Tikati

Phonology
Allophones are shown in parentheses.

/p/ is typically /b/ intervocalically.

/t/ is occasionally /ʈ/ in words with /ɭ̊/, especially when the /t/ occurs after the /ɭ̊/.

/l/ varies among /l, ɭ, ʟ, ʟ̠/, with none predominating.

/ɭ̊/ is always labialised when surrounded by /u/, and sometimes when followed by /u/.

/ʁ/ is occasionally /ʕ̞/. For some speakers, “r” is not sounded at all; instead, the previous sound is pronounced with stiff or creaky voice.

Vowels
The letter a is pronounced as open (near-)back unrounded next to /q/, while /i/ and /u/ are lowered to /e/ and /o/ in the same vicinity. 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 approximant. Some sources use Ł instead; that letter is placed after L in the alphabet.

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.

/t/ becomes /ꞎ/ before or after another plosive. Syllable structure is (C)(C)V(V)(C)(C). Permitted initial clusters are /ɭ̊p, ɭ̊t, ɭ̊k, ɭ̊q, pɭ̊, tɭ̊, kɭ̊, qɭ̊/. One, /tɭ̊/, only occurs in a few loanwords. In the coda, the previous clusters (excluding /ɭ̊p/) in addition to /pk/ and /pq/ are allowed. In the coda, /p/ is forbidden, and diphthongs are generally avoided. Two consecutive stops can only occur in the coda of a root or across root boundaries. Clusters of more than two consonants are prohibited in every environment.

Verbs
Verbs are conjugated for noun class (feminine animate, masculine animate, feminine inanimate, masculine inanimate; these are, respectively, considered Classes 1 to 4), number (singular and plural), tense (past and non-past), aspect (simple, perfect, 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 2,500 unique forms. Tikati avoids intransitive verbs by using various transitivising and detransitivising affixes, and there are no 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.

The moods of Tikati shall here be described:

The indicative mood in Tikati is used for statements of actuality or strong probability.

The subjunctive mood expresses a state of unreality, namely an emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, or necessity, or an action that has not yet occurred.

The optative mood indicates a wish or hope.

The potential mood indicates that, in the opinion of the speaker, an action or occurrence is likely or probable.

The interrogative mood indicates a question.

The energetic mood expresses something that is strongly believed or that the speaker wishes to emphasize.

The conditional mood expresses a proposition whose validity is dependent on some condition, e.g. "would" or "might". It is also used for the “then” part of an “if… then” clause.

The dubitative mood expresses the speaker's doubt or uncertainty about the event denoted by the verb.

The hypothetical mood expresses a counterfactual but possible event or situation, usually translated with the modal verb could.

The admirative mood expresses, especially: surprise, irony, sarcasm, and pretense.

There are many hortatives in Tikati; namely:

Adhortative (encouragement or gentle urging);

Exhortative (avid encouragement or strong urging);

Suprahortative (pleas of encouragement or absolute urging);

Dehortative (discouragement or gentle urging against);

Inhortative (avid discouragement or strong urging against);

Infrahortative (pleas of discouragement or absolute urging against);

Cohortative (mutual encouragement or discouragement).

Complete verb conjugation for the verb qatik "to talk" follows. Due to the authour's inability to make a table, the conjugation is instead in the form of a bulleted list. The authour has just realised that there are still sixteen moods, one tense, four simple aspects, four complex aspects, and every negative form to do, and has thereby made the decision to cease his work hereön.
 * Present/Non-past
 * Simple
 * Positive
 * Indicative
 * Singular
 * First person
 *  qatupťik 
 * Second person
 *  qalutťik 
 * Third person
 * Animate
 * Masculine
 *  qatiipaltik 
 * Feminine
 *  qatiitik 
 * Inanimate
 * Masculine
 *  qaiutik 
 * Feminine
 *  qaratik 
 * Plural
 * First person inclusive
 *  qaluqutik 
 * First person exclusive
 * Animate
 * Masculine
 *  qalapitik 
 * Feminine
 *  qalapitik 
 * Mixed gender
 *  qalaipťik 
 * Inanimate
 * Masculine
 *  qatalitik 
 * Feminine
 *  qatalitik 
 * Mixed gender
 *  qalaipťik 
 * Mixed animacy
 * Masculine
 *  qalapatik 
 * Feminine
 *  qaapatik 
 * Mixed gender
 *  qatalitik 
 * Second person
 * Masculine
 *  qakaplatik 
 * Feminine
 * Animate
 *  qakakťik 
 * Inanimate
 *  qaaīltik 
 * Mixed animacy
 *  qakaplatik 
 * Mixed gender
 * Animate
 *  qakapťik 
 * Inanimate
 *  qaaīltik 
 * Mixed animacy
 *  qaplakutťik 
 * Third person
 * Masculine
 * Animate
 *  qaaťatik 
 * Inanimate
 *  qalukatik 
 * Mixed animacy
 *  qataťilutik 
 * Feminine
 * Animate
 *  qaatik 
 * Inanimate
 *  qarakatik 
 * Mixed animacy
 *  qapukitik 
 * Mixed gender
 * Animate
 *  qapiťutik 
 * Inanimate
 *  qaaatik 
 * Mixed animacy
 *  qaplakutťik 

Syntax
Word order is strictly OVS (object-verb-subject). The general order of postpositional phrases is manner-place-time. There are no coördinating or subordinating conjunctions. Coördinate clauses are instead constructed with serial verbs, and subordinate clauses are constructed with postpositions and incorporation of nominalised subordinate verbs. There are ten voices: active, passive, middle, passival, mediopassive, causative, reciprocal, adjutative, applicative, and coöperative. These are marked immediately after the verbal root and also often involve different word orders. 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, Uqaūt, and could be used as follows: Paratiiaqluk Uqaūtup "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 suffix.

The voices of Tikati shall here be described:

Active: subject is understood as performing the action upon the object.

Passive: subject is understood as undergoing the action from a (possibly stated) object.

Passival: passive in meaning, but active in form, i.e. subject is understood as undergoing the action even though the sentence is active in form.

Middle: active in meaning, but passive in form, i.e. subject is understood as performing the action even though the sentence is passive in form. Used for many verbs related to movement. Analogous to English unaccusative verbs, where the syntactic argument is not a semantic agent.

Mediopassive: used for reflexive meanings, autocausatives (where the subject causes itself to change state), and many stative verbs.

Causative: promotes oblique argument to actor argument with meaning “to cause to” or “to make”; increases valency by one.

Reciprocal: each argument occupies both the role of agent and patient with respect to the other. Translated as "[x] and [y] did [z] to/with/for one another".

Adjutative: promotes oblique argument to actor argument with meaning “to help to” or “to allow”; increases valency by one.

Applicative: promotes an oblique argument of a verb to the core object argument and indicates the oblique role within the meaning of the verb.

Coöperative: signifies a coöperative activity with the meaning "together". Can also be used to promote a core object to the role of subject, which it shares with the original subject to create two subjects and an intransitive-appearing verb.