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Zhayytoi (Language)

Natively known as: Zhayytoi /ʒeɪ̯jˈtɔɪ̯/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
di zis físh zis noúth lǎ di zis chug zá shou dá bo
Pronunciation: /diː ziːs fɪʃ ziːs noʊ̯θ lɑ diː ziːs ʧuːg zɜː ʃaʊ̯ dɜː bɔː/
Zhayytoi word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

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

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n			ŋ
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 oʊ̯ uː æ ɑ ɔɪ̯ ɔː ɛ ɜː ɪ ʊ ʌ

Diphthongs: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ oʊ̯ ɔɪ̯ ?

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

Syllable structure: (C)V(C) ?
Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable ?

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
aɪ̯	ie
aʊ̯	ou
eɪ̯	ay
iː	i
uː	u
æ	a
ɛ	e
ɔː	o
ɔɪ̯	oi
ɪ	í
ʊ	ú
ɜː	á
ʌ	ǔ
ɑ	ǎ
j	y
θ	th
ð	dh
ŋ	ng
ɹ	r
ʃ	sh
ʒ	zh
ʤ	j
ʧ	ch
Vː	VV
◌

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 two cases:

Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.

Nominative

	Masculine	Feminine
Definite	No affix goip /gɔɪ̯p/ the man (when doing the verb)	No affix zho /ʒɔː/ the woman (when doing the verb)
Indefinite	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ- Else: Prefix ʃaʊ̯- shougoip /ʃaʊ̯ˈgɔɪ̯p/ a man (when doing the verb)	If starts with vowel: Prefix aʊ̯ʤl- Else: Prefix aʊ̯ʤlɔː- oujlozho /aʊ̯ʤlɔːˈʒɔː/ a woman (when doing the verb)

Accusative

	Masculine	Feminine
Definite	If starts with vowel: Prefix n-Else: Prefix nʌ- nǔgoip /nʌˈgɔɪ̯p/ (verb done to) the man	Prefix wɑ- wǎzho /wɑˈʒɔː/ (verb done to) the woman
Indefinite	Prefix ɛ- egoip /ɛˈgɔɪ̯p/ (verb done to) a man	Prefix lɑ- lǎzho /lɑˈʒɔː/ (verb done to) a woman

Articles

Zhayytoi encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	chak /ʧæk/ I	zu /zuː/ me
2nd singular	yák /jɜːk/ you	ho /hɔː/ you
3rd singular masc	zis /ziːs/ he, it	go /gɔː/ him, it
3rd singular fem	fam /fæm/ she, it	gieb /gaɪ̯b/ her, it
1st plural	íb /ɪb/ we	chou /ʧaʊ̯/ us
2nd plural	koú /koʊ̯/ you all	zhǎp /ʒɑp/ you all
3rd plural masc	bǎ /bɑ/ they (masc)	mi /miː/ them (masc)
3rd plural fem	las /læs/ they (fem)	sǎ /sɑ/ them (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	chak /ʧæk/ my
2nd singular	yák /jɜːk/ your
3rd singular masc	zis /ziːs/ his
3rd singular fem	fam /fæm/ her
1st plural	íb /ɪb/ our
2nd plural	koú /koʊ̯/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	bǎ /bɑ/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	las /læs/ their (fem)

Verbs

1st singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ- Else: Prefix ʃæ- shazhay /ʃæˈʒeɪ̯/ (I) learn/learned/will learn
2nd singular	Prefix eɪ̯- ayzhay /eɪ̯ˈʒeɪ̯/ (you) learn/learned/will learn
3rd singular masc	Prefix jʊ- yúzhay /jʊˈʒeɪ̯/
3rd singular fem	Prefix ɑ- ǎzhay /ɑˈʒeɪ̯/
1st plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix h- Else: Prefix hiː- hizhay /hiːˈʒeɪ̯/ (we) learn/learned/will learn
2nd plural	Prefix ɪ- ízhay /ɪˈʒeɪ̯/ (you all) learn/learned/will learn
3rd plural masc	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛd- Else: Prefix ɛdæ- edazhay /ɛdæˈʒeɪ̯/
3rd plural fem	Prefix ɛ- ezhay /ɛˈʒeɪ̯/

Zhayytoi uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past

Particle before the verb: mʊɹ -
múr zhay /mʊɹ ʒeɪ̯/
learned

Zhayytoi uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: ʧɛs -
ches zhay /ʧɛs ʒeɪ̯/
will learn

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.
Zhayytoi uses the word for ‘finish’ keg for the perfect aspect.

Numbers

Zhayytoi has a base-10 number system:

1 - o
2 - yá
3 - chǎl
4 - jǔl
5 - shie
6 - boi
7 - lak
8 - dǎm
9 - gúr
10 - chay
100 - thay
1000 - zúm

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix aʊ̯-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix mɔː-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m-
Else: Prefix mæ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʌz-
Else: Prefix ʌzɛ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix æð-
Else: Prefix æðɑ-
Noun to verb = Prefix deɪ̯-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix w-
Else: Prefix wiː-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix lɜː-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix j-
Else: Prefix jɔː-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ-
Else: Prefix ʃaʊ̯-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ɑ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix f-
Else: Prefix fʊ-
Diminutive = Prefix ʤaɪ̯-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix lɑ-

The Proletarian Commonwealth of Grandatia

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