Hngatil grammar

This article provides an overview of the grammar of the Hngatil language, a language spoken by 100,000 people in central and northwestern Azkali.

Verbs

Verbs are the most inflecting part of speech in Hngatil. Verbs in Hngatil are composed of a stem, containing the core meaning of the verb, and a series of prefixes and suffixes that convey the inflection. Only the verb stem is required, but is it very rare for only a verb stem to be used. The order in which affixes and the verb stem occur in is regular, and is represented by the chart below.

Hngatil verb template

Mood prefix	Verb stem	(Verb classifier)	Aspect suffix
1	2	3	4

One of the main features that seperates Hngatil from other languages in Ukilen is it's lack of grammatical tense. Tense-like information is conveyed via lexical and grammatical aspect, of which there are many that convey tense-like information, and context.

Mood

Hngatil verbs conjugate for 5 moods:

1. Indicative - used for factual statements from the viewpoint of the speaker
2. Conditional - used for actions that are dependent on other actions
3. Optative - used for actions that the speaker hopes to occur
4. Presumptive - used for actions that are presumed or theorized to happen
5. Inferrential - used for actions that the speaker has not personally witnessed

Aspect

Hngatil verbs conjugate for 16 aspects:

1. Perfective - an action viewed without internal structure, i.e as a whole
2. Momentane - a sudden action
3. Prospective - an action describing an event that occurs subsequently to a time or another verb
4. Habitual - an action which regularly, habitually, occurs
5. Progressive - an action that is ongoing and changing
6. Stative - an action that is ongoing and not changing
7. Gnomic - an action viewed as a general truth
8. Continuative - an action that is still happening given to a reference time
9. Inchoative - an action that is the beginning of a new static state of being
10. Cessative - an action that is the end of a static state of being
11. Iterative - an action that is repeated, with particular focus on the repeats
12. Segmentative - an action that is repeated, emphasizing the action as a whole
13. Revisionary - an action that is being returned to from a different action or state
14. Serial - an action that is repeated, consisting of seperate distinct actions
15. Reversative - an action involving the change of direction or intent
16. Distributive - an action that occurs or is done or happens to/by a group or location