Letaale

Letaale [leˈtaːle] is a constructed secret language used by tahu, members of the tagahu, a secretive and technologically advanced male-only military government ruling the known parts of the space habitat Oru. Little is known of the designer(s) of the language however its use follows a long tradition. It is taught to all hiitaahii (boys who are raised to be tahu) from a young age, adhering to a strict prescriptive standard. As far as is known, all speakers are male and all are also fluent in Guaru, generally speaking both natively. In informal situations, many tahu engage in extensive code switching.

Tahu is a built on a system of triconsonantal noun roots and trivocalic verb roots with a system of conversion from one form to the other based on consonant-vowel pairs. With few exceptions, each word is a clause on its own and longer sentences are formed by stringing these clause-words together, with word order mostly constrained only by pragmatic considerations.

Name

The name Letaale comes from trisyllabic lemma letaale literally meaning "the Letaale speaker speaks Letaale". This is not the name of the language as such but is used to refer to speaking the language, as in nemaane ("I speak Letaale"). The name of the language in Letaale, although used rarely, is xialetaale [ʔialeˈtaːle], which uses the identifier prefix xia- for abstract things.

In the Guaru language, Letaale is known as guaru ttahu [ˈŋuaɾu ˈtːahu] or simply "language of the tahu". It is also known as uoriuo [ˈ(ʔ)uoɾiˌuo]. This is probably borrowed from the word volivo [ˈvolivo]~[ˈwoɾiwo] which is essentially the accusative form of "you" (literally "you are physically affected") as this may be a word that is heard in interactions with the tagahu.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal	Romanisation
Nasal	m	n		ŋ		⟨ m n g ⟩
Plosive		t~d		k~g	ʔ	⟨ t k x ⟩
Fricative	v~w	s~z	ʒ~j		h	⟨ v s j h ⟩
Semivowel
Liquid		l~ɾ				⟨ l ⟩

Most allophones listed below exist in more or less free variation.

• All of /n t l/ are usually dental but may also be alveolar.
• Both /t/ and /k/ are unaspirated.
• The consonants /t k s/ may be pronounced as voiced [d g z], especially when non-initial.
• /v/ has a wide range of pronunciation, being essentially anywhere in the realm of [v β ʋ w] although it generally tightens towards [β] or [v] when either of the adjacent vowels is is /u/. It may be romanised as either ⟨v⟩ or ⟨w⟩. The former is used here.
• /ʒ/ likewise has a range of pronunciations, somewhere in the viscinity of [j ʝ ʑ ʒ ʐ]. When either of the adjacent vowels is /i/, /ʒ/ is usually pronounced tenser and with more friction, further from [j] or [ʝ].
• /l/ may be pronounced as a lateral [l], a tap/flap [ɾ] or a lateral flap [ɺ]. It may be romanised as either ⟨l⟩ or ⟨r⟩, with the former preferred here.

Vowels

Letaale has a simple system of five-vowels qualities, with a long and a short version of each, as in Hawaiian.

Single vowels

	front	central	back
close	i iː		u uː
open mid	e eː		o oː
low		a aː

When stressed, these vowels have the tense cardinal pronunciations of [i e a o u]. When unstressed and short, they tend to weaken towards [ɪ ɛ ɐ ɔ ʊ].

Long vowels are indicated in the romanisation either by by doubling or using macrons ⟨ā ē ī ō ū⟩. The doubling method is used here.

In addition, there are the diphthongs /ai au eo ia io iu oe ua ue ui/.

Phonotactics

The allowable syllable structure of Letaale is CV(V) (C = consonant, V = vowel). All syllables begin with a consonant and may contain one or two vowels, if counting long vowels and diphthongs as two. All combinations of consonant and vowel are allowed and no vowel-initial syllables are permitted.

Prosody

In words without a prefix or infix, word stress falls on the last long vowel or diphthong in a word. If all the vowels are short, stress falls on the first sylla. Prefixes, all of which contain a secondary vowel (i.e. a diphthong other than /ai/), are never stressed. Infixes are placed immediately following the stressed vowel in a word. They are generally unstressed, but when emphasised will "steal" the word stress from the preceding syllable.

Morphophonology

The vowels of Letaale can be divided into two types:

1. Primary vowels: the monophthongs /a aː e eː i iː o oː u uː/ and the diphthong /ai/
2. Secondary vowels: the remaining diphthongs /au eo ia io iu ua ue ui/

Each of the eleven primary vowels is associated with a single consonant and vice versa. These pairs are relevant for inversions and conversions in trisyllabic word-clauses, such as the noun k_j_m_ ('the dog') which converts to the verb _uu_o_i ('be a dog').

Consonant (noun form)		Vowel (verb form)		Syllable (lemma)
n	↔	a	→	na
l	↔	e	→	le
m	↔	i	→	mi
j	↔	o	→	jo
g	↔	u	→	gu
t	↔	aa	→	taa
x	↔	ee	→	xee
h	↔	ii	→	hii
s	↔	oo	→	soo
k	↔	uu	→	kuu
v	↔	ai	→	vai

All trisyllabic lemmas are composed of three of the resulting syllables. For example jotaale is allowable as a lemma whereas jitaale is not because j and i are not a pair.

Secondary vowels are not associated with any particular consonant and only appear in infixes and identifier prefixes. These prefixes are always unstressed.

Morphology

Trisyllabics

The majority of words in Letaale consist of three syllables and are thus called trisyllabics. Each trisyllabic consists of two triphonemic roots:

1. a noun root (or subject root), which consists of three consonants (triconsonantal), for example m_g_v_ "banana", and
2. a verb root, which consists of three vowels (trivocalic), counting the long vowels and the diphthong /ai/ as one vowel each, for example _i_u_ai "be a banana".

Because all trisyllabics contain a subject and a verb, each one constitutes an entire clause in its own right.

Lemmas (citation forms) of trisyllabics consist of a noun root together with its equivalent verb root. These are related by the one-to-one correspondence of consonants to primary vowels, meaning that lemmas consist only of the syllables na, taa, le, xee, mi, hii, jo, soo, gu, kuu, and vai. Like all trisyllabics, lemmas make up a valid clause on their own, however, the relationship between noun forms and verb forms is consistent to the the point that trisyllabic lemmas are always, by definition, self-evidently true sentences of the structure "the X is an X" (or "that which X-es X-es"), and therefore mostly rather void of pragmatic purpose. Here are some examples of trisyllabic roots in their lemma forms.

Trisyllabic roots

Lemma	Translation	Noun	Translation	Verb	Translation
namina	I am me.	n_m_n_	I	_a_i_a	be me
vailevai	You are you.	v_l_v_	you	_ai_e_ai	be you
taaguhii	The taaguhii* is a taaguhii.	t_g_h_	taaguhii, he	_aa_u_ii	be taaguhii
hiitaahii	The hiitaahii** is a hiitaahii.	h_t_h_	hiitaahii, he	_ii_aa_ii	be hiitaahii
levaile	The woman is a woman.	l_v_l_	woman, she	_e_ai_e	be woman
soovaigu	The civilian man is a civilian man.	s_v_g_	civilian man, he	_o_ai_u	be civilian man
kuumixee	The monkey is a monkey.	k_m_x_	monkey	_uu_i_ee	be monkey
kuujomi	The dog is a dog.	k_j_m_	dog	_uu_o_i	be dog
minataa	The cat is a cat.	m_n_t_	cat	_i_a_aa	be cat
vaijokuu	The bird is a bird.	v_j_k_	bird	_ai_o_uu	be bird
milena	The fish is a fish.	m_l_n_	fish	_i_e_a	be fish
miguvai	The banana is a banana.	m_g_v_	banana	_i_u_ai	be banana
jomijo	The physically affected one is physically affected.	j_m_j_	physically affected one	_o_i_o	be physcally affected
lejole	The perceiver perceives.	l_j_l_	perceiver	_e_o_e	perceive
lesoomi	The sleeper sleeps.	l_s_m_	sleeper, sleeping one	_e_oo_i	sleep
xeenami	The eater eats.	x_n_m_	eater, eating one	_ee_a_i	eat
kuunagu	The hitter hits.	k_n_g_	hitter, hitting one	_uu_a_u	hit
gunagu	The killer kills.	g_n_g_	killer, murderer	_u_a_u	kill, murder
taanagu	The big one is big.	t_n_g_	big one	_aa_a_u	be big
hiijole	The beloved one is beloved.	h_j_l_	(be)loved one	_ii_o_e	be (be)loved
vaimina	The visible one is visible.	v_m_n_	visible one	_ai_i_a	be visible
hiimijo	This one is here.	h_m_j_	one near me	_ii_i_o	be near me
xeenajo	That one is there.	x_n_j_	one near you	_ee_a_o	near you
taamitaa	What is what?	t_m_t_	what, who, which	_aa_i_aa	be what, be who, which?

Identifiers

Identifiers are generally equivalent to proper nouns. They consist of one (or, occasionally, more than one) classifying prefix, which indicates various classes of people and things, followed by a trisyllabic.

For example, the personal name Tuakuumoxu consists of the prefix Tua-, indicating a tahu in active duty (a taaguhii), followed by the trisyllabic kuumoxu, meaning "the monkey plays" (k_m_x_ "the monkey" + uu_o_u "play").

Prefixes for personal names often change during an individual's lifetime. When Tuakuumoxu retires from active duty and enters administration, his name will become Xuakuumoxu, with the prefix Xua-indicating a tahu in an administrative role. The vocative prefix generally replaces any other prefix although it can sometimes be stacked on to the beginning. For example, the vocative form of Tuakuumoxu may be Xoekuumoxu or Xoetuakuumoxu.

Identifiers are also used for more specific descriptions of things than are available with trisyllabics, such as names of specific types of plants and animals, towns, rivers, hills and other topographical features, rock types, metals, foods etc.

Infixes

Infixes in Letaale are single-syllable morphemes beginning with a consonant and containing secondary vowels which contribute grammatical information in a sentence. They are inserted into the word the refer to (or into the first word in a phrase that they refer to), which is termed the "host", directly after the stressed syllable. They may, themselves be unstressed, but can also be stressed for emphasis, taking the primary stress away from the syllable before it.

Proclitics

Clitic	Gloss	Use	Example	Counterpart
hua	Q	question clitic, turns the word it is attached to (ie. its "host") into a yes/no question	Veehualavi? "Do you eat?"	hua
leo	NEG	negative clitic, "not", negates its host	Veeleolavi. "You do not eat."	gui
gui	AFF	affirmative clitic, "indeed", emphatically affirms its host	Veeguilavi. "You do eat."	loe
heo	NEG.Q	negative question clitic, "not?", turns its host into a question with an expected negative answer	Veeheolavi? "You don't eat, do you?"	hui
hui	AFF.Q	affirmative question clitic, "indeed?", turns its host into a question with an expected affirmative answer	Veehuilavi. "You do eat, don't you<?"	heo
tui	FOC	focus clitic, indicates its host is the focus of the sentence, the new information that is being claimed	Veetuilavi "(the thing is:) you eat"	nau
nau	TOP	topic clitic, indicates its host is the topic of the sentence, known information about which something is claimed in the focus	veenaulavi "(as for the fact that) you eat"	tui
sau	or	inclusive disjunctive clitic, "or", "and/or", indicates an alternative which is not exclusive	veesaulavi vilaivaasau "you (either)eat or you dance (or both)"	sau
tau	XOR	exclusive disjunctive clitic, "or" "or ... but not both", indicates an exclusive alternative	veetaulavi vilaivaatau "you (either) eat or you dance (but not both)"	tau
tia	although	causal adversative clitic, "although", "even though", indicates the context under which some other fact is unexpected or contrastive	vilaivaa(jeo) veetialavi "you dance although you eat"	jeo
jeo	but	effective adversative clitic, "but", "however", "nevertheless", indicates something surprising given another fact or situation	vilaivaa(tia) veejeolavi "you dance, but you eat"	tia
vui	and	simultaneous conjunctive clitic, "and", indicates a simultaneous addition	veevuilavi vilaivaavui "you eat and dance (at the same time)"	vui
nua	first	initial conjunctive clitic, "first", "initially", indicates its host occurs first in a sequence	veenualavi vilaivaasua "first you eat, then you dance"	sua
sua	subsequently	subsequent conjunctive clitic, "then", "subsequently", indicates an addition that follows in time	vilaivaa(nua) veesualavi "you dance, then you eat"	vui
kua	when	simultaneous punctual temporal clitic, "when", indicates that another event or situation occurs at the same time as what is marked with kua	Veekualavi vilaivaa(tui). "When you eat, you dance."	tui / nau / kua / jau
jau	while	simultaneous continuous temporal clitic, "while", indicates that its host is the temporal context for for another event or situation	Veejaulavi vilaivaa(tui) "While you're dancing, you eat."	tui / nau / kua / jau
mua	before	antetemporal punctual clitic, "before", indicates that its host comes after another event or situation	Veemualavi vilaivaa(tui). "Before you dance, you eat."	tui / nau / nio
goe	until	antetemporal continuous clitic, "until", indicates that its host represents the end point of another event or situation	Veegoelavi vilaivaa(tui). "Until you dance, you eat."	tui / nau
nio	after	posttemporal punctual clitic, "after", indicates that its host comes before another event or situation	Veeniolavi vilaivaa(tui). "After you eat, you dance."	tui / nau / mua
joe	since	posttemporal continuous clitic, "since", "from", indicates that its host represents the starting point of another event or situation	Veejoelavi vilaivaa(tui). "Since you ate, you've been dancing." "From the time when you eat, you're going to dance."	tui / nau
gua	because	specific causal clitic, "because", "since", "as", indicates that its host is the cause of another event or situation	Veegualavi vilaivaa(tui). "Because you eat, you dance."	tui / nau / noe
noe	therefore	specific effective clitic, "therefore", "so", indicates that its host is the effect caused by another event or situation	Vilaivaa(gua) veenoelavi. "You've been dancing; therefore, you eat."	tui / nau / gua
vue	if.REAL	generic/potential causal clitic, "if", indicates that its host, if it does turn out to be the case, is the cause of another event or situation	Veevuelavi vilaivaa(jue). "If you eat, (then) you dance."	jue
jue	then.REAL	generic/potential effective clitic, "then", indicates that its host is the effect caused by another possible event or situation	Veevuelavi vilaivaajue. "If you eat, (then) you dance."	vue
viu	if.IRR	irrealis causal clitic, "if", indicates that its host is a hypothetical event or situation that, if it were true, would the cause of another event or situation	Veeviulavi vilaivaa(jiu). "If you ate, (then) you would dance."	jiu
jiu	then.IRR	irrealis effective clitic, "then", "would" indicates that its host would be the effect caused by another hypothetical event or situation	Veejiulavi vilaivaajiu. "If you ate, (then) you would dance."	viu
gau	preparatively	telic causal clitic, indicates that its host is done in preparation in order to achieve another event or situation	Veegaulavi vilaivaaneo. "You eat (preparatively) in order to dance."	neo
neo	so.that	telic effective clitic, "so that", "in order that", indicates that its host is the intended goal behind another event or situation	Vilaivaa(gau) veeneolavi. "You dance in order to eat."	vue

Personal pronouns

First and second persons

Letaale a system of trisyllabic pronouns for the first and second persons.

Person	Clusivity	Stance	Singular	Plural
1st	exclusive of 2nd p.	guarded	namina	mitaami
		vulnerable	namijo	mitaajo
	inclusive of 2nd p.	guarded	-	vainami
		vulnerable	-	vainajo
2nd	-	-	vailevai	xeevaile

Stance indicates the approach of the speaker towards the addressee. The vulnerable stance pronouns indicate a kind of "weapons down" stance. The singular pronoun namijo must be used when speaking to superiors. It is also used, when off duty, in the presence of close friends, where all use this form and where the inclusive plural form used is vainajo. The plural exclusive form mitaajo is only used when all members of the group referred to would use the vulnerable stance with the addressee — if not, the guarded form mitaami must be used.

Third person

There are no dedicated third person pronouns. To refer back to an already mentioned third person entity, the triconsonantal noun-form of that word is simply repeated.

Demonstratives

Spatial demonstratives

Spatial demonstratives are used to indicate things that have a real, physical location in space. They are connected to grammatical persons, with forms indicating proximity to the speaker, proximity to the addressee and proximity to neither. They are frequently accompanied by pointing, which is generally done with the whole hand except when pointing at something very small and close.

Spatial demonstratives

Lemma	Translation	Noun	Translation	Verb	Translation
hiimijo	The one near me is near me.	h_m_j_	one near me	_ii_i_o	be near me
xeenajo	The one near you is near you.	x_n_j_	one near you	_ee_a_o	be near you
kuugujo	The one over there is over there.	k_g_j_	one near me	_uu_u_o	be over there

Because of the tendency of nominal roots to be interpreted as definite and verbal roots to be interpreted as indefinite, these tend to be equivalent to "this, this, that, those" (ie. the thing by me, etc.) as nouns and "be here, be there" as verbs (ie. be a thing by me).

When something is equally close to speaker and addressee, such as a building that both are standing in, it is customary for xeenajo to be used among equals and to superiors, with hiimijo used with subordinates.

Syntax

Trisyllabic clauses

Trisyllabic clauses consist of a single trisyllabic, which itself consists of two triphonemic roots a noun root (or subject root), consisting of three consonants, and a verb root (or predicate root), consisting of three vowels. The following table shows examples and is sortable by column.

Trisyllabic	Translation	Noun	Translation	Verb	Translation
xaanijaa	What is that?	x_n_j_	one near you	_aa_i_aa	be what/who?
himujai	This is a banana.	h_m_j_	one near me	_i_u_ai	be banana
huumijee	This is a monkey.	h_m_j_	one near me	_uu_i_ee	be monkey
huumiiji	This is a house.	h_m_j_	one near me	_uu_ii_i	be house
haamijaa	What is this?	h_m_j_	one near me	_aa_i_aa	be what/who?
xinujai	That is a banana.	x_n_j_	one near you	_i_u_ai	be banana
xuunijee	That is a monkey.	x_n_j_	one near you	_uu_i_ee	be monkey
xuuniiji	That is a house.	x_n_j_	one near you	_uu_ii_i	be house
nimunai	I am a banana.	n_m_n_	I	_i_u_ai	be banana
magiva	The banana is me.	m_g_v_	banana	_a_i_a	be me
viluvai	You are a banana.	v_l_v_	you	_i_u_ai	be banana
maigevai	The banana is you.	m_g_v_	banana	_ai_e_ai	be you
neemani	I eat.	n_m_n_	I	_ee_a_i	eat
xanima	The eating one is me.	x_n_m_	eater	_a_i_a	be me
veelavi	You eat.	v_l_v_	you	_ee_a_i	eat
xainemai	The eating one is you.	x_n_m_	eater	_ai_e_ai	be you
keejami	The dog eats.	k_j_m_	dog	_ee_a_i	eat
xuunomi	The eating one is a dog.	x_n_m_	eater	_uu_o_i	be dog
kejoomi	The dog sleeps.	k_j_m_	dog	_e_oo_i	sleep
kijumai	The dog is a banana.	k_j_m_	dog	_i_u_ai	be banana
nemone	I perceive.	n_m_n_	I	_e_o_e	perceive
nameeno	I exist.	n_m_n_	I	_a_ee_o	exist
meegovi	The banana exists.	m_g_v_	banana	_ee_o_i	exist
xijumai	There is a banana.	x_j_m_	existing one	_i_u_ai	be banana

Inversion

Inversion is the process of swapping the converting the noun root into a verb root and vice versa within a trisyllabic word. Many of the examples given above are inversions of another given example.

For example, to invert the word veelavi "you eat", the noun root v_l_v_ "you" is converted to its corresponding verb root _ai_e_ai "be you" and the verb _ee_a_i "to eat" becomes the noun x_n_m_ "eater". This produces xainemai "the one that eats is you". Inversion usually results in radically differently looking words with an often fairly subtle shift in pragmatic meaning. Veelavi "you eat" and xainemai "the eater is you" don't share a single phoneme in common, and yet the meanings differ only in terms of topic and focus.

Identifier use

Because identifiers do not have slots available for a noun's consonants or a verb's vowels to fit in, they must accompany a classifying noun or verb which indicates their role in the sentence. The identifier most commonly follows their classifying verb or noun but they can also precede it. For people's names, the most common classifier used is hiilemi "the named one is named".

Niimeni Xuatonugo.
[ˈniːmeni ʔua̯ˈtonuŋo]
n_m_n_	I	_ii_e_i	be named
Xua-	IDENTIFIER: Name of xeeguhii
t_n_g_	big one	_o_u_o	be strange
My name is Xuatonugo. I am Xuatonugo.

Halima Xuatonugo.
[ˈhalima ʔua̯ˈtonuŋo]
h_l_m_	named one	_a_i_a	be me
Xua-	IDENTIFIER: Name of xeeguhii
t_n_g_	big one	_o_u_o	be strange
Xuatonugo is me.

There are a range of other name classifiers, such as nia-, which is used for animals.

Xaijomuu niamalaixuu malima.
[ʔai̯ʒoˈmuː nia̯malai̯ˈʔuː ˈmalima]
x_j_m_	an extisting one	_ai_o_uu	be a bird
nia-	IDENTIFIER: Name of animal species
m_l_x_	blue one	_a_ai_uu	fly high
m_l_m_	owner	_a_i_a	be me
I have a hyacinth macaw.

Multiclausal sentences

Multiclausal sentences are formed by simply placing trisyllabic word-clauses next to one another. Modifiers generally follow their heads but word order is quite flexible, with different orders being used to shift emphasis.

Namaina kimaixaa.
[naˈmai̯na kimai̯ˈʔaː]
n_m_n_	I	_a_ai_a	cause
k_m_x_	monkey	_i_ai_aa	dance
I make the monkey dance.

Kimaixaa namaina.
[kimai̯ˈʔaː naˈmai̯na]
k_m_x_	monkey	_i_ai_aa	dance
n_m_n_	I	_a_ai_a	cause
The monkey dances (because) I make it.

Kimaixaa navina.
[kimai̯ˈʔaː ˈnawina]
k_m_x_	monkey	_i_ai_aa	dance
n_v_n_	cause	_a_i_a	be me
The monkey dances because of me.

Navina kimaixaa.
[ˈnawina kimai̯ˈʔaː]
n_v_n_	cause	_a_i_a	be me
k_m_x_	monkey	_i_ai_aa	dance
Because of me, the monkey dances.

Transitivity

There is no explicit transitivity in Letaale. The direct object of a verb is frequently indicated using a root of jomijo, which indicates that something is physically affected by another action.

Keemaxi mogivo.
[ˈkeːmaʔi ˈmoŋiwo]
k_m_x_	monkey	_ee_a_i	eat
m_g_v_	banana	_o_i_o	be physically affected
The monkey eats the banana.

Jomijo is, however, not simply an equivalent of an accusative case. In many instances, another root is used to indicate the roll of the object.

Tuxanu keemuxee.
[ˈtuʔanu keːmuˈʔeː]
t_x_n_	hunter	_u_a_u	kill
k_m_x_	monkey	_ee_u_ee	die
The hunter kills the monkey.

Vijaaka lavitee.
[wiˈʒaːka lawiˈteː]
v_j_k_	bird	_i_aa_a	construct
l_v_t_	nest	_a_i_ee	come into being
The bird builds the nest.

Helumai Tuakuumoxu kimaixaa. Koomixuu togiho.
[heluˈmai̯ tua̯ˈkuːmoʔu kimai̯ˈʔaː | koːmiˈʔuː ˈtoŋiho]
h_l_m_	named one	_e_u_ai	force
Tua-	IDENTIFIER: Name of taaguhii
k_m_x_	monkey	_e_ee_ii	play
k_m_x_	monkey	_i_ai_aa	dance
...
k_m_x_	monkey	_oo_i_uu	bite
t_g_h_	taaguhii / he	_o_i_o	be physically affected
Tuakuumoxu forces the monkey to dance. It bites him.

Tuamaagavu halaima kuheemii.
[tua̯ˈmaːŋavu hiˈla̯ima kuheːˈmiː]
Tua-	IDENTIFIER: Name of taaguhii
m_g_v_	banana	_e_ee_ii	be big
h_l_m_	named one	_a_ai_a	cause
k_h_m_	house	_u_ee_ii	be on fire
Tuamaagavu sets the house on fire.

Verbs that don't result in something being physically affected (such as "love", "see") are often present in Letaale as passives and the experiencer is indicated as a perceiver.

Nemone viilove.
[ˈnemone ˈwiːlowe]
n_m_n_	I	_e_o_e	perceive
v_l_v_	you	_ii_o_e	be (be)loved
I love you.

Nemone vailiva.
[ˈnemone ˈwai̯liwa]
n_m_n_	I	_e_o_e	perceive
v_l_v_	you	_ai_i_a	be visible
I see you.

Definiteness

There are no articles, but the subject of a clause is generally definite and the verb deals with something indefinite. Inversion (swapping the subject and the verb within a clause) is used to achieve this effect. The resulting transformations produce entirely different looking words, such as the change from mogivo (≈ "the banana") to jimujai (≈ "a banana") in the following sentences.

Keemaxi mogivo.
[ˈkeːmaʔi ˈmoŋiwo]
k_m_x_	monkey	_ee_a_i	eat
m_g_v_	banana	_o_i_o	be physically affected
The monkey eats the banana.

Keemaxi jimujai.
[ˈkeːmaʔi ʒimuˈʒai̯]
k_m_x_	monkey	_ee_a_i	eat
j_m_j_	physically affected one	_i_u_ai	be banana
The monkey eats a banana.

Time

There are no verb tenses in Letaale. The word indicating time is hiimixee and this can be combined with other roots to specify what time is meant.

Time words

Lemma	Translation	Noun	Translation	Verb	Translation
vaimigu	The past one is in the past.	v_m_g_	past one	_ai_i_u	exist in past
vaixeele	Yesterday's one was yesterday.	v_m_g_	yesterday's one	_ai_ee_e	exist yesterday
hiinami	The current one is current.	v_m_g_	current one, ongoing one	_ii_a_i	be current, be ongoing
kuumisoo	The future one will be in the future.	k_m_s_	future one	_uu_i_oo	be in future
lelemi	Tomorrow's one will be tomorrow.	v_m_g_	tomorrow's one	_ai_i_u	exist yesterday

Haimeexe nuumiinu javaite Xuekahomai.
[hai̯ˈmeːʔe nuːmiːnu ʒaˈwai̯te ʔue̯kahoˈmai̯]
h_m_x_	time	_ai_ee_e	be yesterday
n_m_n_	I	_uu_ii_u	fly
j_v_t_	destination	_a_ai_e	be town
Xue-	IDENTIFIER: Name of town
k_h_m_	house	_a_o_ai	be circle
Yesterday I flew to Xuekahomai.

Location

Locations are indicated with nataami.

Neemani mogivo kahaami.
[ˈneːmani ˈmoŋiwo kaˈhaːmi]
n_m_n_	I	_ee_a_i	eat
m_g_v_	banana	_o_i_o	be physically affected
k_h_m_	house	_a_aa_i	be location
I eat the banana in the house.

Neemani mogivo nuutiimi.
[ˈneːmani ˈmoŋiwo nuːˈtiːmi]
n_m_n_	I	_ee_a_i	eat
m_g_v_	banana	_o_i_o	be physically affected
n_t_m_	location	_a_aa_i	be house
I eat the banana in a house.

Subordination

Subordination is frequently not overtly indicated syntactically, just as in English.

Nemano velove niimone.
[ˈnemano ˈwelowe ˈniːmone]
n_m_n_	I	_e_a_o	know
v_l_v_	you	_e_o_e	perceive
n_m_n_	I	_ii_o_e	be (be)loved
I know (that) you love me.

Subordination can, however, be indicated using the root gumina ("what I'm about to say is what I'm about to say"). In this following example, it is only necessary if one wishes to indicate that one's perception was visual

Nemone (gaimina) keemaxi mogivo.
[ˈnemone (ˈŋai̯mina) ˈkeːmaʔi ˈmoŋiwa]
n_m_n_	I	_e_o_e	perceive
g_m_n_	next thing I say	_ai_i_a	be visible
k_m_x_	monkey	_ee_a_i	eat
m_g_v_	banana	_o_i_o	be physically affected
I see the monkey eat the banana.

Coordination

Repetition of either a noun or a verb is used as an equivalent to "and".

Keemaxi neemani mogivo.
[ˈkeːmaʔi ˈneːmani ˈmoŋiwo]
k_m_x_	monkey	_ee_a_i	eat
n_m_n_	I	_ee_a_i	eat
m_g_v_	banana	_o_i_o	be physically affected
The monkey and I eat the banana.

Tuugahu nomino komixo kojimo.
[ˈtuːŋahu ˈnomino ˈkomiʔo ˈkoʒimo]
t_g_h_	taaguhii / he	_uu_a_u	hits
n_m_n_	I	_o_i_o	be physically affected
k_m_x_	monkey	_o_i_o	be physically affected
k_j_m_	dog	_o_i_o	be physically affected
The taaguhii hits me, the monkey, and the dog. He hits me, the monkey, and the dog.

Menooti menote jaleeto.
[meˈnoːti ˈmenote ʒaˈleːto]
m_n_t_	cat	_e_oo_i	sleep
m_n_t_	cat	_e_o_e	perceive
j_l_t_	dream	_a_ee_o	exist
The cat sleeps and (the cat) dreams.

A common equivalent of the word 'but' is gomaane (what I'm about to say is surprising) or occasionally its conversion jutila (what's surprising is something I'm about to say).

Tuugahu lovilo gomaane levole tiigohe.
[ˈtuːŋahu ˈlowilo ŋoˈmaːne ˈlewole ˈtiːŋohe]
t_g_h_	taaguhii / he	_uu_a_u	hit
l_v_l_	woman / she	_o_i_o	be physically affected
g_m_n_	next thing I say	_o_aa_e	be surprising
l_v_l_	woman / she	_e_o_e	perceive
t_g_h_	taaguhii / he	_ii_o_e	be (be)loved
He hits her but she loves him.

Modification

Modification is chiefly accomplished by repeating what is to be modified in another clause. Often, this will not look like repetition from the surface forms because what is repeated may be in verb form in one clause and noun form in the modifying clause.

Keemaxi jimujai maagavu.
[ˈkeːmaʔi ʒimuˈʒai̯ ˈmaːŋavu]
k_m_x_	monkey	_ee_a_i	eat
j_m_j_	physically affected one	_i_u_ai	be banana
m_g_v_	banana	_aa_a_u	be large
The monkey eats a big banana.

Nemone viilove haajiilaa.
[ˈnemone ˈwiːlowe haːʒiːˈlaː]
n_m_n_	I	_e_o_e	perceive
v_l_v_	you	_ii_o_e	be (be)loved
h_j_l_	beloved one	_aa_ii_aa	be extreme
I love you very much.

Nemone laajiilaa viilove .
[ˈnemone ˈwiːlowe kaˈhaːmi]
n_m_n_	I	_e_o_e	perceive
l_j_l_	perceiver	_aa_ii_aa	be extreme
v_l_v_	you	_ii_o_e	be (be)loved
It is clear to me that I love you.

Glossary

Word	Letaale (lemma)	Guaru	Explanation
hiitaahii	hiitaahii	kia tahu	A hiitaahii or kia tahu is a boy who is raised to be a tahu. This word is often used for adult men who have failed their initiation into the tagahu and are not permitted to live with civilians. Some may be permitted to reinitiate to become xeeguhii.
primary vowel			The primary vowels are the short vowels /a e i o u/ ⟨a e i o u⟩, the long vowels /aː eː iː oː uː/ ⟨aa ee ii oo uu⟩ and the diphthong /ai/ ⟨ai⟩. Primary vowels can occur in trisyllabics whereas secondary vowels cannot. Each primary vowel is associated with one consonant, with which it alternates in conversion from a verb root to its equivalent noun root.
taaguhii	taaguhii		A taaguhii is a tahu in active duty, roughly equivalent to a soldier or police officer.
tagahu		tagahu	The tagahu is an all-male secret society which functions more or less as the government and military/police force of the known parts of Oru. Its members are known as tahu. The leaders of the tagahu are believed to be in contact with the creators of Oru and they consequently have access to very sophisticated technology.
tahu	taahiigu	tahu	A tahu is a man who has been successfully initiated into the tagahu.
trisyllabic			A trisyllabic is a word consisting of three syllables, each of which is made up of a consonant phoneme and a primary vowel phoneme. Trisyllabics represent a full clause consisting of a triconsonantal noun root and a trivocallic verb root. For example, the trisyllabic neemani "I eat" consists of the noun root n_m_n_ "I" plus the verb root _ee_a_i "eat".
xeeguhii	xeeguhii		An xeeguhii is a tahu who works in an administrative role. This includes both the equivalent of senators as well as lower government workers.

Notes

This conlang has been inspired by Abakwi and Iljena. Check them out! - Imralu