Chelsian

Chelsian (Native: čelsa linga /ˈtɕɛɫsa ˈlʲɪŋɡɐ/, čelsōrų linga /tɕɛɫˈsoːruː ˈlʲɪŋɡɐ/) is a highly conservative Romance language with Baltic influence.

Chelsian
čelsōrų linga
Pronunciation	[tɕɛɫˈsoːruː ˈlʲɪŋɡɐ]
Created by	Shariifka
Language family	Indo-European Romance Chelsian
Early forms	Classical Latin Middle Chelsian

Introduction

Etymology

From Latin celsus.

Features

Phonological

• Preserves original vowel length and quality.
• Preserved long nasal vowels into its recent history, then merged them with plain long vowels (but they are kept distinct in writing).
• Original velars became alveolar before /i/ and postalveolar before /e/.
• Original labiovelars became plain velars in all positions.
• Innovated hard/soft consonant distinction.
• Glide v- inserted before word-initial o- (long or short).
• Glide j- inserted before word-initial e- and i- (long or short).
• Original au preserved as a diphthong.
• Original ae merged with long e in most cases, but was kept distinct in 1st declension noun inflectional endings.
• Original oe merged with long e in all cases.

Grammatical

• Preserves case inflection.
• No articles.

Orthographic

• Distinction between plain and nasal long vowels is maintained in writing despite having merged in pronunciation.

Phonology

Orthography

Vowels

Grapheme	Sound (IPA)	Remarks
a	[ɐ]
ā	[äː]
ą
e	[ɛ ~ e̞]	Before hard consonants/before soft consonants and word-finally respectively.
ē	[æː ~ ɛː ~ eː]	Before hard consonants/before soft consonants/word-finally respectively.
ę
æ
i	[ɪ]	/jɪ/ word-initially.
ī	[iː]	/jiː/ word-initially.
į
o	[ɔ]
ō	[oː]
ǫ
u	[ʊ]
ū	[uː]
ų
y	[ɪ]	Used to represent unpalatalized /ɪ/ and /iː/ in loanwords (especially word-initially).
ȳ	[iː]

Diphthongs

Grapheme	Sound (IPA)	Remarks
ai	[äɪ̯]
au	[ɐʊ̯]
eu	[e̞ʊ̯]

Consonants

Grapheme	Sound (IPA)
	Hard	Soft
b	b	bʲ
c	t̪͡s̪	t͡sʲ
č	t͡ʃ	t͡ɕ
ch	x	xʲ
d	d̪	dʲ
dz	d̪͡z̪	d͡zʲ
dž	d͡ʒ	d͡ʑ
f	f	fʲ
g	ɡ	ɡʲ
h	ɦ	ɣʲ
j	—	j
k	k	kʲ
l	ɫ	lʲ
m	m	mʲ
n	n̪	nʲ
p	p	pʲ
r	r	rʲ
s	s̪	sʲ
š	ʃ	ɕ
t	t̪	tʲ
v	ʋ	vʲ
z	z̪	zʲ
ž	ʒ	ʑ

Consonants are always palatalized (soft) before ⟨e, ē, ę, i, ī, į⟩. Before ⟨a, ā, ą, æ, o, ō, ǫ, u, ū, ų⟩, palatalization is denoted by inserting an ⟨i⟩ between the consonant and the vowel.

Prosody

Stress

Stress may be on any of the last three syllables of a word.

Generally:

• Stress is on the last syllable of the stem if it is heavy (meaning that it is closed and/or it contains a long vowel or diphthong).
  • Here, stem refers to the word stripped of inflectional suffixes.
• Otherwise, stress is on the second last syllable of the stem.
• If the above rules would cause stress to fall before the third last syllable of the word, the stress is shifted forward to the third last syllable.

Note that Class 3 nouns ending in -ō in the nominative singular may seem to be inconsistent in this regard, since the -ō is stressed in some words (e.g. fōrmācō /foːrmaːˈtsoː/ "creation") and unstressed in others (e.g. vomō /ˈʋɔmoː/ "man, person"). However, these in fact follow the rule, as explained below:

• When the final -ō- is maintained in inflected forms, it is considered to be part of the stem and is therefore stressed. For example, the accusative of fōrmācō is fōrmācōnę
  • The stem is fōrmācōn-, with the -n- dropped in the nominative singular.
• When the final -ō- is dropped in inflected forms, it is not considered part of the stem and is therefore unstressed. For example, the accusative of vomō is vominę
  • The stem is vomin-, with the -in- dropped in the nominative singular.
• Another way to look at it: In the nominative singular, such nouns lose the final -(i)n- of their stem and add an unstressed -ō as an inflectional ending, with stress on the syllable immediately preceding the ending. If this results in a sequence of two ō's, the -ō of the inflectional ending is absorbed into the -ō of the stem, which maintains its stress. For example (an acute accent has been used to denote stress):
  • vom(in)- + -ō > vómō
  • fōrmācō(n)- + -ō > *fōrmācṓō > fōrmācṓ

Example Texts

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1)

Tōtī vominēs naščunt līverī jet jekālēs in dinnitāte jet jūrivīs. Sunt dōtātī dē rācōne jet kǫscencæ, jet dēviunt ažere inter sē in frāternitātis spīritī.

[ˈtoːtʲiː ˈʋɔmʲɪnʲæːs ˈnɐʃtʃʊnt ˈlʲiːvʲɛrʲiː jɛt jɛˈkaːlʲæːs jɪn dʲɪnʲːɪˈtaːtʲe̞ jɛt ˈjuːrʲɪvʲiːs ‖ sʊnt doːˈtaːtʲiː dʲeː raːˈtsoːnʲɛ jɛt koːˈstsʲɛnʲtseː | jɛt dʲɛːvʲʊnt ˈɐʑe̞rʲe̞ ˈjɪnʲtʲɛr sʲeː jɪn fraːtʲɛrʲnʲɪˈtaːtʲɪs ˈsʲpʲiːrʲɪtʲiː]