Notice

This is a more technical sheet for Ictuk that can be used to reference certain rules and structures. If this looks daunting and you would like more of an intro, I have created an intro sheet.

Interested in using this language with others? Add "selisine" on Discord to get into the server!

Sounds

IPA Charts

Consonants (Pulmonic & Non-Pulmonic)

Vowels

Writing

Alphabet

There are a total of 15 letters in Ictuk. Ictuk's alphabetical order originates from how much the sound resonated with their head. The order is applied in this table, left to right, top to bottom.

Stacking

Stacking is an important part of speaking Ictuk. Stacking seperates words into groups, where each group is pronounced left to right, and each word in the group is pronounced top to bottom.
Kofafashtufta ("I am good too")

Half height glyphs are special in that they both can be placed next to the upper or lower half of a full-height glyph, and because they can be stacked on top of each other relative to the word they are apart of. Both are stylistic choices that are up to the writer.

Primary Line

Because Ictuk phrases are multiple levels, an invisible reference line was established as the "center" of the word or phrase, known as the primary line. It's typically where a noun or pronoun is.
In this case, the primary line is where kofa ("be") and tuf ("I") is, because tuf is the pronoun in the phrase.

Overlap

Sometimes, words can overlap past the word they're stacking on or under. A spacer glyph can be added until the word is no longer overlapping. There is a short spacer glyph and a long spacer glyph.

Punctuation

Punctuation can be stacked on itself to amplify its meaning.

The period can be placed wherever it fits best, as long as it remains on the primary line and doesn't obstruct other glyphs.
Kofafashtufta. ("I am good too.")

The question mark follows the same rules as the period.
Kofafashbuta? ("Are you good too?")

The exclamation has to align with the center of the primary line.
"Kofafashtufta! ("I am good too!")

The comma follows the same rules as the exclamation point.
Kofafashtuf, aa but? ("I am good, and you?")

The starting quote is stacked above the first glyph in the quoted phrase, and the ending quote is stacked below the last glyph in the quoted phrase.
"Kofafashtuf", ofazhpapfashoqposh. ("'I am good', they said.")

Parenthesis appear on every line of the word or phrase they are encapsulating. Both parenthesis have to align with the center of the line they are on.
Kofaakozhobtuf (ofazhokofazhobtuf) ("I'm tired (I didn't sleep)")

Other Rules

Double Letters

If 2 of the same consonants are right next to each other, it becomes one consonant.

This applies to stacked letters as well, except the consonants stay as they are, and only the pronunciation changes to one consonant.

If 2 vowels are right next to each other, the pronunciation changes, adding a glottal stop between the vowels.
Aa ("And")

New Lines

The most common spacing between phrases that aren't stacked is 1 line, or more technically 125 pixels of space.
'Nguuhop kofabut shou apa?' Ofazhpapfashoqtuf. ("'How are you today?' I said.")
'Kofafashtuf,' Ofazhpapfashoqposh. ("'I'm good,' He said.")

Numbers

Ictuza count in base 12, meaning every 12 numbers counted, it jumps one place. In English, we represent the 11 and 12 in Base 12 as A and B respectively.

Numbers always stack above all other glyphs affecting the noun.

Base Numbers (0-B)

Tens

All tens are represented with a "q" before the ones place.
Q ("10")

Qak ("14")

For numbers above 1B, the number in the tens place gets put in front of q, represented by one of the base numbers. This applies to every following place above the ones place.
Mbaqmba ("55")

Hundreds

All hundreds are reprented with "mbok" before the tens place.
Mbok ("100")

Akmbokmbaqmbu ("456")

Thousands

All thousands are represented with "pazh" before the hundreds place.
Pazh ("1,000")

Popazhushmbokakqmba ("2345")

Ten Thousands

All ten thousands are represented with "ngpa" before the thousands place.
Ngpa ("10,000")

Pongpaushpazhakmbokmbaqmbu ("23,456")

Hundred Thousands

All hundred thousands are represented with "ngshop" before the ten thousands place.
Ngshop

Pongshopushngpaakpazhmbambokmbuqfa ("234,567")

Ordinance

The order of a group is indicated with a number and fazh stacked below the number.
Kofaufazhposh, kofapofazhtuf, kofaushfazhposhozh. ("He is in 1st, I am in 2nd, she is in 3rd.")

Grammar

Adjectives

Adjectives are words that can describe nouns and pronouns. All adjectives stack on top of what they affect with no specific order. Kofafashtuf. ("I am good.")

Determiners

Determiners in Ictuk describe a noun's relative quanity and definiteness. Both stack above and closest to the noun.

Articles describe whether a noun is singular (cat), plural (cats), indefinite (a cat), and definite (the cat). Articles precede all other determiners.

Tuonguhu ofazhkofanguhaposh. ("The teacher was boring.")

Comparisons and Superlatives

All comparisons are built on stacking opapa, for "more", on top of the comparing adjective.
Kofaopapafashtuf shap but. ("I'm better (more good) than you.")

In a scenario that needs better comparisons than the original, more can be stacked on as many times as needed.
Kofaopapafashtuf shap but, at kofaopapaopapafashposh shap tuf. ("I'm better (more good) than you, but he's even better (more more good) than me.")

Superlatives show that something has an attribute at its most extreme. They are constructed the same way as comparisons, but instead use the word opapazh ("most"). There can't be more than one "most" stacked on an adjective.

Adverbs

Adverbs are words that modify or affect verbs, and they stack below the verb they affect at the lowest level.
Fazhoukfazhatatuf? ("Can I go too?")

Nouns

Nouns are words that describe a person, place or thing.
Tuonguhu ofazhkofanguhaposh. ("The teacher was boring.")

Pronouns

Pronouns are words that replace nouns, usually used for something that has already been mentioned, or to mention a/the speaker(s).

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns address the actor of the sentence, and are what attach to verbs. There are 8 personal pronouns in Ictuk.

4th person, or 3rd person obviative, is very similar to 3rd person. It comes into play when talking about someone less central to the story, like "He (1) thought his (2) idea was good", where "his" is talking about someone in the 4th person. While it isn't inherently required, Ictuk lacks gender in its pronouns, which can make discernment from context more difficult.
Ofazhnguhoposh ukposhozhnguho ofazhkofafashosh ("He (1) thought his (2) idea was good")

Pronouns can also be used as objects in sentences when they're not the subject of the verb. They are the same words as personal pronouns, which can be seen in a phrase like "I am good, and you?".
Kofafashtuf, aa but? ("I am good, and you?")

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns address the speaker themselves, and stack a copy of the pronoun onto itself.
Akozhapofazhozhoubtuf osh tuftuf! ("I want to do it myself!")

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are used to indicate the ownership of something or someone. In Ictuk, the word uk ("hook") is added to the top of the pronoun, then the full pronoun is added to the top of what is being possessed.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns point to or identify things that already have context in the sentence. Ictuk has 6 demonstrative pronouns.

Abstract words in Ictuk are any intangible or conceptual object. Things like days, color, names, etc. would use shou or shouzh.

Prepositions

Prepositions help show the relationship between words in a sentence. They stack on the highest point of the 2nd word in the prepositional phrase.
Ofazhazhouktuzh atshaosh. ("We went through it.")

Verbs

Verbs are synthesized in a particular way, as seen in this table.

Aspect

Aspect is how a verb extends through time. There are 4 aspects: simple, progressive, perfect, and perfect progressive. In Ictuk, 3 of these 4 aspects have a preposition that represents them.

• Simple is just the action, like "sleep", and has no preposition.
• Progressive is a continuous action, like "sleeping", and is represented with "fazho", for "over".
• Perfect is the relation between an earlier action and a later time, like "has slept", and is represented with "kou", for "at".
• Perfect progressive is like perfect, but as an ongoing action, like "has been sleeping", and is represented with "fazhouk", for "go".

Tense

Tense is when a verb happened. There are 3 tenses: present, past, and future.

• Present tense is a verb that is actively happening, like "sleeps", and has no additional word to represent it.
• Past tense is a verb that has already happened, like "slept", and is represented with ofazh.
• Future tense is a verb that will happen, like "will sleep", and is represented with fazh.

Negation

Negation is when a verb isn't being done, like "not sleeping", and is represented with o.

Root

The root is the action itself. Unlike English, there are no infinitives in Ictuk (e.g. "to sleep"). The auxilliary gets formatted in simple aspect and added to the front of the phrase, and the root gets formatted as progressive aspect.
For example, "I want to sleep" becomes akozhapofazhongukoshtuf ("I want sleeping").

Modal

Modality is what conveys the mood of a sentence. There are 4 types in Ictuk:

• Possibility/potential ("could/would") is fazha ("with")
• Ability ("be able to","can") atsha ("through")
• Hypothetical ("were to") "fazhku" ("toward")
• Obligation ("should", "ought to") "akozhoq" ("require")

Subject

The subject is the actor of the verb, and is always a pronoun. When regular nouns are being used (e.g. "My computer is very good"), the noun stays seperate from the verb, but the subject word changes according to the noun.
Uktufngufoq kofafashoshushko ("My computer is very good")

Other Rules

Non-Present Time

Units of time can be modified to represent time that has passed or will pass, which uses the same structure as verb tenses: ofazh for the past and fazh for the future. The amount of time in this occurence is indicated by stacking a number on apa.

• Fazhuapa ("1 day from now", "tomorrow")
• Fazhfuapao ("8 minutes from now")
• Ushkoofazhuapa ("1 year before now", "last year")

Approximator Stacking

Colloquially, fazh can be stacked on top of fazhuouk ("almost") to indicate how close or similar something is to its approximation. There's not really a definitive measurement with how many fazh's there are. The English equivalent to this is saying "really really really (however many "really"'s) close".
Ofazhkofafazhfazhfazhfazhuoukposh, ofazhkofaushafoposh uaofazhapa. ("They were almost there, just a second away.")

Because: Fazh and Fazhko

Ictuk has 2 words to indicate reasoning: fazh for the factual or natural occurence of something (e.g. Ofazhukoshposh fazh ofazhoashoposh ("They died because they didn't eat")),

and fazhko for the conceptual or abstract reasoning of something (e.g. Ngushoofashtuf fazhko ngushoofashbut ("I feel bad because you feel bad")).