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 byShariifka
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/ ~ 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
ṗ; b'; p' /pˁ ~ bˁ/ ḅāṯā
g /ɡ/ gamlā
gh; ɣ; ġ /ɣ ~ ʁ/ ḡamlā
ǧ j /d͡ʒ/ ǧamlā Used in Arabic and other foreign loanwords.
d /d̪/ daltā
dh; ð /ð/ ḏaltā
h /h/ hā’ā
w /w/ wawwā
z /z/ zānā
ž zh /ʒ/ žānā Used in non-Semitic loanwords.
ħ; h'; 7 /ħ/ ḥāṯā
kh; ch; x; 7' /x ~ χ/ ḫāṯā Used in Arabic and other early Semitic loanwords.
t'; 6 /t̪ˁ/ ṭāṯā
z'; dh'; ð̣; 6' /ðˁ/ ẓāṯā Used in Arabic loanwords.
y /j/ yāḏā
k /k/ kappā
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
s'; 9 /sˁ/ ṣāḏā
d'; 9' /d͡ɮˁ/ ḍāḏā
q /q/ qāfā
r /r/ rāšā
š sh /ʃ/ šannā
t /t̪/ tawwā
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 ohonotactics section below.

In traditional poetry, stress is determined by meter.

Intonation

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 * and * 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/ /ɣ ~ ʁ/
d /d/ /ð/
k /k/ /x ~ χ/
p /p/ f /f/
t /t/ /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.

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 sān sīn
Far 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 .

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), 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

Adverbs

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 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 from simple (one-word) cardinal numbers with the 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 -(a)nt (feminine: -(a)ntā) 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.

Tenses

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, imperfect, and nominal stems.

Zanahi suffixed verb formations
No. Type Stem
0 Basic -S-ē-
1 Middle -ha-S-ē-
2 Intensive -S-aCC-ē-
3 Middle intensive -ha-S-aCC-ē-
4 Associative -S-āC-ē-
5 Reciprocal -ha-S-āC-ē-
7 Causative -S-ē-ḏā-
8 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"

Syntax

Constituent order

Noun phrase

Verb phrase

Sentence phrase

Dependent clauses

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-yahakarākarān 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.


Other resources