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[1]
Comparison
yá-adjective-degree-PRS[2] subject - subject is degree adjective than object[3]
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
- ↑ e.g. "Her muscles were like steel cables" implies her muscles were strong, where "Her muscles were like a steel cable" implies they are arranged in a line
- ↑ Note here that the adjective is used as a verb, and is placed as the head of a verb phrase
- ↑ e.g. yábanamúda 'albín 'an bípoka ADJ-good-COMP-PRS NOM-1SG.AN ACC-1SG.AN I am better than you (lit. am_better_than I you)