Hngatil grammar: Difference between revisions

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=== Noun morphology ===

Nouns in Hngatil are unusual cross-linguistically in that with the exception of inverse case, only objects are marked with cases. In Hngatil, grammatical case describes the object's relation to the subject. All cases are marked using prefixes. Nouns have eight cases (technically nine, if one includes the always unmarked direct case) that can be declined for - they are the '''inverse case''' (denoting that the true subject of the sentence is different than what would be implied on the person hierarchy), the '''lative case''' (used when the object is moving to the subject), the '''adelative case''' (denoting the object as moving away from the vague vicinity where the subject is), the '''ablative case''' (denoting the object as moving specifically ''from inside'' the subject, or sometimes moving away from the specific area where the subject is located at), the '''essive case''' (denoting that the object as a temporary quality of the subject; more often than not, this can be used to turn nouns into adjectives), the '''distal-originative case''' (denoting the fact that the subject is moving towards the object which is marked, and that the object is far away from the subject), the '''proximal-originative case''' (denoting the fact that the subject is moving towards the object which is marked, and that the object is close to the subject), and the '''infinitive case''' (denoting the object as an abstract concept, or having indeterminate properties, position, shape, etc.)

Nouns in Hngatil are unusual cross-linguistically in that with the exception of inverse case, only objects are marked with cases. In Hngatil, grammatical case describes the object's relation to the subject. All cases are marked using prefixes. Nouns have eight cases (technically nine, if one includes the always unmarked direct case) that can be declined for - they are the '''inverse case''' (denoting that the true subject of the sentence is different than what would be implied on the person hierarchy), the '''lative case''' (used when the object is moving to the subject), the '''adelative case''' (denoting the object as moving away from the vague vicinity where the subject is), the '''ablative case''' (denoting the object as moving specifically ''from inside'' the subject, or sometimes moving away from the specific area where the subject is located at), the '''essive case''' (denoting that the object as a temporary quality of the subject; more often than not, this can be used to turn nouns into adjectives), the '''distal-originative case''' (denoting the fact that the subject is moving towards the object which is marked, and that the object is far away from the subject), the '''proximal-originative case''' (denoting the fact that the subject is moving towards the object which is marked, and that the object is close to the subject), and the '''infinitive case''' (denoting the object as an abstract concept, or having indeterminate properties, position, shape, etc.) There are actually seven different forms of the inverse case, and this is shown in '''§ Syntax and morphosyntactical alignment'''.

{| class="wikitable"

|+

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== Syntax and morphosyntactical alignment ==

Hngatil is one of the few languages cross-linguistically speaking with a ''direct-inverse'' morphosyntactic alignment. In a transitive sentence, the marked inverse case is used when the object outranks the subject on the person hierarchy, and the unmarked direct case is used when the subject outranks the object on the person hierarchy. ~~The~~ person ~~hierarchy for Hngatil~~ is:

Hngatil is one of the few languages cross-linguistically speaking with a ''direct-inverse'' morphosyntactic alignment. In a transitive sentence, the marked inverse case is used when the object outranks the subject on the person hierarchy, and the unmarked direct case is used when the subject outranks the object on the person hierarchy. This chart also shows each form of the inverse case, denoting which person is the subject in the case when the subject is outranked by the object.

{| class="wikitable"

|+Hngatil person hierarchy

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|-

!Inverse case form

~~|hlan~~

!∅

|hlagg

|~~ggahlu~~

|ggallu

|uhla

|~~uhlan~~

|ullan

|~~uhlugg~~

|uhlugbu

|uuhlaŵa

|hriya

@@ Line 166: / Line 166: @@
 === Noun morphology ===
-Nouns in Hngatil are unusual cross-linguistically in that with the exception of inverse case, only objects are marked with cases. In Hngatil, grammatical case describes the object's relation to the subject. All cases are marked using prefixes. Nouns have eight cases (technically nine, if one includes the always unmarked direct case) that can be declined for - they are the '''inverse case''' (denoting that the true subject of the sentence is different than what would be implied on the person hierarchy), the '''lative case''' (used when the object is moving to the subject), the '''adelative case''' (denoting the object as moving away from the vague vicinity where the subject is), the '''ablative case''' (denoting the object as moving specifically ''from inside'' the subject, or sometimes moving away from the specific area where the subject is located at), the '''essive case''' (denoting that the object as a temporary quality of the subject; more often than not, this can be used to turn nouns into adjectives), the '''distal-originative case''' (denoting the fact that the subject is moving towards the object which is marked, and that the object is far away from the subject), the '''proximal-originative case''' (denoting the fact that the subject is moving towards the object which is marked, and that the object is close to the subject), and the '''infinitive case''' (denoting the object as an abstract concept, or having indeterminate properties, position, shape, etc.)
+Nouns in Hngatil are unusual cross-linguistically in that with the exception of inverse case, only objects are marked with cases. In Hngatil, grammatical case describes the object's relation to the subject. All cases are marked using prefixes. Nouns have eight cases (technically nine, if one includes the always unmarked direct case) that can be declined for - they are the '''inverse case''' (denoting that the true subject of the sentence is different than what would be implied on the person hierarchy), the '''lative case''' (used when the object is moving to the subject), the '''adelative case''' (denoting the object as moving away from the vague vicinity where the subject is), the '''ablative case''' (denoting the object as moving specifically ''from inside'' the subject, or sometimes moving away from the specific area where the subject is located at), the '''essive case''' (denoting that the object as a temporary quality of the subject; more often than not, this can be used to turn nouns into adjectives), the '''distal-originative case''' (denoting the fact that the subject is moving towards the object which is marked, and that the object is far away from the subject), the '''proximal-originative case''' (denoting the fact that the subject is moving towards the object which is marked, and that the object is close to the subject), and the '''infinitive case''' (denoting the object as an abstract concept, or having indeterminate properties, position, shape, etc.) There are actually seven different forms of the inverse case, and this is shown in '''§ Syntax and morphosyntactical alignment'''.
 {| class="wikitable"
 |+
@@ Line 197: / Line 197: @@
 == Syntax and morphosyntactical alignment ==
-Hngatil is one of the few languages cross-linguistically speaking with a ''direct-inverse'' morphosyntactic alignment. In a transitive sentence, the marked inverse case is used when the object outranks the subject on the person hierarchy, and the unmarked direct case is used when the subject outranks the object on the person hierarchy. The person hierarchy for Hngatil is:
+Hngatil is one of the few languages cross-linguistically speaking with a ''direct-inverse'' morphosyntactic alignment. In a transitive sentence, the marked inverse case is used when the object outranks the subject on the person hierarchy, and the unmarked direct case is used when the subject outranks the object on the person hierarchy. This chart also shows each form of the inverse case, denoting which person is the subject in the case when the subject is outranked by the object.
 {| class="wikitable"
 |+Hngatil person hierarchy
@@ Line 218: / Line 218: @@
 |-
 !Inverse case form
-|hlan
+!∅
 |hlagg
-|ggahlu
+|ggallu
 |uhla
-|uhlan
+|ullan
-|uhlugg
+|uhlugbu
 |uuhlaŵa
 |hriya