Minhast: Difference between revisions

Minhast is divided fourteen several dialects, twelve of which are the historical dialects spoken in the Prefectures, and two new dialects that have arisen in modern times, a standardized "national" dialect, and an urban colloquial dialect.  Two dialects, both extinct, are poorly attested, the Knife Speaker dialect, and the Heron Speaker dialect¹.  The dialects of the Prefectures have been traditionally grouped under two branches, 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 the branch containing 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 determining which branch 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, and a recently discovered, extinct language called Corradi; the dialects of the Upper Minhast branch have virtually no loanwords from these languages, whereas the dialects of Lower Minhas branch have such loans in varying degrees.  The Palatization Test is also used to classify dialects: the dialects from the Lower Minhast branch palatize /t/ and /d/ to /t͡s/ and /d͡ʒ/ when followed by /j/, /ia͡/ or /ie͡/, a feature lacking in the dialects of the Upper Minhast branch.