"Roumant", or whatever it may be called. PART III

Well, as I promised last week, here is a review of the pronominal system of
"Roumant", where will be dealt such issues as the demonstrative pronouns and
adjectives (quite unusual for a Romance language I think), the interrogative,
exclamative and relative pronouns and adjectives. The personal pronouns,
possessive pronouns and adjectives, and finally the so-called indefinite
pronouns and adjectives will be dealt in the next post (because I'm lacking time
right now :( ).

THE DEMONSTRATIVES:

The demonstratives pronouns:
Demonstratives have three levels of deixis (this/that/yon). The only real
demonstrative pronouns can be used only to refer to things. They are:
stecì /st@'si/: this (thing)
stelì /st@'li/: that (thing)
stelà /st@'la/: yon (thing)
There is also a form ste /st@/ (st' /st/ before a vowel or h + vowel) whose only
use is as dummy subject of impersonal verbs (like plouvîre: to rain -> ste
pleuvet /st@'pl2v/: "it rains") or in expressions like st'ha /'sta/: "there is",
and st'êt /'stE/: "it is".
There are no real demonstrative pronouns to refer to living creatures. Instead
are used the third person emphatic pronouns, followed by the adverbs cì, lì or
là (connected to the pronoun by a hyphen). Thus we obtain the different forms:
lui-cì /'lHisi/: this one (masc. sg.)
lui-lì /'lHili/: that one (masc. sg.)
lui-là /'lHila/: yon one (masc. sg.)
lei-cì /'lEsi/: this one (fem. sg.)
lei-lì /'lEli/: that one (fem. sg.)
lei-là /'lEla/: yon one (fem. sg.)
lorr-cì /'lOrsi/: these ones (pl.)
lorr-lì /'lOrli/: those ones (pl.)
lorr-là /'lOrla/: yons (?) ones (pl.)

The demonstrative adjectives:
As for demonstrative pronouns referring to living things, there are no real
demonstrative adjectives. Instead, the definite articles (e, a, ès and as) are
used in conjunction with the adverbs cì, lì and là. The adverbs can be put after
the noun (then they are connected to it with a hyphen) or before the article, in
which case they are truncated in c' /s/ for cì and l' /l/ for both lì and là (we
thus lose this distinction). Both a lingue-cì /a'lE~gsi/ and c'a lingue
/sa'lE~g/ thus mean: "this language".

THE INTERROGATIVES AND EXCLAMATIVES:

The interrogative pronouns:
To ask about people, one uses the interrogative pronoun queum /k9~/: who? which
has a plural form queumz /k9~/ (the difference is heard only in case of
liaison). About things, one uses qué /ke/: what?, and about abstract matters one
uses que /k@/: what? (which is truncated into qu' /k/ in front of a vowel or h +
vowel).
To propose a choice, you use the pronoun e quêou /@'kEu/: which one? which
agrees in gender and number with the the understated noun:
e quêou /@'kEu/: masc. sg.
ès quêoux /E'kEu/: masc. pl.
a quêle /a'kEl/: fem.sg.
as quêles /a'kEl/: fem.pl.

The interrogative and exclamative adjective:
It is identical for interrogation and exclamation, means "what?, which?, or
what!" and agrees with the completed noun in gender and number. It is:
quêou /'kEu/: masc. sg.
quêoux /'kEu/: masc. pl.
quêle /'kEl/: fem.sg.
quêles /'kEl/: fem.pl.

THE RELATIVES:

The relative pronouns:
cue /k@/: that (which is cu' /k/ in front of a vowel or h + vowel) is employed
when the antecedent is expressed, when the relative subclause is not separated
from it with a comma, and when the relative pronoun is object of the verb of the
relative subclause. In any other case, you have to employ cueum /k9~/: who(m)
for people (cueumz in plural) and cué /ke/: which for things. When the relative
subclause is separated from the antecedent with a comma, you can also use the
form e cuêou /@'kEu/ which forms correspond to those of the interrogative
pronoun e quêou.
Also, when the antecedent is not expressed, you have to use:
- for things, the neuter article o followed by the relative pronoun needed (cué
or cue),
- for persons, the third person emphatic pronouns lui, lei or lorr, followed by
the relative pronoun need (cueum(z) or cue).

The relative adjective:
There is only one relative adjective, exactly corresponding to "whose" in
English. It has the following forms:
coj /kO/: masc. sg.
cojs /kO/: masc. pl.
cojje /kOZ/: fem. sg.
cojjes /kOZ/: fem. pl.

The adverbial relative pronouns:
They are adverbial forms used as relatives, which are equivalent to a group
"preposition + relative". They cannot be used if the antecedent is a person.
They are:
cuend /ka~/: when (equivalent to â + relative, with temporal meaning)
óv /o/: where, to which (equivalent to â + relative, with spatial or other
meaning)
ennóv /a~'no/: where, at which (equivalent to em + relative)
coj /kO/ (not to be confused with the possessive relative): of which (equivalent
to de + relative, except for possession)

Well, next time I'll finish this post about pronouns. Just hang in there!
there's still a lot to see :)) .

Christophe.