ʾAšdu Yat-Vṛḵaž

Vrkhazhian (YŠDD YT-VṚḴẔKM, Yašdod Yat-Vṛḵaẕīkam) is a Northern Hašakaṃ language that is spoken in the region known as Vṛḵaẕ. The earliest form of this language, known as Ancient Vrkhazhi, was spoken around 10 000 years ago.

History

Dialects

Vrkhazhian has at least two major dialects and at least ten other minor dialects. The table below lists two of the major dialects

Dialects of Vrkhazhian

Dialect	Location
ʾŪbyahīkam	Centered around the city of ʾŪbya
ʾAlšardīkam	To the south of the city of Ḵadač

ʾŪbyahīkam is recognized as the standard dialect of writing and communication.

Writing System

ʾAlḵavaht Yat-Vṛḵaẕīkam [ˈʔalxaβaʰt ˈjat-βɹ̩ˈxaʑikam] is the official writing script of Vṛḵaẕīkam [βɹ̩'xaʑikam]. The script consists of 30 letters, their names being asssigned by actual words in the language through acrophony. The writing direction of the script is boustrephedon, 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 7,500 years, with few changes and alterations to the letter forms since it's inception. The true origins of the writing system is unknown, however, it is based partially off of the logographic script of a sister language known as Ḫadīṯča [χaˈdiθt͡ʃa].

Letter names

ʾAlḵavaht Yat-Vṛḵaẕīkam

Letter	Name	Meaning	Phoneme
	ʾAl	wind	ʾ [ʔ]
	Ḵav	human	ḵ [x]
	Vav	cane	v [β]
	Hīt	lock	h [h]
	Dat	skull	d [d]
	Ḏīm	fruit (also blood)	ḏ [t͡s]
	Bal	path	b [b]
	Sūm	tunnel	s [s]
	Ẕat	helmet (also child)	ẕ [ʒ~ʑ]
	Yav	scythe	y [j]
	Ka	water	k [k]
	Gē	wing	g [g]
	Lam	hand	l [l]
	Maʾ	bowl or cup	m [m]
	Neš	peace	n [n]
	Ǧaẏm	name	ǧ [ɣ]
	Pak	head	p [p]
	Jīm	pillar	j [d͡ʒ~d͡ʑ]
	Rū	snake	r [ɹ~ɾ]
	Faš	vulture	f [ɸ]
	Šīm	house	š [ʃ~ɕ]
	Waj	shield	w [w]
	Tal	gate	t [t]
	Čī	hook	č [t͡ʃ~t͡ɕ]
	Zab	branch	z [z]
	Ḻam	tree	ḻ [ɬ~ɬʲ]
	Ḫak	roof	ḫ [χ~ħ]
	Qar	you (2nd person masc. pl.)	q [q]
	Ṟat	fear	ṟ [ʀ]
	Ṉod	ear	ṉ [ɴ]

Phonetics and phonology

Consonants

Vrkhazhian Consonantal Phonemes

		Bilabial	Alveolar	(Alveolo)- Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	Light		hn [ʰn~n̥]
	Plain	m [m]	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~pˤ] ḅ [bʶ~bˤ]	ṭ [tʶ~tˤ] ḍ [dʶ~dˤ]
Affricate			ḏ [ʦ]	č [ʧ~ʨ] j [ʤ~ʥ]
Fricative	Plain	f [ɸ] v [β]	s [s] z [z]	š [ʃ~ɕ] ẕ [ʒ~ʑ]	ḵ [x] ğ [ɣ]	ḫ [χ~ħ]	h [h]
	Dark		ṣ [sʶ~sˤ] ẓ [zʶ~zˤ]
Approximant	Light		hr [ʰɹ~ʰɾ~ɹ̥̥]
	Plain		r [ɹ~ɾ]	y [j]	w [w]
Trill			rr [r]			ṟ [ʀ]
Lateral Approximant	Light		hl [ʰl~l̥]
	Plain		l [l]
	Dark		ḷ [lʶ~lˤ]
Lateral Fricative			ḻ [ɬ~ɬʲ]

Vowels

Vrkhazhian Vowel Phonemes

	Front	Central	Back
Close	ī [i]	i [ɨ]	ū [u]
Close-mid	ē [e]		ō [o]
Mid		u [ə]
Open-mid	e [ɛ]		o [ɔ]
Open	a [a]

Vrkhazhian Diphthongs

IPA	Letter	Example
Dipthongs
ae̯	aẏ	like eye
oe̯	oẏ	like boy
ao̯	aẇ	like cow

Stress

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