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

daad - 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

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

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

Adjectives

Placement

directly after the noun

ní nana vaca no kína yálekkena wakakííta - two PRT satchel of seed-PL ADJ-green-PL GEN-pepper - two of the bag of green pepper seeds (from one pepper)

should match the number of the noun

Comparison

'ayída subject comparator yá-adjective 'an object - subject is comparator adjective than object, e.g. 'ayída 'albín mer yában 'an 'opoka - AFF-PRS NOM-1.AN COMP ADJ-good than OBL-2.AN - I am better than you (lit. I am more good than you)

Finite Verbs

Tense

attaches to verb

-(d)a- : PRS

-(')an- : 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

'anoo- : CONC.HYP

'ila- : OPT.BEND

'íyye- : HORT.JUSS

luke- : DUB.COND

me- : ABIL

tene- : PERM.PRESCR

Evidentiality

-ce'í : RPT

-mánna : INFR

-noba : 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