Zozun

As the native language of Incaendium Zozun is, like most languages, deeply entwined within their culture. The generally staccato/aggressive cadence reflects their direct nature, while the occasional softer and more lyrical words reflect their love of beauty and art.

The language is heavily reliant on modifying affixes as well as compound words to express extremely precise concepts in a straightforward way. Similarly, the number system is modular, keeping the actual numerical terms to a minimum. One downside, or potential downside depending on how one judges it, is that words can be quite long, as can sentences. That said, this is generally not as cumbersome as it could be, as Incaendians tend to speak very quickly.

Overall, one could say it reflects the structured chaos that is the society from which it arises.

Easy Pronunciation Guide

Syllables: all equal length (like drumbeats).

• Roots = high (H), affixes/particles = low (L).
• Sentences "sing" by stepping up and down, but always finish with a fall unless it’s a question.
• Yes/No questions end with a rising pitch on the last syllable.
• Else, questions start low, rise to a peak in the middle of the sentence and then end low.
• Commands/Imperatives are flat low (if cold/dismissive) or start high and turn flat high (if urgent).

Pitch Rise & Fall

• Longer sentences are broken into word clusters, each with their own rise and fall in pitch. However, in all cases the final syllable of the sentence adheres to the above rules.
• When showing aggression, syllables are sharply clipped and the pitch highs are higher.
• Confident, artistic or posh pronunciation slides smoothly between syllables, giving it an almost musical tone.

Uncommon and Common Sounds

• While the "L" sound exists in Zozun, it is not commonly used to begin words. Names beginning with L are common, however.
• Borrowed words sometimes have sounds that do not exist in native Zozun, e.g. Qs or Xs. They are spelled with the rebel letters for reader comprehension, but are typically pronounced in accordance with Zozun's rules. For example EXEDIS is pronounced "ek.se.dis." Q will typically default to a K sound, and C will generally default to an S sound.

Hard & Soft Comparison

Trills & Taps

Hard/Soft + Tap/Trill: The Zozun Accent Matrix

Dog vs. Dogs

• Word Order:
  Subject Verb Object (Prepositional phrase).
• Adjective order:
  Adjectives are positioned before the noun and attached with either a hyphen or the preposition "to".
• Adposition:
  Prepositions

• Attached to word with to-
• eg. blue light - gir-to-yk (blue-(attachment word)-light)

• Sometimes it's just hyphenated instead.
• e.g. kintar (ritual) + nizam (magic) = kintar-nizam, ritual magic

• How to decide which one:
• In all cases either grammatical construction is "correct," but use depends on the situation. See Derivational morphology.

Possessive

• Possession can be attributed to a person or thing directly via pronoun or with a name-pronoun possession pattern.
• e.g. kor kavis (His container)
• e.g. Blossom kor kavis (Blossom's container)
• e.g. Nindinva ve kavis (Nindinva's container)
• Possession can also be attributed to a common noun via genderless pronoun.
• e.g. tyt ve kavis (dog's container)
• e.g. kimbiv ve mevu (tree's branch)

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used with place names: ‘The Ruavine’
  • tol ebjum honjuk ka Ruavine. - I want to go to Ruavine (lit. my want arrive at the Ruavine

• Used in front of a word for emphasis:
• Bob gosuva nyl - Bob received a gift.
• ka Bob gosuva nyl - Bob received a gift (as opposed to someone else receiving it)
• tol ebjum ka honjuk gu Ruavine. - I want to go to Ruavine - implying they do not want to stay there, or live there, they just want to go there.

• Reversing Article and Noun Order sounds archaic and fancy!
  • "tol ebjum honjuk gu Ruavine ka." - I want to go to Ruavine, but you sound overly fancy when you say it. This form is seen in old texts or archaic sayings.

Certain vs. Uncertain Tense

• For past or future tense verbs, definite or indefinite articles can be used to clarify how certain one is about when that happened.
  • ka hasum /ka 'hasum/ learned at a time you can pinpoint in the far past.
  • a hasum /a 'hasum/ learned at a time you feel vague or unsure about but that was in the far past.
  • ka esum /ka 'esum / will learn at a specific time in the near future (e.g. next week)
  • a isum /a 'esum / will learn at some eventual future point (e.g. oh I'll get around to it someday)

Imperfective aspect

• The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions or habitual actions.
• e.g. tol osum - I am learning
• Tol osum but mo buhat ny - I learn something new every day.
• Zozun uses an affix for imperfective:
• If the first letter is a vowel: Prefix ot-
• If the first letter is a consonant: Prefix o-
• sum(to learn) -> osum (am currently learning/I habitually learn)
• emy (to tie) -> otemy (am currently tying/i habitually tie)

Perfect aspect

• The perfect aspect is exemplified in Tol zukyk zys gen (I have read this book).
• This expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.
• Zozun uses an affix for the perfect aspect:
• If starts with vowel: Prefix z-
• Else: Prefix zu-
• sum (to learn) -> zusum (have learned)
• emy (to tie) -> zemy (have tied)

Conjugation for Person or Number

• Verbs do not conjugate for person or number.

Verb Tense & Certainty

Clarifications

• One Million
• The actual number for 1,000,000 is kima-kima - "thousand thousands." However, above 30,000 - and especially 100,000, they rarely use specific numbers instead using terms like Zorat. The word technically means "legion" but when used as a noun-adjunct, it means roughly "a lot of things that could be counted if there weren't so many of the things."
• One Billion
• Of course, the actual number is kima-kima-kima (a thouands thousand thousands...), obviously this precise a massive number doesn't come up all that much. Instead, they would use maraka - "ocean." This indicates that it's too much to count. It's also used more abstractly to mean a vast quantity of an uncountable thing, such as drops of water, charisma, etc.

Affixes

Modified Words

Compound Words

Clarification: Hyphenated compounds are casual; Use of "to" is more formal.

• Casual Language
• Uses hyphenated compounds when they flow well; if the sounds conflict, "to" will be used..
• bakju-bakar (exempt duck) - easily pronounced, flows well.
• wasev-vyjo (orange tent) - the ev and vy overlap strangely. Wasev-to-vyjo would then be used even in casual situations.
• Used when a personal is casually speaking to a person of similar rank or status.
• Used in informal writing, e.g. a letter to a friend.
• Formal Speech
• Always uses "to".
• Used when speaking to someone who is two or more social ranks above the speaker.
• Used in formal situations.
• Used in formal writing, e.g. an academic text, or petition for a favor from the Dominus Regas.