Nishch

Natively known as: nishch /nʲiɕː/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
se nra i zveshch ren barkh se spink na i lart zva mlan
Pronunciation: /se nra i zvʲeɕː ren barx se spʲink na i lartʲ zvʲa mlanʲ/
Nishchi word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: b bʲ d dʲ f fʲ g j k l lʲ m mʲ n nʲ p pʲ r rʲ s sʲ t tʲ v vʲ x z zʲ ɕː ʂ ʂː ʐ ʐː ʦ ʨ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m mʲ		n nʲ
Stop	p pʲ b bʲ		t tʲ d dʲ				k g
Affricate			ʦ		ʨ
Fricative		f fʲ v vʲ	s sʲ z zʲ	ʂ ʂː ʐ ʐː	ɕː		x
Approximant						j
Trill			r rʲ
Lateral approximant			l lʲ

Vowel inventory: a e i o u

	Front	Back
High	i	u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ?   Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʨ	ch
x	kh
ʐ	zh
ʂ	sh
ʦ	ts
ʲ
ɕː	shch

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Grammar

  Main word order: Subject (Prepositional phrase) Object Verb. “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary with a key the door opened.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?  

Nouns

  Nouns have five cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
• Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.
• Locative is the location of something: man is in town.

Nominative	No affix fkhi /fxi/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Prefix sʲlʲo- slofkhi /ˈsʲlʲofxi/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	Prefix u- ufkhi /ˈufxi/ dogʼs
Dative	Prefix pro- profkhi /ˈprofxi/ to (the/a) dog
Locative	Prefix i- ifkhi /ˈifxi/ near/at/by (the/a) dog

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	No affix fski /fski/ man	If starts with vowel: Prefix st- Else: Prefix sti- stifski /ˈstifski/ men
Feminine	No affix vzdashch /vzdaɕː/ woman	If starts with vowel: Prefix z- Else: Prefix zi- zivzdashch /ˈzivzdaɕː/ women
Neuter	No affix fkhi /fxi/ dog	If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix nu- nufkhi /ˈnufxi/ dogs

Articles

  Nishchi has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.
 

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative
1st singular	ktink /ktink/ I	shcho /ɕːo/ me	po /po/ mine	la /lʲa/ to me	vzasht /vzʲaʂtʲ/ at me
2nd singular	kap /kap/ you	du /du/ you	pan /pʲan/ yours	tko /tko/ to you	sesl /sesʲlʲ/ at you
3rd singular masc	nra /nra/ he	pu /pu/ him	spi /spi/ his	fpobr /fpobrʲ/ to him	jol /jol/ at him
3rd singular fem	libr /librʲ/ she	svit /svʲit/ her	vro /vro/ hers	zvu /zvu/ to her	sjolk /sjolk/ at her
3rd singular neuter	af /afʲ/ it	shcha /ɕːa/ it	to /tʲo/ its	snalk /snalk/ to it	vlet /vletʲ/ at it
1st plural	stvus /stvusʲ/ we	cho /ʨo/ us	bo /bʲo/ ours	kre /krʲe/ to us	fkhim /fxim/ at us
2nd plural	u /u/ you all	dra /dra/ you all	vla /vla/ yours (pl)	skhvop /sxvop/ to you all	a /a/ at you all
3rd plural masc	gle /gle/ they (masc)	vo /vo/ them (masc)	nu /nu/ theirs (masc)	vech /vʲeʨ/ to them (masc)	sa /sa/ at them (masc)
3rd plural fem	smu /smʲu/ they (fem)	glork /glʲork/ them (fem)	ve /ve/ theirs (fem)	srurs /srʲurs/ to them (fem)	ork /ork/ at them (fem)
3rd plural neuter	stvu /stvu/ they (neut)	grach /grʲaʨ/ them (neut)	tsvom /ʦvʲom/ theirs (neut)	e /e/ to them (neut)	dlats /dlʲaʦ/ at them (neut)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	sru /srʲu/ my
2nd singular	tsve /ʦvʲe/ your
3rd singular masc	i /i/ his
3rd singular fem	fen /fen/ her
3rd singular neuter	pa /pʲa/ its
1st plural	fstit /fstit/ our
2nd plural	ir /irʲ/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	vmoj /vmʲoj/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	pol /polʲ/ their (fem)
3rd plural neuter	moj /moj/ their (neut)

Verbs

Present	No affix trij /trij/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix usʲ- Else: Prefix usʲe- usetrij /uˈsʲetrij/ learned
Future	If starts with vowel: Prefix anstv- Else: Prefix anstvi- anstvitrij /anstˈvitrij/ will learn

Numbers

  Nishchi has a base-10 number system:   1 - pom
2 - pro
3 - mo
4 - shlok
5 - a
6 - vrikh
7 - chot
8 - sre
9 - pre
10 - u
Hundred - zikni
Thousand - zuti  

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -sʲtʲ
Else: Suffix -asʲtʲ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -o
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -azm
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -a
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -sʲnʲ
Else: Suffix -isʲnʲ
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʂtʲ
Else: Suffix -oʂtʲ
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ij
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -fʲ
Else: Suffix -efʲ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix o-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -str
Else: Suffix -astr
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -oz
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -kt
Else: Suffix -okt
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix b-
Else: Prefix bi-
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʂ
Else: Suffix -oʂ