Syntax

Najan has the following word classes:

• Verbs (fyas)
• Determiners (qə​saθ​dan, means of instantiation)
• Pronouns (sɪsɪ ⟨sɪ⟩ — and…​zax​kuv, borrowed identity)
• Prepositions (qə​qac​dan, means of relation)
• Conjunctions (qə​cob​vom, logical operator)
• Particles (lug)

Najan has no nouns, adverbs, or adjectives. Verb phrases, pronouns, and determiner phrases can all function as noun phrases. (A verb phrase may be used as a verbal noun phrase without any inflection or other marking.)

Prepositional phrases can take the semantic role of adverbs and adjectives. However prepositions are a closed class; more generally, modification can be expressed through logical conjunction. For example, whereas the English phrase happy person consists of an adjective and a noun, the Najan phrase sɪsɪ ⟨sɪ⟩ — and…​tay​mɪl is a conjunction (sɪsɪ ⟨sɪ⟩ — and…) of two verbs: tay (to be happy) and mɪl (to be a person). Since conjunction is commutative, the reverse phrase, sɪsɪ ⟨sɪ⟩ — and…​mɪl​tay is equivalent.

Formal Grammar

Najan is a deterministic context-free language whose formal grammar can be expressed in extended Backus-Naur form as follows:

clause ⇒ ⟨mood ᴘᴛᴄʟ⟩ ⟨VP⟩
| ⟨PP⟩ ⟨clause⟩
| ⟨parenthesis⟩ ⟨clause⟩

ᴘʀᴇᴘ phrase (PP) ⇒ ⟨ᴘʀᴇᴘ⟩ ⟨NP⟩

parenthesis ⇒ vew ⟨VP⟩

verb phrase (VP) ⇒ [ ⟨aspect ᴘᴛᴄʟ⟩ ] ⟨verb⟩
| mə ⟨VP⟩
| ⟨PP⟩ ⟨VP⟩
| ⟨parenthesis⟩ ⟨VP⟩
| txətxə ⟨txə⟩ — notnot ⟨VP⟩
| ⟨ᴄᴏɴᴊ⟩ ⟨VP⟩ ⟨VP⟩

noun phrase (NP) ⇒ ⟨VP⟩ | ⟨restricted NP⟩

restricted NP ⇒ ⟨ᴘʀᴏ⟩
| ⟨ᴅᴇᴛ phrase⟩
| ⟨quotation⟩
| ⟨parenthesis⟩ ⟨restricted NP⟩
| txətxə ⟨txə⟩ — notnot ⟨restricted NP⟩
| ⟨ᴄᴏɴᴊ⟩ ⟨restricted NP⟩ ⟨restricted NP⟩

ᴅᴇᴛ phrase ⇒ ⟨ᴅᴇᴛ⟩ [ ⟨ᴘʀᴏ⟩ ] ⟨VP⟩

quotation ⇒ tcə ⟨quoted word⟩+ tcə

quoted word ⇒ ⟨word⟩ - tcə - tsə | tsə​tcə | tsə​tsə