Phonemes of Tsali:

Stops: /p t k t`/
Fricatives: /f s x s`/
Approximants: /j r\` l`/
Tap: /r`/
Nasal: /m n/
Affricates: /ts kp/

Vowels:
/a e i o u y 7/

Phonotactics:
Many consonants exist in 2 versions: unvoiced and voiced. The voiced
consonant is used between 2 vowels: /petasi/ would be realized as [pedAzI].
/p/ => /b/
/t/ => /d/
/k/ => /g/
/f/ => /v/
/s/ => /z/
/x/ => /G/
/s`/=> /z`/ 
/ts/=> /dz/
/kp/=> /gb/

/r\`/ and /l`/ are realized as [r\] and [l] when in a cluster with other 
non-retroflex consonants.

/n/ is realized as [n`] when in a cluster with other retroflex consonants, 
/nk/ is [Nk] and /mf/ becomes /Mf/. 

Vowels can exist as 'clear' and 'murky' ones. Murky ones are used on
unstressed syllables. The murky equivalents are /A @ I O U Y V/

Stress is on the first syllable of the stem.

Orthography:
voicing is not represented in the orthography:
/p t k t`/ => <p t k d>
/f s x s`/ => <f s h z>
/j r\` l`/ => <j r l>
/r` m n/   => <rl m n>
/a e i o u/=> <a e i o u>
/y 7/      => <u' o'> (when UTF-8 is available, these can be written as u
with horn and o with horn)

rl, o' and u' collate after r, o, and u respectively.

Grammar:
Word order is OVS. Adjectives preceed the noun they refer to.

Verbs in Tsali do not inflect for number and tense but for various aspects
moods and evidentials.

rlali: to do
kpajo': to think
melhek: to speak

The Imperative does not show aspects and is created by removing the last
vowel:
rlal, kpaj, melhek

             Indicative  Hypothetical  Jussive 
Progressive  rlali       rlalji        rlaliki   
             kpajo'      kpaji         kpajo'ki
             melhek      melhekji      melhekiki
Perfective   rlalion     rlaljio       rlalikio'
             kpajo'on    kpajio        kpajo'kio
             melhekon    melhekjio     melhekikio
Habitual     rlalieka
             kpajo'eka
             melhekeka
Inchoactive  rlaliama    rlaliamji     rlaliamaki
             kpajo'ama   kpajo'amji    kpajo'amaki (these can be treated as compound of verb and ama: to begin)
             melhekama   melhekamji    melhekamaki
Completive   rlalizafu   rlalizafji    rlalizafuki
             kpajo'zafu  kpajo'zafji   kpajo'zafuki (these can be treated as compounds of the verb and zafu: to finish)
             melhekzafu  melhekzafji   melhekzafuki
Resumptive   (you get the idea already, this one compounds lu'da: to resume)

The evidential status is indicated by a particle in front of the verb. Most
of the particles only work with the indicative.
Direct visual evidence: (unmarked)
Direct evidence by other senses: la
Inferred: ika
hearsay: u'
from a dubious source: ju'
from a dream or revelation: ilu
it is considered obvious: de

The negation is a circumflex around the evidential prefix and the verb.
Please note that with the de evidential, the negation means 'never'.
oku de kpajo' kam kpaliku. ((A) Stone(d) do(es) not/never think.)

Tsali uses animate and inanimate nouns and has a case system. It does not
indicate number grammatically though.
some animate nouns: 
penguin: efio'do'
human: kupu
fish: itsak
bug: sifalu'
enemy: do'ha
some inanimate nouns:
stone: kpaldi
house: feri
fruit: ru'fa
shoe: irlik

The cases are:
Nominative: (no change for animate nouns)
            kpaldiku
            feriku
            ru'faku
            irlikju (with final stops)
Accusative: efio'da
            kupa
            itsaka
            sifala
            do'haja
            (no change for inanimate nouns)
Dative:     (animate nouns add -edo' or -do' afer the vowel e)
            (inanimate nouns add -d or -ed after a stop)
Locative:   (animate nouns add -(u)na where the u is ommitted if it already
              ends the stem)
            (inanimate nouns add -na or -ja after a nasal)
Allative:   (animate nouns add -ari or -ri after the vowel a)
            (inanimate nons add -arl or -rl)
Ablative:   (animate nouns add -int or -nt after the vowel i)
            (inanimate nouns add -im or -m after the vowel i)
Temporal:   (nouns add -una or -na)
            
without preposition, the temporal case means 'during X', but prepositions
like imrla (before) and rlanda (after) also require the temporal case.

Possession is indicated not via a distinct case but via a somewhat ika
construction:
kupu na feri: person NA house: the house of the person.

These link particles exist:
na:   alienable possession (material possessions, etc)
hed:  inalienable possession (body parts, family, traits, etc)
ran:  origin (for things like: Beethoven's music)
ez:   benefit (for things like: Viskore's rescue (if Viskore was rescued) when she organized the rescue, use kpu')
kpu': relational (for all the rest)

There is no genitive case for either noun, instead, both nouns are in the
same case, which is the one, which would be required for the noun phrase.

The definitiveness is not marked on the nouns but on adjectives and
demonstratives.
elat feri: a new house
elati feri: the new house

Adverbs follow the adjective or the subject in definiteness and add the
suffix -ih.
ental itsak: a quick fish
entalih de makpa itsak: a fish swims quickly
entalik itsak: the quick fish
entalikih de makpa itsak: the fish swims quickly

Comparisons:
Work with the verb faka, the ablative and/or the allative:
kupuint ental de faka efio'do': A penguin is quicker than a human.
kupuari ental de faka efio'do': A penguin is less quick than a human.

Demonstratives:
There are 3 demonstratives: es(i), ilaz(a), kamo'(da)
demonstratives come before the adjectives:
es elat feri: (one of) this new house(s)
ilaza elati feri: that/these new house(s)
kamo'da elati feri: that/these new house(s) over there.

Personal pronouns:
anda: I
andahima: we (inclusive)
andasanu: we (exclusive)
hima: you (singular and plural)
himasanu: you and people you are associated with which are not present 
sanu: s/he/it/they

These pronouns decline almost like animate (or inanimate for the 3rd person
if necessary) nouns, but the 'shorter' clitic is used as if the pronoun
always ended with the right vowel:
andana: 1S.LOC: where I am.

Questions:
Have the final question particle e.

ama hima e? Do you begin?

and possibly the question word on initial position:

tsel ama hima e? When do you begin?

Question words are
tsel: when
tsana: what/which
tsefenla: how many
tsu'ta: who
tso'kek: how
tsidza: where
tsikiz: why

Derivation:
VERB+lak: thing that does VERB (inanimate!!!)
VERB+pu'ik: person that does VERB (animate)
VERB+fajo': person whom VERB is done to (to employ => employee)
VERB+hu: process of doing VERB (to run => running)

Examples:
itsaka ukaon efio'do'. (I have seen a/the penguin(s) eat a/the fish/fishes)
itsaka de ukaon efio'do'. (it is common knowledge that a/the penguin(s) eat fish)
la melhek andahima. (we speak)

Vocabulary:
ama: to begin
anda: I
andahima: we
andasanu: we
de: evidential particle
do'ha: enemy
e: question
efio'do': penguin
elat(i): new
ental(ik): quick
es(i): this
fadi(u'): beautiful
faka: to exceed
feri: house
hima: you
ika: evidential particle
ilaz(a): that
ilu: evidential particle
irlik: shoe
itsak: fish
jamats(ef): completely, fully
ju': evidential particle
kam: negation
kamo'(da): that, over there, yonder
kpaldi: stone
kpajo': to think
kupu: human
la: evidential particle
lantsa(e): small
lu'da: to resume
lu'ta: feather
lu'zda: good
makpa: to swim
melhek: to speak
na: alienable possession
nekirl: code
oku: negation particle
onkazi: to give
paru(t): young
ru'fa: fruit
rlali: to do
rlen: day (inan)
sanu: s/he/it/they
sapa: to fly
sifalu': bug
tadza: eel
tsel: when
uka: to eat
u': evidential particle
u'ut: far away
zafu: to finish
zede: to contain