Zxoaame

I know, it's a mess at the moment. As soon as all the information is up, I'll reorganize the charts and move the sections around.

Setting
Zxoaame (pronounced ʒo'jame) is my first attempt at an artlang. As such, I'm keeping it relatively close to European languages. Zxoaame is very irregular in terms of verb conjugations and noun declensions.

Zxoaamakonora is a large island nation smack dab in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The size of the island is comparable to Puerto Rico. When it was discovered by European traders in the late 18th century, it became a trading station and quickly grew into a luxurious European hub. The English initially claimed the calm island, but French, Spanish, and even Russian influences spread within a decade. Today, busy trade routes still make up a large part of their economic sector, followed by tourism. The island supports a surprisingly diverse ecology whose isolation has caused evolution to take strange courses. The natives of Zxoaamakonora migrated from Madagascar thousands of years ago and were friendly toward the European traders who supplied them with exotic goods from around the world in exchange for setting up a port. The influx of foreigners created new opportunities for the natives including (inadvertently) a new language. The result was Zxoaame, an attempted auxlang with the structure similar to that of European languages but a vocabulary comprised entirely of Zxoaaman roots.

Consonants
All consonants are identical to their IPA counterparts unless noted.

*retroflex approximant

Consonants may only come in clusters of 2 except when separated by a syllabic break: [amz.vroje]

Digraphs
Digraphs count as one consonant and may be preceded/succeeded by another consonant. Two digraphs may not be placed together, even when separated by a syllabic break. Though if it occurs, the vowel "e" is used between them. In the case of 2 successive words, one ending in a digraph and the next beginning, the "e" is placed on the second word: (tasxexx, voxx exxi)

Vowels
When two of the same vowel appear in succession, a [j] precedes the sound: (aa = [ja]). When three of the same vowel appear in succession, the [j] is penultimate: (aaa = [aja])

Word Order
Zxoaame is generally SVO.

Genders
There are two genders: human and non-human.

Verbs
Verbs end in "-zxe", the infinitive. Conjugated verbs are succeeded by verbs in their infinitive form (I want to go). Below are the regular endings in the present tense.

Here is a full conjugation of the verb "zazxe"- to walk, in the present tense.

One of the numerous irregulars is the verb to be- "mezxe"

Nouns and Declension
Gender is determined by the last letters of the nominative.

Human Endings: Consonants, A, O

Non-Human Endings: Digraphs, E, I, U

There are 4 cases in addition to the nominative, they are Dative, Accusative, Possessive, and Comparative-Equative. Nouns must agree with these cases in number and gender.

Pronouns
Pronouns do not follow normal noun declensions/endings. First, the declensions for Human pronouns: Non-Human pronouns are much more regular:

Adverbs
Rather than being a catch-all category for verb/adjective/sentence modifiers, adverbs in Zxoaame are split into those categories (designated by VM, AM, and SM). These modifiers generally precede their

Verb Modifier (VM)
VMs were originally formed by doubling the nominative. But over time, the word for "two" or "double" was adopted as a prefix to a singular root.

Some examples:


 * Prozxprozx --> Leprozx (quickly- lit. "double fast")

Aa leprozx paluu - I quickly run


 * Giragira --> Legira (slowly)

Dxe legira miaadxaneet - He/she slowly swims


 * Maatamaata --> Lemaata (forcefully)

Bek lemaata hemesxora za katus - You forcefully throw the cat

Adjective Modifier (AM)
Adjective modifiers end in "eka" or "ka"

Sentence Modifier (SM)
Sentence modifiers are formed with the prefix "mir" attached to the nominative.

Mirdxa - today

Mirwadxa - yesterday