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A Grammar of Auma

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Auma language (the 241st 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 Auma.

Typological Profile

It has not just singular and plural, but also dual, as well as a maximally developed dental–alveolar opposition, a small but genuine set of click consonants, ergative case marking, i.e., the object of a transitive verb is marked the same as the subject of an intransitive one, and a richly developed retroflex subsystem.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Auma has an extremely large consonant inventory, totalling 52 phonemes. Such a system is exceptional in scale.

It has a maximally developed dental–alveolar opposition, a richly developed retroflex subsystem, an extensive and fully contrastive palatal series, a small but genuine set of click consonants and a markedly rich set of labial consonants.

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

vel. labialpal. labialvel. dentalpal. dentalvel. alveolarpal. alveolarpostalveolarvel. postalveolarpal. postalveolarvel. lateralpal. lateralpalatalvel. retroflexpal. retroflexvel. velarpal. velarglottal
stoppˠ bˠ pʲ bʲ dˠ tˠ dʲ tʲ ɖˠ ʈˠ ɖʲ ʈʲ kˠ ɡˠ kʲ ɡʲ
ejective stopkˠʼ kʲʼ
nasalmˠ mʲ nˠ nʲ ɳˠ ɳʲ ŋˠ ŋʲ
trill/tap/flapɽˠ ɽʲ
fricativefˠ fʲ sˠ sʲ ʃˠ ʃʲ ʂˠ ʂʲ xˠ xʲ h
approximantwˠ wʲ lˠ lʲ j
affricatet͡ʃ
implosiveɓˠ ɓʲ
clickᵏǀˠ ᵏǀʲ
click, nasalᵑǀˠ ᵑǀʲ

Vowels

Auma has 14 vowel qualities, representing a highly complex vocalic system. The chart below displays the full set of contrasts employed in the language.

It has phonologically distinctive back unrounded vowels, a modest but genuine inventory of nasal vowels and a triangular vowel system with few low vowels.

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

frontcentralback unroundedback rounded
closei ɯ u
midə ə#
opena

Stress and Tones

Auma 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 /ɯ/.

Writing System

Introduction

Auma is an unwritten language. For that reason, all examples in this grammar are given exclusively in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which offers a precise and widely recognised means of recording its sounds.

Orthography

Aumais an unwritten language, so it does not make any sense to discuss its orthography.

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Auma distinguishes singular, dual and plural.

Gender

Auma does not have genders or noun classes.

The Nominal Phrase

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

[fʲabˠiɓʲa nʲiŋˠa fʲiʈʲukʼʲa lʲi fʲɯŋʲa̰ɽʲɯkʼʲi ᵑǀˠaikʼʲə tʲi ɓʲakʲu tʲa]

fʲ-
def abˠi
woman -ɓʲ
ERG -a
sing nʲiŋˠa
COMIT fʲ-
def iʈʲu
knife -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing lʲi
yon fʲ-
def ɯŋʲa̰ɽʲɯ
mouse -kʼʲ
ABS -i
plur ᵑǀˠaikʼʲə
blind tʲi
three ɓʲa
catch -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP tʲa
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 are no clitics in the nominal phrase.

The Noun

The noun in Auma consists of first, an obligatory prefix expressing def, comprising ɽʲ- ‘not.def’ and fʲ- ‘def’; second, the root; third, an obligatory suffix expressing case, comprising -kʼʲ ‘ABS’, -ɓʲ ‘ERG’, -mʲ ‘DAT’, -lˠ ‘INS’, -nʲ ‘VOC’, -h ‘ALL’, -pʲ ‘LOC’, -tˠ ‘ABL’ and -wˠ ‘PART’; and finally, fourth, an obligatory suffix expressing number, comprising -a ‘sing’, -ə ‘dual’ and -i ‘plur’.

The noun displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -ɖˠa̰ ‘little’ and -xʲa ‘big’

The Adjective

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

Numerals

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

Determiners

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

Pronouns

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

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

[jə ʃʲukʲu]

jə
3.sing ʃʲu
love -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

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

[jə jə ʃʲukʲu]

jə
3.sing jə
3.sing ʃʲu
love -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP

“He loves her.”

 (3)

Proper Nouns

[fʲa̰dʲaŋʲiɓʲa fʲawʲaʈʲakʼʲa fʲuʂʲa̰kʲu]

fʲ-
def a̰dʲaŋʲi
Adangi -ɓʲ
ERG -a
sing fʲ-
def awʲaʈʲa
Awata -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing fʲuʂʲa̰
hate -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP

“Adangi hates Awata.”

 (4)

Possession

[fʲḭɖʲikʼʲa fʲubʲəɓˠukʼʲa]

fʲ-
def ḭɖʲi
boy -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing fʲ-
def ubʲəɓˠu
apple -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing

“the boy’s apple”

 (5)

[jə fʲubʲəɓˠukʼʲa]

jə
3.sing fʲ-
def ubʲəɓˠu
apple -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (6)

[bʲa fʲubʲəɓˠukʼʲa]

bʲa
1excl.sing fʲ-
def ubʲəɓˠu
apple -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing

“my apple”

 (7)

[fʲəɳʲikʼʲikʼʲa fʲiɽˠiɓʲa wˠḭ fʲəʈʲuɳˠḭkʼʲa fʲa̰ʃˠikʼʲa hiʃʲḭkʲu tʲa]

fʲ-
def əɳʲikʼʲi
hunter -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing fʲ-
def iɽˠi
daughter -ɓʲ
ERG -a
sing wˠḭ
2.sing fʲ-
def əʈʲuɳˠḭ
neighbour -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing fʲ-
def a̰ʃˠi
son -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing hiʃʲḭ
kiss -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP tʲa
PAST

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

 (8)

Derivation

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

[ɽʲəʈʲumˠikʼʲa]

ɽʲ-
not.def əʈʲumˠi
lamb -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing

“a lamb”

 (9)

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

[ɽʲəʈʲumˠiɖˠa̰kʼʲa]

ɽʲ-
not.def əʈʲumˠi
lamb -ɖˠa̰
little -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing

“a little lamb”

 (10)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

All verbal phrase clitics in Auma are enclitics (placed finally), and there are four types: first, a clitic expressing ta, comprising tʲa ‘PAST’; second, a clitic expressing voice, comprising kʼʲa ‘passive’; third, a clitic expressing negation, comprising fʲi ‘NEG’; and finally, fourth, a clitic expressing question, comprising nʲə̰ ‘Q’.

In addition, the verb is structured like this: first, the root; second, an obligatory suffix expressing mode, comprising -kʲ ‘indicative’, -pˠ ‘imperative’, -ŋˠ ‘conditional’ and -kʼʲ ‘optative’; and finally, third, an obligatory suffix expressing comp, comprising -u ‘not.COMP’ and -a ‘COMP’.

The verb displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -ɓˠi ‘begin’ and -ŋˠi ‘stop’

[wˠḭ ʃʲukʲu]

wˠḭ
2.sing ʃʲu
love -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP

“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.

[bˠa fʲɯwʲakʼʲa]

bˠa
in_surface fʲ-
def ɯwʲa
table -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing

“on the table”

 (12)

[ɖˠɯ fʲakʼˠəxʲikʼʲa]

ɖˠɯ
to_inside fʲ-
def akʼˠəxʲi
box -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing

“into the box”

 (13)

[nʲiŋˠa bʲa]

nʲiŋˠa
COMIT bʲa
1excl.sing

“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.

Auma 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 Auma.

[fʲisˠakʼˠuɓʲa fʲəɳʲikʼʲikʼʲa xˠa̰kʲu tʲa]

fʲ-
def isˠakʼˠu
jaguar -ɓʲ
ERG -a
sing fʲ-
def əɳʲikʼʲi
hunter -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing xˠa̰
kill -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP tʲa
PAST

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (15)

[fʲa̰t͡ʃə̰kˠə̰ɓʲa fʲəɳʲikʼʲikʼʲa fʲiɽˠikʼʲa fʲaukʼʲa kʲaukʲu tʲa]

fʲ-
def a̰t͡ʃə̰kˠə̰
lion -ɓʲ
ERG -a
sing fʲ-
def əɳʲikʼʲi
hunter -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing fʲ-
def iɽˠi
daughter -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing fʲ-
def au
dog -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing kʲau
eat -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP tʲa
PAST

“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 Auma 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, Auma 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.

[wˠḭ fʲa̰ʃˠikʼʲa fʲapˠukʼʲa fʲəʂˠihəkʼʲa]

wˠḭ
2.sing fʲ-
def a̰ʃˠi
son -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing fʲ-
def apˠu
friend -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing fʲ-
def əʂˠihə
book -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (17)

Case Marking

Auma uses ergative–absolutive case marking. The subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb are treated alike and take the absolutive case, while the subject of a transitive verb is marked with the ergative case. From the point of view of such a system, this is a perfectly natural way to organise the clause: the absolutive marks the participant most directly involved in the event or state, while the ergative marks the additional participant that causes or controls a transitive event.

[fʲa̰kʼʲa fʲəkʲu]

fʲ-
def a̰
cat -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing fʲə
sleep -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (18)

[fʲa̰kʼʲa ŋˠəkʲu]

fʲ-
def a̰
cat -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing ŋˠə
run -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP

“The cat is running.”

 (19)

[fʲa̰ɓʲa fʲɯŋʲa̰ɽʲɯkʼʲa dʲibʲakʲu]

fʲ-
def a̰
cat -ɓʲ
ERG -a
sing fʲ-
def ɯŋʲa̰ɽʲɯ
mouse -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing dʲibʲa
chase -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (20)

[fʲa̰ɓʲa fʲɯŋʲa̰ɽʲɯkʼʲa ɓʲakʲu tʲa]

fʲ-
def a̰
cat -ɓʲ
ERG -a
sing fʲ-
def ɯŋʲa̰ɽʲɯ
mouse -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing ɓʲa
catch -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP tʲa
PAST

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (21)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

[fʲəɳʲikʼʲiɓʲa fʲisˠakʼˠukʼʲi sˠa fʲəʈʲəbʲakʼʲi sˠa fʲa̰t͡ʃə̰kˠə̰kʼʲi xˠa̰kʲu tʲa]

fʲ-
def əɳʲikʼʲi
hunter -ɓʲ
ERG -a
sing fʲ-
def isˠakʼˠu
jaguar -kʼʲ
ABS -i
plur sˠa
and fʲ-
def əʈʲəbʲa
tiger -kʼʲ
ABS -i
plur sˠa
and fʲ-
def a̰t͡ʃə̰kˠə̰
lion -kʼʲ
ABS -i
plur xˠa̰
kill -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP tʲa
PAST

“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 Auma 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

Auma 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:

[fʲa̰kʼʲa kʲaɡʲakʲu tʲa]

fʲ-
def a̰
cat -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing kʲaɡʲa
pat -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP tʲa
PAST

“I patted the cat.”

 (23)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

[fʲa̰ɓʲa fʲɯŋʲa̰ɽʲɯkʼʲa ɓʲakʲa tʲa kʲaɡʲakʲu tʲa]

fʲ-
def a̰
cat -ɓʲ
ERG -a
sing fʲ-
def ɯŋʲa̰ɽʲɯ
mouse -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing ɓʲa
catch -kʲ
indicative -a
COMP tʲa
PAST kʲaɡʲa
pat -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP tʲa
PAST

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (24)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

[fʲa̰ɓʲa fʲɯŋʲa̰ɽʲɯɓʲa fʲəŋʲat͡ʃikʼʲa kʲaukʲa tʲa ɓʲakʲa tʲa kʲaɡʲakʲu tʲa]

fʲ-
def a̰
cat -ɓʲ
ERG -a
sing fʲ-
def ɯŋʲa̰ɽʲɯ
mouse -ɓʲ
ERG -a
sing fʲ-
def əŋʲat͡ʃi
cheese -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing kʲau
eat -kʲ
indicative -a
COMP tʲa
PAST ɓʲa
catch -kʲ
indicative -a
COMP tʲa
PAST kʲaɡʲa
pat -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP tʲa
PAST

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

 (25)

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

[fʲa̰ɓʲa fʲɯŋʲa̰ɽʲɯɓʲa bʲa fʲəŋʲat͡ʃikʼʲa fʲukʲa tʲa kʲaukʲa tʲa ɓʲakʲa tʲa kʲaɡʲakʲu tʲa]

fʲ-
def a̰
cat -ɓʲ
ERG -a
sing fʲ-
def ɯŋʲa̰ɽʲɯ
mouse -ɓʲ
ERG -a
sing bʲa
1excl.sing fʲ-
def əŋʲat͡ʃi
cheese -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing fʲu
buy -kʲ
indicative -a
COMP tʲa
PAST kʲau
eat -kʲ
indicative -a
COMP tʲa
PAST ɓʲa
catch -kʲ
indicative -a
COMP tʲa
PAST kʲaɡʲa
pat -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP tʲa
PAST

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

 (26)

Complementation Strategies

Auma 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:

[fʲḭɖʲiɓʲa fʲukʼʲimʲa ɽʲubʲəɓˠukʼʲa kʼˠə̃kʲa tʲa fʲəʂˠaŋˠəmʲa mˠiɖʲaikʲu tʲa]

fʲ-
def ḭɖʲi
boy -ɓʲ
ERG -a
sing fʲ-
def ukʼʲi
girl -mʲ
DAT -a
sing ɽʲ-
not.def ubʲəɓˠu
apple -kʼʲ
ABS -a
sing kʼˠə̃
give -kʲ
indicative -a
COMP tʲa
PAST fʲ-
def əʂˠaŋˠə
teacher -mʲ
DAT -a
sing mˠiɖʲai
surprise -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP tʲa
PAST

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

 (27)

Quotes

Auma 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:

[fʲḭɖʲiɓʲa fʲukʼʲimʲa bʲa wˠḭ ʃʲukʲa xʲɯkʲu tʲa]

fʲ-
def ḭɖʲi
boy -ɓʲ
ERG -a
sing fʲ-
def ukʼʲi
girl -mʲ
DAT -a
sing bʲa
1excl.sing wˠḭ
2.sing ʃʲu
love -kʲ
indicative -a
COMP xʲɯ
tell -kʲ
indicative -u
not.COMP tʲa
PAST

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

 (28)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Auma. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.91, on 7 June 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/3WLVG

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-3WLVG,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Auma}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/3WLVG}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.91, on 7 June 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Auma / Auma–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/3WLVG

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