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, and across much of the rest of the world. It is the official language of Azkali, also being an official language in Baphia and the Sunterian province of Kalilonde. In addition it is also a 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.

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 approximately nine thousand years ago.

The oldest example of the Azkali language being written is from around 5000 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 (6000-8000 BCE?)

See main article: Proto-Azkali language

Phonology

		Bilabial	Alveolar		Dental	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			Lamino- dental	Apico- alveolar
Nasal		m /m/		n /n/		(gn) (/ɲ/)	(ng) (/ŋ/)
Plosive		p /p/	t /t/			ch /c~tɕ/	k /k/
Affricate			tz /t̪s̻/	ts /t̺s̺/			g /ɡʟ̝~g/
Fricative	voiceless		z /s̻/	s /s̺/	th /θ/	sh /ɕ/	h /h~ɦ~x/
	voiced				dh /ð/
Approximant		rr /ɹ̠ʷ/		l /l/		j, y /j/
Tap				r /ɾ/

Contrasting with almost all of the languages that geographically surround it, Azkali has no true voiced stops. The only analog to a voiced stop, romanized as <g>, is a voiced velar lateral affricate ([ɡʟ̝]) in about half of all recorded dialects. The remaining half pronounce it as /g/. Dialects that pronounce g as /ɡʟ̝/ are what are known as zigeran dialects.

The Azkali consonant system is characterized by (1) four nasal phonemes, two of which, the voiced palatal and velar nasals (marked in parentheses in the above table), are fairly uncommon; (2) in most dialects, the lack of voiced stop altogether; (3) in about half of all dialects, the presence of the voiced velar lateral affricate /ɡʟ̝/, an extremely rare phoneme, in the place of a voiced velar stop; (4) the existence of a distinction between lamino-dental and apico-alveolar voiceless sibilant fricatives; (5) the existence of voiceless and voiced dental fricatives; and (6), the distinction between the voiced labialized post-alveolar approximant and the voiced alveolar tap.

Orthography

See articles: Azkali alphabet, Azkali orthography

Modes of writing Azkali

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. In areas where Baphians are of high population, especially the north, the logography is much more preferred, but it is not particularly rare to see it used alongside the Azkali alphabet.

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

See main article: Azkali grammar

Azkali is one of the prime examples of an ergative language. In Azkali, the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb are rendered in the absolutive case - the subject of a transitive verb is rendered in the ergative case. This is in opposition to all extant Mallo-Brausian languages, which are what are known as accusative languages, whereby the subject of both transitive and intransitive verbs are in the nominative case, with the object of a transitive verb being in the accusative case. Ergativity in Azkali evolved from Proto Azkali, which had a split-ergative system based on tense.

Azkali nouns are overtly declined for six grammatical cases (the ergative, absolutive, possessive, privative, dative, and instrumental) and three numbers (the singular, paucal, and plural), with any type of grammatical gender being completely absent in all attested dialects. Azkali verbs conjugate for four moods (the indicative, conditional, hypothetical, and imperative), three tenses (the far past, past, and non past), and person. Azkali verbs also have past and future participle, gerundive, and agentive forms. Save irregular verbs, Azkali verbs have some fifteen unique verbal forms.

The oldest surviving copy of the Azalyi Gazi Chixgartai Ka, at the Museum of Azkali History in Otzeipao. The copy shown is estimated to have been written between 900 BCE to 1,100 BCE.

Azkali is usually considered an agglunative language, though its verbs are fusionally constructed. Azkali nouns are constructed much more agglutinatively than verbs; for example, the noun anakimateyagezereka means "accomplished with the relatives", or "with the help of the relatives"; this can be broken down as a-(n)-akimateya-gez-(e)-rek-a, where:

a-	-(n)-	-akimateya-	-gez-	(e)	-rek-	-a
Definite article	epenthetic	Root: relative (family)	Instrumental case	epenthetic	plural marker	Definite article

This example is somewhat misleading, as a more analytical construction would be used colloquially, but is still representative of most formal texts.

Verbs are much simpler structurally speaking than nouns. For example, the verb ezingira, meaning to have needed long ago, can simply be broken down as ezi-, the far past indicative prefix, and ngira, the verbal root meaning to need. Azkali verbs are very regular, only having two different sets of conjugations (usually called declension classes when discussing Azkali). The primary declension class contains all verbs with an ending of -en; the secondary declension class contains all other verbs. The names for these declension classes are misleading, as the secondary declension class contains far more verbs than the primary declension class. There are only four or five irregular verbs in most Azkali dialects (some, especially Southern Azkali dialects, have as many as twenty).

Azkali is a strictly subject-verb-object language, contrasting with its neighboring Mallo-Brausian and Paleo-Azkali languages. Pronouns are never deleted, even when they are clear by context; as such, Azkali is classified as an anti pro-drop language. The lack of deleting pronouns when they are clear by context is a relatively new phenomena, caused by the drastic simplification of Azkali conjugation between the 1900s and 2000s. Azkali frequently employs serial verb constructions, especially in cases in which the verbs occur as a part of the same larger action, or if they occur simultaneously.

Azkali is primarily a head-initial language. Azkali nouns go before adjectives, auxiliary verbs go before main verbs, and possesses go before possessors. Notably, Azkali uses a combination of postpositions and prepositions, with prepositions predominating. Further still, a number of prepositions fuse with the noun they modify.

Dialects

Abroad

Sunterian Azkali

One of the largest international dialects of Azkali is the Sunterian dialect of Azkali.

Vocabulary

Approximately 60% percent of Azkali's vocabulary comes from Proto-Azkali, 21% of that 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 of Azkali.

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.
• Mareche taikiyo: Welcome.
• Zan: Yes.
• Ketz: No.
• Askomoren en Excuse me. (getting one's attention)
• Goetzukuo: I'm sorry.
• (Formally) Maerana: Farewell.
• (Informally) Mara: Bye.

Registers

Main article: Azkali registers

Turruist Azkali

Main article: Turruist Azkali register

G'torrugh

Main article: G'torrugh