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A Grammar of Englishish

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Englishish language (the 1387th 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 Englishish.

Typological Profile

It has a maximally developed dental–alveolar opposition.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Englishish has a moderately large consonant inventory, with 29 phonemes.

It has a maximally developed dental–alveolar opposition and a broad set of voiced–voiceless oppositions.

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

labialdentalalveolarpostalveolarlateralpalatalvelarglottal
stopp b d t k ɡ
nasalm n ɲ ŋ
trill/tap/flapr
fricativef v ð θ s z ʃ ʒ x ɣ h
approximantw l j
affricatet͡s d͡ʒ t͡ʃ

Vowels

Englishish has 12 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 a strongly reduced vowel system in unstressed syllables, a maximally “square” vowel system balancing heights across backness and an unusually fine-grained height system distinguishing four levels.

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

frontcentralback
closei u
close-mide o
midə
open-midɛ ɔ
openæ ɑ

Stress and Tones

Englishish 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

Englishish 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 /æ/b /b/d /d/e /ə, ɛ/
f /f/g /ɡ/h /h/j /d͡ʒ/
k /k/l /l/m /m/n /n/
o /o/p /p/r /r/s /s/
t /t/v /v/w /w/y /ai, j/
z /z/

Multi-letter combinations such as digraphs

ah /ɑ/ai /e/au /ɔ/
ch /t͡ʃ, x/ee /i/gh /ɣ/
ng /ŋ/ny /ɲ/oi /ɔi/
oo /u/ou /au/sh /ʃ/
th /ð, θ/ts /t͡s/zh /ʒ/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Englishish does not have grammatical number.

Gender

Englishish does not have genders or noun classes.

The Nominal Phrase

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

The woomen weth the nyf kach ded yaun three blynd mousez.

[ðə ˈwumən wəθ ðə ˈnaif ˈkæt͡ʃ dəd ˈjɔn ˈθri ˈblaind ˈmausəz]

ðə
the ˈwumən
woman wəθ
COMIT ðə
the ˈnaif
knife ˈkæt͡ʃ
catch dəd
PAST ˈjɔn
yon ˈθri
three ˈblaind
blind ˈmaus
mouse -əz
plur -
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.

There are no clitics in the nominal phrase.

The Noun

The noun in Englishish consists of first, the root; second, an optional suffix expressing number, comprising -ez /-əz/ ‘plur’; and finally, third, an optional suffix expressing case, comprising - /-/ ‘ACC’, -es /-əs/ ‘GEN’, -ets /-ət͡s/ ‘DAT’, -ech /-əx/ ‘INS’, -ep /-əp/ ‘VOC’, -ef /-əf/ ‘ALL’, -ej /-əd͡ʒ/ ‘LOC’, -et /-ət/ ‘ABL’ and -ed /-əd/ ‘PART’.

The Adjective

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

Numerals

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

Determiners

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

Pronouns

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

Englishish always includes the personal pronouns, even if they are not stressed. This is similar to English, where the only way to distinguish "he loves her" from "he loves her" and "he loves her" is the stress. So the following corresponds exactly to English in this regard:

Thaush chyp thaush.

[ˈθɔʃ ˈt͡ʃaip ˈθɔʃ]

ˈθɔʃ
3.sing ˈt͡ʃaip
love ˈθɔʃ
3.sing

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

Proper Nouns

The Thenees zdethym the Tsetseeb.

[ðə ðəˈnis zdəˈðaim ðə t͡səˈt͡sib]

ðə
the ðəˈnis
Thanis zdəˈðaim
hate ðə
the t͡səˈt͡sib
Tsatsib -
ACC

“Thanis hates Tsatsib.”

 (3)

Possession

the daumes the zhdenyeech

[ðə ˈdɔməs ðə ʒdəˈɲix]

ðə
the ˈdɔm
boy -əs
GEN ðə
the ʒdəˈɲix
apple

“the boy’s apple”

 (4)
thaush the zhdenyeech

[ˈθɔʃ ðə ʒdəˈɲix]

ˈθɔʃ
3.sing ðə
the ʒdəˈɲix
apple

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (5)
loong the zhdenyeech

[ˈluŋ ðə ʒdəˈɲix]

ˈluŋ
1excl.sing ðə
the ʒdəˈɲix
apple

“my apple”

 (6)
The zetsouches the nyaig cheleed ded zais the kengounes the chash.

[ðə zəˈt͡saut͡ʃəs ðə ˈɲeɡ xəˈlid dəd ˈzes ðə kəˈŋaunəs ðə ˈxæʃ]

ðə
the zəˈt͡saut͡ʃ
hunter -əs
GEN ðə
the ˈɲeɡ
daughter xəˈlid
kiss dəd
PAST ˈzes
2.sing ðə
the kəˈŋaun
neighbour -əs
GEN ðə
the ˈxæʃ
son -
ACC

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

 (7)

Derivation

Englishish has no derivational processes.

en keyer

[ən kəˈjɛr]

ən
a kəˈjɛr
lamb

“a lamb”

 (8)

Note how none show up here:

Thaush goir ded hav ded en shon keyer cheskash.

[ˈθɔʃ ˈɡɔir dəd ˈhæv dəd ən ˈʃon kəˈjɛr xəˈskæʃ]

ˈθɔʃ
3.sing ˈɡɔir
want dəd
PAST ˈhæv
have dəd
PAST ən
a ˈʃon
little kəˈjɛr
lamb -
ACC xəˈskæʃ
COMP

“She wanted to have a little lamb.”

 (9)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

The verbal phrase clitics in Englishish fall into two categories, proclitics and enclitics: first, a clitic expressing question, comprising nyeb /ɲəb/ ‘Q’; second, a clitic expressing negation, comprising jesh /d͡ʒəʃ/ ‘NEG’; third, a clitic expressing mode, comprising zhge /ʒɡə/ ‘imperative’, nep /nəp/ ‘conditional’ and nem /nəm/ ‘optative’; fourth, a clitic expressing ta, comprising ded /dəd/ ‘PAST’; and finally, fifth, a clitic expressing voice, comprising zhdem /ʒdəm/ ‘passive’.

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

Loong chyp zais.

[ˈluŋ ˈt͡ʃaip ˈzes]

ˈluŋ
1excl.sing ˈt͡ʃaip
love ˈzes
2.sing

“I love you.”

 (10)

Adverbs Minor Classes

Adpositions

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

aun the nos

[ˈɔn ðə ˈnos]

ˈɔn
in_surface ðə
the ˈnos
table

“on the table”

 (11)
kok the shkekeegh

[ˈkok ðə ʃkəˈkiɣ]

ˈkok
to_inside ðə
the ʃkəˈkiɣ
box

“into the box”

 (12)
weth loong

[wəθ ˈluŋ]

wəθ
COMIT ˈluŋ
1excl.sing

“with me”

 (13)

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.

Englishish 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 Englishish.

The dezef tseeth ded the zetsouch.

[ðə dəˈzɛf ˈt͡sið dəd ðə zəˈt͡saut͡ʃ]

ðə
the dəˈzɛf
jaguar ˈt͡sið
kill dəd
PAST ðə
the zəˈt͡saut͡ʃ
hunter -
ACC

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (14)
The nyeshpath nyoil ded the zetsouches the nyaiges the steef.

[ðə ɲəˈʃpæð ˈɲɔil dəd ðə zəˈt͡saut͡ʃəs ðə ˈɲeɡəs ðə ˈstif]

ðə
the ɲəˈʃpæð
lion ˈɲɔil
eat dəd
PAST ðə
the zəˈt͡saut͡ʃ
hunter -əs
GEN ðə
the ˈɲeɡ
daughter -əs
GEN ðə
the ˈstif
dog -
ACC

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

 (15)

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 Englishish 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, Englishish 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.

zais the chashes the lauses the leber

[ˈzes ðə ˈxæʃəs ðə ˈlɔsəs ðə ləbɛr]

ˈzes
2.sing ðə
the ˈxæʃ
son -əs
GEN ðə
the ˈlɔs
friend -əs
GEN ðə
the ləbɛr
book

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (16)

Case Marking

Englishish 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.

The foul zhad.

[ðə ˈfaul ˈʒæd]

ðə
the ˈfaul
cat ˈʒæd
sleep

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (17)
The foul shahg.

[ðə ˈfaul ˈʃɑɡ]

ðə
the ˈfaul
cat ˈʃɑɡ
run

“The cat is running.”

 (18)
The foul shtefoib the mous.

[ðə ˈfaul ʃtəˈfɔib ðə ˈmaus]

ðə
the ˈfaul
cat ʃtəˈfɔib
chase ðə
the ˈmaus
mouse -
ACC

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (19)
The foul kach ded the mous.

[ðə ˈfaul ˈkæt͡ʃ dəd ðə ˈmaus]

ðə
the ˈfaul
cat ˈkæt͡ʃ
catch dəd
PAST ðə
the ˈmaus
mouse -
ACC

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (20)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

The zetsouch tseeth ded the dezefez end the nyehouzhez end the nyeshpathez.

[ðə zəˈt͡saut͡ʃ ˈt͡sið dəd ðə dəˈzɛfəz ənd ðə ɲəˈhauʒəz ənd ðə ɲəˈʃpæðəz]

ðə
the zəˈt͡saut͡ʃ
hunter ˈt͡sið
kill dəd
PAST ðə
the dəˈzɛf
jaguar -əz
plur -
ACC ənd
and ðə
the ɲəˈhauʒ
tiger -əz
plur -
ACC ənd
and ðə
the ɲəˈʃpæð
lion -əz
plur -
ACC

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

 (21)

Modifiers and Determiners

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

Englishish 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:

Loong kengaich ded the foul.

[ˈluŋ kəˈŋex dəd ðə ˈfaul]

ˈluŋ
1excl.sing kəˈŋex
pat dəd
PAST ðə
the ˈfaul
cat -
ACC

“I patted the cat.”

 (22)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Loong kengaich ded the foul, that kach ded the mous.

[ˈluŋ kəˈŋex dəd ðə ˈfaul, ˈðæt ˈkæt͡ʃ dəd ðə ˈmaus]

ˈluŋ
1excl.sing kəˈŋex
pat dəd
PAST ðə
the ˈfaul
cat ˈðæt
RELPRON ˈkæt͡ʃ
catch dəd
PAST ðə
the ˈmaus
mouse -
ACC

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (23)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Loong kengaich ded the foul, that kach ded the mous, that nyoil ded the ghelag.

[ˈluŋ kəˈŋex dəd ðə ˈfaul, ˈðæt ˈkæt͡ʃ dəd ðə ˈmaus, ˈðæt ˈɲɔil dəd ðə ɣəˈlæɡ]

ˈluŋ
1excl.sing kəˈŋex
pat dəd
PAST ðə
the ˈfaul
cat ˈðæt
RELPRON ˈkæt͡ʃ
catch dəd
PAST ðə
the ˈmaus
mouse ˈðæt
RELPRON ˈɲɔil
eat dəd
PAST ðə
the ɣəˈlæɡ
cheese -
ACC

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

 (24)

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

Loong kengaich ded the foul, that kach ded the mous, that nyoil ded the ghelag, that keeng ded loong.

[ˈluŋ kəˈŋex dəd ðə ˈfaul, ˈðæt ˈkæt͡ʃ dəd ðə ˈmaus, ˈðæt ˈɲɔil dəd ðə ɣəˈlæɡ, ˈðæt ˈkiŋ dəd ˈluŋ]

ˈluŋ
1excl.sing kəˈŋex
pat dəd
PAST ðə
the ˈfaul
cat ˈðæt
RELPRON ˈkæt͡ʃ
catch dəd
PAST ðə
the ˈmaus
mouse ˈðæt
RELPRON ˈɲɔil
eat dəd
PAST ðə
the ɣəˈlæɡ
cheese ˈðæt
RELPRON ˈkiŋ
buy dəd
PAST ˈluŋ
1excl.sing

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

 (25)

Complementation Strategies

Englishish 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:

The daum joos ded the reekets en zhdenyeech cheskash bemahw ded the geterets.

[ðə ˈdɔm ˈd͡ʒus dəd ðə ˈrikət͡s ən ʒdəˈɲix xəˈskæʃ bəˈmɑw dəd ðə ɡətɛrət͡s]

ðə
the ˈdɔm
boy ˈd͡ʒus
give dəd
PAST ðə
the ˈrik
girl -ət͡s
DAT ən
a ʒdəˈɲix
apple -
ACC xəˈskæʃ
COMP bəˈmɑw
surprise dəd
PAST ðə
the ɡətɛr
teacher -ət͡s
DAT

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

 (26)

Quotes

Englishish 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:

The daum feeh ded the reekets loong chyp zais cheskash.

[ðə ˈdɔm ˈfih dəd ðə ˈrikət͡s ˈluŋ ˈt͡ʃaip ˈzes xəˈskæʃ]

ðə
the ˈdɔm
boy ˈfih
tell dəd
PAST ðə
the ˈrik
girl -ət͡s
DAT ˈluŋ
1excl.sing ˈt͡ʃaip
love ˈzes
2.sing xəˈskæʃ
COMP

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

 (27)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Englishish. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 1 September 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/372U5

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-372U5,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Englishish}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/372U5}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 1 September 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Englishish / Englishish–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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https://languagecreator.org/grammar/372U5

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