Izhkut

Izhkut
Ishcot
jën izhkut
Pronunciation	[ˈɟɛn̪ iʒkʊt]
Created by	Jukethatbox
Date	2022
Native to	Northern Birnu
Ethnicity	Izhkut people, Pokht people
Native speakers	126,000,000 (256 BH) 234,000(L2)
Language family	Taskaric Iskeric Ilyic Pokht-Izhkut Izhkut
Early forms	Proto-Taskaric Proto-Iskeric Proto-Ilyic Pokht-Izhkut Old Izhkut
Official status
Official language in	Izhkutrëa, Ingdikh, Pokht
Recognised minority language in	Minūrun

Izhkut(jën izhkut, Izhkut: [ˈɟɛn̪ iʒkʊt]), also known as Ishcot is the most spoken Taskaric language in Radael, with a native speaker population of 126,000,000 people, and it is spoken by another 234,000 as an L2 language, primarily by students in the nation of Ingdikh, where learning the language is a compulsory part of the curriculum. The language as a whole also operates as a lingua franca in the scientific community in Birnu, as well as in diplomacy on the continent. It is also one of the 8 official languages in the West Birnu Economic Union(WBEU).

Izhkut is also spoken widely in the various Izhkut colonies, though their collective dialects(a group called Colonial Izhkut due to their shared features) have deviated quite a bit from the dialect continuum spoken in the Izhkut mainland, primarily due to geographical distance as well as influences from indigenous languages in each respective colony. Some of these loanwords have also found themselves enter the speech of Mainlanders, in a way similarly to how some Brazilian Portuguese words of indigenous origin have entered the European Portuguese variety.

Despite the region of Pokht, a vassal of Izhkutrëa, having its own native sister language of Izhkut, Pokht(Izhkut: jën pokht), Izhkut has in recent times all but replaced Pokht due to the strict cultural assimilation policies of the Izhkut central government.

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p b		t d		ɟ	k g
Nasal	m	(n̪)	n		ɲ	(ŋ)
Fricative		(θ) (ð)	s z	ʃ ʒ		x	(h)
Tap or Flap	(ɾʷ)		ɾ	(ɾ̠)	(ɾʲ)
Semivowel					j	w~ɰ
Laterals			l

[n̪] is an allophone of /n/, usually pronounced at the end of a word, such as in jën [ɟɛn̪] "language, speech". [θ] and [ð] are lenited allophones of /t/ and /d/, though where this lenition actually occurs depends on dialect. The general rule is that /t/ and /d/ are lenited after an /e/ or diphthong ending in -/ɪ̯/, e.g. retam [ɾeθam] "button" or yeid [jeɪ̯ð] "legend (person)".

Vowels

Izhkut has a lot of vowels and diphthongs, most of which preserved from Old Izhkut.

	Front/ Near-front	Central	Back/ Near-back
Close	i	(ɨ)	u
Near-close	(ɪ)		(ʊ)
Close-mid	e ø		o
Open-mid	ɛ		(ɔ)
Open		a

Although there are many vowels, only six can form valid diphthongs. Two identical vowels next to each other in a diphthong don't occur either, nor does /eɛ̯/ or /ɛɨ̯/.

	a	i	u	o	e	ɛ
a	-	aɪ̯	aʊ̯	aɔ̯	aɨ̯	aɛ̯
i	ia̯	-	iʊ̯	iɔ̯	iɨ̯	iɛ̯
u	ua̯	uɪ̯	-	uɔ̯	uɨ̯	uɛ̯
o	oa̯	oɪ̯	oʊ̯	-	oɨ̯	oɛ̯
e	ea̯	eɪ̯	eʊ̯	eɔ̯	-
ɛ	ɛa̯	ɛɪ̯	ɛʊ̯	ɛɔ̯

Prosody

Stress

Stress in Izhkut is generally prototonic. When a syllable contains an /ɛ/ ⟨ë⟩ it is automatically primarily stressed.

Syntax

Constituent order

Izhkut, like most Taskaric languages, uses a VSO(verb-subject-object) constituent order.

Dialects

Colonial Izhkut

Colonial Izhkut(jën bilashaosh, Colonial Izhkut: [cæn̪ biɫɑʒɑwʃ]; Standard Izhkut: [ɟɛn̪ bilaʃaɔ̯ʃ]) is the name given to the diverse dialect continuum of Izhkut spoken outside the Izhkut mainland. The first differences in speech between mainlanders(yagolëos) and colonials(bilashaos) was first noticed in an early newspaper, which reported that some mainlander traders had lost money due to a miscommunication between their colonial counterparts, who had misunderstood the word sërskueja bogazar "thirty-one batches" for sërskueja bogazhar, "thirty-one receipts", leading to late orders and a loss in revenue.

Although initially seen by mainlanders as an incorrect vernacular of Izhkut, famous colonial writers such as Sagik Khëmi(author of Blue Coasters) helped to culturally popularise Colonial vernacular in the mainland.