Istro-Romanian grammar

The grammar of the Istro-Romanian language is similar to those of other Eastern Romance languages.

Morphology

The theorized evolution of Istro-Romanian from Daco-Romanian, a language that may have evolved independently, shows two distinct features:

  1. Noun declination shows a rationalisation of forms: normal noun declination of Romanian has almost totally disappeared in Istro-Romanian;
  2. Whereas verbal inflexion is more conservative and its evolution is not so pronounced.

Nouns

The article has two forms: definite and indefinite. The definite article may be nominal or adjectival. The nominal being added to nouns, and the adjectival placed before adjectives.

The nominal forms are: for masculine nouns: -l and -le, for feminine -a in the singular, and for masculine -i and feminine -le in the plural.

However, as in spoken Daco-Romanian the -l of the masculine singular definite article is dropped leaving the linking -u- vowel, e.g. DR lupul > IR lupu (the wolf), DR ursul > IR ursu (the bear), DR mielul > IR mľelu (the lamb).

The -le ending is used for all masculine singular nouns ending in -e, e.g. fråtele (the brother), sorele (the sun), cărele (the dog).

Some examples of Masculine nouns showing case endings, nominative=accusative, genitive=dative. The vocative case is not shown as this normally corresponds with the nominative.

CaseIstro-RomanianAromanianMegleno-RomanianRomanianEnglish
Nom/Acc sg.fiľuhiljluiľiufiulthe son
Gen/Dat sg.lu fiľua hiljluilu iľiual fiuluiof/to the son
Nom/Acc pl.fiľihiljliiľiifiiithe sons
Gen/Dat pl.lu fiľia hiljlorlu iľiial fiilorof/to the sons
CaseIstro-RomanianAromanianMegleno-RomanianRomanianEnglish
Nom/Acc sg.socrusocrulusocrusocrulthe father-in-law
Gen/Dat sg.lu socrua socruluilu socrual socruluiof/to the father-in-law
Nom/Acc pl.socrisocrisocrisocriithe fathers-in-law
Gen/Dat pl.lu socria socrilorlu socrial socrilorof/to the fathers-in-law
CaseIstro-RomanianAromanianMegleno-RomanianRomanianEnglish
Nom/Acc sg.fråtelefratefratelifratelethe brother
Gen/Dat sg.lu fråtelea frateluilu fratelial frateluiof/to the brother
Nom/Acc pl.fråţfratsljifraţilifraţiithe brothers
Gen/Dat pl.lu fråţa fratslorlu fraţiloral fraţilorof/to the brothers

Feminine nouns

The -a replaces -ĕ and -e, e.g. cåsĕ > cåsa (the house), nopte > nopta (the night); however a few feminine nouns ending in a stressed -e behave differently, e.g. ste > stevu (the star), ne > nevu (the snow).

CaseIstro-RomanianAromanianMegleno-RomanianRomanianEnglish
Nom/Acc sg.fetafeatafetafatathe girl
Gen/Dat sg.lu fetaa featiljeilu fetaal feteiof/to the girl
CaseIstro-RomanianAromanianMegleno-RomanianRomanianEnglish
Nom/Acc sg.muľeramuljareamuľiareamuiereathe woman
Gen/Dat sg.lu muľeraa muljariljeilu muľiareaal muiereiof/to the woman
CaseIstro-RomanianAromanianMegleno-RomanianRomanianEnglish
Nom/Acc sg.stevusteaosteuasteauathe star
Gen/Dat sg.lu stevua steaoljeilu steuaal steleiof/to the star
Nom/Acc pl.stelelestealestelilistelelethe stars
Gen/Dat pl.lu stelelea stealilorlu steliloral stelelorof/to the stars

Neuter nouns behave as Masculine nouns in the singular and Feminine in the plural (sometimes known as Mixed nouns)

The forms of the adjectival article are ćela for the masculine and ćå for the feminine singular, and in the plural masculine ćeľ and feminine ćåle, e.g. ćela bur (the good one).

The masculine indefinite article is un and feminine is o. The declination of the indefinite article has disappeared. Examples: un om (a man), un cå (a horse), o misĕ (a table), o båbĕ (an old woman).

Adjectives

Adjectives also have three genders, the masculine and feminine forms from the Latin, while the neuter form is of Slavic origin. E.g. bur, burĕ, buro (good). The comparative adjective is måi bur (better) and the superlative is ćel måi bur (the best).

The adjective may precede the noun: bura zi ((the)good day), which in itself can be made definite by the change of -ĕ to -a; or follows the noun: feta muşåtĕ (the beautiful girl).

Pronouns

Definite pronouns can be personal, possessive, demonstrative, relative and interrogative.

Personal pronouns

CaseIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Nom.iotuieiånoivoiieľ/iåle
Iyouhesheweyouthey
Acc.miretireălălnevelor
Acc.me/m'te/t'ăl/l'one/n've/v'lor
meyouhimherusyouthem
Dat.mi/âm/m'ţi/âţ/ţ'âľ/ľ/luiâľ/ľ/ľeini/ne/n'vi/ve/v'le/ľ
to meyouhimherusyouthem

e.g. m-åm ărs (I laughed), l-åi vezut (you saw him)

Possessive pronouns:

Sg. Masc.Fem.Pl. Masc.Fem.English
meu/mevmemeľmelemy
teu/tevteteľteleyour
seu/luise/ľeiseľselehis/her/its
noştrunoştrĕnoştrinoştreour
voştruvoştrĕvoştrivoştreyour
lorlorlorlortheir

e.g. mev ćåće (my father), lui căre (his dog), ľei måie (her mother), noştri cåľ (our horses)

Demonstrative pronouns

May also begin with ţ- or ť- e.g. ţest om (this man)

Likewise may begin with ţ- e.g. ţåle lingure (those spoons)

Relative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns

Indefinite pronouns

(M - F)

one: un - o

some: vrun - vro

one/a: ur - o

not a: ničur - ničurĕ

nothing: nimic

something: ćeva

other: åt - åta - åto

each: saki - saca - saco

whichever: cătcoder

Cardinal numbers

The majority of cardinal numbers are from Latin stock, with several borrowings from the local Slavic

  1. un/ur (M), o (F)
  2. doi (M), do (F)
  3. trei
  4. påtru
  5. ćinć / ţinţ
  6. şåse
  7. şåpte
  8. opt / osăn
  9. devet
  10. zåće / zeće / deset
  11. urprezåće / iednaist
  12. doiprezåće / dvanaist
  13. treiprezåće / trenaist

19. devetprezåće

20. dovotezåće / dvadeset / dvaiset

21. dovotezåće şi ur

30. treivotezåće

40. cvårnaru

50. ćinćvotezåće

...

100. sto

101. sto şi ur

200. dovotesto

1000. miľår / tisuť / tåvžânt

Notes:

11 is composed of '1 on 10' ur-pre-zåće

20 is composed of '2 times 10' do-vote-zåće, likewise, 200 is '2 times 100' do-vote-sto

1000 miľår comes from Venetian dialect, tisuť from Slavic, and tåvžânt from German.

Ordinal

(M - F)

1st. prvi - prva

2nd. doile - dova

3rd. treile - treia

4th. påtrile - påtra

5th. ćinćile - ćinća

6th. şåsele - şåsa

7th. şåptele - şåpta

8th. osmule - osma

9th. devetile - deveta

10th. desetile - deseta

last zådni / zădăńu - zådńa

See also

References

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