A language in which almost everything is expressed in the ablative case.

The shattering victories of the Xiongnu Confederation against Han China in the early first century CE secured their southern border and allowed them to turn their conquests towards the Central Asian steppes. This, alongside pressures from climate change, caused a number of Turkic tribes to migrate westwards, eventually settling around modern Romania. They came under the vassalage of the Roman Empire, which had settled neighbouring parts of Germania.

While the Ablavese tribes never came under full Roman citizenship, the strong commercial and military ties caused the culture to become heavily Latinised by the third century CE. During this period the language underwent a dramatic shift; whereas Old Ablavese was distinctively Turkic, Classical Ablavese was, in most ways, a dialect of Latin. Nonetheless, certain grammatical aspects and constructions of Old Ablavese persisted, as well as some aspects of the vocabulary which are similar to that of Turkish or Kazakh.

As its name suggests, Ablavese makes heavy use of the ablative case to express concepts that in standard Latin would have been expressed using the genitive or dative cases, and many transitive verbs are replaced with ablative constructions. These constructions reflect a cultural memory of migration and displacement that remained prominent amongst the Abla, alongside an animist, pantheistic worldview in which individuals derive their abilities, emotions, pleasures, rights and duties from others, including inanimate objects. ‘Ablativese’ was originally a pejorative exonym, mockingly used by Romans to describe this peculiar grammatical feature of the language; it has stuck and carries no such negative connotations today.

With the decline of the Western Roman Empire, the Ablavese-speaking tribes began to regain their independence, and a number of fiefdoms united to form the Kingdom of Abla, around modern Ukraine and Romania. While the kingdom was still nominally a vassal of the Eastern Roman Empire, the region was largely isolated and the language continued to evolve independently of the Western Romance languages. The transition from Classical to Middle Ablavese was characterised by changes in vocabulary and phonology, but these tended to be more conservative compared to those found in other Romance languages; Ablavese maintained its distinctive grammar.

The arrival of the Mongol Empire and the establishment of trade routes with Western Europe brought significant commerce and investment, as well as cultural interest, to the region. The adoption of the printing press and the resulting growth in local literature in the 16th century marked the transition into Early Modern Ablavese, notably characterised by the 1558 translation of the Bible into Ablavese. Notable developments in Early Modern Ablavese include the loss of grammatical gender, and orthographic reforms that standardised many irregular spellings, including the Latinisation of many words of Turkic origin.

The Kingdom of Abla faced internal instability, partly as a consequence of the Reformation, and was defeated by and eventually annexed into the Ottoman Empire. The territory was later reconquered by the Austrian Empire, but Abla did not restore its independence. While no longer an officially recognised language anywhere, there are now communities of Ablavese speakers in most Western European cities, whose dialects are mutually intelligible although some aspects of phonology have been influenced by local factors.

• Ablavese vocabulary is predominantly Latin based, with a few vestigial terms deriving from Proto-Turkic.
• Nouns and adjectives have three cases: the nominative (subjects), the accusative (most direct objects) and the ablative (everything else). The nominative and accusative cases do not inflect; the ablative case has its own set of endings.
• Nouns and adjectives are mostly not gendered, except for a small number of Latinate neuter nouns that have an irregular ending.
• Verb conjugation is similar to Western Romance languages.
• Ablative constructions are everywhere; the direct objects of many verbs are in the ablative case.

• The letters k, w, y and z, and the digraphs ch, th and ph, are found only in loanwords (especially from Greek).
• Turkic vocabulary from Old Ablavese are not considered loanwords; their spelling is Latinized, thus, cojun and not koyun.
• Contractions from Latin:
  • cVs contracts to x, thus locus -> ox (abl. occo); Acis -> Ax (ablative Acido)
  • mVn contracts to mm, thus femina -> femme

• c is pronounced /k/.
• j is /j/, not /dʒ/.
• gn is pronounced /ɲ/:
  • agnus magno /aɲus maɲɔ/.
• v is labilalised /vʷ/, with the upper teeth touching the inside of the lower lip.
• x is usually /ks/, but is /kǝs/ in contractions from Latin:
  • exit /ɛksit/
  • but oxiste /okǝsistɛ/.
• The unvoiced plosives /k/, /p/, /t/ are unaspirated.
• The fricatives /ʒ/, /θ/ and /ʃ/ are found only in loanwords.
• Doubled consonants (e.g. femme, fille) are geminated.

• a and o are /a/ and /ɔ/ respectively.
• e is usually /ɛ/.
• -e at the end of a word is weakened to /ǝ/ if it follows a vowel or a doubled consonant:
  • femme /fɛmːǝ/, die /diǝ/
  • but nomine /nominɛ/.
• i is usually long /i/, not /ɪ/.
• u is usually the rounded back vowel /u/, except in certain Turkic words in which it is pronounced as the forward vowel /y/:
  • cojun /kɔjyn/.
• Doubled vowels (usually found in the ablative plural ending -iis) may be rearticulated or simply lengthened
  • filiis either /filiɂis/ or /filiːs/.

• Usually on the penultimate syllable of a word.
  • Thus fille, venator, but venatoro.
• Inflected forms of 3rd declension nouns (see below) are sometimes follow the stress of the root word:
  • milito, nomino.

The principle of vowel harmony is inherited from Proto-Turkic (in common with modern Turkish) and is still present in words inherited from Old Ablavese; but was significantly weakened in Classical and later tongues with the adoption of Latinate vocabulary.

Nouns have three cases, and the nominative and accusative cases have the same form.

nom., acc. sg.	abl. sg.	nom., acc. pl.	abl. pl.	meaning
le femme	lo femmo	les femmes	lis femmis	woman
le fille	lo fillo	les filles	lis fillis	girl, daughter
le annus	lo anno	les annes	lis annis	year
le filius	lo filio	les filies	lis filiis	boy, son
le ovum	lo ovo	les ove	lis ovis	egg
le bos	lo bovo	les boves	lis bovis	cow
le homo	lo homino	les homines	lis hominis	man, human
le leo	lo leono	les leones	lis leonis	lion
le miles	lo milito	les milites	lis militis	soldier
le venator	lo venatoro	les venatores	lis venatoris	hunter
le nomen	lo nomino	les nomine	lis nominis	name
le manus	lo mano	les manes	lis manis	hand
le die	lo dio	les dies	lis diis	day

Latin-derived nouns generally reflect their Latin roots.

• 1st declension femina -> femme, filia -> fille, etc. and -e -> -o.
• 2nd declension nouns are unchanged: annus, murus, and -us -> -o.
• 3rd declension nouns have an irregular nominative/accusative singular form, but the other cases and numbers follow the regular endings.
• 4th and 5th declension nouns are regularised into the 2nd and 1st declensions respectively, e.g. dies -> die.
• A handful of ‘neuter’ nouns such as nomen and ovum have nom./acc. pl. form ending in -e; these correspond to neuter nouns in Latin.

Turkic-derived nouns often behave like 3rd declension nouns, but some have been regularised.

nom., acc. sg.	abl. sg.	nom., acc. pl.	abl. pl.	meaning
le cojun	lo cojo	les cojes	lis cojis	sheep
le coppec	lo coppecco	les coppecces	lis coppeccis	dog
le sunge	lo sungo	les sunges	lis sungis	spear

While 3rd declension nouns are irregular, there are a few loose patterns, especially in Latin-based words:
* -er -> -ro or -iro (according to vowel harmony)
* -es -> -ito
* -o -> -ino or -ono
* -tor -> -toro

• The definite articles le, lo, les, lis agree with the case and number of the noun phrase.
• Likewise the partitive articles delle, dello, delles and dellis.
• The article un, uno emphasises ‘one’ or ‘a certain’.
  • uno dio (‘one day’, ‘on a certain day’ – not daily)
  • un miles militis (‘one of the soldiers’ – and no others)
  • le femme uno filio sto (‘the woman has one son’ – and no other)
• There is no indefinite article:
  • le femme filio sto (‘the woman has a son’ – and possibly another)

person	nom., acc.	abl.
1st sg.	je	jo
2nd sg.	tu	tuo
3rd sg.	il, elle, iel	illo, ello, iello
1st pl.	nos	nobis
2nd pl.	vos	vobis
3rd pl.	illes, elles, ielles	illis, ellis, iellis

The preposition quo (+ nom.) is used to denote possession (see later).

Possessive pronouns are contractions of ‘quo’ + (nom. pron.), lit. ‘by which I (am)’.

person	sg.	pl.
1st sg.	quoje	quisje
2nd sg.	quotu	quistu
3rd sg.	quoil, etc.	quisil, etc.
1st pl.	quonos	quisnos
2nd pl.	quovos	quisvos
3rd pl.	quoilles, etc.	quisilles, etc.

The ‘quo’ becomes ‘quis’ when the referent is plural, but doesn’t vary with case:

fille quoje	my daughter
fillo quoje	with my daughter
filles quisje	my daughters
fillis quisje	with my daughters

iste	this
ille	that

Verb conjugation is similar to other Romance languages. Notable features:

• The deponent form is not used; e.g. hortor, hortari -> horto, hortare.
• The subjunctive is heavily used, e.g. in result clauses.
• The imperative is rarely used, and usually considered impolite; a subjunctive with tuo or vobis is used instead (‘let … on account of you’).

• Used as a copula:
  • le homo est venator (‘the man is a hunter’)
  • le miles est filius quole femme (‘the soldier is a son of the woman’)
• Used with true adjectives:
  • le femme est grande (‘the woman is tall’)
• Used as an auxiliary verb with a past participle:
  • amato sum (‘I am loved’)
  • amato essens (‘being loved’)
  • amato esseto (‘having been loved’)

infinitive	imperatives	present participle	past participle
essere	esse, essete	essens, -ento	esseto, -tono

	indicative				subjunctive		conditional
	pres.	perf.	imp.	fut.	pres.	fut.	pres.
je	sum	essi		sero	essarim
tu	es	essisti		seres	essaris
il	est	essit		seret	essarit
nos	sumus	essimus		seremus	essarimus
vos	estis	essitis		seretis	essaritis
illes	sunt	essent		serent	essarent

• ‘To be’ relative to something else:
  • le venator stat nello ormano (‘the hunter is in the forest’)
• Used with ablative adjectives:
  • le leo stat celero (‘the lion is fast’)
  • le filius stat gaudio (‘the boy is happy’)
• With the ablative, ‘to have’:
  • le leo nomino stat (‘the lion stands with a name’)
• Used as an auxiliary verb for some participles:
  • starens celero (‘being fast’)

infinitive	imperatives	present participle	past participle
stare	stare, starete	starens, -ento	stareto, -tono

	indicative				subjunctive		conditional
	pres.	perf.	imp.	fut.	pres.	fut.	pres.
je	sto	stavi		staro	sterim
tu	stas	stavisti		staras	steris		staresti
il	stat	stavit		starat	sterit		steristi
nos	stamus	stavimus		staramus	sterimus
vos	statis	stavitis		staratis	steritis
illes	stant	stavent		starant	sterent		starent

There are three conjugations, recognised by the final vowel of the infinitive stem, -a-, -e- and -i-.

infinitive	imperatives	present participle	past participle
cant-are	cant-e, cant-ate	cant-ans, -anto	cant-ato, -atono
mang-ere	man-ge, mang-ete	mang-ens, -ento	mang-eto, -etono
fini-re	fini, fini-te	fini-ens, -iento	fini-eto, -etono

	indicative				subjunctive		conditional
	pres.	perf.	imp.	fut.	pres.	fut.	pres.
je	mango	mangevi		mangero	mangarim
tu	manges	mangevisti		mangeres	mangaris
il	manget	mangevit		mangeret	mangarit
nos	mangemus	mangevimus		mangeremus	mangarimus
vos	mangetis	mangevitis		mangeretis	mangaritis
illes	mangent	mangevent		mangerent	mangarent

Note that the participle forms of third conjugation -ire verbs gain an extra e in their stem.

General principles:

• The perfect indicative is formed by replacing the -re with -v-, and then its own set of endings.
• The future indicative is formed from the infinitive, replacing e with the present indicative ending.
• The present subjunctive has mostly the same endings as the perfect indicative, but with a different vowel stem: -are verbs become -er-; and -ere and -ire verbs become -ar-. Thus canterim ‘may I sing’.

The present and past participles are active (unlike in Latin). Passive participles are created using the auxiliary verb essere with the past participle:

• essens mangeto (‘being eaten’) – note present participle of essere
• esseto mangeto (‘having been eaten’)

When an auxiliary verb is used, both participles must inflect with the noun:

• pane essens mangeto -> pano essento mangetono, panes essentes mangetones, panis essentis pangetonis

Participles are used heavily in ablative absolute constructions.

Unlike Latin, Ablavese does not use the temporal subjunctive (e.g. cum + subj.).

True adjectives decline like the nouns that they modify, and agree in case and number.

• le flore rose (‘the red flower’), lo floro roso, les flores roses, lis floris rosis

They decline in the regular way, even if the noun that they modify is irregular:

• le nomen masculine (‘the masculine name’), lo nomino masculino, les nomine masculines, lis nominis masculinis

Most adjectives follow the noun that they modify, but a few precede them:

• le grande femme (‘the tall woman’), lo grando femmo, les grandes femmes, lis grandis femmis
• le nove annus (‘the new year’), etc.

True adjectives take essere in a copula:

• le femme est grande

Most ‘adjectives’ and ‘adverbs’ are actually ablative forms of abstract nouns, and do not decline with the noun that they modify.

• le leo celero (‘the fast lion’), lo leono celero, les leones celero, lis leonis celero
• Le fille cantat melodio (‘the girl sings with melody’, i.e. ‘in tune’)
• Ablaveso le homo parlat fluxo (‘the man speaks Ablavese fluently’)

Ablative descriptors take stare in a copula:

• le leo stat celero (‘the lion is fast’)

Ablavese	Literal translation	Idiomatic translation
bono	with goodness	good, well
celero	with speed	fast, quickly
fluxo	with flow	fluent, fluently
magno	with greatness	large
melodio	with melody	melodic, in tune

True adjectives:

• le grandior femme (‘the taller woman’), lo grandioro femmo, etc.
• le grandisse femme (‘the tallest woman’)
• le femme est allo homo grandior (‘the woman is taller than the man’, lit. ‘the woman is, next to the man, taller’)

Ablative descriptors:

• le leo plus celero (‘the lion with more speed’)
• le leo lo maximo celero (‘the lion with the most speed’)
• le leo stat allo venatoro plus celero (‘the lion is faster than the hunter’, lit. ‘the lion is, next to the hunter, with more speed’)
• le fille cantat plus melodio (‘the girl sings more in tune’)
• le fille cantat lo maximo melodio (‘the girl sings the most in tune’)

A standalone ablative expression usually implies ‘by’, ‘with’ or ‘from’, but the meaning can be emphasised or adjusted by a preposition.

• a (+ abl.) ‘next to’, ‘compared to’, ‘in the manner of’
• de (+ abl.) ‘from’
• in (+ abl.) ‘within’, ‘inside’
• con (+ abl.) ‘with’
• via (+ abl.) ‘by means of’
• per (+ abl.) ‘through’, ‘for’ (an amount of time)

Some prepositions can also take an accusative term, but these are unidiomatic:

• in (+ acc.) ‘into’ - but usually expressed using a result clause (see example)

Possession is denoted with a relative pronoun:

• quo (+ nom.), quis (+ nom.) ‘belonging to’, ‘by which … is’
  • liber quoje ‘my book’
  • libres quisje ‘my books’
  • coppece quo cojisce ‘the shepherd’s dog’
  • cojes quis cojisce ‘the shepherd’s sheep (pl.)’
  • mater quo filies ‘the mother of the boys’

Some pronouns form contractions with definite articles:

• in le -> nel, similarly nello, nelles, nellis
• similarly col, collo, colles, collis
• perle, quole, etc.

Optionally, some prepositions contract with some nouns to form compounds:

• de femmo -> defemmo

• et ‘and’
  • et … et … ‘both … and …’
• ot ‘or’
  • ot … ot … ‘either … or …’
• ne … ne … ‘neither … nor …’
• non ‘not’
• quam ‘how’
  • quam
• quand ‘when’ – but usually expressed using an ablative absolute
• sicut ‘just as’
• ut ‘in order that’

Ablavese	meaning	notes
femme	woman, wife
fille	girl, daughter
filius	boy, son
homo, homino	man, human
maritus, marito	husband
mater, matro	mother
pater, patro	father

Many of these are formed from the ablative of a related noun. Some have a -sce suffix, e.g. cojisce (‘shepherd’) from cojis (‘with the sheep’) (similar to Turkic). Others are compounds with other terms.

Ablavese	meaning	notes
cojisce, cojisco	shepherd	lit. ‘one with sheep’
cumisce, cumisco	merchant	lit. ‘one with money’
sungodux, -duco	general	lit. ‘leader with a spear’

Some have a -tor, -toro ending, derived from the related verb, similar to Latin and English.

Ablavese	meaning	notes
actor	actor
debtor	borrower	lit. ‘one who is obliged’
venator	hunter

Ablavese	meaning	notes
ox, occo	place	Lat. locus
oxille	there	lit. ‘that place’
oxiste	here	lit. ‘this place’
ville	town

Ablavese	meaning	notes
at, ato	horse
bos, bovo	cow
celus	sky
cojun, cojo	sheep	cf. Turkish koyun
coppec, coppecco	dog	Turkic koppek; synonyms include it, itto (Turkic) and canis, cano (Latin)
flore	flower
leo, -no	lion
orman, -o	forest	Turkic
terre	earth

Ablavese	meaning	notes
aqua	water
bovocarne	beef
carne	meat
cojocarne	mutton
pane	bread
ovum	egg	neut.
sir, siro	cheese
vinum	wine	neut.

Ablavese	meaning	notes
carmen, -mino	song
cumes	money	plural only
miles, -lito	soldier
sunge	spear	from Proto-Turkic *süŋgü, from which Kazakh сүңгі, Turkish süngü

Most of these can be used in the ablative to form adjectives or adverbs.

Ablavese	meaning	notes
bonus	goodness
celer, -o	speed
gaudius	joy
melode, -dio	tunefulness

Some verbs take direct objects in the accusative case, which come after the verb. Many verbs have their objects in the ablative case with a preposition, usually coming before the verb.

Ablavese	meaning	example
aluare	to receive	aluare cumes
(per …) bibere	to drink	per vino bibere
(per …) cantare	to sing	per carmino cantare
dimittere	to dismiss	dimittere miles
dimittere (de …)	to forgive	dimittere de amico
(per …) mangere	to eat	per carno mangere
tutare	to kill	tutare leo

Notes:

• dimittere de …, since to forgive somebody is to dismiss obligations from them.
• tutare from Latin tutor, tutari, but no longer deponent

Some intransitive verbs are expressed using auxiliary verbs:

Ablavese	meaning	example
natato essere	to be born	Nello villo filius natato est.
morto devenire	to die (lit. to become dead)

Many verbs’ objects are in the ablative instead of the accusative.

Ablavese	Literal translation	Idiomatic translation
Perlo pasto le fille manget.	Because of the pasta, the girl eats.	The girl eats (the) pasta.
Dello pasto le fille manget.	The girl eats from the pasta.	The girl eats some (of the) pasta.
Perlo leono le homo stat gaudio.	Because of the lion, the man is with joy.	The man likes the lion.
Per carmino le fille cantat melodio.	The girl sings by means of a song, with tunefulness.	The girl sings a song tunefully.
Per carmino le femme quo un miles militis cantat.	By means a song, the wife, with whom one soldier amongst the soldiers is, sings.	The wife of one of the soldiers sings a song.

Notes:

• The ‘ablative object’ carmino precedes the subject le fille; the adverb melodio comes after the verb.

Ablavese	Literal translation	Idiomatic translation
Le leo nomino stat.	The lion is with a name.	The lion has a name.
Le homo coppeco stat.	The man is with a dog.	The man has a dog.

Intrumentatives are treated as adverbs and come immediately after the verb and before any direct object:

Ablavese	Literal translation	Idiomatic translation
Le cojisce ducat coppeco les cojes.	The shepherd leads ‘dog-ly’ the sheep.	The shepherd leads the sheep using a dog.
Le venator tutat sungo le leo.	The hunter kills ‘spear-ly’ the lion.	The hunter kills the lion using a spear.
Le homo parlat Ablaveso.	The man speaks in Ablavese.	The man speaks Ablavese.

• To say when something happened, put the temporal expression at the beginning of the clause.
• To say how long something took, use the preposition per (+ abl.).

Ablavese	Literal translation	Idiomatic translation
Dio dello vino bibo.	I drink some wine by day.	I drink wine every day.
Uno dio miles defemmo quoil aluavit cumes.	On a certain day a soldier received money from his wife.	One day a soldier received money from his wife.
Nello villo le femme per duis annis passet.	In the town the woman passes through two years.	The woman spends two years in the town.

Verbs of motion such as andare and currere can take a destination as a direct object, but is usually expressed as ‘in order to be in the forest’, using a subjunctive form of stare.

Ablavese	Translation
Curro orman.	I run into the forest.
Curro nello ormano sterim.	I run in order that I might be in the forest.
Curro ormano ville.	I run from the forest into the town.
Curro nello ormano.	I run within the forest (staying in the forest).

The ‘into’ sense of in (+ acc.) is unidiomatic in Ablavese; the subjunctive construction is used instead.

Ablavese	Literal translation	Idiomatic translation
Le sungodux ducat les milites nello ormano sterent.	The general leads the soldiers so that they might be in the forest.	The general leads the soldiers into the forest.
Le sungodux ducat les milites *nel orman.	n/a	n/a
Le sungodux ducat les milites nello ormano.	The general leads the soldiers within the forest.	The general leads (only) the soldiers who are in the forest (or only while they are in the forest).

As with motion towards, dative expressions are instead constructed using ‘in order to’ subjunctives.

Ablavese	Literal translation	Idiomatic translation
Le fille dat aqua.	The girl gives water.
Le fille dat aqua collo filio (sterit).	The girl gives water (in order that it might be) with the boy.	The girl gives water to the boy.
Le fille dat aqua *a le filius.	n/a	n/a

Ablative absolute clauses can come before or after the main clause. Note that, unlike Latin, the past participle has an active sense, hence jo prendetono Latine.

Ablavese	Literal translation	Idiomatic translation
Le sungedux dimittet defemmo quoil, amanto elle.	The general forgives from his wife, with him loving her.	The general forgives his wife because he loves her.
Le fille cantans stat gaudio.	The singing girl is with joy.	The singing girl is happy.
Le fille stat gaudio, cantanto.	The girl is with joy, with her singing.	The girl is happy because she is singing.
Per magno ceno fillis quisil mangentis, le pater stat gaudio.	With his daughters eating because of a large meal, the father is with joy.	The father is happy because his daughters are eating a large dinner.
Jo prendetono Latine, prendo facile Ablavese.	With me having learned Latin, I learn Ablavese easily.	I learn Ablavese easily because I have learnt Latin.

Largely due to the destruction of the Kingdom of Abla in the 18th century, there are few translations of the Bible into Modern Ablavese; such texts usually use the formal register of Classical or Middle Ablavese.

Ablavese	Literal translation
O Pater quonos, (qui) nello celo (stas),	O Father with whom we are, (who are) in the sky,
Nomen quotu benedictiono esset.	May your name be with a blessing.
Regnum quotu venat, (et)	May your kingdom come, (and)
Quotu gaudio steris faceto essarit	May (that thing) by which you would be happy done
Nello terro sicut nello celo.	In the earth and in the sky.
Panis quotidiane quisnobis conobis sterit tuo	Our daily bread, may it be with us by you
Et debites quisnobis denobis dimittetes essarent tuo	And may our debts be forgiven from us by you
Sicut dimittarimus de debitoris quisnobis.	In the same way that we should forgive our debtors.
Et dimittaris ut tentationo non essemus	And may you lead us not that we may be in temptation
Sed nos liberates seremus a malo per tuo.	But that we may be freed from evil by you.
Amen.	Amen.

Notes:

• quonos ‘our’, quotu ‘yours’
• venat: subjunctive of venire
• quo tu gaudio steris ‘the thing by which you might be happy’
• debites quisnobis dimittetes essarent tuo ‘may our debts be sent away by you’
  • alternatively debites quisnobis dimittaris ‘may you send away debts’
  • but not dimitte debites quisnobis ‘send away our debts!’
• dimittere debites ‘to forgive debts’, but debitoris dimittere ‘to forgive debtors’
• liberare ‘to free’, past participle liberato ‘having freed’, but liberato esssere ‘having been freed’

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