#conhistory

I thought I'd begin a series of articles looking at the nations neighbouring Elitho - the principal Celinophone country - providing a bit of information about their languages and cultures. One of the countries I find most interesting is Jinyero [çɪɲɛɾɔ], whose most north-westernly rēzinyor (provinces) border the South-Eastern tystírain of Elitho. Around twice the size of Elitho, it nonetheless has only half the number of inhabitants, who are mostly concentrated in cities in the North.

Jinyero has another name - Esfoth - which it is called by roughly 37% of the population. This is because the nation of Jinyero is bilingual, with the west being speaking a dialect of Celinese similar to that of the Elithan borderlands, and the east speaking jinyera tōla, a language isolate whose structure is rather different to any variety of Celinese.

Elitho is to the North-West, Beichlë to the South West. To the East is the Rythonil Sea. Jinyero/Esfoth came about as part of the second struggle between Beichlë and the Lainoê Elínig (today's Central and Southern Elitho) some three hundred years ago. The Beichlír had attempted to push through what would today be Western Esfoth in order to take Ioðinbêr, the capital, but were repelled by a joint improvised force of Celinese and Jinyers from the area. 

Unlike the Elithan territories, which have had a national capital/national capitals and governments since recorded history, Jinyero at the time had none. The land was relatively underdeveloped, and the rule of law was carried out by a council eloṯyor (aldermen) in each town, who applied customary law and mediated disputes in a system similar to a kritarchy. The Jinyer capital effectively was Ioðinbêr, where the government had proclaimed in loco authority over the territory since hundreds of thousands of Elithans had moved to the western half of Jinyero, expanding away from the overcrowded Southern-Central cities and from the unsafe borderlands. 

As means of recompensing the Jinyer for their help in defending Elithan land, the First Consul of the Lainoê Elíneg offered millions of aðail in order to build the nation's infrastructure and establish a national government. The plan would be that the west of the nation would be annexed to the L.E., with the east and south becoming Jinyer national territory. This was put to a provisional national council of eloṯyor, made up of a single member from each Jinyer settlement in the East. This was rejected; the eloṯyor demanded every rêzinyo that had once been Jinyer-majority. Since the results of the Jinyer joining sides with Beichlë would be catastrophic for internal security, the L.E. agreed upon a second plan, that would hand over responsibility for the entire territory in exchange for less funding and a high level of autonomy for the West. The Jinyers agreed, and a nation with two governments and two names was formed, with minor collaboration between the two.

This decision was not to the pleasing of all Elithans in Jinyero. Some had moved there to get away from the pervasive reach of the moralistic Ioðinbêr government, which tended to perceive many people as being libertines. The Jinyerelithans went from being under a government in name only to being ruled by an autonomous parliament hugely influenced by, and reporting to the L.E. Many left to Circassie or to Northern Elitho, which was then an independent state. Others feared that it left Jinyero more likely to be attacked.

Even more displeased were the Western Jinyer. They saw the eloṯyor' decision as being designed to protect their own backs; they had asked for all Jinyer territory, but had effectively given half away because of the autonomy treaty. The Eastern Jinyer were the only ones consulted, and they did not mind the agreement because they would have complete independence in the east, and protection of their Western borders. The Western Jinyer, however, were left with the choice of continuing to live as a minority in their homeland (only this time, with Elithan majority rule) or to leave their lives behind there and move to the East.

The Elithans who lived there had long since become cordial friends with the Jinyer, and did what they could to keep up the eloṯyor tradition. In most settlements, there were councils of eloṯyor with 50/50 representation and with decisions informed by Elithan and Jinyer traditions. In turn, the Western Jinyer kept up their tradition of finding a family for Elithan newcomers to the country to speed up their integration. Despite the reduced amount of funding from the government as part of the settlement with the Eastern Jinyer, private enterprise boomed and infrastructure improved, with the governments of Jinyero and railwaymen from Northern Elitho building the first trans-Jinyer railway.

Relations between the governments of Jinyero and the L.E. were not as cordial as those between Elithan and Jinyer citizens. The government who had agreed the settlement with the Eastern Jinyer had been succeeded by one that was even more socially conservative in its tenor. Perceiving Western Jinyer/Esfoth to be an "autonomous, ethnically Elitho-Celinese nation", it bemoaned the fact that the Western autonomous government had been "an agent of Jinyer custom" and demanded that moral standards met those of Ioðinbêr.

This had a huge impact - Western Jinyer (both Jinyero and Elithan!) burnt down the Elithan consulate and a number of settlements on the L.E.-Jinyer border declared that the then First Consul of the L.E, and his government, were personae non gratae who would not be allowed to pass into Western Jinyero. The Ioðinbêr government responded by demanding that rioters be removed to Eastern Jinyero, that the councils of eloṯyor be disestablished, and that Ioðinbêr law be applied throughout Western Jinyero. Otherwise, it threatened to overtake the entirety of Jinyero due to failing to uphold the cordiality clause of the independence and autonomy agreement.

The Eastern Jinyer, panicked by the superior power of the L.E., agreed to these terms and pressured the Western Jinyer. Before long, though, the hugely influential Chlasc and several other tystírain pulled out of the L.E., choosing instead to join with Northern Elitho, who were disgusted at Ioðinbêr's meddling. A war between N. Elitho and Western Jinyero against what remained of the L.E. and the government army of E. Jinyero was cut short by Beichlë taking advantage of this chaos with an attempt to take Jinyero (and Southern Elitho) for themselves. Western and Eastern Jinyer joined forces with both Elithan nations to eventually repel the Beichlír for a second time. 

It is called Iäfar, anglicized Giafar, (literally "speech"), or "Iäfar Lahte (Çam)" ("our speech"). Now, it is a little-known fact that the Principality of Elba was one of the first polities to send colonists to the new world, when Saint Romeo of Elba, a pre-reformation heresiarch who was exiled by the Prince in 1494 for stirring up trouble. Saint Romeo (Elbic: San Roméu) led his followers on a long journey across the Atlantic in the footsteps of Columbus. Although he died en route, his followers reached the island known to the locals as "Mahre Forete" (X-SAMPA /"ma?4e "p\o4e4i/). The inhabitants of Mar Foret (the usual anglicized version of the name), the Keltsam (singular "Kel", from Giafar chel çam Mahreri Forete, "people on Mar Foret"), were hospitable to the Romeans, allowing them to build a settlement on the island. San Roméu, as the Romeans called their settlement (and eventually the entire island) was ideally placed for fishing and, it became apparent, ideally placed to serve as a stopping point for vessels en route to the new world.

The Romeans got along on the whole quite well with the Keltsam, and over time the two cultures each began to adopt elements from the other. Romean Elbic, for example, has many borrowed words from Giafar (giafarri, for example, almost universally replaces Portoferraian parlarri), and when Giafar was first written, its orthography was derived from Elbic's. There is still a thriving community of Giafar-speakers on the island, and education on the island is available in both languages under the constitution of the now-independent Island Republic of Saint Romeo (Elbic: República Insularri da Ssan Roméu; Giafar: Tulchel Mahreno he na Sanromeu).

Now, the language itself.

consonants: /t k ? s ts) p\ l 4 w j m n N/

vowels: /a e i o u/

Giafar orthography is based on Elbic orthography. The following letters have a one-to-one correspondence with sounds:

<t> is /t/

<s> is /s/

<ç> is /ts)/

<f> is /p\/

<l> is /l/

<r> is /4/

<v> is /w/

<m> is /m/

<n> is /n/

<g> is /N/

<a> is /a/

<e> is /e/

<o> is /o/

<u> is /u/

The following letters and digraphs require special explanation:

<c> is /k/ before <a o u> and /ts)/ before <e i>

<i> is /i/ or /j/; /j/ can only occur syllable-initially, and the vowel following /j/ will always be marked with a trema (e.g. <ië> /je/)

<ch> is /k/ before <e i>; before another vowel it is interpreted as two separate consonants, i.e. /k.?/

<h> is /?/ except in the digraph <ch> as above

<chh> is /k.?/ before <e i>

Additionally, in unstressed closed syllables, the vowels /a e i o u/ have allophones /@ E I O U/.

The basic order of a sentence is subject-object-verb, although copular expressions use the order subject-copula-complement instead. Additionally, in spoken Giafar, this basic structure is further complicated by expressing it as a compound clause; more on this later.

The unmarked form of a noun is nominative singular; the unmarked form of a verb is present-future realis positive. Thus, a basic sentence:

chel sarhi

person eat

"a person eats"

In spoken Giafar, this would become

na chel he sarhi

COP person REL eat

"it is a person that eats"

This construction allows for different arguments of the main verb to be emphasized; more on this later. The accusative marker is the suffix -a after a consonant and -ha after a vowel. Thus, a more complex sentence:

chel mahre-ha amva

person land-ACC see

"a person sees the land"

Plurality is optionally marked on animate nouns (and pronouns, which function as nouns in Giafar) with the adjective çam, "many".

chel çam mahre-ha amva

person many land-ACC see

"people see the land"