Azkali grammar

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

Morphology

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.

Azkali is considered an open class language. This even applies to pronouns, and even conjugation and grammatical markers, in addition to other types of words.

This section will cover the morphology of all Azkali 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). 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	Comparison	(Definite article)	Inverse number
Slot	(1a)	2	3	4	5	(1b)	6

Case

File:Ergative alignment.svg

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.

The ergative and absolutive cases are not regularly used with nouns, instead being only used for pronouns. The other four cases, however, are productive in regular nouns.

Out of all cases used in colloquial Azkali, the dative case is by far the most uncommon. Its use is largely limited to school and work environments and set phrases. Its usage is declining in domestic Azkali dialects but remains somewhat common in international Azkali dialects, particularly in Sunteria.

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 the adposition haoz, meaning "of".

The following chart shows each case suffix.

Azkali suffixes for grammatical case

Case	Vowel ending	Consonant ending
Ergative	∅
Absolutive
Possessive	-k	-ek
Privative	-z	-az
Dative	-ti	-eti
Instrumental	-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 ergative and absolutive case.

Examples of grammatical case with three Azkali words

		Word
		akimateya - (a) relative (as in family)	nedhathu - (a) message	koroz - (a) bridge
Case	Ergative	akimateya(-∅) (relative)
	Absolutive
	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) - Tuhakoi, Tuhakola, Tzerakaiz, Tukahoti, Tuhakoigez
• Agnetok (hill) - Agnetok, Agnetokak, Agnetoaz, Agnetai, Agnitegaz
• Turru (earth) - Turru, Kacha Turru, Za Turru, Gatzurru, Gaziturru
• Ra (air) - Ra, Rak, Raiz, Rai, Reis
• Dharran (knowledge) - Dharran, Dharrangak, Dharranaz, Dharrenati, Dharregez

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. For the most part, 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. It denotes that the grammatical number of the noun is different than to what the implication is. The inverse number markers change depending on the noun's actual number, and the noun ending, and if the marker is after the definite article. For nouns with a singular inherent grammatical number, the singular is used, and so on.

Inverse number markers in Azkali

	Vowel ending	Consonant ending	After the definite article
Singular	-l	-al	-li
Paucal	-tsi	-atsi	-tsi
Plural	-rezk	-arezk	-tsezk

To complete a phrase using inverse number markers, the numeral denoting the actual number in the form of a numeral is placed after the noun.

Pronouns

In Azkali, pronouns are often combined with determiners to form the pronoun part of speech. Pronouns in Azkali are inflected to indicate their role in the clause, as well as the person, gender, and number of their referent.

It should be noted that Azkali is a non-pro-drop language; in almost all clauses it is impossible to determine the subjects or objects of a verb without pronouns.

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	enek	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		thou	then		thaoz	theo		theo ten
2nd		the	thoru	ethu	tzauz	teo		teo ten
3rd		thin		ethi	ethez	keo		keo ten

The neutral pronouns work essentially the same as epicene pronouns in other languages. They are used when it is unclear of the person's gender, no specification is needed, and so on.

Determiners

Most determiners appear to have evolved from remnants of older Azkali pronouns; specifically, it appears that they evolved from old gendered paucal and plural third person pronouns (in the ergative and possessive cases). This is the reason why determiners are considered a subset of pronouns. They have in modern times lost their meaning as pronouns and instead have evolved into determiners.

Demonstrative determiners

Azkali demonstrative determiners

Singular	Paucal	Plural
tzuai	tzut	tzeal
(Suffix forms)
Singular	Paucal	Plural
-(a)zuai	-(a)zut	-(a)zeal

The demonstrative determiners can mean both this or that, these few, those few, these, or those. They are placed before the noun they modify, but they have special forms (the suffix forms) if more precision is needed.

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.

A majority of verbs in Azkali are derived from Proto-Azkali, or have been taken from Oikan, Loremese, or Hngatil.

Conjugation

See also: Contemporary Azkali conjugation

Compared to older forms of Azkali, especially Contemporay Azkali conjugation, modern Azkali conjugation is extremely simple. There is only one conjugation pattern and it is shown below:

Azkali conjugation

		Vowel ending	Consonant ending
Indicative	Far past	-z	-iz
	Past	-u
	Non past	∅
Conditional	Far past	-n	-in
	Past	-(n)i
	Non past	-n	-o
Hypothetical	Far past	-ta	-(a)ka
	Past	-r	-au
	Non past		-aur
Imperative	Soft	-mai	-ai
	Hard	-k	-aik

For the far past hypothetical form of consonant ending verbs, -ka is used for when the verb ends with s or z; elsewhere, -aka is used. The soft imperative causes any fricatives to turn into h; affricates are not affected by this rule. Here are two examples of these forms with the verbs narila, to play, heitiz, to stand, and nain, to recite (from memory):

		narila to play	heitiz to stand	nain to recite
Indicative	Far past	narilaz	heitiziz	nainiz
	Past	narilau	heitizu	nainu
	Non past	narila	heitiz	nain
Conditional	Far past	narilan	heitizin	nainin
	Past	narilai	heitizi	naini
	Non past	narilan	heitizo	naino
Hypothetical	Far past	narilata	heitizka	nainaka
	Past	nariltar	heitizau	nainau
	Non past		heitizaur	nainaur
Imperative	Soft	narilamai	heitihai	nainai
	Hard	narilak	heitizaik	nainaik

And these are the non-finite forms of all verbs:

Azkali non-finite conjugation

Infinitive, gerund	(verb) te
Past, far past participle	(past form of verb) nehiz
Non past participle	(non past form of verb) naiz
Agentive	-(n)a

Itu

Itu, as stated previously, is an auxiliary verb that conveys a future tense. Itu, unlike any other regular verb, conjugates for the full range of persons (i.e the first, second, and third person, plus singular, paucal, and plural grammatical numbers). It is also used in the conjugation of periphrastic, and especially compound tenses. In Contemporary Azkali, itu was a very irregular verb meaning to go, but it's meaning shifted to a standard future marker, losing it's original meaning.

Forms of itu

Singular			Paucal			Plural
1p	2p	3p	1p	2p	3p	1p	2p	3p
itu	iru	izku	igo	iko	iro	riga	ritu	rizku

Isan

Isan is the Azkali verb meaning to be. It is the most commonly used verb in the language. Along with huka, to do, it is one of the only verbs that conjugate in regards to person. In addition, isan can also be used in the form of an auxiliary verb in the context of periphrastic conjugation, and particularly with compound tenses. Isan is one of the four or five irregular verbs in Azkali that are in use in most dialects.

These are the specific forms of isan:

		1p, 2p, 3p singular	1p, 2p, 3p plural
Indicative	Far past	ezatz
	Past	etz	itez
	Non past	isan	izatz
Conditional	Far past	naiz
	Past	etzain
	Non past	irasan
Hypothetical	Far past	amaiz
	Past	atain
	Non past	arai
Imperative	Hard	isan
	Soft	itho

Huka

Huka is the verb to do. It is irregular, and marks for person, unlike any other verb besides isan.

		1p, 2p, 3p singular	1p, 2p, 3p plural
Indicative	Far past	hesak
	Past	rotz	rezi
	Non past	huka	hezi
Conditional	Far past	hez
	Past	heintz
	Non past	irahintz
Hypothetical	Far past	usak
	Past	utz
	Non past	una
Imperative	Hard	huka
	Soft	uha

Periphrastic conjugation

The following table shows a large amount of common periphrastic tenses in Azkali.

Some examples of periphrastic conjugation

Tense	Form	Examples	Observations
Present perfect	nonpast + huka	huka huka (have done) hataiz huka (have lost) patzegi huka (have worked)	Particularly in Southern Azkali dialects, this form has been reanalyzed as a sort of near past tense. Consequently, The already existing near past form is used as a general past tense alongside the already conjugated past tense.
Present habitual	nonpast + gerund of huka	hataiz hukanoiz (usually lose) nakuz hunakoiz (usually see) nakusa hunakoiz (usually think)	Particularly in Southern Azkali dialects, the present habitual tense is being reinterpreted as a perfective aspect; consequentially, the ordinary present tense is becoming an imperfective aspect. This phenomenon is being noticed particularly surrounding Atzoguiriki.
Past habitual	past + gerund of huka	hataizu hukanoiz (usually lost) nakuzu hunakoiz (usually saw) nakusau hunakoiz (usually thought)
Future	nonpast + itu	hataiz itu (will lose) nakuz itu (will see) nakusa itu (will think)
Near past	past + synthetic past of huka	hataizu rotz (just lost) nakuzu rotz (just saw) nakusau rotz (just thought)
Future in the past	past + itu	hukau itu (would do) hataizu itu (would lose) patzegiu itu (would work)
Future perfect in the past	past + huka + itu	hukau huka itu (would have done) hataizu huka itu (would have lost) patzegiu huka itu (would have worked)
Past potential	past, conditional mood + huka	hataizi huka (if lost) nakuzi huka (if saw) nakusai huka (if thought)
Present potential	present, conditional mood + huka	hataizo huka (if lose) nakuzo huka (if see) nakusan huka (if think)
Positive volition	present participle + nasa (to complete)	huka te nasa (want to do) hataiz te nasa (want to lose ) patzegi te nasa (want to work)
Negative volition	present participle + ketz + infinitive of nasa (to complete)	huka ketz te nasa (don't want to do) hataiz ketz te nasa (don't want to lose ) patzegi ketz te nasa (don't want to work)
Obligation in the present	verb + nasa	huka nasa (must do) hataiz nasa (must lose) patzegi nasa (must work)
Obligation in the future	verb + nasa + itu	huka nasa itu (must do) hataiz nasa itu (must lose) patzegi nasa itu (must work)
Ability	verb + nasa + isan	huka nasa isan (can do) hataiz nasa isan (can lose) patzegi nasa isan (can work)

Serial verb construction

Serial verbs are two or more verbs that are strung together in a single clause. In Azkali, each verb shares a single marker -(a)ko, which every verb in the construction must be marked with. They are only conjugated for this marker, and do not take any marking for tense or mood.

Peculiarities

Azkali verbs have several peculiarities that seperate them from how other languages treat verbs. Here are several examples:

Impersonal verbs

Impersonal verbs are verbs that have no definite subject, for example the verb "to rain". Most, but not all impersonal verbs are atmospheric verbs, i.e "to rain", "to be hot", etc. Azkali treats these types of verbs strangely, changing the strategies it uses for the three tenses it conjugates for.

In clauses with impersonal verbs, in the non-past tense, the clause is structured as Verb-(a)ko isanieko. In the past tense, the clause is structured as Verb-(n)i etz. In the far-past tense, the clause is structured as Verb-(i)z etzatako, where -ko is the serial verb construction marker utilized in other verbal constructions in Azkali.

The sentence "it is raining" translates in Azkali to Marikiko isanieko etz. The structure of this sentence is demonstrated below:

Structure of the Azkali sentence "Marikiko isanieko"

Mariki	-ko	isan	-ie-	-ko
to rain (non-past)	serial verb construction marker	to be (non-past, 1p, 2p, 3p form)	irregular epenthetic of serial marker used solely for isan	serial verb construction marker

The sentence "it was raining" translates in Azkali to Marikini etz. The structure of this sentence is demonstrated below:

Structure of the Azkali sentence "Marikini etz"

Mariki	-ni	etz
to rain (non-past)	indicative mood past tense marker	to be (past, 1p, 2p, 3p form)

The sentence "it was raining (long ago)" translates in Azkali to Marikiz etzatako. The structure of this sentence is demonstrated below:

Structure of the Azkali sentence "Marikiz etzatako"

Mariki	-z	etzat	-a-	-ko
to rain (non-past)	indicative mood far-past tense marker	to be (far-past, 1p, 2p, 3p form)	epenthetic of serial marker	serial verb construction marker

Adjectives

Adjectives in Azkali are work quite simply, and act like nouns in most ways. In Azkali, no distinction is made between adjectives and adverbs. Adjectives are declined for the plurality of the noun which they modify, based on these rules:

Azkali adjective declination

	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Singular vowel	∅	-[e]tze	-[e]s
Multiple vowels		-[ai]tzi	-[ai]s

The [e]'s are bracketed instead of parenthesized to note that they change the final vowel, if there is one, of the adjective. For example, if an adjective is modifying a paucal noun, and said adjective ends in one vowel, that vowel is changed to /e/. If the adjective ends in multiple vowels, however, those vowels are changed to /ai/. These two rules are demonstrated in the following sentences:

• Tzo huka gatingatz ametze (They (paucal) have a large ball)
• Thou hezi gatingerek ames (They (plural) have a large ball)
• Tzo huka hetianetz retaitzi (They (paucal) have a small box)
• Thou hezi hetianerek retais (They (plural) have a small box)

In informal speech, however, a new phenomena of not declining adjectives for the number of the nouns that they modify is being observed.

Adpositions

Adpositions are words that express spatial, temporal, or semantic roles. In Azkali, adpositions feature as a whole prepositions, which proceed their complement, postpositions, which follow their complement, and several circumpositions, which are affixed on both sides of their complement.