Classical Kasshian grammar

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 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 1^st person – 2^nd 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	chi	chel	chen		na	nal	nan		su	sol	son		ton	tonni	tonna
Accusative	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:

• 1^st person
• 2^nd person
• 3^rd person sapient
• 3^rd 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

• 3^rd person sapient
  • Divinities
  • Mortals
    • Humans
      • Some speakers will further divide human by status and/or age
    • Pteranthropans
• 3^rd 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

• Classical Kasshian family terms
• Classical Kasshian numbers