Hariiji
Noun phrase
Adjectives Lexical Reduplication Particle Demonstrative Postpositions Genitive Number Umu hé-hé ij uy iyyu ém ij na tye umu hé -hé ij uy iyyu ém ij na tye red house ~COMPL PART that =DAT.CONST man STAT=GEN three To all three of those red houses of the man
All noun phrases in Hariiji consist of at least one 'lexical word' and a particle, plus, potentially, any number of adjectives, one postposition, an embedded genitive phrase and a number.
Stative verbs
Stative verbs, or 'roots', are morphemes with basic lexical meaning equivalent to nouns and adjectives in other languages. Hé for example is a morpheme with the rough lexical meaning of 'house'. As a verb, it means 'to be a house': hé ij, 'it is a house'. However, this phrase - hé ij - may also be treated as a nominal, in which case it is translated as 'house': semi hé iz 'aa, 'the house was smoking' (note case marking on ij).
Used as modifiers, their meaning is generally 'alike to' or 'possessing the quality of':
- Umu hé ij - a red house
These morphemes may be compounded head-finally:
- lacáhé ij - an inn (travel-house)
Reduplication
The lexical root may be reduplicated morphologically. In noun phrases, this conveys a sense of totality: 'all the houses':
- hé-hé ij - all the houses
If a root is longer than two syllables, in most cases only the last two syllables will be reduplicated:
- lacáhé-cáhé ij - all the inns
Particle, demonstratives and postpositions
The particle is etymologically a third person pronoun but comes from a different case form to the contemporary iz. It is invariable for number and case but may be modified by, in this order, demonstratives, possession marking, and postpositions. In speech, the vowel is often elided and the particle affixes to the previous word (thus héj, lacáhéj, umuj from hé ij, lacáhé ij and umu ij).
- hé ij uy - this house
- hé ij ne - the house of...
- hé ij yá - by the house
- hé ij uy ne - this house of...
- hé ij uy yá - by this house
- hé ij uy ne yá - by this house belonging to...
There is only one demonstrative, uy, which may mean 'this', 'that' or 'yonder' depending on context.
The dative postposition, -uyyu and the possession marker ne elide together to produce the form iyyu:
- hé ij uy iyyu - to this house belonging to...
The possession marker ne may or may not co-occur with na, the genitive postposition, depending on speaker preference and level of formality (at higher levels ne is likely to occur alone):
- hé ij uy (ne) yá Juni ij (na) - by this house belonging to Johnny
Pronouns
The true pronouns are comparatively rarely used in spoken Hariiji. They are acceptable only in the most informal situations. Elsewhere, noun forms like tála (servant) are used instead.
| English | Hariiji |
|---|---|
| 1ps | Uz |
| 2ps | Ar |
| 3ps | Ij |
| 1pp | Ur |
| 2pp | Az |
| 3pp | Iri |
Allocutive particles
The allocutive particles are a set of sentence-final particles that mark the listener's social status. When a group comprising members of different social statuses is being addressed, Hariiji defaults to the form appropriate to the most prestigious member of the group.
| Particle | Level of formality |
|---|---|
| ca | Inferior |
| cáá | Friend |
| ut | Formal |
| cú | Respectful |
| sa | Worshipful |
The particles are not compulsory in the lowest registers of speech but elsewhere are typically required. Even when neither the subject nor the object of a sentence is the listener, the allocutive will be present:
- Ni cúma áá ij ni hé sa - He came out of the house, o worshipful one
The inferior pronouns are used to address social inferiors generally. Social equals may also be addressed with these forms in banter in some extremely informal situations, but generally use of this pronoun is highly offensive. Ca is also used by parents to address their children. Use of cáá is usually restricted to close friends. Ut is the typical particle used when addressing others of similar social standing, whilst cú is used for those of clearly higher social standing. Sa is the most respectful and is used to address high nobility, higher members of the priesthood and royalty. Slaves typically address their masters with sa.
Adjectives
All ‘content’ adjectives follow the noun and may be used without morphological change as stative verbs:
- Hé bala – red house
- Bala hé – the house is red
Numbers follow content adjectives. Demonstratives follow numbers.
- Hé bala súú – two red houses
- Hé bala súú is – these two red houses
