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Okay, it's been a while, but here is some Wenedyk again, the adjective this
time. I'll cross-post it to Conlang, RomanceConlang, and SlaviConlang, which
will probably mean that some of you receive it twice, for which I apologize. I
take full responsibility for the medical consequences of over-using the delete
button :)
Adjectives must agree in number, case, and gender with the nouns they modify.
They can be placed both before and after it. Although no binding rule can be
given, in general such constructions are head-last: when the noun is dominant
and the adjective is only used to modify or describe it, the latter is placed
in front it, while in cases when the adjective is dominant or forms a stable
unity with the noun, it is mostly placed at the end. It remains, however, a
matter of the speaker?s taste.
For example:
biela dziej "a beautiful day"
a£t jedyficiej "a high building" (£ = l-stroke)
£êgwa wenedyka "the Venedian language" (ê = e-ogonek)
Empierz Roman "the Roman Empire"
Declension of Wenedyk adjectives caused me some serious trouble. In Latin, they
are divided into different classes, that coincide more or less with the noun
declensions. First I considered the possibility of modifying the Latin system
only by subjecting it to the common Wenedyk sound changes, but this seemed to
be very contrary to both the Slavic and the Romance languages, which show a
strong tendency towards simplification. Then I decided to fit all Wenedyk
adjectives to the Latin -us/-a/-um declension. First I endeavoured a neuter
nominative form on -u; however, since I would never be able to explain how the
ending -um, that always drops off, survives in this particular case, I finally
decided to adopt the ending -e from the third declension.
As a result, declension of Wenedyk adjectives is quite simple after all.
masc./neut. sing. fem. sing. MFN plur.
Nom. brzew "short" brzewa brzewe
Gen. brzewu brzewej brzewu
Dat. brzewi brzewej brzewysz
Acc. brzew brzewã brzewe
When the adjective is followed by a noun that begins with c'-/ci- or dz'-/dzi-,
its final consonant is softened both in spelling and in pronunciation: _bon
miedyk_ "a good doctor", but _boñ Dziew_ "good God". The opposite never occurs:
_mañ dom_ "a big house".
The comparative and superlative are built by adding the suffix
-iór/-iora/-iore, the superlative by adding the suffix -ym/-yma/-yme to the
root of the adjective:
brzew "short", brzewiór "shorter", brzewym "shortest"
k£ar "bright", k£arzór "brighter", k£arym "brightest".
In some cases, the degrees of comparison are irregular:
bon ? mielór ? optym "good ? better ? best"
ma£ ? piejór ? pieszym "bad ? worse ? worst"
mañ ? majór ? maczym "big ? bigger ? biggest"
parzew ? mynor ? mynym "small ? smaller ? smallest"
wieczó£ ? wieszczór ? wieszczym "old ? older ? oldest"
mu£cy ? p£urze ? p£urzyme "many/much ? more ? most"
a£t ? suprzór ? suprzem "high ? higher ? highest"
Any feedback is always appreciated.
Especially when it comes to answering this question: does the way I changed
Latin declension to Wenedyk look (at least a tiny little bit) acceptable?
Regards,
Jan
=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones
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