Pailesian Dialects

There are three major dialects of Pailesian, the most commonly spoken language in Sekowo. In the North is the Bizenan Dialect, which is limited mostly to the upper reaches of its eponymous province. In Southern Bizena and throughout Hikhala and Lorrod is spoken the Central Dialect. This group in turn is divided into a West Central and an East Central grouping. The West Central is spoken in northern Hasowar as well. Deeper South, the Undarran Dialect is most prevalent. A Standard Dialect, used in government and business, is spoken throughout Sekowo, but is reserved to the upper echelons of society.

The following sections will outline the linguistic variations among the dialects.

Archaic Pailesian
see also, History of Pailesian

Archaic Pailesian is a dialect (or perhaps a register) spoken in isolated regions of the far North and in certain academic circles. Before 1900, it was the common tongue, but it has since fallen into disuse with the rise of the Central dialects and their influence on the Undarran and Bizenan variants. However, it is from the Archaic Pailesian that all of the modern dialects have sprung, and so it gives a background to the current changes.

Phonetics
Phonetically, the language as a whole has changed little in the last 500 years. The Archaic dialect does not have voiced fricatives: a secondary pharyngealization is used instead. Thus, we have ɸ', θ', s', ʃ', and R. The final sound was the equivalent to a pharyngealized /x/, but it was realized as a uvular trill. It has since been lost in all modern dialects, in all cases becoming /x/.

The vowel system included a nasalized /y/, but this has been absorbed into /y/ in modern dialects.

Modern dialects have a tendency to simplify long consonant clusters, which are commonplace in the archaic dialect. The pattern Vowel-Fricative-Stop-Nasal-Vowel is usually simplified to Vowel-Fricative-Nasal-Vowel. Thus "astna" becomes "asna." Another process is the voicing of fricatives proceeding voiced stops of nasals. Thus "asna" becomes "azna." Thus, while the modern word is "azna," the archaic is "astna."

Morpho-Syntax
The use of the determinatives is mostly absent from the archaic dialect. They instead occur in their original usage- as third person personal pronouns. They are not simplified in number: the original plural set is "ed," "he," and "dē." The singular eventually took on these plural meanings.

There are seven cases in the Archaic Dialect. The absolutive case did not exist, instead being spread between the nominative and accusative cases, marking subject and object, respectively. The oblique, only a modern simplification, was split between the ablative (motion away from) and the dative (motion to, place at which, and indirect object). There was also an instrumental case, which marked the means by which an action is achieved. Finally, there is a vocative case which is formally almost identical to the nominative.

In the absence of the determinatives, the subordinating particle "xe" is used for all adnominal subordination.

In verbs, purpose and temporal clauses can be referenced using the particles "ry" and "sã," respectively. These particles, placed in that order after the indirect object slot, only indicate that such clauses exist; they do not help to identify them. Perhaps for this reason the practice has largely died off. Other changes in the agent, patient, and indirect object slots have occurred in non-standard dialects; however, the Archaic and Standard forms are more or less identical.

Standard
The grammar of the standard dialect is given in the Pailesian grammar page. Phonetically, it is simplified from the Archaic Dialect, but in most other grammatical topics, it is very similar. The use of determinatives is common now, but only two decades ago it was rather rare in the Standard Dialect.

Bizenan
Bizenan is the most conservative of the modern dialects. In the Northern alpine forests and small villages, the influence of the Central Dialects of very small. However, the population of Bizenan speakers is also miniscule relative to that of the Central or Undarran.

Phonology
The phonetics of Bizenan have changed a good deal, despite the lack of outside influence. The lax-tense contrast has been replaced with a plain-pharygealized contrast. This is the opposite direction from the more Southern dialects, which have shifted to a pure voiced-voiceless opposition. In fact, the Bizenan obstruent system is incidentally more like Medieval Pailesian than the Archaic system is. The vowel system is, however, fairly innovative. The nasals have disappeared altogether; they have usually transformed into a vowel-/n/. Consonant clusters are avoided, but, unlike the Standard Dialect, this is done by inserting the vowel schwa /ə/ into the cluster. For instance, "astna" would be "astəna."

Morpho-Syntax
Bizenan retains five of the seven Archaic cases. The Vocative is completely identical to the nominative and the Dative and Instrumental have merged.

In verb forms, Bizenan retains all of the affixes, but practically never uses the purpose/temporal slots. Stem change is the only way to change the tense/mood.

The use of determinatives in Bizenan is somewhat difficult to ascertain. In informal speech, they are certainly used, but they often carry the sense of a definite article. The subordinating particle "xe" is used in its normal function, but the determinative is often used in conjunction with "xe," resulting in strange mixes such as "acxe" or bracketing such as "xe...[subordinate clause]...ac." In many areas, the determinative is rarely used at all or only as a definite article.

Central
The Central Dialects have been the driving force in linguistic change in Pailesian. The movement of the language toward analytic and isolating has been made possible by the Central use of the article and innovations involving grammatical particles.

East Central
The Eastern Branch is the most innovative of all dialects.

Phonology
The opposition in the consonants is entirely voiced-voiceless. Thus, we have p/b, t/d, and k/g. This means that the orthography is different, since  can no longer represent a voiced interdental fricative and  can no longer represent a velar nasal. In their places, and the digraph  are used, respectively. In the vowel system, nasals are much more common. And Vowel-Nasal grouping is usually converted to a nasalized vowel.

The tendency for consonant cluster simplification is very strong. In general, all but the fricative of the cluster are removed, and that fricative is then voiced. Thus "astna" becomes "aza." However, this is a rule in only the most innovative subsets of the East Central Dialect. More common is that the nasal is dropped out. These radical changes are occurring constantly and violently, resulting in a very uneven and turbulent phonological system.

Morpho-Syntax
The use of the determinatives has completely uprooted declensional endings, subordinating particles, and personal pronouns. Nouns occur in only the nominative singular form. They are either preceded or followed by a determinative that gives the word its case; the oblique determinative is being used less frequently when the preposition is present. Personal pronouns are of the root-determinative compound type listed in section 4.1 of the Pailesian article. Often, however, the pronominal root and the determinative ending are separated.

The verbal system has lost the use of the affixes. Root changes have also been eliminated. Instead, the imperfective and perfective particles "mai" and "be," respectively, are used. "mai" is usually optional, although it carries special stress on the finality of the action when used.

Having lost so many important markers of syntactical relations, the Central dialects have become very analytic. That is, word order is essential to determining meaning. The order is usually SVO, although SOV is also commonplace. In genitive constructions, the genitive determinative can tie together the possessum and possessor, much like the English "of" or Spanish "de."

West Central
The West Central Dialect is very similar to the East Central. The primary difference is that the West is still undergoing many of the changes that have already occurred in the East. Namely, the preeminence of the determinatives is not yet complete. The genitive, for instance often occurs in the declensional ending, sometimes even without the determinative. However, much of the verbal simplification has already occurred: the affixes are only used to emphasize the participants, and the indirect object slot is never used. The particle "mai" is "ma" in the West, and the focus has moved from one of aspect to one of tense. "ma" indicates the past while "be" indicates the present or future. This is one area in which Western innovations will probably affect the East, instead of vice-versa.

Undarran
Undarran is heavily influenced by the Central dialects, but it has produced some of its own important innovations. Phonetically, it is Central, although in formal company the lax-tense opposition is often used, thus being a matter of register.

In Morpho-Syntax, determinatives are, surprisingly, rather unproductive. The Central influence has been in the elimination of case rather than the introduction of determinatives. Nouns almost never use case. The particle "ar," originally a preposition meaning "about," is used in the same sense as the English "of" in that it ties the possessum and possessor. In the verbal system, the affixes have been relatively untouched. The feminine forms have merged into the masculine, but otherwise all five slots are commonly used. Even the Archaic purpose/temporal slots are in frequent use.

Root modifications are obsolete, the West Central particles "ma" and "be" being used instead, along with their time rather than aspect meanings.