Zens
Zens in a Universal Language for pan-Iranian unification.
| 𐬰𐬈𐬥𐬯 [zens] | |
| Timeline/Universe | Universal Languages |
| Period | Future Utopia |
| Spoken in | Greater Persia |
| Total speakers | 175 million |
| Writing system | Old Avestan |
| Classification | Proto-Iranian |
| Typology | |
| Basic word order | SOV |
| Morphology | Agglutinative |
| Alignment | Tripartite |
| Credits | |
| Created by | User:Aquatiki |
Anthropology
The Persosphere — comprising Iran, Afghanistan, parts of Pakistan, Kurdistan, and western Central Asia — is a region of profound linguistic and cultural richness, yet also of deep fragmentation. The Iranian languages spoken across this landscape — Persian, Pashto, Kurdish, Balochi, and others — share a common heritage but have diverged across centuries under the pressures of empire, geography, sectarian division, and modern nation-state borders. Despite mutual intelligibility at points and shared literary, religious, and poetic traditions, speakers of these languages often lack a shared linguistic platform for cross-border communication that feels equally inclusive and rooted in their collective identity. Language, in this context, is not merely a tool for expression but a powerful bearer of ethno-national identity—often politicized, sometimes suppressed, and rarely neutral.
In developing Zens, we must address not just a linguistic gap but a civilizational rift—a need for a neutral, non-imperial, yet deeply indigenous auxiliary language that honors the shared Indo-Iranian legacy while promoting mutual understanding. The challenge is formidable: Zens must navigate the sensitivities of state language policies (e.g., Persianization in Iran, Urdu dominance in Pakistan), regional autonomy movements (e.g., Kurdish and Baloch nationalism), and the legacy of colonial and post-colonial language impositions. It must offer simplicity without being simplistic, cultural resonance without privileging any single dialect group, and functionality across the vastly different social registers of village, mosque, school, and diaspora. In short, it must be a cultural bridge designed to foster unity without erasure, solidarity without subjugation, and memory without myth.
Phonology
| Labial | Alveolar | Post | Velar-Uvular | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasals | /m/ 𐬨 | /n/ 𐬥 | /ŋ/ 𐬢 | ||
| Obstruents (-v) | /p/ 𐬞 | /t/ 𐬙 | /t͡ʃ/ 𐬗 | /k~q/ 𐬐 | (/ʔ/) |
| Obstruents (+v) | /b/ 𐬠 | /d/ 𐬛 | /d͡ʒ/ 𐬘 | /g~ɢ/ 𐬔 | |
| Fricatives (-v) | /f/ 𐬟 | /s/ 𐬯 | /ʃ/ 𐬱 | /x~χ/ 𐬑 | /h/ 𐬵 |
| Fricatives (+v) | /v/ 𐬡 | /z/ 𐬰 | /ʒ/ 𐬲 | /ɣ~ʁ/ 𐬖 | |
| Rhotic | /r~ɾ/ 𐬭 | ||||
| Approximants | /w/ 𐬬 | /l/ 𐬮 | /j/ 𐬫 |
Other Avestan letters can be used for etymological spelling of foreign words (e.g. 𐬢 for q).
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | /i/ 𐬌 | /u/ 𐬎 |
| Mid | /e/ 𐬈 | /o/ 𐬊 |
| Low | /æ~a/ 𐬀 | /ɒ/ 𐬂 |
Morphology
Tripartite morphosyntactic alignment. Unmarked nominative in intransitive clauses. Accusative -ra. Ergative -(y)a.
Tenses: ø - present (imperfect). -a past, -ro future, -na progressive, -da perfect.
Evidential: ø - direct. lo - hearsay. me - inferential
Reduplication: noun - "all over the place", adjectives - very, adverb - distributive/each, verb (partial) - habitual/repetitive.
| Universal Languages | ||
|---|---|---|
| AFRICA | SEDES (Horn of Africa), Middle Semitic (Semitic languages), Kintu (Bantu languages), Guosa (West Africa) | 
|
| CENTRAL ASIA | Jalpi (Turkic languages), Zens (Iranian languages), Dravindian (Dravidian languages), Neo-Sanskrit (Indo-Aryan languages) | |
| EUROPE | Interlingua (Romance languages), Folksprak (Germanic languages), Interslavic Slavic languages, Balkan (Balkans) | |
| FAR EAST | Dan'a'yo (CJKV), MSEAL (Mainland Southeast Asia), Indo-Malay (Maritime Southeast Asia) | |
