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Language of the Zenestians
Language of the Zenestians
Classical Zispoel (known by its speakers as Iboel) was a language spoken on the subcontinent of Zeneste. It was likely first spoken 3,000 years ago in the Ir Nouzonif river basin, creating a new branch of the Zenestian languages. This language was the language in which The Epic of the Hero of One and The Epic of the Hero of Life were first recounted, and by which most modern languages in Zeneste evolved from.
Proto-Zispoel
Proto-Zispoel
Proto Zispoel arose from an old group of people, who sailed to the Zenestian subcontinent from the South. Historical linguists in Zeneste have dubbed these people the *Zani-d. Proto-Zispoel is believed to have been highly agglutinative, and featured a very small consonant inventory with long words that can have many independent morphemes.
Classical Zispoel
Classical Zispoel
After about two thousand years of inhabiting the subcontinent, the Classical language arose after a war with various ethnic groups to the South. Much like how most dialects of Chinese evolved from Middle and Classical Chinese, Classical Zispoel was the primary language at this point, and would later give rise to most of the modern dialects. In this period of time, writing, art, and culture were all drastically redefined, giving rise to the Zenestian culture that permeates to this day.
Classical Zispoel: Phonology
Classical Zispoel: Phonology
The "r" phoneme is pronounced as an alveolar approximant in the Classical language. However, in many dialects, the old tap rhotic is kept, and in others it is reverted to a uvular trill, or emitted entirely.
Other than that, Zispoel consonants look pretty easy-going.
As it seems, Zispoel vowels are, too.
The phonology isn't the interesting stuff, though...
Classical Zispoel: Grammar
Classical Zispoel: Grammar
As you can see from the above, the Classical Language had a world of noun morphology. Not only were nouns inflected for case and gender, but also for plurality (dual and plural). Noun morphology is something most Zenestian languages share in common, because many of them derived from these case markers.
Pronouns decline slightly differently, yet still similar to the normal nouns.
Verbs, however, decline easily. The only odd morphology might be the palatalization of [g] ([k] next to [s]) and [l].
Syntax
Syntax
Zispoel syntax is almost exclusively head-initial. Adverbs follow verbs, adjectives follow nouns, and postpositions occur after the noun. Additionally, the primary word order for Zispoel is SOV, with the word order therein being Subject-Indirect Object-prepositional clause-direct object-verb.
Translations:
Translations:
This section will be updated often.
1.
The gray cat likes eating at the table with its family more than eating alone
Meigoftief zenjiforief ilezef ehes ziseo zispie zisobizoe, eneriefsin zisines.
Cat-NOM.F.SING. Grey-NOM.F.SING Mother-DAT.F.SING Bed-DAT.N.SING Eat-PRES.IMP See-PRES.IMP Foreward-PRES.IMP, One-NOM.F.SING-(Posessed by Cat) Big-PRES.IMP.
2.
She began to cry.
Birief bijerienif zisonela.
She-Nom.F.Sing. eyes-Acc.F.Dual. flood-Pres.Act.
3.
The hero looked at me.
Nourenif mouste zimebie.
Hero-Acc.F.Sing. me-Dat.Sing. see-Pst.Act.
Summary
Summary
Zispoel is the language of most Zenestians.
Zispoel is spread across many dialects.
Zispoel is highly fusional.
Zispoel is head-initial.
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