Gashan

Gāsha - /ˈgaːɕa/

I'm glad that there are some in that forsaken wasteland whose words are actually vaguely pronounceable to us. A glimmer of sanity among a sea of foreign phonetics.

— Neal Hopper, Jegrimian merchant

The Gashan language (kōp Gāsha /koːp ˈgaːɕa/) is one of the primary tongues spoken by the Gapeshi, a people who reside on the western shores of the Great Cinnamon Gulf. Their language is perhaps the easiest out of all of the Northern Mekhirian languages to learn for those who have a grasp on Aiterean.

History

Gashan was born from the older Katchantish language along with the rise of the Cinnamon Circle, a maritime trade route that connected the coastal peoples of the Rahigina desert with the wider world. Impressed with the wealth and power of the eastern merchants, the coastal Gapeshi sought to imitate them. With a new and far more profitable trade route open to them, they started cutting their ties with the other Gapeshi who lived further inland.
Records from the period are rare, especially considering that the coastal desert-dwellers lacked the technology to write, but a few assumptions on who interacted with them could be made. The initial evolution of the language was likely heavily influenced by the Middle High Ruekic that was spoken by many of the merchants and the Aiterean tongue which would have been brought over by the Hillenist clergy.

First Changes

The younger and wealthier men and women of the coastal settlements tried their best to learn the foreign tongues of those who came to their shores. The merchants knew little of the local language and whenever they tried to learn, their pronunciation of the Katchantish words was nearly incomprehensible to the Gapeshi.
Over time, the local merchants all learned a foreign language that helped them negotiate better deals with the foreigners. This led to the creation of a new ruling class of merchant lords who preferred to speak in Middle High Ruekic or Aiterean instead of their old tongue.

Dictionary

4350 Words.

Root Languages

• Katchantish

Spoken by

• Gapeshi

Advanced Details

Language

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
shōsh ās yes shōd māksey ne shōsh mat shōd chōyēnsō dem pōk dote
Pronunciation: /ɕoːɕ aːs jes ɕoːd ˈmaːksej ne ɕoːɕ mat ɕoːd ˈʨoːjeːnsoː dem poːk ˈdote/
Gashan word order: and stood holding his hat he and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n
Stop	p b	t d			k g
Affricate			ʨ
Fricative		s	ɕ				h
Approximant				j		w
Lateral approximant		l

	Front	Back
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: (C)V(C)
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Word initial consonants: b, d, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, s, t, w, ɕ, ʨ
Mid-word consonants: b, d, g, gl, gm, h, hw, j, jk, k, kp, ks, kt, l, lk, m, mb, mp, n, nd, nl, ns, nt, p, pt, s, t, tk, w, ɕ, ʨ
Word final consonants: b, d, j, k, l, m, p, s, t, w, ɕ, ʨ

Phonological rules (in order of application):

• {p,k}→[+voice] / V_V
• t→l / _V
• V→[+round] / w_
• p→b / V_V

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	y
ɕ	sh
ʨ	ch
ː	macron over vowel

Grammar

Main word order: Verb-Object-Oblique-Subject. "Mary opened the door with a key" turns into Opened the door with a key Mary.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions

Noun

Singular	No affix lōse /ˈloːse/
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -l Else: Suffix -al lōsel /ˈloːsel/

Nouns have six cases:
Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man
Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog
Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man
Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog
Locative is the location of something: man walks to town
Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town

Nominative	No affix lōse /ˈloːse/
Accusative	Suffix -aːd lōseād /ˈloːseaːd/
Genitive	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ptaː Else: Suffix -optaː lōseptā /ˈloːseptaː/
Dative	Suffix -ew lōseew /ˈloːseew/
Locative	Suffix -aː lōseā /ˈloːseaː/
Ablative	Suffix -ej lōseey /ˈloːseej/

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	pē /peː/ the	dow /dow/ a
Plural	bop /bop/ the	ey /ej/ some

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative
1st singular	ka /ka/ I	me /me/ me	kā /kaː/ my, mine	lā /laː/ to me	mey /mej/	pōd /poːd/
2nd singular	mo /mo/ you	dol /dol/ you	e /e/ your, yours	nom /nom/ to you	tēm /teːm/	ya /ja/
3rd singular masc	ne /ne/ he, it	wo /wo/ him, it	shōd /ɕoːd/ his, its	wēb /weːb/ to him	may /maj/	be /be/
3rd singular fem	ā /aː/ she, it	gal /gal/ her, it	no /no/ her, hers, its	ta /ta/ to her	lōp /loːp/	hē /heː/
1st plural inclusive	mā /maː/ we (including you)	pō /poː/ us (including you)	chōp /ʨoːp/ our, ours (including you)	kēch /keːʨ/ to us (including you)	nāp /naːp/	yak /jak/
1st plural exclusive	ō /oː/ we (excluding you)	shāsh /ɕaːɕ/ us (excluding you)	go /go/ our, ours (excluding you)	lōch /loːʨ/ to us (excluding you)	taw /taw/	wa /wa/
2nd plural	wak /wak/ you (all)	lām /laːm/ you (all)	shād /ɕaːd/ your, yours (all)	chē /ʨeː/ to you (all)	o /o/	kō /koː/
3rd plural	bok /bok/ they	ak /ak/ them	tēk /teːk/ their, theirs	ōy /oːj/ to them	ga /ga/	dep /dep/

Verbs

Future tense is indicated with the word:

Future particle

e /e/ future tense particle

	Singular	Plural
Present	If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -eːp kōgop /ˈkoːgop/	Suffix -ep kōgoep /ˈkoːgoep/
Past	Suffix -a kōgoa /ˈkoːgoa/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -ot kōgot /ˈkoːgot/
Remote past	Suffix -e kōgoe /ˈkoːgoe/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -am kōgom /ˈkoːgom/

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Perfect aspect

Perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’,
which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken
but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.

In Gashan, the perfect is constructed with an affix

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -eːp kōgop /ˈkoːgop/

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ol
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -o
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -a
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -eːd
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -tka
Else: Suffix -atka
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = Suffix -e
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -do
Else: Suffix -eːdo
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -aːs
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -aːs
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s
Else: Suffix -as
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -e
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -a
Diminutive = Suffix -oːj
Augmentative = Suffix -oːk