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A Grammar of Duga

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Duga language (the 620th 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 Duga.

Typological Profile

It has a complete absence of fricative consonants, no inflections (clitics do the hard work) and postpositions.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Duga has a moderately small consonant inventory, comprising 16 phonemes.

It has a complete absence of fricative consonants, 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 Duga. The chart lists all places and manners of articulation attested in the language.

labialalveolarlateralpalatalvelarglottal
stopp b d t k ɡ
nasalm n ɲ
fricatives z h
approximantʋ l j

Vowels

Duga 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 Duga. The system comprises the distinct vowel qualities listed in the chart.

frontcentralback
closei u
mide o
opena

Stress and Tones

Duga 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

Duga 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/
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/z /z/ñ /ɲ/

Multi-letter combinations such as digraphs

aa /aː/ee /eː/ii /iː/
oo /oː/uu /uː/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Duga does not have grammatical number.

Gender

Duga does not have genders or noun classes.

The Nominal Phrase

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

Bo ñe bo jaala nañi tili pi hijodu si zoo ho stuu.

[bo ɲe bo jaːla naɲi tili pi hijodu si zoː ho stuː]

bo
the ɲe
woman bo
the jaːla
knife naɲi
COMIT tili
blind pi
yon hijodu
mouse si
three zoː
ACC ho
catch stuː
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 zoo /zoː/ ‘ACC’, tee /teː/ ‘GEN’, skuu /skuː/ ‘DAT’, guu /ɡuː/ ‘INS’, noo /noː/ ‘VOC’, jee /jeː/ ‘ALL’, wu /ʋu/ ‘LOC’, lee /leː/ ‘ABL’ and zgii /zɡiː/ ‘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 Duga.

The Noun

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

The noun displays the following derivational morphology: 11 suffixes, namely -je /-je/ ‘little’, -bee /-beː/ ‘big’, -le /-le/ ‘old’, -di /-di/ ‘new’, -da /-da/ ‘good’, -sko /-sko/ ‘bad’, -ka /-ka/ ‘have’, -ke /-ke/ ‘use’, -zii /-ziː/ ‘see’, -me /-me/ ‘make’ and -kii /-kiː/ ‘break’

The Adjective

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

Numerals

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

Determiners

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

Pronouns

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

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

Zu.

[zu]

zu
love

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

But here, the word corresponding to he is stressed:

Dee zu.

[deː zu]

deː
3 zu
love

“He loves her.”

 (3)

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

Dee zoo zu.

[deː zoː zu]

deː
3 zoː
ACC zu
love

“He loves her.”

 (4)

Proper Nouns

Bo Tawoda bo Bupeene zoo nilizi.

[bo taʋoda bo bupeːne zoː nilizi]

bo
the taʋoda
Tavoda bo
the bupeːne
Bupene zoː
ACC nilizi
hate

“Tavoda hates Bupene.”

 (5)

Possession

bo naa bo wiigibu

[bo naː bo ʋiːɡibu]

bo
the naː
boy bo
the ʋiːɡibu
apple

“the boy’s apple”

 (6)
dee bo wiigibu

[deː bo ʋiːɡibu]

deː
3 bo
the ʋiːɡibu
apple

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (7)
tuu bo wiigibu

[tuː bo ʋiːɡibu]

tuː
1excl bo
the ʋiːɡibu
apple

“my apple”

 (8)
Bo geegapee bo ne hii bo kezdabii bo po zoo ñasumi stuu.

[bo ɡeːɡapeː bo ne hiː bo kezdabiː bo po zoː ɲasumi stuː]

bo
the ɡeːɡapeː
hunter bo
the ne
daughter hiː
2 bo
the kezdabiː
neighbour bo
the po
son zoː
ACC ɲasumi
kiss stuː
PAST

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

 (9)

Derivation

gogiñe

[ɡoɡiɲe]

ɡoɡiɲe
lamb

“a lamb”

 (10)
gogiñeje

[ɡoɡiɲeje]

ɡoɡiɲe
lamb -je
little

“a little lamb”

 (11)
Gogiñejeka stuu.

[ɡoɡiɲejeka stuː]

ɡoɡiɲe
lamb -je
little -ka
have stuː
PAST

“She had a little lamb.”

 (12)

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:

Ñu gogiñe zoo zu stuu.

[ɲu ɡoɡiɲe zoː zu stuː]

ɲu
black ɡoɡiɲe
lamb zoː
ACC zu
love stuː
PAST

“She loved a black lamb.”

 (13)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

All verbal phrase clitics in Duga are enclitics (placed finally), and there are five types: first, a clitic expressing ta, comprising stuu /stuː/ ‘PAST’; second, a clitic expressing mode, comprising maa /maː/ ‘imperative’, boo /boː/ ‘conditional’ and see /seː/ ‘optative’; third, a clitic expressing voice, comprising sko /sko/ ‘passive’; fourth, a clitic expressing negation, comprising zbee /zbeː/ ‘NEG’; and finally, fifth, a clitic expressing question, comprising spuu /spuː/ ‘Q’.

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

The verb displays the following derivational morphology: five suffixes, namely -wi /-ʋi/ ‘begin’, -ni /-ni/ ‘stop’, -we /-ʋe/ ‘continue’, -ta /-ta/ ‘try’ and -kaa /-kaː/ ‘start’

Zu.

[zu]

zu
love

“I love you.”

 (14)

Adverbs Minor Classes

Adpositions

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

bo giduu zii soo

[bo ɡiduː ziː soː]

bo
the ɡiduː
table ziː
surface soː
in

“on the table”

 (15)
bo siizina zbi spi

[bo siːzina zbi spi]

bo
the siːzina
box zbi
inside spi
to

“into the box”

 (16)
tuu nañi

[tuː naɲi]

tuː
1excl naɲi
COMIT

“with me”

 (17)

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.

Duga 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 Duga.

Bo sajogu bo geegapee zoo kuu stuu.

[bo sajoɡu bo ɡeːɡapeː zoː kuː stuː]

bo
the sajoɡu
jaguar bo
the ɡeːɡapeː
hunter zoː
ACC kuː
kill stuː
PAST

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (18)
Bo tuliiha bo geegapee bo ne bo sku zoo stii stuu.

[bo tuliːha bo ɡeːɡapeː bo ne bo sku zoː stiː stuː]

bo
the tuliːha
lion bo
the ɡeːɡapeː
hunter bo
the ne
daughter bo
the sku
dog zoː
ACC stiː
eat stuː
PAST

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

 (19)

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 Duga 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, Duga 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.

hii bo po bo le bo siihoo

[hiː bo po bo le bo siːhoː]

hiː
2 bo
the po
son bo
the le
friend bo
the siːhoː
book

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (20)

Case Marking

Duga 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.

Bo waa spo.

[bo ʋaː spo]

bo
the ʋaː
cat spo
sleep

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (21)
Bo waa ski.

[bo ʋaː ski]

bo
the ʋaː
cat ski
run

“The cat is running.”

 (22)
Bo waa bo hijodu zoo soñoozo.

[bo ʋaː bo hijodu zoː soɲoːzo]

bo
the ʋaː
cat bo
the hijodu
mouse zoː
ACC soɲoːzo
chase

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (23)
Bo waa bo hijodu zoo ho stuu.

[bo ʋaː bo hijodu zoː ho stuː]

bo
the ʋaː
cat bo
the hijodu
mouse zoː
ACC ho
catch stuː
PAST

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (24)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

Bo geegapee bo sajogu gi bo pitaabe gi bo tuliiha zoo kuu stuu.

[bo ɡeːɡapeː bo sajoɡu ɡi bo pitaːbe ɡi bo tuliːha zoː kuː stuː]

bo
the ɡeːɡapeː
hunter bo
the sajoɡu
jaguar ɡi
and bo
the pitaːbe
tiger ɡi
and bo
the tuliːha
lion zoː
ACC kuː
kill stuː
PAST

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

 (25)

Modifiers and Determiners

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

Duga 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:

Bo waa zoo ñañiso stuu.

[bo ʋaː zoː ɲaɲiso stuː]

bo
the ʋaː
cat zoː
ACC ɲaɲiso
pat stuː
PAST

“I patted the cat.”

 (26)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Bo hijodu zoo ho stuu bo waa zoo ñañiso stuu.

[bo hijodu zoː ho stuː bo ʋaː zoː ɲaɲiso stuː]

bo
the hijodu
mouse zoː
ACC ho
catch stuː
PAST bo
the ʋaː
cat zoː
ACC ɲaɲiso
pat stuː
PAST

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (27)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Bo nenooho zoo stii stuu bo hijodu zoo ho stuu bo waa zoo ñañiso stuu.

[bo nenoːho zoː stiː stuː bo hijodu zoː ho stuː bo ʋaː zoː ɲaɲiso stuː]

bo
the nenoːho
cheese zoː
ACC stiː
eat stuː
PAST bo
the hijodu
mouse zoː
ACC ho
catch stuː
PAST bo
the ʋaː
cat zoː
ACC ɲaɲiso
pat stuː
PAST

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

 (28)

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

Tuu zboo stuu bo nenooho zoo stii stuu bo hijodu zoo ho stuu bo waa zoo ñañiso stuu.

[tuː zboː stuː bo nenoːho zoː stiː stuː bo hijodu zoː ho stuː bo ʋaː zoː ɲaɲiso stuː]

tuː
1excl zboː
buy stuː
PAST bo
the nenoːho
cheese zoː
ACC stiː
eat stuː
PAST bo
the hijodu
mouse zoː
ACC ho
catch stuː
PAST bo
the ʋaː
cat zoː
ACC ɲaɲiso
pat stuː
PAST

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

 (29)

Complementation Strategies

Duga 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:

Bo naa bo zbuu skuu wiigibu zoo zuu stuu bo seesaañee skuu spaaskaspi stuu.

[bo naː bo zbuː skuː ʋiːɡibu zoː zuː stuː bo seːsaːɲeː skuː spaːskaspi stuː]

bo
the naː
boy bo
the zbuː
girl skuː
DAT ʋiːɡibu
apple zoː
ACC zuː
give stuː
PAST bo
the seːsaːɲeː
teacher skuː
DAT spaːskaspi
surprise stuː
PAST

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

 (30)

Quotes

Duga 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:

Bo naa bo zbuu skuu tuu hii zoo zu zoo huu stuu.

[bo naː bo zbuː skuː tuː hiː zoː zu zoː huː stuː]

bo
the naː
boy bo
the zbuː
girl skuː
DAT tuː
1excl hiː
2 zoː
ACC zu
love zoː
ACC huː
tell stuː
PAST

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

 (31)

How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Duga. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 6 July 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/64Z51

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-64Z51,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Duga}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/64Z51}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 6 July 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Duga / Duga–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/64Z51

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