Proto-Zanahic

Introduction

Proto-Zanahic is the reconstructed ancestor of Zanahi and other Zanahic languages.

Phonology

Consonants

Reconstructed consonant phonemes of Proto-Zanahic

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/	n /n/
Stop	voiceless	p /p/	t /t/		k /k/	’ /ʔ/
	voiced	b /b/	d /d/		g /ɡ/
	ejective	ṗ /pʼ/	ṭ /tʼ/		ḳ /kʼ/
Affricate	voiceless		s /ts/
	voiced		z /dz/
	ejective		ṣ /tsʼ/
Fricative			ś /s/	š /ɕ/		h /h/
Trill			r /r/
Approximant			l /l/	y /j/	w /w/

Vowels and Syllabics

Reconstructed vowel phonemes of Proto-Zanahic

	Short		Long
	Front	Back	Front	Back
Close	i /i/	u /u/	ī /iː/	ū /uː/
Mid	e /ɛ/		ē /ɛː/
Open	a /a/	o /ɒ/	ā /aː/	ō /ɒː/

Reconstructed diphthongs of Proto-Zanahic

	Short		Long
	/i/	/u/	/i/	/u/
/ɛ/	ey /ɛi/	ew /ɛu/	ēy /ɛːi/	ēw /ɛːu/
/a/	ay /ai/	aw /au/	āy /aːi/	āw /aːu/
/ɒ/	oy /ɒi/	ow /ɒu/	ōy /ɒːi/	ōw /ɒːu/

Reconstructed syllabic consonants of Proto-Zanahic

Consonant	Short	Long
/m/	m̥ /m̩/	m̥̄ /m̩ː/
/n/	n̥ /n̩/	n̥̄ /n̩ː/
/r/	r̥ /r̩/	r̥̄ /r̩ː/
/l/	l̥ /l̩/	l̥̄ /l̩ː/

Note that *i and *u (and their long forms *ī and *ū) are considered the syllabic counterparts of *y and *w respectively.

Morphology

(IN PROGRESS)

Nominals

Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns

- There are two genders: masculine and feminine.The feminine is most often marked with the ending -ā.

Numerals

Zanahi numerals

Symbol	Cardinal number
	masc.	fem.	neuter
1	’oynoh	’oynā	’oynom
2	ṭuwā		ṭuw-
3	tarayā	tarē	taray-
4	kaṯurā	kaṯur	kaṯur-
5	pankā	pank	pank-
6	šaššā	šašš	šašš-
7	haftā	haft	haft-
8	‘aṣṭā	‘aṣṭ	‘aṣṭ-
9	nawā	nō	naw-
10	ṭasā	ṭas	ṭas-
11	‘ayn ṭas	‘aynā ṭasā	‘ayn- ṭas
12	ṭuwā ṭas	ṭuwā ṭasā	ṭuw- ṭas
13	tarayā ṭas	tarē ṭasā	taray- ṭas
14	kaṯurā ṭas	kaṯur ṭasā	kaṯur- ṭas
15	pankā ṭas	pank ṭasā	pank- ṭas
16	šaššā ṭas	šašš ṭasā	šašš- ṭas
17	haftā ṭas	haft ṭasā	haft- ṭas
18	‘aṣṭā ṭas	‘aṣṭ ṭasā	‘aṣṭ- ṭas
19	nawā ṭas	nō ṭasā	naw- ṭas
20	ṭasīn		ṭasīn-
21	‘ayn wa-ṭasīn	‘aynā wa-ṭasīn	‘ayn- wa-ṭasīn
30	tarayīn		tarayīn-
40	kaṯurīn		kaṯurīn-
50	pankīn		pankīn-
60	šaššīn		šaššīn-
70	haftīn		haftīn-
80	‘aṣṭīn		‘aṣṭīn-
90	nawīn		nawīn-
100	sint		sint-
200	ṭuwā sintīn		ṭuwā sint-
1000	’alf		’alf-
2000	ṭuwā ’alfīn		ṭuwā ’alf-

Ordinal numbers are formed with the nisba suffix -iyy (feminine: -iyyā) added to the number's stem, with the following exceptions:

• The ordinal equivalent of ‘ayn "one" is partam "first". Its opposite is aftam "last".
• Adding the nisba suffix to numbers ending in -īn is proscribed, with the ordinal numbers being identical to the cardinal numbers. However, it is common to use the suffix in colloquial language.