#giafar

It is called Iäfar, anglicized Giafar, (literally "speech"), or "Iäfar Lahte (Çam)" ("our speech"). Now, it is a little-known fact that the Principality of Elba was one of the first polities to send colonists to the new world, when Saint Romeo of Elba, a pre-reformation heresiarch who was exiled by the Prince in 1494 for stirring up trouble. Saint Romeo (Elbic: San Roméu) led his followers on a long journey across the Atlantic in the footsteps of Columbus. Although he died en route, his followers reached the island known to the locals as "Mahre Forete" (X-SAMPA /"ma?4e "p\o4e4i/). The inhabitants of Mar Foret (the usual anglicized version of the name), the Keltsam (singular "Kel", from Giafar chel çam Mahreri Forete, "people on Mar Foret"), were hospitable to the Romeans, allowing them to build a settlement on the island. San Roméu, as the Romeans called their settlement (and eventually the entire island) was ideally placed for fishing and, it became apparent, ideally placed to serve as a stopping point for vessels en route to the new world.

The Romeans got along on the whole quite well with the Keltsam, and over time the two cultures each began to adopt elements from the other. Romean Elbic, for example, has many borrowed words from Giafar (giafarri, for example, almost universally replaces Portoferraian parlarri), and when Giafar was first written, its orthography was derived from Elbic's. There is still a thriving community of Giafar-speakers on the island, and education on the island is available in both languages under the constitution of the now-independent Island Republic of Saint Romeo (Elbic: República Insularri da Ssan Roméu; Giafar: Tulchel Mahreno he na Sanromeu).

Now, the language itself.

consonants: /t k ? s ts) p\ l 4 w j m n N/

vowels: /a e i o u/

Giafar orthography is based on Elbic orthography. The following letters have a one-to-one correspondence with sounds:

<t> is /t/

<s> is /s/

<ç> is /ts)/

<f> is /p\/

<l> is /l/

<r> is /4/

<v> is /w/

<m> is /m/

<n> is /n/

<g> is /N/

<a> is /a/

<e> is /e/

<o> is /o/

<u> is /u/

The following letters and digraphs require special explanation:

<c> is /k/ before <a o u> and /ts)/ before <e i>

<i> is /i/ or /j/; /j/ can only occur syllable-initially, and the vowel following /j/ will always be marked with a trema (e.g. <ië> /je/)

<ch> is /k/ before <e i>; before another vowel it is interpreted as two separate consonants, i.e. /k.?/

<h> is /?/ except in the digraph <ch> as above

<chh> is /k.?/ before <e i>

Additionally, in unstressed closed syllables, the vowels /a e i o u/ have allophones /@ E I O U/.

The basic order of a sentence is subject-object-verb, although copular expressions use the order subject-copula-complement instead. Additionally, in spoken Giafar, this basic structure is further complicated by expressing it as a compound clause; more on this later.

The unmarked form of a noun is nominative singular; the unmarked form of a verb is present-future realis positive. Thus, a basic sentence:

chel sarhi

person eat

"a person eats"

In spoken Giafar, this would become

na chel he sarhi

COP person REL eat

"it is a person that eats"

This construction allows for different arguments of the main verb to be emphasized; more on this later. The accusative marker is the suffix -a after a consonant and -ha after a vowel. Thus, a more complex sentence:

chel mahre-ha amva

person land-ACC see

"a person sees the land"

Plurality is optionally marked on animate nouns (and pronouns, which function as nouns in Giafar) with the adjective çam, "many".

chel çam mahre-ha amva

person many land-ACC see

"people see the land"