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.

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.

Hngatil verb template

1	2	3	4
Mood prefix	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

Hngatil verbs conjugate for 5 moods:

1. Indicative - used for factual statements from the viewpoint of the speaker, but most commonly used to confirm the statement as true when doubted
2. Conditional - used for actions that are dependent on other actions to occur - usually has a past implication
3. Optative - used for actions that the speaker wishes, assumes, or hopes to occur - usually has a future implication
4. Presumptive - used for actions that are presumed or theorized to happen (or have happened) based on prior evidence, or reasoning - usually has a future implication
5. Inferential - used for referring to actions that the speaker has not personally witnessed, and has inferred to have happened based on prior evidence, or reasoning. - usually has a past implication

Mood inflection

Indicative	∅ or nng(a)-
Conditional	dg(i(i))-
Optative	hnat'(i))-
Presumptive	llat'(a)-
Inferential	dbat'(a)-

Classifiers

Hngatil has a number of different suffixes that classify the physical nature, characteristics, and properties, if applicable, of the noun in the sentence. There are some fourteen different classifier suffixes in Hngatil. In addition, many common verbs have different stems based on the classifier suffix; Hngatil has no one verb stem meaning to cut - instead, there are 6 different verb stems for each classifier. Some different types of classifier share the same suffix; their precise meaning is usually clarified via a stem change, or surrounding. context.

The list of classifiers are shown below. Note that some classifiers may overlap in meaning with each other.

Name	Abbreviation	Affixes	Notes	Examples
Solid object	SO	-(a)typa(-)		Chair, wall, building, etc.
Liquid object	RO		Stem change	Water, milk, etc.
Elevated object	EO	-(a)ki(i)(-)		Chair, table, plane, kali, etc.
Slender object	SFI		Stem change	Rope, flagpole, etc.
Load object	LO	-(a)pii(-)		Backpack, sack, etc.
Open container	OC		Stem change	Glass of water, handful of flour, etc.
Closed container	CC		Stem change	Box, closed water bottle, etc.
Animate object	AO	-(a)k'uu(-)		Kali, human, etc.
Semianimate object	SAO		Stem change	Pig, cows, crow
Inanimate object	IO	-(a)ŵa(-)		Terrain, building
Plural objects	PO	-(a)ki(i)t'(-)		Buildings, pigs, cows, persons, etc
Long tall object	LTO	-(a)ra(-)		Bow, flag, etc.
Smooth object	SMO	-(a)ddi(i)(-)	Stem change	Sphere, ice, glass, etc.
Rigid object	RO			Rock, mountains, etc.

The full paradigm for the verb stem ngmai - meaning to cut, is shown.

Aspect

Hngatil verbs conjugate for 16 aspects:

1. Perfective - an action viewed completely, and without internal structure, i.e as a whole.
2. Momentane - an action that suddenly occurs, lacking internal structure - often used to emphasize the suddenness of the action
3. Prospective - an action describing an event that occurs subsequently to a time or another verb - usually has a future implication
4. Habitual - an action which regularly, habitually, or customarily occurs
5. Progressive - an action that is ongoing and changing - usually has a present implication
6. Stative - an action that is ongoing and not changing - usually has a present implication
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 another state of being - usually has a past implication
11. Iterative - an action that is repeated, with particular focus on the nature of the repeated elements
12. Segmentative - an action that is repeated, emphasizing the action as a whole rather than the separate parts
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 that can be analyzed either as a whole or as separate independent parts
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

A list of all aspectual suffix forms is shown below;

Irregular and defective verbs

Many Hngatil verbs, particularly the most common verbs, are irregular and defective in aspects marking.

Nominal morphology

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.

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. In addition, pronouns are reportedly nonexistant, with the idea being conveyed by a verb meaning something like "to be me, to be you", etc.

Noun morphology

Nouns in Hngatil are unusual cross-linguistically in that with the exception of inverse case, only objects are marked with cases. In Hngatil, grammatical case describes the object's relation to the subject. Except for the inverse case, all cases are marked using prefixes. Nouns have eight cases (technically nine, if one includes the always unmarked direct case) that can be declined for - they are the inverse case (denoting that the true subject of the sentence is different than what would be implied on the person hierarchy), the lative case (used when the object is moving to the subject), the adelative case (denoting the object as moving away from the vague vicinity where the subject is), the ablative case (denoting the object as moving specifically from inside the subject, or sometimes moving away from the specific area where the subject is located at), the essive case (denoting that the object as a temporary quality of the subject; more often than not, this can be used to turn nouns into adjectives), the distal-originative case (denoting the fact that the subject is moving towards the object which is marked, and that the object is far away from the subject), the proximal-originative case (denoting the fact that the subject is moving towards the object which is marked, and that the object is close to the subject), and the infinitive case (denoting the object as an abstract concept, or having indeterminate properties, position, shape, etc.)

The following chart shows the forms of each case:

Hngatil case

Inverse case	-(a)lla
Lative case	l(a)-
Adelative case	hn(a)-
Ablative case	bb(a)-
Essive case	tp'(a)-
DIstal-originative case	dyb(a)-
Proximal-originative case	gb(a)-
Infinitive case	gg(a)-

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 is assumed to be the subject.

Hngatil person hierarchy

First person singular and plural	Second person singular and plural inclusive	Second person singular and plural exclusive	Third person singular and plural proximal and proximate	Third person singular and plural distal and obviate	Indefinite first/second/third person singular and plural	First/second/third person reflexive	Inanimate

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, the word order is Verb-Subject-Adjective/Adverb-Direct Object-Indirect Object