iu	-irá	-a	-ise	-ire	-íra
1^st p. pl.	-imu	-ivamu	-ilmu	-irámu	-amu	-isemu	-iremu	-íramu
2^nd p. pl.	-iie	-ivaie	-iste	-iráie	-aie	-iseie	-ireie	-íraie
3^rd p. pl.	-in	-ivan	-iron	-irán	-an	-isen	-iren	-íran