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{{Infobox language|name=Zjugo|pronunciation=[ˈʑɯ.gɤ̞]|family=Isolate, Paleo-Hlabiglan|early-forms=Zjiogeo|era=today|scripts=[[Latin alphabet]], Zjugohai|country=[[Hiso Zju'a]]|lang-code=ZG|endonym=Zjugo (in Zjugo)<br>Zjuan (in English)}}

'''Zjuan''' /ˈʒuw.ən/ (ZG Zjugo /ˈʑɯ.gɤ̞/) is an isolate, Paleo-Hlambiglan language spoken in Hiso Zju'a. It is one of the three languages spoken there, each belonging primarily to one of the three most represented ethnicities residing there. Zjugo belongs to the [unnamed] group native to Zju'an land.

== Phonology ==

=== Consonants ===
Zjuan consonants feature a full voicing distinction in all plosives and fricatives except for the velar fricatives. They also include a palatalization distinction for all plosives and fricatives and alveolar/palatal nasal consonants. Especially in recent times, labial and velar palatalized consonants are often articulated as consonant clusters with the palatal approximant.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" |labial
! rowspan="2" |alveolar
! rowspan="2" |palatal
! colspan="2" |velar
! rowspan="2" |glottal
|-
!plain
!palatalized
!plain
!palatalized
|-
! colspan="2" |nasal
| colspan="2" |m
|n
|ɲ
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |plosive
!unvoiced
|p
|pʲ
|t
|t͡ɕ
|k
|kʲ
|
|-
!voiced
|b
|bʲ
|d
|d͡ʑ
|g
|gʲ
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |fricative
!unvoiced
|f
|fʲ
|s
|ɕ
|x
|xʲ
|(h)
|-
!voiced
|v
|vʲ
|z
|ʑ
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |trill/approximant
| colspan="2" |w
|r~ɾ
|j
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |lateral
|
|
|l
|
|
|
|
|}

=== Vowels ===
Zjugo features a simple five vowel system. Main things to note is the lack of an open central vowel, as it is being replaced instead with the near-open front unrounded vowel, and the lack of rounding.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
!front
!back
|-
!close
|i
|ɯ
|-
!mid
|e̞
|ɤ̞
|-
!open
|æ
|
|}

=== Diphthongs ===
Any Zjuan vowel except /i/ and /ɯ/ may appear as the first vowel in a diphthong followed by /i/ (frequently articulated as [ɪ] when appearing like this).

== Spelling ==

=== [[Latin alphabet]] ===
Here are the letters and digraphs used to spell Zjugo, when using the [[Latin script]].
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Letter
!Pronunciation
!digraph
!pronunciation
|-
|A
|/æ/
|Ai
|/æi/
|-
|B
|/b/
|Bj
|/bʲ/
|-
|D
|/d/
|Dj
|/d͡ʑ/
|-
|E
|/e̞/
|Ei
|/e̞i/
|-
|F
|/f/
|Fj
|/fʲ/
|-
|G
|/g/
|Gj
|/gʲ/
|-
|H
|/x/
|Hj
|/xʲ/
|-
|I
|/i/
|
|
|-
|J
|/j/
|
|
|-
|K
|/k/
|Kj
|/kʲ/
|-
|L
|/l/
|
|
|-
|M
|/m/
|
|
|-
|N
|/n/
|Nj
|/ɲ/
|-
|O
|/ɤ̞/
|Oi
|/ɤ̞i/
|-
|P
|/p/
|Pj
|/pʲ/
|-
|R
|/r~ɾ/
|
|
|-
|S
|/s/
|Sj
|/ɕ/
|-
|T
|/t/
|Tj
|/t͡ɕ/
|-
|U
|/ɯ/
|
|
|-
|V
|/v/
|Vj
|/vʲ/
|-
|W
|/w/
|
|
|-
|Z
|/z/
|Zj
|/ʑ/
|}

=== Zjugohai ===
Zjugohai /ˈʑɯ.gɤ̞.xai/ is the original way used to spell Zjugo, although it has since begun to fall out of use in favor of the [[Latin script]]. It is a syllabary featuring characters for every combination of a plain voiceless consonant followed by a vowel (including the lack of a consonant). It's written top to bottom with its columns advancing right to left. Voicing and palatalization are spelled using other strategies, discussed later.

=== Voicing ===
Voiced obstruents are spelled by placing a diacritic to the left of the right syllable character. Voiced palatalized consonants still have this diacritic on the first character.

=== Palatalization ===
Consonant vowel pairs with a palatalized consonant are spelled as a digraph, including a character of the voiceless unpalatalized equivalent consonant with the i vowel. That is then followed by one of the four special palatalization characters; one exists for each vowel except i itself. Diphthongs following palatalized consonants are spelled by placing a diacritic, identical in appearance to the one used for voicing, onto the palatalization character.

=== Diphthongs and syllable-final n ===
As discussed earlier, Zjugo only permits one consonant to appear phonemically in syllable codas and that is /n/. This is spelled with a special character. If syllable contains no such coda and no palatalized consonant, a reverse-S-like character is used, meanwhile if a syllable contains this coda and also a diphthong, it is spelled with another special character, being a variant of the final n character, and lastly if the final n is included in a syllable with a palatalized consonant, a variant of the appropriate palatalization character is used.