The Language Creator
– from linguistic questionnaire to grammar, lexicon and texts.

A Grammar of Tet

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Tet language (the 885th one produced by the Language Creator), outlining its sound system, word formation and syntactic structure, with the aim of presenting a coherent account of the language as an integrated whole. Attention has been paid to both regular patterns and minor irregularities, as these together define the internal balance of the language.

The grammar is accompanied by a bilingual dictionary and a collection of illustrative texts, offering material for further study and comparison. The examples have been selected to demonstrate typical constructions and to give a sense of the language in extended use. The description is intended as a reference work for linguists and language enthusiasts alike, and as a foundation for any future research, teaching or creative adaptation of Tet.

Typological Profile

It has has no interesting typological features.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Tet has 22 consonant phonemes, a size that falls within a broadly average range.

It has a markedly rich set of labial consonants.

The table below presents the full inventory of consonant phonemes in Tet. The chart lists all places and manners of articulation attested in the language.

labialdentalalveolarpostalveolarlateralpalatalvelarglottal
stopp b d t k ɡ
nasalm n ɲ ŋ
fricativef s ʃ h
approximantʋ ɾ j
affricatet͡ʃ
implosiveɓ
clickᵏǀ
click, nasalᵑǀ

Vowels

Tet has 9 vowel qualities, forming a relatively large inventory. The system distinguishes several vowel categories, as indicated in the chart, offering a wide range of vocalic contrasts.

It has an unusually fine-grained height system distinguishing four levels.

The table below presents the full inventory of vowel phonemes in Tet. The system comprises the distinct vowel qualities listed in the chart.

frontcentralback
closei u
mide o
open-midɛ ɔ
opena

Stress and Tones

Tet has phonemic stress but no lexical tone. Stress consistently falls on the first vowel of the root, and no contrastive tonal distinctions are made.

Phonological Processes

Vowel Harmony

The language employs vowel harmony. To be specific, the following vowels change to match the first vowel of the root: /i/ becomes /u/, /e/ becomes /o/, /ɛ/ becomes /ɔ/.

Writing System

Introduction

Tet is normally written using the Arabic alphabet, a consonant-centred script whose forms vary according to position in the word. In this grammar, phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are also provided to make the pronunciation fully explicit.

Orthography

Here are the various components of the orthography:

Simple letters

ا /aː/ب /b/ت /t/ح /h/
د /d/ر /ɾ/س /s/ش /ʃ/
ف /f/قۡ /ᵏǀ/ك /k/م /m/
ن /n/و /au, oː, uː, ɔː, ʋ/ي /ai, eː, iː, j, ɛː/پ /p/
ڃ /ɲ/چ /t͡ʃ/ڭ /ŋ/گ /ɡ/
ݐ /ɓ/

Multi-letter combinations such as digraphs

نقۡ /ᵑǀ/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Tet does not have grammatical number.

Gender

Tet has the following genders:

Gender masc – for instance: حشاح ‘money’, حك ‘hand’, حنن ‘ash’, حيس ‘blood’, شوك ‘neck’, قۡس ‘skin’, قۡير ‘land’, كسپ ‘forest’, متين ‘smoke’, نچ ‘husband’, وب ‘foot’, يسس ‘God’, پدش ‘snow’, ڃيو ‘face’, چش ‘sea’, چگب ‘library’, ڭيݐ ‘wind’, گكن ‘fat’, گون ‘star’, ݐك ‘boy’.

Gender fem – for instance: تاد ‘manner’, توف ‘lamb’, ددر ‘box’, دياش ‘snake’, ديش ‘dog’, رڃيݐ ‘seed’, شر ‘daughter’, فسيح ‘teacher’, مݐ ‘fight’, ناو ‘animal’, نبيد ‘tiger’, نقۡشوك ‘mortar’, نقۡك ‘road’, وسپ ‘student’, وݐ ‘head’, پن ‘child’, پڃيڃ ‘bosom’, پگ ‘girl’, چفر ‘machine’, ڭموس ‘binoculars’.

Gender neut – for instance: بن ‘time’, تحݐ ‘cheese’, تدو ‘court’, تف ‘knife’, تڭيش ‘breast’, دات ‘west’, رڭ ‘sound’, شك ‘day’, قۡرد ‘guts’, قۡݐ ‘north’, مت ‘fruit’, نچ ‘name’, ون ‘south’, يڭ ‘year’, ڃتف ‘wheat’, ڃيم ‘leaf’, ݐبݐ ‘anus’, ݐش ‘tree’, ݐفك ‘grass’, ݐيپ ‘bone’.

The Nominal Phrase

Nominal phrases in Tet can be exemplified by the following example:

گاسف نك پنيب تفف نر چيڭ قۡب نچڭپ چگك وڭ ڃك۔

[ˈɡaːsif ˈnik paˈneːb ˈtofuf ˈniɾ ˈt͡ʃaiŋ ᵏǀib noˈt͡ʃɔŋop ˈt͡ʃuɡuk ˈʋeŋ ˈɲuk]

ˈɡaːs
woman -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem paˈneːb
COMIT ˈtof
knife -if
sing ˈni
the -ɾ
neut ˈt͡ʃai
catch -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST neˈt͡ʃɔŋ
mouse -ep
plur ˈt͡ʃuɡ
blind -ik
NOM ˈʋeŋ
three ˈɲu
yon -k
fem

“The woman with the knife caught those three blind mice.”

 (1)

In the following, we shall look at the various components in more details.

There are no clitics in the nominal phrase.

The Noun

The noun in Tet consists of the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing number, comprising ـف /-if/ ‘sing’ and ـپ /-ep/ ‘plur’.

The Adjective

In Tet, the adjective has the following structure: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing case, comprising ـك /-ik/ ‘NOM’, ـچ /-at͡ʃ/ ‘GEN’, ـپ /-ap/ ‘DAT’, ـس /-is/ ‘INS’, ـپ /-ep/ ‘VOC’, ـد /-id/ ‘ALL’, ـي /-ij/ ‘LOC’, ـݐ /-iɓ/ ‘ABL’ and ـڃ /-eɲ/ ‘PART’.

Numerals

The numeral in Tet stands alone without any prefixes or suffixes attached to it.

Determiners

In Tet, the determiner has the following structure: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing gender, comprising ـت /-t/ ‘masc’, ـك /-k/ ‘fem’ and ـر /-ɾ/ ‘neut’.

Pronouns

The pronoun in Tet stands alone without any prefixes or suffixes attached to it.

In Tet, subject pronouns (but not object pronouns ones) are dropped unless they are stressed. Here is an example where neither of the pronouns are stressed:

تيڭ تيت۔

[ˈtɛːŋ ˈteːt]

ˈtɛː
love -ŋ
not.Q ˈteːt
3.sing.fem

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

But here, the word corresponding to he (i.e., the subject) is stressed:

ند تيڭ تيت۔

[ˈnɛd ˈtɛːŋ ˈteːt]

ˈnɛd
3.sing.masc ˈtɛː
love -ŋ
not.Q ˈteːt
3.sing.fem

“He loves her.”

 (3)

Proper Nouns

نپڭف نت وحڭ ردڃف نك۔

[nuˈpuŋuf ˈnit ʋaˈhaŋ ɾaˈdɔɲuf ˈnik]

niˈpuŋ
Nipung -if
sing ˈni
the -t
masc ʋaˈha
hate -ŋ
not.Q ɾaˈdɔɲ
Radony -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem

“Nipung hates Radony.”

 (4)

Possession

وفنف نر ݐكف نت

[ʋaˈfenif ˈniɾ ˈɓukuf ˈnit]

ʋaˈfen
apple -if
sing ˈni
the -ɾ
neut ˈɓuk
boy -if
sing ˈni
the -t
masc

“the boy’s apple”

 (5)
وفنف نر ند

[ʋaˈfenif ˈniɾ ˈnɛd]

ʋaˈfen
apple -if
sing ˈni
the -ɾ
neut ˈnɛd
3.sing.masc

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (6)
وفنف نر ݐوس

[ʋaˈfenif ˈniɾ ˈɓɔːs]

ʋaˈfen
apple -if
sing ˈni
the -ɾ
neut ˈɓɔːs
1excl.sing

“my apple”

 (7)
شرف نك چپگف نت پكوڭ قۡب تفف نت گڃوتف نك ڃگ۔

[ˈʃeɾif ˈnik t͡ʃaˈpiɡif ˈnit puˈkuːŋ ᵏǀib ˈtɛfif ˈnit ɡaˈɲautuf ˈnik ˈɲɛɡ]

ˈʃeɾ
daughter -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem t͡ʃaˈpiɡ
hunter -if
sing ˈni
the -t
masc piˈkuː
kiss -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST ˈtɛf
son -if
sing ˈni
the -t
masc ɡaˈɲaut
neighbour -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem ˈɲɛɡ
2.sing

“The hunter’s daughter kissed your neighbour’s son.”

 (8)

Derivation

Tet has no derivational processes.

توفف

[taˈʋifif]

taˈʋif
lamb -if
sing

“a lamb”

 (9)

Note how none show up here:

پڭ قۡب بوڭ قۡب توفف گݐك چتم۔

[ˈpɛŋ ᵏǀib ˈboːŋ ᵏǀib taˈʋifif ˈɡaɓik t͡ʃiˈtem]

ˈpɛ
want -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST ˈboː
have -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST taˈʋif
lamb -if
sing ˈɡaɓ
little -ik
NOM t͡ʃiˈtem
COMP

“She wanted to have a little lamb.”

 (10)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

All verbal phrase clitics in Tet are enclitics (placed finally), and there are four types: first, a clitic expressing ta, comprising قۡب /ᵏǀib/ ‘PAST’; second, a clitic expressing mode, comprising شپ /ʃap/ ‘imperative’, نقۡت /ᵑǀat/ ‘conditional’ and ش /ʃi/ ‘optative’; third, a clitic expressing voice, comprising رب /ɾab/ ‘passive’; and finally, fourth, a clitic expressing negation, comprising نر /naɾ/ ‘NEG’.

In addition, the verb is structured like this: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing question, comprising ـم /-m/ ‘Q’ and ـڭ /-ŋ/ ‘not.Q’.

تيڭ ڃگ۔

[ˈtɛːŋ ˈɲɛɡ]

ˈtɛː
love -ŋ
not.Q ˈɲɛɡ
2.sing

“I love you.”

 (11)

Adverbs Minor Classes

Adpositions

There is one type of clitic in the adpositional phrase, namely an enclitic (placed finally), expressing root.

ح چاشف نك

[ˈho ˈt͡ʃaːʃif ˈnik]

ˈho
in_surface ˈt͡ʃaːʃ
table -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem

“on the table”

 (12)
بم ددرف نك

[ˈbim duˈdɔɾuf ˈnik]

ˈbim
to_inside diˈdɔɾ
box -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem

“into the box”

 (13)
پنيب ݐوس

[paˈneːb ˈɓɔːs]

paˈneːb
COMIT ˈɓɔːs
1excl.sing

“with me”

 (14)

Syntax

Basic Clause Structure

Constituent Order

Constituent order describes the typical arrangement of the subject (S), verb (V) and object (O) in simple declarative clauses. It is a fundamental parameter in grammatical description and forms one of the clearest ways of characterising the overall structure of a language’s clause system.

Tet employs Subject–Verb–Object (SVO) as its basic word order. The subject is followed by the verb, with the object occurring in post-verbal position. This ordering is widely attested across the world’s languages.

The following examples illustrate the basic, unmarked, constituent order in Tet.

چووچف نك نقۡڭ قۡب چپگف نت۔

[t͡ʃoˈʋoːt͡ʃuf ˈnik ˈᵑǀiŋ ᵏǀib t͡ʃaˈpiɡif ˈnit]

t͡ʃeˈʋoːt͡ʃ
jaguar -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem ˈᵑǀi
kill -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST t͡ʃaˈpiɡ
hunter -if
sing ˈni
the -t
masc

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (15)
مڭينف نك گيڭ قۡب ديشف نك شرف نك چپگف نت۔

[meˈŋainif ˈnik ˈɡeːŋ ᵏǀib ˈdaiʃif ˈnik ˈʃeɾif ˈnik t͡ʃaˈpiɡif ˈnit]

meˈŋain
lion -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem ˈɡeː
eat -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST ˈdaiʃ
dog -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem ˈʃeɾ
daughter -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem t͡ʃaˈpiɡ
hunter -if
sing ˈni
the -t
masc

“The lion ate the hunter’s daughter’s dog.”

 (16)

The language has a fixed constituent order, and major phrases normally appear in a predictable position in the clause. Movement for discourse reasons is highly restricted: topics and foci are expressed not by rearranging elements, but through dedicated constructions such as clefts, focus clauses or topic–comment frames. Constituents remain continuous, and both the relative order of phrases and the internal structure of each phrase are stable. As a result, significant deviations from the basic word order are ungrammatical, and discourse structure is managed through these specialised constructions rather than through word-order variation.

Noun Phrases

Structure and Order

The internal structure of noun phrases in Tet reveals typologically significant preferences in the ordering of nominal constituents. This includes the position of adjectives, numerals, and possessors relative to the noun, each of which can offer clues to the overall headedness of the language.

Possessive constructions are head-initial: the possessed noun precedes the possessor. For instance, Tet expresses “the child’s toy” with the equivalent of “toy child”. This structure is typologically rarer and often co-occurs with verb-initial syntax or with grammatical marking on the noun.

دوف نك پيف نك تفف نت ڃگ

[ˈdoʋuf ˈnik ˈpajif ˈnik ˈtɛfif ˈnit ˈɲɛɡ]

ˈdoʋ
book -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem ˈpaj
friend -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem ˈtɛf
son -if
sing ˈni
the -t
masc ˈɲɛɡ
2.sing

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (17)

Case Marking

Tet does not use case marking to distinguish the core participants of the clause. There is therefore no regular nominative, accusative, ergative, active or stative marking on subjects and objects. Instead, the roles of the participants are identified by other means, cf. the examples below.

سيوف نك پڭ۔

[ˈsiːʋif ˈnik ˈpeŋ]

ˈsiːʋ
cat -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem ˈpe
sleep -ŋ
not.Q

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (18)
سيوف نك نوڭ۔

[ˈsiːʋif ˈnik ˈnuːŋ]

ˈsiːʋ
cat -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem ˈnuː
run -ŋ
not.Q

“The cat is running.”

 (19)
سيوف نك گحڭ نچڭف نك۔

[ˈsiːʋif ˈnik ɡaˈhoŋ noˈt͡ʃɔŋuf ˈnik]

ˈsiːʋ
cat -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem ɡaˈho
chase -ŋ
not.Q neˈt͡ʃɔŋ
mouse -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (20)
سيوف نك چيڭ قۡب نچڭف نك۔

[ˈsiːʋif ˈnik ˈt͡ʃaiŋ ᵏǀib noˈt͡ʃɔŋuf ˈnik]

ˈsiːʋ
cat -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem ˈt͡ʃai
catch -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST neˈt͡ʃɔŋ
mouse -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (21)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

چپگف نت نقۡڭ قۡب چووچپ نك شي نبيدپ نك شي مڭينپ نك۔

[t͡ʃaˈpiɡif ˈnit ˈᵑǀiŋ ᵏǀib t͡ʃoˈʋoːt͡ʃop ˈnik ˈʃuj neˈbaidep ˈnik ˈʃuj meˈŋainep ˈnik]

t͡ʃaˈpiɡ
hunter -if
sing ˈni
the -t
masc ˈᵑǀi
kill -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST t͡ʃeˈʋoːt͡ʃ
jaguar -ep
plur ˈni
the -k
fem ˈʃuj
and neˈbaid
tiger -ep
plur ˈni
the -k
fem ˈʃuj
and meˈŋain
lion -ep
plur ˈni
the -k
fem

“The hunter killed the jaguars, the tigers and the lions.”

 (22)

Modifiers and Determiners

The ordering of demonstratives, articles (if present), and other modifiers in Tet provides further insight into the structure of the noun phrase. These elements frequently exhibit fixed positions and may reveal whether the language favours head-initial or head-final patterns.

Complex Sentences

Relative Clauses

Tet forms relative clauses by placing them before the noun they modify. The modifier takes the form of a finite clause that precedes the head noun without any relative pronoun. The clause shows ordinary clausal structure, with the role of the head noun recoverable from the syntactic position inside the clause.

To illustrate how relative clauses work, let us begin with a simple sentence:

گدوڭ قۡب سيوف نك۔

[ɡaˈdauŋ ᵏǀib ˈsiːʋif ˈnik]

ɡaˈdau
pat -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST ˈsiːʋ
cat -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem

“I patted the cat.”

 (23)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

گدوڭ قۡب چيڭ قۡب نچڭف نك چتم سيوف نك۔

[ɡaˈdauŋ ᵏǀib ˈt͡ʃaiŋ ᵏǀib noˈt͡ʃɔŋuf ˈnik t͡ʃiˈtem ˈsiːʋif ˈnik]

ɡaˈdau
pat -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST ˈt͡ʃai
catch -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST neˈt͡ʃɔŋ
mouse -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem t͡ʃiˈtem
COMP ˈsiːʋ
cat -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (24)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

گدوڭ قۡب چيڭ قۡب گيڭ قۡب تحݐف نر چتم نچڭف نك چتم سيوف نك۔

[ɡaˈdauŋ ᵏǀib ˈt͡ʃaiŋ ᵏǀib ˈɡeːŋ ᵏǀib tuˈhɔɓuf ˈniɾ t͡ʃiˈtem noˈt͡ʃɔŋuf ˈnik t͡ʃiˈtem ˈsiːʋif ˈnik]

ɡaˈdau
pat -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST ˈt͡ʃai
catch -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST ˈɡeː
eat -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST tiˈhɔɓ
cheese -if
sing ˈni
the -ɾ
neut t͡ʃiˈtem
COMP neˈt͡ʃɔŋ
mouse -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem t͡ʃiˈtem
COMP ˈsiːʋ
cat -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse that ate the cheese.”

 (25)

Finally, here is an example containing several layers of embedding:

گدوڭ قۡب چيڭ قۡب گيڭ قۡب ݐوس چڭ قۡب چتم تحݐف نر چتم نچڭف نك چتم سيوف نك۔

[ɡaˈdauŋ ᵏǀib ˈt͡ʃaiŋ ᵏǀib ˈɡeːŋ ᵏǀib ˈɓɔːs ˈt͡ʃɔŋ ᵏǀib t͡ʃiˈtem tuˈhɔɓuf ˈniɾ t͡ʃiˈtem noˈt͡ʃɔŋuf ˈnik t͡ʃiˈtem ˈsiːʋif ˈnik]

ɡaˈdau
pat -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST ˈt͡ʃai
catch -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST ˈɡeː
eat -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST ˈɓɔːs
1excl.sing ˈt͡ʃɔ
buy -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST t͡ʃiˈtem
COMP tiˈhɔɓ
cheese -if
sing ˈni
the -ɾ
neut t͡ʃiˈtem
COMP neˈt͡ʃɔŋ
mouse -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem t͡ʃiˈtem
COMP ˈsiːʋ
cat -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse that ate the cheese that I bought.”

 (26)

Complementation Strategies

Tet introduces complement clauses with a dedicated complementiser, similar to English that. The complementiser appears at the beginning of the embedded clause and signals that the clause functions as a syntactic argument. The embedded clause is fully finite and displays the same tense, aspect and agreement patterns as independent clauses.

The following example illustrate how complement clauses function:

ݐكف نت تڭ قۡب پگف نك وفنف چتم شفاڭ قۡب فسيحف نك۔

[ˈɓukuf ˈnit ˈtoŋ ᵏǀib ˈpiɡif ˈnik ʋaˈfenif t͡ʃiˈtem ʃeˈfaːŋ ᵏǀib fesɛːhif ˈnik]

ˈɓuk
boy -if
sing ˈni
the -t
masc ˈto
give -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST ˈpiɡ
girl -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem ʋaˈfen
apple -if
sing t͡ʃiˈtem
COMP ʃeˈfaː
surprise -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST fesɛːh
teacher -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem

“It surprised the teacher that the boy had given the girl an apple.”

 (27)

Quotes

Tet expresses quoted or reported speech without a dedicated quotative particle. Quotations appear as ordinary clauses, distinguished only by the surrounding syntactic context or by the use of verbs of speaking.

Here is an example of how quotations are expressed:

ݐكف نت بڭ قۡب پگف نك ݐوس تيڭ ڃگ چتم۔

[ˈɓukuf ˈnit ˈboŋ ᵏǀib ˈpiɡif ˈnik ˈɓɔːs ˈtɛːŋ ˈɲɛɡ t͡ʃiˈtem]

ˈɓuk
boy -if
sing ˈni
the -t
masc ˈbo
tell -ŋ
not.Q ᵏǀib
PAST ˈpiɡ
girl -if
sing ˈni
the -k
fem ˈɓɔːs
1excl.sing ˈtɛː
love -ŋ
not.Q ˈɲɛɡ
2.sing t͡ʃiˈtem
COMP

“The boy told the girl that he loved her.”

 (28)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Tet. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 14 July 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/07XYF

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-07XYF,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Tet}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/07XYF}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 14 July 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Tet / Tet–English) accompany this grammar. The complete work – comprising the grammar, dictionary and texts – may also be downloaded in ODT or DOCX format.

Readers are encouraged to share observations or corrections via the feedback form. The present page may be accessed directly at:

https://languagecreator.org/grammar/07XYF

Behind the scenes, the Language Creator stores the generated language in a JSON-based format known as ELD. The corresponding ELD file may be downloaded, edited as required, and reuploaded in order to regenerate the grammar, dictionary and texts.

To revisit the questionnaire settings used to generate this language, .

Language creation took 0.02 seconds; writing the grammar 0.09 seconds.