Alvinian

Alvinian
Алвини Език, Alvini Ezik
Created by	AlbertVen
Language family	Indo-European Slavic Southern Slavic Alvinian

Introduction

Alvinian (Алвини Език, Alvini Ezik) is a Southern Slavic language based on Old Slovene, which has been significantly influenced by Venetan, an Italo-Romance language spoken in North-Eastern Italy, and other Slavic languages, especially Serbian and Russian.

Alphabet

Alvinian uses both Cyrillic and Latin script. The alphabets have an equal status, although latin is usually preferred in informal texts, while cyrillic is normally used in normative, scientific and official texts.

Cyrillic	Latin	IPA value
А а	A a	/a/
Б б	B b	/b/
В в	V v	/v/
Г г	G g	/ɡ/
Д д	D d	/d/
Џ џ	Ğ ğ	/dʑ/
Е е	E e	/ɛ/ (stressed); /e/ (unstressed)
Ж ж	Ž ž	/ʐ/
З з	Z z	/z/
И и	I i	/i/
Ј ј	J j	/ʝ/
К к	K k	/k/
Л л	L l	/l/
Ԡ ԡ	L̆ l̆	/ʎ/
М м	M m	/m/
Н н	N n	/n/
Ԣ ԣ	Ň ň	/ɲ/
О о	O o	/ɔ/ (stressed); /о/ (unstressed)
П п	P p	/p/
Р р	R r	/ɾ/
С с	S s	/s/
Т т	T t	/t/
У у	U u	/u/
Ф ф	F f	/f/
Х х	H h	/x/
Ц ц	C c	/ts/
Ч ч	Č č	/tɕ/
Ш ш	Š š	/ʂ/
Һ һ	X x	/dz/
Я я	Ą ą	/ɔ̃/

Grammar

Nouns

Alvinian inflects nouns for number (singular, dual, plural), gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) and case (nominative, genitive, accusative, dative). The declensions are divided into masculine, feminine and neuter.

Masculine - Ušnik (Student)	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	Ušnik	Ušnika	Ušniki
Genitive	Ušnika	Ušnika	Ušnikov
Accusative	Ušnik	Ušnika	Ušnike
Dative	Ušniku	Ušnikam	Ušnikima

Feminine - Niga (Book)	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	Niga	Nigi	Nige
Genitive	Nige	Nigi	Nig
Accusative	Nigu	Nigi	Nige
Dative	Nigi	Nigam	Nigima

Neuter - Revo (Tree)	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	Revo	Revi	Revą
Genitive	Reva	Revi	Rev
Accusative	Revo	Revi	Revą
Dative	Revu	Revam	Revima

Personal Pronouns

Alvinian personal pronouns are inflected for number (singular, dual, plural), person, case (nominative, genitive, accusative, dative) and the 3rd persons are inflected also for gender (masculine/neuter, feminine).

	1S	2S	3S m,n	3S f	1D	2D	3D	1P	2P	3P m, f, n
Nom	Mi	Ti	El, Elo	Ela	Naj	Vaj	Laj	Ni	Vi	Eli, Ele, Elą
Gen	Meg	Teg	Neg	Ne	Nas	Vas	Las	Nih	Vih	Lih
Acc	Men	Ten	Nen	Nu	Nas	Vas	Las	Nih	Vih	Lih
Dat	Mom	Tom	Nem	Nom	Nama	Vama	Lima	Nam	Vam	Lim

Verbs

Subject Clitics

Alvinian doesn't have any agreement morphology realised on the verb, that's why it developed a second serie of subject pronouns, which are clitic elements derived from full personal pronouns. These elements function only as markers of the agreement with the subject, and they are obligatorily realised in a sentence with a verb. Subject Clitics are normally proclitic in declarative sentences (they come before the verb) and enclitic in interrogative sentences (they follow the verb). Subject Clitics are not inflected for case, since they always encode the relation of agreement with the subject, but they inflect for person, number (singular, dual, plural) and the 3rd persons are also inflected for gender (masculine, feminine, neuter).

Subject Pronoun	1S	2S	3Sm	3Sf	3Sn	1D	2D	3D	1P	2P	3Pm	3Pf	3Pn
Full	Mi	Ti	El	Ela	Elo	Naj	Vaj	Laj	Ni	Vi	Eli	Ele	Elą
Clitic	Me	Te	El	La	Lo	Na	Va	La	Ne	Ve	Li	Le	Lą

In a sentence with a full pronominal subject or with a referential nominal subject, Subject Clitic has to be realised as well.

	Subject Clitic + Verb	Full Pronoun + Subject Clitic + Verb	Referential Noun + Subject Clitic + Verb
Declarative	La že	Ela la že	Lara la že
Translation	She is	She she is	Lara she is

In questions the order is inverted: the verb comes before the Subject Clitics and they are written as a single word.

Declarative	Interrogative	Translation
La že	Žela?	She is. --> Is she?

Finite Tenses

Alvinian Present tense covers more or less the functions of English Present Simple and Present Continuous. Verbal morphology is very limited. Verbs in the present tense consist of a single form (the root) which is combined with Subject Clitics in order to give rise to the full conjugation. Alvinian Aorist covers more or less the functions of English Past Simple and Past Perfect. The form consists of the root of the verb with the addition of an -s morpheme at the end of it, and it has to be combined with Subject Clitics in order to give rise to the conjugation. The meaning of Alvinian Imperfect is that of a continuous or repeated action taking place in the past. The form consists of the root of the verb with the addition of a -k morpheme at the end of it, and it has to be combined with Subject Clitics in order to give rise to the conjugation. Alvinian Future tense covers all the meanings of actions taking place in the future. The form consists of the root of the verb with the addition of a -bo morpheme at the end of it, and it has to be combined with Subject Clitics in order to give rise to the conjugation.

Verb "že" (to be)	Present	Aorist	Imperfect	Future
1S	Me že	Me žes	Me žek	Me žebo
2S	Te že	Te žes	Te žek	Te žebo
3Sm	El že	El žes	El žek	El žebo
3Sf	La že	La žes	La žek	La žebo
3Sn	Lo že	Lo žes	Lo žek	Lo žebo
1D	Na že	Na žes	Na žek	Na žebo
2D	Va že	Va žes	Va žek	Va žebo
3D	La že	La žes	La žek	La žebo
1P	Ne že	Ne žes	Ne žek	Ne žebo
2P	Ve že	Ve žes	Ve žek	Ve žebo
3Pm	Li že	Li žes	Li žek	Li žebo
3Pf	Le že	Le žes	Le žek	Le žebo
3Pn	Lą že	Lą žes	Lą žek	Lą žebo

Conditional

Just like finite verbs, conditional mood is realised by attaching the particle -bi'' at the end of the present stem. The negative conditional is formed by attaching the usual ni- before the verbal stem.

Subject Clitic	Conditional	Negative conditional
Me, Te, El, La, Lo, Na, Va, La, Li, Le, Lą	Žebi	Nižebi

Questions, Negation, Negative questions

In questions, the clitic + verb complex undergoes an inversion: the clitic, which is found in a proclitic position (before the verb) in declarative sentences, is found in an enclitic position (after the verb) in interrogative questions. The inversion takes places in all tenses. Some clitics (3sf, 3sn, the dual, 3p) don't change with inversion, but some others (1s, 2s, 3sm, 1p, 2p) lose their vowel. The negation is formed by attaching a ni- morpheme before the verbal stem. This negative particle is attached to all negative verbs in all tenses. In negative questions, the negative morpheme keeps the same position, while the clitic undergoes the same inversion phenomenon as their positive counterparts.

Verb "že" (to be)	Declarative	Interrogative	Negative	Neg. Interr.
1S	Me že	Žem?	Me niže	Nižem?
2S	Te že	Žet?	Te niže	Nižet?
3Sm	El že	Žel?	El niže	Nižel?
3Sf	La že	Žela?	La niže	Nižela?
3Sn	Lo že	Želo?	Lo niže	Niželo?
1D	Na že	Žena?	Na niže	Nižena?
2D	Va že	Ževa?	Va niže	Niževa?
3D	La že	Žela?	La niže	Nižela?
1P	Ne že	Žen?	Ne niže	Nižen?
2P	Ve že	Žev?	Ve niže	Nižev?
3Pm	Li že	Želi?	Li niže	Niželi?
3Pf	Le že	Žele?	Le niže	Nižele?
3Pn	Lą že	Želą?	Lą niže	Niželą?

Reflexive verbs

Reflexivity in Alvinian is expressed with the Reflexive Clitic są. This clitic comes immediately after the Subject Clitic and it's written separately from the verb.

Infinitive	Present	Aorist	Negative	Question
Są vavere (to believe)	El są vavere (He believes)	El są vaveres (He believed)	El są nevavere ( He doesn't believe)	Są vaverel? (Does he believe?)