Tikati

Vowels
The letter a is pronounced as an open back-to-front unrounded diphthong after /q/, and as an open front-to-back unrounded diphthong before /q/. There are two phonemic diphthongs: /ai/ (aī) and /au/ (aū).

Alphabet
Aa Ii Kk Ll Pp Qq Rr Tt Ťť Uu

Ť represents the voiceless retroflex lateral fricative.

Phonotactics
Statements of fact, wishes, hopes, commands, admiratives (surprise, irony, sarcasm, pretense, etc.), and intents have rising intonation on the final syllable. Interrogatives and polar questions have falling intonation on the final syllable.

There are a few phonemic changes in TIkati. /t/ becomes /ꞎ/ before or after a plosive. A root cannot begin with <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-alt:"Optima ExtraBlack"; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Arial Unicode MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-fareast-language:JA;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} -ɬ̢ / before or after another stop (/p/, /t/, /k/, /q/). /a/ becomes /i/ when the two syllables immediately before the syllable with /a/ contain /u/ and /i/. For example, iata becomes iita when preceded by the feminine prefix pu, since puiata is not allowed. /i/ becomes /i.u/ immediately before /q/ and /ai/ immediately after /q/. Finally, /ai/ becomes /au/ immediately before /q/.

Noun and verb roots cannot end with /p/, /u/, or, with the exception of certain loanwords, a diphthong (aī or aū). Roots also cannot begin with certain consonant clusters: /kɬ̢/, /ɬ̢t /, /pɾ/, /ta plosive followed by /ɾ/ or /l/. Two consecutive stops can only occur in the coda of a root. Clusters of more than two consonants are prohibited in every environment.

Verbs
Verbs are conjugated for gender (masculine and feminine), animacy (animate and inanimate), number (singular and plural), tense (past and non-past), aspect (perfective, imperfective, continuous, pausative, and resumptive), person (1st inclusive, 1st exclusive, 2nd, and 3rd), and mood (indicative, subjunctive, optative, potential, interrogative, energetic, conditional, dubitative, hypothetical, admirative, adhortative, exhortative, suprahortative, dehortative, inhortative, infrahortative, and cohortative). Consequently, each verb has over 4,000 unique forms. All verbs are transitive, and there are deponent or defective verbs. Volition can be marked on verbs with an infix after the first consonant in the stem. Different infixes are used for different verbs, depending on what type of action the verb denotes and the relative sizes of the subject and object.

Syntax
Word order is OVS (object-verb-subject), and it can only be changed for emphasis if context makes clear the subject and object. The general order of postpositional phrases is manner-place-time. There are coördinating nor subordinating conjunctions. Subordinate clauses are instead constructed with serial verbs. There are ten voices: active, passive, passival, mediopassive, middle, causative, reciprocal, adjutative, applicative, and coöperative. These are marked with prefixes on the subject of the verb and inverted word order. Tikati lacks adjectives and adverbs, but does have a few pro-adverbs. Postpositions are employed exclusively.

There is a special particle for question tags. Content clauses are included in the verb of the main clause (e.g. "I think (that) [x] is [y]" is represented by a single verb, Uqaūtik, and could be used as follows: Paratiiaqluk Uqaūtupťik ' "I think (that) a killer whale is big", where paratii means "is big", aqluk means "killer whale", and -tup- is the first person singular present active indicative infix.