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A Grammar of Amapi

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Amapi language (the 1060th 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 Amapi.

Typological Profile

It has a relatively uncommon VOS word order.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Amapi has 13 consonant phonemes, forming a relatively small inventory.

It has an exceptionally dense sibilant inventory, a complete absence of affricates, a complete absence of palatal consonants, something which is a rare occurrence indeed, as well as a complete absence of phonemic voicing contrasts and an unusually restricted set of labial consonants.

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

labialalveolarpostalveolarlateralvelarglottal
stopp t k
nasalm n ŋ
fricativef s ʃ h
approximantw l

Vowels

Amapi 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 a fully contrastive long–short vowel distinction across the system and a full range of vowel qualities even in reduced syllables.

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

frontcentralback
closei u
mide o
opena

Stress and Tones

Amapi has neither phonemic stress nor lexical tone. Prosodic prominence and pitch variation are determined by pragmatic and discourse factors rather than by lexical contrasts.

Phonological Processes

Vowel Harmony

Vowel harmony does not exist in this language.

Writing System

Introduction

Amapi is normally written using the Latin alphabet, whose familiarity makes it straightforward for most readers. For clarity and precision, phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are also provided throughout this grammar.

Orthography

Here are the various components of the orthography:

Simple letters

a /a/e /e/f /f/h /h/
i /i/k /k/l /l/m /m/
n /n/o /o/p /p/s /s/
t /t/u /u/w /w/

Multi-letter combinations such as digraphs

aa /aː/ee /eː/ii /iː/
ng /ŋ/oo /oː/sh /ʃ/
uu /uː/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Amapi does not have grammatical number.

Gender

Amapi does not have genders or noun classes.

The Nominal Phrase

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

Mihoo faa ko mu loomushiita wino wii pi wifu shipu pi wumunu.

[mihoː faː ko mu loːmuʃiːta wino wiː pi wifu ʃipu pi wumunu]

mih
catch -oː
not.Q faː
PAST ko
ACC mu
yon l-
plur oːmuʃiːta
mouse w-
plur ino
blind wiː
three pi
the w-
sing ifu
woman ʃipu
COMIT pi
the w-
sing umunu
knife

“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 is one type of clitic in the nominal phrase, namely a proclitic (placed initially), expressing case. a clitic expressing case, comprising ko /ko/ ‘ACC’, puu /puː/ ‘GEN’, fee /feː/ ‘DAT’, foo /foː/ ‘INS’, li /li/ ‘VOC’, muu /muː/ ‘ALL’, haa /haː/ ‘LOC’, ngaa /ŋaː/ ‘ABL’ and ne /ne/ ‘PART’.

The morphology of the elements of the nominal phrase, i.e., nouns, adjectives, numerals and pronouns, is described below, as is the way that possession is expressed in Amapi.

The Noun

The noun in Amapi consists of an obligatory prefix expressing number, comprising w- /w-/ ‘sing’ and l- /l-/ ‘plur’ followed by the root.

The noun displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -wi /-wi/ ‘little’ and -pa /-pa/ ‘big’

The Adjective

In Amapi, the adjective has the following structure: an obligatory prefix expressing number, comprising p- /p-/ ‘sing’ and w- /w-/ ‘plur’ followed by the root.

Numerals

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

Determiners

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

Pronouns

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

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

Hanoo ko naa.

[hanoː ko naː]

han
love -oː
not.Q ko
ACC naː
3.sing

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

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

Hanoo ko naa naa.

[hanoː ko naː naː]

han
love -oː
not.Q ko
ACC naː
3.sing naː
3.sing

“He loves her.”

 (3)

Proper Nouns

Hotongoo ko pi wUlapuufe pi wOmosami.

[hotoŋoː ko pi wulapuːfe pi womosami]

hotoŋ
hate -oː
not.Q ko
ACC pi
the w-
sing ulapuːfe
Ulapufe pi
the w-
sing omosami
Omosami

“Omosami hates Ulapufe.”

 (4)

Possession

pi wula pi weengiiloomuu

[pi wula pi weːŋiːloːmuː]

pi
the w-
sing ula
boy pi
the w-
sing eːŋiːloːmuː
apple

“the boy’s apple”

 (5)
naa pi weengiiloomuu

[naː pi weːŋiːloːmuː]

naː
3.sing pi
the w-
sing eːŋiːloːmuː
apple

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (6)
mii pi weengiiloomuu

[miː pi weːŋiːloːmuː]

miː
1excl.sing pi
the w-
sing eːŋiːloːmuː
apple

“my apple”

 (7)
Miipamoo faa ko pee pi wehilele pi weshu pi weningunge pi wuko.

[miːpamoː faː ko peː pi wehilele pi weʃu pi weniŋuŋe pi wuko]

miːpam
kiss -oː
not.Q faː
PAST ko
ACC peː
2.sing pi
the w-
sing ehilele
neighbour pi
the w-
sing eʃu
son pi
the w-
sing eniŋuŋe
hunter pi
the w-
sing uko
daughter

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

 (8)

Derivation

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

watafipe

[watafipe]

w-
sing atafipe
lamb

“a lamb”

 (9)

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

watafipewi

[watafipewi]

w-
sing atafipe
lamb -wi
little

“a little lamb”

 (10)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

All verbal phrase clitics in Amapi are enclitics (placed finally), and there are four types: first, a clitic expressing ta, comprising faa /faː/ ‘PAST’; second, a clitic expressing mode, comprising sii /siː/ ‘imperative’, nga /ŋa/ ‘conditional’ and sa /sa/ ‘optative’; third, a clitic expressing voice, comprising saa /saː/ ‘passive’; and finally, fourth, a clitic expressing negation, comprising loo /loː/ ‘NEG’.

In addition, the verb is structured like this: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing question, comprising -ii /-iː/ ‘Q’ and -oo /-oː/ ‘not.Q’.

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

Hanoo ko pee.

[hanoː ko peː]

han
love -oː
not.Q ko
ACC peː
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.

nu pi wutaamu wutaa

[nu pi wutaːmu wutaː]

nu
in pi
the w-
sing utaːmu
table w-
sing utaː
surface

“on the table”

 (12)
lo pi wafosiino woni

[lo pi wafosiːno woni]

lo
to pi
the w-
sing afosiːno
box w-
sing oni
inside

“into the box”

 (13)
shipu mii

[ʃipu miː]

ʃipu
COMIT miː
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.

Amapi displays Verb–Object–Subject (VOS) as its primary word order. The verb is followed by the object, with the subject appearing clause-finally. Although relatively uncommon, VOS is well documented cross-linguistically.

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

Niitoo faa ko pi weningunge pi wingitofe.

[niːtoː faː ko pi weniŋuŋe pi wiŋitofe]

niːt
kill -oː
not.Q faː
PAST ko
ACC pi
the w-
sing eniŋuŋe
hunter pi
the w-
sing iŋitofe
jaguar

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (15)
Kinoo faa ko pi weningunge pi wuko pi washe pi wangashaloo.

[kinoː faː ko pi weniŋuŋe pi wuko pi waʃe pi waŋaʃaloː]

kin
eat -oː
not.Q faː
PAST ko
ACC pi
the w-
sing eniŋuŋe
hunter pi
the w-
sing uko
daughter pi
the w-
sing aʃe
dog pi
the w-
sing aŋaʃaloː
lion

“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 Amapi 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, Amapi 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.

pee pi weshu pi wili pi weepuukee

[peː pi weʃu pi wili pi weːpuːkeː]

peː
2.sing pi
the w-
sing eʃu
son pi
the w-
sing ili
friend pi
the w-
sing eːpuːkeː
book

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (17)

Case Marking

Amapi uses nominative–accusative case marking. The subject of an intransitive verb and the subject of a transitive verb are treated alike and take the nominative case, while the object of a transitive verb is marked with the accusative case. This is the familiar pattern from many European languages: the grammar groups together the participants that function as subjects and marks the participant affected by a transitive action separately.

Pitoo pi wope.

[pitoː pi wope]

pit
sleep -oː
not.Q pi
the w-
sing ope
cat

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (18)
Nosoo pi wope.

[nosoː pi wope]

nos
run -oː
not.Q pi
the w-
sing ope
cat

“The cat is running.”

 (19)
Simiinoo ko pi woomushiita pi wope.

[simiːnoː ko pi woːmuʃiːta pi wope]

simiːn
chase -oː
not.Q ko
ACC pi
the w-
sing oːmuʃiːta
mouse pi
the w-
sing ope
cat

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (20)
Mihoo faa ko pi woomushiita pi wope.

[mihoː faː ko pi woːmuʃiːta pi wope]

mih
catch -oː
not.Q faː
PAST ko
ACC pi
the w-
sing oːmuʃiːta
mouse pi
the w-
sing ope
cat

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (21)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

Niitoo faa ko pi lingitofe ka pi lokikeni ka pi langashaloo pi weningunge.

[niːtoː faː ko pi liŋitofe ka pi lokikeni ka pi laŋaʃaloː pi weniŋuŋe]

niːt
kill -oː
not.Q faː
PAST ko
ACC pi
the l-
plur iŋitofe
jaguar ka
and pi
the l-
plur okikeni
tiger ka
and pi
the l-
plur aŋaʃaloː
lion pi
the w-
sing eniŋuŋe
hunter

“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 Amapi 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

Amapi forms relative clauses by placing the relative clause after the noun it modifies. The clause follows the internal word order of ordinary finite clauses. A dedicated relativising marker introduces the clause and identifies the relationship between the head noun and its role inside the relative clause.

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

Wootuloo faa ko pi wope.

[woːtuloː faː ko pi wope]

woːtul
pat -oː
not.Q faː
PAST ko
ACC pi
the w-
sing ope
cat

“I patted the cat.”

 (23)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Wootuloo faa pi wope, mi mihoo faa ko pi woomushiita.

[woːtuloː faː pi wope, mi mihoː faː ko pi woːmuʃiːta]

woːtul
pat -oː
not.Q faː
PAST pi
the w-
sing ope
cat mi
RELPRON mih
catch -oː
not.Q faː
PAST ko
ACC pi
the w-
sing oːmuʃiːta
mouse

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (24)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Wootuloo faa pi wope, mi mihoo faa pi woomushiita, mi kinoo faa ko pi wisunefa.

[woːtuloː faː pi wope, mi mihoː faː pi woːmuʃiːta, mi kinoː faː ko pi wisunefa]

woːtul
pat -oː
not.Q faː
PAST pi
the w-
sing ope
cat mi
RELPRON mih
catch -oː
not.Q faː
PAST pi
the w-
sing oːmuʃiːta
mouse mi
RELPRON kin
eat -oː
not.Q faː
PAST ko
ACC pi
the w-
sing isunefa
cheese

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

 (25)

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

Wootuloo faa pi wope, mi mihoo faa pi woomushiita, mi kinoo faa pi wisunefa, ko mi saashoo faa mii.

[woːtuloː faː pi wope, mi mihoː faː pi woːmuʃiːta, mi kinoː faː pi wisunefa, ko mi saːʃoː faː miː]

woːtul
pat -oː
not.Q faː
PAST pi
the w-
sing ope
cat mi
RELPRON mih
catch -oː
not.Q faː
PAST pi
the w-
sing oːmuʃiːta
mouse mi
RELPRON kin
eat -oː
not.Q faː
PAST pi
the w-
sing isunefa
cheese ko
ACC mi
RELPRON saːʃ
buy -oː
not.Q faː
PAST miː
1excl.sing

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

 (26)

Complementation Strategies

Amapi forms complement clauses by nominalising the embedded verb. The nominalised form lacks finite verbal categories and behaves as a noun phrase. Subjects of nominalised clauses occur in the genitive case, and the nominalised verb establishes the semantic content of the complement.

The following example illustrate how complement clauses function:

Kooniloo faa fee pi weefiisheelee pi wula wipoo faa ko weengiiloomuu fee pi wuki.

[koːniloː faː feː pi weːfiːʃeːleː pi wula wipoː faː ko weːŋiːloːmuː feː pi wuki]

koːnil
surprise -oː
not.Q faː
PAST feː
DAT pi
the w-
sing eːfiːʃeːleː
teacher pi
the w-
sing ula
boy wip
give -oː
not.Q faː
PAST ko
ACC w-
sing eːŋiːloːmuː
apple feː
DAT pi
the w-
sing uki
girl

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

 (27)

Quotes

Amapi employs a quotative particle to mark direct and indirect speech. The quotative follows the reported phrase and identifies the preceding expression as quoted or reported. The same construction is also used to express reported thoughts.

Here is an example of how quotations are expressed:

Keesoo faa ko mii hanoo ko pee fee pi wuki pi wula.

[keːsoː faː ko miː hanoː ko peː feː pi wuki pi wula]

keːs
tell -oː
not.Q faː
PAST ko
ACC miː
1excl.sing han
love -oː
not.Q ko
ACC peː
2.sing feː
DAT pi
the w-
sing uki
girl pi
the w-
sing ula
boy

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

 (28)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Amapi. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 1 August 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/196S0

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-196S0,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Amapi}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/196S0}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 1 August 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Amapi / Amapi–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/196S0

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