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A Grammar of Shakala

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Shakala language (the 165th 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 Shakala.

Typological Profile

It has a total lack of nasal consonants and postpositions.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Shakala has a moderately small consonant inventory, comprising 17 phonemes.

It has a total lack of nasal consonants, a complete absence of affricates and an exceptionally large and contrastive labial series.

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

labialalveolarpostalveolarlateralpalatalvelarglottal
stopp b d t k ɡ
ejective stopkʼ
trill/tap/flapr
fricativef s ʃ h
approximantw l j ɰ

Vowels

Shakala has 4 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 vertical vowel system in which backness distinctions are largely absent, phonologically distinctive back unrounded vowels, a triangular vowel system with few low vowels and occasional ghost vowels that surface only weakly.

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

central
midə
opena

Stress and Tones

Shakala 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: .

Writing System

Introduction

Shakala 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/б /b/в /w/г /h/
д /d/к /k/л /l/п /p/
р /r/с /s/т /t/ф /f/
ш /ʃ/ь /ə/ј /j/ґ /ɡ/
ӟ /ɰ/

Multi-letter combinations such as digraphs

ай /ai/аў /au/къ /kʼ/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Shakala does not have grammatical number.

Gender

Shakala has the following genders:

Gender masc – for instance: батьрьрь ‘urine’, бьдь ‘fish’, вараўгаса ‘mouse’, гавайјава ‘guts’, дава ‘father’, каса ‘human being’, къьва ‘child’, кьра ‘dog’, лашьфава ‘neck’, райва ‘fire’, сабаўдьдь ‘umbrella’, фава ‘language’, фарькъькъь ‘rope’, фајьракъа ‘mammal’, фьда ‘tongue’, фьдафакъь ‘wild boar’, јайјь ‘hair’, јатакъаль ‘student’, ґава ‘friend’, ӟатафакь ‘lamb’.

Gender fem – for instance: бадаўрагь ‘breath’, вајаўдаба ‘root’, дьраўльґа ‘fog’, лайра ‘star’, лаўја ‘moon’, пакъасадь ‘flower’, раса ‘blood’, саўкъь ‘top’, сьдакьса ‘tail’, тайбь ‘sky’, фаралаша ‘dialect’, фарьтарь ‘plain’, фаґаўґьфа ‘cloud’, шавайтаја ‘river’, шада ‘daughter’, шакъала ‘Shakala’, шатальрь ‘bosom’, јайка ‘hand’, јьфалаша ‘slime’, јьша ‘foot’.

The Nominal Phrase

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

Јьдай пать јьдай гафьга гьбаўкь тай ґа ґа вараўгаса радапа пай.

[jədai patə jədai hafəha həbaukə tai ɡa ɡa warauhasa radapa pai]

jə-
fem dai
the patə
woman jə-
fem dai
the hafəha
knife həbaukə
COMIT tai
catch ɡa
PAST ɡa
yon warauhasa
mouse rad
blind -apa
NOM pai
three

“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 Shakala stands alone without any prefixes or suffixes attached to it.

The noun displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -лака /-laka/ ‘little’ and -кькь /-kəkə/ ‘big’

The Adjective

In Shakala, the adjective has the following structure: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing case, comprising -апа /-apa/ ‘NOM’, -ьда /-əda/ ‘GEN’, -ьпь /-əpə/ ‘DAT’, -аја /-aja/ ‘INS’, -ькъь /-əkʼə/ ‘VOC’, -ара /-ara/ ‘ALL’, -акь /-akə/ ‘LOC’, -ьть /-ətə/ ‘ABL’ and -ьвь /-əwə/ ‘PART’.

Numerals

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

Determiners

In Shakala, the determiner has the following structure: an optional prefix expressing gender, comprising јь- /jə-/ ‘fem’ followed by the root.

Pronouns

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

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

Шагь ја.

[ʃahə ja]

ʃahə
love ja
3.fem

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

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

Кай шагь ја.

[kai ʃahə ja]

kai
3.masc ʃahə
love ja
3.fem

“He loves her.”

 (3)

Proper Nouns

Дай Гапайрьґа тьпать јьдай Шашашаль.

[dai hapairəɡa təpatə jədai ʃaʃaʃalə]

dai
the hapairəɡa
Hapairaga təpatə
hate jə-
fem dai
the ʃaʃaʃalə
Shashashala

“Hapairaga hates Shashashala.”

 (4)

Possession

дай къайва дай сьльбакъь

[dai kʼaiwa dai sələbakʼə]

dai
the kʼaiwa
boy dai
the sələbakʼə
apple

“the boy’s apple”

 (5)
кай дай сьльбакъь

[kai dai sələbakʼə]

kai
3.masc dai
the sələbakʼə
apple

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (6)
фаў дай сьльбакъь

[fau dai sələbakʼə]

fau
1excl dai
the sələbakʼə
apple

“my apple”

 (7)
Дай тьбакъьдь јьдай шада бакаба ґа лай дай гатьвьба дай рада.

[dai təbakʼədə jədai ʃada bakaba ɡa lai dai hatəwəba dai rada]

dai
the təbakʼədə
hunter jə-
fem dai
the ʃada
daughter bakaba
kiss ɡa
PAST lai
2 dai
the hatəwəba
neighbour dai
the rada
son

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

 (8)

Derivation

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

дь ӟатафакь

[də ɰatafakə]

də
a ɰatafakə
lamb

“a lamb”

 (9)

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

дь ӟатафакьлака

[də ɰatafakəlaka]

də
a ɰatafakə
lamb -laka
little

“a little lamb”

 (10)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

All verbal phrase clitics in Shakala are enclitics (placed finally), and there are four types: first, a clitic expressing ta, comprising ґа /ɡa/ ‘PAST’; second, a clitic expressing mode, comprising гь /hə/ ‘imperative’, кь /kə/ ‘conditional’ and вь /wə/ ‘optative’; third, a clitic expressing negation, comprising ка /ka/ ‘NEG’; and finally, fourth, a clitic expressing comp, comprising фь /fə/ ‘COMP’.

In addition, the verb is structured like this: the root followed by an optional suffix expressing voice, comprising -гь /-hə/ ‘passive’.

The verb displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -льра /-ləra/ ‘begin’ and -ласа /-lasa/ ‘stop’

Шагь лай.

[ʃahə lai]

ʃahə
love lai
2

“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.

дай вьбьрь пайша са

[dai wəbərə paiʃa sa]

dai
the wəbərə
table paiʃa
surface sa
in

“on the table”

 (12)
јьдай сафайшьша бьра та

[jədai safaiʃəʃa bəra ta]

jə-
fem dai
the safaiʃəʃa
box bəra
inside ta
to

“into the box”

 (13)
фаў гьбаўкь

[fau həbaukə]

fau
1excl həbaukə
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.

Shakala 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 Shakala.

Дай варайјьра јькъь ґа дай тьбакъьдь.

[dai waraijəra jəkʼə ɡa dai təbakʼədə]

dai
the waraijəra
jaguar jəkʼə
kill ɡa
PAST dai
the təbakʼədə
hunter

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (15)
Дай јагайфась ль ґа дай тьбакъьдь јьдай шада дай кьра.

[dai jahaifasə lə ɡa dai təbakʼədə jədai ʃada dai kəra]

dai
the jahaifasə
lion lə
eat ɡa
PAST dai
the təbakʼədə
hunter jə-
fem dai
the ʃada
daughter dai
the kəra
dog

“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 Shakala 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, Shakala 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.

лай дай рада дай ґава дай пьдькьдь

[lai dai rada dai ɡawa dai pədəkədə]

lai
2 dai
the rada
son dai
the ɡawa
friend dai
the pədəkədə
book

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (17)

Case Marking

Shakala 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.

Дай такь јай.

[dai takə jai]

dai
the takə
cat jai
sleep

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (18)
Дай такь ӟаў.

[dai takə ɰau]

dai
the takə
cat ɰau
run

“The cat is running.”

 (19)
Дай такь јьтава дай вараўгаса.

[dai takə jətawa dai warauhasa]

dai
the takə
cat jətawa
chase dai
the warauhasa
mouse

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (20)
Дай такь тай ґа дай вараўгаса.

[dai takə tai ɡa dai warauhasa]

dai
the takə
cat tai
catch ɡa
PAST dai
the warauhasa
mouse

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (21)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

Дай тьбакъьдь јькъь ґа дай варайјьра сь дай фьдадава сь дай јагайфась.

[dai təbakʼədə jəkʼə ɡa dai waraijəra sə dai fədadawa sə dai jahaifasə]

dai
the təbakʼədə
hunter jəkʼə
kill ɡa
PAST dai
the waraijəra
jaguar sə
and dai
the fədadawa
tiger sə
and dai
the jahaifasə
lion

“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 Shakala 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

Shakala 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:

Ӟьваўса ґа дай такь.

[ɰəwausa ɡa dai takə]

ɰəwausa
pat ɡa
PAST dai
the takə
cat

“I patted the cat.”

 (23)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Ӟьваўса ґа дай такь тай ґа фь дай вараўгаса.

[ɰəwausa ɡa dai takə tai ɡa fə dai warauhasa]

ɰəwausa
pat ɡa
PAST dai
the takə
cat tai
catch ɡa
PAST fə
COMP dai
the warauhasa
mouse

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (24)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Ӟьваўса ґа дай такь тай ґа фь дай вараўгаса ль ґа фь дай ґашайшьба.

[ɰəwausa ɡa dai takə tai ɡa fə dai warauhasa lə ɡa fə dai ɡaʃaiʃəba]

ɰəwausa
pat ɡa
PAST dai
the takə
cat tai
catch ɡa
PAST fə
COMP dai
the warauhasa
mouse lə
eat ɡa
PAST fə
COMP dai
the ɡaʃaiʃəba
cheese

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

 (25)

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

Ӟьваўса ґа дай такь тай ґа фь дай вараўгаса ль ґа фь фаў фь ґа фь дай ґашайшьба.

[ɰəwausa ɡa dai takə tai ɡa fə dai warauhasa lə ɡa fə fau fə ɡa fə dai ɡaʃaiʃəba]

ɰəwausa
pat ɡa
PAST dai
the takə
cat tai
catch ɡa
PAST fə
COMP dai
the warauhasa
mouse lə
eat ɡa
PAST fə
COMP fau
1excl fə
buy ɡa
PAST fə
COMP dai
the ɡaʃaiʃəba
cheese

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

 (26)

Complementation Strategies

Shakala marks complement clauses with subordinating verbal morphology. The embedded verb is fully finite and carries a subordinating suffix that identifies the clause as a complement. No structural changes occur within the clause apart from this verbal marking.

The following example illustrate how complement clauses function:

Дай къайва раў ґа фь јьдай шакъа дь сьльбакъь дасаўкь ґа дай ґьрь.

[dai kʼaiwa rau ɡa fə jədai ʃakʼa də sələbakʼə dasaukə ɡa dai ɡərə]

dai
the kʼaiwa
boy rau
give ɡa
PAST fə
COMP jə-
fem dai
the ʃakʼa
girl də
a sələbakʼə
apple dasaukə
surprise ɡa
PAST dai
the ɡərə
teacher

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

 (27)

Quotes

Shakala 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:

Дай къайва тавь ґа јьдай шакъа фаў шагь фь лай.

[dai kʼaiwa tawə ɡa jədai ʃakʼa fau ʃahə fə lai]

dai
the kʼaiwa
boy tawə
tell ɡa
PAST jə-
fem dai
the ʃakʼa
girl fau
1excl ʃahə
love fə
COMP lai
2

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

 (28)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Shakala. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.91, on 24 May 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/3FA86

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-3FA86,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Shakala}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/3FA86}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.91, on 24 May 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Shakala / Shakala–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/3FA86

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