Chlouvānem/Calendar and time: Difference between revisions

Time expressions in the [[Chlouvānem]] language need understanding of the timekeeping system of the Chlouvānem populations. The '''Chlouvānem calendar''' (''Chlouvānumi 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 [[Verse:Chlouvānem Inquisition|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.

 

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.<br/>

The winter solstice (''tandaikyuitehånna'') is on the fifteenth day of the fourth month, while the summer solstice (''enaukyuitehånna'') falls on the thirteenth day of the eleventh month. The solar months of the Chlouvānem calendar are:

# '''Mailaheirah''' (“year”<ref>The word ''heirah'' used to mean both “year” (its only modern meaning) and “spring”.</ref> of water) — 30 days long

# '''Bhaivyāvammi''' (of the oboes<ref>After the ''Bhaivyāvāṣara'', lit. “night(s) of oboes”, the most important religious festival of the Yunyalīlta.</ref>) — 30 days long ; summer begins on its thirteenth day

As a comparison with the Western calendar used in most of the planet, the first day of Māltapārṇāvi is the eighth day of the eleventh Western month; the first day of the Western year is the 24th day of Kanamimaila.

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. ''lānicunīye''), which is the "fixed" 30-hour (26₁₂) 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 ''lānicunīye'' are grouped in two periods called ''lānimpeʔila'' (pl. ''lānimpeʔilai''), each one of 17 days, half of the lunar month. The ''lānimpeʔilai'' 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 ''lānimpeʔilai'' - 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.

''[names of lunar months and days to be added hopefully soon]''

* 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 ''līlešlān'' (or, formally, ''līleskaih 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.

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.<br/>

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''), ''lėlið'' (sunset), ''kutīkṣaseh hånna'' (lowest sun — colloquially just ''kutīkṣaseh''), and ''ājva'' (dawn). For ''lalla'' and ''kutīkṣaseh'' there are also the older terms - still used in some areas - ''chlærdaniāmita'' (halfpoint of the day) and ''laliādaniāmita'' (halfpoint of the night) respectively.

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) 30₁₂ tetacunīye (36₁₀) ahead - 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’).

Every hour is then divided in 160 (216₁₀) timeframes called ''tetacunih'' (pl. ''tetacunīye''), each one of about 18.2292 seconds of Earth; they are grouped in twelve ''tetacuṃlāṇa'', each one of 16 (18₁₀) tetacunīye.

''Tetacunīye'' then follow the normal duodecimal subdivisions: 12 ''(tetacunīyi) māmendvāṭ'' (pl. ''-vaḍai'' - about 1.5191 seconds of Earth), divided in 12 ''(tetacunīyi) nihælendvāṭ'' (about 0.1266 seconds), divided in 12 ''(tetacunīyi) tildhaindvāṭ'' (about 10.5493 milliseconds), and so on.

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. ''fūlmāmei tetacunīyu yųlauça'' — I ate for sixty (50₁₂) tetacunīye. The main exception is where there's no specific time quantity, e.g. ''garaṇānu yųlauça'' — I ate for hours.

Punctual time uses the locative case where the intended meaning is "in a given moment", e.g. ''4V<ref>V stands for ''vyāṣāmaha'', the Chlouvānem term for “era”. When expressed in English, these dates bear the normal E of “era”.</ref> Ɛ0-e Galiākine mitь'' — (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'', ...

* lānimpeʔilai — ''Chlærlīltāvye / Līleñchlæriāvye''

* days — ''9-e Brausāseni'' (on the 9th of Brausāsena)

* hours — ''3-e bembyė'' (at 3 in the afternoon)

* seasons — ''enaukamñe'' (in summer)

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 ===

* '''færviṣe''' "after"

* '''flære''' "yesterday"

* All adverbial numerals (e.g. ''leilahæl'', ''danihæl'', ''pāmvihæl''…)

* '''lanihė''' "often"

* '''lьvitięe''' "rarely"

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 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) tetacunīye (g:yy format);

* ''3.2:04'' stands for 3 hours, 2 tetacuṃlāṇai (20 (24₁₀) tetacunīye), and 3 tetacunīye (g.l:yy format).

The question for asking the time is either ''yanūḍat garaṇa dam (væl)?'' (*how many hour is it?) or ''garaṇa mæn yananū dam (væl)?'' (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, ''væl'' can be omitted):

* ''L 1:10 — leil māmei lalei væl'' (it's one and twelve of the night)

* ''L 1:Ɛ0 — leil māmimīram lalei væl'' (it's one and 132 of the night)

* ''L 1:90'' — either ''leil daniāmita no lalei væl'' (it's half and one of the night) or ''leili daniāmita lalei væl'' (it’s half one of the night).

In this last case, the reading “''leil mojemāmei lalei væl''" 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.Ɛ:00 (L 1:148)'' — ''leil daniui lalei væl'' (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 tetacunīye”, and another one used in the latter eight that uses "it's X tetacunīye to the Yth tetacuṃlāṇa”:

* ''L 1.2:4 (L 1:34)'' — ''hælinaikah nęlten lapi leili lalei væl'' (it's the second [tetacuṃlāṇa] with four [tetacunīye] of one of the night)

* ''L 1.2:ᘔ (L 1:40)'' — ''chīka pāmvendiui leili lalei væl'' (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 yakṣusah mitь'' "at 2.9:6 (2:120) of the afternoon, (s)he was reading”: ''mojende tulūʔan lapi danīyi bembiė yakṣusah mitь'' “at the ninth [tetacuṃlāṇa] with six [tetacunīye] of two of the afternoon, (s)he was reading”.