Ombesh

Ombesh is the language of the Omban people and others closely affiliated with them. It was the core language of the Omban Empire and also its various successor states. It is probably spoken as a first language today by 20 million people, and as a second language by another couple million. It is the primary language of all of the Omban successor states, and is also spoken in Ashnabis, Luetka, and Umnaka to a significant degree.

History

Old Omban was the original language spoken over 1,000 years ago by a group of militaristic agricultural societies living in the area that now ranges from southern Khutu through western Hasmala, roughly centered on the city of Omba. By 215 BE, the Dedication of Urpeska shows the first historical evidence of linguistic changes that would be recognizable in later Ombesh. As the Omban monarchy extended its reach into Taizi, Daligash, Basai, and Choradan, a new political order emerged that spread the Ombesh language with it.

The Imperial era established a widespread language area, then, ranging from western Choradan through northern Basai. The conquest of Nulu in 161 introduced Ombesh there, though the local Thu Parsh language remains commonly spoken there. Malfan, which had been relatively sparsely inhabited before the Empire, eventually came to be home to a range of disaffected Ombans, and so Ombesh came to be spoken there even before the Empire conquered Malfan in the third century. The conquest of the Umnakan city of Jinto, and sporadic occupations of the high northern Luetkan coast, brought some Ombesh speakers into areas not under formal Imperial control, and then the Osnabi campaigns of the early fourth century brought Ombesh west of the Filija Mountains, where it would eventually become Aummesh.

After the fall of the Empire in 338, some fragmentation of Ombesh has occurred, but less than might be expected, because the ability to speak with Ancestors keeps radical change somewhat in check. Nevertheless, it is clear that there are regional and class-based differences in Ombesh speech, as there always have been.

Dialects

Omban dialects today can basically be divided into three broad regions: western (Choradan, Malfan, western Daligash); central (eastern Daligash, Taizi, Khutu, Omba, Hasmala); and northern (Basai and Nulu). In Ashnabis, Aummesh is spoken by the local population but a variety of Ombesh heavily influenced by the Choradani dialect is widespread. In parts of Luetka, a creole of Ombesh and Luetkan is spoken by many people. In northern Umnaka, especially the city of Jinto, an increasingly divergent Ombesh dialect from any of these has begun to emerge over the past century or two.

Phonology

Ombesh has twenty-one phonemic consonants, five phonemic vowels, and one diphthong. It is often described by learners as guttural, probably because of its wide range of fricatives.

Consonants

b	/b/	as in ball
m	/m/	as in map
n	/n/	as in now
p	/p/	as in pill
t	/t/	as in ton
d	/d/	as in down
k	/k/	as in kill
g	/g/	as in guy
ch	/tʃ/	as in church
j	/dʒ/	as in jog
f	/f/	as in fit
v	/v/	as in vat
s	/s/	as in sad
z	/z/	as in zip
sh	/ʃ/	as in shoe
zh	/ʒ/	as in measure
kh	/x/	voiceless velar fricative; as in Scottish pronunciation of loch
gh	/ɣ/	voiced velar fricative; like a voiced ‘kh’
h	/h/	as in house
r	/r/	as in rod
l	/l/	as in lip

Vowels

a	/a/	as in fall
e	/e/	as in hey
i	/i/	as in kiwi
o	/o/	as in bone
u	/u/	as in food
ai	/aj/	as in buy

The basic syllable structure of Ombesh is (C) V (C) (C), which is to say that there is a vowel, which may have zero or one consonants in front of it, and zero, one or two consonants at the end of it. Consonant clusters do not occur at the beginning of words or syllables. Where there is a consonant cluster in the middle of a word, the syllable breaks between the two sounds. There is a restricted subset of consonants permitted word-finally.

For more on learning how to pronounce Ombesh, watch this tutorial.

Glossary

Word	Meaning
abas	ancestor
aidastu	haunt
aisaf	clay
aisamon	mystic's clay tablet
alelu	acolyte
altala	Khutuan women's dress
bambos	game of chance
barane	mythic, primeval
bazozh	dirt
beldo	to unfold
beldunai	Unfolding, emergence, evolution
boz	father
bubun	corpse, zombie
bubunneta	bubun holding area
buru	Khutuan child's tunic
bustul	clay tablet on chain
chesh	filament, thread
chusi	to sever, slice, separate
chusufurdi	bubun's severed spirit
dashi	Ashnabis garment
dend	word for month
dera	to wait, to pause, to delay
derdis	waiting ritual after death
deskin	men's ornamented belt
dosi	child
ebu	alabaster
eherdos	fealty relationship
ekor	cliff
esh	talk, speech
esho	voice, Voice of the Dead
eshu	speaker
ezasta	Khutuan winter cloak
fefri	Khutuan ornamental tokens
fimfekh	to bud, to sprout
fimfekhor	burgeoning, haunting
fina	to wait impatiently, to fidget
foforg	tide
folfi	witch
fomba	corvee labourer / servant
fos	root, tap, spigot
gafti	journey
galti	commoner; citizen
gazha	midwife
ghavang	long musical horn
ghembu	lemur
ghir	revenant name
givas	hearth
gurachu	shawl
hafadon	six-line poetic form
haluli	to purify
harani	twisted
haren	bridge
hemeshor	rebirth ritual
hengi	elder of a lineage
heta	tall
hul	old
hulti	shamans
ibu	body, corpse, flesh
ifti	a lineage
iftibal	lineage hall
iftijasi	pendant
ikhano	bearded vulture
ilizh	Khutuan house shoe / slipper
iror	to proclaim
irtos	maxim, proclamation
jasi	stone
jilol	revenant cape
jimuze	musical instrument
jugoras	bubun's service
jultumesh	mystics' language
juskai	Ravre wool tunic
kailosper	Khutuan men's vest
kelta	guild hall for envoys
khazkamma	silksword
khobesku	women's leather pants
khuzal	mythical vulture
kindi	castle
lelu	to flow, to pass time
leluta	course, pattern, flowing
lemu	spirit, soul
mabai	forbid, prohibit
mebel	Khutuan women's headscarf
mir	mother
mochoshiji	bubun perfume
mufan	social class
muzul	destiny
nambikhosi	envoy leader
nambimoshe	envoy moot
nazam	Khutuan men's pants
ogol	ceramic vessel
okhi	craft lineage
omo	true, real
osper	claw
osti	temple
ovre	Kind, type, variety
ozar	hole
pacha	Khutuan men's headscarf
pena	to give
pengi	gift
pero	little, lesser
romokh	midsummer
rupa	to love
rupu	lover
sagas	render
sagasolt	rendering ritual
sagaspi	renderer; bubun creator
sajari	noble, elite
sakh	enjoy
sardi	clever
shora	to be born
shoror	revenant
sunu	large, greater
telaf	to keep; to retain
telpi	guardian; keeper
tembu	skin, hide
tenuf	rural, rustic, country folk
tisli	braided fringe
udul	nickname
ula	a saint
ulajeta	saint's cloister
ulaji	saintly, holy
urdoche	engraving
vifolu	spider
volabas	apical ancestor
volo	to honour, to value
volol	esteemed
vumuri	decorative shell
zano	righteous
zaspe	disease
zazaf	bat-like sentient species