Ngolu

Ngolu Ilia (Te)
Spoken:	Áu
Total speakers:	100,000 (approx.)
Genealogy:	Isolate (as far as known)
Typology
Morphological type:	Isolating/futional
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Nominative-Accusative
Basic word order:	VSO
Credits
Creator:	Imralu
Created:	2013-2014

Ngolu, also known as Te or Ilia Te (endonym: ilia (te) IPA: [ìʎá(té)]) is a language isolate spoken throughout the space habitat Áu by the Ngolu people, whose number is estimated to be around 100,000. As the Ngolu are almost entirely monolingual, and while travel to and from Áu remains almost impossible, the language is not in any danger of extinction. At this stage, little is known of dialect differences within Áu. There are estimated to be somewhere between 50 and 100 Ngolu speakers on Earth who have simply mysteriously appeared in various locations. Small communities of Ngolu speakers been brought or have found their way together, the most well-known and well-studied of which is a group of about 15 living in and around Berlin, Germany.

Ngolu is an isolating/fusional, head-initial (right-branching) language with VSO word order and nominative-accusative alignment. Verbs (verbals) make up the only open class of word, with nouns (nominals) constituting a closed class of heavily fusional words that fill the roll of pronouns and articles in other languages, marking grammatical person, gender, number, case, definiteness and specificity.

Terminology

There appear to have been only two or possibly three isolated instances of non-Ngolu people arriving in Áu. In such a linguistically and culturally homogenous environment, the Ngolu have had no need for endonyms for their culture, people or language. They describe their language simply as ilia [ìʎá] 'speech', themselves as golu [ŋòlú] 'people', and their world as áu [áw] 'world'. The two or three foreigners who have been there have been described as taia [tàjá], which originally meant 'ghosts' or 'demons'. Non-Ngolu languages, when heard, are described as maramaria [màɾàmàdʒá] ('babbling' or 'nonsense').

For the Ngolu on Earth, contact with other cultures has forced them to acknowledge that the other languages they hear must have the ability to convey information just as their language. Consequently, on Earth, the word ilia generally refers to any language. To disambiguate their own language, they may call it ilia te [ìʎáté] 'good language' (or sometimes ilia golu [ìʎáŋòlú] or ilias áu [ìʎásáw]). Non-Ngolu are still referred to as taia and Earth maybe referred to as autaia [àwtàjá] 'ghost world' or a loan word such as hiia, which is common among the Berlin group (from German hier). From the English 'Earth' come also the loanwords aásu [àásù] and uuásu [ùwásù].

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i ‹i›		u ‹u›
Mid	e ‹e›		o ‹o›
Low		a ‹a›

Each vowel may be 'strong' or 'weak'. The pronunciation of strong vowels varies across accents but it generally equates to a high tone whereas 'weak' vowels have a low tone. There is only ever one 'strong' vowel per word and it is nearly always the final vowel. Where it is not, it is always the penultimate vowel and the in that case the final vowel is always /i/ or /u/. Non-final strong vowels are indicated in the romanisation using an acute accent, ‹áéíóú›.

The high vowels, /i/ and /u/, when 'weak' and adjacent to another vowel are pronounced non-syllabically as [i̯~j] and [u̯~w]). Non-syllabic /i/ merges with and palatalises any preceding dental/alveolar consonant.

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labiovelar	Dental/Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m ‹m›		n ‹n›		ŋ ‹g›
Plosive	b ‹b›		t ‹t›		k ‹k›	ʔ ‹q›
Ejective			tʼ ‹tt›		kʼ ‹kk›
Voiced Fricative		v ‹v›	z ‹z›	ʒ ‹j›
Voiceless Fricative			s ‹s›	ʃ ‹x›		h ‹h›
Tap			ɾ ‹r›
Lateral			l ‹l›

• The normal pronunciation of /n t tʼ ɾ l/ is dental. When these consonants are followed by a non-syllabic /i/, they are palatalised to [ɲ tʃ tsʼ dʒ ʎ] and the /i/ subsequently disappears.
• /ɾ/ is frequently pronounced as a voiced dental plosive.
• /s/ and /z/ are normally alveolar. When followed by a non-syllabic /i/, they are not distinguished from /ʃ ʒ/.
• /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ cannot be followed by non-syllabic /i/.
• The phonemes /s/ and /ɾ/ do not occur at the beginning of a word.
• The ejective consonants /tʼ/ and /kʼ/ are restricted to positions immediately before a 'strong' vowel, although there may be an intervening non-syllabic 'weak' /i/ or /u/. At the beginning of a 'weak' syllable, ejective consonants become pronounced as their equivalent plain plosive. For example, kka [kʼá] and kkue [kʷʼé] are allowed while expected *kkina (derived from kka plus the infix -in-) is instead present as kina [kì.ná]. In connected speech, /tʼ/ and /kʼ/ may be pronounced as [t̚ʔ k̚ʔ] or even [tː kː]. A strong ejective pronunciation is always heard post pausa.

Epenthetic /s/

An epenthetic /s/ sometimes appears between words when the second word begins with a vowel. In the romanisation used here, the /s/ is written on the end of the preceding word. The rules are somewhat complex and are best shown as a table. The final vowels of preceding words are shown vertically on the left. Initial vowels of the following word are shown along the top. An epenthetic /s/ doesn't appear before i and u when a syllabic vowel (V) immediately follows within the same word. In the table, the word borders are shown with an s indicating where the epenthetic /s/ always appears. In other positions in the table, the epenthetic /s/ can still appear in very clear emphatic speech.

	i(V)-	u(V)-	i-	u-	e-	o-	a-
-i	-i i-	-i u-	-is i-	-i u-	-i e-	-i o-	-i a-
-u	-u i-	-u u-	-u i-	-us u-	-u e-	-u o-	-u a-
-e	-e i-	-e u-	-e i-	-e u-	-es e-	-es o-	-es a-
-o	-o i-	-o u-	-o i-	-o u-	-os e-	-os o-	-os a-
-a	-a i-	-a u-	-a i-	-a u-	-as e-	-as o-	-as a-

Examples:

ene ua	[è.né.wá]	u followed by syllabic vowel
enes u	[è.né.sú]	u not followed by syllabic vowel
ene ima	[è.néj.má]	i is weak and can become non-syllabic
enes eme	[è.né.sè.mé]	e is always syllabic
eni ua	[è.ní.wá]	final i before non-syllabic u
eni u	[è.ní.ú]	final i before syllabic u
eni iu	[è.ní.jú]	final i before non-syllabic i
enis iui	[è.ní.sì.wí]	final i before initial syllabic i
ene iui	[è.néj.wí]	final e followed by 'weak' i which becomes non-syllabic

Morphology

There are four classes of words in Ngolu. Ngolu is a very verb-heavy language, with verbals making up the only truly open word class.

• Nominals: closed
• Verbals: open
• Particles: closed
• Interjections: closed (mostly)

Nominals

Nominals are a large but closed class of inflecting words. The majority of them, the pronominals, are essentially the equivalent of pronouns and articles in other languages, inflecting for number, gender, grammatical person, definiteness, specificity and case. Pronominals can appear on their own or can be followed by a verbal or verbal phrase. When followed by a verbal, they can be regarded as the head of an underlying relative clause which nominalises the verbal and allows it to function as an argument in the sentence.

As a pronoun:

xu

NOM.3s.DEF.INAN

"the thing"

it

As an article:

xu	mala
NOM.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.house
"the thing that"	"is a house"
the house

In addition, there are two complementisers which are essentially subordinating conjunctions which inflect for tense. Zuo can be thought of as roughly equivalent to the English subordinating conjunction 'that' and kuo can be thought of as 'the time when'.

olos	ene	zuo	kka	g-ixi	ja	nana	g-uje
be.strange	DAT.1s.MASC	NOM.C	be.not	COP-DAT.3s.DEF.INAN	NOM.3s.DEF.MASC.REL	be.father	COP-GEN.3s.DEF.MASC
"is strange"	"to me"	"that"	"is not"	"go there"	"the man who"	"is father"	"is his"
I think it's strange that his father didn't go / wasn't there. — [muja]

Number

Pronominals indicate two numbers, singular and plural. Plural is marked by the prefix i-, which occurs before some case prefixes and after others (see [[Ngolu#Case|Case] below for more information]).

Singular:

xu	mala
NOM.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.house
"the thing that"	"is a house"
the house

Plural:

ixu	mala
NOM.3p.DEF.INAN.REL	be.house
"the things that"	"are houses"
the houses

The singular is used before quantifiers indicating a specific plural quantity.

xu	euo	mala
NOM.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.pair	be.house
"the thing that"	"is a group of two"	"is a house"
the two houses

When the plural is used, this indicates multiples of the indicated quantity.

ixu	euo	mala
NOM.3p.DEF.INAN.REL	be.pair	be.house
"the things that"	"are groups of two"	"are houses"
the pairs of houses

Mass nouns indicating powders and granular substances are indicated in the plural with the singular referring to an individual grain.

Singular:

xu	bakua
NOM.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.grain.of.sand
"the thing that"	"is a grain of sand"
the grain of sand

Plural:

ixu	bakua
NOM.3p.DEF.INAN.REL	be.grain.of.sand
"the things that"	"are grains of sand"
the (grains of) sand

Liquids and mushy substances are frequently indicated in the plural as well, reflecting the Ngolu's atomistic theory of matter.

Plural:

ixu	hunia
NOM.3p.DEF.INAN.REL	be.potable
"the things that"	"are potable"
the (drinkable) water

Gender

All pronominals show one of three genders.

• Inanimate (Ngolu: tiaka)
• Animate (Ngolu: kali)
• Masculine (Ngolu: muja)

It has been suggested that the label 'masculine' is misleading, as this gender is not simply used for any male person but only for adult men who have passed the initiation ceremony into manhood, whereupon they are muja.

The use of the genders partly depends on the speaker's rank, as shown in the following table.

	Kali/Tuva speaker	Muja speaker
Inanimate used for:	inanimate objects abstract concepts plants sessile animals	inanimate objects abstract concepts plants all animals other than pets slaves prisoners
Animate used for:	the goddess Nigáu free women free children free but non-initiated men default for groups of mixed gender default for non-specific people all motile animals slaves prisoners	the goddess Nigáu free women free children free but non-initiated men default for groups of mixed gender default for non-specific people pets
Masculine used for:	the god Uru initiated men	the god Uru initiated men

The following examples illustrate the difference. Examples which are specific to the gender of the speaker or the listener will be marked as such after the translation.

The speaker is a muja, an initiated man:

kulu	ene	xu	ala
be.heard	DAT.1s.MASC	NOM.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.bird
"was heard"	"to me"	"the thing that"	"is a bird"
I heard the bird. — [muja]

The speaker is a kali or tuva, not an initiated man:

kulu	eni	ju	ala
be.heard	DAT.1s.ANIM	NOM.3s.DEF.ANIM.REL	be.bird
"was heard"	"to me"	"the being who"	"is a bird"
I heard the bird. — [kali]

The interplay between a speaker and listener's rank is complex and may result in unexpected gender choices. For example, a slave must refer to him- or herself in the inanimate gender when speaking to a muja unless specifically given permission otherwise. To read more about this, see Social Stratification and Language Use.

Person

Three grammatical persons are marked by pronominals. The first person pronominals contain n. The second person pronominals contain a non-syllabic u (realised as v before u). In the third person, j, z, m, x, k and Ø appear depending on gender, definiteness and specificity.

Clusivity

The plural forms of all pronominals are exclusive of other grammatical persons except for the first person plural forms inu and ina, which can include third person referents as well, especially when expressing closeness.

In order to group referents from more than one grammatical person together, the required pronominals are juxtaposed. For example, inu (gloss: NOM.1s.ANIM) is the exclusive 'we'. The inclusive 'we' may take a form such as vu nu (gloss: NOM.2s.ANIM NOM.1s.ANIM) or na ivu (gloss: NOM.1s.MASC NOM.2p.ANIM), more or less equivalent to 'you and I'. Even addressing people in the second person, should the group include third persons, these are made not of separately, for example ja vu (gloss: NOM.3s.DEF.MASC NOM.2s.ANIM). The nominal ivu (gloss: NOM.2p.ANIM), for example, is only used to address two more people when all are present.

The order of the elements in these juxtapositions depends first on rank, with pronominals referring to higher ranking referents appearing before those of lower ranking referents. When the referents are equally ranked, 2nd person precedes third person, which, in turn, preceds first person.

Nominal juxtapositions are characterised by all pronominals being inflected in the same case. For example, the nominative ua na becomes eues ene in the dative and uua una in the possessive.

Definiteness and Specificity

In the third person, pronominals indicate definiteness (whether the listener knows which individual) and specificity (whether the speaker knows which individual).

Definite

The Definite (+specific, +definite) is used when the listener is assumed to know which specific individual or individuals the speaker is referring to. In the following examples, ji ala (or just ji) refers to a specific bird which the listener is assumed to be already aware of, possibly because it is already been mentioned.

zue	nu	ji	ala
seek	NOM.1s.ANIM	ACC.3s.DEF.ANIM.REL	be.bird
"am seeking"	"I"	"the being who"	"is a bird"
I'm looking for the bird. (You know which one.) — [kali]

zue	nu	ji
seek	NOM.1s.ANIM	ACC.3s.DEF.ANIM
"am seeking"	"I"	"the being"
I'm looking for it. (You know which one.) — [kali]

Specific

The Specific (+specific, -definite) is used when the speaker has a specific individual or individuals in mind but the listener is not assumed to know which one(s). In the following examples, mi ala (or mi) refers to a specific bird but not one which the speaker expects the listener to know of.

zue	nu	mi	ala
seek	NOM.1s.ANIM	ACC.3s.SPEC.ANIM.REL	be.bird
"am seeking"	"I"	"a specific being who"	"is a bird"
I'm looking for a (particular) bird. — [kali]

zue	nu	mi
seek	NOM.1s.ANIM	ACC.3s.SPEC.ANIM
"am seeking"	"I"	"a specific being"
I'm looking for one (in particular). — [kali]

Non-Specific

The Non-Specific (or General) does not refer to any specific individual(s) but to the abstract idea of a member or members of a particular class, any individual of which could be described. It often used when talking about desires or in negative sentences. In the examples below, i ala refers to any bird.

zue	nu	i	ala
seek	NOM.1s.ANIM	ACC.3s.NSPC.ANIM.REL	be.bird
"am seeking"	"I"	"any being who"	"is a bird"
I'm looking for a(ny) bird. — [kali]

zue	nu	i
seek	NOM.1s.ANIM	ACC.3s.NSPC.ANIM
"am seeking"	"I"	"any being"
I'm looking for anyone/anything. — [kali]

Case

Ngolu possesses 14 grammatical cases. The nominative and accusative case appear to be the oldest and all other forms appear to derive from the agglomeration of adpositions onto them. The first group (accusative, dative, ablative, locative, genitive and possessive) appear to be relatively old. At some point after these adpositions fused onto the nominals, the plural marker i-. The second group of derived cases (vocative, causal, benefactive, instrumental, comitative, topical, essive) appear to have developed more recently from prepositions as the plural marker i- is sandwiched in the middle.

Nominative

The nominative case indicates the grammatical subject of a verb. The nominative case is always formed with a back vowel, u for animate and inanimate genders, a for masculine. Plural is indicated with a prefixed i-.

muja	na
be.initiated.man	NOM.1s.MASC
"be an initiated man"	"I"
I am an initiated man. — [muja]

kka	loe	ju
be.not	sleep	NOM.3s.DEF.ANIM
"be not"	"sleep"	"she"
She is not sleeping. / She didn't sleep.

ti	uo	ja
be.PRF	deliberately.kill	NOM.3s.DEF.MASC
"have finished"	"deliberately kill"	"he"
He killed / murdered something / someone

te	zuo	kka	lalu
be.good	NOM.C	be.not	(be).rain
"be good"	"that"	"be not"	"rain"
It's good that it's not raining.

zoua	kuo	tavi	ja
be.difficult	NOM.TEMP.C	be.child	NOM.3s.DEF.MASC
"be difficult"	"the time when"	"be child"	"he"
He had a difficult childhood. (≈ The time when he was a child was difficult.)

Accusative

The accusative case indicates the grammatical object of a verb. The accusative case is formed with a front vowel, i for animate and inanimate, e for masculine. Plural is indicated with a prefixed i-. The complementisers are jo and kio

ti	uo	je
be.PRF	deliberately.kill	ACC.3s.DEF.MASC
"have finished"	"deliberately kill"	"he"
Someone murdered him / He was murdered.

javu	ja	xi	kivo
throw	NOM.3s.DEF.MASC	ACC.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.rock
"throw"	"the man"	"the thing which"	"be rock"
He threw the rock.

bio	nu	jo	vei	ua
want	NOM.1s.ANIM	ACC.C	stay	NOM.2s.MASC
"want"	"I"	"that"	"stay"	"you"
I want you to stay. (≈ I want that you stay.) — [kali to singular muja]

Dative

The dative case indicates an indirect object of the verb, a destination or goal of a movement or an experiencer. It is more or less equivalent to the preposition 'to' in English. It is formed by prefixing e(r)- (ie(r)- in plural) before an accusative nominal.

volos	ene	izi	hunia
give	DAT.1s.MASC	ACC.3p.SPEC.INAN.REL	be.potable
"give"	"to me"	"some things that"	"be water"
I was given water. / Someone gave me water. — [muja]

xena	ua	iene
be.seen	NOM.2s.MASC	DAT.1p.MASC
"be visible"	"you"	"to us"
We can see you. — [muja to muja]

kua	g-ieji	ua	nu
JUSS	COP-DAT.3p.DEF.INAN	NOM.2s.MASC	NOM.1s.ANIM
"should"	"go - to them"	"you"	"I"
Let us go to them. — [kali to singular muja]

ti	veis	inu	ekio	loe	iju
PRF	stay	NOM.1p.ANIM	DAT.TEMP.C	sleep	NOM.3p.DEF.ANIM
"be finished"	"stay"	"we"	"until"	"sleep"	"they"
We stayed until they slept.

Ablative

The ablative case is more or less equivalent to the preposition 'from' in English. It is formed by suffixing -i to a nominative nominal. The complementisers are zuio and kuio in the ablative case.

Kuaqa	nu	xui	mala	g-uni
be.distant	NOM.1s.ANIM	ABL.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.house	COP-GEN.1s.ANIM
"be far"	"I"	"from the thing which"	"be a house"	"be mine"
I'm far away from my home. — [kali]

E	n-nai
IMP	COP-ABL.1s.MASC
"!"	"go - from me"
Get away from me! — [muja]

Mahu	eji	xu	kuio	iti	(ju)
be.known	DAT.3s.DEF.ANIM	NOM.3s.DEF.INAN	ABL.TEMP.C	be.small	(NOM.3s.DEF.ANIM)
"be known"	"to her"	"it"	"since"	"be small"	("she")
She's known that since she was little.

Locative

The locative case indicates a location. It is more or less equivalent to the prepositions 'in', 'on' and 'at' in English. It is also used to replace the verb "have" when indicating immediate possession as in "to have something on one's person". It is formed by suffixing -a to a nominative nominal in the animate and inanimate and prefixing a(r)- (plural: ia(r)-) to a masculine nominative nominal. The prefixed form is also used for the non-specific animate.

kka	bani	ana
be.not	be.money	LOC.1s.MASC
"be not"	"be money"	"at me"
I don't have any money (with me). (≈ There is no money at me.) — [muja]

n-xua	mo	ua
COP-LOC.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.what	NOM.2s.MASC
"be at the thing which"	"be what"	"you"
Where are you? (≈ You are at the what?) — [to singular muja]

vujas	iio	jas	azuo	muana	iti	exi	muana	tta
hunt	be.fish	NOM.3s.MASC	LOC.C	be.body.of.flowing.water	be.small	DAT.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.body.of.flowing.water	be.large
"hunt"	"be fish"	"he"	"where"	"flow"	"be small"	"to the thing that"	"flow"	"be big"
He's fishing where the stream flows into the river.

li	molu	ju	nini	g-uui	akuo	xeva(s	eji)	xu	tia
begin	be.dead	NOM.3s.DEF.ANIM.REL	be.mother	COP-GEN.2s.ANIM	LOC.TEMP.C	be.seen	(DAT.3s.DEF.ANIM)	NOM.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.that.2
"begin"	"be dead"	"the being who"	"be mother"	"be yours"	"when"	"be seen"	("to her")	"the thing which"	"be that"
Your mother's going to die when she sees that.

Genitive

The genitive case indicates a possessor. It covers all types of possession and association other than legal ownership. It is more or less equivalent to the preposition 'of' in English. It is formed by prefixing u(g)- (iu(g)- in plural) before an accusative nominal.

egio	tani	une
be.threesome	be.sibling	GEN.1s.MASC
"be a group of three"	"be siblings"	"my"
I have three siblings. — [muja]

tta	xu	gula	g-uje	tio
be.large	NOM.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.pair.of.arms	COP-GEN.3s.DEF.MASC.REL	be.that.3
"be large"	"the thing which"	"be a pair of arms"	"be of the man who"	"be that, over there"
That guy over there has big arms. / The arms of that guy over there are big.

Possessive

The possessive case indicates strictly legal ownership. It is more or less equivalent to the preposition 'of' in English and may be used to indicate 'have' or 'own'. It is formed similarly to the genitive case: by prefixing u(g)- (iu(g)- in plural) but before a nominative nominal.

mala	una
be.house	POS.1s.MASC
"be a house"	"owned by me"
I have / own a house. — [muja]

Because of the law in Áu, according to which only muja (initiated men) may legally own any possessions, the animate and inanimate forms are formally regarded as theoretical only and their use may constitute speech crime. They may occasionally be heard from members of the small, underground, humanist community although they more commonly tend to avoid the possessive case and replace it with the genitive.

Vocative

The vocative case is used to address someone or attract their attention. It is formed by adding e(r)- (ei- in plural) to a nominative nominal.

The most common greeting words for most uses are simply vocative nominals. They must reflect the number and gender of the addressee(s) and formality is reflected by using second person forms

evu

VOC.2s.ANIM

"hey you"

Hey you. / Hi. — [to singular kali]

For a more formal greeting, the vocative is used in the third person.

eija

VOC.3s.DEF.MASC

"hey you guys"

Hello. (≈ O they!) — [to plural muja]

eja	xagu
VOC.3s.DEF.MASC.REL	be.Xagu
"hey he who"	"be Xagu"
(Oh) Xagu! — [to singular muja] (formal)

eua	xagu
VOC.2s.MASC.REL	be.Xagu
"hey you who"	"be Xagu"
(Oh) Xagu! — [to singular muja] (informal)

In very informal situations, among equals who consider each other friends, the e- prefix may be added directly to a personal name. This and the predicate prefix i- are the only example of verbals (as all names are verbals) taking a non-derivational affix.

e-xagu

hey-be.Xagu

"hey - be Xagu"

Hey Xagu! — [to singular muja] (friendly/aggressive)

In the indefinite, the vocative can be used to summon help from non-specific people.

eru

NOM.3s.NSPC.ANIM

"hey anybody"

Help! (Used when one person's assistance is enough and their gender is not specified.)

eiu

NOM.3p.NSPC.ANIM

"hey anybody"

Help! (Used when more than one person's assistance is required.)

The vocative complementiser ezuo is used to mean 'if only' or 'I wish'. It is also used for making polite requests. Literally, it's something like 'o that'.

ezuo	hunia	nua
VOC.C	be.potable	LOC.1s.ANIM
"if only"	"be beverage"	"at me"
May I have some water please? (If only I had some water.) — [kali]

The vocative temporal complementiser ekuo is used to express nostalgia about a past time or anticipation for a future time.

ekuos	ate	nu
VOC.TEMP.C	be.adult	NOM.1s.ANIM
"oh for the time when"	"be adult"	"I"
I can't wait till I'm grown up. — [kali]

Causal

The causal case describes a cause. It is equivalent to the English "because of". It is formed by prefixing te(r)- (plural: tei-) to the accusative nominals.

zaxa	na	teua
be.sick	NOM.1s.MASC	CAU.2s.MASC
"am sick"	"I"	"because of you"
I'm ill because of you. / You made me ill. — [muja to singular muja]

ezo	zouas	eni	tejo	kka	mala	uni
be.now	be.difficult	DAT.1s.ANIM	CAU.C	be.not	be.house	GEN.1s.ANIM
"be now"	"be difficult"	"to me"	"because"	"be not"	"be house"	"my"
Things are tough for me at the moment because I don't have a house.. — [kali]

Benefactive

The benefactive case indicates either a beneficiary or benefactor of an action or situation or a goal. It is roughly equivalent to the English preposition 'for'. It is formed by adding the prefix kua(r)- (plural: kuai-) to an accusative nominal.

tie	kuaue
be.this.1	BEN.2s.MASC
"there is this, by me"	"for you"
This is for you. (≈ There's this for you.) — [to singular muja]

bioi	vaia	na	kuaui
be.willing	do.everything	NOM.1s.MASC	BEN.2s.ANIM
"would"	"do everything"	"I"	"for you"
I would do anything for you. — [muja to singular kali]

ti	atinie	na	kuajo	leu	ui	veje
be.PRF	move.to.here.1	NOM.1s.MASC	BEN.C	rescue	ACC.2s.ANIM	TOP.3s.DEF.MASC
"finish"	"come here"	"I"	"so that"	"rescue"	"you"	"about the man"
I came here (in order) to save you from him. — [muja to singular kali]

naxe	molu	iu	kuajo	mue	lau	iu	azo
must	be.dead	NOM.3p.NSPC.ANIM	BEN.C	be.able	be.alive	NOM.3p.NSPC.ANIM	be.other
"must"	"be dead"	"some beings"	"so that"	"can"	"live"	"some beings that"	"be other"
Some must die so that others may live.

kuas	enie	ki	kueta	kuakio	gehuo	ua	ia	uako
be.JUSS	carry	ACC.3s.NSPC.INAN.REL	be.hunting.knife	BEN.TEMP.C	encounter	NOM.2s.MASC	NOM.3s.NSPC.MASC.REL	be.enemy
"should"	"carry"	"a non-specific thing which"	"be a hunting knife"	"in case"	"encounter"	"you"	"some non-specific men who"	"be enemy"
Carry a knife in case you cross paths with enemies.

Instrumental

The instrumental case describes the means or method by which something is done. It is equivalent to the English preposition "with" when it means "using". It is formed by adding the prefix a(r)- (plural: ai-) to an accusative nominal.

uo	ja	vuja	zi	vaku	azi	kueta
kill.deliberately	NOM.3s.DEF.MASC.REL	hunt	ACC.3s.SPEC.INAN.REL	be.babirusa	INS.3s.SPEC.INAN.REL	be.hunting.knife
"deliberately killed"	"the man who"	"hunts"	"a specific thing that"	"is a babirusa"	"using a specific thing that"	"is a hunting knife"
The hunter killed the babirusa with a hunting knife. — [muja]

vuja	imas	ajo	hana	kua	tiamiga	g-kua	hunia
hunt	NOM.3p.SPEC.MASC	INS.C	wait	LOC.3s.NSPC.INAN.REL	be.undergrowth	be-LOC.3s.NSPC.INAN.REL	be.potable
"hunt"	"certain men"	"by"	"wait"	"at anything which"	"is bushes"	"be-at anything which"	"be drinking water"
Some men hunt by waiting in the undergrowth near water. — [muja]

Comitative

The comitative case indicates an accompanying person or thing. It is equivalent to 'with' in English when it means 'along with' or 'accompanied by'. It is formed by prefixing le(r)- (plural: lei-) to an accusative nominal.

vuja	ja	meha	leje	jalu
hunt	NOM.3s.DEF.MASC.REL	be.Meha	COM.3s.DEF.MASC.REL	Jalu
"is hunting"	"the man who"	"is Meha"	"with the man who"	"is Jalu"
Meha is hunting with Jalu.

e	hu	lene
IMP	move.PFV	COM.1s.MASC
"!"	"come/go"	"with me"
Come with me. — [muja]

bata	ja	umatu	lejo	buga	taba	ijas	azo
dance	NOM.3s.DEF.MASC.REL	be.Umatu	COM.C	hit	be.drum	NOM.3p.DEF.MASC.REL	be.other
"dance"	"the man who"	"be Umatu"	"while"	"hit"	"be drum"	"the men who"	"be other"
Umatu danced while the other men played the drums.

Topical

The topical case indicates the topic or theme of an act of communication and in many instances also something which is kept in mind when a particular action is performed. It is roughly equivalent to the English preposition 'about'. It is formed by prefixing ve(r)- (plural vei-) to an accusative nominal.

bio	ila	nu	leue	vemi	valo
want	speak	NOM.1s.MASC	COM.2s.MASC	TOP.3s.SPEC.INAN.REL	be.interesting
"want"	"speak"	"I"	"with you"	"about something that"	"is interesting"
I want to talk to you about something interesting. — [kali to singular muja]

teuas	eue	vexi	tiau
thank	DAT.2s.MASC	TOP.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.food
"thank"	"to you"	"about the thing that"	"is food"
Thanks for the food. — [kali to singular muja]

malemale	lo	zola	iu	babo	vejo	moio	iu	azo
gossip	ADV	be.solely	NOM.3p.NSPC.ANIM.REL	be.unintelligent	TOP.C	do.what	NOM.3p.NSPC.ANIM.REL	be.other
"gossip"	"while"	"be only"	"non-specific people who"	"be unintelligent	"about the fact that"	"do what"	"non-specific people who"	"be other"
Only unintelligent people gossip about what other people do.

Essive

The essive case indicates the role of something in the sentence. It is roughly equivalent to the English words 'as' or 'like'. It is formed by adding the prefix o(r)- (plural: oi-) to the nominative case.

atia	nas	omas	ali	g-eue
be.there.2	NOM.1s.MASC	ESS.3s.SPEC.MASC.REL	be.same.gender.friend	COP-DAT.2s.MASC
"be here"	"I"	"as a man who"	"be a friend of the same gender"	"be to you"
I'm here as your friend. — [muja to singular muja]

xevas	ozuo	ka	lalu
be.visible	ESS.C	be.going.to	(be).rain
"appear"	"as if"	"be going to"	"rain"
It looks like it's going to rain.

Nominal Tables

First Person

First person nominals are all definite.

	Anim. Sg.	Anim. Pl.	Masc. Sg.	Masc. Pl.
Nominative	nu	inu	na	ina
Accusative	ni	ini	ne	ine
Dative	eni	ieni	ene	iene
Ablative	nui	inui	nai	inai
Locative	nua	inua	ana	iana
Genitive	uni	iuni	une	iune
Possessive	*unu	*iunu	una	iuna
Vocative	enu	einu	ena	eina
Causal	teni	teini	tene	teine
Benefactive	kuani	kuaini	kuane	kuaine
Instrumental	ani	aini	ane	aine
Comitative	leni	leini	lene	leine
Topical	veni	veini	vene	veine
Essive	onu	oinu	ona	oina

*theoretical

Second Person

Second person nominals are all definite.

	Anim. Sg.	Anim. Pl.	Masc. Sg.	Masc. Pl.
Nominative	vu	ivu	ua	iua
Accusative	ui	iui	ue	iue
Dative	eui	ieui	eue	ieue
Ablative	vui	ivui	uai	iuai
Locative	vua	ivua	aua	iaua
Genitive	uui	iuui	uue	iuue
Possessive	*uvu	*iuvu	uua	iuua
Vocative	evu	eivu	eua	eiua
Causal	teui	teiui	teue	teiue
Benefactive	kuaui	kuaiui	kuaue	kuaiue
Instrumental	aui	aiui	aue	aiue
Comitative	leui	leiui	leue	leiue
Topical	veui	veiui	veue	veiue
Essive	ovu	oivu	oua	oiua

*theoretical

Third Person

Definite

	Anim. Sg.	Anim. Pl.	Masc. Sg.	Masc. Pl.	Inan. Sg.	Inan. Pl.
Nominative	ju	iju	ja	ija	xu	ixu
Accusative	ji	iji	je	ije	xi	ixi
Dative	eji	ieji	eje	ieje	exi	iexi
Ablative	jui	ijui	jai	ijai	xui	ixui
Locative	jua	ijua	aja	iaja	xua	ixua
Genitive	uji	iuji	uje	iuje	uxi	iuxi
Possessive	*uju	*iuju	uja	iuja	*uxu	*iuxu
Vocative	eju	eiju	eja	eija	exu	eixu
Causal	teji	teiji	teje	teije	texi	teixi
Benefactive	kuaji	kuaiji	kuaje	kuaije	kuaxi	kuaixi
Instrumental	aji	aiji	aje	aije	axi	aixi
Comitative	leji	leiji	leje	leije	lexi	leixi
Topical	veji	veiji	veje	veije	vexi	veixi
Essive	oju	oiju	oja	oija	oxu	oixu

*theoretical

Indefinite, Specific

	Anim. Sg.	Anim. Pl.	Masc. Sg.	Masc. Pl.	Inan. Sg.	Inan. Pl.
Nominative	mu	imu	ma	ima	zu	izu
Accusative	mi	imi	me	ime	zi	izi
Dative	emi	iemi	eme	ieme	ezi	iezi
Ablative	mui	imui	mai	imai	zui	izui
Locative	mua	imua	ama	iama	zua	izua
Genitive	umi	iumi	ume	iume	uzi	iuzi
Possessive	*umu	*iumu	uma	iuma	*uzu	*iuzu
Vocative	emu	eimu	ema	eima	ezu	eizu
Causal	temi	teimi	teme	teime	tezi	teizi
Benefactive	kuami	kuaimi	kuame	kuaime	kuazi	kuaizi
Instrumental	ami	aimi	ame	aime	azi	aizi
Comitative	lemi	leimi	leme	leime	lezi	leizi
Topical	vemi	veimi	veme	veime	vezi	veizi
Essive	omu	oimu	oma	oima	ozu	oizu

*theoretical

Indefinite, Non-Specific (General)

	Anim. Sg.	Anim. Pl.	Masc. Sg.	Masc. Pl.	Inan. Sg.	Inan. Pl.
Nominative	u	iu	a	ia	ku	iku
Accusative	i	ji	e	ie	ki	iki
Dative	eri	ieri	ere	iere	eki	ieki
Ablative	ui	iui	ai	iai	kui	ikui
Locative	aru	iaru	ara	iara	kua	ikua
Genitive	ugi	iugi	uge	iuge	uki	iuki
Possessive	*ugu	*iugu	uga	iuga	*uku	*iuku
Vocative	eru	eiu	era	eia	eku	eiku
Causal	teri	teji	tere	teie	teki	teiki
Benefactive	kuari	kuaji	kuare	kuaie	kuaki	kuaiki
Instrumental	ari	aji	are	aie	aki	aiki
Comitative	leri	leji	lere	leie	leki	leiki
Topical	veri	veji	vere	veie	veki	veiki
Essive	oru	oiu	ora	oia	oku	oiku

*theoretical

Complementisers

	"that"	rough translation	"the time that"	rough translation
Nominative	zuo	'that'	kuo	'the time when'
Accusative	jo	'that'	kio	'the time when'
Dative	ejo	'to the place where'	ekio	'until'
Ablative	zuio	'from the place where'	kuio	'since', 'after'
Locative	azuo	'in the place where'	akuo	'when'
Genitive	ujo		ukio
Possessive	*uzuo		*ukuo
Vocative	ezuo	'if only'	ekuo
Causal	tejo	'because'	tekio
Benefactive	kuajo	'so that'	kuakio	'in case'
Instrumental	ajo	'by V-ing'	akio
Comitative	lejo	'while'	lekio
Topical	vejo	'about V-ing'	vekio	'about the time when'
Essive	ozuo	'like'	okuo

* theoretical

Verbals

Verbals constitute the only open class of words in Ngolu. They are essentially content words, equivalent to what in other languages are verbs ...

• loe	'to sleep'	[NOM] sleeps
• kau	'to eat'	[NOM] eats [ACC]/[…]
• vuja	'to hunt' (= 'to be a hunter')	[NOM] hunts [ACC]/[…]
• volo	'to give'	[NOM] gives [ACC] to [DAT]
• mahu	'to know'	[DAT] knows [NOM] = [NOM] is known to [DAT]
• ila	'to speak/talk'	[NOM] speaks [ACC]/[INS] (= language) to [DAT]/[COM] about [TOP]
• mue	'to be able to'	[NOM] can / is able to […]

... nouns ...

• iio	'to be a fish'	[NOM] is a fish of [GEN] belonging to [POS]
• vuja	'to be a hunter' (= 'to hunt')	[NOM] is a hunter of [ACC]/[…]
• golu	'to be a person'	[NOM] is a person
• alu	'to be a friend/lover/concubine (of the opposite gender)'	[NOM] is a friend of [DAT], lover of [GEN] and concubine of [POS]
• mala	'to be a building/house/home'	[NOM] is a building/house which is owned by [POS] and home to [GEN]
• ilia	'to be speech/language'	[NOM] is the speech/language of [GEN]

... adjectives ...

• tta	'to be large'	[NOM] is large
• kaiu	'to be edible' ('to be food')	[NOM] is edible to [DAT]
• kaqa	'to be far/distant'	[NOM] is far from [ABL]/[DAT]
• xeva	'to be visible' (= 'to see')	[NOM is visible to [DAT]; [DAT] sees [NOM]
• lau	'to be alive' (= 'to live', 'to be a living being')	[NOM] is alive
• lubi	'to be closed/shut'	[NOM] is closed/shut to [DAT]

... and adverbs.

• jau	'to intentionally ...'	[NOM] is intentionally […]
• mola	'to be merely ...' (= 'to be insignificant')	[NOM] is just/only/merely […]

They are generally thought of as 'content words' but even many grammatical functions are expressed by verbals.

• kka	'to be not ...'	[NEGATIVE]	[NOM] is not […]
• hua	'to be always ...', 'to be eternally ...'	[GNOMIC]	[NOM] is eternally […]
• hau	'to be defined by being ...'	[ESSENTIAL]	[NOM] is essentially […] by definition
• he	'to undergo'	[PASSIVE]	[NOM] undergoes […]
• eti	'to have previously done ...'	[PAST]	[NOM] did […]

Regardless of the verbal's semantic meaning and which part of speech carries the bulk of the meaning when translated into another language, each verbal can be used in the same syntactic positions as any other verbal. All verbals can appear as a predicate, an argument (when preceded by a nominal) or as a modifier to another, preceding verbal. Compare the following two sentences which show how a semantically verb-like verbal, gau ('to howl'), and a semantically more noun-like verbal, zagua ('to be a gibbon') can simply be swapped. Both can appear in the predicate, both can appear in an argument and neither needs to be inflected to take on either role.

Predicate	Argument (Subject)
gau	ju	zagua
howl	NOM.3s.DEF.ANIM.REL	be.gibbon
"howls"	"the being who"	"is a gibbon"
The gibbon howls. — [kali]
Predicate	Argument (Subject)
zagua	ju	gau
be.gibbon	NOM.3s.DEF.ANIM.REL	howl
"is a gibbon"	"the being who"	"howls"
What howls is a gibbon. — [kali]

Argument Structure

Verbals each have an inherent argument structure, controlling which case are used for which role. Dictionaries, and the examples above, mark the meanings of each relevant case when used with each verbal.

Many argument structures are as would be expected.

• volo = [NOM] gives [ACC] to [DAT]
• vuja = [NOM] hunts [ACC]; [NOM] is a hunter of [ACC]
• akku = [NOM] is blood; [NOM] is the blood of [GEN]

volo	na	xi	eje
give	NOM.1s.MASC	ACC.3s.DEF.INAN	DAT.3s.DEF.MASC
"give"	"I"	"it"	"to him"
I give it to him. — [muja]

There is a tendency for experiencers to be in the dative case.

• hualo = [DAT] loves/cares about [NOM]; [NOM] is loved by [DAT]
• xeva = [DAT] sees [NOM]; [NOM] is seen by [DAT]
• zoua = [NOM] is difficult for [DAT]

xevas	eni	ja	ttáu
be.seen	DAT.1s.ANIM	NOM.3s.DEF.MASC.REL	be.king
"was seen"	"to me"	"the man who"	"is the king"
I saw the king. — [kali]

Although that is not always the case, as this pair of opposites shows.

• mahu = [DAT] knows [NOM]; [NOM] is known to [DAT]
• zau = [NOM] doesn't know about [TOP]; [NOM] is ignorant of [TOP]

mahu	eni	(xu)
be.known	DAT.1s.ANIM	(NOM.3s.DEF.INAN)
"is known"	"to me"	("it")
I know (it). — [kali]

zau	nu	(vexi)
be.ignorant	NOM.1s.ANIM	(TOP.3s.DEF.INAN)
"am ignorant"	"I"	("about it")
I don't know (it). — [kali]

There is also an unusual class of verbals where the nominative role refers to a body part (or occasionally an item of clothing), the genitive refers to the possessor and when there is an accusative argument, the whole thing refers to an action performed with the body part (or item of clothing) by the possessor.

• omo = [NOM] is the pair of eyes of [GEN]; [GEN] looks at [ACC]
• bale = [NOM] is a fist of [GEN]; [GEN] punches [ACC]
• gula = [NOM] is the pair of arms of [GEN]; [GEN] hugs [ACC]
• buja = [NOM] is a heavy boot of [GEN]; [GEN] crushes [ACC] under his boot

omo	une
be.pair.of.eyes	GEN.1s.MASC
"is the pair of eyes"	"my"
I have eyes. — [muja]

omo	une	xu	tie
be.pair.of.eyes	GEN.1s.MASC	NOM.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.this.1
"is the pair of eyes"	"my"	"the thing which"	"is this, here by me"
These are my eyes. — [muja]

omo	une	xi	masa
be.pair.of.eyes	GEN.1s.MASC	ACC.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.snake
"is the pair of eyes"	"my"	"the thing which"	"is a snake"
I'm looking at the snake — [muja]

There is a proposed additional place within the argument structure of many verbals, that of a following modifier. A following modifier may mark a specific role which may either be marked by another case or may only be filled by a following modifier. The notation used here indicates a following modifier with […].

• maue = [NOM] is a group of seven […]
• kka = [NOM] is not […]
• mia = [NOM] approaches [DAT]/[…]
• tebi = [NOM] is possibly […]

mia	mala	iju
approach	be.house	NOM.3p.DEF.ANIM
"approach"	"be house"	"they"
They are on their way to the house.

mia	iju	exi	mala
approach	NOM.3p.DEF.ANIM	DAT.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.house
"approach"	"they"	"to the thing which"	"be house"
They are on their way to the house.

Derivation of Verbals

There are two kinds of derivational affixes, one which converts a nominal into a verbal and many others which convert a verbal into another verbal with a different meaning.

Nominal to Verbal

All nominals can be converted into a verbal by adding a copula prefix. The copula prefix is g- before a vowel, k or g, m- before m, b and v, and n- before all other consonants. Before l, it may optionally appear as m-, especially post pausa. The copula prefix essentially prevents a nominal from signalling the start of an argument. Used with the dative or ablative case, the meaning may be interpreted as a verb of motion.

• nu 'I' [NOM.1s.ANIM]

→ nnu 'to be me' [COP-NOM.1s.ANIM]

• eni 'to me' [DAT.1s.ANIM]

→ geni 'to be to me', 'to come to me' [COP-DAT.1s.ANIM]

• xu mala 'the house'

→ nxu mala 'to be the house'

• xua mala 'at the house'

→ nxua mala 'to be at the house'

• kuaini 'for us' [BEN.1p.ANIM]

→ gkuaini 'to be for us' [COP-BEN.1p.ANIM]

Here are some examples.

n-nu	nu
COP-NOM.1s.ANIM	NOM.1s.ANIM
"be I"	"I"
I'm me. — [kali]

kka	n-xuas	azikuo	ju
be.not	COP-LOC.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.≈school	NOM.3s.DEF.ANIM
"be not"	"be at the thing which"	"be a ≈school"	"he"
He's not at school.

e	g-ene
be.IMP	COP-DAT.1s.MASC
"!"	"come to me"
Come to me. — [muja]

nini	g-une	ju	tie
be.mother	COP-GEN.1s.MASC	NOM.3s.DEF.ANIM.REL	be.this
"be mother"	"by mine"	"the being who"	"be this"
This is my mother. — [muja]

Verbal to Verbal

A far more common means of derivation is from verbal to verbal. This is chiefly done by means of infixing although prefixes and suffixes also exist.

Collective

The collective infix -ig- indicates a group of the named entity.

• ala 'to be a bird'

→ aliga 'to be a flock of birds'

• balu 'to be a royal guardsman'

→ baligu 'to be the royal guard'

• kau 'to eat'

→ kaigu 'to eat together'

• ttiáu 'to be a tree'

→ tigiáu 'to be a forest'

Gerundive

The gerundive infix -i- indicates the use or purpose of something.

• huna 'to drink'

→ hunia 'to be (fresh) water', 'to be potable', 'to be drinkable' (to be something to be drunk)

• kau 'to eat'

→ tiau 'to be food' (to be something to be eaten, irregular)

→ kaiu 'to be edible' (regular)

• omo 'to be a pair of eyes', 'to look at'

→ omio 'to be beautiful', 'to be handsome' (to be something to be looked at)

• buja 'to be a boot', 'to crush under a boot'

→ buji 'to be a bug', 'to be vermin' (to be something to be crushed under a boot)

• vuja 'to hunt', 'to be a hunter'

→ vuji 'to be prey', 'to be a game animal' (to be something to be hunted)

Locative and Ornative

The prefix a- sometimes indicates being at a particular place.

• tio 'to be that'

→ atio 'to be there' (≈ 'to be at that')

• mala 'to be a house'

→ amala 'to be at home' (≈ 'to be at house')

It can also indicate having or being equipped with something.

• bani 'to be money'

→ abani 'to be rich' (≈ 'to be with money')

• ulu 'to be muscle'

→ aulu 'to be muscular' (≈ 'to be with muscle')

Verbals with inherent gender / rank distinctions

Many verbals semantically encode gender within their meaning. In some cases, there are pairs of words, such as the following.

• nini 'to be a mother / aunt'
• nana 'to be a father / uncle'

In this instance, the divide along genders is easy for non-Ngolu to conceptualise. However many other concepts are also divided by gender, or, more accurately, rank, and this frequently has to do with the Ngolu's strict cultural taboos around gender and rank. For example, Ngolu men and women are expected to sing, dance, dress and urinate differently.

• laha 'to sing', 'to be a singer' (of a kali, to sing in the manner appropriate to kali)
• lasa 'to dance', 'to be a dancer' (of a kali, to dance in the manner appropriate to kali)
• miia 'to wear' (of a kali, to dress in the manner appropriate to kali)
• kele 'to urinate' (of a kali, to urinate while sitting or squatting)

• uoia 'to sing', 'to be a singer' (of a muja, to sing in the manner appropriate to muja)
• bata 'to dance', 'to be a dancer' (of a muja, to dance in the manner appropriate to muja)
• uara 'to wear' (of a muja, to dress in the manner appropriate to muja)
• zatu 'to urinate' (of a muja, to urinate while standing)

In other instances, certain actions may be proscribed for a certain rank. For example, methods of cooking that involve mixing ingredients together is seen as befitting only a kali and the word for this type of cooking, kela is restricted to kali. Muja are allowed to cook, but only in order to make food edible (ie. heating it but not mixing different ingredients together or adding spices) and this type of cooking is referred to as bisa, which is not restricted to a particular rank.

Similarly, for religious reasons, violence and killing of any kind are acceptable only for muja and therefore words such as the following are restricted to occurring with muja subjects: vuja ('to hunt'), ttio ('to hit'), tioru ('to kick') uo ('to kill deliberately', 'to murder'), xagu ('to execute'), zaha' ('to fight physically'), aiuo ('to shoot').

Some other words appear only kali subjects, such as haua which means 'to sob', 'to howl', 'to cry audibly'. It is perfectly acceptable for muja to cry, but they are expected to be silent. The kali-verbal iavu means 'to weave' or 'to make clothing' (other than clothing used in combat, which is made by men).

Verbals may also specify the gender/rank of an argument other than the nominal. For example, the word bale means 'to be a fist', specifying a muja in the role of the genitive possessor. Similarly, items of clothing specific to one gender can only appear with possessors in the corresponding gender.

Particles and Grammatical Affixes

Particles are words which cannot be classified as either nominals or verbals. Most of them are equivalent to conjunctions, introducing clauses. In many cases, the line between verb and particle is a little blurred and difficult to find and research is still ongoing.

Au and teuo

Au and teuo are used to order the events multiple clause sentence. Au introduces the clause in which the first action took place and is thus roughly equivalent to 'first' or 'after' whereas teuo introduces a later action and is thus equivalent to 'then' or 'before'. They are usually used as correlative conjunctions, with both present in the sentence.

au	kau	nu	teuo	loe	(nu)
first	eat	NOM.1s.ANIM	second	sleep	(NOM.1s.ANIM)
"first"	"eat"	"I"	"then"	"sleep"	("I")
First I ate, then I slept. — [kali] I ate before I slept. / After I ate, I slept.

The order of the clauses can be reversed.

teuo	loe	nu	au	kau	(nu)
second	sleep	NOM.1s.ANIM	first	eat	(NOM.1s.ANIM)
"then"	"sleep"	"I"	"first"	"eat"	("I")
Before I slept, I ate. — [kali] I slept after I ate.

Sometimes the first of the two conjunctions is omitted.

loe	nu	au	kau	(nu)
sleep	NOM.1s.ANIM	first	eat	(NOM.1s.ANIM)
"sleep"	"I"	"first"	"eat"	("I")
I slept after I ate.— [kali] I slept, but first, I ate.

Ha and to

Ha and to are used together to form a conditional sentence about a possible (realis) condition. Ha introduces the clause describing the condition (the protasis) and to introduces the clause describing the consequence (the apodosis).

has	anu	lalu	to	kka	vuja	ja
if	be.tomorrow	rain	then	be.not	hunt	NOM.3s.DEF.MASC
"if"	"be tomorrow"	"rain"	"then"	"be not"	"hunt"	"the man"
If it rains tomorrow, (then) he won't hunt.

(to)	ttio	na	ue	ha	vei	tiaia
(then)	hit	NOM.1s.MASC	ACC.2s.	if	stay	do.that.2
("then")	"hit"	"I"	"you"	"if"	"keep"	"do that which you are doing"
I'll hit you if you keep doing that. — [muja to singular muja]

On its own, ha is also used to form a polar (yes-no) question.

ha	lalu
Q	rain
"?"	"rain"
Is it raining?

Embedded yes-no questions are placed inside complementiser phrases.

Zau	nu	vejo	ha	ti	uaizue	ji	tavi
be.ignorant	NOM.1s.ANIM	TOP.C	Q	be.PRF	find	ACC.3s.DEF.ANIM.REL	be.child
"be ignorant"	"I"	"about that"	"?"	be.PRF	"find"	"the being who"	"be child"
I don't know if the child has been found. — [kali]

Ha is found more than once in alternative questions.

Bio	ha	kau	ha	huna	vu
want	Q	eat	Q	drink	NOM.2s.ANIM
"want"	"either"	"eat"	"or"	"drink"	"you"
Would you like anything to (either) eat or drink? — [to singular kali]

Xevu	eue	lo	ha	ja	mahu	lo	ha	ju	laiuiie
be.seen	DAT.2s.MASC	ADV	Q	NOM.3s.DEF.MASC.REL	be.Mahu	ADV	Q	NOM.3s.DEF.ANIM.REL	be.Laiuiie
"be seen"	"to you"	"-"	"either"	"the man who"	"be Mahu"	"-"	"the being who"	"be Laiuiie"
Have you seen (either) Mahu or Laiuiie? — [to singular muja]

To is often used on its own to introduce the condition of a fact. It has a similar meaning to 'so' or 'therefore'. For emphasis, it may be replaced with toua.

ba	lalu	to(ua)	ka	tina	ixu	muanaiti
be.very	rain	therefore	be.PROS	become.large	NOM.3p.DEF.INAN.REL	be.stream
"be very"	"rain"	"so"	"be going to"	"become large"	"the things which"	"be stream"
It's raining hard, so the streams are going to swell. — [to singular kali]

I-

The clitic particle i- appears on the beginning of any part of the predicate when it is preceded in a sentence by any non-predicate element. For example, in the following sentence, hu mala is the predicate.

hu	mala	na
move	be.house	NOM.1s.MASC
"go"	"be house"	"I"
I'm going home. — [muja]

Topicalised arguments can be brought forward in the sentence to before the verb phrase. The verb phrase must now be marked with i-.

na	i-hu	mala
NOM.1s.MASC	PRED-move	be.house
"I"	"go"	"be house"
As for me, I'm going home. — [muja]

The predicate phrase can even be split, with arguments appearing inside it.

hu	na	i-mala
move	NOM.1s.MASC	PRED-be.house
"go"	"I"	"be house"
I'm going home. — [muja]

In extreme cases, there can even be more than one split in a predicate phrase, with i- necessary each time the predicate is resumed.

bio	na	i-hu	leuis	i-mala
want	NOM.1s.MASC	PRED-move	COM.2s.ANIM	PRED-be.house
"want"	"I"	"go"	"with you"	"be house"
I want to go home with you. — [muja to singular kali]

Of that last example, the normal word order would be bio hu mala na leui.

When added to words beginning with a syllabic i, the prefix i- becomes j- ...

xu	tie	j-iio
NOM.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.this.1	PRED-be.fish
"the thing which"	"be this"	"be fish"
This, well, this is a fish! — [kali]

... but before a non-syllabic i, it remains i-.

omo	g-unis	i-iaha
be.pair.of.eyes	COP-GEN.1s.ANIM	PRED-be.painful
"be a pair of eyes"	"be mine"	"hurt"
As for my eyes, they're sore. — [kali]

Syntax

Phrase Structure

Verbal Phrases

A verbal phrase has the following structure:

VERBAL [VERBAL [VERBAL [VERBAL ...]]]

When multiple verbals are stacked one after the other, the head is on the left and modifiers on the right.

mala	tta
be.house	be.large
"be house"	"be large"
is a large house / are large houses

jiio	ttiu
run	be.quick
"run"	"be fast"
runs quickly / run quickly is a fast runner / are fast runners

vujas	ala
hunt	be.bird
"hunt"	"be a bird"
hunts birds / hunt birds is a bird hunter / are bird hunters

In many cases, verbals with more grammatical than semantic content are followed by much more semantically rich modifying verbals. In these cases, the preceding words are nevertheless heads and the following words modifiers.

bas	ali	g-eje	ttáu
be.very	be.friend.(of.the.same.sex)	COP-DAT.3s.DEF.MASC.REL	be.king
"be very"	"be friend"	"be to the man who"	"be the king"
is a good friend / are good friends of the king

ti	huna
be.PRF	drink
"be finished"	"drink"
drank / has drunk / have drunk

toto	kas	euo	tta
be.really	be.PROS	be.pair	be.large
"be in fact"	"be going to"	"be two"	"be large"
are actually going to be two big ones

buua	tio	vaxu	zara
be.on.top.of	be.that.3	be.table	write
"be one top of"	"be that, over there"	"be a table"	"write"
is / are on top of that desk over there

Each complex verbal phrase comprised of more than one verbal has its own case structure which defines how the cases are used in a sentence. The case structure is determined by the rightmost verbal which shares the same nominative argument as the leftmost verbal in the phrase.

$$$$$$$ [examples to come]

Nominal Phrases

A nominal phrase has the following structure:

NOMINAL [VERBAL PHRASE]

An unadorned nominal on its own functions as a pronoun.

ja

NOM.3s.DEF.MASC

"the man"

he

uxi

GEN.3s.DEF.INAN

"of the thing"

its

Adorned nominal phrases consist of a nominal followed by a verbal phrase. In this case, the nominal acts as the head of a relative clause in which the verbal phrase sits.

ja	xagu
NOM.3s.DEF.MASC.REL	execute
"the man who"	"execute"
the executioner

uxi	tukaue
GEN.3s.DEF.INAN.REL	be.collar.indicating.the.owner.of.a.slave
"of the thing which"	"be a slave's collar"
of the slave's collar

Clause Structure

Predicate-Only Clauses

The simplest clauses in Ngolu consist of nothing but a verbal or a verbal phrase used as the predicate. There are no obligatory arguments in Ngolu and all may be omitted from the clause and left to context, even the subject.

lalu

(be).rain

"rain"

It's raining. / It rains.

te

be.good

"be good"

It's good.

A verbal with no arguments indicates an activity or state without specifying the identity of any participants. Essentially, Ngolu is a pro-drop language. With prior context, omitted arguments can be understood as referring to someone or something already discussed. With no prior context, however, verbal-only sentences are simply understood with a "someone or something" as the subject.

kau

eat

"eats"

He, she or it is eating. (with context)

Something or someone is eating. (without context)

vuja

hunt

"hunt"

He or it is hunting. / He or it is a hunter. (with context)

Something or someone is hunting. / There's a hunter. (without context)

Simple declarative or existential statements are frequently verbal-only.

kala

be.fire

"be a fire"

It's a fire. / There's a fire. / Fire!

Subordinate Clauses

Adverbial Clauses

Adverbial clauses are introduced by the particle lo, which may be derived from lejo, the comitative case of the copula 'zuo'.

bio	kau	nu	lo	juo	(nu)
want	eat	NOM.1s.ANIM	ADV	be.outside	"NOM.1s.ANIM"
"want"	"eat"	"I"	"while"	"be outside"	("I")
I want to eat outside.