Your national language

[Rejistania]

What language(s) do people in your nation speak in their daily lives and for official business?
Is your nation largely monolingual? Or are people expected to know more than one language?
Which alphabet is used in writing?

Does your nation use a constructed language or one from the real world?

If it is not English: Can you translate something for the NSistoj?

For Rejistania:
Rejistanis speak rejistanian for many official affairs and many of their local languages in private life.

Rejistanis are expected to speak a local language and at least a bit of Rejistanian. Quite a number of different regional languages exist.

Rejistanian can be written in latin alphabet or in the rejistanian one, which is based on the minokajetian alphabet.

Rejistanian is a constructed language. For more info, see the link in my signature.

Indeed, I can: this is the text in rejistanian alphabet: http://666kb.com/i/b98qdvym62sxaqip6.gif

this is the transliteration.

Sike kali: Kahita Mink~hele me'la'rala'utviikamsu sijehi Inik I Latari'tes Lentine'ra mje'he. Liside'ny'mi Mink~hele'he min'la'sono minheje'het naiken'tan lentine xetsutani'het'ra Iau kalesa ve Skiri kalesa. Mink~hele'he mi'la'lentine tani'het semynu'het'jet de. Inik I Latari my'la'oki esaku'het'ra lentine mje'he rejistaniha hau'het'jet mjeke da. Mi'ki'aru esaku jilih joke jo'he. Tari'het 'kovomin lentine'mi mjike mji Jusa tani mi'kiska'ra. Ines'he mi'oki'mesu rijaku kiska'het jilih doa. Mi'la'visko sek: "Jilih mi'oki'rijaku. Hej'ny mi'la'visko, rejistaniha mi'aru shensa, mi'aru demokiratije'ta. Jilih mi'oki'leji'ta. Xen'demokratije alnany. Jusa tani mi'la'ena asty'het xiry xike, mi'sidekhir lentine mje'he mjike mji. Rejistaniha'xen mi'la'ena asty'het seke, mi'sidekhir lentine mje'he joke jo. Xen'demokiratije alnany eha'het'sy sa, demokiratije mi'aru ytin'het kaju'tan'ta shensa tani, nka."

SIKE KALI: Yesterday, Mr. Kahita Mink~hele was replaced by Inik I Latari as first lentine. The lists of Mr Mink~hele lost the majority in the lentinic convention in the federal elections in the kalesas of Iau and Skiri. Mr Mink~hele represented the country during 5 weeks. Ms Inik I Latari was confirmed in the position as rejistanian first lentine at 7 pm. She will be the 88th person in this position. The start of the ruling of the 44th USAmerican president coincided with this. The new one definitely noticed this strange coincidence. She said in jest: "This is surely a sign. People said that Rejistania was a dictatorship, it was undemocratic. That is surely not true. We are far more democratic. The USA needed 220 years to reach 44 presidents. Our Rejistania needed 60 years to reach 88 first lentines. We are seven times more democratic, if democracy is the fightless change of the national leader."

[Savnica]

Nära sâj baças Savnicsche. Baças pasch san âj. Baças Savnicsche pâj alfabet Romaui. Selain daj its, Baças Savnicsche its baçs je di konstrük darj sintac melayü.

Translation: Savnica monolingually speaks savnican, and it is written with the roman alphabet. It is an artificial language which I based the syntax from malay.

[Fictions]

Ahaha! This is perfect for me!
This extract was copied straight from my factbook so it is written in the style of the section of my factbook:
ALL OF THIS WAS MADE BY ME, PLEASE SO NOT USE WITHOUT PERMISSION!

Disclaimer- any resemblance to RL words are purely coincidental, there are only a certain amount of syllables in the world xD


Fictin is the native language spoken in the Republic of Fictions, as a language, Fictin has no direct relation to any other other language, it has its own unique alphabet and frameworks (although the sentence structure is similar to that of English)
In Fictin there are three types of letters in the alphabet, Adar letters, Thiasi letters and Kekhnar letters.

Adar letters are the original letters of the Fictin alphabet and solely form the majority of most words.
Kekhnar letters are fairly new, the first examples of kekhnar letters being used are some point in the mid 40s where Fictions was only just starting to break out of it's isolation, kekhnar is used mainly for writing names and foreign words, you will rarely see kekhnar used in normal words, but it is not unheard of.
Thiasi Letters are vowel sounds that are placed either above or below an Adar or Kekhnar letter.

The Fictin alphabet consists of 21 Adar (blue) letters 4 Thiasi (red) letters and 8 Kekhnar (green) letters.



NOTE: This is a translation guide, not a pronunciation guide.

To illustrate how Adar and Thiasi work together, and also to give an idea of how the language is written, I will be using the word “example” which in Fictin is “ghanide” I will not use Kekhnar as their relations with Thiasi is the same as Adar.

NOTE: When written down, Fictin is read from right to left
(<-------- always read Fictin going this way)



Now let us try a more complex sentence like “this is an example sentence” which in Fictin is “Nelhi da ma ghanide sahanri”



When you get used to looking out for the thiasi letters, the language becomes easier to read, however, for the sake of allowing you to understand, I will be using the romanized versions of the words.

A note on the apostrophe

In various cultures and languages the apostrophe is used to mean various things, in Fictin it is used to represent a glotteral stop speech and as a piece of punctuation it can also show that two words have been added together, The apostrophe used in the following circumstances represents a glotteral stop;
-Turning a positive modal verb negative
-Indicating gender while showing a possessive
The apostrophe used in the following circumstances indicates a brief break in speech.
-Adding titles to peoples names
-Adding two words together (as one might use a hyphen in english)

Possessives and Gender Nouns

To show something is belonging to someone or something you say that the item is someone; the [item] is [person] or the [person] is [item]

To show this as an example we will show a car belonging to the Example family. The basic neutral phrase for this would be “The car is the Example family” or “Nal ghaqa da nal Example yihan”

Seems simple? That was because the car belonged to the whole family and was therefore gender neutral, showing the possessive is the only time when a noun will show gender but if something belongs to a group of people or an organisation then it is always neutral, however if the car belongs only to Mr. Example, you will have to make the car masculine, likewise if to belonged to Mrs. Example, the car would have to be feminine.
To make something feminine you add 'i to the end making car (ghaqa) when it is feminine ghaqa'i.
To make something masculine you add 'e to the end making car when it is masculine ghaqa'e

So if the car belonged to Mr. Example you would say “Nal ghaqa'e de Mr. Example”

Now say the car belonged to you, you would say “The car is me” or “Nal Ghaqa'e('i) de Shi” (remember though if you are male to make the car masculine and if you are female to make the car feminine).

NOTE: Even if the noun already ends in “i” or “e” you still add it to the end as the apostrophe indicates a glotteral stop.

Are you with me so far? good, lets make things even more complicated, say Mr. Example is your neighbour, and when asked about the car you for some reason do not want t give Mr. Example's name, or do not know it, in that case you would want to say “that car belongs to my neighbour” however you would have to say “the car is my neighbour” can you see the problem? A double possessive if you tried to stick with the rule explained earlier you would end up saying something like “the car is neighbour is me” and that makes no sense in English or Fictin.
In a situation like this what you say is “The car is neighbour me” or “Nal ghaqa de ranil shi”

Now add genders. because the car is Mr. Example's you must make the car Masculine, when referring to Mr. Example simply as “my neighbour” you are showing that he is your neighbour, you must turn the word neighbour masculine or feminine depending on your gender.
“Nal ghaqa'e de ranil'e shi” or “Nal ghaqa'e de ranil'i shi”

That was not too bad, however, say Mr. Example was not your neighbour but was Mrs. Other's neighbour, you would say “The car is neighbour Mrs. Other” “Nal ghaqa'e de ranil'i Mrs. Other”

NOTE: You would know that you are not saying that the car belongs to your neighbour called Mrs. Other because if that was the case you would not have given the word neighbour a gender. If you had wanted to say that the car belongs to your neighbour called Mrs. Other you would say “Nal ghaqa'i de ranil'e('i) shi, Mrs. Other” (the word car would be feminine because in this case it belongs to Mrs. Other who is female)

The car is still Mr. Example's and he is still Mrs. Other's neighbour, but let us assume that Mrs. other is your cousin and you did not want to refer to her by name, so you want to say “The car belongs to the neighbour of my cousin” what you would say is “The car is neighbour cousin me” which in Fictin would be “Nal ghaqa'e de ranil'i khada'e('i) shi” (remember to turn the word cousin masculine or feminine to depending on your gender)

The only exception to this being your possession rule is if you want to make a statement about something that belongs to you, let us use the infamous Monty Python line “My hovercraft is full of eels!” what you would say is “Hovercraft me is full of eels!” which is “Zitha'shirani'e('i) shi de yolf qam tihale!” As you notice, you still give the noun a gender even though the word order has changed somewhat.

It is interesting to note that in this case the apostrophe is used to attach the two words “hover” (zitha) and “craft” (shirani) together.

Still there? Good, now to make matters worse we have to bring class into it, assume Mr. Example is a higher social class than you, and you must, of course, show respect even if not talking directly to them. We will go back to basics now with “the car belongs to Mr. Example” which you already know to be “Nal ghaqa'e de Mr. Example” to indicate that someone is of higher social class than you you must end their name with 'thi the end result being “Nal ghaqa'e de Mr. Example'thi”
This does not apply however if you are not using his name and referring to him simply as a neighbour.

NOTE: If you are a minor talking about someone senior to you, you must always end it in 'thi even if you are a higher class to them. This ends when you are 18 and no longer considered a minor.

Titles and Class

Class structure is very important, and as a sign of respect it is always appropriate to call someone by their correct title. This can be done by use of prefixes or suffixes separated by an apostrophe [title]'[name] or [name]'[title]
These are the common titles or titles you may need

Mister- Yesha'Name
Mrs- Yasha'Name
Miss- Yash'Name
Doctor- Dakhen'Name
Professor- Zighe'Name

As was already mentioned in Posessives, the suffix 'thi is added when someone is of a higher class than you, for example, if doctor example was a higher class than you and you were talking about him or to him, you would always use the suffix, so you would in essence be saying “Dakhen'Name'thi” and as mentioned in the possessives section, if you are under 18 you must always use the 'thi suffix to someone your senior (however this only applies if the person in question id over 18) in order to show respect.

Back in the days of the dictatorship, the leader had his (or her) own title that as used only for them, this title is still sometimes used by people when talking about the president.

Dictator's title: Aakhiya'Name'thi (e.g. Aakhiya'Ellison'thi)
Presidential title: President'Name'thi (e.g. President'Chana'thi)

NOTE: As the title of president has only come about recently, it is in English and therefore uses kekhnar letters.

It is an expected thing thing to use such titles unless the person gives you permission to drop the titles and use only their name. If you are the same class as someone you do not add 'thi to their name but their title (Mr, Mrs etc...) are expected. If you are a higher class than someone you may automatically leave out any titles and refer to them by name.

Negatives

In Fictin there is no word for “not” instead, the effect is gained by making the modal verb negative this is done by adding 'o to the end, the apostrophe indicating a break in speech.
It is interesting to note that unless wring kekhnar making something negative is the only time you will come across an “O”

Compared to some of the grammar rules, making something negative is very simple, for my first example I will use the simple sentence “He should not be late” which in Fictin would be “Yemi qemni'o ril thiwaa”

In this sentence, the modal verb is "should" (Qemni) to turn this into should not you turn the modal verb negative by adding the 'o making it "Qemni'o"

Common modal verbs are:
Are- Ridi (Ridi'o)
Do- Lith (Lith'o)
Can- Gha (Gha'o)
Could- Gheha (Gheha'o)
May- Zira (Zira'o)
Might- Zerihe (Zerihe'o)
Must- Ziregha (Ziregha'o)
Ought- Khayi (Khayi'o)
Should- Qemni ( Qemni'o)
Would- Hejfahe (hejfahe'o)
Have- Hetham (hetham'o)

Useful Phrases

To finish of my little article I will give you some useful phrases.

Welcome- Ghijani
Hello- Beghthi Methi (formal) Halha (informal)
Good-bye- Kho Rija (formal) Bakhi (informal)
How are you?- Jahe qiqe shal?
I am fine- Shi din nireja
What is your name- Gheni de aime nihame?
My name is....- [name] de shi
Where are you from?- Gheni magha de shal? (Lit: what place is you?)
I am from- Shi din [country/region/city]
I don't understand- shi lith'o Ghoshaanithan
Please- Mihigha
Thanks- Kokha
Sorry- Qibeja
Excuse me- Sithaqi

[Charlotte Ryberg]

Dansk, Deutsch, English, Greek, Japanese and Chinese Traditional are all official languages although English is the majority.

[Tiesa]

The majority of Tiesans Citizens speak Russian, but business, especially Government is done in English. The Tiesan Anthem is sung in both English, and Russian, The Constitution of Tiesa is written in English.

[Brutland and Norden]

What language(s) do people in your nation speak in their daily lives and for official business?

Nord-Brutlandese. ICly descending from Latin with Germanic influence vocabulary-wise, standardized from Nordener and Brutlandese (two ausbau languages before the merger). OOCly it is a kind of a horribly mutated Italian. I had developed it enough to have a vocabulary of ~2,000 words.

Is your nation largely monolingual? Or are people expected to know more than one language?

Largely, but there is a grant in Brutland using English, another one using a variant of Portuguese.

Which alphabet is used in writing?

Roman.

Does your nation use a constructed language or one from the real world?

Nord-Brutlandese is a conlang. The English is from the real world, as for the Portuguese, haven't developed the variant that much.

If it is not English: Can you translate something for the NSistoj?

The Lord's Prayer in Nord-Brutlandese:

Noi Padre in Cello, santecho nostra Nome, nostra Rinnosso craitteche, nostra fatte doche on tero as in cello.
Breche noi odde nòi pani día e rimotteche nòi pecadi as noi rimottece pecadetto rescal noi. Desporteche tu te tettazione non savoleche noi che mal. Amen.

[Mantwenic]

Lectwan - The official language of Mantwenic

ectwanl si het ationaln anguagel fo antwenicm!!!

Lectwan is the official language of Mantwenic!!!

[Romanar]

Romanar's main languages are English and Spanish. Most of the Spanish speakers live in South Romanar, which became an independent nation after the Romanar Civil War, but since the two nations still have dealings, Spanish is common in Romanar as well.

[Tarasovka]

It's all in this here article: Languages of Taraskovya.

There's quite a few of them

[Rejistania]

Wow, I am amazed by the prompt relies of fellow conlangers

Fictions, your writing system is pretty amazing! Do you happen to have a longer file on your language? Especially on the grammar? it looks very interesting.

[Cosmera]

We have 4 main languages and serveral dialects:

1. English - Used in Official Government Business as well as International trade
2. French - Mostly in the Countryside
3. Russian - Used in the Sakhalin Colonies
4. Cosmeer - A mixture of the three others

[Rejistania]

Have you actually worked on that creole or do you just assume its existance?

[Haldula]

For Haldula:
Haldulian is customary for normal social gatherings. It is expected that a native speak it fluently and flawlessly by age four, and it is used in the government, military, and local trade.

Haldulian is written using the Latin alphabet. It sounds quite similar to Dutch, German, or Russian.

Haldulian is a language similar to English in that the possibilities for sentence construction are many. It follows a similar format to English in that most sentences consist of "Adjective-Noun/Pronoun-Adverb-Verb-Optional Noun/Pronoun" but may be subject to change. Most phrases directly translate to English. Ex:

It- Hev
He- Plet
She-Plat
To Do- Havlon
To Work- Plavyot
Mine- Hevt
His- Pletz
Hers- Platz
Haldula-Haldula

English is spoken in international business and politics and Haldulians are expected to be fluent by age 16. Augarian and Latin are encouraged and taught in small amounts.

[Augarundus]

Heavily Based off of German

Augarian is a very basic and choppy language that is both frightening and equally mysterious. Before 1930, the language was considered beautiful and perhaps even romantic (like French). However, recent modifications to grammar in order to limit the methods of expressing thought and free-ideas have transformed Augarian into a harsh and brutal tongue.

In Augarundus it is the primary and only language permitted.

Augarians may not learn other languages without specific government instruction in politics and military.

[Vaarshire]

What language(s) do people in your nation speak in their daily lives and for official business?
Dutch and English are the official languages of Vaarshire.

Is your nation largely monolingual? Or are people expected to know more than one language?
Vaar are expected to know either Dutch or English fluently and have a good enough understanding of the other. Most Vaar are fluent in both.

Which alphabet is used in writing?
The Latin alphabet.

Does your nation use a constructed language or one from the real world?
It does not.

However, for another nation of mine- or rather a planned nation, as I haven't gotten around to making it- I am thinking of making a constructed language. Problem is, I don't have the skill, and probably not the willpower.

If it is not English: Can you translate something for the NSistoj?
No, because... I don't actually speak Dutch.

[Fictions]

Wow, I am amazed by the prompt relies of fellow conlangers

Fictions, your writing system is pretty amazing! Do you happen to have a longer file on your language? Especially on the grammar? it looks very interesting.

That's all I have so far but I have been considering expanding on it, I'm glad you like it though

I will tell if/when I do though if you like

[South Asia Minor]

The official languages of South Asia Minor are Spanish, Arabic and English. Though French is the language spoken by 99% of the population.

[Valladares]

There are four official languages in Valladares:

1. Spanish: Language spoken in 3 states: Metropolis, Pradera and South
2. English: Language spoken in 2 states: Tannenberg and Eterna
3. French: Spoken in the city of Bezieres
4. Portuguese: Spoken in the city of Chiquto

[Ulanpataar]

Pataari, of course. But that conlang is current dilapidated, written in the greek, latin, or cyrillic alphabets depending on region.

Also there is a Dutch speaking minority.

[Rejistania]

That's all I have so far but I have been considering expanding on it, I'm glad you like it though

I will tell if/when I do though if you like

Please do!

[TRIAD Enterprises]

Woah! Guess I should have expected at least a number of adept conlangers to have found their way to NationStates. Me, I'm not even a novice, but I've worked out a few details over time. How solid they are, I'll leave that to a more experienced linguist.

First off, TRIAD Enterprises is just one nation present in a universe I am establishing as the setting for an RPG I'm writing. I've decided to use NationStates as a sort of test bed for new ideas to add to the RPG, and to sort out details I might not otherwise discover.
There are currently seventeen separate species present within this universe, and each would naturally have it's own language/s. I've not gone into detail on more than a handful, mostly just determining which common phonemes each species would be able to physically reproduce. I've also established that there is an artificial common 'trade language' used for inter-species communication. Since most of the species have had significant contact with each other, they've worked out translations for each language (bar maybe a few 'secret' languages) and have access to translation devices. These translators aren't Trek-style Universal Translators by any means, they only translate known languages.

There is one species, the Shii'Rai, who I have done some linquistics on.
Their species name is an example of the unusual syntax of their language. Shii'Rai is actually a word cluster composed of two components: Shii (Goddess), and Rai (Children). The apostrophe denotes word associations, and I expect there would be other punctuation marks for different associations, though I've not worked these out yet. In this case, the apostrophe denotes a direct relationship, "of the". Word clusters are 'read' backwards, starting with the last component read first. Fully translated, Shii'Rai means "Children of the Goddess".
Other examples are Shii'Koh and Shii'Rai'La.
Koh translates roughly to gift, giving us "Gift of the Goddess"
La is a proper noun for Home, giving us "Home of the Children of the Goddess" and is the name for their homeworld.

That's really all I've developed, for as I said before, I am no real linguist. That said, if there *are* any linguists out there who I may have evoked the curiosity of, I would welcome any input into fleshing out languages for my species. I know it's not strictly needed for an RPG, but I'm obsessive about details mainly for my own personal usage.

[Swilatia]

In Swilatia, the national languages are English and (Swilatian) Polish.

W Swilasji, języki narodowe są Angielski i Swilajski

[N3wgr0unds]

my nation speaks a mix between arabic and french

[Artoonia]

What language(s) do people in your nation speak in their daily lives and for official business?
Is your nation largely monolingual? Or are people expected to know more than one language?

Official languages of the Empire are Esperanto and Gestlingvo Artunia (GLA, "Artoonian Sign Language"). All official government communications are published in printed Esperanto, while audio/video communications are accompanied by a GLA interpreter.

Due to the Artoonian love of imported art and culture, English and French are widely spoken. Most tourist areas will display alternate signage at least in English, if not multiple languages, because the only thing Artoonians love more than imported Monty Python sketches is imported tourist pundos.

Which alphabet is used in writing?

Esperanto uses the Latin alphabet with a few added diacriticals. Printed government publications are all made available in Braille as well.

Does your nation use a constructed language or one from the real world?

I suppose you could consider Esperanto both. GLA, however, would not be recognised officially in Earth-Prime.

If it is not English: Can you translate something for the NSistoj?

It seems to me the "NSistoj" already speak pretty decent Esperanto ... [/list]

[Rejistania]

Woah! Guess I should have expected at least a number of adept conlangers to have found their way to NationStates. Me, I'm not even a novice, but I've worked out a few details over time. How solid they are, I'll leave that to a more experienced linguist.

It looks okay so far, As you might have seen, Rejistanian uses the ' in a similar way I attempt to use a similar system for my non-NationSates conlang, though I do not use apostrophes between the syllables but self-segregating syntax.

I am an amateur as well, but I am interested in reading more about your conlang. (If you do not mind me mercilessly adopting features in my conlangs ).

However, recent modifications to grammar in order to limit the methods of expressing thought and free-ideas have transformed Augarian into a harsh and brutal tongue.

Have you actually created a few examples of that? Would it be orwellian?

It seems to me the "NSistoj" already speak pretty decent Esperanto ...

Ne vere, mi cxiam forgesas akusativon.