The Language Creator
– from linguistic questionnaire to grammar, lexicon and texts.

A Grammar of Lish

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Lish language (the 341st 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 Lish.

Typological Profile

It has the VSO basic order, common globally but unusual in many families and postpositions.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Lish has a moderately large consonant inventory, with 29 phonemes.

It has a noticeable presence of pharyngealised phonemes, a system with marginal but genuine retroflex contrasts and a markedly rich set of labial consonants.

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

labialalveolarphar. alveolarpostalveolarlateralpalatalretroflexvelarglottal
stopp b d t dˤ tˤ ɖ ʈ k ɡ
ejective stopkʼ
nasalm n nˤ ɲ ɳ ŋ
trill/tap/flapɽ
fricativef s sˤ ʃ ʂ h
approximantʋ l j
affricatet͡ʃ

Vowels

Lish has 6 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 modest but genuine inventory of nasal vowels.

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

frontcentralback
closei u
mide ə# o
opena

Stress and Tones

Lish 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

Lish 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/d’ /dˤ/
e /e/f /f/g /ɡ/h /h/
i /i/j /j/k /k/l /l/
m /m/n /n/n’ /nˤ/o /o/
p /p/q /kʼ/s /s/s’ /sˤ/
t /t/t’ /tˤ/u /u/v /ʋ/
x /ʃ/y /ə#/á /aː/é /eː/
í /iː/ñ /ɲ/ó /oː/ú /uː/
ý /ə#ː/

Multi-letter combinations such as digraphs

dr /ɖ/ng /ŋ/nr /ɳ/
rr /ɽ/sr /ʂ/tr /ʈ/
tx /t͡ʃ/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Lish does not have grammatical number.

Gender

Lish has the following genders:

Gender masc – for instance: bijutx ‘cloud’, drus’ ‘wind’, dýd’ ‘sky’, feg ‘boy’, fytr ‘eye’, jad’arr ‘mammal’, jangij ‘tail’, kidod ‘hunter’, laf ‘father’, líx ‘Lish’, maj ‘foot’, mijýng ‘feather’, ngah ‘hand’, nivisr ‘jaguar’, nrob ‘sun’, saful ‘knee’, srenret’ ‘liver’, s’itxarr ‘belly’, txetx ‘tooth’, ñytx ‘road’.

Gender fem – for instance: dipéd ‘net’, fatas’ ‘louse’, fút ‘fire’, girrúh ‘teacher’, hán’ ‘water’, mibon ‘court’, nilax ‘root’, n’yn ‘wife’, rrelatx ‘brick’, rresril ‘restaurant’, saf ‘earth’, srun ‘land’, tid’ ‘speech’, tradíq ‘religion’, tritris’ ‘seed’, txeq ‘people’, txudr ‘north’, t’igid’ ‘mouse’, t’iqáx ‘salt’, ñúng ‘egg’.

The Nominal Phrase

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

Ñudo li nefé n’óngale fé t’ixahe d’apí héde net’i t’igid’a he.

[ɲudo li nefeː nˤoːŋale feː tˤiʃahe dˤapiː heːde netˤi tˤiɡidˤa he]

ɲu
catch -do
indicative li
PAST ne-
fem feː
the nˤoːŋ
woman -al
ACT -e
sing feː
the tˤiʃ
knife -ah
LOC -e
sing dˤapiː
COMIT heː
blind -de
indicative ne-
fem tˤi
yon tˤiɡidˤ
mouse -a
plur he
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 is one type of clitic in the nominal phrase, namely a proclitic (placed initially), expressing possessor. a clitic expressing possessor, comprising sri /ʂi/ ‘1incl.sing’, n’e /nˤe/ ‘1excl.sing’, ki /ki/ ‘2.sing’, pi /pi/ ‘3.sing.masc’, ni /ni/ ‘3.sing.fem’, s’i /sˤi/ ‘1incl.plur’, ge /ɡe/ ‘1excl.plur’, s’e /sˤe/ ‘2.plur’, he /he/ ‘3.plur.masc’ and da /da/ ‘3.plur.fem’.

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 Lish.

The Noun

The noun in Lish consists of first, the root; second, an optional suffix expressing case, comprising -al /-al/ ‘ACT’, -ij /-ij/ ‘DAT’, -ap /-ap/ ‘INS’, -err /-eɽ/ ‘VOC’, -iv /-iʋ/ ‘ALL’, -ah /-ah/ ‘LOC’, -et’ /-etˤ/ ‘ABL’ and -if /-if/ ‘PART’; and finally, third, an obligatory suffix expressing number, comprising -e /-e/ ‘sing’ and -a /-a/ ‘plur’.

The noun displays the following derivational morphology: 11 suffixes, namely -isr /-iʂ/ ‘little’, -if /-if/ ‘big’, -al /-al/ ‘old’, -ig /-iɡ/ ‘new’, -ad /-ad/ ‘good’, -af /-af/ ‘bad’, -ile /-ile/ ‘have’, -itxa /-it͡ʃa/ ‘use’, -etxa /-et͡ʃa/ ‘see’, -isa /-isa/ ‘make’ and -ada /-ada/ ‘break’

The Adjective

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

Numerals

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

Determiners

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

Pronouns

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

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

Txéde d’u.

[t͡ʃeːde dˤu]

t͡ʃeː
love -de
indicative dˤu
3.sing.fem

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

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

Txéde d’ý d’u.

[t͡ʃeːde dˤə̃ː dˤu]

t͡ʃeː
love -de
indicative dˤə̃ː
3.sing.masc dˤu
3.sing.fem

“He loves her.”

 (3)

Proper Nouns

Ngakúdo fé Nrafolale nefé Ganape.

[ŋakuːdo feː ɳafolale nefeː ɡanape]

ŋakuː
hate -do
indicative feː
the ɳafol
Nafol -al
ACT -e
sing ne-
fem feː
the ɡanap
Ganap -e
sing

“Nafol hates Ganap.”

 (4)

Possession

pi fé nran’ýme fé fege

[pi feː ɳanˤə̃ːme feː feɡe]

pi
3.sing.masc.POSS feː
the ɳanˤə̃ːm
apple -e
sing feː
the feɡ
boy -e
sing

“the boy’s apple”

 (5)
pi fé nran’ýme d’ý

[pi feː ɳanˤə̃ːme dˤə̃ː]

pi
3.sing.masc.POSS feː
the ɳanˤə̃ːm
apple -e
sing dˤə̃ː
3.sing.masc

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (6)
n’e fé nran’ýme

[nˤe feː ɳanˤə̃ːme]

nˤe
1excl.sing.POSS feː
the ɳanˤə̃ːm
apple -e
sing

“my apple”

 (7)
T’oñúdo li pi nefé fadrale fé kudodo ni fé t’ise ki nefé lidríne.

[tˤoɲuːdo li pi nefeː faɖale feː kudodo ni feː tˤise ki nefeː liɖiːne]

tˤoɲuː
kiss -do
indicative li
PAST pi
3.sing.masc.POSS ne-
fem feː
the faɖ
daughter -al
ACT -e
sing feː
the kudod
hunter -o
sing ni
3.sing.fem.POSS feː
the tˤis
son -e
sing ki
2.sing.POSS ne-
fem feː
the liɖiːn
neighbour -e
sing

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

 (8)

Derivation

nely bad’adre

[nelə̃ badˤaɖe]

ne-
fem lə̃
a badˤaɖ
lamb -e
sing

“a lamb”

 (9)
nely bad’adrisre

[nelə̃ badˤaɖiʂe]

ne-
fem lə̃
a badˤaɖ
lamb -iʂ
little -e
sing

“a little lamb”

 (10)
Dríde li nely bad’adrisre.

[ɖiːde li nelə̃ badˤaɖiʂe]

ɖiː
have -de
indicative li
PAST ne-
fem lə̃
a badˤaɖ
lamb -iʂ
little -e
sing

“She had a little lamb.”

 (11)

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:

Txéde li ly d’ide bad’adre.

[t͡ʃeːde li lə̃ dˤide badˤaɖe]

t͡ʃeː
love -de
indicative li
PAST lə̃
a dˤi
black -de
indicative badˤaɖ
lamb -e
sing

“She loved a black lamb.”

 (12)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

The verbal phrase clitics in Lish fall into two categories, proclitics and enclitics: first, a clitic expressing negation, comprising d’a /dˤa/ ‘NEG’; second, a clitic expressing ta, comprising li /li/ ‘PAST’; third, a clitic expressing voice, comprising n’i /nˤi/ ‘passive’; and finally, fourth, a clitic expressing question, comprising fi /fi/ ‘Q’.

In addition, the verb is structured like this: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing mode, comprising -de /-de/ ‘indicative’, -ta /-ta/ ‘imperative’, -ne /-ne/ ‘conditional’ and -s’a /-sˤa/ ‘optative’.

The verb displays the following derivational morphology: five suffixes, namely -tra /-ʈa/ ‘begin’, -di /-di/ ‘stop’, -sre /-ʂe/ ‘continue’, -ma /-ma/ ‘try’ and -nri /-ɳi/ ‘start’

Txéde s’o.

[t͡ʃeːde sˤo]

t͡ʃeː
love -de
indicative sˤo
2.sing

“I love you.”

 (13)

Adverbs Minor Classes

Adpositions

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

nefé felahe txy

[nefeː felahe t͡ʃə̃]

ne-
fem feː
the fel
table -ah
LOC -e
sing t͡ʃə̃
in_surface

“on the table”

 (14)
nefé xigíbahe lú

[nefeː ʃiɡiːbahe luː]

ne-
fem feː
the ʃiɡiːb
box -ah
LOC -e
sing luː
to_inside

“into the box”

 (15)
fe d’apí

[fe dˤapiː]

fe
1excl.sing dˤapiː
COMIT

“with me”

 (16)

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.

The basic constituent order of Lish is Verb–Subject–Object (VSO). Clauses begin with the verb, followed by the subject, with the object in final position. This pattern is attested among various verb-initial languages.

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

Víde li fé nivisrale fé kudode.

[ʋiːde li feː niʋiʂale feː kudode]

ʋiː
kill -de
indicative li
PAST feː
the niʋiʂ
jaguar -al
ACT -e
sing feː
the kudod
hunter -e
sing

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (17)
Fúdo li nefé jañutxale ni fé tésre pi nefé fadre fé kudodo.

[fuːdo li nefeː jaɲut͡ʃale ni feː teːʂe pi nefeː faɖe feː kudodo]

fuː
eat -do
indicative li
PAST ne-
fem feː
the jaɲut͡ʃ
lion -al
ACT -e
sing ni
3.sing.fem.POSS feː
the teːʂ
dog -e
sing pi
3.sing.masc.POSS ne-
fem feː
the faɖ
daughter -e
sing feː
the kudod
hunter -o
sing

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

 (18)

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 Lish 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, Lish 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.

ni nefé pikə̃ːd’e pi nefé jáge ki fé t’ise

[ni nefeː pikə̃ːdˤe pi nefeː jaːɡe ki feː tˤise]

ni
3.sing.fem.POSS ne-
fem feː
the pikə̃ːdˤ
book -e
sing pi
3.sing.masc.POSS ne-
fem feː
the jaːɡ
friend -e
sing ki
2.sing.POSS feː
the tˤis
son -e
sing

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (19)

Case Marking

Lish uses active case marking. Intransitive subjects are divided according to how they participate in the event. More agent-like subjects, such as the subject of ‘run’ or ‘shout’, pattern with transitive subjects and take the active or agentive case. Less agent-like subjects, such as the subject of ‘sleep’ or ‘be ill’, pattern with transitive objects and take the patientive or absolutive case. This system makes sense where the grammar treats control, volition or affectedness as more important than the simple distinction between subject and object.

Qide fé jane.

[kʼide feː jane]

kʼi
sleep -de
indicative feː
the jan
cat -e
sing

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (20)
Gáde fé janale.

[ɡaːde feː janale]

ɡaː
run -de
indicative feː
the jan
cat -al
ACT -e
sing

“The cat is running.”

 (21)
Vitxáde fé janale nefé t’igid’e.

[ʋit͡ʃaːde feː janale nefeː tˤiɡidˤe]

ʋit͡ʃaː
chase -de
indicative feː
the jan
cat -al
ACT -e
sing ne-
fem feː
the tˤiɡidˤ
mouse -e
sing

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (22)
Ñudo li fé janale nefé t’igid’e.

[ɲudo li feː janale nefeː tˤiɡidˤe]

ɲu
catch -do
indicative li
PAST feː
the jan
cat -al
ACT -e
sing ne-
fem feː
the tˤiɡidˤ
mouse -e
sing

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (23)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

Víde li fé kudodale fé nivisra fý nefé vitréva fý nefé jañutxa.

[ʋiːde li feː kudodale feː niʋiʂa fə̃ː nefeː ʋiʈeːʋa fə̃ː nefeː jaɲut͡ʃa]

ʋiː
kill -de
indicative li
PAST feː
the kudod
hunter -al
ACT -e
sing feː
the niʋiʂ
jaguar -a
plur fə̃ː
and ne-
fem feː
the ʋiʈeːʋ
tiger -a
plur fə̃ː
and ne-
fem feː
the jaɲut͡ʃ
lion -a
plur

“The hunter killed the jaguars, the tigers and the lions.”

 (24)

Modifiers and Determiners

The ordering of demonstratives, articles (if present), and other modifiers in Lish 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

Lish 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:

Burrodo li fé jane.

[buɽodo li feː jane]

buɽo
pat -do
indicative li
PAST feː
the jan
cat -e
sing

“I patted the cat.”

 (25)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Burrodo li ñudo li nefé t’igid’e fé jane.

[buɽodo li ɲudo li nefeː tˤiɡidˤe feː jane]

buɽo
pat -do
indicative li
PAST ɲu
catch -do
indicative li
PAST ne-
fem feː
the tˤiɡidˤ
mouse -e
sing feː
the jan
cat -e
sing

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (26)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Burrodo li ñudo li fúdo li fé d’anráñe nefé t’igid’e fé jane.

[buɽodo li ɲudo li fuːdo li feː dˤaɳaːɲe nefeː tˤiɡidˤe feː jane]

buɽo
pat -do
indicative li
PAST ɲu
catch -do
indicative li
PAST fuː
eat -do
indicative li
PAST feː
the dˤaɳaːɲ
cheese -e
sing ne-
fem feː
the tˤiɡidˤ
mouse -e
sing feː
the jan
cat -e
sing

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

 (27)

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

Burrodo li ñudo li fúdo li bede li ni fe fé d’anráñe nefé t’igid’e fé jane.

[buɽodo li ɲudo li fuːdo li bede li ni fe feː dˤaɳaːɲe nefeː tˤiɡidˤe feː jane]

buɽo
pat -do
indicative li
PAST ɲu
catch -do
indicative li
PAST fuː
eat -do
indicative li
PAST be
buy -de
indicative li
PAST ni
3.sing.fem.POSS fe
1excl.sing feː
the dˤaɳaːɲ
cheese -e
sing ne-
fem feː
the tˤiɡidˤ
mouse -e
sing feː
the jan
cat -e
sing

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

 (28)

Complementation Strategies

Lish 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:

Ñonodo li máde li ly nran’ýme nefé bitije ni fé fegale nefé gurrúhuje.

[ɲonodo li maːde li lə̃ ɳanˤə̃ːme nefeː bitije ni feː feɡale nefeː ɡuɽuːhuje]

ɲono
surprise -do
indicative li
PAST maː
give -de
indicative li
PAST lə̃
a ɳanˤə̃ːm
apple -e
sing ne-
fem feː
the bit
girl -ij
DAT -e
sing ni
3.sing.fem.POSS feː
the feɡ
boy -al
ACT -e
sing ne-
fem feː
the ɡuɽuːh
teacher -uj
DAT -e
sing

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

 (29)

Quotes

Lish 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:

Kide li fé fegale txéde s’o ni fe nefé bitije.

[kide li feː feɡale t͡ʃeːde sˤo ni fe nefeː bitije]

ki
tell -de
indicative li
PAST feː
the feɡ
boy -al
ACT -e
sing t͡ʃeː
love -de
indicative sˤo
2.sing ni
3.sing.fem.POSS fe
1excl.sing ne-
fem feː
the bit
girl -ij
DAT -e
sing

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

 (30)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Lish. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.91, on 19 June 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/4GRWN

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-4GRWN,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Lish}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/4GRWN}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.91, on 19 June 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Lish / Lish–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/4GRWN

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.

To revisit the questionnaire settings used to generate this language, .

Language creation took 0.02 seconds; writing the grammar 0.08 seconds.