ʾAšdu Yat-Vṛḵaž: Difference between revisions

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Vrkhazhian (Šarad Yat-Vṛḵaẕ) is a Northern Hašakam language that is spoken by the Vrkhazh who live in the region known as Yat-Vṛḵaẕ. The earliest form of this language, known as Old Vrkhazhian, was spoken around 5,000 years ago.


Vrkhazhian Šarad Yat-Vṛḵaẕ
Pronounced:	/çaɹad jatβɹ̩xaʝ/
Spoken:	Vrkhazh (Yat-Vṛḵaẕ)
Writing system:	ʾAḵuva Yat-Vṛḵaẕikam
Genealogy:	Proto-Haṣákaṃ Languages Himoshian Highalic Proto-Vrkhazhian Old Vrkhazhian Middle Vrkhazhian Modern Vrkhazhian
Typology
Morphological type:	highly fusional, weakly agglutinative
Morphosyntactic alignment:	nominative-accusative
Basic word order:	SOV/VSO
Credits
Creator:	Malcolm G. Holborne

History

Dialects

Vrkhazhian has two major dialects and several minor dialects. The area of the two dialects are divided by two distinct sides; the north-eastern portion of Vrkhazh contains the majority of speakers of Mukhebic, while the south-western portion of Vrkhazh contains the majority of speakers of Uzerian. The numerous smaller dialects are spread in and around these two halves with varying degrees of density.

The table below lists the two major dialects:

Dialects of Vrkhazhian
Dialect	Location
Uzerian	South-West Vrkhazh (originating from the city of ʾUzēr)
Mukhebic	North-East Vrkhazh (originating from the city of Muḵeb)

Due to the widespread use of Uzerian and its increasing popularity among traders and the educated, it is recognized as the standard dialect for writing and communication. All children in Vrkhazh are expected to learn Uzerian throughout their education.

Phonology

Consonants

The table below shows the 42 consonant phonemes found in Vrkhazhian. When consonants appear in pairs, the voiceless counterpart appears on the left, and the voiced counterpart appears on the right:

Vrkhazhian Consonantal Phonemes
		Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		hm [m̥] m [m]	hn [n̥] n [n]			ṉ [ɴ]
Stop	Light	hp [ʰp]	ht [ʰt]		hk [ʰk]	hq [ʰq]
	Plain	p [p] b [b]	t [t] d [d]		k [k] g [g]	q [q]	ʾ [ʔ]
	Dark	ṗ [pʶ]	ṭ [tʶ]
Affricate			ḏ [t͡s]	č [c͡ç] j [ɟ͡ʝ]
Fricative		f [ɸ] v [β]	s [s] z [z]	š [ç] ẕ [ʝ]	ḵ [x] ğ [ɣ]	ḥ [χ]	h [h]
Approximant			hr [ɹ̥] r [ɹ~ɾ]	y [j]	w [w]
Trill			ř [rʷ]			ṟ [ʀ]
Lateral Approximant	Plain		hl [l̥] l [l]
Lateral Approximant	Dark		ḷ [lʶ]
Lateral Fricative				ḻ [ʎ̝̊]

Where consonants appear in pairs, the left is voiceless and the right is voiced.

Vowels

Front

Near- front

Central

Near- back

Back

Close

i

u

e̞

ə

o̞

ɛ

ɔ

a

Near-close

Close-mid

Mid

Open-mid

Near-open

Open

The vowel phoneme /a/ is analyzed as being a continuum of open vowels ranging from front to back that are in free variation.

Romanization of Vowel Phonemes
	Front	Central	Back
Close	i [i]		u [u]
Mid	ē [e̞]	ə [ə]	ō [o̞]
Open-mid	e [ɛ]		o [ɔ]
Open	a [a]

Vrkhazhian Diphthongs
IPA	Letter	Example
ae̯	aẏ	like eye
ao̯	aẇ	like cow

Allophony

In Vrkhazhian, the stop consonants /t d/ become [θ ð] in word-final positions if they occur after front vowels /ɛ e̞ i/ and become [ð] if they occur before rhotics /r ɹ~ɾ/. Voiced and voiceless stop plus glottal stop clusters are analyzed as ejectives and implosives, respectively. The alveolar nasal /n/ is analyzed as [ɲ] before palatal consonants, [ŋ] before velar consonants, and [ɴ] before uvular consonants.

Syllable Structure

The syllable structure of Vrkhazhian is analyzed as (C)C(V)(C)(C), where C stands for a consonant, V stands for a vowel. CV and CVC are most common syllable types in Vrkhazhian, while in contrast, C and CCVCC, are the rarest. Though not listed in the phonemic inventory table above, there also exists two syllabic rhotics /ɹ̩ r̩ʷ/ in Vrkhazhian that is romanized as ⟨ṛ ŕ⟩ as well as two syllabic nasals /m̩ n̩/ romanized as ⟨ṃ ṇ⟩.

All words that appear to begin with vowels are analyzed as containing a glottal stop before them, which is usually omitted in fast speech. Vrkhazhian is very strict in preventing hiatus between vowels; this is done by adding an epenthetic /h/ between the two vowels.

Onset

The follow table lists the possible consonants that can occur as the onset:

Nasal: /m̥/, /m/, /n̥/, /n/, /ɴ/
Stop: /p/, /ʰp/, /pʶ/, /b/, /t/, /ʰt/, /tʶ/, /d/, /k/, /ʰk/, /g/, /q/, /ʰq/, /ʔ/
Stop plus Nasal: /dm/, /km/, /gm/, /gn/
Stop plus Stop: /pt/, /pd/, /pʔ/, /bt/, /bd/, /tp/, /tʔ/, /db/, /kp/, /kb/, /kt/, /kd/, /kʔ/, /gp/, /gb/, /gt/, /gd/, /gʔ/
Stop plus /w/: /kw/, /gw/, /qw/
Stop plus Fricative: /kç/, /gʝ/
Stop plus Liquid: /pɹ/, /bɹ/, /tɹ/, /dɹ/, /kɹ/, /gɹ/, /qɹ/, /prʷ/, /brʷ/, /krʷ/, /grʷ/, /qrʷ/, /pʀ/, /bʀ/, /tʀ/, /dʀ/, /kʀ/, /gʀ/, /qʀ/, /pl/, /bl/, /ql/
Affricate: /t͡s/, /c͡ç/, /ɟ͡ʝ/
Fricative: /ɸ/, /β/, /s/, /z/, /ç/, /ʝ/, /x/, /ɣ/, /χ/, h/
Fricative plus Stop: /zb/, /zg/, /xp/, /xt/, /ɣb/, /ɣd/
Fricative plus Affricate: /çc͡ç/, /ʝɟ͡ʝ/
Fricative plus Fricative: /xs/
Fricative plus /w/: /sw/, /zw/, /çw/, /ʝw/, /xw/, /ɣw/, /χw/
Fricative plus Liquid: /sɹ/, /zɹ/, /çɹ/, /ʝɹ/, /xɹ/, /ɣɹ/, /χɹ/, /ɸrʷ/, /βrʷ/, /çrʷ/, /ʝrʷ/, /xrʷ/, /ɣrʷ/, /χrʷ/, /sʀ/, /zʀ/, /sl/, /zl/, /çl/, /ʝl/, /xl/, /ɣl/, /χl/
Approximant: /j/, /w/
Liquid: /ɹ̥/, /ɹ/, /rʷ/, /ʀ/, /l̥/, /l/, /lʶ/, /ʎ̝̊/

Nucleus

Any of the vowels and diphthongs can appear in a syllable as well as the syllabic consonants /m̩ n̩ ɹ̩ r̩ʷ/, provided the latter have no onset or coda.

Coda

The following table lists the possible consonants that can occur as the coda:

Nasal: /m̥/, /m/, /n̥/, /n/, /ɴ/
Nasal plus Stop: /mt/, /nt/
Stop: /p/, /ʰp/, /pʶ/, /b/, /t/, /ʰt/, /tʶ/, /d/, /k/, /ʰk/, /g/, /q/, /ʰq/, /ʔ/
Stop plus Stop: /pt/, /kt/
Affricate: /t͡s/, /c͡ç/, /ɟ͡ʝ/
Fricative: /ɸ/, /β/, /s/, /z/, /ç/, /ʝ/, /x/, /ɣ/, /χ/, h/
Fricative plus Stop: /çt/, /ʝd/, /xp/, /xt/, /xk/, /ɣb/, /ɣd/, /ɣg/
Fricative plus Affricate: /çc͡ç/, /ʝɟ͡ʝ/
Fricative plus Liquid: /ɹɸ/, /ɹβ/, /ɹs/, /ɹz/, /ɹç/, /ɹʝ/, /ɹx/, /ɹɣ/, /rʷɸ/, /rʷβ/, /rʷç/, /rʷʝ/, /rʷx/, /rʷɣ/, /rʷχ/, /ls/, /lz/, /lç/, /lʝ/, /lx/, /lɣ/, /lχ/
Approximant: /j/, /w/
Liquid: /ɹ̥/, /ɹ/, /rʷ/, /ʀ/, /l̥/, /l/, /lʶ/, /ʎ̝̊/
Liquid plus Stop: /ɹp/, /ɹb/, /ɹt/, /ɹd/, /ɹk/, /ɹg/, /ɹq/, /rʷp/, /rʷb/, /rʷt/, /rʷd/, /rʷk/, /rʷg/, /rʷq/, /ʀp/, /ʀb/, /ʀt/, /ʀd/, /ʀk/, /ʀg/, /ʀq/, /lp/, /lb/, /lt/, /ld/, /lk/, /lg/ /lq/

Stress

Stress in Vrkhazhian is generally placed on the last or second-to-last syllable.

Grammar

Morphology

Overview

Vrkhazhian is a highly inflecting triconsonantal root language. Most roots consist of three consonants (triliteral), though there are many words that consist of two letter (biliteral) roots. Vrkhazhian also recognizes four- and five-letter roots, however, these are uncommon. Between and around these roots various infixes, suffixes, circumfixes and prefixes are used to carry grammatical functions or derive words.

Roots containing the consonants ⟨y⟩ and ⟨w⟩ are considered weak roots, and are omitted when they occur between a vowel that isn't /a/ and another consonant and in word-final positions.

Nominal morphology

Vrkhazhian has three grammatical genders, masculine, feminine and neuter. These genders are strictly semantic, thus most nouns, such as inanimate objects, fall into the category of neuter.

Vrkhazhian has two numbers (singular and plural) and six cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, allative, ablative, and distributive). The table below shows the noun vakkam (ruler,emperor) declined in various cases.

Noun paradigm
	Noun (masc.)	Noun (fem.)	Noun (neut.)
Nominative singular	vakkam-i	vakkam-a	vakkam
Genitive singular	vakkam-ir	vakkam-aš	vakkam-un
Allative singular	vakkam-aj-i	vakkam-aj-a	vakkam-aj
Ablative singular	vakkam-if-i	vakkam-if-a	vakkam-if
Nominative plural	vakkam-il	vakkam-an	vakkam-ad
Genitive plural	vakkam-ir-u	vakkam-aš-u	vakkam-un-u
Allative plural	vakkam-ēj-il	vakkam-ēj-an	vakkam-ēj-ad
Ablative plural	vakkam-uf-il	vakkam-uf-an	vakkam-uf-ad

The Allative case in Vrkhazhian is used to denote movement towards the marked noun while the Ablative case is used to denote movement away from the marked noun. The Genitive case is used to denote the possessor of an object such as "Mark" in the sentence "Mark's cat". Proper nouns such as people and places are not marked with a genitive suffix. The distributive case in Vrkhazhian is used to denote something occurring to each individual of a set, thus the noun can only be declined for singular number. The meaning of the distributive case is roughly translated as "each" or "per". The prefix "šar-" is used to denote the distributive.

Construct state

Most nouns in Vrkhazhian can also be placed in the construct state, which is used for genitive constructions and, in contrast to the Genitive case, denotes that the noun is the possessed object. Using the noun ʾalkad (soldier, guard), the declension of a noun in the construct state are shown below:

Noun paradigm
	Noun (masc.)	Noun (fem.)	Noun (neut.)
Singular	ʾalkad-i	ʾalkad-a	ʾalkad-u
Plural	ʾalikd-it	ʾalikd-at	ʾalikd-um

Nouns containing biliteral roots are placed into the construct state patterns CVraC for singular number and CarC2VC2 for plural number. An example of this is the noun šim (house) which, when placed into the construct state, becomes širam for singular number and šarmim for plural number. Nouns containing biliteral roots that are placed in the construct state are also declined for gender in the nominative case.

Adjectival morphology

Adjectives in Vrkhazhian are marked for gender and number in agreement with the noun they modify. Adjectives in Vrkhazhian are placed into different stems depending on the type of adjective the root is. For example, only adjectival verbs pertaining to size and mass, such as d-b-n (to be heavy), are placed into the pattern CaCCa, while verbs pertaining to shapes, such as ḵ-l-k (to be round) are placed in the pattern toCCeC. The table below shows the declension of the roots ʾ-w-d (to be short), ḵ-l-k (to be round), z-w-l (to be red), h-r-d (to be pure), s-ǧ-l (to be old), and m-n-b (to be fair, beautiful) placed into their respective stems:

Adjective declension - Size/Mass
	Adjective (masc.)	Adjective (fem.)	Adjective (neut.)
Singular	ʾud-i	ʾud-a	ʾaẇd-a
Plural	ʾaẇd-il	ʾaẇd-an	ʾud-um

Adjective declension - Shape
	Adjective (masc.)	Adjective (fem.)	Adjective (neut.)
Singular	toḵlek-i	toḵlek-a	toḵlek
Plural	toḵlak-il	toḵlak-an	toḵlak-um

Adjective declension - Colour
	Adjective (neut.)
Singular	ʾazaẇwil
Plural	ʾazaẇl-um

Adjective declension - Condition
	Adjective (masc.)	Adjective (fem.)	Adjective (neut.)
Singular	ʾihrōd-i	ʾihrōd-a	ʾihrōd
Plural	ʾihrōd-il	ʾihrōd-an	ʾihrōd-um

Adjective declension - Age
	Adjective (masc.)	Adjective (fem.)	Adjective (neut.)
Singular	saǧǧol-i	saǧǧol-a	saǧǧol
Plural	suǧǧal-il	suǧǧal-an	suǧǧal-um

Adjective declension - Observation
	Adjective (masc.)	Adjective (fem.)	Adjective (neut.)
Singular	ʾifmanb-i	ʾifmanb-a	ʾifmanab
Plural	ʾifminb-il	ʾifminb-an	ʾifmineb

Adjectives can either precede or follow the noun depending on the type of adjective. Adjectives pertaining to physical features such as size, shape, colour and material always precede the noun, while adjectives pertaining to other features such as origin, condition, age and observation always follow the noun.

Definite marking

Vrkhazhian has an definite affix "ṛ-" that indicates that its noun is a particular one (or ones) identifiable to the listener. It may be something already mentioned or uniquely specified. The affix is attached to the noun and the adjective(s) that modify the noun.

Verbal morphology

Verbs in Vrkhazhian are conjugated for number (singular and plural), tense (infinitive, past simple, past progressive, present simple, present progressive, and future) and voice (active and passive)

Verb patterns

The table below shows the conjugation of the root s-d-n (to oppress) and m-n-š (to write):

Verb Conjugations
	Active Singular	Active Plural	Translation	Passive Singular	Passive Plural	Translation
Infinitive	ʾasdaẇwan		to oppress	ʾasdubin		to be oppressed
Past Simple	nōsdon	nasdunam	oppressed	nusdun	nisdanam	was oppressed
Past Prog.	yusdon	yusdēnam	was oppressing	yesdan	yesdunam	was being oppressed
Present Simple	sudan	sudnam	oppress	sadēn	sadnam	is oppressed
Present Prog.	husdan	husdinam	is oppressing	hasdēn	hasdonam	is being oppressed
Future	ʾasden	ʾasdenam	will oppress	ʾisdin	ʾisdinam	will be oppressed

Verb Conjugations
	Active Singular	Active Plural	Translation
Infinitive	ʾamniziš		to write to self
Past Simple	nōlmoniš	nalmunšam	wrote to self
Past Progressive	yulmoniš	yulmēnšam	was writing to self
Present Simple	lumnaš	lumnašam	write to self
Present Progressive	halmunaš	halmunšam	is writing to self
Future	ʾilmaneš	ʾilmanšam	will write to self

Verb moods

Vrkhazhian has five moods, jussive, potential, conditional, commissive and subjunctive. The particles "čar" and "yaj" can be used with moods to indicate the past and future tense respectively. The table below shows the conjugation of the root ṗ-m-t (to walk) in active voice, while the table shows the conjugation of the root b-ʾ-l (to punish, discipline) in passive voice.

Verb Mood
	Active Singular	Active Plural	Translation	Passive Singular	Passive Plural	Translation
Jussive	jiṗmat	jiṗmetam	have to walk	jubʾil	jubʾulam	have to be punished
Potential	ʾibēṗmat	ʾibēṗmētam	can walk	ʾibibʾul	ʾibibʾōlam	can be punished
Conditional	ʾimaṗmat	ʾimaṗmutam	would walk	ʾimobʾil	ʾimobʾilam	would be punished
Commissive	ḵuṗtamit	ḵuṗtamtam	shall walk	ḵabteʾul	ḵabteʾlam	shall be punished
Subjunctive	ṇtaṗmit	ṇtaṗmitam	may walk	ṇtibʾul	ṇtibʾulam	may be punished

The jussive mood in Vrkhazhian is mainly used for expressing obligation or duty, but when there are no pronouns or nouns in the nominative case, it can also act like an imperative, expressing direct commands to the adressee(s).

Adverbial morphology

Adverbs in Vrkhazhian are marked for number in agreement with the verb they modify. Adverbs always follow the verb they modify. Adverbs are placed into the stem ʾeCCaCu. An example of this is when the root ʾ-n-l (to be blind) is placed into the stem, it becomes "blindly".

Adverb declension
	Singular	Plural
Adverb	ʾeʾnalu	ʾeʾnalyam

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns in Vrkhazhian are as follows:

		Nominative		Accusative		Genitive		Lative		Ablative
Person		Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st	inclusive	ẕaẏ "I"	yeš "we"	šadib	ʾaẏyib	šadiki	ʾaẏyiki	šadiš	ʾaẏyiš	šadit	ʾaẏyat
1st	exclusive	ẕaẏ "I"	ṉal "we"	šadib	ṉalib	šadiki	ṉaliki	šadiš	ṉališ	šadit	ṉalat
2nd	masculine	ʾiši "you"	qar "you"	ʾišib	qarib	ʾišaki	qaraki	ʾideš	qareš	ʾidat	qarat
2nd	feminine	ʾati "you"	šun "you"	ʾatib	šunib	ʾataki	šunaki	ʾateš	šuneš	ʾatat	šunat
3rd	masculine	šul "he"	baʾ "they"	šujim	baʾib	šujaki	baʾaki	šuješ	baʾeš	šujat	baʾat
	feminine	šaf "she"	tav "they"	šafib	tavib	šafaki	tavaki	šapeš	tabeš	šapat	tabat
	neuter	ḥol "they"	ṗal "they"	ḥojim	ṗajim	ḥojaki	ṗajaki	ḥoješ	ṗaješ	ḥojat	ṗajat
4th		ʾaḥ "one"		ʾaḥib		ʾaḥaki		ʾaqeš		ʾaqat

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns in Vrkhazhian are as follows:

	Deixis
Number	Proximal	Medial	Distal
Singular	ʾib "this"	ʾani "that"	maẏ "that"
Plural	ʾivim "these"	ʾanim "those"	maẏm "those"

Interrogative Pronouns and Adverbs

Listed below are the interrogative pronouns and adverbs in Vrkhazhian:

English	Vrkhazhian
who?	ʾalim
what?	hamat
where?	suhal
when?	hna
why?	ʾičam
how?	taja
which?	ʾaqab

Relative Pronouns

Relative pronouns in Vrkhazhian are as follows:

Number	Nominative	Genitive	Lative	Ablative
Masculine singular	ṇki	saẕmi	ṇkeši	ṇkati
Masculine plural	ṇkil	saẕmil	ṇkešil	ṇkatil
Feminine singular	ṇka	saẕma	ṇkeša	ṇkata
Feminine plural	ṇkan	saẕman	ṇkešan	ṇkatan
Neuter singular	ṇku	saẕmu	ṇkešu	ṇkatu
Neuter plural	ṇkad	saẕmad	ṇkešad	ṇkatad

Numerals

Vrkhazhian uses a base-12 system of numerals, which is a positional notation numeral system using twelve as its base. In this system, the number ten can be written as ⟨X⟩, and the number eleven as ⟨E⟩. Cardinal numerals precede the nouns they modify and are placed in the construct state, while ordinal numerals are placed in the absolute state, losing all case endings; cardinal numerals also agree in gender with the noun they modify. An example of this are the nouns vikim and ʾalkad (which becomes ʾalikdad in plural); when a numeral is placed before them they become ʾaẏni vikimi (one king) and apetu ʾalikdad (six soldiers). The table below lists the numbers from 1 to 12.

Numerals
Numbers	Cardinal (masc.)	Cardinal (fem.)	Cardinal (neut.)	Ordinal (neut.)
1	ʾaẏni	ʾaẏna	ʾaẏnu	ʾēlyin
2	nimi	nima	nimu	nēlyim
3	daji	daja	daju	dēljij
4	hati	hata	hatu	hēltit
5	ʾaẕafi	ʾaẕafa	ʾaẕafu	ʾēlẕif
6	ʾapeti	ʾapeta	ʾapetu	ʾēlpit
7	ʾarami	ʾarama	ʾaramu	ʾilrem
8	šabi	šaba	šabu	šēlbib
9	ʾadiki	ʾadika	ʾadiku	ʾildek
X (10)	yami	yama	yamu	yēlmim
E (11)	ʾijiti	ʾijita	ʾijitu	ʾiljat
10 (12)	ʾilaẏki	ʾilaẏka	ʾilaẏku	taʾlik

Syntax

Nominal phrases

Relative clauses follow the noun while numerals and appositions precede the counted noun. Adjectives either follow or precede the noun depending on its semantic class (see adjective section above). An example of some of these features is the nominal phrase ṛ-Vakkami Yat-Vṛḵaẕ, ʾIḥamek ʾAraš-Hijunu, meṭajad šujaki nōmtoḥ "Arash-Hijunu Ihamek, the Emperor of Vrkhazh, united his people" which is analyzed in the following table:

Word	Meaning	Analysis	Part of the nominal phrase
ṛ-Vakkami	king/emperor	masculine construct state	Apposition
Yat-Vṛḵaẕ	Vrkhazh	unmarked neuter genitive	Apposition
ʾIḥamek ʾAraš-Hijunu	Arash-Hijunu Ihamek	nominative unmarked masculine singular	Proper Noun (subject)
meṭajad	people	accusative neuter plural	Relative clause
šujaki	his	genitive singular pronoun
nōmtoḥ	unite	active past singular

Sentence syntax

There are two basic word orders in Vrkhazhian that are used depending on the grammatical voice of the sentence. In sentences with the active voice, the basic word order is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV), while in sentences with the passive voice, the basic word order is Verb-Subject-Object (VSO). Compare an active sentence:

ʾAšol ṛ-ʾalikdad ṛ-ʾildad ʾuldam.

ʾAšol	ṛ-ʾalikdad	ṛ-ʾildad	ʾuldam
All	DEF-soldier-NEUT-PL-NOM	DEF-civilian-NEUT-PL-ACC	ACT-PRES-guard-SG

"All of the soldiers guard the civilians."

vs. a passive sentence:

Nišṉamam ṛ-havir ṛ-mašarad ʾim Hiqal.

Ni-šṉam-am	ṛ-havir	ṛ-mašarad	ʾim	Hiqal
PASS-PST-build-PL	DEF-mercury	DEF-golem-NEUT-PL-NOM	by	Hiqal-ACC

"The mercury golems were built by Hiqal"

The verb root ʾ-l-d (to guard), in the first example, is conjugated for active past singular in the active sentence agreeing in number with the subject "soldiers", while the verb root š-ṉ-m (to build) in the second example is conjugated in the passive past plural, agreeing in number with the subject "the mercury golems".

Writing System

The Vrkhazhian Akhuva (ʾAḵuva Yat-Vṛḵaẕikam [ʔaxuβa jat βɹ̩xaʝikam]) is the official writing script of Vrkhazhian. The script consists of 36 letters, 12 numeral glyphs, and 10 vowel diacritics. The writing direction of the script is boustrophedon, and can start in any horizontal direction preferred, though the most common starting direction is Right-to-Left.

History

The script has been around for at least 3,500 years, with few changes and alterations to the letter forms since it's inception. The true origins of the writing system are unknown, however, the glyphs are based partially off of the logographic script of a sister language known as Qhadithcha, while the numeral glyphs are of entirely Vrkhazhian origin.

Letter names

Standard letters

The table below lists the 30 letters that are considered part of the Akhuva:

ʾAḵuva Yat-Vṛḵaẕikam
Name	Meaning	Phoneme
ʾAlaḵ	wind	ʾ [ʔ]
Ḵav	human	ḵ [x]
Vav	cane	v [β]
Hit	lock	h [h]
Dat	skull	d [d]
Ḏim	fruit, blood	ḏ [t͡s]
Bal	path	b [b]
Sum	tunnel	s [s]
Ẕat	helmet	ẕ [ʝ]
Yav	scythe	y [j]

ʾAḵuva Yat-Vṛḵaẕikam
Name	Meaning	Phoneme
Kaf	water	k [k]
Gēb	wing	g [g]
Lam	hand	l [l]
Maʾ	bowl, cup	m [m]
Neš	peace	n [n]
Ǧaẏm	name	ǧ [ɣ]
Pak	head	p [p]
Jim	pillar	j [ɟ͡ʝ]
Ruḵ	snake	r [ɹ]
Faš	vulture	f [ɸ]

ʾAḵuva Yat-Vṛḵaẕikam
Name	Meaning	Phoneme
Šim	house	š [ç]
Waj	shield	w [w]
Tal	gate	t [t]
Čit	hook	č [c͡ç]
Zab	branch	z [z]
Ḻam	tree	ḻ [ʎ̝̊]
Ḥak	roof	ḥ [χ]
Qar	you	q [q]
Řat	fear	ř [rʷ]
Ṉod	ear	ṉ [ɴ]

Vowel diacritics

The Akhuva is an abjad, thus vowels are not represented in most texts. However, vowel diacritics may be used to aid learners in reading the text and to reduce ambiguities.

Mambinad Yat-Vṛḵaẕikam
Name	Meaning	Phoneme
Dalaʾid	exposing	a [a]
Šarud	moon	e [ɛ]
Maṉaʾit	flowing	ē [e̞]
Šipij	ground	i [i]
Ḵamaʾit	crawling	o [ɔ]
Ḵalōk	circle	ō [o̞]
ʾIfšaraj	hollow, empty	ə [ə]
Muḥəl	throne	u [u]