Hngatil grammar: Difference between revisions

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 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 ==
+== Verbal morphology ==
 Verbs are the most inflecting part of speech in Hngatil. Verbs in Hngatil are constructed agglutinatively, comprising a ''stem'', containing the core meaning of the verb, and a series of prefixes and suffixes that convey the inflection. Only the verb stem and classifiers are required, but is it very rare for only these two to be present. The order in which affixes and the verb stem occur in is regular, and is represented by the chart below.
 {| class="wikitable"
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 Many Hngatil verbs, particularly the most common verbs, are irregular and defective in aspects marking.
-== Nouns ==
+== Nominal morphology ==
-Noun morphology, compared to verbal morphology, is relatively lackluster. Hngatil nouns comprise of two main classes: one that are derived from nouns, referred to usually as ''verbal nouns'', and nouns that are not derived from nouns, referred to usually as ''basic nouns''. There are far more verbal nouns than there are basic nouns.
+It has been interpreted by some that Hngatil is a language that lacks nouns in the truest sense - a vast majority of nouns are derived from verbs plus a nominalizing suffix, with only the most common nouns lacking this marking. In most Hngatil grammars, these two classes of nouns are split into two different parts of speech; nouns derived from verbs are called ''verbal nouns'' and nouns that are not are simply called ''nouns''.
-The five numbers that basic nouns decline for are the '''Singular''', denoting there is one of the noun, '''Dual''', denoting there is two of the noun, '''Trial''', denoting there is three of the noun, '''Paucal''', showing there is a small group of nouns (the specific number not exact), and the '''Plural''', denoting there is more than three of the noun.
+One aspect of noun morphology supporting this analysis is that there is different morphology depending on if a given nominal is a verbal noun or a noun, though in general nominal morphology is relatively lackluster in comparison to verbal morphology.
-=== Case and number ===
+In addition, pronouns are reportedly nonexistant, with the idea being conveyed by a verb meaning something like "to be me, to be you", etc.
-The two paradigms for verbal nouns and basic nouns are shown below. The case and number affixes are both conveyed in the same affix, and they must occur simultaneously.
-{| class="wikitable"
-|+
-! rowspan="2" |
-!Singular
-!Dual
-!Trial
-!Paucal
-!Plural
-! rowspan="10" |
-!Singular, Dual,
-Trial, Paucal
-!Plural
-|-
-! colspan="5" |Basic nouns
-! colspan="2" |Verbal nouns
-|-
-!Ergative
-|''-(a)gbu(u)''
-|''-(a)gbi(i)''
-|''-(a)kpi(i)''
-|''-(a)k'i(i)''
-|''-(a)kit'i(i)''
-|''-(a)kpi(i)''
-|''-(a)k'a''
-|-
-!Absolutive
-! colspan="4" |∅
-|''-(a)typu(u)''
-! colspan="2" rowspan="1" |∅
-|-
-!Genitive
-| colspan="3" |''-(a)bbi(i)''
-| colspan="2" rowspan="1" |''-(a)gga''
-| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |''-(a)llu(u)t'a''
-|-
-!Dative
-| colspan="4" |''-(a)t'a''
-|''-p'i(i)kpa''
-|-
-!Semblative
-|''da(k)-''
-|''t'a(k)-''
-|''t'u(u)(k)-''
-|''t'a(l)-''
-|''-p'i(i)k'''
-|''-(a)da''
-|''-(a)t'a''
-|-
-!Abessive
-|''-(a)gbi(i)r''
-|''-(a)gbi(i)k'''
-|''-(a)kpi(i)k'''
-|''-(a)kpat'''
-|''-(a)gbi(i)''
-| colspan="2" rowspan="1" |''-(a)gbi(i)''
-|-
-!Essive
-| colspan="3" rowspan="1" |''-(i(i))dda''
-|''-(i(i))ggai(i)''
-|''-(i(i))nga''
-| colspan="2" |''-(a)dda''
-|-
-!Translative
-| colspan="4" rowspan="1" |''-(a)na''
-|''-(a)nak'i(i)''
-|''-(a)nak'a''
-|''-(a)ni(i)k'i(i)''
-|}
 == Syntax ==
 === Word order ===