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A Grammar of Nipu

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Nipu language (the 233rd 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 Nipu.

Typological Profile

It has a highly marked collection of glottal, uvular, pharyngeal or epiglottal contrasts, no inflections (clitics do the hard work) and postpositions.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Nipu has 23 consonant phonemes, a size that falls within a broadly average range.

It has a highly marked collection of glottal, uvular, pharyngeal or epiglottal contrasts, a maximally contrastive voicing system, a complete absence of affricates and a strongly reduced sibilant system.

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

labialalveolarlateralpalatalvelaruvularpharyngealepiglottalglottal
stopp b d t k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ
nasalm n ɲ
trill/tap/flapʜ
fricativef s z ʕ h
approximantʋ ɾ j

Vowels

Nipu 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 fully contrastive long–short vowel distinction across the system, a full range of vowel qualities even in reduced syllables and occasional ghost vowels that surface only weakly.

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

frontcentralback
closei u
mide o
opena

Stress and Tones

Nipu 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

Nipu 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/b /b/d /d/e /e/
f /f/g /ɡ/h /h/i /i/
j /j/k /k/m /m/n /n/
o /o/p /p/q /q/r /ɾ/
s /s/t /t/u /u/w /ʋ/
z /z/ñ /ɲ/ğ /ʡ/

Multi-letter combinations such as digraphs

aa /aː/ee /eː/għ /ʕ/
ii /iː/oo /oː/uu /uː/
ħg /ɢ/ħħ /ʜ/’ /ʔ/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Nipu does not have grammatical number.

Gender

Nipu does not have genders or noun classes.

The Nominal Phrase

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

Fe pi fe kiqo newe ħħima ħgo giħgiği fii wuu tuu jo.

[fe pi fe kiqo neʋe ʜima ɢo ɡiɢiʡi fiː ʋuː tuː jo]

fe
the pi
woman fe
the kiqo
knife neʋe
COMIT ʜima
blind ɢo
yon ɡiɢiʡi
mouse fiː
three ʋuː
ACC tuː
catch jo
PAST

“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 wuu /ʋuː/ ‘ACC’, baa /baː/ ‘GEN’, ħgii /ɢiː/ ‘DAT’, fii /fiː/ ‘INS’, ju /ju/ ‘VOC’, ñe /ɲe/ ‘ALL’, ği /ʡi/ ‘LOC’, mee /meː/ ‘ABL’ and huu /huː/ ‘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 Nipu.

The Noun

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

The noun displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -da /-da/ ‘little’ and -’u /-ʔu/ ‘big’

The Adjective

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

Numerals

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

Determiners

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

Pronouns

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

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

Gii.

[ɡiː]

ɡiː
love

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

But here, the word corresponding to he is stressed:

Hu gii.

[hu ɡiː]

hu
3 ɡiː
love

“He loves her.”

 (3)

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

Hu wuu gii.

[hu ʋuː ɡiː]

hu
3 ʋuː
ACC ɡiː
love

“He loves her.”

 (4)

Proper Nouns

Fe Għejeequ fe Fewame wuu tomağu.

[fe ʕejeːqu fe feʋame ʋuː tomaʡu]

fe
the ʕejeːqu
Aeyequ fe
the feʋame
Fevame ʋuː
ACC tomaʡu
hate

“Aeyequ hates Fevame.”

 (5)

Possession

fe ho fe ħgiigħaawa

[fe ho fe ɢiːʕaːʋa]

fe
the ho
boy fe
the ɢiːʕaːʋa
apple

“the boy’s apple”

 (6)
hu fe ħgiigħaawa

[hu fe ɢiːʕaːʋa]

hu
3 fe
the ɢiːʕaːʋa
apple

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (7)
soo fe ħgiigħaawa

[soː fe ɢiːʕaːʋa]

soː
1excl fe
the ɢiːʕaːʋa
apple

“my apple”

 (8)
Fe ñaneqe fe ro ta fe qiteewa fe boo wuu għubiizii jo.

[fe ɲaneqe fe ɾo ta fe qiteːʋa fe boː ʋuː ʕubiːziː jo]

fe
the ɲaneqe
hunter fe
the ɾo
daughter ta
2 fe
the qiteːʋa
neighbour fe
the boː
son ʋuː
ACC ʕubiːziː
kiss jo
PAST

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

 (9)

Derivation

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

wifofu

[ʋifofu]

ʋifofu
lamb

“a lamb”

 (10)

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

wifofuda

[ʋifofuda]

ʋifofu
lamb -da
little

“a little lamb”

 (11)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

All verbal phrase clitics in Nipu are enclitics (placed finally), and there are five types: first, a clitic expressing ta, comprising jo /jo/ ‘PAST’; second, a clitic expressing mode, comprising fe /fe/ ‘imperative’, dee /deː/ ‘conditional’ and ñee /ɲeː/ ‘optative’; third, a clitic expressing voice, comprising qoo /qoː/ ‘passive’; fourth, a clitic expressing negation, comprising ru /ɾu/ ‘NEG’; and finally, fifth, a clitic expressing question, comprising għaa /ʕaː/ ‘Q’.

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

The verb displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -ga /-ɡa/ ‘begin’ and -ri /-ɾi/ ‘stop’

Gii.

[ɡiː]

ɡiː
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.

fe figii da ği ħgi

[fe fiɡiː da ʡi ɢi]

fe
the fiɡiː
table da
surface ʡi
LOC ɢi
in

“on the table”

 (13)
fe kifaja ko ħgii mi

[fe kifaja ko ɢiː mi]

fe
the kifaja
box ko
inside ɢiː
DAT mi
to

“into the box”

 (14)
soo ği newe

[soː ʡi neʋe]

soː
1excl ʡi
LOC neʋe
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.

Nipu has basic Subject–Object–Verb (SOV) word order. The subject precedes the object, and the verb appears at the end of the clause. This is one of the most frequent patterns cross-linguistically.

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

Fe sukiğo fe ñaneqe wuu pii jo.

[fe sukiʡo fe ɲaneqe ʋuː piː jo]

fe
the sukiʡo
jaguar fe
the ɲaneqe
hunter ʋuː
ACC piː
kill jo
PAST

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (16)
Fe miħħaħgaa fe ñaneqe fe ro fe tu wuu ħgee jo.

[fe miʜaɢaː fe ɲaneqe fe ɾo fe tu ʋuː ɢeː jo]

fe
the miʜaɢaː
lion fe
the ɲaneqe
hunter fe
the ɾo
daughter fe
the tu
dog ʋuː
ACC ɢeː
eat jo
PAST

“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 Nipu 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, Nipu 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.

ta fe boo fe ka fe sii’oo

[ta fe boː fe ka fe siːʔoː]

ta
2 fe
the boː
son fe
the ka
friend fe
the siːʔoː
book

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (18)

Case Marking

Nipu 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.

Fe ku ne.

[fe ku ne]

fe
the ku
cat ne
sleep

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (19)
Fe ku ħħo.

[fe ku ʜo]

fe
the ku
cat ʜo
run

“The cat is running.”

 (20)
Fe ku fe giħgiği wuu feejağe.

[fe ku fe ɡiɢiʡi ʋuː feːjaʡe]

fe
the ku
cat fe
the ɡiɢiʡi
mouse ʋuː
ACC feːjaʡe
chase

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (21)
Fe ku fe giħgiği wuu tuu jo.

[fe ku fe ɡiɢiʡi ʋuː tuː jo]

fe
the ku
cat fe
the ɡiɢiʡi
mouse ʋuː
ACC tuː
catch jo
PAST

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (22)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

Fe ñaneqe fe sukiğo di fe maanaru di fe miħħaħgaa wuu pii jo.

[fe ɲaneqe fe sukiʡo di fe maːnaɾu di fe miʜaɢaː ʋuː piː jo]

fe
the ɲaneqe
hunter fe
the sukiʡo
jaguar di
and fe
the maːnaɾu
tiger di
and fe
the miʜaɢaː
lion ʋuː
ACC piː
kill jo
PAST

“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 Nipu 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

Nipu 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:

Fe ku wuu haafaazii jo.

[fe ku ʋuː haːfaːziː jo]

fe
the ku
cat ʋuː
ACC haːfaːziː
pat jo
PAST

“I patted the cat.”

 (24)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Fe giħgiği wuu tuu jo fe ku wuu haafaazii jo.

[fe ɡiɢiʡi ʋuː tuː jo fe ku ʋuː haːfaːziː jo]

fe
the ɡiɢiʡi
mouse ʋuː
ACC tuː
catch jo
PAST fe
the ku
cat ʋuː
ACC haːfaːziː
pat jo
PAST

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (25)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Fe ñitegħe wuu ħgee jo fe giħgiği wuu tuu jo fe ku wuu haafaazii jo.

[fe ɲiteʕe ʋuː ɢeː jo fe ɡiɢiʡi ʋuː tuː jo fe ku ʋuː haːfaːziː jo]

fe
the ɲiteʕe
cheese ʋuː
ACC ɢeː
eat jo
PAST fe
the ɡiɢiʡi
mouse ʋuː
ACC tuː
catch jo
PAST fe
the ku
cat ʋuː
ACC haːfaːziː
pat jo
PAST

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

 (26)

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

Soo qii jo fe ñitegħe wuu ħgee jo fe giħgiği wuu tuu jo fe ku wuu haafaazii jo.

[soː qiː jo fe ɲiteʕe ʋuː ɢeː jo fe ɡiɢiʡi ʋuː tuː jo fe ku ʋuː haːfaːziː jo]

soː
1excl qiː
buy jo
PAST fe
the ɲiteʕe
cheese ʋuː
ACC ɢeː
eat jo
PAST fe
the ɡiɢiʡi
mouse ʋuː
ACC tuː
catch jo
PAST fe
the ku
cat ʋuː
ACC haːfaːziː
pat jo
PAST

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

 (27)

Complementation Strategies

Nipu 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:

Fe ho fe naa ħgii ħgiigħaawa wuu zu jo fe seesaañee ħgii qooğaağuu jo.

[fe ho fe naː ɢiː ɢiːʕaːʋa ʋuː zu jo fe seːsaːɲeː ɢiː qoːʡaːʡuː jo]

fe
the ho
boy fe
the naː
girl ɢiː
DAT ɢiːʕaːʋa
apple ʋuː
ACC zu
give jo
PAST fe
the seːsaːɲeː
teacher ɢiː
DAT qoːʡaːʡuː
surprise jo
PAST

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

 (28)

Quotes

Nipu 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:

Fe ho fe naa ħgii soo ta wuu gii wuu zi jo.

[fe ho fe naː ɢiː soː ta ʋuː ɡiː ʋuː zi jo]

fe
the ho
boy fe
the naː
girl ɢiː
DAT soː
1excl ta
2 ʋuː
ACC ɡiː
love ʋuː
ACC zi
tell jo
PAST

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

 (29)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Nipu. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.91, on 3 June 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/3V026

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-3V026,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Nipu}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/3V026}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.91, on 3 June 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Nipu / Nipu–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/3V026

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