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While not considered part of the alphabet, Ââ represents a unique sound in the language and is listed along with Aa in dictionaries (compare [[w:German_language|German]] ''Öö'', ''Üü'').
While not considered part of the alphabet, ''Ââ'' represents a unique sound in the language and is listed along with Aa in dictionaries (compare [[w:German_language|German]] ''Öö'', ''Üü'').


Much like in [[w:French_orthography|French's alphabet]], it is possible to know how to pronounce any given written word, although it is often difficult to know how to write a spoken one. The rules governing this are however much simpler, and are given as follows:
Much like in [[w:French_orthography|French's alphabet]], it is possible to know how to pronounce any given written word, although it is often difficult to know how to write a spoken one. The rules governing this are however much simpler, and are given as follows:


===Consonants===
===Consonants===
# The letters 〈c〉 and 〈g〉  are pronounced /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/, respectively, if followed by 〈e〉 or 〈i〉. A word-final /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/ sound can be made by adding an 〈e〉 (which becomes silent) after 〈c〉 and 〈g〉 respectively. Example: [[Contionary:brace|bra'''ce''']].
# The letters 〈c〉 and 〈g〉  are pronounced /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/, respectively, if followed by 〈e〉 or 〈i〉. A word-final /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/ sound can be made by adding an 〈e〉 (which becomes silent) after 〈c〉 and 〈g〉 respectively. Example: [[Contionary:brace|bra'''ce''']]. Non-mute word-final ''e'' after 〈c〉 or 〈g〉is spelled ''è''.
# The [[w:digraph_(Orthography)|digraph]] 〈sc〉 before 〈i〉 and 〈e〉 makes the sound /ʃ/. Final /ʃ/ is written as detailed above.
# The [[w:digraph_(Orthography)|digraph]] 〈sc〉 before 〈i〉 and 〈e〉 makes the sound /ʃ/. Other occurences of /ʃ/ is written as detailed above.
# The sequence with 〈c〉 and 〈g〉 and a [[w:front_vowel|front vowel]] is made using the digraphs 〈qu〉 and 〈gu〉 respectively. Before a non-front vowel, they represent the sounds /kw/ and /gw/.
# The sounds of /k/ or /g/ and a [[w:front_vowel|front vowel]] is made using the digraphs 〈qu〉 and 〈gu〉 respectively. Before a non-front vowel, they represent the sequences /kw/ and /gw/.
# 〈h〉 is silent, but is used for etymological purposes, as well as to create a hiatus between vowels. The sound /h/ is made by using 〈ḥ〉.
# 〈h〉 is silent, but is used for etymological purposes, as well as to create a hiatus between vowels. The sound /h/ is made by using the letter 〈ḥ〉.
# All consonants except 〈h〉 and 〈ḥ〉can be ''geminated'', that is written twice next to each other. They can only be geminated between vowels or word-finally. Some consonants or clusters of consonants have a different form of gemination. 〈c〉 is geminated 〈cque〉 word-finally (with silent 〈e〉), and 〈qu〉 is geminated 〈cqu〉 word-medially.
# All consonants except 〈h〉 and 〈ḥ〉can be ''geminated'', that is written twice next to each other. They can only be geminated between vowels or word-finally. Some consonants or clusters of consonants have a different form of gemination. 〈c〉 is geminated 〈cque〉 word-finally (with silent 〈e〉), and 〈qu〉 is geminated 〈cqu〉 word-medially.
# Some consonants are always geminated. These are /t͡ʃ/, /d͡ʒ/ and /ʃ/.
# Some consonants are always geminated. These are /t͡ʃ/, /d͡ʒ/ and /ʃ/.
# 〈s〉 is pronounced /z/ between vowels and sonorants (〈r〉, 〈n〉, 〈m〉 and 〈l〉), and word finally. In all other situations, it is pronounced /s/. 〈ss〉 is always pronounced as /s/, but may not be written word-initially or next to a consonant as stated above. In situations where neither 〈s〉 nor 〈ss〉 can be used to represent /s/, 〈z〉 is used. It represents /z/ where 〈s〉 represents /s/.
# 〈s〉 is pronounced /z/ between vowels and sonorants (〈r〉, 〈n〉, 〈m〉 and 〈l〉), and word finally. In all other instances, it is pronounced /s/. 〈ss〉 is always pronounced as /s/, but may not be written word-initially or next to a consonant as stated above. In situations where neither 〈s〉 nor 〈ss〉 can be used to represent /s/, 〈z〉 is used. It represents /z/ where 〈s〉 represents /s/.


===Vowels===
===Vowels===
Stressed vowels in most dialects of Brittainese can be either long or short, which is indirectly shown in the orthography as follows. Note at 'C' represents a single consonant, 'V' a vowel, 'CC' either a consonant cluster or a consonant geminate and '#' marks a word boundary.
Stressed vowels in most dialects of Brittainese can be either long or short, which is indirectly shown in the orthography as follows. Note that 'C' represents a single consonant, 'V' a vowel, 'CC' either a consonant cluster or a consonant geminate and '#' marks a word boundary.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Realisation of vowels
|+ Realisation of vowels
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|-
|-
!◌́
!◌́
|colspan="5" | Irregularly stressed vowel (not last full vowel, i.e. some loan words).
|colspan="5" | See below.
|-
|-
!◌̀
!◌̀
|colspan="5" | Pronounciation of accented diphthong as diphthong.
|colspan="5" | See below.
|}
|}
====Accents====
An irregularly stressed vowel (that is stress on a vowel which is not the last full vowel, i.e. some loan words) is marked with an acute accent (◌́), accept for ''a'', which uses a grave accent (◌̀). ''â'' is always stressed and does not take an additional accent. Pronounciation of an accented diphthong as a diphthong is made using a grave accent on the glide-vowel. The grave accent is also used to mark a pronounced final ''e'' after 〈c〉 and 〈g〉.


==Phonology==
==Phonology==
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* '''American Brittainese:''' [ə ɪ ʊ].  
* '''American Brittainese:''' [ə ɪ ʊ].  


Unstressed syllables may also contain a syllabic sonorant [n̩], [l̩], [r̩] or more rarely [m̩], from unstressed /ən/, /əl/, /ər/ and /əl/.
Unstressed syllables may also contain a syllabic sonorant [n̩], [l̩], [r̩] or more rarely [m̩], from unstressed /ən/, /əl/, /ər/ and /əl/ (not to be confused with the sequences [ən] etc, from an underlying unstressed /an/).


===Stress===
===Stress===
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|-
|-
! Oblique
! Oblique
|}
====Cases====
Brittainese nouns are inflected for two cases: a nominative and an oblique. The nominative is used to note the subject of a sentence, while the oblique is used to mark direct objects or after a preposition. The specific usage of both cases may vary between dialects; for example, they have almost entirely disappeared in American Brittainese except as a vocative, but have innovated a use in comparative constructions in British Brittainese.
Due to most nouns having identical nominative and oblique forms, the word order is much more strict than that of Latin (and to some degree that of Old Brittainese). A word order different from SVO in declarative sentences may sound wrong or poetic to a native speaker, even though the cases might remove any ambiguity in the meaning.
===Verbs===
While Brittainese nouns are typically considered conservative when comparing to other Romance languages, the once very complicated verbal system has simplified considerably over the decades - in many ways more than in French. They do have some notable conservative features though, notably the preservation of the Latin third person singular and plural ''-t'' in some verbs.
The verbs are [[w:conjugation|conjugated]] by isolating the stem of the verb and adding an ending. In weak verbs, the stem is easily identifiable from the infinitive, although its vowel might change in different paradigms. For example, the stem of ''dormir'' ("sleep") is ''dorm-'', but the stem of ''parlar'' ("speak") is ''pârl-''. For strong verbs however, the relationship between the infinitive form and the stem is less consistent, and up to three distinct stems are needed to produce all the forms in the paradigm. For example, the verb ''podr'' ("be able") has the stems ''pod-'' and ''pos-''.
The ending depends on the [[w:Grammatical_mood|mood]], [[w:Grammatical_tense|tense]], [[w:Grammatical_aspect|aspect]], and [[w:Grammatical_voice|voice]] of the verb, as well as on the person and number of its subject. Every conjugation exhibits some degree of syncretism, where the same (homophonous, and possibly also homographic) form is used to realize distinct combinations of grammatical features. For instance, the conjugated form ''pârl'' can be the 1st, 2nd or 3rd person singular indicative form of ''parlar'', or the singular familiar imperative. The prevalence of syncretism in conjugation paradigms is one functional explanation for the fact that Brittainese does not allow null subjects, unlike most of the other Romance languages but much like French and the Channel languages.
====Classification====
Aside from ''essr'' (considered a category unto itself), Brittainese verbs are most often grouped into two ''conjugation classes''.
The traditional model, based on Latin and French, stating that there are four classes has in the recent decade lost traction, instead grouping the 1st, 2nd and 4th conjugations into one ''weak'' verb group with an intrinsic thematic vowel, the 3rd group becoming the ''strong'' verb group.
* ''Weak'' verbs consists of verbs with the thematic vowels ''-a'', ''-e'' and ''-i''. It is by far the largest verb group, encompassing nearly all verbs, and the only one that is still productive. He verbs are all conjugated similarly, though there are a number of subclasses with minor changes arising from orthographical and phonological considerations (notably in the stem vowel).
*''Strong'' verbs is increasingly labeled as the "irregular" paradigm (so much so that irregular verbs that originally belonged to another group became strong, and regular verbs gained a thematic vowel - most often ''-e'' - and became weak), lacking any true thematic vowel and consisting of many irregular verbs.
====Moods====
As with French verbs, Brittainese verbs have both non-finite moods (li moid impersonales), also called verbals, and finite ones (li moid personales).
The finite moods are the indicative (''lis indicativ''), the imperative (''lis imperativ''), and the subjunctive (''lis subjonctiv''). While the rules that determine the correct mood are quite complex, they are simplified and summarized in the following table:
{| class="wikitable"
! indicative
||
*used in most independent [[clause]]s
*used in affirmative and negative statements and questions
*used in dependent clauses that are certainly true
*used when no other mood applies
||
*« Ond vos ''stâds'' ? » ("Where ''are'' you?")
*« Eu ''stoi'' ici. » ("I ''am'' here.")
|-
! subjunctive
||
*used in many dependent clauses
*used to express a doubtful, desired, or requested event
*used to express an event to which the reaction is of most significance
*used to express a third-person imperative
*used much more than in English
||
*« El se posd qu'il ''vein'' la matinadh. » ("It may be that he ''will come'' tomorrow.")
*« Eu querí qu'il ''part''. » ("I asked that he ''leave''.")
*« Que ''viv'' la Respublíca ! » ("Long ''live'' the Republic!")
|-
! imperative
||
*used in commands and requests
*only possible with the second-person singular and plural subject
*the subject is implied
*almost exactly as in English
||
*« ''Face'' tas giwoures ! » ("''Do'' your homework!")
*« ''Faceds'' vostrs giwoures eimbl. » ("''Do'' your (pl.) homework together.")
|}
====Tenses and aspects====
The indicative mood has five "simple" ([[w:synthetic language|synthetic]]) tense-aspect forms, conveying three tenses (times of action) (future, present, and past) and two aspects (fabrics of time) ([[w:perfective aspect|perfective]], conveying an action viewed in its entirety without its time frame being considered in more detail, and [[imperfective aspect|imperfective]], conveying an action that occurs repeatedly or continuously). Note however that the synthetic imperfect has been mostly relegated to very literary contexts. The tense-aspect forms of the indicative mood in Britainese are called the present (''lis presents'': present tense, imperfective aspect), the simple past (''lis passadh sempl'': past tense, perfective aspect), the [[imperfect]] (''lis passadh emperfeit'': past tense, imperfective aspect), the future (''lis futúros'': future tense, unspecified aspect), and the conditional (''lis conditionnals'': future-in-past tense, unspecified aspect). The use of the various tense forms is described in the following table:
{| class="wikitable"
! present
|
*like in English, used to describe habitual, recurring, and "always" true events
*unlike in English, used to describe ongoing current action
*unlike in English, used to describe events that started in the past and affect the present (i.e., most cases where simple perfect is used in English)
*sometimes used to describe upcoming events
|
*« W'''am'' jovar desportes. » ("I ''like'' to play sports.")
*« Agour, eu ''stoi'' en Londein. » ("Now, I ''am'' in London. ")
*« El ''viv'' en Lodhess poss 15 ain. » ("He ''has lived''/''has been living'' in Paris for 15 years. ")
|-
! simple past<br>(past perfective)
|
*used to describe past events in a [[perfective aspect|perfective]] or [[aorist aspect]]; that is, with a sense of completion, with a definite beginning and end
|
*« Il ''nasci'' en 1930 et mori en 1998. » ("He ''was born'' in 1930 and ''died'' in 1998.")
*« Her, el ''plu''. » ("Yesterday, it ''rained''.")
|-
! imperfect<br>(past imperfective)
|
*used to describe past events or situations in an [[imperfective aspect]]; that is, ongoing, repetitive, or habitual past events or situations
*used mostly in very literary contexts
|
*« Quand w'''er'' joun, eu ''viveu'' en Londein. » ("When I ''was'' young, I ''lived'' in London.")
|-
! simple future
|
*used to describe future events
*mostly the same as in English, except that it is a simple (one-word) tense in Brittainese
|
*« Eu lo ''facerai'' majnan. » ("I ''will do'' it tomorrow.")
|-
! conditional (future-in-past)
|
*used in an apodosis when the protasis is contrary to fact (in the imperfect)
*used to describe a past event from the standpoint of an even-earlier event
*mostly the same as in English, except that it is a simple (one-word) tense in Brittainese
|
*« Si eu lo ''sabre'', eu te lo ''dicere''. » ("If I knew it, I ''would tell'' you.")
|}
|}


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