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Pronunciation
Pārsīg includes the phonemes shown in Table 1:
Consonatal sounds
Manner of
articulation
Labial
Plosive
Voiceless p
Voiced b
Affricate
Voiceless
voiced
Fricative
Voiceless f
Voiced v
Nasal
m
Trill
Approximant
Lateral
Place of articulation
PalatoRoundedAlveolar
alveolar Palatal Velar velar
Glottal
t
d
k
g
c
j
xv
x
š
s
z
n
r
h
y
l
Vowels
Short
Long
i
ī
e
ē
a
ā
o
ō
u
ū
a
A low-mid vowel, similar to the first, de-stressed in the English verb subject, or
to the vowel in English but, articulated with the lips somewhat closer together
than in southern standard English.
abr ‘cloud’, dar ‘door’, vad ‘bad’
ā
A low central vowel, similar to the first vowel in English father (in northern
English pronunciation), or as a in wash.
āb ‘water’, dār ‘tree; wood’, vād ‘wind’, vāzār ‘market’
i
A quite high front vowel; rather like the vowel in English sit in southern
standard English pronunciation. Speakers of Pārsīg may employ a higher, tenser,
somewhat longer pronunciation of this vowel than that indicated here (in which it
is less distinct from the following vowel, ī).
im ‘this’, dil ‘heart’, peristag ‘servant’
ī
A high front vowel, similar to the vowel in English seat in southern standard
English pronunciation.
dibīr ‘scribe’, zamīg ‘earth’, anī ‘other’, īzad ‘god’
u
A quite high back rounded vowel, rather like the vowel in English put in
southern standard English pronunciation, though tending to be slightly higher.
Speakers of Pārsīg may employ a higher, tenser, somewhat longer pronunciation
of this vowel than that indicated here (in which it is less distinct from the
following vowel, ū).
u/ ud ‘and’, dušmen ‘enemy’, drust ‘right; healthy’
ū
A high back rounded vowel, rather like the vowel in English food in southern
standard English pronunciation, but with slightly less lip sounding than this vowel
sometimes receives in that pronunciation.
dūd ‘smoke’, srū ‘horn’, hušnūd ‘contented’
e
A (high-)mid front vowel, similar to the first vowel in German geben, or French
été.
enyā ‘otherwise’, ped ‘to, at, on’, škeft ‘astonishing’
ē
A mid front vowel, similar to the vowel in French paix.
ēn ‘this’, bēš ‘pain’, vēnīg ‘nose’
o
A (high-)mid back rounded vowel, similar to the vowel in French beau.
do ‘two’, ox ‘existence’, soxan ‘word, speech’
ō
A mid back rounded vowel, rather like the vowel in English nod in southern
standard English pronunciation, but rather longer, and tending usually to be
pronounced with a slightly higher point of articulation.
ōz ‘strength’, bōy ‘scent, perfume’, frōd ‘down’
h
Voiceless glottal fricative; as in English.
šāh ‘king’, ham ‘same’, siyāh ‘black’
x
Voiceless velar fricative; as ch in Scottish loch, German Bach.
xāyag ‘egg’, xūb ‘good’, draxt ‘tree’, vistāx ‘confident’
g
Voiced velar stop, palatalized in a final position and before ā, e, i and ē,
otherwise as in English.
gāh ‘seat, throne’, grīv ‘neck’, garm ‘warm, hot’, magas ‘fly’, marg ‘death’
k
Voiceless velar stop, palatalized under the same conditions as g, otherwise as in
English.
kabk ‘partridge’, xāk ‘dust; earth’, kirbakkar ‘beneficent’
š
Voiceless palato-velar fricative; similar to English sh, but often more tense in
articulation.
šād ‘happy’, šab ‘night’, gōš ‘ear’, cašm ‘eye’
y
Palatal glide; somewhat like English y in the word yard, but more laxly
articulated and vocalic in quality, especially when non-initial.
yān ‘boon’, may ‘wine’, drayā ‘sea’
j
Voiced Palato-alveolar affricate; similar to English j in jam.
jagar ‘liver’, jām ‘glass’, āranj ‘elbow’
c
Voiceless palato-alveolar affricate; the closest English equivalent is ch in
church, but Pārsīg c has minimum aspiration, and is more tense in articulation
than English ch.
caxr ‘wheel’, kafcag ‘spoon’, ēc ‘any’, peccēn ‘copy’
r
Alveolar or post-dental liquid with weak roll, or tap; usually like Scottish rolled
r except that the roll is not so prolonged.
rāh ‘way, road’, dūr ‘far’, narm ‘soft’
l
Alveolar or post-dental liquid; similar to “clear” l in English lick.
lab ‘lip’, gul ‘flower, rose’, vālīdan ‘to grow’, buland ‘high’
n
Dental nasal; as in English except before b, when it is pronounced as m.
nām ‘name’, nūn ‘now’, danb = damb ‘shore’, xvamn ‘sleep’
d
Voiced dental stop; an French d.
dānāg ‘wise’, azd ‘known’, adān ‘unknowing’, hind ‘India’
t
Voiceless dental stop, in which the tongue tip touches the teth, not the ridge
behind the teeth. This articulation of t is common in English before a word
beginning with a dental fricative, e.g. in the sequence at the …
tan ‘body’, dast ‘hand’, pettūdan ‘to endure’, vattar ‘worse’, gētīg ‘world’
z
Voiced alveolar or post-dental fricative; as English z.
zamān ‘time’, zan ‘wife’, az ‘from’, nazd ‘near’, bazag ‘evil, crime’
s
Voiceless alveolar or post-dental fricative; as hard English s.
sēb ‘apple’, sar ‘head’, pusar ‘son, boy’, stūn ‘column’, pessannīdan ‘to approve,
like’
xv (also written xv)
Rounded-velar fricative, rather like the consonant x, but immediately tending to
purse the lips.
xvāb ‘slep, xvardan ‘to eat’, naxvist ‘first’, nixvārdan ‘to hasten’
f
Voiceless labio-dental fricative; as English f.
fradāg ‘tomorrow’, kaf ‘foam’, vafr ‘snow’, afsān ‘fable’
v
Voiced labio-dental fricative; upper teeth just touch lower lip, always with loose
content, and lips are unrounded. Sometimes, especially following consonants, a
bilabial rather than a labio-dental sound may be heard.
vas ‘much, many, enough’, kišvar ‘continent’, murv ‘bird’
b
Voiced bilabial stop; as English b.
bay ‘lord’, darbān ‘gatekeeper’, babr ‘tiger’, carb ‘mild; fatty’
p
Voiceless bilabial stop, similar to unaspirated p in English spin.
pidar ‘father’, pursīdan ‘to ask’, asp ‘horse’, spēd ‘white’, appurdan ‘to carry off,
rob’
m
Bilabial nasal; as English m.
asmān ‘sky’, carm ‘skin, hide’, kam ‘few’, mādar ‘mother’
• Nouns and Adjectives
The Pārsīg noun evolved into a two-number and no-case system. The singular is
unmarked. The general plural morpheme is °ān, and sometimes °īhā (in the later
writings). There are no morphological cases.
• Pronouns
It is possible to establish a paradigm of personal pronouns of three persons for the
singular and three for plurals (V: a linking vowel).
Singular 1
2
3
Tonic
Enclitic
_________________________
man, (an)
-Vm
tō, (tū)
-Vt
ōy/ avē/ ō, (hō)
-Vš
Plural
1
2
3
amā(h)
-Vmān, -Vn
ašmā(h)
-Vtān
avēšān, avīn, (havīn)
-Všān
____________________________
Demonstrative pronouns: ēn, ēd, im ‘this (one)’, pl. ēnēšān, imēšān/ imīn; ōy,
hān ‘that (one)’, pl. avīn/ avēšān, hānēšān.
Relative and interrogative pronouns: ī (also īg) links almost every noun and its
modifier; it also has a relative meaning. kē relative pronoun ‘who, which’,
interrogative pronoun ‘who?’, cē relative pronoun ‘what, which’, interrogative
pronoun ‘which? what?’, generalizing kadām-iz-ē ‘whichever’, kadār
interrogative pronoun ‘which (of two), who?’, generalizing kadār-z-ē.
Indefinite pronouns: kas ‘some (one, body), person’; tis ‘some (thing)’; anī
‘other’; ēc ‘any’; harv ‘every’; visp, harvisp ‘all, every’; hamag ‘all’; hāmōyēn
‘all, every’; cand ‘some’, (interrogative pronoun ‘how much, how many?’).
Reflexive pronouns: xvēš reflexive/ possessive pronoun ‘own’; xvad reflexive/
emphatic pronoun.
• Verbs
The verb is formally characterized by two stems from which all forms can be
built: the present stem and the past stem.
The inflection of the verb bav- (sometimes b-) ‘to be, become’:
Indicative
sg.
1
2
3
Subjunctive
sg.
1
2
3
Optative
sg.
3
Imperative
sg.
2
bavam (°em, °em)
bevē (°eh)
baved (bed)
pl.
1
2
3
bavem (°am, °um)
baved (bed)
bavend
bavān
bavāy (bavā)
bavād
pl.
1
2
3
bavām
bavād
bavānd
pl.
2
baved/ bed
bēh (bē)
bāš
The inflection of the verb h- (sometimes ah-) ‘to be’):
Indicative
sg.
1
2
3
Subjunctive
sg.
1
2
3
Optative
sg.
1
2
3
ham (hem, hum) pl.
hē
ast
1
hem (ham, hum)
2
hed
3
hend
hān
hāy (hā)
hād
pl.
1
2
3
hām
hād
hānd
hēm
hēš
hē
pl.
1
2
3
hēm
hēd
hēnd
The inflection of the verb ēst (sometimes est-) ‘to be, stand’:
Indicative
sg.
1
2
3
Subjunctive
sg.
1
2
3
Optative
sg.
2
4
Imperative
sg.
2
ēstam (ēstem)
ēstē (ēsteh)
ēsted
ēstān
ēstāy (āstā)
ēstād
pl.
1
2
3
ēstem
ēsted
ēstend
pl.
3
ēstānd
pl.
2
ēsted
ēstēš
ēstē
ēst
The past tense is used in periphrastic constructions with auxiliary verbs such as
bav-, h-, ēst-. Using the intransitive verb šav-/ past šud ‘to go’ and the transitive
verb vēn-/ past dīd ‘to see’ as examples, the interpretation of the preterit is as
fommows:
Indicative
sg.
1
2
3
Subjunctive
sg.
1
2
3
Optative
sg.
3
Indicative
sg.
1
šud ham ‘I went’ pl.
šud hē
šud
1
pl.
šud hem
2
šud hed
3
šud hend
šud hān
pl.
‘I may have gone’
šud hāy
šud hād
1
šud hām
2
3
šud hād
šud hānd
šud hē
pl.
‘would that he had gone’
3
šud hend hē
(…) dīd ham ‘(…) saw me’, etc.
e.g. u-t dīd ham ‘and you saw me’; andar šahr dīd ham ‘I was seen in the city’.