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Zefāzh

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Zefāzh is a language developped in the early-mid twenty-first century, spoken at first primarily by devoted followers of the World-Maker Zef; within a decade, it had become the lingua franca for those from all over the world immigrating to Zefasja, a nation founded on a partially esoteric philosophical movement referred to varyingly as "Zefism," "Poetic Imperialism" or "Trinitism."

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants
Bilabial Labiod. Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Coarticulated
Nasal m n ŋ
Plosive p b t d k g
Fricative f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ç ʝ χ ɕ ʑ
Approximant j
Tap ɾ
Trill r ʀ
Lateral Approximant l ɫ

Vowels

Vowels
Front Near-front Near-back Back
Close i u
Near-Close ɪ ʊ
Close-Mid e o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a ɑ

Romanization

The various phonemes are represented with the Latin Alphabet as they are in English, with the following additions/exceptions:

/θ/ - th /ð/ - dh /ʃ/ - sh /ʒ/ - zh /ç/ - c /ʝ/ - j /χ/ - x /ɕ/ - ś, or sj /ʑ/ - ź, or zj /ɾ/ - r /r/ - rr /ʀ/ - rh /l/ - l /ɫ/ - ll

/ɪ/ - i /i/ - ī, or ii /ɛ/ - e /e/ - ē, or ee /a/ - a /ɑ/ - ā, or aa /ɔ/ - o /o/ - ō, or oo /ʊ/ - u /u/ - ū, or uu

The following diphthongs may be found, and are written thus:

The following diphthongs may be found:

/aj/ - ai /ɛj/ - ei /ɔj/ - oi /ʊj/ - ui /aw/ - au /ɔj/ - ou

Syllable Structure

Zefāzh has a rather restrictive syllable structure, where the most complicated possibility is CCVC. While any consonant can form the onset and coda in a (C)V(C) syllable, only the following clusters are permitted at syllable onsets:

/f, v, θ, ð/