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/dental fricatives/affricates before /i/ and postalveolar fricatives/affricates before /e/.
  • This is because palatalization before /i/ and before /e/ occurred separately at different times.
• 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 (later merged in pronunciation but without palatalization).
  • This may have actually been through an intermediate phase -āī rather than descending directly from Classical Latin -ae.
• Original oe merged with long e in all cases.

Grammatical

• Preserves case inflection.
• No articles.
• Modifier precedes noun.

Phonology

Orthography

Vowels

Grapheme	Sound (IPA)	Remarks
a	[ɐ]
ā	[äː]
ą
e	[ɛ ~ e̞]	[ɛ] before hard consonants. [e̞] before soft consonants and word-finally.
ē	[æː ~ ɛː ~ eː]	[æː] before hard consonants. [ɛː] before soft consonants. [eː] word-finally.
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 generally follows Classical Latin rules.

Morphology

Nouns

First declension

1st declension endings

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	-a	-æ
genitive	-æ	-ārų
dative	-æ	-āvīs
accusative	-ą	-ās
locative	-ā	-āvīs
vocative	-a	-æ

Second declension

2nd declension endings

Case	Singular		Plural
	m.	n.	m.	n.
nominative	-us	-ų	-ī	-a
genitive	-ī		-ōrų
dative	-ō		-īs
accusative	-ų		-ōs	-a
locative	-ō		-īs
vocative	-e	-ų	-ī	-a

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Note: The cases have been reordered for convenience, since nominative & accusative forms are often identical as are dative & locative. The vocative has been excluded since it is always identical to the nominative.

Personal pronouns

Person	Number	Gender	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative
1	sg.	all	jehō	mē	mejus, -a, -ų	mivī
	pl.	all	nōs		nostrus, -a, -ų	nōvīs
2	sg.	all	tū	tē	tuvus, -a, -ų	tivī
	pl.	all	vōs		vostrus, -a, -ų	vōvīs
3	sg.	m.	isse	issų	issījus, -a, -ų	issui	issī
		f.	issa	issą	issējus, -a, -ų	issei	issæ
		n.	issut		issījus, -a, -ų	issui	issī
	pl.	m.	issī	issōs	issōrus, -a, -ų	issīs
		f.	issæ	issās	issārus, -a, -ų	issāvīs
		n.	issa		issōrus, -a, -ų	issīs
Reflexive		all	–	sē	suvus, -a, -ų	sivī

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]