Záren

/Preliminary description/

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular
Nasal	m		n	ɳ		ŋ~ɴ
Plosive	p		t	ʈ		k	q
Affricate		p͡f	t͡s	ʈ͡ʂ		k͡x	q͡χ
Fricative		f v	θ̠ ð̠	ʂ ʐ		x~χ ɣ~ʁ
Trill			r	r͡ɽ
Lateral approximant			l	ɭ
Approximant					j

• p t ʈ k q /p t ṭ k q/
• p͡f t͡s ʈ͡ʂ k͡x q͡χ /pf ts ṭs kh qh/
• f θ̠ ʂ x~χ /f s ṣ h/
• v ð̠ ʐ ɣ~ʁ /v z ẓ ḥ/
• m n ɳ ŋ~ɴ /m n ṇ ŋ/
• l ɭ /l ḷ/
• r r͡ɽ /r ṛ/
• j /j/

Vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	Short	Long	Short	Long	Short	Long
Close	i	iː	ɨ	ɨː	u	uː
Mid			ə	əː
Open			ä	äː

• iː ɨː uː /í ý ú/
• əː /é/
• äː /á/

• i ɨ u /i y u/
• ə /e/
• ä /a/

Phonotactics

(C)(C)V(ː)(R)(C)

Accent

• penultimate primary acute accent
• ultimate secondary gravis accent

Grammar

Nouns

• noun class system (preffixal): Animate (Masculine vs Feminine), Inaminate (Abstractive vs Objective)
• nominative-genetive alignment
• 3-way agent secundative ditransitive alignment (S/A = Nominative, D = Pegative P/R = Genetive, T = Instrumental)
• cases (suffixal): Nominative, Pegative, Genitive, Instrumental, Vialis, Ablative, Lative, Locative, Benefactive
• number (suffixal): singular, plural
• definiteness (phrasal clitic): definite proper, definite distant, indefinite

Noun class + Root + Root extension(s) + Case + Number + Definiteness

Noun class

Animate	Masculine	t- / te-	tamen	man
	Feminine	j- / je-	jamen	woman
Inanimate	Abstractive	ṇ- / ṇe-	ṇamen	humanity
	Objective	-	qtem	stone

Declension

Nominative	-	tkára	wolf	subject of intransitive clauses, agent of transitive clauses
Pegative	-s / -es	tkáras	wolf	donor of a ditransitive clauses
Genitive	-n / -en	tkáran	wolf, of wolf, to wolf	possessor, patient of transitive clauses, recipient of ditransitive clauses
Instrumental	-li	tkárali	by / with wolf	instrument, method, accompaniament
Vialis	-ema / -ma	tkárama	through wolf	way, vial direction
Ablative	-t / -et	tkárat	from wolf	separation, starting point
Lative	-ví	tkáraví	to / at wolf	purposive direction
Locative	-uṣ / -ṣ	tkáraṣ	in / on / under wolf	spatial or temporal location
Benefactive	-ur / -r	tkárar	for wolf	destination, destinative recipient

Number

Singular	-	qtem	stone
Plural	-k / -yk	qtemyk	stones

Definiteness

Neutral	-	jamen	woman
Indefinite	-me	jamenme	a woman
Definite proper	-tsa	jamentsa	the woman
Definite distant	-kxy	jamenkxy	yonder woman

Verbs

• aspects (suffixal): Imperfective, Perfective (Punctual Perfective), Conclusive (Durative-Perfective), Habitual
• voices (infixal): Active vs Middle + Direct vs Causative
• noun class preffixes
• tense-moods (suffixal): Past visual, Past non-visual, Present, Future, Conditional, Jussive
• polarity (phrasal clitic): affirmative, negative
• subjective and objective persons

[Modal particle] + [Modal verb] + [Noun class + (Root + Voice) + Root extension(s) + Aspect + Tense / Mood + Subject + Object / Theme + Polarity]

Aspect

Imperfective	-	vláq	to speak
Habitual / Iterative	-ja-	vláqja	to speak many times / regularly
Conclusive (Durative-Perfective)	-ny-	vláqny	to say (after long time of the action)
Perfective (Punctual-Perfective)	-su-	vláqsu	to say (in short moment)

Voice

	Direct			Causative
Active	-	ŋáv	to see	-ra-	ŋárav	to show
Middle	-sí-	ŋásív	to see self	-ḥú-	ŋáḥúv	to show self

Tense-moods

Past visual	-ṛ-	át-ṛ-	to go (action in past, visible by subject)
Past non-visual	-z-	át-z-	to go (action in past, non-visible by subject and unconfirmed to him)
Present	-	át	to go (now)
Future	-mu-	át-mu-	to go (future action)
Conditional	-fý-	át-fý-	would to go
Jussive	-ḷá-	át-ḷá-	should to go

Person

Subject

	Singular			Plural
1.	-al	qával	I am living	-avy	qávavy	we are living
2.	-if	qávif	thou art living	-ify	qávify	you are living
3.	-a	qáva	he / she / it is living	-ak	qávak	they are living
4.	-	qáv	someone / something is living

Object

	Singular			Plural
1.	-la	tsýlla	to let me	-va	tsýlva	to let us
2.	-fi	tsýlfi	to let thee	-fe	tsýlfe	to let you
3.	-t	tsýlt	to let him / her / it	-ta	tsýlta	to let them
4.	-	tsýl	to let someone / something

Theme

	Singular			Plural
1.	-je / -j	ṭṣáje	give to me	-ma / -m	ṭṣáma	give to us
2.	-he / -h	ṭṣáhe	give to thee	-ṣa / -ṣ	ṭṣáṣa	give to you
3.	-tsu	ṭṣátsu	give to him / her / it	-tsuk	ṭṣátsuk	give to them
4.	-ṇi	ṭṣáṇi	give to someone / something

Polarity

Affirmative	-	kxín	to know
Negative	-aŋ / -ŋ	kxínaŋ	don't to know

Adjectives and adverbs

• three degrees: positive, comparative, superlative

Degrees of comparison

Positive			Comparative			Superlative
-	-ány	good	-kxe / -ekxe	-ánykxe	better	-rta / -erta	-ányrta	best
	-pfaŋkx	strong		-pfaŋkxekxe	stronger		-pfaŋkxerta	strongest
	-ḥarpfis	equine		-ḥarpfiskxe	more equine		-ḥarpfiserta	most equine

Formation of adverbs

Basal adjective		Derived adverb
-ány	good	l- / le-	lány	well
-pfaŋkx	strong		lepfaŋkx	strongly
-ḥarpfis	equine		leḥarpfis	like / as horse

Pronouns

• obviative
• subjugating hierarchy (suffixal)
• plural roots

Adpositions

• postpositions and prepositions (mixed system)
• conjugable by subjective person

Syntax

• SOV
• head-final