Shirren

Natively known as: kzygt /kʒɪgð/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
thel ksu dvyt va ksu dǔt thel ksydǔ ksu zteg ksegt u dvon
Pronunciation: /θɛl ksʌ dvɪt vɑ ksʌ dit θɛl ksɪˈdi ksʌ ʒðɛg ksɛgð ʌ dvon/
Kzigti word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: c d g h j k l m n p r s t v x z

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p		t d	c	k g
Fricative		v	s z		x	h
Approximant				j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Vowel inventory: a e i o u y

	Front	Back
High	i y	u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable ?
Sound changes (in order of application):

• a → ɑ
• b → b
• ch → ʧ
• c → k
• d → d
• e → ɛ
• f → f
• g → g
• h → h
• i → ɪ
• j → ʤ
• kk → k
• k → k
• ll → l
• l → l
• m → m
• ng → ŋ
• nn → n
• n → n
• o → o
• p → p
• q → k
• r → ɹ
• sh → ʃ
• ss → s
• s → s
• th → θ
• t → ð / C_
• t → t
• u → ʌ
• v → v
• w → w
• x → ks
• y → i
• z → ʒ

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
y	ǔ
c	q
j	y
x	kh
ɑ	a
b	b
ʧ	ch
d	d
ɛ	e
f	f
g	g
h	h
i	y
ɪ	i
ʤ	j
k	k
l	l
m	m
ŋ	ng
n	n
o	o
p	p
ɹ	r
ʃ	sh
s	s
θ	th
t	t
ʌ	u
v	v
w	w
z	z

---

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	If starts with vowel: Prefix kz- Else: Prefix kzo- kzosqhen /kʒosˈʧɛn/ dog
Plural	No affix sqhen /sʧɛn/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	thǔl /θil/ the	khǔ /ksi/ a
Plural	zo /ʒo/ the	sqhu /sʧʌ/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

Pronouns

1st singular	ke /kɛ/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	dǔ /di/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	ksu /ksʌ/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	zu /ʒʌ/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	zta /ʒðɑ/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	thugt /θʌgð/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	hun /hʌn/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ke /kɛ/ my
2nd singular	di /dɪ/ your
3rd singular masc	ksu /ksʌ/ his
3rd singular fem	ʒu /ʒʌ/ her
1st plural	ʒða /ʒðɑ/ our
2nd plural	thugð /θʌgð/ your (pl)
3rd plural	hun /hʌn/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past	Remote past	Future
1st singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix th- Else: Prefix thi- thyqysh /θɪˈkɪʃ/ (I) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix c- Else: Prefix cy- qǔqysh /kiˈkɪʃ/ (I) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix ek- Else: Prefix eku- ekuqysh /ɛˈkʌkɪʃ/ (I) learned (long ago)	If starts with vowel: Prefix ik- Else: Prefix iky- ykǔqysh /ɪˈkikɪʃ/ (I) will learn
2nd singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix nt- Else: Prefix nty- ntǔqysh /nðiˈkɪʃ/ (you) learn	Prefix da- daqysh /dɑˈkɪʃ/ (you) learned	Prefix ge- geqysh /gɛˈkɪʃ/ (you) learned (long ago)	Prefix ci- qyqysh /kɪˈkɪʃ/ (you) will learn
3rd singular	Prefix e- eqysh /ɛˈkɪʃ/ (he/she/it) learns	Prefix o- oqysh /oˈkɪʃ/ (he/she/it) learned	Prefix ke- keqysh /kɛˈkɪʃ/ (he/she/it) learned (long ago)	Prefix cte- qteqysh /kðɛˈkɪʃ/ (he/she/it) will learn
1st plural	Prefix y- ǔqysh /iˈkɪʃ/ (we) learn	Prefix u- uqysh /ʌˈkɪʃ/ (we) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix erk- Else: Prefix erki- erkyqysh /ɛɹˈkɪkɪʃ/ (we) learned (long ago)	If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix ni- nyqysh /nɪˈkɪʃ/ (we) will learn
2nd plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix usk- Else: Prefix uske- uskeqysh /ʌsˈkɛkɪʃ/ (you all) learn	Prefix i- yqysh /ɪˈkɪʃ/ (you all) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix av- Else: Prefix avo- avoqysh /ɑˈvokɪʃ/ (you all) learned (long ago)	Prefix xo- khoqysh /ksoˈkɪʃ/ (you all) will learn
3rd plural	Prefix a- aqysh /ɑˈkɪʃ/ (they) learn	Prefix ki- kyqysh /kɪˈkɪʃ/ (they) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix h- Else: Prefix ha- haqysh /hɑˈkɪʃ/ (they) learned (long ago)	Prefix jo- yoqysh /ʤoˈkɪʃ/ (they) will learn

Progressive aspect

The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Kzigti uses a standalone particle word for progressive:

Progressive

Particle before the verb: za - za qysh /ʒɑ kɪʃ/ is learning

Habitual aspect

The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).
Kzigti uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

Prefix o- oqysh /oˈkɪʃ/ learns

Numbers

Kzigti has a base-10 number system:
1 - ka
2 - ztykt
3 - zto
4 - sqha
5 - go
6 - qa
7 - kzǔ
8 - dvun
9 - hyst
10 - ya
100 - dvǔkt
1000 - el

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix thy-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix ja-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix esc-
Else: Prefix esci-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix he-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix o-
Noun to verb = Prefix i-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ksu-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix imk-
Else: Prefix imky-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix e-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix o-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix g-
Else: Prefix go-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix uz-
Else: Prefix uzy-
Diminutive = Prefix a-
Augmentative = Prefix e-

Dictionary

3110 Words.