Dhimze language

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Dhimze
jhmidzi
Pronunciation[ˈd͡ʒmid͡zi]
Native toDhimrai
EthnicityDhimze people
Native speakers
X
Yasgan
  • Dhimzic
    • Berisic
      • Dhimze
Early forms
Common Dhimze
  • Classical Dhimze
    • Imperial Dhimze
Dhimze script
Official status
Official language in
Recognised minority
language in
  Areas where Dhimze is the majority language
  Areas where Dhimze is a minority language

Dhimze (jhmidzi [ˈd͡ʒmid͡zi]) is a Dhimzic language of the Yasgan family. It descended from Common Dhimze, which was the lingua franca of the ancient Dhimze civilisation. Most of its closest relatives from the Dhimzic family are now long extinct, with the exception of 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, 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

Current status and importance

Phonology

Consonant phonemes in Dhimze
Labial Alveolar Palatal/
Postalveolar
Velar Uvular
Nasal m n
Stop aspirated
voiced b d ɡ
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ x
voiced v z ɣ
Affricate voiceless t͡s t͡ʃ (q͡χ)
voiced d͡z d͡ʒ
Liquid approximant l
rhotic r ʀ̝̊
Vowel phonemes in Dhimze
  Front Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a

Writing system

Morphology

Verbs

Nouns

Dhimze nouns decline according to three grammatical classes (animate, neuter and inanimate) and six cases (nominative, direct, oblique, genitive, locative, vocative).

Examples
  deli
deli
"daughter" (an.)
jhádzin;
jadzin
"voice" (n.)
tovsi
tovsi
"rake" (inan.)
Nominative deli
deli
jhádzin;
jadzin
tovsi
tovsi
Direct delin;
deli
jhádzim;
jadzim
n/a
Oblique n/a jhádzái
jadzai
tovri
tovri
Genitive delics;
delikhs
jhádzics;
jadzikhs
tovks;
tovks
Locative delc;
delkh
jhádzit;
jadzit
tovki
tovki
Vocative deli
deli
jhádzi
jadzi
toviá
tovia

Dhimze uses 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's pluralisation system, the pattern of which has since been lost. The various plural endings that can be found are the following:

Plural endings
  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.

Pronouns in Dhimze
  1st person 2nd person 3rd person
SG PL SG PL SG PL
Nominative eqi dzai bi qe idi (an.)
in (n.)
dzi (inan.)
inai
Direct ti din jvalin qen im (an., n.)
dzi (inan.)
imia
Genitive tmi jvim qem nikhs (an., n.)
diks (inan.)
nikhsia
Reflexive eqsva dzaisva bisva qesva idi smtus (an.)
in smtus (n.)
dzi smtus (inan.)
inai smtus

Vocabulary