Old Nurian

Old Nurian is a descendent of Primitive ǃZoom, inspired by Old Irish.

Introduction

In clusters of two obstruents, two nasals, or a cluster consisting of a nasal and a obstruent, the frontest place of articulation becomes the click's front POA. With homorganic clusters this occurs only for obstruent+nasal clusters.

Primitive !Zoom -k becomes click mutation; PZ -ŋ becomes nasal mutation/eclipsis; PZ -h becomes h-prothesis.

Phonology

Old !Zoom has a large phoneme inventory:

Vowels:
a ɛ e i o u y a: e: eɪ i: o: oʊ u: ø: øʏ y: a ä e i o u ü á é ei í ó ou ú ő öü ű

Non-clicks:
Labials: p pʰ b bʰ m mʰ p ph b bh m mh
Dentals: t tʰ d dʰ n nʰ l lʰ t th d dh n nh l lh
Velars: k kʰ g gʰ ŋ ŋʰ k kh g gh ŋ ŋh
Labiovelars: kʷ kʷʰ gʷ gʷʰ ŋʷ ŋʷʰ kw kwh gw gwh ŋw ŋwh
Dental affricates: ts tsʰ dz dzʰ c ch z zh
Lateral affricates: tɬ tɬʰ dɮ dɮʰ ξ ξh λ λh
Palatal affricates: tʃ tʃʰ dʒ dʒʰ č čh j jh
Other consonants: f s ɬ ʃ h f s σ š h

Clicks:
ʘ ʘʰ gʘ gʘʰ ŋʘ ŋʘʰ pk pkh bg bgh bŋ bŋh
! !ʰ g! g!ʰ n! n!ʰ tk tkh dg dgh dŋ dŋh
| |ʰ g| g|ʰ n| n|ʰ ck ckh zg zgh zŋ zŋh
ǁ ǁʰ gǁ gǁʰ nǁ nǁʰ ξk ξkh λg λgh λŋ λŋh
ǂ ǂʰ gǂ gǂʰ nǂ nǂʰ čk čkh jg jgh jŋ jŋh
+ labialized counterparts of the above clicks: pkw, pkwh, bgw, bgwh, ...

Morphology

Nouns and adjectives

Old !Zoom evolved from Primitive !Zoom via syncope, umlaut and resulting clusters becoming clicks. Only nasal+C clusters are allowed in Old Zoom; it also has evolved a distinctive Old Irish-like stress pattern.

Nouns and adjectives in Old Zoom:
Like Primitive !Zoom, Old !Zoom is a fusional language with Austronesian alignment. Nouns and adjectives have two numbers, singular and plural, and three cases: direct, indirect and "genitive" (used after prepositions).
Construct state is used for possessive noun phrases, which are head-initial; unusually, case is marked on the LAST noun in a construct noun phrase.

Case is often marked by a definite article which triggers mutations on the noun, as in Irish. There are two kinds of mutations: click mutation, nasal mutation and h-prothesis (h-prothesis only occurs in vowel-initial words).

Adjectives agree with nouns in the kind of mutation that they take.

(Note: A buffer [ə] may be added between two clicks.)

A masculine noun: pódŋh /po:ŋ!ʰ/ "stone"
Singular:
dir: pódŋh /po:ŋ!ʰ/ < pônkha /'po:nkʰa/
ind: pődŋh /pø:ŋ!ʰ/ < pônkhi /'po:nkʰi/
gen: pódŋh-N /po:ŋ!ʰ/ < pônkhaŋ /'po:nkʰaŋ/
const: pődŋh-H /pø:ŋ!ʰ/ < pônkhih /'po:nkʰah/
Plural:
dir: pódŋha-C /'po:ŋ!ʰa/ < pônkhâk
ind: pódŋhe-C /'po:ŋ!ʰe/ < pônkhêk
gen: pódŋhi /'po:ŋ!ʰi/ < pônkhai
const: pódŋhu /'po:ŋ!ʰu/ < pônkhau
A feminine noun: tíjŋ = a species of songbird
Singular:
dir: tíjŋ-C /ti:ŋǂ/ < tîŋičak
ind: tíjŋ-H /ti:ŋǂ/ < tîŋičah
gen: tíjŋa /'ti:ŋǂa/ < tîŋičâ
const: tíjŋe /'ti:ŋǂe/ < tîŋičê
Plural:
dir: tíjŋa-N /'ti:ŋǂa/ < tîŋičâŋ
ind: tíjŋe-N /'ti:ŋǂe/ < tîŋičêŋ
gen: tíjŋi /'ti:ŋǂi/ < tîŋičai
const: tíjŋu /'ti:ŋǂu/ < tîŋičau

With a definite article and an adjective this becomes:
(Masculine example: ca pódŋh dún "the good stone")
Singular:
dir: ca pódŋh dún /tsa po:ŋ!ʰ(ə) du:n/ < ca pônkha dûnu
ind: ci pődŋh dún /tsi pø:ŋ!ʰ(ə) du:n/ < ci pônkhi dûnu
gen: ci bódŋh nún /tsi bo:ŋ!ʰ(ə) nu:n/ < caŋ pônkhaŋ dûnuŋ
const: pődŋh dún /pø:ŋ!ʰ(ə) du:n/ < pônkhih dûnuh
Plural:
dir: kha pkódŋha dgúnu /kʰa 'ʘo:ŋ!ʰa 'g!u:nu/ < khak pônkhâk dûnûk
ind: khi pkódŋhe dgúnu /kʰe 'ʘo:ŋ!ʰe 'g!u:nu/ < khik pônkhêk dûnûk
gen: khi pódŋhi dúni /kʰi 'po:ŋ!ʰi 'g!u:ni/ khai pônkhai dûnai
const: pódŋhu dúnu /'po:ŋ!ʰu 'g!u:nu/ pônkhau dûnau
(Feminine example: ca tkíjŋ dgún "the good tíjŋ")
Singular:
dir: ca tkíjŋ dgún /tsa !i:ŋǂ(ə) g!u:n/ < cak tîŋičak dûnuk
ind: ca tíjŋ dún /tsa ti:ŋǂ(ə) du:n/ < cah tîŋičah dûnuh
gen: ca tíjŋa dúnu /tsa 'ti:ŋǂa 'du:nu/ < câ tîŋičâ dûnû
const: ce tíjŋe dúnu /tse 'ti:ŋǂe 'du:nu/ < cê tîŋičê dûnû
Plural:
dir: kha díjŋa núnu /kʰa 'di:ŋǂa nu:nu/ < khaŋ tîŋičâŋ dûnûŋ
ind: khi díjŋe núnu /kʰe 'di:ŋǂe nu:nu/ < khiŋ tîŋičêŋ dûnûŋ
gen: khi tíjŋi dúnu /kʰi 'ti:ŋǂi du:nu/ < khai tîŋičai dûnû
const: tíjŋu dúnu /'ti:ŋǂu du:nu/ < tîŋičau dûnû

Verbs

Old !Zoom verbs are inspired by Old Irish verbs; they display independent vs. dependent allomorphy.
An unprefixed verb (imperfective aspect):
(these are independent forms,used in unmarked clauses. In Primitive !Zoom, the -ih clitic was used for non-prefixed verbs in imperfective aspect; other aspects display different patterns in the use of the -ih clitic.)
jabhic /'dʒabʰɪts/ < jábhac-ih 'I raise'
jabhik /'dʒabʰɪk/ < jábhuk-ih 'you (sg.) raise'
jabh /dʒabʰ/ < jábha-h 'he, she, it raises'
jobghu /'dʒogʘʰu/ < jábhuσu-h 'we raise'
jobŋhi /'dʒoŋʘʰi/ < jábhumi-h 'you (pl.) raise'
jäpkha /'dʒɛʘʰa/ < jábhikha-h 'they raise'
With another preverb the dependent forms are used:
bó·jabhac /bo:'dʒabʰats/ < bô-jábhac 'I do not raise'
bó·jobh /bo:'dʒobʰ/ < bô-jábhuk 'you do not raise'
bó·jabh /bo:'dʒabʰ/ < bô-jábha 'he does not raise'
bó·jobhaσ /bo:'dʒobʰaɬ/ < bô-jábhuσu 'we do not raise'
bó·jobham /bo:'dʒobʰam/ < bô-jábhumi 'you (pl.) do not raise'
bó·jäbhakh /bo:'dʒɛbʰakʰ/ < bô-jábhikha 'they do not raise '
A verb with a preverb attached:
dha·jgabhic /dʰa'gǂabʰats/ < dhakw-jábhac-ih 'I attract'
dha·jgabhik /dʰa'gǂobʰ/ < dhakw-jábhuk-ih 'you attract'
dha·jgabh /dʰa'gǂabʰ/ < dhakw-jábha-h 'he attracts'
dha·jgobghu /dʰa'gǂogʘʰu/ < dhakw-jábhuσô-h 'we attract'
dha·jgobŋhi /dʰa'gǂoŋʘʰi/ < dhakw-jábhumi-h 'you (pl.) attract'
dha·jgäpkha /dʰa'gǂɛʘʰa/ < dhakw-jábhikha-h 'they attract'
With another preverb the dependent forms are used:
(these forms are called "prototonic".)
bó·dhabgwhac /bo:'dʰagʘʷʰats/ < bô-dhákw-jabhac 'I do not attract'
bó·dhabgwh /bo:'dʰagʘʷʰ/ < bô-dhákw-jabhuk 'you do not attract'
bó·dhabgwh /bo:'dʰagʘʷʰ/ < bô-dhákw-jabha 'he does not attract'
bó·dhabgwhaσ /bo:'dʰagʘʷʰaɬ/ < bô-dhákw-jabhuσô 'we do not attract'
bó·dhabgwham /bo:'dʰagʘʷʰam/ < bô-dhákw-jabhumi 'you (pl.) do not attract'
bó·dhabgwhakh /bo:'dʰagʘʷʰakʰ/ < bô-dhákw-jabhikha 'they do not attract'

Syntax

Constituent order

Word order is Verb + Direct case NP + Indirect case NP.