A Grammar of Parra
Historical overview
Parra evolved from Lingua Franca, the language Italian merchants brought to their Black Sea colonies between the 13th and 15th centuries. Parra, whose name comes from the Italian verb parlare, to talk, is the form that LF took when it spread from the ports into the whole of Crimea, becoming the language that the many language groups used to communicate with one another.
Parra evolved from LF in three phases. Phase 1 was the LF brought into the Black Sea originally. This was an eastern form of the language used throughout the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean origin means that Parra's base has some influence from Catalan, Castilian, Narbonese (Occitan), and Arabic. On the other hand, this eastern variety was a bit closer to "pure" Italian than the Hispanified LF used further west in places like North Africa.
Phase 2 happened in the 15th century. Genoa lost direct control of its colonies, but Lingua Franca lived on in the ports and spread to Crimea's interior. The languages of Crimea's ruilers were Tatar and Turkish, and besides contributing many words, these languages changed the sounds of Parra. Most notably, the pattern of Turkic front-back vowel harmony was enforced onto most words. So for example, the 1st-person plural possessive pronoun de nos (LF) > denos (phase 1) > denös (phase 2). The ö /2/ and ü /y/ sounds occurred in Phase 2: they had already been present in the Ligurian dialect spoken by many of the Italian traders, but now these sounds became phonemized.
Phase 3 began in the late 18th century when the Russian Empire took control of Crimea. The Turkic vowels were unrounded to /e/ and /i/, returning Parra to a five-vowel system. Palatalization of consonants also occurred. So the word for eye is exe (phase 3, modern Parra) < öciö (phase 2) < euchio [2kio] (likely Ligurianized pronunciation in Phase 1). Many Russian loanwords also came into the langauge during this time.
The language has developed well beyond a mere trade pidgin. It has at least partially creolized. That is, children learn to speak it natively, though not generally at home. The situation is analogous to early twentieth century Hawaii, where children used a home language with family, the "Pidgin" (actually a creole) in public, and a world language at school (English in Hawaii, generally Russian in Crimea).
Parra evolved from LF in three phases. Phase 1 was the LF brought into the Black Sea originally. This was an eastern form of the language used throughout the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean origin means that Parra's base has some influence from Catalan, Castilian, Narbonese (Occitan), and Arabic. On the other hand, this eastern variety was a bit closer to "pure" Italian than the Hispanified LF used further west in places like North Africa.
Phase 2 happened in the 15th century. Genoa lost direct control of its colonies, but Lingua Franca lived on in the ports and spread to Crimea's interior. The languages of Crimea's ruilers were Tatar and Turkish, and besides contributing many words, these languages changed the sounds of Parra. Most notably, the pattern of Turkic front-back vowel harmony was enforced onto most words. So for example, the 1st-person plural possessive pronoun de nos (LF) > denos (phase 1) > denös (phase 2). The ö /2/ and ü /y/ sounds occurred in Phase 2: they had already been present in the Ligurian dialect spoken by many of the Italian traders, but now these sounds became phonemized.
Phase 3 began in the late 18th century when the Russian Empire took control of Crimea. The Turkic vowels were unrounded to /e/ and /i/, returning Parra to a five-vowel system. Palatalization of consonants also occurred. So the word for eye is exe (phase 3, modern Parra) < öciö (phase 2) < euchio [2kio] (likely Ligurianized pronunciation in Phase 1). Many Russian loanwords also came into the langauge during this time.
The language has developed well beyond a mere trade pidgin. It has at least partially creolized. That is, children learn to speak it natively, though not generally at home. The situation is analogous to early twentieth century Hawaii, where children used a home language with family, the "Pidgin" (actually a creole) in public, and a world language at school (English in Hawaii, generally Russian in Crimea).
Letters and sounds
Parra has five vowels and 17 consonants. Modern Parra is left with the same 5-vowel system as old Lingua Franca, having lost the ö and ü sounds that were present in the second, Turkifying stage of the language.
Alphabets
In written Parra, one letter corresponds to exactly one phoneme. There are no digraphs or doubled consonants (natively, the name of the language is actually spelled Para, and only the English spelling has 2 r's).
The Cyrillic alphabet is the most widely used one for Parra. Latin is second, used more than you might expect. Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew scripts can also be used. The Armenian script and Gothic runes, both current in Crimea, are rarely used for Parra.
Stress
Penultimate stress was overwhelmingly prevalent for all words in Phase 1; now, under Turkic influence, stress is on the final syllable when it is heavy or closed (CVC) but on the penultimate when the last syllable is light or open (CV). An acute accent is used to show any stress that breaks this pattern (increasing the number of glyphs in the Parra alphabet from 22 to 27).
So, cusa (girl) is stressed on the first syllable, woman (cadun) on the second. Final light or open syllables are stressed mostly in transparent loanwords (alá, god) or in situations where a final syllable wore off with time, but its memory remains (bisogno > bisé, need).
Variations
Most of the sounds of Parra are present in most of the mother tongues of Crimea. Standard Mongolian lacks six of the consonants of Parra, but the local Mongolian has changed after 700 years in Crimea, and its sound structure is somewhat closer to its neighbors. Turkish lacks the /v/ while both Turkish and Italian lack the /x/. Russians pronounce ç and ş more palatally than other speakers.
The rhotic sound /r/ is usually described as an alveolar trill, but many speakers produce it as an alveolar tap /4/ some of the time.
The Cyrillic alphabet is the most widely used one for Parra. Latin is second, used more than you might expect. Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew scripts can also be used. The Armenian script and Gothic runes, both current in Crimea, are rarely used for Parra.
Stress
Penultimate stress was overwhelmingly prevalent for all words in Phase 1; now, under Turkic influence, stress is on the final syllable when it is heavy or closed (CVC) but on the penultimate when the last syllable is light or open (CV). An acute accent is used to show any stress that breaks this pattern (increasing the number of glyphs in the Parra alphabet from 22 to 27).
So, cusa (girl) is stressed on the first syllable, woman (cadun) on the second. Final light or open syllables are stressed mostly in transparent loanwords (alá, god) or in situations where a final syllable wore off with time, but its memory remains (bisogno > bisé, need).
Variations
Most of the sounds of Parra are present in most of the mother tongues of Crimea. Standard Mongolian lacks six of the consonants of Parra, but the local Mongolian has changed after 700 years in Crimea, and its sound structure is somewhat closer to its neighbors. Turkish lacks the /v/ while both Turkish and Italian lack the /x/. Russians pronounce ç and ş more palatally than other speakers.
The rhotic sound /r/ is usually described as an alveolar trill, but many speakers produce it as an alveolar tap /4/ some of the time.
Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
Largely unchanged from old Lingua Franca:
Singular:
1st = mi
2nd = tu
3rd = il (M), ila (F)
Plural:
1st = nos
2nd = vos
3rd = lis
Possessive pronouns are placed after noun possessed. They originated as prepositional phrases.
Singular:
1st = demi
2nd = dedi
3rd = dil (M), dila (F)
Plural:
1st = denes
2nd = deves
3rd = deles
Reflexive pronoun
esi = oneself, oneselves, each other
Inherent reflexive actions were largely lost in LF. Esi comes from özü, a Crimean Tatar pronoun that serves as an all-purpose reflexive in Parra. Under Russian influence the use of reflexives has expanded, namely for reciprocal actions and for anticausative physical actions; but _inherent_ reflexives per se have not come back.
Constantin para esi = Constantine is talking to himself.
Oso dila ropato esi = Her bone broke (itself).
Lis ama esi = They love each other.
Indefinite pronouns
uno = somebody/something
Uno can be paired with omo or cosa when needed to specify "somebody" or "something," but this is not needed. Plural is unu.
Coprato uno ce ne volato = I bought something I didn't want.
Tu vola piju unu saba? = Do you want a few more?
Largely unchanged from old Lingua Franca:
Singular:
1st = mi
2nd = tu
3rd = il (M), ila (F)
Plural:
1st = nos
2nd = vos
3rd = lis
Possessive pronouns are placed after noun possessed. They originated as prepositional phrases.
Singular:
1st = demi
2nd = dedi
3rd = dil (M), dila (F)
Plural:
1st = denes
2nd = deves
3rd = deles
Reflexive pronoun
esi = oneself, oneselves, each other
Inherent reflexive actions were largely lost in LF. Esi comes from özü, a Crimean Tatar pronoun that serves as an all-purpose reflexive in Parra. Under Russian influence the use of reflexives has expanded, namely for reciprocal actions and for anticausative physical actions; but _inherent_ reflexives per se have not come back.
Constantin para esi = Constantine is talking to himself.
Oso dila ropato esi = Her bone broke (itself).
Lis ama esi = They love each other.
Indefinite pronouns
uno = somebody/something
Uno can be paired with omo or cosa when needed to specify "somebody" or "something," but this is not needed. Plural is unu.
Coprato uno ce ne volato = I bought something I didn't want.
Tu vola piju unu saba? = Do you want a few more?
Demonstratives
Parra's "normal" demonstrative pronouns are:
Singular:
ves = this
vel = that (near listener)
o = that (over there)
Plural:
vesi = these
veli = those (near listener)
oju = those (over there)
Only the singular forms are used proclitically (before nouns). So:
Veli baca = Look at those.
Vel omu baca = Look at those people.
The direction words for here and there (and "over there") can be used before nouns in exactly the same way as demonstratives. In fact, the direction words are more common than the "regular" demonstratives in the proclitic position. Note that the two Romance-derived words are mandatory reduplicated forms (see also "Vocabulary," below).
viví = here.
Tuto viví çocucu sabu nagino = All these children know how to read.
lalá = there.
Vanto pecem lalá videjo-discu? = How much for those video disks (near you)?
ojer = there.
Ci vive a ojer ca? = Who lives in that house (over there)?
Singular:
ves = this
vel = that (near listener)
o = that (over there)
Plural:
vesi = these
veli = those (near listener)
oju = those (over there)
Only the singular forms are used proclitically (before nouns). So:
Veli baca = Look at those.
Vel omu baca = Look at those people.
The direction words for here and there (and "over there") can be used before nouns in exactly the same way as demonstratives. In fact, the direction words are more common than the "regular" demonstratives in the proclitic position. Note that the two Romance-derived words are mandatory reduplicated forms (see also "Vocabulary," below).
viví = here.
Tuto viví çocucu sabu nagino = All these children know how to read.
lalá = there.
Vanto pecem lalá videjo-discu? = How much for those video disks (near you)?
ojer = there.
Ci vive a ojer ca? = Who lives in that house (over there)?
Nouns
Parra, predictably, has no noun cases. Each noun's grammatical role is determined by word order and prepositions. Some prepositions are mandatory to show certain grammatical relationships; for example, de marks a possessive and per an indirect object.
Plurals
Plural suffix is /-i/ or /-u/, added after a final consonant or in place of a final vowel.
calar = stick; calaru = sticks
cana = dog; canu = dogs
For singular nouns that end in /-i/ or /-u/, the phantom suffix */-ji/ or */-vu/ is realized simply as a shift in stress to the final syllable. Nouns ending in stressed vowels get an extra syllable to mark the plural.
embibi = drinker, tavern customer; embibí = drinkers, tavern customers alá = god; alavu = gods
Noun formation
In general, Parra, like most auxiliary languages, does not have many affixes. The pressures of Tatar vowel harmony, which could distort affixes beyond recognition for new speakers, limited affixing even further. But a few have caught on.
The word omo (person) has become a prefix for creating "person" nouns from verbs, nouns, and adjectives. It is reduced to /om-/ before an initial vowel or b, and simply /o-/ before an m. Before back-vowelled words, this prefix becomes /eme-/, /em-/, or /e-/.
ombasara, shopkeeper (< basara, market)
omalá = "man of god" (cleric regardless of creed) (< alá, god)
embibi = drinker, tavern customer (< bibi, to drink)
omuru = beggar (< muru, to beg)
emedebit = debtor (< debit, debt)
emexane, bartender (< mexane, tavern)
The suffix /-ije/, ultimately from either Latin or Arabic, can create abstract nouns. After a vowel it reduces to /-je/. This suffix is not terribly common after verbs, since verbs are regularly used as nouns without modification, but it is used with many nouns and adjectives. The back-vowelled forms of the suffix are /-uja/, /-ja/. A number of modern coinages use the Classical suffixes /-ologija/ and /-ísmos/, which generally do not adapt to the rules of vowel harmony.
merin = sailor; merinije = seamanship
cabi = big; cabuja = bigness, vastness (cabi unmarked simply means "size")
papa = father; papaja = fatherliness (homophone with the fruit, but seldom cause for confusion)
adam = man; adamuja = manliness
SNORuja = SNORism
Plurals
Plural suffix is /-i/ or /-u/, added after a final consonant or in place of a final vowel.
calar = stick; calaru = sticks
cana = dog; canu = dogs
For singular nouns that end in /-i/ or /-u/, the phantom suffix */-ji/ or */-vu/ is realized simply as a shift in stress to the final syllable. Nouns ending in stressed vowels get an extra syllable to mark the plural.
embibi = drinker, tavern customer; embibí = drinkers, tavern customers alá = god; alavu = gods
Noun formation
In general, Parra, like most auxiliary languages, does not have many affixes. The pressures of Tatar vowel harmony, which could distort affixes beyond recognition for new speakers, limited affixing even further. But a few have caught on.
The word omo (person) has become a prefix for creating "person" nouns from verbs, nouns, and adjectives. It is reduced to /om-/ before an initial vowel or b, and simply /o-/ before an m. Before back-vowelled words, this prefix becomes /eme-/, /em-/, or /e-/.
ombasara, shopkeeper (< basara, market)
omalá = "man of god" (cleric regardless of creed) (< alá, god)
embibi = drinker, tavern customer (< bibi, to drink)
omuru = beggar (< muru, to beg)
emedebit = debtor (< debit, debt)
emexane, bartender (< mexane, tavern)
The suffix /-ije/, ultimately from either Latin or Arabic, can create abstract nouns. After a vowel it reduces to /-je/. This suffix is not terribly common after verbs, since verbs are regularly used as nouns without modification, but it is used with many nouns and adjectives. The back-vowelled forms of the suffix are /-uja/, /-ja/. A number of modern coinages use the Classical suffixes /-ologija/ and /-ísmos/, which generally do not adapt to the rules of vowel harmony.
merin = sailor; merinije = seamanship
cabi = big; cabuja = bigness, vastness (cabi unmarked simply means "size")
papa = father; papaja = fatherliness (homophone with the fruit, but seldom cause for confusion)
adam = man; adamuja = manliness
SNORuja = SNORism
Verbs
Verb formation
Parra has lost the most distinctive feature of old Lingua Franca, the use of the infinitive "-r" forms for all verbs. Part of this was simply phonetic wearing-down and a preference for open syllables. But also at play was some influence from Romance 3rd-person indicative verb forms - the least suffixed forms - in an early phase of the language. So most Parra verbs end in vowels.
In a few cases, the "-r" was preserved; the verb for "make," for example, in Lingua Franca was far. Following the normal pattern, in Parra this should be fa, but instead it is fara. The "r" was kept, and then "-a" was added through analogy to other verbs. (Fa also happens to be a part of the language: it became a modal verb, where it expresses the idea of "making something happen.")
Tense and aspect
Verbs are not inflected for person or number. There are two tense/aspect forms: a present/imperfective and a past/perfective. Lingua Franca was reduced to these two tense/aspects through its contact with Arabic, before it was ever brought to Crimea. The /-ata/ suffix in Crimean Gothic helped cement this form.
Past/perfective is indicated with the suffixes /-(a)to/ and /-(i)te/. Combinations of these and the copula sa can express a range of tenses and aspects.
Cadun copra pese = A woman buys/is buying a fish. (present/imperfective)
Cadun coprato pese = A woman bought/has bought a fish. (past/perfective)
Cadun sa copra pese = A woman will buy a fish. (future)
Cadun sato copra pese = A woman was buying/used to buy a fish. (past imperfective)
Cadun sato coprato pese = A woman had bought a fish. (pluperfect)
Despite this range, the bare, uninflected form of the verb is often used to express actions in the past or future, especially when these actions are immediately relevant to the present. It is more common to say "Cadun copra pese" than "...coprato pese" if the fish is in her hand right now.
Negation
The particle of negation, ne, is placed just before the verb. The particle can be repeated, in the same way as the question particle, by placing it at the beginning of the sentence. This is especially common for commands: Ne capitano ne seçece, "Don't bother the boss."
The distinction between the interjection no and the particle ne is a recent change under Russian influence, and the change is not totally complete. Especially in simplified, more pidgin-like forms of Parra, no is used as a particle of negation in place of (or even alongside) ne.
Passive voice
Passive voice can be done using a reflexive construction...
Ves pese coprato esi = This fish was bought (lit. "bought itself")
... or using the perfective form as a modifier...
Coprato pesi sa ves = This is a bought fish.
... or, depending on context, by simply eliminating the subject, leaving it unclear:
Coprato ves pesi = Bought this fish.
Ova felí copra pesi (saba)? = Where can buy a fish?
"Be"
The copula (sa) is often deleted, except for emphasis. So are subject pronouns, by the way:
Ca dedi bela = Your house [is] beautiful.
No, ne sa = no, [it] is not.
There is a separate locative "be:" da.
Mama demi ne da a ca = My mother is not at home.
Avá is a verb that simply indicates existence, equivalent to the English "there is." Uniquely (within Parra), it can be placed before the subject of a sentence, after the subject, or at the end of the sentence, depending on what the speaker chooses to emphasize (see "Word Order," below).
Ne avá bona mexane a Çancoj. }
Bona mexane ne avá a Çancoj. } = There are no good bars in Dzhankoy.
Bona mexane a Çancoj ne avá. }
Auxiliary verbs
Parra has a rich supply of auxiliaries that change a sentence's mood. Some include:
Necessitative: Bisé (< bisognare, to need)
Tu bisé para = You have to speak.
Optative: Fa (< fare, to make)
Tu fa para = I wish you would speak.
Potential: Felí (< felice, happy, derived from constructions meaning "I am happy to do it.")
Tu felí para = You can speak.
Conditional: fosu (<fosse, maybe)
(se) tu fosu para = (if) you would speak
Parra has lost the most distinctive feature of old Lingua Franca, the use of the infinitive "-r" forms for all verbs. Part of this was simply phonetic wearing-down and a preference for open syllables. But also at play was some influence from Romance 3rd-person indicative verb forms - the least suffixed forms - in an early phase of the language. So most Parra verbs end in vowels.
In a few cases, the "-r" was preserved; the verb for "make," for example, in Lingua Franca was far. Following the normal pattern, in Parra this should be fa, but instead it is fara. The "r" was kept, and then "-a" was added through analogy to other verbs. (Fa also happens to be a part of the language: it became a modal verb, where it expresses the idea of "making something happen.")
Tense and aspect
Verbs are not inflected for person or number. There are two tense/aspect forms: a present/imperfective and a past/perfective. Lingua Franca was reduced to these two tense/aspects through its contact with Arabic, before it was ever brought to Crimea. The /-ata/ suffix in Crimean Gothic helped cement this form.
Past/perfective is indicated with the suffixes /-(a)to/ and /-(i)te/. Combinations of these and the copula sa can express a range of tenses and aspects.
Cadun copra pese = A woman buys/is buying a fish. (present/imperfective)
Cadun coprato pese = A woman bought/has bought a fish. (past/perfective)
Cadun sa copra pese = A woman will buy a fish. (future)
Cadun sato copra pese = A woman was buying/used to buy a fish. (past imperfective)
Cadun sato coprato pese = A woman had bought a fish. (pluperfect)
Despite this range, the bare, uninflected form of the verb is often used to express actions in the past or future, especially when these actions are immediately relevant to the present. It is more common to say "Cadun copra pese" than "...coprato pese" if the fish is in her hand right now.
Negation
The particle of negation, ne, is placed just before the verb. The particle can be repeated, in the same way as the question particle, by placing it at the beginning of the sentence. This is especially common for commands: Ne capitano ne seçece, "Don't bother the boss."
The distinction between the interjection no and the particle ne is a recent change under Russian influence, and the change is not totally complete. Especially in simplified, more pidgin-like forms of Parra, no is used as a particle of negation in place of (or even alongside) ne.
Passive voice
Passive voice can be done using a reflexive construction...
Ves pese coprato esi = This fish was bought (lit. "bought itself")
... or using the perfective form as a modifier...
Coprato pesi sa ves = This is a bought fish.
... or, depending on context, by simply eliminating the subject, leaving it unclear:
Coprato ves pesi = Bought this fish.
Ova felí copra pesi (saba)? = Where can buy a fish?
"Be"
The copula (sa) is often deleted, except for emphasis. So are subject pronouns, by the way:
Ca dedi bela = Your house [is] beautiful.
No, ne sa = no, [it] is not.
There is a separate locative "be:" da.
Mama demi ne da a ca = My mother is not at home.
Avá is a verb that simply indicates existence, equivalent to the English "there is." Uniquely (within Parra), it can be placed before the subject of a sentence, after the subject, or at the end of the sentence, depending on what the speaker chooses to emphasize (see "Word Order," below).
Ne avá bona mexane a Çancoj. }
Bona mexane ne avá a Çancoj. } = There are no good bars in Dzhankoy.
Bona mexane a Çancoj ne avá. }
Auxiliary verbs
Parra has a rich supply of auxiliaries that change a sentence's mood. Some include:
Necessitative: Bisé (< bisognare, to need)
Tu bisé para = You have to speak.
Optative: Fa (< fare, to make)
Tu fa para = I wish you would speak.
Potential: Felí (< felice, happy, derived from constructions meaning "I am happy to do it.")
Tu felí para = You can speak.
Conditional: fosu (<fosse, maybe)
(se) tu fosu para = (if) you would speak
Adjectives
In early Parra, adjectives usually followed nouns in the regular Romance way, but could be placed before them. Under the influence first of Turkic and then of Russian, the Parra adjective moved entirely before the noun. An adjective is only used after a noun in statements of fact - sentences in their own right with "missing" be verbs.
Demonstratives and numbers precede the adjectives, while possessives follow the noun.
Bela ca = (the) beautiful house
Bela ca demi = my beautiful house
Viví bela ca demi = this beautiful house of mine
Adjective formation
/-ic/ or /-uc/ is the main adjective suffix, though it's more common to use prepositional constructions than adjectives formed from suffixes. So, to say "Ukrainian man," adam de Ucrajina is more common than Ucrajinic adam.
Comparative and superlative adjectives
Comparative is formed by preceding the adjective with piju, "more." Superlative is formed by preceding the adjective with ísime, "most." There are no irregular forms.
bona = good
piju bona = better
ísime bona = best
Demonstratives and numbers precede the adjectives, while possessives follow the noun.
Bela ca = (the) beautiful house
Bela ca demi = my beautiful house
Viví bela ca demi = this beautiful house of mine
Adjective formation
/-ic/ or /-uc/ is the main adjective suffix, though it's more common to use prepositional constructions than adjectives formed from suffixes. So, to say "Ukrainian man," adam de Ucrajina is more common than Ucrajinic adam.
Comparative and superlative adjectives
Comparative is formed by preceding the adjective with piju, "more." Superlative is formed by preceding the adjective with ísime, "most." There are no irregular forms.
bona = good
piju bona = better
ísime bona = best
Word order
Word order is SVO for most sentences.
Mi ne fara vel = I don't do that.
Parra indicates one mood, imperative/optative, by switching to an SOV order.
Vel ne fara = Don't do that.
(Ce*) Tu vel fa ne fara = I wish you wouldn't do that.
Nos vel fa ne fara = Let's not do that.
*Adding Ce to the front of an optative sentence is optional; it's a construction left over from Parra's Romance precursors and has survived thanks to some formulaic phrases.
Beyond this basic template, there is a certain amount of flexibility on the placement of modifiers and indirect objects, which are generally indicated with prepositions. Time expressions generally prefer the beginning of the sentence, and imperative/optative sentences prefer to put all modifiers before the verb, but it's certainly OK to flout either rule and still have a grammatical sentence. Influenced by Russian, information (other than the core elements of S O and V) can be placed at the end of a sentence for emphasis.
Mi ne copra per tu xat = I didn't buy you the bread.
Mi ne copra xat per tu = I didn't buy the bread for _you_.
Questions
Word order does not change for questions, but the question particle saba removes that ambiguity. Saba developed from the same verb as sabu, "to know." Saba is mandatory after yes/no questions, optional after others, where it emphasizes the "question-ness" of the sentence.
Tu copra xat saba? = Did you buy the bread?
Ci copra xat? = Who bought the bread?
Ci copra xat saba? = Who bought the bread, anyway?
Saba can also be used alone, where its meaning has broadened to mean, "Really?"
Besides using saba, it is also possible to emphasize a "Wh" question by repeating the question word. Normally, the question word is simply inserted into the declarative sentence in place of the missing
information, without changing word order. Putting an additional question word at the beginning emphasizes the speaker's sense of urgency, confusion, curiosity, etc.
ova = where
Tu anda ova? = Where are you going?
Ova tu anda ova? = Hold on, where are you going?
Ova tu anda ova saba? = Where in heaven's name are you going, anyway?
Since many "question words" are also used outside of questions, saba or repetition can remove ambiguity. Without any context or intonation, Tanic dedi avó vanto omu can mean either "There are many people in your family" or "How many people are in your family?" Adding another vanto to the beginning, or saba to the end, makes it more clear that you are asking a question.
Mi ne fara vel = I don't do that.
Parra indicates one mood, imperative/optative, by switching to an SOV order.
Vel ne fara = Don't do that.
(Ce*) Tu vel fa ne fara = I wish you wouldn't do that.
Nos vel fa ne fara = Let's not do that.
*Adding Ce to the front of an optative sentence is optional; it's a construction left over from Parra's Romance precursors and has survived thanks to some formulaic phrases.
Beyond this basic template, there is a certain amount of flexibility on the placement of modifiers and indirect objects, which are generally indicated with prepositions. Time expressions generally prefer the beginning of the sentence, and imperative/optative sentences prefer to put all modifiers before the verb, but it's certainly OK to flout either rule and still have a grammatical sentence. Influenced by Russian, information (other than the core elements of S O and V) can be placed at the end of a sentence for emphasis.
Mi ne copra per tu xat = I didn't buy you the bread.
Mi ne copra xat per tu = I didn't buy the bread for _you_.
Questions
Word order does not change for questions, but the question particle saba removes that ambiguity. Saba developed from the same verb as sabu, "to know." Saba is mandatory after yes/no questions, optional after others, where it emphasizes the "question-ness" of the sentence.
Tu copra xat saba? = Did you buy the bread?
Ci copra xat? = Who bought the bread?
Ci copra xat saba? = Who bought the bread, anyway?
Saba can also be used alone, where its meaning has broadened to mean, "Really?"
Besides using saba, it is also possible to emphasize a "Wh" question by repeating the question word. Normally, the question word is simply inserted into the declarative sentence in place of the missing
information, without changing word order. Putting an additional question word at the beginning emphasizes the speaker's sense of urgency, confusion, curiosity, etc.
ova = where
Tu anda ova? = Where are you going?
Ova tu anda ova? = Hold on, where are you going?
Ova tu anda ova saba? = Where in heaven's name are you going, anyway?
Since many "question words" are also used outside of questions, saba or repetition can remove ambiguity. Without any context or intonation, Tanic dedi avó vanto omu can mean either "There are many people in your family" or "How many people are in your family?" Adding another vanto to the beginning, or saba to the end, makes it more clear that you are asking a question.
Vocabulary
The original lexical base of Parra was a form of Italian, reduced by contact with other Romance languages to the lowest common denominator so that it somewhat resembled Vulgar Latin. Words for the most basic concepts, and words dealing with matters that were most often discussed at the wharf or the marketplace, are the most likely to still be from that original Romance base.
Words dealing with agriculture, plants, land, and food are the most likely to come from Greek, Armenian, and Gothic. A large number of lexical items, including some very basic grammatical words, are from Tatar and Turkish. A couple of common words bear mentioning for their testimony of a dark past: adam (man), cadun (woman), çocuc (child), and escer (free) come from Turkish, a memory of Turkish merchants' control of the slave trade. Russian also contributed a huge share of words, especially those dealing with government and modernity (though the word for "government," xicimet, is of Turkish origin).
Later immigrants contributed some words as well, though not as many (daspir, "beer," from the German, for example). Modern words for academic or technological concepts are surprisingly likely to be borrowed directly from Latin. This is owing to the Snorists' promotion of Latin Without Inflection, the universal language of science, in the schools. The teaching has tended not to be very good, so most Crimeans only have a smattering, but its influence is felt. Such modern words are important in one of Parra's fastest-growing contexts, labels for consumer products.
Compounding remains a productive process in Parra and is another way to form new words. So is reduplicating words or syllables. There are a few examples of reduplicated forms that have weakened semantically and become mandatory. For example, LF dar, "to give," became da in early Parra, but it was reduplicated so often that dada became the standard word.
Words dealing with agriculture, plants, land, and food are the most likely to come from Greek, Armenian, and Gothic. A large number of lexical items, including some very basic grammatical words, are from Tatar and Turkish. A couple of common words bear mentioning for their testimony of a dark past: adam (man), cadun (woman), çocuc (child), and escer (free) come from Turkish, a memory of Turkish merchants' control of the slave trade. Russian also contributed a huge share of words, especially those dealing with government and modernity (though the word for "government," xicimet, is of Turkish origin).
Later immigrants contributed some words as well, though not as many (daspir, "beer," from the German, for example). Modern words for academic or technological concepts are surprisingly likely to be borrowed directly from Latin. This is owing to the Snorists' promotion of Latin Without Inflection, the universal language of science, in the schools. The teaching has tended not to be very good, so most Crimeans only have a smattering, but its influence is felt. Such modern words are important in one of Parra's fastest-growing contexts, labels for consumer products.
Compounding remains a productive process in Parra and is another way to form new words. So is reduplicating words or syllables. There are a few examples of reduplicated forms that have weakened semantically and become mandatory. For example, LF dar, "to give," became da in early Parra, but it was reduplicated so often that dada became the standard word.