Phonology

Phonemes

Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Voiceless plosive	p	t			k	q
Voiced plosive	b	d			ɡ ⟨G g⟩
Ejective plosive		tʼ	tsʼ ⟨Sʼ sʼ⟩ tɬʼ ⟨Łʼ łʼ⟩		kʼ	qʼ
Voiceless fricative	f		s ɬ ⟨Ł ł⟩	ɕ ⟨Š š⟩	x		h
Voiced fricative			z		ɣ ⟨Ġ ġ⟩
Nasal	m	n
Liquid			r l
Semivowels	w			j ⟨Y y⟩

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː ⟨Ī ī⟩		u uː ⟨Ū ū⟩
Central		(ə) ⟨Ǝ ǝ⟩
Low	a aː ⟨Ā ā⟩

[ə] is not a phoneme, as its distribution is predictable, but is represented orthographically.

Phonological rules

Stress placement

The second-last syllable with the highest weight (or only syllable with the highest weight), after [ə] insertion, is stressed. Syllable weight is calculated based on an initial value of:

0 for [ə]
1 for /a i u/
2 for /aː iː uː/

plus 1 for each following consonant in the syllable coda.

Schwa insertion

For:

S: stops
K: non-coronal fricative
P: plosives
O: obstruents (except /h/)
A: (ejective) affricates
F: fricatives (except /h/)
Z: coronal fricative
N: nasals
L: liquids
W: semivowels

With a sonority hierarchy of:

stops > affricates > fricatives > nasals > liquids > semivowels > vowels

[ə] is inserted the minimum number of times necessary to result in valid syllables, where the instances of [ə] inserted are placed as close to the end of a given word as possible, where if the closeness of one or more instances [ə] to the end of a goven word is dependent on the closeness of one or more other instancees of [ə] to the end of a given word, the closeness of each [ə] to the end of the word starting closest to the end of the word is prioritized over every other [ə] before it.

Onsets and codas

The following onsets are permitted:

{{∅ O AS FS KZ}{∅ N}{∅ L}{∅ W} h{∅ W}}

The following codas are permitted:

{{∅ W}{∅ L}{∅ N}{∅ O {∅ A F}S{∅ S*}{∅ A Z}} {∅ W}h{∅ S{∅ S*}{∅ A Z}}}

When syllables could belong to both onsets and codas, they are assigned to the onset in question

Adjacent vowel coalescence/diphthongization

{aa aā āa āā} > ā
{ii iī īi īī} > ī
{uu uū ūu ūū} > ū
ai > ay
āi > āy
aīC > ayiC
aīV > ayyV
āīC > āyiC
āīV > āyyV
au > aw
āu > āw
aūC > awuC
aūV > awwV
āūC > awuC
āūV > āwwV
ia > ya
iā > yā
Cīa > Ciya
Vīa > Vyya
Cīā > Ciyā
Vīā > Vyyā
ua > wa
uā > wā
Cūa > Cuwa
Vūa > Vwwa
Cūā > Cuwā
Vūā > Vwwā
iu > iw
īu > īw
iū > yū
īū > īww
ui > uy
ūi > ūy
uī > wī
ūī > ūyy

Syntax

Word order

The general word order in main clauses, nominalized clauses, and non-attributive relative clauses is SOXAV, where S is the subject (agent in transitive clauses), O is the object in transitive clauses, X is any oblique arguments, A is any adverbs, and V is the main verb. However, actual word order is quite free, as no arguments are distinguished by order, except that the verb is always at the end of the clause. Interrogative pronouns, adverbs, and noun phrases modified by interrogative adjectives are normally moved to the front of the sentence.

The general word order in attributive relative clauses is the same as in main clauses, except that the noun qualified by the relative clause is always located someplace after the relative clause (not necessarily immediately after it). Note that a single noun can be qualified by multiple attributive relative clauses, where then the noun qualified is directly after the last relative clause qualifying it, and all of the other relative clauses come before it, each directly before the next.

Possessors come after the nouns the possess, with inalienable possessors coming before alienable possessors.

Postpositions (of course) come after the noun phrases they determine the grammatical roles for.

Alignment

The alignment is ergative, but this is primarily reflected in that most verbs that can form transitive clauses are ambitransitive such that the subject of intransitive clauses formed by them is equivalent to the object of transitive clauses formed by them, and that when referring to arguments of non-attributive relative clauses the same affix is used to refer to subjects of intransitive clauses and objects of transitive clauses.

Note that ergativity is not reflected in case, as there is no case marking, or in verb agreement, as there is polypersonal marking in transitive clauses that is distinct from personal marking in intransitive clauses.

Distinguishing 3rd person agents and objects

In transitive clauses 3rd person agents and objects are distinguished by verb agreement (i.e. by number and gender) and by relative position in the person and nominal hierarchies, and as a result by proximate versus obviative marking. Whether the argument higher on the person and nominal hierarchies or the argument lower on the person and nominal hierarchies is the agent, and the other argument is the object, is marked on the verb.

Relative clauses

For assigning relative nouns to subjects, agents, and objects in relative clauses, both attributive and non-attributive, a gap strategy is employed. For assigning relative nouns to other positions in relative clauses including in nested clauses within the relative clause, a resumptive pronoun strategy is employed. After non-attributive relative markers for non-attributive relative clauses, non-attributive relative clauses receive number, animacy, and proximate/obviate markers like any noun.

Subordinate clauses

Subordinate clauses are formed through clause nominalization, when some aspect of a clause, whether the whole clause itself, the manner of the clause, the reason of the clause, the time of the clause, or the place of the clause is marked as nominalized. After nominalization markers, subordinate clauses receive number, animacy, and proximate/obviative markers like any noun. However, normally subordinate clauses are marked for singular inanimate.

Nouns

Number

Nouns and pronouns are marked for singular and plural number. Nouns also can have collective number, where they are formally marked as singular but actually refer to multiple instances of the noun in question. Nouns with singulative number, where they specifically refer to a single instance of the noun in question, can also be formed from nouns with collective number through a singulative affix. Nouns with singulative number can in turn be made formally plural, to refer to small numbers of the noun question.

Gender

Nouns and pronouns are marked for inanimate and animate gender. Note that this does not necessarily correspond to what one would normally assume with respect to number, as there are a range of things that one would think were inanimate which are marked for animate gender. Also there are a few physically animate things that have inanimate gender. Body parts themselves vary in their assignment to animate and inanimate gender, but with there being a gender pattern that body parts that visibly physically do things are animate while other body parts are inanimate.

Proximate and obviative

Nouns and 3rd person pronouns are marked for proximate and obviative. They are used to distinguish more salient (proximate) and less salient (obviative) nouns. Obviative is marked while proximate is unmarked. Normally obviative is marked only when needed to distinguish multiple verb arguments which otherwise do not differ on the person and nominal hierarchies, to distinguish multiple instances of the same noun, or to refer to a noun that has elsewhere been marked as obviative, whether in the same clause, the same sentence, or even the same discussion.

Person and nominal hierarchies

There is a combined person and nominal hierarchy of 1st > 2nd > relative nouns > human pronouns > non-human animate pronouns > inanimate pronouns > named humans > named non-human animates > unnamed humans > unnamed non-human animates > inanimates. However, when the relative positions of two nouns or pronouns are compared, if one of them is marked for obviative it is always lower in position than the other noun or pronoun.

Nominal oblique grammatical roles

Grammatical roles other than subject, agent, object, and inalienable possessor are assigned to noun phrases by means of postpositional clitics, which attach to the end of the noun phrase.

Possession

There are two kinds of possession, alienable and inalienable. In both kinds of possession the person, number, and gender of each possessor is marked on the noun in question, with one set of endings for both alienable and inalienable possession. Markings for inalienable possession come before markings for alienable possession, and 1st persons come before 2nd persons come before 3rd persons. Possessors come before the noun possessed, with alienable possessors coming before inalienable possessors and alienable possessors receiving genitive postpositions but inalienable possessors being unmarked.

Note that inalienable possession is frequently used for what compounding is used for in other languages, with often multiple nouns being strung together with each being inalienably possessed by the next.

Morphology

Diminutive and augmentative

	Affix
Diminutive	S-ł
Augmentative	S-b

Singulative

	Affix
Singulative	S-ay

Proximate/obviative and number

	Proximate	Obviative
Animate singular	S	S-a
Animate plural	S-i	S-u
Inanimate singular	S-t	S-ta
Inanimate plural	S-n	S-na

Possession

	Affix
Alienable	S-u
Inalienable	S
1s	S-ut
1p	S-uš
2s	S-ub
2p	S-un
3sa	S-yu
3si	S-yi
3pa	S-aw
3pi	S-ay

Adjective from noun

	Affix
"Like"	S-l
Nisba	S-aw

Postpositional clitics

	Clitic
Genitive	l
Dative	m
Instrumental	ya
Comitative	p
Ablative	s
Locative	wa
Allative	d
Comparative	x
Conditional	h

Verbs

Agreement

Verbs in intransitive clauses agree with their subjects in person, number, and gender. Verbs in transitive clauses agree with both their agent and their object in person, number, and gender.

Evidentiality and attitude

Verbs in main clauses are marked for evidentiality and attitude, and verbs in subordinate and relative clauses are optionally, but by default not, marked for evidentiality and attitude.

There are five markings for evidentiality and attitude:

	Evidentiality and attitude
Witness	The speaker witnessed or directly experienced that described.
Deductive	The speaker deduced that described or has some doubts about it.
Assumption	The speaker assumes that described.
Dubitative	The speaker has heard of that described but has doubts about it.
Reportative	The speaker has heard of that described without witnessing it or having deduced it themselves.

Mirativity

Verbs in main clauses are marked for mirativity, and verbs in subordinate and relative clauses are optionally, but by default not, marked for mirativity.

Mirativity indicates surprise or unpreparedness for information.

Mood

There are five moods, indicative, imperative, polite request, subjunctive, and optative:

	Mood
Indicative	This indicates things that are realis, i.e. that actually take place.
Subjunctive	This indicates that are irrealis, i.e. that do not necessarily take place, but which are not imperative, polite request, or optative.
Optative	This is an irrealis mood that indicates wishes.
Imperative	This is an irrealis mood that indicates commands or requests to others.
Polite request	This is an irrealis mood that indicates polite requests to others, roughly equivalent to making requests with could you or please in English.

Aspect

There are six aspects, perfective/stative (which are combined into a single aspect), inchoative, terminative, progressive, habitual, and continuative:

	Aspect
Perfective/stative	This indicates things that are fixed events without structure or which are constant states.
Inchoative	This indicates events that are beginning at the time in question.
Terminative	This indicates events that had been occurring before the time in question but which are ending at the time in question.
Progressive	This indicates events that are occurring over time. Habitual indicates events that occur repeatedly throughout time but which are not simply constant states.
Continuative	This indicates events that have been already occurring up to the time in question but which are not ending at that time.

Tense

There are two tenses, past and non-past.

Negation

There are two types of negation, plain negative, used in indicative, subjunctive, and optative moods, and prohibitive, used in imperative and polite request moods.

Voices and valency modifications

There are both implicit ambitransitivity and explicit voices. All transitive verbs are actually ambitransitive ergative verbs, being able to form intransitive clauses where the subject of the intransitive clause is equivalent to the object of a corresponding transitive clause.

In addition there are a number of different voices, some of which can be combined. These are reflexive, reciprocal, causative, antipassive, dative applicative, instrumental applicative, comitative applicative, ablative applicative, locative applicative, and allative applicative:

	Voice
Reflexive	This turns a transitive verb into an intransitive verb, where a subject or multiple subjects of the intransitive verb become both the agent(s) and object(s) of the transitive verb such that each applies the transitive verb to themselves.
Reciprocal	This turns a transitive verb into an intransitive verb, where multiple subjects of the intransitive verb become the agents and objects of the transitive verb such that each applies the transitive verb to the others.
Causative	This demotes the agent of a transitive verb or subject of an intransitive verb to the object of a transitive verb and the object of a transitive verb, if the verb was transitive, to the instrument of a transitive verb, which may be omitted, adding a new agent denoting that which causes the verb in question to take place.
Antipassive	This removes the object of a transitive verb and creates a new intransitive verb, whose subject is the agent of the original transitive verb.
Instrumental/comitative applicative	For an intransitive verb, this creates a new transitive verb promoting an instrumental or comitative argument to object and converting the subject to agent. For a transitive verb, this replaces the object with a promoted instrumental or comitative argument.
Ablative applicative	For an intransitive verb, this creates a new transitive verb promoting an ablative argument to object and converting the subject to agent. For a transitive verb, this replaces the object with a promoted ablative argument.
Locative applicative	For an intransitive verb, this creates a new transitive verb promoting a locative argument to object and converting the subject to agent. For a transitive verb, this replaces the object with a promoted locattive argument.
Allative/dative applicative	For an intransitive verb, this creates a new transitive verb promoting an allative or dative argument to object and converting the subject to agent. For a transitive verb, this replaces the object with a promoted allative or dative argument.

Causative voice can be combined with any other voice, including itself, any number of times. Reflexive, reciprocal, and antipassive voices can be combined with any other voice that produces transitive verbs, namely causative voice and any of the applicative voices.

Modality

Verbs are marked for modality. Note that all modalities may be combined with any combination of tense, aspect, and mood, unlike modalities in, for instance, English.

Direction/position

Verbs are marked for the direction/position of the action described and of any locative noun phrases describing position.

Nominalization

Verbs can be nominalized as abstract, instance, absolutive argument, instrument, time, and place nouns. After the nominalization marker they receive the usual nominal markers for number, gender, and proximate/obviative. Note that nominalized verbs may receive marking for voice, negation, modality, and direction/position but do not receive marking for tense, aspect, mood, agreement, evidentiality, or mirativity. (To nominalize transitive verbs for their ergative argument, mark them as antipassive.)

Morphology

Direction

	Affix
In	g-S
On	r-S
At	k-S
Up	šy-S
Down	br-S
Through	dn-S
Over/above	ar-S
Under/below	łʼ-S
Between	ay-S
Around	ny-S
Beyond	šw-S
Out	if-S
Back	u-S
Away	qʼ-S
Left	z-S
Right	tʼ-S
Before	kʼ-S
After	pl-S

Modality

	Affix
To have to	S-na
To be supposed to	S-f
To be able to	S-li
Should (but with tense and mood)	S-hu
May/might (but with tense and mood)	S-r
To try to	S-x
To want to	S-qʼ

Voice

	Affix
Reflexive	m-S
Reciprocal	z-S
Causative	i-S
Antipassive	š-S
Instrumental/comitative applicative	w-S
Ablative applicative	x-S
Locative applicative	q-S
Allative/dative applicative	ġ-S

Tense/aspect/mood

	Affix
Indicative	S
Imperative	S*
Polite request	S**
Subjunctive	S-tʼ
Optative	S-h

* takes a different set of personal endings:

	Affix
1p	S-w
2s	S
2p	S-d

(Subject is along vertical axis, object is along horizontal axis.)

	1s	1p	2s	2p	3sa	3si	3pa	3pi	3'sa	3'si	3'pa	3'pi
1p			b-S-w	n-S-w	S-wa	S-w	y-S-wa	y-S-w
2s	t-S-y	t-S-yu			S-a	S	y-S-a	y-S
2p	t-S-dy	t-S-dyu			S-da	S-d	y-S-da	y-S-d

** takes a different set of personal endings:

	Affix
1p	S-gw
2s	S-g
2p	S-kʼ

(Subject is along vertical axis, object is along horizontal axis.)

	1s	1p	2s	2p	3sa	3si	3pa	3pi	3'sa	3'si	3'pa	3'pi
1p			b-S-gw	n-S-gw	S-gwa	S-gw	y-S-gwa	y-S-gw
2s	t-S-gy	t-S-gyu			S-ga	S-g	y-S-ga	y-S-g
2p	t-S-kʼy	t-S-kʼyu			S-kʼa	S-kʼ	y-S-kʼa	y-S-kʼ

	Affix
Past	S-d
Non-past	S

	Affix
Perfective/Stative	S
Inchoative	S-l
Terminative	S-r
Progressive	S-y
Habitual	S-u
Continuative	S-n

Negation

	Affix
Negative	s-S
Prohibitive	du-S

Mirativity

	Affix
Mirative	S-ł

Evidentiality

	Affix
Witness	S-aw
Deductive	S-ri
Assumption	S-w
Dubitative	S-nn
Reportative	S-i

Interrogativity

	Affix
Interrogative	S-z

Intransitive agreement

	Affix
1s	S-t
1p	S-š
2s	b-S
2p	n-S
3sa	S-a
3si	S
3pa	S-ma
3pi	S-m

Transitive agreement

(Subject is along vertical axis, object is along horizontal axis.)

	1s	1p	2s	2p	3sa	3si	3pa	3pi	3'sa	3'si	3'pa	3'pi
1s			b-S-t	n-S-t	S-ta	S-t	y-S-ta	y-S-t
1p			b-S-š	n-S-š	S-ša	S-š	y-S-ša	y-S-š
2s	tb-S-y	tb-S-yu			b-S-wa	b-S-w	yb-S-wa	yb-S-w
2p	tn-S-y	tn-S-yu			n-S-wa	n-S-w	yn-S-wa	yn-S-w
3sa	t-S-y	t-S-yu	tb-S	tn-S					a-S-a	a-S	ay-S-a	ay-S
3si	tsʼ-S-y	tsʼ-S-yu	tsʼb-S	tsʼn-S					sʼa-S-a	sʼa-S	sʼay-S-a	sʼay-S
3pa	t-S-my	t-S-myu	tb-S-m	tn-S-m					a-S-ma	a-S-m	ay-S-ma	ay-S-m
3pi	tsʼ-S-my	tsʼ-S-myu	tsʼb-S-m	tsʼn-S-m					sʼa-S-ma	sʼa-S-m	sʼay-S-ma	sʼay-S-m
3'sa					t-S-wa	t-S-w	ty-S-wa	ty-S-w
3'si					tsʼ-S-wa	tsʼ-S-w	tsʼy-S-wa	tsʼy-S-w
3'pa					t-S-ba	t-S-b	ty-S-ba	ty-S-b
3'pi					tsʼ-S-ba	tsʼ-S-b	tsʼy-S-ba	tsʼy-S-b

Noun from verb

	Affix
Abstract	S-h
Instance	S-š
Absolutive argument	S-r
Instrument	S-ġ
Time	S-ya
Place	S-x

Adjective from verb

	Affix
Ability	S-b

Noun from clause

	Affix
General	S-u
Non-attributive relative	S-i
Manner	S-ay
Reason	S-kʼ
Time	S-a
Place	S-ik

Adverb from verb

	Affix
Adverb	S-m

Adjectives

Morphology

Degree

	Affix
Positive	S
Comparative	S-s
Superlative	S-g

Adjective from adjective

	Affix
Weakening	S-ya

Verb from adjective

	Affix
Predicative/attributive	S

Noun from adjective

	Affix
Property	S-u

Numbers

Morphology

Verb from number

	Affix
Cardinal	S
Ordinal	S-n

Noun from number

	Affix
Nominal	S-u
Ordinal nominal	S-nu

Adverb from number

	Affix
Multiplicative	S-i
Ordinal adverbial	S-ni

Pronouns

Morphology

1st person

	Basic	Emphatic
Singular	ya	yāt
Plural	yan	yānt

2nd person

	Basic	Emphatic
Singular	ma	māt
Plural	may	māyt

3rd person

	Proximate Basic	Proximate Emphatic	Proximate Clitic	Obviative Basic	Obviative Clitic
Animate singular	da	dat	d-S	dā	da-S
Animate plural	day	dāyt	dy-S	daw	dw-S
Inanimate singular	na	nā	n-S	nat	nt-S
Inanimate plural	nan	nan	nn-S	nān	nan-S

Reflexive

	Basic
Animate singular	ga
Animate plural	gay
Inanimate singular	pa
Inanimate plural	pan

Indefinite

	Proximate Basic	Proximate Emphatic	Proximate Clitic	Obviative Basic	Obviative Clitic
Animate singular	si	sit	s-S	sī	si-S
Animate plural	sī	sīt	sy-S	siw	sw-S
Inanimate singular	hu	hū	h-S	hut	ht-S
Inanimate plural	hun	hun	hn-S	hūn	han-S

Demonstrative

Nominal

Proximal

	Proximate Basic	Proximate Emphatic	Obviative Basic
Animate singular	la	lat	lā
Animate plural	lay	lāyt	law
Inanimate singular	lu	lū	lut
Inanimate plural	lun	lun	lūn

Medial

	Proximate Basic	Proximate Emphatic	Obviative Basic
Animate singular	qa	qat	qā
Animate plural	qay	qāyt	qaw
Inanimate singular	qi	qī	qit
Inanimate plural	qin	qin	qīn

Distal

	Proximate Basic	Proximate Emphatic	Obviative Basic
Animate singular	ša	šat	šā
Animate plural	šay	šāyt	šaw
Inanimate singular	šiw	šīw	šiwt
Inanimate plural	šiwn	šiwn	šīwn

Adjectival

	Adjective
Proximal	lu
Medial	qi
Distal	šiw

Place

	Place
Proximal	aġ
Medial	mā
Distal	ibb

Interrogative

Nominal

	Proximate Basic	Proximate Emphatic	Obviative Basic
Animate singular	xa	xat	xā
Animate plural	xay	xāyt	xaw
Inanimate singular	xu	xū	xut
Inanimate plural	xun	xun	xūn

Adverbial

	Adverb
Reason	xall
Method	xāš

Adjectival

	Adjective
General	xit
Partitive	xūr

Conjunctions

Morphology

	Form
And	z
Or	ta
But	pi