Arkihanakh language
Arkihanakh | |
---|---|
arMikikxan, Ŧarmosahit arKikxanax | |
Flag of Arkihan | |
Pronunciation | [ɐː.mʲɪ.kʲɪ.kxɐn] |
Ethnicity | Arkihanakh |
Native speakers | ~30 million (2019) |
Language family | Ekuo-Lahiri
|
Early forms: | Old Adzamian
|
Writing system | Adzo-Neviric |
Official status | |
Official language in | Arkihan, Povania |
CWS code | KIKX |
Arkihanakh is a language spoken in Arkihan by approximately 30 million people, of which approximately 25 million are native speakers.
Classification
Arkihanakh is a member of the Adzamic branch of the Adzo-Neviric language family, itself a branch of the Ekuo-Lahiri language family.
History
Arkihanakh arose after speakers of Old Adzamian settled the region, and the Neviran conquest separated Arkihan from Tabiqa.
Phonology
Phonemes
Bilabial | Dental | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ||||
Plosive | p b | t d t͡s* | k g k͡x* | |||
Fricative | f v | θ ð | s z ʃ ʒ | ɕ ʑ | x | h ɦ |
Liquid | r | j |
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i: ĩ: ɪ ɪ: ɪ̃ | ɨ | u: ũ: ʊ ʊ: ʊ̃ |
Mid | e: ẽ: ɛ ɛ: ɛ̃ | o: õ: ʌ ʌ: ʌ̃ | |
Open | ɐ ɐ: ɐ̃ | ɑ: ɑ̃: |
- /t͡s/ and /k͡x/ are technically allophonic with [ts] and [kx], but they behave as their own phonemes phonotactically.
Phonotactics
- /r/ isn't allowed after vowels.
- Long vowels can only occur in stressed syllables.
- Stress is not phonemic and only occurs in the initial syllable.
- The language is (C)(C)V(C)(C), and /n/ can occur instead of a vowel.
Allophony
- All non-glottal consonants are palatalised by following front vowels. Likewise, they are also labialised by following open vowels.
- /x/ surfaces as [ç] before voiceless obstruents (with the exception of velar sounds) and word-finally.
- /x/ surfaces as [ɣ] when adjacent to voiced obstruents.
Morphology and syntax
Arkihanakh is highly fusional, with many of the agglutinative affixes of Old Adzamian having fused into a large number of affixes that convey very specific meanings.
Pronouns
There is 159 pronouns in Arkihanakh that mark case, class, number, and for first person plural pronouns, clusivity. On top of that, there are 17 interrogative pronouns, one of which surfaces as a prefix. There are also 15 obviative pronouns which suffix onto their respective verbs.
Nouns
Nouns are marked for case and number. The singular class suffix in Old Adzamian merged with the root noun, so in modern Arkihanakh it is impossible to tell a noun's class from its root alone.
Verbs
Verbs are inflected for location, tense, aspect and mood. Some verbal morphology includes circumfixes.
Syntax
Sentences are either SOV or OSV depending on noun class. More animate nouns come first, and they get more inanimate the further through the sentence you go. The verb always comes last.
Vocabulary
Writing and literature
Arkihanakh is written in the Adzo-Neviric script. Spelling is phonemic.