Aksish
Aksish (/ˈæ.ksɪʃ/ A-ksish, also /ˈæk.sɪʃ/ AK-sish is a West Slavic language mainly descended from Polish, with strong influence of Russian and weaker influence of Aksish languages. It is spoken by Aksians in Sleepy Aks.
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History
Aksish is a result of prolonged Soviet occupation. Most probably it first was created as a code. Aksians decided to rely on Polish to blend in better (Polish was and still is a language widely used across the entire country), but coined their own words for strategically important terms ("надсаве̄ц/nadsavjec" - (military) victory, literally "above Soviets") and for terms fundamentally altered by the newly introduced to Sleepy Aks communism ("њимой/ńimoj" - property, literally "not mine"). These words after the war slowly lost their negative connotation and displaced Polish-derived words, altering their meaning or voiding them completely. Aksians soon saw the newly-created language as a way to stay not understood by anyone - it was similar enough to Polish, that Aksish could be learnt and taught rather easily, yet different enough, that the two are mutually unitelligible to a significant degree. Aksians brought in to Aksish a few vowels of Old Aksish origin and started adding words on a mass scale (mostly taking them from Polish and Russian for unclear reasons). This resulted in the language being a completely unstandardized mess. In the spite of that Aksish was continuing to develop and crystalise, it became a language in its own right somewhere in 1970 or 1971.
Phonology
Aksish has an abnormally high for Slavic languages number of vowels (12) and slightly more consonants than other Slavic languages (34). It additionally has a complex system of allophony, with full series of post-alveorals/retroflexes and alveolo-palatals.
Consonants
| Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | Laryngeal | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveoral | Post-Alveoral/ Retroflex | Alv.-pal. | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | ||||||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||||||||||||||||
| Plosive | p | b | t | d | k | ɡ | q | ɢ | |||||||||||
| Affricate | t͡s | d͡z | t͡ʂ | d͡ʐ | t͡ɕ | d͡ʑ | q͡χ˖ | ||||||||||||
| Fricative | f | v | s | z | ʂ | ʐ | ɕ | ʑ | x | χ ~ ħ ~ ʜ ~ h | ʕ | ||||||||
| Approximant | j | w | |||||||||||||||||
| Trill/Flap | r ~ ɾ | ||||||||||||||||||
| Lateral | l | ɫ~ʟ | |||||||||||||||||
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | (y) | ʉ | u, ũ | ||
| Near-close | ᵻ | |||||
| Close-mid | e | ɵ, ɵ̃ | ɤ | |||
| Mid | ɜ~ə | |||||
| Open-mid | ɛ, ɛ̃ | ɔ, ɔ̃ | ||||
| Open | a~ä | ɑ, ɑ̃ | ||||
All vowels except for ɑ̃, ɵ̃ and ũ can be iotated.
Allophony
Aksish has an extensive system of consonant allophony, with full post-alveoral/retroflex, alveolo-palatal, post-palatal and uvular series. The table below shows allophonical variations of all consonants in all possible contexts:
| Letter | Normal/other context | Palatal context | Uvular/phar. context | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before iotated vowels | Before other palatals | |||
| б/b | b | bʲ | b | |
| ц/c | t͡s | t͡sʲ | t͡s | |
| ҵ/dz | d͡z | d͡zʲ | d͡z | |
| џ/č | t͡ʂ ~ t͡ʃ | t͡ʂʲ ~ t͡ɕ | t͡ʂ ~ t͡ʃ | |
| ҹ/dž | d͡ʐ~d͡ʒ | d͡ʐʲ~d͡ʑ | d͡ʐ~d͡ʒ | |
| ч/ć | t͡ɕ | - | t͡ɕ | |
| ҷ/dź | d͡ʑ | - | d͡ʑ | |
| д/d | d | ȡ | d̠ ~ ɖ | d |
| ф/f | f | fʲ | f | |
| г/g | ɡ | ɟ˗ʲ | ɟ˗ | g˗ ~ ɢ̟ |
| ѓ/ǵ | ɢ | ɢ͢ɟ˗ʲ | ɢ͢ɟ˗ | - |
| ґ/ğ | ʕ | ʕɒj | ʕɒ | - |
| х/x | x | ç˗ʲ | ç˗ | x̠ ~ χ˖ |
| һ/h | χ ~ ħ ~ ʜ ~ h | χ͢ç˗ʲ ~ ħɒj ~ ʜɒj ~ hɒj | χ͢ç˗~ ħɒ ~ ʜɒ ~ hɒ | - |
| ћ/ħ | q͡χ˖ | q͡χ˖͢c͡ç˗ʲ | q͡χ˖͢c͡ç˗ | - |
| й/j | j | - | j (_ɲ), j˖ (_[+alveolo-palatal]) |
j |
| к/k | k | c̠ʲ | c̠ | k̠ ~ q˖ |
| ќ/ḱ/q | q | q͢ç˗ʲ | q͢ç˗ | - |
| л/l | l | ȴ | l̠ ~ ɭ | |
| љ/ĺ/ľ | ɫ ~ ʟ | ʎ̠ʲ | ʎ̠ | lʶ ~ ʟ̠ |
| ԯ/ł | w | ẅʲ | ẅ | w̠ ~ χ˕˖ʷ |
| м/m | m, ɱ (_[+labiodental]) |
mʲ | m | |
| н/n | n, ɱ (_[+labiodental]), ŋ (_[+velar]) |
- | ɴ | |
| њ/ń | ɲ | ȵ | ɲ | |
| п/p | p | pʲ | p | |
| р/r | r ~ ɾ | r̠ʲ ~ ɟ̆˖ | r̠ ~ ɾ̠ ~ ɽ ~ ɽr | r ~ ɾ |
| с/s | s | sʲ | s | |
| ш/š | ʂ ~ ʃ | ʂʲ ~ ɕ | ʂ ~ ʃ | |
| ҫ/ś | ɕ | - | ɕ | |
| т/t | t | ȶ | t̠ | t |
| в/v | v | vʲ | v | |
| з/z | z | zʲ | z | |
| ж/ž | ʐ ~ ʒ | ʐʲ ~ ʑ | ʐ ~ ʒ | |
| ҙ/ź | ʑ | - | ʑ | |
Orthography
Aksish uses two different scripts interchangeably - Latin and Cyrillic. While in the past 55 years Cyrillic has been consistently more used, Latin script is used more and more every year. Even in the earliest years of existence of Aksish some people wanted to use Latin script instead of Cyrillic, because Cyrillic script reminded them of Russians and their occupation of Sleepy Aks. Thus, in 1981 Latin was recognised as a valid script for writing in Aksish and now all documents have to be released written both in Latin and Cyrillic scripts. Currently, Aksish is starting to drift away from Cyrillic for a number of reasons, such as the Russo-Ukrainian war and an overall bad opinion on Russians and their culture (and so, by extension, their alphabet) as a whole. Latin Aksish alphabet differs quite heavily from Aksish Cyrillic alphabet, mainly with the number of letters (Latin has 48 while Cyrillic has 65), but also with the qlphabet order. Below is a table summarizing every Cyrillic character, each with a corresponding Latin character or digraph and precisely transcribed (i.e. put in square brackets) pronounciation.
| Cyrillic | Latin | Pronounciation |
|---|---|---|
| а | a | a ~ ä |
| ӑ | ă | ɑ ~ ʌ̞ |
| ӓ | ą | ɑ̃ ~ ʌ̞̃ |
| ѩ/ꙗ | ja | ʲa ~ ʲä |
| ѭ/ꙗ̆ | jă | ʲɑ ~ ʲʌ̞ |
| б | b | b |
| ц | c | t͡s |
| ҵ | dz | d͡z |
| џ | č | t͡ʃ ~ t͡ʂ |
| ҹ | dž | d͡ʒ ~ d͡ʐ |
| ч | ć | t͡ɕ |
| ҷ | dž | d͡ʑ |
| д | d | d |
| е | e | ɛ |
| ё | ę | ɛ̃ |
| е̄ | je | ʲɛ |
| ӗ | ję | ʲɛ̃ |
| є | é | e |
| ѥ | jé | ʲe |
| э | è | ɜ ~ ə |
| э̄ | jè | ʲɜ ~ ʲə |
| ф | f | f |
| г | g | ɡ |
| ѓ | ǵ | ɢ |
| ґ | ğ | ʕ |
| х | x | x |
| һ | h | χ ~ ħ ~ ʜ ~ h |
| ћ | ħ | q͡χ˖ |
| и | i | i |
| ӣ | ji | ʲi |
| й | j | j |
| к | k | k |
| ќ | ḱ/q | q |
| л | l | l |
| љ | ĺ/ľ | ɫ ~ ʟ |
| ԯ | ł | w |
| м | m | m |
| н | n | n |
| њ | ń | ɲ |
| о | o | ɔ |
| ӧ | ǫ | ɔ̃ |
| ю | jo | ʲɔ |
| ю̈ | jǫ | ʲɔ̃ |
| ө | ó | ɤ |
| ө̄ | jó | ʲɤ |
| п | p | p |
| р | r | r ~ ɾ |
| с | s | s |
| ш | š | ʂ ~ ʃ |
| ҫ | ś | ɕ |
| т | t | t |
| у | u | u |
| ӱ | ų | ũ |
| ӯ | ju | ʲu |
| ү | ú | ɵ |
| ү̈ | ų́ | ɵ̃ |
| ү̄ | jú | ʲɵ |
| ұ | ù | ʉ |
| ұ̄ | jù | ʲʉ |
| (у́) | ý | y |
| (ў) | jý | ʲy |
| в | v | v |
| ы | y | ᵻ |
| ы̄ | jy | ʲᵻ |
| з | z | z |
| ж | ž | ʐ ~ ʒ |
| ҙ | ź | ʑ |
Grammar
Aksish is a highly fusional, pro-drop language. It makes extensive use of both declensional and lexical affixes (with declensional being mostly suffixes and lexical nearly exclusively prefixes).
Nouns declense for 2 number and 9 cases. While both numbers and 7 of the 9 cases were inherited from Slavic languages, ablative and allative cases come from Old Aksish and work based on Old Aksish' principles, making them seem completely unpredictable, especially when the word root ends in a vowel.
Verbs differentiate between imperfective and perfective aspects, with either of them always being an inalienable property of a verb. Verbs also conjugate for 5 moods, 4 tenses, 2 numbers, 3 persons and 5 genders. Aside pluperfect tense, whcich was inherited from Old Aksish (Polish does have pluperfect tense, but it is and was at the time of Aksish' forming already largely archaic), and optative and precative moods, which split from Polish' subjunctive mood, all forms have been inherited from Slavic languages (with most coming from Polish). Additionally, Aksish verbs have a complex system of gerunds and participles inherited from Polish.
Adjectives fully agree with nouns they describe, but additionally declense for gender. Adjectives (and adjective-derived adverbs) also have three degrees of comparativity.