Taxnul Reference Grammar

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.

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 found in the first syllable of a word (excluding initial) or the final sound, and as /ɛ/ otherwise.

Take for example the following words:

bebi /bəbi/
dometl /domɛtɬ/
elira /ɛliɾɑ/
ante /ɑntə/

In Taxnul, stress typically goes on the second syllable of a word. However, the following exceptions apply:

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 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	silek
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.

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"

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 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:

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:

Prepositions in taxnul pass either the Accusative, Dative, or Equative 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	Equative
nof - near nabatl - next to zox - from opruf - on pore - for bul - inside duw - outside gorok - without uzcof - around	upram - over, above, about buraw - into duwox - out of uban - under ulbet - before, behind irwo - after, in front aw - to	winjo - like mok - with mu - by way of, through

There is an exception, however; The preposition "zor" takes the Genative case.

Causative Voice

In Taxnul, you can form the causative voice by using the auxilliary verb "kescir" with the action's gerund form. To form the gerund, simply suffix -(t)utl 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: Sil kescit moret Optutl zo Gjax. "I make you see the insect."

More literally, that last example could be translated as: "I give you sight of the insect."

Passive Voice

Similarly, in Taxnul you construct the passive voice 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 zan Gjax kokoprut. "I am seen by the insect."

Simultaneous Converb

Taxnul features a converb construction to denote two actions occuring at the same time. This is formed with a simple suffix -ullos to the verb stem.

Sil dorakullos kulwit. "I fall while walking"

Note that the suffix is appended to the subordinate action in the sentence.

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.