Žan Dzu

Geopoeia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Nl.gif

Žag Dzu was a dead language of pre-immigratory origin (although this is disputed by some) that was the main ritual language of the religion/philosophy Šri Tʼa. The language belongs to the Čen-Sdvara language family. It was revived many centuries ago with the spread of that religion/philosophy and the formation of the (con-)federative state Šri Tʼaa Wē Nä Dhu. Nevertheless, further development of the language has been minimal, which is mostly due to its very rigid structure, but also to its religious association and consequent liturgical use.

The language is characterized by its rich consonant inventory, its relatively simple phonototactics, its very simple but extremely flexible grammar, and by its small root word lexicon containing close to 1900 word roots. Of those, a few hundred are so uncommon that their original (pre-immigratory) meaning is unknown. Throughout the last centuries, these have been used in some sects for their alleged mystical qualities and derivatively also occur in names (both of places and people).


phonology and script (Žan Bwen)

Referencearrow.png Main Article: Phonology and Orthography of Žan Dzu

Žan Dzu has a relatively rich phoneme inventory with 78 (or 79) consonants, 8 base vowels and one syllabic consonant. The consonant inventory includes several uncommon phonemes, such as two labial-alveolar and labial-velar coarticulations, and "prefricated" and "prethoticized" plosives. Including these coarticulatiuons and other variations, the language makes use of 11 different places of articulation. The basic vowel inventory is less complex with 8 base vowels and a few variants and diphthongs occurring only in special circumstances. Vowels can be grouped into three categories: front unrounded, central/front rounded, and back semi-rounded. Žang Dzu root words are monosyllabic and follow one of three simple phonotactic schemes: CV, CVC, or V, the last being relatively uncommon. This is complicated a bit by a number of infixes, however

script (Žan Bwen) and orthography

(to be added)

grammar

Referencearrow.png Main Article: Grammar of Žan Dzu

Žan Dzu has a relatively simple grammar. There is very basic morphology by means of a small number of infixes, and syntax also consists of a relatively small number of rules. Compounding (creating new words from smaller components) fills much of the expressive gap left by the simple syntax and morphology. Most interesting grammatical features are (1) the lack of a formal distinction between verbs and adjectives (both are predicates), (2) relatively free word order, (3) omission of anything that is sufficiently clear given the context, and (4) context marking.