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A Grammar of Vivo

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Vivo language (the 1071st 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 Vivo.

Typological Profile

It has a complete absence of fricative consonants, no inflections (clitics do the hard work) and postpositions.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Vivo has a moderately small consonant inventory, comprising 16 phonemes.

It has a complete absence of fricative consonants, a maximally contrastive voicing system, a complete absence of affricates and a strongly reduced sibilant system.

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

labialalveolarlateralpalatalvelarglottal
stopp b d t k ɡ
nasalm n ɲ
fricatives z h
approximantʋ ɾ j

Vowels

Vivo 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, a full range of vowel qualities even in reduced syllables and occasional ghost vowels that surface only weakly.

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

frontcentralback
closei u
mide o
opena

Stress and Tones

Vivo 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

Vivo 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/b /b/d /d/e /e/
g /ɡ/h /h/i /i/j /j/
k /k/m /m/n /n/o /o/
p /p/r /ɾ/s /s/t /t/
u /u/w /ʋ/z /z/ñ /ɲ/

Multi-letter combinations such as digraphs

aa /aː/ee /eː/ii /iː/
oo /oː/uu /uː/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Vivo does not have grammatical number.

Gender

Vivo does not have genders or noun classes.

The Nominal Phrase

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

Bu zaa bu kumoo raaña hime taa bujuka doo jazaa ñika woohi.

[bu zaː bu kumoː ɾaːɲa hime taː bujuka doː jazaː ɲika ʋoːhi]

bu
the zaː
woman bu
the kumoː
knife ɾaːɲa
COMIT hime
blind taː
yon bujuka
mouse doː
three jazaː
ACC ɲika
catch ʋoːhi
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 is one type of clitic in the nominal phrase, namely an enclitic (placed finally), expressing case. a clitic expressing case, comprising jazaa /jazaː/ ‘ACC’, peepo /peːpo/ ‘GEN’, nodo /nodo/ ‘DAT’, noboo /noboː/ ‘INS’, naato /naːto/ ‘VOC’, woño /ʋoɲo/ ‘ALL’, ñimee /ɲimeː/ ‘LOC’, muuna /muːna/ ‘ABL’ and ñoowe /ɲoːʋe/ ‘PART’.

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

The Noun

The noun in Vivo stands alone without any prefixes or suffixes attached to it.

The noun displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -pi /-pi/ ‘little’ and -ree /-ɾeː/ ‘big’

The Adjective

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

Numerals

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

Determiners

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

Pronouns

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

In Vivo, both subject and object pronouns are dropped unless they are stressed. Here is an example where neither of the pronouns are stressed:

Toma.

[toma]

toma
love

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

But here, the word corresponding to he is stressed:

Nii toma.

[niː toma]

niː
3 toma
love

“He loves her.”

 (3)

And here, it is the one translated as her that is stressed:

Nii jazaa toma.

[niː jazaː toma]

niː
3 jazaː
ACC toma
love

“He loves her.”

 (4)

Proper Nouns

Bu Sapiiroo bu Sukijoo jazaa keeguga.

[bu sapiːɾoː bu sukijoː jazaː keːɡuɡa]

bu
the sapiːɾoː
Sapiro bu
the sukijoː
Sukiyo jazaː
ACC keːɡuɡa
hate

“Sapiro hates Sukiyo.”

 (5)

Possession

bu mu bu ñaditi

[bu mu bu ɲaditi]

bu
the mu
boy bu
the ɲaditi
apple

“the boy’s apple”

 (6)
nii bu ñaditi

[niː bu ɲaditi]

niː
3 bu
the ɲaditi
apple

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (7)
rii bu ñaditi

[ɾiː bu ɲaditi]

ɾiː
1excl bu
the ɲaditi
apple

“my apple”

 (8)
Bu ñeesuunii bu puu wi bu teniikee bu ti jazaa zoozido woohi.

[bu ɲeːsuːniː bu puː ʋi bu teniːkeː bu ti jazaː zoːzido ʋoːhi]

bu
the ɲeːsuːniː
hunter bu
the puː
daughter ʋi
2 bu
the teniːkeː
neighbour bu
the ti
son jazaː
ACC zoːzido
kiss ʋoːhi
PAST

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

 (9)

Derivation

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

rogama

[ɾoɡama]

ɾoɡama
lamb

“a lamb”

 (10)

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

rogamapi

[ɾoɡamapi]

ɾoɡama
lamb -pi
little

“a little lamb”

 (11)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

All verbal phrase clitics in Vivo are enclitics (placed finally), and there are five types: first, a clitic expressing ta, comprising woohi /ʋoːhi/ ‘PAST’; second, a clitic expressing mode, comprising kiina /kiːna/ ‘imperative’, ñazaa /ɲazaː/ ‘conditional’ and hawu /haʋu/ ‘optative’; third, a clitic expressing voice, comprising kumi /kumi/ ‘passive’; fourth, a clitic expressing negation, comprising daga /daɡa/ ‘NEG’; and finally, fifth, a clitic expressing question, comprising niisoo /niːsoː/ ‘Q’.

The verb itself does not have any prefixes or suffixes attached to it.

The verb displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -ga /-ɡa/ ‘begin’ and -ru /-ɾu/ ‘stop’

Toma.

[toma]

toma
love

“I love you.”

 (12)

Adverbs Minor Classes

Adpositions

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

bu pabo zu ñimee zo

[bu pabo zu ɲimeː zo]

bu
the pabo
table zu
surface ɲimeː
LOC zo
in

“on the table”

 (13)
bu tupipo ra nodo wii

[bu tupipo ɾa nodo ʋiː]

bu
the tupipo
box ɾa
inside nodo
DAT ʋiː
to

“into the box”

 (14)
rii ñimee raaña

[ɾiː ɲimeː ɾaːɲa]

ɾiː
1excl ɲimeː
LOC ɾaːɲa
COMIT

“with me”

 (15)

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.

Vivo has basic Subject–Object–Verb (SOV) word order. The subject precedes the object, and the verb appears at the end of the clause. This is one of the most frequent patterns cross-linguistically.

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

Bu mudiino bu ñeesuunii jazaa nesta woohi.

[bu mudiːno bu ɲeːsuːniː jazaː nesta ʋoːhi]

bu
the mudiːno
jaguar bu
the ɲeːsuːniː
hunter jazaː
ACC nesta
kill ʋoːhi
PAST

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (16)
Bu sazuuro bu ñeesuunii bu puu bu ro jazaa saru woohi.

[bu sazuːɾo bu ɲeːsuːniː bu puː bu ɾo jazaː saɾu ʋoːhi]

bu
the sazuːɾo
lion bu
the ɲeːsuːniː
hunter bu
the puː
daughter bu
the ɾo
dog jazaː
ACC saɾu
eat ʋoːhi
PAST

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

 (17)

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 Vivo 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, Vivo 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.

wi bu ti bu ñe bu siihoo

[ʋi bu ti bu ɲe bu siːhoː]

ʋi
2 bu
the ti
son bu
the ɲe
friend bu
the siːhoː
book

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (18)

Case Marking

Vivo 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.

Bu su riñi.

[bu su ɾiɲi]

bu
the su
cat ɾiɲi
sleep

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (19)
Bu su muu.

[bu su muː]

bu
the su
cat muː
run

“The cat is running.”

 (20)
Bu su bu bujuka jazaa jooñupe.

[bu su bu bujuka jazaː joːɲupe]

bu
the su
cat bu
the bujuka
mouse jazaː
ACC joːɲupe
chase

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (21)
Bu su bu bujuka jazaa ñika woohi.

[bu su bu bujuka jazaː ɲika ʋoːhi]

bu
the su
cat bu
the bujuka
mouse jazaː
ACC ɲika
catch ʋoːhi
PAST

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (22)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

Bu ñeesuunii bu mudiino na bu ñupuukii na bu sazuuro jazaa nesta woohi.

[bu ɲeːsuːniː bu mudiːno na bu ɲupuːkiː na bu sazuːɾo jazaː nesta ʋoːhi]

bu
the ɲeːsuːniː
hunter bu
the mudiːno
jaguar na
and bu
the ɲupuːkiː
tiger na
and bu
the sazuːɾo
lion jazaː
ACC nesta
kill ʋoːhi
PAST

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

 (23)

Modifiers and Determiners

The ordering of demonstratives, articles (if present), and other modifiers in Vivo 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

Vivo 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:

Bu su jazaa sowujee woohi.

[bu su jazaː soʋujeː ʋoːhi]

bu
the su
cat jazaː
ACC soʋujeː
pat ʋoːhi
PAST

“I patted the cat.”

 (24)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Bu bujuka jazaa ñika woohi bu su jazaa sowujee woohi.

[bu bujuka jazaː ɲika ʋoːhi bu su jazaː soʋujeː ʋoːhi]

bu
the bujuka
mouse jazaː
ACC ɲika
catch ʋoːhi
PAST bu
the su
cat jazaː
ACC soʋujeː
pat ʋoːhi
PAST

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (25)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Bu gebini jazaa saru woohi bu bujuka jazaa ñika woohi bu su jazaa sowujee woohi.

[bu ɡebini jazaː saɾu ʋoːhi bu bujuka jazaː ɲika ʋoːhi bu su jazaː soʋujeː ʋoːhi]

bu
the ɡebini
cheese jazaː
ACC saɾu
eat ʋoːhi
PAST bu
the bujuka
mouse jazaː
ACC ɲika
catch ʋoːhi
PAST bu
the su
cat jazaː
ACC soʋujeː
pat ʋoːhi
PAST

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

 (26)

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

Rii niinoo woohi bu gebini jazaa saru woohi bu bujuka jazaa ñika woohi bu su jazaa sowujee woohi.

[ɾiː niːnoː ʋoːhi bu ɡebini jazaː saɾu ʋoːhi bu bujuka jazaː ɲika ʋoːhi bu su jazaː soʋujeː ʋoːhi]

ɾiː
1excl niːnoː
buy ʋoːhi
PAST bu
the ɡebini
cheese jazaː
ACC saɾu
eat ʋoːhi
PAST bu
the bujuka
mouse jazaː
ACC ɲika
catch ʋoːhi
PAST bu
the su
cat jazaː
ACC soʋujeː
pat ʋoːhi
PAST

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

 (27)

Complementation Strategies

Vivo 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:

Bu mu bu saa nodo ñaditi jazaa piiñu woohi bu seesaañee nodo poosedo woohi.

[bu mu bu saː nodo ɲaditi jazaː piːɲu ʋoːhi bu seːsaːɲeː nodo poːsedo ʋoːhi]

bu
the mu
boy bu
the saː
girl nodo
DAT ɲaditi
apple jazaː
ACC piːɲu
give ʋoːhi
PAST bu
the seːsaːɲeː
teacher nodo
DAT poːsedo
surprise ʋoːhi
PAST

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

 (28)

Quotes

Vivo 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:

Bu mu bu saa nodo rii wi jazaa toma jazaa josa woohi.

[bu mu bu saː nodo ɾiː ʋi jazaː toma jazaː josa ʋoːhi]

bu
the mu
boy bu
the saː
girl nodo
DAT ɾiː
1excl ʋi
2 jazaː
ACC toma
love jazaː
ACC josa
tell ʋoːhi
PAST

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

 (29)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Vivo. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 5 August 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/1BE41

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-1BE41,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Vivo}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/1BE41}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 5 August 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Vivo / Vivo–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/1BE41

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