This presentation is somewhat linguistically technical; for a non-technical (but somewhat outdated) presentation see "Lesson 0".
The writing system is phonemic. In email messages and in the plain text pages of this site, I use an ASCII transcription which is a superset of x-convention Esperanto. My handwriting for gzb however has evolved into something that no longer so much resembles the Esperanto alphabet.
In ASCII, a letter followed by 'x' or 'q' is a digraph; for instance, {sx} represents the postalveolar fricative in English "shoe" and {iq} represents the lax front vowel in English "lip". In Unicode, used in all the HTML pages of this site, these letters are {ŝ} and {ĭ}. Generally an 'x' digraph in the ASCII transcription corresponds to what was a circumflexed letter in my original handwritten orthography, and a 'q' digraph in the ASCII transcription corresponds to what was a hacek'd letter in my original handwritten orthography. However, not all of these characters are available in Unicode, so I've used the closest fits I could find.
Whenever in the tables below two letters appear paired like {t/d}, the first is unvoiced and the second voiced.
Stop consonants / fĭ-θy kě'pâ-baw
| gzb-Unicode | gzb-ASCII | IPA | CXS | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| p/b | p/b | p/b | p/b | bilabial stops |
| t/d | t/d | t/d | t/d | alveolar stops |
| k/g | k/g | k/g | k/g | velar stops |
| ķ | kx | q | q | uvular stop or retracted velar stop |
Fricative consonants / šî'fy-baw
| f/v | f/v | f/v | f/v | labiodental fricatives |
| Φ | px | ʙ | B\ | bilabial trill or strongly aspirated /ph/ |
| θ / ð | tx / dx | θ / ð | T / D | dental fricatives |
| s/z | s/z | s/z | s/z | alveolar fricatives |
| ŝ / ĵ | sx / jx | ʃ / ʒ | S / Z | postalveolar fricatives |
| š/ʝ | sq / jq | ç / ʝ | C / j\ | palatal fricatives (ich laut) |
| ĥ / ħ | hx / hq | x / ɣ | x / G | velar fricatives (ach laut) |
| h | h | h | h | glottal fricative |
| ₣ / ƴ | fx / vx | p͜f / b͜v | p_f / b_v | labiodental affricates |
| c/ź | c / zx | t͜s / d͜z | t_s / d_z | alveolar affricates |
| ĉ/ĝ | cx / gx | t͜ʃ / d͜ | t_S / d_Z | postalveolar affricates |
| č/ž | cq / zq | c͜ç / ɟ͜ʝ | c_C / J\_j\ | palatal affricates |
Nasal consonants / nĭm-baw
| m | m | m | m | bilabial nasal |
| n | n | n | n | alveolar nasal |
| ŋ | nx | ŋ | N | velar nasal (uvular nasal before "ķ" /q/) |
Liquid consonants / ler-baw
| r | r | ɾ or ɹ | 4 or r\ | alveolar tap alone syllable-inital (e.g. {râm},
"cat") alveolar approximant if in initial cluster ({rjâ}, "seeking") or syllable-final ({hyr}, "hour"). |
| l | l | l | l | lateral approximant, dental or alveolar |
| Ќ | kq | kʼ | k_> | velar ejective — same point of articulation as k, g, ĥ... tongue suddenly pushed forward |
| Ł | lq | ǃ | !\ | lateral or alveolar click — front of tongue pulled from roof of mouth |
| ť | tq | ǀ | |\ | dental click — tip of tongue pulled from between teeth |
| ƥ | pq | ʘ | O\ | bilablial click — lips pulled apart suddenly |
| ɱ | mq | ʘ̃ | O\~ | similar to {ƥ}, but nasal |
Front vowels:
| i | i | i | i | close high unrounded |
| î | ix | y | y | close high rounded |
| ĭ | iq | ɪ | I | open high unrounded |
| e | e | ɛ | E | open mid unrounded |
| ô | ox | ø | 2 | close mid rounded |
| â | ax | æ | & | very open mid unrounded |
Central vowels:
| ř | rq | ɹ̣ | r\= | high retroflex |
| ě | eq | ə or ʌ: | @ or V: | central
mid unrounded (schwa) when unstressed; back mid unrounded when stressed |
| a | a | ɑ | A | open low unrounded |
Back vowels:
| u | u | u | u | close high rounded |
| y | y | ʊ | U | open high rounded |
| o | o | o | o | close mid rounded |
| ǒ | oq | ɔ | O | open mid rounded |
All the vowels have nasal and oral variants. A nasal vowel is indicated by a following {ň}, as in such minimal pairs as {zuň} (alive) vs. {zu} (only), {bâ} (zero) vs. {bâň} (permission).
Semivowels, approximants:
| j | j | j or I | j or I | palatal approximant |
| w | w | w or ʊ | w or U | bilabial semivowel |
| r | r | ɹ | r\ | alveolar approximant (in initial cluster or syllable-final only) |
Many diphthongs occur — almost all the possible combinations of the vowels and approximants above. Keep {âw} and {aw} distinct. The first is the semivowel in English "how" or Esperanto "aŭ", conventionally transcribed /aʊ/ though it's typically pronounced as /æʊ/. For the second, /ɑʊ/, I am not aware of any natural language equivalent. A particular tongue-twister is the postposition {rřr}, /ɾɹ̣ɹ/ "from far beyond".
Nonphonemic letters:
| ň (nq) | indicates the preceding vowel is pronounced nasally |
| ŗ (rx) | a non-gzb rhotic sound in a foreign name. |
There is an unwritten glottal stop at the beginning of the postpositions {i, o, ř} when they have no directional prefix consonant, as in {mĭ-i}, "about", and {vâ-oŋ-zô}, "to eat"; but also in words like {kujm-o} "for the purpose of", where the previous syllable ends in a consonant.
By vowel harmony if any syllable of a word is nasalized, they all are, as are any following clitics. So {ň} appears only at the end of a root word (or conjunction), never in suffixes or clitics. In other words, nasality is allophonic, not phonemic, for the vowels that only occur in clitics and suffixes. If a compound radical is formed of a root with a nasal vowel and one with an oral vowel, all vowels in the compound are nasal. This can theoretically cause homophony; for instance, the (fairly contrived) compounds {tâ-zuň} (sibling-alive) and {tâň-zu} (taking-only.one) would be pronounced identically as /'tæ̃.zũ/.
Nasal vowels are rare in the lexicon (occurring in 22 root words out of 784 as of 2005/12/5), though they are not uncommon in running text because they occur in a few common morphemes such as {zuň} "alive", {ryň} "do, act", {θuň} "story, narrative", and {kiň} "and".
When a morpheme beginning with an affricate follows a morpheme that ends with a nasal consonant, the affricate is lenited into the corresponding plain fricative. e.g., {tyn-ca} "to situate oneself" is usually pronounced /'tʊn.sɑ/, rather than /'tʊn.t͜sɑ/. This also causes occasional homophony; for instance, {râm-źa} (cat-AUG = mountain lion) and {râm-za} (cat-ADJ = relating to cats) are both pronounced /'ræm.zɑ/.
An initial cluster of semivowels tends to be coarticulated, as in {rjâ} "quest" or {wrym} "decoration".
Consonants that are followed immediately by rounded vowels |u|, |o|, |î|, and |ô| tend to be slightly labialized.
The distinction between |u| /u/ and |y| /ʊ/ tends to be neutralized when they occur before |w| /w/.
|ě| is schwa when unstressed, when it occurs in an open CV syllable. If it occurs in a syllable closed by an approximant, e.g. |kěr'nâ| "dogwood tree", it takes primary stress and is pronounced as a long /ʌ:/, thus: /'kʌ:ɹ.næ/. This allophone may tend to occur also preceding a nasal consonant in the same closed syllable.
gjâ-zym-byn has very restrictive phonotactic constraints compared to English, German, Esperanto, etc., but comparatively liberal constraints compared with Japanese, Hawai'ian, Konya, etc.
Normally only a click, ejective or vowel can form a syllable nucleus. However, foreign names can have syllabic lateral or nasal consonants (which (in handwriting) are marked with a grave accent on the syllabic consonant), and in general are subject to much looser phonotactic constraints than native words.
Generally speaking, the form of a syllable is:
C(S)V(S)(S|N)
where C = any consonant except a click or ejective, S = semivowel/approximant (|r|, |l|, |j|, |w|), V = vowel, N = nasal consonant (|m|, |n|, |ŋ|). But this is a simplification; not all initial consonants can be followed by an approximant, and some can be followed only by a limited subset of approximants. Not all approximants can cluster with each other syllable-finally. Nasal vowels (in root words) cannot be followed by a nasal consonant, whether or not an approximant intervenes.
The following consonants may be followed by any approximant:
|k|, |g|, |t|, |d|, |p|, |b|, |s|, |z|, |θ|, |ð|, |f|, |v|, |c|, |ź|, |m|, |n|, |ŋ|
The following consonants may be followed only by |r|, |l|, or |w|:
|š|, |ʝ|, |ŝ|, |ĵ|, |ĥ|, |ħ|
The following consonants may be followed only by |r|, |l|, or |j|:
|₣|, |ƴ|
The following consonants may be followed only by |r| or |l|:
|ĉ|, |ĝ|, |w|
These consonants cannot be followed by any approximant:
|Φ|, |ķ|, |j|, |č|, |ž|
In addition, |h| is only followed by |w|, and initial |r| only by |j|. Initial |r| could be followed by |w|, but this isn't yet used in any already-coined word.
Syllable-finally, any approximant can be followed by any nasal, but the only final combinations of approximants occuring in the lexicon are /rj/ as in {purj}, "environment" and /jl/ as in {ojl}, "across". Possible final clusters of approximants that may be used in future coinings include /wr/ and /wl/.
Samples of syllable types: (C = any consonant except a click or ejective, K = click or ejective, S = semivowel/approximant, V = vowel, N = nasal consonant)
| K | ť | you |
| CV | fu | light |
| CSV | pwĭ | delight |
| SSV | lju | reading |
| CVS | muw | subset |
| CVN | hum | deep |
| CVSN | kujm | motive |
| CSVN | sjum | thanks |
| CSVS | fjâw | awe |
| CSVSN | hwâwm | roleplaying |
| CVSS | purj | environment |
The vowel in a syllable indicates the type of word it occurs in:
| i, o, ř | Postpositions ({i}, at; {son}, onto) |
| iň, oň | Certain conjunctions (e.g. {kiň}, "and") |
| e, ǒ | Other conjunctions, adverbial particles, quantifiers, etc. |
| a, ô | suffixes (e.g. {-van}, the stative verb ending) |
| î, ě (and their nasal variants) | initial or medial syllable of a polysyllabic noun root |
| u, y, ĭ, â (and their nasal variants) | sole or final syllable of a noun root E.g.: {fî'suň}, "Earth"; {ruŋ}, "going, movement" |
Stress and intonation aren't phonemic. I haven't quite figured out what the stress and intonation rules are yet, but getting them wrong won't make a word mean something different (as in Chinese) or turn a statement into a question (as in English), or give a sentence an ironic or sarcastic turn. Penultimate stress seems to be most common, but there are exceptions I haven't entirely figured out the pattern to yet. The schwa {ě} is never stressed unless it is followed by an approximant in the same syllable; tense vowels are more likely to be stressed than lax vowels, and vowels followed by approximants more likely to be stressed than pure vowels. Also, it seems that the same word can have different syllables stressed in different contexts within specific phrases. Typically the two-syllable derived postpositions are stressed on the penult, but in some contexts neither syllable is stressed, when the primary stress of the postpositional phrase as a whole falls on the syllable before the postposition (the last syllable of the noun, or a clitic following the noun).
Certain suffixes are never stressed, e.g. the verb suffixes and the basic adjectivizing suffixes. Some other suffixes and clitics may get primary stress, but it's more likely to fall within a content root word. I think the distinction between suffixes and clitics than can and those that can't get stress is at least partly semantic rather than purely phonological, but I'm not sure yet.
My earliest handwritten alphabet used a circumflex for the letters represented with an x-digraph and a caron or hácek for the letters represented with a q-digraph. Later on these letters mutated as in rapid writing I merged the accent mark and the letter into a single glyph. More recently (since late 2006) I've started creating logographic or morphographic glyphs to represent some of the most common words and morphemes, based on a corpus frequency analysis. I started with the most common morpheme, the verb suffix {-zô}, and after getting used to the new glyph for it, started working my way down the frequency table, and getting used to using one new logogram before making a new one; there are nine such so far.
I don't have room on my bellsouthpwp.net website for images of gzb's orthography; I put some images on the files area of the gjax-zym-byn mailing list.
I gradually worked out this Unicode mapping in late 2004-early 2005. I'm still not entirely satisfied with it, though. In July 2005 John Quijada suggested some possible improvements (e.g. replacing |î| with |ü|) which, on consideration, seemed like too much work to implement.
There are no capital letters. Proper names are indicated to be such by suffixes. In my handwritten script, proper names are inconsistently preceded by an open single quote, and their stressed vowels are marked with an acute accent; syllabic nasals or liquids are marked with a grave accent. An older form of the ASCII orthography used capitalized vowels for irregular stress.
Acronyms are written with commas separating the letters. (Periods are always and only used to end a sentence, which should simplify the parsing problem if I ever get around to writing a parser for gzb.) They may be pronounced by inserting {ě} (schwa) after the first and medial consonants, {u} after the last, with stress on the last syllable.
| g,z,b, | /gə.zə.'bu/ |
| . | ends every sentence |
| ? | precedes question sentences |
| ! | precedes imperative sentences |
| * | precedes especially important sentences (like English use of "!") |
| { } | quotation marks (advantage: they can be unambiguously nested, unlike "") |
| , : ; ( ) | used much as in English |
| - | separates morphemes in most compound words |
| ' | separates syllables in polysyllabic roots (not strictly necessary for showing syllable divisions, but helpful for providing some whitespace) |
| ~~~ | ellipsis |
The hyphen and apostrophe are used only in the ASCII and Unicode orthographies; I no longer use them in handwriting, except for using hyphenation when splitting a word across two lines (in which case I usually have a hyphen at the end of one line and the beginning of the next, unlike in English). I only hyphenate on morpheme boundaries, not syllable boundaries within morphemes (I wish printers of books in English and Esperanto would do the same). I occasionally mark potentially ambiguous morpheme boundaries with a mid-dot |·|, e.g. between a proper name and the name-type suffix.
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Last updated June 2009