Adzhatic

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Adzhatic is the main language of Adzhatia.

Alphabet

The Adzhatic alphabet has a cyrillic and a latin version. The cyrillic version is the oldest and most original variant, and although the language didn't have a true written tradition before 1950, official announcements in the former main living area of the Adzhatians were often rendered bilingually in both Adzhatic and - depending on the ruler - Polish or Russian. Under Polish rule, no attempts were made to create a latin version of the Adzhatic alphabet, probably because of the influence the orthodox church, which uses the cyrillic alphabet itself, had on the Adzhatian people.

The latin version of the Adzhatic alphabet was created in the 60's of the 20th century and became popular among younger people who related it to western freedom. After 1990 the cyrillic alphabet remained the official alphabet of Adzhatia, but in practice the latin version is used considerably more often - even in the country's politics.

The present Adzhatic alphabet has 36 characters and therefore the Adzhatic dictionary has 36 chapters. The official order is that of the cyrillic alphabet, which is maintained in the latin version as well. The latin version makes use of diacritical signs to distinguish different realisations of consonants. The latin alphabet uses two combinations of consonants, dz and that can represent respectively the cyrillic z and џ, but, depending on the circumstances, also дз and дж.

The latin version of the alphabet has two variants for the non-capital Đ: the đ (at the beginning of words) and the ð (at other places in words than the beginning).

In the table below, the cyrillic variants are positioned in the left, the latin variants in the right column of two columns of the same colour.

А а A a Ĕ ĕ Ĕ ĕ Л л L l С с S s Ч ч Ć ć Ґ ґ H h
Б б B b Ж ж Ź ź М м M m Т т T t Џ џ Dź dź Ѳ ѳ Đ đ/ð
В в V v З з Z z Н н N n У у U u Ш ш Ś ś Љ љ Ĺ ĺ
Г г G g І і I i О о O o Ф ф F f Ў ў Ŭ ŭ Њ њ Ń ń
Д д D d Ј ј J j П п P p Х х Ħ ħ Ŏ ŏ Ŏ ŏ R ʀ Ŕ ŕ
Е е E e К к K k Р р R r Ц ц C c Ă ă Ă ă Z z Dz dz

Phonology

Most Adzhatic letters represent one sound. Some have more than one way of realisation, depending of their position in the word, accent and also etymology. The consonants ĺ, ń and ŕ for instance have a 'wandering /j/-sound': at the beginning of a syllable, these letters are pronouned with the /j/ after /l/, /n/ and /r/, but if a vowel precedes them, the /j/-sound is mostly pronounced before /l/, /n/ and /r/. Combinations are also possible. Examples:

ńe [ɲe] (not)
prań [prãj] (first)
haĺp [hajlp] or [hajp] (cheap)
eŕń [ẽjrj] (eagle)
Ăŕva ['ɑjrva] (a common Adzhatian first name for men)

An important phenomenon is the change of o/ŏ to e/ĕ before i, which is followed almost always. This has often the effect that loan words are rendered a bit strange in Adzhatic, such as fonolegie (phonology). Although the younger generation of Adzhatians pronounce the e resp. ĕ that was caused by this vowel change increasingly often as [e] resp. [ɛ] (as both letters are pronounced in other situations), the official pronunciation is [ɵ] resp. [ɞ].

The diphthong oi exists in Adzhatic regardless of this rule.

Vowels

Adzhatic has nine vowel signs, which are used to render twelve sounds. A thirteenth sound is, according to some, the [ɪ], which could be spelled as ĭ, but this is not official. The few words in which this sound existed, it is rendered nowadays mostly as [ɨ]. The spelling of the family name of former prime minister Ereh Ħĭnzei (and his family) is therefore controversial.

a [a] anu ['anu] (fruit)
ă [ɑ] ăneź ['ɑneʑ] (duck)
e [e], [ɵ], [ə] eŕń [ẽjrj] (eagle), ezi (o ozun) ['ɵzi (o 'ozun]) (to throw/I throw), gaĺĺerie [gaʎə'riə] (gallery)
ĕ [ɛ], [ɞ] Ĕrob ['ɛrob] (Europe), jĕdi (o jŏdun) ['jɞdi (o 'jɔdun)] (to talk/I talk)
i [i], [j] ina ['ina] (one) – voor klinkers soms als [j]
o [o] okcve ['okt̠͡ɕvə] (eight)
ŏ [ɔ] ŏĺu ['ɔʎu] (apple)
u [u] urz [urz] (bear)
ŭ [ɨ] ŭśśu ['ɨɕu] (copper)

An unstressed e is pronounced as [ə]: 1) at the end of a word; 2) at the end of a syllable, when the next syllable contains an ă, ĕ, ŏ, or ŭ.

Diphthongs

Adzhatic has seven diphthongs:

au [au̯] śauvăz ['ɕau̯vɑz] (religion)
eu [eu̯] euś [eu̯ɕ] (wood (material))
ou [ou̯] opmouś [op'mou̯ɕ] (always)
ai [ai̯] vaihe ['vai̯hə] or ['vai̯çə] (page)
ei [ei̯] prośveiŕ [pro'ɕvei̯r] (substitute)
oi [oi̯] bloi [bloi̯] (flower)
ui [ui̯] kuluis ['kului̯s] (famous)

Consonants

Adzhatic has 27 consonant symbols, which represent 32 sounds.

đ/ð and ħ can be pronounced voiced or voiceless, depending on their positions in a word: at the beginning of a word and between two vowels, they are most often pronounced voiced; at the end of a syllable or a word they are pronounced voiceless. Other consonants may influence the rendering of đ/ð and ħ as well.

The pronunciation of h as [h] or [ç] is regionally determined: in the western and southern part of Adzhatia and on the smaller islands, [ç] is heard more often, whereas [h] can be found in other parts of the country.

The pronunciation of ĺ, ń and ŕ has been explained above.

b [b] băzŕ ['bɑzərj] (father)
c [t͡s] cvaħa ['t͡svaɣ̞a] (to tear apart)
ć [t̠͡ɕ] ćupe ['t̠͡ɕupə] (goat)
d [d] drunu ['drunu] (horn)
đ, ð [θ] or [ð] đukŕ ['ðukəjr] (daughter), straða ['straða] (to move), seðħeź ['seθxeʑ] (judgement)
dz [d͡z] dzvizand ['d͡zvizand] (thousand)
[d͡ʑ] dźeń [d͡ʑẽj] (day)
f [f] fevraĺ [fe'vrajl] (February)
g [g] guś [guɕ] (guest)
h [h] or [ç] hĕp [hɛp]/[çɛp] (blue)
ħ [x] or [ɣ̞] ħveiħ [ɣ̞vei̯x] (blind)
j [j] jŏś [jɔɕ] (good)
k [k] kunta ['kunta] (municipality)
l [l] luħu ['luɣ̞u] (gold)
ĺ [ʎ] [jl]/[j] Ĺetuve ['ʎetuvə] (Lithuania), haĺp [hajlp]/[hajp] (cheap)
m [m] marg [marg] (region)
n [n] niŕg [ni:rg] (violence)
ń [ɲ] [~j] ńe [ɲe] (not), prań [prãj] (first), eŕń [ẽjrj] (eagle)
p [p] peis [pei̯s] (bee)
r [r] ruń [rũj] (poem)
ŕ [rj]/[jr] Ŕanije ['rjanijə] (woman first name), Ăŕva ['ɑjrva] (man first name)
s [s] stana ['stana] (to make, to do)
ś [ɕ] śăħu ['ɕɑxu] (statue, image)
t [t] tavŕ ['tavəjr] (door)
v [v] viħa ['viɣ̞a] (wrath)
z [z] zavod [za'vod] (blast furnace)
ź [ʑ] źandeź ['ʑandeʑ] (balance)

Morphology

Adzhatic is a somewhat conservative language with a large inflectional system.

Nouns

Referencearrow.png Main Article: Adzhatic nouns

Adzhatic nouns have three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), two numbers (singular and plural) and four cases (nominative, genitive, dative and accusative). Definiteness can be expressed with a definite article, which is attached to the noun like e.g. in Scandinavian languages. There is no indefinite article. The noun has six declension patterns. The adjectives have strong and weak declension patterns.

Verbs

Referencearrow.png Main Article: Adzhatic verbs

The Adzhatic verb has five independent tenses: present, imperfect, perfect, future and conditional, although the latter is also often considered a mood, of which there are three others: the infinitive, the indicative and the adhortative. There are two participles (present and past). Apart from these, there are two composed tenses: the pluperfect (which is used very rarely) and the future perfect. Also the passive verb forms are composed. Finally, inchoative verbs can be derived from other verbs in a regular way.

There are four conjugations, based on the infinitive ending: -a, -i, -o or another vowel. The first three conjugation patterns combine stem and ending by means of a binding vowel; in the vowel conjugation these binding vowels have been fused with the final stem vowel. Originally, the vowel conjugation verbs were part of one of the other conjugation patterns, but nowadays they are considered a separate group.

The Adzhatic verb sometimes shows the particle ĕ, which is combined with the imperfect, perfect, pluperfect and conditional tenses. This particle developped from an original augment, but in present day Adzhatic, it behaves as an independent particle. When e.g. a verb is omitted in the answer to a question which contained the same verb, the particle must still be included in the answer. The words for 'yes' and 'no' therefore have a present and a past variant: ćŏd, ćŏdĕ (yes) resp. ni, nińĕ (no).

Jŭ aić ńeħ Moskŭfin? - Ćŏd. / Ni, ńe ńeħ Moskŭfin, ma ńeħ Aśtinekin. (Are you going to Moscow? - Yes. / No, not to Moscow, but to Ashtinok)
Jŭ ĕ jĕć ńeħ Moskŭfin? - Ćŏdĕ. / Nińĕ, ńe ĕ ńeħ Moskŭfin, ma ĕ ńeħ Aśtinekin. (Did you go to Moscow? - Yes. / No, not to Moscow, but to Ashtinok)

Syntax

Adzhatic is an SVO-language, which means that the normal order in a clause is subject-verb-object. Adjectives and other defining phrases are normally positioned before the defined, although exceptions exist, e.g. in poetry. Otherwise, this rule is strictly applied:

Adźać Valteciŕ (Adzhatian State): adjective before noun
Op Ruźiai śainiś (north of Russia): genitive before noun
Śto ă Pekkui dzĕptcu? (where is the gift for Pekka?): dative before noun
Rĕtinzi stabil (reasonably stable): adverb before adjective