| Brmek | |
|---|---|
| ﺑﺮمیك Brmék | |
| Region | Barmenistan, Vanuku |
| Ethnicity | Brmek people |
| Language family |
Jelbo-Tukaric
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Brm |
Brmek or Brmék is a Jelbic language and the native language of Barmenistan, spoken by a sizable proportion of its population. Brmek is the local Barmenian dialect of Old High Jelbic, and as such it is closely related to Jelbek and Pntek, to the point of mutual intelligibility, the primary difference lying in the adstratum: whereas Jelbek primarily uses Deltarian for its source of loanwords and Pntek uses Selucian, Brmek is mostly influenced by Qedarite (Semitic) languages in its vocabulary. In spite of its name, Brmek is not the direct descendent of Classical Brmek, the native language of Prophet Ahmad and the language of the Book of Bliss. However, since Classical Brmek is one of the two liturgical languages of the religion, together with Majatran, it has a major impact on modern Brmek.
Alphabet and Phonology[]
The Brmék language usually uses the Majatran (OOC Arabic) script, which was originally developed for Classical Brmek, but it is also frequently written in the Selucian (OOC Latin) alphabet. Some minorities use their own scripts when writing the language, especially Yeudis. The Majatran script is an abjad, meaning it does not represent most vowels, except for long vowels. The Majatran script is written right to left. The appearance of a letter changes depending on its position in a word:
- isolated (in a one-letter word);
- final (in which case it is joined on the right to the preceding letter);
- medial (joined on both sides); and
- initial (joined on the left to the following letter).
Some letters cannot be joined to the left and so do not possess separate medial and initial forms. In medial position, the final form is used. In initial position, the isolated form is used.
| Isolated | Final | Medial | Initial | Name | Selucian equivalent | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ا | ـا | — | eliv | a, á, é | ǣ, ɑː, eɪ | |
| ٵ | ـٵ | — | eliv-hmzé | à, e | æ, ə | |
| ب | ـب | ـبـ | بـ | bé | b | b |
| پ | ـپ | ـپـ | پـ | pé | p | p |
| ت | ـت | ـتـ | تـ | té | t | t |
| ث | ـث | ـثـ | ثـ | fé | f | 'f |
| ج | ـج | ـجـ | جـ | cim | c | d͡ʒ |
| ح | ـح | ـحـ | حـ | ha | h | ɦ |
| د | ـد | — | dal | d | d | |
| ر | ـر | — | ré | r | r̩ | |
| ز | ـز | — | zé | z | z̪ | |
| س | ـس | ـسـ | سـ | sin | s | s |
| ش | ـش | ـشـ | شـ | shin | sh | ʃ |
| ص | ـص | ـصـ | صـ | sad | s | s |
| ع | ـع | ـعـ | عـ | gajn | g | ɡʱ |
| ف | ـف | ـفـ | فـ | vé | v | f |
| ق | ـق | ـقـ | قـ | kav | k | k |
| ك | ـك | ـكـ | كـ | kev | k | k |
| ل | ـل | ـلـ | لـ | lam | l | ɫ |
| م | ـم | ـمـ | مـ | mim | m | m |
| ن | ـن | ـنـ | نـ | nun | n | n |
| و | ـو | — | waw | w, o, u | v, o̞, u | |
| ه | ـه | ـهـ | هـ | hé | h, e, à | ɦ, ə, æ |
| ی | ـی | ـیـ | یـ | jé | j, i, í, é | j, ɪ, iː, eɪ |
| ئ | ـئ | ـئـ | ئـ | jé-hmzé | y, e | ɪ, ə |