Áyarikana Ínyaukahi

Introductory Lessons in Inyauk

by Bianca M.
 Chapters

Lesson One
! Introduction to Inyauk

Lesson Two
! Inyauk Nouns
! Number
! Glottal Stop Insertion

Lesson Three
! Pronouns
! The Adjectizer
! Nasal Assimulation
! Vowel Lengthening

Lesson Four
! Articles
! Demonstratives
! Vowel Insertion

Lesson Five
! Possessive Determiners
! Quantifiers

Lesson Six
! Noun Review

Noun Quiz

Lesson Seven
! Inyauk Verbs
! Tense
! Aspect

Lesson Eight
! Inyauk Postpositions
! Agent Postposition
Lesson Nine
! Object Postposition

Answer Key

Glossary
 Lesson One
Hírinayinaki

Why should I learn Inyauk?

Inyauk is the language belonging to the Inyauk people. It is a fairly easy to learn agglutinating
language, and if you ever meet an Inyak knowing some of their language may stop them from
killing you.

The Sounds of Inyauk

If you speak English, then speaking Inyauk with be a snap! Most of the sounds of Inyauk are
present in English and the syllable structure is much simpler.

Phonetic p b t d k g & m n # f " s

Romanization p b t d k g m n ny f z s
Phonetic % x ' ( l $ j a a) i i) u u)
Romanization x h ts tx l r y a aa i ii u uu

Vowels can be geminated.

Also there are two diphthongs.
/ a*u a*i /
< au ai >
 Lesson Two
Hírinayinamiu

The Nouns of Inyauk

Since it is an agglutinating language much of its grammar focuses on root words and the
affixes which attach to them. The first step to learning Inyauk is learning the noun affixes.

Number
There are three number distinctions in Inyauk - singular, dual and plural. The singular (sg) is
formed by leaving the root word unchanged. The dual (dl) is formed by infixing '-ni-' before the
last consonant of the root. And the plural (pl) is formed by infixing '-u-' before the last
consonant of the root.

For example, the root word for 'person' is 'ínyak.' Two people are 'ínyanik' and three or more
people are 'ínyauk.'

Example:
ínyak ! ínya<ni>k ! ínyanik
ínyak ! ínya<u>k ! ínyauk

Practice – Number: Please provide the dual and plural forms of the following nouns. You can
check your answers by using the answer key at the end of the lessons. In the future, all root
words can be found in the glossary that is provided after the answer key.

cat - náka
child - bát
green - íhda
friend - míraan
fruit - áak

Please check you answers. Did you get the exercises right? If so, good work!

However, you will notice that some of the words have *'s next them. This means that while
your work was correct, there is still more to be done.

Glottal Stop Insertion

Inyauk has a regular stress pattern where the first vowel of the root is always stressed. I
indicate this with an accent over the vowel. Stressed vowels must be isolated; they cannot be
part of a diphthong or long vowel. In order to maintain this isolation a glottal stop is insert
between the stressed vowel and any adjacent vowels. However, because this is such a
regular and common rule, it is not shown in the romanization.
Example:
náuka ! /ná&uka/
Saying /na*uka/ would make you a dumb foreigner and you don't want to be a dumb foreigner
do you?

Practice – Glottal Stops: Complete the glottal stop insertion for the following words from the
previous exercise.

báut
áanik
áauk
 Lesson Three
Hírinayinatxag

Pronouns
Inyauk has twelve different pronouns. There are four persons and three numbers, just like the
nouns before.

Singular Dual Plural

First Person txí txín txú
Second Person fí fín fú
Third Person ní nín nú
Fourth Person zí zín zú

Notice that there is a regular pattern as to how pronouns are formed.

1st Person: tx-

2nd Person: f-
3rd Person: n-
4th Person: z-

Singular: -i
Dual: -in
Plural: -u

You may be wondering what the fourth person is used for but that will be discussed in a later
lesson. The rest is fairly straightforward.

The Adjectizer
One of the most interesting/contentious feature of Inyauk is the adjectizer. Inyauk does not
have adjectives (as a grammatical category). In order to describe things in Inyauk, you need
to use the adjectizer.

The Adjectizer (ADJ) '-na-' is an affix added directly after the root. However, it can never be
used alone! It must always be followed by another root. So the form is ROOT-na-modifier, like
Spanish the word being described comes first.

Example:
nákanainyar
náka-na-ínyar
cat-ADJ-brown
'brown cat'
Practice - Adjectizer: Please translate the following phrases.

green cat
fat cat
cat fatness
brown horse
short person

Did your forms match those in the answer key? If so, good work! Also don't forget you're
glottal stop insertion. You may also notice that one of the words has that * again. This
because there is still work to be done on this form.

Nasal Assimilation
Nasal sounds /m/, /n/ & /#/ will change if placed next to one another. The second nasal will
take the same form as the first nasal.

Example:
mn ! mm
nm ! nn

However, consonants in Inyauk cannot be geminated. This still leaves us with the original
problem of a geminated /n/ in 'bíluunnanaka'. So a process called vowel lengthening must
take place.

Vowel Lengthening
When a geminated consonant occurs the second consonant will become the same as the
following vowel. In effect, the length is transferred from the consonant to the vowel. Note: this
will occur for all geminated consonants, not just nasals.

Example: 'bíluunaanaka'
bíluun-na-naka ! bíluunnanaka ! bíluunaanaka

Practice – Vowel Lengthening: Please provide the correct forms for the following sequences.

short friend
red shoes
old friend
 Lesson Four
Hírinayinayu

Articles
In order to specify which noun you mean when speaking you can use an article. There are
both definite and indefinite articles in Inyauk. The definite article (DEF) 'i-' and the indefinite
article (IDF) 'nah-' are prefixes and attach to the root.

Examples:
ináka
i-náka
DEF-cat
'the cat'

inákanainyar
i-náka-na-inyar
DEF-cat-ADJ-brown
'the brown cat'

nahnáka
nah-náka
IDF-cat
'a cat'

nahnákanabiluun
nah-náka-na-biluun
IDF-cat-ADJ-fat
'a fat cat'

Practice – Articles: Please translate the following.

Note: 'some' here is used as a plural indefinite article.

the child
some children
the person
some people
a horse
the two trees

Did you get the practice right? Did you remember to isolate the stressed vowel?

Demonstratives
In addition to the articles there are three demonstrative affixes in Inyauk. There is the
proximal (PRX) prefix 'l-', the medial (MED) prefix 'ad-', and the distal (DSL) prefix 'apya-'.
They are used in the same way as the articles. However, demonstrative and articles cannot
be used together.
Examples:
línyak
l-ínyak
PRX-person
'this person'

adínyak
ad-ínyak
MED-person
'that person (next to you)'

apyaínyak
apya-ínyak
DSL-person
'that person (over there)'

Practice – Demonstratives: Please translate the following.

this green tree

that brown tree
that far away red tree
this turtle
these cats
those fat cats
those far away green turtles

Those were some tricky translations, did you get 'this turtle' right? It was a bit tricky, you had
to remember the rule for geminated consonants.

Here's the process step by step:

l-láfaur ! lláfaur ! laáfaur ! la&áfaur

You may also have noticed the strange form of 'lná&uka.' Here once again there is more work
to be done, however none of the processes you've learned so far work here. Since the cluster
'ln' does not assimilate or form a geminate another process must be used.

Vowel Insertion
Vowels will only be inserted between consonant clusters at the beginnings of words that
cannot undergo assimilation or that are not geminates. It is a last resort. When it does occur a
vowel is inserted between the offending consonants. The quality of this vowel is the same as
nearest vowel in the word, this does not include stress.

lnáka ! lanáka
 Lesson Five
Hírinayinadar

Possessive Determiners
Just as there are twelve pronouns there are twelve possessive determiners. They are
regularly formed and used as prefixes. Important: Possessive determiners do NOT take stress
but regular pronouns DO take stress.

Person # Pronoun Possessive

First sg txí itx-
dl txín nitx-
pl txú utx-
Second sg fí if-
dl fín nif-
pl fú uf-
Third sg ní in-
dl nín nin-
pl nú un-
Fourth sg zí iz-
dl zín niz-
pl zú uz-

Examples:
itxnáka
itx-náka
1spP-cat
'my cat'

itxnáuka
itx-ná<u>ka
1sgP-cat<pl>
'my cats'

utxnáka
utx-náka
1plP-cat
'our cat'
Practice – Possessive Determiners: Please translate the following phrases.

your (2sg) brown cat

your (2dl) old turtle
his friend
her mother
their (3pl) father
our (1pl) horses (pl)

itxáhdar
nitxáhdar
utxáhdar
ifáhdar
nifáhdar
ufáhdar
ináhdar
nináhdar
unáhdar

How did those translations go? This was your first time going from Inyauk to English.

Quantifiers
There are also three prefixes that are used to specify what proportion of a noun is being
discussed. The affix 'nu-' is used to express all (ALL) of a noun. When used with a singular
noun it denotes the entire object, and when used with a dual or plural noun it refers to the
entire population.

Example:
nunákanailir
nu-náka-na-ilir
ALL-cat-ADJ-white
'All of the cat is white.'

nunáukanailir
nu-ná<u>ka-na-ilir
ALL-cat<pl>-ADJ-white
'All cats are white.'

The affix 'sar-' is used to indicate some (SOM) of a noun. When used with a singular it refers
to part of the whole. When used with the dual it means half of the population, or one of the
two. Finally, when used with the plural it indicates part of the population. It does not conntate
either a large portion or a small portion.

Example:
sarnákanailir
sar-náka-na-ilir
SOM-cat-ADJ-white
'Part of the cat is white.'
sarnánikanailir
sar-ná<ni>ka-na-ilir
SOM-cat<dl>-ADJ-white
'One of the two cats is white.'

sarnáukanailir
sar-ná<u>ka-na-ilir
SOM-cat<pl>-ADJ-white
'Some cats are white.'

The affix 'yar-' is used to specify none (NON) of a noun.

Example:
yarnákanailir
yar-náka-na-ilir
NON-cat-ADJ-white
'None of the cat is white.'

yarnáukanailir
yar-ná<u>ka-na-ilir
NON-cat<pl>-ADJ-white
'None of cats are white.'
 Lesson Six
Hírinayinatus

Descriptors
Descriptors are four suffixes in Inyauk that slightly modify the root word. There is the
diminutive (DIM) suffix -yi is used to indicate a smaller object, the augmentative (AUG) -atat is
used to indicate a larger object, the feminine (FEM) -im is used to indicate a feminine object,
and the masculine (MSC) -ut is to indicate a masculine object.

Examples:
nákayi
náka-yi
cat-DIM
'small cat'

nákaatat
náka-atat
cat-AUG
'big cat'

nákaim
náka-im
cat-FEM
'female cat'

nákaut
náka-ut
cat-MSC
'male cat'

Descriptors can be used in combination. The order in which they are place determines which
is more prominent. The descriptor closest to the root is the more important.

Examples:
nákaimatat
náka-im-atat
cat-FEM-AUG
'big female cat'

nákaatatim
náka-atat-im
cat-AUG-FEM
'big female cat'
The table below shows the affixes you have learned so far. It is important to remember that
determiners cannot be used together but descriptors on the other hand can be. The
adjectizer, and modifying noun, will always come before any other descriptors though.

Determiners Root Descriptors

Indefinite IDF nah- Adjectizer ADJ -na-
Definite DEF i- Diminutive DIM -yi-
Proximal PRX l- Augmentative AUG -atat-
Medial MED ad- Masculine MSC -ut-
ROOT
Distal DSL apya- Feminine FEM -im
All ALL nu-
Some SOM sar-
None NON yar-
 Noun Quiz!

Please translate the following sequences.

a strong man
the tall woman
a little girl
this quick black horse
that cat is black
the dark moon
that bright sun
our friend is short
we are foreign
a bright blue star
those delicious fruit
they are smart
my smart friend
his fat sheep
that star
this big bird

Phew! That was a lot of work. How did you do? I know there were some tricky ones in there.
The good news is you have now passed basic noun training!
 Lesson Seven
Hírinayinapir

The Verbs of Inyauk

Much like the nouns, verbs in Inyauk rely heavily on affixes. There are no irregular verbs.
There is also no verb 'to be.' As you may have noticed the noun adjectizer often translates to
the verb 'be.'

Note: I will provide English translations for your benefit, but do not take them literally. So, just
because something translates as 'running' does not mean it is a gerund form. Also, English
and Inyauk tenses do not line up very well; so it is in your best interest to try to understand
based on the affixes and not rely too much on the translations.

Tense
There are three tenses in Inyauk - present, past and future. The present tense is not explicitly
marked, if tense is not given then the present is assumed. The past (PST) is formed by
adding the suffix '-al,' and the future (FUT) is formed by adding the suffix '-i.'

Aspect
There are three aspects in Inyauk - a starting action, a continuous action, and a completed
action. Aspect must be marked on all verbs! Aspect will always be placed after the tense.
Starting actions (STR) are marked with the suffix '-am,' continuous actions (CNT) are marked
with the suffix '-ana' and completed actions (END) are marked with the suffix '-ak.'

The starting aspect in combination with the present tense is used to indicate an action that is
'about to' start.

Example:

Aspect Present (-ø-) Past (-al-) Future (-i-)

Txím txákam. Txím txákalam. Txím txákiam.
Starting txí-im txák-am txí-im txák-al-am txí-im txák-i-am
(-am) 1sg-AGT run-STR 1sg-AGT run-PST-STR 1sg-AGT run-FUT-STR
'I am about to running.' 'I started to run.' 'I will start running.'
Txím txákana. Txím txákalana. Txím txákiana.
Continuous txí-im txák-ana txí-im txák-al-ana txí-im txák-i-ana
(-ana) 1sg-AGT run-CNT 1sg-AGT run-PST-CNT 1sg-AGT run-FUT-CNT
'I am running.' 'I was running.' 'I will be running.'
Txím txákak. Txím txákalak. Txím txákiak.
Completed txí-im txák-ak txí-im txák-al-ak txí-im txák-i-ak
(-ak) 1sg-AGT run-END 1sg-AGT run-PST-END 1sg-AGT run-FUT-END
'I just finished running.' 'I ran.' 'I will have run.'
 Lesson Eight
Hírinayinamur

The Postpositions of Inyauk

Postpositions are fundamental to Inyauk. In a properly formed sentence all nouns must have
a postposition. Up until now these lessons have been pretty simple, but the introduction of
postpositions means entering a more complex world.

One way of conceptualizing how postpositions work in Inyauk is to see them as ropes hooking
the nouns back to the verbs. They specify how the nouns work with the verb and in many
situations make them obsolete. In addition, they function as case markers as well.

Agent Postposition
This is probably the most used postposition. It denotes the agent (AGT) of an action. It is
used by placing the suffix '-im' after the noun.

Note: Postpositions are always the final elements attached to a word.

Example:
Txím txákana.
txí-im txák-ana
1sg-AGT run-CNT
'I am running.'

As an observant student I'm sure you are going "But why is it txím and not txíim?"
This is one of the few irregularities of Inyauk. Postpositions beginning with /i/ drop the /i/ when
being attached to pronouns ending in /i/ or /u/.

Example:
ním
ní-im
3sg-AGT
'He/She/It'

níim
ní-im
3sg-FEM
'She'
However this is not the case for regular nouns.

Example:
dáriim
dári-im
magic-AGT

dáriim
dári-im
magic-FEM

Practice: Please translate the following phrases. They will all use the agent postposition.

He ran.
They (3pl) ran.
I am jumping.
We (1dl) are about to dance.
You (2sg) danced.

I hope those weren't too painful!

 Lesson Nine
Hírinayinaak

Object Postposition
This is used to indicate object (OBJ) of a verb. It is marked with the suffix '-aya.' Generally, it
is used in conjunction with the Agent.

Example:
Txím lápalak ilúmaya.
txí-im láp-al-ak i-lúm-aya
1sg-AGT kick-PST-END DEF-ball-OBJ
'I kicked the ball.'

Because all nouns are obligatorily marked, word order is free. So the following are also
acceptable. SVO is the 'default' order, with variations emphasizing the first element.

Txím ilúmaya lápalak.

Lápalak ilúmaya txím.

Ilúmaya lápalak txím.

Lápalak txím ilúmaya.

Ilúmaya txím lápalak.

Practice: Please translate the following sentences. All verbs listed will take Agent and Object
postpositions.

The cat ate a fish.

He kicked the red ball.
I am looking for my horse.

The cat ate a fish. ! Inákaim pátxialak nahsímaaya.

He kicked the red ball. ! Ním lápalak ilúmirukaya.
I am looking for my horse. ! Txím líburana itxíinaaya.
 Answer Key
Lesson 2 – Number Exercises

náka ! ná<ni>ka ! nánika

náka ! ná<u>ka ! náuka*
bát ! bá<ni>t ! bánit
bát ! bá<u>t ! báut*
íhda ! íh<ni>da ! íhnida
íhda ! íh<u>da ! íhuda
míraan ! míraa<ni>n ! míraanin
míraan ! míraa<u>n ! míraaun*
áak ! áa<ni>k ! áanik*
áak ! áa<u>k ! áauk*

*Check the lesson for more.

Lesson 2 – Glottal Stop Exercises

báut ! / 'ba&ut /
áanik ! / 'a&anik /
áauk ! / 'a&auk /

Lesson 3 – Adjectizer

green cat ! nákanaihda

fat cat ! nákanabiluun
cat fatness ! bíluunnanaka*
brown horse ! íinanainyar
short person ! ínyaknapirin

*Check the lesson for more.

Lesson 3 – Vowel Lengthening

short friend ! míraanaapirin

red shoes ! ítsiinimaairuk*
old friend ! míraanaagailin

*Don't forget shoes come in pairs!

Lesson 4 – Articles

the child ! ibát

some children ! nahbáut*
the person ! iínyak*
some people ! nahínyauk
a horse ! nahíina*
the two trees ! iáhdanir*

*Don't forget your glottal stop insertion!

Lesson 4 – Demonstratives

this green tree ! láhdarnaihda

that brown tree ! adáhdarnainyar
that far away red tree ! apyaáhdarnainyar
this turtle ! laáfaur*
these cats ! lnáuka**
those fat cats ! adnáukanabiluun
those far away green turtles ! apyaláfauurnaihda

*Don't forget about geminated consonants.

**This form is invalid. See lesson for how to continue.
Lesson 5 – Possessive Determiners

your (2sg) brown cat ! ifnákanainyar

your (2dl) old turtle ! nifláfaurnagailin
his friend ! iniíraan
her mother ! ináman
their (3pl) father ! unátan
our (1pl) horses (pl) ! utxíiuna
itxáhdar ! my tree
nitxáhdar ! our tree
utxáhdar ! our tree
ifáhdar ! your tree
nifáhdar ! your tree
ufáhdar ! your tree
ináhdar ! his/her/it's tree
nináhdar ! their tree
unáhdar ! their tree

Noun Quiz

a strong man ! nahínyaknauukarut

nah-ínyak-na-uukar-ut
the tall woman ! iínyaknasanatim
i-ínyak-na-sanat-im
a little girl ! nahbátim
nah-bát-im
this quick black horse ! líinanalasaanaaikup
l-íina-na-lasaan-na-ikup
OR
líinanaikupnalasaan
l-íina-na-ikup-na-lasaan
that cat is black ! adnákanaikup
ad-náka-na-ikup
OR
apyanákanaikup
apya-náka-na-ikup
the dark moon ! iúmuknatsulas
i-úmuk-na-tsulas
the bright sun ! itsálnakiral
i-tsál-na-kiral
 our friend is short ! utxmíraanaapirin
utx-míraan-na-pirin
we are foreign ! txínaaikinus
txín-na-ikinus
OR
txúnaikinus
txú-na-ikinus
a bright blue star ! nahtsákugnaitslanakirtal
nah-tsákug-na-itsla-na-kirtal
OR
nahtsákugnakirtalnaitsla
nah-tsákug-na-kirtal-na-itsla
those delicious fruit ! adáaknamakmar
ad-áak-na-makmar
OR
apyaáaknamakmar
apya-áaknamakmar
they are smart ! nínaaifas
nín-na-ifas
OR
núnaifas
nú-na-ifas
my smart friend ! itxmíraanaaifas
itx-míraan-na-ifas
his fat sheep ! infáafanaabiluun
in-fáafan-na-biluun
that star ! adaákug
ad-tsákug
OR
apyatsákug
apya-tsákug
this big bird ! lálaratat
l-álar-atat

Lesson 8 – Agent Postposition

He ran. ! Ním txákalak.

They (3pl) ran. ! Núm txákalak.
I am jumping. ! Txím sálmarana.
We (1dl) are about to dance. ! Txínim sáalam.
You (2sg) were dancing. ! Fím sáalalana.
Lesson 9 – Object Postposition

The cat ate a fish. ! Inákaim pátxialak nahsímaaya.

He kicked the red ball. ! Ním lápalak ilúmirukaya.
I am looking for my horse. ! Txím líburana itxíinaaya.
 Glossary
English Inyauk Inyauk English
ball lúm áak fruit
beautiful málam áhdar tree
bird álar álar bird
black íkup áman mother
blue ítsla átan father
bright kíral bát child
brown ínyar bíluun fat
cat náka fáafan sheep
child bát gáilin old
dark tsúlas hátx to bite
delicious mákmar ífas smart
fat bíluun íhda green
father átan íina horse
fish síma íkinus foreign
foreign íkinus íkup black
friend míraan ínyak person
fruit áak ínyar brown
green íhda íruk red
horse íina ítsiim shoe
moon úmuk ítsla blue
mother áman kíral bright
old gáilin láfaur turtle
person ínyak láp to kick
quick lásaan lásaan quick
red íruk líbur to look for
river lúmar lúm ball
sheep fáafan lúmar river
shoe ítsiim mákmar delicious
short pírin málam beautiful
smart ífas míraan friend
star tsákug náka cat
strong úukar pátxi to eat
sun tsál pírin short
 tall sánat sáal to dance
to bite hátx sálmar to jump
to dance sáal sánat tall
to eat pátxi síma fish
to jump sálmar súsik to know
to kick láp tsákug star
to know súsik tsál sun
to look for líbur tsúlas dark
to run txák txák to run
tree áhdar úmuk moon
turtle láfaur úukar strong