Kythish

This page is currently undergoing a major revision.

Introduction

Kythish, also known as Hacean (more properly a dialect of Kythish), is a Germanic language spoken in the cantons of the Kythe. Its closest relative is Partish, situated to the north of the Kythish-speaking area, which it exists in a dialect continuum with. Other relatives on the world of Oktosïï include Nordaþ, a more distant Germanic language which has influenced Kythish to a degree.

Kythish does not have a national or otherwise unifying standard—indeed, the Kythe itself is not a unified entity despite its relative linguistic uniformity—but is heavily fragmented among competing regional standards and traditions, both in speech and writing. This article focuses on three of the most important of these (discussed below), although attention is given to other forms where appropriate and examples are sometimes taken from them. The lack of a coherent national standard for Kythish necessitates that any account of the Kythish language either specify the dialect material is taken from or analyse more than one dialect; otherwise, one is in danger of giving a skewed presentation of the language as whole. This, which is intended as an overview of the language as whole, as mentioned, concentrates on three different standards. These dialects do not represent the extremes of the language, nor are they necessarily representative of any major dialectal groupings; rather, they have been chosen due to a perceived importance, either historical or modern, within the Kythe and influence on the language. They are: Metropolitan and Broads Hacean (hereafter MBH or Hacean), which is a traditionally important standard, dominant in this form throughout much of the northeast centring on the large and influential city of Hacei (seat of the supranational Kythish Federal Parliament), but its norms have been influential throughout the Kythish linguistic area; the Thwalish Eastern Standard (TES or Thwalish), which is an old standard originating in the academic institutions of the city of Thwale that was for a long time the most prestigious written dialect in the region, since superseded by MBH; and University Tansuan, more properly the JEC Tansu Standard (JTS or Tansuan), where JEC Tansu stands for Jóŋŋ-Eiźhóc-Ceinræí Tánsú, the name of the university that codified the standard, which has been gaining influence in academic circles for quite a while and has recently received a boost due to its adoption by the Tansu government and that city's speedily growing economy. Tansuan is the form used for glosses, translations and as a baseline for comparison with other lects, except where noted.

Phonology & Orthography

These are considered together here as a simultaneous understanding of both is important for the understanding of further Kythish material.

Kythish dialects are typified by high vocalic complexity, with long & short and tense & lax distinctions, and a wide range of diphthongs. This is less true in the north and northwest, close to Nordath- and Säämi-speaking areas, where many phonemic distinctions have been levelled and greater vowel harmony between roots and affixes has developed than in their more southerly counterparts. Vowels will be covered first, followed by a discussion of the consonantal inventories of the various dialects.

Vowels

Tansuan

Short vowels

	front	near-front	central	near-back	back
close
near-close		ɪ·ʏ		·ʊ
close-mid
mid			ə·
open-mid	ɛ·œ				ʌ·ɔ
near-open	æ·
open

Long vowels

	front	near-front	central	near-back	back
close	iː·yː				·uː
near-close		ɪː·ʏː		·ʊː
close-mid	eː·øː				·oː
mid			əː·
open-mid	ɛː·œː				·ɔː
near-open	æː·			ɐ̠ː·
open	aː·				ɑː·