nu Nulang Course Guided study from the language spec

Lessons

Follow the course in order.

Each lesson links back to the exact glossary entries and spec sections it teaches.

Unit 1: Foundations

Lesson 1: Sounds, Spelling, and Legal Shapes

Learn the phoneme inventory, one-to-one orthography, syllable structure, and predictable stress.

  • Recognize the sound inventory.
  • Split roots into legal syllables.
  • Place stress on the penultimate syllable.

Unit 1: Foundations

Lesson 2: Roots by Position and Basic SOV Order

Use category-flexible roots in sentence slots and build the core SOV clause pattern.

  • Read roots by position.
  • Place the finite verb at the end.
  • Use the dummy object a when needed.

Unit 2: Core Grammar

Lesson 3: Verb Morphology

Add tense, mood, and negation to roots in the fixed verbal suffix order.

  • Attach tense suffixes correctly.
  • Add mood after tense.
  • Keep negative -nu final.

Unit 2: Core Grammar

Lesson 4: Noun Phrases, Pronouns, and Possession

Build noun phrases with modifier-before-head order, optional plural, pronouns, and suru predicates.

  • Place modifiers before heads.
  • Use optional plural -s where legal.
  • Form possessive phrases with no.

Unit 3: Word Building

Lesson 5: Postpositions for Space, Time, and Relations

Use the postposition system for location, motion, time, means, comparison, cause, and recipients.

  • Place postpositions after noun phrases.
  • Distinguish ne from to.
  • Read the different meanings of na from context.

Unit 3: Word Building

Lesson 6: Compounds, Classifiers, and Particles

Build new vocabulary with head-final compounds, classifier suffixes, and the particle system.

  • Read compounds as modifier-head structures.
  • Choose the right classifier.
  • Use domain and semantic particles to motivate new words.

Unit 4: Questions and Complex Clauses

Lesson 7: Questions and Everyday Interaction

Ask yes/no questions with kas, use po-forms in the slot of the unknown, and handle basic conversational replies.

  • Add clause-final kas to yes/no questions.
  • Use po in the slot of the unknown.
  • Read fused po forms like pone and poto.

Unit 4: Questions and Complex Clauses

Lesson 8: Relative Clauses, Complements, Coordination, and Giving

Combine earlier material into longer clauses with re, ra, brackets, coordinators, and ditransitive order.

  • Build relative clauses with re ... ra.
  • Build complement clauses with ... ra.
  • Use brackets clearly in teaching and high-load examples.