Zmie (Z'my)

The shared language of the Zmaym and all of its peoples.

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Natively known as: zmie /zmaɪ̯/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
thie thev kas kyûb ti dvay thie nyiemdùs ti kip kyâî tê saw
Pronunciation: /thaɪ̯ θɛv kæs kjʊb tiː dveɪ̯ thaɪ̯ ˈnjaɪ̯mdʌs tiː kiːp ˈkjɑɪ tɤ sɔː/
Zmien word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p s t v w z ð ɹ ʃ ʒ ʤ ʧ θ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n
Stop	p b			t d			k g
Affricate					ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ ʒ			h
Approximant				ɹ		j
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ iː o oʊ̯ uː æ ɑ ɔɪ̯ ɔː ɛ ɜː ɤ ɪ ʊ ʌ
Diphthongs: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ oʊ̯ ɔɪ̯

	Front	Central	Back
High	iː		uː
Near-high	ɪ		ʊ
High-mid			ɤ o
Low-mid	ɛ	ɜː	ʌ ɔː
Near-low	æ
Low			ɑ

Syllable structure: (C)(C)V(C)
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
aɪ̯	ie
aʊ̯	ou
eɪ̯	ay
iː	i
uː	u
æ	a
ɛ	e
ɔɪ̯	oi
ɔː	aw
ɪ	î
ʊ	û
ɑ	â
ʌ	ù
ɤ	ê
ɜː	à
j	y
θ	th
ð	dh
ɹ	r
ʃ	sh
ʒ	zh
ʤ	j
ʧ	ch
Vː	VV
◌̯

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Grammar

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

Nouns

Singular	No affix thàj /θɜːʤ/ dog
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -z Else: Suffix -ɜːz thàjàz /ˈθɜːʤɜːz/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	nay /neɪ̯/ the	mâ /mɑ/ a
Plural	i /iː/ the	nto /nto/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used for languages: ‘The English’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

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

1st singular	wim /wiːm/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	sou /saʊ̯/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	thev /θɛv/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	chlaw /ʧlɔː/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	ko /ko/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	thawk /θɔːk/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	nay /neɪ̯/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	tiesh /taɪ̯ʃ/ my
2nd singular	pyouzh /pjaʊ̯ʒ/ your
3rd singular masc	ti /tiː/ his
3rd singular fem	woû /woʊ̯/ her
1st plural	bouzh /baʊ̯ʒ/ our
2nd plural	và /vɜː/ your (pl)
3rd plural	jûsh /ʤʊʃ/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix dvawn /dvɔːn/ learn
Past	Suffix -ɛ dvawne /ˈdvɔːnɛ/ learned

Zmien uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: oʊ̯ʧ - oûch dvawn /oʊ̯ʧ dvɔːn/ will learn

Numbers

Zmien has a base-10 number system:
1 - ndi
2 - ak
3 - grân
4 - voû
5 - pê
6 - vàr
7 - kâ
8 - vay
9 - ok
10 - gyol
11 - gyolndi “ten-one”
100 - plàl “hundred”
101 - plàl ndi “hundred one”
200 - ak plàl
1000 - thàbdâ “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧ
Else: Suffix -ɪʧ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -aʊ̯p
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɹ
Else: Suffix -aɪ̯ɹ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -iː
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -uːv
Noun to verb = Suffix -ɑs
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -p
Else: Suffix -ɜːp
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʤ
Else: Suffix -ɪʤ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃ
Else: Suffix -ɑʃ
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ʊp
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ɑs
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s
Else: Suffix -uːs
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɹ
Else: Suffix -ʊɹ
Augmentative = Suffix -ɑz

Dictionary

4386 Words.