Derheizh Language Family

The Derheizh Language Family is a group of related languages that includes both the Derheizh and Drusich language sub-families. The two sub-families diverged in pre-history but the Derheizh and Drusich cultures were in frequent contact throughout the historical period and the languages exchanged features and phonology frequently, causing them to remain more similar than would be expected given their long divergence. Two major members and two minor member of the family are extant. The two extant Derheizh dialects are Gashoos Derheizh, which is spoken in the Aiscwepheiph Valley region and in remote regions of the Seitdout region, and Barzapreet Derheizh which is spoken in the Derheizh enclave of Barzapreet on the Konockax peninsula. The extant dialects of Drusich are Tütouzor, which is the official language of the Tütouzor Republic and is spoken natively throughout the Kabrou Valley region, and Ro'irtya Drusich, which is spoken in the Ro'irtya Valley. The more remote Barzapreet and Ro'irtya dialects have experienced less exchange with other dialects and retain ancient features, while the Gashoos Derheizh and Tütouzor languages have experienced extensive mixing. As a result, Gashoos Derheizh and Tütouzor have more phonology and grammar in common with one another than they do with the other languages in their respective subfamilies, despite sharing more vocabulary with their closer relatives.

## Grammatical features

All languages in the family share a number of common features. Sentence structure follows the subject-verb-object order in all dialects. All modifiers precede the word they modify and many modifiers have become prefixes in every modern dialect except the Ro'irtya Drusich dialect. Verbs are inflected with prefixes in all dialects but never to indicate the subject or number. Prefixes (or particles in the case of Ro'irtya) can be appended to words to change their parts of speech. The same conjugations are used to join different parts of speech, though the negation particle in the Drusich languages is different for verbs and other parts. The "and" conjugation is not required except when needed to resolve ambiguity; a list of objects or adjectives is assumed to be joined by "and" unless otherwise specified (for example, "I see A B C D" would be interpreted as "I see A, B, C, and D" and "I see A B not C D" would be interpreted as "I see A and B but not C and D."

All dialects in the family lack any concept of pluralization entirely. Neither nouns, verbs, nor pronouns indicate the number of objects. The only way to indicate a number of things is with the use of a number. For example, if it is necessary to differentiate that only the speaker is performing an action, rather than the group, the word "one" would have to be added before the first person pronoun (In Tütouzor: *To sho vavoeb*, lit. 'One I work' would translate as "[only] I work" while *Tüch sho vavoeb,* lit. 'two I work' would translate as "we both work". *Sho vavoeb* on its own, lit. 'I work/we work' is also valid so long as the number of the subject is clear from other context.) The family lacks independent constructions for words like "many" or "few", though all dialects have idiomatic constructions to convey such meanings. Except in Ro'irtya, the word ten thousand (*Reedz* in Gashoos, *Reith* in Tütouzor) is idiomatically used arbitrarily to describe large numbers. In Tütouzor, a construction of doubling a number word indicates some arbitrary number of that order (*gabs gabs,* lit. 'ten [and] ten' would translate as 'tens of...' and *fuoev fuoev*, lit. 'hundred [and] hundred' would translate as "hundreds of...").

Languages in the family do not differentiate between adjectives and adverbs. Otherwise, every word can take only one part of speech, though in many cases the part can be modified with a prefix or, in the case of Ro'irtya Drusich, a particle.

Names are formulated in a similar way in all dialects. Family names all begin with a prefix (*Go-* in Tütouzor, *Ga-* in the the Derheizh dialects and *Khai-* in Ro'irtya). Men inherit family names from their father and women inherit them from their mothers. Generally, people who are not members of the same household use the family name only to refer to each other. In the event that there are several members of a family present and they must be differentiated, titles are used when possible to differentiate rather than the use of personal names. (For example, if a father and two sons of the Gaseek family were present, they would be called 'Father Gaseek', 'Older son Gaseek' and 'Younger son Gaseek'). Personal names are only added to differentiate when there is no other way, for example if two unrelated and generally similar men with the same family name are present. In such cases, both the family name and personal name would be used. It is generally considered polite to use a title when addressing anyone, even if they are a stranger. Common titles used for unknown persons in Tütouzor are *sheith*, 'friend' for someone of a similar or younger age and *shoer,* 'expert' for someone older.

Personal names are known as 'familiar' names (for example, in Tütouzor *zusoef fophul* lit. 'for family name') and are generally only used within families, and even then only used to refer to someone with the same or lower status than the speaker. For example, a father could use a familiar name for his son but it would be considered rude for the son to use his father's familiar name instead of his title. These also begin with a prefix that indicates their status as a familiar name.

All dialects use prefixes to indicate certain verb tenses and cases. All four use prefixes to indicate the past tense, the present tense, the imperative case, the subjunctive case, the inquisitive case, and the future tense. Tütouzor additionally has prefixes to indicate the ongoing case and past perfect case. The subjunctive case is used for actions where the speaker is unsure of when or if they occurred or will occur. The inquisitive case is used to formulate questions. Other tenses are formed using helper verbs, which can themselves take different cases when needed. Verbs are generally required in most sentences but the present tense of "to be" is assumed if no verb is assumed in both Tütouzor and Gashoos Derheizh if no verb is provided (for example, *sho shish* lit. 'I happy' would gloss as "I am happy.") As a result, the present tense of the verb 'to be' is mostly used as a helped verb for the future perfect and pluperfect tenses in these dialects and is rarely used alone except for emphasis.

## Phonology

The phonology of the language family is varied and complex. All dialects use have a limited list of initial consonants and consonant clusters, a more expansive list of potential interstitial consonants and clusters, and a separate limited list of final consonants and clusters. Every word begins with a consonant but final consonants are optional. All dialects have some vowel clusters which are limited to following certain consonants or clusters. Most modern dialects possess both long and short vowels, though the use of long vowels is limited to the last syllable of a word in Gashoos and is absent entirely in Bazrapreet. Initials in the Drusich family are never clusters, but initial clusters involving the letter 'r' are present in Derheizh dialects. Final clusters involving a trailing 's' or 'z' sound are common in all dialects. No dialect in the family makes use of any nasalization and the consonants 'n' and 'm' are entirely absent from the entire family.