Chlouvānem/Calendar and time

Time expressions in the Chlouvānem language need understanding of the timekeeping system of the Chlouvānem populations. The Chlouvānem calendar (chlǣvānumi pārṇahaleṃlāṇa) is a lunisolar calendar and is one of two timekeeping systems used officially on Calémere, the other one being the standard Western calendar used by the majority of nations. Despite being used only in four countries (the Inquisition, Brono, Fathan, and iKalurilut), it is the timekeeping system for roughly a quarter of the planet's population, the vast majority in the Inquisition.

In this article Chlouvānem names will be used, but the languages of the other countries all follow the same system, often with borrowed Chlouvānem numerals for duodecimal numbers.

The Chlouvānem calendar

Solar months and seasons

The solar and sidereal year of Calémere (in Chlouvānem heirah) is 418 Calemerian days long (about 609,6 days on Earth), and this period is divided, in the Chlouvānem calendar, in fourteen mostly arbitrary months (asena, pl. asenai) which are grouped by season (demibuñjñasusah).

The month names reflect climatic conditions of those particular months in the Lāmiejāya plain, the “heartlands” of the Chlouvānem civilization. Not all of the Inquisition, due to different climates and latitudes, has the same conditions — and the months are grouped in four “seasons”, corresponding to the temperate areas of the Northern hemisphere (about 90% of the population of the Inquisition is north of the Equator, and most areas in the Southern hemisphere do not have distinct seasons anyway). This is despite the Lāmiejāya plain itself having mostly two seasons (and some parts of the “heartlands” even have no seasons, most notably the area around Līlasuṃghāṇa, which has a local “equatorial” microclimate despite being nearly 15º north of the Equator).

The four seasons the calendar is based on are autumn (kanami), winter (tandaikin), spring (tandayena) and summer (enaukam), in the order they appear in the year — these ones are defined by equinoxes and solstices and not by climate alone (even if the origins of their names, all Kans-Tsan, are related to climate). Climatic seasons are totally not uniform across the Inquisition: even in the Lāmiejāya plain, the two seasons (būṃṣoe or dry season and dašoe or rainy/monsoon season) have vastly different start/end dates and lengths in it. Some areas even define more than four seasons: in and around the metropolitan area of Cami (the most populated on the planet), five seasons are traditionally distinguished, with rain patterns being the defining factor (that area having a markedly wet humid subtropical climate).

The autumn equinox (kanampeiṃlaliā) is the first day of the year, and likewise the spring equinox (tandayempeiṃlaliā) is on the (functional) mid-point the year, being the first day of the eighth month — it is not the true mid-point because seasons are not equal: spring is the longest with 108 days, then autumn with 107, winter with 103, and summer with 100. Thus the first part of the year has 210 days while the second one has 208.
The winter solstice (tandaikyutiehånna) is on the fifteenth day of the fourth month, while the summer solstice (enaukyutiehånna) falls on the thirteenth day of the eleventh month. The solar months of the Chlouvānem calendar are:

No.	Month	Days	Name meaning	Notable dates (→ see also Holidays in the Inquisition)
1	Māltapārṇāvi	30	of the days of storage	1st day: (northern) autumn equinox; ranire nājaṣrān (Chlouvānem New Year)
2	Kanamiprātas	29	autumn wind
3	Pāṇḍalañši	30	white braid	4th day: hīmbajaṃšā
4	Kanamimaila	29	autumn water	15th day: (northern) winter solstice; camilaliājaṃšā
5	Murkāsena	31	black month	10th day: Day of the Inquisition
6	Būṃṣprātas	30	dry wind	17th day: Day of the Legions for Purity
7	Laliāñaiṭa	30	night star	10th day: maivajaṃšā
8	Brausāsena	30	sacred month	1st day: (northern) spring equinox 23rd day: caṃkrajavyājaṃšā
9	Mailaheirah	30	“year” of water
10	Ñariāyāmyah	29	mountain fog
11	Bhaivyāvammi	30	of the oboes	13th day: (northern) summer solstice 15th to 18th day: bhaivyāvāṣara
12	Īlāmyasena	29	hot month
13	Hælvyāsena	31	fruit month	4th day: kaili jaṃšā 28th day: Birthday of the Great Inquisitor (as of 4E Ɛ1 (4E 13310)
14	Camimæchliė	30	great green

As a comparison with the Western calendar used in most of the planet, the first day of Māltapārṇāvi is the third day of the twenty-first Western month; the first day of the Western year is the 21st day of Murkāsena.

Lunar months and "weeks"

The lunar element of the Chlouvānem calendar is important in marking the closest equivalent to a week. It should be noted that this division, formerly purely astronomical, is now mostly bureaucratic and does not correspond to astronomical values; therefore solar days and lunar days, as far as the calendar is concerned, are both equal.

A lunar month (huliāsena) is a fixed 34-day division parallel to the fourteen solar months described above. Every lunar month is divided in lānicunih (pl. lānicuneyai), which is the "fixed" 32-hour (28₁₂) bureaucratic lunar day (as opposed to ilėmpārṇam, the astronomical lunar day of variable length, which varies between 30 ½ and 33 Calemerian hours), which is equivalent to the solar day, and lānicuneyai are grouped in two periods called lānimpeɂila (pl. lānimpeɂilai), each one of 17 days, half of the lunar month. The lānimpeɂilai are the closest equivalent of a "week" in the Chlouvānem calendar; they are astronomically based on lunar phases, and are called respectively chlærlīltāvi (from new to full moon) and līleñchlæriāvi.

These divisions - the lānimpeɂilai - take the place of “weeks” for event schedules: the fifth and eleventh days of each lunar phase are half-rest days, while the sixth, twelfth, and seventeenth are full rest days; the first day of the first, fourth, seventh, and tenth lunar months are also full rest days.

Month names are often half-calques of the original Lällshag names, and names of animals and plants are the main root for most of them:

N.	Lunar month name	Meaning
1	​ñaiṭāšarai	Month of stars
2	dildhāmai	Month of dildhai
3	tāriāṣṭri	Month of red leopards
4	ėmīlyāvi	Month of tigers
5	nāmñāṣṭri	Month of nāmñyai
6	māruḍānis	Month of snakes
7	maiyūjmai	Birth of lotus flowers
8	bhārmāṣyam	Month of lions
9	rarāyanim	Month of rabbits
10	nehaušė	Month of tales
11	kvælškārai	Month of kvælšken trees
12	nārdhāṣṇam	Month of nārdhāṣai

[names of lunar days to be added hopefully soon]

There are two strategies used in the Chlouvānem-timekeeping countries in order to realign both the true and bureaucratical lunar days and also the lunar year (408 days) with the solar one (418):

• In the first case, every four lunar years an additional lunar day (which is always a rest day) is added after the last day of the last līleñchlæriāvi; this day is called lališlān (or, formally, lališire lānicunih - both meaning “new lānicunih”). This procedure, however, gets in the way of the following realignment:
• 
In the second case, every 42 years in even cycles (see below) the last lunar phase skips its twelfth and thirteenth days (as this causes a full rest day to be erased, the eleventh day, normally a half-rest one, becomes a lone full rest day). This has the effect of making the last day of that lunar phase also the last day of both the lunar and the solar years — the exact difference between the lunar and solar year being of 9.7142 days, making a 408-day difference every 42 years. Even cycles are those where the additional lunar day is added 10 times starting from the fourth year; odd cycles those where it is added 11 times starting from the second year.

The last time both years ended on the same day was in 4E 9ᘔ (118₁₀), fifteen years ago.

Days, hours, and shorter times

The (solar) day (pārṇam) is the base measure of time, which is divided in 28₁₂ (32₁₀) hours (garaṇa) — note that there is a separate term for “day” as the part of the 28-hour day with daylight, namely chlærdhūs. One Calemerian day lasts about 35 hours on Earth.
These hours are divided in four groups called garaṃlāṇa, each one made of eight hours and corresponding to different times of the day. They are yartām (morning), bembīh (afternoon), and prājamnā (evening), and laliā (night) — they may be referred to either with these simple names or genitive + garaṇai (lalei garaṇai, yartāmi garaṇai, …).

The first hour of yartām - the morning - is the first one of the whole day (a stark contrast to the Western calendar, where the day begins at midnight and - traditionally - at dusk); every last hour of each garaṃlāṇa has a specific name, respectively lalla hånna (high[est] sun — colloquially just lalla), nīhenā (sunset), kutīkṣaire hånna (lowest sun — colloquially just kutīkṣayā), and ājva (dawn). For lalla and kutīkṣayā there are also the older terms - still used in some areas - chlærdaniāmita (halfpoint of the day) and laliādaniāmita (halfpoint of the night) respectively.

Hour	Name	Hour	Name
1 of the morning first of the day	yartāmi lahīla	1 of the evening	prājamnė lahīla
2 of the morning	yartāmi hælinaika	2 of the evening	prājamnė hælinaika
3 of the morning	yartāmi pāmvende	3 of the evening	prājamnė pāmvende
4 of the morning	yartāmi nęltende	4 of the evening	prājamnė nęltende
5 of the morning	yartāmi šulkende	5 of the evening	prājamnė šulkende
6 of the morning	yartāmi tulūɂende	6 of the evening	prājamnė tulūɂende
7 of the morning	yartāmi chīcænde	7 of the evening	prājamnė chīcænde
8 of the morning Highest sun	yartāmi tītyende lalla hånna	8 of the evening Lowest sun	prājamnė tītyende kutīkṣaire hånna
1 of the afternoon	bembī lahīla	1 of the night	lalei lahīla
2 of the afternoon	bembī hælinaika	2 of the night	lalei hælinaika
3 of the afternoon	bembī pāmvende	3 of the night	lalei pāmvende
4 of the afternoon	bembī nęltende	4 of the night	lalei nęltende
5 of the afternoon	bembī šulkende	5 of the night	lalei šulkende
6 of the afternoon	bembī tulūɂende	6 of the night	lalei tulūɂende
7 of the afternoon	bembī chīcænde	7 of the night	lalei chīcænde
8 of the afternoon Sunset	bembī tītyende nīhenā	8 of the night Dawn last of the day	lalei tītyende ājva

The four garaṃlānai work roughly like the AM/PM system, thus e.g. hour 17 (19₁₀) is normally called hour 3 of the evening.
Time zones, in all areas with the Chlouvānem timekeeping system, depend on the Eastern/Chlouvānem standard for longitudinal measure, which uses as its prime meridian the one of Līlasuṃghāṇa, capital of the Inquisition. It should be noted that, as the Western system uses the meridian of Mánébodin, capital of Ceria, as its prime one, in the case of two cities on the same meridian but using the two different standards, the one using the Eastern system is (in Chlouvānem time) 16₁₂ railai (18₁₀) and 8 namišenī behind about 10 minutes and 56 seconds in time of Earth (this difference is not precisely solar but established by law between Eastern and Western countries - a single time zone ideally spans 11º15’).
In international contexts, the Chlouvānem time zones are depicted as being +53′40″ (+45′34″₁₂) on the preceding Cerian time zone (for example the country of New Égélonía is in time zone CER+15 (geographically spanning more) while the Chlouvānem diocese of Bivarteloga just south of it is noted as being in time zone CER+14:53′40″₁₀. In official contexts in the Inquisition (as well as in Brono, Fathan, and iKalurilut), Bivarteloga diocese is in time zone LIL+2, while New Égélonía is noted as being in time zone LIL+2:16′08″₁₂.

Every hour is then divided (in an internationally agreed, Calémerian-wide, standard) in 60 (72₁₀) timeframes called raila (pl. railai), each one of about 54.6805 seconds of Earth; in common use in the Inquisition they are most commonly grouped into three double dozens (danihælmāmya, pl. -māmyai), each one of 20 (24₁₀) railai.

The next division, the namišoe (pl. namišenī), is 1/40₁₂ (1/48₁₀) of a raila, therefore about 1.8986 seconds of Earth. Namišenī then follow the normal duodecimal subdivisions: 12 (namišeni) māmendvāṭ (pl. -vaḍai - about 0.1582 seconds of Earth), divided in 12 (namišeni) nihælendvāṭ (about 0.0131 seconds), divided in 12 (namišeni) tildhaindvāṭ (about 1.0987 milliseconds), and so on.

Expressing time in Chlouvānem

Time expressions in Chlouvānem are categorized as either continuous time (flunavyāṣa) or punctual time (tatimvyāṣa); continuous expressions are expressed with accusative or translative case, while punctual time with either locative or ablative plus particles.

Continuous time is expressed with accusative singular in most cases, as there usually is a cardinal number, e.g. šulkmāmei tetacunīyu yųlauça — I ate for sixty (50₁₂) tetacuneyai. The main exception is where there's no specific time quantity, e.g. garaṇānu yųlaute — I ate for hours.

Punctual time uses the locative case where the intended meaning is "in a given moment", e.g. 4V Ɛ0-e galiākine ė — (s)he/it was in Galiākina in 4E Ɛ0 (132₁₀). The locative form is thus used for:

• years — 4V Ɛ1-e (in 4E Ɛ1 (133₁₀))
• solar and lunar months — māltapārṇāvye, tāriāṣṭrye
• lānimpeʔilai — chlærlīltāvye / līleñchlæriāvye
• days — 9-e brausāseni (on the 9th of Brausāsena)
• festivities (see Chlouvānem Inquisition § Holidays for a list of them) — bhaivyāvāṣare (during Bhaivyāvāṣara)
• hours — 3-e bembyė (at 3 in the afternoon)
• seasons — enaukaṃrye (in summer)

Seasons are a partial exception, because if the meaning is "throughout the season", then the accusative is used, e.g. enaukamu throughout the summer", "all summer long".

The following particles are also time expressions:

• flut with ablative case: “... ago” — pāmvių heirų flut “three years ago”
• flut with accusative case: “... from/for/since” — pāmviu heiru flut "for three years (now)"
• natte with ablative case: “in” — pāmvių heirų natte “in three years", "three years from now"
• natte with translative case: ”until" — pāmvin heiran natte "for the coming three years"
• ānat with ablative case: "after" — pāmvių heirų ānat “after three years"
• šut with ablative case: "before" — pāmvių heirų šut “three years before"

Adverbs of time

• ṣubhāveṣi "soon" (formal)
• halše "soon" (more colloquial)
• væse "while"

tamvæse "meanwhile"

• pritiṃsā "recently"
• mådviṣe "before"
• kaminæne "now"
• færviṣe "after"
• peimavyāṣe "right now" (also, very colloquially, kaminæñchi (contraction of kaminæne chi))
• emiya "now" (more formal than kaminæne, especially used in comparisons with the following ones)
• utiya "then, at that time" (not so distant; in the last year)
• ātiya "then, at that time" (long ago; more than a year)
• flære "yesterday"
• amyære "today"
• menire "tomorrow"
• lætmiya "whenever, anytime"
• viṣmiya "sometime else"
• guviṣmiya "never else"
• All adverbial numerals (e.g. leilahæl, danihæl, pāmvihæl…)

Adverbs of frequency:

• yaivmiya "always, everytime"

tamine "forever, eternally"

• āndīdiye "usually, habitually"
• lanihė "often"
• soramiya "sometime(s), somewhen"
• lьvitięe "rarely"
• gumiya "never"

Adverbial locutions of frequency: gumiya mūji "almost never", taili lьvitięe "very rarely", nålin nūšmiya "a few times, occasionally", taili lanihė "very often". maifu "enough" may be used also in a temporal sense.

Telling the time

Telling the time in Chlouvānem needs knowledge of the hour system described above. A hour is expressed as either e.g. Y 3:24 or Y 3.2:04, where:

• Y stands for yartām (morning);
• 3:24 stands for 3 hours and 24 (28₁₀) tetacuneyai (g:yy format);
• 3.2:04 stands for 3 hours, 2 tetacuṃlāṇai (20 (24₁₀) tetacuneyai), and 3 tetacuneyai (g.l:yy format).

The question for asking the time is either yanūḍat garaṇa dam (vi)? (*how many hour is it?) or garaṇa mæn yananū dam (vi)? (talking about the hour, which [one] is it?).

When using the g:yy format, numbers are commonly read as they are written, except for 90, which is the half hour. Examples (note that, as it often happens in Chlouvānem, vi can be omitted):

• L 1:10 — leila māmei lalei vi (it's one and twelve of the night)
• L 1:Ɛ0 — leila māmimīram lalei vi (it's one and 132 of the night)
• L 1:90 — either leila daniāmita no lalei vi (it's half and one of the night) or leili daniāmita lalei vi (it’s half one of the night).

In this last case, the reading “leil mojemāmei lalei vi" is possible, but very rare (usually in formal communications only).

However, the g:yy format is rarely used colloquially, as the spoken form always tells tetacuṃlāṇai and always tells how much time remains until the next hour (or tetacuṃlāṇa):

• L 1.1:00 (L 1:10) — vælden daniå lalei vi (it's eleven [tetacuṃlāṇai] to two of the night)
• L 1.Ɛ:00 (L 1:148) — leila daniå lalei vi (it's one to two of the night)

If tetacuṃlāṇai are not complete, then there are two possible forms: one used in one of the first eight tetacunīye that says "it's the Xth tetacuṃlāṇa with Y tetacuneyai”, and another one used in the latter eight that uses "it's X tetacuneyai to the Yth tetacuṃlāṇa”:

• L 1.2:4 (L 1:34) — hælinaikah nęltą lā leili lalei vi (it's the second [tetacuṃlāṇa] with four [tetacunīye] of one of the night)
• L 1.2:ᘔ (L 1:40) — chīka pāmvendiom leili lalei vi (it's seven [tetacunīye] to the third [tetacuṃlāṇa] of one of the night)

When hours are inside a punctual time expression, they are read in the locative case, e.g. B 2.9:6-e yahītite lā ė "at 2.9:6 (2:120) of the afternoon, (s)he was reading”: mojende tulūʔąa lā danīyi bembyė yahītite lā ė “at the ninth [tetacuṃlāṇa] with six [tetacunīye] of two of the afternoon, (s)he was reading”.