Classical Kasshian grammar

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Classical Kasshian grammar was agglutinative with a modest amount of allomorphic variation.

Nouns and adjectives

Main article: Classical Kasshian nouns

Nouns and adjectives were generally inflected inflected identically, with adjectives agreeing with their nouns. Nouns were inflected for gender, case, and number by means of prefixes indicating gender and number and suffixes indicating number and case. Number was thus doubly-marked

Verbs

Main article: Classical Kasshian verbs

Verbs were moderately inflected, with up to two prefixes and two suffixes possible, in addition to auxiliaries and the possibility[1] of "incorporating" nouns. Entire sentences, albeit simple ones, could be translated with a single complex verb.

Pronouns

Clitic

Clitic pronouns may be added to nouns and verbs. They are placed immediately after the inflected verb, but without affecting stress. For nouns, they are placed immediately after the noun itself to indicate inalienable possession (affecting stress), and after the inflected noun for alienable possession (not affecting stress). For verbs, the following order is used 1st person – 2nd person – Genders 1-3/9 – Gender 4-5 – Gender 6 – Gender 7; when multiple clitics of the same gender-group are used, they are ordered intrans/ergative – accusative/absolutive – dative. 1st person accusative forms are only used in imperatives.

  First Person   Second Person
singular dual paucal plural singular dual plural
Nominative ku sa na chi jel dri jina
Accusative qui sai nai chī
Genitive qua sau nau chiwa jiwa driwa jima
Dative kutu satu natu chitu jettu dritu jennatu/jendu
  Gender I   Gender II   Gender III   Gender IX
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
Intransitive[2] chi chel chen na nal nan su sol son ton tonni tonna
Accusative[3] chī chili chini nai nali nani swi suli suni tuni tonnī tonnai
Ergative chika chekka chenga naka nakka nanga suka sokka songa tonga tonnika tonnaka
Genitive chiwa chima ma nama swa suma tuma tonniwa tomma
Dative chitu chettu chendu natu nattu nandu sutu sottu sondu tontu tonnitu tonnatu
  Gender IV   Gender V   Gender VI   Gender VII
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
Absolutive çi çel çen la lal lan gwa gwal gwan pi pel pen
Ergative çika çekka çenga laka lakka langa gwaka gwakka gwanga pika pekka penga
Genetive çiwa çima lwa lama gwau gwama piwa pima
Dative çitu çettu çendu latu lattu landu gwatu gwattu gwandu pitu pettu pendu

Some dialects have v- instead of gw- in the gender VI clitics

Free

Plain

  First person   Second person
Singular Dual Paucal Plural Singular Dual Plural
Nominative Ujekka Sajī Najī Chijī Ejjī Drijī Ennajī
Accusative Ujī Saijī Naijī Chījī Ījī Drījī Ennajī
Genitive Ujigwa Swajī Naujī Pajī Iwajī Driwajī Imajī
Dative Ujītu Satovjī Natovjī Chitovjī Ettovjī Dritovjī Ennatovjī
Instrumental Ujenni Sanjī Nanjī Chenjī Enjī Drenjī Ennanjī
Benefactive Ujenna Sanjīna Nanjīna Chenjīna Enjīna Drenjīna Ennanjīna
Commitative Ujīnran Sanjīlan Nanjīlan Chenjīlan Enjīlan Drenjīlan Ennanjīlan

The nominative and accusative forms are used only for emphasis, while the genitive forms are used for emphasis as well as for the genitive-based pseudo-cases. The initial u- of the 1st person singular forms is sometimes dropped. Pseudo-cases are inflected as with standard nouns. Third person uses the demonstrative pronoun funu (that one) with appropriate gender-prefixes

3rd person reflexive pronouns are jītal in the singular, jītali in the plural, with appropriate gender prefixes

Polite

Polite pronouns take standard case suffixes. They vary by gender (first form is feminine, second is masculine, third is epicine). Third person pronouns take standard gender prefixes.

The first person forms imply humility, implying that the speaker is of lower status than the person to whom they're speaking, conversely, the 2nd person forms imply high status. 3rd person has two formal forms: 3rd person-humble and 3rd person-exalted. Third person-humble indicates low status of the person being referred to, while 3rd person-exalted indicates high status

  • 1st person singular: Trī/Nrī
  • 1st person dual: Chellespi/Nallespi/Sollespi
  • 1st person paucal: Chellesshi/Nallesshi/Sollesshi
  • 1st person plural: Chempi/Nampi/Sompi
  • 2nd person singular: Trakan/nrakan
  • 2nd person plural: Trakanni/nrakanni
  • 3rd person-humble singular: Eshna
  • 3rd person-humble plural: Eshni
  • 3rd person-exalted singular: Lampunu
  • 3rd person-exalted plural: Lampumi
  • 3rd person-humble reflexive-singular: Jeshna
  • 3rd person-humble reflexive-plural: Jeshni
  • 3rd person-exalted reflexive-singualr: Jīlampunu
  • 3rd person-exalted reflexive-plural: Jīlampumi

Syntax

Basic word order is VSO, with modifiers consistently following their head.

Animacy

Certain aspects of Classical Kasshian syntax depend on a concept known as animacy, which is related to gender. For example, in a transitive verb, if an agent (subject of a transitive verb) is higher on the animacy hierarchy than the patient (object of a transitive verb), then antipassive or dative syntax will sometimes be used. The basic hierarchy is:

  • 1st person
  • 2nd person
  • 3rd person sapient
  • 3rd person non-sapient

Many speakers further subdivide the last two levels. The obligatory levels are shown at the first level of indention, with further levels for optional subdivisions

  • 3rd person sapient
    • Divinities
    • Mortals
      • Humans
        • Some speakers will further divide human by status and/or age
      • Pteranthropans
  • 3rd person non-sapient
    • Animals
      • Gender IV
        • Large
        • Medium-sized
        • Small
      • Gender V
        • Large
        • Medium-sized
        • Small
    • Gender VI
    • Gender VII

Dative antipassive

The dative antipassive was an alternative to the antipassive voice. The dative-antipassive still used active voice, but the subject was placed in the absolutive instead of the ergative, and the object was placed in the dative instead of the absolutive.

Vocabulary

Notes

  1. Though never very common
  2. equivalent to absolutive, but only for intransitive verbs
  3. equivalent to absolutive, but only for transitive verbs