Proto-Zanahic

Introduction

Proto-Zanahic is the reconstructed ancestor of Zanahi and other Zanahic languages.

Phonology

Consonants

Reconstructed consonant phonemes of Proto-Zanahic

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		*m /m/	*n /n/
Stop	voiceless	*p /p/	*t /t/		*k /k/	*ʔ /ʔ/
	voiced	*b /b/	*d /d/		*g /ɡ/
	ejective	*ṗ /pʼ/	*ṭ /tʼ/		*ḳ /kʼ/
Affricate	voiceless		*s /ts/
	voiced		*z /dz/
	ejective		*ṣ /tsʼ/
Fricative				*š /ɕ ~ ç/		*h /h ~ x ~ θ/
Trill			*r /r/
Approximant			*l /l/	*y /j/	*w /w/

Vowels and Syllabics

Reconstructed vowel phonemes of Proto-Zanahic

	Short		Long
	Front	Back	Front	Back
Close	*i /i/	*u /u/	*ī /iː/	*ū /uː/
Mid	*e /ɛ/		*ē /ɛː/
Open	*a /a/	*o /ɒ/	*ā /aː/	*ō /ɒː/

Reconstructed diphthongs of Proto-Zanahic

	Short		Long
	/i/	/u/	/i/	/u/
/ɛ/	*ey /ɛi/	*ew /ɛu/	*ēy /ɛːi/	*ēw /ɛːu/
/a/	*ay /ai/	*aw /au/	*āy /aːi/	*āw /aːu/
/ɒ/	*oy /ɒi/	*ow /ɒu/	*ōy /ɒːi/	*ōw /ɒːu/

Reconstructed syllabic consonants of Proto-Zanahic

Consonant	Short	Long
*/m/	*m̥ /m̩/	*m̥̄ /m̩ː/
*/n/	*n̥ /n̩/	*n̥̄ /n̩ː/
*/r/	*r̥ /r̩/	*r̥̄ /r̩ː/
*/l/	*l̥ /l̩/	*l̥̄ /l̩ː/
*/ʔ/	*ə /ə/	*əʔ /əʔ/

Note that *i and *u (and their long forms *ī and *ū) are considered the syllabic counterparts of *y and *w respectively.

Morphology

(IN PROGRESS)

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Proto-Zanahi reconstructed personal pronouns

Person	Number	Gender	Nominative	Accusative	Instrumental	Dative	Ablative	Genitive	Locative	Clitic	Possessive pronoun
1	S	M/F	*ʔéṣ	*mé	*móy	*mébi	*méṭ	*méme	*móy	*me	*móh, -áʔ, -óm
	D		*wéʔ	*n̥ʔwé	*n̥ʔúboʔ	*n̥ʔwéy	*n̥ʔwéṭ	*n̥ʔówš	*n̥ʔwí	*nō̆ʔ	*n̥ʔóh, -áʔ, -óm
	P		*wéyeh	*n̥hmé	*n̥hm̥bíš	*n̥hméy	*n̥hméṭ	*n̥hóʔom	*n̥hméy	*nō̆h	*n̥hóh, -áʔ, -óm
2	S	M/F	*túʔ	*twé	*tóy	*tébi	*twéṭ	*téwe	*tóy	*te	*twóh, -áʔ, -óm
	D		*yúʔ	*uʔwé	*uʔúboʔ	*uʔwéy	*uʔwéṭ	*uʔówš	*uʔwí	*wō̆ʔ	*uʔóh, -áʔ, -om
	P		*yū́h	*ušmé	*ušm̥bíš	*ušméy	*ušméṭ	*ušóʔom	*ušmí	*wō̆h	*ušóh, -áʔ, -óm
Refl.	All	All	—	*hwé	*hóy	*hébi	*hwéṭ	*héwe	*hóy	*he	*hwóh, -áʔ, -óm

Demonstrative pronouns

Reconstructed Proto-Zanahic demonstrative *hóh "he, that"

Number	Gender	Nominative	Accusative	Instrumental	Dative	Ablative	Genitive	Locative
S	M	*hóh	*hóm	*héynoʔ	*héhmey	*héhmeṭ	*héhyo	*héhmi
	F	*híʔ	*híʔm	*háʔʔe	*héhyaʔay	*héhyaʔaṭ	*héhyaʔah	*héhyaʔ
	N	*hóṭ	*hóṭ	*héynoʔ	*héhmey	*héhmeṭ	*héhyo	*héhmi
D	M	*hóʔ	*hóʔ	*héyboʔ			*héyʔowš
	F	*híʔʔe		*híʔboʔ			*híʔboʔowš
	N	*hóy	*hóy	*héyboʔ			*héyʔowš
P	M	*hṓh	*hónh	*héybiš	*héymoh	*héymoh	*héyšoʔom	*héyšu
	F	*híʔah	*híʔn̥h	*híʔbiš	*híʔmoh	*híʔmoh	*híʔoʔom	*híʔšu
	N	*háʔ	*háʔ	*héybiš	*héymoh	*héymoh	*héyšoʔom	*héyšu

Similarly declined are:

• *tóh "that, he"
• *sóh "this"
• *yóh "that, which (relative)"
• *kóh "what, which (interrogative)"
• *ʔályoh "(an)other"
• *ʔánoh "that (over there)"

Adjectives

o/aʔ-stem adjectives

Proto-Zanahi reconstructed o/aʔ-stem adjective declension

Number	Gender	Nominative	Vocative	Accusative	Instrumental	Dative	Ablative	Genitive	Locative
S	M	*-oh	*-e	*-om	*-oʔ	*-ōy	*-ōṭ	*-ohyo	*-ey
	F	*-aʔ		*-aʔm	*-aʔʔe	*-aʔay	*-aʔaṭ	*-aʔah	*-aʔ
	N	*-om			*-oʔ	*-ōy	*-ōṭ	*-ohyo	*-ey
D	M	*-oʔ			*-oboʔ			*-oʔowš
	F	*-aʔʔe			*-aʔboʔ			*-aʔboʔowš
	N	*-oy			*-oboʔ			*-oʔowš
P	M	*-ōh		-onh	*-obiš	*-omoh	*-omoh	*-oʔom	*-oyšu
	F	*-aʔah		*-aʔn̥h	*-aʔbiš	*-aʔmoh	*-aʔmoh	*-aʔoʔom	*-aʔhu
	N	*-aʔ			*-obiš	*-omoh	*-omoh	*-oʔom	*-oyšu

.

Numerals

Reconstructed Proto-Zanahic numerals

Symbol	Cardinal number			Ordinal number
	masc.	fem.	neuter
1	*ʔóynoh	*ʔóynaʔ	*ʔóynom	*pr̥ʔtm̥móh, -áʔ, -óm
2	*ṭwóʔ	*ṭwáʔʔe	*ṭwóʔ	*ṭwitíyoh, -aʔ, -om
3	*tréyeh (oblique stem: *tri-)		*tríʔ	*tr̥tíyoh, -aʔ, -om
4	*ketwóreh (oblique stem: *ketur-)		*ketwṓr (oblique stem: *ketur-)	*keturtóh, -áʔ, -óm
5	*pénke			*penketóh, -áʔ, -óm
6	*šésš			*šesštóh, -áʔ, -óm
7	*heptḿ̥			*heptm̥móh, -áʔ, -óm
8	*ʔostṓ			*ʔostowóh, -áʔ, -óm
9	*néwn̥			*newn̥nóh, -áʔ, -óm
10	*ṭésm̥			*ṭesn̥tóh, -áʔ, -óm
20	*ṭwíʔsn̥ti			*ṭwiʔsn̥tóh, -áʔ, -óm
30	*triʔsónt			*triʔsn̥tóh, -áʔ, -óm
40	*ketursónt			*ketursn̥tóh, -áʔ, -óm
50	*penkeʔsónt			*penkeʔsn̥tóh, -áʔ, -óm
60	*šesšsónt			*šesšsn̥tóh, -áʔ, -óm
70	*heptm̥ʔsónt			*heptm̥ʔsn̥tóh, -áʔ, -óm
80	*ʔoctōʔsónt			*ʔoctōʔsn̥tóh, -áʔ, -óm
90	*newn̥ʔsónt			*newn̥ʔsn̥tóh, -áʔ, -óm
100	*sn̥tóm
1000	*zéhlom

Vocabulary

Time -

Seasons - '

English	Proto-Zanahic
spring	wóhr̥
summer	hm̥ʔṓn
fall	wéṯoh
winter	zéymoh

Parts of the day - hab-bāqīn ta-ṭ-ṭayn

English	Zanahi
day	ṭayn
dawn	’awḥā
morning	’azar
noon	’awq
afternoon	wašpar
evening	šaf
dusk	ṭawšā
night	naḵṭ
midnight	mayḏa ṯa-n-naḵṭ

Units of time - ham-māṯayīn ta-z-zaman

English	Zanahi
second	ṭuwiyyā
minute	daqīqā
hour	sā‘ā
day	ṭayn
week	haftam
month	yarḥā
season	’artō
year	yār

Time adverbs - haẓ-ẓurūfa ṯa-z-zaman

English	Zanahi
now	nūnā
then
recently, a short time ago
earlier
soon, shortly
later
always
often
sometimes
rarely
never
ever
still, yet
already
today	haṭ-ṭayn
tonight	han-naḵṭ
yesterday
last night
tomorrow
tomorrow night
before yesterday
two nights ago
after tomorrow
this week	sā han-haftam
last week
next week
this year	sā hay-yār
last year	paruṯ
next year

Colours - hap-paysīn

Colours - hap-paysīn

English	Zanahi
white	’alb; suwayṯ
grey
black	siyāw
red	rawḏ; ruḏr
orange	burtuqāliyy
brown	qahwiyy; bunniyy
yellow	zalē
green	’aḫḍar
blue
pink
purple
golden	ḏahabiyy

Example texts

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1)

• holwoh monewoʔom muktonh homʔonhke ???? ????ke ṣn̥ʔyontor. ???-ṭoʔ-??? ???-ker-??? ???-braʔter-taʔt-???

yaṣanmān muḵtīn wa-ḥamāḵīn ‘an aš-šaraf wa-n-ḥuqūq. Allāh ṭā-hān ‘aql wa-ḍamīr, wa-barā fī-hān ka-yahakarākirān sa-r-rūḥa ṯa-b-barāṯartāṯ.