Old Zoki

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Old Zoki
Zoki
Pronunciation[[Help:IPA|'zoːki]]
Created by
Rttirrian

Old Zoki (English: /ˈzoʊki/, Old Zoki: ['zoːki], Burmese: [zo˥ki˩]) is the reconstructed common ancestor of Zoki and a few closely related languages spoken in Myanmar, spoken by the Zoki people and other groups around the 15th century CE. It is part of the North Rttirrian branch of the Rttirrian family of languages, and a direct descendant of Proto-North-Rttirrian.

Old Zoki was probably not written, but as modern Zoki is written in the Burmese abugida, linguistic texts and other materials featuring reconstructed Old Zoki typically use this abugida as well. However, because of the recency with which it was spoken, the language's phonology, vocabulary, and grammar are known with a fairly high degree of confidence.

The language had nominative-accusative alignment and largely analytic morphology, as part of the Southeast Asian sprachbund. However, it is better known for its root-and-pattern inflectional system reminiscent of those of the Semitic languages; this system allowed biconsonantal and triconsonantal roots to be expressed as nouns or adjectives as well as gerunds and several types of verbs. Phonologically, it distinguished six vowels (in both short and long versions) and 23 consonants.

Phonology

Consonants

Old Zoki possessed the following consonants:

Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal-
alveolar
Palatal Velar
Nasal *m /m/ * /n̪/ *n /n/
Plosive *p /p/
*b /b/
* /t̪/
* /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/
*r /ɹ/
*y /j/

In addition, the phoneme *ng /ŋ/ was allowable in loanwords.

Allophonically, the voiceless stops were optionally aspirated in initial position, especially in loanwords. However, most speakers did not (yet) distinguish aspirated from non-aspirated stops in loanwords, instead using them interchangeably.

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/ * /ɔː/
Low *a /ä/ *ā /äː/

Phonotactics

Consonant clusters were not allowed (maximally CVC syllables), although a syllable ending with a consonant could be followed by a syllable beginning with one.

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 /munu/ to drink
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
kh l /wɑɽɑ/ (to jump) to dive, pierce, shoot
z g /ʃɑku/ (to trim) to edit, correct
k /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 /jɑnɑ/ to cook
j m /cɑmɑ/ (to sew) to connect, join
j /çnini/ (problem) to bother
w b s /øpʼu/ (to flex) to rotate, twist
g j m /jɑmɑi/ (fire) to burn
b v l /pøɽɑu/ (bread) to expand, puff up
k l /tʼuɽɑ/ (boss) to supervise, spy on, follow
sh f k /t͡ʃøkø/ (wide) to be wide, open, the ocean
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 shekh ("to practice", cognate to Rttirri /t͡ʃiu/ "to do") followed by an auxiliary verb—the gerund is nufokh ("process", a truncation of rinufokh, 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 shekh-___ shekh-___ shekh-___ nufokh-___ to do something skillful or foreign shekh-siyā – he spins silk
(from Middle Chinese /sɨʌH/ )
shekh-puwāng – he imitates
(from Middle Chinese /pʰʉɐŋX/ 仿)
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.PRES
The cats ate the mice.

Adjectives followed nouns, and adpositions followed noun phrases.

*Biṇu tavdav
light bright
the bright light
*Shấfâk kulā mo-khōl.
be_wide.GER deep into 1SG.PST-dive.Form_II.PST
I dove into the deep ocean.

However, verb-subject-object (VSO) order was used for some purposes, most commonly conditionals and subjunctives.

*Na-kāl nak gijấṇâ, biza shā na-kēḍ mis Tấmu.
1SG.PRES 1SG.NOM cook.Form_V.GER, husband beautiful 1SG.PRES-have.Form_II.PRES like Tấmu
If I learned how to cook, I would get a handsome husband like Tấmu (has).

Negation

There was no single negative particle used in Old Zoki. Instead, verbs were negated with the suffix -n if they ended with a vowel, or -an if they ended with a consonant.

*Ar ∅-gājam-an.
house 3SG.PRES-burn.Form_III.PRES-NEG
The house isn't burning.

Noun and adjective phrases were negated with the prefixing clitic kag (lit. "entirely", cognate to Rttirri /kɑi/ "if only") and the suffix -nu.

*Āt kag sīmi og nu.
2SG.NOM NEG smart very NEG
You're not that smart.

See also