Latin for Conlangers

     For information in a visual format, be sure to watch this video from the Parchment Lore channel:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5jTnQwpZq4

     Latin is a wonderful language that we can draw inspiration from as creators of fictional languages. In this article, I’ll discuss various features of the Lingua Latina that could serve as fonts of creativity for your projects.

     1) Regular and Perfect Stems

     In Latin, we have two basic form of the verb: basic, and perfect. With the former, we can produce the imperfect, present, and simple future tenses. Meanwhile, with the latter, we can produce the past perfect, perfect, and future perfect tenses.

      This feature is inherited from Proto-Indo-European, and remains a distinctive feature of the language.

     2)  Noun Cases and Declensions:

     Latin determines the given role of a word in a sentence with grammatical endings known as cases. The cases found in Classical Latin include the:

     Nominative: Determines the subject of the sentence.

     Accusative: Determines the direct object of the sentence.

     Dative: Determines the indirect object of the sentence.

     Genitive: Determines the possessor in a sentence.

     Ablative: Many functions, including instrumental and locative signification.

     Vocative: Determines the object of direct address.

      These cases have different forms depending on a noun’s declension, which formed due to the history of the language and the original ending of the word. Latin has 5 declensions:

     1st declension: O-stem nouns.

     2nd declension: A-stem nouns.

     3rd declension: I-stem nouns and consonant stems.

     4th declension: U-stem nouns.

     5th declension: E-stem nouns.

     3) Noun Gender:

     Latin has 3 noun genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. The feminine gender is thought to have arisen from a collective suffix, which is why it is used to mark the plural Nominative, Accusative, and Vocative for the neuter gender.

     Interestingly, the neuter gender’s Nominative and Vocative forms in the singular are identical to the Accusative singular. This may have come from the fact that inanimate, or neuter, nouns are unlikely to be subjects or objects of direct address.

     4) Interrogative Distinction:

      Latin has 3 distinct interrogative markers:

     Num: Used for questions with a “Surely not!” intonation.

     -ne: Used for questions with a neutral intonation.

     Nonne: Used for questions with a “Surely!” intonation.

     5) Passive and Active Voice:

     Latin has seperate verb forms conjugated for person for the passive and active voices. Passive voice promotes the object of a phrase to subject position: She gave me a gift –> I was given a gift.

     However, there are exceptions known as “deponent” or “semi-deponent” verbs. These verbs may use passive forms for active significations, and exhibit other rule-defying characteristics.

     6) Subjunctive:

     The Subjunctive mood in Latin denotes unreal situations or actions. Similer to the passive tense, the Subjunctive mood is conjugated for person, aspect, and tense.

     7) Lack of Articles:

     Latin does not have either definite or indefinite articles. This makes the sentence “The daughter gave the mother a present.” functionally the same as “Daughter gave mother present.” sans any consideration about word order.