Chutagshin

Chutagshin (/t͡ʃutɑːgʃɪn/) is a Chutaga-family language, and descends from PSW [Proto-South-Western.] Chutagshin is the predecessor of Haurma, Bijora, and Yathoqa, and is closely related to other Shokhla-derived languages, especially Qhitofla.

## Distribution

Chutagshin is a major language in the southwest, used commonly in international trade. It is a structured, alphabetical, and agglutinative language, and notably uses the voiceless glottal fricative (/h/) to make distinctions between otherwise homophonous words. Early (Old) Chutagshin arose approximately two hundred years into the establishment of Deshon as a country, and has since evolved and spread. Currently, Chutagshin is spoken throughout Deshon and Haurma as well as mostly throughout southern Aiksuren.

There are nine million native speakers of Chutagshin, including 96% of Deshon. Approximately 200,000 of these speakers live outside of Deshon. In addition, approximately eight million people speak Chutagshin as a second language. It is the national language of Deshon, and one of the national languages of Haurm.

## Varieties and Periods

Through the Royal House of Lingustic Affairs, Chutagshin was standardized in Tj5. Before then, it affected and was affected by nearby languages, causing the conception of several enduring dialects - notably Haurma, which, though technically a dialect, is considered a national language in Haurm. Another major dialect is Chimikha, a pidgin incorporating Soliarrin.

Old Chutagshin evolved directly from Shokhla with some major influence from a sister language, Frila, sometime during the Yephaq Dynasty. From there, Middle Chutagshin, or Royal Chutagshin, evolved during the Sister Ages, likely during the Age of Deneth, from when most transitional or aberrant artefacts are dated. Royal Chutagshin was done away with at the beginning of the Syenyan Dynasty, and Chutagshin melded heavily with Syenyan, becoming almost unrecognizable by the third century of this period.

Premodern Chutagshin arose during the Revistig Dynasty, and was standardized during the Tenth Reign of Jusu; over the last several hundred years, the language has evolved on several fronts, and is now classified as Modern Chutagshin. The Royal House of Linguistic Affairs has made accomodation for its changes.

The earliest existing document in a form of Chutagshin was found on the back of a painting, dated to the early Yephaq Dynasty. It is managerial in nature.

## Phonology

* *Vowels:* eight vowels and two diphthongs. ⟨ɑ⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨ə⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨u⟩, ⟨ø⟩, ⟨ə⟩ (/ew/), ⟨oʊ⟩ (/aw/). Vowel pronunciation is otherwise uniform.
	+ Vowel reduplication is invalid in Chutagshin.
* *Consonants:* twenty consonants over nineteen letters. ⟨m⟩, ⟨n⟩, ⟨ɳ⟩ (/q/), ⟨p⟩, ⟨b⟩, ⟨t⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨k⟩, ⟨g⟩, ⟨ɸ⟩, ⟨f⟩, ⟨s⟩, ⟨z⟩ (/s/), ⟨ʃ⟩, ⟨ʒ⟩, ⟨t͡ʃ⟩, ⟨x⟩ (/q/), ⟨h⟩, ⟨ɾ⟩, ⟨ɫ⟩.
	+ (/q/) shifts from its ⟨x⟩ sound to its ⟨ɳ⟩ sound before (/e/).
	+ (/h/) shifts from ⟨h⟩ to ⟨u⟩ when it proceeds (/q/).
	+ (/x/) is pronounced ⟨ks⟩, but is often reduced to ⟨gz⟩. When beginning a word, it is pronounced ⟨s⟩.
* *Stress:* generally placed on the second or penultimate syllable.
* *Script and orthography:* alphabetic, split. A formal script, called *ghuni* (literally "arduous") exists alongside a casual script called *bachoh* (literally "professional.") Letters in each of these scripts are assigned to one of three categories - *kha* ("hard,") consisting of G, K, D, P, Q, CH, B, and T, in that order; *rha* ("soft,") consisting of F, N, R, J, Y, X, M, H, S, V, W, SH, and L, in that order; and, finally, *ea* ("flexible,") consisting of I, E, A, O, and U, in that order. Punctuation, called *chingrasukaner*, is included in the alphabet. Two symbols in this category represent the particle words "de" and "di," which are "the" and "a" respectively.
* *Phonotactics:* (C)(C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C). The Chutagshin word *dhstras* displays the language's ability to begin with four consonants at most, though in this instance (/h/) can serve as a semivowel in some dialects.

## Morphology

### **Nominal**

* *Case:* based on sentence structure. Form-based case change is primarily focused on pronouns.
	+ Modifiers proceed what they affect, and determiners precede what they effect.
	+ Pronoun forms are divided into nomiative, accusative, genitive, and dative.
	+ The Chutagshin sentence structure is subject–verb–object when the subject is not included in the verb. See the following examples:

```
*Lener poth purtit yoshos.*

```

```
[3P PRO + PL] [NEG] [P STR DYN] [to clean + 1P + P + SG]

```

```
"Them not could I cleaned" / "I couldn't clean them"

```

*Here, the subject "I" is handled by the conjugation of the verb that always appears at the end of a clause.*

```
*Len ish yamla sig ufhes lener yoshost.*

```

```
[3P PRO] [to be (prm.) + 3P + PR + SG] [for what] [2P PRO] [to want + 1P + P + SG] [3P PRO + PL] [to clean (inf.)]

```

```
"It is for what [why] you I wanted them to clean" / "That's why I wanted you to clean them"

```

*Here, the emphasis in the first clause is on the subject "it" [that], requiring this to be denoted.*

* *Gender:* three. Primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary nouns end in /n/, /q/, or /k/; secondary nouns end in /m/ or /h/; and tertiary nouns end in /g/ or /p/. Primary nouns generally denote something physical or objective, while secondary nouns generally denote something affective or subjective. Tertiary nouns directly relate to person to personhood; for example, anatomical nouns are tertiary.
	+ Adjectives correspond to these genders: primary and tertiary gender adjectives end with /a/, and this ending is changed to an /i/ when affecting a secondary-gender noun.
* *Number:* singular and plural. Plurality is denoted by -r/ or /-er/.
* *Pronouns:* personal, demonstrative, interrogative, relative, reflexive, reciprocal
	+ Possessives are denoted by /-l/ or /-el/.
	+ Personal, demonstrative, reflexive, and reciprocal pronouns differentiate between genders.
* *Adjectives:* gender and number agreement.

## Meta

Chutagshin was the first language I ever created, and it certainly shows. However, it was reworked to function in a ground-up fashion while remaining true to the original aesthetic and concept.

I call "de" and "di" the "particle articles."