Sishami

Sishami
Created by	Melinoë
Date	June 9th, 2026
Native to	Armenia: Lori, Tavush Georgia: Kvemo Kartli Azerbaijan: Gazakh, Aghstafa, Tovuz
Ethnicity	Sishamis
Language family	Indo-European Para-Germanic Chlesamnic High Polovic languages Sishami
Early forms	Proto-Chlesamnic Old Thadic Sishami

Sishami is a Chlesamnic language of the High Polovic branch spoken at the intersection of Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, though it is entirely unintelligible with Caucasian Polovic.

Etymology

The English name is from Ottoman Turkish /sɯʃɑ(ː)ˈmɯd͡ʒɑ/, from /sɯʃɑ(ː)ˈmɯ/, from Persian /siʃaːˈmiː/, which is from Old Sishami Օսըշահմմը (Ōsəšahmmə), which is a compound of օսըմ (ōsəm) ("lip") + -(ը)շահմ (-(ə)šahm) (abstract noun affix)+ -մը (-mə) ("our").

Phonology

Consonants

		labial	alveolar	palatal	velar
nasal		m ⟨մ⟩	n ⟨ն⟩
stop	unvoiced	p ⟨պ⟩	t ⟨տ⟩	t͡ʃ ⟨ճ⟩	k ⟨ի⟩
	aspirated	pʰ ⟨փ⟩	tʰ ⟨թ⟩	t͡ʃʰ ⟨չ⟩	kʰ ⟨ք⟩
	voiced	b ⟨բ⟩	d ⟨դ⟩	d͡ʒ ⟨ջ⟩	g ⟨գ⟩
fricative	unvoiced	f ⟨ֆ⟩	s ⟨ս⟩	ʃ ⟨շ⟩	x ⟨խ⟩
	voiced	v ⟨վ⟩	z ⟨զ⟩	ʒ ⟨ժ⟩	ɣ ⟨ղ⟩
approximant			l ⟨լ⟩	j ⟨յ⟩
trill			r ⟨ռ⟩
tap			ɾ ⟨ր⟩

Vowels

	front				central		back
	unround		round
	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long
High	i ⟨ի⟩	iː ⟨իհ⟩	y ⟨իւ⟩	yː ⟨իւհ⟩			u ⟨ու⟩	uː ⟨ուհ⟩
Mid-high	e ⟨է⟩	eː ⟨էհ⟩	ø ⟨էւ⟩	øː ⟨էւհ⟩	ə ⟨ը⟩¹	əː ⟨ըհ⟩¹	o ⟨օ⟩	oː ⟨օհ⟩
Mid-low	ɛ ⟨ե⟩	ɛː ⟨եհ⟩	œ ⟨եւ⟩	œː ⟨եւհ⟩			ɔ ⟨ո⟩	ɔː ⟨ոհ⟩
Low							ɑ ⟨ա⟩	ɑː ⟨ահ⟩

1. The Georgian dialect often deletes /ə/ and turns /əː/ into /o/.

Morphology

Nouns

Sishami nouns decline on several categories, those being case, number, possessor, and (some nouns) animacy.

ə-stem, animate

	singular	plural
nominative	֊ը -ə	֊ընե -əne
accusative	֊ըմ -əm	֊ընեմ -ənem
allative	֊ըհռ -əhṙ	֊ընեհռ -ənehṙ
genitive	֊ուտ -ut	֊ընիւտ -əniwt
ablative	֊իճ -ič	֊ընայճ -ənayč
dative	֊ըհ -əh	֊ընեհ -əneh
instrumental	֊ու -u	֊ընիւ -əniw
comitative	֊ոմ -om	֊ընեւմ -ənewm