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A Grammar of Kir

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Kir language (the 1082nd 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 Kir.

Typological Profile

It has the VSO basic order, common globally but unusual in many families and postpositions.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Kir has 25 consonant phonemes, a size that falls within a broadly average range.

It has a notably rich set of sibilant contrasts.

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

labialalveolarpostalveolaralveolo-palatallateralpalatalvelarlab. velarglottal
stopp b d t k ɡ kʷ ɡʷ
ejective stopkʼ kʷʼ
nasalm n ɲ
trill/tap/flapr
fricativef s ʃ h
approximantw l j
affricatet͡ʃ t͡ɕ
implosiveɓ

Vowels

Kir 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 vertical vowel system in which backness distinctions are largely absent and a maximally “square” vowel system balancing heights across backness.

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

central
closeɨ
midə
opena

Stress and Tones

Kir 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

The language employs vowel harmony. To be specific, the following vowels change to match the first vowel of the root: /ɨ/ becomes /ə/.

Writing System

Introduction

Kir is an unwritten language. For that reason, all examples in this grammar are given exclusively in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which offers a precise and widely recognised means of recording its sounds.

Orthography

Kiris an unwritten language, so it does not make any sense to discuss its orthography.

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Kir does not have grammatical number.

Gender

Kir does not have genders or noun classes.

The Nominal Phrase

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

[mail ɡakʼ kʼaːmɨt jəɡət t͡ʃapab t͡ɕaik taːkɨkʼ t͡ʃarɨːɡʷat mat]

mail
catch ɡakʼ
PAST kʼaːm
woman -ɨ
sing -t
NOM jəɡ
knife -ɨ
sing -t
NOM t͡ʃapab
COMIT t͡ɕaik
yon taːk
blind -ɨkʼ
plur t͡ʃarɨːɡʷ
mouse -a
plur -t
NOM mat
three

“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 possessor. a clitic expressing possessor, comprising t͡ʃɨʃ ‘1incl.sing’, kʼʷɨʃ ‘1excl.sing’, fɨɲ ‘2.sing’, t͡ʃar ‘3.sing’, t͡ʃak ‘1incl.plur’, kɨkʼʷ ‘1excl.plur’, hɨ ‘2.plur’ and pɨkʼʷ ‘3.plur’.

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 Kir.

The Noun

The noun in Kir consists of first, the root; second, an obligatory suffix expressing number, comprising -ɨ ‘sing’ and -a ‘plur’; and finally, third, an obligatory suffix expressing case, comprising -t ‘NOM’, -kʷ ‘DAT’, -kʼʷ ‘INS’, -n ‘VOC’, -k ‘ALL’, -w ‘LOC’, -p ‘ABL’ and -kʼ ‘PART’.

The noun displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -araf ‘little’ and -ɨbaw ‘big’

The Adjective

In Kir, the adjective has the following structure: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing number, comprising -ak ‘sing’ and -ɨkʼ ‘plur’.

Numerals

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

Determiners

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

Pronouns

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

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

[sət͡ʃ tɨt͡ɕ]

sət͡ʃ
love tɨt͡ɕ
3.sing

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

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

[sət͡ʃ tɨt͡ɕ tɨt͡ɕ]

sət͡ʃ
love tɨt͡ɕ
3.sing tɨt͡ɕ
3.sing

“He loves her.”

 (3)

Proper Nouns

[sakʼʷəʃ bat͡ɕəwət pɨbabɨt]

sakʼʷəʃ
hate bat͡ɕəw
Bachaw -ɨ
sing -t
NOM pɨbab
Pibab -ɨ
sing -t
NOM

“Bachaw hates Pibab.”

 (4)

Possession

[faʃaːɡʷɨt t͡ʃar kʼaɲɨt]

faʃaːɡʷ
apple -ɨ
sing -t
NOM t͡ʃar
3.sing.POSS kʼaɲ
boy -ɨ
sing -t
NOM

“the boy’s apple”

 (5)

[faʃaːɡʷɨt t͡ʃar tɨt͡ɕ]

faʃaːɡʷ
apple -ɨ
sing -t
NOM t͡ʃar
3.sing.POSS tɨt͡ɕ
3.sing

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (6)

[faʃaːɡʷɨt kʼʷɨʃ]

faʃaːɡʷ
apple -ɨ
sing -t
NOM kʼʷɨʃ
1excl.sing.POSS

“my apple”

 (7)

[hɨtɨːkʼʷ ɡakʼ səːsət t͡ʃar ɲəbəːt͡ʃət dəpət t͡ʃar haɡʷalɨt fɨɲ]

hɨtɨːkʼʷ
kiss ɡakʼ
PAST səːs
daughter -ɨ
sing -t
NOM t͡ʃar
3.sing.POSS ɲɨbəːt͡ʃ
hunter -ɨ
sing -t
NOM dəp
son -ɨ
sing -t
NOM t͡ʃar
3.sing.POSS haɡʷal
neighbour -ɨ
sing -t
NOM fɨɲ
2.sing.POSS

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

 (8)

Derivation

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

[maɓalɨt]

maɓal
lamb -ɨ
sing -t
NOM

“a lamb”

 (9)

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

[maɓalarafɨt]

maɓal
lamb -araf
little -ɨ
sing -t
NOM

“a little lamb”

 (10)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

The verbal phrase clitics in Kir fall into two categories, proclitics and enclitics: first, a clitic expressing comp, comprising ɡɨkʼ ‘COMP’; second, a clitic expressing ta, comprising ɡakʼ ‘PAST’; third, a clitic expressing mode, comprising ɓam ‘imperative’, ʃad ‘conditional’ and sɨd ‘optative’; fourth, a clitic expressing voice, comprising kʷam ‘passive’; fifth, a clitic expressing negation, comprising hɨl ‘NEG’; and finally, sixth, a clitic expressing subj, comprising t͡ɕak ‘1incl.sing’, ɲak ‘1excl.sing’, kɨj ‘2.sing’, kʼʷɨs ‘1incl.plur’, fɨj ‘1excl.plur’, ham ‘2.plur’ and kʷɨkʼʷ ‘3.plur’.

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

The verb displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -kʷat͡ɕa ‘begin’ and -fasɨ ‘stop’

[sət͡ʃ ɲak jal]

sət͡ʃ
love ɲak
1excl.sing.SUBJ jal
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.

[ɓarɨt fadɨt kɨt͡ɕ]

ɓar
surface -ɨ
sing -t
NOM fad
table -ɨ
sing -t
NOM kɨt͡ɕ
in

“on the table”

 (12)

[paujɨt ɲajairɨt raːʃ]

pauj
inside -ɨ
sing -t
NOM ɲajair
box -ɨ
sing -t
NOM raːʃ
to

“into the box”

 (13)

[kʼai t͡ʃapab]

kʼai
1excl.sing t͡ʃapab
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.

The basic constituent order of Kir is Verb–Subject–Object (VSO). Clauses begin with the verb, followed by the subject, with the object in final position. This pattern is attested among various verb-initial languages.

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

[t͡ʃaiʃ ɡakʼ ɓawaːbɨt ɲəbəːt͡ʃət]

t͡ʃaiʃ
kill ɡakʼ
PAST ɓawaːb
jaguar -ɨ
sing -t
NOM ɲɨbəːt͡ʃ
hunter -ɨ
sing -t
NOM

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (15)

[taf ɡakʼ sakʼət͡ɕət ɲədət t͡ʃar səːsət t͡ʃar ɲəbəːt͡ʃət]

taf
eat ɡakʼ
PAST sakʼət͡ɕ
lion -ɨ
sing -t
NOM ɲəd
dog -ɨ
sing -t
NOM t͡ʃar
3.sing.POSS səːs
daughter -ɨ
sing -t
NOM t͡ʃar
3.sing.POSS ɲɨbəːt͡ʃ
hunter -ɨ
sing -t
NOM

“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 Kir 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, Kir 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.

[bɨːkɨt t͡ʃar kaikʼɨt t͡ʃar dəpət fɨɲ]

bɨːk
book -ɨ
sing -t
NOM t͡ʃar
3.sing.POSS kaikʼ
friend -ɨ
sing -t
NOM t͡ʃar
3.sing.POSS dəp
son -ɨ
sing -t
NOM fɨɲ
2.sing.POSS

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (17)

Case Marking

Kir 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.

[ʃɨr t͡ɕauʃɨt]

ʃɨr
sleep t͡ɕauʃ
cat -ɨ
sing -t
NOM

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (18)

[ɡʷəʃ t͡ɕauʃɨt]

ɡʷəʃ
run t͡ɕauʃ
cat -ɨ
sing -t
NOM

“The cat is running.”

 (19)

[kʼʷat͡ɕɨːj t͡ɕauʃɨt t͡ʃarɨːɡʷɨt]

kʼʷat͡ɕɨːj
chase t͡ɕauʃ
cat -ɨ
sing -t
NOM t͡ʃarɨːɡʷ
mouse -ɨ
sing -t
NOM

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (20)

[mail ɡakʼ t͡ɕauʃɨt t͡ʃarɨːɡʷɨt]

mail
catch ɡakʼ
PAST t͡ɕauʃ
cat -ɨ
sing -t
NOM t͡ʃarɨːɡʷ
mouse -ɨ
sing -t
NOM

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (21)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

[t͡ʃaiʃ ɡakʼ ɲəbəːt͡ʃət ɓawaːbat taib banasat taib sakʼət͡ɕat]

t͡ʃaiʃ
kill ɡakʼ
PAST ɲɨbəːt͡ʃ
hunter -ɨ
sing -t
NOM ɓawaːb
jaguar -a
plur -t
NOM taib
and banas
tiger -a
plur -t
NOM taib
and sakʼət͡ɕ
lion -a
plur -t
NOM

“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 Kir 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

Kir 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:

[waɓəʃ ɡakʼ ɲak t͡ɕauʃɨt]

waɓəʃ
pat ɡakʼ
PAST ɲak
1excl.sing.SUBJ t͡ɕauʃ
cat -ɨ
sing -t
NOM

“I patted the cat.”

 (23)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

[waɓəʃ ɡakʼ ɲak t͡ɕauʃɨt, ʃait mail ɡakʼ t͡ʃarɨːɡʷɨt]

waɓəʃ
pat ɡakʼ
PAST ɲak
1excl.sing.SUBJ t͡ɕauʃ
cat -ɨ
sing -t
NOM ʃait
RELPRON mail
catch ɡakʼ
PAST t͡ʃarɨːɡʷ
mouse -ɨ
sing -t
NOM

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (24)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

[waɓəʃ ɡakʼ ɲak t͡ɕauʃɨt, ʃait mail ɡakʼ t͡ʃarɨːɡʷɨt, ʃait taf ɡakʼ sɨraunɨt]

waɓəʃ
pat ɡakʼ
PAST ɲak
1excl.sing.SUBJ t͡ɕauʃ
cat -ɨ
sing -t
NOM ʃait
RELPRON mail
catch ɡakʼ
PAST t͡ʃarɨːɡʷ
mouse -ɨ
sing -t
NOM ʃait
RELPRON taf
eat ɡakʼ
PAST sɨraun
cheese -ɨ
sing -t
NOM

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

 (25)

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

[waɓəʃ ɡakʼ ɲak t͡ɕauʃɨt, ʃait mail ɡakʼ t͡ʃarɨːɡʷɨt, ʃait taf ɡakʼ sɨraunɨt, ʃait pat͡ɕ ɡakʼ ɲak kʼai]

waɓəʃ
pat ɡakʼ
PAST ɲak
1excl.sing.SUBJ t͡ɕauʃ
cat -ɨ
sing -t
NOM ʃait
RELPRON mail
catch ɡakʼ
PAST t͡ʃarɨːɡʷ
mouse -ɨ
sing -t
NOM ʃait
RELPRON taf
eat ɡakʼ
PAST sɨraun
cheese -ɨ
sing -t
NOM ʃait
RELPRON pat͡ɕ
buy ɡakʼ
PAST ɲak
1excl.sing.SUBJ kʼai
1excl.sing

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

 (26)

Complementation Strategies

Kir 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:

[ɡʷɨtakʼʷ ɡakʼ ɡɨkʼ kʷaukʷ ɡakʼ kʼaɲɨt faʃaːɡʷɨt t͡ʃautɨt dət͡ʃəːlət]

ɡʷɨtakʼʷ
surprise ɡakʼ
PAST ɡɨkʼ
COMP kʷaukʷ
give ɡakʼ
PAST kʼaɲ
boy -ɨ
sing -t
NOM faʃaːɡʷ
apple -ɨ
sing -t
NOM t͡ʃaut
girl -ɨ
sing -t
NOM dɨt͡ʃəːl
teacher -ɨ
sing -t
NOM

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

 (27)

Quotes

Kir 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:

[ʃaiɓ ɡakʼ kʼaɲɨt ɡɨkʼ sət͡ʃ ɲak kʼai jal t͡ʃautɨt]

ʃaiɓ
tell ɡakʼ
PAST kʼaɲ
boy -ɨ
sing -t
NOM ɡɨkʼ
COMP sət͡ʃ
love ɲak
1excl.sing.SUBJ kʼai
1excl.sing jal
2.sing t͡ʃaut
girl -ɨ
sing -t
NOM

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

 (28)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Kir. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 8 August 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/1DMG2

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-1DMG2,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Kir}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/1DMG2}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 8 August 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Kir / Kir–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/1DMG2

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