Nuim

General Information
Nuim is the native language of the merrow who live in the world ciel.

Consonants

 * /p/, /t/, and /k/ are voiced [b], [d], and [g] between vowels.
 * /f/, /s/, and /ʃ/ are voiced [v], [z], and [ʒ] between vowels.
 * [ʃ], [ʒ], [ɹ], and [j] are romanized "c", "x", "r", and "y".

Phonotactics
Nuim's syllable structure is (C)V(C). /p/, /t/, /k/, /h/, /j/, and /w/ are not permitted as codas.

Stress
Nuim places stress on either the first complex syllable or the second syllable, whichever comes first. Any syllable with a coda is complex.

Onsets
Most sentences begin with a set of words called the onset, which states the speaker's perspective on the rest of the sentence. An onset consists of three parts: an intensifier, an emotive, and an evidential.

Intensifiers
The intensifier component of the onset serves to intensify (or weaken) the emotive component of the onset. An onset does not require an intensifier.

Emotives
The emotive component of the onset serves to state the speaker's emotions. Emotives generally reflect the speaker's emotions about the rest of the sentence or at the time of the utterance. Onsets require an emotive.


 * Using an emotive in the pattern EMOT ~ waf. means something like "I feel EMOT because of ~." El ~ waf. means something like "I love/like ~.", Fon ~ waf. means something like "I'm afraid of ~.", and so on.
 * The emotive yor "gratitude" is used similarly to both "please" and "thank you." It is often included in the onsets of requests to mean "I would be grateful if..."
 * The emotive caf "indifference" has a negative connotation in regular speech and is rarely used. In contrast, the emotive ar "joy" has a more neutral connotation and is often used as a default emotive in regular speech.
 * The emotive hi "wonder" is used much like an question particle to indicate that the rest of the sentence is interrogative.

Derivations
Any emotive can be turned into a noun by following it with the bound noun ucso "feeling" and into a verb by following it with the bound verb ehar "to feel." The resulting noun or verb can be used like any other noun or verb and should not appear in the onset.

Evidentials
The evidential component of the onset serves to state the source of the speaker's knowledge about the rest of the sentence. An onset should have an evidential if and only if the speaker is not the subject of the main verb.


 * The evidentials ra "visual sensory" and pi "nonvisual sensory" state that the speaker's knowledge comes from direct observation, either visual (ra) or hearing, smelling, etc. (pi)
 * The evidential co "inferential" states that the speaker's knowledge was inferred, possibly from direct evidence, common knowledge, or something similar.
 * The evidential nus "reportative" states that the speaker's knowledge comes from another party. Someone might have told them, they might have read about it somewhere, and so on.

Nouns
Nuim has no grammatical number, gender, or articles and nouns are not inflected for these things. Any noun could be singular or plural, definite or indefinite, or refer to a male or female. Context determines which.

Collectivity
While Nuim does not have grammatical number, nouns can be turned into collective nouns via reduplication. A reduplicated noun can mean either a group of the noun or the noun in general. A reduplicated noun cannot simply mean more than one of the noun.

Modification
A noun immediately preceding another noun modifies that noun. The nature of this modification can be that of possession, composition, origin, apposition, etc. If one noun would immediately precede another noun and those nouns are not in a modification relationship, the separator particle ec should be occur between them.

Cases
Case particles immediately follow the noun they mark.

Derivations
Nouns can be turned into stative verbs with the suffix -li/-l. This suffix is realized as -li if the final syllable of the noun has a coda and as -l if it doesn't. The resulting verb means "to be N" and can be used like any other stative verb.

Correlatives

 * Determiners behave like numbers and cannot modify a noun without being immediately followed by a classifier.

Verbs
Nuim has no grammatical agreement, tenses, or aspects and verbs are not inflected for these things. Any verb can take any arguments (limited by valency and semantics, of course) and temporal information must come from context or overt time phrases.

Negation
The negation particle ka immediately precedes the verb it marks.

Voices
Voice particles immediately follow the verb they mark.


 * When marking a verb as passive turn the object into the subject. The former subject may be turned into an oblique noun marked with su "from" or omitted.
 * When marking a verb as causative turn the causer of the action into the subject. The former subject may be turned into an oblique noun marked with fa "to, toward" or omitted.
 * When marking a verb as applicative turn an appropriate oblique noun into the object. The former object may be turned into an oblique noun marked with ko "concerning, about" or omitted.

Moods
Mood particles immediately follow the verb or the voice particle that marks the verb they mark.


 * Imperative verbs may omit their subjects without implying that the subject is the speaker. If an imperative verb is a sentence's main verb, that sentence's onset may omit its evidential. Nif is considered to be more polite than fu.

Serial Verbs
Two verbs one immediately preceding the other can be said to be serial if neither verb is subordinate to the other. A set of serial verbs acts as a single verb; any particles that would precede a serial verb precede the entire set of serial verbs and any particles that would follow a serialized verb likewise follow the entire set. All of the serial verbs in the set determine the set's arguments; if one verb requires a particular argument, the whole set requires that argument.

Compound Verbs
Two verbs one immediately preceding the other can be said to be compound if the second verb is subordinate to and only provides fine shades of meaning to the first verb. A set of compound verbs acts as a single verb just like a set of serial verbs. Unlike serial verbs, only the first verb in the set, known as the primary verb, determines the set's arguments. The second verb, known as the vector verb, only provides fine shades of meaning.

Bound Verbs
Some verbs, known as bound verbs, can only appear as vector verbs. These verbs cannot be used on their own, as serial verbs, or as primary verbs and they cannot take any arguments.

Derivations
Verbs can be turned into other parts of speech with the following suffixes.


 * -Me/-m is realized as -me if the final syllable of the verb has a coda and as -m if it doesn't.

Adjectives
Nuim does not have grammatical adjectives as a separate class from verbs. As such, this section will discuss stative verbs, Nuim's equivalent to adjectives.

Intensifiers
Intensifier particles immediately precede the verb or the negation particle that marks the verb they mark.

Comparatives
Verbs are not marked for comparison. To say that one noun is more V than another noun, immediately precede the first noun with the second noun and mark the second noun with the case particle fo "than."

Superlatives
Superlative particles immediately precede the verb or the negation particle that marks the verb they mark.

Numerals
The Nuim numeral system is quinary (base 5) and has two subsystems for forming large numbers: a multiplicative subsystem and a positional subsystem. Numbers precede the nouns they modify.

Multiplicative Numerals
Smaller large numbers can be formed by immediately preceding ru "five" or paf "twenty five" with one of the numbers 2-4 to multiply them together. Paf "twenty five" can also be immediately preceded by ru "five." The largest number that can be produced with this system is ho ru paf ho paf ho ru ho "six-hundred twenty four."

Positional Numerals
Larger large numbers can be formed with the suffix -cu. N-cu means that the immediately preceding number occurs in position N (where 1 is the ones place, 2 is the fives place, etc.). With positional numerals the largest multiplicative numeral 624 can be written ho hoxu ho saxu ho temcu ho (pixu).

Multiplicative numerals can be inserted into the positional numeral system, both as positional numerals and as the number at the stated position. If a positional numeral (a numeral with the suffix -cu) consists of more than one word (such as ho ru "one-hundred") the separator particle ec should occur between the positional numeral and the number at the stated position.

Fractions
Fractions can be formed by inserting the fraction particle ren between the numerator and the denominator.

Ordinal Numbers
A number can be turned into an ordinal number with the suffix -pe/-p. This suffix is realized as -pe if the final syllable of the number has a coda and as -p if it doesn't. The resulting ordinal number is a stative verb and behaves as such.

Frequency Numbers
A number can be turned into a frequency number with the suffix -suc. The resulting frequency number is an adverb and means "N times."

Classifiers
Nuim requires classifiers to occur between numbers and the nouns they modify. Most nouns have a default classifier which is used when they are counted, but other classifiers can be used to provide other shades of meaning.

Clauses
Nuim is an SOV language. A clause's subject precedes its object, which precedes its verb. Nuim permits the omission of both subjects and objects, so SV, OV, and V clauses are possible.

The subject of a clause without an overt subject is assumed to be the speaker. However, if the subject of a clause without an overt subject could not be the speaker (the clause contains the main verb and the onset has an evidential, for example) the subject must come from context. An omitted object always comes from context.

Relative Clauses
A verb immediately preceding a noun modifies that noun. The nature of this modification is similar to that of adjectives (with stative verbs) and relative clauses (with active verbs). If a verb would immediately precede a noun and those words are not in a modification relationship, the separator particle ec should occur between them.

If the modified noun would be the subject of the relative clause, the subject should be omitted from the relative clause. This is one of the few cases when an omitted subject is not automatically the speaker. This is similarly true for objects. If the modified noun would be anything other than the subject or object of the relative clause, the noun in the relative clause should be replaced with a pronoun.

Dependent Clauses
Dependent clauses precede the clause they depend on. Dependent clause particles occur between the dependent clause and the independent clause.

Quotations
A clause can be turned into a quotation by following it with the quotation particle yom. A direct quotation is allowed its own onset, while an indirect quotation is not.

Serial Clauses
Two clauses one immediately preceding the other can be said to be serial if neither clause is subordinate to the other. A set of serial clauses acts as a single clause; any dependent clauses that would precede a serial clause precede the entire set of serial clauses. The separator particle ec must occur between serial clauses. Without it, the first serial clause would look like a relative clause modifying the second serial clause's subject.

Questions
If a sentence's onset has the emotive hi "wonder," the sentence is interrogative. If the sentence contains no interrogative pronouns, it is a yes-no question. If the sentence contains at least one interrogative pronoun, it is a wh-question.

Nuim does not have words for "yes" and "no." Yes-no questions are answered by echoing the main verb of the interrogative sentence. If the main verb is echoed positively (without the negation particle ka) "yes" is meant. If the main verb is echoed negatively (with the negation particle ka) "no" is meant.

Conjunctions
Conjunction particles occur between the elements they conjoin.

Special Particles
Special particles immediately follow the element they mark.


 * The separator particle ec occurs between two elements to show that the two elements are not in a modification relationship. Ec often occurs between nouns that would otherwise be adjacent to each other and between clauses where the lack of ec would indicate that the first clause was a relative clause modifying the subject of the second.
 * The definer particle yu serves to set the meaning of the word immediately following yu to that of the element immediately preceding yu. This technically allows words to stand in for entire sentences but the results of such usage are very hard to understand. Yu is more often used to add additional information to a word, in a manner resembling apposition, or to create unique pronouns for particular people or things.