Zana [ˈʒa.

nɐ]
Phonology
Consonants

Manner Place Labial Labio-Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar

Nasal m   n  

Stop Voiceless p   t   k
 
 
Voiced   d   g

Affricate t͡s  t͡ʃ ⟨ṣ̀⟩

⟨ṣ⟩

Fricative Voiceless   s ʃ 
  ⟨s̀⟩

Voiced   v ʒ 
⟨z ⟩

Approximant w  j  

Tap     ɾ

Lateral Approx. l

Lateral fricative     ɬ     
⟨c ⟩

Vowels
Short Long

Front Back Front Back

Close iy u iː ⟨ī⟩ uː ⟨ū⟩

 Mid ɛ ⟨e⟩ eː ⟨ē⟩

Open a ⁓ ɐ ⟨a⟩ aː ⟨ā⟩

Diphthongs
/au/, /ya/, /ai/ (probably others too)

Phonotactics
The maximum syllable structure is CVC. The onset and coda may be empty. Consecutive short vowels
become diphthongs.

Rules and allophony

1. /ä/, /u/ > [ɐ], [ʊ] /_ [-stress] 
2. C.t͡s, t͡sC > [t͡s.t͡s] C=dental, alveolar plosives and fricatives
3. v̄v, vv̄ > v̄ʔv, vʔv̄

Stress
Words with less than four syllables all have stress on the penultimate. Words with four or more syllables
are stressed on the third syllable.

Morphology
Nouns
Nouns in Zana inflect for case, number and state. 

Noun Case
Zana is a marked nominative language. The accusative is the unmarked form of the noun, while the
nominative is overtly marked. There’s also the vocative case in addition to the nominative.

Case Singular Plural

Nominative -(e)r -rī (not used With collective nouns)

Vocative -ja

Noun Number
Nouns are marked for plurality by the suffix -ī.
Noun Possession and Construct State
A noun is marked for the construct state when it is possessed by the following word. 
Markersː -(u)n, Pluralː -unhi > -unī.
The construct marker may be left out in some cases. Possessive pronouns attached to nouns can also be
used to mark possession.

Derivation
-ūk Diminutive
Egː veg-ūk ‘lamb’
ys̀- Language of [noun]
Egː ys̀arab ‘Arabic’
lu- Adjectiv., a resident/inhabitant of [noun]
-ē  Adjective. pertaining to

Determiners
Determiners are not marked for case, number or state. Quantifiers precede nouns, while daṣ̀y may or may
not.
daṣ̀y ‘other’

Quantifiers
Quantifiers precede nouns.
Sarid ‘all’
Often suffixed with pronominals; saridunī “All of us”, saridunī ām “all of the countries”
S̀ elrus ‘half’
Eni(-) ‘some’, prefixed before nouns beginning with consonants
Egː eni āz “someone”
eniku “something”
Sāṣ̀in ‘most’, noun in the singular
ēsdejaūjīr sāṣ̀in āz
FUT-come-FUT-3P most person
“Most (people) will come”

Articles
Zana has both a definite(shown below) and an indefinite article, an-.

Case Non-Nominative Nominative

Singular -(PRO)-d(a) -(PRO)-dar

Plural -ī-d -ī-dar

Plural with pronominal -ī-PRO-(a)d -ī-PRO-dar

Pronouns
Singular Singular Plural Plural
Nominative Nominative

1S va var vaj vēr

kassav

2S aj er ēti ētīr
kasdaj kasdēti

3S un uner ī īr
kasdun kasdī

Possessive suffixes;
Singular Plural

1S -dav -davi

2S -daj -dēt

3S -dun -dī

The initial d assimilated with the preceding consonant if the word ends in one.

Demonstratives
Demonstratives always come after nouns and agree in number and case.

Nominative Non-nominative

Singular Plural Singular Plural

Proximal rar rer ra re

Distal sūr sūīr sū sūī

Interrogatives

Singular Plural

What kutac kutacī

Which, What tac tac

 Where āmtac

From where evtac

To where ēstac

Who āztac ātacī

When amtac

Whose datac datacī

How emtac

With what(instrumental) rutac

Why patac

Adjectives
Verb like adjectives……………………….. will be expanded (hopefully)
D(a)- + root

Verbs
Zana verbs are conjugated for tense, aspect, modality, and voice. Verbs always agree with subjects and
optionally with objects. 

Person
As stated above, subjects and objects can be marked on verbs. The marṣ̀yngs are as follows.

Subjects Singular Plural

1st Person -av, -va -vēr

2nd Person -er -ē

3rd Person -un -(j)īr

When objects are marked, some subject markers use a slightly different/longer form; -vaR-, --ēR-, -unR-,
-īR-
Objects Singular Plural

1st -(a)v -vaj

2nd -aj -ēti

 3rd -un -(j)ī

Subjects in habitual, middle/reflexive and imperative verbs are marked by a different set of markers.

Person Singular Plural

1st -va -vaj

2nd -(a)j -ēt

3rd -un -ī

Voice
Zana has four voices, namely active, middle-reflexive, passive, causative. The last 2 are marked on verbs
as prefixes while the active voice is left unmarked. 

Voice Passive Causative Middle/Reflexive

Suffix na- gel- -vis(i)-

Tense and Aspect

Zana has two tenses, the past/present and three aspects, the perfective, habitual and continuous. The
perfective is only used for events that happened in the past. In the habitual and continuous aspects,
whether the event/action is in the past or present is left to context unless explicitly indicated by adverbs.

Mood
There are three moods, the unmarked indicative, the imperative and the optative. Both the imperative and
the optative are marked by prefixes.

Voice Perfective Habitual Continuous

Present/Past Active stem au(n)-stem ū-stem

syanun ‘He saw’ ausyanun ‘He sees’ ūsyanun ‘He is seeing

Passive na- stem auna-stem ū-na-stem

nasyanun ‘He was seen’ aunasyanun ‘He is ūnasyanun ‘He is being
seen, visible’ seen’

Causative gel-stem au-gel-stem ū-gel-stem

gelsyanunrun ‘He made augelsyanun ‘He ūgelsyanunrun ‘He is
him see’ makes * see’ maṣ̀yng him see’
 Imperative Active dē-stem
Egː dēṣinaj “(You) sitǃ”

Passive dē-na-stem

Causative dē-gel-stem
Egː dēgeldejaerun “Make him come”

Optative Zā- + any verb stem

zādejaun

The verb of existence

The verb of existence, m- expresses the existence of something or someone. It can be used with the
purposive and perfective converbs to express the perfect aspect and the future tense respectively.

Singular Plural

1st person mav imvēr

2nd person mer mē

3rd person mun mīr

Future Tense
The future tense is formed with the purposive converb and the verb of existence. Since converbs are non-
finite, the subject is marked only on the verb of existence. Objects are not overtly marked. The converb of
VOE may be separated by the subject.
Egː 1ː sulādu ali mav̀
PURP.CONV-take ali[ACC] EXIST-1S
‘I will take ali’
2ː adejā mun
PURP.CONV-go-PURP EXIST-3S
‘He will come’

Infinitive
Derivations for infinitives of all voices are as follows;

Active stem-ā

Passive na-stem-ā

Causative gel-ā-stem
 Middle/Reflexive stem-ā-visi

Eg: jad: ‘enter’, jadā: ‘entering, to enter’

Negation
Negation is very regular. To negate any verb, -(a)m is suffixed to the end. Eg: jadēm “You(pl.) did not
enter”

Converbs
Converbs in Zana are verb forms that do not inflect for anything, they function as adverbs and are
dependent on another verb. Converbs can also be used in clause chaining. -ā (infinitive marker) may be
dropped. The converb markers, in-, ev- and am-  are reduced to just the consonants if they are attached to
a stem beginning with a vowel and are unstressed.

Imperfective
 Used when an action is done simultaneously as the action in the main clause.
Form: (i)n- + infinitive
o Eg: inperā          ṣinun  āzdar 
      on-saying     sit-3S  man-DEF.NOM
      “The man sat while speaṣ̀yng”

Perfective
Used when an action is done before or right before the event in the main clause.
Form: (e)v- + infinitive
o Eg: evper aṣinā mav̀      from-sitting PURP.CONV-sit-ā EXIST-1S
      “I will sit after speaṣ̀yng”
A form that expresses the perfect aspect can be derived from perfective converbs and the verb of
existence.
o Eg: evperā mav
      CONV.PFV-speak EXIST-1S
      “I have spoken”

Posterior
Form: (a)m- + infinitive 
o Eg: amdeja uner dēaslērav
       when-come he-NOM IMPR-call-2P-1S
       “Call me when he/she comes”

Conditional
Protatis of a conditional clause.
Form: ēn(‘throught’) + verb 
o Egː ēndeja uner araxa mav̀am
      through/if-come he-NOM PURP.CONV-go EXIST-1S-NEG
      “If he comes, I won’t go”   
o Egː ēnevraxā uner, araxa mav̀
      if-from(has)-go heːNOM, PURP.CONV-go EXIST-1S
       “If he has (already) gone, I will go”
o Eg: ēnindaumā  uner  ilda, ajad mav̀am (Conditional imperfective)
       if-while-sleep  heːNOM there, FUT.1S-enter-ā-NEG
       “If he is sleeping there, I won’t enter/get in”

Purposive
Formː a/s- + infinitive (s- before vowels, a- before consonants)
Is used when the action in the main clause is done for the purpose of the event expressed by the converb..
Eg: deyava adaumā
[PFV]-come-1S CONV.PURP-sleep
‘I came to sleep’

Causal
Form: ru- + infinitive

Derivation /Nominalization/
āmu(n)- (+ infinitive) Place/Location
āmuviz ‘School 
āmunēzī ‘Temple, church, mosque’
(au)tu(n)- Instrument.
tuṣin ‘chair’
s(a)-  Product. s̀- before /i, e, y/
saper ‘Speech’
saventi ‘Bread’
selrus ‘Half’
au(n)- Agent. → auna-, augel-
aukūan ‘Keeper’
-ez  Abstract, performance
penez ‘Morning’
nisrez, used in constructions involving possesion
Egː sū nisrezzav that own-NOM-1.NOM
‘That is mine’

Copula
Zana is a zero-copula language but when necessary the verb for stand ‘āx’ can be used as a copular verb.
Personal pronouns may serve as copulas. The noun always comes after the predicate.
Egː autāj va“I am a singer”
sāxā autāj mav̀ “I will be a singer”

āx in the perfective aspect is used to express past states.

Adverbs
Many ideas that would be expressed by lexical adverbs in English are expressed by converbs in Zana.
Egː v-etpā CONV.PFV-repeat ‘Again’
 intedā CONV.IMPV-be.fast ‘Fast’

nun ‘also, too, moreover’

Adverbs of place
ilda ‘there’
ira, ir ‘here’

Adverbs of time
uxira ‘today’
amra ‘now’
s̀et ‘tomorrow, following/next [time]’
saran ‘yesterday, previous [time]’
ingin ‘later’

Syntax
Zana is a mostly head initial language.

Sentences
Word Order
The default word order is VSO, but other word orders like SVO, VOS can be used. 

Copular Constructions
described above.

Noun Phrases
pre-num/quant-noun-det-adj-rel 
noteː determiners excludes quantifiers

Prepositions and Prefixes

n(i)-, in- ‘on, at’
vin, ev- ‘from’
ilpat ‘in front of’
jarpun ‘behind’
ilsy ‘above’
iniz, iz- ‘below’
(p)as ‘for’
netus ‘until’
ēs- ‘to’ (dative)
     ēsin ‘towards’
um- ‘like, as’
ru- ‘with’ (instrumental)
ēn ‘through, via’

Clauses
Complement clauses
The particle, per/pel is used to form a complement clause. It must be immediately followed by the verb. 
Exampleː
[auˈwa.tɐs pɛɾ ˈi.mɛɾ in.sɐ.tʊˈʃiv.dɐ ˈpe.nɛt]
auwatas per mer insatus̀ivda penet 
HAB-know-1S COMP [PFV]EXIST-2S at-farm morning
‘I know that you were at the farm in the morning’

Relative Clauses
t(a)-, (pluralː nī-)  historically derived from the distal demonstrative, functions as a relativizer. It can also
function as a genitive marker.
Relative clauses come after nouns.
Egː syanas āzda taperunraj
[IND.PFV]see-1S man-DEF REL-speak-3S-2S.OBJ
“I saw the man that spoke to you”

Converb (Adverbial) Clauses

Converb/adverbial clauses may come either at the end or beginning of the main clause. 
Egː incaxā deyaun
CONV.IMPV-cry [PFV]come-3S
‘He came crying’
Eg²ː perun evṣin
[PFV]speak-3S CONV.PFV-sit
‘Having sat he spoke’
Objects may follow or precede the converb(if no ambiguity arises). When the object of the converb clause
and the main clause are the same, in which case the converb c. has to come at the end of the main clause,
the object must come after the converb.
Egː jarsi inkuz raxaun alir
money CONV.IMPV-count [PFV]go-3S ali-NOM
‘Ali went, counting money’
Egː geṣinunrun evkuz jarsida
put-3S-OBJ.3S CONV.PFV-count money-DEF
‘After counting it, he put the money down’

Coordination
ti- ‘and’
Eg: veg ti-laltu “(A) sheep and (a) goat”
ēnuxām ‘or’
Egː zāermus tag ēnuxām bira?
want-2S-INT water or beer
 ‘Do you want beer or water?’
nāx ‘but’
Eg: raxās, nāx netas̀erīm
[PFV]go-1S, but find-1S-OBJ.3P-NEG
‘I went, but I didn’t find them’
intekām ‘except, excluding’
nun ‘also, too’
Egː Apigel nun adejā mun
Abigail also PURP.CONV-come- EXIST-3S
‘Abigail too, will come’

Interjections
ē ‘Yes’
atu ‘No’
xāǃ ‘Ugh’ (disgust)
s̀uǃ ‘Quiteǃ’
wā ‘OHǃ, wow’ (surprise)

Questions
The particle -gi, which can be suffixed to any word in a sentence(most often verbs or subjects) can be
used to change declarative sentences to interrogative ones.
Egː deyaun alir-gi?
[PFV]come-3S ali-NOM-INTER
“Did ali come”
The particle is not used with questions involving interrogative pronouns.
Egː deyaun āztacer?
come-3S who-NOM
“Who came?”

Numerals
Zana has a decimal system. Unlike adjectives, numbers always precede nouns and are not marked for case
and definiteness.
Cardinal numbers suffixed with the definite article can be used as nouns. 
Eg: ṣ̀ydar emarvisī
two-DEF separate-MID.3P
“The two separated”
The cardinals are as followsː
1. ane
2. ṣ̀y
3. ravi
4. ās
5. udan
 6. altu
7. eri
8. āci
9. duv
10. parzi
20. ṣ̀y
21. ṣ̀y tiane
22. ṣ̀y ti-ṣ̀y
23. ṣ̀y ti-ravi
24. ṣ̀y ti-ās
25. ṣ̀y ti-udan
26. ṣ̀y ti-altu
      …
30. ravī
40. ās̀ī
50. udṣ̀y
60. altuj
70. erī
80. ācī
90. duvī
100.  parizī ORDː parizīda

Ordinals
Ordinals from two on are formed by the plural relativizer nī-.
Egː nīṣ̀y “second”, nīānī tiane “Twenty first”
“First” is dān.

Cardinal Adverbs
Cardinals followed by the word am ‘time’ make cardinal adverbs. am is often reduced to a clitic..
Eg: ane’m ‘once’
ṣ̀y’m ‘twice’
duvam ‘nine times’

Lexicon
a
atu [ˈa.tʊ]
inter. No
arneku [ɐrˈne.kʊ]
n. research, science
v.  to research, experiment
am [am]
v. time
audi [ˈau.di]
 n. device
asy [ˈä.sy]
adj. small
axi [‘ä.xi]
v. to share
āz [aːʒ]
n. person, man
ādmi [ˈaːd.mi]
v. to escape
ām [aːm]
n. region, country
ane [ˈa.nɛ]
no. one
ās [aːs]
no.  four
→ no. forty
altu [ˈal.tu]
no. six 
→ no. sixty
āci [ˈaː.ɬi]
no. eight
→ no. ācī eighty
aj [aj]
v. to be big
āx [aːx]
v¹. to stand
v². to be
aim [aim]
v. to live
→ saim [saim]
n. life
→ āmuaim [aːˈmu.ʔaim]
n. house
araj [ˈa.ɾaj]
v. to excuse/reason
→ saraj
n. reason/excuse

c
cud [ɬud]
v. to make
cax [ɬax]
v. to run

d
deja, dej [ˈde.jɐ]
v. to come
damṣ- [damt͡s]
v. to bring
dara [ˈdä.rɐ]
 v. to shout
daum [daum]
v. to sleep
daj [daj]
n. the sun
duv [duv]
no. nine
→ duvī 
no. one hundred
dexa [ˈde.xɐ]
v. to rise, stand up
dimu [ˈdi.mʊ]
n. cat

e
ē [eː]
inter. Yes
elrus [ˈel.ɾʊs]
v. to cut in half
→ selrus det. half
emar [ˈe.mɐɾ]
v. to distinguish, separate, discern
→ emarvis-
v.  to differ, be separated
em- [em]
adp. like, as
ēz [eːz]
v. to help, donate
ēn-  [eːn]
adp. through, via
ēuntag [eːˈʔun.tag]
n. river
etus [ˈet.us]
n. border
→ tusguzi
n. neighbourhood house
etpa [ˈet.pɐ]
v. to repeat
et [et]
v, to follow
→ s̀et
adv. tomorrow, following year or time (may be used together with respective noun). Egː
s̀et uxit ‘tomorrow’, s̀etam ‘next time’)
eni(-) [ˈe.ni]
det. some

g
ger [geɾ]
v. to make
geṣin [ˈge.d͡zin]
 v. to put
guzad [ˈgu.ʒɐd]
v. to return, turn back
gin [gin]
v. to be late
gaz [gaʒ]
v. to jump
-gi [gi]
part. Interrogative particle

i
-ī [iː]
part. plural marker
ī [iː]
pron. they
→ īr NOM
iz [iʒ]
n. leg
in- [in]
adp. on, at
iz-, iniz [iʒ, ˈi.niʒ]
adp. under, below
irp- [irp]
v. to give
im- [im]
v. to inhabit
v². alternative of verb of existence
inet [ˈi.nɛt]
n. car, four-wheeled vehicle

jad [jad]
v. to enter
jadavun [jɐˈda.vʊn]
adp. inside
jarpi [ˈjaɾ.pi]
n. back (body part)
→ jarpun, iljarpun
adp. behind
jum [jum]
n. dog

jarsi [jaɾsi]
n. money, property
jakm- [jakm]
v. to sail
→ s̀akmi (<siakm)
n. boat, ship
k
ku [ku]
n. thing
kuz [kuz]
v. to count
→ sakuz 
n. number
kūan [ˈkuːʔɐn]
v. to keep
→ kūanvis-
v. to stay
kas [ˈka.ʒɐ]
n. head
kant- [kant]
v. to flow
→ sakanti
n. river
kec [keɬ] (kaic)
v. to sell
→ āmukec
n. market

l
lūk [luːk]
n. weapon, spear
law [law]
v. to be/feel hungry

m
-(a)m [ɐm]
part. Negative particle
mer [meɾ]
v. to collect
→ mervis-
v. to gather
m-
v. Verb of existence
maku [ˈma.kʊ]
v. to do
→ makuvis-
n. to happen
mau [mau]
v. to descend, come down
→ dumau
n. ladder

n
nisr- [nisɾ]
v.  to have, own
nadak [ˈnä.dɐk]
v. to build
→ sanadak
n. building, house
nat [nat]
v.  to be new
nes̀ [neʃ]
v.  to rain
→ sanes̀
n. to rain

p
per [per]
v. to say, speak, talk
→ saper
n. speech
per² , pel [pɛl]
part. complementizer
pen [pen]
v. to dawn
→ penez
n. morning, dawn
palik [ˈpa.lik]
v. to adopt
→ sapalik
n. adoptee
pyd [pyd]
v. to marry
→ sapyd
n. a married couple, marriage
→ pydez
n. a wedding
pīn [piːn]
v. to be able to

r
-(e)r, -rī
part. Nominative case marker
rid [rid]
v. to be whole, መጠቃለል
→ sarid
det. all
raxa [ˈɾa.xɐw]
v. to go
→ āmuraxa
n. road
ret [ret]
n. animal
→ retūk
n. insect
rak [rak]
v. to be far
→ sarak
n. length, distance
raw [raw]
v. to ṣ̀yll
ran [ran]
v. to come before, precede(in time)
→ saran
adv. yesterday, previous [timeː year, week…]

s
sī [siː]
inter. thanks 
sin [sin]
v. to confuse
→ sasin
n. confusion, mystery
syan [syan]
v. to see
→ gelsyan
v. to show
sūt [suːt]
n1. Earth
n2.  Land
selwa [ˈsel.wɐ]
v. to prepare
→ selwavis-
v. to prepare one’s self
sut [sut]
v. to kill
Sērus [ˈseː.ɾʊs]
v. to wound, scar
→ sasērus
n. wound, scar
Sapa, sap [ˈsa.pɐ]
n. eye
sān [saːn]
n. to ask

s̀
s̀iv [ʃiv]
n. village
s̀ejat [ˈʃe.jɐt]
v. to hit, slap

ṣ
ṣin [t͡sin]
v. to sit
ṣā [t͡saː]
n. girl
adj. feminine
ṣex [t͡sɛx]
v. to eat
→ tuṣex
n. dish
ṣajt [t͡sait]
v. to play

ṣ̀
ṣ̀ira [ˈtʃi.ɾɐ]
v. to get
ṣ̀y [t͡ʃy]
no. two
→ ṣ̀ī
        no. twenty
ṣ̀ēlt [t͡ʃeːlt]
v. to lose
→ ṣ̀ēltvis-
v. to be lost, disappear

t
ti- [ti]
conj. and
tise [ˈti.sɛ]
n. any agriculture product, fruit
tāj [taːj]
v. to sing
→ satāj
n. song
tāpe [ˈtā.pɛ]
v. to shine, luminate
tek [tek]
v. to include
→ converbs
tag [tag]
n. water
tuṣ̀iv [ˈtu.tʃiv]
v. to farm
→ autuṣ̀iv 
n. farmer
→ satuṣ̀iv, āmutuṣ̀iv
n. farmland

u
-ūk [uːk]
det. diminutive marker
um [um]
 n. stone
uxit [ˈu.xit]
n. day
→ uxitra
adv. today
urem [ˈu.ɾɛm]
n. herd
uma [ˈu.mɐ]
v. to resemble, be like
/* ū [uː]
v. Verb of existence
→ wā; infinitive form */
ulād [ʊˈlaːd]
v. to take
 us̀i [ˈu.ʃi]
n. to be alone
→ sus̀i, sus̀
adv. only, alone
unar [unar]
v. to wash

v
ven(t)- [vent]
v. to bake
→ saven
n. bread
vina [ˈvi.nɐ]
v. to send
→ savina
n. message
veg [veg]
n. sheep
→ vegūk
n. lamb
vecā [ˈve.ɬaː]
v. to be happy
→ vecāez
n. happiness

w
wet [wet]
v. to know
→ sawet
n. knowledge

x
xezta [ˈxeʒ.tɐ]
v. to be strong, healthy
→ saxezta
 n. health
→ auxeztājgi “Are you strong/helathy?” A greeting

y
ys̀ [yʃ]
n. tongue
yra [ˈy.ɾɐ]
v. to walk 

z
zy [ʒy]
n. head
zā- [ʒaː]
part. Optative marker
zeg [ʒeg]
v. to slaughter
zux [zux]
v. to steal