Alvésin

Alvésin is a language spoken in southeastern Antrium, specifically in the province of Alvés-Navlan. It is also spoken in South Antrium, one of two official languages there. 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.

Pronunciation

Alphabet

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.
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.

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.

Digraphs

kh = tS as in English check or church
aw = au as in English out or now
àī = ai as in English eye or five
īū = j as in English yes or yellow
th = th as in English both or thought
sh = S as in English she or crash

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)

To make a command, use the to form of the verb when addressing one person (example: "Look!" is "Vàtkhket!") and use the tos form of the verb when addressing multiple people. (example: "Look!" is "Vàtkhkérez!")

Some Common Verbs

Vocabulary

Basic Words And Phrases

Numbers

Time

</TR>

Places and Directions

</TR>

IDU Country Names

</TR>

Language Names

</TR>