Kushan

Kushan was a classical Davanian language. It was originally spoken sometime in the late first millennium BCA by the peoples of the Kushan culture. This phase of the language is referred to as the Classic Phase, and from here throughout the first few centuries the Eastern Davanian languages diverged. Kushan would live on, fossilised, through oral retellings of epics, until it was revived in the 10^th century as an administrative language and lingua franca by the Mahanjat. During the Mahanjat, pronunciation was largely based on other contemporary Eastern Davanian languages, and many loan words entered from other Davanian languages, Saurian, and Then. Through this time it was a prestige and administrative language,
The earliest records of the Kushan appear in Then histories as one of the specifically named “barbarian tribes”. The name “Kushan” itself derives from archaic Then 丘藏 (*kʷɯ *zaːn), meaning “those who hide in the hills” They are mentioned as living in the mountains to the north of Then. It’s possible to glean from these histories that the early Kushan were a tribal confederation under the rule of a king or other tribal leader, living in a semi-nomadic, pastoral model, like the many peoples who would later inhabit this same region. This early record of the Kushan is helpful in reconstructing the migrations of the early Arxo-Davanian peoples.

Kushan

कुषाणः
_{(kuṣāṇaḥ)}

Pronunciation:

[kʊˈʂaːɳɐh] (Classical)
[koˈr̥ʃaːrn̪ə] (Mahanjati)

Ethnicity: Ancient Kushans, Mahanjatis
Language Family:
Continental

• Arxo-davanian
• Davanian
• Kushan

These early Kushan formed the southwesternmost arm of the Davanian peoples at that time and spoke a late proto-Davanian or early Kushan. Early, usually referred to as classical Kushan is usually classified as a dialect of late proto-Davanian or proto-Eastern-Davanian, but it is usually not thought to be the direct ancestor of any modern Davanian language, and it’s likely that this early Kushan would later mix and converge with other local Davanian languages or dialects before diverging into the modern tongues.
Over time the theorised northern branch of the Davanians would have been forced south and assimilated into the southern branch or the Nenians. Over time, these southwestern Davanians would spread east through the Davanian plain. Some phonological changes in what would become the eastern Davanian languages give rise to debate over whether they were innovations of the eastern branch, or if the eastern languages are the result of a koinesation with the theorised northern branch that assimilated into the southern populations of the east. As these populations spread out, they diverged into the eastern and western branches. By the 8^th century, the peoples on the Davanian plain had inherited and adapted the script of the Nenians to write their languages, which they also used to write Kushan, which had been preserved orally until then, which began to be written down starting in this period. By the late 9^th century when the Mahanjat coalesced, the Davanians had spread eastward and diverged into a multitude of various peoples. The Mahanjat would then revive the Kushan language as an administrative language and lingua franca for use between its constituent tribes.

Phonology (Classic)

Consonants

Vowels

Phonology (Mahanjati)

Consonants

Vowels