High Kickish

General Information
Standard High Kickish (natively !Aysik [ˈ!ˀɑjsɪkʰ]) is a language spoken by the Cittus (natively Siituf [ˈsiːtʰɯ̽ɬ]), buglike sapients from the planet Cittus-V (natively Gǂer [ˈᶢǂæɹ]) and one of the founding species of the Allied Intelligences. SHK is the standard variety, taught in schools.

Consonants
d, t, c, s, r, g!, !h, !, f, gǁ, ǁh, ǁ, g, k, y, gǂ, ǂh, ǂ, q, qħ, ħ, x, ', h

Vowels
i, ii, u, uu, e, a

Gender and Number
Genders are three:
 * 1) Feminine: used for female Cittus and some inanimate objects. Shows singular, dual, and plural number.
 * 2) Masculine: used for male Cittus and some inanimate objects. Shows singular and plural number.
 * 3) Juvenile: used for juvenile Cittus who have not yet differentiated into male and female, and some inanimate objects. Shows singular and plural number.

Pronouns
Pronouns are a very recently closed subclass of nouns, inflecting for all of the same categories as nouns and even matching some nouns in form (e. g. the word for little one is the ordinary 3s.juv pronoun). They are however also marked suppletively for three levels of deference.

Verbs
Verbs have three conjugation classes and are a closed class of about 120. They conjugate according to three tenses, two to three evidentialities, person and number of the subject, and deference to the listener(s). Grammatical voice and modality are shown periphrastically.

Passive
The passive construction

Adjectives and Adverbs
Adjectives and adverbs together form a closed but rather large set of prefixes.

Syntax
Case is not marked, so word order is very strict. SVO is the norm.

Noun phrase

 * ex. Siituf ye a Gǂer
 * Cittus-juv.sg DEF GEN Cittus.V-juv.sg
 * the Cittus of Cittus-V

Verb phrase

 *  ex. ǂiceħiid qey
 * speak-NFIN PASS-3.sg
 * is spoken

Formality
There are three primary registers of speech.
 * 1) deferential: used to signify unfamiliarity and respect to the listeners.
 * 2) ordinary: the unmarked register, safe to use anytime.
 * 3) slang: used to signify familiarity to the listener, whether that be respect as friends or rudeness.

Vocabulary
Because of differences in anatomy and physiology, many categories of words are very different from their Earthly counterparts.

Colors
The Cittus live around a star which spits out more light in the ultraviolet than our own. They have adapted to see a wider range of color than us, granting them not three dimensional color like us Humans, but four dimensional color.

Color words are typically used in compounds in which they serve to represent all nouns of that color.

Example text
intelligent-f.pl give.birth-NFIN do-NDIR.PRES.3p COM freedom-f.sg and equality-juv.sg regard-NFIN dignity-juv.pl and freedom-f.pl GEN 3p.juv / 3p.juv give-NFIN do-NDIR.PRES.3p ability-f.pl GEN smart-think-NFIN and proper-act-NFIN should-NDIR.PRES.3p BENE other-f.pl GEN intelligent-f.pl FORM sibling-juv.pl /

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)