Slevan grammar outline

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Note: This version of Slvanjec is outdated especially as regards the development of the vowels and hence some endings too. It will be updated ASAP. BPJ 10:06, 16 Jul 2005 (PDT)


Nouns and adjectives

Nouns

Nouns in Slevan inflect for number and case, and adjectives in addition inflect for gender. There are three main declensions, with a few subtypes within each declension.

First declension nouns

First declension nouns are typically feminine in gender. Those few masculines of the first declension that existed in Latin have as a rule been superseded by other formations, and loanwords that belong to the first declension masculine in Latin are normally assigned to the second declension in Slevan.

The paradigms for the first declension are roza 'rose' and vilja 'daughter, girl':

Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative, Accusative roza roze vilja vilje
Genitive roze rozár vilje viljár
Dative roze rozav vilje viljav

Second declension nouns

The second declension in Slevan represents a merger of the second and fourth declension of Latin. The nouns belonging here are masculine, with a few exceptions like mán f. 'hand'. There is no neuter gender in Slevan, the neuter having merged into the masculine early on.

The paradigms for the second declension are mýr 'wall' and bánj 'bath':

Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative, Accusative mýr myry bánj bani
Genitive myry myrúr bani banjúr
Dative myru myrov banju banjov

The main subtypes of the second declension are represented by popol 'people' and lábelj 'lip'. Note the extra syllable in the nominative-accusative singular and the alternation between long and short vowel in the stem:

Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative, Accusative popol póply lábelj labli
Genitive póply póplúr labli labljúr
Dative póplu póplov lablju labljov/lablv

Two other subtypes are presented below. Áher 'field' is similar to the two previous types, while amec 'friend' together with other words which ended in -ICUS in Romance forms a subtype of their own:

Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative, Accusative áher ahry amec ameczi
Genitive ahry ahrúr ameczi amecúr
Dative ahru ahrov amecu amecov

Third declension nouns

The third declension includes both masculine and feminine nouns, without any difference in inflection based on gender. There are however, like in the second declension, a number of subtypes due to differences in the final sound of the stem. The most distinctive trait of the third declension is the lack of an ending (but lengthening of the vowel of the final syllable of the stem) in the genitive plural.

The two basic types of inflection in the third declension are represented by súlj 'sun' and pastúr 'shepherd':

Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative, Accusative súlj sulje pastúr pasturje
Genitive suli súlj pasturi pastúr
Dative suli suljev pasturi pasturev

Stems ending in cz and zs are represented by krcz 'cross' and ljézs 'law':

Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative, Accusative krcz krcze ljézs ljezse
Genitive krczi krcz ljezsi ljézs
Dative krczi krczev ljezsi ljezsev

Adjectives

Adjectives in Slevan are declined exactly like nouns of the corresponding declensions and types.

First and second declension adjectives

The first and largest class of adjectives follow the first declension in the feminine and the second declension in the masculine, e.g. nóv 'new':

Masculine Feminine
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative, Accusative nóv novy nova nove
Genitive novy novúr nove novár
Dative novu novov nove novav

Third declension adjectives

Third declension adjectives also are declined just like nouns. The adjectives hrúde 'big' and hrave 'stern' represent yet two other inflection types in this declension:

Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative, Accusative hrúdj hrúdje hráv hravje
Genitive hrúdi hrúdj hravi hráv
Dative hrúdi hrudjev hravi hravev

Adverbs

To be added

Pronouns

To be added

Verbs

Slevan verbs are traditionally, since the grammar of Pavel Mrác divided among three conjugations. In reality the four conjugations of Latin remain distinct in Slevan, but Mrác choose another categorization both in order to conform to the classification of other modern Romance languages, and because many Slevan verbs belong to conjugation 2.B. in the present but to 2.A. in the Simple past.

Slevan has three simple tenses — Present (prezsátj), Imperfect (japravéc) and Simple past (pasát) —, three compound tenses — Perfect (pravéc), Pluperfect (plypravéc) and Future (votýr) —, two moods &mdash Indicative (jadecatív) and Subjunctive (konjúcív) — and two voices — Active (acív) and Passive (pasív).

Simple tenses

The Indicative

Slevan simple tenses in the indicative
1. conjugation 2. conjugation A 2. conjugation B 3. conjugation
Infinitive
amár taczér rezser dromír
'love' 'be silent' 'rule' 'sleep'
Present
1. sg. amu taczu rehu dromesku
2. amaj taczej rezsi dromeszi
3. ama tacze rezse dromesze
1. pl. amám taczém rezsem dromím
2. amátj taczétj rezsetj dromítj
3. amú tacza rehú dromeszú
Imperative
Sg. ám tácz rézs dromesz
Pl. amátj taczétj rezsetj dromítj
Imperfect
1. sg. amaba taczeba rezseba dromljeba
2. amabaj taczebaj rezsebaj dromljebaj
3. amaba taczeba rezseba dromljeba
1. sg. amabám taczebám rezsebám dromljebám
2. amabátj taczebátj rezsebátj dromljebátj
3. amabú taczebú rezsebú dromljebú
Simple past
1. sg. amaj taký rjeszi dromí
2. amajsti takysti rjeszesti dromísti
3. amaj taký rjész dromí
1. pl. amajm takým rjeszem dromím
2. amajszt takýszt rjeszeszt dromíszt
3. amajerú takyjerú rjeszerú dromijerú

The subjunctive

TO BE ADDED

Conjunctions

To be added

Interjections

To be added

Syntax

To be added

BPJ 13:06, 27 Jul 2005 (PDT)