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 | Alveolar | Palatal- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Retroflex | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | *m /m/ | *n /n/ | *rn /ɳ/ | |||
| Plosive | *p /p/ *b /b/ |
*t /t/ *d /d/ |
*k /k/ *g /g/ |
*rt /ʈ/ *rd /ɖ/ | ||
| Fricative | *f /ɸ/ *v /β/ |
*s /s/ *z /z/ |
*sh /ʃ/ *zh /ʒ/ |
*kh /x/ | ||
| Approximant | *y /j/ | *rl /ɭ/ *rr /ɻ/ |
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
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 chiu "to do") followed by an auxiliary verb—the gerund is rnufukh ("process", a truncation of rrirnufukh, cognate to Rttirri rrirneu). 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. t-j-n (to bother) |
| I | shikh ___ | shikh ___ | shikh ___ | rnufukh ___ | to do something | 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 | tējen – 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 | tājan – 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 | tijēne – 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 | tijāna – he annoys |