Azkali grammar

Azkali grammar is the structural rules which the Azkali language follows, including the rules for words, phrases, clauses, and sentences.

Parts of speech

There are seven different parts of speech that are commonly identified by linguists in Azkali: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adpositions, conjunctions, and interjections. It is generally not possible to identify which part of speech an Azkali word belongs to by itself. However, a large amount of words belong to multiple parts of speech.

Nouns

Azkali nouns are overtly declined for six grammatical cases (the ergative, absolutive, possessive, privative, dative, and instrumental) and three numbers (the singular, paucal, and plural), with any form or realization of grammatical gender being completely absent. Azkali nouns are constructed agglunatively, contrasting with verbs. In addition, Azkali also features a robust inverse number system, though it is only regularly used in formal speech.

Affixes occur in a relatively set order, displayed in the below noun template chart:

Azkali noun template

Content	(Definite article)	NOUN ROOT	Case	Number	(Definite article)	Inverse number
Slot	(1a)	2	3	4	(1b)	5

Case

A diagram highlighting ergative alignment. A is the subject of a transitive verb, O is the object of a transitive verb, and S is the subject of an intransitive verb. S and O are marked in the absolutive case, and A is marked in the ergative case.

Case inflection in Azkali is fairly straightforward; the affixes only change depending on the lack of presence of a root final vowel. There are six grammatical cases in Azkali. The ergative case is used for subjects of transitive verbs. The absolutive case is used for subjects of intransitive verbs and objects of transitive verbs. The possessive case is used for direct ownership. The privative case is used to mark the lack of direct ownership. The dative case is used to mark the indirect object of an action, as well as the purpose of an action. In addition, in extremely formal varieties of Azkali, the dative case is occasionally used to denote a noun that is owned by the noun in the phrase with the possessive case. Finally, the instrumental case is used to mark that the noun is the instrument in which the action is achieved, or occurs; the instrumental case can be used for both physical objects, or ideas and concepts.

In formal varieties of Azkali, the possessive case is used more like a genitive case; the distinction here is that in most forms of Azkali, the possessive case is used purely in the context of possession. Contrastingly, in formal varieties, it's use has broadened to include generic modification. In colloquial forms of Azkali, generic modification is marked by adpositions.

The following chart shows each case suffix.

Case	Vowel ending	Consonant ending
Ergative	-n	-en
Absolutive	∅
Possessive	-k	-ek
Privative	-z	-az
Dative	-ti	-eti
Instrument	-gez	-ez

Shown below are several examples of these cases in use for various words, and their respective meanings. Note the usage of (-∅) for nouns rendered in the absolutive case.

		Word
		akimateya - (a) relative (as in family)	nedhathu - (a) message	koroz - (a) bridge
Case	Ergative	akimateyan (relative)	nedhathun (message)	korozen (bridge)
	Absolutive	akimateya(-∅) (relative)	nedhathu(-∅) (message)	koroz(-∅) (bridge)
	Possessive	akimateyak (a relative's (...))	nedhathuk (a message's (...))	korozek (a bridge's (...))
	Privative	akimateyaz (lacking a relative)	nedhathuz (lacking a message)	korozaz (lacking a bridge)
	Dative	akimateyati (to a relative)	nedhathuti (to a message)	korozeti (to a bridge)
	Instrumental	akimateyagez (done with a relative)	nedhathugez (done with a message)	korozez (done with a bridge)

Some nouns, particularly common culturally important nouns in Turruism, have irregular case forms. A non exhaustive list of irregular nouns, and their respective forms, follows:

• Tuhakoi (the sun) - Tuhakoin, Tuhakoi Tuhakola, Tzerakaiz, Tukahoti, Tuhakoigez

Number and inverse number

Number inflection always follows, when even present, case. As mentioned before, there are three grammatical numbers in Azkali - the singular, which is unmarked, the paucal, and plural. The following chart shows each number suffix; one should note that when used in combination with the dative case, the number affixes take the vowel ending form, due to the presence of a vowel at the end of the dative affix.

Number	Vowel ending	Consonant aside from "tz" ending	"Tz" ending
Singular	∅
Paucal	-tz	-etz	-et
Plural	-rek	-erek

For nouns that end with "tz", a special affix for the paucal number exists. For example, the paucal version of the word leizitz, meaning lizard, is leizitzet, not the expected leizitzetz.

An inverse number system exists in Azkali. It is only regularly used in formal speech and common phrases, but it can be seen regularly even in informal speech in Allotian and Otzeipao dialects of Azkali. Inverse number is mostly used on nouns with inherent grammatical number, i.e (a pair of) socks (with a dual implication), cattle (with a plural implication), (a pair of) scissors (with a plural implication), and so on.

Pronouns

In Azkali, pronouns are often combined with determiners to form the pronoun part of speech.

Personal and reflexive pronouns

The following table shows each personal pronoun in Azkali, declining for case and number. In addition, there are also reflexive pronouns included; while not a case in itself, in most Azkali grammars, the reflexive pronouns are included with the personal ones.

Personal pronouns

Singular
		Ergative	Absolutive	Possessive	Privative	Dative	Instrumental	Reflexive
1st		go	en		goz	get	gokoz	go ten
2nd		tu		tuek	tukoz	tet	tukoz	tu ten
3rd	Masculine	mai		maik	maiz	het	hekoz	ha ten
	Feminine	kut	kurez	kutek	keiz
	Neutral	hakel		harek	heiz
Paucal
1st		tzo	tzen		tzeiz	tzego		tzo ten
2nd		tzu		tzuk	tzuiz	tzeutu		tzu ten
3rd		tzare	rutzez	tzak	tzaiz	tzere		tzare ten
Plural
1st		ko	komo		tzaoz	geo		geo ten
2nd		ku	kumu	zku	tzauz	teo		teo ten
3rd		kei	keime	ezkei	eztzeu	keo		keo ten

Verbs

Like most agglutinative languages, Azkali features very few irregular verbs: between four and five in most dialects (though some, particularly Southern Azkali dialects, have as many as twenty irregular verbs). Verbs conjugate for 3 tenses, far past, past, and nonpast, and 4 moods, indicative, conditional, hypothetical, and imperative, though in two verbs, to be and to have, marking for person exists. The auxiliary verb itu, conveying a future tense, also changes depending on person and grammatical aspect, of which there are three: the imperfective, perfective, and bisective.

Itu

Itu, as stated previously, is an auxiliary verb that conveys a future tense. Itu, unlike any other regular verb, conjugates for grammatical aspect and person. Unlike isan (to be) and huka (to have), which both conjugate for person (including the singular and a combined paucal/plural), itu conjugates for the singular, paucal, and plural. The full list of forms is shown in the chart below;

Forms of the auxiliary verb itu

	Singular			Paucal	Plural
	1p	2p	3p		1p	2p	3p
Imperfective	itu		ikun	itzo	higo	hiu	hego
Perfective	iru	irun		esa
Bisective	eki	ikugo		shugo	eki