Balak language

Balak
Balâkzem . Balaakzem .
Pronunciation	/bɑˈlak.zɛm/
Region	Vaniua
Ethnicity	Balaks
Native speakers	57 million  (2016)
Language family	Vaniuan Eastern Vaniuan Kashisan Balak
Early forms:	Proto-Vaniuan Proto-Eastern-Vaniuan Proto-Kashisan Old Jazaghan Middle Jazaghan Balak
Writing system	Vaniuan script
Official status
Official language in	Balakia
Regulated by	Institute of Balak Language and Linguistics at the University of Yercésven
CWS code	JZG-BLK
Location of Balak speakers in Vaniua   regions where Standard Balak is the language of the majority   regions where Standard Balak is the language of a significant minority   regions where Chindushi is the language of the majority   regions where Chindushi is the language of a significant minority

Balak (. Balaakzem .; Balâkzem, /bɑˈlak.zɛm/) is a Kashisan language within the Eastern Vaniuan branch of the Vaniuan language family. Along with the Chindushi and Gushli languages, Balak is a national variant of the pluricentric Jazaghan language, although it is more divergent compared to the other varieties. Balak belongs to the Kashisan branch of the Vaniuan language family. Standard Balak is written in the Balak alphabet, a modified variant of the Vaniuan alphabet.

The Balak language is considered a continuation of Middle Jazaghan, X. Throughout its history the language has been considerably influenced by the Khamaian language, the ancestor of which also served as a substrate for Proto-Kashisan.

There are roughly 57 million Balak speakers worldwide, holding official status in Balakia, and regional or minority status in Komania and Gushlia.

Name

Standard Balak is known natively as Balâkzem, pronounced /bɑˈlak.zɛm/.

Classification

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Modern Standard Balak is heavily based on the dialect of Yercêsven.

Phonology

Consonants

Balak consonant phonemes

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n
Plosive	p b	t d		k ɡ
Fricative	(f) v	s sʷ z zʷ	ʃ		h
Affricate		t͡s	t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
Approximant		l	j	ɰ
Rhotic		r

Vowels

Balak has a system of 10 phonemic vowels. X. Vowel length is not always considered a distinctive feature in Balak phonology, because it normally co-occurs with changes in vowel quality. One feature or the other may be considered redundant, and some phonemic analyses prefer to treat it as an opposition of tenseness. However, even if not considered part of the phonemic opposition, the long/tense vowels are still realised as phonetically longer than their short counterparts. The changes in vowel quality are also not always the same in all dialects, and in some there may be little difference at all, with length remaining the primary distinguishing feature as in other standard varieties of Jazaghan.

Short/lax vowels Front Back Close ɪ ʊ Mid ɛ ɔ Open ɑ

Long/tense vowels Front Back Close iː uː Mid eː oː Open aː

Grammar

Morphology

Balaki is a moderately agglutinative language, though it does preserve fusional affixes for nouns and verbs. Nouns are divided into two animacy classes - animate and inanimate - and are inflected slightly differently depending on the class they are on; inanimate nouns don't inflect for plural number, while animate nouns do.