Alska

Alska
Alska
Pronunciation	[[Help:IPA|'alska]]
Created by	–
Native speakers	No Census Data (2013)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic East Scandinavian Alska
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia
Language codes
ISO 639-1	al
ISO 639-2	als
ISO 639-3	als
A map showing Alska's intended area of use. Red represents the countries which speak languages Alska was based on, Orange represent countries whose languages are not related to Alska, but which may interact frequently with Alska-speakers. Yellow areas are parts of countries that may encounter Alska speakers, but would not normally frequently interact with them.

Background

Alska ['alska] is a Western Scandinavian language created for the purposes of enhancing mutual intelligebility across the main scandinavian languages, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian. Icelandic and Faroese are represented in the orthography and three-gender system of the language, but most of the main vocabulary is made up of mainland Scandinavian words. It is designed to be mutually intelligible to all Scandinavians without borrowing too heavily from any one language.

Also, as a small note, primary stress will be marked in IPA with (') as usual, but secondary stress will be marked with (.) because it is annoying to insert the (ˌ) mark every other syllable.

Phonology

Letter	Pronunciation	Further information
a	[a]/[ɑ]	-
á	[aʊ]	corresponds to (av) as in Danish havnen
b	[b]	-
d	[d]	-
ð	[ð]	pronounced somewhere in between Icelandic (ð) and (d) in Danish (mad), (gade), (flåd)
e	[ɛ]/[e]	-
é	[ei:]	-
f	[f]	-
g	[g]	-
h	[h]	-
i	[ɪ]/[i:]	-
í	[ai:]	corresponds with (ej)/(ei) in Mainland Scandinavia, as well as certain instances of (eg) in Danish
j	[j]	-
k	[k]	-
l	[l]	-
m	[m]	-
n	[n]	-
o	[ɔ]/[o]	-
p	[p]	-
r	[ɾ]	tapped in all positions
s	[s]	-
t	[t]	-
u	[u]	-
ú	[ʉ]	-
v	[v]	-
y	[y:]	pronounced almost like German (ü)
ø	[ø]	may also represent [œ], but the distinction is not made in Alska
å	[o:]	-

Consonants

Phonemes	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	p b			t d			k g
Affricate
Nasal	m			n			(ŋ)
Fricative		f v		s	ɕ		t͡ɕ	h
Approximant				r		j
Lateral approximant				l

• (sj) denotes [ɕ] and (kj) denotes [t͡ɕ]

Vowels

Phonemes
	Front	Back
Closed	i y	u ʊ
Mid-closed	e ø	o
Mid-open	ɛ	ɔ
Open	a	-

Vowel Length

There is no reliable way to determine vowel length, however, if a vowel precedes a double consonant such as (tt), it will always be short. The vowels (å) and (ø) cannot change in length. Likewise, the letters (á), (é), and (í) cannot become short because they represent diphthongs.

Stress

Alska uses stress to differentiate words instead of a pitch accent like Norwegian and Swedish do.

Stress usually falls on the first syllable of a word. Words that do not follow this pattern are usually loanwords, which follow their original pronunciation rules when adopted, although the spelling is often changed to help integrate them into Alska.

The prefixes (for-), (be-), and (u-) are unstressed, and primary stress falls on the syllable after them.

• forstå [foɾ'sto:] - to understand

The endings (-tion), (-ti/tik), (-aner), and (-ør) are receive primary stress, even if there is another syllabe after them (for example, the plural ending)

• politikkar [pɔlɪ'tɪk.aɾ] - politicians

Grammar

Nouns

Nouns have two genders in Alska, Common and Neuter. These nouns must always agree with their adjectives gender-wise.

Nouns can come in two numbers, singular and plural. To make a vowel plural, either the suffix '-er', '-e' or '-ene' is added to the end. Very few nouns that have a natural fminine gender get the '-e' suffix for their indefinite plural form. This can cause confusion, since '-er' is also how verbs conjugate for all persons in the present tense. When a noun is definite, the plural is '-ene'. When it is not, the plural is '-er'.

Definite vs. Indefinite

Nouns can be definite or indefinite, and this is decided by the use of an enclitic article. The common gender has the suffix '-en' to make it definite, the neuter gender has '-et'. These articles can be separated from their noun. This transforms them into indefinite articles.

For example:

• Flyge - Woman + '-en' = Flygen - The Woman. (The extra 'e' is combined)

Here is a chart showing a selection of nouns in their indefinite and definite forms, as well as the plurals for each.

Singular	Plural	Gender	Meaning	Definite	Definite Plural	Gender	Meaning
mann	manner	common	man	foten	fotene	common	foot
land	lander	neuter	land	hemmellen	hemmellene	common	sky, heaven
sju	sjuer	common	shoe	ligtet	ligtene	neuter	light
live	liver	common	life	sprokken	sprokkene	common	language
tir	tirer	neuter	animal	boket	bokene	neuter	book
elske	elsker	common	love	vulfen	vulfene	common	wolf
lørdin	lørdine	common	lady	lørd	lørdene	common	lord

Note how all definite plural suffixes are the same, no matter the gender of the word itself.

Articles

With definite and indefinite nouns come definite (demonstrative) and indefinite articles. Gender applies to these articles in both the definite and indefinite form.

Definite article	Common	Neuter	Plural	Indefinite Article	Common	Neuter	Plural
Nom. / Acc.	den	det	denne/dette	Nom./Acc.	en	et	-
Dat.	dan	dat	danne/datte	Dat.	an	at	-

There are no plural forms for indefinite articles, as the are only ever used to refer to singular things. Denne and dette can also be used for 'this'.

Demonstrative articles are used when

a) referring directly to something or someone.

• For example: Den mann - That man

b) referring back to the subject of the sentence of something previously mentioned.

• For example: Tirer er alltid duf. Det er ikke bestimmer - Animals are always stupid. This is not true. Here 'det' is referring to the previous mentioned concept of animals being stupid.

c) an adjective precedes the noun it stems from.

• For example: en mann -> den strungen mann

Often the demonstrative article is used instead of the enclitic article in speech because saying 'den strungen mann' is also the same as saying 'strungen mannen'

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns change depending on the case they are used in. (Nominative, Accusative, Dative, or Genitive) Possessive Pronouns change depending on the gender of the noun they possess.

Case	1st person
	Singular		Plural
Nominative	jeg		vi
Accusative	mig		oss
Dative	mig		oss
Genitive	minn		osser
Case	2nd person
	Singular		Plural
Nominative	du		i
Accusative	dig		ig
Dative	dig		ig
Genitive	-		-
Case	3rd person
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	han	hun	den / det	disse / disse
Accusative	han	hun	den / det	disse / disse
Dative	ham	hum	dan / dat	dasse / dasse
Genitive	-	-	-	-

This is one of the only times that defined masculine and feminine category appears in Alska, as it is a case of natural gender.

There are no genitive forms for 'du', and 'han/hun/det'. Their corresponding possessives are used instead.

Person	Singular	Plural
jeg	minn	minnene
du	dinn	dinnene
den / det	sinn	sinnene
hun	sinn	sinnene
we	osser	osser
i	ier	ierne

Possessives can have '-tt' suffixed on to them, if the noun they possess is neuter in gender. There is no suffix for common:

• Mitt hus - My house
• Minn hund - My dog

Adjectives

Adjectives come in their root form, and are inflected for gender and number, with the same two endings used for making nouns definite, '-en', and '-et'. The plural ending is '-ene' An adjective does not, however, have to be inflected if it comes after the noun it describes.

Here are some examples:

• En strungen mann - A strong man
• Et lillet hus - A little house (Can also be formed through the diminutive)
• Den er en smuken flyge - That is a pretty girl
• Den flyge er smuk - That girl is pretty
• Disse lillene huser - These little houses

Comparative

The comparative form of adjectives is formed by adding '-ere' to the adjective itself. The word 'ennd' precedes the noun being compared.

For example:

• Den mann er strungere ennd den flyge - The man is stronger than that girl.

If something is being compared on the same level, 'somm' is used after the adjective.

• Den mann er strung somm den flyge - The man is as strong as the girl.

If something is being compared as less than something, 'minntre' is used before the adjective, and 'somm' is used before the other noun.

• Den mann er minntre strung somm den flyge - The man is weaker than the woman. (This can also be formed with the adjective weak, or by using 'ikke' before 'minntre', making 'not as strong')

Irregular Adjectives

Irregular adjectives are normal until they reach the comparative stage. Instead of adding the suffix 'ere', these irregular adjectives are usually put into the comparative by changing the entire word (compare to English 'good', 'better', 'best')

Here is an example of an irregular adjective being used comparatively.

• Det hus er godt - The house is good
• Det hus er bettre - The house is better
• Dette hus er betre ennd det hus - This house is better than that house

Superlative

The superlative form of an adjective is used when saying something is the 'best'. For regular adjectives, the superlative ending is '-est'. Irregular verbs usually end in '-est', but it is part of the stem, or root. In other words, the adjective changes twice, once for comparative, again for superlative, and the superlative version ends in '-est'.

Here is a table showing regular and irregular adjectives in their three forms:

Regular Adjective	Comparative	Superlative	Meaning	Irregular Adjective	Comparative	Superlative	Meaning
strung	strungere	strungest	strong	godt	betre	best	good
lang	langere	langest	long, tall	hog	højer	højest	high
ung	ungere	ungest	young	gamell	elt	eltest	old
kald	kaldere	kaldest	cold	lille	smål	smålest	little, small

Numbers

Number	Cardinal	Ordinal	Number	Cardinal	Ordinal
0	null	-	1	en	vørste
2	tø	sekunde	3	tre	trede
4	fjyr	fjyrede	5	fimm	fimmede
6	sex	sexede	7	sjø	sjøede
8	atte	attede	9	nan	nanede
10	tan	tanede	11	ellfu	ellfede
12	tolfu	tolfede	13	tretan	tretanede
14	fjyrtan	fjyrtanede	15	fimmtan	fimmtanede
16	sextan	sextanede	17	sjøtan	sjøtanede
18	attjan	attjanede	19	nantan	nantanede
20	Tjoi	Tjoede	21	Tjoen	Tejoenede
22	Tjoitø	Tjoitøede	30	treti	tretede
31	treen (tre-en)	treenede	40	fjyrti	fjyrtide
50	fimmti	fimmtide	60	sexti	sextide
70	sjøti	sjøtide	80	jåtti	jåttit
90	nanti	nantide	100	hundre	hundrede

Note that in some numbers, certain letters are omitted, such as the 'i' in 'tjoen'.

Ordinal numbers are created by adding '-ede' onto the end. In some cases, just'-de' is added.

Counting is relatively simple in Alska. To make two digit numbers, one simply puts two numbers together. Numbers after one hundred work in the same way:

• tjoi + en = tjoen - twenty-one
• hundre + fimmti - one hundred-fifty

The word for thousand is 'tusennd; it's ordinal form is 'tusennede'. Million is 'milliard'/'milliarde'

Interrogatives

Interrogatives	Alska
Who	hvemm
What	hvad
Where	hver
Why	hvørfer
How	hvorden
When	nør

Adverbs

Adverbs are never declined or inflected, can be placed before or after the verb.

• Jeg vil lufe i dag - I want to run today

Here, today is being used adverbially because it shows when I want to run. The reason 'vil' is not conjugated is because it is a modal verb, which do not receive the '-r' suffix. 'lufe' is still in the infinitive because any verb after a modal verb must stay that way.

Verbs

Verbs in the infinitive form are accompanied by 'ett', and 'e' on the end. For example: Kyk - Cook, ett Kyke - to cook. There are almost no irregular verbs, and conjugation of most verbs is done by adding the suffix '-r' to the infinitive.

'-r' is used for all pronouns

• Jeg kyker i dag - I cook today/I'm cooking today
• Du kyker i dag - You cook today/You're cooking today

Er is used only in the context of 'to be', not as an auxiliary verb, as in English 'I am writing'. In Alska this would be Jeg skriver, NOT Jeg er ett skrive.

Verbs appear in their full infinitive form in a sentence when another primary verb is being used, often preceded by for, but not always. The verb+e version of the infinitive can appear after a modal verb.

Here is an example of all three forms:

• Jeg skriver - I write
• Jeg vil skrive - I want to write
• Jeg skriver over for ett kyke - I write about cooking

Past Tense

Past tense of verbs is usually done through suffixing, although a small portion of them go through stem vowel changes.

The suffixes for most words are '-dde', or '-te'.

Verb	Present	Past	Meaning
ett Skrive	skriver	skrivte	to write
ett Kyke	kyker	kykte	to cook
ett Lufe	lufer	lufte	to run
ett Finne	finner	finnedde	to find
ett Spise	spiser	spisedde	to eat
ett Gå	går	gir	to go

Irregular Past Tense

There is a very short list of verbs that undergo a stem-vowel change for their past tense form, although there is order to this and if one learns what each vowel changes to, they must simply remember the specific word it occurs in.

Vowel	Changes To
a	e
e	a
i	u
o/å/ø	i
u	o

Here is a table showing the stem vowel changes for certain verbs:

Verb	Present	Past Tense	Meaning
ett Gå	går	gir (gikk in some dialects)	to go
ett Vere	er	var	to be
ett Hive	hiver	huver	to heave, lift

Note how the '-r' is not changed, even when the verb is in the past tense.

Forming Commands

Forming commands in Alska is quite simple. When one wants to form a command, such as 'give me that', they need only to move the verb to the beginning of the sentence. The verb being used as a command stays in its present tense conjugation, and will always stay in that form no matter what tense the rest of the sentence is in.

This rule applies in English, also: One might say, 'give me that' in the present tense, but later say, 'I told him to give me it.' Notice how the commanding verb is the same, even though the speaker of the sentence is referring to the actual command in the past tense.

Additionally, when referring to one's self in a command statement, the accusative form of the personal pronouns must be used.

Here are some examples:

• Giver mig det - Give me that (Jeg - Mig)
• Holder dette - Hold this
• Hjelper mig hiver den! - Help me lift this!

Notice how in all of these statements, the second person is never acknowledged (du). It is understood that you are telling another person to perform an action, so no form of du needs to be used in the sentence. However, if you were to use the verb ett Måe - (Must) in the statement, du would have to be used:

• Snaker med han - Speak with him
• Du må snaker med han - You must speak with him

Past Participle

The past participle form of a verb always comes with the verb ha - to have. Ha is always conjugated in the present tense, but the verb main verb is always in the past tense. Past participle forms retain the same suffixes they had in their regular past tense form.

For example:

• Jeg har gir till Alsland - I have gone to Alsland (before)

The main verb, or the verb in the past tense, does not have to be in any specific place in the sentence as long as it is after ha; It is just as acceptable to say Jeg har till Alsland gir

Syntax

Syntax in Alska has a rather straightfoward SVO pattern, like most Germanic langauages. Also like most Germanic languages is the switch to VSO for interrogative statements.

• Jeg vil lufe - I want to run
• Vil jeg lufe? - (Do) I want to run?

Notice how there is no auxiliary verb in the second example. Translated literally, it means 'Want I run?'.

Cases

Alska has 4 grammatical cases: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, and Genitive.

Nominative

Nominative Case is used to show the subject of a sentence, although there is no case marking for this case in Alska.

Accusative

Accusative Case shows the direct object of a sentence, and once again there are no case markings for it.

While there is no direct marking on the noun, pronouns do change to conform to Accusative case.

• jeg - mig
• du - dig

Dative

Dative Case shows the indirect object of a sentence, and is the one case where case marking occurs. The indefinite and definite articles undergo a vowel shift, from 'e' to 'a'.

• en/et - an/at
• *den/det - dan/dat

Genitive

Genitive Case shows possession of a noun by another entity, and is the only case that has in-depth rules.

Possession can be shown in two ways: with a possessive pronoun or in an 'of the' phrase. Using a possessive pronoun is more common in speech, although there are situations where an 'of the' phrase would be more accurate.

When showing possession with a pronoun, one simply puts the pronoun in front of the noun being possessed. For example:

• minn skole - my school
• ditt hus - your hus

Notice how the syntax here is exactly like English. This is by far the easiest way to use Genitive case. Also notice how 'dinn' changes to 'ditt'. This is because 'hus' is neuter in gender. This change applies to most possessive pronouns when they own a neuter word.

There is no actual 'of the' phrase in Alska, instead the noun being possessed is made definite and put in front of a possessive pronoun:

• skolen minn - the school (of) me
• huset hans - the house (of) his/his house

'Hans' and 'huns' are the only two pronouns that do not undergo the 'tt' change when possessing a neuter noun. They are also used instead of 'sinn

'Sinn' is used for the first kind of possession, and hans/huns is used for the second.

When a proper noun is possessing something, the suffixes '-s', or '-es' are used. '-s' is suffixed onto proper nouns, such as names and places, and '-es' is suffixed onto regular nouns. If the noun is definite, the genitive suffix comes after the enclitic article. This happens in both types of possession:

• Alslands fylger/Flygene alslands - Alslands women/the women of Alsland
• Kattenes ball/Ballet kattenes - The cat's ball/The ball of the cat

Ja and Ju

In Alska there are two affirmative words: Ja, which is used for regular yes/no answers, and Ju, which is used for negative questions.

Negative Questions are formed when ikke is used. Observe the difference between these two questions:

• Vil du lufer med mig? - Do you want to run with me?
• Vil du ikke lufer med mig? - Don't you want to run with me?

The answer to the first question would be Ja, while Ju would have to be used in the second question if the person does in fact want to go running.

This helps with the confusion that occurs with negative questions. For example, in English, the question 'don't you want to run with me?' is not seen as an inherently negative statement, but when one separates 'don't', the statement's implied meaning changes. Now it becomes 'do you not want to run with me?'. Answering yes to this question would mean that you do not want to run. However, if you do want to run, you would have to clarify the statement: 'Yes, I do want to run with you.'

The use of Ju eliminates the need for this confusion.

Examples

Here is the Lord's prayer translated from English into Alska:

The Lord's Prayer

English	Alska
Our Father in heaven,	Osser vadr i himmell,
hallowed be your name.	helighet er din Nafn.
Your kingdom come,	din konngdøm kommer,
your will be done,	din will gør,
on earth as it is in heaven.	på jorden hvorden somm det er i hemmell.
Give us this day our daily bread,	giver oss disse dagligen brød,
and forgive us our debts,	ok tillgive oss osser skulder,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.	hvorden vi har tilgivedde osser skuldmanner.
And lead us not into temptation,	ok leder oss ikke i på frissthellse,
but deliver us from evil.	men tillever oss fra ande.

A small poem in English, then in Standard Alska and its dialects:

English	SA	NA	EA
There once was a man from Japan	Der var en mann fra japan	Der var en mann frå japan	Der vor in maan fra jaapaan
Whose limericks had not many a fan	Hves limerer ingen mange fanatikker havdde	hves limerer inge mange fanatiker havde	Hvis lim'rer ing'n mang' faanaatikker haade
When asked why he said:	Nør spårgte hvorfer han sagdde:	Nor sporgte hvorfor han sagde:	Nor sporgte hvorfor hin sáde:
It is because I always try to fit as many syllables into the last line as I possibly can	Det er for jeg altid prøver ett fidde somm mange syllaber i den sisde linje somm jeg mulige kan	Det er forde jæyg alltid prøver i fedde sum mange sylaber i den siste linje sum jæyg mulige kan	Din e forde jeg aaltid prøve å f'd som máng' sillaber i din sisti line som jeg mulg' kaan

IPA version:

• SA: [dɛr var ɛn man fra: ja'pa:n | vɛs lɪm'ɛrˌɛr ɪŋ'ɛn maŋ'ɛ fanˌa:'tɪkˌɛr hav'dɛ | nør spɔrg'tɛ vɔr'fɛr han sag'dɛ | dɛt er fo̞r jaj al'ti:d prøv'ɛr ɛt fɪd'ɛ sɔm maŋ'ɛ sy:l'a:bˌɛr i: dɛn sɪs'tɛ lɪn'jɛ sɔm jaj mʉl'ɪˌkɛ ka:n]

• NA: [dɛʁ vaʁ ɛn man fʁau ja'ba:n | vɛs lɪm'ɛʁˌɛʁ ɪŋ'ɛ maŋ'ɛ fanˌa:'dɪgˌɛʁ haf'tɛ | nɔr sbɔʁk'dɛ vɔʁvɔʁ han sak'tɛ | dɛt eʁ fɔʁ jajg al'di:t pʁøf'ɛʁ i: fɛt'ɛ sʉm maŋ'ɛ sɪl'a:ˌpɛʁ i dɛn sɪz'dɛ lɪn'jɛ sʉm jajg mʉl'i:ˌkɛ ka:n]

• EA: [dɛ(ɹ) vɔ(ɹ) ɪn ma:n frau ja'ba:n | vi:s lɪm'ɛɹˌ(ɛɹ) ɪŋ'ɛn meɪŋ'ɛ fa:nˌa:'dɪkˌ(ɛɹ) ha:d | nɔ(ɹ) spɔɹ'kt hvɔɹ'fɔ(ɹ) hɪn seɪ(d) | dɪn e: fɔɹ'(dɛ) a: a:l'ti:(d) prø'f(ɛ) ɔ: fɛ(t) sɔs meɪŋ'ɛ si:l'aupˌ(ɛɹ) i: dɪn sis'tɪ li:n'ɛ sɔs a: mʉl'kɛ ka:n

Todo: WA, RG, JSS

Since word order is relatively free in Alska, it is acceptable to end sentences with each dialect's form of ett Have in order to rhyme.

Comparison to Modern Scandinavian Languages

Here is a table which compares words in Alska to their Scandinavian equivalents as well as German, and shows their English meaning:

Alska	Danish	Norwegian	Swedish	Icelandic	German	English
mann	mand	mann	man	maður	Mann	man
fot	fod	fot	fot	fót	fuß	foot
land	land	land	land	land	Land	land, country
hemmell	himmel	himmel	himmel	himinn	Himmel	sky, heaven
sju	sko	sko	sko	skór	Schuh	shoe
ligt	lys	lys	ljus	ljós	Licht	light
live	liv	liv	liv	líf	Leben	life
tir	dyr	dyr	djur	dýr	Tier	animal