Zanahi

Zanahi (native: zanāhiyy, haṭ-ṭaṣwā haz-zanāhiyyā) is an Indo-European language with a high degree of Semitic influence.

Zanahi
zanāhiyy
Pronunciation	[zænæːˈhijː, zæˈnæːhiː]
Created by	Shariifka
Language family	Indo-European Zanahi
Early form	Proto-Zanahi

Introduction

Zanahi is a satem language.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Zanahi

		Labial		Dental	Denti-alveolar		Post-alv./ Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
		plain	emphatic		plain	emphatic
Nasal		/m/			/n/
Stop	voiceless	/p/	/pˁ ~ bˁ/		/t̪/	/t̪ˁ/	/t͡ʃ/	/k/	/q/		/ʔ/
	voiced	/b/			/d̪/	/d͡ɮˤ/	/d͡ʒ/	/ɡ/
Fricative	voiceless	/f/		/θ/	/s/	/sˤ/	/ʃ/	/x ~ χ/		/ħ/	/h/
	voiced	/v/		/ð/	/z/	/ðˤ/	/ʒ/	/ɣ ~ ʁ/		/ʕ/
Trill					/r/
Approximant					/l/		/j/	/w/

Vowels

Vowel phonemes of Zanahi

	Short		Long
	Front	Back	Front	Back
Close	/i/	/u/	/iː/	/uː/
Mid			/eː/	/oː/
Open	/a/		/aː/
Diphthongs	/aw/, /aj/

Orthography

Zanahi orthography (consonants)

Letter	Scientific transliteration	Alternative transliterations	IPA	Name	Remarks
	’	ʾ; ʔ; ˀ; 2	/ʔ/	’alpā
	b		/b/	bāṯā
	v	ḇ; bh	/v/	vāṯā
	ḅ	ṗ; b'; p'	/pˁ ~ bˁ/	ḅāṯā
	g		/ɡ/	gamlā
	ḡ	gh; ɣ; ġ	/ɣ ~ ʁ/	ḡamlā
	ǧ	j	/d͡ʒ/	ǧamlā	Used in Arabic and other foreign loanwords.
	d		/d̪/	daltā
	ḏ	dh; ð	/ð/	ḏaltā
	h		/h/	hā’ā
	w		/w/	wawwā
	z		/z/	zānā
	ž	zh	/ʒ/	žānā	Used in non-Semitic loanwords.
	ḥ	ħ; h'; 7	/ħ/	ḥāṯā
	ḫ	kh; ch; x; 7'	/x ~ χ/	ḫāṯā	Used in Arabic and other early Semitic loanwords.
	ṭ	t'; 6	/t̪ˁ/	ṭāṯā
	ẓ	z'; dh'; ð̣; 6'	/ðˁ/	ẓāṯā	Used in Arabic loanwords.
	y		/j/	yāḏā
	k		/k/	kappā
	ḵ	kh; ch; x	/x ~ χ/	ḵappā
	č	ch; tsh	/t͡ʃ/	čappā	Used in non-Semitic loanwords.
	l		/l/	lamdā
	m		/m/	māmā
	n		/n/	nūnā
	s		/s/	samkā
	ʻ	ʿ; c; ᶜ; ʕ; ˁ; "; 3	/ʕ/	ʻānā
	ġ	gh; ɣ; 3'	/ɣ ~ ʁ/	ġānā	Used in Arabic and other early Semitic loanwords.
	p		/p/	pā’ā
	f	p̄; ph	/f/	fā’ā
	ṣ	s'; 9	/sˁ/	ṣāḏā
	ḍ	d'; 9'	/d͡ɮˁ/	ḍāḏā
	q	ḳ	/q/	qāfā
	r		/r/	rāšā
	š	sh	/ʃ/	šannā
	t		/t̪/	tawwā
	ṯ	th; θ; þ	/θ/	ṯawwā

Zanahi orthography (vowels)

Grapheme	Scientific transliteration	Alternative transliterations	IPA	Name	Remarks
	a		/a/	lawšā
	e	ĕ	/e/	barqā silīṯā	In native words, only occurs in combination with a mater lectionis.
	i		/i/	barqā
	o	ŏ	/o/	’anzā silīṯā	In native words, only occurs in combination with a mater lectionis.
	u		/u/	‘anzā
	ā	aa; â	/aː/	’alpā ṭalgā
	â	aa; ā	/aː/	lawšā ṭalgā	Used in a few words.
	ē	ee; ea; ei; ey; ê; e	/eː/	yāḏā silīṯā
	ī	ii; ee; iy; î	/iː/	yāḏā ṭalgā
	ō	oo; oa; ou; ow; ô; o	/oː/	wawwā silīṯā
	ū	uu; oo; uw; û	/uː/	wawwā ṭalgā
	aw	au	/aw/	wawwā milṭā
	ay	ai	/aj/	yāḏā milṭā
	C		C	kīlā	Used to indicate that a consonant is not followed by a vowel.
	CC		Cː	ḅulīṯā	Used to indicate that a consonant is geminated.

Prosody

Stress

Stress falls on the last heavy syllable of a word. For definition of light and heavy syllables, see the phonotactics section below.

In traditional poetry, usual word stress is forgone and instead is determined by meter.

Phonotactics

The following syllable structures are allowed (C = consonant, V̆ = short vowel, V̄ = long vowel or diphthong):

• CV̆
• CV̄
• CV̆C
• CV̄C (word-finally, rare otherwise)
• CV̆CC (word-finally only)
• CV̄CC (word-finally only, rare)

CV̆ syllables regardless of position as well as word-final CV̆C and CV̄ syllables are considered light. Any other syllable structure is considered heavy.

Note that in traditional poetry, word-final CV̆C and CV̄ syllables are treated as heavy, and only CV̆ syllables are considered light regardless of position.

Allophony

The vowel /a/ (whether long, short, or part of a diphthong) has two allophones. It is pronounced [ɑ] after the consonants ⟨ḅ, ḡ, ḫ, ṭ, ẓ, ḵ, ġ, ṣ, ḍ, q, r⟩ and [æ] otherwise. The other vowels also have backed allophones after the above consonants, but the difference is less noticeable.

The sequences iyy and uww can optionally be pronounced as if they were written *-īy- and *-ūw- respectively word-internally, or *-ī and *-ū respectively word-finally.

Morphophonology

Lenition

Non-emphatic plosives historically underwent lenition to fricatives (analogous to "begadkefat" in Aramaic and Biblical Hebrew) in certain environments.

Consonants that undergo lenition

Un-lenited	Lenited
b /b/	v /v/
g /ɡ/	ḡ /ɣ ~ ʁ/
d /d/	ḏ /ð/
k /k/	ḵ /x ~ χ/
p /p/	f /f/
t /t/	ṯ /θ/

Lenition is no longer productive, but occurs in grammatical words and morphemes (most often in suffixes).

Vowel breaking

This refers to the "breaking up" of ā, ē and ō into a’, ay and aw respectively before vowel-initial suffixes.

The vowels -ī- and -ū- similarly "break" into -iy- and -uw- before vowel-initial suffixes.

Vowel shortening

When followed by two consonants, a long vowel is shortened.

The vowels -ē- and -ō- are shortened to -i- and -u- respectively.

Epenthetic vowel

When a word would begin in a consonant cluster, an epenthetic vowel (usually i-) is inserted. This epenthetic vowel is dropped in the same circumstances as the -a- of the definite article. When it is not dropped, the epenthetic vowel is pronounced with a preceding glottal stop. However, the glottal stop is usually ommitted from transcription in order to make it clear that the vowel is epenthetic.

Morphology

Like in Arabic, Zanahi words are traditionally classified into three categories: nominals, verbs, and particles.

Nominals

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Zanahi personal pronouns

Person/ Number	Independent	Dependent
1S	’ammā	-mā
2SM	’antā	-tā/-ṯā
2SF	’antī	-tī/ṯī
3SM	hattā	-hā
3SF	hattī	-hī
1P	’annā	-nā
2PM	’antān	-tān/ṯān
2PF	’antīn	-tīn/ṯīn
3PM	hattān	-hān
3PF	hattīn	-hīn

Demonstrative pronouns

Zanahi demonstratives

Distance	Singular		Plural
	masc.	fem.	masc.	fem.
Near	sā	sī	sān	sīn
Far	tā	tī	tān	tīn

Nouns and adjectives

Nouns do not decline for case.

Consonant-final singular nouns have a construct state formed by adding a final -a. If the noun ends in a vowel, it does not change. Plural nouns also do not change

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

There are two numbers: singular and plural.

Adjectives agree with the noun they modify in gender and definiteness.

The definite article is han-, which is prefixed to the noun/adjective. Before a non-guttural consonant (i.e. any consonant besides ’, h, ‘, ḥ, ġ, ḫ, ḡ, ḵ), the -n- is dropped and the first consonant of the noun/verb is geminated. After a prefix, the ha- is dropped. After a preposition, ha- or a- is dropped if the preposition ends in a vowel or consonant respectively.

There is no indefinite article.

Below is an example declension for the adjective bān "clear":

Declension of bān "clear"

Gender	State	Singular		Plural
		indef.	def.	indef.	def.
Masculine	Absolute	bān	hab-bān	bānīn	hab-bānīn
	Construct	bāna	hab-bāna
Feminine	Absolute	bānā	hab-bānā	bānān	hab-bānān
	Construct

Numerals

Zanahi numerals

Symbol	Cardinal number		Stem
	masc.	fem.
0	ṣifr		ṣifr-
1	‘ayn	‘aynā	‘ayn-
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.

Verbs

Types of verbs

There are 5 main types of verbs:

1. Biliteral root verbs - have 2 root consonants
2. Triliteral root verbs - have 3 root consonants
3. Quadriliteral root verbs - have 4 root consonants
4. Derived root verbs - verbs derived from the above with a certain pattern
5. Suffixed verbs - verbs formed with an unchanging stem followed by a suffix

Stems

Verbs have two finite stems: perfect and imperfect. Additionally, there is a nominal stem used to form some derived nouns and adjectives.

The formation of the stems depends on the type of verb.

The table below summarizes the formation for regular primary root verbs. For derived root verbs and suffixed verbs, see the relevant sections below.

Zanahi verb stem formation

No.	Type	Perfect stem	Imperfect stem	Nominal stem
1	Biliteral root verbs	1a2-	-1i2-; -1u2-; -1a2-	Same as imperfect stem
2	Triliteral root verb	1a2a3-	-12i3-; -12u3-; -12a3-	1i2i3-; 1u2u3-; 1a2a3- (same vowel as imperfect stem)
3	Quadriliteral root verbs	1a23a4-	-1a23i4-	1a23i4-

Notes:

1. Legend:
   • 1, 2, 3, 4: represent the root consonants
2. If a consonant is y or w, any non-stem-initial occurance of expected Ci, Cu, iC or uC is replaced by the corresponding long vowel (ī and ū respectively for y and w). Stem-initially, the vowel is instead dropped. As for expected aCa and (stem-finally in the imperfect and nominal stems) -aC, it becomes ē or ō for y and w respectively.
3. It is possible for an underlying archphoneme /A/ (from original laryngeals) to take the place of any of the root consonants except the first. In such a case, that consonant and its adjacent vowel(s) are combined into -ā- in all cases.

Simple tenses

There are three simple tenses: the perfect, imperfect, and imperative (which use the perfect, imperfect, and imperfect stems respectively). The imperative only exists in the second person.

Zanahi verb conjugation

Person/ Number	Perfect	Imperfect1	Imperative
1S	-mā	ma-
2SM	-tā/ṯā	ta-	(i)-
2SF	-tī/ṯī	ta-(n)ī	(i)-(n)ī
3SM	-(h)ā	ya-
3SF	-(h)ī	ya-(n)ī
1P	-nā	na-
2PM	-tān/ṯān	ta-(n)ān	(i)-(n)ān
2PF	-tīn/ṯīn	ta-(n)īn	(i)-(n)īn
3PM	-(h)ān	ya-(n)ān
3PF	-(h)īn	ya-(n)īn

Notes:

¹ The prefix vowel is changed to -u- instead of -a- in Arabic-style passives.

Passive

The passive of a verb is formed by adding the suffix -(a)m- to the stem. The addition or ommission of the -(a)- depends on phonotactics: it is added whenever necessary and dropped otherwise (which may vary even between forms with the same stem).

Participles

The active participle of a verb is formed with the suffix -ant (feminine: -antā) added to the perfect stem.

The passive participle is formed with the suffix -tāḵ/ṯāḵ (feminine: -tāḵā/ṯāḵā) added to the nominal stem.

There is also a rare future passive participle formed with the suffix -(a)mant (feminine: -(a)mantā) added to the perfect stem. However, this ending is more often used to form derived nouns.

Infinitive

The infinitive/verbal noun is formed by adding the following ending to the nominal stem: -tīḵ/ṯīḵ.

The feminine of the infinitive suffix, -tīḵā/ṯīḵā, is used to form an "instance noun" - i.e. a noun referring to an instance of the verb.

Other derived nouns

• The agent noun is formed with the ending -tar/ṯar (feminine: -tarā/ṯarā) added to the nominal stem.
• The instrument noun is formed with the ending -dar/ḏar added to the nominal stem.

Derived root verbs

Zanahi derived verbs

No.	Form name	Usual formation						Usual meaning	Closest Arabic equivalent(s) (for reference)
		Biliteral		Triliteral		Quadriliteral
		Perfect	Imperfect	Perfect	Imperfect	Perfect	Imperfect
1	Middle	ha-1a2-	-ha-1i2-	ha-12a3-	-ha-12i3-	ha-1a23a4-	-ha-1a23i3-	Middle, autobenefactive, reflexive, or anticausative	انفعل؛ افتعل
2	Intensive	1a2-1a2-	-1a2-1i2-	1a22a3-	-1a22i3-	1a2a33as-	-1a2a33is-	Intensive	فعّل
3	Middle intensive	ha-1a2-1a2-	-ha-1a2-1i2-	ha-1a22a3-	-ha-1a22i3-	ha-12a33a4-	-ha-12a33i4-	Middle, reflexive, or anticausative of above	تفعّل
4	Associative	1a2-ā-1a2-	-1a2-ā-1i2-	1ā2a3-	-1ā2i3-	1a2ā3a4-	-12ā3i4-	Assosiative or adversative	فاعل
5	Reciprocal	ha-1a2-ā-1a2-	-ha-1a2-ā-1i2-	ha-1ā2a3-	-ha-1ā2i3-	ha-1a2ā3a4-	-ha-12ā3i4-	Reciprocal or reflexive of above	تفاعل
6	Causative	1a2-dā/ḏā-	-1i2-dā/ḏā-	1a2a3-dā/ḏā-	-12i3-dā/ḏā-	1a23a4-dā/ḏā-	-1a23i4-dā/ḏā-	Causative	أفعل
7	Middle causative	ha-1a2-dā/ḏā-	-ha-1i2-dā/ḏā-	ha-1a2a3-dā/ḏā-	-ha-12i3-dā/ḏā-	ha-1a23a4-dā/ḏā-	-ha-1a23i4-dā/ḏā-	Middle, autobenefactive, reflexive, or anticausative of above; requestative	(استفعل)

In all cases, the nominal stem is identical to the imperfect stem unless the imperfect stem begins in a consonant cluster, in which case the cluster is broken up by inserting an echo of the following vowel.

Suffixed verbs

Suffixed verbs are usually formed by adding a suffix to a nominal or (rarely) a particle. They are also used to form loan verbs. Like root verbs, they have basic and derived forms.

Suffixed verbs always have identical perfect and nominal stems.

Zanahi suffixed verb formations

No.	Type	Perfect/Nominal Stem	Imperfect Stem
0	Basic	S-ay-	-S-ē-
1	Middle	ha-S-ay-	-ha-S-ē-
2	Intensive	S-aCC-ay-	-S-aCC-ē-
3	Middle intensive	ha-S-aCC-ay-	-ha-S-aCC-ē-
4	Associative	S-āC-ay-	-S-āC-ē-
5	Reciprocal	ha-S-āC-ay-	-ha-S-āC-ē-
6	Causative	-S-ē-ḏā-
7	Middle causative	-ha-S-ē-ḏā-

Notes:

1. S = base stem (without the suffix); C = final consonant of the base stem

Borrowed verbs

Verbs borrowed from non-Semitic languages usually follow the suffixed conjugation.

Verbs borrowed from Arabic generally conjugate as root verbs keeping their Arabic perfect and imperfect stems (as they occur in the 3rd person masculine singular). However, causative verbs (i.e. those with the form أفعل) keep their initial glottal stop in the imperfect stem and therefore conjugate identically to quadriliteral verbs. Verbs whose perfect stems begin in a -w- that is dropped in the Arabic also do not drop it in Zanahi.

The nominal stem of such Arabic-derived verbs is identical to the imperfect stem except when the imperfect stem begins in a consonant cluster that is not present in the perfect stem. In such a case, the initial consonant cluster is broken up by inserting an echo of the following vowel. For example katab-, -ktub- "to write" has the nominal stem kutub-.

These Arabic-derived verbs have alternative formations of the passive: in addition to the regular formations, they can also be formed in the Arabic way. This means that the passive stems are taken from the 3rd person masculine singular, and the prefix vowel is also changed to -u- (instead of the regular -a- which always occurs in the active). Like in the active, the stem-initial glottal stop in أفعل verbs is maintained.

Some Arabic-derived verbs instead use the suffix conjugation. This is more common in colloquial speech and writing, and usually happens when the verbal noun was originally borrowed from Arabic and the verb was derived from it later. However, in formal Zanahi, it is considered preferrable to backform the verb from the verbal noun instead of deriving it via the addition of a suffix.

Verbs borrowed from Semitic languages besides Arabic are usually early borrowings that have been fully nativized. This means that they decline identically to native Zanahi verbs.

Particles

Prefixed particles

• ta-: "of, that"
  • Attached to nominals: possessive.
  • Attached to verbs: relative.
  • Becomes ṯa- when used possessively and immediately preceded by the vowel-final possessed noun.
• wa-: "and"

Independent particles

• ’aw: "or"

Example texts

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1)

Standard Zanahi

Transliteration: Ḥalwa ṯa-m-manō yaṣanmān muḵtīn wa-ḥamāḵīn ‘an aš-šaraf wa-n-ḥuqūq. Allāh ṭā-hān ‘aql wa-ḍamīr, wa-barā fī-hān ka-yahakarākirān sa-r-rūḥa ṯa-b-barāṯartā.

Gloss: all of-the-people they_are_born free_PL and equal_PL in the-dignity and the-rights. Allah gave-them reason and conscience, and it_is_obligatory on-them that-they_mutually_act_with_each_other in-the-spirit of-the-brotherhood.