Lilitika Ketalán, or Nomad's Lilitika, was the official morphological paradigm in the Lilitic fleet during 830-1050 lilpo. Like Illeran, its inflections were constructed speculatively by linguists concerned with balancing poetic and everyday utility. This differs markedly from earlier dialects such as Sarasí (a natural condensation of the Venrafivíai) and Zeyetaní (an apology for the original Íomanazinení design) which were about compromising synthetic forms in favour of everyday use.

The Illeran mode had proven quite successful, but because of the painful memories associated with it, few were interested in continuing to use it unmodified. Were it not for the plague, it is likely that it would have displaced Sarasí as the standard fleet dialect within a century and remained largely stagnant thereafter. The primary concern for the designers of Ketalán, then, was not actually to invent a new template, but to refine and replace Illeran without making too many direct allusions. Many older forms were borrowed from Sarasí, Venrafivíai, and Zeyetaní, and suppleted with altered Illeran forms.

Note: "ø" in transcriptions in this article indicates the gender of the noun in question, unstressed (a, e, o); if in an adjective, then of the parent noun; if in a verbal adverb, then the subject. Capital "Ø" indicates the stressed form (á, é, ó). When "Ø" appears in headings, it refers to the neutral case.

Phonology and orthography

Ketalán contains the following minor differences from Sarasí, building on the Illeran values:

All final vowels are strong (i.e. tense), even when not accented (note that Illeran allows terminal /ɛ/, unlike all other forms of Lilitika)

Strong vowels not normally accented (o and a) can be accented to indicate priority in placing stress

<à> or <ò> represents a stressed <ô> (['ɑ])

<è> represents a stressed <ê> (['ø] or ['y]); note that this represented ['ɛ] in Illeran

<ù> represents a stressed <û> (['ɔ])

Stress falls on the first accented vowel at or after the antepenult if present

Stress falls on the first strong vowel at or after the antepenult if present (but no accents)

Stress falls on the antepenult if no accents or strong vowels are available

Stress falls on the first syllable in a two-syllable unstressed verb with no strong vowels

<ý> is used only in poetry and indicates a <i> or <í> elided to [j] for metrical reasons

<q> or <qr> is preferred orthographically over <gh> for [ɣ]/[ʁ] to emphasize that the phoneme was reinvented, even though they are both represented with ghedo in Títina

Declension

Ketalán retains the case system of Illeran, but with more distinctive gender variants, as well as several unique inflection patterns for certain word-final vowel combinations.

azhoi adzhrekía (uncomplicated feminine) corresponds to the Sarasí/Illeran feminine -a ending. It is used for female people and animals, personified deities, feminine objects (e.g. statues or women's clothing), and neuter objects that are possessed by females.

adzhri zellikanía (feminine cosmic) is also known as the supernatural feminine and corresponds to the neuter -a ending. It is used for natural phenomena and entities such as weather, emotions, plants, neuter animals, and concepts.

turellí adzhrekía (wild feminine) corresponds to the feminine -e ending. It is used primarily for names and diminutive forms of address.

(azhoi) lútsinía (uncomplicated basic) is the true neuter and corresponds to the neuter -e or -ú ending. It is used primarily for artificial creations and concepts, except those made by the Ksreskézai. Many things may vary between genders depending on the speaker or context in which they are being discussed.

sarekía (constructed) is the masculine neuter and corresponds to the neuter -o ending. It is usually used for Ksreskézaian creations, but can also include weapons, masculine objects (e.g. statues or men's clothing), and neuter objects that are possessed by males. There are a small number of irregular words in this category such as etesso which have mostly ended up there due to shortening and poetic stereotyping.

zelli odzhrekía (true masculine) corresponds to the masculine -o ending. It was historically a closed set containing only Ksreskézai, although at times conservatives such as the Mitradzhethíasa also employed this form to describe themselves. Later, it was expanded to include all males, personified male deities, and certain social forces.

The mekhuría cases are variants of the azhoí/zellí cases that are invoked when a noun has <í> before the ending. Some purists only invoke some of these rules when the word was derived from an adjective.

matenei zellikanía (combining cosmic) is a small set of neuter -a nouns (-oa nouns) which historically pertained to the interface between Ksreskézaians and their environment, such as dreams, lunar bodies, and musical instruments.

stilli kílosa (divine name) is a small set of -a nouns (-éa nouns) which are agentive nouns of verbs. Many personal names fall under this pattern. Nouns ending in -éa which are not agentive should not be governed by this pattern, e.g. saitshéa or reflovéu.

haíti adzhrekía (possessed feminine) is a small set of -a nouns (-ha nouns) which are derived from adjectives (as -íha) or passive verbs (originally as -aha, often with the first "a" dropped). These are almost all names, such as Múrekíha or Ithovíha.

matenei adzhrekía (combining feminine) is a small set of -o nouns which are feminine despite appearing masculine in form. These are predominantly loanwords from later stages of Lilitika (such as "Sappho"), although the Mitradzhethíasa, pre-awakening egrekeloi, and múnildai often took names of this form as well.

Mixed plurals: Lútsinía is the proper form to use when describing a group of people of mixed gender, with two exceptions:

some purists will still prefer the azhoí adzhrekía form, especially if the group contains at least one Lilitu.

if the group contains Ksreskézaians, then zellí odzhrekía must be used instead.

Genitives: in previous dialects, genitives were formed exclusively using -øní endings (extending to include -ølí endings in Sarasí and -øn in Illeran.) Ketalán's system superficially resembles that of Illeran, but with one critical difference: the forms given are postmodifiers, as are standard -ø adjectives (see below). If genitive appears before a noun, then it is probably a subjective or objective genitive (see example at veshé.) See the adnominals section below for information on forming genitives in other positions.

Major declension patterns
	Ø	F-NOM	NOM	VOC	ACC	GEN	INSTR	ABL	LOC	DAT	EGR	TMP	TRM
azhoi adzhrekía	a	éve	a	é	(a)rha	án	we	úa	assa	alla	úta	(i)ta	(i)kha
	ai	évei	ai	éai	(a)dti	áin	wi	úai	assi	alli	úti	(i)ti	(i)khi
adzhri zellikanía	a	(i)fé	a	éa	(a)qra	eyi	we	úe	essa	ella	úte	elta	(i)khéa
	ai	(i)fí	ai	éai	(a)ki	iyi	wi	úi	essi	elli	úti	elti	(i)khi
turelli adzhrekía	é	(i)vo	é	è	(a)rhe	en	wé	úe	ésse	élle	úte	(i)te	(i)khe
	éi	(i)ví	éi	í	(a)dti	in	wí	úi	éssi	élli	úti	(i)ti	(i)khi
(azhoi) lútsinía	e	(i)pho	ú	úe	éne	eye	we	úe	esse	elle	úte	(i)te	(i)khe
	ei	(i)phí	ei	í	éni	eyi	wi	úi	essi	elli	úti	(i)ti	(i)khi
sarekía	o	ívo	o	ohe	óno	àyo	we	úo	esso	àllo	úto	(i)to	(i)kho
	ei	íví	ei	óhi	óni	àyi	wi	úi	essi	àlli	úti	(i)ti	(i)khi
zelli odzhrekía	o	ova	o	ó	óno	ón	wo	úo	os	ôllo	úto	(i)to	(i)kho
	oi	oví	oi	ohi	óni	óin	woi	úoi	oís	ôlli	úti	(i)ti	(i)khi
Variants
	Ø	F-NOM	NOM	VOC	ACC	GEN	INSTR	ABL	LOC	DAT	EGR	TMP	TRM
adzhri mekhuría	ía	áfia	ía	íe	írha	íen	íwe	úa	ís	ílla	úta	íta	íkha
	íai	áfi	íai	íai	ídti	in	áwi	úai	íssi	ílli	úti	íti	íkhi
azhoi mekhuría	íe	ífe	íe	íúe	éne	íen	íwe	úe	ís	ílle	úte	íte	íkhe
	íei	ífi	íei	í	éni	in	éwi	úi	íssi	ílli	úti	íti	íkhi
odzhri mekhuría	ío	ípho	ío	ío	iôno	íôn	íwo	úo	ís	íllo	úto	íto	íkho
	íoi	óphi	íoi	íoi	íôni	in	ówi	úoi	íssi	ílli	úti	íti	íkhi
matenei zellikanía	oa	eva	oa	é	óqra	óan	óe	oéa	ossa	olla	úota	ota	ôkha
	oai	eví	oai	éai	óki	óain	óï	ówi	ossi	olli	úoti	oti	ôkhi
Special name-only forms
	Ø	F-NOM	NOM	VOC	ACC	GEN	INSTR	ABL	LOC	DAT	EGR	TMP	TRM
stilli kílosa*	éa	éfa	éa	éa	eqra	en	wé	úa	éssa	élla	úta	elta	ékha
haíti adzhrekía*	ha	(i)pha	ha	hé	(i)rha	hán	wa	úa	hásse	halla	úata	hata	kha
matení adzhrekía	o	(i)va	o	é	(a)rho	án	wô	úô	esso	àllo	úata	ota	ôkha
	ai	(i)ví	ai	éai	(a)dti	áin	wi	úi	essi	àlli	úati	oti	ôkhi

* Common nouns obey azhoi adzhrekía or adzhri zellikanía

The cases

The neutral case, Ø, is a generic oblique case that appears when a paragrammatical remark is being made, such as in an FPIC construction, or when the gender is carried by an inflected preposition. Nouns marked with the neutral case have no role in the sentence other than forming restrictive criteria, e.g. how "dúste" is used in zo dzhemeno il ze dúste dúpatái, "the wall of the building has fallen." It is also the standard dictionary form given (unless the noun can be any gender). It is unchanged from Sarasí and Illeran.

The nominative case and the variant f-nominative forms are used when a noun is the agent of the sentence, or when the noun is the patient of the sentence and the verb is passive (i.e. experiential.) The f-nominative forms must be used when the noun participates in an FPIC construction to clearly demarcate them as non-neutral. "F" in "f-nominative" stands both for formal (in that these forms mimic the subject case of the old Íomanazinení style) and for the presence of a literal <f>, derived from the –íf– infix used by Íomanazineni for this purpose.

The accusative case is used when the noun is the patient of the sentence, or when the verb is passive/experiential, the noun is the agent.

The vocative case is used strictly when addressing people. In early Archaic Lilitika, the presence of a vocative was the sole necessary to form an imperative, and this is still occasionally seen in verse.

The genitive case describes possession. Grammatically it functions in two roles; as a postfix adjective (e.g. amelía rán, "your heart") or as a nominal genitive, in which case the noun is placed in a position where it can have no compatible antecedents, such as at the start of the sentence or after a verb. Nominal genitives are used to indicate inspirations and objectives other than concrete locations, sources or recipients, e.g. ri amán moihòsaia saka, "I benefit of your love." It can also be used to show descent from a less literal source, e.g. motúkwinán trúekhaki maráse, "I bring pictures from the artists." Contrast this last form to trúekhaki motúkwinán maráse, "I bring pictures of the artists," and the equivalent trúekhaki hedi motúkwinán maráse, "I bring pictures about the artists."

The instrumental case describes a tool, mindset, or approach used to accomplish the action. Collaborators should be chained as co-agents using híé and the neutral case.

The ablative case describes the origin (physical location, emotional, or conceptual) of an action, or occasionally someone giving something. In Ketalán, motivating circumstances and creations are more often stated using a nominal genitive.

The locative case describes the location (physical, emotional, or conceptual) of an action.

The dative-allative case describes the recipient, the destination, or the objective of an action. Certain historical dative uses are replaced with nominal genitives in Ketalán.

The egressive case describes the time of initiation. It must be used with a preposition such as wes or des.

The temporal case describes the time of occurrence. It must be used with a preposition such as wes or des.

The terminative case describes the time of conclusion. It must be used with a preposition such as wes or des.

Conjugation

The "fourth person" is the "distant second" person of earlier dialects and functions similarly.

The tenses are deep past, past, present liquid, future, liquid imperative, future imperative, aorist, optative-jussive, and prophetic, as in Sarasí and (especially) Illeran.

Sarenei tshúdai: -é

	1.sg	2.sg	4.sg	3.sg	1.pl	2.pl	4.pl	3.pl
DEEP_PST	ésre	édte	étdte	ézze	esrin	edtin	etdtin	ezzes
PST	ése	ére	éste	élle	essin	erin	estin	eles
PRS	áse	áre	áste	á	ássi	ári	ásti	áli
LIQ/PRS.FUT	ísa	íta	ísta	íza	ísya	ídya	ítya	ízya
FUT	ílsa	íldta	ílta	ílla	ílísa	ílída	ílíta	ílya
IMP	asmé	anré	atmé	amé	asmí	andí	atmí	amí
FUT.IMP	asmá	anrá	atmá	amá	azyá	adyá	atyá	alyá
AOR	òsa	òra	òta	óe	òsya	òrya	òtya	óes
OBJ/JUS	énta	énra	énwa	ízoe	eníta	enídta	eníwa	ízoes
PROPH	òsse	òke	òkwe	òhoe	òssi	òki	òkwi	òhí

Haitenei tshúdai: -ahé, -eshé

	1.sg	2.sg	4.sg	3.sg	1.pl	2.pl	4.pl	3.pl
DEEP_PST	ásare	ádadte	átadte	álaze	ásarin	ádarin	átarin	álazes
PST	ásye	áríse	ásíte	álíe	ássin	árísen	ásíten	áles
PRS	áise	áidte	áiste	ái	áissi	áidi	áisti	áili
LIQ/PRS.FUT	áisa	áidta	áista	áiza	áisya	áidya	áitya	áizya
FUT	álísa	álídta	álíta	álla	álísya	álídya	álítya	álya
IMP	aismé	airé	aitamé	aimé	aismí	airí	aitamí	amí
FUT.IMP	aismá	aidá	aitamá	aimá	aizyá	aidyá	aityá	ailá
AOR	òsaia	òraia	òtaia	òlla	òsi	òri	òti	ózi
OBJ/JUS	ánta	ánra	ánwa	áize	áníta	ánídta	áníwa	áizi
PROPH	òsye	òkye	òkawe	òlye	òsaya	òkya	òkwa	òya

See the Sarasí grammar for a description of the primary tenses and moods.

Aspect Infixes

These are largely identical to the Illeran aspect infixes:

form	progressive	perfect	inchoative	terminative	translation
én	x				is ~ing
et		x			has ~ed
ent	x	x			has been ~ing
ep			x		starts to ~
ek				x	finishes ~ing
ev	x		x		starts to be ~ed
eg	x			x	finishes being ~ed
esp		x	x		has started to ~
esk		x		x	has finished ~ing
eps	x	x	x		has started to be ~ed
eks	x	x		x	has finished being ~ed

Note that inchoative and terminative cannot co-exist in a single form (meaning "starts to finish ~" or "finishes starting to ~"); these would be formulated with an auxiliary verb and a gerundial (see -ekhtíu) in the accusative.

Modal Particles

Core verb inflection permits incorporation of indicative, imperative, and optative-jussive moods. This leaves many moods to be expressed through external markers. Ketalán's system for this is very similar to that of Illeran, though notably it includes some changes to particles that had not changed since Oksí. "Proclitic" and "enclitic" particles are those that are placed before and after the verb, respectively. Enclitics are always placed before sentence-final particles.

particle	position	function	gloss
da	sentence-final particle	interrogative	(question marker)
nú	enclitic	destinate	(reverses the meaning of the ablative and dative cases)
níye	enclitic	reciprocal locomotive	(indicates motion between two places, with the dative marking the initial destination and the ablative marking the initial source)
ne	enclitic	middle voice	(indicates mixed or ambiguous involvement between agent and patient)
sôka	enclitic	gnomic	"generally" (indicates the sentence is a general statement about the way the world works)
soka	enclitic	gnomic	variant of sôka (used esp. after the -óe 3.SG.AOR ending and other o-heavy endings)
saka	enclitic	gnomic	variant of sôka
nai	enclitic	potential	"could"
dai	enclitic	subjunctive	"would"
lê	sentence-final particle	deductive	"It would appear..."
kû	sentence-final particle	inferential renarrative	"I hear that..."
líska	sentence-final particle	causative interrogative	"why"/"how" (asks for an explanation of the facts stated in the sentence; see grammar in dictionary at kwedzin)
nad(o)	proclitic	reversal	"undoes the ~ing"
al(é)	proclitic	negative	"does not ~"
ré	proclitic	requirement	"must ~" (for any reason)
ífé	proclitic	desiderative	"wants to ~"
rí	proclitic	social requirement	"must ~" (by law or agreement)
essí	proclitic	natural requirement	"must ~" (by nature)

Non-realis moods (gnomic, requirement, desiderative) are used with the aorist unless tense provides additional useful information, such as ífégisa, "I want to leave [presently]."

As in Sarasí, the proclitics can be stacked, and ordering affects meaning, e.g. alérímaratàé, "I am not required to come" (the requirement is negated) vs. ríalémaratàé, "I am forbidden to come" (the negation is required.)

Adnominals

There are four different positions for an adjective in Ketalán:

Before a noun, use -i; this is called a head adjective

After a noun, where previously -is would have been used, use the null case ending (a, é, e, or o) of the noun being modified; this is called a tail adjective

Tail and head adjectives can have -í leading adjectives modifying them; previously this would be done with -ya adverbs

Tail and head adjectives can also be followed by -is trailing adjectives; previously this would have been done with -adis adverbs

If the result is too hard to decipher, unroll any compacted inflectional suffices such as -urí or -uví, taking care to replace the -í with the appropriate inflectional form if necessary

If the result is still too hard to decipher, avoid using tail adjectives

Non-standard genitives

Genitives in Ketalán are habitually postfix, i.e. they follow the noun phrase they modify. However, as this has limited utility, they can be coerced into the other adjectival roles using suffixes after removing any present final vowel: -í for leading, -is for trailing, -i for head. If the tail form already ends in -i, restore -ni or -ní when forming a head or leading adjective, e.g. sithekini mota, "sounds' aesthetics."

Adverbs

There are three different positions for an adverb in Ketalán:

Before a verb, use -Øya where Ø is the stressed null case ending (á, é, or ó) of the subject (replacing -ya)

After a verb, use -Ødis where Ø is as above (replacing -adis)

For sentential adverbs, use -yú (replacing -éú)

Root changes

arlé becomes aré in all verbs, e.g. kazaré

tu becomes túu

tsilu becomes súnu

tsu becomes éha (following the adzhrí zellikanía a-neuter pattern), which can be abbreviated to just é- (with the leading vowel of the suffix removed, e.g. éqra = éhaqra)

Definite articles

The system of definite articles in Ketalán is somewhat different from previous dialects. It does not mark for plurals, and every article has a leading consonant. Also, instead of a linking -n to handle words that start with a vowel, the article is followed by the unusual h' particle. In Títina, this is simply written as a kelsithipta mark with no morphological boundary indicated.

gender	form	example
feminine (-a or -o)	ta	ta sta
neuter (-e or -a)	te	te h'adía
feminine neuter (-é)	té	té kariné
artificial (-o)	ze	ze dústo
masculine (-o)	zo	zo h'okso