7. The Republican Speech
| Introduction : This language was created by an assembly of scholars in proportion of the linguistic zones of the UR, by validating by assent portions of body of the language as grammar, phonology, vocabulary… (The reader familiar with Esperanto will recognize in the Republican Speech a Esperanto dialect. It's rather a personal reflection on Esperanto, my alibi comes from the date of creation of the Republican Speech 75 years, in my uchronia, prior to that of Esperanto, in our world). Phonology : The sounds present in this language are relatively simple, to present them to you I'll simply give you the sound of the Primary Republican Alphabet (25 letters), giving if necessary an example of the sound associated to the letter if different than English. Note that each letter represents one sound, and that one sound is only represented by one letter. a ("i" in lie but without the -y sound), b, c ("sh" in ship), d, e ("a" in day but without the -y sound), f, g (always as in good), h, i (as in machine but short), j ("s" in pleasure), k, l, m, n, o, p, r (italian / spanish "r"), s (always as in said), t, u ("oo" of too but short), v, w, x (spanish "j" , german "ch" of ach!), y (always as in you), z.
This is how the Esperanto Alphabet is transcibed in the Republican one : a, b, c, c^, d, e, f, g, g^, h, h^, i, j, j^, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, s^, t, u, u^, v, z a, b, ts, tc, d, e, f, g, dj, h, x, i, y, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, c, t, u, w, v , z Here are the simplifications of Esperanto sound clusters, that may be difficult for some speakers, to Republican sound clusters (using Republican Alphabet) : kz : gz ; kts : ks ; kv : kw ; gv : gw ; kn : n ; gn : ny ; sts : s. Grammar : The noun marker is -a, -o or -e (and can be omitted by replacing it by an apostrophe), depending on the gender of the noun : feminine, masculine, or undetermined/neutral. Ex : hunda, female dog ; hundo, male dog ; hunde, dog of undetermined sex. Names are invariable in number. (the number is given by the determinant). The adjective is formed by adding the adjective marker to the noun : -y (or -i if the marker is omitted). Ex : patre, parent ; patrey, parental ; patro, father ; patroy, fatherly ; patra, mother ; patray, motherly. There are no grammatical coordination of gender or number between noun and adjective (furthermore word order in the nominal group is not rigid). The adverb is formed in the same way as the adjective, but with the adverb marker : -w (or -u if the gender marker is omitted, furthermore word order in the verbal group is not rigid). Determinants and pronouns form a single class, and they vary in number : m- (I), t- (singular you), l- (he, the), w- (one, a), n- (we), v- (plural you), z- (they, plural the), y- (plural one, plural a). Pronouns take the same gender markers as : the names : -a, -o, -e ; the adjective : -ay, -oy, -ey ; the adverbs : -aw, -ow, -ew. They are placed in front of the nominal group. (note that numbers are also part of this class): w- (1), dev- (2), trin- (3), kwart- (4), kwint- (5), ses- (6), sept- (7), okt- (8), nev- (9), dek- (10), tsent- (100), mil- (1000) ...) The verb : here are the ending markers for : infinitif-imperative : -us, past : -is, present : -as, future : -os, conditional : -es. No changes in the form of the verb because of the person. (note that the direct complement's determinent takes a case marker "-n", that way the group order of the sentence is not rigid). Vocabulary : It is primarily based on Esperanto words (after the phonological and grammatical changes explained above). Although many purely Anglo-Saxon roots of Esperanto are replaced by wide spread Germanic roots in Republican. Example : The bird songs announce the end of the rain. Ze kant' fogeli anontsas len fin' de le pluv'. (R Language & alphabet) La kantoj birdaj anoncas la finon de la pluvo. (E Language & alphabet) |
