Dirhassian language

Dirhassian
derhas
Pronunciation	[ðeɾˈxɑs̻]
Native to	Oldirian Union
Ethnicity	Oldirian people
Native speakers	X
Language family	Ashno-Verethian Verethian Kholic Dirhassian
Early forms	Kholic Classical Dirhassian Middle Dirhassian
Writing system	Verethian common alphabet
Official status
Official language in	Oldirian Union Hehagho

Dirhassian (derhas, tr. Derhas [ðeɾˈxɑs̻]) is a Verethian language and the only surviving member of the Kholic branch. As such, it possesses many features not found in other branches, such as a preservation of dual number. Dirhassian is the official language of the Oldirian Union and co-official with Erayi in Hehagho, as well as a recognised minority language in X. It is also spoken throughout much of Etzavaz as a prestige language. With almost 100 million total speakers, it is by far the most spoken language in the Verethian family.

History

Kholic

Main article: Kholic language

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes in Dirhassian

		Labial	Dental/ Laminal	Alveolo- palatal	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n̪		ɲ
Stop		p	t̻			k
Fricative	Voiceless	f	s̻	ɕ		x
	Voiced	v	ð	ʑ		ɣ
Affricate	Voiceless		t͡s̻	t͡ɕ	c͡ç
	Voiced		d͡z̻	d͡ʑ	ɟ͡ʝ
Approximant			l̪		j
Flap			ɾ

Vowels

Vowel phonemes in Dirhassian

		Front		Back
Close	short	ɪ	ʏ	ʊ
	long	i:	y:	u:
Mid	short	e	œ	ɔ
	long	e:	ø:	o:
Open	short	ɛ		ɑ
	long	ɛ:		a:

Dirhassian follows a vowel harmony system, where words will only be composed with either front or back vowels (with exceptions). In addition, the epenthetic vowels are [ɪ] for front-harmony words and [ʊ] for back-harmony words, and the epenthetic consonants are [j] for front-harmony words and [v] for back-harmony words.

Writing system

Main article: Verethian common alphabet

Morphology

Verbs

Much like most other Verethian languages, Dirhassian's verbs feature polypersonal agreement in transitive verbs, while intransitive verbs make no person distinction. Unlike most other Verethian languages however, the personal prefixes and suffixes have all been merged into suffixes.

Personal suffixes in transitive verbs

Object →	1SG/ 1DU	2SG	3SG	1PL	2PL/ 2DU	3PL/ 3DU
Subject ↓
1SG/ 1DU	-tá/-tä´ -tá/-ta̋	-uś/-iś -uś/-iś	-oi/-ei -oj/-ej	-ok/-ek -ok/-ek	-ug/-üg -ug/-üg	-oź/-eź -oź/-eź
2S	-úh/-űh -úh/-űh	-táś/-tä´ś -táś/-ta̋ś	-úhoi/-űhei -úhoj/-űhej	-úhok/-űhek -úhok/-űhek	-úhug/-űhüg -úhug/-űhüg	-úhoź/-űheź -úhoź/-űheź
3S	-úź/-íź -úź/-íź	-úźuś/-íźiś -úźuś/-íźiś	-tái/-tä´i -táj/-ta̋j	-úźok/-íźek -úźok/-íźek	-úźug/-íźüg -úźug/-íźüg	-úźoź/-íźeź -úźoź/-íźeź
1PL	-ó/-ő -ó/-ő	-áś/-ä´ś -áś/-a̋ś	-ái/-ä´i -áj/-a̋j	-ták/-tä´k -ták/-ta̋k	-óg/-őg -óg/-őg	-áź/-ä´ź -áź/-a̋ź
2PL/2DU		-óś/-éś -óś/-éś	-ói/-éi -ój/-éj	-ók/-ék -ók/-ék	-tág/-tä´g -tág/-ta̋g -óg/-ég -óg/-ég	-óź/-éź -óź/-éź
3PL/3DU	-ái/-ä´i -áj/-a̋j	-áiuś/-ä´iiś -ájuś/-a̋jiś	-áii/-ä´ii -ájj/-a̋jj	-áiok/-ä´iek -ájok/-a̋jek	-áiug/-ä´iüg -ájug/-a̋jüg	-táź/-tä´ź -táź/-ta̋ź -áioź/-ä´ieź -ájoź/-a̋jeź

The past tense is marked with -(o/e)s- infixed between the verb stem and personal suffix, e.g. tőśei tőśej "[I] see [it]" → tőśesei tőśesej "[I] saw [it]". For intransitive verbs, it is marked with -(a/ä)s, e.g. cet cet "think" → cetäs cetäs "thought".

The passive voice is expressed by keeping the word order the same, but switching the subject and object, e.g. zím tőśűh śat zím tőśűh śat "you see me" → zím tőśiś śat zím tőśiś śat "I am seen by you" (compare śam tőśiś zí śam tőśiś zí "I see you").

Nouns

Dirhassian nouns decline according to 5 cases: nominative, direct, oblique, genitive and locative. Dirhassian follows differential object marking, marking animate and definite inanimate objects with the direct case and indefinite inanimate objects with the oblique case.

Examples

	hádar "king" (an.)			lér "mother" (an.)			cák "iron" (inan.)			śés "head" (inan.)
	singular	dual	plural	singular	dual	plural	singular	dual	plural	singular	dual	plural
Nominative	hádar	hádaro	hádarlar	lér	lérö	lérlär	cák	cáko	cáknar	śés	śésö	śésnar
Direct	hádarom	hádaruz	hádarlom	lérem	lériz	lérlem	cákom	cákuz	cáknom	śésem	śésiz	śésnem
Oblique	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	cákuc	cákug	cáknac	śésic	śésig	śésnäc
Genitive	hádarú	hádaru	hádarlá	lérí	léri	lérla̋	cákú	cáku	cákná	śésí	śési	śésna̋
Locative	hádarutz	hádaruś	hádarlatz	léritz	lériś	lérlätz	cákutz	cákuś	cáknatz	śésitz	śésiś	śésnätz

Definiteness is marked with prefixes: singular animate nouns are marked with o-, plural animate nouns are marked with gyä- and inanimate nouns are marked with a-. These prefixes are not affected by vowel harmony.