User:Frrurtu/Sandbox2
Old Zoki is the reconstructed common ancestor of Zoki and a few closely related languages spoken in Myanmar. It is part of the North Rttirrian branch of the Rttirrian family of languages, and a direct descendant of Proto-North-Rttirrian.
Phonology
Consonants
Old Zoki possessed the following consonants:
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | *m /m/ | *ṇ /n̪/ | *n /n/ | |||
| Plosive | *p /p/ *b /b/ |
*ṭ /t̪/ *ḍ /d̪/ |
*t /t/ *d /d/ |
*k /k/ *g /g/ | ||
| Fricative | *f /ɸ/ *v /β/ |
*s /s/ *z /z/ |
*sh /ʃ/ *zh /ʒ/ |
*kh /x/ | ||
| Affricate | *j /d͡ʒ/ | |||||
| Approximant | *w /w/ | *l /l/ | *y /j/ |
Vowels
The following vowels were used:
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short | Long | Short | Long | Short | Long | |
| High | *i /i/ | *ī /iː/ | *u /u/ | *ū /uː/ | ||
| Mid-high | *e /e/ | *ē /eː/ | *o /o/ | *ō /oː/ | ||
| Low-mid | *â /ɔ/ | *ấ /ɔː/ | ||||
| Low | *a /ä/ | *ā /äː/ | ||||
Grammar
Roots
Like the Semitic languages of the Middle East, Old Zoki made use of a wealth of consonantal roots out of which various verbs and nouns could be formed. They could contain either two or three consonants. A sampling of some common consonantal roots is given below:
| Root | Cognate (Rttirri) | Meaning | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| k | b | — | /kɑpɑ/ | to stop |
| sh | j | — | /t͡ʃi/ | to eat |
| m | ṇ | — | /munu/ | to drink |
| ṭ | kh | — | /fiu/ | to work |
| s | g | — | /tøki/ | to lend |
| t | b | — | /ʂipi/ | to tell, inform |
| k | l | — | /kiɽi/ | to learn, study |
| p | k | — | /hiki/ | to grow |
| z | g | — | /ʃɑku/ (to trim) | to edit, correct |
| k | ḍ | — | /kɑʔu/ (to squeeze) | to have, own |
| b | zh | — | /piçi/ (electricity) | to spark, flash, glow |
| n | kh | — | /nuwu/ (water) | to douse, splash |
| d | k | — | /ʈukɑ/ (pouch) | to trap, enclose |
| kh | f | g | /wøi/ | to become |
| g | j | ṇ | /jɑnɑ/ | to cook |
| ḍ | j | m | /cɑmɑ/ (to sew) | to connect, join |
| ṭ | j | ṇ | /çnini/ (problem) | to bother |
| g | j | m | /jɑmɑi/ (fire) | to burn |
| b | v | l | /pøɽɑu/ (bread) | to expand, puff up |
| ṭ | k | l | /tʼuɽɑ/ (boss) | to supervise, spy on, follow |
| m | p | j | /mɑhɑi/ (to name) | to identify, choose |
Verbs
Verb forms
Old Zoki had several verb forms, each giving a different nuance to the concept expressed in the biliteral or triliteral root. These forms are summarized below.
Form I was used generally for loaned verbal concepts, mostly relating to skilled acts practiced by other local cultures and taught to the Zoki people. It is sometimes not considered a true verbal form, as it consisted of the single verb shikh ("to practice", cognate to Rttirri /t͡ʃiu/ "to do") followed by an auxiliary verb—the gerund is nufukh ("process", a truncation of rinufukh, cognate to Rttirri /ɻiɳøu/). This auxiliary verb, unlike the verbal concepts of the other four verb forms, did not need to take any particular vowel pattern.
| Forms | Examples | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Form | Past | Present | Future | Gerund | Meaning | Biliteral roots, e.g. k-b (to stop) | Triliteral roots, e.g. ṭ-j-ṇ (to bother) |
| I | shikh ___ | shikh ___ | shikh ___ | nufukh ___ | to do something skillful or foreign | shikh pag – he imitates (from Classical Chinese /*pʰaŋʔ/ 仿) |
shikh sanās – he spins silk (from Classical Chinese /*snas/ 絮) |
| II | _ō_(e_) | _ē_(e_) | _ē_(e_) | _ē_(e_) | to undergo a process emphatically or suddenly | kēb – he stops suddenly | ṭējeṇ – he goes crazy |
| III | _ā_(a_) | _ā_(a_) | _ī_(i_) | _ấ_(â_) | to undergo a process weakly or gradually | kāb – he slows to a halt | ṭājaṇ – he hesitates |
| IV | _i_ō(_e) | _i_ē(_e) | _i_ē(_e) | _i_ē(_e) | to act on someone/something emphatically or suddenly | kibē – he causes to stop suddenly | ṭijēṇe – he completely disrupts |
| V | _i_ā(_a) | _i_ā(_a) | _i_ī(_i) | _i_ấ(_â) | to act on someone/something weakly or gradually | kibā – he drags to a halt | ṭijāṇa – he annoys |
Verb inflection
The following verb prefixes are reconstructed:
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | Pl. | Sing. | Pl. | Sing. | Pl. | |
| Past | *mo- | *om- | *ap- | *am- | *bo- | *bom- |
| Present | *na- | *nam- | *af- | *sam- | — | *khem- |
| Future | *ne- | *mi- | *ke- | *mīj- | *j- | *mēj- |
Nouns
Most nouns were pluralized with *-m if they ended with a vowel, or *-mi if they ended with a consonant. A small class of nouns ending in *-ey/y (historically, a diminutive suffix) were pluralized instead with *-mizh.
The following pronouns are reconstructed:
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | Pl. | Sing. | Pl. | Sing. | Pl. | |
| Nominative (emphatic) |
*nak | *naw | *āt | *sak | *âtū | *âk |
| Accusative | *ni | *me | *ki | *se | *yo | *goj |
| Possessive noun prefix |
*na- | *mi- | *ak- | *sa- | *â- | *e- |
Syntax
Standard word order was subject-object-verb (SOV).
- *Muse-m asi-m bom-shōj.
- cat-PL mouse-PL 3PL.PST-eat.Form_II
- The cats ate the mice.
Adjectives followed nouns.
- *Biṇu tavdav
- light bright
- the bright light
However, verb-subject-object (VSO) order was used for some purposes, most commonly conditionals and subjunctives.
- *Na-kāl nak gijấṇâ, biza shagya na-kēḍ mis Tấmo.
- 1SG.PRES 1SG.NOM cook.Form_V.GER, husband beautiful 1SG.PRES-have.Form_II like Tấmo
- If I learned how to cook, I would get a handsome husband like Tấmo (has).