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A Grammar of Ding

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Ding language (the 1257th 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 Ding.

Typological Profile

It has postpositions.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Ding has a moderately large consonant inventory, with 31 phonemes.

It has a noticeably strong aspirated–unaspirated distinction, a system with marginal but genuine retroflex contrasts and a complete absence of laryngeal consonants.

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

labialalveolarpostalveolarlateralpalatalretroflexvelar
stopp b d t ɖ ʈ k ɡ
aspirated stoppʰ tʰ ʈʰ kʰ
ejective stopkʼ
nasalm n ɲ ɳ ŋ
trill/tap/flapɽ
fricativef s z ʃ ʒ ʂ
approximantʋ l j
affricatet͡ʃ
implosiveɓ

Vowels

Ding has 7 vowel qualities, forming a relatively large inventory. The system distinguishes several vowel categories, as indicated in the chart, offering a wide range of vocalic contrasts.

It has occasional ghost vowels that surface only weakly.

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

frontcentralback
closei u
mide o
opena

Stress and Tones

Ding 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: /i/ becomes /u/, /e/ becomes /o/.

Writing System

Introduction

Ding 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/
f /f/g /ɡ/i /i/j /j/
k /k/l /l/m /m/n /n/
o /o/p /p/s /s/t /t/
u /u/w /ʋ/z /z/ñ /ɲ/

Multi-letter combinations such as digraphs

ai /ai/au /au/bb /ɓ/
ch /t͡ʃ/gk /kʼ/kh /kʰ/
ng /ŋ/ph /pʰ/rd /ɖ/
rn /ɳ/rr /ɽ/rs /ʂ/
rt /ʈ/rth /ʈʰ/sh /ʃ/
th /tʰ/zh /ʒ/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Ding does not have grammatical number.

Gender

Ding has the following genders:

Gender masc – for instance: bap ‘house’, bbuch ‘egg’, daig ‘tongue’, derrosp ‘binoculars’, destug ‘slime’, figk ‘south’, fim ‘fish’, gernaut ‘dust’, lig ‘ear’, lirn ‘table’, list ‘meat’, narraith ‘breast’, nirr ‘man’, phad ‘fruit’, rreparn ‘hunter’, rrernirs ‘wild boar’, rsewos ‘brick’, rsik ‘husband’, wegkin ‘machine’, zharregk ‘rope’.

Gender fem – for instance: bigik ‘plain’, fagk ‘mother’, fishong ‘root’, gkiñuw ‘ash’, kabbugk ‘net’, labberr ‘seed’, phirn ‘water’, pichag ‘belly’, rdard ‘sea’, rding ‘Ding’, rrasiw ‘flower’, rrauf ‘woman’, rsal ‘land’, rsirret ‘guts’, rthiwel ‘river’, sizharth ‘faeces’, thabiz ‘smoke’, zhazh ‘fire’, ñag ‘girl’, ñaurs ‘wife’.

Gender neut – for instance: cherr ‘name’, darthow ‘tail’, fijarth ‘jaguar’, gasrtam ‘restaurant’, gkebbon ‘fingernail’, kezh ‘hand’, kithab ‘cloud’, maim ‘cat’, neñaigk ‘breath’, parnirth ‘lion’, phezet ‘bosom’, rdersos ‘lamb’, rraw ‘time’, rtarnest ‘dialect’, sagkaisp ‘penis’, shartob ‘knee’, tharnun ‘snake’, tichaurt ‘medicine’, wikheng ‘bank’, zhizhud ‘school’.

The Nominal Phrase

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

Rraufars chugof bajaif ños rtarsurnol peng rsaf chem jaf koñol bbars.

[ɽaufaʂ t͡ʃuɡof bajaif ɲos ʈaʂuɳol peŋ ʂaf t͡ʃem jaf koɲol ɓaʂ]

ɽauf
woman -aʂ
ACT t͡ʃuɡ
knife -ef
LOC bajaif
COMIT ɲos
blind ʈaʂuɳ
mouse -el
STA peŋ
three ʂa
yon -f
fem t͡ʃem
plur jaf
PAST koɲ
catch -e
active -l
POS ɓaʂ
3.sing.fem.SUBJ

“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 number. a clitic expressing number, comprising chem /t͡ʃem/ ‘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 Ding.

The Noun

The noun in Ding consists of the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing case, comprising -el /-el/ ‘STA’, -ars /-aʂ/ ‘ACT’, -am /-am/ ‘DAT’, -em /-em/ ‘INS’, -an /-an/ ‘VOC’, -al /-al/ ‘ALL’, -ef /-ef/ ‘LOC’, -i /-i/ ‘ABL’ and -en /-en/ ‘PART’.

The Adjective

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

Numerals

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

Determiners

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

Pronouns

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

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

Rtaf bonol.

[ʈaf bonol]

ʈaf
3.sing.fem bon
love -e
active -l
POS

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

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

Thaim rtaf bonol.

[tʰaim ʈaf bonol]

tʰaim
3.sing.masc ʈaf
3.sing.fem bon
love -e
active -l
POS

“He loves her.”

 (3)

Proper Nouns

Werdifars Gkagkukol kengirdel.

[ʋeɖifaʂ kʼakʼukol keŋiɖel]

ʋeɖif
Vedif -aʂ
ACT kʼakʼuk
Kakuk -el
STA keŋiɖ
hate -e
active -l
POS

“Vedif hates Kakuk.”

 (4)

Possession

ñuzostol gkuñol

[ɲuzostol kʼuɲol]

ɲizost
apple -el
STA kʼuɲ
boy -el
STA

“the boy’s apple”

 (5)
ñuzostol thaim

[ɲuzostol tʰaim]

ɲizost
apple -el
STA tʰaim
3.sing.masc

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (6)
ñuzostol nong

[ɲuzostol noŋ]

ɲizost
apple -el
STA noŋ
1excl.sing

“my apple”

 (7)
Kiphars rreparnel fechel rdomogol kang jaf nawadel bbars.

[kipʰaʂ ɽepaɳel fet͡ʃel ɖomoɡol kaŋ jaf naʋadel ɓaʂ]

kipʰ
daughter -aʂ
ACT ɽepaɳ
hunter -el
STA fet͡ʃ
son -el
STA ɖemoɡ
neighbour -el
STA kaŋ
2.sing jaf
PAST naʋad
kiss -e
active -l
POS ɓaʂ
3.sing.fem.SUBJ

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

 (8)

Derivation

Ding has no derivational processes.

rdorsosol jem

[ɖoʂosol jem]

ɖeʂos
lamb -el
STA je
a -m
neut

“a lamb”

 (9)

Note how none show up here:

Meng rdorsosol jem jaf bairtel rsibirs jaf rtinel bbars.

[meŋ ɖoʂosol jem jaf baiʈel ʂibiʂ jaf ʈinel ɓaʂ]

meŋ
little ɖeʂos
lamb -el
STA je
a -m
neut jaf
PAST baiʈ
have -e
active -l
POS ʂibiʂ
COMP jaf
PAST ʈin
want -e
active -l
POS ɓaʂ
3.sing.fem.SUBJ

“She wanted to have a little lamb.”

 (10)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

The verbal phrase clitics in Ding fall into two categories, proclitics and enclitics: first, a clitic expressing ta, comprising jaf /jaf/ ‘PAST’; second, a clitic expressing mode, comprising te /te/ ‘imperative’, rran /ɽan/ ‘conditional’ and maf /maf/ ‘optative’; and finally, third, a clitic expressing subj, comprising thin /tʰin/ ‘1incl.sing’, sas /sas/ ‘1excl.sing’, zhef /ʒef/ ‘2.sing’, bbars /ɓaʂ/ ‘3.sing.fem’, nam /nam/ ‘3.sing.neut’, zha /ʒa/ ‘1incl.plur’, nang /naŋ/ ‘1excl.plur’, ming /miŋ/ ‘2.plur’, thim /tʰim/ ‘3.plur.masc’, khirs /kʰiʂ/ ‘3.plur.fem’ and shang /ʃaŋ/ ‘3.plur.neut’.

In addition, the verb is structured like this: first, the root; second, an obligatory suffix expressing voice, comprising -e /-e/ ‘active’ and -a /-a/ ‘passive’; and finally, third, an obligatory suffix expressing negation, comprising -n /-n/ ‘NEG’ and -l /-l/ ‘POS’.

Kang bonol sas.

[kaŋ bonol sas]

kaŋ
2.sing bon
love -e
active -l
POS sas
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.

lirnef wus

[liɳef ʋus]

liɳ
table -ef
LOC ʋus
in_surface

“on the table”

 (12)
khutushof nas

[kʰutuʃof nas]

kʰituʃ
box -ef
LOC nas
to_inside

“into the box”

 (13)
nong bajaif

[noŋ bajaif]

noŋ
1excl.sing bajaif
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.

Ding 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 Ding.

Fijarthars rreparnel jaf rnolol nam.

[fijaʈʰaʂ ɽepaɳel jaf ɳolol nam]

fijaʈʰ
jaguar -aʂ
ACT ɽepaɳ
hunter -el
STA jaf
PAST ɳol
kill -e
active -l
POS nam
3.sing.neut.SUBJ

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (15)
Parnirthars zhobbol kiphel rreparnel jaf foshol nam.

[paɳiʈʰaʂ ʒoɓol kipʰel ɽepaɳel jaf foʃol nam]

paɳiʈʰ
lion -aʂ
ACT ʒoɓ
dog -el
STA kipʰ
daughter -el
STA ɽepaɳ
hunter -el
STA jaf
PAST foʃ
eat -e
active -l
POS nam
3.sing.neut.SUBJ

“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 Ding 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, Ding 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.

rsutotol rramel fechel kang

[ʂutotol ɽamel fet͡ʃel kaŋ]

ʂitot
book -el
STA ɽam
friend -el
STA fet͡ʃ
son -el
STA kaŋ
2.sing

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (17)

Case Marking

Ding uses active case marking. Intransitive subjects are divided according to how they participate in the event. More agent-like subjects, such as the subject of ‘run’ or ‘shout’, pattern with transitive subjects and take the active or agentive case. Less agent-like subjects, such as the subject of ‘sleep’ or ‘be ill’, pattern with transitive objects and take the patientive or absolutive case. This system makes sense where the grammar treats control, volition or affectedness as more important than the simple distinction between subject and object.

Maimel tistel nam.

[maimel tistel nam]

maim
cat -el
STA tist
sleep -e
active -l
POS nam
3.sing.neut.SUBJ

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (18)
Maimars ñasel nam.

[maimaʂ ɲasel nam]

maim
cat -aʂ
ACT ɲas
run -e
active -l
POS nam
3.sing.neut.SUBJ

“The cat is running.”

 (19)
Maimars rtarsurnol nunornol nam.

[maimaʂ ʈaʂuɳol nunoɳol nam]

maim
cat -aʂ
ACT ʈaʂuɳ
mouse -el
STA ninoɳ
chase -e
active -l
POS nam
3.sing.neut.SUBJ

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (20)
Maimars rtarsurnol jaf koñol nam.

[maimaʂ ʈaʂuɳol jaf koɲol nam]

maim
cat -aʂ
ACT ʈaʂuɳ
mouse -el
STA jaf
PAST koɲ
catch -e
active -l
POS nam
3.sing.neut.SUBJ

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (21)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

Rreparnars fijarthel chem dal rdatarthel chem dal parnirthel chem jaf rnolol.

[ɽepaɳaʂ fijaʈʰel t͡ʃem dal ɖataʈʰel t͡ʃem dal paɳiʈʰel t͡ʃem jaf ɳolol]

ɽepaɳ
hunter -aʂ
ACT fijaʈʰ
jaguar -el
STA t͡ʃem
plur dal
and ɖataʈʰ
tiger -el
STA t͡ʃem
plur dal
and paɳiʈʰ
lion -el
STA t͡ʃem
plur jaf
PAST ɳol
kill -e
active -l
POS

“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 Ding 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

Ding 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:

Maimel jaf rremafel sas.

[maimel jaf ɽemafel sas]

maim
cat -el
STA jaf
PAST ɽemaf
pat -e
active -l
POS sas
1excl.sing.SUBJ

“I patted the cat.”

 (23)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Maimars rtarsurnol jaf koñol nam rsibirs jaf rremafel sas.

[maimaʂ ʈaʂuɳol jaf koɲol nam ʂibiʂ jaf ɽemafel sas]

maim
cat -aʂ
ACT ʈaʂuɳ
mouse -el
STA jaf
PAST koɲ
catch -e
active -l
POS nam
3.sing.neut.SUBJ ʂibiʂ
COMP jaf
PAST ɽemaf
pat -e
active -l
POS sas
1excl.sing.SUBJ

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (24)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Maimars rtarsurnars rsiñalel jaf foshol bbars rsibirs jaf koñol nam rsibirs jaf rremafel sas.

[maimaʂ ʈaʂuɳaʂ ʂiɲalel jaf foʃol ɓaʂ ʂibiʂ jaf koɲol nam ʂibiʂ jaf ɽemafel sas]

maim
cat -aʂ
ACT ʈaʂuɳ
mouse -aʂ
ACT ʂiɲal
cheese -el
STA jaf
PAST foʃ
eat -e
active -l
POS ɓaʂ
3.sing.fem.SUBJ ʂibiʂ
COMP jaf
PAST koɲ
catch -e
active -l
POS nam
3.sing.neut.SUBJ ʂibiʂ
COMP jaf
PAST ɽemaf
pat -e
active -l
POS sas
1excl.sing.SUBJ

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

 (25)

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

Maimars rtarsurnars nong rsiñalel jaf dizel sas rsibirs jaf foshol bbars rsibirs jaf koñol nam rsibirs jaf rremafel sas.

[maimaʂ ʈaʂuɳaʂ noŋ ʂiɲalel jaf dizel sas ʂibiʂ jaf foʃol ɓaʂ ʂibiʂ jaf koɲol nam ʂibiʂ jaf ɽemafel sas]

maim
cat -aʂ
ACT ʈaʂuɳ
mouse -aʂ
ACT noŋ
1excl.sing ʂiɲal
cheese -el
STA jaf
PAST diz
buy -e
active -l
POS sas
1excl.sing.SUBJ ʂibiʂ
COMP jaf
PAST foʃ
eat -e
active -l
POS ɓaʂ
3.sing.fem.SUBJ ʂibiʂ
COMP jaf
PAST koɲ
catch -e
active -l
POS nam
3.sing.neut.SUBJ ʂibiʂ
COMP jaf
PAST ɽemaf
pat -e
active -l
POS sas
1excl.sing.SUBJ

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

 (26)

Complementation Strategies

Ding 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:

Gkuñars ñagam ñuzostol jen jaf bbornol rsibirs sersangam jaf ngurnofol nam.

[kʼuɲaʂ ɲaɡam ɲuzostol jen jaf ɓoɳol ʂibiʂ seʂaŋam jaf ŋuɳofol nam]

kʼuɲ
boy -aʂ
ACT ɲaɡ
girl -am
DAT ɲizost
apple -el
STA je
a -n
masc jaf
PAST ɓoɳ
give -e
active -l
POS ʂibiʂ
COMP seʂaŋ
teacher -am
DAT jaf
PAST ŋiɳof
surprise -e
active -l
POS nam
3.sing.neut.SUBJ

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

 (27)

Quotes

Ding 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:

Gkuñars ñagam nong kang bonol sas rsibirs jaf phinel.

[kʼuɲaʂ ɲaɡam noŋ kaŋ bonol sas ʂibiʂ jaf pʰinel]

kʼuɲ
boy -aʂ
ACT ɲaɡ
girl -am
DAT noŋ
1excl.sing kaŋ
2.sing bon
love -e
active -l
POS sas
1excl.sing.SUBJ ʂibiʂ
COMP jaf
PAST pʰin
tell -e
active -l
POS

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

 (28)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Ding. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 20 August 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/2EW9M

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-2EW9M,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Ding}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/2EW9M}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 20 August 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Ding / Ding–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/2EW9M

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.

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