Chiresh
| Chiresh | |
|---|---|
| Čireš | |
 | |
| Pronunciation | [/.ˈt͡ʃi.rɛʂ/] |
| Created by | Raistas |
| Setting | planet Liifam |
| Ethnicity | Čiyišĕn |
Settameric languages
| |
Early form | |
The Chiresh language (Čireš) is a Plains Settameric language spoken by the people, who live in the southwestern plains of the Northern continent. It belongs to the West Plains languages together with Kootayi and Kalyah, but is quite different from both. It is the southermost West Plains language of all three. It is also the only surviving member of the Plains branch of Settameric languages that preserves the original phoneme *r. This and other phonological features (such as vowel metaphony or umlaut and reduced vowels) make it more similar to the Mountains languages to the west. Thus Chiresh is the most distinctive of the Plains languages, however its grammar stays quite similar to other languages of this branch. Some scholars tend to consider it a link between Western and Eastern language groups.
History
Chiresh had probably originated from the same place, where it is spoken nowadays, and for centuries its native speakers lived a sedentary lifestyle unlike their western neighbours - the Miire people, who had mostly been semi-nomadic. Chiresh is distinctive in a few ways of how some of its consonants developed from a Proto-Plains dialect, in particular *θ, *ł, *s and *j which became /r/, /l/, /x/ and /ɕ/ respectively in modern Chiresh. Also *ny becomes /j/ (as in Kalyah), while *ly is preserved as /t͡ʃ/ (as in Kootayi, where it became /t͡s/).
Phonology
Consonants
The consonants are the following:
The fricatives /x/ is voiceless but become voiced in intervocalic position. For example, śax "berry" is pronounced [ˈɕax], but raxun [ˈra.ɣun] "great". However, geminate "x" does not undergo this lenition. Some consonants also become palatalized before and occassionally after front vowels: /k/, /x/ become [t͡ʃ] and [ʂ] respectively (/x/ can also become [ɕ] before /i/).