A Grammar of Kub

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Kub language (the 138th 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 Kub.

Typological Profile

It has not just singular and plural, but also dual, as well as the highly uncommon basic word order OVS and postpositions.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Kub has a moderately large consonant inventory, with 30 phonemes.

It has a complete absence of affricates, a strongly reduced sibilant system, a modest (but clearly contrastive) set of labialised consonants and a noticeable presence of pharyngealised phonemes.

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

labialdentalphar. dentalalveolarphar. alveolarlateralpalatalvelarlab. velarglottal
stopp b d t dˤ tˤ k ɡ kʷ ɡʷ ʔ
nasalm n ɲ ŋ ŋʷ
fricativef θ θˤ s x h
approximantʋ ɾ j
implosiveɓ

Vowels

Kub 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 modest but genuine inventory of nasal vowels and front rounded vowels (these are cross-linguistically relatively uncommon, but occur in a number of well-known languages, including French, German, Turkish and Mandarin).

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

front unroundedfront roundedcentralback
closei y u
mide ø ə# o
opena

Stress and Tones

Kub 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: /u/ becomes /y/, /o/ becomes /ø/.

Writing System

Introduction

Kub 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

ə# /ə#/а /a/б /b/б̱ /ɓ/
в /ʋ/г /h/д /d/е /e/
и /i/к /k/м /m/н /n/
о /o/п /p/р /ɾ/с /s/
т /t/у /u/ф /f/х /x/
ј /j/њ /ɲ/ѳ /θ/ґ /ɡ/
ү /y/ӈ /ŋ/ӏ /ʔ/ө /ø/

Multi-letter combinations such as digraphs

ай /ai/аў /au/дъ /dˤ/
кв /kʷ/нъ /nˤ/съ /sˤ/
тъ /tˤ/хв /xʷ/ѳъ /θˤ/
ґв /ɡʷ/ӈв /ŋʷ/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Kub distinguishes singular, dual and plural.

Gender

Kub does not have genders or noun classes.

The Nominal Phrase

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

Ги раўѳакво руху па маґу дъу ри нъə# дъобеву хвоӈвеку Ме.

[hi ɾauθakʷo ɾuxu pa maɡu dˤu ɾi nˤə̃ dˤobeʋu xʷoŋʷeku me]

hi
three
ɾauθ
mouse
-akʷ
ACC
-o
plur
ɾ-
ACC
uxu
blind
pa
yon
maɡu
catch
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
nˤə̃
3.plur.OBJ
dˤob
woman
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing
xʷoŋʷ
knife
-ek
LOC
-u
sing
me
COMIT

“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 a proclitic (placed initially), expressing possessor. a clitic expressing possessor, comprising бе /be/ ‘1incl.sing’, ху /xu/ ‘1excl.sing’, кви /kʷi/ ‘2.sing’, ди /di/ ‘3.sing’, пə# /pə#/ ‘1incl.dual’, хо /xo/ ‘1excl.dual’, пу /pu/ ‘2.dual’, ду /du/ ‘3.dual’, кво /kʷo/ ‘1incl.plur’, фи /fi/ ‘1excl.plur’, ми /mi/ ‘2.plur’ and хə# /xə#/ ‘3.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 Kub.

The Noun

The noun in Kub consists of first, the root; second, an obligatory suffix expressing case, comprising -ев /-eʋ/ ‘NOM’, -акв /-akʷ/ ‘ACC’, -ə#д /-ə#d/ ‘DAT’, -он /-on/ ‘INS’, -оп /-op/ ‘VOC’, -ој /-oj/ ‘ALL’, -ек /-ek/ ‘LOC’, -уп /-up/ ‘ABL’ and -ус /-us/ ‘PART’; and finally, third, an obligatory suffix expressing number, comprising /-u/ ‘sing’, -ə# /-ə#/ ‘dual’ and /-o/ ‘plur’.

The noun displays the following derivational morphology: 11 suffixes, namely -иф /-if/ ‘little’, -ат /-at/ ‘big’, -атъ /-atˤ/ ‘old’, -екв /-ekʷ/ ‘new’, -ип /-ip/ ‘good’, -ос /-os/ ‘bad’, -ехви /-exʷi/ ‘have’, -еӏу /-eʔu/ ‘use’, -еґа /-eɡa/ ‘see’, -еји /-eji/ ‘make’ and -едъи /-edˤi/ ‘break’

The Adjective

In Kub, the adjective has the following structure: an obligatory prefix expressing case, comprising г- /h-/ ‘NOM’, р- /ɾ-/ ‘ACC’, ј- /j-/ ‘DAT’, съ- /sˤ-/ ‘INS’, ґв- /ɡʷ-/ ‘VOC’, м- /m-/ ‘ALL’, н- /n-/ ‘LOC’, ӈв- /ŋʷ-/ ‘ABL’ and тъ- /tˤ-/ ‘PART’ followed by the root.

Numerals

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

Determiners

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

Pronouns

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

Бофакву но ӈвосу дъу ри дъо гу де маймо гайӈвə# ри.

[bofakʷu no ŋʷosu dˤu ɾi dˤo hu de maimo haiŋʷə̃ ɾi]

bof
tiger
-akʷ
ACC
-u
sing
no
1excl.plur.SUBJ
ŋʷosu
kill
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
dˤo
3.sing.OBJ
hu
because
de
1incl.plur.SUBJ
maimo
be
h-
NOM
aiŋʷə̃
happy
ɾi
indicative

“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:

Гаў куфа ри дъо.

[hau kufa ɾi dˤo]

hau
3.sing
kufa
love
ɾi
indicative
dˤo
3.sing.OBJ

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

(3)

But here, the word corresponding to he is stressed:

Гаў куфа ри дъо гаў.

[hau kufa ɾi dˤo hau]

hau
3.sing
kufa
love
ɾi
indicative
dˤo
3.sing.OBJ
hau
3.sing

He loves her.”

(4)

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

Гаў куфа ри дъо.

[hau kufa ɾi dˤo]

hau
3.sing
kufa
love
ɾi
indicative
dˤo
3.sing.OBJ

“He loves her.”

(5)

Proper Nouns

Вөхакву дөфө ри дъо Көкеву.

[ʋøxakʷu døfø ɾi dˤo køkeʋu]

ʋøx
Voekh
-akʷ
ACC
-u
sing
døfø
hate
ɾi
indicative
dˤo
3.sing.OBJ
køk
Koek
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing

“Koek hates Voekh.”

(6)

Possession

ди номеву динъеву

[di nomeʋu dinˤeʋu]

di
3.sing.POSS
nom
apple
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing
dinˤ
boy
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing

“the boy’s apple”

(7)
ди номеву гаў

[di nomeʋu hau]

di
3.sing.POSS
nom
apple
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing
hau
3.sing

“his (the boy’s) apple”

(8)
ху номеву

[xu nomeʋu]

xu
1excl.sing.POSS
nom
apple
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing

“my apple”

(9)
Ди теѳъакву кви хөфеву бахва дъу ри дъо ди нъуӈвеву пөѳъеву.

[di teθˤakʷu kʷi xøfeʋu baxʷa dˤu ɾi dˤo di nˤuŋʷeʋu pøθˤeʋu]

di
3.sing.POSS
teθˤ
son
-akʷ
ACC
-u
sing
kʷi
2.sing.POSS
xøf
neighbour
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing
baxʷa
kiss
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
dˤo
3.sing.OBJ
di
3.sing.POSS
nˤuŋʷ
daughter
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing
pøθˤ
hunter
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing

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

(10)

Derivation

ӈə#кеву

[ŋə̃keʋu]

ŋə̃k
lamb
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing

“a lamb”

(11)
ӈə#кифеву

[ŋə̃kifeʋu]

ŋə̃k
lamb
-if
little
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing

“a little lamb”

(12)
Ӈə#кифехви дъу ри.

[ŋə̃kifexʷi dˤu ɾi]

ŋə̃k
lamb
-if
little
-exʷi
have
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative

“She had a little lamb.”

(13)

This doesn’t affect all adjectives and verbs. Compare, for instance the previous example with this one, where black and love do not undergo affixation:

Ӈə#какву рику куфа дъу ри дъо.

[ŋə̃kakʷu ɾiku kufa dˤu ɾi dˤo]

ŋə̃k
lamb
-akʷ
ACC
-u
sing
ɾ-
ACC
iku
black
kufa
love
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
dˤo
3.sing.OBJ

“She loved a black lamb.”

(14)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

The verbal phrase clitics in Kub fall into two categories, proclitics and enclitics: first, a clitic expressing subj, comprising фи /fi/ ‘1incl.sing’, нъу /nˤu/ ‘1excl.sing’, ґва /ɡʷa/ ‘2.sing’, ду /du/ ‘1incl.dual’, дъə# /dˤə#/ ‘1excl.dual’, дъо /dˤo/ ‘2.dual’, кво /kʷo/ ‘3.dual’, де /de/ ‘1incl.plur’, но /no/ ‘1excl.plur’, ква /kʷa/ ‘2.plur’ and ґи /ɡi/ ‘3.plur’; second, a clitic expressing ta, comprising дъу /dˤu/ ‘PAST’; third, a clitic expressing mode, comprising ри /ɾi/ ‘indicative’, мə# /mə#/ ‘conditional’ and ке /ke/ ‘optative’; fourth, a clitic expressing voice, comprising ми /mi/ ‘passive’; fifth, a clitic expressing negation, comprising но /no/ ‘NEG’; sixth, a clitic expressing obj, comprising ги /hi/ ‘1incl.sing’, фу /fu/ ‘1excl.sing’, дъə# /dˤə#/ ‘2.sing’, дъо /dˤo/ ‘3.sing’, ми /mi/ ‘1incl.dual’, кви /kʷi/ ‘1excl.dual’, нъо /nˤo/ ‘2.dual’, ве /ʋe/ ‘3.dual’, ѳъи /θˤi/ ‘1incl.plur’, съо /sˤo/ ‘1excl.plur’, ӈо /ŋo/ ‘2.plur’ and нъə# /nˤə#/ ‘3.plur’; and finally, seventh, a clitic expressing question, comprising нъе /nˤe/ ‘Q’.

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

The verb displays the following derivational morphology: five suffixes, namely -фе /-fe/ ‘begin’, -ӏе /-ʔe/ ‘stop’, -ји /-ji/ ‘continue’, -пи /-pi/ ‘try’ and -ӏа /-ʔa/ ‘start’

Се нъу куфа ри дъə#.

[se nˤu kufa ɾi dˤə̃]

se
2.sing
nˤu
1excl.sing.SUBJ
kufa
love
ɾi
indicative
dˤə̃
2.sing.OBJ

“I love you.”

(15)

Adverbs Minor Classes

Adpositions

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

ӏүбеву биѳеву ма

[ʔybeʋu biθeʋu ma]

ʔyb
surface
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing
biθ
table
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing
ma
in

“on the table”

(16)
хүб̱еву майѳеву кə#

[xyɓeʋu maiθeʋu kə̃]

xyɓ
inside
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing
maiθ
box
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing
kə̃
to

“into the box”

(17)
јаў Ме

[jau me]

jau
1excl.sing
me
COMIT

“with me”

(18)

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.

Kub has Object–Verb–Subject (OVS) as its basic constituent order. Clauses begin with the object, followed by the verb, with the subject in final position. This is a rare but attested configuration in the world’s languages.

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

Пөѳъакву ӈвосу дъу ри дъо вə#ґеву.

[pøθˤakʷu ŋʷosu dˤu ɾi dˤo ʋə̃ɡeʋu]

pøθˤ
hunter
-akʷ
ACC
-u
sing
ŋʷosu
kill
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
dˤo
3.sing.OBJ
ʋə̃ɡ
jaguar
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

(19)
Ди тъобакву ди нъуӈвеву пөѳъеву даўѳъи дъу ри дъо тъимеву.

[di tˤobakʷu di nˤuŋʷeʋu pøθˤeʋu dauθˤi dˤu ɾi dˤo tˤimeʋu]

di
3.sing.POSS
tˤob
dog
-akʷ
ACC
-u
sing
di
3.sing.POSS
nˤuŋʷ
daughter
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing
pøθˤ
hunter
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing
dauθˤi
eat
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
dˤo
3.sing.OBJ
tˤim
lion
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing

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

(20)

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 Kub 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, Kub 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.

ди суґвеву ди ѳъаѳеву кви теѳъеву

[di suɡʷeʋu di θˤaθeʋu kʷi teθˤeʋu]

di
3.sing.POSS
suɡʷ
book
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing
di
3.sing.POSS
θˤaθ
friend
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing
kʷi
2.sing.POSS
teθˤ
son
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing

“your son’s friend’s book”

(21)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

Вə#ґакво нъай бофакво нъай тъимакво ӈвосу дъу ри нъə# пөѳъеву.

[ʋə̃ɡakʷo nˤai bofakʷo nˤai tˤimakʷo ŋʷosu dˤu ɾi nˤə̃ pøθˤeʋu]

ʋə̃ɡ
jaguar
-akʷ
ACC
-o
plur
nˤai
and
bof
tiger
-akʷ
ACC
-o
plur
nˤai
and
tˤim
lion
-akʷ
ACC
-o
plur
ŋʷosu
kill
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
nˤə̃
3.plur.OBJ
pøθˤ
hunter
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing

“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 Kub 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

Kub 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:

Хвоквакву нъу маўма дъу ри дъо.

[xʷokʷakʷu nˤu mauma dˤu ɾi dˤo]

xʷokʷ
cat
-akʷ
ACC
-u
sing
nˤu
1excl.sing.SUBJ
mauma
pat
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
dˤo
3.sing.OBJ

“I patted the cat.”

(23)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Нъу маўма дъу ри хвоквеву, тъе маґу дъу ри дъо раўѳакву.

[nˤu mauma dˤu ɾi xʷokʷeʋu, tˤe maɡu dˤu ɾi dˤo ɾauθakʷu]

nˤu
1excl.sing.SUBJ
mauma
pat
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
xʷokʷ
cat
-eʋ
NOM
-u,
sing
tˤe
RELPRON
maɡu
catch
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
dˤo
3.sing.OBJ
ɾauθ
mouse
-akʷ
ACC
-u
sing

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

(24)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Нъу маўма дъу ри хвоквеву, тъе маґу дъу ри раўѳеву, тъе даўѳъи дъу ри дъо нефакву.

[nˤu mauma dˤu ɾi xʷokʷeʋu, tˤe maɡu dˤu ɾi ɾauθeʋu, tˤe dauθˤi dˤu ɾi dˤo nefakʷu]

nˤu
1excl.sing.SUBJ
mauma
pat
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
xʷokʷ
cat
-eʋ
NOM
-u,
sing
tˤe
RELPRON
maɡu
catch
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
ɾauθ
mouse
-eʋ
NOM
-u,
sing
tˤe
RELPRON
dauθˤi
eat
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
dˤo
3.sing.OBJ
nef
cheese
-akʷ
ACC
-u
sing

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

(25)

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

Нъу маўма дъу ри хвоквеву, тъе маґу дъу ри раўѳеву, тъе даўѳъи дъу ри нефеву, тъе нъу хвүхвө дъу ри дъо јаў.

[nˤu mauma dˤu ɾi xʷokʷeʋu, tˤe maɡu dˤu ɾi ɾauθeʋu, tˤe dauθˤi dˤu ɾi nefeʋu, tˤe nˤu xʷyxʷø dˤu ɾi dˤo jau]

nˤu
1excl.sing.SUBJ
mauma
pat
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
xʷokʷ
cat
-eʋ
NOM
-u,
sing
tˤe
RELPRON
maɡu
catch
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
ɾauθ
mouse
-eʋ
NOM
-u,
sing
tˤe
RELPRON
dauθˤi
eat
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
nef
cheese
-eʋ
NOM
-u,
sing
tˤe
RELPRON
nˤu
1excl.sing.SUBJ
xʷyxʷø
buy
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
dˤo
3.sing.OBJ
jau
1excl.sing

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

(26)

Complementation Strategies

Kub 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:

Ховə#ду фасо дъу ри номакву квадъə#ду кунə# дъу ри дъо динъеву Ре.

[xoʋə̃du faso dˤu ɾi nomakʷu kʷadˤə̃du kunə̃ dˤu ɾi dˤo dinˤeʋu ɾe]

xoʋ
teacher
-ə̃d
DAT
-u
sing
faso
surprise
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
nom
apple
-akʷ
ACC
-u
sing
kʷadˤ
girl
-ə̃d
DAT
-u
sing
kunə̃
give
dˤu
PAST
ɾi
indicative
dˤo
3.sing.OBJ
dinˤ
boy
-eʋ
NOM
-u
sing
ɾe
COMP

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

(27)

Quotes

Here is an example of how quotations are expressed:

Miscellaneous

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Kub / Kub–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/39V9K

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 Kub. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.90, on 15 May 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/39V9K

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-39V9K,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Kub}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/39V9K}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.90, on 15 May 2026}
}

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