Ossamic

Ossamic
Օսըշահմմը, ჵსჷშაჰმმჷ, Ōsəšahmmə
Pronunciation	[o.sə.ˈʃaːm.mə]
Created by	Melinoë
Date	June 9th, 2026
Native to	Armenia: Lori, Tavush Georgia: Kvemo Kartli Azerbaijan: Gazakh, Aghstafa, Tovuz
Ethnicity	Ossamics
Native speakers	755 thousand (2022)
Language family	Indo-European Para-Germanic Chlesamnic High Polovic languages Ossamic
Early forms	Proto-Chlesamnic Old Thadic Ossamic
Writing systems	Armenian Latin
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Armenia Georgia
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sish

Ossamic (/ˈəʊ̯.sɑ.mɪk/; Autonym: Օսըշահմմը, ჵსჷშაჰმმჷ, or Ōsəšahmmə, all /o.sə.ˈʃaːm.mə/) 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 Byzantine /ossamiˈkos/, from /ossaˈmia/, which is from Old Ossamic 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, m⟩	n ⟨ն, n⟩
stop	unvoiced	p ⟨պ, p⟩	t ⟨տ, t⟩		k ⟨ի, k⟩
	aspirated	pʰ ⟨փ, pʻ⟩	tʰ ⟨թ, tʻ⟩		kʰ ⟨ք, kʻ⟩
	voiced	b ⟨բ, b⟩	d ⟨դ, d⟩		g ⟨գ, g⟩
fricative	unvoiced	f ⟨ֆ, f⟩	s ⟨ս, s⟩	ʃ ⟨շ, š⟩	x ⟨խ, x⟩
	voiced	v ⟨վ, v⟩	z ⟨զ, z⟩	ʒ ⟨ժ, ž⟩	ɣ ⟨ղ, ġ⟩
affricate	unvoiced		t͡s ⟨ծ, c⟩	t͡ʃ ⟨ճ, č⟩
	aspirated		t͡sʰ ⟨ց, cʻ⟩	t͡ʃʰ ⟨չ, čʻ⟩
	voiced		d͡z ⟨ձ, j⟩	d͡ʒ ⟨ջ, ǰ⟩
approximant			l ⟨լ, l⟩	j ⟨յ, y⟩
trill			r ⟨ռ, ṙ⟩
tap			ɾ ⟨ր, r⟩

Vowels

	front				central		back
	unround		round
	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long
High	i ⟨ի, i⟩	iː ⟨իհ, ih⟩	y ⟨իւ, iw⟩	yː ⟨իւհ, iwh⟩			u ⟨ու, u⟩	uː ⟨ուհ, uh⟩
Mid-high	e ⟨է, ē⟩	eː ⟨էհ, ēh⟩	ø ⟨էւ, ēw⟩	øː ⟨էւհ, ēwh⟩	ə ⟨ը, ə⟩	əː ⟨ըհ, əh⟩	o ⟨օ, ō⟩	oː ⟨օհ, ōh⟩
Mid-low	ɛ ⟨ե, e⟩	ɛː ⟨եհ, eh⟩	œ ⟨եւ, ew⟩	œː ⟨եւհ, ewh⟩			ɔ ⟨ո, o⟩	ɔː ⟨ոհ, oh⟩
Low							ɑ ⟨ա, a⟩	ɑː ⟨ահ, ah⟩

Morphology

Nouns

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

ə-type, animate endings

	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

ə-type, animate

	վիլֆը (vilfə)		յիգը (yigə)		խիւնզը (xiwnzə)
	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
nominative	վիլֆը vilfə	վիլֆընե vilfəne	յիգը yigə	յիգընե yigəne	խիւնզը xiwnzə	խիւնզընե xiwnzəne
accusative	վիլֆըմ vilfəm	վիլֆընեմ vilfənem	յիգըմ yigəm	յիգընեմ yigənem	խիւնզըմ xiwnzəm	խիւնզընեմ xiwnzənem
allative	վիլֆըհռ vilfəhṙ	վիլֆընեհռ vilfənehṙ	յիգըհռ yigəhṙ	յիգընեհռ yigənehṙ	խիւնզըհռ xiwnzəhṙ	խիւնզընեհռ xiwnzənehṙ
genitive	վիլֆուտ vilfut	վիլֆընիւտ vilfəniwt	յիգուտ yigut	յիգընիւտ yigəniwt	խիւնզուտ xiwnzut	խիւնզընիւտ xiwnzəniwt
ablative	վիլֆիճ vilfič	վիլֆընայճ vilfənayč	յիգիճ yigič	յիգընայճ yigənayč	խիւնզիճ xiwnzič	խիւնզընայճ xiwnzənayč
dative	վիլֆըհ vilfəh	վիլֆընեհ vilfəneh	յիգըհ yigəh	յիգընեհ yigəneh	խիւնզըհ xiwnzəh	խիւնզընեհ xiwnzəneh
instrumental	վիլֆու vilfu	վիլֆընիւ vilfəniw	յիգու yigu	յիգընիւ yigəniw	խիւնզու xiwnzu	խիւնզընիւ xiwnzəniw
comitative	վիլֆոմ vilfom	վիլֆընեւմ vilfənewm	յիգոմ yigom	յիգընեւմ yigənewm	խիւնզոմ xiwnzom	խիւնզընեւմ xiwnzənewm

Verbs

Verbs have evolved to a predominantly agglutinative state, and have simplified greatly from what Old Thadic is thought to have had.

Tense

Ossamic has 4 main tenses, being present, near past, general/far past, and future, though occasionally an imperfect does show up. Classical Ossamic also carries a perfect marker, though this has largely been dropped in favor of auxiliary verbs.

	plain	perfect
present	֊∅֊ -∅-	֊∅(զ)ը֊ -∅(z)ə-
near past	֊զի֊ -zi-	֊զի(զ)ը֊ -zi(z)ə-
(far) past	֊զու֊ -zu-	֊զու(զ)ը֊ -zu(z)ə-
future	֊ճի֊ -či-	֊ճի(զ)ը֊ -či(z)ə-

The imperfect is marked through the suffix ֊մի֊ (-mi-), with the perfect being ֊մի(զ)ը֊ (-mi(z)ə-).

The distinction between the near past and the past is typically one of disrance, with the plain past acting more as a far past, though occasionally it acts as a general past and acts for the near past too.