Jzocra

Classification and Dialects
Jzocrra ['ʒɔ.cʁa ~ 'ʒɔ.cʁa:] has two known dialects: the rural dialect and the urban dialect. Differents betwen dialectrs are noted where applicable.

Consonants
Allophones are shown in paranthesis

Vowels
Diphthongs: /aʊ aɪ eɪ ɔɪ ui jV1 wV2/ where V is any vowel

1 except /i ɪ/

2 except /u/

Allophony
1. /t d n/ become [t̪ d̪ n̪] when between two vowels

2. /h/ becomes [x] at the end of a word or between two vowels

3. /ɾ/ becomes [ʁ] at the end of a word

4. /ɲ/ becomes [n] when followed by /jV/

5. /l/ becomes [ɬ] when preceded by a vowel

6. /θ/ becomes [ð] when at the beginning of a word

7. /aʊ/ becomes [a] when preceded by /x h ts dz/

8. (urban dialect) /V/ becomes [Vː] at the end of a word

9. (rural dialect) Vowels are nasalized at the beginning of words

Sound changes between words.
TODO: Fix formatting

Certain sounds at the end of one wrod and the beginning of the next word merge into one sound. This occurs in the follow cases

1. /s-s, z-z/

In this case, the two s or z sounds merge to form /ʃ/ and /ʒ /respectively. An example is shown below.

Ex.

ayas siloa is pronounced as [a.'ʎaʃ.ilo.a]

ayaz ziloa is pronounced as [a.'ʎaʒ.ilo.a]

2. /t-ʃ, d-ʒ/

In this case, /t/ and /ʃ/ and /d/ and /ʒ/ merge to form /t͡ʃ/ and /d͡ʒ/ respectively. An example is shown below.

Ex.

ayat shiloa is pronounced as [a.'ʎat͡ʃ.ilo.a]

ayad zhiloa is pronounced as [a.'ʎad͡ʒ.ilo.a]

3, [a-i, a-u]

In this case, /a/ and /i/ and /a/ and /u/ merge to form /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ respectively. An example is shown below.

Ex.

aya iloa is pronounced as [a.'ʎaɪ.lo.a]

aya uloa is pronounced as [a.'ʎaʊ.lo.a]

Stress
Stress in Jocrra is almost completely regular and follows these rules. For mono or disyllable words, stress is placed on the first syllable. For words of 3 syllables or longer, stress is placed in the antepenultimate syllable.

Syllables
Syllables in Jocrra consist of (C)(C)V(C)(C). The nucleus can be any vowel/diphthong. The coda may be anything except /x/ (except at the end of a word), a palatal, or an approximant/lateral approximant.

Writing System
1 written as Ch word initially

2 written as Dz word initially

3 written as J word initially

4 written as Sh word initially

5 written as Ts word initially

6 written as Jz word initially

7 imagine a gentle, but sinister breeze blowing (like in the Final Destination series). That's what this sound is approximating.

Dipthongs:

Nouns
Nouns in Jzoccra decline for case and number. They are split into 4 declensions based on animacy and gender. Declension I nouns are animate living nouns and may be either male or female (with a few exceptions). Declension II nouns are animate non-living nouns and may be male, female, or netuer. Declension III and IV nouns are inanimate nouns are always neuter.

Gender in Declension I is indicated by the noun ending (except for a few exceptions); there are guidelines for gender in Declension II but gender must be memorized for many nouns. For this reason, the dictionary form of every noun is the singular nominative + the indefinite article.

Though the amount of cases is the same for each dialect, which cases are present differs between dialects. However, all cases are present in standard Jocrra (the type used in legal documents and formal writing). The rural dialect uses an adposition to represent the locative case and the urban dialect uses an adposition to represent the genitive case. The vocative case has limited use and is only a separate declension in declension I (living animate) nouns. in all other cases, the vocative is represented by an adposition + the accusative case.

Nouns decline for 4 numbers: singular, dual, plural (countable), and plural (uncountable). Singular, dual, and plural (countable) froms are distinct in all cases; however, plural (countable) and plural (uncountable) forms are similar in some cases. The plural (uncountable) form can be distinguished in that it always requires the subjunctive (when used in the nominative, accusative, or dative forms).

Noun Phrase
A noun phrase in Jzocrra is made up of at most a head, a preposition, and article, and modifiers. The preposition is always the first part of the noun phrase and may affect the case of the head. The article follows the preposition and provides information about definiteness of the head as well as its gender. The head may be any noun. Modifiers may be adjectives, adverbs, or a genitive phrase and appear in the following order: number-shape-size-color-other qualities-genitive phrase. The other modifiers are usually ranekd according to what the speaker wishes to emphasize.

Noun phrases may be strung together by conjunctions.

Declension I
Let V1 = a,à, and let V2 = o,ü

Declension I nouns maybe be masculine or feminine; gender in this declension is almost completely regular. These nouns are animate, living things. These nouns have a stem that ends in -V1Ci (masculine nouns) or -V2Cu (feminine nouns) where V1 and V2 are defined as above and C is any consonant (except for rr, r, ss, or zz).

Example nouns: chasi (man, m.), chosu (woman, f.) In general, this nouns take the following suffixes where V1 and V2 are defined as above and C is any consnant. There are a few nouns with irregular gender; such as jzasi (death, n.) and jzosu (life, n.).

Declension II
Declension II nouns are animate non-living things. Gender is irregular in this declensions; nouns may be masculine, feminine, or netuer. Therefore, it is important to memorize the gender of these nouns. These nouns have a stem that end in -xV where V is a/à/è/o/ü.

Example noun: aulaxa - water (n.) In general, these nouns take on the following endings

Declension III
Declension III nouns contain inainimate nouns and all are neuter. These nouns have a stem that ends in -iCV where V is a/à/è, and C is any consonant.

Example noun: shøsila - house (n.) In general, these nouns take the form

Declension IV
Declension IV is the smallest declension and contains inanimate nouns. All nouns in this declenion are netuer. These nouns have a stem that ends in -aCa where C is r, rr, ss, or zz. Nouns in this declension decline very strangely relative to the other declensions because these declensions are almost entirely through vowel mutation.

Example noun: carra - paper (n.) In general, these nouns the the following forms: