Voltan language

Voltan
Voltisch
Native to	Volta
Native speakers	30,000,000
Language family	Creole
Writing system	Voltan alphabet
Official status
Official language in	Volta
Regulated by	Voltan Language Council
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–

The Voltan language, also known as Voltan Creole, is a Dolch-based creole language spoken in Volta. It is the most commonly spoken language in Volta, and is also one of the two official languages in the country. The language started developing during the 17th century, after Dolchland initially colonized the region.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	(Dental)	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m		n
Plosive	Voiceless	p		t			k	(ʔ)
	Voiced	b		d			ɡ
Affricate	Voiceless			t͡s	t͡ʃ
	Voiced				(d͡ʒ)
Fricative	Voiceless	f		s	ʃ	ç		h
	Voiced	v		z	(ʒ)
Approximant						j
Tap/trill				r
Approximant				l

• [ŋ] is merged with [n].
• [p͡f] is replaced with either [p] or [f].
• [θ] and [ð], only present for loanwords in Dolch, are dropped entirely and replaced with either [t] or [d].
• [x] pronounced after back-vowels (and allophonic with [ç]) is replaced with [h].
• /j/, realized in Dolch as either the approximant [j] or fricative [ʝ], is only realized as the approximant [j].
• The Dolch /r/, realized in some dialects as the alveolar [r], uvular [ʀ], or uvular [ʁ], is only realized as the alveolar [r].
• The [t͡ɬ] present in Tlaloc languages is not present in Voltan.

Vowels

	Front				Central		Back
	unrounded		rounded		unrounded		rounded
	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i	iː					u	uː
Close-mid	e	eː	ø	øː	(ə)		o	oː
Open					a	aː

• [ɪ] is replaced with [i].
• [ʊ] is replaced with [u].
• [œ] is replaced with [ø].
• [y] and [yː] are merged with [ø] and [øː] respectively.
• [ɛ] is replaced with [e].
• [ɛː] is merged with [eː].
• [ɔ] is replaced with [o].
• [ə] only exists as a reduced form of other vowels, such as the /a/ in /volta/ (pronounced [voltə]).

Diphthongs

	Ending point
	Front	Back
Open-mid	oi̯
Open	ai̯	au̯

• The standard Dolch diphthong [ɔʏ̯] became [oi̯] in Voltan rather than [oø̯] because many of the original Dolch speakers in Volta spoke a Dolch dialect where the Standard Dolch diphthong [ɔʏ̯] was actualy pronounced [ɔɪ].
• Much of the Dolch phonetic diphthongs where a speaker vocalizes /r/ to [ɐ̯] are dropped entirely and instead replaced with long vowels.

Orthography

Main article: Voltan orthography

Voltan orthography is regulated by the Voltan Language Council. The orthographic reform that established much of the modern conventions for Voltan writing is the Voltan Spelling Reform of 1931, which was ordered to be compiled by Hans Krenz as a direct result of the varying orthographies that existed beforehand.

Consonants Voltan orthography IPA b b c ts ch ç d d f f g ɡ h h j j k k l l m m n n p p r r s s sch ʃ t t tsch tʃ v v z z

Vowels Voltan orthography IPA a a e e i i o o u u ø ø Long vowels ā aː ē eː ī iː ō oː ū uː ø̄ øː

The three dipthongs are marked by combinations of two vowel letters.

• [oi̯] is written "oi".
• [ai̯] is written "ai".
• [au̯] is written "au".

Grammar

Word order

Voltan word order is rigidly SVO, and lacks the V2 word order present in Dolch.

Definite and Indefinite Articles

Like Dolch, Voltan does have both a definite and indefinite article. However, unlike Dolch these articles are not inflected based upon gender and case. All of the Dolch definite articles have been merged into a single article dī (pronounced [diː]), and the indefinite article is the word se (pronounced [se]). Se is derived from the Tlaloc word ce, meaning the number 1, which is sometimes used as an indefinite article in Tlaloc.

Definite	Indefinite
dī	se

However, the indefinite article se is considered optional, and is omitted by some speakers.

Pronouns

Voltan pronouns are not inflected for case or gender, and appear to demonstrate a mixing of words originating from Tlaloc and Dolch

	Singular	Plural
1st person	ni	wī
2nd person	du	me
3rd person	es	je

The words wī, du, and es are believed to derive from the Dolch wir, du, and es. On the other hand, the words ni, me, and je are believed to derive from the Tlaloc verbal pronoun markers ni, ame, and ye.

Verbs

Verb conjugations in Voltan have been vastly simplified. The difference between the Dolch strong and weak verbs are not present in Voltan, with the entire category being simplified into a single class, with the exception of a handful of irregular verbs. Furthermore, much of the Dolch verb prefixes are dropped, being replaced with auxilury verbs.

Tenses

Unlike many other creole languages, Voltan has verb suffixes for some tenses. There are only 3 tenses without auxiliary verbs in Voltan: present, future, and preterite. The present tense is identical to the Dolch infinitive, which is not inflected. Voltan does not have an infinitive, with the present tense being used as the dictionary form of the verb instead. The future tense form of the verb takes the base present tense and replaces the final consonant with the "-s" suffix, believed to derive from the Tlaloc future tense suffix. The preterite form of the verb takes the base present tense and replaces the final onsonant with the "-k" suffix, believed to derive from the Tlaloc preterite suffix.

Voltan Tenses
Base verb	Present	Future	Preterite
brinen ("to bring")	brinen [brinən]	brines [brinəs]	brinek [brinek]
lēben ("to live")	lēben [le:bən]	lēbes [le:bəs]	lēbek [le:bek]
esen ("to eat")	esen [esən]	eses [esəs]	esek [esek]
ābaiten ("to work")	ābaiten [aːbai̯tən]	ābaites [aːbai̯təs]	ābaitek [aːbai̯tek]

Aspect and Mood

Like many other creole's, Voltan marks aspect and mood through the use of preverbial markers.

Voltan has two grammatical aspects: past imperfect and progressive.

The progressive aspect is marked with "am", and is believed to derive from the am-progressive present in some Dolch dialects.

Voltan: Ich am esen.

Dolch: Ich essen gerade.

I am eating.

The past imperfect aspect is marked with "vāt", and is believed to derive from the Dolch "wart".

Voltan: Ich vāt esek.

Dolch: Ich war Essen.

I was eating.

Voltan has three moods: conditional, imperative, and optative.

The conditional mood is formed by the preverbial marker "vūd", derived from the Dolch "würde".

Voltan: Ich vūd esen.

Dolch: Ich würde essen.

I would eat.

The past conditional can be created by conbining the conditional marker with the past tense verb.

Voltan: Ich vūd esek.

Dolch: Ich hätte gegessen.

I would have eaten.

The imperative mood is formed by the preverbial marker "zī", and is believed to derive from the Dolch "Sie".

Voltan: Zī esen!

Dolch: Essen Sie!

Eat! (command)

The optative mood is formed by the preverbial marker "mā", and is believed to derive from the Tlaloc preverbial marker "mā". It is used to express a wish or hope

Voltan: Es mā esen.

Dolch: Möge er/sie essen

May he/she eat.