Minhast: Difference between revisions

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== Dialectology ==

Minhast has twelve major dialects which have been traditionally divided into two superdialects, Upper Minhast, and Lower Minhast. Upper Minhast, which consists of several dialects in the northern highlands, encompass the Northern Coast, Northeastern Mountain Coastal Range (''Gaššarat'', lit. "basalt"), the Kilmay Rī Mountain Range, the Central Plateau ''(Kammak min Nukya)'', and the the Great Plains (''Hamhāmarū'' , lit. "The Great Clearing of the Grasses"). Lower Minhast traditionally has been classified as the dialects south of the tribal territories ''("karak"s)'' of the Dog, Salmon and Horse Speakers.

Minhast has twelve major dialects, most of which are mutually intelligible. These dialects have been traditionally divided into two superdialects, Upper Minhast, and Lower Minhast. Upper Minhast, which consists of several dialects in the northern highlands, encompass the Northern Coast, Northeastern Mountain Coastal Range (''Gaššarat'', lit. "basalt"), the Kilmay Rī Mountain Range, the Central Plateau ''(Kammak min Nukya)'', and the the Great Plains (''Hamhāmarū'' , lit. "The Great Clearing of the Grasses"). Lower Minhast traditionally has been classified as the dialects south of the tribal territories ''("karak"s)'' of the Dog, Salmon and Horse Speakers. The ''uyyi min kirim'', lit. "The (way) of saying the (suffix) ''-uyyi'' is usually employed in delineating which superdialect a given dialect should be grouped under, although other tests may be employed as well.

{| class="bluetable lightbluebg"

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| Hittaħm, Iskamharat, Tuhattam, Perim-Sin, Ruyāya Prefectures; <br/>

Iyyūmi (Salmon Speaker suburb, approx 60%)

| Fossilized suffix ''-ūy'' preserved

| Fossilized suffix ''-ūy'' preserved; considered one of the most conservative of the Minhast dialects, with most features of Classical Minhast preserved

|-

! Wolf Speaker

| Ešked,Attum Attar, Tayyagur, Rakwar, Tabuk Prefectures

| Fossilized suffix ''-ūy'' preserved

| Fossilized suffix ''-ūy'' preserved; along with the Salmon Speaker dialect, it is considered as one of the most conservative of the Minhast dialects, with most features of Classical Minhast preserved

|-

! Dog Speaker

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! Stone Speaker

| Sakkeb, Neskud,Yaxparim, Izgilbāš, Zurzugul, Higbilan, Narpaz

| Fossilized suffix ''-ūy'' realized as ''-ia'', ''-ie''

| Fossilized suffix ''-ūy'' realized as ''-ia'', ''-ie''; Ergative marker ''=de'' is often dropped if the polypersonal agreement markers can disambiguate Agent from Patient;

much freer word order - the verb often deviates from the verb-final position whereas the other dialects allow the verb to migrate to non-final position within a clause

only under very strict constraints.

|}

The division of the dialects into two superdialects has been criticized as problematic. As a result, challenges to this binary division of the dialects into two superdialects have recently surfaced. The most obvious problem is that of the Stone Speaker dialect, which not only has a large number of loans from the two minority non-Minhast languages, Golahat and Peshpeg, but appears in the early stages of developing from a canonical SOV language into a non-configurational one. Arguments for classifying the Stone Speaker dialect as a separate language have been gaining momentum, the most vocal and convincining proponents being Professor Han Xu of Nanjing University, and Dr. Napayshni of the University of the Lakota Nation at Three Pipes. A new superdialect grouping has been proposed for the Elk and Seal Speaker dialects, which realize the fossilized ''-ūy'' with the voiced labio-velar approximant /w/, as in ''-ūwe'' and ''ūwi'' respectively, to contrast with the voiced palatal consonant /j/ found in the rest of the Upper Minhast dialects.

Two new dialects have arisen in the NCR. One is Modern Standard Minhast, a variant of Upper Minhast that serves as the standard dialect used for government, commerce, and media. The second dialect, known as Modern Colloquial Minhast (aka the City Speaker dialect), is an admixture of several subdialects from both Upper and Lower Minhast. Spoken mostly by people in their 30's and earlier, it contains more loanwords from foreign languages than the standard language, especially in areas of technology and the Internet, and from foreign films and media. This new dialect is replete with slang and nonstandard jargon that is often looked down upon by older generations, and Speakers from the more conservative Prefectures.

@@ Line 39: / Line 39: @@
 == Dialectology ==
-Minhast has twelve major dialects which have been traditionally divided into two superdialects,  Upper Minhast, and Lower Minhast.  Upper Minhast, which consists of several dialects in the northern highlands, encompass the Northern Coast, Northeastern Mountain Coastal Range (''Gaššarat'', lit. "basalt"), the Kilmay Rī Mountain Range, the Central Plateau ''(Kammak min Nukya)'', and the the Great Plains (''Hamhāmarū'' , lit. "The Great Clearing of the Grasses").  Lower Minhast traditionally has been classified as the dialects south of the tribal territories ''("karak"s)'' of the Dog, Salmon and Horse Speakers.
+Minhast has twelve major dialects, most of which are mutually intelligible. These dialects have been traditionally divided into two superdialects, Upper Minhast, and Lower Minhast.  Upper Minhast, which consists of several dialects in the northern highlands, encompass the Northern Coast, Northeastern Mountain Coastal Range (''Gaššarat'', lit. "basalt"), the Kilmay Rī Mountain Range, the Central Plateau ''(Kammak min Nukya)'', and the the Great Plains (''Hamhāmarū'' , lit. "The Great Clearing of the Grasses").  Lower Minhast traditionally has been classified as the dialects south of the tribal territories ''("karak"s)'' of the Dog, Salmon and Horse Speakers.  The ''uyyi min kirim'', lit. "The (way) of saying the (suffix) ''-uyyi'' is usually employed in delineating which superdialect a given dialect should be grouped under, although other tests may be employed as well.
 {| class="bluetable lightbluebg"
@@ Line 60: / Line 59: @@
 | Hittaħm, Iskamharat, Tuhattam, Perim-Sin,  Ruyāya Prefectures; <br/>
 Iyyūmi (Salmon Speaker suburb, approx 60%)
-| Fossilized suffix ''-ūy'' preserved
+| Fossilized suffix ''-ūy'' preserved; considered one of the most conservative of the Minhast dialects, with most features of Classical Minhast preserved
 |-
 ! Wolf Speaker
 | Ešked,Attum Attar, Tayyagur, Rakwar, Tabuk Prefectures
-| Fossilized suffix ''-ūy'' preserved
+| Fossilized suffix ''-ūy'' preserved; along with the Salmon Speaker dialect, it is considered as one of the most conservative of the Minhast dialects, with most features of Classical Minhast preserved
 |-
 ! Dog Speaker
@@ Line 102: / Line 101: @@
 ! Stone Speaker
 | Sakkeb, Neskud,Yaxparim, Izgilbāš, Zurzugul, Higbilan, Narpaz
-| Fossilized suffix ''-ūy'' realized as ''-ia'', ''-ie''
+| Fossilized suffix ''-ūy'' realized as ''-ia'', ''-ie''; Ergative marker ''=de'' is often dropped if the polypersonal agreement markers can disambiguate Agent from Patient;
+much freer word order - the verb often deviates from the verb-final position whereas the other dialects allow the verb to migrate to non-final position within a clause
+only under very strict constraints.
 |}
+The division of the dialects into two superdialects has been criticized as problematic.  As a result, challenges to this binary division of the dialects into two superdialects have recently surfaced.  The most obvious problem is that of the Stone Speaker dialect, which not only has a large number of loans from the two minority non-Minhast languages, Golahat and Peshpeg, but appears in the early stages of developing from a canonical SOV language into a non-configurational one.  Arguments for classifying the Stone Speaker dialect as a separate language have been gaining momentum, the most vocal and convincining proponents being Professor Han Xu of Nanjing University, and Dr. Napayshni of the University of the Lakota Nation at Three Pipes.  A new superdialect grouping has been proposed for the Elk and Seal Speaker dialects, which realize the fossilized ''-ūy'' with the voiced labio-velar approximant /w/, as in ''-ūwe'' and ''ūwi'' respectively, to contrast with the voiced palatal consonant /j/ found in the rest of the Upper Minhast dialects.
 Two new dialects have arisen in the NCR.  One is Modern Standard Minhast, a variant of Upper Minhast that serves as the standard dialect used for government, commerce, and media.  The second dialect, known as Modern Colloquial Minhast (aka the City Speaker dialect), is an admixture of several subdialects from both Upper and Lower Minhast.  Spoken mostly by people in their 30's and earlier, it contains more loanwords from foreign languages than the standard language, especially in areas of technology and the Internet, and from foreign films and media.  This new dialect is replete with slang and nonstandard jargon that is often looked down upon by older generations, and Speakers from the more conservative Prefectures.