Zǐngian

Natively known as: zǐng /ʦi˧˥ŋ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
tāng sa î nō dè gâ tāng jar yù î shun moǔ sǖn
Pronunciation: /tʰa˥ŋ sa˧ i˥˩ nʊ˥ tɤ˨˩˦ ka˥˩ tʰa˥ŋ ʨɛ˧ʐ ju˨˩˦ i˥˩ ʂu˧n mou̯˧˥ sy˥n/
Zǐngian word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: f j k kʰ l m n p pʰ s t tʰ w x ŋ ɥ ʂ ʂʰ ʈ ʐ ʦ ʦʰ ʨ ʨʰ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m		n				ŋ
Stop	p pʰ		t tʰ	ʈ			k kʰ
Affricate			ʦ ʦʰ		ʨ ʨʰ
Fricative		f	s	ʂ ʂʰ ʐ			x
Approximant						j
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-palatal	Labial-velar
Approximant	ɥ	w

Vowel inventory: a ai̯ au̯ ei̯ i o ou̯ u y ə ɛ ɤ ʊ
Diphthongs: ai̯ au̯ ei̯ ou̯ ?
Tones: ˧ ˥ ˧˥ ˨˩˦ ˥˩

	Front	Central	Back
High	i y		u
Near-high			ʊ
High-mid			ɤ o
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: No fixed stress ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
w	u / C_
p	b / !_ʰ
k	g / !_ʰ
t	d / !_ʰ
ʨʰ	q
ʦʰ	c
ʈʂʰ	ch
ʈʂ	zh
ʦ	z
ʐ	r
ʰ
ŋk	nk
ŋ	ng
x	h
ʂ	sh
ɤ	e
ə	e
ʊ	o
y	ü / C_
y	yu
j	y
ʨ	j
ɛ	a
˥˩	̂
˧˥	̌
˨˩˦	̀
˥	̄
˧
̯

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject (Prepositional phrase) Object Verb. “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary with a key the door opened.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?

Nouns

Nouns have five cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
• Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.
• Locative is the location of something: man is in town.

Nominative	No affix zâ /ʦa˥˩/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ou̯˥n zân /ʦa˥˩n/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	Suffix -ɛ˥˩ŋ zââng /ˈʦa˥˩ɛ˥˩ŋ/ dogʼs
Dative	Suffix -au̯˥˩ŋ zâaûng /ˈʦa˥˩au̯˥˩ŋ/ to (the/a) dog
Locative	Suffix -o˧˥n zâǒn /ʦa˥˩ˈo˧˥n/ near/at/by (the/a) dog

Singular	No affix zâ /ʦa˥˩/ dog
Plural	Change all X* to __ zâzâ /ˈʦa˥˩ʦa˥˩/ dogs

Articles

Zǐngian has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative
1st singular	zhū /ʈʂu˥/ I	shü /ʂy˧/ me	zhuûn /ʈʂwu˥˩n/ mine	no /nʊ˧/ to me	yě /jə˧˥/ at me
2nd singular	sei /sei̯˧/ you	heng /xɤ˧ŋ/ you	shǐr /ʂi˧˥ʐ/ yours	zhā /ʈʂɛ˥/ to you	ku /kʰu˧/ at you
3rd singular masc	sa /sa˧/ he, it	kou /kʰou̯˧/ him, it	e /ə˧/ his, its	yē /jə˥/ to him, at it	kong /kʰʊ˧ŋ/ at him, at it
3rd singular fem	pu /pʰu˧/ she, it	chuīng /ʈʂʰwi˥ŋ/ her, it	hê /xɤ˥˩/ hers, its	paǔ /pʰau̯˧˥/ to her, at it	chau /ʈʂʰau̯˧/ at her, at it
1st plural	zhē /ʈʂə˥/ we	mūn /mu˥n/ us	wân /wɛ˥˩n/ ours	hü̂r /xy˥˩ʐ/ to us	chǐ /ʈʂʰi˧˥/ at us
2nd plural	fǒr /fo˧˥ʐ/ you all	sǐ /si˧˥/ you all	hù /xu˨˩˦/ yours (pl)	zhaǐ /ʈʂai̯˧˥/ to you all	hi /xi˧/ at you all
3rd plural	yǐng /ji˧˥ŋ/ they	mîn /mi˥˩n/ them	shàn /ʂa˨˩˦n/ theirs	heî /xei̯˥˩/ to them	yü /jy˧/ at them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	zǐ /ʦi˧˥/ my
2nd singular	būng /pu˥ŋ/ your
3rd singular masc	î /i˥˩/ his
3rd singular fem	maung /mau̯˧ŋ/ her
1st plural	tā /tʰɛ˥/ our
2nd plural	zaǔng /ʦau̯˧˥ŋ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	zhǐ /ʈʂi˧˥/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix gǔng /ku˧˥ŋ/ learn
Past	Suffix -u˧˥ gǔngǔ /ˈku˧˥ŋu˧˥/ learned
Remote past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʐ Else: Suffix -ɤ˥˩ʐ gǔngêr /ˈku˧˥ŋɤ˥˩ʐ/ learned (long ago)

Zǐngian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: ʦʰu˥ - cū gǔng /ʦʰu˥ ku˧˥ŋ/ will learn

Progressive aspect

The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Zǐngian uses a standalone particle word for progressive:

Progressive

Particle before the verb: tʊ˥˩ - dô gǔng /tʊ˥˩ ku˧˥ŋ/ is learning

Habitual aspect

The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).
Zǐngian uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ Else: Suffix -a˧˥ŋ gǔngǎng /ˈku˧˥ŋa˧˥ŋ/ learns

Numbers

Zǐngian has a base-10 number system:
1 - zhuou
2 - chǐr
3 - shei
4 - dǒ
5 - sǒ
6 - wo
7 - ja
8 - ǐ
9 - beng
10 - toû
100 - dâ
1000 - kǒ

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -i˥
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -y˥˩
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ə˧˥n
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ
Else: Suffix -au̯˥ŋ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʐ
Else: Suffix -u˧ʐ
Noun to verb = Suffix -au̯˧
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ
Else: Suffix -ɛ˥ŋ
Tending to = Suffix -ai̯˧˥
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ
Else: Suffix -o˧ŋ
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʐ
Else: Suffix -u˥ʐ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -y˥
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nfʊ˧
Else: Suffix -ə˧nfʊ˧
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -pi˧˥
Else: Suffix -ʊ˧pi˧˥
Augmentative = Suffix -o˨˩˦

Dictionary

3043 Words.