Hngatil grammar: Difference between revisions
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== Syntax and morphosyntactical alignment == | == 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. In a transitive sentence, the argument with the higher role on the person hierarchy | 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. In a transitive sentence, the argument with the higher role on the person hierarchy is assumed to be the subject. | ||
{| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||
|+Hngatil person hierarchy | |+Hngatil person hierarchy | ||
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=== Word order === | === Word order === | ||
Basic word order in Hngatil depends on the transitivity of a verb in a phrase. For phrases that only contain an intransitive verb, or ambitransitive verbs that are used intransitively, the basic word order is as follows: ''Verb-Subject''. For phrases that contain transitive, ditransitive, or ambritransitive verbs used transitively, | Basic word order in Hngatil depends on the transitivity of a verb in a phrase. For phrases that only contain an intransitive verb, or ambitransitive verbs that are used intransitively, the basic word order is as follows: ''Verb-Subject''. For phrases that contain transitive, ditransitive, or ambritransitive verbs used transitively, the word order is ''Verb-Subject-Adjective/Adverb-Direct Object-Indirect Object'' | ||