Apiyan language

Apiyan language Fiaula apiana
Spoken in	Kingdom of Apiya
Writing system(s)	Roman
Type	Artlang

The Apiyan language (Apiyan: ea fiaula apiana) is an artistic constructed language, created in the year 2006. The Kingdom of Apiya has used it as its official language since its foundation. During the years of the language's existence it has changed frequently and its development has been divided into four periods:

1. Old Apiyan period (2006-2008): largely priori language, meaning that its most of its grammar and vocabulary was made up. Characterised by the presence of a guttural r, written as ŕ. A grammar and dictionary of the language in this period have been released. A so called dialect existed in this phase which substituted the guttural r with more easily pronounceable sounds, such as n (an < aŕ), l (vela < vŕa), r (arìn < aŕín) etc. The Old Apiyan elements which exist in contemporary Apiyan are derived from that dialect, which was used as a foundation for development of the next period;
2. Transitional period (January - June 2008): with the publishing of the grammatical and orthographic regulation Le Kavimôl II (kavim meaning change), the language slowly started transitioning to a posteriori language. Typical of this period is the usage of the vowels â, î, ô, which replaced the Old Apiyan æ, í, ø respectively. In the transitional period, the language started abandoning Old Apiyan elements in favour of elements from Romance languages, chiefly Italian, which lead to the next phase of Romance preference;
3. Romance period (2008-2009): within this period, almost all elements which were deemed unacceptable, from the point of view of the Romance family of languages, were substituted with Romance-friendly elements. Most symbolic was the substitution of the consonant k in favour of c, ch (formiko "ant" became formico, ke "what" became che). The Apiyan language in this period started looking excessively like the Italian language, and for example other constructed languages, like Interlingua. This was seen as a threat to its existence, which prompted more change and transition to the period of contemporary Apiyan;
4. Slavo-Romance period (2009-present): the introduction of Slavic language elements, chiefly from Montenegrin and Macedonian, gave a unique flavour to the language, which persists today. Symbolic features of this period are the introduction of the neuter gender, which is not based on the Latin neuter, but on its Slavic equivalent, meaning that words of Romance origin are still generally either masculine or feminine. Another symbolic feature is the introduction of a six-case system, which is also more akin to the Slavic case system than the Latin one. During this period, the Apiyan languages changed several orthographies. In the beginning there was a tendency to use a Slavic-influenced, more phonetic alphabet: Ił esere, o ne ił esere, esto je lo domandanje. However, this was shortly abandoned and an Italian-inspired orthography was used: Y esserti, o ne y esserti, esto e lo domandanie. In the beginning of the year 2011, the orthography was modified to more properly suit the phonetic needs of the Apiyan language. This resulted in the removal of all double consonants, which were deemed unnecessary: Ilh jeserti, òt ne ilh jeserti, jesto j'eo dumandanie. In September of the same year, the orthography reverted back to a more Slavic influenced orthography, due to the fact that the Italian-based system became defunct and could not properly represent phonetically the Apiyan language.

Alphabet

Main article: Apiyan orthography

Morphophonemic alternations

Morphophonemic alterations in the Apiyan language mostly originate from Slavic languages, where there are plentiful. In the Apiyan language there are only five.

Vocalisation

Vocalisation occurs when the sounds l, v are found in the end of a word. To vocalise means to become a 'vocal' or a vowel, and l/v is vocalised to the semivowelu. If the word ends on -ul, -uv the consonant is completely lost and the u is stressed. These morphophonemic alternations are not marked by the orthography, only in pronunciation. Vocalisation occurs in:

• masculine and feminine singular nouns in the nominative and, except with animate masculine nouns, the accusative: antgel (<antgel) "angel", daskal "teacher", tèroskriv "geography", nominativ "nominative", konzul "consul", sol "salt", bol "pain", liubav "love";
• the masculine singular form of the active participle: dèlal "he [has] done", letgil "he [has] lain", vuardal "he [has] watched";
• in word formation, if the suffix appended to a word begins on a consonant: liubavni (liubav- + -ni) "something pertaining to love", bolni (bol- + -ni) "painful".

Fleeting vowel

A fleeting vowel is present in words which end on a consonant cluster which is difficult to pronounce, for example: czenter (<czentr) "centre", artikel (<artikl) "article", lieralizem (<lieralizm) "liberalism", vuater (<vuatr) "four". When inflected, the fleeting vowel is lost: czenter - czentri "centres", artikel - artikli "articles", lieralizem - lieralizma "of liberalism", vuater - vuatri "fourth".

Palatalisation

Palatalisation is when the consonants k, g, ch soften to become cz, tg, sz. This occurs in:

• the vocative case of singular masculine nouns: vuernek "soldier" - vuernecze "Hey, soldier!", Mildrag (name) - Mildratge "Hey, Mildrag!", duch "ghost" - dusze "Hey, ghost!";
• the formation of verbs: trag "clue" - tratgirti "to look for, to search", sluga "servant" - slutgirti "to serve", suvi (<suchi) "dry" - suszirti "to dry";
• the formation of adjectives from nouns using the -n suffix: rèka - rèczni "pertaining to rivers", jug - jutgni "southern", muva (<mucha) - muszni "pertaining to flies";
• in the plural forms of the nouns oko "eye", uvo "ear": oczi; uszi, uszima;
• the singular masculine nominative/vocative/accusative (inanimate) inflection of adjectives whose stems end on -ek: gramateczi "gramatical", politeczi "political", skulasteczi "scholastic, scholarly, pertaining to schools".

Assibilation

Assibilation is when the consonants k, g, ch soften to become c, z, s. This occurs in:

• the dative case of singular feminine nouns: Aliaska "Alaska" - Aliasci "to Alaska", noga "leg" - nozi "to [the] leg", vtècha "consolidation" - vtèsi "to consolidation";
• every case except the genitive of plural masculine nouns: oligarch "oligarch" - oligarsi "oligarchs", maniak "maniac" - maniacima "with/to maniacs", psicholog "psychologist" - psicholozi "psychologists".

E-mutation

E-mutation is when the vowel o becomes e when in contact with cz, tg, sz, lh, nh, c, r, j. This occurs in:

• the instrumental case of singular masculine nouns: konh "horse" - konhem "with/by horse", tgoj "joy" - tgojem "with joy, joyfully";
• the plural forms of nouns in the second declensions in all cases: princzev "prince" - princzevi "prince's" - princzevaj "of princes, etc;
• the formation of possessive adjectives from masculine and neuter nouns: dotur "doctor" - doturevi "doctor's", rajev "heaven" - rajevi "heaven's".

Letter patterns in word formation

Apiyan words are usually either of Slavic origin (mostly from Montenegrin, Macedonian, etc.), of Romance origin (mostly from Italian, Romanian, Latin) and of Old Apiyan origin. When words are imported from these languages, their forms are adapted to conform to the feel and standard of the Apiyan language. Standard letter patters exist as preferences over other deprecated letter patterns which were perhaps once used but then abandoned with the evolution of the language.

Standard	Deprecated	Description	Example words
ò	au, av	Present in words of Latin or Greek origin which contain au (the prefix auto- in automobile, aurum "gold", Augustus)	òtomobil "automobile", òr "gold", ògust "August (month)"
tgu	iu, ju	Present in words of Latin origin where iu was used (iustitia "justice", iuvenis "young", adiuvare "to help")	tgusteca "justice", tguveni "young", òtgutarti "to help"
kò	ha, ka, sza, cza	Present in words of Latin origin which start on ca- was used (casa "house", cantare "to sing", cancellarius "chancellor")	kòdrega "chair", kòncarti "to sing", kònczelar "chancellor"
vu	ch, k, qu, gu, hu	Present in words of Latin origin which contain qu (aqua "water", quadratum "square", qui "who") or gu (guardare (It.) "to watch", guarantir "to guarantee", Guatemala)	avua "water, vuadrat "square (shape)", vuardarti "to watch", Vuatemala "Guatemala")
e	a, i, ei	Present in words of Romance origin where the vowels (a,) e, i vary (fr. langua, sp. lengua, it. lingua — "language")	lema "tongue", lemun "lemon", rezurecia "resurrection"
u	eu, ev, ü, ö	Present in words of Latin or Greek origin which contain eu (Europa "Greek goddess, Europe the continent", eucalyptus "gumtree", Eugene)	Uropa "Europe", ukalitus "gumtree", Utgenie "Eugene"
è	e, i, ie	Present in words of Slavic origin in the place of the Slavic letter yat (ě/ѣ) (ocs. рѣка/rěka, mne. rijeka, mk. река/reka — "river"). It is also used in words of Romance origin where the usage of ie and e varies (it. terra, tempo; sp. tierra, tiempo).	rèka "river", dèlov "part", mlèko "milk", tèra "earth, land", tèmp "time"
lia	lja	Present in words of Slavic origin which contain on lja (liljan "lily", Ljubljana, milja "mile")	lilian "lily", Liubliana "Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia", milia "mile"
liu	lju, lu	Present in words of Slavic origin which start on lju (ljudi "people", ljubav "love", Ljubljana)	liubav "love", Liubliana "Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia"
r(i)	l, li, lj, j	Rhotification of the Latin l in the combinations cl, fl, pl (clavis "key", flos "flower, blossom", platea "street, courtyard")	kriav "key", frior "flower", priaca "city/town square, market"
u	o, ou	Present in words of Romance origin where the vowels o, u vary (it. secondo, sp. segundo — "second").	sekunda "second", lemun "lemon", labur "labour", mund "world"
u	uo, o, ue, u	Present in words of Romance origin where the vowels and diphthongs o, uo, ue, oa vary (it. porta, sp. puerta, rom. poarta — "door, gate")	purta "door", vulèrti "to love", nuvi "new", vuni "good"

Morphology

The Apiyan language is a fusional language, which means that words are often modified to express different grammatical categories. This is called inflection. In inflection, the Apiyan language distinguishes between three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), two numbers (singular, plural) and six cases (nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental). Also, when inflecting nouns, animacy is taken into account. Nouns can either be (refer to) animate or inanimate things.

Case

Cases are inflectional forms that indicate the grammatical function of a noun or pronoun in a phrase, clause, or sentence. Declaratively, the Apiyan language has six declensions: nominative, vocative, accusative, genitive, dative and instrumental. Three more cases exist: ablative, locative and comitative; but because of having the same patterns of inflection, they have been absorbed by the genitive, dative and instrumental, respectively.

Case	Usage	Example	English
Nominative	Subject of a sentence	Pèter vuarda u dalhevid.http://apianszina.wordpress.com/	Peter watches television.
	Object of the verb jeserti "to be"	Ti sies an fini pan.	You are a nice person.
Vocative	Calling someone or acquiring someone's attention	Hej, senhure Tguvanoviczu!	Hey, Mr. Johnson!
	Addressing someoneċovie	Mili senhure prèsèdature...	Dear Mr. President...
	Poetically addressing	Ou Apio, pajso muja!	Oh Apiya, my country!
	Affection	Liubavi muja!	My love!
	Insults	Svinho!	Swine!
Accusative	Direct object of a sentence	Vèdèl sem Alesandra.	I saw Alexander.
	With certain prepositions	Jesto je tra nòs.	This is between us.
Genitive-Ablative	Possession	Ea livra Marie	The book of Mary (Mary's book)
	Properties	Ea dèvka ea rusze kose	The girl of red hair (red-haired girl)
	Composition	Ana utgeca u dulczeleda	A spoon-full of ice-cream
	With certain prepositions	Ea grupa da Rima	The group from Rome
	With certain verbs	Laszali senu ich eo jedenia.	They deprived them of food.
Dative-Locative	Indirect object of a sentence	Dal je Jeleni ea vuadernu.	He gave Helen the notebook.
	Relations	Un je Andreju frater.	He is the brother to Andrew (Andrew's)
	With certain prepositions	Demo ò skuli.	We are going to school.
	With certain verbs	Onhi tgurn òtgutanu multim panima.	They help many people every day.
Instrumental-Comitative	Means of doing something	Venhali senu vozom.	They came here by train.
	Manner of doing something	Terczali senu ea feliczitom.	They were running with happiness (happily).
	Companionship	Duma senu kun nime.	They are at home with him.
	With certain prepositions	La czasza je prena avuom.	The glass is full with (of) water.
	With certain verbs	Una volta me dèla gnèvnim.	She always makes me angry.

Articles

Articles are words which are used to indicate the definiteness of a noun. There are two articles: the definite and the indefinite article.

Definite article

The definite article indicates that its noun is a particular one (or ones) identifiable to the listener. It may be the same thing that the speaker has already mentioned, or it may be something uniquely specified. It translates to the English 'the'. In Apiyan it was derived from the Latin demonstrative pronouns. The definite article is inflected according to the gender and the number of the noun it defines, and is the same in all cases. Its forms are:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	u [mòutg]	ea [tgena]	eo [dècze]
Plural	ei [mòutgi]	ie [tgene]	ia [dècza]

mòutg = man, mòutg = men
tgena = woman, tgene = women
dècze = child, dècza = children

Contraction

The singular masculine form of the definite article (u) contracts with the prepositions ò "to, at", da "from", ve "in" to form: adu, du, vu. All other prepositions and articles are written separate from each other.

Indefinite article

An indefinite article indicates that its noun is not a particular one (or ones) identifiable to the listener. It may be something that the speaker is mentioning for the first time, or its precise identity may be irrelevant or hypothetical, or the speaker may be making a general statement about any such thing. It translates to the English a/an. The indefinite article developed from its Old Apiyan counterpart aŕ, which was derived from the number one. It is inflected as an adjective and same as the number one, according to the gender, number and case of the noun it defines. Its forms are:

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	an	ano	ana
Vocative	<none>
Accusative	an {inanm.}	ano	anu
	anum {anm.}
Genitive	anum		ane
Dative	anom		anoj
Instrumental	anim		anom

{anm.} - used with animate nouns
{inanm.} - used with inanimate nouns

Nouns

Nouns are words which are used to name people, animals, places, things or abstract ideas. In the Apiyan language, nouns are inflected by number — a noun can be either singular (arbur "tree") or plural (arburi "trees"); and nouns are inflected by case — nominative (arbur "tree"), vocative (arburu "[oh] tree!"), accusative ([dea eu] arbur "[for the] tree"), genitive (arbura "of the tree"), dative (arburu "to the tree"), instrumental (arburom "with a tree"). Every noun belongs to a class of words called a gender. Regarding gender, a noun can be masculine (arbur "tree"), feminine (kòdrega "chair") and neuter (morie "sea"). Also, because nouns are inflected differently, they belong to different declensions, of which there are seven.

First declension

All nouns of the first declension are masculine nouns, ending on a consonant or a vocalised l or v (written as u). The suffixes added to the noun are separated by a hyphen, -ø indicate that there is no suffix. Palatalisation (coloured blue), assibilation (coloured green), e-mutation (coloured gold) and fleeting vowel (coloured purple) rules apply to the nouns of this declension. The accusative singular of animate nouns [anm.] is the same as the nominative singular, and the accusative singular of inanimate nouns [inanm.] is the same as the genitive singular. Nouns ending on cz, tg, sz, lh, nh, j get the suffixe -u in the vocative singular. The examples used in the table below are tèmp "time", priatel "friend", vuk "wolf", vocz "voice", pèter "rock, stone".

	Singular					Plural
Nominative	tèmp-ø	priatel-ø	vuk-ø	vocz-ø	pèter-ø	tèmp-i	priatel-i	vuc-i	vocz-i	pètr-i
Vocative	tèmp-e	priatel-e	vucz-e	vocz-u	pètr-e
Accusative	tèmp-ø [inanm.]	priatel-a [anm.]	vuk-a [anm.]	vocz-ø [inanm.]	pèter-ø [inanm.]	tèmp-e	priatel-e	vuk-e	vocz-e	pètr-e
Genitive	tèmp-a			vocz-a	pètr-a	tèmp-aj	priatel-aj	vuk-aj	vocz-aj	pètr-aj
Dative	tèmp-u	priatel-u	vuk-u	vocz-u	pètr-u	tèmp-ima	priatel-ima	vuc-ima	vocz-ima	pètr-ima
Instrumental	tèmp-om	priatel-om	vuk-om	vocz-em	pètr-em

Second declension

The second declension is used with single-syllable masculine nouns which end on a consonant or a vocalised l or v, which is written as u. Because this declension was derived from the Slavic language family, single-syllable masculine nouns can be declined either in the first or the second declension, e.x. the plural of tiemp "time" can be either tèmpi (I) or tèmpovi (II). Representative of this declension is the plural affix -ov (or -ev due to e-mutation). Palatalisation (coloured blue) and e-mutation (coloured gold) rules apply to the nouns of this declension. Nouns ending on cz, tg, sz, lh, nh, j get the suffixe -u in the vocative singular. The accusative singular of animate nouns [anm.] is the same as the nominative singular, and the accusative singular of inanimate nouns [inanm.] is the same as the genitive singular. The examples used in the table below are duch "spirit, ghost", fren "king", dèl "part", sprej "spray".

	Singular				Plural
Nominative	duch-ov	fren-ov	dèl-ov	sprej-ev	duch-ov-i	fren-ov-i	dèl-ov-i	sprej-ev-i
Vocative	dusz-e	fren-e	dèl-e	sprej-u
Accusative	duch-a [anm.]	fren-a [anm.]	dèl-ov [inanm.]	sprej-ev [inanm.]	duch-ov-e	fren-ov-e	dèl-ov-e	sprej-ev-e
Genitive			dèl-a	sprej-a	duch-ov-aj	fren-ov-aj	dèl-ov-aj	sprej-ev-aj
Dative	duch-u	fren-u	dèl-u	sprej-u	duch-ov-ima	fren-ov-ima	dèl-ov-ima	sprej-ev-ima
Instrumental	duch-om	fren-om	dèl-om	sprej-em

Third declension

The third declension encompasses a majority of feminine and a minority of masculine nouns ending on -a. Assibilation (coloured green) rules apply for the nouns of this declension. The examples used in the table below are livra "book", noga "leg", sluga (m.) "servant".

	Singular			Plural
Nominative	livr-a	nog-a	slug-a	libr-e	nog-e	slug-e
Vocative	livr-o	nog-o	slug-o
Accusative	livr-u	nog-u	slug-u
Genitive	livr-e	nog-e	slug-e	livr-i	nog-i	slug-i
Dative	livr-i	noz-i	sluz-i	livr-ama	nog-ama	slug-ama
Instrumental	livr-om	nog-om	slug-om

Fourth declension

The fourth declension consists of feminine nouns which end on a consonant. The examples used in the table below are sou "salt", sang "blood", mater "mother".

	Singular			Plural
Nominative	sol	sang	mater	sol-i	sang-i	mater-i
Vocative	sol-i	sang-i	mater-i
Accusative	sol	sang	mater
Genitive	sol-i	sang-i	mater-i
Dative				sol-ima	sang-ima	mater-ima
Instrumental	sol-iu	sang-iu	mater-iu

Fifth declension

The fifth declension consists of neuter nouns ending on -o, and masculine nouns of Old Apiyan origin ending on -o. The examples used in the table below are selo "village", leforczo "court", radio "radio".

	Singular			Plural
Nominative	sel-o	leforcz-o	radi-o	sel-a	leforcz-a	radi-a
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	sel-a	leforcz-a	radi-a	sel-aj	leforcz-aj	radi-aj
Dative	sel-u	leforcz-u	radi-u	selima	leforcz-ima	radi-ima
Instrumental	sel-om	leforcz-om	radi-om

Sixth declension

The sixth declension consists of neuter nouns ending on -e. The examples used in the table below are morie "sea", bebe "baby", kafe "coffee".

	Singular			Plural
Nominative	mori-e	beb-e	kaf-e	mori-a	beb-a	kaf-a
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	mori-a	beb-a	kaf-a	mori-aj	beb-aj	kaf-aj
Dative	mori-u	beb-u	kaf-u	mori-ama	beb-ama	kaf-ama
Instrumental	mori-em	beb-em	kaf-em

Seventh declension

The sixth declension consists of loaned nouns of the neuter gender. Most often they end on a stressed vowel. E-mutation (coloured gold) rules apply to the nouns of this declension. The examples used in the table below are burò "bureau", meni "menu", taksi "taxi".

	Singular			Plural
Nominative	burò	meni	taksi	burò-a	meni-a	taksi-a
Vocative
Accusative
Genitive	burò-a	meni-a	taksi-a	beurau-aj	meni-aj	taksi-aj
Dative	burò-u	meni-u	taksi-u	burò-ima	meni-ima	taksi-ima
Instrumental	burò-om	meniem	taksi-em

Pronouns

Pronouns are words which can substitute nouns.

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns are pronouns which stand in place of people and names. They are inflected by number, gender and case, akin to nouns. They are also inflected by person. The first person refers to the speaker (en. I, we), the second person refers to the addressee (en. thou, you), whom the speaker addresses, and the third person refers to someone who is neither the audience nor the speaker (en. he, she, it, they).

	Singular					Plural
	1st p.	2nd p.	3rd p.			1st p.	2nd p.	3rd p.
			m.	n.	f.
Nominative	ja	ti	un	uno	una	mi	vi	uni
Vocative
Accusative	me/mie	te/tie	nega		nu	ne/nòs	ve/vòs	ich
Genitive
Dative	mi/miej	ti/tiej	nemu		noj	nam	vam	nim
Instrumental	miej	tiej	nime		nom

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns are inflected and used in the place of adjectives.

		Singular	Plural
1st p.		muj	nasz(i)
2nd p.		tuj	vasz(i)
3rd p.	m.	negovi	nichovi
	n.
	f.	neni
Reflexive		suj

Relative and interrogative pronouns

The relative and interrogative pronouns are identical in the Apiyan language, and they are ki "who", cze "what", kiji "who, which, that", cziji "whose". Kiji and cziji are inflected as adjectives, whilst ki and cze are declined in their own way:

	Who/Whom	What
Nominative	ki	cze
Accusative	kim
Genitive		czem
Dative
Instrumental

Usage

KI

Interrogative: Ki je kun tiej? "Who is with you?"

Relative: Jesti je u pan kim sem vèdèl. "This is the man whom I saw."

CZE

Interrogative: Cze siet dèlali lètom? "What did you do in the summer?"

Relative: Vuardali siam u filmov kiji je vinczel ea premiu. "We watched the film that/which won the prize."

KIJI

Interrogative: Kiju livru ties? "Which book do you want?"

Relative: U vozov, kijim sem del ò ea priatgi, je nuvi et feloczi. "The train, by which I went to the beach, is new and fast."

CZIJI

Interrogative: Czije kòse senu te? "Whose houses are those?"

Relative: Sziem ea tgenu cziji kriavi senu cz'iesti. "I know the woman whose keys those are."

Demonstrative pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns are jesti "this" and ti "that". They are inflected as adjectives. Another way to say "that" other than ti is cz'iesti which is a contraction of czi "there" and jesti.

Indefinite and negative pronoun prefixes

The prefixes ne-, onh-, ni- are added to the relative or interrogative pronouns to form the indefinite and negative pronouns. The prefix ne- is in the shuatr) "four". When inflected, the fleeting vowel is lost: czenter - czentri "centres", artikel - artikli "articles", lieralizem - liberalizma "of liberalism", vuater - vuatri "fourth".

Adjectives

Adjectives are words which qualify nouns. In the Apiyan language they agree in number, gender and case with the noun they qualify.

Inflection of adjectives

The following table shows the inflection of proper adjectives. The personal pronouns act as adjectives and they are inflected accordingly. The example used is vuni "good".

	Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	vun-i	vun-o	vun-a	vun-i	vun-a	vun-e
Vocative
Accusative	vun-i {inanm.}		vun-u	vun-e
	vun-um {anm.}
Genitive		vun-um	vun-e	vun-ich
Dative	vun-im		vun-om	vun-im
Instrumental

{anm.} - used with animate nouns
{inanm.} - used with inanimate nouns

Adjectives which end on cz, sz, tg, j get the suffix -e instead of -o in the nominative singular neuter.

Short adjectives

Some adjectives or words declined as adjectives do not get the suffix -i in their nominative/vocative/accusative singular masculine form. Such words are:

• the active past participle: vèdèl (see vocalisation), askoltal, letgil, instead of vèdèli, askoltali, letgili;
• the passive past participle: vèden, askoltan, letgen, instead of vèdèni, askoltani, letgeni;
• the possessive pronouns muj, tuj, suj, nasz, vasz, instad of muji, tuji, suji, naszi, vaszi;
• the possessive adjective: doturev (see vocalisation), Predragov, Danilov, instead of dokteurevi, Predragovi, Danilovi;
• adjectives in certain phrases: vun tgurn "good day", instead of vuni tgurn.

Noninflected adjectives

Adjectives which have been borrowed from other languages and have not yet been integrated into the adjective inflection system, remain noninflected, ex. gratis dèva "free clothes", gratis bilet "free ticket", seksi pan "sexy person", etc.

Comparison of adjectives

Adjectives have three levels of comparison: positive (good, fast), comparative (better, faster) and superlative (the best, the fastest). The Apiyan language has two system of adjective comparison, the first one which is more commonly used has been preserved from the Old Apiyan period of the language, whilst the second one was introduced in a later period from the Romance family of languages.

The first system appends the suffixes -(a)veli (comparative) and -(a)velesti (superlative) to the base of the adjective. The appropriate form of the definite article is placed before the adjective and the base and the suffix of the adjective are inflected.

(positive) Eo muje òto je grando. "My car is big."

(comparative) Eo muje òto je grandavelo. "My automobile is bigger."

(superlative) Eo muje òto je eo grandavelesto. "My automobile is the biggest."

The second system places the adverb pru "more" before the adjective to form the comparative, and the appropriate definite article and the adverb priu to form the superlative.

(positive) Eo muje òto je grando. "My car is big."

(comparative) Eo muje òto je pru grando. "My automobile is bigger."

(superlative) Eo muje òto je je eo pru grando. "My automobile is the biggest."

Possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives are formed by adding the suffixes -ovi/-evi (see e mutation) to a noun of the first, second, fifth, sixth or seventh declension; or -ini to a noun of the third or fourth declension.

Stèvanov (see vocalisation) rakuntatur "Stievan's (Steven's) computer"

Prèsèdatureva uficia "The President's office"

Babina livra "Grandmother's book";

Prepositions

Prepositions are words which show a certain relationship between living beings, objects, abstract concepts, phenomena, etc. Every preposition corresponds to a certain case according to which the noun/adjective/number it stands before is declined. For example, the preposition suer "on" is used with the dative case and so one would say sċu la tavli, the word tavli being the dative case of tavla which means "table".

Genitive prep.		Dative prep.		Accusative prep.		Instrumental prep.
sen	without	gratevszi	thanks to	tra	through, across	kun	with, by the means of
viczino	near	ò	to, towards (direction), at	kuntra	against	pred	before, infront of, ahead of
da	from, out of, by (agent)	adu (au [<ad] + u)		dia	for	nad	above, over, beyond
du (da + u)		pri	near			pod	under
eszeto	except	suer	on, onto, unto, over			dri	behind, after
mimo	past	ve	in, within, into			pren- (inflected as an adjective)	full of
poslè	after	de	about, on
prè	before	po	after, in the manner of, throughout, all over
utilaniem	by means of, using	du (de + u)
(ea) lungecom	along	arin	circa, about (archaic, use de)
vepriaczu	instead of
venutro	inside of, within
duravszi	during
van	out of
(ea) finitom	by the end of

Verbs

Verbs are words which convey an action or a state of being. In the Apiyan language verbs are classified in four conjugations: first (-arti infinite suffix, e.g. vuardarti "to watch"), second (-erti, e.g. senterti "to feel"), third (-irti, e.g. letgirti "to lie, lay") and fourth (-èrti, e.g. siedierti "to sit"). Verbs are conjugated in number, person, tense, mood and voice.

• The number can be either singular or plural. The person refers to the participant in the action or the possessor of the state which the verb conveys relative to the person who speaks/writes the language. There are three persons:
  • the first person (ja "I", mi "we") — the person who speaks;
  • the second person (ti "thou/you", vi "you/y'all") — the person who listens;
  • the third person represents a person who — neither the speaker nor the listener (un "he", una "she", uno "it", uni "they").
• The tense indicates the time when a situation takes place. There are four tenses:
  • present;
  • perfect;
  • imperfect;
  • future.
• The mood allows the speaker to express their attitude towards the things they are saying. There are four moods:
  • indicative — factual statements or positive beliefs;
  • imperative — commands or requests;
  • conditional — hypothetical state of affairs, uncertain things;
  • optative — a wish or hope.
• The voice describes the relationship between the action (or state) that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its arguments (subject, object, etc.)
  • active — the subject is the agent of the verb;
  • passive — the subject is the patient or theme of the verb.

All proper verbs are conjugated by affixing appropriate suffixes to the stem forms of verbs. They can be derived from their infinitive forms: skriv-, diel-, vul- from skrivarti, dielirti, vulierti respectively.

Infinitive

The infinitive of a verb is a simple and noninflected form which does not possess any of the aforementioned properties. One of its functions is to be a representative verb form, meaning that its the form in which one would find words in a dictionary. The infinitive suffixes is -rti, or -rt more rarely.

vèdè- + -rti = vidierti "to see"

choda- + -rti = chodarti "to walk"

Participles

Participles are verbal forms which share similarities to adjectives and adverbs.

Active past participle

The active past participle is used in the forming of the perfect tense. It is inflected as an adjective only in the nominative case and also as a short adjective.

		First conjugation	Second conjugation	Third conjugation	Fourth conjugation
Singular	Masculine	vuard-al	sent-el	letg-il	sèd-èl
	Feminine	vuard-al-a	sent-el-a	letg-il-a	sèd-èl-a
	Neuter	vuard-al-o	sent-el-o	letg-il-o	sèd-èl-o
Plural	Masculine	vuard-al-i	sent-el-i	letg-il-i	sèd-èl-i
	Feminine	vuard-al-e	sent-el-e	letg-il-e	sèd-èl-e
	Neuter	vuard-al-a	sent-el-a	letg-il-a	sèd-èl-a

Vèdèla sem cze sies dèlal. "I saw what you did."

Eo morie stalo je paczifeko, ie tice senu felale. "The sea was calm, the birds were flying."

Passive past participle

The passive past participle is used in the forming of the passive voice. It can also be used as an adjective similarly to the English past participle. It is inflected as an adjective and also as a short adjective).

	First conjugation	Second conjugation	Third conjugation	Fourth conjugation
Base	vuard-an-	sent-en-	letg-en-	sèd-en-

Cz'iesta òta senu tvorena ve Tgapanu. "The cars are made in Japan."

Ei utilani rakuntaturi senu czi. "The used computers are over there."

Present active participle

The adverbial present active participle is used as a temporal adverb to indicate that an action occurs in the same time as another action. The suffix -vszi is added to the stem of the verb.

Sèdèvszi, pensal sem de eo mujem tgiu. "As I was sitting, I was thinking about my life"

Fiaulam kuvavszi. "I am speaking as I am cooking"

First conjugation (-arti)

All first conjugation verbs have the infinitive suffix -arti (kòncarti "to sing").

	Present			Perfect			Imperfect			Future
	Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
1st person	kònc-a-m	kònc-a-mo	1st person	sem kònc-al-(ø/a/o)	siam kònc-al-(i/e/a)	1st person	kònc-a-vu	kònc-a-smo	1st person	kònc-ar-tiem	kònc-ar-tiemo
2nd person	kònc-a-s	kònc-a-te	2nd person	sies kònc-al-(ø/a/o)	siet kònc-al-(i/e/a)	2nd person	kònc-a-sze	kònc-a-ste	2nd person	kònc-ar-ties	kònc-ar-tiete
3rd person	kònc-a	kònc-a-nu	3rd person	je kònc-al-(ø/a/o)	senu kònc-al-(i/e/a)	3rd person	kònc-a-sze	kònc-a-su	3rd person	kònc-ar-tie	kònc-ar-tienu

Second conjugation (-erti)

All second conjugation verbs have the infinitive suffix -erti (letgerti "to read, select"). Some second conjugation verbs may also end on -ierti, which is the ending for the fourth conjugation verbs. Such verbs include tierti "to want", pensierti "to think", szierti "to know", inicierti "to initiate, begin" etc.

	Present			Perfect			Imperfect			Future
	Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
1st person	letg-e-m	letg-e-mo	1st person	sem letg-el-(ø/a/o)	siam letg-el-(i/e/a)	1st person	letg-e-vu	letg-e-smo	1st person	letg-er-tiem	letg-er-tiemo
2nd person	letg-e-s	letg-e-te	2nd person	sies letg-el-(ø/a/o)	siet letg-el-(i/e/a)	2nd person	letg-e-sze	letg-e-ste	2nd person	letg-er-ties	letg-er-tiete
3rd person	letg-e	letg-e-nu	3rd person	je letg-el-(ø/a/o)	senu letg-el-(i/e/a)	3rd person	letg-e-sze	letg-e-su	3rd person	letg-er-tie	letg-er-tienu

Third conjugation (-irti)

All third conjugation verbs have the infinitive suffix -irti (durmirti "to sleep").

	Present			Perfect			Imperfect			Future
	Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
1st person	durm-i-m	durm-i-mo	1st person	sem durm-il-(ø/a/o)	siam durm-il-(i/e/a)	1st person	durm-i-vu	durm-i-smo	1st person	durm-ir-tiem	durm-ir-tiemo
2nd person	durm-i-s	durm-i-te	2nd person	sies durm-il-(ø/a/o)	siet durm-il-(i/e/a)	2nd person	durm-i-sze	durm-i-ste	2nd person	durm-ir-ties	durm-ir-tiete
3rd person	durm-i	durm-e	3rd person	je durm-il-(ø/a/o)	senu durm-il-(i/e/a)	3rd person	durm-i-sze	durm-i-su	3rd person	durm-ir-tie	durm-ir-tienu

Fourth conjugation (-èrti)

All fourth conjugation verbs have the infinitive suffix -ierti (vèdèrti "to see"). All verbs of this conjugation were derived from Slavic verbs which ended on -ěti, e.g. vèdèrti (<věděti), sèdèrti (<sěděti), vulèrti (<volěti), etc. The only difference between fourth conjugation (-ierti) and second conjugation (-erti) verbs is that the former are conjugated in the present tense as if they were third conjugation (-irti) verbs, vèdimo, vèdis, vède not vèdiemo, vèdies, vèdienu.

	Present			Perfect			Imperfect			Future
	Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural		Singular	Plural
1st person	vèd-i-m	vèd-i-mo	1st person	sem vèd-èl-(ø/a/o)	siam vèd-èl-(i/e/a)	1st person	vèd-è-vu	vèd-è-smo	1st person	vèd-èr-tiu	vèd-èr-tiemo
2nd person	vèd-i-s	vèd-i-te	2nd person	sies vèd-èl-(ø/a/o)	siet vèd-èl-(i/e/a)	2nd person	vèd-è-sze	vèd-è-ste	2nd person	vèd-èr-ties	vèd-èr-tiete
3rd person	vèd-i	vèd-e	3rd person	je vèd-èl-(ø/a/o)	senu vèd-èl-(i/e/a)	3rd person	vèd-è-sze	vèd-è-su	3rd person	vèd-èr-tie	vèd-èr-tienu

Irregular verbs

Verbs in the Apiyan language have went through a process of regularisation, meaning that earlier on there were more irregular verbs, e.g. what is today the verb meaning "to go" venjarti – venjam, venjas, venja used to be venirti – venjo, vieni, viene. Irregularity in verb conjugation was mostly a feature inherited from the Romance family of languages.

Today, only two verbs have remained irregular – jeserti "to be" and poserti "to can". Jeserti also has two additional verb forms which no other verb has, a non-stressed form and a negated form.

jeserti

Jeserti meaning "to be" has some features which make it distinct from all other verbs in the Apiyan language:

• it has fused with the negative particle to form a negative verb form which is translated as "not to be", compare Un jeste an leforċateur. "He is a court judge." with Un nie an leforċateur. "He is not (isn't) a court judge.";
• it has a separate stressed and non-stressed form. The non-stressed form is more common, but it cannot be used in the beginning of a sentence;
• it is a suppletive verb, meaning that its conjugated forms do not share a common stem. The forms used in the imperfect tense, and the active past participle and hence the perfect tense are supplied by the verb starti "to become, to stand".

External links

• e'Apianszina - official blog of the body in charge of standardisation of the Apiyan language