Zanahi

Zanahi (native: zanāhī, haṭ-ṭaṣwā haz-zanāhiyyā) is an Indo-European language with a high degree of Semitic influence.

Zanahi
zanāhī
Pronunciation	[zænæːhiː]
Created by	Shariifka
Language family	Indo-European Zanahi
Early form	Proto-Zanahi

Introduction

Zanahi is a satem language.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Zanahi

		Labial	Dental	Denti-alveolar		Post-alv./ Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
				plain	emphatic
Nasal		/m/		/n/
Stop	voiceless	/p/		/t̪/	/t̪ˁ/	/t͡ʃ/	/k/	/q/		/ʔ/
	voiced	/b/		/d̪/	/d͡ɮˤ/	/d͡ʒ/	/ɡ/
Fricative	voiceless	/f/	/θ/	/s/	/sˤ/	/ʃ/	/x ~ χ/		/ħ/	/h/
	voiced	/v/	/ð/	/z/	/ðˤ/	/ʒ/	/ɣ ~ ʁ/		/ʕ/
Trill				/r/
Approximant				/l/		/j/	/w/

Vowels

Vowel phonemes of Zanahi

	Short		Long
	Front	Back	Front	Back
Close	/i/	/u/	/iː/	/uː/
Mid			/eː/	/oː/
Open	/a/		/aː/
Diphthongs	/aw/, /aj/

Orthography

Zanahi orthography (consonants)

Letter	Scientific transliteration	Alternative transliterations	IPA	Name	Remarks
	'	ʔ; ˀ; 2	/ʔ/	’ālaf
	b		/b/	bāṯ
	v	ḇ; bh	/v/	vāṯ
	g		/ɡ/	gāmal
	ḡ	gh; ɣ; ġ	/ɣ ~ ʁ/	ḡāmal
	ǧ	j	/d͡ʒ/	ǧāmal	Used in Arabic and other foreign loanwords.
	d		/d̪/	dālaṯ
	ḏ	dh; ð	/ð/	ḏālaṯ
	h		/h/	hā
	w		/w/	wāw
	z		/z/	zayn
	ž	zh	/ʒ/	žayn	Used in non-Semitic loanwords.
	ḥ	ħ; h'; 7	/ħ/	ḥāṯ
	ḫ	kh; ch; x; 7'	/x ~ χ/	ḫāṯ	Used in Arabic and other early Semitic loanwords.
	ṭ	t'; 6	/t̪ˁ/	ṭāṯ
	ẓ	z'; dh'; ð̣; 6'	/ðˁ/	ẓāṯ	Used in Arabic loanwords.
	y		/j/	yāḏ
	k		/k/	kāf
	ḵ	kh; ch; x	/x ~ χ/	ḵāf
	č	ch; tsh	/t͡ʃ/	čāf	Used in non-Semitic loanwords.
	l		/l/	lāmaḏ
	m		/m/	mīm
	n		/n/	nūn
	s		/s/	samkaṯ
	ʻ	c; ʕ; ˁ; "; 3	/ʕ/	ʻayn
	ġ	gh; ɣ; 3'	/ɣ ~ ʁ/	ġayn	Used in Arabic and other early Semitic loanwords.
	p		/p/	pā
	f	p̄; ph	/f/	fā
	ṣ	s'; 9	/sˁ/	ṣāḏā
	ḍ	d'; 9'	/d͡ɮˁ/	ḍāḏā
	q	ḳ	/q/	qāf
	r		/r/	rāš
	š	sh	/ʃ/	šīn
	t		/t̪/	tāw
	ṯ	th; θ; þ	/θ/	ṯāw

Zanahi orthography (vowels)

Grapheme	Scientific transliteration	Alternative transliterations	IPA	Name	Remarks
	a		/a/	fatḥā
	e		/e/	imālā	In native words, only occurs in combination with a mater lectionis.
	i		/i/	kasrā
	o		/o/	tafḫīmā	In native words, only occurs in combination with a mater lectionis.
	u		/u/	ḍammā
	ā	aa; â	/aː/
	â	aa; ā	/aː/		Used in a few words.
	ē	ee; ea; ei; ey; ê	/eː/
	ī	ii; ee; iy; î	/iː/
	ō	oo; oa; ou; ow; ô	/oː/
	ū	uu; oo; uw; û	/uː/
	aw	au	/aw/
	ay	ai	/aj/
	C		C	sukūn	Used to indicate that a consonant is not followed by a vowel.
	CC		Cː	šaddā	Used to indicate that a consonant is geminated.

Morphophonology

Lenition

Non-emphatic plosives undergo lenition to fricatives (analogous to "begadkefat" in Aramaic and Biblical Hebrew) in certain environments.

Consonants that undergo lenition

Un-lenited	Lenited
b /b/	v /v/
g /ɡ/	ḡ /ɣ ~ ʁ/
d /d/	ḏ /ð/
k /k/	ḵ /x ~ χ/
p /p/	f /f/
t /t/	ṯ /θ/

Lenition is only marginally productive. It mainly occurs in grammatical words and morphemes (most often in suffixes).

Vowel breaking

This refers to the "breaking up" of ē and ō into ay and aw respectively before vowel-initial suffixes.

Morphology

Like in Arabic, Zanahi words are traditionally classified into three categories: nominals, verbs, and particles.

Nominals

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Zanahi personal pronouns

Person/ Number	Independent	Dependent
1S	’ammā	-mā
2SM	’antā	-tā/-ṯā
2SF	’antī	-tī/ṯī
3SM	hattā	-hā
3SF	hattī	-hī
1P	’annā	-nā
2PM	’antān	-tān/ṯān
2PF	’antīn	-tīn/ṯīn
3PM	hattān	-hān
3PF	hattīn	-hīn

Demonstrative pronouns

Zanahi demonstratives

Distance	Singular		Plural
	masc.	fem.	masc.	fem.
Near	sā	sī	sān	sīn
Far	tā	tī	tān	tīn

Nouns and adjectives

Nouns do not decline for case.

There are two genders: masculine and feminine.The feminine is most often marked with the ending -ā.

There are two numbers: singular and plural.

Adjectives agree with the noun they modify in gender and definiteness.

The definite article is han-, which is prefixed to the noun/adjective. Before a non-guttural consonant (i.e. any consonant besides ’, h, ‘, ḥ, ġ, ḫ), the -n- is dropped and the first consonant of the noun/verb is geminated. After a prefix, the ha- is dropped. After a preposition, ha- or a- is dropped if the preposition ends in a vowel or consonant respectively.

There is no indefinite article.

Below is an example declension for the adjective bān "clear":

Declension of bān "clear"

Gender	Singular		Plural
	indef.	def.	indef.	def.
Masculine	bān	hab-bān	bānīn	hab-bānīn
Feminine	bānā	hab-bānā	bānān	hab-bānān

Numerals

Zanahi numerals

Symbol	Cardinal number
	masc.	fem.
0	ṣifr
1	‘ayn	‘aynā
2	ṭuwā
3	tarayā	tarē
4	kaṯurā	kaṯur
5	pankā	pank
6	šaššā	šašš
7	haftā	haft
8	‘aṣṭā	‘aṣṭ
9	nawā	nō
10	ṭasā	ṭas
11	‘ayn ṭas	‘aynā ṭasā
12	ṭuwā ṭas	ṭuwā ṭasā
13	tarayā ṭas	tarē ṭasā
14	kaṯurā ṭas	kaṯur ṭasā
15	pankā ṭas	pank ṭasā
16	šaššā ṭas	šašš ṭasā
17	haftā ṭas	haft ṭasā
18	‘aṣṭā ṭas	‘aṣṭ ṭasā
19	nawā ṭas	nō ṭasā
20	ṭasīn
21	‘ayn wa-ṭasīn	‘aynā wa-ṭasīn
30	tarayīn
40	kaṯurīn
50	pankīn
60	šaššīn
70	haftīn
80	‘aṣṭīn
90	nawīn
100	sint
200	ṭuwā sintīn
1000	’alf
2000	ṭuwā ’alfīn

Verbs

Types of verbs

There are 5 main types of verbs:

1. Biliteral root verbs - have 2 root consonants
2. Triliteral root verbs - have 3 root consonants
3. Quadriliteral root verbs - have 4 root consonants
4. Derived root verbs - verbs derived from the above with a certain pattern
5. Suffixed verbs - verbs formed with an unchanging stem followed by a suffix

Stems

Verbs have two finite stems: perfect and imperfect.

The formation of the stems depends on the type of verb.

The table below summarizes the formation for regular primary root verbs. For derived root verbs and suffixed verbs, see the relevant sections below.

Zanahi verb stem formation

No.	Type	Perfect stem	Imperfect stem
1	Biliteral root verbs	1a2-	-1i2-
2	Triliteral root verb	1a2a3-	-12i3-
3	Quadriliteral root verbs	1a23a4-	-1a23i4-

Notes:

1. Legend:
   • 1, 2, 3, 4: represent the root consonants
2. If a consonant is y or w, any occurance of expected Ci, Cu, iC or uC is replaced by the corresponding long vowel (ī and ū respectively for y and w). As for expected aCa, it becomes ē or ō for y and w respectively.
3. It is possible for an underlying archphoneme /A/ (from original laryngeals) to take the place of any of the root consonants. In such a case, that consonant and its adjacent vowel(s) are combined into -ā- in all cases.

Simple tenses

There are three simple tenses: the perfect, imperfect, and imperative (which use the perfect, imperfect, and imperfect stems respectively). The imperative only exists in the second person.

Zanahi verb conjugation

Person/ Number	Perfect	Imperfect	Imperative
1S	-mā	ma-
2SM	-tā/ṯā	ta-	(a)-
2SF	-tī/ṯī	ta-(n)ī	(a)-(n)ī
3SM	-(h)ā	ya-
3SF	-(h)ī	ya-(n)ī
1P	-nā	na-
2PM	-tān/ṯān	ta-(n)ān	(a)-(n)ān
2PF	-tīn/ṯīn	ta-(n)īn	(a)-(n)īn
3PM	-(h)ān	ya-(n)ān
3PF	-(h)īn	ya-(n)īn

Passive

The passive of a verb is formed by adding the suffix -(a)m- to the stem. The addition or ommission of the -(a)- depends on phonotactics: it is added whenever necessary and dropped otherwise (which may vary even between forms with the same stem).

Participles

The active participle of a verb is formed with the suffix -(a)nt (feminine: -(a)ntā) added to the perfect stem.

The passive participle is formed with the suffix -tāḵ/ṯāḵ (feminine: -tāḵā/ṯāḵā) added to the nominal stem.

There is also a rare future passive participle formed with the suffix -(a)mant (feminine: -(a)mantā) added to the perfect stem. However, this ending is more often used to form derived nouns.

Infinitive

The infinitive/verbal noun is formed by adding the following ending to the nominal stem: -tīḵ/ṯīḵ.

The feminine of the infinitive suffix, -tīḵā/ṯīḵā, is used to form an "instance noun" - i.e. a noun referring to an instance of the verb.

Other derived nouns

• The agent noun is formed with the ending -tar/ṯar (feminine: -tarā/ṯarā) added to the nominal stem.
• The instrument noun is formed with the ending -dar/ḏar added to the nominal stem.

Derived root verbs

Zanahi derived verbs

No.	Form name	Usual formation						Usual meaning	Closest Arabic equivalent(s) (for reference)
		Biliteral		Triliteral		Quadriliteral
		Perfect	Imperfect	Perfect	Imperfect	Perfect	Imperfect
1	Reflexive	ha-1a2-	-ha-1i2-	ha-12a3-	-ha-12i3-	ha-1a23a4-	-ha-1a23i3-	Reflexive or anticausative	انفعل؛ افتعل
2	Intensive	1a2-1a2-	-1a2-1i2-	1a22a3-	-1a22i3-	1a2a33as-	-1a2a33is-	Intensive	فعّل
3	Reflexive intensive	ha-1a2-1a2-	-ha-1a2-1i2-	ha-1a22a3-	-ha-1a22i3-	ha-12a33a4-	-ha-12a33i4-	Reflexive or anticausative of above	تفعّل
4	Associative	1a2-ā-1a2-	-1a2-ā-1i2-	1ā2a3-	-1ā2i3-	1a2ā3a4-	-12ā3i4-	Assosiative or adversative	فاعل
5	Reciprocal	ha-1a2-ā-1a2-	-ha-1a2-ā-1i2-	ha-1ā2a3-	-ha-1ā2i3-	ha-1a2ā3a4-	-ha-12ā3i4-	Reciprocal or reflexive of above	تفاعل
6	Causative	1a2-dā/ḏā-	-1i2-dā/ḏā-	1a2a3-dā/ḏā-	-12i3-dā/ḏā-	1a23a4-dā/ḏā-	-1a23i4-dā/ḏā-

Suffixed verbs

Suffixed verbs are usually formed by adding a suffix to a nominal or (rarely) a particle. They are also used to form loan verbs. Like root verbs, they have basic and derived forms.

Suffixed verbs always have identical perfect and imperfect stems.

Zanahi suffixed verb formations

No.	Type	Stem
0	Basic	-S-ē-
1	Reflexive	-ha-S-ē-
2	Intensive	-S-aCC-ē-
3	Reflexive intensive	-ha-S-aCC-ē-
4	Associative	-S-āC-ē-
5	Reciprocal	-ha-S-āC-ē-
7	Causative	-S-ē-ḏā-

Notes:

1. S = base stem (without the suffix); C = final consonant of the base stem

Particles

Prefixed particles

• ta-: "of, that"
  • Attached to nominals: possessive.
  • Attached to verbs: relative.
  • Becomes ṯa- when used possessively and immediately preceded by the vowel-final possessed noun.
• wa-: "and"

Independent particles

• ’aw: "or"

Example texts

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1)

Standard Zanahi

Transliteration: Ḥalō ṯa-m-manō yaṣanmān muḵtīn wa-ḥamāḵīn ‘an aš-šaraf wa-n-ḥuqūq. Allāh ṭāṭā-hān ‘aql wa-ḍamīr, wa-barā fī-hān ka-yahakarākarān sa-r-rūḥ ta-b-barāṯartā.

Gloss: all of-the-people they_are_born free_PL and equal_PL in the-dignity and the-rights. Allah gave-them reason and conscience, and it_is_obligatory on-them that-they_mutually_act_with_each_other in-the-spirit of-the-brotherhood.