Haimuttan
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| Haimuttan | |
|---|---|
| Hymuth | |
| Haimuti | |
| Pronunciation | [haimuti] |
| Native to | Hymuth |
| Ethnicity | Haimuttans |
Native speakers | 37,500,000 (2010) |
Heomays
| |
Early forms | Proto-Hythric
|
| Dialects | Rozean, Zahiran, Nieronian South Hythric |
| Middle Hythric script, Haimuttan script | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Haimuttan Republic, Nieronian Republic |
Recognised minority language in | Pelasia, Sub-Nieronian Federation, Siadria, Heoria, Federia, Sivara |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | hm |
| ISO 639-2 | hai |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
Haimuttan
Haimuttan is a closely related group of dialects spoken in the Hymuth and surrounding nations once part of the Hymuth Empire. It is a member of the Hythric branch of Heomays languages, introduced into the region by Hythrian pastoralists in the early Bronze Age displacing the previous Nieroic speakers. The Ibesian variant became the official standard after the foundation of the Hymuth Empire, while use of the "lesser dialects" was curtailed especially in the upper class; modern efforts to reinvigorate these dialects have seen little success and only marginal governmental support. Haimuttan has approximately 29 million native speakers within Hymuth, as well as several million in the heavily Hythrianized state of Nieron and other nations formerly in the Hymuth sphere.
Classification
Hymuth is a South Hythric language, part of the Hythrian branch of the Heomays language family. Hythric is traditionally divided into three branches: North, Central, and South. The North branch is represented through the Hydarian language, directly descended from the literary language of the First Hythrian Empire, as well as languages such as Fleian and Ephesian, spoken in the former Feoran sphere. The Central branch is represented by the languages of Heorian and Cossian, with the former being the literary language of the Second Hythrian Empire. The Southern branch is the narrowest branch of the three, with most languages in this group having been subsumed by the expansion of Haimuttan in the 16th century. Haimuttan and Pelasian are the only representatives of this branch remaining.
Standard Haimuttan is based largely on the Ibesian dialect with heavy lexical influence from Middle Hythrian prestige dialects still popular in the aftermath of the fall of the Second Hythrian Empire. This change largely occurred during the Early Imperial period of Hymuth historiography, beginning in the middle of the 16th century.
Geographic Distribution
In Hymuth, Haimuttan is the most widely spoken language with upwards of 95% of the population exhibiting native-level comprehension of the language according to census results. Within the controversial Haimuttan "Language Realm," consisting of nations formerly within the Hymuth Empire, it is a recognized majority language in all but Adriania, Odesinia, and Beydia. About 10% of the Hymuth speaking population, approximately 3.5 million speakers, are in the Nieron, which was subject to heavy Hythrianization throughout much of the 18th and 19th centuries, and Haimuttan is co-official with Nieronian despite Haimuttan speakers making up only about 12% of the population of approximately 29 million.