Montecaran language
| Montecaran | |
|---|---|
| Montecarà | |
| Native to | Montecara |
| Region | Euclea |
Native speakers | 1.5 million (2015) |
Hyndo-Euclean
| |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Montecara |
| Regulated by | University of Montecara |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mon |
Montecaran (Montecaran: Montecarà or lèngua Montecarà) is a Caesenic language spoken as a native tongue by approximately 1.5 million people, mostly in the city-state of Montecara. It is sometimes spoken and often well understood in the surrounding region, with perhaps 400,000 second-language speakers.
History
Montecaran ultimately descends from ancient Solarian. Montecaran, as a written language, emerged in the 11th century. The language enjoyed substantial prestige during the height of the old Montecaran trade empire in the 15th and 16th centuries, when it attained the status of a lingua franca in the surrounding areas.
At present, the vast majority of native speakers are diglossic and are fluent in another language, typically Gaullican. There is little regional variation within Montecaran given its small geographic distribution, though diasporic populations have historically developed their own dialects.
Phonology
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | |||||
| Stop | p | b | t | d | k | ɡ | ||
| Affricate | t͡s | d͡z | t͡ʃ | d͡ʒ | ||||
| Fricative | f | v | s | z | ʃ | |||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||||
| Lateral | l | ʎ | ||||||
| Trill | r | |||||||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
Writing system
Alphabet
The Montecaran alphabet consists of 23 letters: the standard Latin alphabet with the omission of J, K, W, and Y, and the addition of Ç. The omitted letters are occasionally seen in loanwords and names, but are not part of regular orthography.
The grave accent (açènt gràve) is used to indicate stress. It is mandatory on all feminine nouns and on all polysyllabic masculine nouns which are not naturally stressed on the second-to-last syllable. If a masculine noun requires an accent in the singular, it also requires one in the plural, even if the stress naturally falls on the second-to-last syllable.
The acute accent (açènt acùt) is used to distinguish between homonyms.
| Letter | Name | IPA | Diacritics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aa | a | /a/ | à á |
| Bb | bi | /b/ | |
| Cc | ci | /k/ /s/ | |
| Çç | çi | /s/ /tʃ/ | |
| Dd | di | /d/ | |
| Ee | e | /e/ /ɛ/ | è é |
| Ff | efe | /f/ | |
| Gg | gi | /ɡ/ /dʒ/ | |
| Hh | àca | ∅ (silent) | |
| Ii | i | /i/ /j/ | ì í |
| Ll | el | /l/ | |
| Mm | em | /m/ | |
| Nn | en | /n/ | |
| Oo | o | /o/ /ɔ/ | ò ó |
| Pp | pi | /p/ | |
| cu | /k/ | ||
| Rr | ere | /r/ /ɾ/ | |
| Ss | es | /s/ /z/ | |
| Tt | ti | /t/ | |
| Uu | u | /u/ /w/ | ù ú |
| Vv | vi | /v/ | |
| Xx | exe | /ʃ/ | |
| Zz | zi | /dz/ |
Gender
Nouns and pronouns are either masculine or feminine, with some vestigial neuter pronouns. Nouns ending in A, E, L, and R are typically feminine, while those ending in I, O, U, M, N, and T are usually masculine.
Grammar
Articles
| Definite | Indefinite | "Of" + definite | "At/to" + definite | "And" + definite | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Masculine | Feminine | Masculine | Feminine | Masculine | Feminine | Masculine | Feminine | |
| Singular | il | ia | un | ùna | di | da | al | àia | el | eia |
| Plural | i | ià | uni | unà | dei | dèa | ai | aià | eì | eià |
Pronouns
Verbs
| Present | Imperfect | Perfect | Future | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| 1st | io su | noi sumu | io erò | noi eramu | io fu | noi fumu | io suò | noi seramu |
| 2nd | ti te si | voi sei | ti te eì | voi erà | tu fuse | voi ferà | ti te sea | voi serà |
| 3rd | ui/ei ede | ló/Loi ede | ui/ei/Lu ere | ló/Loi eràn | ui/ei/Lu fuè | ló/Loi feràn | ui/ei/Lu seà | ló/Loi seràn |