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A Grammar of Nefa

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Nefa language (the 422nd 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 Nefa.

Typological Profile

It has has no interesting typological features.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Nefa has a moderately small consonant inventory, comprising 18 phonemes.

It has a highly elaborate approximant system, 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 Nefa. The chart lists all places and manners of articulation attested in the language.

labialalveolarlateralpalatalvelarglottal
stopp b d t k ɡ
nasalm n ɲ
trill/tap/flapr
fricativef s z h
approximantʋ l j

Vowels

Nefa 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 moderately reduced system of unstressed vowels.

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

frontcentralback
closei u
mide o
opena

Stress and Tones

Nefa 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

Nefa 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/l /l/m /m/
n /n/o /o/p /p/s /s/
t /t/u /u/w /ʋ/x /r/
z /z/ñ /ɲ/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Nefa does not have grammatical number.

Gender

Nefa does not have genders or noun classes.

The Nominal Phrase

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

Tala guwi napula xi sa hu po pi sewi gaxokabi.

[tala ɡuʋi napula ri sa hu po pi seʋi ɡarokabi]

ta
woman -la
NOM ɡuʋi
COMIT napu
knife -la
NOM ri
catch sa
PAST hu
3.OBJ po
yon pi
three seʋi
blind ɡaroka
mouse -bi
ACC

“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 Nefa consists of the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing case, comprising -la /-la/ ‘NOM’, -bi /-bi/ ‘ACC’, -mu /-mu/ ‘GEN’, -li /-li/ ‘DAT’, -fu /-fu/ ‘INS’, -pu /-pu/ ‘VOC’, -ki /-ki/ ‘ALL’, -hi /-hi/ ‘LOC’, -ku /-ku/ ‘ABL’ and -si /-si/ ‘PART’.

The noun displays the following derivational morphology: 20 suffixes, namely -mu /-mu/ ‘little’, -tu /-tu/ ‘big’, -ku /-ku/ ‘old’, -zu /-zu/ ‘new’, -si /-si/ ‘good’, -wu /-ʋu/ ‘bad’, -ka /-ka/ ‘have’, -ki /-ki/ ‘use’, -za /-za/ ‘see’, -ni /-ni/ ‘make’, -ñu /-ɲu/ ‘break’, -zi /-zi/ ‘eat’, -fi /-fi/ ‘drink’, -la /-la/ ‘wear’, -wu /-ʋu/ ‘own’, -lu /-lu/ ‘contain’, -ji /-ji/ ‘hold’, -pu /-pu/ ‘lack’, -wi /-ʋi/ ‘touch’ and -si /-si/ ‘carry’

The Adjective

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

Numerals

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

Determiners

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

Pronouns

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

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

Wife hu.

[ʋife hu]

ʋife
love hu
3.OBJ

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

But here, the word corresponding to he is stressed:

Wo wife hu.

[ʋo ʋife hu]

ʋo
3 ʋife
love hu
3.OBJ

“He loves her.”

 (3)

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

Wife hu wo.

[ʋife hu ʋo]

ʋife
love hu
3.OBJ ʋo
3

“He loves her.”

 (4)

Proper Nouns

Tuzekila wikila hu Janawibi.

[tuzekila ʋikila hu janaʋibi]

tuzeki
Tuzeki -la
NOM ʋikila
hate hu
3.OBJ janaʋi
Yanavi -bi
ACC

“Tuzeki hates Yanavi.”

 (5)

Possession

tomu nizelula

[tomu nizelula]

to
boy -mu
GEN nizelu
apple -la
NOM

“the boy’s apple”

 (6)
wo nizelula

[ʋo nizelula]

ʋo
3 nizelu
apple -la
NOM

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (7)
ko nizelula

[ko nizelula]

ko
1excl nizelu
apple -la
NOM

“my apple”

 (8)
Wuxizimu jala tagipi sa hu mo manedimu bubi.

[ʋurizimu jala taɡipi sa hu mo manedimu bubi]

ʋurizi
hunter -mu
GEN ja
daughter -la
NOM taɡipi
kiss sa
PAST hu
3.OBJ mo
2 manedi
neighbour -mu
GEN bu
son -bi
ACC

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

 (9)

Derivation

pisutala

[pisutala]

pisuta
lamb -la
NOM

“a lamb”

 (10)
pisutamula

[pisutamula]

pisuta
lamb -mu
little -la
NOM

“a little lamb”

 (11)
Pisutamuka sa.

[pisutamuka sa]

pisuta
lamb -mu
little -ka
have sa
PAST

“She had a little lamb.”

 (12)
Pisutamukati sa.

[pisutamukati sa]

pisuta
lamb -mu
little -ka
have -ti
want sa
PAST

“She wanted to have a little lamb.”

 (13)
Xo ki sa hu pisutamula jo sa bize.

[ro ki sa hu pisutamula jo sa bize]

ro
want ki
often sa
PAST hu
3.OBJ pisuta
lamb -mu
little -la
NOM jo
have sa
PAST bize
COMP

“She often wanted to have a little lamb.”

 (14)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

The verbal phrase clitics in Nefa fall into two categories, proclitics and enclitics: first, a clitic expressing indobj, comprising ki /ki/ ‘1incl’, ta /ta/ ‘1excl’, ha /ha/ ‘2’ and ku /ku/ ‘3’; second, a clitic expressing voice, comprising ja /ja/ ‘passive’; third, a clitic expressing ta, comprising sa /sa/ ‘PAST’; fourth, a clitic expressing mode, comprising ñu /ɲu/ ‘imperative’, za /za/ ‘conditional’ and fu /fu/ ‘optative’; fifth, a clitic expressing negation, comprising ja /ja/ ‘NEG’; and finally, sixth, a clitic expressing obj, comprising fa /fa/ ‘1incl’, ña /ɲa/ ‘1excl’, ju /ju/ ‘2’ and hu /hu/ ‘3’.

In addition, the verb is structured like this: the root followed by an optional suffix expressing subj, comprising -nu /-nu/ ‘1incl’, -wu /-ʋu/ ‘1excl’ and -ña /-ɲa/ ‘2’.

The verb displays the following derivational morphology: 12 suffixes, namely -su /-su/ ‘begin’, -li /-li/ ‘stop’, -di /-di/ ‘continue’, -ku /-ku/ ‘try’, -ja /-ja/ ‘start’, -ti /-ti/ ‘want’, -nu /-nu/ ‘can’, -ju /-ju/ ‘finish’, -ña /-ɲa/ ‘need’, -gu /-ɡu/ ‘decide’, -xi /-ri/ ‘fail’ and -fa /-fa/ ‘hope’

Wifewu ju.

[ʋifeʋu ju]

ʋife
love -ʋu
1excl.SUBJ ju
2.OBJ

“I love you.”

 (15)

Adverbs Minor Classes

Adpositions

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

he ñulula pela

[he ɲulula pela]

he
in ɲulu
table -la
NOM pe
surface -la
NOM

“on the table”

 (16)
hu miwudula kala

[hu miʋudula kala]

hu
to miʋudu
box -la
NOM ka
inside -la
NOM

“into the box”

 (17)
guwi ko

[ɡuʋi ko]

ɡuʋi
COMIT ko
1excl

“with me”

 (18)

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.

Nefa 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 Nefa.

Pusukula tafu sa hu wuxizibi.

[pusukula tafu sa hu ʋurizibi]

pusuku
jaguar -la
NOM tafu
kill sa
PAST hu
3.OBJ ʋurizi
hunter -bi
ACC

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (19)
Tuñabila bo sa hu wuxizimu jamu fabi.

[tuɲabila bo sa hu ʋurizimu jamu fabi]

tuɲabi
lion -la
NOM bo
eat sa
PAST hu
3.OBJ ʋurizi
hunter -mu
GEN ja
daughter -mu
GEN fa
dog -bi
ACC

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

 (20)

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 Nefa 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, Nefa 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.

mo bumu hemu bukila

[mo bumu hemu bukila]

mo
2 bu
son -mu
GEN he
friend -mu
GEN buki
book -la
NOM

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (21)

Case Marking

Nefa 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.

Bela je.

[bela je]

be
cat -la
NOM je
sleep

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (22)
Bela ni.

[bela ni]

be
cat -la
NOM ni
run

“The cat is running.”

 (23)
Bela lusexi hu gaxokabi.

[bela luseri hu ɡarokabi]

be
cat -la
NOM luseri
chase hu
3.OBJ ɡaroka
mouse -bi
ACC

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (24)
Bela xi sa hu gaxokabi.

[bela ri sa hu ɡarokabi]

be
cat -la
NOM ri
catch sa
PAST hu
3.OBJ ɡaroka
mouse -bi
ACC

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (25)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

Wuxizila tafu sa hu pusukubi fo ñazañabi fo tuñabibi.

[ʋurizila tafu sa hu pusukubi fo ɲazaɲabi fo tuɲabibi]

ʋurizi
hunter -la
NOM tafu
kill sa
PAST hu
3.OBJ pusuku
jaguar -bi
ACC fo
and ɲazaɲa
tiger -bi
ACC fo
and tuɲabi
lion -bi
ACC

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

 (26)

Modifiers and Determiners

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

Nefa forms relative clauses by placing the relative clause after the noun it modifies. The clause follows the internal word order of ordinary finite clauses. A dedicated relativising marker introduces the clause and identifies the relationship between the head noun and its role inside the relative clause.

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

Danudiwu sa hu bebi.

[danudiʋu sa hu bebi]

danudi
pat -ʋu
1excl.SUBJ sa
PAST hu
3.OBJ be
cat -bi
ACC

“I patted the cat.”

 (27)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Danudiwu sa bela, xe xi sa hu gaxokabi.

[danudiʋu sa bela, re ri sa hu ɡarokabi]

danudi
pat -ʋu
1excl.SUBJ sa
PAST be
cat -la,
NOM re
RELPRON ri
catch sa
PAST hu
3.OBJ ɡaroka
mouse -bi
ACC

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (28)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Danudiwu sa bela, xe xi sa gaxokala, xe wufiñu,zi sa.

[danudiʋu sa bela, re ri sa ɡarokala, re ʋufiɲu,zi sa]

danudi
pat -ʋu
1excl.SUBJ sa
PAST be
cat -la,
NOM re
RELPRON ri
catch sa
PAST ɡaroka
mouse -la,
NOM re
RELPRON ʋufiɲu,
cheese -zi
eat sa
PAST

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

 (29)

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

Danudiwu sa bela, xe xi sa gaxokala, xe bo sa wufiñula, xe dowu sa hu ko.

[danudiʋu sa bela, re ri sa ɡarokala, re bo sa ʋufiɲula, re doʋu sa hu ko]

danudi
pat -ʋu
1excl.SUBJ sa
PAST be
cat -la,
NOM re
RELPRON ri
catch sa
PAST ɡaroka
mouse -la,
NOM re
RELPRON bo
eat sa
PAST ʋufiɲu
cheese -la,
NOM re
RELPRON do
buy -ʋu
1excl.SUBJ sa
PAST hu
3.OBJ ko
1excl

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

 (30)

Complementation Strategies

Nefa introduces complement clauses with a dedicated complementiser, similar to English that. The complementiser appears at the beginning of the embedded clause and signals that the clause functions as a syntactic argument. The embedded clause is fully finite and displays the same tense, aspect and agreement patterns as independent clauses.

The following example illustrate how complement clauses function:

Tola ku pu sa hu sili nizelubi bize ku piziha sa diselili.

[tola ku pu sa hu sili nizelubi bize ku piziha sa diselili]

to
boy -la
NOM ku
3.INDOBJ pu
give sa
PAST hu
3.OBJ si
girl -li
DAT nizelu
apple -bi
ACC bize
COMP ku
3.INDOBJ piziha
surprise sa
PAST diseli
teacher -li
DAT

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

 (31)

Quotes

Nefa 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:

Tola ku hime sa ña sili ko wifewu ju mo bize.

[tola ku hime sa ɲa sili ko ʋifeʋu ju mo bize]

to
boy -la
NOM ku
3.INDOBJ hime
tell sa
PAST ɲa
1excl.OBJ si
girl -li
DAT ko
1excl ʋife
love -ʋu
1excl.SUBJ ju
2.OBJ mo
2 bize
COMP

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

 (32)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Nefa. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.91, on 20 June 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/4Z2SH

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-4Z2SH,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Nefa}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/4Z2SH}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.91, on 20 June 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Nefa / Nefa–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/4Z2SH

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