The Vallés  Constructed Language

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Declension (La Declinadzón)

This uses the now standard version of the orthography.

There are a couple of additional wrinkles with respect to gender: some pronouns distinguish "animate" and "inanimate" rather than masculine and feminine. Also, some pronouns have a "gender" for referring to situations and abstractions.

Agreement

Add tables of examples for nouns, adjectives, and adverbs.

Noun Forms (Los Nombles Sustantivs)

Each noun has an inherent gender, and most nouns are declined for number. Of those that are, the base form is the singular form, with plural formation generally involving the addition of -s, however complicated the details.

• adjectives ending in i add -z
• other words ending in a non-circumflex vowel add -s
• words ending in a circumflex vowel add either -z or -s, depending on the word; if the former, the circumflex accent can usually be dropped
• words ending in l:
  • if preceded by a simple non-circumflex vowel, delete l and add -z
  • otherwise, add -es
• words ending in d:
  • if preceded by a simple non-circumflex vowel, add -z
  • otherwise, add -es
• words ending in r:
  • if preceded by a non-circumflex vowel, add -s, and change the stem vowel as follows
    • change au to a
    • change e to æ
    • change i to e
    • The pronunciation of o changes from [u:] to [O]
  • otherwise, add -es
• all others: add -es

There may be a few exceptions to these rules, such as words that don't change in the plural, or use foreign plurals.

Adjective Forms (Los Nombles Àgeitivs)

The masculine plural is used for mixed genders, and may even be used in place of the feminine plural. This is probably due to a sound change law making final -as become -es, except when extra length was added to the vowel in order to emphasize the distinction.

Special Comparative Forms

Positive		Comparative		Superlative
large	grand	larger, largest	mageor	largest	mæxem
small	pe???	smaller, smallest	menor	smallest	minem
good	buen	better, best	melhor	best	otem?
bad	mal/cativ	worse, worst	pegeor	worst	pessem
high	alt	higher, highest		highest
low	bass	lower, lowest		lowest
old	viago	elder, eldest		eldest
young	geône	younger, youngest		youngest

Nouns, adjectives, and determiners ending in a change that to ŏ when the next word in the phrase begins with a labialized consonant or consonant + [w].

Adverbs (Los Àviarbis)

1. those which are identical to the masculine singular of the corresponding adjectives,
2. those regularly derived from adjectives by placing ment after the feminine singular form, and
3. those not derived from adjectives.

The last comment should refer instead to the Mobile "E" section of morphology.

Number Words (Los Nombraz)

There are 2 columns for the ordinals only because some have more than 1 proposed form.

Cardinal and Ordinal 1 to 10

	Cardinals		Ordinals
values	masc.	femin.
1	ún	úna	prim	primær
2	dûs	duas	segond	segondær
3	tres		tiartz	tærtzær
4	quatr		quart
5	cinc		quint
6	six		sixt
7	siat		setem	siatem
8	ueit		uitav
9	nuæv		nône ?	novén ?
10	diage		degem	diagem

10's and 100's and 1000's

x 10		x 100		x 1000
20	vint	200	dussianta ?	2000	duas milha ?
30	trinta	300	tressianta ?	3000	tres milha ?
40	curenta	400	quatrecianta ?	4000	quatr milha ?
50	cincuenta	500	cincocianta ?	5000	cinc milha ?
60	sixenta	600	sissianta ?	6000	six milha ?
70	setuenta	700	siatecianta ?	7000	siat milha ?
80	uituinta	800	ueitocianta ?	8000	ueit milha ?
90	nuventa	900	nuævecianta ?	9000	nuæv milha ?
100	ciant	1000	mil ?	10000	diage milha ?

Additive Combinations

10 + digit		20 + digit		30 + digit
11	once	21	vintedun	31	trintaidun
12	dôce	22	vintèdûs	32	trintaidûs
13	trêce	23	vintetrés	33	trintaitrés
14	quatorce	24	vintequatr	34	trintaiquatr
15	quince	25	vintecinc	35	trintaicinc
16	sêce	26	vintessix	36	trintæssix
17	diagessiat	27	vintessiat	37	trintæssiat
18	diagedueit	28	vintedueit	38	trintaidueit
19	diagènuæv	29	vintènuæv	39	trintènuæv

Determiners and Pronouns

The forms of these are highly unstable.

Determiners

Actually, I'm not sure if I'm going to use the partitive articles, or plural indefinite articles.

Forms of the Definite Article

	Singular					Plural
occurs before	masculine	feminine		abstract		masculine		feminine
stressed vowel	el	el		lo		los		las
unstressed vowel	l	la	(1)	lo	(1)	los		las
velar stop	o	la	(2)	lò		los		las
other stop	l	la	(2)	lò		los		las
other consonant	le	la	(2)	lò		los	(3)	las	(3)
(1)	Sandhi occurs.
(2)	If the consonant is labialized or followed by [w], the article becomes lŏ.
(3)	The usual s/z/affricate changes occur in pronunciation.

The heading "unstressed vowel" might actually be vowel in short syllable, with the other unstressed vowels falling under "stressed vowel".

Forms of the Indefinite and Partitive Articles

	Indefinite Singular					Partitive Plural
occurs before	masculine	feminine		abstract		masculine		feminine
stressed vowel	un	un		uno ?		dèz		dèz
unstressed vowel	un	una	(1)	uno ?	(1)	dèz		dèz
any stop	un	una	(2)	?		dez		dez
other consonant	un	una	(2)	?		dez	(3)	dez	(3)
(1)	Sandhi occurs.
(2)	If the consonant is labialized or followed by [w], the article becomes unŏ.
(3)	The usual s/z/affricate changes occur in pronunciation.

The partitive plural form comes from de + los > deles > dels > dèz. This was replaced by analogical de los in non-partitive usages, creating a distinction which subsequently spread to the feminine forms as well. There are also partitive singular forms used only for mass nouns; these are the same as de + definite article.

There may also be a leftover form àz, derived from a + los.

Pronouns (Los Pronombles)

• personal (1st, 2nd, 3rd person)
  These all distinguish number and can take any case. The 3rd person also distinguishes gender.
• reflexive
  This can take any case except subject or topic.
• possessive These are 2 varieties:
  • Those that are simply the possessive case forms of other pronouns.
  • Those that are used instead of the possessive case and are further declined for number and gender. They are also used as determiners.
• demonstrative
  These are similar to the 3rd person pronouns, distinguishing number and gender. They are also used as determiners.
• impersonal
  This can be used only as a subject.
• interrogative, relative, indefinite
  These distinguish "animate" from "inanimate".
• ???

Subject	if 1st or 2nd person, used only when focused
Direct Object	unstressed
Indirect Object	unstressed
Object of Preposition	stressed
Sociative	archaic ?
Topic	possibly same form as subject
Possessive	(some of these are adjectives instead)

Topic probably won't be a separate case. Instead, either the Subject will be used, if the topic is also the subject, or the Object of Preposition will be used (with no preposition).

The Sociative forms are typically replaced by con + Object of Preposition forms, especially outside of the reflexive and 1st and 2nd persons singular.

How a word or phrase relates to the verb (amd the rest of the clause) is called the word or phrase's role. The case of a word or phrase is the form it takes for a particular role. Cases are usually named after their roles.

Personal Pronouns (Los Pronombles Pærsonaz)

A reflexive pronoun has the same referent as the verb's subject.

Personal Pronouns

	Singular		Reflexive	Plural
"case"	1st Person	2nd Person		1st Person	2nd Person
Subject	jó	tú		nós	vós
Direct Object	me	te	se	nos	vos
Indirect Object	mi ?	ti ?	si ?	nos ?	vos ?
Object of Preposition	mé	té	sé	nós?	vós?
Sociative	meg	teg	seg	nosc ??	vosc ??
Possessive Stem	mi	ti	si	nuæstr	vuæstr

3rd Person Pronouns

	Singular			Plural
"case"	masculine	feminine	abstract	masculine	feminine
Subject	ill ?	ella	ell ?	elles	ellas
Direct Object	le ?	la	lò	los	las
Indirect Object	li ?	li ?		lis ?	lis ?
Object of Preposition	loi ?	loi ?	loi ?	lor ?	lor ?

The direct object and indirect object pronouns for all persons are unstressed. Where both occur, the indirect object pronouns precede the direct object pronouns.

Unstressed object pronouns precede finite verbs, except imperatives. The 3rd person feminine singular direct object la becomes l before a vowel if that syllable is long. The 3rd person masculine singular direct object le becomes l before a vowel. Other direct object pronouns change a final e to i before a vowel.

It could be argued that the 3rd person masculine singular direct object pronoun is actually l + É Movil.

Unstressed object pronouns are added to the end of imperatives and infinitives. Infinitives of the 3rd conjugation add É Movil when adding 3rd person pronouns, while infinitives of the 1st, 2nd, and 4th conjugations drop the final r. The 3rd person indirect object pronouns change l to ll in the latter case. The first pronoun added is written without a space between the verb and the pronoun.

Interrogative Pronouns (Los Pronombles ???)

Interrogative Pronouns

"case"	Animate	Inanimate	Situational
Subject	quí	qué	qué
Direct Object	quian	qué	qué
Indirect Object	cui	cui ?
Object of Preposition	cui ?	cui ?	qué
Sociative	quig ?
Possessive Stem

Relative Pronouns (Los Pronombles Reladivs)

The relative pronouns are complicated, also depending on whether or not there's an antecedent, whether the relative clause is restrictive or non-restrictive, and the case of the relative clause.

Relative Pronouns

	Interrogative		Relative
"case"	Animate	Inanimate	Animate	Inanimate
Subject	quí	qué
Direct Object	quian	qué
Indirect Object	cui ?	cui ?
Object of Preposition	cui ?	cui ?
Sociative
Possessive Stem

Indefinite Pronouns (Los Pronombles Indefinidz)

Possessive Pronouns and Determiners (Los Possessivs)

• personal: 1st, 2nd, reflexive;
  These are all adjectives.
• personal: 3rd;
  These are not further declinable.
• interrogative, relative, indefinite;
• ???

Possessives

	Singular			Plural
	masculine	feminine	abstract	masculine	feminine
1st person	mî	mia		mîs	mias
1st person	mio	mia		mios	mias
2nd person	tû	tua		tûs	tuas
2nd person	tô	tua		tôs	tuas
Reflexive	sû	sua		sûs	suas
Reflexive	sô	sua		sôs	suas
Interrogative
Relative

Sound Changes: Prevocalic CL i and e become VL /j/ and prevocalic CL u becomes VL /w/. However, when stressed, they become /e/, /E/, and /o/, respectively. Possibly, these are raised by a following palatal (to i, e, and u). The rounded back vowels fall together before a non-rounded or non-back vowel (as o after a liquid, otherwise as u). Likewise, the front non-low vowels fall together before a back or low vowel (as i). The questions are:

1. What happens before a like vowel?
2. What about the perfect system, where the following vowel may have been absorbed early on?

Demonstratives (Los Demostradivs)

Note that ill* is used as the 3rd person pronoun family.

Demonstratives

	Singular			Plural
occurs before	masculine	feminine	abstract	masculine	feminine
near 1st person	quist ?	questa		questes	questas
near 2nd person	quiss ?	quessa		quesses	quessas
near 3rd person	quill ?	quella		quelles	quellas
indefinite specific	ist ?	esta	est ?	estes	estas
non-specific definite	iss ?	essa	ess ?	esses	essas

The qu may be cu instead, but probably not. There may be other changes as well. There will also be forms constructed from the locational demonstrative stems + í (indicating location) and + ai (indicating direction). The forms are not certain; there may be irregularities (like Spanish aquí).

Prepositional Contractions (Las Contraiceons de los Artigos Conglas Preposidzons)

Contractions of Prepositions with Definite Articles

	*		de *	a *	au *	en *	con *	per *	por *
masc. sing.	le		de le	ale	aule	engle	congle	pelle	pole
	o	(1)	dio	ao	aule	engo	congo	pero	poro
	l	(2)	del	al	aule	engo	congo	perel	porel
	el	(3)	del	al	aul	engl	congl	perel	porel
femin. sing.	el	(3)	del	al	aul	engl	congl	perel	porel
	la		de la	ala	aula	engla	congla	pella	pola
	lŏ	(4)	de lŏ	alŏ	aulŏ	englŏ	conglŏ	pellŏ	polŏ
abstract	lò		de lò	alò	aulò	englò	conglò	pellò	polò
	lo	(3)	de lo	alo	aulo	englo	conglo	pello	polo
masc. plur.	los		de los	alos ?	aulos ?	engles ?	conglos ?	pelles ?	poles ?
femin. plur.	las		de las	alas	aulas	englas	conglas	pellas	polas
	(1)	before velar stop
	(2)	before non-velar stop
	(3)	before vowel (maybe only in long syllables)
	(4)	before labiovelar

I'm not sure if au exists, or if it is really dia instead. Regular sound change causes the masculine plural forms to end in -es. However, analogy tends to change them back to -os.

page started: 2004.Aug.02 ???
last modified: 2008.Apr.29 Tue
content and form originated by Jeffrey S. Jones

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