A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

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qwed117
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by qwed117 »

Ok, I'm only starting this now, but here's my attempt at hw 1. (I tried to do it with no notes, it didn't go well)
Spoiler:
1) Write out the pronunciation of the following words:
parǒl (bucket) /pa'ro:l/
żěl (frost) /'s̪e:l/ /'z̠e:l/
gât (cat) /'ga:t/
ninàt (pig) /ni'nat/
cumpâgn(a) (like, as, the same as) /kum'pa:ɲ/ /kum'pa:ɲa/
nêṡ (nose) /'ne:s̠/ (I realized upon doing this one that I had no idea what the difference between retracted sibilants and the dental sibilants, so I went back and edited <żěl>)
càp (roof, plurale tantum) /'kap/

2) Spell the following words: (I'm so confused because stress isn't marked)
/tas̠εːl/ (attic, especially when used as a storage room) <taṡěl>
/z̪oːven/ (young) <zǒven>
/răs/ (red) <raṡ>
/bε̃ĩ/ (well) <bein>
/bɔ̃ũ/ (good) <boun>
/seːrv̩/ (it is useful/needed; syllabic /v/) <ṡěrv> (It's here that I realized I had no idea what to mark /εː/ with in the first problem)
/bεːz̠/ (kiss n) <běż>
Spoiler:
My minicity is [http://zyphrazia.myminicity.com/xml]Zyphrazia and [http://novland.myminicity.com/xml]Novland.

Minicity has fallen :(
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by All4Ɇn »

Just noticed this thread and just wanted to say you've done an amazing job at teaching a Romance language I knew next to nothing about beforehand. Still going through all the posts but I hope to make it through all of them soon.
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by kanejam »

Alessio wrote: 31 Mar 2020 18:07 Okay guys, tt's been a long time. Not that this thing of me taking forever to write a lesson is new.
You already know all of my excuses by heart and I even made a post about them, so let's just get down to business!
Apologies, I've been away from this thread for quite a while! A spěr che tè e la tǒ famîglia e amîg a sî sicûr e san (guessing on the vocab here, hopefully I'm close)
Alessio wrote: 31 Mar 2020 18:07 Notice that this <d> needs to be inserted even before other consonants: <in> + <la> becomes <indla>, and <in> + <na> becomes <indna>. English speakers are probably accustomed to nasal releases, so they won't have problems with <ndn>... I hope.
Oof that's a bit of a doozy of a cluster! Even indla is a bit tricky.
Alessio wrote: 31 Mar 2020 18:07 Quant ân gh'âl can ed tǒ surêla? - How old is your sister's dog?
Ět sintû l'ultma canzoun ed Vâsco? - Did you hear the latest Vasco Rossi song?
I can't see if this was covered in the phonology section, but it looks like the nasal vowels in can and canzoun count as ending in consonants, so we don't see ed reduce. I'm guessing an [n] shows up as well. Does the vowel stay nasal though?

Exercises:
Spoiler:
In Itâlia, mo a dîr la veritê in tót al mànd, a sàm in pîna emergeinza Coronavirus. A pêr ch'al vîrus al sìa partî da la Cîna, e subét a parîva ch'al fósa arivê par? (guessing here based on the translation - 'arrived by us' doesn't actually work in English) nuêter par vìa d'un melnàt ch'l'ěra apeina turnê, apunt, da la Cîna e l'ěra andê a zeina coun un sǒ amîg seinza dîrghel. Pò dàp l'è saltê fǒra che quàl ch'al duvîva ěser al "pazint żêro" an gh'îva mâi avû nisun vîrus. Insàma, nisun l'à incàra capî d'indà's sìa deṡgnû.
Par un měṡ, pió o měno, a sàm stê tót un pǒ preocupê, mo gnanc pió'd tant. Sǒl che al nómer d'i malê al cuntinuêva a andêr só, finché as sàm catê pió'd mél persouni coun al vîrus.
Adêsa l'è bêle pasê un měṡ e a sàm incàra adrě a spitêr al "picco", la vàta 'd la cûrva ch'is dîṡen tant ed zerchêr d'apiatîrla, mo l'è dimóndi difézel s'an gh'in frěga gnint a nisun. I ein tót in gîr, bě cum al sǒl, is câten a magnêr insàm, i van a fêr la spěṡa un dè sè e cl'êter nò, insàma i fan incǒsa fǒra che stêr a cà. L'è na bêla lôta, vè, ragazǒ...
Alessio wrote: 31 Mar 2020 18:07 dîrghel
Now that's a nice word!
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by kanejam »

qwed117 wrote: 31 Mar 2020 19:10 Ok, I'm only starting this now, but here's my attempt at hw 1. (I tried to do it with no notes, it didn't go well)
Spoiler:
1) Write out the pronunciation of the following words:
parǒl (bucket) /pa'ro:l/
żěl (frost) /'s̪e:l/ /'e:l/ /'z̪e:l/
gât (cat) /'ga:t/
ninàt (pig) /ni'nat/
cumpâgn(a) (like, as, the same as) /kum'pa:ɲ/ /kum'pa:ɲa/
nêṡ (nose) /'ne:s̠/ /'nε:z̠/
càp (roof, plurale tantum) /'kap/

2) Spell the following words: (I'm so confused because stress isn't marked)
/tas̠εːl/ (attic, especially when used as a storage room) <taṡěl> tasêl
/z̪oːven/ (young) <zǒven> <żǒven>
/răs/ (red) <raṡ> ràs
/bε̃ĩ/ (well) <bein>
/bɔ̃ũ/ (good) <boun>
/seːrv̩/ (it is useful/needed; syllabic /v/) <ěrv> sěrv
/bεːz̠/ (kiss n) <běż> bêż
I hope you or Alessio don't mind if I try correcting this. Here's what you got stuck on: long vowels are always stressed; the overdot on the sibilants marks voice, they're voiceless otherwise; <z ż> mark the dentals /s̪ z̪/ while <s ṡ> marks the retracted /s̠ z̠/; <ê ô> mark the mid-open /εː ɔː/ while <ǒ ě> mark the mid-closed /eː oː/.
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by qwed117 »

kanejam wrote: 07 May 2020 00:18
qwed117 wrote: 31 Mar 2020 19:10 Ok, I'm only starting this now, but here's my attempt at hw 1. (I tried to do it with no notes, it didn't go well)
Spoiler:
1) Write out the pronunciation of the following words:
parǒl (bucket) /pa'ro:l/
żěl (frost) /'s̪e:l/ /'e:l/ /'z̪e:l/
gât (cat) /'ga:t/
ninàt (pig) /ni'nat/
cumpâgn(a) (like, as, the same as) /kum'pa:ɲ/ /kum'pa:ɲa/
nêṡ (nose) /'ne:s̠/ /'nε:z̠/
càp (roof, plurale tantum) /'kap/

2) Spell the following words: (I'm so confused because stress isn't marked)
/tas̠εːl/ (attic, especially when used as a storage room) <taṡěl> tasêl
/z̪oːven/ (young) <zǒven> <żǒven>
/răs/ (red) <raṡ> ràs
/bε̃ĩ/ (well) <bein>
/bɔ̃ũ/ (good) <boun>
/seːrv̩/ (it is useful/needed; syllabic /v/) <ěrv> sěrv
/bεːz̠/ (kiss n) <běż> bêż
I hope you or Alessio don't mind if I try correcting this. Here's what you got stuck on: long vowels are always stressed; the overdot on the sibilants marks voice, they're voiceless otherwise; <z ż> mark the dentals /s̪ z̪/ while <s ṡ> marks the retracted /s̠ z̠/; <ê ô> mark the mid-open /εː ɔː/ while <ǒ ě> mark the mid-closed /eː oː/.
Yeah, I don't mind. I realized all of this *after* doing the pset, because I was trying to do it w/o any looking back, which makes it not easy. I should have realized that retraction differentiated the <s z> sets, like Basque, not voicing.
Spoiler:
My minicity is [http://zyphrazia.myminicity.com/xml]Zyphrazia and [http://novland.myminicity.com/xml]Novland.

Minicity has fallen :(
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

Thanks, Kanejam, for replying in my stead.
I've been stuck writing the next lesson for a while - it's coming out very long - so that's why you haven't heard from me during the last month.
I'll be back ASAP. Tgnî bôta incàra un pǒc! (hold on for a little longer!)
: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 »

LESSON 11
PREPOSITIONS. PART 2


In the last lesson we've seen how Emilian prepositions can be roughly divided into two categories: those that are composed of just one word (i.e. the "prepositions proper") and those that are made of an adverb + one or more prepositions (the "preposition(al) phrases").
The topic of today's lesson will be the second set. While there are many more preposition phrases than there are prepositions, they mostly have only one meaning, so this lesson might be longer but easier.
A side note: I know that "prepositional phrase" means something else in English. I just couldn't come up with a better term, so I used a direct translation of what we say in Italian (locuzione prepositiva). If anybody has any suggestions, I will gladly use the good old find and replace function and clear this up.

PLACE
If we use a cube to represent the space around the speaker, you will identify 10 zones of interest:
left
right
on
under
above
below
in front
behind
inside
outside

All of these are rendered by preposition phrases in Emilian:
left -> a sinéstra ed
right -> a děstra ed
on -> edcǒ a
under -> sàta a
above -> ed sǒver da
below -> ed sàta da
in front -> davanti a
behind -> ed drě da
inside -> deinter a
outside -> fǒra ed

All of these phrases can be used without the preposition if they act as adverbs, and with the preposition when they modify a noun. Take these sentences as an example:
A vâg deinter. - I'm going inside.
La mâchina l'è deintr'al garâg'. - The car is inside the garage.


Don't confuse <davanti a> e <ed drě a> with these adverbs, expressing motion in a direction:
avanti - forward(s)
indrě - backward(s)

Have a look at these sentences:
Andàm avanti. - Let's go on/forward.
S'et màt la rětro, la mâchina la và indrě. - If you put it in reverse, the car will move backwards.

"Left" and "right" stay unchanged in such a context:
Vǒlta/gîra a sinéstra. - Turn left.
Notice that both <sinéstra> and <děstra> are virtually always found after a preposition: <a> for motion to or towards, and <da> for motion from.


You might be interested in a couple more phrases expressing a state in place:
in the middle (of) -> in mêż a
near -> atěṡ a
far -> luntan /lun'tãː(n)/ da
around -> (d')intǒren a
along -> lóng a
opposite (to) -> ed frunt a (watch out: this is a false friend)

Another interesting phrase is <atâc a>, i.e. "next to with contact, attached to". This phrase is often used vith vertical surfaces, making it quite similar to German <an> (compare <auf> for the other usages of "on"). For example:
Atâc al mûr a gh'ò un quêder ed Van Gòg. - I have a Van Gogh painting on the wall.

Various prefixed forms of <dôs> (which can't be used by itself, and comes from Latin dorsum) have similar meanings, but are related to people. <adôs> is the basic form:
Et gh'ê un ragn adôs. - You've got a spider on you.

<indôs> is used for something you're wearing:
Al gh'îva indôs na fělpa něgra. - He was wearing a black sweatshirt.

<da dôs> (sorry, people spell this one differently from the others, and common usage wins over logic) means "off of [someone]", where that someone is the indirect object of the main verb:
Lěvem cal ragn da dôs! - Take that spider off of me!
Stâm só da dôs! - Get off of me!/Let me f***ing breathe!

TIME
The two most important phrases concerning time are without a doubt
préma ed - before
dàp (ed) - after

Now, <dàp> is a bit of a weird case, because it's only very rarely found with its preposition. Even when it servers its purpose as a prepositional phrase, it's typically used alone:
Arcôrdet d'an dêreg ménga da magnêr dàp meżanôt! - Remember to not feed them after midnight!

I'd go as far as saying that using the preposition <ed> in the sentence above is ungrammatical.
The one instance where it is always found together with said preposition is before a personal pronoun:
L'è arivê subét dàp ed mè. - He arrived immediately after me.

None of this applies to <préma ed>, which follows the rules we discussed for the other prepositional phrases.

Naturally, both phrases have an adverbial usage; those can be rendered in English as "earlier" and "later" respectively.
«A vâg a zeina.» «Mè ag soun andê préma.» - «I'm going to have dinner.» «I've already had it earlier.»
«Pǒrta fǒra al rósc!» «Sè, dàp ag vâg...» - «Take out the trash!» «Yeah, whatever, I'll do it later.»

<préma ed> can take a verb in the infinitive to express "before doing":
Peinsa préma'd dîr dal cajunêd! - Think before saying bullshit!

The verb can also be in the past infinitive (infinitive of the auxiliary + past participle):
Préma d'ěsr'andê a Parîgi, an n'ěra mâi stê in Francia. - Before/Prior to visiting Paris (lit. before having gone to Paris), I had never been in France.

<dàp> can be followed by an infinitive, too, but in this case the infinitive must be a past one:
Dàp avěr vést i vǒt ed so fiǒl, al l'à impî'd scupazoun. - After seeing his son's grades, he spanked him real hard.

If the action of the main clause will happen in the future, don't use <dàp> + past infinitive. Prefer <quand> + compound past:
Quand t'ê finî ed magněr, và a lêt. - After you're done eating, go to bed.

As a side note, both <préma> and <dàp> can have spatial meanings, indicating that something is positioned along the road to somewhere and is encountered respectively before or after that something.



We have already met the phrase <(in cal) meinter che> during lesson 9, when discussing the past tense. This is not technically a prepositional phrase - rather, it is a conjunction - but it works a lot like prepositional phrases, if you consider "che" to be its preposition:
(In cal) meinter ch'a magnêva, a m'è sunê al telěfon. - While I was eating, my phone rang.

Remember that, for past sentences, "meinter" is always followed by a verb in the imperfect tense. You could also used with a present, which is more interesting when it comes to its adverbial usage:
(In cal) meinter ch'am parpêr, tîra fǒra la mâchina. - While I get dressed (reflexive in Emilian, whence the <am>), get the car out of the garage.

This sentence could be rewritten as follows.
Mè am parpêr. Tè, indal/in cal meinter, tîra fǒra la mâchina. - I'll get dressed. Get the car out of the garage in the meantime.

Two things to notice: first, the adverbial usage of <meinter> means "in the meantime". Second, you can use <indal> ("in the") in place of <in cal> ("in that") in such a sentence, but one of the two is mandatory. You can not use <meinter> alone.



Most other prepositions of time are "prepositions proper", and we've already covered them. There is one last prepositional phrase I want to teach you:
fin a - until

Now, this phrase is complicated. First of all, it has no adverbial form, meaning that you will never find <fin> without <a> (if not as a noun meaning "end" or an adjective meaning "fine", but those are just homographs).
Second, <fin a> can only be followed by a noun:
Fin a sîra - until the evening
Fin al 2015 - until 2015

... or it can be followed by a verb in the infinitive:
L'à magnê fin a scupiêr. - He ate until he blew up. (ideomatic phrase meaning "he ate too much")

In such a case, the verb in the infinitive must have the same subject as the main verb, i.e. you can't say "l'à infiê al baloun fin a scupiêr" for "he inflated the balloon until it blew up" (the sentence I wrote would mean "he inflated the balloon until he himself blew up").

If the subjects don't agree, or if you want to put a whole clause after <fin>, you need to replace the preposition <a> with the conjunction <che>. However, rather than <fin che>, you will always find <finchè>, because the Italian counterpart of this... "conjunction phrase"? is written as one word, namely <finché>.
Stay with me now, because <finchè> is a tricky one.

When the clause that follows is about an ongoing situation, no big deal. The meaning just changes slightly to "as long as":
Finchè la mâchina la và, an la câmbi ménga. - I won't change this car as long as it still runs.

It might also mean "while", as in "while you're still on time":
Finchè t'ě żǒven, gôdet la véta. - Enjoy life while you're still young.

Another "very Emilian" usage of <finchè> is the following:
Finchè t'ě in cuṡeina, pǒrtem un bicěr d'âqua. - Since you're in the kitchen, bring me a glass of water.
Here, the meaning of <finchè> is something between "since" and "while". Think of the sentence above as "oh wait, don't leave the kitchen just yet, pour me a glass of water and bring it to me on your way here".

When the clause after <finchè> expresses a change at some precise point in time, things get a bit more complicated. Have a look at this sentence:
Finchè t'an finés la verdûra, t'e-stê a têvla. - You will stay here until you've eaten all your vegetables.

Here, the verb "finîr" (to consume completely, to finish up) is in the negative. The rule is that if a verb expresses a change rather than a state, it must be in the negative when <finchè> comes into play. Think of it this way: Emilian has no word for "until", and <finchè> means "as long as". Thus, you have to say "as long as you haven't finished your vegetables".
This does only half of the trick, though. You can clearly see that <finés> is in the present tense, so the sentence literally says "as long as you don't finish up your vegetables", which, in English, means the exact opposite.
Of course, "as long as" is just an ideomatic expression in English, that can be replaced with "if" without too big a change in meaning, so this is only an unfortunate coincidence. You should rather think of the Emilian sentence as "while what you are doing is not finishing up your vegetables, you won't leave the table".

The same rules apply in the past, but here the tenses come to our help, since we now have an imperfective vs. perfective distinction:
Finchè la mâchina l'andèva, an l'ò mâi cambiêda. - While the car still worked, I didn't change it. (yeah, this sentence doesn't make much sense in English, does it?)
A j ò tgnû la mâchina finché l'an s'è ràta. - I kept the car until it broke (again reflexive in Emilian).

As you can see, the first sentence uses an imperfect past and expresses an ongoing (imperfective) action, and thus it has an affirmative verb, just like you'd expect. The second one, on the other hand, expresses a change ("the car broke"), thus it has a verb in the negative and it uses the simple past (kind of like a perfective aspect). Grammatically speaking, with <finchè>, any verb in the imperfect tense will be in the affirmative, and any verb in the past simple will be in the negative. You could find a negative verb in the imperfect tense I guess ("while X was not doing..."), but it's a lot better to just rework the sentence so that it uses a verb of change instead ("until X started doing...").


OTHER PHRASES
Here is a very short collection of miscellaneous prepositional phrases you might be interested in.

insàm a - together (with)
seinza (ed) - without (just like for <dàp>, the preposition is used only before a personal pronoun)

This phrase doesn't have an adverbial usage, thus it is always found together with its preposition:

par vìa ed - because of


EXERCISES
Good job reading through this entire monster of a lesson! Now have fun trying to complete these exercises.
  1. Fill in the blanks with a prepositional phrase indicating place. Pay attention if you need to include the preposition or not.
    1. A gh'ò un giardein _________ cà. - I have a backyard. (lit. I have a garden behind home)
    2. Quî ch'i stan chè ________ i fan seimper dal caṡein. - The guys leaving upstairs (EML: "here above") are always making a lot of noise.
    3. Màt't a sěder ________. - Have a seat in the front.
    4. Ed sôlit i ǒv i ein _______ la galeina. - Usually the eggs are under the chicken.
    5. _______ la banca a gh'è al cìnema. - The cinema is opposite to the bank.
  2. This time, fill in the blanks using prepositional phrases of time.
    1. _______ incuntrêret a pinsêva t'an n'esistés ménga. - Before I met you I thought you didn't exist.
    2. _______ al film a sàm andê a magnêr quêl insàm. - After the movie, we went to eat something together.
    3. T'm piaṡîv dimóndi, _________ t'an n'ê dét che t'ěr vegetarian. - I liked you a lot, until you told me you were vegetarian.
    4. A gh'ò da lavêr i piât. ___________, tè, pulés al bagn. - I have to wash the dishes. You clean the bathroom in the meantime.
    5. As tàca'd restêr in cà _______l 3 ed mâż. - We'll have to stay at home until May 3.
  3. Complete this text using any prepositional phrase you find suitable. Watch out for hints regarding articles.
    Al Lêg dla Ninfa l'è un lagàt artificiêl situê ________ [1] al Mount Cimoun, indal comun ed Sěstla. Indi ûltem 50 an l'à guadagnê seimper pió popolaritê, ______ [2] dvintêr al lagàt pió famǒṡ ed tóta la pruvincia ed Môdna.
    _________ [3] al lagàt as pǒl peschêr, a cundizioun ed turnêr a butêr _______ [4] tót quàl ch'un al pàsca.
    S'un al deṡvin dal paěṡ e al guêrda věrs al lagàt, ___________ [5] al vàd dû ristorant, un un pǒ pió grand e un un pǒ pió cin; __________ [6], invěci, al vàd la piněta, parfêta par fêreg un picnìc.
    Se __________ [7] d'arivêr al lagàt un al vǒlta _________ [8], al câta na sbâra ch'la blôca la strêda, e un parcàg' par lasêreg la mâchina e andêr só a pě. Subét _______ [9] la sbâra, infâti, la tâca la strêda ch'la và ___ [10] ______ [11] arivêr indun spiâz ind'a gh'ein dǒ funtaneini d'âqua fràsca (Al Funtâni), e pò la cunténua ______ [12] la vàta dal Cimoun.
    _______ [13] la muntâgna a gh'è un oservatôri metereolôgic e l'antàna dal telěfon ch'la servés tóta la żôna. Quand ag vâg mè, am piěṡ seimper guardêr al celulêr e fêr la batûda: "oh, al ciâpa anc chè ______ [14]!".
    Insàma, s'av câpita d'ěser a Môdna, av cunséli'd tǒrev na giurnêda par andêr al Cimoun. Parparêv parchè al viâż l'è lóng - pió o měno 75 (stanta-zinc) chilômeter - mo a soun sicûr ch'av pieṡrà. E pò d'istê, quand in pianûra a gh'è 40 (quaranta) grêd, al Lêg ed sôlit ag n'è měno ed 25 (vint-zinc)...

    The Ninfa lake is a small artificial lake situated on top of [1] Mt. Cimone, in the municipality of Sestola. During these past 50 years it gained a lot of popularity, until [2] it became the most famous lake in the province of Modena.
    Around [3] the lake fishing is allowed, but it's mandatory to throw back into (inside [4]) the lake whatever fish you get.
    Coming from the town of Sestola and looking towards the lake, on the left [5] you can see two restaurants, one slightly bigger than the other; on the right [6], instead, you can see a pinewood, perfect for a picnic.
    If you turn left [8] before [7] arriving at the lake, you will find an iron bar blocking the way, and a parking lot where you can leave your car and continue on foot. In fact, right after [9] the bar, you will find a road that goes up [10] until [11] a small square with two fresh water fountains (Le Fontane), and then goes on until [12] the peak of Mt. Cimone.
    On top of [13] the mountain you will find a weather observatory and a telephone repeater, serving the whole zone. When I go there, I never miss the opportunity to look at the phone screen and jokingly say "that's incredible, I have service even up [14] here!".
    In short, if you ever happen to be in Modena, I advise that you save a day to go to Mt. Cimone. Be warned, the journey is long - more or less 75 km (46 miles and a half) - but I'm sure you'll like it. Moreover during the summer, when the temperature in the plains reaches 40 °C (104 °F), usually it's lower than 25 °C (77 °F) by the lake...
: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 NoahDalton »

I have a question. First, I really love this course, and I am following it very thoroughly, so please, keep it up! My question is in regards to negation.

If <an>, <t'an>, <l'an>, and <in> are all required to negate a verb, then how are you supposed to do a negative sentence with an unstressed object pronoun? If the unstressed subject pronoun is already merged with the negation article <n>, then how do would you even say, "I don't see you"? Would it be:

1. An t'vàd ménga.
2. T'an vàd ménga.*
3. An n'at vàd ménga.
Or something else that I didn't say?

Again, keep up the phenomenal work, and I look forward to your response!

* I understand that "t'an vàd ménga" would also mean "you don't see," so I can probably assume that this isn't the correct answer on how to do a negative sentence with an unstressed object pronoun.
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

Your question makes sense. The rule is:

Unstressed subject pronoun + negating particle + unstressed object pronoun + verb + ménga/brîṡa

Thus the correct answer to your question is 1, although /tv/ is a "difficult" cluster, so an <e> will most certainly be inserted - an et vàd ménga. There is no fake gemination though, I guess since the <e> is euphonic it isn't taken into consideration for this specific rule.
We can gloss this phrase as:

a-n et vàd ménga
1SG.US-NEG 2SG.UO see.3SG.PRES NEG

The important thing to notice here is that <a> and <an> merge, so it looks like there is no USP in the sentence, but it is actually there.
And yes, number 2. does indeed mean "you don't see".

You already know that spelling is a bit of a pain in the ass and has no real standard, so by all means, look at the morphology rather than at the orthography. Other possible variations of mine include:
a n'et vàd ménga
an e-t vàd ménga
a n'e-t vàd ménga
and so on.

Hope this clears up the doubt!
: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 NoahDalton »

Alessio wrote: 28 May 2020 18:41 Your question makes sense. The rule is:

Unstressed subject pronoun + negating particle + unstressed object pronoun + verb + ménga/brîṡa

Thus the correct answer to your question is 1, although /tv/ is a "difficult" cluster, so an <e> will most certainly be inserted - an et vàd ménga. There is no fake gemination though, I guess since the <e> is euphonic it isn't taken into consideration for this specific rule.
We can gloss this phrase as:

a-n et vàd ménga
1SG.US-NEG 2SG.UO see.3SG.PRES NEG

The important thing to notice here is that <a> and <an> merge, so it looks like there is no USP in the sentence, but it is actually there.
And yes, number 2. does indeed mean "you don't see".

You already know that spelling is a bit of a pain in the ass and has no real standard, so by all means, look at the morphology rather than at the orthography. Other possible variations of mine include:
a n'et vàd ménga
an e-t vàd ménga
a n'e-t vàd ménga
and so on.

Hope this clears up the doubt!
That makes a lot of sense! Would I add a euphonic <e> to all unstressed object pronouns, not just for "you?" For example:

Et n'em vàd ménga. = You don't see me.
Al n'eg vàda ménga. = He doesn't see her.
La n'eg vàda ménga. = She doesn't see him.
A n'es vdî ménga. = You all don't see us.
I n'ev vàden ménga. = They don't see you all.

Thank you for the help thus far!
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

That makes a lot of sense! Would I add a euphonic <e> to all unstressed object pronouns, not just for "you?" For example:

Et n'em vàd ménga. = You don't see me.
Al n'eg vàda ménga. = He doesn't see her.
La n'eg vàda ménga. = She doesn't see him.
A n'es vdî ménga. = You all don't see us.
I n'ev vàden ménga. = They don't see you all.
Watch out: <eg> is a dative pronoun, not an accusative (which would be al for masculine objects and la for feminine objects). Also, vàder is a 2nd conjugation verb, so the three singular persons are all vàd. vàda is the subjunctive, which we haven't studied yet.

As for your question, the rules for adding the e- are a bit more complicated than that, unfortunately. Sometimes you have to use it in a specific way. I'll rewrite your examples in the correct form:

T'an (u)m vàd ménga. - You don't see me.

Here you were a bit unlucky. You might recall from my previous lessons that /m/ can be syllabic, and it happens in this sentence. However, since /m/ is a labial, speakers that can't pronounce it as a syllabic consonant or whose dialect does not offer this opportunity will add an /u/, rather than an /e/.

An la vàd ménga. - He doesn't see her.

There's not much to say about this if not that <al> + <an> gives <an>.

La n'al vàd ménga. - She doesn't see him.

You would have got this one right if not for the <eg> vs. <al> thing. By the way, la n'eg vàd ménga means she can't see or she is blind, since <eg> is also a particle indicating place (corresponding to Italian ci or French y) that sometimes appears in ideomatic expressions like this one.

An se vdî ménga. - You (pl) don't see us.

For one-letter words, that mostly have three versions (C, eC and Ce), the euphonic <e> should generally be placed on the side that touches the hardest cluster. /svd/ is not allowed in Emilian, thus you should put the /e/ after the /s/ rather than before it.

I n'ev vàden ménga. - They don't see you (pl).

This one is correct. Good job!

At the end of the day, yes you do use the euphonic <e> quite a lot in these examples, but watch out for its position!
: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 NoahDalton »

Alessio wrote: 29 May 2020 21:24
That makes a lot of sense! Would I add a euphonic <e> to all unstressed object pronouns, not just for "you?" For example:

Et n'em vàd ménga. = You don't see me.
Al n'eg vàda ménga. = He doesn't see her.
La n'eg vàda ménga. = She doesn't see him.
A n'es vdî ménga. = You all don't see us.
I n'ev vàden ménga. = They don't see you all.
Watch out: <eg> is a dative pronoun, not an accusative (which would be al for masculine objects and la for feminine objects). Also, vàder is a 2nd conjugation verb, so the three singular persons are all vàd. vàda is the subjunctive, which we haven't studied yet.

As for your question, the rules for adding the e- are a bit more complicated than that, unfortunately. Sometimes you have to use it in a specific way. I'll rewrite your examples in the correct form:

T'an (u)m vàd ménga. - You don't see me.

Here you were a bit unlucky. You might recall from my previous lessons that /m/ can be syllabic, and it happens in this sentence. However, since /m/ is a labial, speakers that can't pronounce it as a syllabic consonant or whose dialect does not offer this opportunity will add an /u/, rather than an /e/.

An la vàd ménga. - He doesn't see her.

There's not much to say about this if not that <al> + <an> gives <an>.

La n'al vàd ménga. - She doesn't see him.

You would have got this one right if not for the <eg> vs. <al> thing. By the way, la n'eg vàd ménga means she can't see or she is blind, since <eg> is also a particle indicating place (corresponding to Italian ci or French y) that sometimes appears in ideomatic expressions like this one.

An se vdî ménga. - You (pl) don't see us.

For one-letter words, that mostly have three versions (C, eC and Ce), the euphonic <e> should generally be placed on the side that touches the hardest cluster. /svd/ is not allowed in Emilian, thus you should put the /e/ after the /s/ rather than before it.

I n'ev vàden ménga. - They don't see you (pl).

This one is correct. Good job!

At the end of the day, yes you do use the euphonic <e> quite a lot in these examples, but watch out for its position!
You have been so helpful! I love your language, and I will continue to follow this thread closely. Additionally, thank you for correcting me on the accidental usage of the dative instead of the UOP.
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

So before the next lesson is ready, how about we finally find out how Emilian actually sounds?
Here is a recording of myself speaking Emilian. The transcript is just below. Enjoy it!

https://voca.ro/oBxbf2PuOiu

Bounasîra a tót! A gh'îva dal teimp da pěrder e a j ò pinsê ed druvêrel par fêrev un àudio in dialàt.
Incǒ a soun andê a fêr un gîr tra Pêrma e Piaṡeinza. A j ò vést dǒ zitê - Fideinza e Fiurinzǒla - e un bǒrg antîc - Vigulein. Tót e trî i pôst i m'ein piaṡu dimondi, specialmeint Vigulein. L'è un burgàt edcǒ al prémi muntâgni dal piaṡintein, al cunfin coun la pruvincia ed Pêrma, cinein mo dimóndi bêl. S'av câpita, av cunséli d'andêreg.
L'ónic quêl l'è che quand a sàm arivê a j avàm descuěrt* che la vìsita ch'a vlîvem fêr nuêter la gh'ěra sǒl la dmànga, e a s'è tuchê tǒrn'un êtra cla custêva měno mo a se vdîva dimóndi měno rǒba. L'è vêlsa la pěna ed listàs: cal pôst lè l'è maravejǒṡ.
E gninta, a m'arcmand, stêm bein e cuntinuê a studiêr al nôster dialàt!

Good evening everybody! I had some time to waste so I thought I could use it to record an audio track in Emilian.
Today I went for a tour [of some places] between Parma and Piacenza. I saw two cities - Fidenza and Fiorenzuola d'Arda - and an ancient village - Vigoleno. I liked all three of them, but Vigoleno was the best. It's a little hamlet at the entrance of the mountain range south of Piacenza, close to the border with the province of Parma, quite small but very beautiful. If you ever get the chance, I advise you to go there.
The only thing [I didn't like] was that when we arrived we found out that the guided tour we wanted to go for was only available on Sundays, so we had to buy a different ticket that cost less but also allowed you to see much less. It was still worth it: that place is wonderful.
Well, that's it! [generic exhortation, lit. "I recommend"], take care and keep studying our "dialect"!

*I chose to spell /des'kweːrt/ with a <c> and not a <q> because there would be no etymologic reason for a <q> to be there. Italian and Latin both have <c> (scoprire ← s + cooperire).
: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 NoahDalton »

This actually helps me a lot. I am wondering if it's okay to say <z> as /θ/ since I can't really hear the difference when you were speaking between /θ/ and /s̪/; same with /ð/ for /z̪/.
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

[θ] and [ð] are common realizations of /s̪/ and /z̪/ for some (say, 10%) speakers of dialects that have these sounds. However, to a native speaker it will sound like a lisp (which it mostly is, for those speakers: they usually have difficulties with /ts dz/ in Italian as well).
The difference, in my understanding, is that /s̪ z̪/ are sibilants whereas /θ ð/ are not, but otherwise the point of articulation is the same. You might already know that sibilants differ from the rest of the fricatives in that the airflow is directed towards the (lower) teeth, so maybe you should try that.
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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...
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

LESSON 12
ADJECTIVES


I just realized I haven't introduced adjectives yet, so let's get them out of the way quickly!

Adjectives in Emilian, at least in their dictionary form (masculine singular), aren't marked in any particular way, much like nouns.

bêl - beautiful
brót - ugly
nǒv - new
żǒven - young
vêc' - old
educhê - polite

They decline for gender and number, following more or less the same rules as nouns; the masculine corresponds to the dictionary form, its plural doesn't change except for some of them (e.g. those in -êl), FS adds -a and FP adds -i.

bêl - bě - bêla - bêli
brót - brót - bróta - bróti
nǒv - nǒv - nǒva - nǒvi
żǒven - żǒven - żǒvna - żǒvni
vêc' - vêc' - vêcia - vêci
educhê - educhê - educhêda - educhêdi

Of course, my word choice is not random. Let's see why:
  • bêl follows the -êl/ǒl pattern, so it has -ě in the masculine plural;
  • żǒven has an <e> that can and must be syncopated, so it gives żǒvna and żǒvni as its feminine forms;
  • the /ts̠/ in <vêc'> has 3 different spellings - <c' ci c> - depending on what follows it, as usual;
  • educhê is a past participle acting as an adjective, so its feminine is in -da/-di.

Those of you who have a Romance background might notice that Emilian adds an -a to all the adjectives that followed the 3rd declension in Latin, i.e. those that end in -e in Italian or in a consonant in Spanish. This is not the case for either of these languages: while Emilian has żǒven - żǒvna, Italian has giovane - giovane and Spanish has joven - joven.

Adjectives in Emilian mostly follow the noun they refer to:
Na cà vêcia - an old house
Un maglioun něgher - a black sweater

However, some adjectives, particularly those that have a figurate or moral meaning, can and often do appear before the noun. This sometimes changes the meaning of the phrase:
Un bêl pôst - a nice place
Un boun amîg - a good friend (cfr. un amîg boun - a friend who is good, who often gives money to charity etc.)
Un pôvr'àm - a poor man (expresses compassion, or stands for a handicapped person; cfr. un àm pôver - a man who is poor, i.e. hardly has any money)

Even after a copula, i.e. in nominal predicates, adjectives still retain their gender and number, unlike in Germanic languages:
Cla cà chè l'è vêcia. - This house is old.


COMPARATIVES
You can apply three degrees to Emilian adjectives: the positive/neutral, the comparative and the superlative.

The neutral degree is just the adjective in its dictionary form, as you can imagine. We'll use "bêl" as an example.

The comparative degree comes in three flavors: majority, minority and equality.
The comparative of majority is by far the most used, and it involves using the particle "pió".

pió bêl - more beautiful

Adjectives still decline even when in a comparative degree, so if the noun were feminine, you'd see

pió bêla - more beautiful (fs)

and so on.

Emilian does not have a synthetic comparative, except for a handful of irregular adjectives. The two you're most likely to stumble upon are
boun - miǒr (good - better)
catîv - pżǒr (bad - worse)
Both decline like normal adjectives (e.g. the feminine of miǒr is miǒra); however, they aren't used all that much (especially pżǒr). They are very often replaced by their adverbial forms:
boun → miǒr → méj
catîv → pżǒr → pěż

I guess you could say that méj is actually the comparative of bein (well) and pěż of mêl (bad, badly); however, like I said, they are often used as adjectives and don't decline under such circumstances:

La Ferâri l'è méj dla Mercědes. - Ferrari is better than Mercedes. (Ferrari is considered feminine, but you still use méj)

As a final note, when "boun" refers to taste, the form "pió boun" can be used instead.

The previous sample sentence gave away that the second term of comparison is introduced by ed, or equivalently by che:
pió bêl ch'un quêder ed Picàsso - more beautiful than a Picasso painting
pió luntan ed Loṡ Èngeles - farther than Los Angeles

The comparative of equality is formed by using one of three words: cǒme or cum before a vowel (probably a loanword from Italian), cumpâgn(a) and damant. cumpâgn(a) is the only one that can be used on its own:

I ein ělt cumpâgna. - They're equally tall.

The other ones must be followed by a noun:

L'è ôreb damant na têlpa. - He's as blind as a bat. ("as a mole" in Italian)
A soun ělt cǒme tè. - I'm as tall as you.

Naturally, cumpâgn(a) can be used in the same way:
T'ě fûreb cumpâgna un ṡdâz. - You're as smart as a sieve. (i.e. not very smart, since the sieve lets the finer flour pass through and keeps the bran. This is a common insult in Emilian)

Finally, the comparative of minority is usually avoided in Emilian, but it can be formulated with the help of měno (supposedly another loan from Italian):

měno bêl - less beautiful

The whole "not as X as" phrase kinda works in Emilian (an soun ménga bêl cumpagna tè), but often times it sounds a lot like you're being sarcastic (e.g. you're not actually that beautiful, even though you think you are). I'd say that if you want to avoid the comparative of minority, you should prefer reworking your sentence and use the comparative of majority.

Tè t'ě měno bêl che mè = Mè soun pió bêl ed tè.


SUPERLATIVES
Emilian has two superlative flavors. The so-called absolute superlative, roughly corresponding to "very" or "much", is formed by adding -ésm (with a syllabic /m/). This gives another adjective that declines normally.

Cal żlê chè l'è bunésm. - This ice cream is very good.
Cla pâsta chè l'è bunésma. - This pasta is very good.

You should note three things: the first is that the absolute superlative is much stronger than a simple "very" (which, in Emilian, is rendered as dimóndi). Thus,

Cal żlê chè l'è dimóndi boun.

still means that the ice cream is very good, but a lot less than the one from the previous sentence. You could say that the superlative in the first sentence actually translates to "excellent", rather than just "very good".
The second thing to notice is that this suffix is stressed, thus it triggers ablaut. In our example we had ou→u, a very common pattern.
Finally, the -ésm suffix is not as productive as it used to be. This may sound like a weird sentence, but what I mean is that you can't just take any adjective and add -ésm to it. For example, if you take brót (ugly) and turn it into brutésm, it will sound weird, even though its Italian counterpart bruttissimo is perfectly valid and quite common. You should stick to using the absolute superlative of adjectives that you have already heard in such a form in the first place.

The so-called relative superlative is equivalent to the English "the most". It is formed by taking the comparative of majority and adding the proper article before pió. Adjectives forming the comparative synthetically take the article themselves. Have a look:

La zitê ed Tokyo l'è la pió granda dal mànd. - The city of Tokyo is the biggest in the world.
T'ě al miǒr linguésta ed tót! - You're the best linguist of all!

If the superlative is used as an adjective to a noun, you don't need any additional article (unlike in, say, French).

Tokyo l'è la zitê pió granda dal mànd. - Tokyo is the biggest city in the world. (not *la zitê la pió granda)

Finally, note that the group the superlative is relative to is introduced by the preposition <ed>. This holds true even in most cases where English uses <in>, as you can tell from the sentence above.


PRONOUNS
You can turn any adjective into a pronoun by prefixing it with a demonstrative from the /k/ set. We haven't studied demonstratives just yet, but for now all you need to know is that Emilian has two sets - the /k/ set and the <st> set.
Demonstratives from the /k/ set are more or less equivalent to "that", and are formed by prefixing the article of the noun they refer to with a /k/ sound, that will be spelled as <c> or <ch> according to the article itself.
In this case, in place of a noun we have a pronoun, which will take the same gender and number of the noun it stands for. You will have to use this information to determine the right article to use.

«Che magliàta vǒt?» «Cla ràsa.» - «Which T-shirt do you want?» «The red one.»

Much line in English, you can turn a comparative into a pronoun, too:

«Che magliàta vǒt?» «Cla pió cîna.» - «Which T-shirt do you want?» «The smaller one.»

Note that removing the /k/ and using the article on its own produces a relative superlative instead:

«Che magliàta vǒt?» «La pió cîna [ch'i gh'an].» - «Which T-shirt do you want?» «The smallest [they have].»


EXERCISES
  1. Fill in the blanks by conjugating the adjective in brackets. Exploit the articles and the endings to tell the gender and number of the nouns they refer to.
    1. Mě pêder l'è ____ (ělt) e _____ (mêgher). - My father is tall and thin.
    2. Gh'ět ménga na bîro ______ (ràs)? - You don't happen to have a red pen, do you?
    3. La Sàcia l'è _____ (lóng) 172 (zeint-e-stanta-dû) chilômeter. - River Secchia is 172 km (107 mi) long.
    4. A gh'è pin ed ragazǒli ______ (żǒven) e _____ (bêl) chè. - It's full of young and beautiful girls in here.
    5. Stamateina am soun màs i pantalunzein ______ (cûrt). - I wore shorts this morning.
  2. Fill in the blanks with the comparative of majority of the adjective in brackets.
    1. Al Pò l'è __________ (lóng) edla Sàcia. - River Po is longer than River Secchia. (watch out, the gender of rivers is not always the same... look at the articles!)
    2. Mě nôna l'è ____________ (vêc') ed mě mêdra. - My grandmother is older than my mother.
    3. T'et cràd d'ěser __________ (inteligint) ed mè, mo t'ě sǒl un cajoun. - You (m) think you're smarter than me, but you're just an idiot.
    4. I can i ein __________ (afetuǒṡ) di gât, mo i ein anc _____________ (scalmanê). - Dogs are more affectionate than cats, but they're also more lively/rowdy.
    5. Cal tajadêli chè agli ein ________ (salê) ed quîli ch't'ê fât ajěr. - These tagliatelle are saltier than the ones you made yesterday.
  3. Form the absolute superlative of these adjectives, noting the ablaut pattern indicated in brackets.
    Example: bêl (ê → e) - belésm, (belésm), belésma, belésmi
    1. grand (a → a, but gets de-nasalized) - big
    2. mêgher (ê → a, syncope of the -e-) - thin
    3. brêv (ê → a) - good, well-behaved, someone who did a good job
    4. bâs (â → a) - short (as opposed to "tall"), low
    5. ělt (ě → a) - tall, high

    PS: I swear that not all ablaut patterns go to <a>, it was just an unfortunate coincidence lol
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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...
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kanejam
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by kanejam »

Alessio wrote: 16 May 2020 13:39 LESSON 11
PREPOSITIONS. PART 2

A side note: I know that "prepositional phrase" means something else in English. I just couldn't come up with a better term, so I used a direct translation of what we say in Italian (locuzione prepositiva). If anybody has any suggestions, I will gladly use the good old find and replace function and clear this up.
In English they're normally called "phrasal prepositions" or "compound prepositions".
Alessio wrote: 30 May 2020 22:06 So before the next lesson is ready, how about we finally find out how Emilian actually sounds?
Here is a recording of myself speaking Emilian. The transcript is just below. Enjoy it!
Wow, this is awesome! It definitely helps hearing how the sibilants sound. It's how I imagine the Basque equivalents to sound (although I don't know if that's correct or not). I have to say I can't consistently hear the long vowels as longer than the short vowels.
Alessio wrote: 01 Jun 2020 14:58 [θ] and [ð] are common realizations of /s̪/ and /z̪/ for some (say, 10%) speakers of dialects that have these sounds. However, to a native speaker it will sound like a lisp (which it mostly is, for those speakers: they usually have difficulties with /ts dz/ in Italian as well).
The difference, in my understanding, is that /s̪ z̪/ are sibilants whereas /θ ð/ are not, but otherwise the point of articulation is the same. You might already know that sibilants differ from the rest of the fricatives in that the airflow is directed towards the (lower) teeth, so maybe you should try that.
The English Wikipedia article on Emilian lists the dental sibilants as /θ ð/ but perhaps that's more of a Bolognese or an Eastern thing (or Wiki is just wrong)?
Alessio wrote: 02 Jun 2020 09:38 T'ě al miǒr linguésta ed tót! - You're the best linguist of all!
Aw shucks [:$] Is there a reason it's ed rather than de (since there's only a consonant on it's right side).
Alessio wrote: 02 Jun 2020 09:38 pżǒr
Now that's a cluster! Is it pronounced with mixed voicing or does one assimilate?



Apologies, I've been slack. I'll try get to the exercises this week. Thanks for all the effort you're putting into these lessons [:)]
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Re: A soun incàra vîv - Emilian lessons v2

Post by Alessio »

Yes, as far as I know, the difference between Basque <s> and <z> is very similar, if not identical, to that between Emilian <s> and <z>. Judging on the info I can get, the only difference seems that the Emilian <z> is pronounced by holding the tip of the tongue a bit closer to the teeth, whereas the Basque <z> is apical but still alveolar.
You can't always hear the distinction between long and short vowels because it is minimal for vowels that aren't stressed sentence-wise, so their pronunciation changes according to the cadence I use when speaking. Nevertheless, this is a text I wrote down before recording it. If I were to talk naturally you'd probably hear them better, since I'd stop every now and then to think of what to say next, changing my cadence.

No, /θ ð/ are definitely not phonetically part of any Emilian dialect that I know of. Many dialects don't even have /s̪ z̪/ at all and use /s̠ z̠/ all the time (especially those west of Modena). /ts dz/ aren't part of any dialect either (again, that I know of), and I would say [ŋ] is an allophone, not a full phoneme (there is no [n]-[ŋ] minimal pair). So unless the Piacentino dialect that the article seems to be highly centered about is completely different from all other dialects that I know of, Wikipedia is unfortunately wrong.

As for <ed/de>, I'll add to my rule that <de> is kind of a last resort. Maybe it's clearer if you see it spelled as <d'e->: as usual the preposition is only the <d> and the <e> is a euphonic addition to a word that presents some difficulties when pronounced after another consonant. Basically, if you have only one consonant in the way, the <d> can touch it.
The <e> before the <d>, on the other hand, can be there even when it's not needed (except if you used <de>), as in this case. It makes it a bit easier to tell where the word boundary is. T'ě al miǒr linguésta'd tót is perfectly valid, but it will be slightly harder to understand, since the <d> will assimilate to the <t> as /tː/.

Which leads us to the next point. <pżǒr> is definitely pronounced with mixed voicing, i.e. [pz̪oːr]. Both *[ps̪oːr] and *[bz̪oːr] sound quite different.
I'd say that consonants assimilate in Emilian only when they have the same manner of articulation, maybe even the same point of articulation, just like <ed tót> above. Naturally this doesn't apply to <n>, that assimilates to whatever comes after it and may represent [ŋ] or [ɱ], among others.
: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 guys, it's quite time you heard from me... it's been five months since my last post.
The problem is I have some doubts about some features but I haven't really got to see my grandma yet, and since things aren't looking good in terms of lockdown in Italy I might not be able to see her before Christmas and I can't keep you guys waiting for another month.
I will thus be posting lexicon card number 2, about numerals. I will point out the things I'm not sure about, so take those with a grain of salt. Let's dive into it!

LEXICON CARD 2
NUMERALS


Emilian numerals follow pretty much the same "composition system" found in many other Indo-European languages. They are arguably vigesimal up to number 20, and decimal from then on.
As some of you might know, I'm a computer programmer and we count from 0, so for the first 10 numbers I will present the 10 digits.

Code: Select all

0	żêro
1	un (m), óna (f)
2	dû (m), dǒ (f)
3	trî (m), trě (f)
4	quâter
5	zinc
6	sě
7	sêt
8	ôt
9	nǒv
What should we say about these digits?
Let's take number 1 in consideration for a moment. You can see it has two forms - un in the masculine and óna in the feminine. This latter form is used mostly as a pronoun - its attributive is na, whence the feminine indefinite article. So we have:

un chìlo - one kg
un měter - one meter
na butéglia - one bottle
Quanti butégli? Óna. - How many bottles? One.

And here is the first note: I'm pretty sure I've heard "ón" as well, at least in counting (ón, dû, trî...). I'm therefore not 100% sure of what "pure" Vignolese uses. My "bastard" dialect uses "un" though, so I'll stick to that.

Number 2 appears to have two forms as well - for the masculine, and for the feminine. Again, I'm not 100% sure if Vignolese actually has this distinction because my "bastard" dialect appears to always use "dû"; some trustworthy sources do however point out that most dialects distinguish the two words and I'm sure I've heard both, so we'll go with the gendered system.
The same goes for number 3, although here I'm more tempted to say that Vignolese does not have the distinction.
I hope I can give you guys more definitive answers once I've heard from grandma, but it won't be easy. I'll have to resort to asking her some specific examples, I don't expect her to just know whether Vignolese distinguishes the genders on those numbers - I'm 99% sure she just does it without realizing.

Numbers from 4 to 9 all have only one form, and I'm pretty sure there's no doubt about this.

Now, let's go from 10 to 19.

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10	děṡ
11	óndeṡ
12	dàdeṡ
13	tràdeṡ
14	quatôrdeṡ
15	quéndeṡ
16	sàdeṡ
17	darsêt
18	deṡdôt
19	deṡnǒv
You might notice that all these numbers, except for darsêt, contain deṡ (number 10) either as... well, their only constituent (10), as a suffix (11-16) or as a prefix (18-19). A common mistake is to read 17 as *deṡsêt, which is wrong, so watch out.
Apart from this, numbers from 11 to 16 - those that end in -deṡ - drop the -e- before a vowel. This makes their /d/ touch their /z̠/ (no sexual pun intended, I promise), giving out /dz̠/ - an affricate that should be represented as such. For this reason, you will often find <óng'>, <dàg'> (or <dàdg'>, to keep the spelling more similar to the original number) and so on.

Mě cuṡein al gh'à dàdg' ân. - My cousin is 12. (lit. has 12 years)
but
A gh'ò dàdeṡ cuṡein. - I have 12 cousins.

Fun fact: since in Bolognese the -e- of the teens is always dropped, and děṡ becomes dîṡ, this joke exists:
Al sêt ch'agli ôt al vin un nǒv dutǒr ch'al dîṡ ch'agli óng' di pě agli ein dàdg'?
Unfortunately I have to reorder it to write it in English, but it means more or less this:
Do you know that a new doctor, who says that feet have 12 nails, is coming at 8 o' clock?
The joke is that the sentence contains all the numbers from 7 to 12, but most of them are homophones: sêt is both "seven" and "do you know?", nǒv is both "nine" and "new", dîṡ is both "ten" (in Bolognese) and "he says", and óng' is both "eleven" and "nails".


Now for the tenths!

Code: Select all

20	vint
30	treinta
40	quaranta
50	zinquanta
60	(e-)ssanta
70	stanta
80	utanta
90	nuvanta
We can now combine the tenths with the units. The basic rule is to just squash them together, although you have to be careful - even if most Emilians write numbers as one word, each part retains its own stress. No ablaut ever happens, no vowel is shortened, no diphthong is collapsed and so on.
So, for example, 27 is vintsêt /'vĩnt 'sεːt/, and 45 is quarantazinc /kwa'rãːnta 's̪ĩːŋk/. The accent mark is generally placed on the last part of the number, as it is stressed a little more heavily than the rest. I guess you could represent, for example, vintsêt as [ˌvĩntˈsεːt], using the IPA secondary stress mark.

There are a few additional rules you need to keep in mind:
  • vint adds an -i- before digits beginning with a vowel, i.e. 1 and 8:
    21 vintiun
    28 vintiôt
  • vint adds an -e- before 2:
    22 vintedû/vintedǒ
  • all of the anta drop their -a before 1 and 8:
    31 treintun
    88 utantôt
  • number 2 and 3 supposedly decline normally in compounds, but number 1 doesn't:
    vintiun cà - 21 houses (f) and not *vintióna
    vintedǒ cà - 22 houses (f) and not *vintedû
    Again, I will only be sure about this being the standard for Vignolese once I've asked my grandmother.

Good, let's get to the hundreds.

Code: Select all

100	zeint
200	duṡeint
300	tarṡeint
400	quaterzeint
500	zinczeint
600	sezeint
700	setzeint
800	otzeint
900	novzeint
Just like two-digit numbers, hundreds tend to keep the stress on both of their parts, i.e. the digit and zeint. This is particularly well audible in 700, 800 and 900, which are consequently often spelled as sêtzeint, ôtzeint and nǒvzeint.
Note how 200 and 300 are irregular in that they add -ṡeint instead of -zeint. Also, 300 uses tar- as its prefix - the metathesis is nothing new, but the <a> is kinda weird. Probably some kind of ablaut, since the stress on "du-" and "tar-" is not particularly strong in these words.
None of the hundreds change in compounds, so this is pretty easy.

143 zeintquarantatrî
286 duṡeintutantasě
958 novzeintzinquantôt


Thousands it is!

Code: Select all

1000	mél
2000	duméla
3000	triméla
4000	quaterméla
5000	zincméla
6000	seméla
7000	setméla
8000	otméla
9000	novméla
...
As you can see, the thousands are completely regular: 1000 is mél, and all the others are formed by prefixing its plural méla with the thousands digit. Again, both parts retain their stress, so you might find alternative spellings such as ôtméla.

When you add further digits to a thousand, it's common to separate them into different words and add the conjunction <e> between them. For example, 1200 is usually spelled "mél e duṡeint".

One thing you have to keep in mind is that Emilian does not allow for four-digit numbers to be divided like English does. "1995" will be "mél e novzeintnuvantazinc", and never *"deṡnǒv nuvantazinc". This is wrong and confuses people, because it sounds like some sort of decimal number (19.95, which by the way I would spell with a comma in Emilian, following the Italian standard).


The very last two cardinal numbers that you need to know are
1.000.000 un milioun
1.000.000.000 un miliêrd

Both are spelled separately from what comes after them, usually add the conjunction <e>, and can be multiplied by simply replacing un with whatever other number:
12.000.000 dàdeṡ milioun
2.900.000.000 dû miliêrd e novzeint milioun

One final thing you should notice is that there usually isn't more than one conjunctive <e> in any given number, much like there isn't one in lists. So:
1.234.567 - un milioun, duṡeinttreintaquaterméla e zinczeintessantasêt



ORDINAL NUMBERS
Ordinal numbers decline normally, like any other adjective.
The first 10 ordinals are all irregular.

Code: Select all

prém
secànd
těrz
quêrt
quint
sěst
sêtim
utêv
nôn
děcim
All the other numbers just add -ěṡm, with a syllabic [m̩]. Remember that some speakers, depending on their home town, will add a /u/ or /e/ before the [m] for it to not be syllabic anymore. Numbers ending in -deṡ collapse it, and the stress stays on both the root and the -ěṡm ending.

Code: Select all

ongěṡm
dadgěṡm
tradgěṡm
...

vintěṡm
treintěṡm
...
I have to say that ordinal numbers aren't used a lot in Emilian, both because this language has never been used for scientific purposes - thus only the first few ordinals suffice; you will hear mostly prém, secànd and těrz - and because Emilian has other ways to express concepts that English uses the ordinals for. For example the days of the month, with the (optional) exception of the very first day, are expressed with cardinal (masculine) numbers:

1/8 (or 8/1 for you American weirdos) - al prém d'agàst or l'un d'agàst
2/8 - al dû d'agàst

While not properly an ordinal, you might be interested in knowing that "last" is ûltm, again with a syllabic [m̩], in Emilian. You might also come across eněṡm (literally N-th), especially in the phrase l'eněṡma vǒlta (the N-th time, or the thousandth/millionth/anyotherbignumberth time in English):

Par l'eněṡma vǒlta, piantla ed zighêr! - For the millionth time, stop crying!


EXERCISES
Spell these numbers in letters.

(your birth year)
48
62
185
2.222
7.853
1.250.486
4.573.682.110
: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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