Enchanta

Enchanta (Ekana in Enchanta) is a Urthian Language, is a Carjado-Matrélikish language that originated in the nation of Vivancantadia, in which is the most predominant language in the pre-mentioned nation, having some relevance on both Impelanzan and Cukish languages.

Phonology

Modern Enchanta has seven vowels and 29 consonants. Like Staynish, Enchanta has dental fricatives /θ/ (like the th in thin) and /ð/ (like the th in this), written as th and dh, which are rare cross-linguistically.

Cante uses long and nasal vowels, which are absent in Tadie, and the mid-central vowel ë is lost at the end of the word. The stress is fixed mainly on the last syllable. Cante n (femën: compare English feminine) changes to r by rhotacism in Tadie (femër).

Consonants

Albanian consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar		Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
				plain	velar.
Nasal		m		n			ɲ	(ŋ)
Plosive	voiceless	p		t				k
	voiced	b		d				ɡ
Affricate	voiceless			t͡s		t͡ʃ	c͡ç
	voiced			d͡z		d͡ʒ	ɟ͡ʝ
Fricative	voiceless	f	θ	s		ʃ			h
	voiced	v	ð	z		ʒ
Approximant				l	ɫ		j
Flap				ɾ
Trill				r

IPA	Description	Written as	Staynish approximation
m	Bilabial nasal	m	man
n	Alveolar nasal	n	not
ɲ	Palatal nasal	nj	~onion
ŋ	Velar nasal	ng	bang
p	Voiceless bilabial plosive	p	spin
b	Voiced bilabial plosive	b	bat
t	Voiceless alveolar plosive	t	stand
d	Voiced alveolar plosive	d	debt
k	Voiceless velar plosive	k	scar
ɡ	Voiced velar plosive	g	go
t͡s	Voiceless alveolar affricate	c	hats
d͡z	Voiced alveolar affricate	x	goods
t͡ʃ	Voiceless postalveolar affricate	ç	chin
d͡ʒ	Voiced postalveolar affricate	xh	jet
c͡ç	Voiceless palatal affricate	q	~cute
ɟ͡ʝ	Voiced palatal affricate	gj	~gear
f	Voiceless labiodental fricative	f	far
v	Voiced labiodental fricative	v	van
θ	Voiceless dental fricative	th	thin
ð	Voiced dental fricative	dh	then
s	Voiceless alveolar fricative	s	son
z	Voiced alveolar fricative	z	zip
ʃ	Voiceless postalveolar fricative	sh	show
ʒ	Voiced postalveolar fricative	zh	vision
h	Voiceless glottal fricative	h	hat
r	Alveolar trill	rr	Spanish perro
ɾ	Alveolar tap	r	Spanish pero
l	Alveolar lateral approximant	l	lean
ɫ	Velarized alveolar lateral approximant	ll	ball
j	Palatal approximant	j	yes

Notes:

• The contrast between flapped r and trilled rr is the same as in Cukish . In most of the dialects, as also in Modern Enchanta, the single "r" changes from an alveolar flap /ɾ/ into a retroflex flap [ɽ], or even an alveolar approximant [ɹ] when it is at the end of a word.
• The palatal nasal /ɲ/ corresponds to the Cukish ñ and the Wachovian and Fortunan gn. It is pronounced as one sound, not a nasal plus a glide.
• The ll sound is a velarised lateral, close to Staynish dark L.
• The letter ç is sometimes written ch due to technical limitations because of its use in English sound and its analogy to the other digraphs xh, sh, and zh. Usually it is written simply c or more rarely q with context resolving any ambiguities.
• The position of q and gj sound is not clear. Many speakers merge them into the palatoalveolar sounds ç and xh. This is especially common in Northern Cante, but is increasingly the case in Tosk as well. Other speakers reduced them into /j/ in consonant clusters, such as in the word fjollë, which before standardisation was written as fqollë ( < Medieval Greek φακιολης).
• The ng can pronounced as /ŋ/ in final position, otherwise is an allophone of n before k and g.
• Before q and gj, the n is always pronounced /ɲ/ but this is not reflected in the orthography.
• /θ, ð, ɫ/ are interdental.

Vowels

IPA	Description	Written as	Staynish approximation
i	Close front unrounded vowel	i	seed
y	Close front rounded vowel	y	French tu, German Lüge
ɛ	Open-mid front unrounded vowel	e	bed
a	Open central unrounded vowel	a	cow
ə	Schwa	ë	about, the
ɔ	Open-mid back rounded vowel	o	law
u	Close back rounded vowel	u	boot

Grammar

Enchanta has a canonical word order of SVO (subject–verb–object) like Staynish . Enchantan nouns are categorised by gender (masculine, feminine and neuter) and inflected for number (singular and plural) and case. There are five declensions and six cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, ablative, and vocative), although the vocative only occurs with a limited number of words, and the forms of the genitive and dative are identical (a genitive is produced when the prepositions i/e/të/së are used with the dative). Some dialects also retain a locative case, which is not present in Modern Enchanta. The cases apply to both definite and indefinite nouns, and there are numerous cases of syncretism.

The following shows the declension of mal (mountain), a masculine noun which takes "i" in the definite singular:

	Indefinite singular	Indefinite plural	Definite singular	Definite plural
Nominative	një mal (a mountain)	male (mountains)	mali (the mountain)	malet (the mountains)
Accusative	një mal	male	malin	malet
Genitive	i/e/të/së një mali	i/e/të/së maleve	i/e/të/së malit	i/e/të/së maleve
Dative	një mali	maleve	malit	maleve
Ablative	(prej) një mali	(prej) malesh	(prej) malit	(prej) maleve

The following shows the declension of the masculine noun zog (bird), a masculine noun which takes "u" in the definite singular:

	Indefinite singular	Indefinite plural	Definite singular	Definite plural
Nominative	një zog (a bird)	zogj (birds)	zogu (the bird)	zogjtë (the birds)
Accusative	një zog	zogj	zogun	zogjtë
Genitive	i/e/të/së një zogu	i/e/të/së zogjve	i/e/të/së zogut	i/e/të/së zogjve
Dative	një zogu	zogjve	zogut	zogjve
Ablative	(prej) një zogu	(prej) zogjsh	(prej) zogut	(prej) zogjve

The following table shows the declension of the feminine noun vajzë (girl):

	Indefinite singular	Indefinite plural	Definite singular	Definite plural
Nominative	një vajzë (a girl)	vajza (girls)	vajza (the girl)	vajzat (the girls)
Accusative	një vajzë	vajza	vajzën	vajzat
Genitive	i/e/të/së një vajze	i/e/të/së vajzave	i/e/të/së vajzës	i/e/të/së vajzave
Dative	një vajze	vajzave	vajzës	vajzave
Ablative	(prej) një vajze	(prej) vajzash	(prej) vajzës	(prej) vajzave

The definite article is placed after the noun as in many other Arcturian languages, like in Cukish, Arcturian Islander and Impelanzan.

• The definite article can be in the form of noun suffixes, which vary with gender and case.
  • For example, in singular nominative, masculine nouns add -i, or those ending in -g/-k/-h take -u (to avoid palatalization):
    • mal (mountain) / mala (the mountain);
    • libër (book) / libria (the book);
    • zoge (bird) / zogea (the bird).
  • Feminine nouns take the suffix -(i/j)a:
    • veturë (car) / veturie (the car);
    • shtëpi (house) / shtëpie (the house);
    • lule (flower) / luljie (the flower).
• Neuter nouns take -t.

Enchanta has developed an analytical verbal structure in place of the earlier synthetic system, inherited from Auroran system. Its complex system of moods (six types) and tenses (three simple and five complex constructions) is distinctive among Arcturian languages. There are two general types of conjugations.

Enchanta verbs, like those of other Arcturian languages, have an "admirative" mood (mënyra habitore) that is used to indicate surprise on the part of the speaker or to imply that an event is known to the speaker by report and not by direct observation. In some contexts, this mood can be translated using English "apparently".

• Ti flet ekana. "You speak Enchanta." (indicative)
• Ti fliske ekana! "You (surprisingly) speak Enchanta!" (admirative)
• Rtuga është e maybellr. "The street is closed." (indicative)
• Rtuga qenka e maybellr. "(Apparently,) The street is closed." (admirative)

For more information on verb conjugation and on inflection of other parts of speech, see Enchantan morphology.

Word order

Enchantan word order is relatively free. To say 'Sammy ate all the oranges' in Enchanta, one may use any of the following orders, with slight pragmatic differences:

• SVO: Sammi i hëngri të gjithë portokallët.
• SOV: Sammi të gjithë portokallët i hëngri.
• OVS: Të gjithë portokallët i hëngri Sammi.
• OSV: Të gjithë portokallët Sammi i hëngri.
• VSO: I hëngri Sammi të gjithë portokallët.
• VOS: I hëngri të gjithë portokallët Sammi.

However, the most common order is subject–verb–object.

The verb can optionally occur in sentence-initial position, especially with verbs in the non-active form (forma joveprore):

• Parashikohet një ndërprerje "An interruption is anticipated".

Negation

Verbal negation in Enchanta is mood-dependent, a trait shared with some fellow Arcturian languages such as Arcturia.

In indicative, conditional, or admirative sentences, negation is expressed by the particles nuk or s' in front of the verb, for example:

• Dilen nuk flet zteylisht "Dylan does not speak Staynish";
• Dilen s'flet zteylisht "Dylan doesn't speak Staynish";
• Nuk e di "I do not know";
• S'e di "I don't know".

Subjunctive, imperative, optative, or non-finite forms of verbs are negated with the particle mos:

• Mos retaro "do not forget!".

Numerals

njëa—one tetëmbëdhjetë—eighteen dye—two nëntëmbëdhjetë—nineteen trio/treo—three njëzet—twenty katëre—four njëzetenjë—twenty-one peseë—five njëzetedy—twenty-two gjashteë—six tridhjetë—thirty shtateë—seven dyzet/katërdhjetë—forty teteë—eight pesëdhjetë—fifty nënteë—nine gjashtëdhjetë—sixty dhjeteë—ten shtatëdhjetë—seventy njëmbëdhjetë—eleven tetëdhjetë—eighty dymbëdhjetë—twelve nëntëdhjetë—ninety trembëdhjetë—thirteen njëqind—one hundred katërmbëdhjetë—fourteen pesëqind—five hundred pesëmbëdhjetë—fifteen njëmijë—one thousand gjashtëmbëdhjetë—sixteen një milion—one million shtatëmbëdhjetë—seventeen një miliard—one billion