Re: YACL: Thylean (alternate-history)

Ok, here we go with the verbs...

First, a few necessary sound changes:

CL final /t k b d/ > Th 0 (surprisingly)
CL /w/ after /p b f/ > Th 0


As I had said, the initial goal of Thylean was to make a really
conservative descendant of Latin. However, the CL system seems to me to
have been too impossible to retain by the time of Caesar, so I'm changing
course a bit. Also, I find it more fun to invent a whole new system,
instead of just dogmatically applying sound changes to endless rows of
conjugations and declensions. So, the verb system I'm going to present here
may strike you as quite funky...

Good old present indicative remains constant:

       1st conj.    2nd       3rd + mixed conj.  4th conj.   copula
sing.

1.p.   amu          moniu     regu/capiu         audiu       su
2.p.   amas         monis     regis/capis        audis       es
3.p.   ama          mone      rege/cape          aude        es

pl.

1.p.   amamos       monimos   regimos/capimos    audimos     somos
2.p.   amates       monites   regites/capites    audites     estes
3.p.   aman         monion    regon/capion       audion      son

Infinitives

   pres
       amare        monire    regere/capre       audire      esse
   perf
       amasse       monisse   reixesse/ceipesse  audisse     fesse

Imperatives

       amatu        monitu    regetu/capetu      auditu      estu
       amate        monite    regete/capete      audite      estute

* Note that the old -unt form is retained, after sound changes.
* The 3rd conj. inf. normally drops the mid e, as in 'capre', but the
spelling retains it in words like 'regere' and 'facere', to indicate the
palatalization of the velar.
* The 2nd and 4th conjugations are all but equal in the modes above.
* The singular imperative adopts the old CL alternate -to (mostly used
in "esto, scito, memento", "be, know, remember").
* Note the retention of the archaic perfect infinitives (hehe).
* Note also 1.p. sing. "su" "I am", with /u/ instead of expected /o/; the
lengthening was caused both by analogy to other conjugations, as well as
the monosyllabicity of the word and the finality of the vowel.

Now, around a hundred years after the settlement, late 1st century AD, it
became common in Thylean speech to use 'ducere' with infinitives as an
auxiliary for the continuous aspect. For example "cenare duco" would
mean "I'm eating". Later, as the use of the phrase became greater, the
auxiliary lost its stress and ended up as a mere suffix to the verb
infinitive (similar to the development of the Romance future tense
with 'habere' as the aux. verb).

Thus the new present continous:

       1st conj.    2nd         3rd + mixed conj.
sing.

1.p.   amarcu       monircu     regercu/capercu
2.p.   amarcis
3.p.   amarce       etc

pl.

1.p.   amarcimos    etc
2.p.   amarcites
3.p.   amarcon

Note that in the 3rd and mixed conjugations, the stress moves to the mid e
that were otherwise to be deleted (as it is needed to support the syllable).

The perfect, complete with its alternate stems and anomalous endings, is
still the dominant past tense in Thylean. However, the endings have
shortened a bit, yielding something similar to the Spanish equivalents:

(stress marked with accents)

       1st conj.    2nd conj.   3rd conj.    4th conj.     mixed conj.
sing.

1.p.   amí          moní        reixi        audí          ceipi
2.p.   amesti       monesti     reixesti     audisti       ceipesti
3.p.   amé          moné        reixe        audí          ceipe

pl.

1.p.   amimos       monimos     reixemos     audimos       ceipemos
2.p.   amestes      monestes    reixestes    audistes      ceipestes
3.p.   amiron       moniron     reixiron     audiron       ceipiron

Very conservative forms, all of them.
Note that the 3rd and mixed conjugations do not have final stress in
singular.

Since the perfect infinitive still lives in Thylean, there's nothing to
prevent a past continuous construction with fused 'ducere' (with the aux.
still in present tense)...


       1st conj.    2nd conj.    3rd conj.   4th conj.     mixed conj.
sing.

1.p.   amascu       moniscu      reixescu    audiscu       ceipescu
2.p.   amasces
3.p.   amasce       etc          etc         etc           etc

pl.

1.p.   amascimos
2.p.   amascites    etc          etc         etc           etc
3.p.   amascon

'sce' is pronounced [Se].

With a past continuous available, the imperfect was rendered too useless to
retain. Bye bye.

Thylean happily conserved the future infinitive as well, though abbreviated:

fut inf
       amatusse     monitusse    reictusse    auditusse     captusse

From there, the future simple, by fusion of the supine future form
and 'esse', and future continuous, by fusion of fut inf above and 'ducere',
sic coniugantur:


       1st conj.    2nd conj.    3rd conj.   4th conj.     mixed conj.

Fut simple

sing.

1.p.   amatussu     monitussu    reictussu   auditussu     captussu
2.p.   amatures
3.p.   amatures     etc          etc         etc           etc

pl.

1.p.   amatussomos
2.p.   amaturestes  etc          etc         etc           etc
3.p.   amatusson

Fut cont

sing.

1.p.   amatuscu     monituscu    reictuscu   audituscu    captuscu
2.p.   amatusces
3.p.   amatusce     etc          etc         etc          etc

pl.

1.p.   amatuscimos
2.p.   amatuscites  etc          etc         etc          etc
3.p.   amatuscon

Oh my God, it's Frankenstein!!! Heh, why bother conserving the old system
when you can invent something equally fiendish! ;)

Okay, I think we've all had enough conjugations by now (how many times
haven't we felt that as Latin students?), so passives, subjunctives (not to
mention passive subjunctives), and pluperfects must wait for now. The show
will go on tomorrow, hope we're all still enjoying it :)

Óskar