Cuimese
| Cuimese Çúimes | |
| Pronunciation: | ['suimeʃ] |
| Spoken in: | Exacui |
| Region: | Esperatujo |
| Total Speakers: | Native speakers: ca 1 billion Non-native speakers: ca 26 million |
| Language family: | Pseudo-Romance languages Western Pseudo-Romance languages Cuimesoid Cuimese |
| Official status | |
| Official language in: | Exacui |
| Regulated by: | Organizaçan Lenguais Çúimes (Exacui) |
Cuimese (Çúimes, pronounced ['suimeʃ]) is a language from the Pseudo-Romance language family. It is spoken in Exacui only.
Contents |
History
The roots
Cuimese is a descendant of Pseudo-Latin, which is unknown. Old Cuimese was first found 340 AD at the cuimese border. This early form of Cuimese was a tonal language and didn't have a official writing system. The first found document in Old Cuimese was a warrant from King Âtùváçã III:
"Îlén huíe' nellôa! Lîs kênárad huí îm kâsáe nellôa uáy! (Translation: "He is evil! He must be jailed!")
From Old Cuimes to Old Middle Cuimese
Old Middle Cuimese existed since 871 AD. In the medieval, the tone was more important than ever and new, "soft", consonants were invented (like [ʒ], [v], [f] or [z]). During this period the language became soft and perfect for making songs like Óma îstúriah jânaréluð (A history of the land). The [ʔ] sound like in Old Cuimese huíle' [ɸu'íleʔ] was instantly replaced by the [t] sound.
For example, the same text as above in Old Middle Cuimese: "Gîlém huílet nellôja! Lîs kenáret huí én câsáe nellôja uáy!"
High Middle Cuimese
High Middle Cuimese existed since 1404 AD and was the largest period in the Cuimese language. The [ɸ] sound was replaced by the [f] sound and the letter "k" was replaced either by "qu" (before e, i) or "c" (before everything else). A new letter was introduced: "ç" [s]. The letter "ð" [θ] was replaced by "s", and a new sound was invented: [ʃ].
Modern Cuimese
This period exists since 1795 and is the actual form of Cuimese. The tone was eliminated, new words from English were introduced and articles and genera exist now. The orthography ruled changed in 1901, causing that "h" does not have a sound and "x" has two of them: [ks] and [ʃ]. And old words like "câsá nellôja" were replaced by new ones, like "periz" (prison).
For example, the same text as above in Modern Cuimese: "Gilem fuilet nelloja! Lis quenaret fuil em la perizu uai!"
Phonology
- Main article: Cuimese phonology
Vowels
Cuimese features 5 core vowels and three additional vowels that are used by speakers of some dialects.
| Front | Near-front | Central | Back | |
| Close | i | u | ||
| Near-close | ɪ | |||
| Close-mid | e | o | ||
| Mid | ə | |||
| Open-mid | ɛ | |||
| Near-open | ||||
| Open | a |
Consonants
Modern Cuimese has 18 consonants. The dialects have more than 18, because they still have the [ð] sound.
| ' | Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Palatoalveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labio-velar | Uvular | Glottal |
| Nasal | m | n | |||||||||
| Plosive | p b | t d | k g | ||||||||
| Fricative | f v | s z | ʃ ʒ | ||||||||
| Affricative | |||||||||||
| Approximant | j | w | |||||||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||||||
| Flap | ɾ | ||||||||||
| Trill |
Notes:
- Cuimese also knows [ks].
Orthography
- a [a]
- b [b]
- c [k] before a, o, u, [s] before e, i
- ç [s]
- d [d]
- e [e]
- f [f]
- g [g] before a, o, u, [ʒ] before e, i
- gu [g] before e, i, else [gu]
- h no sound
- i [i]
- j [ʒ]
- k [k], only in foreign words
- l [l]
- m [m]
- n [n]
- o [o]
- p [p]
- qu [k]
- r [ɾ]
- s [s], [ʃ] at the end of a word
- t [t]
- u [u]
- v [v]
- w [w], only in foreign words
- x [ks], [ʃ], [s]
- y [j]
- z [z]
Grammar
- Main article: Cuimese grammar
Noun forms
Modern Cuimese has 5 cases: Nominative, genetive, dative, accusative, ablative. It also has singular and plural. Endings:
- Nominative singular: no ending
- Nominative plural: -s, -is
- Genitive singular: -is, -os
- Genitive plural: -um, -uo
- Dative singular: -i, -ui
- Dative plural: -ibo, -ibo
- Accusative singular: -em, -ium
- Accusative plural: -es, -o
- Ablative singular: -e, -u
- Ablative plural: -ibo, -ibo
Verb forms
Verbs in Modern Cuimese inflect into:
- four persons: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th ("everybody").
- The 4th person is rare, it is not used very often.
- two numbers: singular and plural.
- The 4th person has no "singular-plural" form, it stands for "everybody".
- two moods: indicative, imperative.
- A notable thing is that Cuimese is the only language in the Pseudo-Romance language family which has no subjunctive.
- two voices: active and passive.
- five tenses: present, perfect, imperfect, future, future past.
