Dzalaci

dzalaci ['dzalaʃi] is a language featuring an unambiguous european-alike grammar and an apriori dictionary.

Phonology
A text consists of sentences. A sentence consists of words. A word consists of syllables. A syllable consists of the initial and the final. The stress is on the first syllable.

Grammar
A text consists of sentences obligatorily split with sentence conjunctions.

The word order in a sentence is relatively free, but one must follow the order of objects and the subject must be before objects, e.g.

verb subject object,

subject verb object,

subject object verb,

diverb subject object1 object2,

subject diverb object1 object2,

subject object1 diverb object2 etc.

The role of objects may be taken by: noun, substantivized adverb, gerund, quote, and cardinal and nominal number. Objects may be grouped with the object conjunctions meaning "and", "but".

Verbs
The intransitive verb in this language is expressed as an adjective or as a noun. That's why there could be the following parts of speech at the top of the sentence: noun, verb, diverb, triverb.

A verb, a diverb, and a triverb obligatorily have subject. They differ in the ending sets and in the last vowel of the base.

A verb in this language is a verb with exactly one object. The base ending is -u + the ending of the inversion -risa. E.g.

qudu - to hug (who, whom),

qudurisa - to be hugged (who, by whom),

tsodju - to search (who, what),

dutcu - to build (who, what).

A diverb is a verb with two objects. The base ending is -e + endings of the inversion -risa, -rusa. E.g.

cene - to allow (who, whom, what),

vude - to thank (who, whom, for what),

goqe - to be jealous (who, of whom, to whom).

A triverb is a verb with three objects. The base ending is -o + endings of the inversion -risa, -rusa, -resa. E.g.

sogo - to exchange (who, with whom, what, for what),

zuco - to translate (who, what, from what, to what),

djuqo - to punish (who, whom, with what, for what).

-risa means the inversion of the subject and the first object.

-rusa means the inversion of the subject and the second object.

-resa means the inversion of the subject and the third object.

Participles
A participle is an additional verb depending on a nonverb. A participle has a verb base, or a diverb base, or a triverb base + endings -na, -nisa, -nusa, -nesa. The choice of the ending is the same as for verbs: -na the straight order, -nisa the inversion of the first object and the subject, -nusa of the second object and -nesa of the third object. The subject of the participle is the main word, while the number of objects depends on the base type. E.g.

suvuna sutci - in the forest,

zudjuna xoci - under the bed,

tasuna soli - in one hour,

cenenusa djubi tsehi yoguna djubi - with the permission of my parent for me,

sogonusa baqi coki fedji - in her exchange with him for that.

The object may have several dependent participles with help of the participle conjunction. Beware! The noun which is not in the role of the object can't have several participles.

Verb participles
There may be a verb participle in a sentence. It additionaly describes verbs, and plays a role of english prepositions. A verb participle has a verb base, or a diverb base, or a triverb base + endings -la, -lisa, -lusa, -lesa. The choice of the ending is the same as for verbs: -la the straight order, -lisa the inversion of the first object and the subject, -lusa of the second object and -lesa of the third object. The subject of the verb participle is the main verb, while the number of objects depend on the base type.

A verb participle is analogous to the participle, but is a special part of speech to make the word order more free. A participle strictly follows the main word, while a verb participle may be in the beginning or in the ending of the sentence or before the verb or after the verb. E.g. these equal variants of the phrase "I drink water in cafe" are:

suvula yohi djubi vugu sizi

djubi suvula yohi vugu sizi

djubi vugu suvula yohi sizi

djubi vugu sizi suvula yohi

Gerund
Gerund is a verb in the place of a noun. Its subject and its objects follow it. The endings are -ma, -misa, -musa, -mesa. The choice of the ending is the same as for verbs.

Noun
A noun is a base of -i with no ending. Nouns don't change by neither number nor case. Some nouns of English are verbs or participles here, e.g.

luduna djubi - my sister (literally: [the one] sistering me)

Adjective
An adjective is a base of -i with the ending -na. An adjective depends on a noun. There is a conversion between them preserving the meaning. E.g.

zitsina yeji - a beautiful human

yejina zitsi - the human's beauty

Adverb
An adverb is a base which ends in -i with the ending -la. An adverb depends on a noun, or verbs, or participles, or adjective, or another adverb. It differs from an adjective in the fact that an adjective is a property of the same thing as the noun, but an adverb is a property of the noun itself. That's why the nouns and adverbs swapping changes the meaning. E.g.

qodzila nupi - a complete fool

nupila qodzi - a foolishly absolute thing

If one adverb follows another, then the first depends on the second. To put several adverbs to a word one use the adverb conjuntion. E.g. the construct

adverb adverb and adverb adverb adverb and adverb main_word

reads as:

{

adverb <- adverb <-

adverb <- adverb <- adverb <-

adverb <-

} <- main_word

in other words the main word here has exactly three dependent adverbs.

There is a substantivized adverb to play a role of the noun in the sentence. The ending changes to -ta. If a main word of the adverb was an adjective, then the adjective and the noun swap. E.g.

fizila mugina baqi - he runs rapidly

tsehi siqu fizita baqina mugi - one admires the rapidity of his running

If a main word of the adverb was an adverb, then it's substantivized too. E.g.

qodzila nupila mosina ludi - a clown stumbles completely foolishly

qodzita nupita ludina mosi novu tsehi - the completeness of the foolishness of the clown's stumbling annoys them

If a main word of the adverb was a verb, then it becomes a gerund. E.g.

ngimila tsodju djubi fedji - I search it for a long time

ngimita tsodjuma djubi fedji zusu soli - the length of time I search it equals an hour

Quote
For quote one uses margin words where sa is the beginning of the quote and ta is the ending of the quote. The quote is an object in the sentence.

Number
Numbers are cathegorized on three groups: a nominal, a cardinal, and an ordinal. A nominal is a number itself. It's used for abstractions, and version numbers, and as a part of a name. A cardinal answers the question "how many?" or "how much?". An ordinal answers two questions: "which in the sequence?" and "among what?". A nominal and a cardinal have a noun base. They may play a role of the noun ("one"), the adjective ("one"), and the adverb ("firstly"). They may be fractional or floating-point numbers. An ordinal has a verb base. It may play all of the verb-alike roles ("to be the first among somebody"). It is a natural number.

Numbers are made up positionally from words, meaning numbers and signs and ending in "ma". The number phrase ends in one of these words: "tsovi" for cardinal, "duli" for nominal, "diyu" for ordinal. E.g.

1 - yedjima duli

being first among them - yedjima diyuna tsehi

one thing - yedjima tsovina fedji

2 - vodzima duli

being second among them - vodzima diyuna tsehi

two things - vodzima tsovina fedji

3 - dopima duli

being third among them - dopima diyuna tsehi

three things - dopima tsovina fedji

4 - pesima duli

5 - kemima duli

6 - datcima duli

7 - tubima duli

8 - redzima duli

9 - vitcima duli

0 - konima duli

10 - yedjima konima duli

11 - yedjima yedjima duli

777 - tubima tubima tubima duli

1 000 - yedjima konima konima konima duli

1 000 000 000 000 (1e12) - yedjima valima yedjima vodzima duli

-1,28e10 - djasima yedjima xejima vodzima redzima valima yedjima konima duli

1/3 - yedjima vaxima dopima duli

2 4/5 - vodzima tcihima pesima vaxima kemima duli

Conjunctions
Conjunctions have a verb base (-u). Depending on the role one chooses the ending: the sentence conj. - "ba", the object conj. - "ta", the adverb conj. - "ca", the adjective conj. - "nga". The differentiation provides the syntactical unambiguity.

The list of possible endings
-i noun

-ila adverb

-ima number

-ina adjective

-ita substantivized adverb

-uba sentence conjunction

-uca adverb conjunction

-unga participles conjunction

-uta object conjunction

-u verb

-urisa verb with inversion

-ula verb participle

-ulisa verb participle with inversion

-uma gerund

-umisa gerund with inversion

-una participle

-unisa participle with inversion

-e diverb

-erisa diverb with 1st inversion

-erusa diverb with 2nd inversion

-ela verb diparticiple

-elisa verb diparticiple with 1st inversion

-elusa verb diparticiple with 2nd inversion

-ema digerund

-emisa digerund with 1st inversion

-emusa digerund with 2nd inversion

-ena diparticiple

-enisa diparticiple with 1st inversion

-enusa diparticiple with 2nd inversion

-o triverb

-oresa triverb with 3rd inversion

-orisa triverb with 1st inversion

-orusa triverb with 2nd inversion

-ola verb triparticiple

-olesa verb triparticiple with 3rd inversion

-olisa verb triparticiple with 1st inversion

-olusa verb triparticiple with 2nd inversion

-oma trigerund

-omesa trigerund with 3rd inversion

-omisa trigerund with 1st inversion

-omusa trigerund with 2nd inversion

-ona triparticiple

-onesa triparticiple with 3rd inversion

-onisa triparticiple with 1st inversion

-onusa triparticiple with 2nd inversion

EBNF
NB. The format is: term = definition, where { } means 0 or more repetitions, [ ] means 0 or 1 repetition, groups together, comma concatenates strings, | means an alternative, - means an exception, (* comment *).

text = sentence, {sentence_conj, sentence};

sentence = noun_phrase


 * ({verb_participle_phrase}, verb_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase})


 * ({verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, verb_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase})


 * ({verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, verb_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase})


 * ({verb_participle_phrase}, diverb_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase, object_phrase, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase})


 * ({verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, diverb_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase})


 * ({verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, diverb_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase})


 * ({verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase, object_phrase, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, diverb_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase})


 * ({verb_participle_phrase}, triverb_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase, object_phrase, object_phrase, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase})


 * ({verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, triverb_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase, object_phrase, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase})


 * ({verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, triverb_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase})


 * ({verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase, object_phrase, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, triverb_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase})


 * ({verb_participle_phrase}, object_phrase, object_phrase, object_phrase, object_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase}, triverb_phrase,

{verb_participle_phrase});

object_phrase = object_phrase_without_conj, {object_conj, object_phrase_without_conj};

object_phrase_without_conj = noun_phrase | subst_adverb_phrase | gerund_phrase | quote;

noun_phrase = {adjective_phrase}, [adverb_phrase], noun, [participle_phrase];

adjective_phrase = [adverb_phrase], adjective, [participle_phrase];

adverb_phrase = adverb_phrase_without_conj, {adverb_conj, adverb_phrase_without_conj};

adverb_phrase_without_conj = {adverb}, adverb;

adverb = base1, "la", space;

participle_phrase = participle_phrase_without_conj, {participle_conj, participle_phrase_without_conj};

participle_phrase_without_conj = adverb_phrase,

(participle, participle_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj)


 * (diparticiple, participle_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj)


 * (triparticiple, participle_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj);

verb_participle_phrase = adverb_phrase,

(verb_participle, participle_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj)


 * (verb_diparticiple, participle_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj)


 * (verb_triparticiple, participle_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj);

gerund_phrase = adverb_phrase,

(gerund, participle_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj)


 * (digerund, participle_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj)


 * (trigerund, participle_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj, object_phrase_without_conj);

verb_phrase = adverb_phrase, verb;

diverb_phrase = adverb_phrase, diverb;

triverb_phrase = adverb_phrase, triverb;

quote = "sa", space, text, "ta", space;

subst_adverb_phrase = adverb_phrase, subst_adverb, object_phrase_without_conj;

cardinal = number, "tsovi";

nominal = number, "duli";

ordinal = natural, "diyu";

number = floating_point_number | div_number;

floating_point_number = integer, [point, natural, [exponent, integer]];

point = 'xejima", space;

exponent = "valima", space;

div_number = (integer, div_sign, natural) | (integer, plus, natural, div_sign, natural);

plus = "tcihima", space;

div_sign = "vaxima", space;

integer = [unary_minus], natural;

unary_minus = "djasima", space;

natural = digit, {digit};

digit = base1, "ma", space;

noun = base1 | cardinal | nominal, space;

adjective = base1 | cardinal | nominal, "na", space;

adverb = base1 | cardinal | nominal, "la", space;

subst_adverb = base1 | cardinal | nominal, "ta", space;

sentence_conj = base2, "ba", space;

object_conj = base2, "ta", space;

adverb_conj = base2, "ca", space;

participle_conj = base2, "nga", space;

verb = base2 | ordinal, space;

diverb = base3, space;

triverb = base4, space;

gerund = base2 | ordinal, "m", [inversion1], "a", space;

digerund = base3, "m", [inversion1 | inversion2], "a", space;

trigerund = base4, "m", [inversion1 | inversion2 | inversion3], "a", space;

participle = base2 | ordinal, "n", [inversion1], "a", space;

diparticiple = base3, "n", [inversion1 | inversion2], "a", space;

triparticiple = base4, "n", [inversion1 | inversion2 | inversion3], "a", space;

verb_participle = base2 | ordinal, "l", [inversion1], "a", space;

verb_diparticiple = base3, "l", [inversion1 | inversion2], "a", space;

verb_triparticiple = base4, "l", [inversion1 | inversion2 | inversion3], "a", space;

inversion1 = "is";

inversion2 = "us";

inversion3 = "es";

base1 = initial, {final, initial}, "i";

base2 = initial, {final, initial}, "u";

base3 = initial, {final, initial}, "e";

base4 = initial, {final, initial}, "o";

initial = "b" | "c" | "d" | "dj" | "dz" | "f" | "g" | "h" | "j" | "k" | "l" | "m" | "n" | "p" | "q" | "r" | "s" | "t" | "tc" | "ts" | "v" | "x" | "y" | "z";

final = "a" | "e" | "i" | "o" | "u";

space = blank, {blank};

blank = " " | "

".

Names and borrowed words
Names and borrowed words are not included in the dictionary, but they may be used in texts as a noun base (ending in -i), and they should obey the phonology of this language. Between vowels one puts -y-, between consonants one puts -i-.

The Bible. Genesis 11:1-9
1. And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

punina cuci yuxuba yifi nerurisa yedjima tsovina djuni yuxuta yedjima tsovina hipi

2. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

yuxuba xuzula tcutsi tsehi djiqu jozi suvuna ngehina cinari yuxuba tsehi notsu fedji

3. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

yuxuba tsehi voju tsehi sa xedzi nahu suyuma xedzi ximi yuxuta midjina foluma xedzi fedji ta yuxuba tsehi nolu ximi fofuna sutsi yuxuta hoxi fofuna tcegi

4. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

yuxuba tsehi voju tsehi sa xedzi nahu suyuma xedzi coni yuxuta suyuma xedzi voli mumuna hofi yuxuba xedzi nahu suyuma xedzi fedji sidzunisa xedzi leyula sijuma xedzi fedji neruna yifi ta