A Grammar of Jiz

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Jiz language (the 1089th 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 Jiz.

Typological Profile

It has not just singular and plural, but also dual, as well as the VSO basic order, common globally but unusual in many families and postpositions.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Jiz has a large consonant inventory, comprising 47 phonemes.

It has an exceptionally dense sibilant inventory, a maximally contrastive voicing system, a substantial inventory of palatal or palatalised consonants, a wide range of approximant contrasts and a system with marginal but genuine retroflex contrasts.

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

labialdentalalveolarpostalveolaralveolo-palatallateralpalatalretroflexvelaruvularglottal
stopp b d t c ɟ ɖ ʈ k ɡ q ʔ
nasalm n ɲ ɳ ŋ
trill/tap/flapr ɽ
fricativef v ð θ s z ʃ ʒ ɕ ʑ ʂ ʐ x ɣ ʁ h ɦ
approximantw ɹ ʎ j ɻ
affricatet͡s d͡ʒ t͡ʃ t͡ɕ

Vowels

Jiz 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 moderately reduced system of unstressed vowels.

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

frontcentralback
closei u
mide o
opena

Stress and Tones

Jiz 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

Jiz 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 /v/г /h/
д /d/д̇ /ɖ/е /e/ж /ʒ/
з /z/з̇ /ʐ/и /i/к /k/
л /l/м /m/н /n/н̇ /ɳ/
о /o/п /p/р /r/р̆ /ɹ/
р̇ /ɽ/р̣ /ɻ/с /s/с̇ /ʂ/
т /t/т̇ /ʈ/у /u/ф /f/
х /x/ц /t͡s/ч /t͡ʃ/ш /ʃ/
щ /ɕ/ѓ /ɟ/ј /j/љ /ʎ/
њ /ɲ/ћ /t͡ɕ/ќ /c/ў /w/
џ /d͡ʒ/ѳ /θ/ґ /ɡ/ғ /ɣ/
ҙ /ð/һ /ɦ/ӈ /ŋ/ӏ /ʔ/
ӷ /ʁ/ԛ /q/

Multi-letter combinations such as digraphs

жь /ʑ/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Jiz distinguishes singular, dual and plural.

Gender

Jiz has the following genders:

Gender masc – for instance: веб ‘head’, дафир̣ ‘mortar’, жѓар̇ур ‘God’, з̇дузар ‘court’, кужь ‘chair’, меһ ‘human being’, нижиг ‘net’, нифоӈ ‘root’, с̇тицет̇ ‘umbrella’, спањис ‘tower’, т̇ужьґуњ ‘binoculars’, фол ‘knife’, чуд ‘table’, шпуӏ ‘boy’, шуһ ‘father’, шӏас̇тед̇ ‘feather’, љуп ‘tongue’, ҙахаф ‘box’, ҙул ‘nose’, ԛаӏоч ‘machine’.

Gender fem – for instance: вамир ‘salt’, даӷоџ ‘fingernail’, жѓучиԛ ‘belly’, з̇бимак ‘anus’, з̇ићиғ ‘sand’, з̇уј ‘night’, зґаз ‘heart’, лаџиґ ‘ice’, р̆аҙ ‘mother’, р̇ер ‘manner’, рат̇об ‘medicine’, феј ‘top’, чањуј ‘student’, шпамен ‘flower’, шусԛур̣ ‘fat’, ѓусур ‘penis’, љож ‘girl’, ћеф ‘leaf’, џор̆ ‘wife’, ғињеӈ ‘ash’.

Gender neut – for instance: валиҙ ‘lion’, дуџоп ‘jaguar’, з̇иѓ ‘bird’, зиԛиԛ ‘louse’, р̣ажуќ ‘cloud’, с̇ог ‘east’, с̇пизиѓ ‘urine’, с̇ԛирас ‘fog’, сӏиҙер̇ ‘worm’, цахив ‘stick’, цуԛоб ‘tiger’, шт̇иф ‘fish’, шќас ‘leg’, љуж ‘rain’, ќичел ‘teacher’, ҙих ‘south’, һичиз̇ ‘lamb’, ӏаћ ‘wind’, ӏев ‘sea’, ԛуѳ ‘tree’.

The Nominal Phrase

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

Даѓај р̇ал чаҙ һеп чаф фол хувић р̆оњ скиљас ќаљ љеӷ щԛуњ лар̇.

[ˈdaɟaj ɽal ˈt͡ʃað ˈɦep ˈt͡ʃaf ˈfol xuˈvit͡ɕ ˈɹoɲ skiˈʎas ˈcaʎ ˈʎeʁ ɕquɲ laɽ]

d-
3.sing.fem.SUBJ
ˈaɟ
catch
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
ˈt͡ʃa
the

fem
ˈɦep
woman
ˈt͡ʃa
the
-f
masc
ˈfol
knife
xuˈvit͡ɕ
COMIT
ˈɹo
yon

neut
skiˈʎas
mouse
ˈcaʎ
blind
ˈʎeʁ
three
ɕquɲ
plur
laɽ
ACC

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

(1)

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

All nominal phrase clitics in Jiz are enclitics (placed finally), and there are two types: a clitic expressing number, comprising щиӈ /ɕiŋ/ ‘dual’ and щԛуњ /ɕquɲ/ ‘plur’ followed by a clitic expressing case, comprising лар̇ /laɽ/ ‘ACC’, гиғ /hiɣ/ ‘GEN’, зґуц /zɡut͡s/ ‘DAT’, фуќ /fuc/ ‘INS’, р̆аґ /ɹaɡ/ ‘VOC’, ѳар̆ /θaɹ/ ‘ALL’, шиф /ʃif/ ‘LOC’, щԛаљ /ɕqaʎ/ ‘ABL’ and лап /lap/ ‘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 Jiz.

The Noun

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

The Adjective

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

Numerals

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

Determiners

In Jiz, the determiner has the following structure: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing gender, comprising /-f/ ‘masc’, /-ð/ ‘fem’ and /-ɲ/ ‘neut’.

Pronouns

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

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

Јичај з̇иў лар̇.

[ˈjit͡ʃaj ˈʐiw laɽ]

j-
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
ˈit͡ʃ
love
-aj
not.Q
ˈʐiw
3.sing.fem
laɽ
ACC

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

(2)

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

Јичај кан̇ з̇иў лар̇.

[ˈjit͡ʃaj ˈkaɳ ˈʐiw laɽ]

j-
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
ˈit͡ʃ
love
-aj
not.Q
ˈkaɳ
3.sing.masc
ˈʐiw
3.sing.fem
laɽ
ACC

He loves her.”

(3)

Proper Nouns

Јас̇тизај чаф Мареԛ чаҙ Даз̇ед̇ лар̇.

[jaˈʂtizaj ˈt͡ʃaf maˈreq ˈt͡ʃað daˈʐeɖ laɽ]

j-
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
ˈaʂtiz
hate
-aj
not.Q
ˈt͡ʃa
the
-f
masc
maˈreq
Mareq
ˈt͡ʃa
the

fem
daˈʐeɖ
Dazhed
laɽ
ACC

“Mareq hates Dazhed.”

(4)

Possession

чаҙ щкун̇аж чаф шпуӏ

[ˈt͡ʃað ɕkuˈɳaʒ ˈt͡ʃaf ˈʃpuʔ]

ˈt͡ʃa
the

fem
ɕkuˈɳaʒ
apple
ˈt͡ʃa
the
-f
masc
ˈʃpuʔ
boy

“the boy’s apple”

(5)
чаҙ щкун̇аж кан̇

[ˈt͡ʃað ɕkuˈɳaʒ ˈkaɳ]

ˈt͡ʃa
the

fem
ɕkuˈɳaʒ
apple
ˈkaɳ
3.sing.masc

“his (the boy’s) apple”

(6)
чаҙ щкун̇аж жах

[ˈt͡ʃað ɕkuˈɳaʒ ˈʒax]

ˈt͡ʃa
the

fem
ɕkuˈɳaʒ
apple
ˈʒax
1excl.sing

“my apple”

(7)
Даԛапај р̇ал чаҙ ҙам чаф љур̆уљ чаф тул чањ з̇д̇ащкас̇ с̇пећ лар̇.

[daˈqapaj ɽal ˈt͡ʃað ˈðam ˈt͡ʃaf ʎuˈɹuʎ ˈt͡ʃaf ˈtul ˈt͡ʃaɲ ʐɖaˈɕkaʂ ˈʂpet͡ɕ laɽ]

d-
3.sing.fem.SUBJ
ˈaqap
kiss
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
ˈt͡ʃa
the

fem
ˈðam
daughter
ˈt͡ʃa
the
-f
masc
ʎuˈɹuʎ
hunter
ˈt͡ʃa
the
-f
masc
ˈtul
son
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
ʐɖaˈɕkaʂ
neighbour
ˈʂpet͡ɕ
2.sing
laɽ
ACC

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

(8)

Derivation

Jiz has no derivational processes.

һичиз̇

[ɦiˈt͡ʃiʐ]

ɦiˈt͡ʃiʐ
lamb

“a lamb”

(9)

Note how none show up here:

Дищкај р̇ал јозбај р̇ал һичиз̇ поњ лар̇ нитур лар̇.

[ˈdiɕkaj ɽal ˈjozbaj ɽal ɦiˈt͡ʃiʐ ˈpoɲ laɽ niˈtur laɽ]

d-
3.sing.fem.SUBJ
ˈiɕk
want
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
j-
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
ˈozb
have
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
ɦiˈt͡ʃiʐ
lamb
ˈpoɲ
little
laɽ
ACC
niˈtur
COMP
laɽ
ACC

“She wanted to have a little lamb.”

(10)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

All verbal phrase clitics in Jiz are enclitics (placed finally), and there are four types: first, a clitic expressing ta, comprising р̇ал /ɽal/ ‘PAST’; second, a clitic expressing mode, comprising з̇ґид̇ /ʐɡiɖ/ ‘imperative’, њуљ /ɲuʎ/ ‘conditional’ and буґ /buɡ/ ‘optative’; third, a clitic expressing voice, comprising сќас /scas/ ‘passive’; and finally, fourth, a clitic expressing negation, comprising сќуӷ /scuʁ/ ‘NEG’.

In addition, the verb is structured like this: first, an obligatory prefix expressing subj, comprising г- /h-/ ‘1incl.sing’, х- /x-/ ‘1excl.sing’, с̇т̇- /ʂʈ-/ ‘2.sing’, ј- /j-/ ‘3.sing.masc’, д- /d-/ ‘3.sing.fem’, ќ- /c-/ ‘3.sing.neut’, џ- /d͡ʒ-/ ‘1incl.dual’, ѳ- /θ-/ ‘1excl.dual’, ґ- /ɡ-/ ‘2.dual’, т- /t-/ ‘3.dual.masc’, к- /k-/ ‘3.dual.fem’, б- /b-/ ‘3.dual.neut’, з- /z-/ ‘1incl.plur’, щ- /ɕ-/ ‘1excl.plur’, н- /n-/ ‘2.plur’, ӈ- /ŋ-/ ‘3.plur.masc’, ф- /f-/ ‘3.plur.fem’ and л- /l-/ ‘3.plur.neut’; second, the root; and finally, third, an obligatory suffix expressing question, comprising -их /-ix/ ‘Q’ and -ај /-aj/ ‘not.Q’.

Хичај с̇пећ лар̇.

[ˈxit͡ʃaj ˈʂpet͡ɕ laɽ]

x-
1excl.sing.SUBJ
ˈit͡ʃ
love
-aj
not.Q
ˈʂpet͡ɕ
2.sing
laɽ
ACC

“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.

чаф чуд вен

[ˈt͡ʃaf ˈt͡ʃud ˈven]

ˈt͡ʃa
the
-f
masc
ˈt͡ʃud
table
ˈven
in_surface

“on the table”

(12)
чаф ҙахаф с̇иў

[ˈt͡ʃaf ðaˈxaf ˈʂiw]

ˈt͡ʃa
the
-f
masc
ðaˈxaf
box
ˈʂiw
to_inside

“into the box”

(13)
жах хувић

[ˈʒax xuˈvit͡ɕ]

ˈʒax
1excl.sing
xuˈvit͡ɕ
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 Jiz 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 Jiz.

Ќадај р̇ал чањ дуџоп чаф љур̆уљ лар̇.

[ˈcadaj ɽal ˈt͡ʃaɲ duˈd͡ʒop ˈt͡ʃaf ʎuˈɹuʎ laɽ]

c-
3.sing.neut.SUBJ
ˈad
kill
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
duˈd͡ʒop
jaguar
ˈt͡ʃa
the
-f
masc
ʎuˈɹuʎ
hunter
laɽ
ACC

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

(15)
Ќитај р̇ал чањ валиҙ чањ ґис̇ чаҙ ҙам чаф љур̆уљ лар̇.

[ˈcitaj ɽal ˈt͡ʃaɲ vaˈlið ˈt͡ʃaɲ ˈɡiʂ ˈt͡ʃað ˈðam ˈt͡ʃaf ʎuˈɹuʎ laɽ]

c-
3.sing.neut.SUBJ
ˈit
eat
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
vaˈlið
lion
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
ˈɡiʂ
dog
ˈt͡ʃa
the

fem
ˈðam
daughter
ˈt͡ʃa
the
-f
masc
ʎuˈɹuʎ
hunter
laɽ
ACC

“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 Jiz 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, Jiz 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.

чаф бук чањ жѓућ чаф тул с̇пећ

[ˈt͡ʃaf buk ˈt͡ʃaɲ ˈʒɟut͡ɕ ˈt͡ʃaf ˈtul ˈʂpet͡ɕ]

ˈt͡ʃa
the
-f
masc
buk
book
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
ˈʒɟut͡ɕ
friend
ˈt͡ʃa
the
-f
masc
ˈtul
son
ˈʂpet͡ɕ
2.sing

“your son’s friend’s book”

(17)

Case Marking

Jiz 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.

Ќаз̇ај чањ жѓужь.

[ˈcaʐaj ˈt͡ʃaɲ ˈʒɟuʑ]

c-
3.sing.neut.SUBJ
ˈaʐ
sleep
-aj
not.Q
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
ˈʒɟuʑ
cat

“The cat is sleeping.”

(18)
Ќистај чањ жѓужь.

[ˈcistaj ˈt͡ʃaɲ ˈʒɟuʑ]

c-
3.sing.neut.SUBJ
ˈist
run
-aj
not.Q
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
ˈʒɟuʑ
cat

“The cat is running.”

(19)
Ќеманај чањ жѓужь чањ скиљас лар̇.

[ceˈmanaj ˈt͡ʃaɲ ˈʒɟuʑ ˈt͡ʃaɲ skiˈʎas laɽ]

c-
3.sing.neut.SUBJ
ˈeman
chase
-aj
not.Q
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
ˈʒɟuʑ
cat
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
skiˈʎas
mouse
laɽ
ACC

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

(20)
Ќаѓај р̇ал чањ жѓужь чањ скиљас лар̇.

[ˈcaɟaj ɽal ˈt͡ʃaɲ ˈʒɟuʑ ˈt͡ʃaɲ skiˈʎas laɽ]

c-
3.sing.neut.SUBJ
ˈaɟ
catch
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
ˈʒɟuʑ
cat
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
skiˈʎas
mouse
laɽ
ACC

“The cat caught the mouse.”

(21)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

Јадај р̇ал чаф љур̆уљ чањ дуџоп щԛуњ саџ чањ цуԛоб щԛуњ саџ чањ валиҙ щԛуњ лар̇.

[ˈjadaj ɽal ˈt͡ʃaf ʎuˈɹuʎ ˈt͡ʃaɲ duˈd͡ʒop ɕquɲ ˈsad͡ʒ ˈt͡ʃaɲ t͡suˈqob ɕquɲ ˈsad͡ʒ ˈt͡ʃaɲ vaˈlið ɕquɲ laɽ]

j-
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
ˈad
kill
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
ˈt͡ʃa
the
-f
masc
ʎuˈɹuʎ
hunter
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
duˈd͡ʒop
jaguar
ɕquɲ
plur
ˈsad͡ʒ
and
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
t͡suˈqob
tiger
ɕquɲ
plur
ˈsad͡ʒ
and
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
vaˈlið
lion
ɕquɲ
plur
laɽ
ACC

“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 Jiz 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

Jiz forms relative clauses by using a head-internal strategy. The head noun appears inside the clause itself, occupying its regular syntactic position. The entire clause functions as a modifier, and its external syntactic behaviour is identical to that of a noun-modifying phrase.

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

Хујуґај р̇ал чањ жѓужь лар̇.

[xuˈjuɡaj ɽal ˈt͡ʃaɲ ˈʒɟuʑ laɽ]

x-
1excl.sing.SUBJ
ˈujuɡ
pat
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
ˈʒɟuʑ
cat
laɽ
ACC

“I patted the cat.”

(23)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Хујуґај р̇ал ќаѓај р̇ал чањ жѓужь чањ скиљас лар̇ нитур лар̇.

[xuˈjuɡaj ɽal ˈcaɟaj ɽal ˈt͡ʃaɲ ˈʒɟuʑ ˈt͡ʃaɲ skiˈʎas laɽ niˈtur laɽ]

x-
1excl.sing.SUBJ
ˈujuɡ
pat
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
c-
3.sing.neut.SUBJ
ˈaɟ
catch
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
ˈʒɟuʑ
cat
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
skiˈʎas
mouse
laɽ
ACC
niˈtur
COMP
laɽ
ACC

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

(24)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Хујуґај р̇ал ќаѓај р̇ал чањ жѓужь ќитај р̇ал чањ скиљас чаҙ ӷиштас лар̇ нитур лар̇ нитур лар̇.

[xuˈjuɡaj ɽal ˈcaɟaj ɽal ˈt͡ʃaɲ ˈʒɟuʑ ˈcitaj ɽal ˈt͡ʃaɲ skiˈʎas ˈt͡ʃað ʁiˈʃtas laɽ niˈtur laɽ niˈtur laɽ]

x-
1excl.sing.SUBJ
ˈujuɡ
pat
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
c-
3.sing.neut.SUBJ
ˈaɟ
catch
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
ˈʒɟuʑ
cat
c-
3.sing.neut.SUBJ
ˈit
eat
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
skiˈʎas
mouse
ˈt͡ʃa
the

fem
ʁiˈʃtas
cheese
laɽ
ACC
niˈtur
COMP
laɽ
ACC
niˈtur
COMP
laɽ
ACC

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

(25)

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

Хујуґај р̇ал ќаѓај р̇ал чањ жѓужь ќитај р̇ал чањ скиљас хиҙај р̇ал жах чаҙ ӷиштас лар̇ нитур лар̇ нитур лар̇ нитур лар̇.

[xuˈjuɡaj ɽal ˈcaɟaj ɽal ˈt͡ʃaɲ ˈʒɟuʑ ˈcitaj ɽal ˈt͡ʃaɲ skiˈʎas ˈxiðaj ɽal ˈʒax ˈt͡ʃað ʁiˈʃtas laɽ niˈtur laɽ niˈtur laɽ niˈtur laɽ]

x-
1excl.sing.SUBJ
ˈujuɡ
pat
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
c-
3.sing.neut.SUBJ
ˈaɟ
catch
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
ˈʒɟuʑ
cat
c-
3.sing.neut.SUBJ
ˈit
eat
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
skiˈʎas
mouse
x-
1excl.sing.SUBJ
ˈið
buy
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
ˈʒax
1excl.sing
ˈt͡ʃa
the

fem
ʁiˈʃtas
cheese
laɽ
ACC
niˈtur
COMP
laɽ
ACC
niˈtur
COMP
laɽ
ACC
niˈtur
COMP
laɽ
ACC

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

(26)

Complementation Strategies

Jiz 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:

Ќучишпај р̇ал јицај р̇ал чаф шпуӏ щкун̇аж лар̇ чаҙ љож зґуц нитур чањ ќичел зґуц.

[cuˈt͡ʃiʃpaj ɽal ˈjit͡saj ɽal ˈt͡ʃaf ˈʃpuʔ ɕkuˈɳaʒ laɽ ˈt͡ʃað ˈʎoʒ zɡut͡s niˈtur ˈt͡ʃaɲ cit͡ʃel zɡut͡s]

c-
3.sing.neut.SUBJ
ˈut͡ʃiʃp
surprise
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
j-
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
ˈit͡s
give
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
ˈt͡ʃa
the
-f
masc
ˈʃpuʔ
boy
ɕkuˈɳaʒ
apple
laɽ
ACC
ˈt͡ʃa
the

fem
ˈʎoʒ
girl
zɡut͡s
DAT
niˈtur
COMP
ˈt͡ʃa
the

neut
cit͡ʃel
teacher
zɡut͡s
DAT

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

(27)

Quotes

Jiz 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:

Јес̇пај р̇ал чаф шпуӏ хичај жах с̇пећ лар̇ нитур лар̇ чаҙ љож зґуц.

[ˈjeʂpaj ɽal ˈt͡ʃaf ˈʃpuʔ ˈxit͡ʃaj ˈʒax ˈʂpet͡ɕ laɽ niˈtur laɽ ˈt͡ʃað ˈʎoʒ zɡut͡s]

j-
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
ˈeʂp
tell
-aj
not.Q
ɽal
PAST
ˈt͡ʃa
the
-f
masc
ˈʃpuʔ
boy
x-
1excl.sing.SUBJ
ˈit͡ʃ
love
-aj
not.Q
ˈʒax
1excl.sing
ˈʂpet͡ɕ
2.sing
laɽ
ACC
niˈtur
COMP
laɽ
ACC
ˈt͡ʃa
the

fem
ˈʎoʒ
girl
zɡut͡s
DAT

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

(28)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Jiz. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 11 August 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/1F1EF

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-1F1EF,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Jiz}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/1F1EF}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 11 August 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

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

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