Alska

Alska
Alska
Pronunciation	[[Help:IPA|ɑls'-kɑ]]
Created by	–
Native to	Alsland, Grøn-in-Norderøy, Jotunsøy, Dependencies of Jansstass & Ragnargråben
Native speakers	50 million (2012)
Language family	Indo-European Germanic East Scandinavian Alslandic Alska
Official status
Official language in	Sovereign Kingdom of Alsland (Soveireinkonngsdøm Alslands)
Language codes
ISO 639-1	al
ISO 639-2	als
ISO 639-3	als

Background

Alska [ɑls'-kɑ] is a Germanic language originating from the nation of Alsland, a rather large (area-wise) island in the northern sea. Alska is supposed to be somewhat related to the Scandinavian languages, although it's really more of my own take on Germanic languages as a whole.

The speakers of Proto-Alska came from an unknown land, banished by their gods, according to legends. While Alsland itself has a survivable climate, the stories tell of a paradise. As Alslandic thinking progresses, it has been suggested that the Alslanders are not actually from anywhere, but made these tales up to give a basis for the harsh conditions of Alsland's weather.

Phonology

Letters	Pronunciation	Further information
a	[ɑ:]	has no short version
b	[b]	-
d	[d]	-
e	[ɛ] / [e:]	-
f	[f]	-
g	[g]	-
h	[h]	-
i	[ɪ]/[i]	short 'ɪ', long 'i'
j	[j]	corresponds to y in English you
k	[k]	-
l	[l]	-
m	[m]	-
n	[n]	-
o	[o̞]/[o]	-
p	[p]	-
r	[r]	can be rolled, tapped, trilled, or pronounced non-rhotically, as in most British English dialects. (Depends on Alskan Dialect)
s	[s]	-
t	[t]	-
u	[ʉ]	has no short version
v	[f]	-
w	[v]	rarely used, usually replaced with 'v'
y	[y:]	pronounced almost like German 'ü'
z	[ts]	rarely used
å	[ɔ]	pronounced somewhat like English 'aw' Can be pronounced 'ooh', or 'ow' depending on dialect
ø	[ø]	-
ä	[ɛ]\[e:]	short/long. depends on whether 'ä' is by itself, or near a consonant cluster
æ	[aj]	pronounced as in Latin and Icelandic
ð	[ð]	always unvoiced; replaced with 'd' in some dialects. Corresponds with 'th' in English 'this'
þ	[θ]	always voiced. corresponds with 'th' in English 'with'

Consonants

This is a table of the consonantic phonemes in Alska

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	ʃ		ç	h
Approximant				r		j
Lateral approximant				l

In most dialects, 'sj' is pronounced 'ʃ', with the exception of the word 'sjø', which is pronounced 'syø' The only dialect of Alska that does not follow this rule is the Grøn-in-Norderøy dialect, which pronouces it as it is spelled [sj]. Additionally, the phoneme [ç] corresponds to the 'ch' in German (ich=[iç]) in all dialects, and is spelled 'kj' in words.

Vowels

This is a table of the vowel phonemes in Alska

Phonemes	Short		Long
	Front	Back	Front	Back
Closed	i	-		u:/ü:
Mid-closed	ø	-	e:	o:
Mid-open	ɛ	ɔ	-	-
Open	a	-	-	-

Vowel Length

Almost every vowel has a short and a long version, which changes according to whether there is a double consonant cluster immediately following it or not. Any two of the same consonants following a vowel with make it short, with the exceptions of 'a' and 'u'. For example, 'ok' (and) = 'o:k. 'okk', while not a word, would b pronounced 'o̞k'. This does not occur when two different consonants follow a vowel, such as 'ng'.

Diphthongs

Alska has three diphthongs, and one digraph.

Diphthongs	Pronunciation
ej	[ei]
ie	[i:e]
au	[øy]
ai	[e:]

'ej' is the most common diphthong, while 'ai' is the least common. There is no 'ow' sound in Standard Alska, unlike Standard German. Some dialects, mostly the eastern variants, associate this sound to the letter 'å'.

Stress

Stress usually falls on the first syllable of a noun. Stress falls on every root sylable of a compound 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.