# Zheshoi Zheshoi (_ʒeßwi_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjx} /ʑɪɕwi/) is a language in the Jastu⹀Fizonal language family, derived from [][:Languages/PreZheshoi]. ## phonology ### syllable structure The basic Zheshoi syllable is CHV(ı)(C). This is analyzed as follows:8--: - An initial consonant (C) - Zero or one medials (H; _w_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz}, _ʀ_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz}, or _y_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz}) - A vowel (V) or diphthong (Vı) - Optionally, a final consonant Details regarding the consonants, medials, and finals are given in the following sections. ### consonants Broadly, the basic consonants in Zheshoi fall into one of five series:8--: | Name | Base | Devoiced | Alternate | Devoiced Alternate | |:---------|:------:|:--------:|:---------:|:------------------:| | V⹀Series | v /β/ | p /p/ | m /m/ | | | D⹀Series | d /d/ | t /t/ | z /z/ | s /s/ | | J⹀Series | j /d͡ʑ/ | ꜭ /t͡ɕ/ | ʒ /ʑ/ | ß /ɕ/ | | G⹀Series | g /ɡ/ | k /k/ | n /n/ | | | Ɂ⹀Series | ɂ /ʔ/ | h /h/ | ƣ /ʕ/ | x /χ/ | Note that /n/ is equated with the allophonic /ŋ/ for this categorization, and the nasal alternates have no devoiced forms. All consonants are valid in both the initial and final position with two broad exceptions:8--: - /ʔ/ and /h/ are not permitted as final consonants. - /g/ and /k/ are allophonic with /ʕ/ and /χ/ in the final position. For simplicity, such consonants are traditionally analysed as G⹀series, leaving Ɂ⹀series consonants forbidden across the board. /n/ and /m/ were allophonic in the final position Pre⹀Zheshoi, but aren¦t in Zheshoi proper. ### medials There are three kinds of medial in Zheshoi. Although multiple of these could appear in a single syllable in Pre⹀Zheshoi, in Zheshoi only one is allowed:8--: - _w_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz}, realized as [w] after voiced consonants and [ʍ] after devoiced consonants. - _ʀ_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz}, realized as [ɾ] after V⹀series consonants, [l] after D⹀, J⹀, or G⹀series consonants, and [r] after Ɂ⹀series consonants. - _y_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz}, realized as [j] in all cases. ### vowels Zheshoi words exhibit vowel harmony, and accordingly are grouped into three classes (or polarities): positive, neutral, and negative. These correspond to open, mid, and close vowel heights, respectively, altho due to shifts over time some of the neutral vowels have wound up more close than the negatives. Within each polarity, there are rounded (+U) and unrounded vowels. Additionally, each rounded or unrounded vowel can be rhoticized (+R), which adds R⹀colouring, and the unrounded vowels can be iotized (+I), which usually results in a diphthong with /ɪ/. The one exception is that there is no neutral vowel which is both rounded and iotized. | Polarity | ∅ | +U | +I | +R | +U +R | |:---------|:-----:|:------:|:-------:|:-------:|:--------:| | Positive | a /æ/ | å /ɔ/ | aı /aɪ/ | aꝛ /ɑ˞/ | åꝛ /ɔ˞/ | | Neutral | ə /ə/ | u /u/ | i /i/ | əꝛ /ʌ˞/ | uꝛ /ʊ˞/ | | Negative | e /ɪ/ | o /o/ | eı /eɪ/ | eꝛ /eɚ/ | oꝛ /oʊ˞/ | The letter _æ_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz} is used to indicate either _a_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz} or _e_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz} (depending on vowel harmony), and likewise for the letter _ȣ_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz} and _å_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz} or _o_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz}. In addition to the above, Zheshoi features a syllabic /ɫ̩/, which functions like a neutral vowel with the following restrictions: it may only be preceded by a voiced consonant (with no medial), and it may not be followed by a final consonant. It is called “lambda”, and written _ꟛ_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz}. ## morphology (This information is just copied from some documentation I found on my computer and may not be entirely accurate yet. [][@:Lady]{.sig}) ### morphological word classes Zheshoi has three main categories of words which may serve as a morphological stem: articles, nominals, and verbals. _Nominals_{as=dfn} correspond roughly to English nouns, and _verbals_{as=dfn} correspond roughly to English verbs; _articles_{as=dfn} are a somewhat unique word class whose role lies somewhere between that of English articles and determiners (_the_{as=i}, _a_{as=i}, _some_{as=i}…) and that of a pronoun. In addition to these three categories of word, Zheshoi also features a number of other morphemes, including inflections, determiners, and adpositions. These morphemes are represented through affixes or clitics, attached to article, nominal, or verbal stems. ### article morphology #### lexical stem ```=html [ 𝗟𝗦 ∅ ] 𝗟𝗦 ``` Articles are used to mark grammatical, as well as some lexical, features for the associated (possibly hypothetical) nominal lexeme. As pro⹀forms referring to a nominal antecedent, they cannot have a lexical root, and consequently their lexical stem is always null. #### derived stem ```=html [ 𝗗𝗦 [ 𝗟𝗦 ] { NUM + QNT } ⏞ AMT LOC ] 𝗗𝗦 ``` Although articles do not have a lexical root, they do mark a number of lexical properties, which can conventionally be thought of as _succeeding_ the null lexical stem. These properties are: amount, as a numeral or quantifier, and location. None of these properties are required, and the inflected stem of an article may be null. Numerals are not a distinct word class in Zheshoi, but are instead morphologically marked on articles. This differs from the gramatical feature of _number_ (also marked on articles, but through inflection rather than derivation), which simply categorizes words as singular or plural. Numeral morphemes are akin to English cardinal numbers (_one_{as=i}, _two_{as=i}, _three_{as=i}, ⁊·c), and as these morphemes may (hypothetically) be infinitely large, their structure can be quite complex. #### inflected stem ```=html [ 𝗜𝗦 DEF PL { NEG Q } ⏞ IRR ⏞ SPEC [ 𝗗𝗦 ] ] 𝗜𝗦 ``` The grammatical properties encoded by articles are definiteness, plurality, and irreality (negation or interrogativity). Together, these properties define the _specificity_{as=dfn} of the article. Although Zheshoi requires the specificity of nominals to be defined, it does not require them to be marked in all cases, and the resulting inflected stem may be null. ### nominal morphology #### lexical stem ```=html [ 𝗟𝗦 √ROOT ] 𝗟𝗦 ``` The nominal lexical stem consists of a single root. #### derived stem ```=html [ 𝗗𝗦 { 𝐴𝑈𝐺 𝐷𝐼𝑀 } ⏞ INT [ 𝗟𝗦 ] VBZ { ACT INST NM } ⏞ NMZ ⏞ CC ] 𝗗𝗦 ``` The lexical properties which are marked on nominals include intensity, as either augmentative or diminuitive, and class⹀change, through verbalizers and nominalizers. Augmentatives and diminuitives are marked via reduplicative prefixes, and so are italicized in the diagram above. Nominalization is required for lexical stems which are verbal in nature; in addition, a nominal lexical stem may be verbalized and then nominalized again. #### inflected stem ```=html [ 𝗜𝗦 [ 𝗗𝗦 ] ] 𝗜𝗦 ``` Nominals are not themselves inflected; instead, their associated article is. ### verbal morphology #### lexical stem ```=html [ 𝗟𝗦 √ROOT ] 𝗟𝗦 ``` The verbal lexical stem consists of a single root. Verbal stems are classified into three groups, depending on their final syllable:8--: - Those which end with a voiced consonant and R⹀coloured vowel, - Those which end with a devoiced consonant and R⹀coloured vowel, and - Those which end with a voiced consonant and lambda. This classification is maintained thru derivations and impacts the form of the inflections. All verbals also have a definitite (positive or negative) assigned vowel harmony, even when the verbal contains only neutral vowels. This harmony will influence derivations and inflections. #### derived stem ```=html [ 𝗗𝗦 { 𝐷𝐸𝑉 𝐻𝐴𝐵 } ⏞ ASP 1 [ 𝗟𝗦 ] VBZ ⏞ CC PFV ⏞ ASP 2 ] 𝗗𝗦 ``` Verbals may be lexically marked for aspect in two places: A partially⹀reduplicative prefix indicates the habitual or developmental aspects, and a suffix indicates perfectivity. These affixes can be combined. (This analysis of aspect as “lexical”, and not “grammatical”, is a morphological argument, not a syntactic one.) The habitual prefix is _Cæ‐_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz}, where _C_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz} is the initial consonant in the word. The develompental prefix is _Caı‐_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz} for positive verbals and _Cwi‐_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz} for negative ones. The perfective suffix can take the following forms:8--: - On verbals which end with a voiced consonant and R⹀coloured vowel, the R⹀colouring is dropped and _‐ɂwæꝛ_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz} is added. - On verbals which end with a devoiced consonant and R⹀coloured vowel, the R⹀colouring is dropped and _‐hwæꝛ_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz} is added. - On verbals which end with a voiced consonant and lambda, the final syllable is replaced with _‐Cʀæı.ɂꟛ_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz}, where _C_{as=i lang=art-Latn-x-qjz} is the _devoiced_ form of the consonant. #### inflected stem ```=html [ 𝗜𝗦 NEG DEO ⏞ IRR ⏞ MOD 1 [ 𝗗𝗦 ] { FUT INF PRS PST } ⏞ TNS { DEF HON PL } ⏞ SPEC { ALE‐JUS DDUC‐HORT MIR‐Q OPT‐PERM } ⏞ MOD 2 ] 𝗜𝗦 ``` Zheshoi verbals are heavily inflected, marking mood, tense, and specificity—the latter of which must agree with the article of the verbal’s subject. Each modal suffix can indicate two possible moods; which is intended is signalled by the presence or absence of an additional (deontic) modal prefix. ## future The following are potential future directions for the language:8--: - Rhoticization makes a good candidate for evolving into a tonal system. - The rounded vowels are a good candidate for a merger.