View source for Ashno-Verethian languages

{{Infobox language family
|name        = Ashno-Verethian
|region      = Pre-colonial era: Northern [[Etzavaz]] and Southern [[Ashnan]]<br/>
{{small|{{circa|200 million}} native speakers}}
|family      = One of the world's primary [[List of language families|language families]]
|familycolor = Ashno-Verethian
|protoname   = [[Proto-Ashno-Verethian language|Proto-Ashno-Verethian]]
|children    =
|child1      = [[Arthan language|Arthan]]†
|child2      = [[Ashno-Angkat languages|Ashno-Angkat]]
|child3      = [[Cernian language|Cernian]] ([[Cernic languages|Cernic]])
|child4      = [[Kholic languages|Kholic]]
|child5      = [[Southern Verethian languages|Southern Verethian]]
|child6      = [[Western Verethian languages|Western Verethian]]
|map         = Verethianlanguages-branches.png
|mapcaption  = Present-day distribution of Ashno-Verethian languages in Etzavaz and Ashnan:
{{legend|#FF6A00|Ashno-Angkat}}
{{legend|#7469AE|Cernian}}
{{legend|#00A752|Kholic}}
{{legend|#0088AA|Southern Verethian}}
{{legend|#FFA700|Western Verethian}}
|map2        = Verethianlanguages-status.png
|mapcaption2 = Countries where an Ashno-Verethian language {{legend|#397DB0|has official status}} {{legend|#4EBEE5|has co-official status}} {{legend|#4EBE9B|is recognized as a minority}}
}}

The '''Ashno-Verethian languages''' are a [[List of language families|language family]] native to the northern half of [[Etzavaz]] as well as the [[Eranosphere]]. Some languages of this family—namely [[Hashdezi language|Hashdezi]]—have expanded through colonialism in the modern period and are now spoken across several continents. The Ashno-Verethian family is divided into several branches or sub-families, of which there are two main groups with languages still alive today: [[Ashno-Angkat languages|Ashno-Angkat]] and [[Verethian languages|Verethian]]; one branch, [[Arthan language|Arthan]], is now extinct. The Verethian sub-family is further subdivided into four groups: [[Cernian language|Cernian]], [[Kholic languages|Kholic]], [[Southern Verethian languages|Southern Verethian]] and [[Western Verethian languages|Western Verethian]].

Today, the individual Ashno-Verethian languages with the most native speakers are Erayi, Dirhassian and Hashdezi each with over 50 million native speakers; many others are small and in danger of extinction.

All Ashno-Verethian are descended from a single ancestor language, linguistically reconstructed as [[Proto-Ashno-Verethian]], spoken sometime in the [[Human history|Neolithic to Early Bronze Age]]. The geographical location where it was spoken, the [[Proto-Ashno-Verethian culture|Ashno-Verethian homeland]], has been the object of many competing hypotheses; the common consensus supports the Shtigu hypothesis, which posits the homeland to be the [[Shtigu River]] basin in what is now [[Teshkasta]] and [[Menkhemon]]. By the time the first written records appeared, Ashno-Verethian had already evolved into numerous languages spoken across much of Etzavaz and Western Ashnan. Written evidence of Ashno-Verethian appeared during the late Iron Age in the form of Arthan. The [[Arthan alphabet]] is one of the oldest known writing systems across the [[Four Seas]] region, descending from [[Marphat script|Marphat logograms]].

[[Category:Language families]]