# Kuku Yalanji Working Grammar Cheat Sheet For Synthetic Pair Generation Date: 2026-07-02 UTC Status: model-authored working notes from local grammar/dictionary resources. Per project direction on 2026-07-02, the available materials and generated synthetic rows are approved for internal training/research use. Remaining elder review is treated as the next quality verification layer, not as a blocker to synthetic-data construction. Primary sources used locally: ```text /mnt/donto-data/workspace/mobtranslate.com/dictionaries/kuku_yalanji/grammar.md /mnt/donto-data/workspace/mobtranslate.com/dictionaries/kuku_yalanji/dictionary.yaml /mnt/donto-data/workspace/mobtranslate.com/experiments/pdftomd/extract/output/examples.xigt.json /mnt/donto-data/workspace/mobtranslate.com/experiments/pdftomd/extract/output/grammar_features.csv ``` ## 1. Generation Posture For training-data generation, keep a clear distinction between project authorization and linguistic verification. Treat every generated row as: ```text project-approved model-authored synthetic candidate, pending elder verification ``` Use the Bible, dictionary examples, grammar examples, DB usage examples, and elder-shared sentence pairs as reference evidence. Synthetic rows should be generated academically from the grammar and lexicon, reviewed against the available corpus, and then expanded. The safe first target is simple, ordinary sentence material using words already present in the dictionary, plus occasional English loan words that the grammar/dictionary already attests. ## 2. Sounds And Orthography Kuku Yalanji has a small phoneme inventory: three vowels `a`, `i`, `u` and a consonant system without a stop voicing contrast. The practical orthography uses letters such as `b`, `d`, `k`, `j`, `ny`, `ng`, `rr`, `r`, `l`, `w`, `y`. Operational consequences: ```text Prefer dictionary spelling. Do not invent new consonant clusters. Do not invent new vowel spellings. Do not generate long English-like strings as Kuku Yalanji. ``` ## 3. Word Classes Open classes: ```text nouns adjectives quantifiers location words time words verbs ``` Closed or limited classes: ```text personal pronouns interrogatives demonstratives particles interjections ``` Safe synthetic generation should mostly use: ```text nouns + adjectives simple intransitive verbs simple transitive verbs wawu "want/like" yinil "afraid" locative and dative complements ``` Avoid complex discourse particles and subordinate clauses in the first batch. ## 4. Noun Phrases A noun phrase can include a head noun, demonstrative, modifier, quantifier, possessive, or pronoun. Case agreement matters: constituents of the same NP normally agree in case. Preferred internal tendencies: ```text head noun before adjective quantifier often before the noun when a quantifier and adjective both appear demonstrative can precede or follow a single noun possessive can precede or follow the possessed noun ``` Safe examples to imitate: ```text yinya karrkay that child bayan yalbay big house / the house is big, depending intonation mayi ngulkurr good food / food is good ngayku bayan my house ``` ## 5. Case System Nominals use an ergative/absolutive pattern: ```text S = intransitive subject: absolutive, zero suffix O = transitive object: absolutive, zero suffix A = transitive subject: ergative suffix ``` Pronouns use a nominative/accusative pattern: ```text ngayu = I as subject nganya = me as object yundu = you as subject nyulu = he/she as subject nyunguny = him/her as object jana = they as subject janangan = them as object ``` Important cases: ```text absolutive: zero, for nominal S and O ergative: transitive nominal A instrumental: implement used for action dative: purpose, beneficiary, cause/reason, topic of learning/knowing, object of wanting/liking/fearing locative: in/on/at, destination of movement, recipient/addressee of giving/showing/telling ablative: from, source, cause of physical state, direct threat abessive: from a place without leaving it perlative: through, mostly Nyungkul; Yalanji often uses locative ``` ## 6. Neutral And Potent Case The grammar distinguishes neutral and potent allomorph sets for several cases. Potent marking roughly indicates a referent treated as having its own internal power or agency. Usually potent: ```text humans most kin terms dogs spirits/ghosts active or threatening animals ``` Usually neutral: ```text plants food tools places body parts abstract concepts possessive forms numerals location/time words ``` Choice can be meaningful for animals and natural forces. For conservative synthetic generation: ```text Use potent ergative/dative/locative for human agents, dogs, and active/threatening animals. Use neutral dative/locative/ablative for food, plants, tools, places, water, ground, house, firewood, and general objects. ``` ## 7. Practical Case Suffix Rules Used In The Pilot Generator These are simplified production rules for high-confidence forms only. Vowel harmony: ```text suffix V = a after a or i suffix V = u after u ``` Potent ergative examples: ```text kaya-ngka dog-ERG jalbu-ngku woman-ERG warru-ngku young.man-ERG dingkar-angka man-ERG maral-angka girl-ERG karrkay-ngka child-ERG ngamu-ngku mother-ERG ``` Neutral ergative / instrumental examples: ```text juku-bu tree-INST kulji-bu stone-INST naybu-bu knife-INST ``` Potent dative examples: ```text kaya-nka dog-DAT jalbu-nku woman-DAT bama-nka person-DAT karrkay-anka child-DAT ngamu-nku mother-DAT ``` Neutral dative examples: ```text mayi-ka food-DAT minya-ka meat-DAT bayan-ka house/camp-DAT bubu-ku ground/place-DAT kuku-ku language-DAT ``` Locative examples: ```text bayan-ba house/camp-LOC bana-nga water-LOC juku-ngu tree-LOC bubu-ngu ground/place-LOC school-mun-bu school-LOAN-LOC truck-mun-bu truck-LOAN-LOC ``` Ablative examples: ```text bayan-muny from the house/camp bubu-muny from the ground/place jalun-muny from the sea ``` The first synthetic batch should use only forms that are either source-attested or generated by these restricted rules. ## 8. Verb Basics Kuku Yalanji has a strict transitive/intransitive distinction. Intransitive: ```text S V Karrkay badin. The child cried. Nyulu dungay. He/she goes. ``` Transitive: ```text A O V Dingkar-angka kuyu manin. The man got/caught a fish. Kaya-ngka karrkay baykan. The dog bit the child. ``` Preferred order: ```text intransitive: S V transitive: A O V ``` Word order is freer than English because case marking identifies roles. Pronouns tend to come early. ## 9. Verb Inflections Two major tenses: ```text nonpast = present or future past = past, often perfective or imperfective by context ``` Conjugation: ```text l-conjugation nonpast: -l y-conjugation nonpast: -y past for both: -ny in the grammar; many dictionary examples surface as final -n ``` Examples: ```text dunga-y / dungan go / went kada-y / kadan come / came nuka-l / nukan eat / ate waju-l / wajun cook/burn / cooked/burnt mani-l / manin get / got nyaji-l / nyajin see/hear / saw/heard kuni-l / kunin hit/kill / hit/killed bayka-l / baykan bite / bit baka-l / bakan dig/poke / dug/poked ``` For generated training rows, prefer attested surface-style spellings: ```text dungay, dungan, kaday, kadan, nukal, nukan, wajul, wajun, manil, manin, nyajil, nyajin, kunil, kunin, baykal, baykan, bakal, bakan ``` Keep the analysis form separately with hyphenated morphemes. ## 10. Nominal Sentences Kuku Yalanji has no copula equivalent to English "is/are" in many predicate-nominal and predicate-adjective sentences. Patterns: ```text NP adjective NP noun NP locative NP ablative NP comitative NP privative NP walu adjective/noun, for appearance yala + NP, for "like" ``` Safe first-generation examples: ```text Bayan yalbay. The house is big. Mayi ngulkurr. The food is good. Karrkay bambay. The child is sick. Kulji dandi. The stone is hard. Bana duna. The water is wet. Kami bayan-ba. Granny is at the house. ``` ## 11. Want, Like, Fear, Know `wawu` means want/like and normally takes a dative complement. ```text Ngayu mayi-ka wawu. I want/like food. Nyulu minya-ka wawu. He/she wants/likes meat. ``` `yinil` means be afraid and can take a dative complement. ```text Maral yinil jarba-nka. The girl is afraid of the snake. Karrkay yinil kaya-nka. The child is afraid of the dog. ``` `binal` means know and appears as a particle-like predicate or in derived verbs. ```text Ngayu binal kari. I do not know. Nyulu binal dama-nka. He/she knows how to spear. ``` First synthetic generation should use `wawu` and `yinil` more than complex derived `binal` constructions. ## 12. Negation Main negator: ```text kari = not ``` Examples: ```text Kari dunga-y. Do not go. Ngayu binal kari. I do not know. Yarraman kari kanga! Do not chase the horse. ``` For the first batch, generate only very simple negative templates, and keep them separate from the main synthetic corpus until reviewed. ## 13. Questions Core interrogatives: ```text wanya / wanju = who wanyu = what wanja / wanjabu = where wanjawanja = when wanjarr = how wanyurringku = why / for what reason ``` Questions are useful later but should not be the main first synthetic batch. They have more word-order and case complexity. ## 14. Demonstratives Yalanji forms: ```text yanyu = this/these yinya = that/those yaluy = here yinyay = there ``` Safe examples: ```text yinya karrkay that child yinya mayi that food yaluy-muny from here yinyay-mba there / at there ``` ## 15. Possession General alienable possession uses possessive stems. For early generation, use attested pronoun possessive forms: ```text ngayku = my yunu = your nyungu / nyunju = his/her ``` Safe examples: ```text ngayku bayan my house yunu kaya your dog nyungu kalka his/her spear ``` Avoid generating complex "possessor of possessor" forms in the first batch. ## 16. English Loan Words The grammar explicitly allows English loan nouns. They often take `-mun-` before inflection, but not always. English adjectives can take `-bala`. English transitive verb roots can take `-im` before causative `-bunga-l`. Safe loan nouns attested locally: ```text school-mun-bu teacher-mun-unji car-mun-ji truck-mun-bu store-mun table-bu salt-mun-ku ``` Dictionary-attested adapted loans include: ```text bikibiki pig naybu knife mayngku mango maji matches marrkin gun/rifle waybala white person janyiman Chinese person jukijuki chicken ``` The synthetic English sentences may use occasional loan objects such as school, car, truck, store, table, tea, money, teacher, and mango, but target forms should be limited to locally attested loan patterns until reviewed. ## 17. Safe First Templates The first synthetic batch should mostly use these: ```text NP ADJ. NP LOC. NP V-intransitive. NP LOC V-intransitive. NP ABL V-intransitive. PRON/ERG-agent ABS-object V-transitive. NP dative wawu. NP yinil dative-threat. ``` Avoid for now: ```text long subordination passive/antipassive reciprocal/reflexive except where directly attested free reduplication complex discourse particles novel cultural content novel kinship combinations unreviewed invented target morphology ``` ## 18. Review Checklist For every generated row: ```text All target bases are in dictionary, grammar examples, Bible corpus, or an explicit loan list. All suffixes are from the grammar cheat sheet. English sentence uses known dictionary concepts. No new cultural claim is created. No sacred/restricted content is generated. Closest grammar/dictionary examples are recorded. Closest Bible examples are recorded for corpus consistency. Candidate remains marked as project-approved synthetic data, pending elder verification. ``` ## 19. Current Best Guess The safest path to many usable candidate rows is: ```text 1. Generate hundreds of nominal/adjectival/simple verb rows. 2. Review them automatically against dictionary, grammar examples, and Bible token usage. 3. Human-review a small sample. 4. Expand templates gradually. 5. Only train with low synthetic weight and real/reference recovery passes. ``` The model can help create a language-learning scaffold. It should not be trusted as an authority on Kuku Yalanji correctness without review.