Xânčʻəl Language

Xânčʻəl (pronounced [χɑːn.tʃʰəl]; which also uses the exonym Yakhathi or Yakhathian from the Xânčʻəl word Yâxâtʻ [jɑː.xaːtʰ] "people") is the language of the Yakhathi people of Qərə.

Phonology

Consonants

Xânčʻəl has a medium-sized consonant inventory comprising 31 segments. Its plosives and affricates exist in three forms (voiceless, voiced, and aspirated) and its fricatives in two (voiceless and voiced). It has five series of consonants plus one glottal sound, [h].

Consonants of High Xânčʻəl

		Labial	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Plosive	Voiceless	[p] p	[t] t		[k] k	[q] q
	Voiced	[b] b	[d] d		[g] g
	Aspirated	[pʰ] pʻ	[tʰ] tʻ		[kʰ] kʻ	[qʰ] qʻ
Affricate	Voiceless		[ts] c	[tʃ] č
	Voiced		[dz] ç	[dʒ] ç̌
	Aspirated		[tsʰ] cʻ	[tʃʰ] čʻ
Fricative	Voiceless	[f] f	[s] s	[ʃ] š	[x ~ χ] x		[h] h
	Voiced	[v] v	[z] z	[ʒ] ž	[ɣ ~ ʁ] ğ
Nasal		[m] m	[n] n		[ŋ] ng
Approximant			[l] l	[j] y

Vowels

Xânčʻəl has seven vowel qualities, three of which have long versions, bringing the total to ten.

Consonants of High Xânčʻəl

	Front		Central	Back
	Short	Long		Short	Long
Close	[i] i		[ɨ] ı	[ɯ] u
Mid	[e] e	[eː] ê	[ə] ə	[o] o	[oː] ô
Open				[ɑ] a	[ɑː] â

Syntax

Xânčʻəl is an SOV language.

Nouns

Case and number

Nouns take a case and number suffix that exists in one of twelve forms:

Case and number suffixes

	Singular	Plural
Agentive	-y (if possessive)	-tʻ
Patientive	-əy	-ətʻ
Dative	-ay	-atʻ
Core	-uy	-utʻ
Locative	-ôy	-ôtʻ
Instrumental	-ıy	-ıtʻ

Transitive verbs use the Agentive and Patientive cases. Intransitive verbs use the Core case, while ambivalent verbs use either the Agentive or Patientive case for their core argument if they are intransitive:

Below is an example of an ambivalent intransitive verb, taking the Agentive:

Vıyğor nôxəča.

V.-(AGN) eat:PRF-3sINTRNS

"Viyghor has eaten." (Intransitive)

And the same sentence made transitive, taking the Agentive and Patientive:

Vıyğor nəy nôxəčəv.

V.-(AGN) 3s-PTN eat:PRF-3sTRNS

"Viyghor has eaten it." (Transitive)

And a true intransitive verb, taking the Core:

Vıyğoruy əqeçqıa.

V.-CORE dance:NFUT-3sINTRNS

"Viyghor will dance." (Intransitive)

The Dative is used for the indirect object of a verb, as well as a locative case indicating direction or

Possession

There are six possessive suffixes:

Possessive suffixes

	First person	Second person	Third person
Singular	-a	-e	-u
Plural	-ə	-o	-i

The possessive suffixes appear after case marking:

Qʻçərbıyu çıl "çıl šeyerôtʻ beqôtʻ ğıqıo çnaexupıy xoyudocʻ!" yêrvəv.

INDEF-father-AGN:SG-3s REL "REL mountain-LOC:PL cold-LOC:PL go:PFV:I-3-2s:2ARG NEG-fur.coat-INST" speak:IMP:II-2-3s:2ARG

"Their father said 'you cannot go to the mountains without a fur coat!'"