A Grammar of Nunu

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Nunu language (the 12th 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 Nunu.

Typological Profile

It has not just singular and plural, but also dual,.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Nunu has a moderately small consonant inventory, comprising 15 phonemes.

It has a complete absence of affricates, a strongly reduced sibilant system and a complete absence of phonemic voicing contrasts.

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

labialalveolarlateralpalatalvelarglottal
stopp t k
nasalm n ɲ ŋ
fricativef s x h
approximantw l j

Vowels

Nunu has 3 vowel qualities. This constitutes a relatively small inventory, with contrasts limited to the vowel categories displayed in the chart. The phonological system relies primarily on these few qualities to encode vocalic distinctions.

It has a fully contrastive long–short vowel distinction across the system, a strikingly compressed height system with only two vowel heights and a full range of vowel qualities even in reduced syllables.

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

frontcentralback
closei u
opena

Stress and Tones

Nunu 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

Nunu 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/в /w/г /h/и /i/
к /k/л /l/м /m/н /n/
п /p/с /s/т /t/у /u/
ф /f/х /x/ј /j/њ /ɲ/
ӈ /ŋ/

Multi-letter combinations such as digraphs

аа /aː/ии /iː/уу /uː/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Nunu distinguishes singular, dual and plural.

Gender

Nunu has the following genders:

Gender fem – for instance: гики ‘ice’, калу ‘sun’, лаанаа ‘salt’, мапи ‘fruit’, мипи ‘anus’, нањии ‘river’, пука ‘earth’, пуухии ‘foot’, сању ‘forest’, таалии ‘lake’, таапа ‘skin’, тата ‘mountain’, тииха ‘head’, туси ‘fog’, фаании ‘daughter’, фапа ‘cloud’, фусаа ‘stone’, ӈамии ‘meat’, ӈиихи ‘moon’, ӈиса ‘star’.

Gender masc – for instance: вањии ‘machine’, вииму ‘embrace’, гана ‘rope’, ламии ‘wing’, лики ‘house’, мифии ‘language’, пила ‘son’, пуса ‘dialect’, сииса ‘face’, тију ‘man’, фипа ‘bark’, фуӈаа ‘book’, хути ‘name’, јуми ‘tower’, јуӈу ‘horn’, њаајуу ‘fat’, њаха ‘net’, њују ‘idea’, ӈафаа ‘colour’, ӈиину ‘money’.

Gender neut – for instance: виилуу ‘teacher’, вифа ‘hand’, гиихии ‘lion’, лути ‘lamb’, луфа ‘root’, мува ‘guts’, наја ‘heart’, ниваа ‘south’, нила ‘people’, нуули ‘inside’, пина ‘human being’, сааӈии ‘fingernail’, фила ‘surface’, фупи ‘child’, хуӈи ‘liver’, јааса ‘mouth’, јуси ‘bone’, јуулу ‘belly’, њихаа ‘mammal’, ӈаати ‘dog’.

The Nominal Phrase

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

Ки кању Нуу ки хаалу фанита са фа ӈа њимутасаа сиинуугии.

[ki kaɲu nuː ki xaːlu fanita sa fa ŋa ɲimutasaː siːnuːhiː]

ki
the
kaɲu
woman
nuː
COMIT
ki
the
xaːlu
knife
fan
catch
-ita
3.sing.fem.SUBJ
sa
PRES.indicative.active.POS
fa
yon
ŋa
three
ɲi-
ACC
muta
mouse
-saː
plur
siːn
blind
-uːhiː
3.sing.masc.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 are no clitics in the nominal phrase.

The Noun

The noun in Nunu consists of first, an optional prefix expressing case, comprising њи- /ɲi-/ ‘ACC’, га- /ha-/ ‘GEN’, туу- /tuː-/ ‘DAT’, ху- /xu-/ ‘INS’, ли- /li-/ ‘VOC’, луу- /luː-/ ‘ALL’, ха- /xa-/ ‘LOC’, фу- /fu-/ ‘ABL’ and ту- /tu-/ ‘PART’; second, the root; and finally, third, an optional suffix expressing number, comprising -пи /-pi/ ‘dual’ and -саа /-saː/ ‘plur’.

The noun displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -ха /-xa/ ‘little’ and -нии /-niː/ ‘big’

The Adjective

In Nunu, the adjective has the following structure: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing gender, comprising -аа /-aː/ ‘masc’, -уу /-uː/ ‘fem’ and /-a/ ‘neut’.

Numerals

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

Determiners

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

Pronouns

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

Фухииху ки њихија сии нугуугаа са.

[fuxiːxu ki ɲixija siː nuhuːhaː sa]

fux
kill
-iːxu
1excl.plur.SUBJ
ki
the
ɲi-
ACC
xija
tiger
siː
because
nuh
happy
-uːhaː
1incl.plur.SUBJ
sa
PRES.indicative.active.POS

“Because the two of us [not including the listener] killed the tiger, we [including the listener] are all now happy.”

(2)

Here is an example where neither of the pronouns are stressed:

Куутуугии са јаа.

[kuːtuːhiː sa jaː]

kuːt
love
-uːhiː
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
sa
PRES.indicative.active.POS
jaː
3.sing.fem

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

(3)

But here, the word corresponding to he is stressed:

Луу куутуугии са јаа.

[luː kuːtuːhiː sa jaː]

luː
3.sing.masc
kuːt
love
-uːhiː
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
sa
PRES.indicative.active.POS
jaː
3.sing.fem

He loves her.”

(4)

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

Куутуугии са јаа.

[kuːtuːhiː sa jaː]

kuːt
love
-uːhiː
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
sa
PRES.indicative.active.POS
jaː
3.sing.fem

“He loves her.”

(5)

Proper Nouns

Ки Пуви ваатуугии са ки њиСаху.

[ki puwi waːtuːhiː sa ki ɲisaxu]

ki
the
puwi
Puwi
waːt
hate
-uːhiː
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
sa
PRES.indicative.active.POS
ki
the
ɲi-
ACC
saxu
Sakhu

“Puwi hates Sakhu.”

(6)

Possession

ки гапину ки сику

[ki hapinu ki siku]

ki
the
ha-
GEN
pinu
boy
ki
the
siku
apple

“the boy’s apple”

(7)
луу ки сику

[luː ki siku]

luː
3.sing.masc
ki
the
siku
apple

“his (the boy’s) apple”

(8)
лии ки сику

[liː ki siku]

liː
1excl.sing
ki
the
siku
apple

“my apple”

(9)
Ки гафају ки фаании кусита са пи ки гајаӈа ки њипила.

[ki hafaju ki faːniː kusita sa pi ki hajaŋa ki ɲipila]

ki
the
ha-
GEN
faju
hunter
ki
the
faːniː
daughter
kus
kiss
-ita
3.sing.fem.SUBJ
sa
PRES.indicative.active.POS
pi
2.sing
ki
the
ha-
GEN
jaŋa
neighbour
ki
the
ɲi-
ACC
pila
son

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

(10)

Derivation

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

хуу лути

[xuː luti]

xuː
a
luti
lamb

“a lamb”

(11)

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

хуу лутиха

[xuː lutixa]

xuː
a
luti
lamb
-xa
little

“a little lamb”

(12)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

The verbal phrase clitics in Nunu fall into two categories, proclitics and enclitics: a clitic expressing question, comprising фу /fu/ ‘Q’ followed by a clitic expressing ta.mode.voice.negation, comprising ту /tu/ ‘PRES.indicative.active.NEG’, са /sa/ ‘PRES.indicative.active.POS’, га /ha/ ‘PRES.indicative.passive.NEG’, фаа /faː/ ‘PRES.indicative.passive.POS’, гии /hiː/ ‘PRES.imperative.active.NEG’, ӈу /ŋu/ ‘PRES.imperative.active.POS’, ју /ju/ ‘PRES.imperative.passive.NEG’, ла /la/ ‘PRES.imperative.passive.POS’, фи /fi/ ‘PRES.conditional.active.NEG’, јаа /jaː/ ‘PRES.conditional.active.POS’, ху /xu/ ‘PRES.conditional.passive.NEG’, на /na/ ‘PRES.conditional.passive.POS’, ку /ku/ ‘PRES.optative.active.NEG’, ги /hi/ ‘PRES.optative.active.POS’, кии /kiː/ ‘PRES.optative.passive.NEG’, ти /ti/ ‘PRES.optative.passive.POS’, нии /niː/ ‘PAST.indicative.active.NEG’, каа /kaː/ ‘PAST.indicative.active.POS’, нуу /nuː/ ‘PAST.indicative.passive.NEG’, хи /xi/ ‘PAST.indicative.passive.POS’, та /ta/ ‘PAST.imperative.active.NEG’, ка /ka/ ‘PAST.imperative.active.POS’, ви /wi/ ‘PAST.imperative.passive.NEG’, ха /xa/ ‘PAST.imperative.passive.POS’, ли /li/ ‘PAST.conditional.active.NEG’, ва /wa/ ‘PAST.conditional.active.POS’, лу /lu/ ‘PAST.conditional.passive.NEG’, ми /mi/ ‘PAST.conditional.passive.POS’, му /mu/ ‘PAST.optative.active.NEG’, пи /pi/ ‘PAST.optative.active.POS’, пу /pu/ ‘PAST.optative.passive.NEG’ and ну /nu/ ‘PAST.optative.passive.POS’.

In addition, the verb is structured like this: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing subj, comprising -ууфу /-uːfu/ ‘1incl.sing’, -уса /-usa/ ‘1excl.sing’, -умаа /-umaː/ ‘2.sing’, -уугии /-uːhiː/ ‘3.sing.masc’, -ита /-ita/ ‘3.sing.fem’, -иилу /-iːlu/ ‘3.sing.neut’, -уӈа /-uŋa/ ‘1incl.dual’, -умии /-umiː/ ‘1excl.dual’, -уви /-uwi/ ‘2.dual’, -аами /-aːmi/ ‘3.dual.masc’, -аафаа /-aːfaː/ ‘3.dual.fem’, -уки /-uki/ ‘3.dual.neut’, -уугаа /-uːhaː/ ‘1incl.plur’, -ииху /-iːxu/ ‘1excl.plur’, -ууму /-uːmu/ ‘2.plur’, -алуу /-aluː/ ‘3.plur.masc’, -ити /-iti/ ‘3.plur.fem’ and -ули /-uli/ ‘3.plur.neut’.

The verb displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -аам /-aːm/ ‘begin’ and -ам /-am/ ‘stop’

Куутуса са пи.

[kuːtusa sa pi]

kuːt
love
-usa
1excl.sing.SUBJ
sa
PRES.indicative.active.POS
pi
2.sing

“I love you.”

(13)

Adverbs Minor Classes

Adpositions

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

њии ки тија

[ɲiː ki tija]

ɲiː
in_surface
ki
the
tija
table

“on the table”

(14)
њуу ки хању

[ɲuː ki xaɲu]

ɲuː
to_inside
ki
the
xaɲu
box

“into the box”

(15)
Нуу лии

[nuː liː]

nuː
COMIT
liː
1excl.sing

“with me”

(16)

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.

Nunu employs Subject–Verb–Object (SVO) as its basic word order. The subject is followed by the verb, with the object occurring in post-verbal position. This ordering is widely attested across the world’s languages.

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

Ки суука фухиилу са ки њифају.

[ki suːka fuxiːlu sa ki ɲifaju]

ki
the
suːka
jaguar
fux
kill
-iːlu
3.sing.neut.SUBJ
sa
PRES.indicative.active.POS
ki
the
ɲi-
ACC
faju
hunter

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

(17)
Ки гиихии фањиилу са ки гафају ки гафаании ки њиӈаати.

[ki hiːxiː faɲiːlu sa ki hafaju ki hafaːniː ki ɲiŋaːti]

ki
the
hiːxiː
lion
faɲ
eat
-iːlu
3.sing.neut.SUBJ
sa
PRES.indicative.active.POS
ki
the
ha-
GEN
faju
hunter
ki
the
ha-
GEN
faːniː
daughter
ki
the
ɲi-
ACC
ŋaːti
dog

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

(18)

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 Nunu 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, Nunu 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.

пи ки гапила ки гаваака ки фуӈаа

[pi ki hapila ki hawaːka ki fuŋaː]

pi
2.sing
ki
the
ha-
GEN
pila
son
ki
the
ha-
GEN
waːka
friend
ki
the
fuŋaː
book

“your son’s friend’s book”

(19)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

Ки фају фухуугии са ки њисуукасаа па ки њихијасаа па ки њигиихиисаа.

[ki faju fuxuːhiː sa ki ɲisuːkasaː pa ki ɲixijasaː pa ki ɲihiːxiːsaː]

ki
the
faju
hunter
fux
kill
-uːhiː
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
sa
PRES.indicative.active.POS
ki
the
ɲi-
ACC
suːka
jaguar
-saː
plur
pa
and
ki
the
ɲi-
ACC
xija
tiger
-saː
plur
pa
and
ki
the
ɲi-
ACC
hiːxiː
lion
-saː
plur

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

(20)

Modifiers and Determiners

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

Nunu 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:

Липуса ки њигапа.

[lipusa ki ɲihapa]

lip
pat
-usa
1excl.sing.SUBJ
ki
the
ɲi-
ACC
hapa
cat

“I patted the cat.”

(21)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Липуса ки њигапа фануугии ки њимута.

[lipusa ki ɲihapa fanuːhiː ki ɲimuta]

lip
pat
-usa
1excl.sing.SUBJ
ki
the
ɲi-
ACC
hapa
cat
fan
catch
-uːhiː
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
ki
the
ɲi-
ACC
muta
mouse

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

(22)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Липуса ки њигапа фануугии ки мута фањиилу ки њимиили.

[lipusa ki ɲihapa fanuːhiː ki muta faɲiːlu ki ɲimiːli]

lip
pat
-usa
1excl.sing.SUBJ
ki
the
ɲi-
ACC
hapa
cat
fan
catch
-uːhiː
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
ki
the
muta
mouse
faɲ
eat
-iːlu
3.sing.neut.SUBJ
ki
the
ɲi-
ACC
miːli
cheese

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

(23)

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

Липуса ки њигапа фануугии ки мута фањиилу лии ӈилуса ки њимиили.

[lipusa ki ɲihapa fanuːhiː ki muta faɲiːlu liː ŋilusa ki ɲimiːli]

lip
pat
-usa
1excl.sing.SUBJ
ki
the
ɲi-
ACC
hapa
cat
fan
catch
-uːhiː
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
ki
the
muta
mouse
faɲ
eat
-iːlu
3.sing.neut.SUBJ
liː
1excl.sing
ŋil
buy
-usa
1excl.sing.SUBJ
ki
the
ɲi-
ACC
miːli
cheese

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

(24)

Complementation Strategies

Nunu 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:

Ки пину њуӈуугии са ки туусими хуу њисику њисуугии ки туувиилуу.

[ki pinu ɲuŋuːhiː sa ki tuːsimi xuː ɲisiku ɲisuːhiː ki tuːwiːluː]

ki
the
pinu
boy
ɲuŋ
give
-uːhiː
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
sa
PRES.indicative.active.POS
ki
the
tuː-
DAT
simi
girl
xuː
a
ɲi-
ACC
siku
apple
ɲis
surprise
-uːhiː
3.sing.masc.SUBJ
ki
the
tuː-
DAT
wiːluː
teacher

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

(25)

Quotes

Here is an example of how quotations are expressed:

Miscellaneous

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Nunu / Nunu–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/2JG4P

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.

How to cite this grammar:

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Nunu. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.90, on 15 April 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/2JG4P

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-2JG4P,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Nunu}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/2JG4P}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.90, on 15 April 2026}
}

Execution time: 0.08 seconds.