Lec language

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Lec
jãzëk lekkëbsczi, iëzec lecchebstxi
Pronunciation/jɛ̃.zək lek.kəb.st͡ʃi/
RegionLecistan, parts of Francilie and others?
Native speakers
>7 million (2014)
L2: >1 million
Latin (Lec alphabets)
Official status
Official language in
Template:Country data Lecistan
Template:Country data Cislecia (Department of the Federal Republic of Cortoguay)
Recognised minority
language in
Regulated byLanguage Committee of Lecistan
Language codes
ISO 639-3lek
File:LecLanguageMap.png
Areas where Lec is primarily spoken
Dark green: Lower Rzëszù
Brown: Upper Rzëszù
Orange: Leco-Odissian

Lec, Lecistani, or the Lec language (jãzëk lekkëbsczi, iëzec lecchebstxi) is the official language of Lecistan and Cislecia and a recognised minority language of East Cortoguay and Filimons. It is a Northern Slavic language of the Eastern branch. It currently has roughly seven million speakers.

History

Historically, the development of Lec corresponds to three eras: Old Lec, Middle Lec, and modern Lec. Due to the history and geography of Lecistan, the language has over time adopted some Romance loanwords and speech patterns, especially from French. Despite this, Lec is also considered one of the most intact and preserved Northern Slavic languages.

Examples of Old, Middle, and modern Lec

Note: The text translated is the beginning of the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Your name."
Old Lec: મે વૅશ, હ્તો ન્ને ઉ ન્નેબ, હ્વેલેકે તે મેઉનો (Me we'esh, hto nh'e u nh'eba, hwe'leke Te meuno; Old Lec alphabet); Mḭ ǣiʃ, hto ṉė u ṉeba, halḭxi Tḭ miuno (Bonoventic).
Middle Lec: Mi òix, hto nhè ü nheba, halitxi Ti miuno (Leco-Osonian)
Modern Lec: Më òjc, chto nié w niebã, chwôlëczi Të miono (Łëwa); Me üèits, hto nhè v nhebö, hvòletxi Te miono (Leco-Osonian)

Orthography

The Lec language has two writing systems, the Leco-Osonian alphabet (popularized in the 15th century), and the Łëwa, sometimes referred to as the Lecistani alphabet (popularized in the 20th century).Both are written in the Roman script, although the Łëwa alphabet consists of thirty-seven letters while Leco-Osonian consists of thirty-two. As the Łëwa alphabet is the official script of Lecistan, it often takes precedence over Leco-Osonian, which is more used in the Lec diaspora.

Letter (Łëwa) IPA Examples Approximation
a [a]
ã [ɔ̃], [ɛ̃]
b [b]
c [t͡s]
ch [x]
cz [t͡ʃ]
d [d]
dz [d͡z]
e [e]
é [ɛ]
ë [ə]
f [f]
g [g]
h [x]
i [i]
j [j]
k [k]
l [l]
ł [w]
m [m]
n [n]
ni [ɲ]
o [o]
ò [w͡ɛ]
ó [u]
ô [ɔ]
p [p]
r [r]
rz [ʐ]
s [s]
sz [ʃ]
t [t]
u [u]
ù [w͡u]
w [v]
y [j]
z [z]


Other forms of writing

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 In Leco-Osonian, c and g comes before a, o, ò, ö, u, and ü, while ch and gh comes before e, ë, and i. Also, s represents [z] between vowels, while ß is used to represent intervocalic [s]. Ï is used to represent [j] after an i.

Dialects

There are three distinctive dialects of the Lec language: Leco-Mestisasian (lekkëbsczô-łôtesczi), Upper Rzëszù (górnorzëszczi), and Lower Rzëszù (dólnorzëszczi). The Leco-Mestisasian dialect, spoken in the Cislecia department of East Cortoguay, is the most distinct, taking various loanwords and patterns from Cortoguayan and other Romance languages. the Upper Rzëszù dialect, spoken south of the Rzëszù river, is considered standard Lec, as all government documents and transcripts are written in this dialect. The Lower Rzëszù dialect, spoken north of the river, is similar to Upper Rzëszù, mostly distinguishing itself by pronunciation. Are are no significant changes in orthography between Upper and Lower Rzëszù.

Vocabulary

IPA Łëwa Proto-Łëwa Szgórski Leco-Osonian Bonoventic Old Lec
a a a a a a
ɔ̃ ã ã á ö œ
ɛ̃ ã ã á ë æ
b b b b b b
t͡s c c c ts
x ch/h c̃/h h/ɦ h h
t͡ʃ cz ć ĉ tx x
d d d d d d
d͡z dz ɗ ĵ dz θ દ્દ
e e e e e e
ɛ é é ê è ė
ə ë î e
f f f f f f
g g g g g/gh[1] g
i i i i i i
j j/y j/y j/y i/ï[1] i
k k k k c/ch[1] c
l l l l l l
w ł w ü ū
m m m m m m
n n n n n n
ɲ ni ñ ɲ nh ન્ન
o o o o o o
w͡ɛ ò ò ó üè ǣ વો
u ó/u ó/u u u u
ɔ ô ô ô ò ā
p p p p p p
r r r r r r
ʐ rz ŕ ʐ j ર્ર
s s s s s/ß[1] s
ʃ sz ś ŝ x ʃ
t t t t t t
w͡u ù ù û üu
v w v/w v v v
z z z z z/s[1] z