Alvésin

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Alvésin
Spoken in: Antrium, especially in the province of Alvés-Navlan
Region: International Democratic Union
Official language of: Antrium


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 3,500,000 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.
In 2006, the Antrian government approved a plan to give bonuses to schools that teach Alvésin. This is expected to raise the number of schools teaching the language. It is estimated that over 22 million Antrians will know at least a basic knowledge 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 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

kh = tS as in English check or church aw = au as in English out or now

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

English Pronoun Alvésin Pronoun Alvésin Possessive Pronoun
I 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

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.

Pronoun Verb ending for -īr verbs Verb ending for -ér verbs
-īs -és
To -īt -et
Hé/Hà/Ho -īm -em
Nos -īràs -éràs
Tos -īrez -érez
Vos -īrīt -érīt

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)
Rékwīr (to need)
Mītīr (to like)
Lajīr (to love)
Férīr (to do)
Hérīr (to live)
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

English Alvésin
hello élo
goodbye avàr
please àplez
thank you érsīs-to
sorry serīj
this/that/those/there/then sel/set/ses/seplàs/setem
which/what/where/when/who/why kel/wà/vér/à wà tem/hu/vor wà
Do you speak Alvésin? Férīt-to spàkīr Alvésīn?
Yes, I speak Alvésin. Wī, jà-spàkīs Alvésīn.
I am from Sivaris, in Antrium. Jà-hérīs do Sīvàris, on Antrīum.
yes/no wī/no
OK/I agree ako/jà-grītīs
I need help/I need directions Jà-rékwīs des asistàns/Jà-rékwīs des déreks
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten un, tu, tér, for, san, sīx, vet, àr, nàv, tàn
twenty, twenty-five, fifty, one hundred, two hundred, one thousand tutàn, tutàn-san, satàn, tàtàn, tutàtàn, thàj
My name is Ràtéraj. Jà-avīs de nom Ràtéraj.
I am forty-seven years old. Jà-avīs des fotàn-vet anas.
Where is the restroom? Vér étim-ho de bantep?
grocery store/bank/church/park/school awtonos-marché/verinīr/rélījīr/pàrk/édukīr
mall/city hall/police station/fire station/post office sàntré-màrché/govérnīr-sīté/stàsīn-polīs/stàsīn-férgrū/postalīr
It is four twenty-six PM. Ho-étīm de tem for tutàn-sīx on d'aftramīdī.
It costs 9 verinos and 16 cents. Ho-kustīm nàv verīnos é tàn-sīx sentīs. (Ho-kustīm nàv tàn-sīx.)

IDU Country Names

</TR>

English Alvésin Country Name Alvésin Adjective
Antrium/The Grand Democracy of Antrium Antrīūm/De Gràn Démocràj do Antrīūm Antrīen
Baranxtu Bàrànktu Bàrànktīj
Ceorana Sīorànū Sīorànen
Domnonia Dàmnonīū Dàmnonīen
Fonzoland Fànzotero Fànzoternīj
Groot Gouda Grot Gawdū Gawdīen
Grosseschnauzer Gros-Shnawzūr Shnawzerīj
Hiel Hīel Hīelīen
Jonquiere-Tadoussac Jonkwīér-Tūdusak Jonkwīér-Tūdusaké
Keeslandia Kīzlandīū Kīzlandīen
Lawtonia Làtonīū Làtonīen
Malabra Mūlabrū Mūlabrīj
Mikitivity Mikitivitī Mikitivīten
Sober Thought Sobūr Thàt Sobūr-Thàtīen
Xtraordinary Gentlemen Ekstrordinérī Gentūlmūn Ekstrordinérīj
International Democratic Union Intūrnasīonel Unīàn Démokrajīk Intūrnasīonel-Unīàn-Démokrajīken (Īudéen)

Language Names

</TR>

English Name Alvésin Name Alvésin Adjective
Alvésin Alvésīn Alvésīkīr
Baranxeï Bàrànké Bàrànkīr
Chicoutim Khīkutīm Khīkutīkīr
Dutch Nédūrlàn Nédūrlàkīr
English Ànglé Ànglīkīr
French Frànsé Frànsīkīr
German Jérmàn Jérmàkīr
Poirih Poītik Poītīkīr
Spanish Spànīol Spànīkīr


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