Ossamic

Ossamic
Օսըշահմմը, Ōsəšahmmə
Pronunciation	[o.sə.ˈʃaːm.mə]
Created by	Melinoë
Date	June 9th, 2026
Native to	Armenia: Lori, Tavush Georgia: Kvemo Kartli Azerbaijan: Gazakh, Aghstafa, Tovuz
Ethnicity	Ossamics
Native speakers	755 thousand (2022)
Language family	Indo-European Para-Germanic Chlesamnic High Polovic languages Ossamic
Early forms	Proto-Chlesamnic Old Thadic Ossamic
Writing systems	Armenian Latin
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Armenia Georgia
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sish

Ossamic (/ˈəʊ̯.sɑ.mɪk/; Autonym: Օսըշահմմը or Ōsəšahmmə, all /o.sə.ˈʃaːm.mə/) is a Chlesamnic language of the High Polovic branch spoken at the intersection of Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, though it is entirely unintelligible with Caucasian Polovic.

Etymology

The English name is from Byzantine /ossamiˈkos/, from /ossaˈmia/, which is from Old Ossamic Օսըշահմմը (Ōsəšahmmə), which is a compound of օսըմ (ōsəm) ("lip") + -(ը)շահմ (-(ə)šahm) (abstract noun affix)+ -մը (-mə) ("our").

Phonology

Consonants

		labial	alveolar	palatal	velar
nasal		m ⟨մ, m⟩	n ⟨ն, n⟩
stop	unvoiced	p ⟨պ, p⟩	t ⟨տ, t⟩		k ⟨ի, k⟩
	aspirated	pʰ ⟨փ, pʻ⟩	tʰ ⟨թ, tʻ⟩		kʰ ⟨ք, kʻ⟩
	voiced	b ⟨բ, b⟩	d ⟨դ, d⟩		g ⟨գ, g⟩
fricative	unvoiced	f ⟨ֆ, f⟩	s ⟨ս, s⟩	ʃ ⟨շ, š⟩	x ⟨խ, x⟩
	voiced	v ⟨վ, v⟩	z ⟨զ, z⟩	ʒ ⟨ժ, ž⟩	ɣ ⟨ղ, ġ⟩
affricate	unvoiced		t͡s ⟨ծ, c⟩	t͡ʃ ⟨ճ, č⟩
	aspirated		t͡sʰ ⟨ց, cʻ⟩	t͡ʃʰ ⟨չ, čʻ⟩
	voiced		d͡z ⟨ձ, j⟩	d͡ʒ ⟨ջ, ǰ⟩
approximant			l ⟨լ, l⟩	j ⟨յ, y⟩
trill			r ⟨ռ, ṙ⟩
tap			ɾ ⟨ր, r⟩

Vowels

	front				central		back
	unround		round
	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long
High	i ⟨ի, i⟩	iː ⟨իհ, ih⟩	y ⟨իւ, iw⟩	yː ⟨իւհ, iwh⟩			u ⟨ու, u⟩	uː ⟨ուհ, uh⟩
Mid-high	e ⟨է, ē⟩	eː ⟨էհ, ēh⟩	ø ⟨էւ, ēw⟩	øː ⟨էւհ, ēwh⟩	ə ⟨ը, ə⟩	əː ⟨ըհ, əh⟩	o ⟨օ, ō⟩	oː ⟨օհ, ōh⟩
Mid-low	ɛ ⟨ե, e⟩	ɛː ⟨եհ, eh⟩	œ ⟨եւ, ew⟩	œː ⟨եւհ, ewh⟩			ɔ ⟨ո, o⟩	ɔː ⟨ոհ, oh⟩
Low							ɑ ⟨ա, a⟩	ɑː ⟨ահ, ah⟩

Morphology

Ossamic makes a clear distinction between roots and stems, with roots being the shortest common piece of any term between all its forms, whereas stems are the shortest forms of a word used directly in inflection, to make this distinction clearer, an example is խըռնենըմ, with the root խըռն֊, and the stem խըռնե֊, the root is general and is used as the basis of all forms, whereas the stem is specific to the verbal forms and derivatives therefrom.

Nouns

Ossamic nouns decline on several categories, those being case, number, possessor, and (some nouns) animacy.

Possession

Nouns decline for possessor, with the possessor being marked through a clitic pronoun that declines according to an irregular ə-type pattern.

Subject markers

	singular	plural
1st	֊մը -mə	֊միւ -miw
2nd	֊զը -zə	֊զիւ -ziw
3rd	֊սը -sə	֊սիւ -siw

ə/iw-type

	singular	plural
nominative	֊ը(մ)¹ -ə(m)¹	֊իւ(մ)¹ -iw(m)¹
accusative	֊ըմ -əm	֊ընիւմ -əniwm
allative	֊ըհռ -əhṙ	֊ընիւհռ -əniwhṙ
genitive	֊ուտ -ut	֊ընիւտ -əniwt
ablative	֊իճ -ič	֊ընայճ -ənayč
dative	֊ըհ -əh	֊ընիւհ -əniwh
instrumental	֊ու -u	֊ընիւ -əniw
comitative	֊ոմ -om	֊ընեւմ -ənewm

1. The forms with ֊մ are inanimate.

Animate nouns

ə-type, animate endings

	singular	plural
nominative	֊ը -ə	֊ընե -əne
accusative	֊ըմ -əm	֊ընեմ -ənem
allative	֊ըհռ -əhṙ	֊ընեհռ -ənehṙ
genitive	֊ուտ -ut	֊ընիւտ -əniwt
ablative	֊իճ -ič	֊ընայճ -ənayč
dative	֊ըհ -əh	֊ընեհ -əneh
instrumental	֊ու -u	֊ընիւ -əniw
comitative	֊ոմ -om	֊ընեւմ -ənewm

ə-type, animate

	վիլֆը (vilfə)		յիգը (yigə)		խիւնզը (xiwnzə)
	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
nominative	վիլֆը vilfə	վիլֆընե vilfəne	յիգը yigə	յիգընե yigəne	խիւնզը xiwnzə	խիւնզընե xiwnzəne
accusative	վիլֆըմ vilfəm	վիլֆընեմ vilfənem	յիգըմ yigəm	յիգընեմ yigənem	խիւնզըմ xiwnzəm	խիւնզընեմ xiwnzənem
allative	վիլֆըհռ vilfəhṙ	վիլֆընեհռ vilfənehṙ	յիգըհռ yigəhṙ	յիգընեհռ yigənehṙ	խիւնզըհռ xiwnzəhṙ	խիւնզընեհռ xiwnzənehṙ
genitive	վիլֆուտ vilfut	վիլֆընիւտ vilfəniwt	յիգուտ yigut	յիգընիւտ yigəniwt	խիւնզուտ xiwnzut	խիւնզընիւտ xiwnzəniwt
ablative	վիլֆիճ vilfič	վիլֆընայճ vilfənayč	յիգիճ yigič	յիգընայճ yigənayč	խիւնզիճ xiwnzič	խիւնզընայճ xiwnzənayč
dative	վիլֆըհ vilfəh	վիլֆընեհ vilfəneh	յիգըհ yigəh	յիգընեհ yigəneh	խիւնզըհ xiwnzəh	խիւնզընեհ xiwnzəneh
instrumental	վիլֆու vilfu	վիլֆընիւ vilfəniw	յիգու yigu	յիգընիւ yigəniw	խիւնզու xiwnzu	խիւնզընիւ xiwnzəniw
comitative	վիլֆոմ vilfom	վիլֆընեւմ vilfənewm	յիգոմ yigom	յիգընեւմ yigənewm	խիւնզոմ xiwnzom	խիւնզընեւմ xiwnzənewm

Verbs

Verbs have evolved to a predominantly agglutinative state, and have simplified greatly from what Old Thadic is thought to have had.

Aspect

Aspects are determined by the specific verbal affix used to form the stem of the verb. Ossamic has three main aspects, these being perfective, imperfective, and causative. These endings will be given in the infinitive forms.

perfective	֊ինըմ -inəm
imperfective	֊ըժինըմ -əžinəm
causative	֊ըհնըմ -əhnəm

The imperfective and causative can be paired together, though rarely, to form the imperfective causative, marked by ֊(ը)ժըհնըմ (-(ə)žəhnəm)

The perfective aspect has two main patterns, the ay-type and the i-type.

Tense

Ossamic has four main tenses, being present, near past, general/far past, and future, though occasionally an imperfect does show up. Classical Ossamic also carries a perfect marker, though this has largely been dropped in favor of auxiliary verbs.

	plain	perfect
present	֊∅֊ -∅-	֊∅(զ)ը֊ -∅(z)ə-
near past	֊զի֊ -zi-	֊զի(զ)ը֊ -zi(z)ə-
(far) past	֊զու֊ -zu-	֊զու(զ)ը֊ -zu(z)ə-
future	֊ճի֊ -či-	֊ճի(զ)ը֊ -či(z)ə-

The imperfect is marked through the suffix ֊մի֊ (-mi-), with the perfect being ֊մի(զ)ը֊ (-mi(z)ə-).

The distinction between the near past and the past is typically one of distance, with the plain past acting more as a far past, though occasionally it acts as a general past and thus for the near past too.

The similarity between the far past and the perfect marker is due to the etymology of both, having come from a common *-δουο (*-δʷo), but the perfect affix evolved irregularly.

Voices

Ossamic has two voices, though the intransitive formations are also treated as a voice grammatically. The two true voices are the active and the passive. The active voice goes unmarked, being the default, while both the passive and intransitive are explicitly marked with ֊ըռ (-əṙ) and ֊նե֊ (-ne-) respectively. The intransitive forms solely exist in ambitransitive verbs, while the passive can exist in any verb that can be transitive. This can be seen using three different verbs:

• խըռնայնըմ (xəṙnaynəm) ("to hurt", ambitransitive):
  • active: խըռնե (xəṙne)
  • passive: խըռնեռ (xəṙneṙ)
  • intransitive: խըռնենե (xəṙnene)
• վէլնըմ (vēlnəm) ("to want", transitive):
  • active: վէլե (vēle)
  • passive: վէլեռ (vēleṙ)
• [Term?] ("", intransitive):
  • active: [Term?]

Mood

Ossamic has two moods, the indicative and subjunctive, though an imperative once existed.

indicative	֊∅֊ -∅-
subjunctive	֊մ -m
imperative†	֊սիւ -siw

Person markers

Ossamic marks subject person through a series of clitics that are identical to the clitics used for noun possession, though these are unrelated and are only identical due to inter-influence.

Subject markers

	singular	plural
1st	֊մը -mə	֊միւ -miw
2nd	֊զը -zə	֊զիւ -ziw
3rd	֊սը -sə	֊սիւ -siw

Object markers

	singular	plural
1st	ըմ֊ əm-	իւմ֊ iwm-
2nd	ըզ֊ əz-	իւզ֊ iwz-
3rd	ըս֊ əs-	իւս֊ iws-