Essanian

Essanian (/ɪˈseɪniən/, native: xanhán /ʃaˈɲan/) is an Iberian Romance language descended from Mozarabic.

Essanian
La lengua xanhana لَلَِانْغُوَه شَنَّانَه
Pronunciation	[la ˈleŋgwa ʃaˈɲana]
Created by	Shariifka
Language family	Indo-European Romance Western Romance Iberian Romance Pyrenean–Mozarabic Essanian
Early forms	Mozarabic Old Essanian Middle Essanian

Introduction

Etymology

The endonym xanhán is derived from the place name Xanha, from Latin Hispānia.

The English name Essanian is derived from Medieval Latin Essanianus, a Latinization of Middle Essanian exanyán.

Features

Phonological

• Initial I-, DI- (before vowels), G- (before front vowels) become /dʒ ~ ʒ/.
  • Shared with Catalan and Portuguese.
  • E.g. IUVENE(M) > joven /ˈdʒoven/ "young" (Catalan jove, Portuguese jovem vs. Spanish joven, Asturian xoven, Galician xove, Aragonese choven)
• Intervocalic -I-, -DI- become /j/.
  • Differs from Catalan and (sometimes) Galician/Portuguese.
  • E.g. MAIORE(M) > mayor /maˈjor/ "bigger" (Spanish, Asturian mayor, Galician/Portuguese maior vs Catalan major).

HODIE > wey /wej/ "today" (Spanish hoy, Asturian, Aragonese güe, Catalan vui vs Portuguese hoje, Galician hoxe).

• Diphthongization of stressed Ŏ & Ĕ to /we/ and /je/.
  • Shared with Aragonese, Astur-Leonese, Spanish (except before yod),Catalan (only before yod).
• Preservation of initial F-.
  • Differs from Spanish and some varieties of Astur-Leonese.
• Preservation of initial L-.
  • Differs from Astur-Leonese and Catalan.
• Preservation of initial N-.
  • Differs from some varieties of Astur-Leonese.
• Preservation of intervocalic -L- and -N-.
  • Differs from Galician/Portuguese.
• Monophthongization of falling diphthongs.
  • Shared with Spanish, Catalan, and some varieties of Astur-Leonese.
• -LT- (after U) and -CT- become /jt/ after stressed vowels and /tʃ/ after unstressed vowels.
  • The outcome after unstressed vowels is shared with Spanish and some varieties of Astur-Leonese, while the outcome after stressed vowels is shared with the remaining Iberian Romance languages.
• Palatalization of -LI-, -C'L-, -T'L-, -G'L- to /ʎ/.
  • Differs from Spanish and some varieties of Astur-Leonese.
• Palatalization of -LL- to /ʎ/.
  • Differs from Galician/Portuguese.
• Palatalization of -NN- to /ɲ/.
  • Differs from Galician/Portuguese.
• -M'N- becomes /m/.
  • Differs from Spanish.
• Palatalization of -X-, -PS-, -SC- (the latter before front vowels) to /ʃ/.
  • Differs from Spanish.
• Preservation of initial CL-, FL-, PL-.
  • Shared with Catalan.
• Preservation of intervocalic -T-, -P-, -C-.
  • Shared with some Aragonese dialects.
• Insertion of (or, in some cases, preservation of) /j/ before or after a front vowel to avoid hiatus.
  • Shared with Aragonese and some varieties of Astur-Leonese.
• Dropping of final -U(M) in many environments.
  • Shared with Catalan.
• Preservation of non-dropped final -U(M) as /u/.
  • Shared with Astur-Leonese and Portuguese (though it is likely a secondary development in the latter).
• Dropping of final -E(M) in many environments.
  • Shared with Aragonese, Catalan, and (to some extent) Spanish.
• Preservation of voiced fricatives/affricates.
  • Shared with Catalan, Portuguese, and Mirandese.
• Preservation of the distinction between /b/ and /v/.
  • Shared with some varieties of Catalan and most varieties of Portuguese.
• The following features are unique to Essanian among the Iberian Romance languages:
  • -ST- becomes /θ/.
  • -SC- (non-palatalized) and -SP- become /ʃ/.
  • Palatalization of C (before front vowels) and -TI- (before vowels) to /tʃ/.
• Insertion of /w/ before or after a front vowel to avoid hiatus.
• Preservation of W- in loanwords.

Morphological

• Pronouns and adjectives form a neuter in -o
  • Shared with Asturian.
• Words ending in -a form their plural in -es.
  • Shared with Asturian and Catalan.
• Words ending in -u form their plural in -os.
  • Shared with Asturian.
• Most masculine words ending in a consonant form their plural in -os.
  • Shared with Catalan (in certain situations).
• Final -TIS in second person plural verbs became /θ/.
  • Shared with Aragonese.
• -B- in imperfect preserved as /v/ in all verb classes.
  • Shared with Aragonese, which preserves it as /β/.

Phonology

Orthography

Latin orthography

Alphabet

Letter Name IPA A a a [ä] B b be [be̞] C c ce [t͡ʃe̞] Ç ç çe [θe̞] D d de [d̪e̞] E e e [e̞] F f efe [ˈe̞fe̞] G g ge [d͡ʒe̞] Gh gh ghen [ʕe̞n] H h haca [ˈhäkä]

Letter Name IPA I i i [i] J j jota [ˈd͡ʒo̞t̪ä] K k ka [kä] L l ele [ˈe̞le̞] Lh lh elhe [ˈe̞ʎe̞] M m eme [ˈe̞me̞] N n ene [ˈe̞ne̞] Nh nh enhe [ˈe̞ɲe̞] O o o [o̞] P p pe [pe̞]

Letter Name IPA Q q cu [ku] R r erre [ˈe̞re̞] S s esse [ˈe̞se̞] T t te [t̪e̞] U u u [u] V v ve [ve̞] W w we [we̞] X x exe [ˈe̞ʃe̞] Y y ye [je̞] Z z zeta [ˈðe̞t̪ä]

Consonants

Consonants

Letter	Context	IPA	Examples	Remarks
b	word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨m⟩ or ⟨n⟩	[b]	buen "good"; ambos "both"
	elsewhere (i.e. after a vowel, even across a word boundary, or after any consonant other than ⟨m⟩ or ⟨n⟩)	[β̞]	sobre "over"
	utterance-final	[p] or [ɸ̞]	ob "where"
c	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩	[tʃ] or [ʃ] (depending on the dialect)	ceto "early; in the morning"
	elsewhere	[k]	canta "song"
	before voiced consonants	[ɣ̞]	anécdota "anecdote"
	in the cluster ⟨ct⟩	[ɣ̞] or [x̞]	actual "current"
ch	everywhere	[tʃ] or [ʃ] (depending on the dialect)	xuchar "to listen"
ç	everywhere	[θ], [s], or [tʃ] (depending on the dialect)	cueça "slope"
d	word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨l⟩ or ⟨n⟩	[d̪]	dar "to give"; caldu "hot"
	after ⟨n⟩ word-finally	Ø	mond "world"
	elsewhere	[ð̞]	modos "ways, modes"
	utterance-final	[t̪] or [θ̞]	mod "way, mode"
f	everywhere	[f]	formica "ant"
g	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ not before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩	[dʒ]	germán "brother"
	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts	[ʒ]	viage "journey"
	not before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩	[ɡ]	gat "cat"
	not before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts	[ɣ˕]	suegru "father-in-law"
	utterance-final	[k] or [x̞]	zigzag "zigzag"	In loanwords.
gh	everywhere	[ʕ]	ghada "tradition, custom"	In Arabic loanwords
gu	before ⟨a⟩ or ⟨o⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩	[ɡw]	lengua "tongue, language"
	before ⟨a⟩ or ⟨o⟩, and not in the above contexts	[ɣ̞w]	Paraguay "Paraguay"	In loanwords.
	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩	[ɡ]	guitarra "guitar"
	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts	[ɣ̞]	magues "witches, female Zoroastrians"
gü	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩	[ɡw]	lengües "tongues, languages"
	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts	[ɣ̞w]	següey "Segway"	In loanwords.
h	everywhere	[h] or [ħ] or [x]	horru "free"	Generally occurs in loanwords.
	everywhere (rare)	Ø	honestu "honest"	Occurs in loanwords where the letter is silent in the original language. May be pronounced [h] as a spelling pronunciation.
j	either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩	[dʒ]	ja "already"
	elsewhere	[ʒ]	viajar "to travel"
	utterance-final	[tʃ] or [ʃ]	alhaj "Hajj"	In loanwords.
k	rare; only occurs in a few loanwords and sensational spellings	[k]	kilogramu "kilogram"	Can generally be replaced with c or qu.
l	everywhere	[l]	lengua "tongue, language"
lh	everywhere	[ʎ]	vielh "old"
m	everywhere except word-finally	[m]	mesa "table"
	word-final	[n] or [ŋ] (depending on the dialect)	Adam "Adam"
n	everywhere but before other consonants and word-finally	[n]	manes "hands"
	before other consonants	[m]; [ɱ]; [n]; [n̪]; [ɲ]; [ŋ]	lengua "tongue, language"	Assimilates to the following consonant’s place of articulation.
	word-finally	[n] or [ŋ] (depending on the dialect)	man "hand"
nh	everywhere	[ɲ]	suenh "sleep, dream"
p	everywhere	[p]	padre "father"
	in the consonant cluster ⟨pt⟩	[β̞] or [ɸ̞]	aptu "apt"
q	everywhere	[k]	Qátar "Qatar"	In loanwords.
qu	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩	[k]	que "what"
	elsewhere	[kw]	quatro "four"
qü	only occurs before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩	[kw]	aqües "waters"
r	word-initial, morpheme-initial, or after ⟨l⟩, ⟨n⟩, ⟨s⟩, or ⟨z⟩; in emphatic speech may also be used instead of [ɾ] in syllable-final (especially before ⟨l⟩, ⟨m⟩, ⟨n⟩, ⟨s⟩, ⟨t⟩, or ⟨d⟩) and word-final positions (before pause or consonant-initial words only)	[r]	rat "rat"
	elsewhere	[ɾ]	plorar "to cry"
rr	only occurs between vowels	[r]	carru "car"
s	word-initial, morpheme initial, before a voiceless consonant, or utterance-final	[s]	salá "prayer"
	everywhere else	[z]	mesa "table"
ss	only occurs between vowels	[s]	passar "to pass"
t	everywhere	[t̪]	tu "you"
	before voiced consonants	[ð̞]	atmósfera "atmosphere"
	after ⟨n⟩ word-finally	Ø	vient "wind"
v	everywhere	[v]	vient "wind"
w	everywhere	[w]	welh "eye"
x	everywhere	[ʃ]	xuchar "to listen"
	between vowels and word-finally	[ks]	toxina "toxin"	In words of Latin or Greek origin; may be replaced with ⟨cs⟩ or ⟨s⟩ (with the associated pronunciation change).
	before a consonant	[ks] or [s]	textu "text"	In loanwords; may be replaced with ⟨s⟩ (and pronounced accordingly).
	in the prefix ex-	[z]; [s] before a plosive	examen "exam"
y	everywhere except when acting as a vowel	[j]	yerva "grass"
z	utterance-final or before a voiceless consonant	[θ] or [s] (depending on the dialect)	arroz "rice"
	everywhere else	[ð] or [z] (depending on the dialect)	zagal "boy"

Vowels

Monophthong Vowels

Letter	IPA	Examples	Remarks
a	[ä]	gat "cat"
e	[e̞]	mesa "table"
i	[i]	felich "happy"
y		y "and"	Rare. Only commonly used as a vowel in the conjunction y and the homonymous adverbial pronoun.
o	[o̞]	ora "hour, time"
u	[u]	amicu "friend"

Vowel letters in diphthongs

Letter		IPA	Examples	Remarks
In rising diphthongs
i	⟨i⟩ before a vowel	[j]	bien "well"; viage "journey"
u	⟨u⟩ before a vowel (but silent in ⟨qu⟩ and ⟨gu⟩ before an ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩)	[w]	cueça "slope"; quatro "four"
ü	⟨ü⟩ before a vowel (only used in ⟨qü⟩ and ⟨gü⟩ before an ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩)	[w]	lengües "tongues, languages"
In falling diphthongs
i	⟨i⟩ after a vowel	[j]	feit "made"
y	⟨y⟩ after a vowel	[j]	rey "king"	Almost always word-final. ⟨-iy⟩ is pronounced [i].
u	⟨u⟩ after a vowel	[w]	autobús "bus"
w	⟨w⟩ after a vowel	[w]	tow "your (dialectal)"	Almost always word-final. ⟨-uw⟩ is pronounced [w].

Notes:

1. ⟨iu⟩ and ⟨ui⟩ are ambiguous, since they may either be used for rising diphthongs (/ju/ and /wi/ respectively) or falling diphthongs (/iw/ and /uj/ respectively). In most cases, they represent rising diphthongs unless followed by ⟨t⟩. ⟨iw⟩ and ⟨uy⟩ always represent falling diphthongs.
2. When a vowel (almost always ⟨e⟩) is both preceded and followed by a glide, a triphthong is formed - e.g. nueit, nueu, buey.

Stress

Stress in a word can be determined from the way it is written via the following rules:

• If there is any vowel with an acute accent, that vowel is stressed.
• If there is no vowel with an acute accent:
  • The penultimate vowel is stressed if the word ends in a vowel, vowel + -n, or vowel + -s.
  • The ultimate vowel is stressed if the word ends in any consonant other than -n or -s.
• Note that:
  • Diphthongs are always treated as one syllable.
  • iV and uV (where V represents any vowel other than i or u) are treated as diphthongs, and therefore count as one syllable.
    • The exception to this is if the i or u has an accent. However, this is rare since words that would have íV and úV are usually written as iyV and uwV.
  • Final -y and -w are treated as consonants, and they shift the stress to the final syllable.

Prosody

Stress

Primary stress may occur in any of the last three syllables of a word.

Morphology

Articles

Definite Article

Essanian definite article

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	el, l' (before vowels), 'l (after vowels)	los
Feminine	la, l' (before a)	les
Neuter	lo, l' (before vowels)	–

Notes:

1. The definite article precedes the noun it modifies.
2. The neuter definite article is generally used with nominalized neuter adjectives or relative clauses that have an abstract/inanimate referent - e.g. lo bueno "the good/that which is good"; lo que pienso "what I think/that which I think".

Indefinite Article

Essanian indefinite article

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	un	unos
Feminine	una	unes
Neuter	uno	–

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Essanian personal pronouns

Person, Number, Formality, Gender				Independent				Clitic
				Subject	Object	Reflexive Object	Possessive	Direct object	Indirect object	Reflexive	Possessive
1st	Singular			yo	mi		miyu/miyos, miya/miyes, miyo	me, m'1			mo(n)2/mos, ma(n)2/mes, mo(n)2
	Plural		Masculine	nós; nosotros			nuessu/nuessos, nuessa/nuesses, nuesso	nos			–
			Feminine	nós; nosotres
2nd	Singular	Informal		tu	ti		tuw/tuwos, tuwa/tuwes, tuwo	te, t'1			to(n)2/tos, ta(n)2/tes, to(n)2
		Formal	Masculine	vucé		sí	suw/suwos, suwa/suwes, suwo	lu, l'1, -l3	lhi	se, s'1	so(n)2/sos, sa(n)2/ses, so(n)2
			Feminine					la, l'4
	Plural	Informal	Masculine	vós; vosotros			vuessu/vuessos, vuessa/vuesses, vueso	vos			–
			Feminine	vós; vosotres
		Formal	Masculine	vucés		sí	lor/loros, lora/lores, loro	los	lhis	se, s'1, -sen5	–
			Feminine					les
3rd	Singular		Masculine	elh			suw/suwos, suwa/suwes, suwo	lu, l'1, -l3	lhi, lh'1	se, s'1	so(n)2/sos, sa(n)2/ses, so(n)2
			Feminine	elha				la, l'4
			Neuter	elho				lo, l'1
	Plural		Masculine	elhos			lor/loros, lora/lores, loro	los	lhis	se, s'1, -sen5	–
			Feminine	elhes				les
Impersonal				wemo			suw/suwos, suwa/suwes, suwo	lo, l'1	lhi, lh'1	se, s'1	so(n)2/sos, sa(n)2/ses, so(n)2

Notes:

¹ Preverbal before vowel.

² -n is appended to the singular clitic possessives when the following word begins in a vowel. Also note that in more archaic forms of Essanian, a glide may be added after the initial consonant of the clitic possessives in both the singular and plural. This glide is -i- in the first person and -u- in the second and third persons.

³ Post-verbal after vowel.

⁴ Preverbal before a.

⁵ Post-verbal after non-finite form (infinitive, participles, etc.).

Note that post-verbal clitic pronouns are always separated from the verb with a hyphen.

The neuter gender is used to refer to abstract ideas, infinitives, que clauses, inanimate interrogatives and indefinites, and similar.

When a verb has multiple clitic object pronouns, they combine in the following order: reflexive OP + indirect OP + direct OP + adverbial OP (see below).

Adverbial object pronouns

The following adverbial clitic object pronouns are used:

• y, b' (pre-verbal before vowels), -y (post-verbal) = equivalent to French y
• en, n' (pre-verbal before vowels), -ne (post-verbal) = equivalent to French en

Note that when post-verbal, the clitic pronouns are separated from the verb with a hyphen.

When both adverbial object pronouns are used at once, they combine as en b' preverbally before vowels and n'y otherwise.

Nouns

Gender

Nouns may be masculine or feminine. Unlike adjectives and pronouns, nouns cannot have neuter gender.

Number

Nouns may be singular or plural. Nouns may also be used in the dual, which is borrowed from Arabic.

Regular plurals

Nouns are pluralized based on their ending and gender as follows:

Plural of nouns based on ending and gender

Ending	Gender	Plural	Dual	Remarks
Consonant	most M	-os	-én	An exception are nouns ending in -nt that do not refer to people. Such nouns are masculine in gender but take -es in the plural.
	F; some M	-es	-én	In addition to feminine nouns, masculine inanimate nouns ending in -nt take -es in the plural.
-a	M/F	-es	-atén	Most words ending in -a are feminine.
-u; -o	M/F	-os	-én	Most words ending in -u are masculine. Nouns ending in unstressed -o are rare.
-e; -i	M/F	-es	-én	Nouns ending in unstressed -i are rare.
Stressed vowel	M/F	-s	-tén	These endings are added after the final vowel, which is left unchanged.

Irregular plurals

Some words, mostly of Arabic origin, take a plural in -ín (masculine) or -(w)at (feminine). There are also some broken plurals.

For example:

• mumin "believer (m.)" → muminín "believers"
• múmina "believer (f.)" → muminat "believers (f.)"
• salá "prayer" → salawat "prayers"
• sultán "sultan" → salatín "sultans"

Adjectives

Endings

Adjectives take the following endings:

Essanian adjective declension

Type	Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine	Feminine
1	-u or consonant	-a	-o	-os	-es
2	-e	-e	-e	-es	-es
3	Stressed vowel	Same as masc.	Same as masc.	-s	-s

The neuter gender in adjectives is used for agreement with infinitives, neuter pronouns, impersonal pronouns, or que phrases. It can also be used as an adverb.

Comparatives and Superlatives

The comparative of adjectives ("more ___") is formed by placing plus "more" or menos "less" before the adjective for the positive and negative comparatives respectively.

The following adjectives have irregular positive comparatives:

• buen "good" → melhor "better"
• mal "bad" → peyor "worse"
• muit "much, many" → plus "more"
• pocu "little, few" → menos "less, fewer"
• joven "young", cicu "small" → menor "younger, smaller"
• vielh "old", grand "large" → mayor "older, larger"

The last four (joven, cicu, vielh, grand) can alternatively use regular comparatives.

The superlative ("most _____") is formed by placing the definite article before the corresponding comparative.

Absolute Superlative

In addition to the regular superlative, there is an absolute superlative formed with the suffix -íssimu (declined as a regular adjective). It means "very ______" or "extremely _______".

There are some irregular absolute superlatives. In all cases, the regular forms may also be used.

• buen "good" -> óptimu "very good, optimal"
• mal "bad" -> péssimu "very bad"
• grand "large" -> máximu "very large"
• cicu "small" -> mínimu "very small"
• altu "high" -> supremu "very high"
• baxu "low" -> ínfimu "very low"

Adverbs

Derivation from adjectives

Adverbs are commonly derived from adjectives by one of the following methods:

• The neuter form of the adjective - e.g. puro "purely"
• The feminine form of the adjective suffixed with -ment - purament "purely"

When adverbs formed with the suffix -ment are appended to each other, -ment is dropped from all but the last adverb.

Irregular adverbs

The following adverbs are not regularly derived from their corresponding adjectives:

• buen "good" → bien "well"
• mal "bad" → mal "badly"

Comparative

The comparative of adverbs is formed in the same way as adjectives: by placing plus "more" or menos "less" before the adverb.

The following adverbs have irregular comparative forms:

• bien "well" → melhor "better"
• mal "badly" → peyor "worse"
• muito "a lot" → plus "more"
• poco "a little" → menos "less"

Numerals

Essanian numerals

	Cardinal	Ordinal	Fractional
0	zero	zerén	—
1	un, una, uno	primer	—
2	dos	second	meyu
3	tres	tercer	tierchu
4	quatro	quartu	quartu
5	cinco	quint	quint
6	seis	sieç	sieç
7	siet	setén	setavu
8	weito	oitén	oitavu
9	nueve, nueu	novén	novavu
10	diech	decén	dechavu
11	onge	ongén	onjavu
12	doge	dogén	dojavu
13	trege	tregén	trejavu
14	quatorge	quatorgén	quatorjavu
15	quinge	quingén	quinjavu
16	sege	segén	sejavu
17	deci-siet	deci-setén	deci-setavu
18	deci-weito	deci-oitén	deci-oitavu
19	deci-nueve, deci-nueu	deci-novén	deci-novavu
20	vint	vintén	vintavu
21	vinti-ún	vinti-unén	vinti-unavu
30	trenta	trentén	trentavu
40	quaranta	quarantén	quarantavu
50	cinquanta	cinquantén	cinquantavu
60	sexanta	sexantén	sexantavu
70	setanta	setantén	setantavu
80	oitanta	oitantén	oitantavu
90	novanta	novantén	novantavu
100	cient	centén	centavu
1000	mil	milén	milavu

Example texts

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1)

La Declarachón Universala de los Dreitos Umanos (Artícul 1)

Totos los seros umanos naxen horros ed equalos en dinitá y dreitos. Son dotatos de rachón y conxencha, y deven comportar-sen los unos colos otros en ruhu de germantá.

توتس لس سارس أمانس نشن حرس ءاد ءاكوالس ءان دنتاه إي دريتس. سون دتاتس دا رچون إي كنشنچه، إي داڤن كمپرتارسن لس أونس كلس أترس ءان روح دا جرمانتاه

/ˈtotos los ˈseɾos uˈmanos ˈnaʃen ˈhoros ed eˈkwalos en diniˈta i ˈdreitos ‖ son doˈtatos de raˈt͡ʃon i konˈʃent͡ʃa | i ˈdeven kompoɾˈtaɾsen los ˈunos ˈkolos ˈotɾos en ˈruhu de d͡ʒeɾmanˈta/