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A Grammar of Dad

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Dad language (the 1390th 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 Dad.

Typological Profile

It has a total lack of nasal consonants and postpositions.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Dad has 21 consonant phonemes, a size that falls within a broadly average range.

It has a total lack of nasal consonants, a complete absence of affricates, a conspicuous absence of approximants, a noticeably strong aspirated–unaspirated distinction and a noticeable presence of pharyngealised phonemes.

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

labialalveolarphar. alveolarpostalveolarvelarglottal
stopp b d t dˤ tˤ k ɡ
aspirated stoppʰ tʰ tʰˤ kʰ
fricativef s sˤ ʃ h
implosiveɓ ɗ ɗˤ

Vowels

Dad has 10 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 triangular vowel system with few low vowels.

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

frontcentralback
closei u
midə
opena

Stress and Tones

Dad 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

Dad 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/а’ /a̰/б /b/б̱ /ɓ/
г /h/д /d/д̱ /ɗ/и /i/
и’ /ḭ/к /k/п /p/с /s/
т /t/у /u/у’ /ṵ/ф /f/
ш /ʃ/ґ /ɡ/қ /kʰ/ҭ /tʰ/
ә /ə/ә’ /ə̰/ԥ /pʰ/

Multi-letter combinations such as digraphs

ай /ai/аў /au/д̱ъ /ɗˤ/
дъ /dˤ/съ /sˤ/тъ /tˤ/
ҭъ /tʰˤ/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Dad does not have grammatical number.

Gender

Dad does not have genders or noun classes.

The Nominal Phrase

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

Б̱аўпу’п қи’дъу’п ԥиб дъаб̱әс пуб қаўд̱ъ ҭа’съәԥи’б̱ ҭъаўб қәп.

[ɓaupṵp kʰḭdˤṵp pʰib dˤaɓəs pub kʰauɗˤ tʰa̰sˤəpʰḭɓ tʰˤaub kʰəp]

ɓaup
woman -ṵp
sing kʰḭdˤ
knife -ṵp
sing pʰib
LOC dˤaɓəs
COMIT p-
PAST ub
catch kʰauɗˤ
blind tʰa̰sˤəpʰ
mouse -ḭɓ
plur tʰˤaub
three kʰəp
yon

“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 case. a clitic expressing case, comprising тид̱ъ /tiɗˤ/ ‘GEN’, дъиб̱ /dˤiɓ/ ‘DAT’, пит /pit/ ‘INS’, д̱уд /ɗud/ ‘VOC’, бак /bak/ ‘ALL’, ԥиб /pʰib/ ‘LOC’, тъуд̱ъ /tˤuɗˤ/ ‘ABL’ and тъад̱ /tˤaɗ/ ‘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 Dad.

The Noun

The noun in Dad consists of the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing number, comprising -у’п /-ṵp/ ‘sing’ and -и’б̱ /-ḭɓ/ ‘plur’.

The noun displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -уґ /-uɡ/ ‘little’ and -идъ /-idˤ/ ‘big’

The Adjective

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

Numerals

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

Determiners

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

Pronouns

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

In Dad, both subject and object pronouns are dropped unless they are stressed. Here is an example where neither of the pronouns are stressed:

Съайш.

[sˤaiʃ]

sˤ-
PRES aiʃ
love

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

But here, the word corresponding to he is stressed:

Шаўф съайш.

[ʃauf sˤaiʃ]

ʃauf
3.sing sˤ-
PRES aiʃ
love

“He loves her.”

 (3)

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

Съайш шаўф.

[sˤaiʃ ʃauf]

sˤ-
PRES aiʃ
love ʃauf
3.sing

“He loves her.”

 (4)

Proper Nouns

Ҭисә’гу’п съә’ҭутъудъ Пупайқу’п.

[tʰisə̰hṵp sˤə̰tʰutˤudˤ pupaikʰṵp]

tʰisə̰h
Tisah -ṵp
sing sˤ-
PRES ə̰tʰutˤudˤ
hate pupaikʰ
Pupaik -ṵp
sing

“Tisah hates Pupaik.”

 (5)

Possession

ҭибадъу’п кусу’п тид̱ъ

[tʰibadˤṵp kusṵp tiɗˤ]

tʰibadˤ
apple -ṵp
sing kus
boy -ṵp
sing tiɗˤ
GEN

“the boy’s apple”

 (6)
ҭибадъу’п шаўф тид̱ъ

[tʰibadˤṵp ʃauf tiɗˤ]

tʰibadˤ
apple -ṵp
sing ʃauf
3.sing tiɗˤ
GEN

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (7)
ҭибадъу’п шәб̱ тид̱ъ

[tʰibadˤṵp ʃəɓ tiɗˤ]

tʰibadˤ
apple -ṵp
sing ʃəɓ
1excl.sing tiɗˤ
GEN

“my apple”

 (8)
Кутъу’п шидъа’д̱ъу’п тид̱ъ пәсудъидъ съа’ґу’п ґатъә’ту’п тид̱ъ д̱ъид тид̱ъ.

[kutˤṵp ʃidˤa̰ɗˤṵp tiɗˤ pəsudˤidˤ sˤa̰ɡṵp ɡatˤə̰tṵp tiɗˤ ɗˤid tiɗˤ]

kutˤ
daughter -ṵp
sing ʃidˤa̰ɗˤ
hunter -ṵp
sing tiɗˤ
GEN p-
PAST əsudˤidˤ
kiss sˤa̰ɡ
son -ṵp
sing ɡatˤə̰t
neighbour -ṵp
sing tiɗˤ
GEN ɗˤid
2.sing tiɗˤ
GEN

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

 (9)

Derivation

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

дъакушу’п

[dˤakuʃṵp]

dˤakuʃ
lamb -ṵp
sing

“a lamb”

 (10)

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

дъакушуґу’п

[dˤakuʃuɡṵp]

dˤakuʃ
lamb -uɡ
little -ṵp
sing

“a little lamb”

 (11)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

All verbal phrase clitics in Dad are enclitics (placed finally), and there are three types: first, a clitic expressing mode, comprising би’съ /bḭsˤ/ ‘imperative’, гиґ /hiɡ/ ‘conditional’ and шас /ʃas/ ‘optative’; second, a clitic expressing voice, comprising фа’б̱ /fa̰ɓ/ ‘passive’; and finally, third, a clitic expressing negation, comprising ба’съ /ba̰sˤ/ ‘NEG’.

In addition, the verb is structured like this: an obligatory prefix expressing ta, comprising съ- /sˤ-/ ‘PRES’ and п- /p-/ ‘PAST’ followed by the root.

The verb displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -д̱ъа’ /-ɗˤa̰/ ‘begin’ and -шу /-ʃu/ ‘stop’

Съайш.

[sˤaiʃ]

sˤ-
PRES aiʃ
love

“I love you.”

 (12)

Adverbs Minor Classes

Adpositions

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

гәд̱у’п шаҭъу’п ԥиб биф

[həɗṵp ʃatʰˤṵp pʰib bif]

həɗ
surface -ṵp
sing ʃatʰˤ
table -ṵp
sing pʰib
LOC bif
in

“on the table”

 (13)
д̱ату’п фад̱ипу’п дъиб̱ тъуб

[ɗatṵp faɗipṵp dˤiɓ tˤub]

ɗat
inside -ṵp
sing faɗip
box -ṵp
sing dˤiɓ
DAT tˤub
to

“into the box”

 (14)
шәб̱ ԥиб дъаб̱әс

[ʃəɓ pʰib dˤaɓəs]

ʃəɓ
1excl.sing pʰib
LOC dˤaɓəs
COMIT

“with me”

 (15)

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.

Dad 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 Dad.

Съасъушу’п пуд шидъа’д̱ъу’п.

[sˤasˤuʃṵp pud ʃidˤa̰ɗˤṵp]

sˤasˤuʃ
jaguar -ṵp
sing p-
PAST ud
kill ʃidˤa̰ɗˤ
hunter -ṵp
sing

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (16)
Гаґайдъу’п пасъ ҭъафу’п кутъу’п тид̱ъ шидъа’д̱ъу’п тид̱ъ.

[haɡaidˤṵp pasˤ tʰˤafṵp kutˤṵp tiɗˤ ʃidˤa̰ɗˤṵp tiɗˤ]

haɡaidˤ
lion -ṵp
sing p-
PAST asˤ
eat tʰˤaf
dog -ṵp
sing kutˤ
daughter -ṵp
sing tiɗˤ
GEN ʃidˤa̰ɗˤ
hunter -ṵp
sing tiɗˤ
GEN

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

 (17)

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 Dad 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, Dad 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.

дъиґәгу’п паўсъу’п тид̱ъ съа’ґу’п тид̱ъ д̱ъид тид̱ъ

[dˤiɡəhṵp pausˤṵp tiɗˤ sˤa̰ɡṵp tiɗˤ ɗˤid tiɗˤ]

dˤiɡəh
book -ṵp
sing pausˤ
friend -ṵp
sing tiɗˤ
GEN sˤa̰ɡ
son -ṵp
sing tiɗˤ
GEN ɗˤid
2.sing tiɗˤ
GEN

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (18)

Case Marking

Dad 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.

Ԥасъу’п съис.

[pʰasˤṵp sˤis]

pʰasˤ
cat -ṵp
sing sˤ-
PRES is
sleep

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (19)
Ԥасъу’п съиф.

[pʰasˤṵp sˤif]

pʰasˤ
cat -ṵp
sing sˤ-
PRES if
run

“The cat is running.”

 (20)
Ԥасъу’п съаҭадъад̱ъ ҭа’съәԥу’п.

[pʰasˤṵp sˤatʰadˤaɗˤ tʰa̰sˤəpʰṵp]

pʰasˤ
cat -ṵp
sing sˤ-
PRES atʰadˤaɗˤ
chase tʰa̰sˤəpʰ
mouse -ṵp
sing

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (21)
Ԥасъу’п пуб ҭа’съәԥу’п.

[pʰasˤṵp pub tʰa̰sˤəpʰṵp]

pʰasˤ
cat -ṵp
sing p-
PAST ub
catch tʰa̰sˤəpʰ
mouse -ṵp
sing

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (22)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

Шидъа’д̱ъу’п пуд съасъуши’б̱ таў д̱ъаґә’ши’б̱ таў гаґайдъи’б̱.

[ʃidˤa̰ɗˤṵp pud sˤasˤuʃḭɓ tau ɗˤaɡə̰ʃḭɓ tau haɡaidˤḭɓ]

ʃidˤa̰ɗˤ
hunter -ṵp
sing p-
PAST ud
kill sˤasˤuʃ
jaguar -ḭɓ
plur tau
and ɗˤaɡə̰ʃ
tiger -ḭɓ
plur tau
and haɡaidˤ
lion -ḭɓ
plur

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

 (23)

Modifiers and Determiners

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

Dad forms relative clauses by placing them before the noun they modify. The modifier takes the form of a finite clause that precedes the head noun without any relative pronoun. The clause shows ordinary clausal structure, with the role of the head noun recoverable from the syntactic position inside the clause.

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

Пибиб̱и’п ԥасъу’п.

[pibiɓḭp pʰasˤṵp]

p-
PAST ibiɓḭp
pat pʰasˤ
cat -ṵp
sing

“I patted the cat.”

 (24)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Пибиб̱и’п пуб ҭа’съәԥу’п ԥасъу’п.

[pibiɓḭp pub tʰa̰sˤəpʰṵp pʰasˤṵp]

p-
PAST ibiɓḭp
pat p-
PAST ub
catch tʰa̰sˤəpʰ
mouse -ṵp
sing pʰasˤ
cat -ṵp
sing

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (25)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Пибиб̱и’п пуб пасъ шид̱а’пу’п ҭа’съәԥу’п ԥасъу’п.

[pibiɓḭp pub pasˤ ʃiɗa̰pṵp tʰa̰sˤəpʰṵp pʰasˤṵp]

p-
PAST ibiɓḭp
pat p-
PAST ub
catch p-
PAST asˤ
eat ʃiɗa̰p
cheese -ṵp
sing tʰa̰sˤəpʰ
mouse -ṵp
sing pʰasˤ
cat -ṵp
sing

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

 (26)

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

Пибиб̱и’п пуб пасъ паф тид̱ъ шәб̱ шид̱а’пу’п ҭа’съәԥу’п ԥасъу’п.

[pibiɓḭp pub pasˤ paf tiɗˤ ʃəɓ ʃiɗa̰pṵp tʰa̰sˤəpʰṵp pʰasˤṵp]

p-
PAST ibiɓḭp
pat p-
PAST ub
catch p-
PAST asˤ
eat p-
PAST af
buy tiɗˤ
GEN ʃəɓ
1excl.sing ʃiɗa̰p
cheese -ṵp
sing tʰa̰sˤəpʰ
mouse -ṵp
sing pʰasˤ
cat -ṵp
sing

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

 (27)

Complementation Strategies

Dad 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:

Пит д̱аду’п ҭибадъу’п тид̱ъ кусу’п пайд̱уԥис шидъидъу’п.

[pit ɗadṵp tʰibadˤṵp tiɗˤ kusṵp paiɗupʰis ʃidˤidˤṵp]

p-
PAST it
give ɗad
girl -ṵp
sing tʰibadˤ
apple -ṵp
sing tiɗˤ
GEN kus
boy -ṵp
sing p-
PAST aiɗupʰis
surprise ʃidˤidˤ
teacher -ṵp
sing

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

 (28)

Quotes

Dad employs a quotative particle to mark direct and indirect speech. The quotative follows the reported phrase and identifies the preceding expression as quoted or reported. The same construction is also used to express reported thoughts.

Here is an example of how quotations are expressed:

Кусу’п пудъ д̱аду’п съайш д̱ъид тид̱ъ шәб̱.

[kusṵp pudˤ ɗadṵp sˤaiʃ ɗˤid tiɗˤ ʃəɓ]

kus
boy -ṵp
sing p-
PAST udˤ
tell ɗad
girl -ṵp
sing sˤ-
PRES aiʃ
love ɗˤid
2.sing tiɗˤ
GEN ʃəɓ
1excl.sing

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

 (29)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Dad. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 1 September 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/37PCW

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-37PCW,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Dad}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/37PCW}},
  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–Dad / Dad–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/37PCW

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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