User:Frrurtu/Sandbox2
Phonology
Consonants
Zoki possesses the following consonant phonemes:
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | *m /m/ | *n /n/ | *ny /ɳ/ | *ng /ŋ/ | |||
| Plosive | *p /p/ *b /b/ *pp /pʰ/ |
*t /t/ *d /d/ *tt /tʰ/ |
*k /k/ *g /g/ *kk /kʰ/ |
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| Fricative | *f /f/ *v /v/ |
*th /θ/ *dh /ð/ |
*s /s/ *z /z/ |
*sh /ʃ/ *zh /ʒ/ |
*h /h/ | ||
| Affricate | *ch /tɕ/ *j /dʑ/ |
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| Approximant | *w /w/ | *l /l/ *r /ɹ/ |
*y /j/ |
Vowels
The following vowel phonemes are used:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i /i/ ì /iə/ |
u /u/ ù /uə/ | |
| Mid-high | é /e/ è /eə/ |
ó /o/ ò /oə/ | |
| Mid | û /ə/ | ||
| Low-mid | e /ɛ/ | o /ɔ/ | |
| Low | a /a/ (ai /ai/) (au /au/) |
â /ɑ/ (ấ /ɑə/) |
- The distinction between /ɑ/ and /ɑə/ is a remnant of the historical vowel length distinction in Old Zoki; vowel shifts since the Old Zoki period have diphthongized most instances of the historical long vowels, while the short vowels have altered in quality. However, in the case of short and long historical */ɔ/, most speakers have merged them to /ɑ/; the diphthongization of historical long */ɔ/ to /ɑə/ is now considered a dying feature.
- The diphthongs /ai/ and /au/ do not occur in native Zoki words except for a few interjections and onomatopoeic terms, such as hai ("haha") and hau ("ouch"). They occur in some loanwords, but speakers, especially less educated ones, often pronounce them variously as bisyllabic a-i and a-u, as monophthongal a, or as monophthongal i and u.
Grammar
As part of the Southeast Asian sprachbund, Zoki has lost most of the complex affixational morphology of Proto-Rttirrian and become highly analytic. However, it retains parts of the (already simplified) affixational system of Old Zoki. Nevertheless, Zoki is no longer considered pro-drop, for example, as several verbal conjugation paradigms have merged together; pronouns are now generally used alongside verbs, except in some informal speech where they may be dropped. Similar processes have occurred in English and French.
Nouns
The following pronouns are used:
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | Pl. | Sing. | Pl. | Sing. | Pl. | |
| Nominative (emphatic) |
nûk | mo | a | sûk | tù | âk |
| Accusative | né | me | ké | se | yo | gi |
| Possessive | nû | mé | û | sû | â | e |
Two particles may come after the entire noun phrase. One is the non-obligatory plural particle mi; the other is the diminutive ûzh. When multiple diminutive objects are being referred to, the particles may come in either order, although mi ûzh is more typical.
Verbs
Verbs conjugate, vestigially, for person and number of the subject:
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | Pl. | Sing. | Pl. | Sing. | Pl. | |
| Past | o- | o- | — | — | — | o- |
| Present | — | — | — | — | — | e- |
| Future | — | — | — | j(i)- | — | j(i)- |
However, consonantal verb roots can fit a large number of verb patterns, each of which puts a different nuance on the action.
| 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 | shò1e2(e3) | shè1e2(e3) | shè1e2(e3) | nó1o2(o3) | to do something skillfully or carefully |
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| II | 1ò2(e3) | 1è2(e3) | 1è2(e3) | 1e2(a3) | to undergo a process emphatically or suddenly |
kēb – he stops suddenly | ṭējeṇ – he goes crazy |
| III | 1u2ò2(e3) | 1i2è2(e3) | 1i2è2(e3) | 1e2e2(a3) | to undergo a process repeatedly and quickly |
kēb – he stops suddenly | ṭējeṇ – he goes crazy |
| IV | 1a2(û3) | 1a2(û3) | 1e2(é3) | 1â2(â3) | to undergo a process weakly or gradually |
kāb – he slows to a halt | ṭājaṇ – he hesitates |
| V | 1é2ò(3û) | 1é2è(3û) | 1é2è(3û) | 1é2e(3a) | to act on someone/something emphatically or suddenly |
kibē – he causes to stop suddenly | ṭijēṇe – he completely disrupts |
| VI | 1i2é2ò(3û) | 1i2é2è(3û) | 1i2é2è(3û) | 1i2é2e(3a) | to act on someone/something repeatedly and quickly |
kibē – he causes to stop suddenly | ṭijēṇe – he completely disrupts |
| VII | 1é2a(3û) | 1é2a(3û) | 1é2ì(3é) | 1é2â(3â) | to act on someone/something weakly or gradually |
kibā – he drags to a halt | ṭijāṇa – he annoys |
The present tense of each verb form is syncretic with either the past or the future tense. This was also the case in Old Zoki, but in that stage of the language, the person/number affixes on the verb encoded unambiguous tense information, which is no longer the case in Modern Zoki. As a result, speakers often use mó (a truncation of mómó, lit. "now", cognate to Rttirri mumu) to specify that an action is taking place in the present. However, this word may come anywhere in the sentence, though it is found most frequently after the verb.
- Tù né ttéjanyû.
- 3SG.NOM 1SG.ACC annoy.Form_V
- He was/is annoying me.
- Tù né ttéjanyû mó.
- 3SG.NOM 1SG.ACC annoy.Form_V now
- He is annoying me.