Arlonian Language

**Arlonian** (Arlonisch) is a language spoken across southern Tōkai and northern Erleste. It is the national language of the Empire of Kaldania and is recognized as a minority language in Yokoze, Ankika, Shingō, and Tsukimoto. It is believed to share a common ancestor with the Ankikan language.

Arlonian is an inflected language, with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter); and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs. It is a pluricentric language; the three standardized variants are Arlonian, Südlandisch, and Anholtan. It is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many varieties existing in Tōkai, Erleste, and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments.

## Grammar

Arlonian is a fusional language with a moderate degree of inflection, with three grammatical genders; as such, there can be a large number of words derived from the same root.

### Noun Inflection

Arlonian nouns inflect by case, gender, and number:

* four cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative.
* three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Word endings sometimes reveal grammatical gender: for instance, nouns ending in *-ung* (-ing), *-schaft* (-ship), *-keit* or *heit* (-hood, -ness) are feminine, nouns ending in *-chen* or *-lein* (diminutive forms) are neuter and nouns ending in *-ismus* (-ism) are masculine. Others are more variable, sometimes depending on the region in which the language is spoken. And some endings are not restricted to one gender, for example: *-er* (-er), such as *Feier* (feminine), celebration, party; *Arbeiter* (masculine), labourer; and *Gewitter* (neuter), thunderstorm.
* two numbers: singular and plural.

### Verb inflection

The inflection of Arlonian verbs includes:

* two main conjugation classes: weak and strong. Additionally, there is a third class, known as mixed verbs, whose conjugation combines features of both the strong and weak patterns.
* three persons: first, second and third.
* two numbers: singular and plural.
* three moods: indicative, imperative and subjunctive (in addition to infinitive).
* two voices: active and passive. The passive voice uses auxiliary verbs and is divisible into static and dynamic. Static forms show a constant state and use the verb ’'to be'’ (sein). Dynamic forms show an action and use the verb "to become'’ (werden).
* two tenses without auxiliary verbs (present and preterite) and four tenses constructed with auxiliary verbs (perfect, pluperfect, future and future perfect).
* the distinction between grammatical aspects is rendered by combined use of the subjunctive or preterite marking so the plain indicative voice uses neither of those two markers; the subjunctive by itself often conveys reported speech; subjunctive plus preterite marks the conditional state; and the preterite alone shows either plain indicative (in the past), or functions as a (literal) alternative for either reported speech or the conditional state of the verb, when necessary for clarity.
* the distinction between perfect and progressive aspect is and has, at every stage of development, been a productive category of the older language and in nearly all documented dialects, but strangely enough it is now rigorously excluded from written usage in its present normalised form.
* disambiguation of completed vs. uncompleted forms is widely observed and regularly generated by common prefixes ('**blicken'** [to look], '**erblicken'** [to see – unrelated form: *sehen*]).

#### Verb Prefixes

The meaning of basic verbs can be expanded and sometimes radically changed through the use of a number of prefixes. Some prefixes have a specific meaning; the prefix ***zer-*** refers to destruction, as in ***zer**reißen* (to tear apart), ***zer**brechen* (to break apart), ***zer**schneiden* (to cut apart). Other prefixes have only the vaguest meaning in themselves; ***ver-*** is found in a number of verbs with a large variety of meanings, as in ***ver**suchen* (to try) from *suchen* (to seek), ***ver**nehmen* (to interrogate) from *nehmen* (to take), ***ver**teilen* (to distribute) from *teilen* (to share), ***ver**stehen* (to understand) from *stehen* (to stand).

Other examples include the following: *haften* (to stick), ***ver**haften* (to detain); *kaufen* (to buy), ***ver**kaufen* (to sell); *hören* (to hear), ***auf**hören* (to cease); *fahren* (to drive), ***er**fahren* (to experience).