Damserz language
| Damserz | |
|---|---|
| Damsrz | |
| Pronunciation | /dɐm.ˈsr̩z/ |
| Region | Vaniua |
| Native speakers | 30 million (2021) |
| Language family | |
| Early forms: | Proto-Bodni-Cirnic
|
| Writing system | Vaniuan script |
| Official status | |
| Official language in |  Siyezan |
| CWS code | OGM |
Damserz (natively: Damsrz Damsrz ) is a Vaniuan language, being the only surviving member of the Bodni-Cirnic branch, spoken mainly in Siyezan where it is the only official language, but also in areas of southern Vosan and on the border with Zinsha, totaling 30 million L1 speakers.
Classification
Damserz is the last member of the Bodni-Cirnic branch of Vaniuan, meaning there is no close relation between it and Eastern Vaniuan languages like Balak, nor Western Vaniuan languages like Vosan, despite Vosan's proximity to Siyezan.
(Table with lexical comparisons soon)
Within Vaniuan, Damserz is notable for conserving 8 of the Proto-Vaniuan cases, as well as it's ergative patterns. Phonologically, it is notable for allowing complex consonant clusters, due to the possibility of /r/ being syllabic and the liberty of /v s/ to cluster with most consonants, leading to words like vğrzds /vɣr̩zdz/ "your victory's"
History
Phonology
Phonemes
Damserz possesses a total of 22 consonants
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Pharyngeal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ||||
| Plosive | p b | t d | t͡ɕ d͡ʑ | k ɡ | ||
| Fricative | v | s z | ʂ ʐ | ɕ ʑ | x ɣ | ħ (ʕ) |
| Approximant | l r (r̩) ɾ | j |
Additionally, /f/ appears in loanwords, where it is often substituted by native sounds like /v/, /p/, or even /xv/. Dialectally, it also shows up in clusters with voiceless consonants.
It also possesses the common 5-vowel system with additional length:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open | a aː |
Phonotactics
Orthography
Damserz is written in the Vaniuan script.
Morphology and syntax
Damserz is a highly inflected language. Nouns are divided by animacy: animate nouns decline for 8 cases and two numbers (singular and plural), while inanimate nouns only decline for 6 cases. All adjectives and determiners agree with their head nouns in case and number. Verbs take marking for person, number, voice, and tense-aspect-mood.
Nouns
Nouns have two possible stems: short stem, and long stem. Those arose as a product of the weakening of Proto-Bodni-Cirnic vowels into a reduced vowel, and the establishment of a strong-weak vowel dynamic which "strengthened" pairs of weak vowels: PBC *sābë "seat" -> Damserz sáb "rest" PBC *sābëlë "seat-NOM" -> Damserz sábol "seat" PBC *sābëlëtë "seat-NOM-COM' -> Damserz sáblat "with the seat".
Direct
It is the citation form of nouns. It marks the agent of transitive verbs in the present tense, the subject of intransitive verbs in all tenses, the object of transitive verbs in the past tense.