Castelan language
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| Castelan language | |
|---|---|
| Lingua castelana | |
| Native to |  Castelana |
| Ethnicity | Azmaran people |
Native speakers | 8 million L1 (2017) 4 million L2 |
Auressian
| |
| Sabarine alphabet | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Castelana |
| Regulated by | Castelan Linguistic Academy |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
Castelan (/'kæstəlæn/; Castelan: castelana ['kastɛlana] or lingua castelana ['liŋwa 'kastɛlana]) is a Sabarine language spoken in by slightly over 8 million people in Castelana, where it is one of two official languages along with the Rianic language. While historically considered to be an !Ibero-Romance language, due to shared innovations with many !Ibero-Romance languages, in recent years this status has been disputed due to Castelan's retention of many phonological and grammatical features abandoned by all other !Ibero-Romance languages and as a result has been classified within its own Angulic branch of Sabarine languages.
Like all other Romance languages, Castelana evolved from the Sabarian language spoken in the First Sabarian Empire, yet as previously mentioned is significantly more phonologically and grammatically conservative than the other Sabarine languages in many ways, for example retaining a reduced form of Sabarian's case system, yet it has also taken on a significant degree of influence in terms of phonology, grammar and vocabulary from its bordering !Brythonic languages. Its modern form is a fusional language with significant inflection on both nouns and verbs and, as a result, a relatively free word order. It has a rather small phonemic inventory, consisting of 19 consonants, seven pure vowels and four diphthongs, which notably contains the relatively rare phoneme /θ/, and is written using 23 of the 26 letters of the Sabarian alphabet, albeit with the use of the modified letters 'ç ã õ.