Alvésin
Alvésin | ||||||
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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.
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. Some letters, like c, 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 Letter | Pronunciation (using ASCII Phonetic Alphabet) |
a | @ as in English cat or black |
à | a: or o as in English father or rock |
b | b as in English bad or banana |
d | d as in English did or dark |
e | e as in English bed or met |
é | ei as in English say or eight, or French étape |
f | f as in English find or if |
g | g as in English give or flag |
h | h as in English how or hill |
i | i as in English hit or sitting |
ī | i: as in English see or heat |
j | Z as in English pleasure or French je or juin |
k | k as in English cat or back |
l | l as in English leg or little |
m | m as in English man or lamp |
n | n as in English no or nine |
o | Ou as in English go or road |
p | p as in English pot or place |
r | r as in English red or angry |
s | s as in English scare or sun |
t | t as in English too or tea |
u | u: as in English blue or food |
ū | u or .. as in English put or cinema |
v | v as in English five or valley |
w | w as in English wet or French l'ouest |
z | z as in English zoo or lazy |
Alvésin is easier to learn spelling in than most other languages, because it does not use silent letters. All words are spelled how they sound. All letters only make one sound, so there is no confusion in pronunciation.
Pronouns
English Pronoun | Alvésin Pronoun | Alvésin Possessive Pronoun |
I | Jà | Jàn |
You | To | Ton |
He/She/It | Hé/Hà/Ho | Hén/Hàn/Hon |
We | Nos | Nosī |
You all (or French vous) | Tos | Tosī |
They | Vos | Vosī |
Verb Conjugation
Most 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.
Verb ending for -īr verbs | Verb ending for -ér verbs | |
Jà | -īs | -és |
To | -īt | -et |
Hé/Hà/Ho | -īm | -em |
Nos | -īràs | -éràs |
Tos | -īréz | -érez |
Vos | -īrīt | -érīt |
Some common Alvésin verbs are:
Étir (to be)
Spàkīr (to talk/speak)
Mànjīr (to eat)
Desīr (to want)
Férīr (to do)
Avīr (to have)
Jàrīr (to play)
Ashitīr (to buy)
Tàkér (to take)
Galér (to go)
Vàlkér (to walk)
Màkér (to make)
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)
The pronoun and conjugated verb are always connected by a hyphen. 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?)
Useful Phrases
English | Alvésin |
hello | élo |
goodbye | avàr |
please | àplez |
thank you | érsīt-to |
sorry | serīj |
Do you speak Alvésin? | Férīt-to spàkīt Alvésīn? |
English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Baranxeï, Poirih | Englé, Frànsé, Spàñol, Jérmàn, Néderlàn, Bàrànké, Poītik |
I am from Sivaris, in Antrium. | Jà-étīs do Sīvàris, on Àntrīàn. |
Baranxtu, Domnonia, Groot Gouda, Grosseschnauzer, Keeslandia, Malabra, Mikitivity, Sober Thought, International Democratic Union | Bàrànktu, Dàmnonīū, Grot Gawdū, Gros-Shnawzūr, Kīzlandīū, Mūlabrū, Mikitivitī, Sober Thàt, Intūrnasīonel Démocrajī Unīàn |
yes | wī |
no | no |
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten | un, tu, tér, vor, san, sīx, vet, àt, nàv, tàn |
twenty, twenty-five, fifty, one hundred, two hundred, one thousand | tutàn, tutàn-san, satàn, tàtàn, tutàtàn, thàj |
The Grand Democracy of Antrium | De Gran Démocraj d-Àntrīàn |
My name is Ràtéraj. | Jà-avīs de nom Ràtéraj. |
I am forty-seven years old. | Jà-avīs de votàn-vet añas. |
Where is the restroom? | Vér étim-ho de bantepes? |