A Grammar of Nyan
Introduction
Scope and Purpose
This grammar provides a systematic description of the Nyan language (the 2047th 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 Nyan.
Typological Profile
It has four genders, a complete absence of fricative consonants and a relatively uncommon VOS word order.Phonology
Phoneme Inventory
Consonants
Nyan has a moderately large consonant inventory, with 26 phonemes.
It has a complete absence of fricative consonants, a maximally contrastive voicing system, a notably rich set of sibilant contrasts, a system with marginal but genuine retroflex contrasts and a complete absence of uvular and pharyngeal consonants.The table below presents the full inventory of consonant phonemes in Nyan. The chart lists all places and manners of articulation attested in the language.
| labial | alveolar | postalveolar | alveolo-palatal | lateral | palatal | retroflex | velar | glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| stop | p b | d t | ʈ | k ɡ | ʔ | ||||
| aspirated stop | kʰ | ||||||||
| nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||||||
| trill/tap/flap | r | ||||||||
| fricative | s z | ʒ | h | ||||||
| approximant | w | ɹ | l | j | |||||
| affricate | d͡z | d͡ʒ t͡ʃ | t͡ɕ |
Vowels
Nyan has more than 14 vowel qualities. This constitutes an exceptionally rich vowel inventory, with numerous distinct categories represented in the chart.
It has a modest but genuine inventory of nasal vowels, occasional ghost vowels that surface only weakly, front rounded vowels (these are cross-linguistically relatively uncommon, but occur in a number of well-known languages, including French, German, Turkish and Mandarin), an unusually fine-grained height system distinguishing four levels and a moderately reduced system of unstressed vowels.The table below presents the full inventory of vowel phonemes in Nyan. The system comprises the distinct vowel qualities listed in the chart.
| front unrounded | front rounded | central | back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| close | i | y | u | |
| mid | e | ø | ə̃ | o |
| open-mid | ɛ | œ | ɔ | |
| open | a |
Stress and Tones
Nyan has phonemic stress but no lexical tone. Stress consistently falls on the first vowel of the root, and no contrastive tonal distinctions are made.
Phonological Processes
Vowel Harmony
The language employs vowel harmony. To be specific, the following vowels change to match the first vowel of the root: /u/ becomes /y/, /o/ becomes /ø/, /ɔ/ becomes /œ/.
Writing System
Introduction
Nyan 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/ | a’ /a̰/ | b /b/ | d /d/ |
| e /e/ | e’ /ḛ/ | g /ɡ/ | h /h/ |
| i /i/ | i’ /ḭ/ | j /d͡ʒ/ | k /k/ |
| l /l/ | m /m/ | n /n/ | o /ɔ/ |
| o’ /ɔ̰/ | p /p/ | q /ʔ/ | r /r/ |
| s /s/ | t /t/ | u /u/ | u’ /ṵ/ |
| w /w/ | y /j/ | z /z/ | æ /ɛ/ |
| æ’ /ɛ̰/ | ñ /ɲ/ | ó /o/ | ó’ /o̰/ |
| ø /ø/ | ø’ /ø̰/ | ü /y/ | ü’ /y̰/ |
| œ /œ/ | œ’ /œ̰/ | ɹ /ɹ/ | ẽ /ə̃/ |
| ẽ’ /ə̰̃/ |
Multi-letter combinations such as digraphs
| ai /ai/ | au /au/ | ch /t͡ʃ/ |
| dz /d͡z/ | kh /kʰ/ | rt /ʈ/ |
| ty /t͡ɕ/ | zh /ʒ/ |
Word Classes and Morphology
Number and Gender
Number
Nyan does not have grammatical number.
Gender
Nyan has the following genders:
Gender cl.1 – for instance: cha’pan ‘louse’, del ‘mother’, den ‘inside’, dichə̃l ‘teacher’, dizir ‘neighbour’, dzüm ‘tree’, gam ‘mouth’, giñe’r ‘apple’, ja’r ‘daughter’, khachẽ ‘library’, lachór ‘lamb’, lo ‘child’, mecha’ ‘bark’, nór ‘friend’, tyun ‘woman’, wapær ‘cheese’, wó’zhór ‘wheat’, yaqair ‘root’, ñós ‘dog’, ɹa’zhæ’r ‘wild boar’.
Gender cl.2 – for instance: bes ‘skin’, dór ‘sea’, ga ‘foot’, jin ‘heart’, jøn ‘husband’, lüs ‘fruit’, mañæl ‘cloud’, ma’m ‘moon’, nartøl ‘horn’, nem ‘sky’, tin ‘north’, tyulœn ‘brick’, tyün ‘east’, tøs ‘face’, zhirtu ‘stick’, ñiqün ‘anus’, ñirór ‘fingernail’, ñó’m ‘tooth’, ɹa’daun ‘religion’, ɹa’mør ‘medicine’.
Gender cl.3 – for instance: bol ‘tongue’, bun ‘book’, char ‘near’, chóris ‘seed’, hu ‘whole’, hó’mer ‘perfect’, jizøl ‘tower’, kumir ‘slime’, kæ ‘sharp’, maur ‘bed’, midü’s ‘belly’, mær ‘cold’, pær ‘table’, qẽ ‘water’, sózøl ‘straight’, tyair ‘red’, yenum ‘faeces’, yæl ‘wide’, zhawœn ‘furious’, ñatyól ‘dull’.
Gender cl.4 – for instance: bem ‘day’, budais ‘jaguar’, chil ‘land’, haul ‘leaf’, hibun ‘snake’, jatyir ‘machine’, kagun ‘binoculars’, khi’n ‘night’, metyin ‘court’, nim ‘meat’, pó’n ‘language’, qa’qül ‘tail’, rtar ‘manner’, rtó ‘sound’, tyaul ‘time’, tyus ‘egg’, tyør ‘speech’, tyül ‘colour’, zhórüm ‘penis’, ñesøs ‘mountain’.
The Nominal Phrase
Nominal phrases in Nyan can be exemplified by the following example:
Go’m zhul la’r gel pór lóda’men cho’men tyunen tyørø yasen. [ˈɡɔ̰m ʒul la̰r ˈɡel ˈpor loˈda̰men ˈt͡ʃɔ̰men ˈt͡ɕunen t͡ɕøˈrø ˈjasen] ˈɡɔ̰ catch -m indicative ʒul PAST la̰r ACC ˈɡe yon -l cl.1 ˈpor three loˈda̰m mouse -en def ˈt͡ʃɔ̰m blind -en def ˈt͡ɕun woman -en def t͡ɕoˈrø COMIT ˈjas knife -en def “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 case. a clitic expressing case, comprising la’r /la̰r/ ‘ACC’, tim /tim/ ‘DAT’, yur /jur/ ‘INS’, hó’l /ho̰l/ ‘VOC’, hi /hi/ ‘ALL’, cha /t͡ʃa/ ‘LOC’, rtil /ʈil/ ‘ABL’ and ku /ku/ ‘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 Nyan.
The Noun
The noun in Nyan consists of the root followed by an optional suffix expressing def, comprising -en /-en/ ‘def’.
The Adjective
The adjective in Nyan stands alone without any prefixes or suffixes attached to it.
Numerals
The numeral in Nyan stands alone without any prefixes or suffixes attached to it.
Determiners
In Nyan, the determiner has the following structure: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing gender, comprising -l /-l/ ‘cl.1’, -n /-n/ ‘cl.2’, -r /-r/ ‘cl.3’ and -s /-s/ ‘cl.4’.
Pronouns
The pronoun in Nyan stands alone without any prefixes or suffixes attached to it.
Nyan always includes the personal pronouns, even if they are not stressed. This is similar to English, where the only way to distinguish "he loves her" from "he loves her" and "he loves her" is the stress. So the following corresponds exactly to English in this regard:
Nøm win la’r dzail yól. [ˈnøm win la̰r ˈd͡zail ˈjol] ˈnø love -m indicative win 3.cl.2.SUBJ la̰r ACC ˈd͡zail 3.cl.1 ˈjol 3.cl.2 “He (the boy) loves her (the girl).” | (2) |
Proper Nouns
Dzayøm win la’r Zhizhausen Bidzü’sen. [d͡zaˈjøm win la̰r ʒiˈʒausen biˈd͡zy̰sen] d͡zaˈjø hate -m indicative win 3.cl.2.SUBJ la̰r ACC ʒiˈʒaus Zhizhaus -en def biˈd͡zy̰s Bidzoos -en def “Bidzoos hates Zhizhaus.” | (3) |
Possession
giñe’ren jauen [ɡiˈɲḛren ˈd͡ʒauen] ɡiˈɲḛr apple -en def ˈd͡ʒau boy -en def “the boy’s apple” | (4) |
giñe’ren yól [ɡiˈɲḛren ˈjol] ɡiˈɲḛr apple -en def ˈjol 3.cl.2 “his (the boy’s) apple” | (5) |
giñe’ren dzøn [ɡiˈɲḛren ˈd͡zøn] ɡiˈɲḛr apple -en def ˈd͡zøn 1excl “my apple” | (6) |
Didi’m zhul la’r mæ’len diziren ni ja’ren lirisen. [diˈdḭm ʒul la̰r ˈmɛ̰len diˈziren ˈni ˈd͡ʒa̰ren liˈrisen] diˈdḭ kiss -m indicative ʒul PAST la̰r ACC ˈmɛ̰l son -en def diˈzir neighbour -en def ˈni 2 ˈd͡ʒa̰r daughter -en def liˈris hunter -en def “The hunter’s daughter kissed your neighbour’s son.” | (7) |
Derivation
Nyan has no derivational processes.
wel lachór [ˈwel laˈt͡ʃor] ˈwe a -l cl.1 laˈt͡ʃor lamb “a lamb” | (8) |
Note how none show up here:
Gøm zhul la’r zhóm zhul la’r wel lachór dzœlen buka’l dzail. [ˈɡøm ʒul la̰r ˈʒom ʒul la̰r ˈwel laˈt͡ʃor ˈd͡zœlen buˈka̰l ˈd͡zail] ˈɡø want -m indicative ʒul PAST la̰r ACC ˈʒo have -m indicative ʒul PAST la̰r ACC ˈwe a -l cl.1 laˈt͡ʃor lamb ˈd͡zœl little -en def buˈka̰l COMP ˈd͡zail 3.cl.1 “She wanted to have a little lamb.” | (9) |
Compounding
Verbs
Inflectional Categories
The verbal phrase clitics in Nyan fall into two categories, proclitics and enclitics: first, a clitic expressing voice, comprising ñis /ɲis/ ‘passive’; second, a clitic expressing ta, comprising zhul /ʒul/ ‘PAST’; third, a clitic expressing negation, comprising tyós /t͡ɕos/ ‘NEG’; and finally, fourth, a clitic expressing subj, comprising ser /ser/ ‘1incl’, han /han/ ‘1excl’, tyel /t͡ɕel/ ‘2’, win /win/ ‘3.cl.2’, tón /ton/ ‘3.cl.3’ and dzar /d͡zar/ ‘3.cl.4’.
In addition, the verb is structured like this: the root followed by an obligatory suffix expressing mode, comprising -m /-m/ ‘indicative’, -l /-l/ ‘imperative’, -n /-n/ ‘conditional’ and -r /-r/ ‘optative’.
Nøm han la’r ni dzøn. [ˈnøm han la̰r ˈni ˈd͡zøn] ˈnø love -m indicative han 1excl.SUBJ la̰r ACC ˈni 2 ˈd͡zøn 1excl “I love you.” | (10) |
Adverbs Minor Classes
Adpositions
There is one type of clitic in the adpositional phrase, namely an enclitic (placed finally), expressing root.
ni’n pæren [ˈnḭn ˈpɛren] ˈnḭn in_surface ˈpɛr table -en def “on the table” | (11) |
jẽn ɹuzhaen [ˈd͡ʒə̃n ɹuˈʒaen] ˈd͡ʒə̃n to_inside ɹuˈʒa box -en def “into the box” | (12) |
tyørø dzøn [t͡ɕøˈrø ˈd͡zøn] t͡ɕoˈrø COMIT ˈd͡zøn 1excl “with me” | (13) |
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.
Nyan displays Verb–Object–Subject (VOS) as its primary word order. The verb is followed by the object, with the subject appearing clause-finally. Although relatively uncommon, VOS is well documented cross-linguistically.
The following examples illustrate the basic, unmarked, constituent order in Nyan.
Tøm zhul dzar la’r lirisen budaisen. [ˈtøm ʒul d͡zar la̰r liˈrisen buˈdaisen] ˈtø kill -m indicative ʒul PAST d͡zar 3.cl.4.SUBJ la̰r ACC liˈris hunter -en def buˈdais jaguar -en def “The jaguar killed the hunter.” | (14) |
Tœm zhul la’r ñósen ja’ren lirisen ga’de’men. [ˈtœm ʒul la̰r ˈɲosen ˈd͡ʒa̰ren liˈrisen ɡa̰ˈdḛmen] ˈtœ eat -m indicative ʒul PAST la̰r ACC ˈɲos dog -en def ˈd͡ʒa̰r daughter -en def liˈris hunter -en def ɡa̰ˈdḛm lion -en def “The lion ate the hunter’s daughter’s dog.” | (15) |
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 Nyan 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, Nyan 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.
bunen nóren mæ’len ni [bunen ˈnoren ˈmɛ̰len ˈni] bun book -en def ˈnor friend -en def ˈmɛ̰l son -en def ˈni 2 “your son’s friend’s book” | (16) |
Case Marking
Nyan 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.
Zum ɹæ’ren. [ˈzum ˈɹɛ̰ren] ˈzu sleep -m indicative ˈɹɛ̰r cat -en def “The cat is sleeping.” | (17) |
Jœm ɹæ’ren. [ˈd͡ʒœm ˈɹɛ̰ren] ˈd͡ʒœ run -m indicative ˈɹɛ̰r cat -en def “The cat is running.” | (18) |
Muchom la’r lóda’men ɹæ’ren. [muˈt͡ʃɔm la̰r loˈda̰men ˈɹɛ̰ren] muˈt͡ʃɔ chase -m indicative la̰r ACC loˈda̰m mouse -en def ˈɹɛ̰r cat -en def “The cat is chasing the mouse.” | (19) |
Go’m zhul la’r lóda’men ɹæ’ren. [ˈɡɔ̰m ʒul la̰r loˈda̰men ˈɹɛ̰ren] ˈɡɔ̰ catch -m indicative ʒul PAST la̰r ACC loˈda̰m mouse -en def ˈɹɛ̰r cat -en def “The cat caught the mouse.” | (20) |
Conjunctions
Here is an example of a conjunction.
Tøm zhul win la’r budaisen dis tyózhilen dis ga’de’men lirisen. [ˈtøm ʒul win la̰r buˈdaisen ˈdis t͡ɕoˈʒilen ˈdis ɡa̰ˈdḛmen liˈrisen] ˈtø kill -m indicative ʒul PAST win 3.cl.2.SUBJ la̰r ACC buˈdais jaguar -en def ˈdis and t͡ɕoˈʒil tiger -en def ˈdis and ɡa̰ˈdḛm lion -en def liˈris hunter -en def “The hunter killed the jaguars, the tigers and the lions.” | (21) |
Modifiers and Determiners
The ordering of demonstratives, articles (if present), and other modifiers in Nyan 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
Nyan 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:
Puñom zhul han la’r ɹæ’ren dzøn. [puˈɲɔm ʒul han la̰r ˈɹɛ̰ren ˈd͡zøn] puˈɲɔ pat -m indicative ʒul PAST han 1excl.SUBJ la̰r ACC ˈɹɛ̰r cat -en def ˈd͡zøn 1excl “I patted the cat.” | (22) |
We can now add a relative clause modifying the noun:
Puñom zhul han la’r go’m zhul la’r lóda’men ɹæ’ren buka’l dzøn. [puˈɲɔm ʒul han la̰r ˈɡɔ̰m ʒul la̰r loˈda̰men ˈɹɛ̰ren buˈka̰l ˈd͡zøn] puˈɲɔ pat -m indicative ʒul PAST han 1excl.SUBJ la̰r ACC ˈɡɔ̰ catch -m indicative ʒul PAST la̰r ACC loˈda̰m mouse -en def ˈɹɛ̰r cat -en def buˈka̰l COMP ˈd͡zøn 1excl “I patted the cat that caught the mouse.” | (23) |
Relative clauses may themselves contain other relative clauses:
Puñom zhul han la’r go’m zhul la’r tœm zhul la’r wapæren lóda’men buka’l ɹæ’ren buka’l dzøn. [puˈɲɔm ʒul han la̰r ˈɡɔ̰m ʒul la̰r ˈtœm ʒul la̰r waˈpɛren loˈda̰men buˈka̰l ˈɹɛ̰ren buˈka̰l ˈd͡zøn] puˈɲɔ pat -m indicative ʒul PAST han 1excl.SUBJ la̰r ACC ˈɡɔ̰ catch -m indicative ʒul PAST la̰r ACC ˈtœ eat -m indicative ʒul PAST la̰r ACC waˈpɛr cheese -en def loˈda̰m mouse -en def buˈka̰l COMP ˈɹɛ̰r cat -en def buˈka̰l COMP ˈd͡zøn 1excl “I patted the cat that caught the mouse that ate the cheese.” | (24) |
Finally, here is an example containing several layers of embedding:
Puñom zhul han la’r go’m zhul la’r tœm zhul la’r rtẽm zhul han la’r wapæren dzøn buka’l lóda’men buka’l ɹæ’ren buka’l dzøn. [puˈɲɔm ʒul han la̰r ˈɡɔ̰m ʒul la̰r ˈtœm ʒul la̰r ˈʈə̃m ʒul han la̰r waˈpɛren ˈd͡zøn buˈka̰l loˈda̰men buˈka̰l ˈɹɛ̰ren buˈka̰l ˈd͡zøn] puˈɲɔ pat -m indicative ʒul PAST han 1excl.SUBJ la̰r ACC ˈɡɔ̰ catch -m indicative ʒul PAST la̰r ACC ˈtœ eat -m indicative ʒul PAST la̰r ACC ˈʈə̃ buy -m indicative ʒul PAST han 1excl.SUBJ la̰r ACC waˈpɛr cheese -en def ˈd͡zøn 1excl buˈka̰l COMP loˈda̰m mouse -en def buˈka̰l COMP ˈɹɛ̰r cat -en def buˈka̰l COMP ˈd͡zøn 1excl “I patted the cat that caught the mouse that ate the cheese that I bought.” | (25) |
Complementation Strategies
Nyan 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:
Dityim zhul dzar tim dichə̃len sem zhul win la’r wel giñe’r tim zhien jauen buka’l. [diˈt͡ɕim ʒul d͡zar tim dit͡ʃə̃len ˈsem ʒul win la̰r ˈwel ɡiˈɲḛr tim ˈʒien ˈd͡ʒauen buˈka̰l] diˈt͡ɕi surprise -m indicative ʒul PAST d͡zar 3.cl.4.SUBJ tim DAT dit͡ʃə̃l teacher -en def ˈse give -m indicative ʒul PAST win 3.cl.2.SUBJ la̰r ACC ˈwe a -l cl.1 ɡiˈɲḛr apple tim DAT ˈʒi girl -en def ˈd͡ʒau boy -en def buˈka̰l COMP “It surprised the teacher that the boy had given the girl an apple.” | (26) |
Quotes
Nyan 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:
Laum zhul win la’r nøm han la’r ni dzøn buka’l tim zhien jauen. [ˈlaum ʒul win la̰r ˈnøm han la̰r ˈni ˈd͡zøn buˈka̰l tim ˈʒien ˈd͡ʒauen] ˈlau tell -m indicative ʒul PAST win 3.cl.2.SUBJ la̰r ACC ˈnø love -m indicative han 1excl.SUBJ la̰r ACC ˈni 2 ˈd͡zøn 1excl buˈka̰l COMP tim DAT ˈʒi girl -en def ˈd͡ʒau boy -en def “The boy told the girl that he loved her.” | (27) |
How to cite this grammar
Language Creator. 2026. A Grammar of Nyan. Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.93, on 11 November 2026. https://languagecreator.org/grammar/7421X
In BibTeX format:
@misc{LC-7421X,
year = 2026,
author = {{Language Creator}},
title = {A Grammar of {Nyan}},
howpublished = {\url{https://languagecreator.org/grammar/7421X}},
note = {Generated by the Language Creator, version 0.93, on 11 November 2026}
}
Supplementary Materials
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