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

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

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, as well as context.

Mood and event pronominals

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

The prefix converying mood can also convey event pronominals - inflecting for the person and number of the participant in intransitive verbs, and in transitive verbs, the person and number for both participants. The event pronominals are often not required to parse a sentence, though when they are included, they change depending on the mood prefix. Mood is also not mandatory to parse a sentence, so when mood is not inflected for, the event pronominals change.

The following tables show the markings for intransitive verbs in regards to bare event pronominals, bare mood, and combined event pronominals and mood.

Intransitive event pronominals inflection

Intransitive inflection	Singular	Dual	Trial	Paucal	Plural
1st Person	dy(a)-	u(u)hr(a)-	ll(a)-	ŵu(u)k'(a)-	rr(a)-
2nd Person	bb(a)-	u(u)bb(a)-	llabb(a)-	dall(a)-	barr(a)-
3rd Person	Ø- or db(a)-	u(u)db(a)-	lladb(a)-	ŵadb(a)-	dbarr(a)-
4th Person	k'(a)-	u(u)k'(a)-	u(u)db(a)-	u(u)ŵ(a)-	gbarr(a)-

In Hngatil grammars, the term 4th person refers to an indefinite 3rd person - an example being one in "one must not eat". Only intransitive verbs can inflect for the 4th person - transitive verbs can not.

Transitive event pronominals inflection

			Experiencer (Ergative)
			1st Person					2nd Person					3rd Person
			Singular	Dual	Trial	Paucal	Plural	Singular	Dual	Trial	Paucal	Plural	Singular	Dual	Trial	Paucal	Plural
Executor (Abso- lutive)	1st Person	Singular	dyady(a)-		dyalla(a)-		dyarr(a)-	dyabb(a)-	dyau(u)bb(a)-	dyall(a)-	dyaŵu(u)k'(a)-	dyarr(a)-
		Dual
		Trial	llady(a)-		llahl(a)-		llarr(a)-
		Paucal						ŵu(u)dy(a)-			ŵu(u)w(u(u))-	ŵurr(a)-
		Plural	rrady(a)-		rrall(a)-		rrarr(a)-	rru(u)dy(a)-
	2nd Person	Singular
		Dual
		Trial
		Paucal
		Plural
	3rd Person	Singular
		Dual
		Trial
		Paucal
		Plural

Mood inflection

Indicative	nng(a)-
Conditional	dg(i(i))-
Optative	hnat'(i))-
Presumptive	llat'(a)-
Inferrential	dbat'(a)-

Aspect

Hngatil verbs conjugate for 16 aspects:

1. Perfective - an action viewed without internal structure, i.e as a whole
2. Momentane - an action that suddenly occurs, lacking internal structure
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 state of being
10. Cessative - an action that is the end of a 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