Montenegrin language reforms

After the Montenegrin Democratic reforms, Prince Daniel I noticed that Serbian nationalism was on the rise. As Montenegro was then considered the holder of Serbian culture and language by the Serbs living under the Ottoman Empire, Daniel believed Montenegro might later be subjugated by a larger Serbian state. He and his advisers wanted to create a Montenegrin identity - first by creating a language, Montenegrin.

Aim
Daniel wanted the grammar to become as simple as possible, which would make it easier to improve literacy rates, and would make it easier for foreigners to learn the language, thereby help increasing the potential for foreign investment.

He also wanted to increase the number of Germanic loanwords, and remove Russian and Turkish loanwords. Many original Serbian terms were also dropped in favour of Germanic words.

Another important part of the reforms was the elimination of synonyms and paraphrasing. In other words, the language became much less diverse, and there are now fewer ways to express the same ideas.

Orthography
Montenegrin permanently switched to a Latin alphabet. The alphabet includes the following letters, in order: A  B  C  Č  Ć  D  Dž  Đ  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  Lj<span style="font-weight:normal;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  M<span style="font-weight:normal;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  N<span style="font-weight:normal;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  Nj<span style="font-weight:normal;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  O<span style="font-weight:normal;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  P<span style="font-weight:normal;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  R<span style="font-weight:normal;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  S<span style="font-weight:normal;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  Š<span style="font-weight:normal;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  Ś<span style="font-weight:normal;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  T<span style="font-weight:normal;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  U<span style="font-weight:normal;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  V<span style="font-weight:normal;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  Z<span style="font-weight:normal;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  Ž<span style="font-weight:normal;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:22.4px;">  Ź.

Vocabulary
Grammar particles (auxillary verbs, pronouns, prepositions etc.) were dramatically revised. This will be dealt with in the grammar section.

From 1830, only Germanic loanwords were allowed. As most Russian and Turkish loanwords were not widespread among the populace, they were easily phased out. Germanic word stems were introduced and even replaced many Slavic words.

Today, about 30% of Montenegrin words have a Germanic origin. About 60% are of Slavic origins. The rest comes from various sources such as Greek, Turkish and Romance languages (mostly Latin, Italian and French).

The reason for introduction of Germanic words (and many Latin technical terms) was for easier communication with Germanic countries, which were the most affluent European countries back then (such as Britain, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and the various German states).

Many, many synonyms were eliminated. Some were reassigned to entirely new meanings.

Nouns
Noun cases and genders were eliminated completely. Among Indo-European languages, the simplicity of noun declension is only matched by English.

The various cases were dealt with as follows: However, the noun now have to carry tense (present vs past) in addition to number. This was to shoulder part of the verb declension burden. The plural present was to be added based on the final sound of the singular present: for a vowel, a plosive or a nasal, an -s would be added and pronounced as /s/ (for voiceless plosives) or /z/ (for the others). For affricatives, fricatives, approximants and trills, an -es is added and pronounced /ez/.
 * The nominative, dative and accusative were to be distinguished based on word order. This meant the fixation of word order. The subject (formerly nominative) were to be placed before the verb. The objects (dative/accusative) were to be placed after the verb, and where there were both types of objects, the indirect object (dative) always precedes the direct object (accusative).
 * The genitive, locative and instrumental cases were replaced with preposition + noun constructions. Three Germanic prepositions (af, hos and med) were introduced for these functions.
 * The vocative case simply disappeared. The addressee is now referred to by the normal noun.

Tense is only carried by the main noun of the subject. All the other nouns are used in the present without any tense implications.

Names are treated in a different manner. Plurals are not formed with names (although stylised forms may be used, such as Wolfgangs - but this is not standard grammar). The singular past is formed by the addition of -st (if the name ends in a vowel) or -ist (if the name ends in a consonant). For example, Joseph would become Josephist, or Anthony becomes Anthonist (y always change to i).

Tense is also carried by the pronouns, see below.

Verbs
The main verb form is called the infinitive and always end with -i.

Tenses and Aspects
The tenses were restructured completely: The present and the past were distinguished by the subject noun. The future is formed by the construction hjet + present, and the future-in-the-past by hjet + verb.\

Aspects
Verbs lost their innate aspects. There was an official Verb List,. formed as follows: Instead, three aspects were distinguished: A fourth aspect was later added: ​The removal of budem and jesam forced the introduction of a new copula, er, which functions as a grammatically normal verb, with all tenses and aspects.
 * Each unpaired ver is kept
 * The shorter verb in a pair is kept
 * Chain verbs (verbs with added prefixes or suffixes that do not change the meaning a lot - similar to "write down" vs "write") are replaced with verb-preposition complexes
 * New verbs are always Germanic borrowings, or derived from nouns/adjectives
 * The iterative aspect, representing actions done repeatedly.
 * The preterite aspect, representing actions finished. The suffix -dem is added (-dem is from the former verb budem, which became obsolete).
 * The durative aspect, representing ongoing actions. The suffix -sam is added (jesam
 * The preterite-durative aspect, representing the part of ongoing actions that have been finished. The suffix -ed is added (borrowed from English).

Tenses
Four tenses were distinguished, based on two criteria:
 * Present and future vs past and future-in-the-past was distinguished based on the tense marker carried by the subject noun or pronoun.
 * Present and past vs future and future-in-the-past was distinguished by the new grammar particle hjet, which functions like English will.

​Voices
The grammar particle be represents the passive voice. It is inserted immediately before the main verb. No other changes are made to the verb when the voice is changed.

Moods
There are no moods in the new Montenegrin.

Conditionals
Conditionals are put in their respective tenses, as would otherwise be expected.

The grammar particle bwenn, created as a portmanteau of German bei and wenn, was added to the protasis to denote a counterfactual situation, as opposed to a possible situation. Bwenn is inserted after hjet, if any, but before the verb.

Negation and Interrogative
Verbs are negated by adding ne before the main verb. Hjet and ne next to each other is contracted as hjene.

The yes/no interrogative mimics Dutch. Questions are formed by inverting the main verb, hjet, or be.

Example:

Doktoru operatidem patients. (The doctor had operated on the patients.)

Doktoru ne operatidem patients. (The doctor had not operated on the patients.)

Operatidem doktoru patients? (Had the doctor operated on the patients?)

Hann hjet raditisam. (He will be writing.)

Hann hjene raditisam. (He will not be writing.)

Hjet hann raditisam? (Will he be writing?)

Siest be vidjeti. (She was seen.)

Siest be ne vidjeti. (She was not seen.)

Be siest vidjeti? (Was she seen?)

Adjective
Adjectival declension was eliminated completely. The former genitive singular masculine form was used. This means that all adjectives are marked by the -og ending.

Adjectives are put immediately preceding nouns. The orders of adjectives are not fixed and are unimportant.

When in a family of words with a common root, the shortest word is sticked with the -og ending to form an adjective. The -sam and -dem forms of verbs can also be used as adjectives only when both forms are possible, much like in English -ing and -ed adjectives.

Personal pronouns
There are two personal pronoun cases: Nominative (corresponding to the subject and object pronouns in English) and Genitive (corresponding to the possessive adjectives and pronouns in English). There is no equivalent of the reflexive pronouns.

Except for the second person plural, all personal pronouns are derived from Germanic languages. Abbreviations:

N, G: nominative, genitive

1, 2, 3: persons

s, p: singular, plural

M, F, N: masculine, feminine, neuter

Demonstrative pronouns
The demonstrative pronouns are borrowed from Dutch, Danish, German and Swedish:
 * dit - this
 * disse - these
 * som - that
 * jene - those

Interrogative pronouns
The interrogative pronouns and their English equivalents are: The structures for gdje, kad, zašto and kako are:
 * što - what
 * tko - who
 * gdje - where
 * kad - when
 * zašto - why
 * koji - which
 * koga - whom
 * čija - whose
 * kako - how

Interrogative pronoun + yes/no interrogative form.

e.g. Kad operati doktoru patients? (When did the doctor operate on the patients?)

Što, tko, koji, koga and čija are also used in the same way if they ask about an object.

e.g. Tko doktoru operati? (Who did the doctor operate on?)

But when they ask about a subject, the words are ordered as in a normal statement. Thus these interrogative pronouns also have past forms - štost, tkost, kojist, kogast and čijast.

e.g. Tkost operati patients? (Who operated on the patients?)

Sample texts
Bold  are Germanic loanwords introduced in the reforms.

English
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Montenegrin
Sve menns er gebor slobodog i jednak u verdig i pravo. De er schenk pokraj razum i gewiss i soll čin prema drugome u duh af broderskab.

Modern Serbian
Sva ljudska bića rađaju se slobodna i jednaka u dostojanstvu i pravima. Oni su obdarena razumom i sviješću i treba da jedno prema drugome postupaju u duhu bratstva.

English
The Parties to this Treaty reaffirm their faith in the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and their desire to live in peace with all peoples and all governments. They are determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilisation of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law. They seek to promote stability and well-being in the North Atlantic area. They are resolved to unite their efforts for collective defence and for the preservation of peace and security. They therefore agree to this North Atlantic Treaty.

Montenegrin
Strankes af dit Pakt potvrditi deres tillid u svrhas i princips af Čarter af Ujedinog Narodis i deres želja bi živjeti u mir pokraj sve narods i sve vlads. De er odreditog bi sefstražai sloboda, komonog nasljeđe i civilizaci af deres narods, fundem na princips af demokraci, sloboda af projedinacs i vlada af zakon. De tražiti bi promicati stabilnost i blagostanje u Nord Atlantik područ. De er riješog bi ujedini deres napores za kolektivog obrana i za čuvanje af mir i sigurn. Stoga de agrei na dit Nord Atlantik Pakt.

Modern Serbian
Stranke ovoga Ugovora potvrđuju svoju vjeru u ciljeve i načela Povelje Ujedinjenih naroda i svoju želju da žive u miru sa svim narodima i svim vladama. One su odlučne čuvati slobodu, zajedničko nasljeđe i civilizaciju svojih naroda, temeljene na načelima demokracije, slobode pojedinca i vladavine prava. One teže promicati stabilnost i boljitak na sjevernoatlantskom području. One su odlučne ujediniti svoje napore za kolektivnu obranu i očuvanje mira i sigurnosti. One su stoga suglasne s ovim Sjevernoatlantskim ugovorom.