Zaran (/'zaran/)

Natively known as: zarano /zaˈrano/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
gli bes fax ac maum sca gli mas maum gota lab tri aen
Pronunciation: /gliː bes faks aːk mau̯m skaː gliː maːs mau̯m ˈgota laːb tri ae̯n/
Zaran 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 k kʷ l m n p r s t w

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d	k kʷ g
Fricative		f	s		h
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a ae̯ au̯ aː e ei̯ eu̯ eː i io̯ iu̯ iː o oe̯ oː u ui̯ uː
Diphthongs: ae̯ au̯ ei̯ eu̯ io̯ iu̯ oe̯ ui̯

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: b br d f fl fr g gl gr h k kl kr kʷ l m n p pl pr r s sk sp st t tr w
Mid-word consonants: b bl br bs bt d dd dkʷ dm dw f ff g gg gm gn gr h k kk kkʷ kr ks ksk ksp kspl kssp kst kstr kt kʷ l lg lk ll ln lp ls lt ltr lw m mb mkʷ mm mn mp mpl mpr mw n nd nf nfl nfr ng ngr nk nkl nkr nkʷ nl nn ns nskr nsp nst nstr nt ntr nw p pl pp ppl ppr pr ps pt r rb rd rf rg rk rkʷ rm rn rp rr rs rsp rt rw s sd sk skʷ sm sp ss st stkʷ str t tkʷ tr ts tt ttr w
Word final consonants: b d k ks l m n nk ns nt ps r rs s st t
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
kʷ	qu
ks	x
k	c
w	v
ː
̯

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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 ram /ram/ dog
Plural	Suffix -au̯ ramau /ˈramau̯/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	pau /pau̯/ the	mum /mum/ a
Plural	nis /nis/ the	clers /kleːrs/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.

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’

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	fa /fa/ I	frenc /frenk/ me
2nd singular	friu /friu̯/ you	vio /wio̯/ you
3rd singular masc	bes /bes/ he, it	pui /pui̯/ him, it
3rd singular fem	du /duː/ she, it	pan /pan/ her, it
1st plural	ti /ti/ we	e /eː/ us
2nd plural	lei /lei̯/ you all	plont /plont/ you all
3rd plural	io /io̯/ they	bui /bui̯/ them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	mos /mos/ my
2nd singular	cu /kuː/ your
3rd singular masc	maum /mau̯m/ his
3rd singular fem	quei /kʷei̯/ her
1st plural	glu /glu/ our
2nd plural	e /eː/ your (pl)
3rd plural	co /ko/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past	Remote past
1st singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -rs Else: Suffix -oːrs solors /ˈsoːloːrs/ (I) learn	Suffix -o solo /ˈsoːlo/ (I) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -ei̯t soleit /ˈsoːlei̯t/ (I) learned (long ago)
2nd singular	Suffix -e sole /ˈsoːle/ (you) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -nt Else: Suffix -unt solunt /ˈsoːlunt/ (you) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -uk soluc /ˈsoːluk/ (you) learned (long ago)
3rd singular	Suffix -u solu /ˈsoːlu/ (he/she/it) learns	Suffix -oː solo /ˈsoːloː/ (he/she/it) learned	Suffix -iu̯ soliu /ˈsoːliu̯/ (he/she/it) learned (long ago)
1st plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -oe̯m soloem /ˈsoːloe̯m/ (we) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -st Else: Suffix -est solest /ˈsoːlest/ (we) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ns Else: Suffix -ans solans /ˈsoːlans/ (we) learned (long ago)
2nd plural	Suffix -eːr soler /ˈsoːleːr/ (you all) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ei̯k soleic /ˈsoːlei̯k/ (you all) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -ae̯b solaeb /ˈsoːlae̯b/ (you all) learned (long ago)
3rd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -os solos /ˈsoːlos/ (they) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -st Else: Suffix -ast solast /ˈsoːlast/ (they) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ps Else: Suffix -ips solips /ˈsoːlips/ (they) learned (long ago)

Zaran uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: uː - u sol /uː soːl/ will learn

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).
Zaran uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -ui̯t soluit /ˈsoːlui̯t/ learns/is learning

Numbers

Zaran has a base-10 number system:
1 - cui
2 - er
3 - qual
4 - vu
5 - meb
6 - lul
7 - vec
8 - pe
9 - e
10 - frast
11 - frast gli cui “ten and one”
100 - ge “hundred”
101 - ge gli cui “hundred and one”
200 - er ge
1000 - mam “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ir
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -au̯
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -eːl
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ae̯r
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -irs
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -l
Else: Suffix -io̯l
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -au̯
Tending to = Suffix -iː
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -b
Else: Suffix -ob
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -as
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ae̯m
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ae̯nk
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -r
Else: Suffix -iu̯r
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nt
Else: Suffix -ui̯nt

Dictionary

337 Words.