Zotung language

All nouns undergo declension because it is a necessary element of the language. Declension is the main reason for the flexible word order. For example, the sentence “maranny lampikya acue” the mare runs on the road, cannot be rewritten to the root words as “maran lampi a cuepo” since the roles of the nouns and verbs are not yet known. Although declension cannot be ignored, the general word order SOV can be ignored to create “lampikya maranny acue.”, “lampikya acue maranny.” or even “lampikenyn cue marankha.”

The primary word order is SOV however, almost all nouns undergo declension resulting in a fairly free word order. One can say “Beikinnka hlaw ka sak” literally “In church song I sing”. But it can also be said as “Ka sak hlaw beikinnka” literally “I sing song in church” without losing its original meaning.

Some nouns have gender; however, nouns with gender are usually sex specific nouns such as animals or natural landscapes like hills, caves or species of organisms. Most of these nouns have endings like -nung, -pi, -paw, -ly that tell if they are feminine or masculine such as Luikunung (Name of a hill), Saepaw (Elephant), Sapi (Female offspring of an animal). Animacy and inanimacy are rarely distinguished.

The initial a- is found in some nouns: arak (ale), amyn (scent), arran (branch), askare (wing). It is used on a very limited number of nouns that are inanimate and cannot stand alone without the prefix. When it is used with a noun that can stand alone, it denotes the genitive case and shows belonging of the object to a person as in arru (its bone), amitàe (its eyes), alemæ (its tail). The prefix can also be used to show definiteness in a very limited amount of nouns as in:

ar longe athinàe leitetu umkukholeilango literally,

our inside(GEN) the-livers not(INSTR)(ACC) be-cannot-(FUTURE TENSE)-1stPL(INCL)

meaning: without [our] livers we cannot live/be. The prefix is also used to form the adjectival form of verbs as in below

Athín leitetu umkukholeilango W

It is also used with verbs to form the adjectival form:

khyapaw (to be bitter), akhak (bitter)

niapaw (to be oily), anian (oily)

thoupo (to be fatty), athau (fat/fatty)

To some extent, Zotung uses vowel harmony when endings are attached to words. An example is one of the most common ending in the language -traw, a diminutive/comparative ending. When a word with closed and/or mid vowel uses the ending -traw, it changes to -tri as in imonuntro (newborn girl) and syntri (a little while). Some limited amount of nouns with a closed vowel change to a more open vowel. An example is the word for ape zawngpo/ zongpaw which changes to zuapo/zuapaw in some dialects retaining the difference. Another example is vo/vaw meaning a stream. When the augmentative ending -pii is added, the root changes to va resulting in vapii, river.

Like the other Kuki-Chin languages, Zotung utilizes apophony as a grammatical inflection. It is used for various purposes such as noun v. verb distinction, grammatical moods and etc. The most common type of apophony is the Kuki-Chin specific vowel stem alternation where the stem vowel of a verb changes to inflect its mode. These alternations are grouped into Form I, Form II, Form III and so on. However, there is not a universally accepted way of categorizing them. An example of vowel stem alternation is given below for the verbs niapaw, to drink, chiapo, to kill, bepo, to greet.

An example of a clause using Forms I, II, and III is given below for the verb niapaw, to drink.

Form I: Arak na nialanze, nah lubok yngaeseici. If you keep drinking ale, your brain shall rot.

Form II: Arakkha na nevelan khy. You shall not be drinking ale anymore.

Form III: Arakkho na neklei khy em? You have not drunken any ale, [right]?

Negation usually follows the verb. There are many words to denote negation. The most common being lei, khy, nan, and lou. Lei is often compounded with -po as in khuara leipo meaning “it isn’t raining” while also indicating someone has said it is raining. Khy is a simple negation word used in khocci khy meaning “it is not cold”. Nan is used as a declarative negation such as in innlae pae nan meaning do not go out. Lou is used as an auxiliary as in khuara lou khy meaning “It has not rain”.

There are many endings attached to words to convey a slightly modified meaning. They may also be realized as grammatical cases. The most common are -no, -zia, -po and -tu. “-no” is used to nominalize verbs while “-zia” is for adjectives and occasionally nouns. “-po” could be a masculine ending or an infinitive ending. When -po is an infinitive ending, the word is stressed at the last syllable. “-tu” is used to modify verbs to become a noun in the accusative case. For example,

• riapo(v. to read) – rianaw (n. reading as in scripture)
• hmuipo (v. to see) – muihnaw (n. sight, vision)
• sei (v. to sin) – seino (n. sin)
• umtu (n. an attitude) - umtuzia (n. desired attitudes)
• phuapo/phan (v. to compose) - phuatu/phantu (n. composer)

All nouns in Zotung inflect for cases. They can be inflected into the nominative, accusative, instrumental, dative, genitive, vocative, and various forms of the locative such as the inessive, intrative, adessive. The nominative case differs from dialect to dialect based on vowel harmony of the dialect’s differing vowels. Inflection for the accusative case is not always required because the word order specifies the noun’s function. The instrumental case can also be used to show the extent of a period of time. It is inflected for in some prepositions and postpositions such as ciate (extent of time), ryte (with), liare (by). The dative has become more common and is taking over the role of the locative in younger speech. The genitive is not required when a noun acts as an adjective, but it still is sometimes used even in the adjectival form.

An example of the cases in use is:

Bolpenge catui rouza bolpekla ka kiza “Pobolpen yn kiccave” ka koza, bolpenin kaklan yn kir.

Literally:

Pen(gen.) ink dried-up(causal) pen(dat.) 1st.p(nom.) return(causal) “pen(voc.) here(dat.) return(present)” 1st.p.(nom.) call(causal), pen(nom) 1st.p.(dat.) here(dat.) returned.

This sentence would translate to English as the pen’s ink dried up so I returned to the pen and “O pen, return back at once” I called and so it returned back to me (in benefit of the pen).

Bolpenga umpo bolpenge bawmtraw adipo bolpente bolpekha ka suanak.

Literally:

Pen(loc./inside) from(gen.) pen(gen.) ink-pipe-small pen(instr.) pen(acc.) 1st.p.(nom.) get-out(instr.)

This sentence would translate to English as I get out the small ink pipe inside the pen using a smaller pen.

Some case endings of proper nouns and common nouns are differentiated especially in the dative and locative cases. In the dative case, proper nouns take the -lan or -lam suffix and change according to the rules of vowel gradation. For example, the village name Thesi would become Thesilam for its dative case while Siangaw would become Siangalan.

Singularity and plurality are shown in words in a consistent way. A singular word may sometimes be inflected using numerical adjectives. Plural words are almost always inflected to agree with the grammatical number. The usual plural suffix is -ae or -hae. Dialects where the h is not pronounced in some writings write the plural suffix with an apostrophe so that a word like nolungae is written as nolung’ae. Other writers use other methods to show plurality some being nolungàe and nolung’e. Plurality isn’t required when numbers or numerical adjectives are being used. The phrases lutrya nolung and nolungae lutrya are still both grammatically correct even though the majority of speakers show plurality in both formal and informal speech.

Some nouns are naturally plural so they do not require the regular plural suffixes. Such nouns are: zapii (crowd of people), mipi (people), ablyn (all that are present), loramsa (farm animals), etc.

Questions are formed with both intonation and particles. Intonation varies from dialect to dialect and person to person. Question particles also vary from dialect to dialect. The formal standard language based on the Lungo dialect uses the question particles i, ho, khawp, tou, and mou. The particles tou and mou have different forms different contexts. Tou is derived from ta but tou has become more dominant and ta has become a form of tou. In all, tou has four forms: tou, ta, tawh, and tan. It is used in yes/no questions. Mou is derived from mah, similar to the case with tou. Mou also has four forms: mou, mah, maw, man. It is used in simple questions together with the noun like in Pawcikumou nah hminkha? (What is (question particle) your name)

In Zotung, there are pronouns for the nominative, accusative, dative and genitive cases. Some of the pronouns in different cases are the same but have a different stress or pitch.

Nominative

1 SG NOM: Ka

1 PL NOM EXC: Kae

1 PL NOM INC: A, Aemi/Aeni (dialectal)

2 SG NOM: Na

2 PL NOM: Nannin

3 SG NOM: Ah, Min (dialectal)

3 SG NEUTER NOM: Anih

3 PL NOM: An, Mimaw

Accusative (Adjectival)

1 SG ACC: Kae, Kamaw

1 PL ACC EXC: Kaeni

1 PL ACC INC: Oun

2 SG ACC: Nang

2 PL ACC: Ae

3 SG ACC: Amaw

3 PL ACC: Hae

Oblique/Accusative

1 SG ACC: Kaenyn, Kamawnoh

1 PL ACC EXC: Kaeninih

1 PL ACC INC: Emawnyh

2 SG ACC: Nangnih

2 PL ACC: Nanninyng

3 SG ACC: Amawnyh

3 PL ACC: Minnyn

Dative

1 SG/PL to 2 SG: Kae

1 SG/PL to 2 PL: Kae -u

1 SG to 3 SG: Ka

1 PL to 3 SG/PL: A

2 SG/PL to 1 SG: Nae, yn, e (dialectal)

2 SG/PL to 1 PL: Oun

2 SG/PL to 3 SG: Na

2 SG/PL to 3 PL: Na -hae

3 SG/PL to 1 SG: Yn

3 SG/PL to 1 PL: Oún

3 SG/PL to 2 SG: Ae

3 PL to 2 SG: Ae -hae

3 SG/PL to 3 SG: Pronoun is dropped

3 SG/PL to 3 PL: Pronoun is dropped, -hae is added

Genitive 1 (Adjectival)

1 SG GEN: Kah

1 PL GEN EXC: Ke

1 PL GEN INC: Ei

2 SG GEN: Nah

2 PL GEN: Nae

3 SG GEN: Ah

3 PL GEN: Mih

Genetive 2 (Pronoun/Independent)

1 SG GEN: Kae

1 PL GEN EXC: Keka-e

1 PL GEN INC: Enike

2 SG GEN: Nak’e

2 PL GEN: Naek’e

3 SG GEN: Ake

3 PL GEN: Mike

All verbs in Zotung have two or more forms. The different forms are used for different moods and the amount that is completing the action. Most verbs are only inflected in the plural. Some verbs that are inflected in the singular change stress. However, they aren’t shown in the orthography. An example of a regular verb conjugation is:

Riappo, to read; cue, to run

1st Singular: ka ria, ka cue

1st Dual: a riáh, a cué

1st Plural Inclusive: Aeni ariaho, accueo

1st Plural Exclusive: Kaeni keria, kecue

2nd Singular: Na riah, na cue

2nd Plural: Nannina riauh, nannina cueu

3rd Singular: A ria, a cue

3rd Plural: An riahae, an cuehae.

The declarative, imperative, future and other moods require a stem II conjugation of the verbs.

Aepo, to eat; fiapo, to go

1st Singular: ka áeci, ka feici

1st Dual: an éici, fialan

1st Plural Inclusive: Áelango, fialango

1st Plural Exclusive: Ken áeci, ke feici

2nd Singular: Na áeci, na feici

2nd Plural: Nannina áeciu, nannina feciu

3rd Singular: A áeci, a feici

3rd Plural: An áeciai, an feciai

In the example, the verb aepo/eipo is irregular in that it doesn’t have another stem form. When this is the case, stress is emphasized on the first syllable of the verb and depending on the writer an accent may be used.

Tense in Zotung is similar to other Kuki-Chin languages. In Zotung, verbs are inflected for in the past and future tenses. The present tenses are either in the original (not infinitive) form or are used with auxiliary verbs and time descriptive words. The continuous present tense can also be shown by suffixing. Regular verbs are inflected like the following:

1st person inclusive past: A sakveo “we sang”

1st person inclusive perfect past: Phea’ sakve “we have sang”

1st person inclusive perfect past: Phea’ lasakve “we have (just) sang”

1st person inclusive present continuous: A satiamango “we are (still) singing”

1st person inclusive present: Sahlanve “we will be singing (right now)”

1st person inclusive simple present: A sauh “we sing” or Atu a sauh “we are singing (in the moment)”

1st person inclusive simple future: A sacio/A sangaw’ “we will sing”

1st person inclusive near future: Sahlan “we are going to sing (now)”