Durtish

Durtish (Durtish: Durtxos - Durtish, durtuzun gol - Durtish tongue or Durtarïs kelelär - tongue of the Durts) is the most widely spoken of the Dutronish tongues, with about 36 million speakers, mostly in Durtland and some thousands L2 speakers around the world. It is the official tongue of the Elomish country of Durtland and has many homely speakers in Eloma and Buvara.

Durtish reflects the Durts' high regard for religion, knowledge and nature, specially plant life. For example, their religion consists on a pantheon of twelve deities, giving place to the 12-based number system (common in other tongues), the name of the 12 months of the year and the Twelve Commandments, the basis of Durtish ethics. All cultural aspects of the Durts' daily life were shaped by their religion, most noticeable through their arts. The deities are sexless and as a result, Durtish makes no difference in nouns according to sex.

Occupying the same level of importance, the acquiring of knowledge was considered indispensable for the Durts. For example, one of the biggest libraries of the Ancient World was built in Bespand (Durtish: Odaxpand - lit. tree city), the capital city of Durtland. Many big and beautiful educational buildings were built during the golden years of the Azdamish Rikedom (empire). Their well integrated and organised education system allowed them to be leaders in the fields of health, commerce and war.

Lastly, the respect for nature was both sacred and logical in Durtish philosophy, especially the worshipping of plant life since plants are the main source of food and clothing. Dutronish folks compared their stages of life with a plant, beginning as a seed, then a sprout, mature plant and in the end, they wither. Animals commonly found in forests are worshipped too, with each member of the pantheon having an animal companion. For example, the owl is associated of the deity of wisdom and knowledge.

Classification
Durtish is a member of the Edhozish branch of the Dutronish tongue family. There is a high degree of intelligibility between Durtish and other Edhozish tongues, including Turdonish and Lebernish. It shares the same features of all the Dutronish tongues, such as their signature vowel harmony system, the nominative-accusative alignment, heavy agglutination and the classification of nouns according to animacy.

History
The rising and evolution of Durtish was determined by many geographical and social factors. Firstly, the the Dutronish folks, who originated in central Buvara, were among the first people to domesticate the horse, which allowed the expansion of their tongue.

Their advanced equestrian abilities allowed the spread of people speaking Dutronish tongues across the Elombuvarish steppes. During this expansion era, the Dutrons met other folks like the Viyaro-Elomish, the Nambalish, the Kingusish and the Fanezish folks. The Nambals and the Kinguses spread to the west, while the Dutrons spread to the east.

Particularly, the Durtish Dutrons brought their tongue into the Omberish peninsula, covered by lush forests in the north and fertile land in the south. This is where Old Durtish originated. The oldest registered script of Durtish was written around the 6thcentury and the first comprehensive dictionary of Durtish was published in the 12th century.

During its evolution, Durtish was highly influenced by Olobish and Velsish. It first started following the adoption of Behomatism in the 9th century by the Zaryek Duntrons, the ruling dynasty of the newly formed Azdamish Rikedom. The administrative and religious tongue of this state acquired many loanwords of Olobish words directly or through Velsish.

Then, during the 9thand 12th centuries, Durtish scientific and artistic literature incorporated a big collection of words from Velsish. This variety, called Middle Durtish or Azdamish Durtish, diverged significantly from the variety spoken by the less-educated and rural members of society, which contained a higher percentage of own vocabulary and served as the basis for the modern Durtish tongue.

At the beginning of the 20thcentury, after the formation of the Durtish Ledewealth, Durtish underwent a process of reformation performed by the then newly established Thedish Rede for the Durtish Tongue (National Council of the Durtish Language) - TRDT under the patronage of the first elected Firstthane of Durtland. The aim of this institutions was the study of Durtish and the most important task then was to replace loanwords of Olobish and Velsish origin with Durtish own equivalents. Thus, Modern Standard Durtish - MSD was created.

The TRDT introduced most of the words derived of Dutronish roots, process helped by its agglutinative morphology. Nonetheless, the TRDT also revived words of Old Durtish which had not been used for centuries since the formation of the Azdamish Rikedom. The ban of the use of unofficial loanwords by the press and other media and in the state institutions made this process occur rather quickly.

This sudden change created a generational gap, with more young people speaking the reformed version taught in schools while the older people remained speaking Azdamish Durtish. The of coining of new words is a never-ending work for TRDT, which has been performed by its successor. However, some created words sound to artificial and forced, which led to the use of previous or new loanwords, specially words referring to clothing, weaponry, food, among others. Moreover, some words restored from Old Durtish have acquired specialised meanings. See more.

Geographic distribution
Durtish is homely spoken by the Durtish people in Durtland and the Durtish diaspora in some other countries. In particular, Durtish-speaking communities exist in regions that formerly belonged wholly or partially to the Azdamish Rikedom, such as Velsland in the Bound Ledewealth of Viyara - BLV and Drotsland, Gurpusland, Atherland, South Lumosland and Glenland in Eloma. Also, there are significant Durtish-speaking communities in the Bound Ledewealth of Northsnowland BLNS.

Official status
It has official status in the Boundstate of Durtland and has a special status in the Bound Ledewealth of Eloma - BLE as a link tongue (lingua franca) of the southwestern region of the country, which previously belonged to the Azdamish Rikedom. The regulatory body is the Rede for the Durtonish Tongue - RDT (renamed after the creation the BLE), the successor of the TRDT, which serves under the authority of the Durtish State Thanery for Teaching and Knowledge.

Dialects and accents
Modern Standard Durtish is based on the dialect spoken in the metropolitan area of Bespand, the capital city of Durtland. It constitutes the model of written and spoken Durtish. With the rising of the RDT and the support of famous writers, musicians and actors, a levelling process has occurred as the standard version was implemented in mass media and commonwealth institutions.

However, in spite of these efforts, dialectal variation persists. It's evident in colloquial speech and, even more, in rural areas, thus creating a dialect continuum. Some linguists consider that hadn't the RDT been founded, these dialects would've become tongues on their own. See more. There are 6 dialect groups of Durtish, shown below accounting for number of speakers: One famous Durtish poet and screenwriter once said that Durtish accents are as numerous as the amount of tongues spoken in the world. Although it is an overstatement, there is some true in those words. Furthermore, the person's accent is subjected to social status, formality and politeness.
 * Capital Durtish
 * Forest Durtish
 * Coastal Durtish
 * Plains Durtish
 * Mountain Durtish
 * Insular Durtish

On one hand, the way the aristrocrats and the nobility used to pronounce words in Bespand during the age of the Azdamish Rikedom, known as the Bespandish accent, is considered nowadays as the most refined of all accents. Nowadays, it's the accent used by the ruling folks, in state mass media and service institutions, for higher teaching, for knowledge and in fine oral performing arts. One notable exception was Altair Ben-Aharon, the 3rd Prime Minister of Durtland, who was born to an Olobish father and Tafarish mother in southwestern Durtland.

In contrast, the accents of the country folk and the working folk living the different regions of the Azdamish Rikedom were considered informal and impolite, sometimes to the point of being regarded as aggressive and vulgar. In recent times, they are the accents spoken by the lower working folks. The middle and higher working folks speak in between the standard and their local accents. The interaction of social status, religion and the Durtish tongue is responsible for the different registers. See more.

Phonology
Durtish has a quite diverse inventory of phonemes. It retained most the phonemes of the Earlier-Dutronish tongue with some minor changes and additions. A common feature in the Dutronish family is a system of vowel harmony and consonant assimilation.

Consonants
The evolution of Durtish consonantal sounds followed the other members of the Edhozish branch, although it has some difference due to the contact with tongues of other families throughout its history, mainly during the age of the Azdamish Rikedom (the sound shifts show down below follow the dialect spoken in Bespand).

Old Omberish Durtish had the following set of consonants: The uttering of the allophone pairs (except the rhotic) depends of the place of articulation of the vowel. Next on, Azdamish Durtish had the following set of vowels: Azdamish Durtish incorporated some consonants from Olobish and Velsish, namely [f], [w], [ʃ], [ʔ] and [h]. However, the outstanding change is the loss of the allophonic variation of most of the consonants, except: the approximant [l ~ ɫ]. Post-alveolars and palatals merged into the palato-alveolars (represented here by the post-alveolar IPA signs) and velars and uvulars which merged into the velars. The rhotic [r ~ ɾ] > [r] in all environments.
 * Dento-alveolar consonants, the left sounds, were used next to back vowels and palatal consonants, the right sounds, were used next to front vowels
 * Velar consonants, the left sounds, were used with front vowels and the uvular consonants, the right sounds, were used next to back vowels.
 * The rhotic [r ~ ɾ] was pronounced as [r] at the beginning of words and next to sonorants (nasals and a [ɫ ~ l]) but as [ɾ] in all the other environments.
 * The sounds [t͡ʃ ~ t͡ɕ] and [d͡ʒ ~ d͡ʑ] are affricates, not plosives. However, they have been placed in the table in that manner (patterning with plosives) in order to show the phonology better.

One key point for this change was the acknowledging of ethnic identity under the Azdam's saying ' "Vis Bëhmatpërar ulas ña Durtxos ulas" -   'We are Behomatens but we are Durtish.

Lastly, the consonants of Modern Standard Durtish are: Some sound shifts happened after the foundation of the RDT and the Reform of the Durtish Language in the 20th century. Namely, [w] > [ʋ], [r] > [ɹ], [t͡ʃ] > [ʃ], [d͡ʒ] > [ʒ] and [ʔ] > [h].

1 The nasal [m] is uttered as [ɱ] before [v], [f] and [ʋ].

2 The labiodental fricatives [f] and [v] are uttered as their bilabial equivalents [ɸ] and [β] in northern Insular and eastern Coastal dialects. This occurs as a result of the contact with the Atherish tongue.

3 It is uttered as [w] in northwestern Forest, southwestern Plains, western Coastal and south Insular dialects. This occurs as a result of the contact with the Olobish tongue.

4 The dento-alveolars nasal [n], plositves [t] and [d] and post-alveolar fricatives [ʃ] and [ʒ] are uttered as their palatal counterparts [ɲ], [c], [ɟ], [ɕ] and [ʑ] in western Plains, northern Coastal and southern Forest dialects.

5 The approximant [ɹ] is uttered as [ɾ] in northern Insular and Coastal dialects, as [r ~ ɾ] in western Forest, Mountain and northern Plains dialects and as [r] in southern Plains and eastern Coastal dialects.

6 The lateral [l] and [ɫ] are allophones, with /l/ uttered as a clear or light [l] next to front vowels (including codas) and as a velarized [ɫ] next to the back vowels. This is a steady feature of Durtish among all dialects.

7 The post-alveolar fricatives [ʃ] and [ʒ] are uttered as their palatal counterparts [ɕ] and [ʑ] next to front and retroflex [ʂ] and [ʐ] next to back vowels. in most of the Mountain and some Forest dialects. This is a result of the contact with the Zelofish tongue

8 The velar consonants are uttered as their uvular counterparts [ɴ], [q], [ɢ], [χ] and [ʁ] next to back vowels in western Coastal, southern Insular and Mountain dialects. This is a result of the contact with the Zidunish tongues.

Consonant assimilation
Durtish is an agglutinative tongue where a series of affixes are added to the stem word. Consonant assimilation and vowel harmony are a phonological phenomena which ensure a smooth flow of speech, requiring the least amount of oral movement as possible. Before the DTA was founded, there was no clear way to inflect, derivate and make compound words. But during the Reform of the Dutrish Tongue performed by the DTA during the 20th century, precise rules of spelling were established:

Durtish shows anticipatory assimilation to an adjacent segment when words ends in a nasal. This is relevant in derivative morphology and must be shown by writing (See more at Writing system): Durtish shows lag assimilation to an adjacent segment, that's why suffixes beginning with a consonant come in triplets: Consonant assimilation is also relevant when making compound words and adopting loanwords. The rules are slightly looser though: nasal, approximant and lateral consonants do not trigger assimilation. In the case of clusters not allowed in Durtish, other phenomena like epenthesis, elition  and metathesis occur. Therefore, the sound changes are not predictable in compound words.
 * [m] before labial consonants
 * [n] before dentoalveolar and palatoalveolar consonants
 * [ŋ] before velar consonants
 * When
 * Only the glottal fricative [h] does not triggers assimilation
 * [b] after voiced consonants, [p] after voiceless consonants and [m] after vowels, [b], [p] and other nasals
 * [d] after voiced consonants, [t] after voiceless consonants and [n] after vowels, [d], [t] and other nasals
 * [g] after voiced consonants, [k] after voiceless consonants and [ŋ] after vowels, [g], [k] and and other nasals
 * [v] after voiced consonants, [f] after voiceless consonants and [ʋ] after vowels and [f] and [v]
 * [z] after voiced consonants, [s] after voiceless consonants and [ɹ] after vowels, [z] and [s]
 * [ʒ] after voiced consonants, [ʃ] after voiceless consonants and [l] after vowels, [ʒ] and [ʃ]
 * [ɣ] after voiced consonants, [x] after voiceless consonants and [h] after vowels, [ɣ] and [x]
 * Only the palatal approximant [j] does not undergoes assimilation

Vowels
The vowels of the MSD tongue are, in their alphabetical order, ⟨a⟩, ⟨ä⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨ë⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨ï⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨ö⟩, ⟨u⟩, ⟨ü⟩. Durtish is among the few Dutronish langauges that retained the ten vowels of Proto-Dutronish, with five front vowels paried to five back vowels. In contrast, Lebernish lost [ʌ] and Turdonish lost both [æ] and [ʌ]. There aren’t long vowels nor diphthongs; therefore, two paired vowels are pronounced as different syllables, although this is rare.

The Durtish vowel system can be considered as being three-dimensional, where vowels are characterised by how and where they are articulated focusing on three key features: front and back, rounded and unrounded and vowel height. Vowels are classified [±back], [±round] and [±high].

Old Omberish Durtish contrasted front unrounded vowels with central unrounded vowels and front rounded vowels with back rounded vowels, which is shown down below: Then, in Azdamish Duritsh, the stock of vowels was increased by the adoption of Olobish and Velsish loanwords and accent: Olobish and Velsish stressed-timed rhythm influenced Azadamish Durtish rhythm. The Azadamens only emphasised in the harmony of vowels in stressed syllables and adjacent syllables. Other syllables were reduced to a central form. Some sound shifts happened as well: [æ] > [a], [ä] > [ɑ], [ə] > [ʌ], [o] > [ɔ] and [ɨ] > [ɯ]. This allowed the creation of compound words easy.

Lastly, the vowels of Modern Standard Durtish are: During the Reform of the Durtish Language after the foundation of the RDT in the 20th century, Durtish came back to being spoken with syllable-timed rhythm, thus central vowels disappeared. Moreover, mid and low front vowels became a little higher than their back counterparts [a] > [æ], [ɛ] > [e] and [œ] > [ø].

Vowel harmony
As mentioned before, vowel harmony makes agglutination more easy. Grammatical affixes, both inflectional and derivative, have a chameleon-like quality regarding the vowels. It means that the place and manner of articulation of the vowels will determine which pattern of vowel harmony the affixes and the whole word will adopt. There are three patterns: The a-type pattern, also known as twofold pattern, only takes into account the place of articulation. While the e-type and i-type patterns, also known as low fourfold and high fourfold patterns, account for both place and manner of articulation. In dictionaries, the patterns use the notation a2, e4 and i4 for the three patterns of vowel harmony
 * a-type: the affixes use [æ[ with front vowels and [ɑ] with back vowels.
 * e-type: the affixes use [e] and [ʌ] after unrounded vowels (front and back respectively), [ø] and [ɔ] after the corresponding rounded vowels.
 * i-type: the affixes use [i] and [ɯ] after unrounded vowels (front and back respectively), [y] and [u] after the corresponding rounded vowels.

However, there are some affixes that undergo vowel harmony asymmetrically. The roundness of the vowel of the affix is the same regardless of position. Thus, this results in four sub-patterns: e2, i2, o2 and u2. This sub-patterns are used when creating compound words, with vowel harmony spreading from left to right, except for determiners, with which vowel harmony spreads from right to left.

Phonotactics
Durtish phonotactics is almost completely regular. The maximal syllable structure is (C1)V(C2)(C3), although there are some restrictions of which sounds occur depending on the place of the syllable:
 * C1 may be any consonant
 * C2 may be a fricative or a sonorant (nasal, approximant, lateral)
 * C3 may be any consonant, except for [h] at the end of words
 * If C2 is a fricative, C3 can only be a plosive. If C2 is a sonorant, C3 can be a fricative or a plosive.


 * Words follow (C)C.CV or V.CV syllable splits in multi-syllable words.
 * C.V and V.V splits are not allowed. Formerly, V.V split was found in loanwords and proper names that originated from a different tongue family, although nowadays, this split has become almost non-existent as the RDT began dutronising every adopted loanword, both prospectively and retrospectively.
 * Two adjacent plosives and fricatives, in any mix, must share voicing, even if they are not in the same syllable.
 * Germinates are not allowed, epenthetic vowels are used to avoid them.
 * Diphthongs are long vowels are not allowed, epenthetic consonants are used. Following this thread, [j] is used in inflectional and derivative morphology, whilst [h] is used when dutronising proper names and some other words. In the case of compound words, vowel elition occurs.

Rhythm and word-accent
Durtish has a syllable-timed rhythm, which suits its agglutinative morphology. However, it may sound somewhat stress-timed in most of Mountain, southwestern Plains, southern Insular and western Coastal dialects and when Durtish is spoken by people whose mother tongue is stress-timed such as Amblish, Sorish or Olobish. Word-accent is always on the last syllable of words.

Azdamish Durtish allowed variations in word-accent due to the incorporation of many loanwords and proper names. After the reforms, however, the RDT stated that words must be stressed on the last syllable to be in agreement with the other Dutronish tongues. Even proper names and loanwords are modified to comply with this rule. This process is known as dutronisation.

Writing system
Durtish writing system varied throughout its evolution. Earlier Dutronish and its closest descendants, including Old Omberish Durtish, were written in the Old Dutronish scipt (ODS). It was first discovered in the region between the Alhan and Jamezi rivers and Qaduf Gömil, a Lebernish linguist, was the first to describe it. Thus, it is called as the Alhan-Jamezi script or as the Gömil's script.

Then, during the Azdamish Rikedom, Middle Durtish was written in the Velsolobish script (VOS). The Velsolobish script failed to represent all the sounds in Durtish, but it was favoured by the ruling folks. Lastly, during the reform of the 20th century, the Loksish script was adopted. There was an attempt to revive the Old Dutronish script instead, but it's currently reserved for artistic purposes and by the Bond of the Dutronish Thedes - BDT {Union of the Dutronish Nations}.

MSD writing system is a phonemic script, which each sound represented by a single symbol. RDT used the existent Loksish letters, particularly, the variant used in Hesporland, Nevertheless, it follows a different a layout. In the following tables, the names of the letters are shown. Durtish letters are set up accounting for a shared feature. The RDT got inspiration from how Hembi letters are set up. Nevertheless, instead of place or articulation, the RDT arranged them following the manner of articulation and assigned a vowel sound to each consonantal group, instead of assigning the same vowel to all consonants. Other Dutronish languages also shifted the setup of their letter sets, thus got the name as the Dutronish Letter Layout.

Grammar
Durtish is an agglutinative tongue because of the use of affixes, more frequently suffixes than preffixes, to indicate the grammatical function of a word and to create new words. such as creating a verb or adjectives from a noun, or a noun from a verbal or adjective root. Durtish sentences follow a nominative-accusative alignment, the default word order is Subject-Object-Verb and is an exclusively head-final tongue. Thus, adjectives precede the nouns they modify, adverbs follow the Time-Manner-Place layout and postpositions are used to show other cases and relation between words not showed morphologically.

Classification
Nouns are classified according to animacy. Nouns can be animate or inanimate, although animacy doesn’t correspond to the state of living, but to the capability of movement. For example, trees are living things, but they are fixed on the ground, so they are considered inanimate. Conversely, rivers, brooks and streams are non-living things, but they represent a continuous flow of water, which is moving, thus they are considered animate nouns. The difference according to animacy isn’t shown by morphology, but rather it must be memorised. Nevertheless, there are some rules to determine if a noun is animate or inanimate:

Animate nouns

 * The word for living being: ulbër
 * Words ending in the agentive suffix: qospor - runner, asmunmër -  forester, idömör - fireman
 * Words to measure time: d – hour, d – minute, d – second, tusun - day (24 h), abjën - month, tepxen - year
 * Words for bodies of moving water or air: so - stream , mecip - river, rïnla – wind
 * Some natural phenomena: lant - rain, lantkën - storm (lit. big rain), d – earthquake.
 * The word for animal: görten (from Nombalish өгөөртэн - lit. air possessor)
 * Fast moving animals: ëzuk - lynx, keld - wolf, sräl - owl, käypix - barn owl, otkay - horse
 * Celestial bodies: tepäs - sun, abay - moon.

Inanimate nouns

 * Abstract nouns formed from adjectives and verbs: ulïña - entity, enelgä - goodness, tusunurga - dailiness
 * Instrumental nouns formed from adjectives and verbs: ulïmïr - lit. things used for living, combïr - tableware, qospur - running gear
 * Words used for specific parts of the day (24 h): geti - day (part of the day with sunlight), mado - night, rahïn - morning, fömprös - afternoon, agzañ - evening.
 * Words of geographical features and static water: d – mountain, d – valley, d – forest, d – jungle, d – lake, natës - sea.
 * Places: bat - place, höf - house
 * Other natural phenomena: idö - fire
 * Non-moving and slow-moving animals: d – star fish, d – coral, d – jellyfish
 * Word of materials: d – metal, d – wood, d – paper, d – stone.
 * Name of metals: ärdün - gold, këmïs - silver, tomul - iron.

Inflection
The dictionary-form of a noun can take up to three kinds of inflectional suffixes in the following order: Derivative suffixes can be attached to a word in between inflectional suffixes to change or add to the meaning of the word, and must follow vowel harmony.
 * Plural suffix
 * Suffix of possession
 * Case suffix

Number
Nouns can be countable or uncountable. Count nouns can be either singular or plural, the singular form being the unmarked form. In contrast, mass nouns need classifiers so they can be counted. The plural is marked by the suffix -(y)a2r, with an epenthetic y if the word ends in a vowel.

Words referring to people, body parts, animals, trees, fruits, pieces of clothes and geographical features are count nouns: Words referring to abstractions, some foods, metals, materials and some physical phenomena are mass nouns:
 * so - river > soy ar  - river s 
 * kis - tooth > kisär - t ee th
 * cüvi - sword > cüvij är  - sword s 
 * zän - time (as in the passing time)
 * sëf - water
 * ïdo - fire

Possession
As noted earlier, the suffixes of possession give the person (and number) of the possessor of what is named by the noun. When a word takes one of the endings of possession, the word becomes the name of something possessed, not possessing. The word for the possessor, if present, takes the genitive case ending.

Case
Durtish has 9 cases which derive from the 15 cases of Proto-Dutronish. It is one if the few Dutronish tongues that retained the vocative case. They follow vowel harmony and consonant assimilation. * These forms are also used when the words ends in d, t, m and ñ. For example: abzañ - evening > abzañnë - in the evening.
 * Nominative

The nominative case (shorthanded NOM) is the citation form of a noun in a dictionary (the noun class and word class is shown with subscript italics): Its basic use is to indicate the grammatical subject of a sentence:
 * Accusative

The accusative case (shorthanded ACC) is used to indicate the direct object of a verb in a sentence: It's used as the 'accusative of exclamation' in phrases that aren't complete sentences, as if dependent on an unstated verb: Lastly, some postpositions assign the accusative. See more. The dative case (shorthanded DAT) is used to indicate the indirect object of verb in a sentence: Some verbs govern the dative: Some postpositions assign the dative. See more. The genitive case (shorthanded GEN) is used to indicate that the noun is the possessor of something: Some postpositions assign the genitive. See more. The locative case (shorthanded LOC) is used to indicate location in place and time, which corresponds to the prepositions in, on and at. Proto-Dutronish differentiated the outer adessive and inner inessive, which merged during the transition to Old Durtish: Some postpositions assign the locative. See more. The ablative case (shorthanded ABL) is used to indicate movement away from, as well as a concept, object, act or event originating from an object, person, location, time or entity. It corresponds to the prepositions from and since.
 * Dative
 * Genitive
 * Locative
 * Ablative

Proto-Dutronish differentiated the outer ablative and inner elative cases, both of which merged during the transition to Old Durtish: It's also used as the 'ablative of comparison', being equivalent to the construction:

Some postpositions assign the ablative. See more. The lative case (shorthanded LAT) is used to indicate movement towards, into or onto something or some unspecific time. Proto-Dutronish differentiated the outer allative and inner illative cases, which merged during the transition to Old Durtish: Some postpositions assign the lative. See more. The instrumental case (shorthanded INS) is used to indicate the instrument or the means by which actions are accomplished, meaning ‘with’, ‘by’ and ‘by the means of’: Some postpositions assign the instrumental. See more. The vocative case (shorthanded VOC) is used to indicate that a noun (person, animal, object, etc.) is being addressed:
 * Lative
 * Instrumental
 * Vocative

Pronouns
Durtish, as all the Dutronish tongues, differentiates 1st, 2ndand 3rd person along with two personal numbers (singular and plural). Old Durtish was very sensitive to formality, with a strict T-V distinction in the 2nd person. It was favoured due to the highly aristocratic society of the Azdamish Rikedom, in which the tongue developed.

However, it has changed in recent times because of the development of better communications technologies, with people now favouring the philosophy of comradery and equality regardless of formal distinctions. Like most of the Dutronish tongues, Durtish makes the distinction of animacy in the 3rd person plural, the others being Lebernish and some Tukshetish tongues.

The 1st, 2nd informal and 3rd plural persons are irregular, whilst the 2nd person formal follow a regular pattern. It may lead to ambuiguities:


 * odax-äm-är - your (sing.) trees
 * odax-ämär - your (plur.) tree

In Azdamish Durtish, there were some irregularities due to the adoption of loanwords. However, the DTA dropped the use of these irregular forms in favour of regular ones. Despite of these, the folks in the southwestern regions of Durtland still use the irregular forms. 1 In the irregular form, the vowels are unrounded: lënë, lïnë, lënarë, lïnarë. This is the result of the adoption of the words lono from Velsish laano - wood (material). Through analogy, the 3rd person inanimate singular and both 3rd person plural pronouns changed their uttering.

2 In the irregular form, the vowels are rounded: vönü, zönü, vüstü, züstü. This is the result of the adoption of the words zeni from Olobish zeeniy - holy. Through analogy, the 1st person singular, the 1st person plural and the 2nd person plural informal changed their uttering.

3 In the irregular form, the vowels are higher: zëmnir, zëmardïr. This is the result of the adoption of the word zämvir from Velsish zamvir - vizier ( a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the Behomatish world).

Adjectives
Adjectives are words that modify a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or referent of pronoun. They derive from stative verbs and from nouns by the use of derivative suffixes. Unlike nouns, adjectives do not inflect for number, possession or case. Some of them inflect for class, except when they are used in the predicate.

Classification
Adjectives can be descriptive or determinative and follow a specific order:
 * 1) determiner
 * 2) numeral
 * 3) intensifier (adverb of degree)
 * 4) opinion
 * 5) size
 * 6) age
 * 7) shape
 * 8) colour
 * 9) proper adjective (e.g. nationality, origin, material)
 * 10) noun adjective (adjective derived form a noun)

Descriptive adjectives
As the name suggests, descriptive adjectives show a quality of the noun they modify. They can be used in two ways and have three degrees of comparison.

Uses
Descriptive adjectives can be used in two ways, attributively and predicatively. These are part of the noun phrase headed by the noun they modify. The suffixes -(y)e4n and -(y)i4n is attached to the stem to indicate and adjective is used attributively with animate and inanimate nouns respectively. Since Durtish is a head-final tongue, attributive adjectives always precede the noun they modify. These are linked to the noun or pronoun they modify by a copula, therefore, no suffix is added. They always succeed the noun or pronoun they modify. For example: enel - good and rahïnïz - morning. The adjective rahïnïz derives from the noun rahïn - morning (period of the day between sunrise and noon). More about derivative morphology is shown further.
 * Attributive adjectives
 * Predicative adjectives

Comparison
Descriptive adjectives have three levels of comparison: positive, comparative and superlative. The comparative form is formed by adding the suffix -n3a2c to the adjective and the object takes the ablative case. This form is used when comparing two nouns. For example: The comparative form is formed by adding the suffix -(y)e4m to the adjective and the object, if stated, takes the genitive case. For example:
 * Comparative
 * Superlative

Determinative adjectives
These adjectives are used to indicate proximity to the speaker accounting for time, place and person. They also indicate de definiteness of nouns. They include the demonstrative, definite, indefinite, interrogative and quantifier adjectives.

Demonstrative adjectives
Demonstrative adjectives are used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish those entities from others. Their meaning depends on a particular frame of reference and cannot be understood without context. Durtish makes a three-way distinction of demonstratives: In English, the likely translation is:
 * Proximal pon/pun – this/these, indicates nouns close to the speaker.
 * Medial son/sun – that/those, indicates nouns close to the listener
 * Distal alon/alun - yon/yonder, indicates nouns far from both the speaker and the listener

Demonstratives share etymology with the pronouns, although the RDT adopted the demonstratives used in the Palgorish tongue. When creating adverbs with the demonstratives, they undergo anticipatory asymmetrical vowel harmony.
 * tsun - day (24 h) > putsun - today
 * zän - time > pözän - now

Definite and indefinite adjectives
All nouns in Durtish do not inflect according to definiteness. These adjectives convey this information instead. Thus, they act like articles. These adjectives include the definite, universal, assertive existencial, elective existencial and the negative determiners. All these determiners, without the attributive suffixes, can be combined with some nouns to create definite and indefinite pronouns. They undergo backwards vowel harmony. Bound to other nouns, these adjectives form adverbs:
 * ben/bin - the, certain (definite, shares etymology with the verb bïnëk - to know a thing)
 * sïtën/sïtïn - every (universal, shares etymology with the adjective sat - whole)
 * hägen/hägin - each (distributive, shares etymology with the distributive suffix -a2g)
 * pölön/pölün - a, an, some (assertive existencial, shares etymology with pür - one)
 * peren/perin - any, -ever (elective existencial, shares etymology with pür - one)
 * yakën/yakïn - no (negative, share etymology with the word yuk - no)
 * sitneznä - everything
 * sïtkïxë - everyone (lit. every person)
 * yäkteznä - nothing
 * yakñïxë - no one
 * sitsän - always (contracted from sïtën zän - every time)
 * yäksän - never (contracted from jakën zän - no time)
 * sïtpat - everywhere (contracted from sïtïn bat - every place)
 * yakpat - nowhere (contracted from jakïn bat - every place)

Interrogative adjectives
These adjectives are used to form questions, they are equivalent to the English wh-words and German W-Fragewörter: Similar to definite and indefinite determiner, the interrogative determiner is used with some nouns to create interrogative pronouns or 'questions words':
 * Macon? - which? it's used for animate nouns
 * Macun? - which? it's used for inanimate nouns
 * Mäcteznä? - what? (contracted from macun deznä? - which thing?)
 * Mackïxë? - who? (contracted from macon gïxë? - which person?)
 * Macsuru? - what for? (contracted from macun sur-u? - to which reason?)
 * Macsurus? - why? (contracted from macun sur-us? - of which reason?)
 * Machefte? - how? (contracted from macun cef-te? - in which manner?)
 * Macpatnë? - where? (contraction of macun bat-në? - in/at which place?)
 * Macpatnëñ? - whence?/from where? (contracted macun bat-nën? - from which place?)
 * Macpatnïr? - whither?/towards where? ( contracted from macun bat-nïr? - towards which place?)
 * Mäcsände? - when? ( contracted from macon zän-de? - at which time?)
 * Mäcsändeñ? - since when? ( contracted from macon zän-den? - since which time?)
 * Mäcsändir? - towards when? (contracted from macon zän-dir? - to which time?)
 * Mäctük? - how much/many? (contracted from macun tük? - which quantity?

Quantifier adjectives
They are used to indicate quantity, but vaguely. Some quantifiers are definite and indefinite adjectives used with plural nouns or mass nouns (since they cannot be counted with numerals). These are: Some adverbs of quantity and degree may function also as determiners.
 * sïtën/sïtïn - all
 * pölön/pölün - some
 * peren/perin - any
 * yakën/yakïn - no
 * xugon/xugun - much/many
 * ësën/ësïn - little/few

Numerals
Numerals are words that describes a numerical quantity. They are a group words on their own because they can act both as nouns and adjectives. The number system in Durtish functions on the base 12 (it's a dozenal system). The Durtish system groups numbers in myriads, uses the dot [.] as myriad separator and the comma [,] as dozenal separator. The basic forms are called cardinal numerals. When acting as proper nouns, the first word is written in upper case and can take any inflectional suffix. When used as determiners, they do not inflect according to noun class. When writing multiples of 10, umal is attached to the multiplier cardinal and undergoes vowel harmony, creating the suffix -(y)u2ma2l: And so forth. When writing multiples of 100, ösed is attached to the multiplier cardinal and undergoes vowel harmony, creating the suffix -(y)o2se2d. And so forth. When writing multiples of 1000, ärit is attached to the multiplier cardinal and undergoes vowel harmony, creating the suffix -(y)a2ri2t. And so forth. When writing multiples of 1.00, ëwon (from old Olobish هون /hawun/) is attached to the multiplier cardinal and undergoes vowel harmony, creating the suffix -(y)e2wo2n. Powers of ten are attached to the pür one: Units follow multiples of ten; powers of ten come in descending order from left to right. Numbers are grouped with hyphens in sets of thousands:
 * Cardinal numerals
 * 10 (12) - pürümäl - one dozen
 * 100 (144) - pürösed - one hundred
 * 1000 (1728) - pürärit - one thousand
 * 1.0000 (20,736) - pürewön - one myriad
 * 10.0000 (248,832) - pürümälewön - one dozen myriads
 * 100.0000 (2,985,984) - pürösedewön - one hundred myriads
 * 1000.0000 (35,831,808) - püräritewön - one thousand myriads
 * 1.0000.0000 (429,981,696) - pürewönewön - one myriad myriads
 * 11↊4 (1,996) - pürärit-pürösed-daxëyumal-tac


 * 1220 (2,040) - pürärit-guzosëd-gusumal

In the last sentence, ba - and is used between the sets of thousands and represents the dot. This is a regular rule. They are formed adding the suffix -(y)e4x to the name of the number. When using the number symbols, the suffix is attached with an apostrophe: Ordinal numbers behave like descriptive adjectives, and thus must take the attributive suffixes. They are formed adding the suffix -(y)i4m to the name of the number. When using the number symbols, the suffix is attached with an apostrophe: Fractional numbers behave like nouns, thus can take the case suffixes. They are formed adding the suffix -h3e4t to the name of the number. When using the number symbols, the suffix is attached with an apostrophe: Multiplier numbers behave like descriptive adjectives, and thus must take the attributive suffixes. They are formed adding the suffix -(y)a2g to the name of the number. When using the number symbols, the suffix is attached with an apostrophe: Distributive numbers behave like nouns, thus they can take any inflectional and derivative suffixes.
 * 1204 (2020, the year of the creation of the Durtish tongue) - pürärit-guzosëd-tac - two thousand and twenty or twenty twenty
 * 247 (343, the speed of sound in air at 20ºC in m/s) - guzosëd-tacumal-qëvï - two hundred and forty-three
 * 8449.700ᘔ (299,792,458, the speed of light in space in m/s) - sugoyarït-tacosëd-tacumal-tiköyewön ba qëvïyarït-daxë - two hundred ninety-nine million seven hundred ninety-two thousand four hundred fifty-eight.
 * Ordinals numerals
 * Fractional numerals
 * Multiplier numerals
 * Distributive numerals

Adverbs
Adverbs are indeclinable words that are used to specify when, how and where an event occurs. There are five types of adverbs in Durtish. The three main types are:

Adverbs of time
Adverbs of time describe ‘when’ an event takes place. Locative phrases may also serve as adverbs of time. They are usually formed by using the locative case of the plural forms of words like morning, afternoon, evlthough grammatically correct, a homely English speaker would say: ening. For example:
 * putsun - today (contracted from pun tsun - this day)
 * durtsun - tomorrow (previously, the word rahïn was used for this meaning, but it was replaced by the word coined by the DTA)
 * pözän - now (contracted from pon zän - this time)
 * sözän - then (conracted from son zän - that time)
 * sitsän - always
 * yäksän - never
 * rahïn - morning > rahïnardë - in the mornings
 * agzañ - evening > agzañardë - in the evenings

Adverbs of manner
Adverbs of manner express ‘how’ an event happens. Mostly, adverbs of manner derive from adjectives by adding the suffix -(y)3a2m. 
 * enel - good > eneläm - well
 * tsunjos - daily > tsunjosam - every day from the noun tsun - day (24 h)
 * durtxos - Durtish (adjective) > durtxosam - Durtishly or in a Durtish way (adverb) from the word Durt - Durt

Adverbs of place
Adverbs of place describe “where” an event takes place. Locative phrases may also serve as adverbs of place. For example: There are also other types of adverbs, or rather subtypes:
 * pubat - here (contracted from pun bat - this place)
 * subat - there (contracted from sun bat - that place)
 * Durtoltandë - in Durtland
 * Velsöltände - in Velsland

Adverbs of degree and quantity
These adverbs express ‘how much’ or to ‘what extent’ an event happens or something is. They modify adjectives, verbs and other adverbs. They are of sub-type of adverbs of manner.
 * xugam - very
 * xugdacam - more
 * xugñoyam - most
 * ësam - slightly
 * ëstacam - less
 * ëskëyam - least

Adverbs of frequency
These adverbs express ‘how often’ an event happens. They are a sub-type of adverbs of time.
 * pözänär - sometimes
 * xügzänär - many times
 * jaqam - often (shares etymology with xug - much/many)
 * dekiläm - frequently (from Velsish دکیل /deki:l/ - frequent)
 * esränär - few times
 * yözäm - seldom (shares etymology with ës - little/few)
 * motïlam - rarely (from Velsish ماطیل /mɒːti:l/ - rare)

Adverbs of cause and effect
These adverbs express ‘why’ (the cause)

Verbs
Verbs are words that convey an action, an event or state of being. They almost always come at the end of the sentence. They inflect according to tense, aspect and mood, voice and polarity (TAMVP). There is no agreement to gender or number, thus Durtish does not allow pronoun dropping.

Classification
Verbs in Durtish can be either stative or dynamic. In addition, verbs can either be intransitive, transitive or ditransitive. Further classification is according to telicity, which determines which aspects a verb may inflect to.

Stative verbs
Stative verbs express static states. These verbs include the locative copula väyek - to stand (in the sense of the Romance verbs estar, stare and a sta) and others like:
 * zifek - to love
 * baduyok - to see
 * äxidek - to hear

Dynamic verbs
Dynamic verbs express change, action provoked or actively upheld by the subject. These verbs include the attributive copula ulok - to be (in the sense of the Romance verbs ser, essere, ésser and a fi) and others like:
 * qosok - to run
 * gümpök - to build
 * jadëk - to help

Intransitive verbs
Intransitive verbs do not allow a direct object but rather adverbs or adverbial constructions: Some intransitive verbs allow for objects, either in the accusative case or dative case:
 * (eneläm) pëyoyak - to grow (well)
 * xerfülök - to shine
 * Ven zen- i jodas - I help you (as in German ich helfe di- r )

In general, intransitive verbs often involve weather terms, involuntary processes, states, bodily functions, motion, action processes, cognition, sensation, and emotion.
 * Ven zen- e baduyas - I see you (as in German ich sehe di- ch )

Transitive verbs
Transitive verbs require a direct object: Some transitive verbs are treated as intransitive in the indicative perfective present (which acts as a gnomic aspect). See the section about mood, tense and aspect for more information: Bite is a transitive verb but when used in the perfective present, it acts as an intransitive verb.
 * upsok - to do/to perform (this verb can be used to refer to a verb mentioned previously. It's a feature borrowed from the Grumavish tongues like Amblish and Teudonish)
 * gëtëk - to look at/to watch
 * täñiyek - to listen
 * Barking dogs seldom bite

Ditransitive verbs
Ditransitive verbs require both a direct object and an indirect object, which correspond to the accusative case and dative case, respectively. These verbs allow the questions What? and Whom? and include: to give, to pass, to hand, to send, to say, to read, to write.
 * Lon vis- i xeybebingi- ye ïksañëgavas - He is teaching math (DO) to us (IO)

Conjugation
Verbs can conjugated in finite and non-finite forms. Non-finite forms usually act as nouns or adjectives. They are also used in dependent clauses:

Infinitive
The infinitive form is used as the dictionary form of the verbs. It consists on the root (which is usually a noun, but also an adjective) + -(y)e4k. For example:
 * zif - love > zifek - to love
 * häzhä - life > häzhäyek - to live
 * firñek - to reside/to bedwell/to inhabit
 * ïksañëk - to learn
 * ülpenek - to study.
 * sädbiyek - to exit/to get out
 * üftök - to want

Gerund
The gerund is a non-finite form that transforms a verb into a verbal noun that act as nominals. It consists on the stem + -m3o4. Verbs in this form can take the possessive and case suffixes. For example: Another example: Although grammatically correct, a home English speaker would say: I want you to study here.

Participle
The participles in Durtish act as adjectives. They are formed by adding the attributive suffix -(y)e/i4n to the conjugated form of the verb. For example: This is a metaphor, which means that the person moves fast and nimbly, like a lynx. Since Durtish only allows one finite verb in a sentence, the participles are used to express more complex ideas.

Finite verbal forms
The finite conjugations of verbs are created by attaching different suffixes to the stem. The order of the suffixes is the following: Tenses will be shown before the other features for practical purposes.

Tense
The tense indicates the time when the action is performed relative to the speaker. The tense suffixes go at the end of the word.

Polarity
The default conjugation of verbs are affirmative or positive, but the suffix -(y)a2x, which derives from the word yax meaning yes, is used for answering yes-no questions or for emphasis. For negative statements, the suffix -(y)i4k is used, which derives from the word yuk meaning no For example: Other example In this case, the speaker is either trying to emphasise that they ran to a place or is answering to a question.

Voice
There are three voices in Durtish, the active, the passive and the middle (reflexive) voices. Here is seen the SOV word order, which is the default word order of simple sentences. The agentive postpositional phrase zeni aptën - by you isn't necessary for the sentence to make sense. This voice rose from the previous use of the attributive copula ulok, which became attached to the verb stem. This voice corresponds to the use of reflexive pronouns in English, which is the form used in Viyaro-Elomish tongues. In the past, the middle voice was shown by a particle haz - self, which then became attached to the verb stem as the suffix. Nowadays, the pronoun haz is used as a postposition that takes the possessive suffixes in some phrases like the following one: This phrase may have the meaning that speaker can see the sun for his/her benefit or by his own means depending of the context. Moreover, there is an example in the phrase of a proper name with a case suffix and the apostrophe between noun and the suffix. Meanwhile, using the causative suffix:
 * Active voice is the default, so no suffix is used. For example:
 * Passive voice is formed by adding the suffix -(y)i4l just before the tense-aspect-mood suffixes. For example:
 * The middle or reflexive voice is used when the subject of the statement is both the agent and the patient of the verb. It's formed by adding the suffix -(y)a2z to the verb stem. For example:
 * The causative voice is used in a similar fashion to the construction in English make + noun/pronoun + to-verb. In English, as well as in many Indo-European tongues, causative verbs usually come in pairs, as the pair to learn - to teach. In Durtish, there is the causative suffix -(y)e4g but in recent times, the construction infinitve + yögök, which means to cause in Durtish, is more commonly used.

Aspect
The aspect of the verb indicates when the action is performed relative to a certain point of time. In this example, the aorist meaning is conveyed. This sentence informs the listener that a person does not eat meat at all, and not merely that s/he happens not to be eating meat at that very moment. For that purpose, the imperfective aspect is used. Another example: In this sentence, the semelfactive meaning is conveyed with the aid of the adverbial phrase pür gäläne - once/one occasion. The message is the the speakers ate pork at some point of the past just once and they liked it. One last example:
 * The perfective aspect denotes one-time and momentary actions at some indeterminate time. No suffix is used. It corresponds to the English simple present, simple past and future. Verbs using this aspect also denotes aorist actions.

In this sentence, the message is that the listener will eat some apricots at a specific point in the future and the speaker is certain that the listener will like it. Atelic verbs often convey an imperfect meaning, although can be conjugated in the imperfective aspect in order to emphasise that the actions is taking place in the very moment the speaker is referring to. For example, the perfective aspect is used in the following sentence: A homely English speaker would say ''I enjoy eating apricots. ''This is an example of the use of the genitive case as the partitive case. Meanwhile, the imperfective aspect is used in the following sentence: In this sentence the speaker makes emphasis in the fact that the speaker is enjoying both the company of the listener and eating apricots in that very moment.
 * The imperfective aspect denotes progressive and continuous actions. It's indicated by adding the suffix -(y)e4v before the tense suffix. This suffix rose from an old verb meaning to go but then became attached to the verb stem to convey the imperfective aspect.

Verbs conjugated in both the past tense and imperfective aspect gives place to the English imperfect, found in many tongues around the word. For example: Modern English: I've eaten two apricots. It corresponds to the English perfect, although the precise translation is I have just eaten two apricots. It's used to indicate recent past events, like in French venir de + infinitive or in Spanish acabar de + infinitive. It corresponds to the English pluperfect. Although a homely English speaker would say ''They will have this done. ''It corresponds to the English future perfect. It corresponds to the English constructions would + infitinitve, be/was/were going + infinitve and be about + infinitive. The suffix comes from an old verb meaning to become. Another example:
 * The retrospective aspect or perfect aspect denotes that an action occurred before another action. It corresponds to the English construction have + past participle. It's indicated by adding the suffix -(y)e4d before the tense suffix:
 * The prospective aspect denotes that an action will occur after another action. It's indicated by adding the suffix -(y)i4p before the tense suffix. For example:

Other aspects, like the inchoactive, cessative, gnomic and habitual aspects are sometimes indicated by adverbs or by syntax instead of morphology.

Mood
There are three main moods in Durtish: the indicative, the subjunctive and the imperative. The indicative mood can be further divided according to evidentiality, with the direct indicative being the default form and the indirect indicative being shown by an affix. Verbs that convey sensory actions (to see, to hear, to touch) use this level of evidentiality. In English, the adverbs apparently, maybe and perhaps would have been used to convey that sense of inference as well as the verbal construction seem + infinitive. In Durtish, the equivalent adverbs can be used. But if there is enough context, they may be committed. The indirect forms may also be used to indicate mirativity (surpirse), irony and doubt. The speaker is surprised by the fact that an specific tree closer to the listener hasn't grow well. The subject of the command takes the vocative case instead of the nominative. If the adressee is mentioned
 * The direct indicative mood is used when the speaker has the certainty of some event and the information is acquired by some of the five senses. This level includes sensory and witness evidence.
 * The indirect indicative is used when the speaker isn't certain about the information he or she is transmitting. This level includes reported, non-witness and inferential evidence. It's formed by attaching the prefix -(y)i4j to the stem.
 * The subjunctive mood is used to express various states of unreality such as: wish, emotion, possibility, suggestions, judgement and opinion. Old Omberish Durtish had an optative mood, which merged with thee It's formed by adding the suffix -(y)e4f to the verb stem.
 * The imperative mood is used to indicate orders, commands and exhortations. It's formed by adding the suffix -(y)e4g to the verb stem. For example:

The imperative also functions as the hortative and jussive modes with the first and the third person. In this sentence, the imperative is used as the hortative mood. In this sentence, the imperative is used as the jussive mood.

Modal verbs
There are other grammatical moods that are expressed through the use of modal verbs. These verbs are conjugated in any of the marked moods plus the infinitive of the lexical verb in order to express different modalities.
 * imelek - can, to know how to, to be able to
 * ëbarëk - may, be permitted to, be enabled to
 * esülök - to be possible to
 * anuyok - to hope, to hope for, to have the hope 
 * kïlëgëk - need, to have the need to
 * äpörök - must, to have to, be obliged to, ought to
 * ditäyek - to wish, to desire

Derivation
Derivative morphology is done by the use of affixes, such as inflectional morphology. They also undergo vowel harmony and consonant assimilation.

Noun derivation Verb derivation Adjective derivation Adverb derivation
 * -ñ3i4k: it's used for creating abstract nouns from verbs and adjectives, like in English -hood, -(i)ty, -ness and -ship.
 * -l3i4d: it's used to create agentive nouns from verbs and nouns, usually denotes professions, like the English suffix -er.
 * -m3i4r: it's used to create instruments from verbs, like the English suffix -er.
 * -(y)i4m: it's used to form fractional numerals
 * -(y)a2g: it's used to form distributive numerals, shares etymology with the word hïg - group
 * -(y)e4k: it's used to form verbs from nouns and adjectives
 * -(y)i4z: it's used to form adjectives meaning 'pertaining to' or 'related to'.
 * -l3e4s: it's used to from adjectives meaning 'like', 'similar to' or 'with the characteristics of", like the English suffixes -ly, -ish and -like.
 * -ñ3a2t: it's used to from adjectives meaning 'full of' or 'with' like the English suffixes -ful or -y.
 * -m3e4y: it's used to from adjectives meaning 'empty of' or 'without', like the English suffix -less.
 * -(y)e4x: it's used to form ordinal numerals
 * -h3e4t: it's used to form multiplier numerals
 * -(y)a2m: it's used to create adverbs from adjectives and nouns, like the English suffixes -ly and -wise.

Particles
In Durtish, particle words are used to covey more information not indicated only by morphology. The most common particles are:
 * yax - yes
 * yuk - no

Postpositions
The postpositions are words used to express spatial or temporal relations or mark various semantic roles. The same postpositions can be used with the different cases to convey different meanings.

With the accusative case: With the dative case:
 * las - for (accusative of duration of time)
 * tëm - against
 * dïn - approximately, circa
 * oñ - as a(n) (essive case)
 * las - for, for the benefit of, intended for (benefactive case)
 * tëm - to, in order to (dative of purpose, cause-final case)

With the genitive case: With the locative case: With the ablative case: With the lative case: With the instrumental
 * dïn - according to, in line with, on basis of
 * nuz - per, for each (distributive case)
 * las - of (partitive case)
 * tëm - because, because of, due to (genitive of cause, causal case)
 * dïñ - about, on the subject of
 * nüz - through (perlative, prolative case)
 * laz - along, by the length of, in a line with the length of, lengthwise next to
 * dïn - around
 * las - off, away from
 * tëm - beginning from (egressive case)
 * oñ - from (exessive case)
 * las - near, by, close to, in the proximity of
 * tëm - as far as, up to (terminative case)
 * oñ - into (translative case)


 * las - with, in the company of, alongside (commitative case, sociative case, ornative case)
 * tëm - without (abbesive case, privative case)
 * dïn - in contact with (pertingent case)

Conjunctions

 * bay - and
 * vüd - or (inclusive)
 * jö - or (exclusive)
 * ñel - but
 * ñel - but

Basic verbs

 * hoyëk - to eat
 * binsek - to feed
 * bixek - to drink
 * gäyxek - to live (be alive, reside, dwell)
 * fozvëk - to like/to enjoy

People

 * qejmi - person, human being (as opposed to deities, beasts, asf)
 * vësïr - man, human male

Food

 * binsä - food
 * hoy - meal
 * enit - meat (uncountable). It can be attached to words referring to animals to convey the meaning of meat from that particular animal.
 * asku - water
 * askuhoy - broth, soup

Animals

 * ütkex - horse
 * voxlak - lynx
 * karlut - wolf
 * kunëp - dog
 * qästi - cat
 * bölkäx - owl
 * pantë - otter
 * pezda - weasel
 * pernin - ermine

Plants, fruits, vegetables
Plants are inanimate nouns.


 * odax - tree
 * jümeg - flower
 * lëmba - apple
 * farut - pear
 * gipäs - apricot
 * mälik - plum
 * tunja - orange

Colours
Colours derive from the genitive of nouns which are of the same colour they represent plus the suffix -le4s. They are considered descriptive adjectives, thus they can take the attributive suffixes -(j)e4m/-(j)i4m and the nominalising suffixes -e4kh/-i4kh:
 * sïnhïnlës - red (lit. 'in the manner of blood')
 * jöfünlös - green (lit. 'in the manner of the leaf')
 * vusunlos - blue (lit. 'in the manner of the sky')
 * nümbünlös - black (lit. 'in the manner of the night')
 * oplajïnlës - white (lit. 'in the manner of the light')
 * rethöjünlös - grey (lit. 'in the manner of ash')
 * malvunlos - magenta (lit 'in the manner of the fuchsia')
 * tepstinles - yellow (lit. 'in the manner of the sun')
 * läshekinles - cyan (lit. 'in the manner of lapis lazuli')
 * gejäkinles - orange (lit 'in the manner of the apricot')
 * azhïmïnlës - navy blue (lit. 'in the manner of the ocean')
 * rëdhojunlos - rose red (lit. 'in the manner of the rose')

Time

 * zän - time (uncountable), from Old Durtish zehen
 * gälä - time (countable)/occasion, from Olobish gele
 * tsun  (a loanword from Sorish, originally цунь / tsun/) - day (24 h)
 * abzhën - month (lit. moon time which was the measure of time for the moon to complete its cycle)
 * tepshen - year (lit sun cycle)
 * yöstepshen - century
 * fäntepshen - millenium
 * gite - day (period of the day between sunrise and sunset)
 * gitlüd - noon/midday
 * mado - night (period of the day between sunset and sunrise)
 * madlud - midnight
 * rahïn - morning
 * fömprös (a Classical Loksish feneperis, which in Loksish means evening) - afternoon
 * agzanh - evening

Places

 * dahëf (from the Proto-Olobish root dahaaf) - settlement. In Azdamish Durtish, dahëf means city, but in Modern Durtish, it has been reanalysed as any type of settlement (village, town, city)
 * bänd - city
 * mozband - capital (lit. head city)
 * oltan (from the Proto-Dutronish root altan) - land/country. It's used to create the names of countries and sub-national divisions.
 * bäriz (from the Ancient Atherish root bariz) - town.

Politics

 * x - land (country)
 * x - ledewealth (republic)
 * x - rike (emperor)
 * x - rikedom (empire)
 * x - boundland (federation)
 * x - bound leadmoot (federal cabinet)
 * x - bound lawmoot (federal parliament)
 * x - house of the boundrede (house of the federal council)
 * x - house of the bound foregathering (house of the federal assembly)
 * x - bound doomhouses (federal courts)
 * x - thane (minister)
 * x - fistthane (prime minister)
 * x - steward (chancellor)
 * x - foresitter (president)

Miscellaneous

 * cët - layer

Evolution
Although literacy rates increased thanks to the standardisation of Durtish, the use of the Loksish script and the educational initiatives of the Durtish government, there is a new phenomenon that has been occurring in recent times. As linguists have noticed since their discipline was formally established, tongues don't remain static, but rather they evolve according to the social context of the people who speak them.

One of theses processes of evolution concerns the change in morphological typology. For instance, Durtish is a highly agglutinative tongue, a feature made easy by its system of vowel and consonant harmony. But, with the popularisation of mobile phones and the social media and an increasing access to Internet, it has been acquiring features of fusional and analytical tongues.

For example: 1 Modern Standard Durtish 2 Modern Colloquial Durtish

When comparing the two versions, one can easily notice the differences. Another example of MCD: When analysing the two versions, the following changes are noticed: In Modern English: This tree grows well with sunlight. When analysing the two versions, the following changes are noticed:
 * Firstly, the first and second singular pronouns in MCD ve and se have lost the final -n.
 * Then, the 2nd person genitive zis is used as a possessive with the attributive suffix -in
 * The direct object geyäsär - apricots doesn't take the accusative suffix -e. Instead, MCD relies more in word order to differentiate the subject and the direct object. The accusative suffix is only used with definite direct objects.
 * At last, the verb hoñkït is the result of sound changes, vowel loss and contraction: c/q > h at the beginning of words, the final -a of the stem has been lost and the negative suffix and past tense suffix in MSD -yïkït has been contracted into -kït in MCD. The m in the stem was assimilated to ñ before the velar stop k.
 * Firstly, the 2nd person plural zeyär is a regular plural from ze - thou.
 * The demonstrative has merged with the noun rahïn to create the adverb purahïn - this morning.
 * The word for maths in the underwent some vowel changes that affected all words: clusters of consonants in the same manner of articulation aren't allowed, so the b of -bey became v in -vey-. Then again, because it functions as as an indefinite direct object, it doesn't take the accusative suffix -e.
 * Lastly, in the verb, the vowel of the negative suffix has been lost and the nasal at the end of the verb stem has been assimilated to a velar nasal ñ before k.
 * Firstly, as shown in the previous sentence, the sh has turned into s in the demonstrative.
 * MCD does not uses the attributive suffixes -e4n and -i4n with adjectives that are not determiners, but rather relies in word order. When used attributively, adjectives always the precede the noun they modify.
 * In the word for sunlight, the -ä- of tepäs- has been lost.
 * The adverb meaning well hasn't changed.
 * Lastly, in the verb, the final a of the verb stem has been lost.