High Kickish

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

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, "srā" 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.

Conjugation classes
Verbs may be one of three conjugation classes:
 * 1) ūd verbs: the largest class.
 * 2) ħīd verbs: the verb stems can only end in a vowel or.
 * 3) īd verbs: the smallest class with the most irregular verbs.

Present Direct tense
-ūd verbs -ħīd verbs -īd verbs

Example regular verbs
Gūd [ˈkɯːt]: to give Ceħīd [ˈtsɛħiːt]: to speak Qharīd [ˈ!ʰʌɹiːt]: to look (at/into), regard, check

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. Sītul ye a Gçēr
 * Cittus-juv.pl DEF GEN Cittus.V-juv.sg
 * the Cittus of Cittus-V

Verb phrase

 * ex. ceħīd xhi'ī
 * speak-NFIN loud-PASS-3.sg
 * is spoken loudly

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.

Numbers
The Cittus typically crawl on all six limbs, but they do use their first two pairs of limbs for manipulation. On each foot they have three clawlike fingers and a clawlike thumb. Their counting base is twelve, achieved by counting the fingers of their manipulative limbs.

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.

Directions

 * Also considered cardinal directions are up (ħīri) and down ('artē'ħi).

Example text
Laigesel ye lalūd 'ī gqi līkerde ut 'akya qharīd 'idigqal ut līkerdel a ħel. Ħel gūd 'ī 'ħūsel a qaicisūd ut rajakasūd sī çhai hicel a laigesel ye ji 'ergal.

intelligent-f.pl DEF 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 DEF 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)