Old Shax

General Information
Shax is the main Lingua Franca of the country of Mauritania (note: the Mauritania is not the real-world Mauritania, the Islamic Republic of, but the Republic of Mauritania, a con-state, with its English name, Mauritania, coming after the ancient Roman province of the same name. In this universe, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania is called the Islamic State of Agawej, after the berber name for it.).

Mauritania consists of, in modern day terms, Morocco, the provinces of Tangier-Tetouan, Taza-Al Hoceima-Taounate, Oriental, Fès-Boulemane, Gharb-Chrarfa-Béni Hssen, Meknès-Tafilalet, Chaouia-Ouardigha, Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer, Grand Casablanca, Doukkala-Abda, Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz, Tadla-Azilal, and Souss-Massa-Drâa, and all the provinces of Algeria except Tindouf, Adrar, Tamanghasset, Illizi, Ouargla, El Oued, and Tébessa.

In Mauritania, there are many languages. The official language is Shax. Recognized minority languages are Kayble Berber, Tashelhit Berber, Spanish, French, Moroccan colloquial Arabic, and Algerian colloquial Arabic.

Sound Changes
These are the sound changes from original Antiquity Latin. Note: they're al in order
 * 1) V = vowel
 * 2) ´ (acute accent) = stressed syllable
 * 3) ` (grave accent) = unstressed syllable

Antiquity > Vulgar

 * Removal of phonemic legnth (ex: [eː] > [e])
 * Vowel Shift
 * e, ɪ > e
 * o, ʊ > o
 * e > ɪ/_V
 * ɑi̯ > ɛ
 * ɑu̯ > o
 * oi̯ > e
 * h > ∅
 * syncope
 * n, m > ∅/syllable-final
 * w, b > β>V_V
 * regularization of irregular nouns
 * emphasis of gendered nouns
 * Vulgar Laitn words
 * e, i > j/_V
 * o, u > w/_V

Vulgar > Western Romance

 * s > es/#_
 * m > ∅/_#
 * ns > s
 * er > re/_#
 * or > ro/_#
 * syncope
 * e, i > j/in hiatus
 * kj > kkj
 * dj, gj > j
 * kj, tj > tsj
 * kkj > ttsj
 * kt > jt
 * ks > js
 * ɛ́ > ie/open syllable
 * ɔ́ > uo/open syllable
 * (p, t, k) > (b, d, g)/V_V, r
 * (b, d, g) > (v, ð, ʝ)/V_V, r
 * ts > dz/V_V, r
 * pl > bl/V_V
 * (t, d) > (d, ð)/V_#
 * jn, nj, gn, ŋn, ngj > ɲ
 * jl, gl > ʎ
 * syncope

Western Romance > Meghrebian Romance

 * s > ∅/_#
 * β > v
 * ʎ > ʝ; ɟ/CV́_
 * ʝ > ɟ
 * V́ > V̀/_ɲ, ʎ, ɟ
 * è, ì > ɪ
 * ò, ù > ʊ
 * ɛ, é > ɛ̝
 * ɔ, ó > ɔ̝
 * á > æ
 * simplification of geminates
 * simplification of affricates to fricatives
 * (sj, zj) > (ʃ, ʒ)
 * (s, z) > (ʃ, ʒ)/__(i, ɪ, ɛ̝́)
 * kʷɔ̝, kʷu > ku
 * k > h/V_ɛ̝, ɔ̝, a, æ, ʊ
 * k > ∅/V_i, ɪ
 * Arabic Words

Meghrebian Romance > Shax

 * æ̀ > ɪ
 * ʊ́ > ɔ̝
 * ʊ̀ > u
 * r > l/open stressed syllables
 * l > r/open unstressed syllables
 * g > ʁ/V_V́
 * ʕ > ∅
 * ħ > h
 * ʁ > h
 * ʔ > h
 * tˤ, dˤ, sˤ, zˤ > t, d, s, z
 * q > h/open unstressed syllble-final
 * Lenition
 * Voiced
 * b > m/_#
 * d > n/_#
 * g > ŋ/_#
 * Voiceless
 * p > f
 * t > s
 * k > h
 * q > χ
 * ɪ, a > ∅/n, m_C (unstressed syllable)
 * ɪ, a > ə/C_ŋ, fricative (unstressed syllable)

Syllable Formation
(C)(G)V(C)

where G = glide

Stress
Stress is not phonemic.

Alphabet
¹Before I, E, and Y

² Only occurs with the sound change ɪ, a > ə/C_ŋ, fricative (unstressed syllable)

Diacritics
¹ Used when the ɪ, a > ə/C_ŋ, fricative (unstressed syllable) sound doesn't apply

² Used when it is an [ɛ̝] from the Arabic letter ة (tā’ marbūṭa)

Case
There are 3 cases in Shax: the nominative, oblique, and genitive. The Shax nominative represents the nominative, vocative, and prepositional. The oblique represents the accusative, dative, and ablative. The genitive represents just the genitive. The nominative is left unmarked. The oblique is made with articles. The genitive is made with declensions and a zero article. The oblique is taken from the accusative form.

Plural
Nouns can either be singular or plural. Plural nouns are declined. The plural form is taken from the Latin dative, contrary to other western romance languages that take it form the accusative. Article plurals are taken from the 1st declension plural for feminine and 4th declension plural for masculine.

Gender
There are two genders: the masculine and feminine. The masculine and neuter of original latin were combined. The distinction is usually very regular as most feminine nouns end in either T, A, or É. Irregular feminine nouns do still exist, but the article usually makes that clear.

Article
Articles decline to case, gender, plural, and definiteness. There main purpose though is to distinguish the oblique case and definiteness.

Indefinite
The indefinite article in Shax comes from the Antiquity Latin word ūnus meaning "one".

Definitie
The indefinite article in Shax comes from the Antiquity Latin word ille meaning "that".