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 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.
| 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:
- Indicative - used for factual statements from the viewpoint of the speaker, but most commonly used to confirm the statement as true when doubted
- Conditional - used for actions that are dependent on other actions to occur
- Optative - used for actions that the speaker wishes, assumes, or hopes to occur
- Presumptive - used for actions that are presumed or theorized to happen based on prior evidence, or reasoning - usually has a future implication
- 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
| 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:
- Perfective - an action viewed completely, and without internal structure, i.e as a whole.
- Momentane - an action that suddenly occurs, lacking internal structure - often used to emphasize the suddenness of the action
- Prospective - an action describing an event that occurs subsequently to a time or another verb
- Habitual - an action which regularly, habitually, or customarily occurs
- Progressive - an action that is ongoing and changing
- Stative - an action that is ongoing and not changing
- Gnomic - an action viewed as a general truth
- Continuative - an action that is still happening given to a reference time
- Inchoative - an action that is the beginning of a new state of being
- Cessative - an action that is the end of another state of being - usually has a past implication
- Iterative - an action that is repeated, with particular focus on the nature of the repeated elements
- Segmentative - an action that is repeated, emphasizing the action as a whole rather than the separate parts
- Revisionary - an action that is being returned to from a different action or state
- Serial - an action that is repeated, consisting of seperate distinct actions that can be analyzed either as a whole or as separate independent parts
- Reversative - an action involving the change of direction or intent
- 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.
Nouns
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.
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.
Case and number
The two paradigms for verbal nouns and basic nouns, in addition to adjectives and direct objects, are shown below. The case and number affixes are both conveyed in the same affix, and they must occur simultaneously.
| Singular | Dual | Trial | Paucal | Plural | Singular, Dual,
Trial, Paucal |
Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic nouns | 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 | ∅ | -(a)typu(u) | ∅ | |||||
| Genitive | -(a)bbi(i) | -(a)gga | -(a)llu(u)t'a | |||||
| Dative | -(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) | -(a)gbi(i) | ||
| Essive | -(i(i))dda | -(i(i))ggai(i) | -(i(i))nga | -(a)dda | ||||
| Translative | -(a)na | -(a)nak'i(i) | -(a)nak'a | -(a)ni(i)k'i(i) | ||||