Balak language

Balak language
Baláksem
Pronunciation	/bɑˈlak.sɛm/
Created by	Enigmatic Emolga
Region	Vaniua
Ethnicity	Balaks
Native speakers	57 million  (no date)
Language family	Vaniuan Eastern Vaniuan Kashisan Balak language
Early forms:	Old Balaki Balak language
Writing system	Vaniuan script
Official status
Official language in	Balakia
Regulated by	Institute of Balaki Language and Linguistics at the University of Yercésven
CWS code	bks

Balak (Balákzem, /bɑˈlak.zɛm/) is a Vaniuan language primarily spoken in Balakia. It has around 57 million native speakers and is mainly spoken by the Balak people in Balakia, as well as other small pockets in Vaniu. Balak belongs to the Kashisan branch of the Vaniuan language family. Throughout history the language has been considerably influenced by the Khamaian language, which served as a substrate for Proto-Kashisan. One resulting feature that distinguishes Balak from other Vaniuan languages is the presence of whistled sibilants, a feature shared with Amaian.

Classification

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Modern Standard Balaki is heavily based on the Western dialect (specifically that of Yercésven) which is generally more conservative than other dialects, particularly with its phonology.

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Epiglottal	Glottal
Nasal	m			n
Plosive	p b			t d				k g
Fricative		f v		s sᵝ z zᵝ				ɣ				h
Affricate				t͡s	t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
Approximant							j
Trill
Flap or tap				ɾ
Lateral fric.
Lateral app.				l
Lateral flap

Vowels

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Grammar

Morphology

Balaki is a moderately agglutinative language, though it does preserve fusional affixes for nouns and verbs.