Zdrole Language
| Zdrole | |
|---|---|
| Zdrêola / Êzdreol | |
| Pronunciation | IPA: [zd̠ɹ̠ɤ̂.ləl] |
| Native to | Fortizendria |
| Region | Central Occeia in Krystar |
Native speakers | Unknown |
Occe-Fortizian
| |
| Mezéz | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Fortizendria |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ZDR |
Zdrole (native: Zdrêola, pronounced: [zd̠ɹ̠ɤ̂.la], formally Êzdreola, lit. "around the tongue") is the official and most widely spoken language of Fortizendria, a nation in the region of Krystar. Zdrole is regularly used by about 80% of Fortizendrians and is the first language of about 65%, although about 45% have notable dialectal differences, many of which differ substantially, in some cases being considered "unrecognized partially intelligible languages". It is by far the most widely spoken language, with the only officially recognized and local-official language of Fvonil and its dialects being close, being known by about 40% of the population and 20% learning it as a first language. Non-recognized varieties of Ovalul, Cziliel, and neighboring countries' languages being the first language of the remaining 15% and being understood by roughly 30% of the population. It is not especially well documented.
Zdrole is not very centralized as a single language, with several dialects exhibiting mergers or splits in certain sounds, different cases being used for specific circumstances, differences in honorifics, and even a change in lexicon due to borrowing from other languages and coining new terms. This article mainly covers a specific dialect of Zdrole, the Fortizendriana or Capital Dialect, which is most widely understood due to use in federal government. However, it should be noted that many provincial governments, as well as local governments, often different dialects, if not Fvonil (or in locales other minor languages). International diplomacy must be conducted in Zdrole, but dialects may vary wildly. Legal language and technical jargon is written or spoken with many technical loan words taken from more advanced economic neighbors, while the constitution was written in a now "archaic" version of a dialect that was not even the Capital dialect.
This page is reserved for the phonology and grammar of Zdrole. Zdrole morphology, lexicon, and vocabulary can be found in Zdrole Morphology
Phonology
Zdrole has at least 23 base consonants and 10 base vowels, along with three pitch accents. However, there is significant debate as to the true number of phonemes, as some of them only appear in complex clusters, some may be analyzed as clusters, and in some cases they have been simplified. Several of these clusters further have unique letters. To make matters more confusing, there is a significant degree of allophony with several consonants, as well as dialectal variations. Different analyses may be performed on even the same dialect to yield more or less phonemes. It is for this reason that there are estimated to be between 32 and 78 total phonemes, although it's generally considered to be on the lower end of the spectrum. This article provides the "standard" analysis of the Capital dialect.
Vowels
| Front | Mid-lateral* | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i /i/ ui /y/ | lyl /lʉl/* | iu /ɯ/ u /u/ |
| Mid | e /e/ oe /ø/ | ll, lil /ləl/* /ə/ | eo /ɤ/ o /o/ |
| Open | a /a/ | ao /ɒ/ |
* Mid-lateral vowels are denoted as "indefinite mid lateral" vowels, where /ə/ is any non-close vowel, and the entire sequence of /lʉl/ may be pronounced as [y], [lil], [juj], [l̩ʷ], [ʝ], [ic͡ʎ̝̊], [yʀ], and just about anything in between. /ə/ may appear epenthetically between complex clusters, especially voiced clusters, duplicated fricatives (as in /es.sa/), and utterance-finally after a voiced consonant. /ə/ is usually pronounced shorter than other vowels, and epenthetic /ə/ is especially brief, if present at all. /lʉl/ is the only case of the anything-front vowel, and it really describes the whole cluster, which not only has an absurd amount of realizations, but each realization may have different allophones depending on where it appears in a word and in a sentence. (See /l/ in Phonology)
Vowels may also be nasalized before /ŋ/, which may disappear entirely before another consonant. Vowels may also become breathy voiced by some speakers after a voiced /h/, although this is generally considered "incorrect" in formal speech and many dialects.
Vowel harmony does exist, but it's weak. It primarily exists in suffixes, especially grammatical suffixes, although collapsed consonant clusters and sound changes have made this inconsistent. Some small, old, and commonly used words also have undergone vowel harmony. Most long, uncommon, and newer words do not undergo harmony outside of their suffixes.
Vowel harmony usually involved roundness (i vs. y) and/or backness (e vs. ɤ), but occasionally can involve closeness (a vs. i). In cases where the vowel mutates to any close consonant, the symbol ü is used; for mid vowels, ɵ is used. These orthographic letters are used for vowels which consistently change to match the previous vowel in a word, and are distinct from the phonetic letters ə and ʉ sometimes used to describe instances where any front or mid(/back) vowel may be used, regardless of harmony.
Sometimes vowels collapse into relatively similar approximants, primarily after similar vowels in certain environments. /i/ and /e/ become /j/; /y/, /ɯ/ and /u/ become /ʋ/; /ø/ and /ɤ/ become /ɹ/; and /o/ and /ɒ/ become /l/. /a/ remains impervious to liquifaction. Many of these clusters may be considered diphthongs, but are analyzed as a vowel plus a liquid. There is some debate as to whether /ʋ/, /l/ and /j/ are truly distinct consonants, as they form primarily from old vowels, but they are generally written down as such due to the fact that multiple vowels can collapse into the same sound. /j/ in coda position may be be more narrowly transcribed as [ɪ̯].
Some consonant-vowel sequences, and particularly CVC sequences where both consonants are the same, are sometimes realized allophonically as syllabic consonants. This includes all nasals and voiced fricatives, as well as /l/ and often the lVl sequences. This is most notable when an unpitched close vowel follows a nasal or fricative, when an open vowel precedes /l/, and when an unpitched (and, strangely more commonly, a pitched) vowel appears between two nasals or voiced fricatives of the same kind. Pitched and unpitched syllabic consonants are largely recognized as distinct from non-syllabic counterparts, but are not considered distinct from the sequences they arise from. They do not exist in all dialects, and are notably more rare in northern and western dialects, where they haven't had as much influence from Fvonil, as well as "proper" official dialects. They also sometimes disappear in careful pronunciation, particularly in certain formal situations and between dialects, but it varies widely between regions, situations, and even within individual speakers.
A hyphen (-) may be used between two vowels if there is a vowel hiatus (i.e. qma-on for /mˀa.on/)
Pitch Accent
Zdrole is a pitch accent language. Vowels are usually short and toneless. They are usually pronounced with a low or mid tone by default, but may be altered by surrounding pitch accents, as well as vary greatly with intonation, between dialects, and by speaker. When "emphasized", a vowel in a syllable may have one of three pitch accents: high /í/, falling /î/, and low /ì/. These vowels are almost always longer than their unpitched counterparts.
"High", "Falling" and "Low" tones are a bit of an oversimplification, since they affect following vowels, particularly if they are unstressed. For most dialects and speakers, tone may become disyllabic, spreading to the following vowel. All pitch accents - and unpitched vowels, for that matter - are heavily affected by intonation. The "high" tone in particular varies widely between speakers and dialects, and may be a rising tone or even a low tone nearly identical to the low pitch accent, where the main difference is whether the following vowel is a low-mid or mid-high tone. In instances where two pitch accents are next to each other, the second pitch accent may tell more information about the first pitch accent, while the vowel after it tells more information about the second tone accent. To an extent, the pitch accents may undergo tone sandhi.
Unpitched vowels after high pitch vowels (including "low" high pitches) are generally higher pitched than other vowels. These high-tone vowels usually undergo forward spreading, where subsequent unpitched vowels are likely to be a higher tone, although this is not necessary and is often not found in southern dialects.
Not all words require a pitch accent. Many small words, including most prepositions and clitics with grammatical functions, do not have a pitch accent, although several longer words also exhibit no discernable pitch accent (one example being the word for Krystar). Other words may have multiple pitch accents.
There are very few rules for when and where a pitch accent may occur, and many words are derived from slight modifications to the location and type of pitch accent, while others change meanings entirely. Two pitch accents of the same kind can not exist next to each other in the same word. Only up to two kinds of pitch accents may exist in a word, except in some technical words where extreme compounding is necessary. If two other pitches are presents, subsequent falling pitches become low pitches, high pitches become falling pitches, and low pitches become high pitches. A high pitch accent can never follow a low pitch accent anywhere in a word, where it becomes a falling tone - or a low tone, if the pair is high and low. If two pitches are next to each other, one (usually the first) will become a complimentary pitch in the same cycle as pitch replacement. If a high tone becomes a low tone, but is adjacent tone is already low, the second tone will instead become a falling tone.
Intonation
Intonation does several things to vowels, pitched and unpitched. Zdrole undergoes a fairly similar intonation pattern to French.
Most sentences, including giving directions, phrases, and individual words (termed "definitive") end with the default "low" intonation; that is, unpitched vowels have a lower tone (though it's still "mid" if made high by a preceding pitch accent), low pitch vowels have a longer low tone, falling pitch vowels fall from mid or high tone to a low tone, and high pitch vowels instead end in a low or mid rising tone. Most of the rest of the sentence remains fairly level. If the penultimate vowel has a pitch accent, and the final vowel is unpitched, then both undergo tone changes.
Before a break in the sentence, i.e. before and at the end of dependent clauses, and sometimes if the speaker just needs a breath, unpitched vowels may be more mid-tone, low pitch vowels may become very low-rising or even dipping, falling pitch vowels fall from a mid or high tone to a low tone (like the end of sentences), and high pitch accents may have a higher tone or be a slightly higher rising tone.
Interrogative questions may also be formed using intonation, which is often present even when other question indicators are present. Questions may have more tonal variability in unstressed vowels, which often tend to be higher tone in nature. At the end of a question, unpitched vowels usually have a higher tone, low pitch vowels have a steep rising tone (from low to high, usually), falling pitch vowels have a high-low-mid dipping tone, and high pitch vowels have a very high rising tone.
In sentences where the speaker exerts some level of surprise or enthusiasm, unstressed tones may vary wildly, and the ending tone may sometimes end as an interrogative. High pitch tones tend to become high-to-mid falling tones. Sentences where the speaker is doubtful may also end like questions, but otherwise be states as though it were a normal sentence. If the penultimate vowel has a pitch accent, and the final vowel is unpitched, then both undergo tone changes.
The lowest and highest tones in pitch + intonation combinations may be creaky voiced.
Tone with Pitch and Intonation
| Standard | Varied | Clausal/Pausal | Definitive-Final/Penultimate | Uncertain-Final | Energetic-Final/Penultimate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low Pitch | ˨˨ | ˨˨, ˨˩ | ˨˩˧ | ˨˨, ˨˩, ˩˩ | ˨˩˦ | ˨˩˦ |
| Falling Pitch | ˧˨, ˦˨ | ˧˩, ˥˨ | ˦˨, ˦˨˧, ˧˨˦ | ˦˨, ˨˩˨ | ˦˨˧ | ˦˨˧, ˥˩ |
| High Pitch | ˦˦, ˧˦, ˨˨ | ˧˦, ˨˦, ˨˩˦ | ˦˦, ˧˦, ˨˦ | ˧˧, ˨˧ | ˧˥ | ˧˥ |
| Unpitched | ˧ | ˨, ˦ | ˧, ˦, | ˨, ˦ | ˦, ˧˥, ˦˥ | ˧, ˦, |
| Post-Low | ˧, ˨ | ˧, ˦ | ˧, ˦, ˧˦ | ˨, ˩ | ˦, ˧˥ | ˧, ˦, ˧˦ |
| Post-Falling | ˨ | ˨, ˩ | ˧, ˨˧ | ˩, ˩˧ | ˩˧, ˧˦ | ˩˧, ˦, ˨ |
| Post-High | ˦ | ˦, ˨, ˩ | ˦ | ˧, ˦ | ˧˦, ˦˥ | ˦˨, ˩ |
Consonants
| Labial | Dental-Alveolar | Palatal / Velar¹ | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | ng /ŋ/² | |
| Plosive | b /b/³ | t /t/ d /d/⁴ | k /k/ g /g/ | q /ʔ/⁵ |
| Affricate | c /t͡s/ cz /d͡z/ | cx /t͡ɕ/ cj /d͡ʑ/ | ||
| Fricative | f /f/⁶ | s /s/ z /z/ l (tɬ~ɣ) | x /ɕ/ j /ʑ/ h (x)⁷ | h /h/⁷ |
| Approximant | v /ʋ/⁸ | l /l/⁹ r /ɹ/¹⁰ | y /j/ |
¹ Velar consonants (k g ŋ) may be palatal (c ɟ ɲ) before front vowels, and may remove /i/ entirely. Affricates and fricatives are actually alveolar-palatal, or postalveolar before /ɹ/
² velar nasal as in sing. Nasalizes previous vowels. May be lost entirely before consonants.
³ May be voiced /b/ or voiceless /p/, even when aspirated. Usually voiceless utterance-initially/finally and after voiceless consonants, while voiced elsewhere.
⁴ Dental; /d/ may be lenited to [ð] or even [ð̞] intervocally for many and in any environment for speakers; /t/ lenites to [θ] the same way, although less commonly. Other alveolar consonants are alveolar-dental.
⁵ Glottal stop, as in "uh-oh". Only distinct before vowels at some morpheme boundaries. Can appear after consonants in contractions (dze+ʔeba->dzʔeba). May be epenthetic between complex codas and onsets. Often used to explain pre-fricated and glottal consonants (see table below).
⁶ May be bilabial [ɸ] in some speakers, and is more common in clusters where it follows a bilabial stop (especially if it's preglottalized).
⁷ [x] if not followed by a vowel, sometimes before /u/ and /ɯ/, and occasionally any position not after a consonant; [ɦ] after voiced consonants, which may cause the following vowel to become breathy; [ç] before /i/ and /y/, which may delete /i/ entirely. /h/ after plosives and less often affricates (where it disappears in about half of all dialects) is often considered aspiration (i.e. /abhat/ -> [abʱatː]) (see below table). Because /h/ is usually [x] in coda positions, the sequence /hh/, as in /eh.ha/, is usually pronounced as a single [x], meaning [e.ha] and [ex.a] are distinct clusters, making some consider /x/ its own phoneme. [x] may also be a uvular fricative or trill.
⁸ May be a bilabial or labio-dental approximant or fricative (v ʋ ɥ β) interchangeably and by dialect, with fricatives more likely in clusters.
⁹ Frequently fricated to an lateral fricative (ɮ ɬ) or even an affricate in coda positions, and may even be velarized to [ɫ] or even [ɣ] in a few speakers, primarily in a northwestern dialect. May become [l], [ʎ], [ʝ], [j], or even drop entirely before /i/ and /y/, sometimes deleting or merging with /i/ to become [i] or [y], varying widely across dialects. Onset /l/ usually merges with coda /l/ between vowels, and thus, like /x/, is sometimes considered a distinct phoneme, while others consider it a realization of a consonant cluster /l.l/. This distinction is not found in Fvonil dialects, where /l/ is less likely to be velarized. The velar fricative [ɣ] (and utterance-final [x]) may also be a uvular fricative or trill.
¹⁰ usually a postalveolar approximant, and is actually very similar to the standard English /r/. Sometimes simply written as /r/ as in English. Can occasionally be trilled or tapped, especially after /t/ and /d/.
Allophony
| Labial | Dental-Alveolar | (Alveolar-)Palatal | Velar/Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glottalized Nasal | qm [mˀ] [ɓ]¹¹ | qn [nˀ] [ɗ]¹¹ | ng [ɲ] qy [ɲˀ]¹² | qy [ŋˀ]¹² |
| Prefricated Nasal | fqm [ɸˀm] [fˀm]¹³ | sqn [sˀn]¹³ | hqng [çˀɲ]¹³ | hqng [xˀŋ]¹³ |
| Plosive | b [p] [pːˀ]¹⁴ [b̥]¹⁵ | t [t̪ːˀ]¹⁴ [t̠] [d̥]¹⁵ d [d̠] [d̥]¹⁵ | k [c] [cːˀ]¹⁴ g [ɟ] [ɟ̊]¹⁵ | k [kːˀ]¹⁴ g [g̥]¹⁵ |
| Aspirated Plosive¹⁶ | bh [bʱ] [pʰ] | dh [d̪ʱ] th [tʰ] | gh [ɟʱ] kh [cʰ] | gh [gʱ], kh [kʰ] |
| Aspirated Affricate¹⁶ | czh [d͡zʱ] ch [t͡sʰ] c/cx [t̠ʲʰ] | cjh [d͡ʑʱ] cxh [t͡ɕʰ] | ||
| Prefricated Plosive/Affricate¹⁷ | fqb [ɸˀp] [fˀp] | sqt [θˀt̪] sqc [sˀt͡s] | xqc [ɕˀt͡ɕ] hqk [çˀc] | hqk [xˀk] |
| Fricative | v* [v] [β] f [ɸ] | l* [ɮ] [ɬ] [d͡ɮ] [t͡ɬ] [ɟ͡ʎ̝] [c͡ʎ̝̊] t [θ] | h [ç] l* [ʎ̝] [ç] [ʝ] [ʎ̝̊] | h [x] l* [x] [ɣ] [χ] [ʀ] |
| Approximant | v* [β̞] [ɥ] | d [ð̞] l* [ɫ] lyl [lʷ] r [ɾ] [r] [ɹ̠] | qy [jˀ]¹² [ʄ] l* [ʎ] | h /ɦ/ l* [ʁ] [ʕ] |
¹¹ May be analyzed as a sequence of glottal stop + nasal, although occasionally distinct across syllable boundaries. Some dialects pronounce the glottalized nasals (and /j/) as glottalized plosives or implosives (ɓ ɗ ʄ).
¹² Historically /ŋˀ/ which has since become /jˀ/ in the majority of dialects, including in Fvonil. Rare northwestern dialects retain it and its palatal nasal counterpart. Still exists in pre-fricated state.
¹³ May be analyzed as a sequence of fricative + glottal stop + nasal. Fricative is brief. Nasal is usually also glottal and may be slightly implosive in nature. Glottal pause may be brief or long.
¹⁴ Realization of utterance-final plosives after short vowels, as well as double consonants (i.e. /et.ta/) in some dialects. Level of precision rarely necessary.
¹⁵ Some analyses of plosives and affricates after or before fricatives of the opposite voicing. Most common examples are /t/ or /d/ in mixed-voice plosive/affricate sequences (/zt͡s/ /sd͡z/ /ʑt͡ɕ/ /ɕd͡ʑ/ as [zd̥s sd̥z ʑd̥ɕ ɕd̥ʑ])
¹⁶ Realization of /h/ after a plosive or affricate. They become aspirated, while voiced consonants may be considered breathy-voiced.
¹⁷ May be analyzed as a sequence of fricative + glottal stop + plosive/affricate. Fricative is brief. Glottal pause may be brief or long.
* Dialectal; may vary widely in individual speakers. Level of precision rarely necessary.
Romanization and Phonological Footnotes
Some clusters are spelled differently in Romanization. They include: jj /ʑd͡ʑ/; cc /ɕt͡ɕ/; jx /ʑt͡ɕ/; xj /ɕd͡ʑ/; sc /st͡s/; zz /zd͡z/; zc /zt͡s/; sz /sd͡z/; ll /ləl/, lyl /lyl/, xqc [ɕˀt͡ɕ], and debatably str and zdr, which may be analyzed as a fusion of once different clusters. A hyphen (-) may be used between two consonants if they remain distinct (i.e. mac + co = Mac-co, man + go = man-go)
/stɹ/ and /zdɹ/ are more accurately transcribed as /st͡ɕɹ/ and /zd͡ʑɹ/, as dental plosives are pronounced as dentals before /ɹ/, and would be more narrowly transcribed as [st̠ɹ̠] and [zd̠ɹ̠]. /stɹ/ is considered to be a combination of /st͡sɹ/ and /ɕt͡ɕɹ/, as a similar process is believed to have happened with its voiced counterpart. /t͡sɹ/ and /t͡ɕɹ/ all remain distinct in some northwestern dialects, but have also merged in most other dialects. It should be noted that str across syllable boundaries (i.e. in es-tra /es.tɹa/), the /t/ remains dental, and thus /stɹ/ [st̠ɹ̠] is distinct from /s.tɹ/ [st̪ɹ̠]~[st̪ɾ]; the same is true of its voiced counterpart. (It is worth noting that /s/ + /t/ + /ɹ/ is not a valid onset cluster, although /t/ + /r/ and /s/ + /t/ individually are.
Glottalized consonants/clusters get their own letters in the script, but do not in Romanization. ll and lyl also get their own letters, as to str and zdr. No other cluster gets its own symbol.
Tone is exclusively marked on the first letter in romanization, except in the case of <ll> /ləl/, in which a single pitch accent is traditionally written over the first or both letters (l̂l ĺl ll ̀). Understandably, this does not render very well on most computers, which has left some to put an emphatic <i> between the two <l>s to receive the accent instead.
Phonotactics
Zdrole is a CCCVCCC language; in other words, up to three consonants may start a syllable, and up to two may end one. Different consonant clusters are permitted in different areas, and some clusters only appear in loan words.
Any consonant can appear before a vowel, as well as many clusters. Fricatives other than /h/ can appear before any plosive other than /ʔ/, but not any affricate, with only alveolar-only and palatal-alveolar-only sequences being possible - with the exception of /stɹ/ and /zdɹ/ (see section under Romanization Notes), which cannot undergo mixed voicing. Regarding mixed voicing, a fricative and a plosive need not have the same voicing; for instance, /zt/ /st/ /zd/ and /sd/ are all distinct onsets. /stɹ/ and /zdɹ/ are the exceptions, and are otherwise unique onset clusters. /h/ may follow any plosive or affricate, even if a fricative appears before them, allowing for three-consonant onsets, although some analyses consider these a fricative + aspirated consonant pair. Any liquid (/ʋ/ /l/ /ɹ/ /j/) may also appear after any fricative, affricate, or plosive other than /ʔ/, on account of their once vowel-based nature, although /ɹ/ can only appear after a single consonant outside of loan words. Glottal-fricative + stop/affricate clusters are also possible in onsets, where the plosive and fricative are of the same voicing and place of articulation (with zqn /znˀ/ being the only exception). /m/ /n/ and /j/ may be followed or proceeded by /ʔ/; it's difficult to tell which, and some analyze these as distinct glottal phonemes. /m/ and /n/, along with their glottal counterparts, may be followed by any approximant, but not any other consonant.
Codas are a bit more restricted. All consonants may end a syllable except for /ɹ/ and /ʔ/, with /h/ usually becoming [x] and /l/ becoming any number of allophones. /s/ and /z/ can appear before /t͡s/ and /k/, as /ʑ/ and /ɕ/ before /t͡ɕ/. /ʋ/ (often devoiced to /f/) and /l/ may appear before any plosive or affricate. Nasals and may appear before any plosive, affricate, or fricative other than /h/ or /ʔ/. /j/ may appear before any other single coda consonant except /l/ and /ʋ/. Fricative+glottal+plosives and fricative+glotttal+affricates are the only debatably CCC coda cluster, although again some analyze this as a single glottal-fricative plus a plosive/affricate. Plosives in glottalized coda clusters often are inaudible or become glottal stops /ʔ/ themselves. /ʔ/ itself may only appear after short vowels, as with glottal consonant clusters.
Certain onsets and codas are permitted, but only in loan words. One notable example is /ɹ/ after velar/glottal consonants, i.e. /kɹ/ /gɹ/ and /hɹ/ [xɹ], which do not actually appear normally in Zdrole words. ("Krystra" [Krystar] is in fact one example of this.) Other examples include /skɹ/ and /sbɹ/. Fricatives followed by a nasal, without a glottal stop, only appear across syllable boundaries natively, although /sn/ and /zn/ exist in onset from derived loan words. Coda fricative + plosive pairs (/st/ /sk/ /ht/ and /hk/) also derive from loan words.
Utterance-final lone voiceless plosives are geminated and glottalized after short vowels, with some analyses suggesting an epenthetic /ʔ/ appears before the consonant. An epenthetic /ʔ/ may also be inserted between a complex coda and complex onset for clarity. A brief non-descript vowel /ə/ may also be used to break up certain voiced clusters. /ʔ/ may also appear after a consonant or consonant cluster in certain contractions. /ʔ/ itself disappears before glottal consonants, and may simply geminate plosives and affricates, as well as assimilate with following fricatives. /t͡s/ and /t͡ɕ/ often merge into a palatal aspirated plosive or affricate [t̠ʲʰ] utterance-finally.
A hyphon ( - ) is often used between vowels and consonants to indicate two separate phonemes as opposed to a single one or modified cluster. For instance, qaést-ra-on-glex-jâs-qnaol-la [ʔā.éːst̪.ɾá.ón.géɕ.ʑâːs.ʔnˀɒ̀.ɣà], would be different from aéstraonglexjâsqna-olla [ā.éː.st̠ɹ̠ɒ̃́.ɫéɕ.d̠͡ʑáːsˀ.nˀà.ò.lə̀.là].
Orthography
This section is heavily WIP and has no data in it.
| Script | Name | Romanization | IPA | Approximate
English Equivalent |
Script | Name | Romanization | Approximate
English Equivalent |
Script | Name | Romanization | Approximate
English Equivalent | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Grammar
Zdrole is primarily a Verb-Subject-Object (VSO) language, although it becomes a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) language when 1st and 2nd person pronouns are used. Things are more complicated for ditransitive verbs, where the order is Verb-Donor-Recipient-Theme (or Verb-Subject-IndirectObject-DirectObject) or Donor-Verb-Recipient-Theme, unless the donor is implied to have less volition than the recipient, in which the order is Verb-Recipient-Donor-Theme, or Verb-Theme-Recipient-Donor if the direct object is of significant importance.
Zdrole has split ergativity, where it is primarily an ergative-absolutive language, however it becomes nominative-accusative under several circumstances. It could be accurate to refer to Zdrole as having an active-stative alignment, where "I run" would be nominative but "I sit" would be absolutive, which only applies to pronouns and proper names; all other instances are usually ergative-accusative. There is also dative construction, where the dative case is used for the subject in sentences where the subject underwent an action, most likely involuntarily or even against their better wishes (as in "To me was hit be a tree"). In ditransitive sentences, the recipient receives the causative case if it has more agency than the donor. Subjects in dependent clauses also receive the causative case, sometimes also called the "Clausal Agent" case.
Head directionality is complicated in Zdrole. Setting aside the fact that the subject and verb swap positions depending on pronoun usage, it mostly functions as a head-final language: adjectives come after nouns, adverbs come after verbs, affixes and case marking are primarily suffixes, and possession, number, and relative clauses all come after their core arguments. Despite this, it has also largely become a prepositional language, where adpositions come before their clauses, instead of after. It's believed that Zdrole used to be postpositional at one point, as is the case with its sister language Fvonil and in some dialects in that area, but has largely changed over in central and northern dialects.
Like other Occe-Fortizian languages, Zdrole is predominantly an agglutinative language when it comes to grammar, but more analytic (or less-often fusional) when it comes to lexical compounding. There exist 4-5 numbers/noun classes, 8-14 grammatical cases, 10 verbal tenses/aspects with 5 moods, although one noun case may also be considered a 6th mood, while one mood can also function as a tense (namely the future).
Nouns
Nouns in Zdrole are coded for number, noun class (or gender), and case. Grammatical number and gender affect their case marking, as well as adjectives (which to an extant are a "case") and notably adpositions. Animacy (i.e. how much "life" or "movement" a noun has) can have an effect on verbs and what adpositions are used.
Noun Classes
The four main noun classes in Zdrole include "Broad", "Narrow", "Spindly", and "Plural", although some sources indicate a very small and distinct "Spindly Nonplural". Certain person-specific words may have masculine and feminine counterparts (i.e. "wife" vs. "husband", "waiter" vs. "waitress", which may sometimes affect the noun class of a word, although neither usually nor predictably.
"Broad" and "Narrow" are used for all kinds of objects, including people and proper names of males and females alike. They are named on account of "Broad" nouns generally describing more vague as well as larger concepts, while "Narrow" generally describes smaller or specific concepts. In reality, they mostly are arbitrary and mainly apply to the phonetics of the word, with male and female names (and their associated pronouns) alike falling into either category.
"Spindly" nouns, on the other hand, often do describe (often more specific) that are longer and thinner in nature. This is because a lot of the inflections reflect what was once derivational morphology. Certain names also have the Spindly noun case, and are usually names given to "spindly" or "enigmatic" people and places, often in place of a former Broad or Narrow name. Spindly nouns are often loosely associated with negativity, and several nouns and nominalized verbs such as spiders, snakes, illness, mortality, and death are Spindly nouns. Nonetheless, it can also be viewed positively, as life, love, seaweed, and seedlings are also Spindly.
"Plural" nouns are the most straight-forward noun class, as the morphological changes are applied largely to nouns that indicate more than one object, as well as multiple nouns (i.e. a cat and a dog, 2 fish, etc.). There are however a few exceptions. Certain quite arguably plural nouns (such as "thoughts" or "methods" or "people"), as well as several (but not all) mass nouns, are in fact broad or narrow in nature, while some arguably singular nouns (such as "spasm", "touch", or "toolkit" are always plural. Some names (particularly those of "elites") are plural-class, despite being "singular", and plural pronouns are used to address those of a higher social status (see: pronouns). Once narrow or broad names may eventually be changed to plural, much like spindly names. Spindly nouns are usually spindly, even when plural, although there are a small handful of exceptions which trigger plural agreement even when paired with other spindly nouns. This is why "Spindly Nonplural" is a proposed distinct noun class. Uniquely, when there are many words such as to become a "collective" or "mass" noun, they become Spindly again.
Words that agree with noun class are usually listed in dictionaries under the Broad class, although many dictionaries provide listings for all genders. One notable publisher lists these words in the Narrow class.
| Noun Class | Code | Common Endings | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broad | [B] | Back rounded vowels, voiceless consonants, clusters, -g, -ng, -m, -l, sometimes b and f, nV/nVn, final vowel low pitch accent | Man, Woman, Child, Tree, Pebble, Water, Chair, Pineapple, Phosphorous, Food,Thoughts, Language, People, Machine, Tooth, Static Verb Participles, Sight, Some people/places’ names/pronouns, |
| Narrow | [N] | Unrounded vowels, front vowels, voiced consonants, sometimes b, -nVng, final vowel falling pitch accent | Boy, Girl, Baby, Professor, Hammer, Fire, Leg, Cherry, Shrub, Dirt, Sulpher, Dish, Rhyme, Method, Test, Time, Smell, Active Verb Participles, Ditransitive Verbs, Some people/places’ names/pronouns, etc. |
| Spindly | [S] | back & close vowels; vowels followed by -x, -s, -c, -cx, -y, and sometimes -f; final vowel high pitch accent | Spider(s), Coily Bean(s), Hair, A ton of snakes, Wind, Seaweed, Fly/Flies, Seedling(s), Dirt Grain(s), Oxygen, Love, Sand (grains and altogether), Death, Life, verbs involving mortality/illness/lengthening/heat/reaching/drooping, unknown/hypothetical persons’/places’ names/pronouns, etc |
| Spindly
Nonplural |
[SN] | a weed, a twig, a single sock, a snake, a knife, a mass of weeds, a mass of twigs, a mass of socks, a mass of knives, | |
| Plural | [P] | -ke(o)/-ko(e), -m(u)in, -k(o)em(u)in, kamaz(ui) (different word) | Chairs, Plants, Corn, Pair of Socks, Dishes, Several Snakes, Teeth, Multiple Participles, Taste, Touch, Mercury, Stone, Rivers, Toolkit, Clothing, Repeated/Iterative Verbs (eating, bobbing, glistening, jumping twice, running, etc.), Dialogue (“talkings”), Medicine, Grapes, Spasm, multiple nouns (cat and dog, mouse and sock), some people/places’ names/pronouns [always plural], etc.) |
Grammatical Case
Grammatical cases in Zdrole primarily apply to nouns, with most of them acting similar to prepositions. They may also be applied to other nouns and act as a form of nominalization. The Semblative in particular acts slightly differently, and is more often associated with changing things into adjectives and adverbs, as well as being able to somewhat alter a word's core meaning, giving it disputed status as a true case. There are 8 widely agreed upon basic grammatical cases in Zdrole, of which 7 are considered to be widely used: the Ergative, Absolutive, Dative, Causative, Locative, Equative, and Relative, as well as the much less common Locative-Genitive. Two of these are considered compound cases.
However, there exist up to 19 total cases: of these, 12 are analyzed as compound cases, where two or more cases are stacked on top of each other agglutinatively to form a new case with a similar (as with the Semblative-Ergative) or completely different (as with the Semblative-Causative) meaning. Of these cases, 6 are widely accepted basic cases (Ergative, Absolutive, Dative, Causative, Locative, and Equative). 3 are historic compound cases and essentially never used in modern Zdrole (either falling out of favor for simpler cases, or eroding to morphological/semantic erosion), being the Causative-Dative (Benefactive), Locative-Dative (Allative), and Locative-Equative (Inessive-Instrumental). The seventh widely accepted case is a compound case (the Causative-Locative, i.e. Locative-Genitive case) which is less-commonly used, but is still mainstay enough to be widely considered a semantically distinct compound case. An eighth, more debatable compound case (the Causative-Equative, i.e. Executive case) is sometimes considered a modified "emphatic" Causative case, and is often used to pin blame on others, or outlandish situations, where it has since fallen out of use in most northern and southern dialects, but has since become frequently used in hyperbole in central dialects, to the extent is is sometimes considered a variant of the Causative.
The Semblative case is commonly used and often analyzed as the 7th fundamental basic case, but is is not universally accepted, and is highly debated as being a derivational affix that acts more as a kind of adjectival derivation than a true noun case. While it can be used for several purposes, it is also readily compounded with the other cases, exhibiting seven additional marginal compound cases, which by some counts are simply modifications to the other existing cases, including Ergative, Absolutive, Dative, Causative, Locative, and Relative cases, as well as arguably the Locative-Genitive case. Because the Semblative case loses its other functions, such as acting as a Comparative case or a Deductive Copula, Semblative compound cases are often not considered distinct cases outside of those which have carved more specific semantic distinctions. Nonetheless, the semblative case is distinctly marked for verbal gender as other cases and most prepositions.
It should be noted that the 8th widely accepted and commonly used Relative case is itself semantically made with the Semblative and the Causative, although it can still, albeit rarely, be seen used as a true Semblative Causative. The Semblative + Locative has been reinterpreted to indicate a vague locative, or that something is around something, but is not distinct from a normal locative in many dialects. The Semblative + Locative-Genitive (Locative + Causative) compound case is a recent and unofficial development used in poetry and colloquialisms that originally acted as a already begun to dramatically shift in meaning. Because the Semblative is sometimes considered a derivational affix, these cases, and the Relative case in particular, are sometimes considered unique modified cases, with the Relative Case being widely agreed upon as the eighth distinct and commonly-used case; it's just unclear whether it's a modified Causative case, or if it is a true compound case.
Below is a table of most cases, except for most compound semblative cases, which are both somewhat self-explanatory and also not widely agreed upon as having a distinct function. Things of note:
- Listed endings cover the various genders ([B] [N] [P] [S(N)]) as well as verbal mutations. Verbal mutations are generally classified as "V", "n" "t", "s", "x" and "k/f" endings (more properly known as "open", "nasal", "dental", "alveolar", "postalveolar", and "peripheral" endings), for which vary greatly and are only remotely consistent between cases. C stands for any consonant, V for any vowel.
- Vowels frequently change due to partial vowel harmony (usually rounding, front/back, and occasionally closeness). In cases where the vowel mutates to any close consonant, the symbol ü is used; for mid vowels, ɵ is used. These orthographic letters are used for vowels which consistently change to match the previous vowel in a word, and are distinct from the phonetic letters ə and ʉ sometimes used to describe instances where any front or mid(/back) vowel may be used, regardless of harmony.
Except for the listed ones, most semblative + case pairs are straightfoward, with -la (or its variants) coming before every case. It only appears before -stra in -lastraqui.
| Case | Endings | Primary Usage | Alternative "Case" | Alternate/Historic Usage | Examples | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ergative | -ni ( /d/z/j/k) / -(q)iun [B],
n(d)a( /n(g) [dialectal]/t/c/cx/v) [N] -(ze/oe)( / ̂/t/c/cx/k) [P], -l(V/l/(o)et/(o)ecz/(o)ecj/a(o)v) [S] (n) after vowels, front/back and rounding harmony; initial l -> n in compound semblative; V is identical to previous vowel; d-na -> -nda |
The subject of a transitive or ditransitive sentence. Sparsely for intransitive sentences. | Nominative, Ablative, | "From" something, including inalienable possession. Used in some locative prepositions relating to moving from something. Also used to indicate something was done using something. | I run, I gave lint to Donna, I took lint from the chair, That is my arm/hair", I hit it with (using) a hammer | |
| Absolutive | Unmarked
+( /(ü)ng/(a)+t/s/x/k) [B] ( /(ü)ng/(a) + d/z/j/g) [N] ( /(n)/t/c/cx/(f/gk)) [P] ( /((e)o)ng/((a)o +) t/(c)/(cx)/k) after unpitched OV(lV)/VC words and some other words: -fu(i)( /n/s/z/j/v) [B] -Vbu(i)(/n/s/zɵ/x/f) / Cvu(i)( /n/t/z/j/f)[N] -füz(è/èiun/et/íc/íx/ík) [S] ze drops off of the base form of bui in polysyllabic words; there are numerous words that do or do not take modified endings when (not) expected. |
The subject of most intransitive sentences; The direct object; object of many prepositional phrases. Absolutive markings carry over to Semblative-Absolutive and partially to the Equative. | Accusative,
Object of Preposition (Comitative/Ornative, Alienable Possessive, Temporal) |
Used in many prepositional phrases, including some where one would expect a different case to be used. Examples include "with" or "using", as well as in adverbial phrases to tell time. Also used with some locative prepositions. | I sit, I gave lint to Donna, I hit it along with a hammer, I used my pen (the pen I had on me), I am not with friends on my birthday after dinner. | |
| Dative | -(q)ɵ( /n/c/sqc/xqc/f) [B], -ye(o)( /ng/f/sc/cc/k) [N],
-((o)e)x(u)ix + ( /(o)e + n/t/s/k) / (u)ix [opposite]) [P] + [S] (q) after vowels, front/back & rounding harmony after (onset)V(lV) words: -fɵ( /(n/m)/t/s/x/f) [B] -mɵ( /ng/d/z/j/l) [N] -f(o)ex ((o)e/(o)en/(o)et / is/uiz/ix/uij/if/uiv) |
Indirect Object; May be subject in passive sentences (See: Grammar) | Benefactive | Something was done for something or someone.
There may be slight nuance between which is used for this purpose; for example, the dative is more often used with a copula, while the causative is more often used elsewhere. However, different regions have different preferences, with some dialects sticking to one or the other. Archaically, there used to exist a distinct Dative-Causative for this purpose, but it has since collapsed, or was otherwise abandoned for the simpler endings. |
I gave lint to Donna,
I am shivering; This is for you. |
|
| Causative | -(q)ù(i)(na/n/t/s/x/v) [B], -vâ(o)( /ng/t/z/j/v) [N],
-(q)ù(i)( /n/z/j/k) / -d(a) [P], -(q)ù(i)x( / (e/o) + n/t/s/x/(k/f)[frontness]) [S] (q) after vowels, front/back harmony and rounding harmony in plurals |
Caused by something; May be indirect object where the recipient has more agency than the donor (See: Grammar) | I failed because of you, I didn't work because (I was) sick, I built this for you, | |||
| Locative | -str(a/o/ao) ( /na(o)n/neon/d/s(o)es/saos/(cj/x/j)/f) [B],
-(z)dr(i)eo( /niu/d/z/j/veov) [N], stro(e)( /m/t/s/xu(i)x/f) [P], -cce( /nan/t/z/j/v) [S] (z) not after n/z/j; partial/irregular front/back harmony; -stra used after [N] vowels |
Marks the location of something. Used in most prepositions involving location (including in/on/over/under/behind) | Vocative, Allative, | Directing attention to someone;
towards something. |
I left my wallet at the theater;
O Johnathon!, I am going to the bridge, He is inside (at) the house |
|
| Semblative | -la( /ng/t/z/j/v) [B] -r(e)o( /n/t/z/x/k) [N]
-la( /ng/t/z/j/v) [P] -ül ( /lyl/ [oe + c/c/cx/v]) [S] -l + ül -> lyl |
Acts as an adjective/adverbial modifier, but can also be used as a noun or even as a verb phrase. -like/-y/-ly | Descriptive,
Deductive Copula, Semblative-Absolutive -lafù(i)(X) [B], -rɵvù(i)(X) [N], -fu(i)zù(i)l(X) [S] |
Denotes that something is like something. -ish/-oid/-esque
Sometimes used like the Equative for uncertainty or comedic effect. May be used to denote a "deductive" mood for to be. Can be used on verbs to indicate an action is similar but not quite that verb. The semblative-absolutive is identical to the semblative in the plural and some irregular words, but otherwise require the -(f/b)ui(z) ending, even if the root ordinarily wouldn't take it. |
You are like a barbarian; You are sweeter than apple pie; The rope-like scarf blew away; You are a lot like Johnathon; That's fantasy-like (fantastical); Looks like rain; He is sort-of running;
That is a craboid; You must be John. |
Often considered a derivational affix instead of a true case.
Can compound with up to 7 other cases, 2 of which are listed below. |
| Equative | -cü( /(ng/h)[frontness]/t/z/j/k) [B],
-(c)eoxe( /n/t/s/x/k)/(c)exi( /n/t/s/x/k) [N], -(u)i(z(o)e/z(o)en/d(a)/z(o)ec/(i/e)j/zk) [P], ka(o)( /h/t/z/x/k),[S] rounding and partial front/back harmony; closeness for [N]; only rounded in CV endings for [S]. acquires -fui endings for [B] and [S]; -füze -> -fü, -fuizet -> -fuizè |
Acts as a copula; Links words together;
Describes composition Equal Comparison |
Compound,
Compositional, Semblative, Interrogative, Participle |
Acts as a way of compounding nouns, denoting the elemental contents of something, and asking if something is something. May also be used as a poetic Semblative.
Also acts as a compound verb (see: verbs). |
You are Johnathon; He is a doctor; The pumpkin pie is tasty; This is a Wall Scene (movie), You look (just like) John Wayne; I will have been there; The pie is equally as delicious. | -cellaokaz-elyloecexix has been found in one old text, used in the context of being "most likely some thing". Not considered distinct. |
| Locative-Genitive (Locative-Causative) | Locative + Causative (pitched locative)
straqùi(na/jiun/t/z/j/v) (z)dr(i)êo(na/-iun/t/ncz/ncj/v) strêo(na/ne(o)n/ta/seos/ja/ka) cc(ûin/eqûin/eqûit/ûis/ûix/ûik) |
Used to denote where something or someone is originally from, or where something belongs.
Does not take bui/fui |
Locative-Causative,
Kinship (Archaic, Poetic) |
Could be used as a Causative in certain situations: "I look bad because of this spot on my shoe; I'm upset because of an issue at the pub. | I am from Iceland; This is my home; This is for my shoe; This is the museum's; I'm from her (lit. "she's my mom") | Rarely used outside of Locative-Genitive |
| Relative
(Semblative-Causative) [Clausal Subject] |
Semblative + Causative
-la(o)yè(ò)n (a/ /t/az/aj/gka) [B] râ(o) (v/n/d/z/j/k) [N] -(la(o))yè(ò)n (a/ /t/az/aj/gka) [P] -quixui (l/ ̀na/t/z/x/(k/h [dialectal]) Many dialects instead use -li(è/ò) or lyè(o) for -la; -min drops the "la(o)" in its suffix. |
Replaces the subject in a dependent clause; acts as a relative pronoun | Approximate/Partial-Causative | Functions like a causative, but denotes a partial, incomplete, or similar reason or logic. Archaic; often times formulated more literally (la + qui) to mean it literally if required, though the usage is itself rare and somewhat archaic. | The cage, which I destroyed, is over there; That is only part of why I'm sad. | Rarely used outside of Clausal Subject |
| Executive
(Causative-Equative) [Emphatic Causative] |
Equative + Causative;
stressed or only syllable in the latter has a falling pitch. |
Used as a more extreme version of a Causative, indicating that something was beyond the speaker's control.
Primarily used to describe actions forced onto them, or otherwise to highlight scenarios beyond belief. |
Causative | Sometimes used in situations where a normal causative would otherwise be used, usually in hyperbole in declarative statements. May be phasing out the Causative in some regions. | I did that because of him! (he FORCED me)
I'm late because of a tree which fell on my car. |
Not used in all dialects or by all speakers.
Not universally agreed upon as a distinct case, rather a variant Causative. |
| Approximative
(Semblative-Locative) |
Locative + Semblative (streol + a / (a/(e)o) + /t/z/j/v) | Used to indicate a vague location, or that something is around something. | Locative-Semblative | Used to indicate something is like somewhere else, or at a position similar to something else. | This feels like home, This is near Fortizendria, It's around here somewhere, It's by the house. | Not used in several dialects and not always considered a distinct case |
| Approximal-Genitive (Locative-Semblative-Causative) | Locative + Semblative + Causative
(-streolli[à/â](o)n) |
Says the approximate origins or place of belonging for someone. A relatively recent innovation. Rarely used outside of poetry and some local colloquialisms. Not found in most dialects. | Ablative; Locative; False Semblative | As if something was from somewhere;
As if something was something. Even more recent innovation, likely born from a misconception of its original meaning/intention. Alternate meaning usually denoted by a falling pitch rather than a low pitch. May be used as a verb aspect, causing a similar effect to a verb. |
I am from around here;
The cheese nearby is delightful; You're talking (about) that idea as if it were good. It's as if I am wearing a sign. |
Recent; Unofficial; Not used in most dialects; May be two cases;
sometimes analyzed as a variant of the Locative-Genitive |
| Inessive-Instrumental (Locative-Equative) | Locative + Equative; sometimes Equative + Locative; No longer in use | Historically was the inessive and instrumental, denoting "contains", "has" or "holds". Merged with Locative, Ergative and Absolutive cases. | Locative Copula,
Distal Possessive, Passive Instrumental |
Verbal phrase version of the locative;
Since merged with the Locative. |
I have the keys; It is in the house; The cat stole my cheese!; I am in Fortizendria, the keys which I have are blue, A hammer that I was holding hit the nail. | Archaic; No longer in use. |
| Allative / Lative (Locative-Dative) | Dative + Locative; No longer used | Historically was the lative/allative, but since merged with the Locative. Still used in some legal language. | I'm going to the house. | Archaic; No longer in common usage. | ||
| Benefactive (Causative-Dative) | Causative + Dative; later eroded to Causative. | Historically was the benefactive, but since merged with the causative due to semantic similarities and phonological erosion. | I built this for you. | Archaic; No longer in use. |
Verbs
Verbs in Zdrole are coded for tense, aspect, and mood. They do not agree with nouns or pronouns in gender, number or case. There are up to 12 tenses/aspects and debatably 5 moods, although they are often analyzed as combinations of more basic components. There also exists an infinitive form of the verb, which also acts as a nominalized verb. Verbs can receive any case marking, which turns them into various participles (including gerunds, gerundives, transgressives, and coverbs).
There are essentially two tenses: past and non-past. There are also two aspect modifiers. There is a perfective modifier, which is a morpheme that attaches to the main verb as a suffix. A verb without this suffix is assumed to be in the imperfective aspect. There also exists the perfect aspect modifier (distinct from the perfective), in which a verb looks at something retrospectively as it pertains to the past/present/future, although in Zdrole it can also be considered a finer detail in time. This is marked with an auxiliary verb~noun (in the Equative Grammatical Case), and can combine with both the perfective and imperfective aspects, as well as both tenses.
There also exists an irrealis mood modifier, which indicates that something is not and has not necessarily happened. This mood can also receive every tense and aspect modifier. In the nonpast, it acts more as another set of tenses/aspects, although has some moody properties. In the past, it acts more as an oblique irrealis mood, and is also coded for various tenses/aspects.
| Tense/Aspect | Imperfective/Progressive (Basic Verb) | Perfective | Perfect Imperfective/Perfect Progressive | Perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Present
(Nonpast) |
Present Imperfective
"I am eating", "I am playing the piano" -(e)nc(i(l)), -(ü)k(ɵ( /f/ ́/), -(ü)hh(ɵ( /h/ ́q)), *-a(o))nda, -∅ |
Near Future / Inchoative / Prospective
"I'm just starting to eat", "I'm about to play piano" -(a)ziun(i(l)), -(ü)kɵt, -(u)ix/-uf/iuh, -(a(o))ndâ(o)(n)cxe, -ɵ(t) |
Present Perfect Imperfective / Durative
"I have been eating", "I'm still playing piano" verb viung + case |
Present Perfect / Recent Past / Cessative / Retrospective
"I have eaten"; "I just ate"; "I just finished playing the piano" perfective verb viung + case |
| Past | Past Imperfective
"I was eating", "I was playing piano" -((o)en)ci(li((e)s)), -(ɵ)ngka(f), -(ɵ)hqka(h), -(a(o))d(i), -ɵs(ɵ) |
Past Perfective / Retrospective
"I ate", "I played the piano" -(z)ni(n), -(ɵ)ngkax, -(ɵ)hqkax, dea/duioe/do, -a(o))ng, -(a)x |
Pluperfect Progressive / Experiential
"I had been eating"; "I've played the piano" past verb viung + case |
Pluperfect / Distant Past Perfective / Past Habitual
"I had eaten"; "I ate a long time ago"; "I used to play piano" past perfective verb viung + case |
| Future-Irrealis | Future Imperfective / Future / Desiderative
"I will be eating", "I must soon play piano" verb heoli + case |
Distant Future Perfective
"I will (eventually) eat / play piano", perfective verb heoli + case |
Habitual
"I eat (generally)"; "I play piano (in general)" verb zqniung + case |
Future Perfect
"I will have eaten", "I will have played the piano" perfective verb zqniung + case |
| Conjunctive
(Future-Past) |
Present Conjunctive
"I fear he may be eating now", "He may eat", "Were he eating...", "He should be eating", "...if he is eating", "He might be eating", "I doubt he's eating" past verb heoli + case |
Future Conjunctive / Imperative
"May he eat!", "Were he to eat...", "Eat!", "You must eat!", "He should eat", "if he eats...", "He might eat the pie", "I doubt he'll eat pie" past perfective verb heoli + case |
Habitual/Imperfective Conjunctive / Imperative
"I doubt he eats much", "If he (knew how to) play piano", "He should (regularly) play piano", "Were he to eat pie...", "He might eat pie", "Thou shalt always eat pie" past verb zqniung + case |
Past/Perfective Conjunctive
"I fear he might have eaten", "...if he ate", "He should have eaten", "I guess he had eaten", "I doubt he ate" past perfective verb zqniung + case |
The grammatical tenses of Zdrole are notable for being very similar to that of English, which also has a past/nonpast distinction and a future mood which can be categorized as "simple", "progressive", "perfect" and "perfect progressive". However, they are used a bit differently, predominantly with the "Perfective", which may be more accurately considered a "past of X tense". For example, the perfect imperfective often indicates an experiential aspect (like in Chinese), where one has experienced or has experience with doing something, while the past perfect the (or pluperfect) is more often than not used to indicate a remote past, and may indicate that one used to be experienced in something, but no longer is sure they know how to do it. The present (more accurately nonpast) perfective is generally associated with the act of beginning something, and is considered a near-future, inchoative, or prospective case.
The future aspect is somewhat akin to an irrealis mood, and indicates not something that has or is happening, but is hoped or is willed to happen in the future. (English "I will" essentially does this.) The future perfect imperfective has taken the meaning of a Habitual aspect, indicating that an action has happened in the past and will happen again in the future. The Future Perfect has more-or-less replaced the ordinary use of the Future Perfective, indicating that something will be done or otherwise will have been done. The future perfective has since taken two meanings, that of the distant future aspect, often used to indicate a lack of certainty or a tinge of hope, and the hortative mood, which acts as a personal promise or as a form of invitation or persuasion. The future imperfective can also be used as a desiderative, especially if combined with a verb expressing desire, or a lack thereof.
The future-past has become the Conjunctive, which in Zdrole is essentially a general irrealis mood that serves several functions. It can serve as a conditional mood (as with English would), as well as a subjunctive mood. The imperfective, perfect, and perfect imperfective have taken to mean a present, past/perfective, and habitual conjunctive. The perfective has taken on to mean a future, prospective, or immediate future, much like the present perfective realis mood. It can also be used as an imperative mood, which can contextually, or otherwise combine with pronouns or other verbs to, apply to the first or third person. The habitual conjunctive may also double as a habitual or imperfective imperative. The conjunctive has far fewer aspectual degrees than realis verbs.
It is not uncommon for multiple perfective makers to be stacked on top of one another to indicate additional layers of retrospection (or prospection, as is the case with the present perfective). This is not considered an "official" quirk of the language, but is not unheard of. Stacking future, past, or perfect arguments is either a lot rarer. Sometimes these complicated multi-compounded aspects are used on the conjunctive, which by nature has far fewer aspectual distinctions, although this is not an established practice outside of certain households and social circles.
Verb Cases
Any verb can be compounded into most grammatical cases, and in any tense/aspect. A verb that is not at the start of a sentence is generally assumed to be in the absolutive case as a nominalized verb. If the verb is in the ergative, absolutive, dative, or equative, it is almost always in either the same tense/aspect as the clause's verb (if present), or it is in the nonpast imperfective.
Most nominalized verbs act the same as nouns when they receive cases. However, there are a few exceptions. The locative case can both be an actual locative ("I ran at the laughing" would mean "I ran around/to the laughing", often after a preposition; this used to be done with the allative case), or as a transgressive or converb, in which the action gives context as to the main verb, essentially acting as the adverbial phrases of "while", "before" or "after", depending on its tense/aspect/mood. Equative verbs essentially act as coverbs (different from converbs), in which they essentially become compound-verbs. They are also the case used in auxiliary constructions, where the words "desire", "am" and "hold" are the main verb of the clause (which in turn may also be marked for case). They also may be used to indicate that a noun has received a verb (as in alarmed). Semblative verbs may be used as the main verb in an argument, may be used as a derivational affix, indicating that an action similar to or not quite the main verb is performed. Semblative verbs also act as the Equative, indicating that something has been done to it, but only partially, somewhat, or rather, something similar to the verb in question. The Approximative (Locative-Semblative) case is functionally both the Semblative and the Locative, and indicates that a quasi-verb is being performed by the noun it modifies.
Verbal Gender
Although nouns have classes, for which affect their surrounding prepositions and, to a lesser extant, adjectives, verbs have an extensive gender-like system that affects some adverbs and all nouns/case markings within a sentence. These markings are sometimes called "verbal mutations", and are generally classified as "V", "n" "t", "s", "x" and "k/f" endings (more properly known as "open", "nasal", "dental", "alveolar", "postalveolar", and "peripheral" endings). These endings may vary widely between cases as well as between dialects, with some being more conservative, some evolving in different directions, some merging certain endings, and some dropping verb genders altogether (most prolifically the "t" and "k/f" mutations).
Verbs generally fall into only a couple of paradigms, primarily receiving -k, -c, -d and -∅ based suffixes, although irregular ones do exist. These paradigms have several variants with their own sets of mutations, with different tenses and aspects within each paradigm to cause different mutations.
The verb paradigm can usually be found pretty easily by the final sound in the verb - i.e. a verb ending in -t will have the "t" paradigm, "e" will have an "open" paradigm, etc. However, aside from it not always being clear what consonants trigger which paradigms (though the formal names are rather helpful), there are many exceptions to this rule. kV-endings in the -k paradigm cause k/f mutation; in the present perfective aspect, the mutation paradigm skips over the final vowel (except for -ɵ). Relatively uncommon verbs with null endings (-∅) will either trigger a paradigm shift based on their final sound or consonant, or do nothing and only cause open mutation.
"Open" mutation, or "V" (for Vowel, though not all agreements end in vowels) mutation, is usually considered to be the "default" form of a word, with dictionaries usually referring to suffixes primarily in this form.
Only the main verb of a clause actually causes mutation in nouns; verbs that are in noun cases do not affect nouns in the rest of the clause. However, different verbs within different clauses may cause multiple mutations to occur, even within the same sentence.
In addition to all nouns in the verbal clause receiving mutations, adverbs that apply to the verb itself - including if the verb has received a case marking - also receive inflections. The descriptor clitic e receives mutation (e/en/et/es/ex/ek), and the adverbs themselves also receive an ending (usually (ɵ) + /nga(o)ng [roundness]/dad/zz/jj/gVg [copies final vowel]). This only applies to adverbs directly affecting the verb, and does not apply to adjectives (which inflect for noun class) and adverbial adverbs (which have no inflection). Verbs with case marking will also trigger agreement of describers based on their present imperfective form, even if they have become gerunds or gerundives.
Copula
Zdrole notably very often drops viung, its word for "to be" (i.e. I am happy, the car is red, etc.), at least for the default present imperfective tense/aspect. Rather, it largely juxtaposes words right next to each other, where if a sentence exists without a verb, it is often indicated that the copula was simply dropped. If two ergative nouns are side-by-side, it is assumed that the second one is ablative in nature; if the second noun is absolutive, it is assumed to be an instrumental or alienable genitive; and if it is dative, it is assumed to be benefactive (where the causative may be used in certain dialects). The other cases act more like their normal counterparts. The Equative case in particular is used on the second noun to indicate a direct link between objects (i.e. "He is a doctor"). The Relative case is never used as a relative in this case, and is generally considered a partial or near causative, although this usage is rare. Prepositions and adjectival markers may also be used. If a nominalized verb is used, it is likely part of the aspect/tense system.
Describers: Adjectives and Adverbs
Zdrole adjectives and adverbs come in several varieties, although there is no fully agreed upon distinction between adjective and adverb. This is because Zdrole adjectives/adverbs, or "describers", are essentially the same word, sometimes preceded by the clitic e. However, Zdrole describers are inflected differently depending on whether they modify a noun, a verb, or another part of speech (including other adverbs). Because these describers (and in the case of verbs, their clitics if they have one) agree specifically with the noun or verb they are modifying, and have no agreement otherwise, some analysts argue there are at least three types of describers in Zdrole, that of the "adjective", "verbal adverb", and "oblique adverb". However, verbs will still trigger consonant agreement in their describers, even if they have become gerunds or gerundives.
Derivation into Describers
There are many ways to form a describer from a noun. It is most common for adjective-modified nouns and verbs to receive an e clitic before their word, which may become modified to agree with verbs, including nominalized verbs. e is thought to be a separate word, although it is not entirely clear. The problem is that there is no widely agreed upon definition, even among Zdrole speakers. In the traditional orthographic system, it is not written as a distinct word - i.e. there aren't two word-separator "dots". However, it is also not written as a normal vowel (or glottal stop + vowel), instead being written essentially as either a punctuation of its own, or as a single e vowel that is caught between letters. It is sometimes suggested that it rather links two words together, although this view is also widely contested.
In addition, adjectives derived from nouns almost always take the Absolutive, Semblative or Equative cases. The semblative describes something as being similar to something; The absolutive and equative may both be used to describe what something is or is made of, although the equative is more often times used for actual compound-words. Historically, the Innessive-Instrumental case was also used to indicate that something had or contained something; this usage is now primarily done with the Absolutive case. The Relative case is used to indicate that the subject is in an adverbial case.
Some verbs may also be in the Semblative or Equative case to describe more specific concepts, as well as the Locative and Approximative. When applied to nouns, the Equative tells that the verb has been done to the noun, while the Locative tells that the action is being done by the noun, likely at the same time as the main verb of the sentence, although time may be specified or implied by context. The Semblative and Approximative (i.e. Locative-Semblative) are essentially the same things, except they imply that something is either only partially done, or something similar is being done. These cases also have other uses, but generally, if preceeded by a clitic, and-or appear after a noun in a word, they are most likely acting as gerundives. Verbs may also modify verbs, without the e clitic, if they immediately follow the verb or gerund; the Semblative is used a general adverb, and the Equative is used for compounding, or Coverbs. See: Verb Cases.
In addition to case marking and the clitic e, there are several other derivational affixes that may be applied either after or before a noun or a verb to modify them into nouns or adjectives. Although most of these forms are no longer considered productive.
Inherent Describers
Many describers are considered "inherent", and act naturally as adjectives/verbal adverbs, oblique adverbs, or demonstratives, and do not require the e clitic. Most of these describers may be nominalized through grammatical case. Demonstratives and pro-forms in particular will often have identical absolutive nominalized counterparts (i.e. this thing vs. this look the same), outside of hypercorrection or cosmopolitan club fads.
It is worth noting that describers that are "inherent" will actually agree with either the noun or the verb they modify, but do not take verbal mutation endings if they are modifying a noun.
Other
Pronouns and Proforms
Zdrole is host to a large number of demonstratives, pronouns and other pro-forms, coding for number, interrogative, proximity (this vs. that), definiteness, case, human vs. nonhuman, relationship closeness and formality, and gender (noun class for nouns, as well as verb class - although this is considered archaic in many dialects). It could be interpreted that many of the cases are more akin to prepositional pronouns. Most other dependent clauses will receive either the Relative case (which denotes the subject of the clause and, if alone, also acts as a relative pronoun) or the Absolutive. Each pronoun also has an emphatic or intensive pronoun, which have occasionally taken on the meaning of other existing noun cases.
The Inessive-Instrumental, while no longer used for nouns, is still used for pronouns, and has become strictly an ornative / comitative / possessive, i.e. claiming that someone has something or someone with them at that moment. "With" (weak and strong) is usually foregone for pronouns entirely, with the emphatic usually being used for animate/strong with and the regular for inanimate/weak with. The Locative-Genetive is slightly different from its old noun case, being exclusively used for kinship and creation of alienable possessives, while The Ergative can be used as a less connected ablative or genitive possessive pronoun (as with normal nouns). The Absolutive case also acts as a reflexive pronoun, while the Dative case can act as a reciprocal pronoun.
Several cases are however not used. Notable examples are the semblative compounds, as only full nouns and proper nouns may receive such cases (although the normal semblative is frequently used). The causative has since merged with the Ergative (both semantically and phonetically), with the emphatic acting near identical to the Executive case. The Benefactive has merged with the Dative emphatic (unlike other nouns where it's usually in the causative outside of the copula). The benefactive has merged with the dative (as there is no causative case), while the allative is thought to have never emerged in pronouns.
The Equative case does not exactly exist in pronouns like it does in nouns. The comparative functions of the Equative are used by the Semblative, often the emphatic, while the copula functions are covered by the emphatic absolutive case. However, there does exist a distinct disjunctive pronoun. This is a pronoun that is essentially the emphatic form of the Absolutive without the Alternate Absolutive ending (when applicable), and has several functions. It can be used in copulas (That is ME, i.e. C'est moi in French), as well as on its own to indicate a pronoun or entire proform (i.e. "ME! I want that!", "Them! That's them right there!", or "No, you did that! No! You!"), essentially replacing the Ergative, with the rest of the sentence being implied. There also exists an "Emotional Disjunctive", which can essentially replace either the Absolutive or the Ergative cases in confounded or highly emotional statements (as in "You hurt me!" or "I love you!!!"). These pronouns are always the simplest form of the pronoun, and are sometimes considered "emphatic disjunctives" as they functionally are hyper-emphatic, easier-to-pronounce pronouns.
Plural pronouns (including first, second, and third person) frequently undergo Nosism. This is used in formal situations where an individual represents a higher entity, and is frequently used by elites and those in upper positions in organizations such as government and businesses. It is also used by some individuals to sound especially formal, although it is usually only used out of immense respect for government and military officials in the second or third person, while out of egoistic narcisism in the first person.
Third person pronouns are identical across all genders, but their case markings are completely different. Third person Spindly pronouns are also used as an epicene or ambiguous pronoun, where the noun class of the speaker is not known, and can also be used as a generic "someone" (notably when not with a demonstrative) or to indicate an indefinite number of people. Third person pronouns and demonstratives in the absolutive case also receive a "cute" version in the absolutive case for Narrow, Broad and Spindly person pronouns, and are usually used to imply cuteness in a mate (usually female), children, or animals. It can also be used by the speaker to sound cute.
Demonstratives will frequently combine with third human-animate and inaminate pronouns to indicate specific objects, such as "this thing here", "this person here" (sometimes also used to indicate "I"), "That guy over there's", etc. Demonstratives always go before the pronoun itself, which retains all of its endings.
To read what the pronouns are, see: Vocabulary.
Prepositions
Zdrole, despite being largely head-final (in spite of it being a V-S language), is primarily comprised of prepositions. It is not entirely clear when this became the case, but it's believed that it happened not long after the bulk of non-compound cases were set, where postpositions and coordinating adverbs would suddenly begin to appear before or even on both ends of the phrase. There are still several adpositions that are almost exclusively postpositional, and a few that are even circumpositional. Many prepositions are still ambipositional, and may still regularly appear either before, after, or on both sides of a prepositional clause, although these have more frequently collapsed into prepositions in northern dialects.
The cause for this change and its ambiguity is not fully understood, but it could partly be influenced by the fact that the southern language of Fvonil is a far more postpositional language, while northern Occe-Fortizian languages tend to be more prepositional. Some argue that Zdrole is still undergoing a transitional switch from a postpositional to a prepositional language, while others argue it may stay a notably mixed adpositional language.
Prepositions in Zdrole are quite numerous, with most prepositions even coding for the gender of the object of their preposition. Some words, such as "with" have a distinction between companions and loose associates, a distinction believed to have originally been based on animacy before prized possessions acquired a higher status and unwelcome guests were demoted. Adverbs in adverbial phrases do not generally agree with other words.
Vocabulary
Morphemes, Lexicon, Derivational Affixes
This section is too large to put on this page. For more information, see: Zdrole Morphology.
Loan Words
There are numerous loan words that have been accepted into Zdrole from neighboring and foreign languages. Several euphemisms come from other languages, including Drâc! from English Drats! and ziuh! from Fvonil ẑh! (which carries a stronger meaning in said language). Many technical terms are borrowed from Krystar English and Hai'wanese. Several everyday words have been exchanged between the various languages of Fortizendria, and to a lesser extent its neighbors.