Durtish

Durtish (Durtish: Durtshas or durtur kele - Durtish tongue) 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 folkdom of Durtland and has many homely speakers in Eloma and Buvara.

Durtish reflects the Durt's 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 Durtish 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 Brespand (Durtish: Brespänd - lit. tree city), the capital city of Durtland. Many big and beautiful educational buildings were built during the golden years of the Azdamish 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 Fanesish 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 Empire. 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 Commonwealth, Durtish underwent a process of reformation performed by the newly established Durtish Tongue National Academy - DTNA under the patronage of the first elected Prime Minister 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 DTNA introduced most of the words derived of Dutronish roots, process helped by its agglutinative morphology. Nonetheless, the DTNA also revived words of Old Durtish which had not been used for centuries since the formation of the Azdamish Empire. 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 role of the DTNA, and its successor DTA (renamed after the creation of the Bound Ledewealth of Eloma - BLE) of the coining of new words is a never-ending work. However, some created words sound to artificial and forced, which led to the use of previous or new loanwords. 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 Empire, 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 Commonwealth of Durtland and has a special status in the Bound Ledewealth of Eloma as a link tongue (lingua franca) of the southwestern region of the country, which previously belonged to the Azdamish Empire. The regulatory body is the Durtish Tongue Academy - DTA, the successor of the DTNA, which serves under the authority of the Durtish Commonwealth Ministry of 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 DTNA 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 DTNA 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 Brespand during the age of the Azdamish Empire, 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 Empire 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 Proto-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 Empire. (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 ulïyes ña Durtur ulïyes" -   'We are Behomatens but we are Durtish.

Lastly, the consonants of Modern Standard Durtish are: Some sound shifts happened after the foundation of the DTNA 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 DTNA 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 DTNA, 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
 * Only the glottal fricative [h] does not causes 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 DTNA 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 with some verbal suffixes, which were separate words in Earlier Dutronish, and when creating compound words, with vowel harmony spreading from left to right.

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), except [h]
 * 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 DTNA 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 DTNA 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. 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 Empire, Middle Durtish was written in the Velsolobish script. 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. DTNA 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 DTNA got inspiration from how Hembi letters are set up. Nevertheless, instead of place or articulation, the DTNA 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: ulïmër
 * 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 Nombolish 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, ernelkä - 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:

(accusative of duration)

('accusative of changing state' or 'translative case') The dative case (shorthanded DAT) is used to indicate the indirect object of verb in a sentence:
 * Dative

Some verbs govern the dative:

Some postpositions assign the dative:

(dative of purpose)

(dative of benefit or harm’, also known as the 'benefactive case') The genitive case (shorthanded GEN) is used to indicate that the noun is the possessor of something: It’s also used to show the 'partitive case' with mass nouns modified by quantifiers:
 * Genitive

Some verbs govern the genitive case, often with an accusative before the genitive or in adjectival phrases:

Lastly, some postpositions assign the genitive: The locative case (shorthanded LOC) is used to indicate location, which corresponds to the prepositions ‘in’, ‘on’, ‘at’ and ‘by’. Proto-Dutronish differentiated the outer adessive and inner inessive, which merged during the transition to Old Durtish: 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 or entity. 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: 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: 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:
 * Locative
 * Ablative
 * Lative
 * Instrumental

(comitative case, meaning ‘in company with’, ‘together with’, ‘along with’)

(abessive case, meaning ‘without’) The vocative case (shorthanded VOC) is used to indicate that a noun (person, animal, object, etc.) is being addressed:
 * 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 Empire, 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 Tupshekish tongues.

The 1st and 2nd person informal plural are irregular, whilst the 3rd and 2nd person formal follow a regular pattern. 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 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.

2 In the irregular form, the vowels are unrounded: ëldë, ïldë, ëlardë, ïlardë. This is the result of the adoption of the words üldö from Velsish uludo - wood (material). Through analogy, the 3rd person inanimate plural and both 3rd person plurals 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. Determinative adjectives are subdivided into demonstrative, numerical, definite, indefinite and interrogative adjectives. Adjectives 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)
 * 10) noun adjective (adjective derived form a noun)

Descriptive adjectives
Descriptive adjectives can be used in two ways, attributively and predicatively. For example: ernel - good and rahïnïr The official translation into Modern English is: The morning sunlight is good for your skin. The adjective rahïnïr derives from the noun rahïn - morning (period of the day between sunrise and noon). More about derivative morphology is shown further.
 * Attributive adjectives are part of the noun phrase headed by the noun they modify. The suffixes -(y)e4n and -(j)i4n is attached to the stem to indicate and adjective is used attributively with animate inanimate nouns respectively. Since Durtish is a head-final tongue, attributive adjectives always precede the noun they modify.
 * Predicative adjectives 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

Demonstratives 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

Numerical adjectives
Numerical adjectives or numerals are treated specially. The number system in based 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 numbers. They can take derivative suffixes, but no inflectional suffixes on their own. These ones are: 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 -a2ri2t. And so forth. When writing multiples of 1.000, ëwon is attached to the multiplier cardinal and undergoes vowel harmony, creating the suffix -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-gunosëd-gunumal

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 word for 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 word for the number. When using the number symbols, the suffix is attached with an apostrophe:
 * 1204 (2020, the year of the creation of the Durtish tongue) - pürärit-gunosëd-tac - two thousand and twenty or twenty twenty
 * 247 (343, the speed of sound in air at 20ºC in m/s) - gunosëd-tacumal-qëvï - two hundred and forty-three
 * 8449.700ᘔ (299,792,458, the speed of light in space in m/s) - zogusarït-tacosëd-tacumal-tegisewön ba qëvïyarït-daxë - two hundred ninety-nine million seven hundred ninety-two thousand four hundred fifty-eight.
 * Ordinals numbers
 * Fractional numbers

Interrogative adjectives
These adjectives are used to form questions, they are equivalent to the English wh-words and German W-Fragewörter: Both kon and kun are used with some nouns to create questions words:
 * Kon? - which? it's used for animate nouns
 * Kun? - which? it's used for inanimate nouns
 * Kügö? - what? (contracted from kun jigö? - which thing?)
 * Kïso? - who? (contracted from kon mïso? - which person?)
 * Kuru? - what for? (contracted from kun sur-u? - to which reason?)
 * Kurus? - why? (contracted from kun sur-us? - of which reason?)
 * Kevde? - how? (contracted from kun tev-de? - in which manner?)
 * Katnë? - where? (contraction of kun bat-në? - in/at which place?)
 * Katnen? - whence?/from where? (contracted kun bat-nën? - from which place?)
 * Katnïr? - whither?/towards where? ( contracted from kin bat-nïr? - towards which place?)
 * Kände? - when? ( contracted from kon zän-de? - at which time?)
 * Känden? - since when? ( contracted from kon zän-den? - since which time?)
 * Kandir? - towards when? (contracted from kon zän-dir? - to which time?)

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, evening. For example:
 * rahïn - morning > rahïnardë in the mornings
 * petsün - today (contracted from pesh tsun - this day)
 * dirtsün - tomorrow (previously, the word rahïn was used for this meaning, but it was replaced by the word coined by the DTA)
 * dentsün - yesterday

Adverbs of manner
Adverbs of manner express ‘how’ an event happens. Mostly, adverbs of manner derive from adjectives by adding the suffix -zha2s, which becomes -sha2s  after voiceless consonants and -nja2s. after s, sh, y, z and zh or a vowel. They are mostly used to describe verbs. Some adverbs may derive from nouns.
 * ernel - good > ernelzhäs - well
 * tsunur - daily > tsunurzhas - every day

Adverbs of place
Adverbs of place describe “where” an event takes place. Locative phrases may also serve as adverbs of place.

There are also other types of adverbs, or rather subtypes:

Adverbs of degree
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 subtype of adverbs of manner.

Adverbs of frequency
These adverbs express ‘how often’ an event happens. They are a subtype of adverbs of time. Some of them are formed by using the -nj/sh/zha2m suffix applied to an temporal adjective.

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 and voice and evidentiality (TAMVE). There is no agreement to gender or number, thus Durtish does not allow pronoun dropping. Durtish shows tense, aspect, mood and voice with suffixes and evidentiality with a preffix.

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. Verbs like the stative copula [] be (in the sense of the Romance verbs estar, stare and a sta),

Dynamic verbs
Dynamic verbs express change, action provoked or actively upheld by the subject. These verbs include the attributive copula [] – be (in the sense of the Romance verbs ser, essere, ésser and a fi),

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:
 * It rains (heavily)
 * The sun shines
 * I slept
 * Ven zenis zhodës - I help you (as in German ich helfe dir)

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

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.
 * 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 include give, pass, hand, send, say, read, write.

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)e2k. As mentioned before, the infinitive suffix undergoes an asymmetrical form of vowel harmony, only accounting for place of articulation (front-back). For example:
 * bas - state > basëk - to be (stative meaning)
 * ulï - essence > ulïyëk - to be (dynamic meaning)
 * zif - love > zifek - to love
 * häzhä - life > häzhäyek - to live
 * firnhek - to reside/to bedwell/to inhabit
 * ghosëk - to run
 * gümpek - to build
 * zhodëk - to help
 * baduyëk - to see/to watch (transitive)
 * ïksanhëk - to learn
 * shefrülek - to shine (emit light)
 * pïho - big - pïhoyëk - to grow (lit. to become big)
 * upsëk - to do/to perform (this verb can be used to refer to a verb mentioned previously. It's a feature borrowed from the Grumavic tongues like Amblish and Teudonish)
 * ülpenek - to study.
 * sädbiyek - to exit/to get out

Gerund
The gerund form is used as nouns. It consists on the root (which is usually a noun) + -ro2. The gerund suffix is another example of asymmetrical vowel harmony. Verbs in this form can take thhe e possessive and case suffixes. For example: The official translation into Modern English is: I love living here.

Participle
The participle in Durtish acts as an adjective. This form indicates an irreversible change of state as a result of the action conveyed by a verb. It's formed using the root of the verb plus the suffix -(y)u2n. Then again, this suffix undergoes asymmetrical vowel harmony. Participles may be active or passive.

Zen pül ghosloyom vünz ulïyës - You are a running lynx which is the shortened version of 'you are as agile as running lynx'. Word by word:

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:

Polarity
The default conjugation of verbs are affirmative or positive, but the suffix -(y)a2sh, which derives from the word yash meaning yes, is used for emphasis. For negative statements, the suffix -(y)e4n is used, which derives from the word yën meaning no For example: The official translation into Modern English is: We ran there The official translation into Modern English is: We did run there, with the emphatic did. The positive affix may also be used The official translation into Modern English is: We didn't run there, with the negative didn't.

Voice
The complex verbal voice system of Durtish is the result of influence form nominative-accusative tongues form the north and east, ergative-absolutive tongues from the west and the tripartite alignment tongues from the south. Durtish use the nominative-accusative alignment, but adopted other voices to simplify sentences. The likely translation into Modern English is: I love you. The likely translation into Modern English is: I am loved by you. The agentive postpositional phrase zeni aptën - by you isn't necessary for the sentence to make sense. The likely translation into Modern English is: This house was built in the 8th century. Modern English is: S/he saw us and we ran. Using the antipassive voice makes unnecessary to use the pronoun zis - we in the coordinated clause. The likely translation into Modern English is: You helped yourselves. Nowadays, the particle hazh is used as a postposition that takes the possessive suffixes in phrases as the following one: The likely translation into Modern English is: You can see the Sun yourself. In this phrase there is an example of a proper name with a case suffix and the apostrophe between noun and the suffix. The likely translation into Modern English is: I learn maths at a school. Meanwhile, using the causative suffix: The likely translation into Modern English is: I teach maths at a school.
 * Active voice is the default, so no suffix is used. For example:
 * Passive voice is formed by adding the suffix -(y)i4b just before the tense-aspect-mood suffixes. For example:
 * The antipassive voice is used when coordinating clauses. This voice indicates that the direct object of the verb in the main clause is performing the action in the coordinated clause. It is formed by adding the suffix -(y)e4z. For example:
 * The reflexive or middle voice is used when the subject of the statement is both the agent and the patient of the verb. 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 reflexive particle hazh, which then became attached to the verb stem as the suffix -(y)a2zh. 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 are paired with a stative verb, as the pair to learn - to teach. In Durtish, there is the causative suffix -(y)i4l but in recent times, the construction infinitve + yilek, which means to cause in Durtish, is more commonly used.

* The root is ülpen from the verb ülpenek - to study. When agglutinating both ülpen and bat - place, the final n becomes m before the labial consonant.

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.

Aspect
The aspect of the verb indicates when the action is performed relative to a certain point of time. The likely translation into Modern English is: S/he doesn't eat pork. In this example, the aorist meaning is conveyed. This sentence informs the listener that a person is 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: The likely translation into Modern English is: We ate pork once and we liked it. In this sentence, the semelfactive meaning is coveyed wiht the aid of the adverbial phrase pür gäläne - once/one time. 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 (semelfactive) 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.

The likely translation into Modern English is: You will eat apricot then and you'll like it. In this sentence, the message is that the listener will eat apricot at some 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: The likely translation into Modern English is: I enjoy the eating of apricots, although 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: The likely translation into Modern English is: I am enjoying eating apricots with you, with 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)a2v before the tense suffix.

Verbs conjugated in both the paste tense and imperfective aspect gives place to the English imperfect, found in many tongues around the word. For example: Modern English: You were studying maths this morning.

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. Modern English: But you had fled Brespand. It corresponds to the English pluperfect. In this sentence, the intransitive verb ghosëk is conjugated with the reflexive voice, giving the sense of fleeing by running. When combined with the future tense, it corresponds to the English future perfect. Modern English: They were going to do that. 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)i2d before the tense suffix:
 * The prospective aspect denotes that an action will occur after another action. It corresponds to the English constructions would + infitinitve, be/was/were going to + infinitve and be about to + infinitive. It's indicated by adding the suffix -(y)u2sh before the tense suffix

Other aspects, like the inchoactive, cessative, gnomic and habitual aspects are sometimes indicated by adverbs or by syntax instead of morphology. The likely translation into Modern English is: They love me. In this sentence, the verb zifes is conjugated in the present perfective or simple present, however it conveys the gnomic aspect. Also, this sentence uses the direct level of evidentiality, which enhance the sense that the speaker is certain that the people s/he is referring to love him/er, as a general truth. More about ecidentiality down below.

Mood
subjunctive, hortative/jussive. Other moods are indicated by adjetival construction, lake the potential, necessitative, permissive moods.
 * The indicative mood

Evidentiality
Durtish has a two-tiered evidentiality system. Unlike most affixes in Durtish, evidentiality is showend by a prefix. The two levels of evidentiality are: The likely translation into Modern English is: I love seeing the sunshine in the mornings. Verbs that convey sensory actions (to see, to hear, to touch) use this level of evidentiality. The likely translation into Modern English is: This tree grows well with sunlight. In this sentence, the use of the indirect level of evidentiality transmit an inferential meaning.
 * Direct evidentiality. It's 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. It's the default form of the verbs, this no prefix is used.
 * Indirect evidentiality. It's 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 ha2- to the stem.

In English, the adverbs apparently, maybe and perhaps as well as the verbal construction seem + infinitive convey this meaning. 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 likely translation into Modern English is: Trees grow well in this place, but (it seems) this one did not.

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

Noun derivation Verb derivation Adjective derivation Adverb derivation
 * -g/k/nha2: it's used for creating nouns from verbs and adjectives, like in English -hood, -(i)ty, -ness and -ship.
 * -b/p/me4r: it's used to create agentive nouns from verbs and nouns, usually denotes professions, like the English suffix -er.
 * -b/p/mi4r: it's used to create instruments from verbs, like the English suffix -er.
 * -(y)o2re2k: it's used to create verbs from nouns.
 * -(y)a2re2k: it's used to create verbs from adjectives.
 * -(y)e4x: it's used to form ordinals from numbers
 * -(y)i4r: it's used to create adjectives with the meaning 'relating to' or 'pertaining to', like the English suffix -ly.
 * like the English suffix -(e)th. It's also used to form demonyms from countries and places, like the English suffixes -ish, -ese and -ian. It derives from the genitive suffix -(y)i4s
 * -(y)e4na2l: it's used to form adjectives from nouns meaning 'capable of' and 'worthy of', like the English suffixes -able, -ible and -worthy.
 * -(j)i4ga2: it's used to from adjectives meaning 'full of', like the English suffix -ful.
 * -me4nh: it's used to from adjectives meaning 'empty of' or 'without', like the English suffix -less.
 * -(j)i4ga2: it's used to from adjectives meaning 'full of', like the English suffix -ful.
 * -me4nh: it's used to from adjectives meaning 'empty of' or 'without', like the English suffix -less.
 * -nj/zh/sha2m: it's used to create adverbs from adjectives and nouns, like the English suffixes -ly and -like.

Basic verbs

 * khomayëk - to eat
 * hëdhruyek - to like/to enjoy

Food

 * od - meat (uncountable). It can be attached to words referring to animals to convey the meaning of meat from that particular animal.
 * khoma - meal
 * rahïnkhoma - break fast (lit. morning meal)
 * gitlüdghömä - lunch

Animals

 * otay - horse
 * vünz - lynx
 * lörb - wolf
 * sräl - owl (from Sorish зрял [zrjal] - owl)
 * taykus - barn owl
 * gantë - otter

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')

Body parts and organs

 * dhalm (from Velsish dalem, which derives from Old Zonzgletish dhaahṛm) - skin. This loanword replace the native Dutronish root dalu, which changed into tälü - leather.
 * moz - head

Time

 * zän - time (uncountable), from Old Durtish zeen
 * 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
Miscellaneous
 * 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.
 * 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

In Modern English: I didn't ate your apricots. When comparing the two versions, one can easily notice the differences. Another example of MCD: In Modern English: I didn't ate your apricots. 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 pronouns in MCD ve and se have lost the final -n.
 * Then, the 2nd person genitive seyis is used as a possessive instead of the possessive suffix and also the takes the accusative suffix -e.
 * 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 homënt is the result of sound changes, vowel loss and contraction: kh/gh > h at the beginning of words, the final -a of the stem has lost and the negative suffix and past tense suffix in MSD -yënat has been contracted into -ënt in MCD.
 * Firstly, the 1st person plural zi has lost the final s.
 * In the demonstrative adjective, the post-alveolar sh has turned into the alveolar fricative s.
 * The word rahïndë is the same in both versions.
 * The word for maths in the underwent some vowel changes that affected all words: s became z after all voiced consonants, 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, the verb is the most notoriously changed word: the repeated sequence -enen- transformed into -em- as a result of contraction and nasal consonant assimilation. Lastly, the vowel of the imperfective aspect suffix has been lost.
 * Firstly, as shown in the previous sentence, the sh has turned into s in the demonstrative.
 * MCD does not uses the attributive suffixes -e4m and -i4m, but rather relies in word order. When used attributively, adjectives precede the noun they modify.
 * In the word for sunlight, the -ä- of tepäs- has been lost and the the dental fricative dh has turned into the alveolar stop d.
 * In the word meaning well. the post-alveolar zh of the adverbial suffix has turned into the alveolar fricative z. Also, the liquid consonants r and l have undergone metathesis.
 * Lastly, in the verb, the final vowel of the stem has been lost.

Example text
The likely translation into Modern English is: I run in the mornings. Although it is grammatical, the homely Durtish speaker would say: The likely translation into Modern English is: I go out for the purpose of running in the mornings/everyday. Someone can also say: The likely translation into Modern English is: I go our for a run on the mornings/everyday. Either way, the message is the same.

More complex statements are created by changing the voice of the verb or by using participles. You saw the man who ate my apricots this morning but didn't tell me.

The man's throwing of a ball was seen by you

You saw the throwing person of the ball