Contents
Introduction
uhhhhhhhhhhhh taxnul is my conlang. it's a personal lang so don't jump on my ass for anything that isnt 900% naturalistic.
i'm also not an expert linguist or anything so don't yell at me if i said something stupid ;~;
so.. yeah. here's the reference grammar.
Phonology
(Phonemes where romanization differs from IPA representation have romanizations in red.)
Consonants
bilabial | labiodental |
alveolar |
postalveolar |
palatal | velar | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plosive | p, b | t, d | k, g | |||
nasal | m | n | ||||
tap / flap | ɾ r | |||||
fricative | f, v w | s, z | ʃ sc, ʒ zc | x | ||
lateral fricative | ɬ ll | |||||
lateral affricate | tɬ tl | |||||
approximant | j | |||||
lateral approximant | l |
Vowels
front | central | back | |
---|---|---|---|
close | i | u | |
close-mid | o | ||
mid | ə e | ||
open-mid | ɛ e | ||
open | ɑ a |
You might notice that the sounds /ə/ and /ɛ/ have the same romanization. This is because the letter e in taxnul is pronounced as /ə/ when in the first syllable (but not the first letter) of a word or when it's the final letter of a word, and as /ɛ/ otherwise.
Take for example the following words:
bebi /bəbi/dometl /domɛtɬ/
elira /ɛliɾɑ/
ante /ɑntə/
Morphology
Taxnul is a Nominative-Accusative language. This means that the argument of an intransitive verb takes the same case as the agent of a transitive ones, that being the Nominative case. It follows, then, that the patient, or direct object, of a transitive verb takes the Accusative case. In addition to these, Taxnul features three additional cases: The Dative, Genitive, and Equative. Case in Taxnul is marked on articles, adjectives, and pronouns. Below is a series of explanations with example sentences.
Dative
The Dative case denotes the recipient or beneficiary of an action, or, in English, the indirect obect of a verb.
Consider the sentence "I gave the book to the customer." in Taxnul, this translates to:
Sil pozcit zotl Gapiren zom Pjosct kokescare.
As you can see, zotl Gapiren, or, "the customer," is in the Dative case because they are the recipient of the verb, "kokescare."
Genitive
The Genitive case denotes possession. This is achieved in english by appending "'s" to a the owner of the noun being modified, or with "of." in Taxnul, the system is similar to that of German. Consider the translation for the sentence "That is the woman's handbag":
Do kax zon Bjoktl zo Kaisc.
*Note: As Taxnul doesn't denote gender, the word for 'woman' is simply 'Kaisc,' or 'person.'
As is illustrated, the Genitive case is inherited by the owner currently modifying the noun in question.
Equative
Finally, the Equative case denotes comparison of equals, as in "as... as a...." consider the sentence "You're as fortunate as a spider."
Mozc kaxat kwe karak winjo ak Scjanatl
*Literally: "You're so (kwe) fortunate like (winjo) a spider"
The Equative case in Taxnul is also used as a similative case, as in the sentence "It's like a bad dream." Translation: Ul kax winjo ak Sorazc scotlakos.
Basically, if you see the word "winjo" it's gonna be followed by a construction in the equative case.
Pronouns
Pronouns in Taxnul are declined for case and number, below is a chart for the personal pronouns.
person | nom | acc | dat | equ |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st singular | sil | zcik | scotl | zil |
1st plural | sila | zcila | scila | zitla |
2nd singular | mozc | moktl | moret | mur |
2nd plural | mora | moktara |
morela |
mojtaw |
3rd singular | ul | ullu | ular | uz |
3rd plural | ulia | utlia | ulora | uzta |
And, the possessive pronouns:
person | nom | acc | dat | gen | equ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st singular | zori | wilok | wilotl | zilom | wilos |
1st plural | zoriwa | wjutok | wjutl | zitlor | wjutos |
2nd singular | emta | emtak | emtatl | emtar | emtas |
2nd plural | eloma | elomak |
elomatl |
elomar | elomos |
3rd singular | zoru | zoruk | zorutl | zoruw | zorus |
3rd plural | asoru | asoruk | asorutl | asoruw | asorus |
*notice the irregularity in the 1st person nominative and genative.
Articles
There's not a ton to say about the articles, i just kinda needed somewhere to dump this chart.
nom | acc | dat | gen | equ | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
definite | zon | zom | zol | zo | zan |
indefinite | en | em | et | er | ak |
Note that the definite articles drop the /z/ when immediately preceded my a sibilant. For example:
"Zon Pjas o Torjal," instead of "zo Torjal"
Definite articles will also gain -(k)a when applied to plural nouns. For example:
"Zona Azctirena zoka Mjoscwatura"
Adjectives
Taxnul adjectives are to be declined for the case of the noun they modify. They also are placed after the noun they describe. Here's yet another chart for you to memorize:
nom | - |
---|---|
acc | -(o)k |
dat | -(o)tl |
gen | -(o)r |
equ | -(o)s |
And here's a chart using the example "My red bag:"
nom | Bjoktl akal zori |
---|---|
acc | Bjoktl akalok wilok |
dat | Bjoktl akalotl wilotl |
gen | Bjoktl akalor zilom |
equ | Bjoktl akalos wilos |
Verbs
Verbs in Taxnul are conjugated for person and number. Their infinitive forms consist of the verb stem + "ir," for example "kaxir." Below is a chart detailing the present-tense congugations of the verb "antir," or, "to eat."
person | singular | plural |
---|---|---|
1st | antit | antin |
2nd | antot | antota |
3rd | antur | antutan |
The future tense in Taxnul is as simple as using the verb "gomir" as an auxilliary, for example:
Present: Sil optit moktl. "I see you."
Future: Sil gomit moktl optir. "I will see you."
To form the past tense in Taxnul, the participle of the verb must be used. This is formed by prefixing "ko(k)-" to the 3rd person singular conjugation of the word. Example: "fisir" becomes "kofisur." After constructing the participle, the auxiliary verb "pozcir" is to be used, while kicking the participle to the end of the sentence. Consider this example:
Present: Ul soxtur zcik. "They annoy me."
Complex Past: Ul pozcur zcik kosoxtur. "They annoyed me."
Prepositions
Prepositions in taxnul pass either the Accusative or Dative case to their objects. There is no hard and fast rule as to which preposition passes which case, so the only way to reliably get it right is to memorize the following chart:
Accusative | Dative |
---|---|
pore ade nof nabatl dasc aw zox opruf |
upram ulbet bul tuxat uban mok irwo mu |
There are two exceptions, however; The prepositions "winjo" and "zor" take the Equative and Genative cases, respectively
Syntax
Verbs
Causative Mood
In Taxnul, you can form the causative mood by using the auxilliary verb "kescir" with the action's gerund form. To form the gerund, simply suffix -(u)tl to the verb's stem. Take this for example:
Active: Mozc optot. "You see."
Causative: Sil kescit moret Optutl. "I make you see."
If the acting verb, however, is transitive and takes an object, the construction uses the Genitive case as such:
Causative:
Passive Mood
Similarly, in Taxnul you construct the passive mood by using the verb "wolakir" along with the participle, and the word "mu."
Active: Sil optit zom Gjax. "I see the insect."
Passive: Sil wolakit mu zol Gjax kokoprut. "I am seen by the insect."
Writing System

Taxnul has a writing system similar to the Elian Script, in which words are read in columns of letters from top to bottom, left to right. This system allows words to be written in many different forms. Here's a couple graphics and examples to explain:

In mundane situations such as books, letters, computers, etc., written taxnul is typically seen straightforwardly aligned left to right in one row of characters. The columnar alignment of letters is seen primarily with signatures, jewelery, in religious contexts, grafitti, and other such places.