Azkali language

Azkali (Azkali, Azkali Patua /as.kali/, [æs̻.'kali pa.tu.'a]) is a language or dialect continuum 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 southeast 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. There are other theories that have been proposed for Proto-Azkali's origins, most notably the [...] conondrum, positing an origin in [...], which would supposedly explain the similiarity of some words between Proto-Azkali and Proto-Mallo-Brausian, and the Brausian hypothesis, positing an origin in northern Brausia. All of these theories have substantial proof supporting them, but the hypothesis with the most is the Baphian hypothesis

The Merwa complaint, dated around 5000 BCE, is the oldest extant text of Azkali writing. It is written in the Old Azkali alphabet

Pataxea (8000-6000 BCE)

See main article: Pataxea

Phonology

Vowels

According to most analyses, Azkali has a modest vowel system of five vowels, notably including the lack of a rounded back mid vowel, instead being unrounded. The estimated number of allophones of these vowels is between twenty and twenty four, though some dialects have as many as thirty. Some analyses posit these allophones as phonemic, possibly making Azkali the language with one of the largest vowel systems in the world. The chart shown below describes the Southern Azkali, Eastern Azkali, and Chekearoa dialect vowels, as well as the vowels of Standard Azkali.

Azkali vowel phonemes

	Front	Back
Close	i /i/	u /u/
Mid	e /e/	o /ɤ/
Open	a /a/

The pronunciation of these vowels changes depending on the phonological environment that surrounds it. There are in general three main rules:

1. (Phonemic) vowels at the end of words are heightened and or elongated.
2. (Phonemic) vowels at the start of words are centralized.
3. (Phonemic) vowels that are stressed are lowered.

From there, there are a larger number of sub-rules which modify each of the main rules. These are the rules for /i/:

1. At the start of a word, /i/ is pronounced as /ɨ:/.
2. At the end of a syllable that is not word final, /i/ is pronounced as /ɨ/.
3. In the sequences /ui/, /iu/, or /ei/, /i/ is pronounced as /ɪ/.
   1. In the case of /iu/, if it is at the start of a word, /i/ is pronounced as /ɪ:/.
4. When stressed, /i/ is pronounced as /ɪ/
   1. At the start of a word, /i/ is pronounced as /ɪ:/.

These are the rules for /u/:

1. At the end of a syllable that is not word final, /u/ is pronounced as /ʊ̜:/
2. In any sequence of /u/ and another vowel, regardless of order, /u/ is pronounced as /ʊ̜/
   1. If said sequence is at the start of the word, and /u/ is the first phoneme in the sequence, /u/ is pronounced as /ʊ̜:/
3. When stressed, /u/ is pronounced as /ɘ̝/.

These are the rules for /e/:

1. At the start of a word, /e/ is pronounced as /ɛ:/.
2. At the end of a syllable that is not word final, /e/ is pronounced as /ɛ/.
3. In any sequence of /e/ and another vowel, only when /e/ is the first vowel in the sequence, /e/ is pronounced as /ɵ:/.
   1. In the case of /ei/, however, /e/ is pronounced as /e/. However, if /ei/ starts a word, the /e/ is pronounced as /e:/.
4. When stressed, /e/ is pronounced as /ɜ/.
5. In a sequence of an affricate and /e/, the /e/ is pronounced as /ɛ/.

These are the rules for /ɤ/:

1. At the start of a word, /ɤ/ Is pronounced as /ɤ̞:/.
2. At the end of a syllable that is not word final, /ɤ/ is pronounced as /ɤ̞/ (mid, instead of close-mid).
3. In any sequence of /ɤ/ and another vowel, /ɤ/ is pronounced as /ə/.
   1. If said sequence is at the start of the word, and /ɤ/ is the first phoneme in the sequence, /ɤ/ is pronounced as /ɤ:/.
4. When stressed, /ɤ/ is pronounced as /ɜ/.

These are the rules for /a/:

1. At the start of a word, /a/ is pronounced as /æ:/.
2. At the end of a syllable that is not word final, /a/ is pronounced as /æ/.
3. In any sequence of /a/ and an other vowel, /a/ is pronounced as /ə/.
   1. If said sequence is at the start of the word, and /a/ is the first phoneme in the sequence, /a/ is pronounced as /ɜ/.
4. When stressed, /a/ is pronounced as /ɑ:/.

The following demonstrates every Azkali vowel phoneme and allophone. Phonemes are bolded, whilst allophones are italicized.

Azkali vowel phones

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i	i:	ɨ	ɨ:	u	u:
Near close	ɪ	ɪ:	ɘ̝		ʊ̜	ʊ̜:
Close mid	e	e:		ɵ:	ɤ	ɤ:
Mid			ə		ɤ̞	ɤ̞:
Open mid	ɛ	ɛ:	ɜ
Open	æ	æ:	a			ɑ:

Consonants

		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				d /ð/
Approximant		rr /ɹ̠ʷ/		l /l/		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 somewhat more than half of all recorded dialects. The other 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, a distinction seen in only a handfull of other languages; (5) the existence of voiceless and voiced dental fricatives, possibly due to aereal influences from Loremese; and (6), the distinction between the voiced labialized post-alveolar approximant and the voiced alveolar tap.

The phoneme /h/ is extremely variable — most dialects, including the Otzeipao, Chekearoa, Atzogui(riki), and Kalilondan dialects pronounce it as /h/. However, most inland dialects and the Achari dialect substitute /h/ with it's voiced variant /ɦ/. Further still, Northern dialects and the Hadheri neighborhood of Chekearoa, especially starting around the 1960s, have began to pronounce /h/ as /x/. In most dialects /h/ is pronounced as /x/ in rapid speech, but again this is not a universal phenomenon, as even in rapid speech Otzeipao dialects regularly keep the pronunciation as /h/.

There are a large range of dialects, and many of them have radically different phonetic inventories compared to standard Azkali dialects.

Orthography

See articles: Azkali alphabet, Azkali orthography

Modes of writing Azkali

Azkali alphabet

See main article: 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.

Chronologically speaking, the Azkali alphabet is the oldest out of the three typical ways in which Azkali is written. The current modern alphabet is believed to have descended from an ancient alphabet. Some writings predating even the hypothesized point of time in which Proto-Azkali was spoken have been found in modern day Yamahat and [northern continent], but it is unclear if said writings constitute actual writing or proto-writing. Nonetheless, some similarities between the first documented form of the Azkali alphabet and these writings have been noted.

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), lacking grammatical gender. Azkali verbs conjugate for four moods (the indicative, conditional, hypothetical, and imperative), three tenses (the far past, past, and non past), and in two verbs, person. Azkali verbs also have past and future participle, gerundive, and agentive forms. Save irregular verbs, Azkali verbs have some seventeen 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 agglutinative language; for example, the noun anakimateyagezereketara means "accomplished with the great relatives", or "with the help of the great relatives". This can be broken down as a-(n)-akimateya-gez-(e)-rek-(e)-tar-a, where:

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

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

Azkali is a strictly subject-verb-object language, contrasting with its neighboring Mallo-Brausian and Paleo-Azkali languages. 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.

Vocabulary

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