A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

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Alessio
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A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

Well, it's been a while! My original Emilian lessons thread dates back to 2014 and hasn't been updated much since. In fact, it has lost all but its last page and I have no idea why...
As we say in Italy, not everything that's bad happens to hurt you, and on this spirit I decided that the lessons had to be rewritten, especially now that I have a better knowledge of both the language and linguistics in general.
This time I want to give them a proper introduction, so have fun!

DISCLAIMER
Except where otherwise noted, the information I'm going to give in this course comes from personal experience and anecdotal evidence. If you feel that some of it is not accurate, you are welcome to try to correct it by either replying to the thread or sending me a private message. The reason for this limitation is that it's incredibly hard to find resources on any regional language of Italy besides the ones that are still thriving, e.g. Neapolitan and Sicilian. Emilian is not, unfortunately, one of them.

REGIONAL LANGUAGES OF ITALY
According to Wikipedia and to everyday experience, a great deal of Italians are native bilingual speakers of Italian and one or more regional languages.
These languages, which usually lack any written tradition, served as an L1 for centuries before Alessandro Manzoni, inspired by the school of Florence and its famous members among which Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarca and Giovanni Boccaccio, wrote The Bethroted (I promessi sposi in Italian), whose final version dated 1842 laid the foundations of the modern Italian language. Italy then united in 1861 and Italian became the official language of the Kingdom.
De facto, regional languages were still used predominantly for at least another 80-90 years, to the point that most people born in 1950 and before, while considering Italian their mother tongue, are still much more fluent in their regional languages. This year should be adjusted depending on the different regions of Italy; in certain zones of the South, for example, children typically pick up regional languages first and learn Italian second. In the region around Venice, called the Veneto, and in Central Italy, regional languages are very well understood and to some extent spoken by young people, although they might be considered an L2 for them. In most other places around Northern Italy, including the Emilia-Romagna region, regional languages are dying. Children are taught only Italian and frequently fail at understanding anything else. Generations up to the 70s can still speak their regional language, but don't use it as much as their parents would, for example. In general, the tendency is to let the languages die off.
To understand why, we need to talk about something no linguist would really ever want to talk about.

"DIALECTS"
The quotes around this word are necessary, because when an Italian starts talking about "dialects", you might get the wrong idea.
In linguistics, a dialect is a variety of a language which, while being mutually intelligible with other dialects, shows some differences, for example in pronunciation. In Italian, "dialect" is the term we use in place of "regional language".
Wikipedia's got you covered here (second bullet point).
The problem is that people tend to perceive Italian regional languages as a rude, illiterate, even wrong dialects of Italian. This is the main reason why they are dying off: people don't feel comfortable speaking them to strangers, because it would make them seem either uncapable of speaking their homeland's official language, or even impolite, as if they were trying to make fun of the listener.
Because of this, most regional languages are not official in the region(s) where they're spoken, and unfortunately my own regional language does indeed not benefit from this status; still, some dialects - this is how we will be referring to regional languages throughout this course, for consistency with what the Italians do - ARE official in some regions; for example in the Friuli region, including the provinces of Udine and Pordenone, Friulan (natively Furlan) is co-official alongside Italian and most signs, especially those indicating directions or city limits, are written in both languages.
It is very important though to realize that in regions where this does not happen people do NOT perceive dialects as a separate language. After the Unesco used the term "language" in one of its papers to refer to Neapolitan, people all throughout Italy have started thinking that Neapolitan is an actual separate language, while all other regional languages are not. Some will make an exception for Sardinian, which is co-official on the island of Sardinia. Nobody will ever tell you that Emilian is a separate language from Italian, unless in a sort of "well you could almost say that..." fashion.

EMILIANO-ROMAGNOLO
Emilian is actually a group of dialects of the Emiliano-Romagnolo language, encompassing the whole region of Emilia-Romagna, the state of San Marino and some zones of Lombardy, Liguria and Marche. Emilian dialects tend to differ from Romagnolo dialects much more than they differ from other Emilian dialects, which is the reason why I chose to call Emilian a language by itself.
Emiliano-Romagnolo is spoken by about 1,300,000 people, and is the first or sole language of about 450,000 (source: Wikipedia, data gathered in 2006). Emilian is spoken west of the Sillaro stream, and Romagnolo east of it.

WHY VIGNOLESE
Unlike - or at least way more than - more widespread dialects such as Neapolitan or Sicilian, Emilian suffers the lack of a koiné, i.e. a standardized variety. (Actual) dialects of Emilian show a high degree of variation among them, especially when it comes to phonetics.
This is why I had to pick a variety of Emilian, and I picked the one that I speak. I was born in the city of Vignola, and have been living in a nearby countryside village ever since, thus Vignolese is the variety I speak and understand best.
Don't worry, though: which variety you learn doesn't really matter - people will understand you nonetheless. Still, should I know that some varieties pronounce something differently, or use another word, I will bring it up; otherwise just keep in mind that I'm using the Vignolese variety.
Vignolese is a sub-dialect of the Modenese dialect of the Emilian language, which has to some extent being influenced by the neighboring Bolognese dialects. Most people who speak it will refer to it as dialàt mudněṡ, whereas a more correct term would be dialàt vgnulěṡ, since many varieties spoken within the province of Modena are significantly different (e.g. Mirandolese, Finalese and Montanaro). The area of influence of Vignolese starts from the city of Vignola (25,000 inhabitants according to the 2011 census) and spreads around the nearby hills, reaching a total population of about 70,000. Not all of these speak Emilian at all - I think it would be accurate to consider that roughly 40% of them do (either as a first or second language), giving us about 28,000 speakers of this particular variety of the language.
I'm proud to be one of them and I hope I can give you as much information as possible on this beautiful yet dying language.

If I got you interested, stay tuned for what is coming in the next few days and weeks! I might publish lesson 1 (phonetics) later today if I have time, so... a-s sintàm!
:ita: :eng: [:D] | :fra: :esp: :rus: [:)] | :con: Hecathver, Hajás, Hedetsūrk, Darezh...

Tin't inameint ca tót a sàm stê żōv'n e un po' cajoun, mo s't'armâgn cajoun an vōl ménga dîr t'armâgn anc żōven...
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kanejam
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by kanejam »

Following! I remember (and have completely forgotten) the first set of these lessons [:)]
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Dormouse559 »

Alessio wrote: 01 Sep 2019 09:20 Well, it's been a while! My original Emilian lessons thread dates back to 2014 and hasn't been updated much since. In fact, it has lost all but its last page and I have no idea why...
boop

But yay! I'm glad you're restarting this. Can't get enough of regional Romance languages.
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

Okay, it took me way more than I would have expected, but here we are!

LESSON 1
PHONETICS & SPELLING


So, since you've read my overlong introduction, I would like to officially welcome you to my Emilian course!
Our first lessons will be about the phonetics of the Emilian language which, as you will see, are quite similar but in no way identical to those of Italian.
Note that there is no standard spelling for any Emilian dialect; thus, the spelling system we're going to use throughout these lessons is based on common use and on some rules that should make guessing the pronunciation of words a lot easier.



CONSONANTS

Code: Select all

NAS /m n ɲ/			<m n gn>
PLO /p b t d k g/		<p b t d c(h)[1] g(h)[1]>
FRI /f v s̪ z̪ s̠ z̠/		<f v z ż s ṡ>
LAT /l (ʎ)/			<l jj/gl(i)[2]>
TRL /r/				<r>
APP /j w/			<i/j[3] u[3]>
AFF /ts̠ dz̠/			<c(i/')[4] g(i/')[4]>
Additionally, <qu> represents /kw/.

Notes:
1 /k g/ as spelled <c g> before <a o u> (and any variation thereof) and any consonant, and <ch gh> before <e i> (and any variation thereof). This spelling comes from Italian; there is no letter <k> in the Emilian alphabet (nor in the Italian alphabet anyway). Note that you might find <ch gh> at the end of a word to mark the presence of /k g/ as opposed to /ts̠ dz̠/, as we'll see later on.

2 The sound /ʎ/ is only present in some varieties of Emilian, and even on such occasions it can be realized as [jː], i.e. the sound that replaces it in other varieties. As such, two different spellings can be encountered: <gl(i)>, where the <i> is inserted anywhere except before another <i>, for dialects that actually realize /ʎ/ as [ʎ], and <jj> for all other dialects. Compare maglioun and majjoun ("sweater"). The <gl(i)> spelling comes, once more, directly from Italian.

3 /j w/ do not contrast with the vowels /i u/, and as such they are generally spelled the same. However, you might occasionally find /j/ being spelled <j> when it occurs between two vowels. /w/ is never spelled <w> though.

4 /ts̠ dz̠/ are spelled <c g> before <i e> (and any variation thereof), <ci gi> before any other vowel, and <c' g'> at the end of a word. It is common practice, as we saw earlier, to spell /k g/ as <ch gh> in such a position, to prevent confusion.

Finally, some remarks that you might find useful:
-<z> does NOT represent the English /z/. It's a sound closer to the Italian <z> /ts/, except without the initial /t/; since this sound is dental in Italian, you are left with /s̪/. You can also think of this sound as the sibilant version of /θ/. The same rule applies to its voiced counterpart <ż> /z̪/, which can be thought to be Italian /dz/ without the initial /d/, or as the sibilant version of /ð/. (note that some people do actually realize /s̪ z̪/ as [θ ð])

-/r/ is trilled, just like in Italian.

-<h> is NEVER pronounced /h/. This sound does not exist in Emilian or in Italian. Unlike in Italian, though, <h> is not used to distinguish words that would otherwise be spelled (and to some extent pronounced) the same, or at least, I'm trying to avoid using it like that. Therefore, you will usually only find <h> after <c g>.

-Emilian has lost the /s/-/ʃ/ and /ts dz/-/tʃ dʒ/ distinction. All of the Italian words with /ʃ/ either use a completely different word in Emilian, or have a /s̠/ in them. Emilians are, indeed, often laughed at for their inability to distinguish /s ʃ/ even in Italian, especially for older people. Both sounds tend to merge towards [s̠], i.e. the phoneme we use in Emilian. In the same way, /z/ is realized as [z̠], but this doesn't cause problems, since /ʒ/ is not a phoneme in Italian.
The same thing applies for /tʃ dʒ/, moving to [ts̠ dz̠]. However where Italian has /ts dz/ Emilian typically has /s̪ z̪/, so this distinction is retained to some extent.

-/gn/ is not found in Emilian words, so <gn> always represents /ɲ/. You might find a /gn/ sequence across different words, for example in agh n'è (there is [some of...]), but in this case the space and the additional <h> will mark the difference.

-Final obstruent devoicing is a common phenomenon in Emilian, particularly among older speakers. Thus, words such as <lêv> /lεːv/ (to wash, present 1 and 3sg) are sometimes realized as [lεːf]. The /v/ re-appears in liaisons: <am lêv al man> /am lεːv‿al mãː/.


VOWELS

In unstressed syllables, only five vowels can be found in Emilian, i.e.

Code: Select all

/i u/ 	<i u>
/e o/ 	<e o>
/a/ 	<a>
/a/ could be described as central [ä], or maybe even [ɐ], particularly when far from the stress.

Stressed syllables, however, get really messy. Let's break this down to a set of rules:

1) When one of the basic vowels above is stressed, it should always be marked with an accent mark: a grave for /a i u/ <à ì ù>, an acute for /e o/ <é ó>. This mimics the rules we use for accent marks in Italian. Note that these vowels are somewhat shorter than their unstressed counterparts; for example the word for "house", , is typically pronounced [kă]. There is a tendency, quite like in English, to double the consonant that comes after a short vowel to stress this out, particularly at the end of words: for example, the diminutive suffix <-àt> is often spelled <-àtt>.

2) Stressed syllables might additionally feature /ε ɔ/, written <è ò>.

3) Vowels in stressed syllables might be long. This is marked by replacing the grave with a circumflex, and the acute with a caron or a macron, whatever floats your boat. Thus:

Code: Select all

/iː uː/ <î û>
/eː oː/ <ě/ē ǒ/ō>
/εː ɔː/ <ê ô>
/aː/ 	<â>
Of course, you will find LOTS of variations to this. Some people mark long vowels by doubling them, e.g. <nòòn>; some apply this rule but drop the accent mark on the second, e.g. <nòon>; some ignore the length distinction altogether and write <nòn>; some drop the /eː oː/ vs /εː ɔː/ distinction and use <ê ô> indiscriminately; and worst of all, some people use <ē ō> for /εː ɔː/, and <ê ô> for /eː oː/!

4) /a i u/ in stressed syllables might be nasalized. This is normally not marked, because there is a precise rule to find out: any of those vowel followed by a <n> within the same syllable (i.e. in coda) is nasal, and the <n> is only pronounced before another consonant. On such occasions, stress marks are typically dropped, and deduced by the presence of a nasalized vowel. When stress marks are used, though, they cancel out the nasalization: compare <an> /ã/, meaning "they have", and <ân> /aːn/, meaning "year(s)".
Note that in the Bolognese variety it has become common to mark any nasalizing <n> with an acute, i.e. <ń>. Thus, the verb <an> would be spelled <ań>.

5) There are two diphthongs which can only appear in accented syllables, i.e. <ei ou>, technically representing /εi̯ ɔu̯/ but normally realized in Vignolese as /æi̯ ɒu̯~au̯/. These diphthongs are only found before <n>, and as such they are almost always nasalized; they tend to represent the nasalized versions of /e o/.

Finally, some consonants (the most common being /m/) can be syllabic, typically in unstressed positions after a liquid, e.g. <fěrm> /feːrm̩/. This realization is not really common, though: the tendency is to insert a [u~ʊ], e.g. [feːrʊm], or sometimes a [ǝ] [feːrǝm], spelled <e>.


EXERCISES

So, quite the difficult lesson this was, eh? I wanted to get all the phonology in one post, but don't worry, here are some exercises to help you memorize all of this!

1) Write out the pronunciation of the following words:
parǒl (bucket)
żěl (frost)
gât (cat)
ninàt (pig)
cumpâgn(a) (like, as, the same as)
nêṡ (nose)
càp (roof, plurale tantum)

2) Spell the following words:
/tas̠εːl/ (attic, especially when used as a storage room)
/z̪oːven/ (young)
/răs/ (red)
/bε̃ĩ/ (well)
/bɔ̃ũ/ (good)
/seːrv̩/ (it is useful/needed; syllabic /v/)
/bεːz̠/ (kiss n)
:ita: :eng: [:D] | :fra: :esp: :rus: [:)] | :con: Hecathver, Hajás, Hedetsūrk, Darezh...

Tin't inameint ca tót a sàm stê żōv'n e un po' cajoun, mo s't'armâgn cajoun an vōl ménga dîr t'armâgn anc żōven...
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Dormouse559 »

Woot! First lesson! [:D] Here's my homework. I used macrons for /eː/ and /oː/ because that’s easier for me to type right now. Also, the /s/ in a couple of the words you gave to spell is underspecified for POA, so I just gave both the dental and apical options. Hope I did good!
Spoiler:
1) Write out the pronunciation of the following words:
parǒl (bucket) /paˈroːl/
żěl (frost) /ˈz̪eːl/
gât (cat) /ˈgaːt/
ninàt (pig) /niˈnat/
cumpâgn(a) (like, as, the same as) /kumˈpaːɲ(a)/
nêṡ (nose) /ˈnɛːz̠/
càp (roof, plurale tantum) /ˈkap/

2) Spell the following words:
/tas̠εːl/ (attic, especially when used as a storage room) <tasêl>
/z̪oːven/ (young) <żōven>
/răs/ (red) <ràs>, <ràss>, <ràz>, <ràzz>
/bε̃ĩ/ (well) <bein>
/bɔ̃ũ/ (good) <boun>
/seːrv̩/ (it is useful/needed; syllabic /v/) <sērv>, <sērev>, <zērv>, <zērev>
/bεːz̠/ (kiss n) <bêṡ>
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by kanejam »

Spoiler:
1) Write out the pronunciation of the following words:
parǒl /paˈroːl/
żěl /z̪eːl/
gât /gaːt/
ninàt /niˈnăt/
cumpâgn(a) /kumˈpaːɲ/
nêṡ /nɛːz̠/
càp /kăp/

2) Spell the following words:
/tas̠εːl/ tasêl
/z̪oːven/ żǒven
/răs/ ràs
/bε̃ĩ/ bein
/bɔ̃ũ/ boun
/seːrv̩/ sěrv
/bεːz̠/ bêṡ
Or parool, zeel, gaat, ninatt, cumpaagn, nees, capp, taseel, zooven, rass, bein, boun, seerv, bees (don't hate me [xP] )
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

Thank you both for being part of this thread! If I remember correctly, you both used to follow the old thread as well. Keep spreading knowledge on the language and its status, it's important that we do all we can to prevent our "dialects" from dying off!

So, first of all, thanks for pointing out that I used /s/ in IPA. Since the Emilian /s̠/ doesn't contrast with /s/, but only with /s̪/ which is actually a quite different sound in speech, and since anyways /s̠/ is found in Emilian most of all where Italian and Vulgar Latin have /s/, I don't think it would be a mistake to use /s/ for /s̠/, if anything for the sake of simplicity. The important thing is to always distinguish /s̪/ as a separate phoneme.
The same could happen to /ts̠ dz̠/, to be fair. Most of the time, if not always, they correspond to /tʃ dʒ/ in Italian, and speakers of the language perceive them as such. So they could be written /tʃ dʒ/ without really making a big mistake.

Now for the corrections!

kanejam:
Spoiler:
Congratulations, all of your solutions are correct!
Dormouse559:
Spoiler:
Congratulations, all of your solutions are correct!

You might also want to know that <Ràż> (with a voiced /z̪/ though) does exist as a word: it is the Vignolese name of the city of Reggio Emilia. <zěrv> /s̪eːrv/, with a non-syllabic /v/, also exists, and means "deer".
Well, that was hard [xD] see you in our next lesson!
Last edited by Alessio on 21 Oct 2019 19:15, edited 1 time in total.
:ita: :eng: [:D] | :fra: :esp: :rus: [:)] | :con: Hecathver, Hajás, Hedetsūrk, Darezh...

Tin't inameint ca tót a sàm stê żōv'n e un po' cajoun, mo s't'armâgn cajoun an vōl ménga dîr t'armâgn anc żōven...
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

Okay, let's get into the language some more!

LESSON 2
NOUNS


Nouns in Emilian are marked for gender and number. As in most Romance languages, they are not declined for case.
This could be the right time to point out that much of the Emilian lexicon is of Latin origin, but there are many words, even very common ones, of Lombard or even Etrurian origin. Furthermore, Old French has influenced Emilian to a great degree, leaving behind some loanwords as well. Because of this, there is a saying that French and Emilian are mutually intelligible; they are actually not in the slightest, as a famous joke that I might tell at some point states.
But let's get back to our business here - nouns!


GENDER

Emilian, much like Italian, has two genders: masculine and feminine.
The masculine is typically left unmarked, i.e. Emilian has lost the -um/-em ending of the Latin accusative completely.

piǒld /pjoːld/ - plough
mascin /mas'ts̠ĩː/ - kid, child

As a side note, piǒld is aratro in Italian (from Latin aratrum). Interesting to see how Emilian uses a Germanic root, probably inherited from the ancient Lombards.

The feminine is usually marked by an -a, which is often inserted even when the Italian word has a different suffix:

cêva /ts̠εːva/ - key
scrâna /skraːna/ - chair (yet another word of Lombard origin: Italian uses sedia)

Some feminine nouns, however, have different endings, for example:
  • -(t)ê for nouns describing a quality:
    veritê /veri'tεː/ - truth
    libertê /liber'tεː/ - freedom
  • -ṡioun/zioun, corresponding to English -sion/tion:
    confuṡioun /konfu'zj̃ɔũ/- confusion
    lezioun /le's̪j̃ɔũ/ - lesson
  • No ending altogether, typically 3rd or sometimes 4th declension nouns in Latin:
    capitêl /kapi'tεːl/ - capital city (compare capitalis, capitalis)
    nôt /nɔːt/ - night (compare nox, noctis)
    man /mãː/ - hand (compare manus, manus)
    sě /seː/ - thirst (compare sitis, sitis)


There is one very common feminine noun ending in -à, namely cà /kă/ (house), but it originated through a process of syllable dropping, as is evident by comparison with Italian <casa> /'kaza/. Thus, its -à should not be treated the same as -a, as we'll see later on.

You should note that the neuter gender of Latin has completely merged into the masculine gender in Emilian, unlike in Italian, where nouns that were neuter in Latin are masculine in the singular (e.g. bracchium → (il) braccio) and feminine in the plural (e.g. bracchia → (le) braccia). Such nouns stay masculine all the time in most varieties of Emilian (al brâz → i brâz).



NUMBER

The plural of masculine nouns is, in most cases, identical to the singular:

piǒld → piǒld
mascin → mascin

A very common masculine noun has an irregular plural:
àm (man) → àmen

Nouns in -êl/-ǒl change to -ě/-ǒ in the plural (note the ê-ě change):
giurnêl (newspaper) → giurně
fiǒl (son) → fiǒ


Feminine plurals for nouns that end in -a can be formed in one of two ways: either by replacing the -a with an -i

cêva → cêvi
scrâna → scrâni

or by dropping the -a altogether.

cêva → cêv
scrâna → scran (the /aː/ becomes nasal and therefore loses the need for a circumflex)

Which of these two rules should be used is disputed. Both forms are attested even in the same sentence, and it's hard to tell if there is a difference at all. I would suppose it comes down to the phonetic environment and the speaker's preference.

Notice that by the Emilian spelling rules, before the -i ending, and optionally when the -a is dropped, words ending in -ca/-ga need a <h>:
ôca (goose) → ôchi, ôc(h)
In this particular case, I recommend including the <h> because <ôc> might be confused with <ôc'> /ɔːts̠/ (eye).

Finally, the few feminine nouns that do not end in -a are to be left unchanged:
cà → cà
veritê (truth) → veritê
confuṡioun (confusion) → confusioun
lezioun (lesson) → lezioun


Singular and plural are used pretty much in the same way as in English, i.e. when talking about multiple items. Since some languages use the singular after numerals, I feel the need to say that Emilian does not: it uses the plural just like English, e.g. trî cêvi (three keys).



ARTICLES

Emilian has 4 definite articles, one for each gender-number couple.

Code: Select all

	S	P
M	al	i
F	la	al
Thus:

al piǒld - the plough
i piǒld - the ploughs
la scrâna - the chair
al scrâni - the chairs

These articles, however, undergo some modifications before vowels:

Code: Select all

	S	P
M	l'	i/j'*
F	l'	agli/agl'/ajj'**
* before a vowel, the masculine plural article <i> is pronounced /j/, and therefore sometimes spelled <j'>. <i> is way more common, in my experience.
** we've already gone through the <gl(i)/jj> thing. Just notice that the <i> in <agli> could be replaced by an apostrophe.

Thus:
l'amîg - the friend
i amîg - the friends
l'ôca - the goose
agli ôchi - the geese


As for the indefinite articles, surprise surprise, there are two, one for each gender.

Code: Select all

M	un
F	na
Being considered the shortened form of <óna>, na is often spelled <'na>. Moreover, before a vowel, both articles become <n'>.

un piǒld - a plough
na cêva - a key
n'amîg - a friend
n'ôca - a goose



BONUS + EXERCISE
EMILIAN "WEIRD WORDS"


As we said and saw earlier, many Emilian words are not of Latin origin, or at least not directly. However some words, despite being completely different from their Italian counterpart, do come directly from Latin. Here are a bunch of them. You will have to choose the right articles for all of its forms. Take "cêva" as an example:

na cêva, la cêva, al cêvi

Good luck!

MUGNĚGA - apricot. From Latin "prunus armeniaca", i.e. Armenian plum. Compare Italian "albicocca".
PARǑL - bucket. From Latin "pariolum", of Celtic origin. Compare Italian "secchio". The Italian descendant of "pariolum" is "paiolo", meaning cauldron.
CALZĚDER - yet another word for bucket, originally used to mean "copper pot used to boil water". Ultimately from Latin "calidum", hot.
PATÂJA - shirt. Ultimately from Latin "patere", to be open. Compare Italian "camicia".
STANÊLA - skirt. Through "sutanêla", diminutive of "sotàna", from Latin "subtanum" (lower). Compare Italian "gonna".
BLÉṠG - slip. Back-formation from the verb "blisghêr", from Latin "exsibilare" (to slip, slide). Compare Italian "scivolone".
NINÀT - pig. Shortening of "nimalàt", diminutive of "nimêl", from Latin "animal" (animal). Compare Italian "maiale".
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Dormouse559 »

I find it personally reassuring to see a Romance language decline feminine nouns by removing a suffix. Silvish does that, too, as a regular result of its sound changes, and I always worried that it was too unusual. [:$] [:)]


And here are my answers to the exercise:
Spoiler:
MUGNĚGA - na mugněga, la mugněga, al mugněgh(i)
PARǑL - un parǒl, al parǒl, i parǒl
CALZĚDER - un calzěder, al calzěder, i calzěder
PATÂJA - na patâja, la patâja, al patâj(i)
STANÊLA - na stanêla, la stanêla, al stanêl(i)
BLÉṠG - un bléṡg, al bléṡg, i bléṡg
NINÀT - un ninàt, al ninàt, i ninàt
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

In my understanding, the sound change that happened here is /e/ → Ø in unstressed position, as it's not an uncommon sound change in Emilian (quite the contrary, we're going to have to deal with it a lot soon enough), and feminine plural has /e/ in Italian.
However, this would not explain why Emilian also has an /i/ suffix, which certainly comes from Latin /as/ through /ai/. So maybe at some point this sound took two different paths at the same time?

As for your exercises:
Spoiler:
Congratulations, everything is correct once more. Don't get too used to them being this simple [:P]
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

LESSON 3
INTRODUCTION TO PERSONAL PRONOUNS


I want to get talking about verbs as soon as possible, so that we can actually start building some sentences. But explaining verbs without knowing at least the bare minimum about personal pronouns would be impossible, so here we are!

PERSONAL PRONOUN SETS

Emilian has 4 main sets of personal pronouns, more or less corresponding to 4~5 cases:
  • Nominative (subject pronouns);
  • Accusative/oblique (direct object pronouns);
  • Dative (indirect object pronouns);
  • Comitative.
Yes, unlike Italian, Emilian has a set of comitative pronouns, i.e. pronouns indicating company/union (with me, with you...).


STRESSED SUBJECT PRONOUNS

The subject pronoun set can and should be further divided into two subsets: the UNSTRESSED pronouns and the STRESSED pronouns. I used to call these "atonic" and "tonic" in my older thread, but I figured out these new terms are more easily understandable.

The STRESSED pronouns are:

Code: Select all

	SG		PL
1	mè		nuêter/nuêtri
2	tè		(v)uêter/(v)uêtri
3	ló/lě		lǒr
Note the distinct similarity of the 1sg and 2sg forms with the Italian (and Latin) object pronouns me and te. Especially for the 2sg, this is often a source of confusion for Emilian speakers, who often replace the Italian subject pronoun tu with the object pronoun te.
Note that:
  1. The 3rd person pronouns of both numbers can only refer to animate subjects, especially people. Demonstrative pronouns are used for inanimate objects and sometimes animals. We'll study them in a future lesson.
  2. Where two forms are provided, i.e. in the 3sg, 1pl and 2pl, the first form refers to a masculine subject, and the second one to a feminine subject. Plural subjects use the feminine form only if the group is made up exclusively by females: a woman and a man would refer to themselves as "nuêter".
  3. The (v) in the 2pl is shown in brackets because, as we've seen, a /v/ neighboring a /u~w/ tends to become /ʋ/, and in a /ʋw/ cluster the /w/ is so much "stronger" that it almost cancels the /ʋ/ out altogether. Thus, a lot of speakers, if not most of them, prefer the forms "uêter" and "uêtri".
  4. <nuêter> and <vuêter> have a "fleeting" <e>, that disappears before a vowel. The way native speakers usually spell this is <nuêtr'> and <vuêtr'>. The apostrophe doesn't go where the <e> was for a simple reason: Italian influence. In Italian, only the very final letter of a word can be elided, thus the apostrophe always goes at the end; by custom, Emilians kept this in their spelling. I also find it quite easier to read, because it doesn't add an <r> to a word it doesn't belong to (<nuêt'ra> isn't as clear as <nuêtr'a>).
So, what are stressed pronouns used for?
Well, they're not used as often as you'd expect. In fact, stressed pronouns are almost always left out entirely; the only times they are used, the reason is emphasis. If you know Italian, stressed pronouns are used in the same way as its subject pronouns, that is:
  1. Before a verb, most of the times they are used to underline that the subject does something regardless of what other potential subjects would do; for example, mè a magn means you do what you want, but I am going to eat right now.
  2. Again before a verb, they can indicate that the focus has moved to someone else, as in mè a soun Alessio (as for me, my name is Alessio). This kind of sentence can be used even when there was no previous focus, if the speaker expects it to change soon (in our example, the speaker expects the listener to tell him his name next).
  3. After a verb, they are used to emphasize the subject: a(g) vâg mè means I am the one who is going to go (and not you). Thus, when you emphasize a subject in English, the proper way to render that sentence in Emilian is this one, i.e. putting a stressed subject pronoun after the verb.

UNSTRESSED SUBJECT PRONOUNS

Now for the UNSTRESSED pronouns, which are:

Code: Select all

	SG		PL
1	a		a
2	et		a
3	al/la		i/al
There's a LOT to say about unstressed pronouns.
  1. Unstressed pronouns are technically mandatory, i.e. a verb cannot be expressed without an unstressed pronoun before it, not even if a stressed pronoun or an explicit subject have been used (e.g. mè a soun is correct, *mè soun isn't). HOWEVER some of these pronouns, and particulary the various instances of <a>, are very often dropped in quick speech, especially next to a vowel. I find it more correct to keep them at least in writing, for the sake of clarity.
  2. The 3rd person pronouns correspond to the articles and they follow the same rules. Thus, for example, 3sg masculine <al> becomes <l'> before a vowel. In addition to this, in fast speech, both instances of <al> could be reduced to <'l> between a vowel and a consonant (e.g. ló'l và vs. a more "formal" ló al và).
  3. The 2sg pronoun <et> becomes <t'> when it's before a vowel, and <'t> between a vowel and a consonant; for example
    tè't sê trôp quě - you know too many things
    and
    t'ě un êṡen! - you're a donkey! (generic insult, but also a playful sentence to tell someone who just made you laugh)
    The reason behind this is that the <e> isn't really part of the pronoun itself, but is rather euphonic. We are going to find a LOT of euphonic and "fleeting" <e>s in these lessons, so watch out for them. As a further note, there is a distinct difference between <et> losing its <e> and <al> losing its <a>, that is, the first process is almost automatic (tè et sounds a bit weird, as if the speaker made a pause after ), whereas the second is very informal and restricted to very casual/fast speech.
  4. Just like with the stressed pronouns, feminine plural <al> can only be used to refer to groups composed entirely of feminine subjects. For mixed groups, use <i>.
  5. Even with groups of feminine subjects, I've noticed that the feminine plural pronoun <al> is falling out of use before consonants, being replaced by <i>; however its variation <agli>, used before vowels, is still very much alive. Again, my advice is to stick to the standard and use <al> when it's correct to do so.
  6. To further complicate things, both instances of <al> tend to undergo a sandhi phenomenon, losing their <l> when followed by certain combinations of consonants. Typically, this happens either when:
    1. a one-consonant particle has been attached to them (e.g. the 1pl unstressed object pronoun <s>) and that consonant is followed by another one in a different word;
    2. the word that follows has, at some point, undergone some form of syncope (e.g. a vdrà, "he will see", since vdrà has lost an <i> between <v> and <d> at some point in history);
    3. although this is not properly sandhi, <al> is also reduced to <a> when the pronoun doesn't mark any subject in particular, for example when talking about weather:
      a piǒv - it rains

EXERCISES

Let's test how much you understood about this lesson!
  1. Fill in the blanks with the proper STRESSED subject pronoun. Use the English translation as a guideline (the subject is marked in bold letters), and don't worry too much about understanding much just yet.
    1. «Ajěr a soun stê a Ràma.» «Ah, ____ a n'eg soun mâi stê.» - «I was in Rome yesterday.» «Ah, I've never been there.»
    2. A tgnós dǒ fradě, mâsc' e fàmna. ___ al lavǒra ala Ferrari, ___ la fà la sêrta. - I know two siblings, brother and sister. He works for Ferrari, she is a tailor.
    3. Ménga fêr fadîga! Ag peins ____. - Don't sweat it! I'll do it.
    4. Sumêr et sarê pò ____! - You are the idiot!
    5. _____ a sàm italian. ____ d'indà deṡgnîv? - We (masculine) are Italians. Where do you (feminine plural) come from?
  2. Fill in the blanks with the proper UNSTRESSED subject pronoun.
    1. ___ soun stóf. - I'm tired.
    2. Incǒ Gîno ___ è a Môdna. - Louis is in Modena today.
    3. ___ vlîvem andêr al Dôm incǒ, mo __'è srê. - We wanted to go to the Cathedral (masculine) today, but it's closed.
    4. I mě amîg ___ vréven tgnósret. - My friends would like to meet you.
    5. Al mě surêli ___ ein pió vêci che mè. - My sisters are older than me.
  3. Fill in the blanks with the proper subject pronoun, and guess whether it's stressed or not. Tip: guessing the type of pronoun isn't hard at all, if you remember one very important rule...
    1. ___ ___ soun ignurant, ___ ___ sê seimper incǒsa! - I'm an ignorant, whereas you always know everything!
    2. Edman ___ và a Milan. - Tomorrow he's going to Milan.
    3. ______ ___ gh'avàm trî gât. _____ invěci? - We have three cats. What about you [/i](mixed plural)[/i]?
    4. ___ gh'ěra na vólta... - Once upon a time... (lit.: there was once... what is the subject here?)
    5. ___ vǒl seimper avěr ragioun, anc quand ___ dîṡ dal caiunêdi! - She always insists on being right, even when she says stupid things!
Good luck, and I hope you like my improved text format [:D]
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Dormouse559 »

Alessio wrote: 24 Oct 2019 17:44 In my understanding, the sound change that happened here is /e/ → Ø in unstressed position, as it's not an uncommon sound change in Emilian (quite the contrary, we're going to have to deal with it a lot soon enough), and feminine plural has /e/ in Italian.
That is what I suspected. The plural becoming /e/ is very like Italian, but dropping final /e/ is much more like French, so I'm digging this combination of different features.
However, this would not explain why Emilian also has an /i/ suffix, which certainly comes from Latin /as/ through /ai/. So maybe at some point this sound took two different paths at the same time?
Hmm, maybe a similar divergence to the one Italian had, which led Latin -as (first-conjugation second-person singular) to become -i, but Latin -as (first-declension accusative plural) to become -e.
I used to call these "atonic" and "tonic" in my older thread, but I figured out these new terms are more easily understandable.
You're right, generally. As someone who regularly reads about Romance languages in Romance languages, I don't have much of an issue with "atonic" and "tonic".

Code: Select all

	SG		PL
1	mè		nuêter/nuêtri
2	tè		(v)uêter/(v)uêtri
3	ló/lě		lǒr
The use of noster/voster reflexes is super neat. It fits with illorum in the third-person plural.


And here are my lesson answers:
Spoiler:
  1. Fill in the blanks with the proper STRESSED subject pronoun. Use the English translation as a guideline (the subject is marked in bold letters), and don't worry too much about understanding much just yet.
    1. «Ajěr a soun stê a Ràma.» «Ah, a n'eg soun mâi stê.» - «I was in Rome yesterday.» «Ah, I've never been there.»
    2. A tgnós dǒ fradě, mâsc' e fàmna. al lavǒra ala Ferrari, la fà la sêrta. - I know two siblings, brother and sister. He works for Ferrari, she is a tailor.
    3. Ménga fêr fadîga! Ag peins . - Don't sweat it! I'll do it.
    4. Sumêr et sarê pò ! - You are the idiot!
    5. Nuêter a sàm italian. Vuêtri d'indà deṡgnîv? - We (masculine) are Italians. Where do you (feminine plural) come from?
  2. Fill in the blanks with the proper UNSTRESSED subject pronoun.
    1. A soun stóf. - I'm tired.
    2. Incǒ Gîno l'è a Môdna. - Louis is in Modena today.
    3. Nuêter vlîvem andêr al Dôm incǒ, mo l'è srê. - We wanted to go to the Cathedral (masculine) today, but it's closed.
    4. I mě amîg i vréven tgnósret. - My friends would like to meet you.
    5. Al mě surêli agli ein pió vêci che mè. - My sisters are older than me.
  3. Fill in the blanks with the proper subject pronoun, and guess whether it's stressed or not. Tip: guessing the type of pronoun isn't hard at all, if you remember one very important rule...
    1. Mè a soun ignurant, tè't sê seimper incǒsa! - I'm an ignorant, whereas you always know everything!
    2. Edman al và a Milan. - Tomorrow he's going to Milan.
    3. Nuêtr'a gh'avàm trî gât. Vuêter invěci? - We have three cats. What about you [/i](mixed plural)[/i]?
    4. A gh'ěra na vólta... - Once upon a time... (lit.: there was once... what is the subject here?)
    5. La vǒl seimper avěr ragioun, anc quand la dîṡ dal caiunêdi! - She always insists on being right, even when she says stupid things!
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Zekoslav »

Dormouse559 wrote: 27 Oct 2019 22:26
However, this would not explain why Emilian also has an /i/ suffix, which certainly comes from Latin /as/ through /ai/. So maybe at some point this sound took two different paths at the same time?
Hmm, maybe a similar divergence to the one Italian had, which led Latin -as (first-conjugation second-person singular) to become -i, but Latin -as (first-declension accusative plural) to become -e.
Old Tuscan actually had a 2. sg. -e from -as in the 1st conjugation, but since all the other conjugations had a 2. sg. -i from -es and -is, this eventually spread to the 1st conjugation as well. So this is analogy rather than sound change.

All of this is very interesting: Eastern Romance treatment of final /s/ but Gallo-Romance like treatment of vowels. Eventually we might get enough examples to see where that -i ending comes from. But now I'm leaving this thread to those interested in following the lessons. [:D]
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

Dormouse559 wrote: 27 Oct 2019 22:26

Code: Select all

	SG		PL
1	mè		nuêter/nuêtri
2	tè		(v)uêter/(v)uêtri
3	ló/lě		lǒr
The use of noster/voster reflexes is super neat. It fits with illorum in the third-person plural.
nuêter and vuêter do not come from noster and voster. They correspond to the Spanish nosotros/vosotros (we other/you other), that could be rendered in Italian as noialtri/voialtri (rare/literary but existing form). Indeed êter means other.

lǒr does come from illorum, though. Italian has loro, similarly; however while Italian retained loro as a 3pl possessive as well, Emilian uses (the same as the 3sg) instead.

So, about your exercises:
Spoiler:
You did everything correct except for exercise 2, sentence c, where you used a stressed pronoun where an unstressed one, namely a was required. That sentence was supposed to be A vlîvem andêr al Dôm incǒ, mo l'è srê.
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

So, are you ready for the big one?

LESSON 4
VERB CONJUGATIONS, PART 1


Now that we know something about personal pronouns, we are finally ready to learn about verbs!
Emilian has three main verb conjugations, based on their infinitive ending:
  1. Verbs in -êr (sometimes -ěr);
  2. Verbs in -er (unstressed);
  3. Verbs in -îr.
For regular verbs, the portion of the verb that comes before these endings represents its root. Sometimes, however, this root gets modified for some or all persons and tenses, as we're going to see throughout the next few lessons.


USAGE OF THE PRESENT SIMPLE

We'll start from the present simple of 1st conjugation verbs.
This tense, in Emilian, is used a lot like in Italian, namely:
  1. when the action is habitual:
    Tót i dè am lěv a 7 (sêt) ǒr. - Every day I wake up at 7 o'clock. (note: this verb is reflexive, that's why it uses "am" and not "a")
  2. when the sentence represents an absolute truth (what some languages call the gnomic aspect):
    L'âqua la bój a 100 (zeint) grêd. - Water boils at 100 °C.
  3. in most occasions, in place of the future, especially for programmed futures (compare the English present continuous):
    Edman a vâg al mêr. - I'm going to the sea tomorrow.
  4. with verbs indicating a state, much like in English, if that state is current:
    At vój bein. - I love you (as a friend or relative).
    A gh'ò chêld. - I'm warm.
  5. when the action is ongoing and has been for a while, in situations where English uses the present perfect continuous instead:
    A lavǒr chè dal 2017 (doméladarsêt). - I've been working here since 2017.
  6. sometimes for ongoing actions, when answering questions that were asked using a present simple verb, where otherwise a present continuous would be expected, in a form of shortening:
    Sa t? A lěż un léber. - What are you doing? I'm reading a book.
    Note that, had there been no question, the normal way to express this would be A soun a drě ch'a lěż un léber, using the (quite longer) present continuous.
So, as a general rule, if you'd use the present simple in English you should usually use it in Emilian as well. The opposite cannot be said, though.

1ST CONJUGATION ENDINGS

With all of this being said, let's see how verbs are actually conjugated.
The verb we will be using as an example is pasêr - to pass (by).

Code: Select all

Mè a pâs
Tè't pâs
Ló al pâsa
Nuêtr'a pasàm
Vuêtr'a pasê
Lǒr i pâsen
From this conjugation, we can extract the six present endings for 1st conjugation verbs:

Code: Select all

	SG	PL
1	-Ø	-àm
2	-Ø	-ê
3	-a	-en

ABLAUT

What you certainly noticed from the conjugation of pasêr is that the stem vowel <a> is lengthened to <â> whenever the ending isn't stressed. Unfortunately, conjugating a verb is not always this easy. Take guardêr, meaning "to look (at)":

Code: Select all

Mè a guêrd
Tè't guêrd
Ló al guêrda
Nuêtr'a guardàm
Vuêtr'a guardê
Lǒr i guêrden
As you can see, an ablaut process has taken place, changing the short, unstressed /a/ to a long, stressed /εː/. Since ablaut takes place in several different ways, as a general rule, the best thing to do is just learn the 1sg together with the infinitive. Here are some common -êr verbs and their 1sg:

Code: Select all

ciacarêr - ciacâr (to speak)
lasêr - lâs (to leave)
pinsêr - peins (to think)
purtêr - pǒrt (to bring, to take)
zerchêr - zěrch (to search, to look for)
arcurdêr - arcǒrd (to remind)
aspitêr - aspêt (to wait)
Now, don't get me wrong: there are some patterns (and etymological sound change rules) that might help guessing which way ablaut is going to affect a verb, but it is going to take me a while to figure them out and write them down, since I couldn't find any previous work on this topic. People seem particularly happy when they can just classify something as irregular and stop thinking altogether.

I also have to add a warning: don't expect to be able to conjugate any and all -êr verbs just yet. Knowing the ablaut change for a particular verb is not always enough. There are some rules we're going to study later on, and some of them make verbs behave quite different from the "usual" conjugation, so stick around!


EUPHONY AND <a>

The 1sg, 1pl and 2pl unstressed subject pronoun <a> has a tendency to be a real pain in the ass for learners.
Many of these problems arise from cacophony, i.e. when <a> touches another vowel producing a sound that is annoying in some way.
This needs to be solved as follows:
  1. In front of verbs that already begin in an <a>, there is no change in writing, but only one /a/ is actually pronounced. For example, a armâgn is pronounced /ar'maːɲ/ (or [ar'mãːɲ]).
  2. In front of verbs that begin in <e o>, a euphonic /i/ is inserted. I've seen it spelled in many ways; if we take the 1sg of the verb "to have", which is ò, we could write a i ò (my personal preference), a jò (on the rise at the moment), a j'ò or any hyphenated variation of the previous three, for example a-i ò.
  3. For verbs beginning in <i u>, the vowel clash is allowed. For example, a inségn (I teach) is pronounced /a in'seɲ/.
Note that by <a e i o u> I mean those vowels and any variation thereof, e.g. a euphonic <i> is inserted before <ě> as well.



And this is it! You now know how to conjugate a not-so-small subset of Emilian verbs. You will find out that verb grammar is by far the most complex in the whole language, so it's very important that you get this right straight from the beginning. Have these exercises, good luck with them!

EXERCISES
  1. Give the whole present simple conjugation of the following -êr verbs. The ablaut change is showed in brackets.
    1. ciapêr (a → â) - to get, to catch
    2. purtêr (u → ǒ) - to bring
    3. edmandêr (the a gets lengthened, but watch out for the proper spelling) - to ask
    4. srêr (an <ê> is inserted between <s> and <r>) - to close
    5. dvintêr (i → ei) - to become
  2. Reconstruct the infinitive of the verbs in bold. The ablaut, if needed, is indicated in brackets (infinitive → present).
    1. A cât seimper di fónż indal bôsc. (a → â) - I always find mushrooms in the woods.
    2. Ahi! Al brûṡa! (u → û) - Ouch! It's hot! (lit. it burns!)
    3. Par tajêr la légna a druvàm la motosěga. - We use a chainsaw to cut timber.
    4. Tǒ fiǒl al sêlta cumpâgna un grél! (a → ê) - Your son jumps around like a cricket! (quite common expression used to mean that a child can't stay still in one place)
    5. Vuêtr'a fumê trôp. - You (pl) smoke too much.
  3. Fill in the blanks with the proper form of the verb in brackets.
    1. Edman a ____ a scréver un léber. (tachêr, a → â) - Tomorrow I'll start writing a book.
    2. Al ____ trôp par quàl ch'i al ____. (lavurêr, u → ǒ; paghêr, a → ê) - He works too much by comparison to how much they pay him.
    3. I nôster fiǒ i _____ spàs insàm. (żughêr, u → ǒ) - Our children often play together.
    4. Et ____ bein! (guidêr, i → î) - You drive well!
    5. Mè a ____ zinquantazinc chìlo. (peṡêr, e → ě) - I weigh 55 kg.
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by kanejam »

Lesson 2:
Spoiler:
na mugněga, la mugněga, al mugněghi
un parǒl, al parǒl, i parǒl
un calzěder, al calzěder, i calzěder
na patâja, la patâja, al patâj
na stanêla, la stanêla, al stanêli
un bléṡg, al bléṡg, i bléṡg
un ninàt, al ninàt, i ninàt
Lesson 3:
Spoiler:
  1. Stressed pronouns
    1. «Ajěr a soun stê a Ràma.» «Ah, a n'eg soun mâi stê.»
    2. A tgnós dǒ fradě, mâsc' e fàmna. al lavǒra ala Ferrari, la fà la sêrta.
    3. Ménga fêr fadîga! Ag peins .
    4. Sumêr et sarê pò !
    5. Nuêtr' a sàm italian. Uêtri d'indà deṡgnîv?
  2. Unstressed pronouns
    1. A soun stóf.
    2. Incǒ Gîno l'è a Môdna.
    3. A vlîvem andêr al Dôm incǒ, mo l'è srê.
    4. I mě amîg i vréven tgnósret.
    5. Al mě surêli agli ein pió vêci che mè.
    6. Stressed and unstressed pronouns
      1. Mè a soun ignurant, tè't sê seimper incǒsa!
      2. Edman al và a Milan.
      3. Nuêtr'a gh'avàm trî gât. Uêtr'invěci?
      4. Al gh'ěra na vólta...
      5. La vǒl seimper avěr ragioun, anc quand la dîṡ dal caiunêdi!
Lesson 4:
Spoiler:
  1. Give the whole present simple conjugation of the following -êr verbs. The ablaut change is showed in brackets.
    1. ciapêr (a → â) - to get, to catch

      Code: Select all

      a ciâp, et ciâp, al/la ciâpa, a ciapàm, a ciapê, i/al ciâpen
    2. purtêr (u → ǒ) - to bring

      Code: Select all

      a pǒrt, et pǒrt, al/la pǒrta, a purtàm, a purtê, i/al pǒrten
    3. edmandêr (the a gets lengthened, but watch out for the proper spelling) - to ask

      Code: Select all

      a j'edmand, t'edmand, l'edmanda, a j'edmandàm, a j'edmandê, i/agli edmanden
    4. srêr (an <ê> is inserted between <s> and <r>) - to close

      Code: Select all

      a sêr, et sêr, al/la sêra, a sràm, a srê, i/al sêren
    5. dvintêr (i → ei) - to become

      Code: Select all

      a dveint, et dveint, al/la dveinta, a dvintàm, a dvintê, a dveinten
  2. Reconstruct the infinitive of the verbs in bold. The ablaut, if needed, is indicated in brackets (infinitive → present).
    1. A cât seimper di fónż indal bôsc. (a → â) - I always find mushrooms in the woods. catêr
    2. Ahi! Al brûṡa! (u → û) - Ouch! It's hot! (lit. it burns!) bruṡêr
    3. Par tajêr la légna a druvàm la motosěga. - We use a chainsaw to cut timber. druvêr
    4. Tǒ fiǒl al sêlta cumpâgna un grél! (a → ê) - Your son jumps around like a cricket! (quite common expression used to mean that a child can't stay still in one place) seltêr
    5. Vuêtr'a fumê trôp. - You (pl) smoke too much. fumêr
  3. Fill in the blanks with the proper form of the verb in brackets.
    1. Edman a tâch a scréver un léber. (tachêr, a → â) - Tomorrow I'll start writing a book.
    2. Al lavǒra trôp par quàl ch'i al pêghen. (lavurêr, u → ǒ; paghêr, a → ê) - He works too much by comparison to how much they pay him.
    3. I nôster fiǒ i żǒghen spàs insàm. (żughêr, u → ǒ) - Our children often play together.
    4. Et guîd bein! (guidêr, i → î) - You drive well!
    5. Mè a pěṡ zinquantazinc chìlo. (peṡêr, e → ě) - I weigh 55 kg.
[/quote]
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DesEsseintes
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by DesEsseintes »

This thread is sending waves of nostalgia coursing through my sinuses. [:D]
Alessio
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

Okay guys, so, first of all, I have two news.
The bad news is I will be inactive for a while.
The good news is that the reason for this is bringing quality to these lessons.
I have been writing and rewriting the second lesson about personal pronouns, and I found out some obscure points that I don't understand fully, since I don't speak the language every day like, for example, my grandparents do.
Thus I decided I would ask them to help me write these lessons, or at least this specific one.
Unfortunately I don't get to see them very often, so you might have to wait for a while, but for sure in two weeks we're going to have a party for my grandpa's birthday, and that could be the occasion.

In the meantime, having a look at Kanejam's exercises, I feel that some notes are necessary:

-First of all, the e- in edmandêr is euphonic. As a general rule, if you see eCC- in Emilian where Latin has CVC- (in this case, demandare), and the vowel in Latin is unstressed, it's very likely that Emilian has syncopated it, so the e- prefix is a euphonic addition to make /dm/ more pronounceable by splitting it into two different syllables. However, the e- disappears when there's no need for it. A dmand, rendered as [ad.mãː(n)d], is perfectly pronounceable, and therefore doesn't need the e-.
3sg is a bit different. You could elide the <al> into <l'> and keep the euphonic e-, like Kanejam did, or you could apply the sandhi rules and use <a>, dropping the <l> and giving a dmanda. The latter sounds slightly more natural.
So here is the actual solution:
Spoiler:
a dmand, t'edmand, a dmanda, a dmandàm, a dmandê, i dmanden
-Something similar applies for dvintêr. /dv/, unlike /dm/, is a valid consonant cluster within the same syllable in Emilian, and it's often realized as [dʋ]. However it becomes a bit troublesome after another consonant, thus the <et> form needs the usual euphonic e-, and <al> undergoes sandhi:
Spoiler:
a dveint, t'edveint, a dveinta, a dvintàm, a dvintê, i dveinten
And finally, here are my corrections for Kanejam. Welcome back to my lessons, buddy!
Spoiler:
Lesson 2: all correct!
Lesson 3: since the subject pronoun in sentence 3d. doesn't mark any subject in particular, it would be better to use <a>. I feel that this choice needs some clarification as well, but I still have to find out a foolproof rule for it. The rest is fine.
Lesson 4: You got 2d wrong, it's saltêr. Apart from what we've seen before, the rest is correct.
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

DesEsseintes wrote: 12 Nov 2019 16:40 This thread is sending waves of nostalgia coursing through my sinuses. [:D]
Speaking of nostalgia, do you know the Italian movie Amarcord from Federico Fellini? Well, he was from Rimini, a city by the sea in Emilia-Romagna. The title of the movie itself is in Emilian (the proper spelling in Vignolese would be a m'arcǒrd) and it means I remember.
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Tin't inameint ca tót a sàm stê żōv'n e un po' cajoun, mo s't'armâgn cajoun an vōl ménga dîr t'armâgn anc żōven...
Alessio
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

Alright guys, the wait has been long, but trust me, it was worth it in terms of quality.
I've finally had the occasion to talk to my grandmother, who is a way better speaker than I am, and get you some quality material to put into our next lesson!

LESSON 5
PERSONAL PRONOUNS, PART 2


Lesson 3 was about the subject pronoun set. In lesson 5, we will go through the object and dative pronouns instead.

Just like subject pronouns, object pronouns are divided in two sets: stressed and unstressed.
Let's start from the unstressed pronouns, shall we?

UNSTRESSED OBJECT PRONOUNS (UOP)

The unstressed object pronuns for the Vignolese dialect of Emilian are as follows:

Code: Select all

	SG		PL
1	m		s
2	t		v
3	l/la		i/li
And here are my notes, as usual!
  1. UOPs always come before the verb they refer to. This means that the usual sentence structure in Emilian is SOV if the object is an unstressed pronoun, and SVO if it's a full noun or a stressed pronoun.
  2. 5 out of 8 UOPs are single-letter words. Because of this, they merge with the unstressed subject pronoun, which, as we know, is pretty much mandatory. How this merger happens is not entirely straightforward because of sandhi, euphony and similar phenomena - some of them are entirely irregular. This is the main reason why I waited so long before posting. You will find, at the end of this lesson, a table showing all 64 possible combinations of subject + object unstressed pronouns, indirectly redacted by my grandmother.
  3. Just like with subject pronouns, unstressed object pronouns are the default - they are used much more than their stressed counterpart and don't carry any particular meaning other than, well, marking the object.
  4. When the subject and the object are one and the same, this whole set is replaced by the reflexive pronouns. Reflexives are exactly the same as UOPs, except for the 3rd person, which is <s> for every gender and number. This means that a sentence such as "as pécia" might mean either "he beats us" or "he beats himself". Context will usually be enough to tell the difference; otherwise, "da par ló/lě/lǒr" (ms/fs/pl) can be added to underline the reflexiveness of the sentence (e.g. "as pécia da par ló" = he beats himself).
STRESSED OBJECT PRONOUNS (SOP)

Now for our stressed object pronouns!

Code: Select all

	SG		PL
1 	mè		nuêter/nuêtri
2 	tè		vuêter/vuêtri
3	ló/lě		lǒr
You should have noticed the first piece of good news in today's lesson: they are exactly the same as the stressed subject pronouns! This is no coincidence: in my undestanding, the SSPs come directly from the SOPs in Emilian (accusative theory I'm looking at you).
So, how are these pronouns used?
  1. SOPs always come after the verb they refer to. They are used to underline the object of the verb, in the same situations where you'd use a SSP for the subject.
  2. There are two ways you could use SOPs:
    1. by putting them directly after the verb:

      A guêrd tè. - It's you I'm looking at. ("to look" is transitive in Emilian; think of "to watch")
    2. by using them in combination with an UOP, adding the preposition <a> (which has no particular meaning in this case) before the SOP:

      At guêrd a tè. - It's you I'm looking at.

    These forms are not always interchangeable. Form B is used to express contrast with something else - say, if the speaker just told you "are you looking at him?". Form A carries the additional meaning of "in particular, especially"; "a guêrd tè" means something like "out of all the people in this room, it's you I'm looking at". For this reason, form A is often used together with the adverb prôpria (right, exactly, in particular). Form B, however, is more likely to appear in terms of frequency.
  3. SOPs are used with prepositions as well:

    S'a fósa in ... - If I were you... (rendered as "in you" in Emilian)
    Tra e a gh'è dimóndi difereinza. - There's a lot of difference between me and you.


DATIVE PRONOUNS

Just like Italian, Emilian has a separate set of dative (i.e. indirect object) pronouns. These are always unstressed; their stressed counterpart is represented by the preposition "a" + a SOP.

Code: Select all

	SG	PL
1 	m	s
2 	t	v
3 	g	g
As you can see, these pronouns are the same as the UOPs, except for the 3rd person, which is the same for every gender and number: <g>. They are much easier to attach to USPs: the only significative rule one should keep in mind is the <al>-sandhi (i.e. al + g = ag).

Another thing you should note is that these pronouns are replaced by the reflexive set whenever the subject and the indirect object are the same person (in the sense of physically the same). This happens quite often in Emilian, since many verbs that express an action done on somebody's body parts, for example, require a dative. Consider the following:

Ag lêv al man. - I wash his hands.
As lêva al man. - He washes his (own) hands.

Basically, you don't say "I X my Y" but rather "I X me the Y". This is not universal: it applies mainly to body parts, items of clothing, and things you currently have on yourself. For "I see my house", you wouldn't say "am vàd la cà", but rather "a vàd la mě cà", just like you'd expect if we had already introduced possessive adjectives. You would, however, say "am vàd i pě" if you were in water so clear that you can see your feet.

Aside from this, the other main usage of dative pronouns is to mark indirect objects. English ditransitive verbs are often expressed with a dative pronoun in Emilian.

Ag dâg un léber. - I give him a book.

The dative pronouns are sometimes used to express a sort of benefactive case, i.e. when someone benefits from something. In such situations, English sometimes uses ditransitive verbs again, and sometimes uses the preposition "for" instead:

At coumper un léber. - I('ll) buy you a book.
At pǒrt mè la bǒrsa. - Let me carry your bag (for you).

Emilian does not distinguish a separate dative case (or any other case, for what matters) in anything else than pronouns. The preposition <a> is used instead (much like "to" in English):

A dâg un léber a Gîno. - I give Lewis a book/I give a book to Lewis.


APPENDIX: USP + UOP COMBINATIONS

Code: Select all

	1sg		2sg		3sg m		3sg f		1pl		2pl		3pl m		3pl f
1sg	am*		at		al		a la		-		av		i		a li
2sg	t'(u)m		t'et*		t'al		(e)t la		t'es		-		t'i		(e)t li
3sg m	am		at		al li		al la		as		av		l'i		al li
3sg f	lam		lat		lal		la la		las		lav		l'i		lal li
1pl	-		at		al		a la		as*		av		i		a li
2pl	am		-		al		a la		as		av*		i		a li
3pl m	im		it		i al		i la		is		iv		i		a li
3pl f	agli (u)m	at		i al**		al la		as		av		i		agli al
Notes:
  • Fields marked with * are actually reflexives, and were included for the sake of completeness. Remember that the 3rd person reflexive pronoun is <s> regardless of gender and number, and because of sandhi rules, you can only see <as> (3sg m, 3pl m, 3pl f) and <las> (3sg f) as its compound forms.
  • Fields marked with - do not exist and cannot be rendered at all in Emilian, mostly because of logic. You just don't say "we see me" or similar sentences.
  • Letters written in parentheses are euphonic. (u) marks the possible realization of /tm̩/ as [tum] and /aʎm̩/ as [aʎum], whereas (e) is only pronounced after a consonant or after a pause. Note that, in its absence, it is customary to attach the <t> to the word before it with an apostrophe (e.g. tè't la).
  • All pronouns ending in -l behave a bit differently before a vowel:
    • if the object is masculine singular, the /l/ sound is duplicated, and written just before the second word with an apostrophe dividing them (a+l (m) + ò = al l'ò);
    • if the object is feminine plural, the -l ending becomes -gli (a+li + ò = agli ò);
    • as an exception, the field marked with **, i.e. 3pl f + 3sg m, becomes <al l'> before a vowel.
  • I had some problems trying to get the different versions of the pronoun set ending in "li" when they come before a vowel. I have the certainty that 3sg f + 3pl f becomes l'agli, and it would seem that the various a li and al li all become agli. (e)t li becomes t'agli, and agli al should become a reduplicated agli agli. The problems getting these pronouns come from the fact that once we reached this column, grandma was kinda tired and not as productive as I thought she would be. She's 73 after all, I can forgive her.
  • All other pronouns that follow a <(C)VC> scheme (eg. <at>, <is>, <lam>) are separated into <(C)V C'> before a vowel (eg. a t'ò vést, i s'an vést, la m'à vést). Additionally, L-sandhi does not apply, so for example <as> (3pl f + 1pl) becomes <al s'>.
  • All pronouns ending in -a undergo elision before another vowel (a la + ò = a l'ò). Note that the gemination of the /l/ is the only way to distinguish a l'ò (I have... it, where "it" is feminine) and al l'ò (I have... it, where it is masculine).
  • The exact spelling of these pronouns is, much like the spelling of anything else at all in Emilian, quite debated. Should we write a la as one word, as a calque of Italian "alla"? Or should we leave them separated, to underline that they are separate morphemes? Or since some forms are irregular, should we give up on the whole thing and, once more, write everything as one word? Or again, should we use a hyphen to separate the morphemes where possible (e.g. a-m)? The spelling you see above is the one I see used more often by native speakers, and thus the one I will stick to in these lessons; but as always, feel free to think with your own mind, come up with better solutions and use them.

EXERCISES
  1. Fill in the gaps using the correct unstressed object (or reflexive) pronoun.
    1. A ___ peins e-spàs. - I often think of you. (the e- is euphonic)
    2. I ___ an vést par strêda l'êter dè. - They saw me on the street a few days ago.
    3. A ___ ò catê par chêṡ. - I found it (masculine) by chance.
  2. Fill in the gaps using the correct combination of unstressed subject and object pronouns.
    1. _____ vǒlen mazêr! - They (m) want to kill me!
    2. I tǒ amîg _____ zěrchen. - Your friends (mixed) are looking for you.
    3. An n'ò gnanc incàra capî s'ag piěṡ o s' _____ tǒṡ par al cûl. - I'm yet to find out if she actually likes me or if she is just mocking me.
  3. Fill in the gaps using the correct combination of unstressed subject and dative (or reflexive) pronouns.
    1. Fěrmet! _____ fê mêl! - Stop it! You're hurting me! (rendered as "you do harm to me")
    2. _____ telěfon edman. - I'll call you tomorrow. ( rendered as "I'll phone to you")
    3. _____ avàm regalê un żǒg. - We gave him a toy as a present.
    4. _____ lêv i deint tót i dè. - I wash my teeth every day.
    5. Bêda bein che acsè _____ ruvîn la mâja! - Watch out or you'll ruin your t-shirt!
  4. Fill in the gaps using the correct stressed object pronoun.
    1. S'a fósa in ___, a starév zét. - If I were him, I'd shut up.
    2. A vlîva picêri mê, a la fin i m'an picê lǒr a ____. - I wanted to beat them, but in the end it was them who beat me.
    3. ____? Ět sicûr ch'et vǒ prôpria ____? - Her? Are you sure it's her that you want?
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