Tzenejri

The main language of the country of Tzenej, on the planet Jen.

Phonology

Pronounciation guide

Consonants

The consonants are: ch d f g h j k l m n p r s sh t tz v w y z '

ch: as in "chip".
h: longer and more pronounced than in English.
k: usually pronounced like a normal 'k', but rarely pronounced like the 'ch' in "loch".
sh: as in "shop".
tz: like the 'ts' in "tsunami".
': glottal stop.

All other consonants are pronounced the same as in English.

Vowels

a: as in "attic"
â: as in "maze"
e: as in "met"
i: as in "mania"
o: as is "top"
ô: as is "zone"
u: as in "bun"
û: like the oo in "boot"

Grammar

Tzenejri is an analytic (isolating) language, even though affixes are often used, because those affixes make sense when written on their own. There is no case system, no grammatical genders and no definite or indefinite articles. To negate a word, the prefix 'di-' is used (e.g. 'ditzili', meaning 'no people'), while indefiniteness of a word is expressed by the prefix 'zi-' (e.g. 'zitzili, meaning 'some people'). As with English, syllable stress in Tzenejri words are unpredicatble, although it rarely matters much.

Verbs

All verbs are derived a noun by adding the suffix '-ti' (meaning "to do"). For example, the Tzenejri word for movement is 'nef', and it is altered to the verb 'nefti', meaning 'to move'.

Tenses

Tzenejri has four tenses: present, past, future and continuous. The latter three are added as suffixes to a verb as follows:
Past tense: '-che'
Future tense: '-lan'
Continuous tense: '-le'

Perfect tense is not used.

Questions

The basic word order is Verb Subject Object, however this changes to Verb Object Subject in a question. Questions take the form of a statement with an emphasis on the word being questioned (an example in English would be "you said what?" or "they went where?").

Grammatical numbers

There are three grammatical numbers in Tzenejri: singular, specific plural (for a specific number of things) and unspecific plural (for an unspecific number of things). They are indicating as suffixes to a noun as follows:
Specific plural: '-vi'
Unspecific plural: '-li'

Note: even if the number of things is not mentioned, a specific plural is still used if the number is known by the speaker, e.g. "the cat's legs"- I know a cat has 4 legs, so I would use the '-vi' suffix.

Dialects

The 'g' sound was not originally in the language, and was only introduced by invaders later on. In more remote regions it is still pronounced as a 'k'. Those living in the north of the country speak with an unusual accent and tend not to change word order when asking a question, but to keep the normal word order and simply use a higher tone on the last syllable. The dialect is possibly influenced by closeness to the country of Qazan- it is not uncommon for northeners to be proficient in Tzenejri and Qazal.

Sample text

English: The only free cheese is in the mouse trap

Tzenejri: enti vijâ unajcho'zik sôh maûs zirok
Note that the word mouse (maûs) is just translated to the letters that make the same pronounication here- mice don't exist on Jen.

Tzenejri lexicon