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This article needs to be expanded. |
| Alesse | ||
|---|---|---|
| Alesse | ||
| Pronunciation | æ'lesɛ | |
| Spoken in |  Country 3 Country 11 Country 12 Country 25 Country 27 Rasoran Union Saaret Salian Empire Vereva
| |
| Region | Southern Latelen | |
| Total speakers | 127,000,000 | |
| Language family | Bogriain
| |
| Writing system | Latin | |
| Official status | ||
| Official language in | Vereva
| |
| Regulated by | Pfuh Saundekkieptekker, Anderjam | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | None | |
| ISO 639-2 | – | |
| ISO 639-3 | – | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
The Alesse dialect is the most widespread dialect of the Almsaundean language and carries the second largest number of dialectal speakers. In Vereva, it is the only non-standard dialect spoken in all city-states. Coming from the Western Almsaundean branch, Alesse is characterized in opposition to the standard Lindjerblau via its semantics, phonology and orthography, though number of lexical and syntactical differences occur as well. Its most notable features are its morphology, syntax and phonology that are different enough from the Eastern and Central dialects to consider Alesse as its own linguistical entity, and not an Almsaundean dialect at all.
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History
Alesse, originating in the ancient nation of Alessajndrjana, has always been an important language of transoceanic trade, although in recent years, it has become a language of the fine and performance arts, culture, cuisine, and cinema. The dialect, more than other Almsaundean dialects, has been significantly influenced by and has influenced many other worldly languages. It has borrowed and lent more words than its counterparts and continues to do so today. Traditionally, many languages borrow words that have meanings related to trading, fishing and seafaring, though newly given words often pertain to fine arts and world culture.
Alesse today is Vereva's language of commerce. Lindjerblau is used for trade and commerce between the Verevian city-states alone, but Alesse is usually preferred internationally due to Alessajndrjana's history as a thelassocracy.
The dialect itself is almost entirely regular, having been reformed twice in the Almsaundean language reforms. Very few words, all of which nouns and verbs, have irregularities. The most notable irregularities exist in the verbs bíerne, isserne and erne, the dialect's three copulae.
Distribution
In Vereva, the dialect stretches an expanse of the entire oceanic border, Alesse, Apfe, Adølie and Ąsje, and encompasses most tourist destinations and many airports and ports. Small Alessephone diaspora can be found throughout Añdriana as well making it the only dialect beside the standard Lindjerblau spoken in each Verevian city-state. Across the borders, many Alessephone communities are found in the Rasoran Union, Country 3, Country 12 and Country 25. Despite Verevian law stating that each able citizen must attain a certain proficiency in the standard dialect, many Alessephone youth falsely regard knowing only Alesse as being adequate for travel throughout the majority of Vereva. This idea is thought in part to come from the famous saying "In Vereva, Speak Alesse!", the title of a popular Alessan foreign language dictionary.
Orthography
Alesse uses an alphabet of 27 letters, nearly half of which are vowels. It contains the fewest letters of all the dialects and the letter Qq, which is unique to Western dialects.
Aa, Āā, Àà, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ēē, Èè, Ff, Gg, Ii, Ìì, Íí, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Òò, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Ùù, Vv, Úú, Zz
Unlike its predecessor Lindjerblau, Alesse contains graphs made up of only one or two letters, whereas Lindjerblau allows for arbritrarily long geminant graphemes that can spread 4, 5 or even 6 letters long. In Alesse, 7 simple digraphs are used.
cc, gc, qc, sc, ss, vv, zc
Phonology
Western Almsaundean dialects such as Alesse are characterized by Almsaundephones by the difference in sound they have in comparison to Central and Eastern Almsaundean dialects. These dialects follow everal unique sound patterns, the Idea of Euphony, where all words end in vowels and the vowel stress class, where a vowel changes its pronunciation based on its nearness toward the stressed penultimate syllable in a word. Vowels also change pronunciation when they are followed by a doubled consonant, though a stressed syllable will always take the stressed pronunciation.
Consonants
| B | C | Cc | D | F | G | Gc | Í | L | M | N | P | Q | Qc | R | S | Sc | Ss | T | Ú | V | Vv | Z | Zc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /b/ | /θ/ | /tʃ/ | /d/ | /f/ | /g/ | /ç/ | /j/ | /l/ | /m/ | /n/ | /p/ | /h/ | /k/ | /ʁh/ | /z/ | /ʃ/ | /s/ | /t/ | /w/ | /ð/ | /v/ | /ʒ/ | /dʒ/ |
Alessan consonants are straightforward and do not geminate. Lindjerblau words that allow gemination are often transliterated to one single consonant, while words that used the geminate consonant (ß) are often replaced with the trigraph "pts."
Vowels
| Opening | Pre- Stressed | Stressed | Post- Stressed | Final | Doubled Cons. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | /a/ | /æ/ | /a/ | /æ/ | /ə/ | /a/ |
| E | /ɛ/ | /ɛ/ | /e/ | /e/ | /ɛ/ | /ɛ/ |
| I | /ɪ/ | /ɪ/ | /i/ | /ai/ | /i/ | /i/ |
| O | /a/ | /a/ | /o/ | /a/ | /o/ | /o/ |
| U | /ə/ | /ɔ/ | /u/ | /ə/ | /u/ | /y/ |
| Ā | /ɑ̃ / | /a/ | /ɑ̃ / | /ə/ | /e/ | /ɑ̃ / |
| Ē | /ɛ̃ / | /i/ | /ɛ̃ / | /ɛ/ | /i/ | /ɛ̃ / |
Vowels may represent six different sounds depending on the position of the vowel in the word; opening, pre-stressed, stressed, post-stressed, final and doubled consonant. If an unstressed vowel begins a word, the vowel is pronounced as an opening vowel. All vowels before the stressed syllable which are not opening vowels are pronounced as pre-stressed vowels. Vowels are always pronounced as stressed vowels when part of the stressed syllable of a word, regardless where the stressed syllable may fall. All vowels after the stressed syllable which are not final vowels are pronounced as post-stressed vowels. Unstressed vowels within the final syllable of a word are pronounced as final vowels. Finally, vowels that preceed doubled consonants such as -tt or -gg are pronounced as doubled consonante vowels when not part of the stressed syllable. The clusters ss and vv are the exceptions, representing different phonemes from their singular counterparts.
The stressed syllable is mostly on the penultimate syllable of a word, however, the grave accent (`) is used over a vowel in a word where the tonic or stressed syllable is not the penultimate syllable. This accent is considered an integral part of a letter because it changes not only the sound of the vowel it sits over, but also the pronuncation of all vowels that follow it.
Whereas Central and Eastern dialects have words that conjugate strongly using liquid and fluid vowels, Western dialects lack both these fluid and liquid vowels, as well as independent aspect markers.
Morphophonology
While the typical Almsaundean internal sandhi and ablaut (apophony) occur more or less frequently in Alesse, other morphophonological sound patterns are unique to the dialect.
Unique to Western dialects is the Idea of Euphony. Sometimes considered a grammatical rule in Alesse and Añdriana, it is an everpresent phenomenon whereas all words end in vowels. Ths phenomenon comes from the close contact of Western dialects, with the Angy language of the Rasoran Union, in which most words also end in vowels. The Idea of Euphony directly opposes the sound patterns of the other dialects, in whose words, 92% end in consonants.
Vowel harmony can be said to be shown in the plurality of nouns and adjectives, in the indicative past tense of verbs. Most linguists consider this untrue, saying it occurs infrequently, taking place only on the articles of masculine- and feminine-gendered nouns. This is caused by the near-complete loss of articles from the dialect, which fell from Lindjerblau to Alesse alongside the 4th and 5th genders. The two neuter articles in Alesse today "e" and it's plural for "i" (the) come from the Lindjerblau pfuh (masculine, singular, nominative) and pfij (feminine, singular nominative) and do not conjugate to agree with their noun cases. The masculine articles and feminine articles harmonize with the noun they modify, taking the singular ending for a plural noun and the plural ending for a singular noun.
- Vowel Harmony: frandē, frandò (a male friend, some male friends) vs. o frandē, e frandò (the male friend, the male friends)
Because all words end euphonically, in a vowel, following words experience either raddoppiamiento sintattico (or world-initial gemination) which happens when the following word begins with a consonant, or elision, when the following word begins with a vowel.
Raddoppiamiento sintattico (RS) is the only form of gemination that occurs in Alesse. This phenomenon takes place between the final vowel of a word and the opening consonant of the following word, causing the consonant to geminate or be pronounced twice. While this phenomenon isn't present in the orthography, it happens between all possible word boundaries. Its counterpart for vowels, elision, happens only between words of the same group (eg; article + adjective + noun) and is shown clearly in orthography. Elision happens when the final vowel, or rarely the final vowel cluster of a word is dropped and replaced with the start of the next word. When this happens, the syllables in all attached words are pronounced with their normal stress class, though only the tonic syllable of the final word takes its normal stress.
- RS: ottiro babona - /o'tiʁhob bæ'bonə/ - "great stupidity" (lit. fiery/burning stupidity)
- Elision: ottir'itta - /otiʁh'itə/ - "spicy food/meal" (lit. fiery/burning food)
Lastly, where elision can't happen, euphonic í (or intrusive í) is inserted. While other sound patterns are mandatory, euphonic í is considered optional and stylistic, despite being used by the majority of Alessephones.
- Euphonic Í: Vv'ottiro babonemma í'iccelea í'ottir'ittasta - /vo'tiʁhob bæba'nemə jɪt͡ʃɛ'leə jotiʁhi'tastə/ - "With great stupidity, I had eaten the spicy meal."
Sound Changes
From Lindjerblau into Alesse, many sounds change in spelling. Lindjerblau maintains a classic approach to Almsaundean orthography while Alesse's orthography is greatly influenced by other world languages.
| Lindjerblau Word | Changes | → | Changes | → | Changes | Current Word | IPA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alesse | Heilpe | initial [h] to [i] loss of caps | → ieilpe | /ai/ becomes /a/ | →ialpe | neuter nouns end in [a] | → ialpa | /ɪ'alpə/ |
| Añdriana | Heilpe | initial [h] to [i] [e] repr. /ɛ/ not /ə/ | → Ieilpe | /ei/ becomes nasal /ɑ̃/ nasal spelled out w/nsl cons | → Iañlpe | /lp/ becomes /lb/ [i] as /j/ to [y] no /l/ after nsl | → Yañbe | /'jɑ̃ bɛ / |
| Adølie | Heilpe | initial /h/ to /çj/ [h] to /ç/ | → Hjeilpe | /ai/ to /ɛj/ | → Hjejlpe | loss of graph. to repr. /ə/ | → Hjejlp | /'çjɛjlpə/ |
| Ąsje | Heilpe | /ai/ to /ɛj/ | → Hejlpe | /lp/ becomes /lb/ | →Hejlbe | → Hejlbe | /'hɛjlbə/ | |
| Apfe | Heilpe | → Heilpe | → Heilpe | → Heilpe | /'hailpə/ |
Proper nouns such as common names and place name usually keep their pronunciation but change in spelling to agree with Alessan orthography. However, words that don't end in a vowel, receive an "-e" ending to agree euphonically.
Phonemic Losses:
- Au (/au/)
Phonemic Shifts:
Orthographic Changes:
New sounds:
- Á (/æ/)
Stress
Different from all other dialects, the stressed or tonic syllable typically falls on the penultimate syllable of the word and not the penultimate syllable of the root. For single syllable words and roots, the stress is the single syllable if the word is a verb, noun, adjective or adverb. In other cases, the word is unstressed, and the vowel takes the final pronounciation. The grave accent (`) is used above the vowel in words where the stressed syllable is not penultimate syllable. In verbs whose roots have accented vowels, it is used to indicate where the verb will undergo, or has undergone an ablaut change as verbs always have stress on the penultimate syllable.
- cèssela - /'θeselə/ - sea, noun
- cèsselerne - /θɛsɛ'leʁhnɛ/ - to go (by sea), verb
- còsselei - /θasɛ'lei/ - i went (by sea), verb
Grammar
Alessan grammar differs profusely in some cases from typical Almsaundean grammar. It uses several letters, diactrics and clusters scarcely found in any other dialect, such as the q, the macron and the cluster qc. Alesse replaces verbal phrases that would span from 2 to 5 words in Central and Eastern dialects with single, expressive words. Losing many phonemes and clusters present in Lindjerblau, many simple words sound less and less intelligble. However, of Almsaundean dialects, Alesse and Añdriana are known mostly for their melodic sound and their introduction of several new and unique rules of grammar. Alesse is also the only dialect which allows word drop. While word drop is semantically permissible because of noun cases and verb agreement in most dialects, it's only grammatically correct in Alesse. Concerning verbs, word drop is common only with the zero copula. Several grammatical rules govern morphophonology but several others govern syntax.
Syntax
Almsaundean languages, is said to have free word order, this however is less true of Alesse which unique to it again, has a loss of completely free syntax. While in some cases, syntax is freer, the type of sentence governs the order of the words.
- Subject-Verb-Object, or Standard form, is the most common syntax. It has the capability to be used in nearly all sentence structures with the exception of those with a subject in the nominative case.
- Object-Subject-Verb, or Transitional form, is the syntax most common in a nominative dependent clause (all clauses beginning with a word ending in -vito) where the subject of the dependent clause is different from the subject of the previous clause. The Transitional form, where possible, is required.
- Subject-Object-Verb, or Almsaundean form, named so because it is used parellelly in all Almsaundean dialects, is required in all nominative clauses where two verbs (a conjugated and an infinitive) are being used. The infinitive is always thrown to the end of the sentence, but the conjugated verb may remain elsewhere, especially in poetry. The Almsaundean form, as in all Almsaundean languages, is required.
- Verb-Subject-Object, or Nominative form, is required when the verb is intransitive, taking an nominative subject. The object part of the nominative and rare phrases is where adpositional phrases are placed. The Nominative form, where possible, is required.
- Object-Verb-Subject, or Nominative-Transitional phrases are like their transitional counterparts differing only in that the subject is nominative and verb intransitive. Ther Nominative-Transitional form, where possible, is required.
- Verb-Object-Subject, or Rare form, is a highly stylistic form used mostly in poetry and very formal writing. It is used when there are two verbs in an nominative clause, usually a modal verb and the infinitive form of an intransitive verb. In these sentence, the infinitive is put first, followed directly by the post- or prepositional phrases and finally the subject in the nominative case. The Rare form is optional and in spoken language is often usurped by the Almsaundean form.
Lexicon
| Alessan word | Meaning | Origin | Original Word | Original Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| istella | castle | Lindjerblau | Kistel | castle | |
| istelcca | kingdom | Lindjerblau | Kisteltsche | kingdom | formed from amelioration, -tsche (gathering of noun) |
| dravva | grass | Nithalosian | drava | grass | |
| ottora | fire | Angy | oto | fire | many nouns borrowed from Angy add -ra |
| azcssesona | blizzard | Angy | ajsessono | winter | |
| baba | sister | Alesse | 'Soster' in Lindjerblau |
Lexically, Almsaundean dialects share many word roots. Alesse is no exception, taking 75% of its words from Lindjerblau. Often the etymology is apparent though there are many words that appear significantly different between the dialects such as the words ialpa, hjejlp and yañbe, all coming from Heilpe, the Lindjerblau word for help in the Alesse, Adølie and Añdriana dialects respectively.
Alesse, while typically Almsaundean in its lexicon, does borrow many words of foreign origin, many of which concern modernized tehcnology, but most of which replace words that had forms created through amelioration in Lindjerblau. Words are most commonly borrowed from Angy or Nithalosian . Other words may be of original Alessan origin.
Verbs
While its verbs are inflected for aspect as in Adølie, they are also conjugated to express other ideas as well. Alessan verbs are made of single words and express mood, tense, person, number, aspect and the gender of the subject; an action that would be expressed using as many as three or four words in other dialects can be narrowed down to one specific word in Alesse. Verbs are conjugated in a specific order.
Root (may undergo ablaut changes) + Aspect Particle + Evidentiality Particle + Modal Ending + Personal Ending + Tense
- Sitt (sight) + en (progressive negation particle) + — + — + tt (he) + a (pluperfect tense) = sittentta; he had not been seeing
- Icc (eating) + evv (affirmative particle) + eí (evidential particle of logic) + eln (inferential mood) + a (they/all) + i (present tense) = iccevveíelnai; we can infer because of the evidence that they do, in fact, eat.
- Levv (love) + ezc (progressive particle) + — + emu (passive mood) + st (you,singular) + u (future tense) = levvezcemustu; you will be loved
Verbs in the preterite go through ablaut changes, alike those seen majorly in Lindjerbalu to distringuish mood, and use the present tense ending. The change that occurs to each letter, which is always on the stressed syllable of the root, is always the same ablaut change for each part of speech in which the changes may occur and is often considered a change in vowel harmony.
- A changes to e; pzcanscccei (i swim) > pzcenscccei (i swam)
- E changes to o; esspei (i pierce) > osspei (i pierced)
- I changes to u; gizcei (i go (by foot)) > guzcei (i went (by foot))
- O changes to i; posei (i conquer) > pisei (i conquered)
- U changes to a; trucei (i am honest) > tracei (i was honest)
- Ā changes to o; ssāssei (i dance the ssāssa) > ssossei (i danced the ssāssa)
- Ē changes to u; rēneci (it drizzles) > runeci (it drizzled)
Nouns
Most clearly linked to typical Almsaundean grammar are Alessan nouns. Alessan nounds are said to have the feel of 1st gender (man gender) Lindjerblau nouns spoken with an Angese accent. Alessan nouns are typically neuter, ending in -a in the singular and in -e in the plural. Masculine and feminine nouns in Alesse refer solely to things that can have those genders, usually a person or a performer or recipient of an action. The masculine endings -ē and -u and the femining endings -ā and -o are used universally to change a neuter noun into its gendered counterparts, replacing the Lindjerblau endings -ekker/-ekkeri and -ekker/-ekkere. Adding the endings changes the noun in question most often into the performer of the verb the root word governs. To change the word into a recipient of the verb, ablaut changes happen to the tonic vowel of the root before adding the ending.
- Neuter: Biba, bibè - a visit, some visits
- Masculine, performer: Bibē, bibù - a male visitor, some male visitors
- Feminine, recipient: Bubā, bubò - a female visitee (visited person), some female visited people
Pronouns
Because verbs are inflected for number, person and gender (in the 3rd person), pronouns other than those that modify nouns possessively, are falling into disuse. Pronouns in Alesse don't behave like Almsaundean pronouns; they don't attach themselves together to form compounds at the tail of the subject pronoun in particular order. The second rule they break governs where subjects and objects should be placed in a sentence. Pronouns may be placed directly before the verb or adverb, or directly after the verb, despite the sentence type. Pronouns also do not follow sound patterns such as raddoppiamiento sintattico, elision or euphonic í; they stand alone, unweary of the words around them. Pronouns are common in poetry because of this, adding free syllables around verbs to enrichen rhyme schemes.
