Minhast: Difference between revisions

Minhast has several dialects, twelve major traditional dialects centered in the Prefectures, most of which are mutually intelligible. These dialects have been traditionally divided into two superdialects, Upper Minhast, and Lower Minhast.  Upper Minhast, which consists of several dialects in the northern highlands, encompasses the Northern Coast, Northeastern Mountain Coastal Range (''Gaššarat'', lit. "basalt"), the Kilmay Rī Mountain Range, the Central Plateau ''(Kammak min Nukya)'', and the the Great Plains (''Hamhāmarū'' , lit. "The Great Clearing of the Grasses").  Lower Minhast traditionally has been defined as the dialects south of the tribal territories (''karak'') of the Dog, Salmon and Horse Speakers.  The ''uyyi min kirim'', lit. "The (way) of saying the (sequence) ''-uyyi''" is the primary test in delineating which superdialect a given dialect should be grouped under, although other tests may be employed as well, such as the frequency of loanwords from the unrelated minority languages Peshpeg and Golahat; the dialects of Upper Minhay have virtually no loanwords from these languages, whereas the dialects of Lower Minhay have such loans in varying degrees.  The Palatization Test is also used to classify dialects: the Lower Minhast dialects palatize /t/ and /d/ to /t͡s/ and /d͡ʒ/ when followed by /j/, /ia͡/ or /ie͡/.

The division of the dialects into two superdialects has been criticized as problematic. As a result, challenges to this binary division of the dialects into two superdialects have recently surfaced. The most obvious problem is that of the Stone Speaker dialect, which not only has a large number of loans from Golahat and Peshpeg that far exceed those in the rest of the Lower Minhast dialects, but appears to be in the early stages of developing from a canonical SOV language into a non-configurational one. Arguments for classifying the Stone Speaker dialect as a separate language have been gaining momentum, the most vocal and convincining proponents being Professor Han Xu of Nanjing University, and Dr. Napayshni of the University of the Lakota Nation at Three Pipes. A new superdialect grouping has been proposed for the Elk and Seal Speaker dialects, which realize ''-ūy'' with the voiced labio-velar approximant /w/, as in ''-ūwe'' and ''-ūwi'' respectively, in contrast with the voiced palatal consonant /j/ found in the rest of the Upper Minhast dialects.  The Gull Speaker dialect presents its own problems. When the ''uyyi min kirim'' test is applied, the results are inconclusive: the dialect can be classified as a member of either the Upper or Lower Minhast branches, as both  ''-we'' and ''-ia'' are found.  Moreover, the ''-we'' form and other features point towards a relationship with the Elk and Seal Speakers, which are grouped with the Upper Minhast dialects, yet the Gull Speakers do not share a contiguous border with them, so dialectal mixing has been ruled out at this point.

In addition to the twelve traditional dialects, two new dialects have arisen in the National Capital Region (NCR). One is Modern Standard Minhast, a variant of Upper Minhast that serves as the standard dialect used for government, commerce, and media. The second dialect, known as Modern Colloquial Minhast (aka the City Speaker dialect), is an admixture of several subdialects from both Upper and Lower Minhast. Spoken mostly by people in their 30's and earlier, it contains more loanwords from foreign languages than the standard language, especially in areas of technology and the Internet, and from foreign films and media. The City Speaker dialect allows CCC consonant clusters in medial and final syllabic positions, while only medial and final CC clusters are found.  Initial CC clusters are also possible for a limited set of combinations, e.g. /kw/, /kr/, /kl/, /sm/, /sn/, /šm/,/šn/, /sl/, /šl/ .  This new dialect is also replete with slang, loanwords (especially from Western sources) and nonstandard jargon that is often looked down upon by older generations, and Speakers from the more conservative Prefectures.