Ashkans
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ⴰⵛⴽ ⵜⴰⵙⵏⴰ אשק טסנה | |
|---|---|
 Ashkan women | |
| Total population | |
| 1,000,000 | |
| Languages | |
| Ashkan Tamashek | |
| Religion | |
| Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Jewish Diaspora Peoples |
The Ashk Tasna (Tamashek: ⴰⵛⴽ ⵜⴰⵙⵏⴰ, "Lost Tribe"), also known as Ashkans or Kel Udayen, are a Jewish ethnoreligious group inhabiting the Ninva desert making up the largest contingent of the Jewish diaspora in Charnea. Ashkan tradition traces the group's heritage to the Lost Tribes of Yisrael, from which their Tamashek name is derived, forming an association with the first exodus from Yisrael in the 1st millenium BCE. The Ashkans observe the Qaraite strand of Judaism which holds the written Torah as the whole of religious law and does not recognize supplementary texts such as the Talmud, setting them appart from mainstream Rabbinic Judaism practiced in Yisrael and across most of the diaspora. Ethnic categorization of Ashkan peoples in the Charnean census has been the subject of minor controversy due to significant overlap with Tenerian groups, including both the erroneous categorization of Jewish Tenerians as Ashkan people as well as the incorrect definition of non-practicing ethnically Ashkan Charneans as Tenerians. The seat of the Ashkan community is the city of Tiernyah in southwestern Charnea which doubles as the principal center of Jewish religion in Charnea. Tiernyah was settled in the second century BCE by Jewish exiles under the auspicies of the Queen of Tamazgha, who embraced refugees displaced from Yisrael by Tamazgha's Neo-Aradian rivals and desired to settle peoples endebted to Tamazgha in the unguarded southern and eastern frontiers.
Language
Spoken language is one of the key identifiers of the Ashk Tasna ethnicity in Charnea and remains an issue of significant focus for the Ashkan community. Many Ashkans have a working familiarity with Hebrew which functions as the liturgical language of the community and to which most Ashkans are exposed through the practice of the Jewish faith. Ashkan people are also exposed to the host language of Tamashek, the language of the Tenerians and consequently the principal language for trade, business and work in Charnea. However the native language of the Ashkan people in Charnea is instead a creole of these two languages known as Ashkan language, aslo known as Judeo-Tamashek. This language is based on Tamashek and is largely mutually intelligible with it while incorporating Hebrew vocabulary, distinct idioms and other features of the Hebrew language. The Ashkan creole functions as an internal language within the Ashkan community and is spoken during social events and interactions with other Ashkan people as well as within the household, while Tenerian serves as the default medium of communication with any group or individual outside the community.