Azkali language

Azkali (Azkali, Azkali Patua /as.kali/, [æs̻.'kali pa.tu.'a]) is a language spoken throughout much of the continents of Ukilen and Brausia, as well as across much of the rest of the world. It is the official language of Azkali. It also is an official language in Baphia and the Sunterian province of Kalilonde, aswell as being a large minority language throughout much of Sunteria, Jkawi, Loremesia, and Alloti. A majority of the speakers of the Azkali language reside outside of Azkali, primarily due to immigration following the 1980 plague outbreak. Most of these "international Azkali speakers" reside in Alloti.

Azkali is a language isolate - one of, if not the only of which still remains in Ukilen - with no relationship to any other language (aside from the dialect or sister-language of Ezkaudi) having been concretely proven. It is one of, if not the only surviving language isolate in Ukilen. The current most substantiated theory on the origin of the Azkali peoples is that the progenitors of the Azkali peoples resided in northeastern Baphia. Other theories claim a multitude of homelands, from northern Sunteria to the northernmost islands of Loremesia.

Azkali is the native language of approximately 64.76% of Azkali; almost all Azkali citizens speak it to some degree. A majority of Azkali speakers reside outside of the territory of Azkali.

History

The origins of the Azkali language are disputed. The leading theory is that Azkali originated in southwest Baphia, and that speakers of Proto-Azkali migrated south into the Azkali peninsula. The date of this hypothesized migration is unclear - however, most estimates place it as being ca. 6000-7000 years ago.

The oldest example of the Azkali language being written is from around 3000 BCE, in an ancient form of what is believed to be the Azkali alphabet. If true, this would make the Azkali alphabet one of the oldest extant writing systems in the world.

Proto-Azkali (6000-7000 BCE?)

The date of which Proto-Azkali was spoken has been debated for hundreds of years. Based on possible influence of Proto-Ukilen, as well as [placeholder - genetic + religion], scholars have placed the date in which Proto-Azkali was spoken to be between 6000 and 7000 BCE. Proto-Azkali's urheimat is highly debated (as stated earlier), but is theorized to be in southwestern Baphia. This is supported by both fossil evidence, and the history of the region (e.g. the founding of Bongsibon as an Azkali ethnic community, aswell as it's etymology).

Modern Azkali (2005 AD)

Modern Azkali denotes any form of the language occuring after the re-establishment of the Azkali State as a unified entity. The term Modern Azkali encompasses many Azkali dialects that are spoken in the present day.

Standard Azkali (2016 AD)

See main article: Standard Azkali

In 2016, ASAL (Association for the Standardization of the Azkali Language) published a standardized version of Azkali, encompassing the novel evolutions and dialectal variation into one standardized language. Standard Azkali is the form of the language that is most commonly learned by outsiders, and it has slowly been accepted by a majority of Azkali speakers. Despite its status as an unofficial-official standardized dialect of Azkali, it is not commonly taught in schools in Azkali, with local dialects being taught instead. Internationally, most Azkali language schools or courses are usually taught in either Standard Azkali or the Otzeipao dialect of Azkali.

Phonology

Vowels

The following two tables show the vowel phonemes of the four standard Azkali dialects. These two charts do not fully represent the amount of diversity in the Azkali language; they only show the most prominent dialects. Generally, Azkali vowels are not differentiated by length.

Domestic dialects

Vowel phonemes of domestic Azkali dialects

Chekearoa Dialect	Front	Back	Otzeipao Dialect	Front	Back
Close	i	u	Close	i	u
Close-Mid	e	ɤ	Close-Mid	e̞	o
Open-Mid	ɛ	ɔ	Open-Mid
Open	a		Open	æ	ɑː

Vowel phonemes of international Azkali dialects

Sunterian Azkali	Front	Back	Allotian Azkali	Front	Back
Close	i	ʊ	Close	i	u
Close-Mid	e	ɤ̞	Close-Mid	e
Open-Mid	ɛ		Open-Mid		ɔ
Open	æ		Open	a

In addition, all of these vowel phonemes can be lengthened, either for stress, emphasis, or distinction reasons. The latter is extremely rare, however; this is usually written as a doubling of the letter of the vowel (i.e /e:/ is written as <ee>) or the addition of an acute on the vowel letter (i.e /e:/ is written as <é>).

In addition, domestic Azkali dialects contain the close front rounded vowel, /y/. This vowel phoneme is used rarely, only in several place names, nouns, and suffixes (one common suffix containing /y/ being hü-, meaning "bad" or "wrong").

The Standard Azkali dialect bases it's vowel phonemes on the Chekearoa dialect of Azkali.

Consonants

Table of consonant phonemes in Standard Azkali

		Bilabial	Alveolar		Dental	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			Lamino-dental	Apico-alveolar
Nasal		m		n		ɲ	ŋ
Plosive		p	t			c	k
Affricate			t̪s̻	t̺s̺		ʃ	ɡʟ̝
Fricative	Voiceless		s̻	s̺	θ	t͡ʃ		h
	Voiced		z̻	z̺	ð	d͡ʒ
Approximant			ɹ̠ʷ	l		j
Tap				ɾ

Generally, Azkali dialects are uniform in their consonant phonemes - though there are of course some minor differences in pronunciation between them.

Uniquely, Azkali has a distinction between laminal and apical articulation in it's affricates and fricatives. With [s̻], the laminal alveolar voiceless fricative, friction occurs on the blade of the tongue; this is how most Ukilen and Brausian languages pronounce /s/. With [s̺], the apical alveolar voiceless fricative, friction occurs on the crest of the tongue. They are written like <z> and <s> respectively. In addition, either of these two can be voiced, being written as <zz> and <ss> respectively. These four alveolar fricatives have been historically resistant to phonological evolution, with only a few dialects pronouncing them distinctly.

Unusually for Ukilen and Brausian languages, Azkali contains no trill phoneme. There is evidence showing that Medieval Azkali might have contained [r] as a phoneme; likewise, no significant dialect of Azkali has evolved to have [r] as a phoneme.

Allophony

Rhotics

Main article: Azkali rhotic-switching

In Azkali, the two rhotic phonemes, /ɾ/ and /ɹ̠ʷ/ - representing the letters <r> and <rr> respectively - often switch pronunciation. This is most evident in the Turruist register, in which the pronunciations of <r> and <rr> are virtually impossible to pronounce via spelling alone. This also occurs in Colloquial Azkali dialects, albeit to a much lesser extent. This switching is triggered oftentimes via nearby words and grammatical particles.

Syllable structure

Generally, Azkali syllables are (C)(C)V(V)(C), and occasionally (C)V(V)(C). Very few consonants can cluster with each other, even when crossing syllable boundaries. The table below shows what consonants can cluster with each other:

Consonant clusters in Azkali

	s̻	s̺	z̻	z̺	t̪s̻	t̺s̺	n	t
s̻							ns̻
s̺							ns̺
t	s̻t	s̺t	z̻t	z̺t
k	s̻k	s̺k	z̻k	z̺k	t̪s̻k	t̺s̺k
ɕ								ɕt

Oftentimes, a short schwa (/ə/) sound is inserted between consonant clusters in certain dialects. However, most domestic Azkali dialects (aswell as Standard Azkali) do not do this.

Orthography

Azkali alphabet

The most common way of writing Azkali in the modern age is the Azkali alphabet. Before the plague, Ukilen logographs and the Azkali alphabet were used alongside each other. However, due to the effects of the plague, the Azkali alphabet was used nearly exclusively by the Warlord Generation, with Ukilen logographs largely falling out in standard use.

Ukilen logographs

Ukilen logographs were a common form of writing Azkali, but nowadays are infrequently used among Azkali speakers globally.

Astseredontia

In the past, Oikan Astseredontia was commonly used to write Azkali. Nowadays, it has been mostly superseded by the Azkali alphabet or Ukilen logographs. However, it still remains a common way of writing Azkali in communities along the Sunteria-Azkali border. Notably, Astseredontia is a co-official script in the Azkali city of Otzeipao, alongside the Azkali alphabet.

Grammar

Azkali is most often classified as an agglutinative language, though its verbs show a large amount of fusionality. Azkali nouns contain two definitenesses (Definite, and Indefinite), 6 cases (Nominative, Accusative, Dative, Ablative, Possessive, and Privative), and three numbers (Singular, Paucal, and Plural). Azkali verbs conjugate for three or four tenses (the Far Past, Past, and Non Past, with a dialectal future construction), 3 moods (Indicative, Conditional, and the Imperative), and 11 aspects (Perfective, Momentane, Perfect, Prospective, Imperfective, Habitual, Progressive, Stative, Gnomic, Inchoative, and Iterative,). Azkali verbs also contain 2 participle forms (Past and Present), the gerund, and the agentive.

Due to the relatively large amount of marking that words can take in Azkali, particularly in verbs and nouns in the Turruist register of Azkali, the word order of Azkali has gradually become relatively free. Most sentences tend to roughly follow a SVO word order pattern, however the tendency to follow a strict word order has eroded. This is a fairly novel construct, only being attested around the mid 1800s; speech following a strict SVO pattern is thus often considered traditional, or old fashioned. Relatively strict word orders are also seen in certain dialects, particularly those of which are influenced by Oikan.

Another novel construct in Azkali is the prescence of consonant and vowel mutation. The prescence of mutation in Azkali is extremely new, only being attested around the upheavel of the warlord era of Azkali. This change occured within a generation, and thus was followed closely by linguists across the world as it evolved (see: Evolution of Azkali grammatical mutation). Although not always used to convey grammatical functions, it is nonetheless one of the most important aspects of Azkali's grammar. Oftentimes, mutation can differentiate two (or more, even) completely identical sentences. There are three different types of mutation, of which are described in it's corresponding section. Mutation is oftentimes one of the hardest aspects of Azkali grammar to learn, due to the precise cases of which each type of mutation appears in, and the irregularity in how mutation affects the meaning and pronunciation of whole words and sentences.

Azkali grammar is notably different from other languages in Ukilen. However, due to extensive contact with languages such as Oikan and Baphian, Azkali's grammar shares some notable features with them. In the past, and continuing on up until around the 1980s, Azkali grammar was far more irregular and was more differentiated from languages in Ukilen.

Consonant and Vowel Mutation

Consonant and vowel mutation occurs in specific grammatical and phonological scenarios in Azkali. There are three main types of mutation, all occurring in different scenarios: White Mutation (Kenaikois), Gray Mutation (Kesunokois), and Purple Mutation. (Poihekois) Mutation is not usually reflected in the spelling of the word of which is mutated.

Mutation is one of the most novel evolutions in Azkali, evolving only around the upheaval of the 1980s and 1990s. Most international Azkali speakers have evolved this form of mutation (with several isolated exceptions, however).

White Mutation

White Mutation (Kenaikois) can be described as a form of lenition, where plosives mutate into affricates or fricatives. White Mutation occurs in the following grammatical and phonological scenarios:

• After possessive pronouns
• After the numerals three, four, and eight (iriu, madhet, and ashti respectively)
• Conditional verbs
• The conjunction "if" (moik)

The table below shows what each consonant then mutates into (phonemes of which are not in the plain column do not usually face mutation):

White mutations

Plain	Mutated
p	pɸ
t	ts
c	cç
k	kx
t̪s̻	s̻
t̺s̺	s̺
ɡʟ̝	ɣ
f	h
s̻
s̺
ɬ
θ
tɕ
h	Ø
w	ʍ
l	ɾ
j	Ø
ɾ	ɹ
ɹ	Ø

Sounds with a corresponding mutated form of <Ø> are not pronounced.

Pronouns

T-V Distinction

While Standard Azkali does not feature a true T-V distinction, there is a growing trend of using new invented pronouns to distinguish familiarity or respect. This started in the late 60's and early 70's in Otzeipao, following the establishment of the Azkali State (due to Azkali's vocabulary being extremely open class, this has been readily accepted). Nowadays, this phenomenon has spread to most cities within Azkali. These pronouns usually change between region, city, or neighborhood - however, generally, they follow the forms listed in the following chart. Respective pronouns use the standard pronouns.

Familiar pronouns

	2nd	3rd
Nominative	juli	luikui
Accusative	julen	luikien
Dative	juliet	luitu
Ablative	jukiz	luiz
Possessive	jeuk	luikiz
Privative	jukez	luimez

The 3rd person familiar pronouns do not usually distinguish between gender.

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns differentiate between all 6 cases and the singular and plural numbers. Notably, paucal numbers are expressed the same as plural numbers for pronouns: the origin of this rule is unknown. The personal pronouns feature some irregularity in case and number compared to other nouns.

	Singular					Paucal/Plural
	1st	2nd	3rd			1st	2nd	3rd
			Male	Female	Epicene
Nominative	go	tu	mai	kut	hakel	gok	tuk	keilek
Accusative	goen	tuen	mein	kun	haken	gon	tunen	kein
Dative	goet	tuet	mait	kuit	haket	gonet	tuneut	keiket
Ablative	gokoz	tukoz	maikoz	kuhoz	hakez	goinoz	tuenoz	kaikoz
Possessive	goek	tuek	maik	kuek	hakeik	gonek	tunek	keike
Privative	goz	tukoz	maiz	kuiz	hakaiz	gonoz	tuneuz	kakaiz

Some dialects specify paucal pronouns by adding a particle tze after the pronoun.

Determiners

The two main demonstrative determiners are nazkuriz and kauli - their plural forms being nazkeuk and kaulek.

	Singular	Plural
Proximal	nazkuriz	nazkeuk
Distal	kauli	kaulek

Nouns

Theory

The following table can describe any Azkali noun's structure, with all possible grammatical affixes and particles. It does account for other possible affixes, such as for derivational purposes.

Azkali noun template

A		1b	1	2	3	1c	4
[Indefinite article]		[Definite article]	[Specificity]	Noun stem	Case	[Definite article]	[Number]

And the following table can describe any Azkali verb's structure, of which includes auxiliary verbs, particles, etc:

Azkali verb template

A		1	2	3		B
[Aspect]		Verb stem	Tense, Mood	[Voice]		[Conditional mood auxiliary verb]	[Evidentiality]

Noun Case

In Azkali, nouns are marked for any of 6 noun cases. Generally, they follow these forms (using the word Eche - house as an example). In the past, Azkali used many more cases, but nowadays (except in the Turruist Azkali register) only these main 6 are used.

Name	Word	Case	Result	Meaning
Nominative	eche	Ø	eche	house
Accusative	eche	-n	echen	house
Posessive	eche	-k	echek	house's
Dative	eche	-t	echet	to the house
Privative	eche	-z	echez	not the house's
Ablative	eche	-koz	echekoz	from the house

Privative Case

Extended Cases

See Main article: Turruist Azkali grammar

In Turruist Azkali, there are approximately 27 cases that nouns decline for. The following chart is a non-exhaustive list of the case forms used in Turruist Azkali (there are several more cases that are either rarely used, or dialectal - e.g. between different temples)

Name	Word	Case	Result	Meaning
Nuclear Cases
Nominative	eche	Ø	eche	house
Accusative	eche	-k	echek	house
Posessive	eche	-ko	echeko	house's
Dative	eche	-tol	echetol	to the house
Privative	eche	-zk	echezk	not the house's
Locative Cases
Adessive	eche	-retl	echeretl	near the house
Antessive	eche	-otl	echeotl	before the house
Apudessive	eche	-okotl	echeokotl	adjacent to the house
Inessive	eche	-tutl	echetutl	inside the house
Intrative	eche	-motl	echemotl	between the houses
Pergressive	eche	-atzlhi	echeatzlhi	in the vicinity of the house
Superessive	eche	-katl	echekatl	below the house
Motion Cases
Ablative	eche	-moshte	echemoshte	away from the house
Delative	eche	-tas	echetas	from the top of the house
Egressive	eche	-hashti	echehashti	beginning from the house
Elative	eche	-kopol	echekopol	moving out of the house
Initiative	eche	-ashti	echeashti	starting from the house
Lative	eche	-atzat	echeatzat	into the house
Sublative	eche	-kazte	echekazte	onto under the house
Superlative	eche	-morri	echemorri	onto ontop of the house
Perlative	eche	-tarinz	echetarinz	through the house
Other Cases
Instrumental	eche	-kunge	echekunge	(using) with the house
Oblique	eche	-noul	echenoul	concering the house
Aversive	eche	-ajoti	echeajoti	fearing the house
Sociative	eche	-amoz	echeamoz	together with the house
Abessive	eche	-tuhirinz	echetuhirinz	lacking the house
Essive	eche	-l	echel	as the house

Number

There are three grammatical numbers in Azkali. They are the singular, paucal, and plural. Uniquely, pronouns only decline for the singular and plural numbers; paucal groups take the plural marker. The singular number is not marked, being treated as the default number. The paucal number is marked with -(a)tz. The plural number, meanwhile, is usually marked with -(e)k. All markers are placed at the end of the noun, with all other markings in the noun being placed before the number marking.

The paucal and plural numbers take slightly different forms based on what, if any case precedes them. The table below lists their forms. They take different forms only if the noun they modify is indefinite: in the case they are not (i.e the definite article is present) they take their regular forms.

Indefinite variable forms

	Paucal	Plural
Base Form	-(a)tz	-(e)k
Nominative	-etz	-ek
Accusative		-ak
Possessive	-otz
Dative	-utz
Privative	-eutz	-ek
Ablative	-autz	-auk

Articles

There are two main articles in Azkali that are used - being the definite and indefinite articles respectively. The indefinite article is usually not marked, and is treated as the default article. If clarification is needed, a particle than is inserted. The definite article is marked via a circumfix a- (...) -(n)a. Baphian marks definiteness via a suffix -na, which is almost certainly believed to be derived from the Azkali definite article.

Verbs

Azkali verbs, unlike nouns, are more fusional than nouns, of which are decisively agglutinative. As shown in the chart in Theory, verbs take direct marking for tense, mood, and voice, with aspect and evidentiality being conveyed via auxiliary verbs and or particles (tense and mood are conveyed in the same particle). Azkali verbs are only required to take the affixes for tense and mood; marking for voice, aspect, and evidentiality are not required, though they are still commonly expressed in everyday parlance.

Isan/etz/ezatz

In the first person, there are three main forms of the verb to be in Azkali. They are isan, used for non-past contexts - etz, used for past contexts - and ezatz, used for far past contexts. In some cases (only in the first person), these three forms are used in contexts of which do not match up with their tense. This irregularity is one of the most difficult aspects of the language for new speakers to learn, and often times native speakers have trouble with differentiating between the three forms.

Aspect

Aspect is one of the most extensive elements of Azkali verbs. As previously stated, Azkali verbs decline for 11 aspects - however, a majority of them are infrequently used or only used in formal contexts. Most Azkali grammars usually classify aspect into two parts: the nuclear aspects and outer aspects. The following chart shows which are considered nuclear aspects and which are considered outer aspects:

Aspects

Nuclear
Perfective
Momentane
Perfect
Prospective
Outer
Imperfective
Gnomic
Habitual
Progressive
Stative
Inchoative
Iterative

In Azkali, aspects are universally expressed via particles that are placed after the verb in question. Aspect particles are required to match the first phoneme of the verb of which they belong to. Aspects also change depending on the tense of the verb.

Syntax

Word Order

The word order of Azkali in a given sentence varies by context and dialect. A given Azkali sentence usually follows a SVO word order. However, the word order is much freer than in other Ukilen languages. The role of the noun is mostly determined by its position within the sentence - e.g. the most salient topic within the sentence is shifted to the front, and visa versa.

Dialects

Vocabulary

Approximately 60% percent of Azkali's vocabulary comes from Proto-Azkali, 21% being from an unknown language (thought to be an extant Paleo-Azkali language). In the remaining 19%, some 12% come from Oikan, 4% comes from Loremesian (most likely due to trading and long term contact between the speakers of Loremesian and Azkali), 2.5% are from Paleo-Azkali languages, and the remaining 0.5% are from the G'torrugh register.

Azkali's vocabulary is extremely open class; new nouns, verbs, and pronouns are constantly being derived and used by speakers of Azkali. Other types of words, even including grammatical affixes, prepositions, and so on, are also open class, though not as much as nouns.

Common words and phrases

• (Informally) Kaisho/Kaishua: Hello.
• (Formally) Maikoto Ashua: Greetings.
• Lereaztu?: How are you?
• Oke, askiatoal: Fine, thank you.
• Gaiku tu: What is your name/Who are you?
• Go isan __: My name is ___./I am ___.
• Karia: Nice to meet you!
• Para: Please.
• Horaiztitu: Thank you.
• Maréche taikijo: Welcome.
• Zan: Yes.
• Ketz: No.
• Askomoren goen Excuse me. (getting one's attention)
• Goetzukuo: I'm sorry.
• (Formally) Madherra: Farewell.
• (Informally) Not: Bye.

Registers

Main article: Azkali registers

In Azkali, there are three 'registers' of speech that are commonly used. They are Colloquial Azkali, Turruist Azkali, and G'torrugh.

Colloquial Azkali

Colloquial Azkali is the unstandardized main dialect of Azkali used by all speakers. This article, unless specificated, describes the Colloquial Azkali register.

Turruist Azkali

Main article: Turruist Azkali register

Turruist Azkali refers to any register of Azkali of which is used in meetings and ceremonies of the Turruist faith. Turruist Azkali is very different from Colloquial Azkali, and oftentimes sentences in the two registers are unintelligable; a large amount linguists have thusly claimed that the two are seperate languages (in the fields of which this is claimed, the Colloquial register is called Azkali Patua whilst the Turruist register is referred to as Turrupeutei). The differences between the Colloquial Azkali and Turruist Azkali are not only in the differentiated words of the two - of which the latter's lexicon would be considered antique - but also in the grammar. Turruist Azkali marks nouns with an obscene amount of grammatical cases (between 27 and 29). Verbs in Turruist Azkali are barebone, with the most irregular verb in the Colloquail dialect, isan (to be), having only [placeholder] different conjugations.

G'torrugh

Main article: G'torrugh

G'torrugh is a register of Azkali that is rarely discussed, much less taught or understood. The origins of this register are not known; however, it is at the very youngest 500 years old (this age is claimed due to archaic grammatical rules that are typical to late-medieval Azkali). Nowadays, the register is only natively spoken by people living within or around the town of Harakoniaz, in Southeastern Azkali, and in very specific contexts therein. Outside of this town, it is also used by certain social groups in cities with an Azkali minority globally, acting as a sort of double-argot. Said contexts usually are also entangled with religious events and activities, but are also used when discussing art, mostly with spiritual or religious undertones. Generally, G'torrugh is used when expressing precise and difficult-to-explain concepts, and more novelly, new or invented concepts.

The G'torrugh register is difficult to learn for most Azkali speakers; a large amount of the colloquial register's vocabulary is replaced with words that are considered old, traditional, or out-of-style. In addition, there are several phonemes in G'torrugh that are not present in both Turruist and Colloquial Azkali - such as the glottal stop /ʔ/ and /g/.

Relation to other languages

Azkali is a language isolate, having seemingly no relation to other languages. An extremely closely related sister language/dialect, Ezkaudi, was commonly spoken from around 1000 AD up until 1950. The last known speaker of Ezkaudi died in 2009. Efforts to revitalize the language are ongoing; however, there are no recorded native speakers of Ezkaudi as of 2021.