Ektari Tai uses the standardized Anshiihsih alphabet without the letters [p], [ng], [mn], [f], or [th]; their respective phones are all instead expressed with digraphs. Besides that, a few letters have differing pronounciations from their Anshens counterparts as illustrated in the alphabet table.
Doubled letters can have one of four changes: the sound can lengthen, can move back in the mouth, devoice, or (in the case of vowels) gain emphasis. Fricatives either move back in the mouth ([s] becomes [s̺], [dz] becomes [dʒ], [ʒ] becomes [ʐ], and [ʃ] becomes [ʂ]) or are devoiced ([v] becomes [f], [ᴚ] becomes [χ], [ts] becomes [tz], [tʃ] becomes [tʒ], and [ð] becomes [θ]); nasal consonants, vowels, and l and r get lengthened; the semivowel y is never doubled; plosives can also either be moved ([c] becomes [k], [ɟ] becomes [g], [t] becomes [t̪]) or devoiced ([b] becomes [p], [d] becomes [t])
There are also non-doubled digraphs in uv, uvv, gk, kkg, kg, nc, and ncc, which are pronounced as [β]*, [Φ]*, [χ], [x], [ç], [ɲ], and [ŋ] respectively. There isn't any rules for these, they just combine their sounds roughly as all digraphs try to.
*when before a vowel
Emphasis falls on the second to last vowel unless a vowel is doubled, in which case that vowel gains emphasis. If that vowel is in the initial or middle positions, it is lengthened; if it's final, it only gains emphasis. There is an exception in the letter [u], which only gains emphasis if it has a consonant around it as it is pronounced as [w] if it is only near other vowels (aua and auu would be pronounced [awa] and [aw], but au, aut, and auut would be pronounced [au], [aut], and [aút])
Ektari Tai grammar is mostly based on the grammar of Spanish and Russian with regular conjugation and some vague cases, but its grammatical crown jewel is its class and gender systems.
All words in Ektari Tai change meaning and form depending on two sets of criteria/genders: the 'class' gender, and the 'gender' gender (it makes sense trust). Both genders of a word is determined phonologically with the 'gender' gender being based on method of articulation and 'class' gender being based on place of articulation. There are three 'gender' genders, which I will call all just 'gender' from now on— Feminine, Neutral, and Masculine, and 11 'class' genders, which I will call all just 'class' from now on— -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, familial 1, 3, familial 2, 4, familial 3, and 5, though there too is subclassing that applies because I couldn't possibly allow things to be easy. The three genders are based, as stated prior, on method of articulation. Specifically, it is split by whether a phone is a vowel, a fricative, or a plosive, corresponding to Feminine, Neutral, and Masculine respectively. The 11 classes are denoted, as stated prior, by place of articulation; however the 'direction' of class is changed by the gender of the phone. For example, [b] is in a higher rank than [d], but [v] is in a lower rank than [s] because the neutral and masculine directions lead to the opposite half of the mouth (neutral leads back, masculine leads forwards). This is less noticeable in the feminine as it spans all vowels, back and front, but generally it goes from back to front, open to closed, with the closed unrounded front vowel being the highest class and what was once the unrounded open back vowel being the lowest class; though now it's pronounced as an unrounded open front vowel, but it retains its low class through the kinda minor phonological shift. Gender itself is subject to class, as class is to gender. Feminine is higher than Neutral is higher than Masculine. To help explain all of this, below lies three charts of phones in order of class, from highest to lowest, split between genders that are themselves ordered by class, and including labeling to distinguish what exactly those classes are (wherein 'f' stands for 'familial'):
| Class | Letter |
|---|---|
| 5/f3 | İ, i |
| 4/f2 | Î, î |
| 3 | I, ı |
| 2/f1 | Ė, ė |
| 1 | U, u |
| 0 | E, e |
| -1 | O, o |
| -1 | Ū, ū |
| -2 | A, a |
| Class | Letter |
|---|---|
| 5/f3 | B, b |
| 4/3/f2 | Bb, bb |
| 2/1/f1 | D, d |
| 0 | T, t |
| -1 | C, c |
| -1 | K, k |
| -2 | Cc, cc |
| -2 | Kk, kk |
| Class | Letter |
|---|---|
| 5 | Gk, gk |
| 4a/f3a | G, g |
| 4b/f3b | Kkg, kkg |
| 4c/f3c | Kg, kg |
| 4d/f3d | Şş, şş |
| 3a/f2 | Ss, ss |
| 3b | Śś, śś |
| 3c | Šš, šš |
| 2a/f1a | Zz, Zz |
| 2b/f1b | z, z |
| 1a | Jj, jj |
| 1b | Rr, rr |
| 1c | Ş, ş |
| 0a | L, l |
| 0a | M, m |
| 0a | N, n |
| 0a | Nc, nc |
| 0a | Ncc, ncc |
| 0b | R, r |
| 0c | Ś, ś |
| 0d | J, j |
| -1a | Š, š |
| -1b | S, s |
| -1c | Ð, ð |
| -1d | Ðð, ðð |
| -1e | V, v |
| -2a | Vv, vv |
Alright, fun, no? Well, next up is adjectives. Adjectives are thankfully quite simple, needing only a single suffix to respond to the end sound of the following root word. The trick is, though, that that said suffix changes in relation to both of the subject's genders. This isn't as complicated as it seems, though, as it leaves only 30 possible endings to choose from!
| Class | Feminine | Neutral | Masculine |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | -ii | -iigk | -iib |
| f3 | -îî | -îîg | -îîb |
| 4 | -i | -ikg | -ib |
| f2 | -î | -îss | -îbb |
| 3 | -ı | -ıšš | -ıp |
| 2/f1 | -ė | -ėz | -ėd |
| 1 | -u | -uş | -ud |
| 0 | -e | -encc | -et |
| -1 | -ū | -ūð | -ūk |
| -2 | -a | -auu | -akk |
It should be noted that all of the above applies universally to every word, so it seems complicated, but one would get much practice in speaking regularily. In turn, such rules apply to pronouns. Pronouns follow the same structure of change as adjectives, but not the same suffixes, as they use the higher subclass to differentiate as they are more likely to be used for people. There are three perspectives: First Person, Second Person, and Third Person.
| Class | Feminine | Neutral | Masculine |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Ne | Nen | Nek |
| Class | Feminine | Neutral | Masculine |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Atašii | Atašiigk | Atašiib |
| f3 | Atašîî | Atašîîg | Atašîîb |
| 4 | Ataši | Atašikkg | Atašib |
| f2 | Atašî | Atašîss | Atašîbb |
| 3 | Atašı | Atašıśś | Atašıbb |
| 2/f1 | Atašė | Atašėzz | Atašėd |
| 1 | Atašu | Atašujj | Atašud |
| 0 | Ataše | Atašel | Atašet |
| -1 | Atašo | Atašoš | Atašoc |
| -2 | Ataša | Atašavv | Atašacc |
| Class | Feminine | Neutral | Masculine |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Botii | Botiigk | Botiib |
| f3 | Botîî | Botîîg | Botîîb |
| 4 | Boti | Botikkg | Botib |
| f2 | Botî | Botîss | Botîbb |
| 3 | Botı | Botıśś | Botıbb |
| 2/f1 | Botė | Botėzz | Botėd |
| 1 | Botu | Botujj | Botud |
| 0 | Bote | Botel | Botet |
| -1 | Boto | Botoš | Botoc |
| -2 | Bota | Botavv | Botacc |
Now, it's occurred to me that I've been explaining a whole lot of where things go, but not a whole lot of why things go. Gender is based on one's gender as judged by appearance and actual sense of self, and classes work the same, but instead of being based off of one's sense of self, they're based on respect, authority, and one's opinion of another. Class 0 is completely neutral, one would use this with Anybody, and is mostly used in objective text. Class 1 is slightly higher, and would be used with a stranger in politeness. Class 2 would be used with an acquaintence or someone that you know fairly well. Familial class 1 is usually lumped in with class 2, and would apply to mostly cousins, nieces, and nephews and siblings generally. Class 3 would be used with friends regardless of how close they are. Familial class 2 would be used with parents, aunts, and uncles and the like. Class 4 would be used with non-familial authority figures like teachers or basically anyone who one plans on listening to. Familial class 3 would apply to grandparents, great aunts, and great uncles and such. Class 5 would apply to higher authorities like a king or a god if you believe in talking to those. There also exists the two negative classes which are used to refer to one that someone has some or much authority over respective to Class -1, which would be used with a younger sibling or from a parent to their child, and Class -2, which would be used from a king to their subjects or a boss to a lower-ranking employee; though they could also be used for insulting purposes (think phrases like "get owned").
As mentioned above, Ektari Tai conjugates with respect to five tenses: a present, future, past, past participle, and present participle, and there is a suffix for infinitives (-ėėb) that is universal. As well, all non-present tenses are conjugated with a universal prefix attached to the verb conjugated in present tense. Below are the conjugactions for the present tense split by perspective:
| Class | Feminine | Neutral | Masculine |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | -ene | -een | -enet |
| Class | Feminine | Neutral | Masculine |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | -igkii | -iigk | -igkiib |
| f3 | -îgîî | -îîg | -îgîîb |
| 4 | -ikkgi | -ikkg | -ikkgib |
| f2 | -îssî | -îîss | -îssîbb |
| 3 | -ıśśı | -ııśś | -ıśśıbb |
| 2/f1 | -ėzzė | -ėėzz | -ėzzėd |
| 1 | -ujju | -uujj | -ujjud |
| 0 | -eşe | -eeş | -eşet |
| -1 | -ošo | -ooš | -ošoc |
| -2 | -avva | -aavv | -avvacc |
| Class | Feminine | Neutral | Masculine |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | -ibii | -ibiigk | -iib |
| f3 | -îbîî | -îbîîg | -îîb |
| 4 | -ibi | -ibikkg | -iib |
| f2 | -îbbî | -îbbîss | -îîbb |
| 3 | -ıbbı | -ıbbıśś | -ııbb |
| 2/f1 | -ėdė | -ėdėzz | -ėėd |
| 1 | -udu | -udujj | -uud |
| 0 | -ete | -etel | -eet |
| -1 | -oco | -ocoš | -ooc |
| -2 | -acca | -accavv | -aacc |
There are three grammatical affixes in Ektari Tai: the plural suffix, the tense prefixes, and the case prefixes. For pluralization, the prefix consists of the final syllable repeated, appended on the end of a word; the tense prefixes are appended to the beginning of verbs in their present tense, they are odo-, ośı-, sı-, and aze- for the past, past participle, present participle, and future tenses respectively; and the case prefixes of lo-, loi-, bbe-, and bbo-, are to indicate a direct object, destination, instrument, and recieveing object respectively. For example, to say, "I will take food to children", you would say "Azekebbedoseen bbomatga loyūn"
oˌdoːweˈʒɛnɛ cɛˌpɛːd͡zɛdoˈsɛːb ˌataʃuˈʐuʐut͡ʃ ˌlowadt͡ʃaiˈtata
The sentence translates to "I wanted to learn their names", where the speaker is feminine and there are multiple people to whom she is reffering with some respect indicating that they are likely strangers that she knows nothing about but wants to be polite towards, which makes sense given that she wants to learn their names.
