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A Grammar of Kenicha

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Kenicha language (the 196th 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 Kenicha.

Typological Profile

It has a complete absence of bilabial or labiodental consonants, a complete lack of sibilant consonants, a complete absence of fricative consonants and no inflections (clitics do the hard work).

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Kenicha has fewer than six consonant phonemes. This is an extraordinarily small inventory, offering only the most limited range of consonantal contrasts.

It has a complete absence of bilabial or labiodental consonants, a complete absence of fricative consonants, a complete absence of palatal consonants, something which is a rare occurrence indeed, as well as a conspicuous absence of approximants and a complete lack of sibilant consonants.

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

alveolarpostalveolarvelar
stopt k
nasaln
affricatet͡ʃ

Vowels

Kenicha has 5 vowel qualities. This places it within the broadly common range of mid-sized vowel inventories. The vowel chart shows the full set of contrasts employed in the language’s phonology.

It has a full range of vowel qualities even in reduced syllables.

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

frontcentralback
closei u
mide o
opena

Stress and Tones

Kenicha 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: /i/ becomes /u/, /e/ becomes /o/.

Writing System

Introduction

Kenicha 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 /a/e /e/i /i/k /k/
n /n/o /o/t /t/u /u/

Multi-letter combinations such as digraphs

ch /t͡ʃ/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Kenicha does not have grammatical number.

Gender

Kenicha does not have genders or noun classes.

The Nominal Phrase

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

Nuta tikichi neka to nonuna kotonu to ti cheche nuta ni.

[nuta tikit͡ʃi neka to nonuna kotonu to ti t͡ʃet͡ʃe nuta ni]

nuta
3 tikit͡ʃi
blind neka
woman to
the nonuna
COMIT kotonu
knife to
the ti
PAST t͡ʃet͡ʃe
catch nuta
3 ni
then

“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 cha /t͡ʃa/ ‘GEN’, ta /ta/ ‘DAT’, ke /ke/ ‘INS’, na /na/ ‘VOC’, chi /t͡ʃi/ ‘ALL’, ticha /tit͡ʃa/ ‘LOC’, niki /niki/ ‘ABL’ and chene /t͡ʃene/ ‘PART’.

The morphology of the elements of the nominal phrase, i.e., nouns, numerals and pronouns, is described below, as is the way that possession is expressed in Kenicha.

The Noun

The noun in Kenicha stands alone without any prefixes or suffixes attached to it.

The Adjective

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

Numerals

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

Determiners

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

Pronouns

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

Kenicha 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:

Nuta kochu nuta.

[nuta kot͡ʃu nuta]

nuta
3 kot͡ʃu
love nuta
3

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

Proper Nouns

Tikatecha to chunotoko Tinaneke to.

[tikatet͡ʃa to t͡ʃunotoko tinaneke to]

tikatet͡ʃa
Tikatecha to
the t͡ʃunotoko
hate tinaneke
Tinaneke to
the

“Tikatecha hates Tinaneke.”

 (3)

Possession

chuchotaku to tachi to cha

[t͡ʃut͡ʃotaku to tat͡ʃi to t͡ʃa]

t͡ʃut͡ʃotaku
apple to
the tat͡ʃi
boy to
the t͡ʃa
GEN

“the boy’s apple”

 (4)
chuchotaku to nuta cha

[t͡ʃut͡ʃotaku to nuta t͡ʃa]

t͡ʃut͡ʃotaku
apple to
the nuta
3 t͡ʃa
GEN

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (5)
chuchotaku to nacha cha

[t͡ʃut͡ʃotaku to nat͡ʃa t͡ʃa]

t͡ʃut͡ʃotaku
apple to
the nat͡ʃa
1excl t͡ʃa
GEN

“my apple”

 (6)
Nina to kechineke to cha ti tachakena taki to chachiketa to cha chite cha.

[nina to ket͡ʃineke to t͡ʃa ti tat͡ʃakena taki to t͡ʃat͡ʃiketa to t͡ʃa t͡ʃite t͡ʃa]

nina
daughter to
the ket͡ʃineke
hunter to
the t͡ʃa
GEN ti
PAST tat͡ʃakena
kiss taki
son to
the t͡ʃat͡ʃiketa
neighbour to
the t͡ʃa
GEN t͡ʃite
2 t͡ʃa
GEN

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

 (7)

Derivation

Kenicha has no derivational processes.

kekikeche

[kekiket͡ʃe]

kekiket͡ʃe
lamb

“a lamb”

 (8)

Note how none show up here:

Nuta kane nuta ti toko ti te nana nuta ni.

[nuta kane nuta ti toko ti te nana nuta ni]

nuta
3 kane
little nuta
3 ti
PAST toko
want ti
PAST te
COMP nana
have nuta
3 ni
then

“She wanted to have a little lamb.”

 (9)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

The verbal phrase clitics in Kenicha fall into two categories, proclitics and enclitics: first, a clitic expressing comp, comprising te /te/ ‘COMP’; second, a clitic expressing voice, comprising na /na/ ‘passive’; third, a clitic expressing mode, comprising te /te/ ‘imperative’, chi /t͡ʃi/ ‘conditional’ and cha /t͡ʃa/ ‘optative’; fourth, a clitic expressing ta, comprising ti /ti/ ‘PAST’; and finally, fifth, a clitic expressing negation, comprising na /na/ ‘NEG’.

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

Nacha kochu chite.

[nat͡ʃa kot͡ʃu t͡ʃite]

nat͡ʃa
1excl kot͡ʃu
love t͡ʃite
2

“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.

tu nucha nunako to

[tu nut͡ʃa nunako to]

tu
in nut͡ʃa
surface nunako
table to
the

“on the table”

 (11)
teche nani kachateka to

[tet͡ʃe nani kat͡ʃateka to]

tet͡ʃe
to nani
inside kat͡ʃateka
box to
the

“into the box”

 (12)
nonuna nacha

[nonuna nat͡ʃa]

nonuna
COMIT nat͡ʃa
1excl

“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.

Kenicha 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 Kenicha.

Chaninika to ti chota kechineke to.

[t͡ʃaninika to ti t͡ʃota ket͡ʃineke to]

t͡ʃaninika
jaguar to
the ti
PAST t͡ʃota
kill ket͡ʃineke
hunter to
the

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (14)
Nitichiche to ti chucha tina to nina to cha kechineke to cha.

[nitit͡ʃit͡ʃe to ti t͡ʃut͡ʃa tina to nina to t͡ʃa ket͡ʃineke to t͡ʃa]

nitit͡ʃit͡ʃe
lion to
the ti
PAST t͡ʃut͡ʃa
eat tina
dog to
the nina
daughter to
the t͡ʃa
GEN ket͡ʃineke
hunter to
the t͡ʃa
GEN

“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 Kenicha 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, Kenicha 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.

kachi to konu to cha taki to cha chite cha

[kat͡ʃi to konu to t͡ʃa taki to t͡ʃa t͡ʃite t͡ʃa]

kat͡ʃi
book to
the konu
friend to
the t͡ʃa
GEN taki
son to
the t͡ʃa
GEN t͡ʃite
2 t͡ʃa
GEN

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (16)

Case Marking

Kenicha 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.

Noka to neta.

[noka to neta]

noka
cat to
the neta
sleep

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (17)
Noka to chuta.

[noka to t͡ʃuta]

noka
cat to
the t͡ʃuta
run

“The cat is running.”

 (18)
Noka to chonukako chitinichi to.

[noka to t͡ʃonukako t͡ʃitinit͡ʃi to]

noka
cat to
the t͡ʃonukako
chase t͡ʃitinit͡ʃi
mouse to
the

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (19)
Noka to ti cheche chitinichi to.

[noka to ti t͡ʃet͡ʃe t͡ʃitinit͡ʃi to]

noka
cat to
the ti
PAST t͡ʃet͡ʃe
catch t͡ʃitinit͡ʃi
mouse to
the

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (20)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

Kechineke to ti chota chaninika to ti tachuchona to ti nitichiche to.

[ket͡ʃineke to ti t͡ʃota t͡ʃaninika to ti tat͡ʃut͡ʃona to ti nitit͡ʃit͡ʃe to]

ket͡ʃineke
hunter to
the ti
PAST t͡ʃota
kill t͡ʃaninika
jaguar to
the ti
and tat͡ʃut͡ʃona
tiger to
the ti
and nitit͡ʃit͡ʃe
lion to
the

“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 Kenicha 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

Kenicha uses the correlative strategy to form relative clauses. The relative clause is introduced by a dedicated relativiser and appears as an independent clause. The main clause contains a demonstrative that corresponds to the relativiser and identifies the element being modified. The relative clause precedes the main clause when used on its own, and follows the head noun when it functions as a modifier. The internal structure of both clauses is fully finite.

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

Nacha ti tachunucho noka to.

[nat͡ʃa ti tat͡ʃunut͡ʃo noka to]

nat͡ʃa
1excl ti
PAST tat͡ʃunut͡ʃo
pat noka
cat to
the

“I patted the cat.”

 (22)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Nuta ti cheche chitinichi to nacha ti tachunucho nuta ni.

[nuta ti t͡ʃet͡ʃe t͡ʃitinit͡ʃi to nat͡ʃa ti tat͡ʃunut͡ʃo nuta ni]

nuta
3 ti
PAST t͡ʃet͡ʃe
catch t͡ʃitinit͡ʃi
mouse to
the nat͡ʃa
1excl ti
PAST tat͡ʃunut͡ʃo
pat nuta
3 ni
then

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (23)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Nuta ti chucha titikena to nuta ti cheche nuta ni nacha ti tachunucho nuta ni.

[nuta ti t͡ʃut͡ʃa titikena to nuta ti t͡ʃet͡ʃe nuta ni nat͡ʃa ti tat͡ʃunut͡ʃo nuta ni]

nuta
3 ti
PAST t͡ʃut͡ʃa
eat titikena
cheese to
the nuta
3 ti
PAST t͡ʃet͡ʃe
catch nuta
3 ni
then nat͡ʃa
1excl ti
PAST tat͡ʃunut͡ʃo
pat nuta
3 ni
then

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

 (24)

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

Nacha ti kini nuta nuta ti chucha nuta ni nuta ti cheche nuta ni nacha ti tachunucho nuta ni.

[nat͡ʃa ti kini nuta nuta ti t͡ʃut͡ʃa nuta ni nuta ti t͡ʃet͡ʃe nuta ni nat͡ʃa ti tat͡ʃunut͡ʃo nuta ni]

nat͡ʃa
1excl ti
PAST kini
buy nuta
3 nuta
3 ti
PAST t͡ʃut͡ʃa
eat nuta
3 ni
then nuta
3 ti
PAST t͡ʃet͡ʃe
catch nuta
3 ni
then nat͡ʃa
1excl ti
PAST tat͡ʃunut͡ʃo
pat nuta
3 ni
then

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

 (25)

Complementation Strategies

Kenicha 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:

Tachi to ti te chucho choko to chuchotaku ti tichichane chatutuka to.

[tat͡ʃi to ti te t͡ʃut͡ʃo t͡ʃoko to t͡ʃut͡ʃotaku ti tit͡ʃit͡ʃane t͡ʃatutuka to]

tat͡ʃi
boy to
the ti
PAST te
COMP t͡ʃut͡ʃo
give t͡ʃoko
girl to
the t͡ʃut͡ʃotaku
apple ti
PAST tit͡ʃit͡ʃane
surprise t͡ʃatutuka
teacher to
the

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

 (26)

Quotes

Kenicha 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:

Tachi to ti chana choko to nacha te kochu chite.

[tat͡ʃi to ti t͡ʃana t͡ʃoko to nat͡ʃa te kot͡ʃu t͡ʃite]

tat͡ʃi
boy to
the ti
PAST t͡ʃana
tell t͡ʃoko
girl to
the nat͡ʃa
1excl te
COMP kot͡ʃu
love t͡ʃite
2

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

 (27)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Kenicha. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.91, on 27 May 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/3MJLF

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-3MJLF,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Kenicha}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/3MJLF}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.91, on 27 May 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Kenicha / Kenicha–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/3MJLF

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