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Introduction to Ninfeano

From:Eamon Graham <robertg@...>
Date:Saturday, February 8, 2003, 12:42
Hi everyone!  I'm posting this on behalf of my fiancée Sabrina, who
recently completed the main structural work for her first conlang,
Ninfeano.  It's an artlang, being an impression of the Romance
speaking world.  She's discussed it on Romanceconlang, and wrote
this introduction for CONLANG:

   Hello to all the members!

  My name's Sabrina and i joined the group rather recently. I
already intorduced my work on conlangs in groups like
RomanceConlang, but i thought maybe i'd go ahead and introduce it to
the main group, for those who are not already familiar with it.
  I just finished my first conlang,which is named Ninfeano.
  A webpage will soon be available for more details (i'm working on
it), but i'll give you an idea of how i made the language etc.
  First, it's based on 4 Romance languages: French, Italian,
Portuguese and Spanish. I had the idea that, since they are so close
to each other, maybe i could create a language that would be
mutually intelligible with them yet have an identity of its own
(Ninfeano isn't just a mix of languages). I created my vocabulary
mainly using these sources, although i also found inspiration in
Catalan, Occitan, Latin, etc. I think i have now at least 1,000
words.
  One of the goals of Ninfeano is to be easy to pick up. The grammar
is very regular, with only 3 irregular verbs. The other ones are
divided into 3 groups ( -ar , -er, -ir), each person having its own
form. Nouns are declined for number and gender. As a general rule,
the grammar is based on the four languages, retaining only the most
common rules.
  As an example, here's the translation of the Lord's prayer (i've
been working on other texts though):

   Padre Nostro, que es in los cielos: sia santificado tuo nome.
Vena tuo renio. Sia faceda tua volonta in la terra come in lo
cielo.  Dona nos odia nostro pane cotidiano. E perdona nos nostras
debidas, come tanbien nos perdonamos a nostros debidores. E non nos
mete in tentacione, mas libera nos del mal. Parque tuo è lo renio,
la potencia e la gloria, in sempiterno. Amen.

  Hope you'll enjoy it,
  Sabrina

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Rachel Klippenstein <estel_telcontar@...>