Dzetcavu

Phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Post Alveolar	Velar
Plosive	voicless	p /p/	t /t/			k /k/
	voiced	b /b/	d /d/			g /g/
Nasal		m /m/	n /n/
Fricative	voiceless		f /f/	s /s/	c /ʃ/	x /x/
	voiced		v /v/	z /z/	j /ʒ/	ĝ /ɣ/
Trill				r /r/
Lateral Approximant				l /l/
Affricate	voiceless	ps /ps/ pc /pʃ/ pf /pf/	ts /ts/ tc /tʃ/			ks /ks/ kc /kʃ/
	voiced	bz /bz/ bj /bʒ/ bv /bv/	dz /dz/ dj /dʒ/			gz /gz/ gj /gʒ/

Vowels

	Front	Back	Diphthongs
Close	i /i/	u /u/	ui /ui/
Near-Close	ī /ɪ/
Close-Mid	e /e/	o /o/	ei /ei/
Open	a /a/		ai /ai/

Orthography

Romanized Alphabet

Dzetcavu Alphabetical Order
p b t d k g m n r f v s z c j x ğ l i u ī e o a

Syntax

Word Order

• VOS/VPA
• Modifier second

Morphology

Morphosyntactic Alignment

• Ergative-Absolutive

Verbs

Tense

Tenses, other than the present, in Dzetcavu are indicated by tense particles proceeding the verb. There are five tense particles: past, near past, future, near future, and the infinite.

Past

Near Past

Future

Near Future

Infinite

The Infinite Particle

The infinite "tense" particle is not so much a tense marker as a lack-of-tense marker. The infinite tense is used most often when stating facts or making promises and oaths. Any other situation where tense is not a factor, the infinite tense is used. It can also be used to make emphasize a declaration of some sort such as a declaration of faith, love, or guilt.

Imperative Mood

-ij Verbs

	Simple		Progressive		Perfect
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st Person	-i	-iac
2nd Person	-iz	-ita
3rd Person	-ize	-izev

-uj Verbs

	Simple		Progressive		Perfect
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st Person	-u	-uīc
2nd Person	-uz	-utī
3rd Person	-uzī	-uzīv

-īj Verbs

	Simple		Progressive		Perfect
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st Person	-ī	-īc
2nd Person	-īz	-īt
3rd Person	-īze	-īv

-ej Verbs

	Simple		Progressive		Perfect
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st Person	-e	-ec
2nd Person	-ez	-eta
3rd Person	-eze	-ezev