Paradigm Tables
Morphological patterns, declensions, and conjugations for Neruañ Language
Core Clause Frames
Shows the main Neruañ clause patterns: body-state clauses, manual actions, need-driven clauses, speech, thought, and responsibility marking. Use this as the overview table for syntax.
| Template | Neruañ example | Literal structure | Use | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Body-state clause | — | — | — | — |
| Hand-action clause | — | — | — | — |
| Need-driven clause | — | — | — | — |
| Reported-speech clause | — | — | — | — |
| Thought/planning clause Responsibility clause | — | — | — | — |
Body-Agent Reference System
Explains how Neruañ replaces ordinary person pronouns with body-part agents, plus a small deictic system for pointing to speaker, addressee, and third persons.
| Form | Agent use? | Example | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hand-agent | — | — | — | — |
| Belly-agent | — | — | — | — |
| Mouth-agent | — | — | — | — |
| Breath-agent | — | — | — | — |
| Mind-agent | — | — | — | — |
| Foot-agent | — | — | — | — |
| Eye-agent | — | — | — | — |
| Whole-being responsibility | — | — | — | — |
| Speaker-proximal reference | — | — | — | — |
| Addressee reference | — | — | — | — |
| Distal person reference | — | — | — | — |
Body-Agent Paradigm
Gives the core body agents and their usual semantic domains: doing, needing, speaking, breathing, thinking, moving, and seeing.
| Domain | Body-agent Translation | Basic reading | Example | Translation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hand action | — | — | — | — | — |
| Belly action/state | — | — | — | — | — |
| Mouth action | — | — | — | — | — |
| Breath life/state | — | — | — | — | — |
| Mind action/state | — | — | — | — | — |
| Legaction | — | — | — | — | — |
| Eye perception | — | — | — | — | — |
Whole-Being Responsibility System
Marks deliberate responsibility when the whole person, rather than a body part, is treated as accountable for an action.
| Form | Translation strategy | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deliberate self-responsibility | — | — | — |
| Reduced responsibility | — | — | — |
| Collective responsibility | — | — | — |
| Addressee responsibility | — | — | — |
| Third-person responsibility | — | — | — |
Possessed Body-Agent Forms
Shows how body agents are possessed or anchored to a speaker, addressee, named person, distal person, or group.
| Hand | Mouth | Belly | Mind | Use | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speaker’s body | — | — | — | — | — |
| Addressee’s body | — | — | — | — | — |
| Distal person’s body | — | — | — | — | — |
| Named person’s body | — | — | — | — | — |
| Collective body | — | — | — | — | — |
Person Deictics
Covers the small reference words used for pointing to people in discourse. These support reference tracking, while body agents still carry agency.
| Deictic | Meaning | Typical forms | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speaker-proximal | — | — | — | — |
| Addressee | — | — | — | — |
| Visible third person | — | — | — | — |
| Absent third person | — | — | — | — |
| Inclusive group | — | — | — | — |
| Exclusive group | — | — | — | — |
Number and Collective Marking
Shows how nouns are marked for count, group, paired, distributive, and mass readings.
| Suffix | Example | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | — | — | — | — |
| Count plural | — | — | — | — |
| Collective | — | — | — | — |
| Natural pair | — | — | — | — |
| Distributive | — | — | — | — |
| Spread/mass | — | — | — | — |
Relational Postpositions
Lists postpositions used for possession, location, motion, instrument, accompaniment, topic, and boundary relations.
| Postposition | Example | Meaning | Use | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Possessive/genitive | — | — | — | — |
| Locative | — | — | — | — |
| Allative | — | — | — | — |
| Ablative | — | — | — | — |
| Instrumental | — | — | — | — |
| Comitative | — | — | — | — |
| Topic | — | — | — | — |
| Boundary | — | — | — | — |
Demonstrative System
Shows spatial and discourse demonstratives: near speaker, near addressee, visible distal, absent distal, and interrogative.
| Form | Spatial reading | Discourse reading | Example | Translation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speaker-near | — | — | — | — | — |
| Addressee-near | — | — | — | — | — |
| Visible distal | — | — | — | — | — |
| Absent distal | — | — | — | — | — |
| Interrogative demonstrative | — | — | — | — | — |
Verb Morphology Template
Gives the order of verbal material in Neruañ, from root and derivation through aspect, mood, directionals, negation, evidential particles, and clause-linking clitics.
| Category | Form type | Example piece | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verb root | — | — | — | — |
| Derivation | — | — | — | — |
| Aspect | — | — | — | — |
| Directional | — | — | — | — |
| Mood/modality | — | — | — | — |
| Negation | — | — | — | — |
| Evidential or linker | — | — | — | — |
Aspect example on mòna “eat”
Shows how the verb mòna changes under neutral, ongoing, completed, habitual, beginning, continuing, and resultative readings.
| Suffix | Form | Value | Use | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neutral | — | — | — | — |
| Imperfective | — | — | — | — |
| Perfective | — | — | — | — |
| Habitual | — | — | — | — |
| Inceptive | — | — | — | — |
| Continuative | — | — | — | — |
| Resultative completive | — | — | — | — |
Mood, Ability, and Obligation
Covers clause force and possibility: statements, commands, prohibitions, duties, ability, unreal situations, and wishes.
| Suffix | Example | Meaning | Typical agent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicative | — | — | — | — |
| Imperative | — | — | — | — |
| Prohibitive | — | — | — | — |
| Obligative | — | — | — | — |
| Ability | — | — | — | — |
| Irrealis | — | — | — | — |
| Optative | — | — | — | — |
Evidential Particles
Lists particles that show how the speaker knows something: seeing, hearing, inference, report, memory, or informal unmarked speech.
| Particle | Example | Translation strategy | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visual/direct | — | — | — |
| Auditory | — | — | — |
| Inferential | — | — | — |
| Reported | — | — | — |
| Remembered | — | — | — |
| Informal/unmarked | — | — | — |
Switch-Reference Clitics
Tracks whether a following clause keeps the same body-agent, changes subject, keeps the same possessor, stays within the same group, or shifts topic.
| Clitic | Example dependent clause | Follow-up meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Same body-agent | — | — | — |
| Different subject | — | — | — |
| Same possessor | — | — | — |
| Same collective | — | — | — |
| Distal topic shift | — | — | — |
Negation and Denial
Separates ordinary negation from past non-occurrence, prohibitions, inability, denial of reports, and corrective denial.
| Form | Example | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain negation | — | — | — |
| Past non-occurrence | — | — | — |
| Prohibitive | — | — | — |
| Inability | — | — | — |
| Denial of report | — | — | — |
| Corrective denial | — | — | — |
Mountain-Specific Directionals
Gives Neruañ’s terrain-based motion system, especially uphill, downhill, across-slope, settlementward, outward, and ridge-following movement.
| Directional Pattern | Extended value | Example Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uphill | — | — | — |
| Downhill | — | — | — |
| Across slope | — | — | — |
| Hearthward | — | — | — |
| Outward | — | — | — |
| Ridgewise | — | — | — |
Nominal Derivation
Shows suffixes that derive places, tools, people, communities, substances, and edges from base roots.
| Meaning | Suffix | Base | Derived form | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place noun | — | — | — | — |
| Tool noun | — | — | — | — |
| Person noun | — | — | — | — |
| Community noun | — | — | — | — |
| Substance noun | — | — | — | — |
| Boundary noun | — | — | — | — |
Verbal Derivation
Shows how verbs are expanded for causing, applying to an object or beneficiary, reciprocal action, reflexive/body-internal action, weaker action, and stronger action.
| Meaning | Suffix | Base | Derived form | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Causative | — | — | — | — |
| Applicative | — | — | — | — |
| Reciprocal | — | — | — | — |
| Body-internal/Reflexive | — | — | — | — |
| Attenuative | — | — | — | — |
| Intensive | — | — | — | — |
Clause Linkers
Lists linkers for continuing a clause chain, changing subjects, giving cause, marking contrast, timing events, and separating reported speech.
| Linker | Example | Translation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Same-subject continuation | — | — | — |
| Different-subject continuation | — | — | — |
| Cause linker | — | — | — |
| Contrast linker | — | — | — |
| Temporal linker | — | — | — |
| Report boundary | — | — | — |
Questions and Focus
Covers yes/no questions, content questions, reason questions, focus, contrastive focus, and quoted questions.
| Form | Example | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes/no question | — | — | — |
| Content question | — | — | — |
| Reason question | — | — | — |
| Focus marker | — | — | — |
| Contrastive focus | — | — | — |
| Quoted question | — | — | — |
Loanword Phonetic Adaptation
Explains how Neruañ handles loan phonemes and clusters, especially sounds associated with Kendusyn and Igniazi Bitiasau loans.
| Specialized Loanword | Ordinary Loanword | Example | Translation | Notes on usage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loan /b/ | — | — | — | — | — |
| Loan /d/ | — | — | — | — | — |
| Loan /g/ | — | — | — | — | — |
| Loan /ɣ/ | — | — | — | — | — |
| Loan /ɬ/ | — | — | — | — | — |
| cluster repair | — | — | — | — | — |
Stress, Length, and Vowel Reduction
Shows regular stress placement, effects of long vowels, suffixation, reduced vowels, older lexical stress, and loanword stress.
| Stress rule | Example | Expected pronunciation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary disyllable | — | — | — |
| Long vowel present | — | — | — |
| Suffix added | — | — | — |
| Reduced vowel | — | — | — |
| Lexical old form | — | — | — |
| Loanword | — | — | — |
Applied Forms of mòna “eat”
Gives complete sample clauses for eating, including ongoing, completed, inferred, deliberate, negative, future, prohibitive, and reported readings.
| Neruañ | Literal structure | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eating now | — | — | — |
| Ate | — | — | — |
| Apparently ate | — | — | — |
| Deliberately ate | — | — | — |
| Did not eat | — | — | — |
| Will eat | — | — | — |
| Do not eat | — | — | — |
| Reportedly ate | — | — | — |
Applied Movement Clauses
Gives sample motion clauses using mountain-path directionals and body-agent movement syntax.
| Neruañ | Literal structure | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Climb upward | — | — | — |
| Go downhill | — | — | — |
| Cross slope | — | — | — |
| Return hearthward | — | — | — |
| Leave outward | — | — | — |
Applied Speech and Thought Clauses
Gives sample clauses for speaking, hearing one’s own speech, thinking, remembering, reported error, and accepting responsibility for speech.
| Neruañ | Literal structure | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Say it | — | — | — |
| Hear oneself speak | — | — | — |
| Think true | — | — | — |
| Remember path | — | — | — |
| Reported wrong speech | — | — | — |
| Accept speech responsibility | — | — | — |