Tandí

Introduction

'obala waTandí yábalí is the native language of the ŋation of N'ogaben waYukuz yalekki on order of lappi Mija on the 3rd of May, 2026, at 12:06 P.M. CST

Phonology

Vowels

closure	front	back
close	í/ú	/u
near-close	i/
close-mid		/o
open-mid	e/
near-open	á/
open	a/

Vowels may be nasalized or elongated

Consonants

Delivery	BIlabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	/m			/n
Plosive	p/b			t/d			k/g	'
Non-sibilant affricate					ts/dj
Sibilant fricative				c/z	s/j
Non-sibilant fricative		f/v	/ð			/y	k/g	h
Tap/Flap				/r
Approximant				/r			/w (/w/)	/r (/ɦ̞/)
Lateral Approximant				/l

Phonotactics

(C)(C)V(C) or (C)V(C)(C)

<r> /ɹ/ → /ʢ̞/ | #_

<r> /ɹ/ → /ɹ̃/ | N_

<r> /ɹ/ → /ɾ/ | C_

<g> /g/ → /ɣ/ V_V

<k> /k/ → /x/ V_V

<l> /l/ → /l̃/ | N_

where C is any consonant, N is any nasal vowel

Morphology

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

bin - 1.AN

mam - 1.INAN

poka - 2.AN

tuu - 2.INAN

dããd - 3.AN

ken - 3.INAN

Deictic pronouns

mitta - this

lotta - that

Interrogative pronouns

koko - what

(other interrogatives are phrasal, e.g. 'lewa koko' [in_order_to what] meaning 'why')

Indefinite pronouns

Type	Negative	Universal	Assertive existential	Dubitative existential
Person	habanko	habanbaa	habanlin	habanẽn
Thing	lenko	lenbaa	lenlin	lenẽn
Place	ranko	ranbaa	ranlin	ranẽn
Time	cunko	cunbaa	cunlin	cunẽn

Nouns

Role assignment

subject (Nominative case): (')al(e)-

direct object/subject complement (Accusative case): bí(n)-

indirect object (Dative case): tú(n)-

object complement (Genitive case): wa(l)-

other (Oblique case): (')o(g)-

Number

singular default, plus dual, paucal, and plural marked by suffix on a stem which goes before tense and aspect

dual: -(a)dí

paucal: -(e)ve

plural: -(o)na

Gender

There is no grammatical gender in Tandí

Possession

POSD na POSR: 'obaan na 'obakuun - the room of the house (DEF-OBL-room POSS DEF-OBL-house)

Determiners

Demonstratives

mitta wa_ - this _

lotta wa_ - that _

Articles

Tandí does not use articles

Possessive Determiners

_ na _: doro na bín - my ball (ball POSS 1.AN); doro na poka - your ball (ball POSS 2.AN); etc.

_ na koko bac - whose _ (POSS what AN)

Quantifiers

ãmm - all

tsupla - most

minet - few

Conjunctions

independent particles that have no agreement with their complements, and go between two phrases (basically English)

Numerals

Cardinals

cardinal "no" noun - cardinal of noun, e.g. ní no doro - two of ball - two balls

nũm - zero

'ukcí - one

ní - two

ta'í - three

sín - four

kílan - five

jaal - six

kitten - seven

bun - eight

nítta - nine

lan - ten

cen - hundred

tõn - thousand

Ordinals

ordinal tokan noun - ordinal ORD noun, e.g. ní tokan doro - two ORD ball - second ball

ní tokan 'aban nana jelí - two ORD day PRT year- second day of the year

Nominals

root-cardinal - root number cardinal, e.g. doroní - ball-two - ball number two

If the pair forms an illegal consonant cluster, separate them with the last vowel of the root (e.g. daadní -> daadaní)

baddaa 'aldaadukcí bídaadaní - hit-PRS NOM-3.AN-one ACC-3.AN-two - he hit him

Adjectives

Placement

directly after the noun

'okína yálekkena wakakííta - OBL-seed-PL ADJ-green GEN-pepper - green pepper seeds

Adjectives may or may not match the number of the noun, as there is a semantic difference

Comparison

yá-adjective-degree-PRS subject - subject is degree adjective than object

Finite Verbs

Tense

attaches to verb

-(d)a- : PRS

-(')ãn- : PST

-(u)lí- : FUT

Aspect

goes after tense:

-(u)bu : PROG.CONT

-(l)en : PERF

-(á)mun : GNO

-(d)ada : HAB

goes before verb:

ko(n)- : INF

In addition, there is the following phrasal construction:

'ayída _-(d)a : EXP-_

Mood

'akaa- : MIR

'anõõ- : CONC.HYP

'ila- : OPT.BEND

'íyye- : HORT.JUSS

luke- : DUB.COND

me- : ABIL

tene- : PERM.PRESCR

Evidentiality

-ce'í : RPT

-mánna : INFR

-nobã : NVIS

-tucí : VIS

Negation

'eeya - NEG

Agreement

When a past-tense verb phrase contains another verb phrase, that past is the referent present of the nested verb phrase (e.g. lagaðan 'albín tandralí 'albín - say-PST NOM-1.AN run-FUT NOM-1.AN - I said I was going to run)

Voice

mẽn(a)- : CAUS

la(d)- : PASS

'õm(a)- : REV

Auxiliary Verbs

'ayí (AFF) conveys confirmation of an action, and is verbalized to 'ayída (AFF-PRS) to convey confirmation of a state or truth, or of an object's existence, across the past, present, or future, with tense agreement

Copula

There is no copula in Tandí

Adpositions

Agreement

No agreement between adposition and complement is necessary

Syntax

Sentence Order

Default Order

VSO

Secondary Order

Sentence order is always VSO

Auxiliary Verb Constructions

'ayí can be either a verb or a preposition, as mentioned in Auxiliary Verbs

Miscellaneous

The subject, and sometimes the object, direct or indirect, of a verb phrase can be move up in the sentence in a select set of cases:

1. A quote is being given. Since the quote is a prepositional phrase, it would normally occur before the arguments of the verb. However, because this could result in poorer understanding of the quote itself, the arguments go before SPECIFICALLY the quote, and after any other prepositions or particles.
2. The subject or object is only one word long. In order to promote faster delivery of important information, the word may be placed before all prepositions and particles (except lí)