Dessian

Natively known as: Zarana /zɑˈrɑnɑ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
u fe mu zasa tuxe turu u nuyi ’u mu shese ixi tube

Pronunciation: /u fɪ mu ˈzɑsɑ tuˈxɪ ˈturu u ˈnuji ʔu mu ˈʃɪsɪ ˈixi ˈtubɪ/
Zaranan word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Geographical Distribution

The Dessian Language is spoken only in the country of Ziti-Orna. While others may be able to speak it outside of the country there are little to no outside communities of Ziti-Ornians outside of Tralkan.

Phonology

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d f h j k l m n q r s t w x z ɣ ʃ ʔ θ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m			n
Stop	b			t d			k		q	ʔ
Fricative		f	θ	s z	ʃ		x ɣ			h
Approximant						j		w
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

Vowel inventory: /i u ɑ ɪ/

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Near-high	ɪ
Low		ɑ

Syllable structure: (C)V
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: b, d, f, h, j, k, l, m, n, q, r, s, t, w, x, z, ɣ, ʃ, ʔ, θ
Mid-word consonants: b, d, f, h, j, k, l, m, n, q, r, s, t, w, x, z, ɣ, ʃ, ʔ, θ
Word final consonants: N/A

Phonological rules (in order of application):

• l→ɫ / V_V

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	y
ɑ	a
ɣ	x
ɪ	e
ʃ	sh
ʔ	’
θ	th

Morphology

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix mu-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix mu-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix nu-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ɣu-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix fɪ-
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = Prefix li-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix tɑ-
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Prefix tu-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix tu-
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Prefix du-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ɣi-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix bɪ-
Diminutive = Prefix ʃɑ-
Augmentative = Prefix nu-

Syntax

Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Oblique-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

Noun

Singular	No affix bifu /ˈbifu/
Plural	Suffix -θu bifuthu /biˈfuθu/

Nouns have two cases:
Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man
Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog

Nominative	No affix bifu /ˈbifu/
Accusative	Suffix -jɪ bifuye /ˈbifujɪ/

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	du /du/ the	u /u/ a
Plural	si /si/ the	ba /bɑ/ some

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	ba /bɑ/ I	te /tɪ/ me
2nd singular	za /zɑ/ you	mu /mu/ you
3rd singular masc	fe /fɪ/ he, it	zu /zu/ him, it
3rd singular fem	nu /nu/ she, it	she /ʃɪ/ her, it
1st plural	thi /θi/ we	xi /ɣi/ us
2nd plural	be /bɪ/ you (all)	tu /tu/ you (all)
3rd plural	si /si/ they	ta /tɑ/ them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	du /du/ my
2nd singular	ri /ri/ your
3rd singular masc	mu /mu/ his, its
3rd singular fem	qu /qu/ her, its
1st plural	za /zɑ/ our
2nd plural	fe /fɪ/ your
3rd plural	u /u/ their

Verbs

Future tense is indicated with the word:

Future particle

mu /mu/ future tense particle

Present	No affix qishe /ˈqiʃɪ/
Past	Suffix -zɪ qisheze /ˈqiʃɪzɪ/
Remote past	Prefix bɪ- beqishe /ˈbɪqiʃɪ/

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am studying,
and habitual actions, such as I study (every night).

It is indicated with the affix:

Imperfect

Suffix -mɑ qishema /ˈqiʃɪmɑ/

Dictionary

4329 Words.