Jasost

General Information
Jasost is the mother-language of the Jasos kingdom. Jasost is also the most widely spoken West-Paal language and is the prominent trade language.

Jasost 'proper' is spoken predominantly in the capital peninsula Jalihin with three primary dialects: the northern Jaqquin dialect; the southern Javaat dialect; the language of the nomadic Hyjypso. Constant trade with other kingdoms and peoples has contributes largely to the dynamic changes in pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.

The saying below is a common one that describes the remarkably fluid nature of the language:

qona anloha ua ma rig - I don't even understand my neighbor

History
Attempts to record the history of Jasost as a language have always been fraught with inconsistencies and flaws; the language has always been in flux (av'aja - tidal.) Now, most scholars define three distinct periods of the language: Elm (Low), Ihbra (High), and A'e (Restored.) 

The most significant change to Jasost was the A'e movement by the last Prince of Tides, Alyazuvi (Al'asuvi.) The changes were made to the written language not only to beautify it but to create a stronger national and cultural identity. The changes were:

1. Removal of non-functional geminate vowels*:

beaaha --> beaha

sgaii --> sgai

2. Collapse of voiced/un-voiced consonant pairs into single consonant:

p, b --> b

f, v --> v

s, z --> s

k, g --> g

t, d --> t

3. Introduction of new letters to take the place of sounds formerly represented by digraphs:

th, dh --> d 

kv, gv --> q

ya --> '

kh, gh, hr --> h

4. Formalization of stress to first syllable (a change which had been occurring gradually through High Jasost.)

Compare the above saying written in High Jasos:

<p style="text-align:center;">kvona anlohra uua ma riik -  qona anloha ua ma rig

<p style="text-align:left;">* Even those geminate vowels which indicate syllabic stress.