In "Friuli" Wikipedia, I came across an odd feature
for a Romance language: different forms of the verb
for declarations and questions.
The "invocation" ending seems like a subjunctive, so I
can deal with that. It also seems to have an altered
stem.
What's curious is that the question and invocation
endings are the same.
The declarative pronouns strike me as odd --similar to
English "I do work"
Where is this system from? Friulia is near Slovenia
and not too far from Austria. The pre-Roman population
was supposedly Celtic and after the Romans, the
Lombards moved in. Could any of these given an impetus
to this system?
I didn't see anything similar mentioned regarding
other Rhaeto-Romance, but the articles were pretty
much stubs. So does this also exist for Ladin and
Rumantsch?
The language itself is interesting --it looks like a
very early form of French strongly influenced by
Italian. And anyone with a basic knowledge of French
plus another Romance language can read it easily.
Clitic subject pronouns
A feature of Friulian are the clitic subject pronouns.
These, known in Friulian as pleonastics, are never
stressed; they are used together with the verbs to
express the subject, and can be found before the verb
in declarative sentences or immediately after it in
case of interrogative or vocative (otative) sentences.
Weak pronouns
Declaration Question Invocation
I o -io -io
You tu -tu -tu
He al -ial -ial
She e -ie -ie
We o -o -o
You o -o -o
They -a -o -o
An example: jo o lavori means I work; jo lavorio?
means Do I work?, while lavorassio means I wish I
worked.
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