Katurina'intk - Basic Grammar

If you don't want to look at the lessons, this will give you a basic summary.

Phonology

Here are the sounds of the language. Allophones are included.

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n		ŋ
Plosive	p, b			t, d		k, g	ʔ
Fricative		f, v	θ~ð	s, z	ʃ, ʒ		h
Approximant				ɹ

Where the consonants appear in pairs, the right one is voiced, while the left is voiceless. The symbols are IPA, not the romanisation of the language. Aspiration makes no difference and could be considered allophonic.

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i~ɪ	u~ʊ
Mid	ə
Open	a~æ~ɛ

Standard pronunciation is the furthest left.

Romanisation

This is how to represent sounds in this language using the latin alphabet.

To distinguish between digraphs and clusters of consonants, a dash is inserted. For example, <sh> and <s-h> represent /ʃ/ and /sh/ respectively.

Vowels

/a/ - <a>
/i/ - <i>
/u/ - <u>
/ə/ - omitted, between consonants that can't cluster

Consonants

/m/ - <m>
/n/ - <n>
/ŋ/ - <ng>
/p/ - <p>
/b/ - <b>
/t/ - <t>
/d/ - <d>
/k/ - <k>
/g/ - <g>
/ʔ/ - <'>
/f/ - <f>
/v/ - <v>
/θ/ - <th>
/s/ - <s>
/z/ - <z>
/ʃ/ - <sh>
/ʒ/ - <zh> (I used to use <j> for this, so beware any inconsistency)
/h/ - <h>
/ɹ/ - <r>

Nouns

These are the rules on treating words that describe objects and concepts.

Case

Case is marked with particles placed before the nouns.

Nominative - unmarked - shows the subject of a clause
Accusative - ath - shows the direct object of a clause
Dative - dath - shows the indirect object of a clause
Genitive - ku - shows this noun is the owner of the next noun
Locative - us - shows that the noun describes the location where the event took place
Ablative - ngus - shows that the action was done away from or against the noun, also used to show that something does the verb more than the subject
Lative - mus - shows the action was done towards or for the noun, also used to show that something does the verb less than the subject
Instrumental - ruk - shows the noun was used in completing the action
Causative - shus - shows the noun that indirectly caused the event

Pronouns

These are used in place of nouns sometimes.

Personal Pronouns

First Person Singular - ni - "I"
First Person Plural Inclusive - nu - "we" (includes the listener)
First Person Plural Exclusive - mu - "we" (excludes the listener)
Second Person - din - "you"
Third Person Singular - kas - "he/she/it"
Third Person Plural - gaz - "they"

Indefinite - kan - use to refer to anything (can be compounded to add some specificity) - English examples: "anything", "something"
Relative - kunk - use to create a relative clause (can be compounded to add some specificity) - English examples: "..., that", "..., who"
Interrogative - tus - add to the end of a sentence to make it a question (can be compounded to add some specificity) - English examples: "..., right?", "..., yes?"

Articles

These are used to show how definite the noun is. These are placed closest to the noun, after case particle.

Definite - zav - "the"
Negative - a'i - "no"

Verbs

These are the rules on treating words that describe events. Verbs are also used to describe qualities in place of adjectives.

Tense, Aspect and Mood

These are represented by particles before the verb. These affect how a verb relate to time and what its role during that time was. Tense particles can be combined to create relative tense.

Negation - a'i - shows the verb didn't/doesn't/won't happen
Present Tense - unmarked - currently happening
Past Tense - daki - happened in the past
Future Tense - dara - is going to happen in the future
Indicative Mood - unmarked - used to make sentences and questions
Imperative Mood - za - used to make commands
Perfective Aspect - unmarked - the action is completed
Continuous Aspect - sunthi'u - the action takes place over an indefinite amount of time
Habitual Aspect - sunzinth - the action was done habitually

Syntax

Here are the rules that you should follow when creating sentences.

The word order in this language is generally VSO. There are some exceptions, such as the fact that objects and other nouns with marked case can be anywhere in the sentence. However, the verb always comes before the subject, and usually at the start of the sentence.

The language is also head-final.

Conjunctions, Disjunctions, etc.

These are used to connect clauses and coordinate words in the same clause.

ruk - closest to English "and" and "but"
ki - either one, or the other, but not both (xor)
kik - one, the other, or both (or)
zaramp - shows one clause happened because of the next clause
parank - shows the first clause caused the second clause
dudakini - before
dani - while/during
dudarani - after
thurani - until
thukini - since
naranth - makes a word into an adverb, closest to English "like"