An Introduction to Zharranh

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Tluya xa zharr (Lesson One): Pronunciation; the verb "to be"

Zharranh [ZAra] is the language of the Kireethin (kirrithyn), furry aliens around four to five feet tall, who are hybrids of Zireen (zirrinyn) and Sangari (senhkarryn). Although Kireethin are rare, and you are unlikely to meet one, their language is important as the most commonly recognized language of the former slaves of the recently liberated Nikta world Tallivar, and as the original language of Kireethin sacred literature and fiction. Unfortunately, books in human languages for learning Zharranh are as rare as the Kireethin themselves, and contain many contradictions and probable errors. This guide is based on the language notes in the published stories of Kaza Zikos and Zazik Siprit, considered the most reliable source of Kireethin information by most experts. As new information is uncovered, it may become necessary to revise these notes.

Zharranh has six vowels and 27 consonants. The actual phonetic values of the sounds vary depending on context, but the variation is predictable. Here are the basic sounds of the six Zharranh vowels: a e i o u y. Notice that the sound written "e" is a low-mid front vowel [E], and "y" is a high-mid front vowel [e]. In other contexts, "y" can be pronounced like an English short "i" [I], or a high central vowel []. The sound of "o" ranges from a low-mid central vowel [] to a low-mid rounded back vowel [], and "u" is a high central vowel that is only partly rounded []. In certain contexts next to retroflex consonants, the vowels are pronounced with a rhotacized, or "r-colored" quality: rta rte rti rto rtu rty.

Many Zharranh consonants are unlike the sounds found in English. In particular, there are three voiceless stops pronounced with the tip of the tongue, and it is difficult to learn to distinguish them. The interdental consonants "th" [t5] and "dh" [d5] are pronounced with the tip of the tongue between the teeth, and often have a slight "fronting" effect on the surrounding vowels. In non-initial positions, these sounds are pronounced as fricatives, like the English "th" sounds [T], [D], . On the other hand, the retroflex stop "rt" [] ([] between vowels) is pronounced with the tongue curled back, in a similar position to the American English "r" sound [], and has an "r-coloring" effect on the surrounding vowels. (The retroflex sounds in Zharranh are written with a preceding "r", since it is inconvenient to put a dot or hook under the letter.)

In addition to the retroflex sounds, there is a series of palatal sounds (c, ch, j, nh, lh), which are pronounced with the tongue in the same position as English "y". The letter "c" represents a palatal stop [c] ([] between vowels), which sometimes has a brief "y" glide after it, so that it sounds like the "c" in "cute". The letters "ch" and "j" both have a fricative sound, like German ch in "ich" [C], and the voiced equivalent [].

The sound written "q" is pronounced like "kw" in some environments, and "p" in others. Generally speaking, the rule is that "q" is pronounced "p" before another consonant, or an r-colored vowel, or at the end of a syllable, and "kw" everywhere else.

Here is an audio sample of all 27 Zharranh consonant sounds: qa va ma wa tha dha ta da sa za na rra la sha zha rta rsa rza rna rla ca cha ja nha lha ka xa.

Many Zharranh words make distinctions that are not made in English. One of the most important of these distinctions is deciding how to translate the English verb "to be". One common translation is "ta x ja y", meaning "x and y refer to the same thing". This "double verb" construction in Zharranh is common in situations where the English equivalent doesn't have an active subject. For example, in the sentence "that is the question", neither "that" nor "the question" is actually doing anything. The sentence is merely stating that "that" and "the question" refer to the same thing. Therefore, the appropriate Zharranh translation of "that is the question" is ta thu ja drrazna [tA t5y a drAznA].

Another use of the English verb "to be" is in describing qualities or conditions of things: "roses are red". It would be wrong to say *ta zirrek ja syrr, unless we really want to say that "roses and red refer to the same thing". We need to use the "dha x je y" construction, which means "x has the property/attribute/quality/condition of y": dha zirrek je syrr [d5a zirQk Q ser]. Although in English we can say "red are the roses", if we were to translate this as dha syrr je zirrek it would mean "the color red is like roses". The correct translation uses a reversal of the "dha ... je" construction: je syrr dha zirrek. Note that "dha ... je" is also used to translate conditions that use the verb "to have" in English, such as "The child has a fever" (dha xirru je krrazhda [d5a xiru Q krAZdA]). It is even used after verbs like zhyska "to make" (in the sense "cause to become"), in a triple-verb construction: zhyskak dharr je rrynha [ZeskAk d5ar Q rea]: it makes me happy.

English also uses the verb "to be" in classification: "a mouse is an animal". Kireethin don't have words for mice, but they do have a word for a mouse-like fairy that lives on Tallivar: zaku. (You might also hear it pronounced zagu [zAĬ], but this dialectal variation will be explained later.) Zharranh uses the "mi ... ka" construction, which means "is a kind of", to translate this sentence: mi zaku ka tylath [mi zAk kA telAT] (a mouse-fairy is an animal). Note that *ta zaku ja tylath would imply that all animals are mouse-fairies, which is wrong, and that *dha zaku je tylath only means that a mouse-fairy has some characteristics of an animal, not that it is one.

Another use of the verb "to be" in English is as an auxiliary verb: "my friend is reading a book". This kind of construction is translated by using the Zharranh imperfective aspect, expressed by adding a suffix (-z in this case) to the verb: rrazlaz mivish lem tliki [rAzlAz miviS lQm iki]. Since this sentence does have an active subject ("friend"), the word for "friend" (mivi) is put into the ergative case, by adding the suffix -sh. (Also note that, in an initial position, the consonant cluster "tl" is pronounced as a single sound, a voiceless lateral fricative [].)

Rlikasta ka tluya xa zharr (vocabulary for Lesson One)

dha ... je [d5a Q]   to be; have the attribute/condition of
drrazna [drAznA]    question
drzoli [꽍li]      blue
je [Q]              of, having the attribute/condition of
ka [kA]              of, belonging to, part of
kirrith [kiriT]     Kireethin (a hybrid of Zireen and Sangari)
krrazhda [krAZdA]   fever
lashon [lASn]      ribbon, band, tape
lem [lQm]            my
mi ... ka [mi kA]    is a kind of
min [min]            of, associated with
mivi [mivi]         friend
nitsa [nitsA]       to join, become a member of
rlikasta [ikAstA]  vocabulary
rrazla [rAzlA]      to read
rrynha [reA]       happy
senhkarr [sENkAr]   Sangari (a furry alien slightly shorter on average than a human)
shymla [SemlA]      campaign
syrr [ser]          red
ta ... ja [tA a]    to be; refer to the same thing
thu [t5y]            that
tliki [iki]        book
tluya [¬a]        lesson
trrawalha [trAwaa] to censor, expurgate
tylath [telAT]      animal
xa [xA]              designated as
xirru [xir]        child (pre-adolescent individual, older than an infant)
zaku (zagu) [zAk]  mouse-fairy (pl. zavik)
zharr [ZAr]         one
zharranh [ZAra]    the Zharranh language
zhyska [ZeskA]      to make, cause to become
zirra [zirA]        rose (flower) (pl. zirrek)
zirrin [zirin]      Zireen (a small furry alien)
zu [z]              against
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