Spanish
| Spanish | |
|---|---|
| Language family | Pisco-Imerchali Languages |
| Early form(s) | Portuguese[disputed] |
| Writing system | Latin script |
| Official status | |
| Spoken in | Rauratoshan, The Complex, Dróstsiśtsi, Fenizuela, Coldba |
| Speaker | |
| Demonym | Spanish |
| Technical information | |
| Usage | national language |
| Language code | spa |
Spanish is a Pisco-Imerchali language spoken in Rauratoshan, Dróstsiśtsi, the Complex, Fenizuela, and Coldba. It and Portuguese are closely related languages, although some assert that it is the daughter of Portuguese, and thus a sister language with Esperanto, while others say that Portuguese and Spanish are sister languages.
Phonology and orthography
Spanish's phonology is rather simple, but uniquely among Pisco-Imerchali languages, it does not have a consistent way of marking either of the post-alveolar fricatives [ʃ ʒ]. This is notable because of the preponderance of such sounds across the ŋorld, particularly in Amujic ŋations, and causes Spanish placenames to look and sound significantly different to those of its more popular brethren, Portuguese and French. These sounds can be implied consistently in some dialects of Spanish by ⟨x⟩ and ⟨y⟩ respectively, but the dialects where ⟨x⟩ /ʃ/ and ⟨y⟩ /ʒ/ occur are not the same dialects, so there is no consistent scheme for Spanish as a whole, leading to different Spanish speakers pronouncing the same word, such as Rauratoxan, quite differently.
Dialectology
Spanish is notable for having frequent variations between dialects spoken in different locations.
Rauratoshanian dialect
Rauratoshanian Spanish is notable for its use of ⟨x⟩ for /ʃ/, but this is a mark of historical use of Spanish, as the Spanish Empire and Rauratoshan had contact long ago. In the modern day, ⟨x y⟩ are [x ʒ], and yeísmo (merging /ʎ ʝ/) is endemic.
Additionally, coda /s B/ (where /B/ is a voiced plosive) frequently become [˥(x) ˩], partially as an areal feature from Rokadong's own tonicity. Thus, mitos mitad [ˈmītó mīˈtà].
Dróstsiźda dialect
The speech of speakers in Dróstsiśtsi has a significantly different dialect from others phonologically, characterized by the lack of coda consonants. Coda -s not only reduces from [s], as found in other dialects, but it also elides and causes the previous vowel to become lax.
Coda -n becomes nasalization on preceding vowels.
piensan ['pjẽsã] instead of [pjensan]
Notably, the noun plural -es after words with coda consonants is reduced to -s as coda consonants elide, causing both laxing and nasalization on preceding vowels after the previous elisions.
montones [mõ'tɔ̃] instead of [mon'tones]
Certain dipthongs merge to form front rounded vowels. Coda /β/ also merges with previous vowels /i e a/ to round them /y ø ɔ/. Word final /ɔ/ shifts to /o/.
fui [fy] instead of [fwi]
aceptar [asøtar] instead of [aseβtar] or [aseptar]
estaba [es'to] instead of [estaβa]
solución [solu'ʃø̃] instead of [solu'sjon]
duermo [dʒørmo] instead of [dwermo]
Also quite notable is that the indefinite articles irregularly simplify to monosyllables.
un [ũ]
una [wã] instead of [una]
unos [wɔ̃] instead of [unos]
unas [wæ̃] instead of [unas]
Other codas like liquids and /ð/, /ɣ/ simply reduce without affecting anything.
Dróstsiźda Spanish vowels
By a traditional analysis, Dróstsiźda Spanish has 36 vowels, including 8 dipthongs. Half of these are from phonemic nasalization; the other half are displayed below. This forms a syllable structure of CV.
| front | dipthong | front round | back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| high | i (confeti [kõfeti]) | y (fui [fy]) | u (salud [salu]) | |
| close mid | ɪ (confetis [kõfetɪ]) | ʏ (fuiste [fʏte]) | ʊ (saluds [salʊ]) | |
| mid | e (noche [notʃe]) | je (pie [pje]) | ø (radio [radø]) | o (carro [kæro]) |
| low mid | ε (noches [notʃε]) | jε (pies [pjε]) | œ (radios [radœ]) | ɔ (carros [kærɔ]) |
| low | æ (caras [karæ]) | jæ (copias [kopjæ]) | ja (copia [kopja]) | a (cara [kara]) |
These are sometimes grouped into 9 or 5 vowels, both ignoring nasalization and weak-tense distinctions, leaving only /i je ja e a o ø u y/. The 5 vowel analysis reinterprets /ø y/ as /jo ju/, thus postulating a maximal syllable structure of CjVns and a vowel set of /i e a o u/. Notably, many alveolar consonants do palatalize before /i je ja ø y/, even when there is no /j/ in other Spanish dialects (ie. "duermo" as outlined above, where /ø/ derived from /we/).
Vowel hiatus is banned, with epenthetic /j w/ often inserted based on the preceding vowel, or in cases of two of the same vowel they are merged.
leer [le]
leo [lejo]
Dróstsiźda Spanish consonants
| labial | alveolar | velar | |
|---|---|---|---|
| nasal | m | n | |
| stop | p | t | k |
| voiced stop | b | d | g |
| fricative | f | s | x |
| approximant | w | l | j |
| tap | ɾ | ||
| trill | r |
/n t d s/ palatalize to /ɲ tʃ dʒ ʃ/ before /i je ja ø y/, with /je ja/ becoming [e a]. Historical /o u/ after /ɲ tʃ/ becomes [ø y]. As such, [ɲ tʃ] are no longer considered distinct from [n t], with [ne] / [ɲe] and [te] / [tʃe] distinctions reflecting a single /e/ /je/ distinction. /k g x/ also palatalize to [c ɟ ç] before /i je ja ø y/.
Historic Cr and Cl syllable-initial clusters are reduced to single voiced stops. Historic voiced stops /b d g/ in onset position are kept word initially as stops. Word medially /d g/ are elided, while /b/ becomes /w/. Historic /fr fl/ clusters also become /w/, even word initially.
crear [krear] > geya [geja]
primo [primo] > bimo [bimo]
beber [beβer] > bewe [bewe]
flan [flan] > [wã]
Grammar
Spanish has "too many"[citation needed] conjugations for verbs, based on two moods and six tenses (or aspects that function like tenses). Most of these conjugations can also be expressed using a "composed verb" formation, such as the future simple form hablaré and the future composed form voy a hablar, or the preterite form hablé and the present perfect form he hablado. This means that there are generally 12 ways to form a Spanish verb irrespective of mood or the subject's gender and person - both of which Spanish verbs also conjugate for.
However, beyond this, Spanish grammar is mostly simple. Word order is usually strictly SVO, though like English, VSO is allowed for questions where the subject is a pronoun:
- Has hablado tú al presidente?
- "Have you talked to the president?"
Nouns that aren't pronouns do not decline for case, and while pronouns can decline for nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, and possessive, not all pronouns do this either. For example, while tú has the paradigm tú, tí, te, tu, tuyo, usted always is usted, and thus cannot drop the various prepositions that can be dropped for tú:
- Era tu casa, pero te he pagado, y es mi casa ahora.
- "It was your house, but I've paid you, and now it's mine." (informal)
- Era la casa de usted, pero he pagado a usted, y es mi casa ahora.
- "It was your house, but I've paid you, and now it's mine." (formal)
Grammar is not known to vary much by dialect.