Highland
Zēīn
Spoken in the foothills of the Čantai mountains, this is possibly the most divergent of the Zēīn languages. Many of the lexemes that are related in the other dialects are completely absent in here, reflecting the Fanai substratum influence extremely prevalent here. Highland has developed a Ergative-Nominative system of great interest.
Sounds
Bilabial alveolar
pal-alv velar uvular Glottal
Stop b t d č ĵ k g qχ ?
Nasal m n ŋ
Fricative f
v (s)(z)
š ž x r[1] qχ h
Lateral - - l
Approximant - w
Vowels:
Further Phonetic information:
The
palatals of Coastal Zēīn here are palato-alveolar opposititons [tS]:[tSS], [S]:[SS]:
[tS] vs. [tSS]:
oč 'rain'
očš 'heavy rain'
[S] vs. [SS]:
oiš 'cloud'
oišš 'stormcloud'
Cases:
Ergative: -bä [vε] (marks transitive sujbect)
Nominative: -tlä [tlε] (marks subject in intransitive sentences, object in transitive)
Absolutive: -Ø (case taken by postpositions; a
morpheme –Ø is needed here, because some end-of-word processes do not occur
when a noun is in the Absolutive, e.g., tl# >l)
Dative: -γäqχä [γεqχε] with the (from a
spelling pronounciation of the old Objectivedat
–RA-GhÂ) {note that the
/-γä/ is increasingly not pronounced, giving /-qχä/}
Sound changes from
Salanjan to Drēīn:
Intervocalic t > / if not part of a consonant cluster or after a nasal
The
clusters /gl/, /kl/, /lg/, /lk/ >*/É/ >/w/.
The
clusters /gr/, /kr/, /rg/, /rk/, /qr/, /rq/ > */Ò/ > /r/ >/l/.
The
clusters /tr/, /dr/, /rt/, /rd/ > /z/.
*r, *l collapse
into *l,
which affricates to tl.
the
diphthong *eu, simplified into *ø, and then unrounded to ē.
SN- clusters
(S:s:z:·, N:m:n:ŋ) changed to Proto-Drēīn
*-ze). This has the reflex zän in Highland Zēīn.
Highland:
Salanjan -pt-
clusters have changed to –ud- -[Ud]-.The phonemes /q/, /qh/,
/G/, and /Gh/ have merged with /k(h)/, /g/;
however, /gh/ has become an uvular fricative [χ] which has not
merged with [x], and occurs word-initially as /qχ-/ (even with prefixed
articles and prepositions (postpositions in speech, prepositions in writing)).
The *T:*s merging has here yielded a dental semi-affricate [ts] where PZ *T/*s occur.
tl- stems assimilate the initial
consonant of a postposition, e.g.,
zänēl cil ghottatlēl /tsiq·qχtεtleitl·lεm/ 'out of the
mouth'
the article
cil-
assimmilates to most consonants, ciC1-C1, and
dissappears before vowels.
In spoken
dialects of Highland Zēīn, the pronouns have lost their
nominal/postpositional endings and basically now serve as person inflections:
Written Standard /ktlε·vε tsiù·wtatleil iùkul vej·γεqχε/
I spoke to you concerning someone. vs. Garon ko.cīwÛtatlεl.βē.īk [reversing the order of DO and IDO
as –βē-
amd -īk]
Examples:
Kotlaba sil wottatlel (kul
iku) gâ vera.
/kotlä·bä cīl wottatlēl (kul
iku) ghä vē·γä /
[ktlε·vε tsiù·wtatleil iùkul vej·γεqχε]
<I(Erg) in the past-speak(tr.) (someone (gen.abl)) you (dat)>
I spoke
to you concerning someone.
(Sp. hablé de alguién te)
Sel hotla'aba sitla hotla'el
semel sil gôttalel
/cel hotla?a·lä citla hotla?ēl zänēl cil ghottatlēl/
[tsehùtlε?ε·tlε tsitltlε?el tsiq·qχtεtleitl·lεm]
<the-falcon(Nom.) in
the past-fly(intr.) the-mouth(abs)-out
of>
The
falcon flew out of the mouth.
¤alakantun sil Fontalalla
ĵäläkäntun
cil fontälällä
[dZεtlεxεntUm tsif·fntεtlεtlε]
<horde(pl.) in the past-come
zanel laskalra
[lεskεγ·γε·zεm]
East-out of
sil lottalakalauel sel Ulaþþamun.
[tsil·ltεtlεxεtlεuel tsiutlεTTεmUm]
past-name/call the-Udraþ-themselves.>
The
hordes who came out of the East called themselves Udraþ.
Lexicon
38 words.
nsal-move /getl-nsal/
äzänn8- heaven
tlēīn-the inhabitants of the Rheghil plain,
descendents of the Salanjans
ĵäläxänt-horde
fenč-son
fontäl-go, go into /getl-fontal/
fotliu-hello
ghä-dative postposition /qχä/
hotlä/ä- falcon
hotlä/el-fly /getl-hotla/el/
iku- something/someone,
išš-ruler
joĵ-sister
kol, (pl.) kotlä, -Pron.,
I, we
kul-postp. genitive/ablative
kän-fast
kitläxä-a boar-like creature which has a speckled body
lai-above (adv.)
lanal-be
motli-brother
netlāŋ, -a-leg(s)
notlē-dawn
odēš-rainbow
oiš-rain
oišš-heavy
oč-cloud
očš-stormcloud
samu-reflexive suff.
cil - ‘the’
cīl-adv., in the past (forms past tense
in the Drēīn tounge)
tel, (pl.) vē-Pron.,
thou, you (also reflexive)
veχ-king
wottatlel-speak /gew#otatlel/
wottawatlauel-name /gew#otawatlauel/
wottatlū, -n-mouth
xuč-noble
zänel-prep. ‘from, out of’ (Salanjan semel went to PH *z«)el, which regularly changed to zänel)