Ín Duári

Introduction

Golahát is an indigenous minority language spoken in small pockets in Minhay. The language is not related to the Minhast language, nor the Peshpeg language, another minority language in the Minhast Nation. A relationship with the extinct Corradi language, another language indigenous to Minhay, has not been successfully demonstrated. Some linguists have also tried to establish a relationship with nearby languages in Northeast Asia, including Japanese, Korean, Ainu, and various Altaic, Tungusic, and Paleosiberian languages. Others have tried to link it to the Indo-European language family, due to typological similarities between the two. Nevertheless, a relationship with other languages continues to elude scholars, and thus Golahát remains classified as a language isolate.

Golahát is an exonym, originating from the Peshpeg word gola, meaning foreigner, and -hát, a Peshpeg suffix used to derived denonyms; the suffix -hát is itself a borrowing from the Minhast suffix -ast/-hast. Golahát speakers refer to themselves as im Doari, meaning "the people", and their language as penáz, meaning "those who speak (intelligibly)".

Like Peshpeg, Golahát is an endangered language; according to the 2010 census, less than one thousand people still speak the language, the youngest in their late 30's or early 40's. Golahát has fared better than Peshpeg, which has only a few hundred speakers at most. Nevertheless, Golahát continues to lose speakers due to several factors, such as the influx of Minhast speakers into traditionally Golahát-speaking areas, emigration by the younger generation to urban areas in search for employment, and the influence of the Minhast-dominated media.