| Zimaninan Leonzvous | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Agglutinative-Fusional | ||||||||||||
| Alignment | Tripartite | ||||||||||||
| Head direction | Mixed | ||||||||||||
| Tonal | No | ||||||||||||
| Declensions | Yes | ||||||||||||
| Conjugations | Yes | ||||||||||||
| Genders | None | ||||||||||||
| Nouns decline according to... | |||||||||||||
| Case | Number | ||||||||||||
| Definiteness | Gender | ||||||||||||
| Verbs conjugate according to... | |||||||||||||
| Voice | Mood | ||||||||||||
| Person | Number | ||||||||||||
| Tense | Aspect | ||||||||||||
| Meta-information | |||||||||||||
| Progress | 0% | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Creator | [[User:|]] | ||||||||||||
Zimanian, sometimes called Liorstan, is the official language of the island nation of Liorst, located in the Gulf of Xho. It's spoken by approximately 70 million people in Liorst, as well as about 110 million people on the island conglomerations of Firu and Dwqueti as a lingua franca, as those nations are part of Liorst's naval empire. It also has a few hundred thousand extra speakers in the trading business due to its widespread use across the seas.
Classification and Dialects[]
Zimanian is an agglutinative language with some fusional tendencies. Just like all Missean languages, it has tripartite-alignment. There are five main dialects of Zimanian: General, Countryside, Southern Islands, Western Islands, and "Sailor-Talk." This page covers the General Zimanian dialect.
Phonology[]
Consonants[]
| Bilabial | Labio-dental | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Uvular | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n̪ | ɴ | ||||
| Plosive | pʰ b | t̪ d̪ | qʰ ɢ | ʔ | |||
| Fricative | f v | s z | ʒ | ʁ | |||
| Approximant | |||||||
| Affricate | t͡s d͡z | t͡ʃ d͡ʒ | |||||
| Trill | ʀ | ||||||
| Flap or tap | ɾ | ||||||
| Lateral app. | l |
+ /w/
Vowels[]
| Front | Near-front | Central | Near-back | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i y | u | |||
| Near-close | ɪ | ʊ | |||
| Close-mid | e ø | o | |||
| Mid | ə | ||||
| Open-mid | ɛ œ | ɔ̃ | |||
| ɛ̃ œ̃ | |||||
| Open | a | ɑ̃ |
Phonotactics[]
Onset:
- All consonants allowed except /ɴ/ and /ʔ/.
- pʰ and qʰ become unaspirated when clustering.
- All onset consonants can be palatized with the letter "i", or labialized with the letter "u".
Nucleus:
- The nucleus can be any pure vowel or diphthong.
- Oral vowels can form diphthongs with other orals, but not nasals.
- Nasal vowels do not form diphthongs and usually end a word (except with suffixes).
Coda:
- All consonants allowed except /ɾ/, /ʀ/, /w/, and /ʔ/.
- pʰ and qʰ become unaspirated.
- Nasals are absolutely NEVER geminated.
Other:
- /ʔ/ is always intervocalic
Stress[]
Stress usually falls on the last or penultimate syllable.
Writing System[]
| Letter | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sound | ||||||||||||
| Letter | ||||||||||||
| Sound | ||||||||||||
| Letter | ||||||||||||
| Sound |
Grammar[]
Nouns[]
Nouns in Zimanian decline according to number, definiteness, and case, in that order. They work very similarly to how they do in other Missean languages (I haven't made the article yet).
Number[]
The number system of Zimanian is rather complicated compared to English. There are 4 (kind of 5) grammatical numbers:
| Number | Use | Suffix | Pronunciation | Example | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | one item | -- | -- | pilanz | /pʰɪlɑ̃ː/ | building |
| Plural | more than one item | -e | /ə/ | pilanze | /pʰɪlɑ̃ːzə/ | buildings |
| Paucal | a group of an item | -ê/-ee | /eː/ or /eiː/ | pilanzee | /pʰɪlɑ̃ːzeː/ | some buildings |
| Collective* | all instances of an item | -ui | /ʷi/ or /wi/ | pilanzui | /pʰɪlɑ̃ːzʷi/ | all buildings |
- Collective can also be used as the paucal-collective (all groups of an item).
- If a word ends in a vowel or diphthong, the whole sound is replaced with the number suffix
Definiteness[]
There are no definite or indefinite articles in Zimanian, but there is the negative article. It is represented as the suffix -souem ( /syːm/ ) that attaches its noun. Ex. pilanze + m = pilanzem (no buildings). That a schwa is added to the suffix (-em /əm) if the noun ends in a consonant. Therefore the singular and plural are often the same with the negative article.
Case Nouns are inflected via particles à la Japanese that precede or follow the noun or suffixes.
| Case | Use | Modification | Pronunciation | Example | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ergative | agent of transitive clause | -- | -- | pilanz | /pʰɪlɑ̃ː/ | a building (erg.) |
| Absolutive | subject of intransitive clause | -de | /d̪ə/ | pilanz de | /pʰɪlɑ̃ː d̪ə/ | a building (abs.) |
| Accusative | object of transitive clause | -ris (suffix) | /ʁi/ | pilanzris | /pʰɪlɑ̃ːzʁi/ | a building (acc.) |
| Genitive* | of/'s/-esque | -nanz (suffix) | /n̪ɑ̃ː/ | pilanzanz | /pʰɪlɑ̃ːzɑ̃ː/ |
building-esque |
| Dative | indirect object | von- | /van̪/ | von pilanz | /van pʰɪlɑ̃ː/ | to/for a building |
| Allative | moving towards | neu- | /nø/ | neu pilanz | /nø pʰɪlɑ̃ː/ | towards a building |
| Ablative | away from | doer- | /d̪œ̃ː/ | doer pilanz | /d̪œ̃ː pʰɪlɑ̃ː/ | away from a building |
| Locative | at/on/in/by | -le (suffix) | /lə/ | pilanzle | /pʰɪlɑ̃ːzlə/ | at a building |
| Intrumental | via/by/using | -chêin | /ʃɛ̃ː/ | pilanz chêin | /pʰɪlɑ̃ːʃɛ̃ː/ | via/through a building |
| Translative | (turn) into | voue- | /vøʊ/ | voue pilanz | /vøʊ pʰɪlɑ̃ː/ | (turn) into a building |
- Genitive: initial /n̪/ in suffix is dropped if noun ends in consonant
Spelling and pronunciation of grammatical number sometimes changes when using the accusative, genitive, or locative suffixes:
| Plural | Paucal | Collective | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accusative | -eris | -êris | -uris |
| /əʁi/ | /eiʁi/ | /uʁi/ | |
| Genitive | -eurnanz | -ênanz | -unanz |
| /øən̪ɑ̃ː/ | /en̪ɑ̃ː/ | /un̪ɑ̃ː/ | |
| Locative | -ele | -êle | -lui |
| /ələ/ | /eːlə/ | /lʷi/ |
Pronouns[]
These are the pronouns:
| Singular | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| First Person | Second Person | Third Person | |
| Ergative | zan /ʒan̪/ | van /van̪/ | lan /lan̪/ |
| Absolutive | zan de /ʒan̪ d̪ə/ | van de /van̪ də/ | lan de /lan̪ də/ |
| Accusative | zeris /ʒəʁi/ | veris /vəʁi/ | leris /ləʁi/ |
| Geninive | zenanz /ʒən̪ɑ̃ː/ | venanz /vən̪ɑ̃ː/ | lenanz /lən̪ɑ̃ː/ |
| Dative | zier /viəː/ | veur /viəː/ | leur /liəː/ |
| Ablative | zen /ʒən̪/ | ven /ven̪/ | len /len̪/ |
| Allative | zat /ʒat̪/ | vat /vat̪/ | lat /lat̪/ |
| Locative | zanle /ʒan̪lə/ | vanle /van̪lə/ | lanle /lan̪lə/ |
| Intrumental | zechêin /ʒəʃɛ̃ː/ | vechêin /vəʃɛ̃ː/ | lechêin /ləʃɛ̃ː/ |
| Translative | voue zan /vøʊ ʒan̪/ | voue van /vøʊ van̪/ | voue lan /vøʊ lan̪/ |
Plural, Paucal, and Collective pronouns to come soon. Anyone who's reading this can add them if they like (though I'll likely change them quite a bit).
Adjectives[]
Adjectives are rather simple: they proceed the nouns they describe and agree with number and case. Examples:
| Noun | Meaning | Adjective | Meaning | Together | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pilanz /pʰɪlɑ̃ː/ | building | soerl /sœːl/ | yellow | pilanz soerl | yellow building |
| jêmosa /ʒeimosa/ | book | cerat /sɛʁat̪/ | boring | jêmose cerate | boring books |
| doulle /døːwə/ | flower | banti /ban̪t̪i/ | beautiful | doulluiris bantuiris | all beautiful flowers (acc.) |
Verbs