Zia

Timothy Usher, Santa Fe Institute

Situation

[under construction]

Sources

[under construction]

Wilson, Oida, Siki and Kiawa (1976) phonology

Phonology

Wilson, Oida, Siki and Kiawa (1976: 4, ibid.) give 13 consonants and 5 vowels for Zia as follows:

m n
s
b d dz g
w ɾ j
i u
ɛ ɔ
a

Vowels are further distinguished by the presence vs. absence of nasalization:

i ĩ
u ũ
ɛ ɛ̃
ɔ ɔ̃
a ã

Glide /w/ is realized as bilabial voiced fricative [β] when followed by front vowels /i ɛ/.

Neither final consonants nor consonant clusters occur.

Pronouns

Wilson (1980: 35-36) gives Zia pronouns in five case forms as follows:

nominativedative possessivereflexive emphatic
-ɛnɔ -na -tʰɔpʰɛ -nɛ/-na
1 sg. na na-ɛnɔ na-na na-tʰɔpʰɛ na-nɛ
2 sg. ni ni-ɛnɔ ni-na ni-tʰɔpʰɛ ni-nɛ
3 sg. nu nu-ɛnɔ nu-na nu-tʰɔpʰɛ nu-nɛ
1 pl. excl.na-ɛ na-ɛ-ɛnɔ na-na-ɛ na-ɛ-tʰɔpʰɛ na-na-ɛ
1 pl. incl.na-mɛ na-mɛ-ɛnɔ na-na-mɛ na-mɛ-tʰɔpʰɛ na-na-mɛ
2 pl. ni-ɛ ni-ɛ-ɛnɔ ni-na-ɛ ni-ɛ-tʰɔpʰɛ ni-na-ɛ
3 pl. awɔ̃ awɔ̃-ɛnɔ nu-na-ɛ nũ-jɛ-tʰɔpʰɛ nu-na-ɛ
1 dl. excl.na-tʰɔ na-tʰɔ-ɛnɔ na-na-tʰɔ na-tʰɔ-tʰɔpʰɛ na-na-tʰɔ
1 dl. incl.na-ɔ na-ɔ-ɛnɔ na-na-ɔ na-ɔ-tʰɔpʰɛ na-na-ɔ
2 dl. ni-tʰɔ ni-tʰɔ-ɛnɔ ni-na-tʰɔ ni-tʰɔ-tʰɔpʰɛ ni-na-tʰɔ
3 dl. awɔ̃-tʰɔ awɔ̃-tʰɔ-ɛnɔnu-na-tʰɔ awɔ̃-tʰɔ-tʰɔpʰɛnu-na-tʰɔ

The unmarked case designated here as nominative is used as both subject and object; that designated as dative is used to indicate benefactive, indirect object or accompaniment.

There are only four pronominal roots /na ni nu awɔ̃/, the first two of which are undifferentiated by number. While third person plural /awɔ̃/ is also found in Mawae as [ago] (Wilson 1969: 77,) the original third person plural /nu-ɛ/ is found in the possessive and the reflexive.

The number formatives, e.g. /-tʰɔ/ dual from /ɛtʰɔ/ “two,” are of relatively recent origin and are probably best viewed as clitics. Some of these as well as the case formatives are found in closely-related Suena and in Binandere, but in varying orders, suggesting that the pronominal complex is reducible to postpositional phrases at a shallow time depth.

Wilson's plural and dual emphatic forms are identical to the possessives. In Suena, the emphatic is /-nɛ/ in all persons.

Verbal morphology

[under construction]