Zenbi

Natively known as: zenbi /zemˈbi/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...

ka gun dapyun zen nansun nahyu ka zen wanebe wado kihan kipa su

Pronunciation: /ka gun daˈpjun zen manˈsun maˈhju ka zen waneˈbe waˈdo kiˈhan kiˈpa su/

Zenbi word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d g h j k m n p s t w z ŋ ɾ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Stop	p b	t d		k g
Fricative		s z			h
Approximant			j
Tap		ɾ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a e i o u/

	Front	Back
High	i	u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined

Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable

Word initial consonants: b, d, g, h, j, k, m, n, p, s, t, w, z, ɾ

Mid-word consonants: b, bj, d, g, gj, h, hj, j, k, kj, m, mb, mj, mp, n, nj, ns, nt, nw, nɾ, p, pj, s, t, w, z, ŋg, ɾ, ɾj

Word final consonants: n





Phonological changes (in order of application):

• d → t / _#

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ŋ	n
m	n
j	y
ɾ	r

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject Object Verb (Prepositional phrase). "Mary opened the door with a key" turns into Mary the door opened with a key.

Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.

Adposition: postpositions

Nouns

Nouns have seven 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 recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog.
• Locative is the location of something: man goes to town.
• Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.
• Instrumental is the use of something: man writes with (using) pen.

Nominative	No affix sonun /soˈnun/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Prefix su- susonun /susoˈnun/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix da- dasonun /dasoˈnun/ dogʼs
Dative	Prefix ku- kusonun /kusoˈnun/ to (the/a) dog
Locative	If starts with vowel: Prefix h- Else: Prefix he- hesonun /hesoˈnun/ near/at/by (the/a) dog
Ablative	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pu- pusonun /pusoˈnun/ from (the/a) dog
Instrumental	Prefix pe- pesonun /pesoˈnun/ with/using (the/a) dog

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix na- nanan /naˈman/ man	Prefix na- nanan /naˈman/ men
Feminine	Prefix ze- zenapu /zemaˈpu/ woman	Prefix a- anapu /amaˈpu/ women
Neuter	Prefix ho- hosonun /hosoˈnun/ dog	Prefix ɾo- rosonun /ɾosoˈnun/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	ka /ka/ the	ba /ba/ a
Plural	in /in/ the	ta /ta/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’
• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative	Instrumental
1st singular	su /su/ I	so /so/ me	he /he/ mine	pu /pu/ to me	ri /ɾi/ at me	nun /mun/ from me	dan /dan/ with/using me
2nd singular	wa /wa/ you (masc)	u /u/ you	sun /sun/ yours	a /a/ to you	gu /gu/ at you	ro /ɾo/ from you	pe /pe/ with/using you
3rd singular masc	gun /gun/ he	hi /hi/ him	no /no/ his	ba /ba/ to him	kan /kan/ at him	nin /nin/ from him	wan /wan/ with/using him
3rd singular fem	i /i/ she	o /o/ her	kin /kin/ hers	zon /zon/ to her	kun /kun/ at her	hon /hon/ from her	kin /kin/ with/using her
3rd singular neut	pon /pon/ it	ta /ta/ it	ron /ɾon/ its	bu /bu/ to it	e /e/ at it	non /non/ from it	na /na/ with/using it
1st plural	tan /tan/ we	son /son/ us	se /se/ ours	ban /ban/ to us	nan /man/ at us	pen /pen/ from us	i /i/ with/using us
2nd plural	nu /mu/ you all	ki /ki/ you all	in /in/ yours (pl)	en /en/ to you all	ho /ho/ at you all	na /ma/ from you all	pon /pon/ with/using you all
3rd plural masc	yon /jon/ they (masc)	zen /zen/ them (masc)	sen /sen/ theirs (masc)	un /un/ to them (masc)	rin /ɾin/ at them (masc)	po /po/ from them (masc)	u /u/ with/using them (masc)
3rd plural fem	hen /hen/ they (fem)	ni /ni/ them (fem)	zo /zo/ theirs (fem)	an /an/ to them (fem)	ku /ku/ at them (fem)	gen /gen/ from them (fem)	e /e/ with/using them (fem)
3rd plural neut	ze /ze/ they (neut)	on /on/ them (neut)	ka /ka/ theirs (neut)	na /na/ to them (neut)	yo /jo/ at them (neut)	da /da/ from them (neut)	rin /ɾin/ with/using them (neut)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	sen /sen/ my
2nd singular	yon /jon/ your
3rd singular masc	zen /zen/ his
3rd singular fem	pe /pe/ her
3rd singular neut	zo /zo/ its
1st plural	ri /ɾi/ our
2nd plural	u /u/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	hon /hon/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	pu /pu/ their (fem)
3rd plural neut	in /in/ their (neut)

Verbs

Future

If starts with vowel: Prefix z- Else: Prefix zo- zopodo /zopoˈdo/ will learn

Zenbi uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: pen - pen podo /pen poˈdo/ learned

Perfect aspect





The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.





Zenbi uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix ni- nipodo /nipoˈdo/ have learned

Numbers

Zenbi has a base-10 number system:





1 - pen

2 - yonron

3 - son

4 - wa

5 - tanyun

6 - hi

7 - hen

8 - hin

9 - ni

10 - ogin

11 - oginpen “ten-one”

100 - pen take “one hundred”

101 - pen take ka pen “one hundred and one”

200 - yonron take

1000 - pen opi “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix w-

Else: Prefix wa-

Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix pe-

Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix d-

Else: Prefix da-

Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-

Else: Prefix ni-

Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix ze-

Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix j-

Else: Prefix ju-

Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-

Else: Prefix so-

Tending to = Prefix i-

Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-

Else: Prefix po-

Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix d-

Else: Prefix da-

One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-

Else: Prefix su-

Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix o-

Diminutive = Prefix o-

Augmentative = Prefix ku-