View source for Dhimze language

{{Infobox language
| name             = Dhimze
| nativename       = ''Jmidzi''
| pronunciation    = [ˈd͡ʒmid͡zi]
| states           = [[Dhimrai]]
| ethnicity        = [[Dhimze people]]
| speakers         = X
| date             = 
| speakers2        = 
| familycolor      = Yasgan
| fam2             = Dhimzic
| fam3             = Berisic
| fam4             = 
| ancestor         = [[Common Dhimze language|Common Dhimze]]
| ancestor2        = Classical Dhimze
| ancestor3        = Imperial Dhimze
| script           = [[Yasgan alphabet]]
| nation           = {{collapsible list
  | title       = '''List'''
  | titlestyle  = text-align:left;font-weight:normal;background:transparent
  | {{flag|Dhimrai}}
  | [[New Dhimrai]]
  | [[Dhimze colonial empire|Dhimrai colonies]]
}}
| minority         = {{collapsible list
  | title       = '''List'''
  | titlestyle  = text-align:left;font-weight:normal;background:transparent
  | {{flag|Gharzere}}
  | [[Giidirtschizmii]]
  | [[Dwichmii]]
  | [[Niichstschüzrii]]
}}
| agency           = 
| lingua           = 
| map              = Dhimze language.png
| mapcaption       = {{legend|#007BD3|Areas where Dhimze is the majority language}} {{legend|#0094FF|Areas where Dhimze is a minority language}}
| map2             = 
| mapcaption2      = 
| glottorefname    = Dhimze}}

'''Dhimze''' (''jmidzi'' [ˈd͡ʒmid͡zi]) is a [[Dhimzic languages|Dhimzic]] language of the [[Yasgan languages|Yasgan]] family. It descended from [[Common Dhimze language|Common Dhimze]], which was the ''[[Wikipedia:Lingua franca|lingua franca]]'' of the [[Ancient Dhimrai|ancient Dhimze]] civilisation. Most of its closest relatives from the Dhimzic family are now long extinct, with the exception of [[Gharzi language|Gharzi]], which also descended from Common Dhimze. Throughout its history, Dhimze has been a prestige language in [[Yazland]] and other regions, but its use as a scientific and artistic language has faded out since the end of the [[Copper War]].

An attempt to preserve Dhimze has been made in [[Neo-Dhimze language|Neo-Dhimze]], a revival attempt of Common Dhimze with modernised pronounciation. Neo-Dhimze was primarily for use by the nobility and was later adopted by conservative writers and journalists. In 4550 CY, roughly 19% of the population claimed to have some understanding of Neo-Dhimze, and by 4610 CY only about 4% claim to speak it to some degree.

Dhimze is spoken across the [[Dhimze colonial empire]], which spans several continents from [[Huo]] to [[Ashnan]]. In Dhimze proper, approximately 83% of the population speaks Dhimze as their first language, and in total 94% claim to be fluent. In [[New Dhimze]], approximately 42% of the population speaks Dhimze as their first language, and in total 51% consider themselves fluent.

==History==
===Common Dhimze===
===Classical Dhimze===
===Imperial Dhimze===
===Modern Dhimze===

==Geographic distribution==
===Yazland===
===Etzavaz===
===Ashnan===
===Huo===

==Varieties==
{{div col|colwidth=40em}}
* [[Modern Standard Dhimze]]
* [[Southern Dhimze]]
** [[Cernzishdzi Dhimze]]
* [[Ashnan Dhimze]]
* [[Etzavazi Dhimze]]
* [[Islander Dhimze]]
* [[Huo Dhimze]]
** Dhimze creoles
{{div col end}}

==Current status and importance==

==Phonology==
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+Consonant phonemes in Dhimze
!colspan=2|
![[Wikipedia:Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Wikipedia:Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Wikipedia:Palatal consonant|Palatal]]/<br/>[[Wikipedia:Postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]]
![[Wikipedia:Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Wikipedia:Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
|-
!colspan=2| [[Wikipedia:Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| m
| n
| 
| 
| 
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Wikipedia:Stop consonant|Stop]]
! {{small|[[Wikipedia:Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]}}
| pʰ
| tʰ
|
| kʰ
| qʰ
|-
! {{small|[[Wikipedia:voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| b
| d
|
| ɡ
|
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Wikipedia:Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! {{small|[[Wikipedia:voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| f
| s
| ʃ
| x
|
|-
! {{small|[[Wikipedia:voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| v
| z
| 
| ɣ
|
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Wikipedia:Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
! {{small|[[Wikipedia:voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| 
| t͡s
| t͡ʃ
| 
| (q͡χ)
|-
! {{small|[[Wikipedia:voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| 
| d͡z
| d͡ʒ
| 
|
|-
!rowspan=2|[[Wikipedia:Liquid consonant|Liquid]]
!{{small|[[Wikipedia:Approximant consonant|approximant]]}}
|
| l
| 
|
| 
|-
!{{small|[[Wikipedia:Rhotic consonant|rhotic]]}}
| 
| r
| 
| 
| ʀ̝̊
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Vowel phonemes in Dhimze
|-
!&nbsp;
![[Wikipedia:Front vowel|Front]]
![[Wikipedia:Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Wikipedia:Close vowel|Close]]
| i
| u
|-
! [[Wikipedia:Close-mid vowel|Mid]]
| e
| o
|-
! [[Wikipedia:Open vowel|Open]]
| colspan=2| a
|}

==Writing system==

==Morphology==
===Verbs===
Dhimze verbs follow an [[Wikipedia:Agglutinative language|agglutinative]] structure, starting from a verb stem and adding on affixes depending on [[Wikipedia:Grammatical tense|tense]], [[Wikipedia:Grammatical person|person]], [[Wikipedia:Grammatical number|number]], [[Wikipedia:Grammatical mood|mood]], [[Wikipedia:Voice (grammar)|voice]] and [[Wikipedia:Deixis|deixis]]. The pattern of affixes is the following: ''deixis-person-<u>stem</u>-voice-mood-tense-number''. Most of the affixes do not feature vowels, and an epenthetic ''i'' is usually added to break up clusters as well as at the end.

* '''Verbal deixis''' has three levels of distinction:
** '''stative''', for stationary actions, is unmarked.
** '''venitive''', for incoming actions, is prefixed with ''m-''.
** '''andative''', for outgoing actions, is prefixed with ''k-''.
* There are three '''grammatical persons''':
** the first person is marked with ''-v-''.
** the second person is marked with ''-gh-''.
** the third person is marked with ''-m-'', which becomes ''-n-'' if any of the surrounding consonants are labial.
* There are only two degrees of grammatical '''voice''': '''active''' (unmarked) and '''passive''' (marked with ''-r-'').
* There are three grammatical '''moods''':
** '''indicative''' is unmarked.
** '''[[Wikipedia:Irrealis mood|irrealis]]''', for actions not known or certain to happen, events that are hoped or expected, or events that are assumed, is marked with ''-ṙ-''.
** '''[[Wikipedia:Conditional mood|conditional]]''', for actions that depend on another condition, is marked with ''-sh-''.
* There are four '''tenses''', which correspond to certain tense-aspect combinations:
** the '''present''' tense is marked with ''-kh-''.
** the '''imperfect''' tense, for ongoing actions in the past, is unmarked.
** the '''preterite''' tense, for single punctual actions in the past, is marked with ''-v-''.
** the '''future''' tense is marked with ''-t-''.
* Finally, the '''plural''' is marked with ''-m-'', which becomes ''-n-'' if any of the surrounding consonants are labial.
All of these affixes combine into an extensive conjugation system, with complex forms such as ''mghrvnrshvin'' "[You] could have come to be spoken", from the stem ''-rvn-'' "to speak".

===Nouns===
Dhimze nouns decline according to three grammatical classes (animate, neuter and inanimate) and six cases (nominative, direct, oblique, genitive, locative, vocative).
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+Examples
!&nbsp;
!''deli''<br>"daughter" (an.)
!''jadzin''<br>"voice" (n.)
!''tovsi''<br>"rake" (inan.)
|-
![[Wikipedia:Nominative case|Nominative]]
| ''deli''
| ''jadzin''
| ''tovsi''
|-
![[Wikipedia:Direct case|Direct]]
| ''delin''
| ''jadzim''
| n/a
|-
![[Wikipedia:Oblique case|Oblique]]
| n/a
| ''jadzai''
| ''tovri''
|-
![[Wikipedia:Genitive case|Genitive]]
| ''delikhs''
| ''jadzikhs''
| ''tovks''
|-
![[Wikipedia:Locative case|Locative]]
| ''delkh''
| ''jadzt''
| ''tovki''
|-
![[Wikipedia:Vocative case|Vocative]]
| ''deli''
| ''jadzi''
| ''tovia''
|}

Dhimze uses [[Wikipedia:Differential object marking|differential object marking]] in its nouns depending on their animacy class and definiteness.
* Animate nouns are always marked with the direct case.
* Inanimate nouns are always marked with the oblique case.
* Neuter nouns are marked differently depending on their definiteness:
** Definite neuter nouns are marked with the direct case.
** Indefinite neuter nouns are marked with the oblique case.

Plurals in Dhimze are highly irregular, being inherited directly from [[Proto-Yasgan language#Nouns|Proto-Yasgan]]'s pluralisation system, the pattern of which has since been lost. The various plural endings that can be found are the following:
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+Plural endings
! &nbsp;
! Example
|-
! ''-si''
| qaṙ → qaṙsi
|-
! ''-gi''
| kni → kingi
|-
! ''-mi''
| ghari → gharmi
|-
! ''-a''
| jvzirin → jvzira
|-
! ''-ia''
| tovsi → tovia
|-
! ''-ai''
| ṙeqiin → ṙeqiai
|-
! ''-e''
| teta → tete
|}

However, some nouns also have consonantal changes due to irregularities, e.g. ''dzi'' "language" → ''dzisha'' "languages", ''vdi'' "fish" (sg.) → ''vsia'' "fish" (pl.).

===Pronouns===
Pronouns in Dhimze are distinguished based on person, number and, in the third person, animacy. Additionally, the reflexive pronouns are formed by adding the suffix ''-sva'' "like, as" for the first and second person or the word ''smtusi'' "body" for the third person.

{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+Pronouns in Dhimze
! rowspan="2" | &nbsp;
! colspan="2" | 1st person
! colspan="2" | 2nd person
! colspan="2" | 3rd person
|-
! {{small|SG}}
! {{small|PL}}
! {{small|SG}}
! {{small|PL}}
! {{small|SG}}
! {{small|PL}}
|-
! Nominative
| eqi
| dzai
| bi
| qe
| idi {{small|(an.)}}<br>in {{small|(n.)}}<br>dzi {{small|(inan.)}}
| inai
|-
! Direct
| ti
| rowspan="2" | din
| jvalin
| qen
| im {{small|(an., n.)}}<br>dzi {{small|(inan.)}}
| imia
|-
! Genitive
| tmi
| jvim
| qem
| nikhs {{small|(an., n.)}}<br>diks {{small|(inan.)}}
| nikhsia
|-
! Reflexive
| eqsva
| dzaisva
| bisva
| qesva
| idi smtus {{small|(an.)}}<br>in smtus {{small|(n.)}}<br>dzi smtus {{small|(inan.)}}
| inai smtus
|}

==Vocabulary==

[[Category:Languages]][[Category:Yasgan languages]][[Category:Dhimrai]]