Difference between revisions of "Alvésin"

Revision as of 02:50, 20 February 2006

Alvésin is a language spoken in southeastern Antrium, specifically in the province of Alvés-Navlan. It is based off of English and French. Many place names in Antrium and almost all of the names of Antrian people are in Alvésin.

History

Not much is known about the history of Alvésin, because most of the older writings have been destroyed or lost. It is assumed to have originated in what is now Antrium, but no one is sure when the language was created.

It is known that the Alvési tribe have spoken it for many years. They conquered the neighboring Navlanis in a very long and brutal war, and spread the language to them.

It was not widely taught in most of American Federalist, and was reduced to under 50,000 speakers at one time. Schools in western American Federalist started teaching it in 2001, 4 years before the foundation of Antrium, and it has gained many speakers since then.

In 2002, The Orītan R. Révané Dictionary of Alvésin was written, which set spelling standards that were very unclear prior to its publishing. Since then, many people in Antrium have learned the language. It is now the third official language of Antrium.

Speakers

In the most recent Antrium census, it was estimated that about 1,500,000 Antrians know at least an upper high school level of Alvésin. It is spoken mainly in the provinces of Alvés-Navlan and Soréto, where the government requires schools to teach Alvésin, but it is spreading quickly throughout Antrium. It is estimated that over 8 million Antrians will know Alvésin by 2007.

Writing System

The Alvésin alphabet consists of 26 letters (9 vowels, 17 consonants) and is very similar to the English alphabet. Some of the accented letters are borrowed from French, and some accents are unique to the language. The letters c, q, x, and y are not included.

a à b d e é f g h i ī j k l m n o p r s t u ū v w z

Note: The Alvésin alphabet used to include the letter ñ, but in the most recent edition of the Orītan R. Révané Dictionary, the letter was removed due to its rare usage. Ñ has been replaced with nīū, which sounds very similar.

Alvésin is easier to learn to spell than most other languages, because it does not use silent letters. All words are spelled as they sound. All letters only make one sound, so there is no confusion in pronunciation.

Grammar

Pronouns

Verb Conjugation

All verbs in Alvésin end in -īr or -ér. To conjugate an -īr or -ér verb, you simply remove the īr or ér and put in the appropriate verb ending from the chart below.

Note: only the first verb in the sentence needs to be conjugated.

The pronoun and conjugated verb are connected by a hyphen if there are no words between them. (example: "I want to go" is Jà-desīs galér, and "I don't want to go" is Jà no desīs galér)

The pronoun comes before the verb unless it is a question, in which case the verb would come before the pronoun. (example: "I want to go" is Jà-desīs galér, and "I want to go?" is Desīs-jà galér?)

Verb Forms

To make a verb negative, add no before the verb (example: "I do not walk" is Jà no vàlkés)

To make a verb past tense, add an -àn to the end of the verb ending (example: "I ate" is Jà mànjīsàn)

To make a verb future tense, add -étà before the verb (example: "I will make" is Jà-étà màkés)

Some Common Verbs

Étir (to be)
Spàkīr (to talk/speak)
Mànjīr (to eat)
Desīr (to want)
Mītīr (to like)
Lajīr (to love)
Férīr (to do)
Avīr (to have)
Jàrīr (to play)
Ashitīr (to buy)
Lokīr (to find)
Istīr (to listen)
Klīr (to be able to)
Érsīr (to thank)
Dràsīr (to sleep)
Ivalīr (to sit)
Tréovīr (to stand)
Avàyér (to work)
Sīrér (to see)
Tàkér (to take)
Galér (to go)
Vàlkér (to walk)
Màkér (to make)

Useful Words and Phrases

Place Names