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A Grammar of Fopi

Introduction

Scope and Purpose

This grammar provides a systematic description of the Fopi language (the 1904th 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 Fopi.

Typological Profile

It has a complete lack of sibilant consonants, ergative case marking, i.e., the object of a transitive verb is marked the same as the subject of an intransitive one, and postpositions.

Phonology

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

Fopi has 21 consonant phonemes, a size that falls within a broadly average range.

It has an extensive and fully contrastive palatal series, a complete absence of affricates, a complete lack of sibilant consonants, a complete absence of phonemic voicing contrasts and an unusually restricted set of labial consonants.

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

vel. labialpal. labialvel. alveolarpal. alveolarvel. lateralpal. lateralpalatalvel. velarpal. velarglottal
stoppˠ pʲ tˠ tʲ kˠ kʲ
nasalmˠ mʲ nˠ nʲ
fricativefˠ fʲ xˠ xʲ h
approximantwˠ wʲ lˠ lʲ j

Vowels

Fopi 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 full range of vowel qualities even in reduced syllables.

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

frontcentralback
closei u
mide o
opena

Stress and Tones

Fopi 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

Fopi is normally written using the Cyrillic alphabet, a script with a long and varied history across Eastern Europe and northern Asia. In this grammar, phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are also used to give an unambiguous representation of sound.

The conventions adopted here follow standard Cyrillic practice for the language where that exists; where they do not, the IPA transcription should be taken as authoritative.

Orthography

Here are the various components of the orthography:

Simple letters

а /ˠa/в /w/г /h/е /ʲe/
и /ʲi/к /k/л /l/м /m/
н /n/о /ˠo/п /p/т /t/
у /ˠu/ф /f/х /x/ъ /ˠ/
ы /ˠi/ь /ʲ/э /ˠe/ю /ʲu/
я /ʲa/ё /ʲo/ј /j/

Word Classes and Morphology

Number and Gender

Number

Fopi does not have grammatical number.

Gender

Fopi has the following genders:

Gender masc – for instance: ве ‘language’, ви ‘animal’, кухете ‘snake’, лэнуня ‘jaguar’, мыпэке ‘neighbour’, мётэлю ‘umbrella’, најa ‘speech’, пя ‘fish’, пялэ ‘west’, тю ‘father’, тё ‘colour’, тёфы ‘day’, фелани ‘religion’, фытэлэ ‘teacher’, фэ ‘human being’, хымеми ‘embrace’, хюпё ‘manner’, хё ‘dog’, јo ‘south’, јuтимя ‘net’.

Gender fem – for instance: валимэ ‘wing’, гo ‘ear’, комяла ‘mammal’, ку ‘tooth’, кё ‘tongue’, ли ‘woman’, ма ‘nose’, малыфя ‘wild boar’, матипа ‘slime’, мямяхы ‘fat’, ни ‘road’, ныланэ ‘mouse’, няхугe ‘fingernail’, та ‘child’, тинамэ ‘bosom’, тёкыхы ‘neck’, фито ‘inside’, фывамы ‘bank’, хя ‘bird’, јoфотэ ‘brick’.

Gender neut – for instance: валуфя ‘court’, вывё ‘sea’, вэ ‘moon’, вё ‘bed’, кинупо ‘mountain’, липы ‘earth’, лотавы ‘stick’, лылевя ‘box’, мыфёме ‘apple’, мэха ‘city’, мёваня ‘flower’, мёпе ‘fruit’, някюпе ‘wheat’, пехитэ ‘seed’, пуни ‘stone’, пыфюпи ‘bottle’, хумупя ‘plain’, хятялы ‘feather’, хёлюгa ‘horn’, јuкюня ‘lake’.

The Nominal Phrase

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

Вяјa ли вянэ хуто нагu пэны мојa пэха ныланэтавя хупё памы вупёлёвэ.

[wʲaja lʲi wʲanˠe xˠutˠo nˠahu pˠenˠi mˠoja pˠexˠa nˠilˠanˠetˠawʲa xˠupʲo pˠamˠi wˠupʲolʲowˠe]

wʲa
the -ja
fem lʲi
woman wʲa
the -nˠe
masc xˠutˠo
knife nˠahu
COMIT pˠenˠi
ERG mˠo
yon -ja
fem pˠexˠa
blind nˠilˠanˠe
mouse -tˠawʲa
plur xˠupʲo
three pˠamˠi
PAST wˠupʲ
catch -o
POS -lʲowˠe
3.sing.fem.SUBJ

“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 пэны /pˠenˠi/ ‘ERG’, мяфя /mʲafʲa/ ‘GEN’, папэ /pˠapˠe/ ‘DAT’, тёля /tʲolʲa/ ‘INS’, вујa /wˠuja/ ‘VOC’, фимё /fʲimʲo/ ‘ALL’, няфе /nʲafʲe/ ‘LOC’, пёпы /pʲopˠi/ ‘ABL’ and выкы /wˠikˠi/ ‘PART’.

The morphology of the elements of the nominal phrase, i.e., nouns, adjectives, numerals and pronouns, is described below, as is the way that possession is expressed in Fopi.

The Noun

The noun in Fopi consists of the root followed by an optional suffix expressing number, comprising -тавя /-tˠawʲa/ ‘plur’.

The noun displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -хо /-xˠo/ ‘little’ and -ко /-kˠo/ ‘big’

The Adjective

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

Numerals

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

Determiners

In Fopi, the determiner has the following structure: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing gender, comprising -нэ /-nˠe/ ‘masc’, -јa /-ja/ ‘fem’ and -лэ /-lˠe/ ‘neut’.

Pronouns

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

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

Ка лямё.

[kˠa lʲamʲo]

kˠa
3.sing.fem lʲamʲ
love -o
POS

“He (the boy) loves her (the girl).”

 (2)

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

Ны пэны ка лямё.

[nˠi pˠenˠi kˠa lʲamʲo]

nˠi
3.sing.masc pˠenˠi
ERG kˠa
3.sing.fem lʲamʲ
love -o
POS

“He loves her.”

 (3)

Proper Nouns

Вянэ Мяналя пэны вяјa Пятюха понэно.

[wʲanˠe mʲanˠalʲa pˠenˠi wʲaja pʲatʲuxˠa pˠonˠenˠo]

wʲa
the -nˠe
masc mʲanˠalʲa
Manala pˠenˠi
ERG wʲa
the -ja
fem pʲatʲuxˠa
Patukha pˠonˠenˠ
hate -o
POS

“Manala hates Patukha.”

 (4)

Possession

вянэ пэ вялэ мыфёме

[wʲanˠe pˠe wʲalˠe mˠifʲomʲe]

wʲa
the -nˠe
masc pˠe
boy wʲa
the -lˠe
neut mˠifʲomʲe
apple

“the boy’s apple”

 (5)
ны вялэ мыфёме

[nˠi wʲalˠe mˠifʲomʲe]

nˠi
3.sing.masc wʲa
the -lˠe
neut mˠifʲomʲe
apple

“his (the boy’s) apple”

 (6)
гe вялэ мыфёме

[he wʲalˠe mˠifʲomʲe]

he
1excl.sing wʲa
the -lˠe
neut mˠifʲomʲe
apple

“my apple”

 (7)
Вянэ тигeмо вяјa кэ пэны гu вянэ мыпэке вянэ ла памы вавыјoлёвэ.

[wʲanˠe tʲihemˠo wʲaja kˠe pˠenˠi hu wʲanˠe mˠipˠekʲe wʲanˠe lˠa pˠamˠi wˠawˠijolʲowˠe]

wʲa
the -nˠe
masc tʲihemˠo
hunter wʲa
the -ja
fem kˠe
daughter pˠenˠi
ERG hu
2.sing wʲa
the -nˠe
masc mˠipˠekʲe
neighbour wʲa
the -nˠe
masc lˠa
son pˠamˠi
PAST wˠawˠij
kiss -o
POS -lʲowˠe
3.sing.fem.SUBJ

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

 (8)

Derivation

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

тявалэ

[tʲawˠalˠe]

tʲawˠalˠe
lamb

“a lamb”

 (9)

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

тявалэхо

[tʲawˠalˠexˠo]

tʲawˠalˠe
lamb -xˠo
little

“a little lamb”

 (10)

Compounding

Verbs

Inflectional Categories

The verbal phrase clitics in Fopi fall into two categories, proclitics and enclitics: a clitic expressing ta, comprising памы /pˠamˠi/ ‘PAST’ followed by a clitic expressing mode, comprising вёми /wʲomʲi/ ‘imperative’, тивэ /tʲiwˠe/ ‘conditional’ and ныве /nˠiwʲe/ ‘optative’.

In addition, the verb is structured like this: first, the root; second, an optional suffix expressing voice, comprising -iфь /-ifʲ/ ‘passive’; third, an obligatory suffix expressing negation, comprising -i /-i/ ‘NEG’ and -o /-o/ ‘POS’; and finally, fourth, an optional suffix expressing subj, comprising -мювы /-mʲuwˠi/ ‘1incl.sing’, -кэпя /-kˠepʲa/ ‘1excl.sing’, -пяле /-pʲalʲe/ ‘2.sing’, -лёвэ /-lʲowˠe/ ‘3.sing.fem’, -воля /-wˠolʲa/ ‘3.sing.neut’, -мупу /-mˠupˠu/ ‘1incl.plur’, -јaно /-janˠo/ ‘1excl.plur’, -пумю /-pˠumʲu/ ‘2.plur’, -пявю /-pʲawʲu/ ‘3.plur.masc’, -јaва /-jawˠa/ ‘3.plur.fem’ and -кылы /-kˠilˠi/ ‘3.plur.neut’.

The verb displays the following derivational morphology: two suffixes, namely -eкъ /-ekˠ/ ‘begin’ and -aвь /-awʲ/ ‘stop’

Гu лямёкэпя.

[hu lʲamʲokˠepʲa]

hu
2.sing lʲamʲ
love -o
POS -kˠepʲa
1excl.sing.SUBJ

“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.

вянэ пёло нё

[wʲanˠe pʲolˠo nʲo]

wʲa
the -nˠe
masc pʲolˠo
table nʲo
in_surface

“on the table”

 (12)
вялэ лылевя јa

[wʲalˠe lˠilʲewʲa ja]

wʲa
the -lˠe
neut lˠilʲewʲa
box ja
to_inside

“into the box”

 (13)
гe нагu

[he nˠahu]

he
1excl.sing nˠahu
COMIT

“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.

Fopi 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 Fopi.

Вянэ лэнуня пэны вянэ тигeмо памы пемё.

[wʲanˠe lˠenˠunʲa pˠenˠi wʲanˠe tʲihemˠo pˠamˠi pʲemʲo]

wʲa
the -nˠe
masc lˠenˠunʲa
jaguar pˠenˠi
ERG wʲa
the -nˠe
masc tʲihemˠo
hunter pˠamˠi
PAST pʲemʲ
kill -o
POS

“The jaguar killed the hunter.”

 (15)
Вяјa јuмипы пэны вянэ тигeмо вяјa кэ вянэ хё памы монолёвэ.

[wʲaja jumʲipˠi pˠenˠi wʲanˠe tʲihemˠo wʲaja kˠe wʲanˠe xʲo pˠamˠi mˠonˠolʲowˠe]

wʲa
the -ja
fem jumʲipˠi
lion pˠenˠi
ERG wʲa
the -nˠe
masc tʲihemˠo
hunter wʲa
the -ja
fem kˠe
daughter wʲa
the -nˠe
masc xʲo
dog pˠamˠi
PAST mˠonˠ
eat -o
POS -lʲowˠe
3.sing.fem.SUBJ

“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 Fopi 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, Fopi 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.

гu вянэ ла вянэ фу вянэ пукэ

[hu wʲanˠe lˠa wʲanˠe fˠu wʲanˠe pˠukˠe]

hu
2.sing wʲa
the -nˠe
masc lˠa
son wʲa
the -nˠe
masc fˠu
friend wʲa
the -nˠe
masc pˠukˠe
book

“your son’s friend’s book”

 (17)

Case Marking

Fopi 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.

Вянэ ню тихё.

[wʲanˠe nʲu tʲixʲo]

wʲa
the -nˠe
masc nʲu
cat tʲixʲ
sleep -o
POS

“The cat is sleeping.”

 (18)
Вянэ ню фуфё.

[wʲanˠe nʲu fˠufʲo]

wʲa
the -nˠe
masc nʲu
cat fˠufʲ
run -o
POS

“The cat is running.”

 (19)
Вянэ ню пэны вяјa ныланэ кефявё.

[wʲanˠe nʲu pˠenˠi wʲaja nˠilˠanˠe kʲefʲawʲo]

wʲa
the -nˠe
masc nʲu
cat pˠenˠi
ERG wʲa
the -ja
fem nˠilˠanˠe
mouse kʲefʲawʲ
chase -o
POS

“The cat is chasing the mouse.”

 (20)
Вянэ ню пэны вяјa ныланэ памы вупё.

[wʲanˠe nʲu pˠenˠi wʲaja nˠilˠanˠe pˠamˠi wˠupʲo]

wʲa
the -nˠe
masc nʲu
cat pˠenˠi
ERG wʲa
the -ja
fem nˠilˠanˠe
mouse pˠamˠi
PAST wˠupʲ
catch -o
POS

“The cat caught the mouse.”

 (21)

Conjunctions

Here is an example of a conjunction.

Вянэ тигeмо пэны вянэ лэнунятавя но вянэ фекалетавя но вяјa јuмипытавя памы пемё.

[wʲanˠe tʲihemˠo pˠenˠi wʲanˠe lˠenˠunʲatˠawʲa nˠo wʲanˠe fʲekˠalʲetˠawʲa nˠo wʲaja jumʲipˠitˠawʲa pˠamˠi pʲemʲo]

wʲa
the -nˠe
masc tʲihemˠo
hunter pˠenˠi
ERG wʲa
the -nˠe
masc lˠenˠunʲa
jaguar -tˠawʲa
plur nˠo
and wʲa
the -nˠe
masc fʲekˠalʲe
tiger -tˠawʲa
plur nˠo
and wʲa
the -ja
fem jumʲipˠi
lion -tˠawʲa
plur pˠamˠi
PAST pʲemʲ
kill -o
POS

“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 Fopi 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

Fopi 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:

Вянэ ню памы кювявокэпя.

[wʲanˠe nʲu pˠamˠi kʲuwʲawˠokˠepʲa]

wʲa
the -nˠe
masc nʲu
cat pˠamˠi
PAST kʲuwʲawˠ
pat -o
POS -kˠepʲa
1excl.sing.SUBJ

“I patted the cat.”

 (23)

We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:

Вяјa ныланэ памы вупё вянэ ню памы кювявокэпя.

[wʲaja nˠilˠanˠe pˠamˠi wˠupʲo wʲanˠe nʲu pˠamˠi kʲuwʲawˠokˠepʲa]

wʲa
the -ja
fem nˠilˠanˠe
mouse pˠamˠi
PAST wˠupʲ
catch -o
POS wʲa
the -nˠe
masc nʲu
cat pˠamˠi
PAST kʲuwʲawˠ
pat -o
POS -kˠepʲa
1excl.sing.SUBJ

“I patted the cat that caught the mouse.”

 (24)

Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:

Вялэ наполя памы моно вяјa ныланэ памы вупё вянэ ню памы кювявокэпя.

[wʲalˠe nˠapˠolʲa pˠamˠi mˠonˠo wʲaja nˠilˠanˠe pˠamˠi wˠupʲo wʲanˠe nʲu pˠamˠi kʲuwʲawˠokˠepʲa]

wʲa
the -lˠe
neut nˠapˠolʲa
cheese pˠamˠi
PAST mˠonˠ
eat -o
POS wʲa
the -ja
fem nˠilˠanˠe
mouse pˠamˠi
PAST wˠupʲ
catch -o
POS wʲa
the -nˠe
masc nʲu
cat pˠamˠi
PAST kʲuwʲawˠ
pat -o
POS -kˠepʲa
1excl.sing.SUBJ

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

 (25)

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

Гe памы токо вялэ наполя памы моно вяјa ныланэ памы вупё вянэ ню памы кювявокэпя.

[he pˠamˠi tˠokˠo wʲalˠe nˠapˠolʲa pˠamˠi mˠonˠo wʲaja nˠilˠanˠe pˠamˠi wˠupʲo wʲanˠe nʲu pˠamˠi kʲuwʲawˠokˠepʲa]

he
1excl.sing pˠamˠi
PAST tˠokˠ
buy -o
POS wʲa
the -lˠe
neut nˠapˠolʲa
cheese pˠamˠi
PAST mˠonˠ
eat -o
POS wʲa
the -ja
fem nˠilˠanˠe
mouse pˠamˠi
PAST wˠupʲ
catch -o
POS wʲa
the -nˠe
masc nʲu
cat pˠamˠi
PAST kʲuwʲawˠ
pat -o
POS -kˠepʲa
1excl.sing.SUBJ

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

 (26)

Complementation Strategies

Fopi 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:

Вянэ пэ вяјa нэ папэ мыфёме памы ныфё пэны вянэ фытэлэ папэ памы пахифё.

[wʲanˠe pˠe wʲaja nˠe pˠapˠe mˠifʲomʲe pˠamˠi nˠifʲo pˠenˠi wʲanˠe fˠitˠelˠe pˠapˠe pˠamˠi pˠaxʲifʲo]

wʲa
the -nˠe
masc pˠe
boy wʲa
the -ja
fem nˠe
girl pˠapˠe
DAT mˠifʲomʲe
apple pˠamˠi
PAST nˠifʲ
give -o
POS pˠenˠi
ERG wʲa
the -nˠe
masc fˠitˠelˠe
teacher pˠapˠe
DAT pˠamˠi
PAST pˠaxʲifʲ
surprise -o
POS

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

 (27)

Quotes

Fopi 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:

Вянэ пэ пэны вяјa нэ папэ гe гu лямё памы кувё.

[wʲanˠe pˠe pˠenˠi wʲaja nˠe pˠapˠe he hu lʲamʲo pˠamˠi kˠuwʲo]

wʲa
the -nˠe
masc pˠe
boy pˠenˠi
ERG wʲa
the -ja
fem nˠe
girl pˠapˠe
DAT he
1excl.sing hu
2.sing lʲamʲ
love -o
POS pˠamˠi
PAST kˠuwʲ
tell -o
POS

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

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How to cite this grammar

Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Fopi. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 19 October 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/698FJ

In BibTeX format:

@misc{LC-698FJ,
  year         = 2026,
  author       = {{Language Creator}},
  title        = {A Grammar of {Fopi}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/698FJ}},
  note         = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.92, on 19 October 2026}
}

Supplementary Materials

A collection of illustrative texts and a bilingual dictionary (English–Fopi / Fopi–English) accompany this grammar. The complete work – comprising the grammar, dictionary and texts – may also be downloaded in ODT or DOCX format.

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https://languagecreator.org/grammar/698FJ

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