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

A Grammar of Shiy

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Shiy language (the 965th 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 Shiy.

Typological Profile

It has the typologically rare OSV basic word order, a small but genuine set of click consonants and postpositions.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Shiy has a moderately large consonant inventory, with 28 phonemes.

It has a noticeable presence of pharyngealised phonemes and a small but genuine set of click consonants.

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

labialdentalphar. dentalalveolarphar. alveolarpostalveolarlateralpalatalvelarglottal
stopp b d t dˤ tˤ k ɡ
ejective stopkʼ
nasalm n nˤ ɲ ŋ
fricativef s sˤ ʃ h
approximantʋ l j
affricatet͡ʃ
clickᵏǀ ᵏǀˤ
click, nasalᵑǀ ᵑǀˤ

Vowels

Shiy has 5 vowel qualities. This places it within the broadly common range of mid-sized vowel inventories. The vowel chart shows the full set of contrasts employed in the language’s phonology.

It has has a completely boring and uninteresting vowel system.

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

frontcentralback
closei u
mide o
opena

Stress and Tones

Shiy 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

Vowel harmony does not exist in this language.

Writing System

Introduction

Shiy is normally written using the Cyrillic alphabet, a script with a long and varied history across Eastern Europe and northern Asia. In this grammar, phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are also used to give an unambiguous representation of sound.

The conventions adopted here follow standard Cyrillic practice for the language where that exists; where they do not, the IPA transcription should be taken as authoritative.

Orthography

Here are the various components of the orthography:

Simple letters

а /a/б /b/в /ʋ/г /h/
д /d/е /e/и /i/к /k, kʼ/
л /l/м /m/н /n/о /o/
п /p/с /s/т /t/у /u/
ф /f/ч /t͡ʃ/ш /ʃ/ј /j/
њ /ɲ/ґ /ɡ/ӈ /ŋ/

Multi-letter combinations such as digraphs

дъ /dˤ/нъ /nˤ/съ /sˤ/
тъ /tˤ/ҁн /ᵑǀ/ҁнъ /ᵑǀˤ/
ҁт /ᵏǀ/ҁтъ /ᵏǀˤ/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Shiy does not have grammatical number.

Gender

Shiy does not have genders or noun classes.

The Nominal Phrase

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

Кин сонудок соӈ ӈиф нъујен фунъ либенуф фунъ килас шофе пан.

[ˈkin soˈnudok ˈsoŋ ˈŋif ˈnˤujen ˈfunˤ ˈlibenuf ˈfunˤ kʼiˈlas ˈʃofe pan]

ˈkin
blind soˈnud
mouse -ok
plur ˈsoŋ
three ˈŋif
yon ˈnˤuj
woman -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈlib
knife -en
sing -uf
LOC ˈfunˤ
the kʼiˈlas
COMIT ˈʃof
catch -e
3.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST

“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 Shiy consists of first, the root; second, an obligatory suffix expressing number, comprising -ен /-en/ ‘sing’ and -ок /-ok/ ‘plur’; and finally, third, an optional suffix expressing case, comprising -ив /-iʋ/ ‘DAT’, -онъ /-onˤ/ ‘INS’, -итъ /-itˤ/ ‘VOC’, -ок /-okʼ/ ‘ALL’, -уф /-uf/ ‘LOC’, -ан /-an/ ‘ABL’ and -ук /-ukʼ/ ‘PART’.

The noun displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -ис /-is/ ‘little’ and -уг /-uh/ ‘big’

The Adjective

The adjective in Shiy stands alone without any prefixes or suffixes attached to it.

Numerals

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

Determiners

The determiner in Shiy stands alone without any prefixes or suffixes attached to it.

Pronouns

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

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

Ҁтон ҁтъије.

[ˈᵏǀon ˈᵏǀˤije]

ˈᵏǀon
3.sing ˈᵏǀˤij
love -e
3.sing.SUBJ

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

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

Ҁтон ҁтон ҁтъије.

[ˈᵏǀon ˈᵏǀon ˈᵏǀˤije]

ˈᵏǀon
3.sing ˈᵏǀon
3.sing ˈᵏǀˤij
love -e
3.sing.SUBJ

“He loves her.”

 (3)

Proper Nouns

Падиген фунъ Ҁтъедавен фунъ саӈудъе.

[paˈdihen ˈfunˤ ᵏǀˤeˈdaʋen ˈfunˤ saˈŋudˤe]

paˈdih
Padih -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ᵏǀˤeˈdaʋ
Kedav -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the saˈŋudˤ
hate -e
3.sing.SUBJ

“Kedav hates Padih.”

 (4)

Possession

јаґен фунъ филикен фунъ

[ˈjaɡen ˈfunˤ fiˈlikʼen ˈfunˤ]

ˈjaɡ
boy -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the fiˈlikʼ
apple -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the

“the boy’s apple”

 (5)
ҁтон филикен фунъ

[ˈᵏǀon fiˈlikʼen ˈfunˤ]

ˈᵏǀon
3.sing fiˈlikʼ
apple -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (6)
ҁниш филикен фунъ

[ˈᵑǀiʃ fiˈlikʼen ˈfunˤ]

ˈᵑǀiʃ
1excl.sing fiˈlikʼ
apple -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the

“my apple”

 (7)
Ҁтъањ нъудамен фунъ текен фунъ куњубен фунъ ґињен фунъ фанъиґе пан.

[ˈᵏǀˤaɲ nˤuˈdamen ˈfunˤ ˈteken ˈfunˤ kʼuˈɲuben ˈfunˤ ˈɡiɲen ˈfunˤ faˈnˤiɡe pan]

ˈᵏǀˤaɲ
2.sing nˤuˈdam
neighbour -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈtek
son -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the kʼuˈɲub
hunter -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈɡiɲ
daughter -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the faˈnˤiɡ
kiss -e
3.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST

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

 (8)

Derivation

Shiy has a few derivational processes. To illustrate this, let us start with a simple noun phrase:

нипујен

[niˈpujen]

niˈpuj
lamb -en
sing

“a lamb”

 (9)

In the following, the word for little becomes an affix attached to lamb:

нипујисен

[niˈpujisen]

niˈpuj
lamb -is
little -en
sing

“a little lamb”

 (10)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

The verbal phrase clitics in Shiy fall into two categories, proclitics and enclitics: first, a clitic expressing voice, comprising гаӈ /haŋ/ ‘passive’; second, a clitic expressing ta, comprising пан /pan/ ‘PAST’; third, a clitic expressing mode, comprising миш /miʃ/ ‘imperative’, мат /mat/ ‘conditional’ and мок /mokʼ/ ‘optative’; fourth, a clitic expressing negation, comprising ҁнъов /ᵑǀˤoʋ/ ‘NEG’; fifth, a clitic expressing question, comprising дињ /diɲ/ ‘Q’; and finally, sixth, a clitic expressing comp, comprising ҁтъеш /ᵏǀˤeʃ/ ‘COMP’.

In addition, the verb is structured like this: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing subj, comprising -ед /-ed/ ‘1incl.sing’, -иб /-ib/ ‘1excl.sing’, -ој /-oj/ ‘2.sing’, -е /-e/ ‘3.sing’, -ок /-ok/ ‘1incl.plur’, -ун /-un/ ‘1excl.plur’, -ад /-ad/ ‘2.plur’ and -уп /-up/ ‘3.plur’.

The verb displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -ик /-ik/ ‘begin’ and -аӈ /-aŋ/ ‘stop’

Ҁтъањ ҁтъијиб.

[ˈᵏǀˤaɲ ˈᵏǀˤijib]

ˈᵏǀˤaɲ
2.sing ˈᵏǀˤij
love -ib
1excl.sing.SUBJ

“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.

мукенуф фунъ ҁтъив

[ˈmukʼenuf ˈfunˤ ˈᵏǀˤiʋ]

ˈmukʼ
table -en
sing -uf
LOC ˈfunˤ
the ˈᵏǀˤiʋ
in_surface

“on the table”

 (12)
дабефенуф фунъ лаӈ

[daˈbefenuf ˈfunˤ ˈlaŋ]

daˈbef
box -en
sing -uf
LOC ˈfunˤ
the ˈlaŋ
to_inside

“into the box”

 (13)
ҁниш килас

[ˈᵑǀiʃ kʼiˈlas]

ˈᵑǀiʃ
1excl.sing kʼiˈlas
COMIT

“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.

Shiy adopts Object–Subject–Verb (OSV) as its unmarked word order. The object precedes the subject, and the verb appears clause-finally. OSV is a rare ordering pattern but is attested in a small number of languages.

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

Куњубен фунъ мефуњен фунъ ҁтъетъе пан.

[kʼuˈɲuben ˈfunˤ meˈfuɲen ˈfunˤ ˈᵏǀˤetˤe pan]

kʼuˈɲub
hunter -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the meˈfuɲ
jaguar -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈᵏǀˤetˤ
kill -e
3.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (15)
Куњубен фунъ ґињен фунъ филен фунъ ҁтъешудъен фунъ чаме пан.

[kʼuˈɲuben ˈfunˤ ˈɡiɲen ˈfunˤ ˈfilen ˈfunˤ ᵏǀˤeˈʃudˤen ˈfunˤ ˈt͡ʃame pan]

kʼuˈɲub
hunter -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈɡiɲ
daughter -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈfil
dog -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ᵏǀˤeˈʃudˤ
lion -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈt͡ʃam
eat -e
3.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST

“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 Shiy 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-final: the possessor precedes the possessed noun. For example, Shiy expresses “the child’s toy” with the equivalent of “child toy”. This ordering is found in many SOV and postpositional languages and aligns with a broader tendency towards modifier-first structures.

ҁтъањ текен фунъ ґивен фунъ букен фунъ

[ˈᵏǀˤaɲ ˈteken ˈfunˤ ˈɡiʋen ˈfunˤ buken ˈfunˤ]

ˈᵏǀˤaɲ
2.sing ˈtek
son -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈɡiʋ
friend -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the buk
book -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (17)

Case Marking

Shiy 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.

Дъушен фунъ ҁтане.

[ˈdˤuʃen ˈfunˤ ˈᵏǀane]

ˈdˤuʃ
cat -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈᵏǀan
sleep -e
3.sing.SUBJ

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (18)
Дъушен фунъ ӈаде.

[ˈdˤuʃen ˈfunˤ ˈŋade]

ˈdˤuʃ
cat -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈŋad
run -e
3.sing.SUBJ

“The cat is running.”

 (19)
Сонуден фунъ дъушен фунъ кичине.

[soˈnuden ˈfunˤ ˈdˤuʃen ˈfunˤ kʼiˈt͡ʃine]

soˈnud
mouse -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈdˤuʃ
cat -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the kʼiˈt͡ʃin
chase -e
3.sing.SUBJ

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (20)
Сонуден фунъ дъушен фунъ шофе пан.

[soˈnuden ˈfunˤ ˈdˤuʃen ˈfunˤ ˈʃofe pan]

soˈnud
mouse -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈdˤuʃ
cat -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈʃof
catch -e
3.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (21)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

Мефуњок фунъ фин чававок фунъ фин ҁтъешудъок фунъ куњубен фунъ ҁтъетъе пан.

[meˈfuɲok ˈfunˤ ˈfin t͡ʃaˈʋaʋok ˈfunˤ ˈfin ᵏǀˤeˈʃudˤok ˈfunˤ kʼuˈɲuben ˈfunˤ ˈᵏǀˤetˤe pan]

meˈfuɲ
jaguar -ok
plur ˈfunˤ
the ˈfin
and t͡ʃaˈʋaʋ
tiger -ok
plur ˈfunˤ
the ˈfin
and ᵏǀˤeˈʃudˤ
lion -ok
plur ˈfunˤ
the kʼuˈɲub
hunter -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈᵏǀˤetˤ
kill -e
3.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST

“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 Shiy 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

Shiy 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:

Дъушен фунъ сињидъиб пан.

[ˈdˤuʃen ˈfunˤ siˈɲidˤib pan]

ˈdˤuʃ
cat -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the siˈɲidˤ
pat -ib
1excl.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST

“I patted the cat.”

 (23)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Сонуден фунъ шофе пан ҁтъеш дъушен фунъ сињидъиб пан.

[soˈnuden ˈfunˤ ˈʃofe pan ᵏǀˤeʃ ˈdˤuʃen ˈfunˤ siˈɲidˤib pan]

soˈnud
mouse -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈʃof
catch -e
3.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST ᵏǀˤeʃ
COMP ˈdˤuʃ
cat -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the siˈɲidˤ
pat -ib
1excl.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (24)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Тъабонен фунъ чаме пан ҁтъеш сонуден фунъ шофе пан ҁтъеш дъушен фунъ сињидъиб пан.

[tˤaˈbonen ˈfunˤ ˈt͡ʃame pan ᵏǀˤeʃ soˈnuden ˈfunˤ ˈʃofe pan ᵏǀˤeʃ ˈdˤuʃen ˈfunˤ siˈɲidˤib pan]

tˤaˈbon
cheese -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈt͡ʃam
eat -e
3.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST ᵏǀˤeʃ
COMP soˈnud
mouse -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈʃof
catch -e
3.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST ᵏǀˤeʃ
COMP ˈdˤuʃ
cat -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the siˈɲidˤ
pat -ib
1excl.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST

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

 (25)

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

Ҁниш ҁнъањиб пан ҁтъеш тъабонен фунъ чаме пан ҁтъеш сонуден фунъ шофе пан ҁтъеш дъушен фунъ сињидъиб пан.

[ˈᵑǀiʃ ˈᵑǀˤaɲib pan ᵏǀˤeʃ tˤaˈbonen ˈfunˤ ˈt͡ʃame pan ᵏǀˤeʃ soˈnuden ˈfunˤ ˈʃofe pan ᵏǀˤeʃ ˈdˤuʃen ˈfunˤ siˈɲidˤib pan]

ˈᵑǀiʃ
1excl.sing ˈᵑǀˤaɲ
buy -ib
1excl.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST ᵏǀˤeʃ
COMP tˤaˈbon
cheese -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈt͡ʃam
eat -e
3.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST ᵏǀˤeʃ
COMP soˈnud
mouse -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈʃof
catch -e
3.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST ᵏǀˤeʃ
COMP ˈdˤuʃ
cat -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the siˈɲidˤ
pat -ib
1excl.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST

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

 (26)

Complementation Strategies

Shiy marks complement clauses with subordinating verbal morphology. The embedded verb is fully finite and carries a subordinating suffix that identifies the clause as a complement. No structural changes occur within the clause apart from this verbal marking.

The following example illustrate how complement clauses function:

Дъичелен фунъ филикен ҁтъанен фунъ јаґен фунъ дъотъе пан ҁтъеш кебаве пан.

[dˤit͡ʃelen ˈfunˤ fiˈlikʼen ˈᵏǀˤanen ˈfunˤ ˈjaɡen ˈfunˤ ˈdˤotˤe pan ᵏǀˤeʃ keˈbaʋe pan]

dˤit͡ʃel
teacher -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the fiˈlikʼ
apple -en
sing ˈᵏǀˤan
girl -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈjaɡ
boy -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈdˤotˤ
give -e
3.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST ᵏǀˤeʃ
COMP keˈbaʋ
surprise -e
3.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST

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

 (27)

Quotes

Shiy 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:

Ҁтъањ ҁниш ҁтъијиб ҁтъеш ҁтъанен фунъ јаґен фунъ шебе пан.

[ˈᵏǀˤaɲ ˈᵑǀiʃ ˈᵏǀˤijib ᵏǀˤeʃ ˈᵏǀˤanen ˈfunˤ ˈjaɡen ˈfunˤ ˈʃebe pan]

ˈᵏǀˤaɲ
2.sing ˈᵑǀiʃ
1excl.sing ˈᵏǀˤij
love -ib
1excl.sing.SUBJ ᵏǀˤeʃ
COMP ˈᵏǀˤan
girl -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈjaɡ
boy -en
sing ˈfunˤ
the ˈʃeb
tell -e
3.sing.SUBJ pan
PAST

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

 (28)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Shiy. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 18 July 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/0Q1ZD

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-0Q1ZD,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Shiy}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/0Q1ZD}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 18 July 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Shiy / Shiy–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/0Q1ZD

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 0.05 seconds.