Áżädgä

Áżädgä ['ɑd͡zædgæ]
Period	~ 0 YP
Spoken in	western Tuysáfa
Total speakers	unknown
Writing system	none
Classification	Leic  Áżädgä   Oʒadga   Osetke
Typology
Basic word order	SOV
Morphology	fusional, slightly agglutinative
Alignment	accusative
Credits
Created by	Zju

Áżädgä is a Leic language spoken in western Tuysáfa. It's endonym is Jáżädgä, Jáżäd şāngä; Áżädgä is infact the name of the people (sg. áżädb).

Phonology

Sound inventory

Consonants

	labial	dental	post-alveolar	palato-alveolar	palatal	velar	glottal
nasal	m	n			ɲ ń	ŋ
stop	p b	t d				k g
affricate		t͡s d͡z c ż	t͡ʃ d͡ʒ ć đ	t͡ɕ d͡ʑ ţ ḑ
fricative	f v	s z	ʃ ʒ ś ź	ɕ ş		x ɣ	h
sonorant		l r			j	w
nasalised sonorant	ṽ vⁿ	l̃ r̃ lⁿ rⁿ			j̃ jⁿ	w̃ wⁿ

• ṽ is the only nasalised fricative - in this respect it behaves like a sonorant.

Vowels

	front	central	back
close	i	ɨ y	u
open-mid	ɛ e		ɔ o
open	æ ä		ɑ a

Stress & length

Stress is phonemic in Áżädgä and is always marked, except for a few clitics, which aren't stressed. Stressed vowels - and only stressed vowels - can be long. They are marked in orthography as follows:

Unstressed vowel	i	y	u	e	o	a	ä
Stressed vowel	í	ý	ú	é	ó	á	ã
Long stressed vowel	ī	ȳ	ū	ē	ō	ā	ǟ

Syllabification rules

Áżädgä phonotactics allow for some very big consonat clusters, which, for the ease of pronunciation, often contain syllabic consonants. Any continuant (consonant other than stop or affricate) can be syllabic. Because syllabification is largely predictable, it is not marked in orthography. Given that V is a vowel, N is a continuant, Nˢ is a syllabic continuant, C is other consonant and # is word boundary, the general syllabification rules are:

• VCN(C)# -> V.CNˢ(C)#
• VCNN# -> V.CNˢN#
• VCCN(C)# -> VC.CNˢ(C)#
• V(C)CNNC# -> V(C).CNˢNC#
• VNNN# -> V.NNˢN#
• VNNNN# -> V.NNˢ.NNˢ#
• VNNNNN# -> V.NNˢN.NNˢ# or V.NNˢ.NNˢN#
• VCNCV ->
  • VCN.CV or VC.NCV (for fricatives)
  • V.CNˢ.CV (for sonorants and very rarely for fricatives)
• #NCV -> #Nˢ.CV (sometimes for sonorants and rarely for fricatives)
  • #NNV -> #Nˢ.NV (somewhat more often than the above)

A continuant next to a vowel is never syllabic, so C also stands for continuants when next to a vowel.

In general, CNˢ syllables are preferred to CNˢC and CNˢN syllables, which are preferred to all others. Syllabic consonants require a consonant cluster of at least three consonants to form, unless they are next to the word boundary.

In practice, most of the bigger consonant clusters occur word-finally. In big consonant clusters when PoA is switched there is often a very brief epenthetic [ɐ] or [ə], which takes the voicing of the neighbouring sounds.

Stressed syllabic consonants

Syllabic consonants can be stressed and long, just like vowels. Although they occur only in a dozen-or-so roots, they arise on a semi-regular basis in inflection.

	Nasal	Nasalised sonorant
Unstressed	m n	vⁿ lⁿ
Stressed	mᵒ nᵒ	vᶰ lᶰ
Long stressed	mⁿ nⁿ	vᵐ lᵐ

Allophony

• /Cw/ is realised as [Cʷ]. /kw gw/ are written as < q ģ >.
• Next to a labialised consonant all are labialised.
• Vowels are nasalised in front of nasalised sonorants.
• In a cluster of non plain nasal sonorants (i.e. without m n ń ŋ) nasalisation is a feature of the whole cluster, e.g. /l̃w/ and /lw̃/ don't occur. Therefore nasalisation, if present, is marked only on the last sonorant in orthography.
• /æ/ ranges freely from [æ] to [a]. /ɑ/ ranges freely from [ɑ] to [ä].
• /ɑ/ is often realised as [ɒ] when both short and stressed.
• /v/ is [ʋ] when syllabic.
• Sequences of homorganic non coronal stops and fricatives are realised as affricates. /pf/ /bv/ are realised as [p͡ɸ] [b͡β]. However e.g. /ts/ /dz/ constrast with /t͡s/ /d͡z/ - [ts] [dz] vs. [t͡s] [d͡z]. These both contrast with /t͡ss/ /d͡zz/ [t͡ss] [d͡zz].
• In words with one vowel (this is different than monosyllabic words) stressed long vowels are realised as half long.

Morphophonology

Stress shift

Some words exhibit stress shift throughout their paradigms. Stress only ever shifts forwards, towards the word's end. Suffixes, which attract the stress, are marked with a stress mark on the respective vowel. Should they contain no vowel, an exclamation mark after the suffix marks the stress shift and the general syllabification rules determine which consonant is to be syllabic and respectively stressed.

Length shifts together with stress. It can be said to be a quality of the stressed syllable. Therefore, a word only ever has a short stress vowel or a long stressed vowel, regardless of any stress shifts.

Stress is shifted only if it falls on the syllable immediately prior to the 'stress attractor'. Otherwise it stays in place.

Morphology

Áżädgä morphology is highly fusional with some elements of agglutination.

Nominal morphology

Nouns have five classes, two numbers, and eight cases: nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, lovative, ablative, instrumental and vocative. Nouns have also a focus form, which besides indicating focus, has a few other usages.

Noun classes

Noun distribution in classes is partially based on semantic criteria, although for a large part of the nouns their class is arbitrary. In particular, the first two classes are rather well defined semantically.

• First class includes humans and personified animals and things.
• Second class includes animals and animated objects.
• Third class includes plants and some natural objects and phenomena.
• Fourth class includes man-made artefacts and objects, body parts, abstracts and a few natural objects and plants. It's the go-to class for inanimate objects.
• Fifth class includes processes, abstracts, phenomena and concepts, some collective nouns, mass nouns (uncountables) and some others.

There's a semi-productive process by which inanimates become second class and animals become first class should they go up in the animacy hierarchy.

Noun declension

Some of the case endings depend on the noun class, and some don't. They are presented seperately.

Only the most general ending is given and afterwards case-individual pecularities are looked at.

Class-dependant cases

They are nominative, accusative, genitive and instrumental singular.

Case	1. class	2. class	3. class	4. class	5. class
Nominative	-b	-x / -∅	-g	-tm / -m	-gä
Accusative	-bn	-xn / -n	-gn	-tn / -n	-gn
Genitive	-bnᵒ	-xnᵒ / -nᵒ	-gnᵒ	-tnᵒ / -nᵒ	-gnᵒ
Instrumental	-bnᵒb	-xnᵒb / -nᵒb	-gnᵒb	-tnᵒb / -nᵒb	-gnᵒb

• Some class II and IV use reduced versions of the class dependant case endings, eliding their initial consonant.
• Although accusative and genitive have the same ending, the genitive ending attracts the stress, while the accusative does not.
• When the stem ends in -b or -g, initial b or g of endings change respectively to v or ɣ.

Class-independant cases

All other cases are class-independant.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-()	-n
Accusative	-()	-ln
Dative	-r	-ndr
Genitive	-()	-lᵒn / -lnᵒ
Locative	-br	-lⁿbr
Ablative	-vn	-lvⁿn
Instrumental	-()	-lnᵒb
Vocative	-lńó	-lᵒń / -lńᵒ

• Accusative and genitive plural are likewise distinguished by a stress shift.
• When the stem ends in a continuant (sonorant or a fricative) a homorganic epenthetic stop of the same voicing is inserted before the dative singular ending. f v x ɣ are an exception to this rule and require no epenthetic stop.
• Vocative is used almost exclusively for class I nouns; therefore only they are given with a vocative form, except when presenting declension classes, where a class I noun could be in the place of the exemple word.
• When preceded by -f, -v or -vⁿ, ablatibe singular ending drops its own v and may or may not attract stress.
• If the stem ends in an obstruent, -br and -vn agree in voicing. If it ends in -p or -b, -br changes respectively to -fr and -vr, forming a bilabial affricate at the morpheme boundary.

Irregular plural forms

A small amount of nouns have irregular plural forms. There are two kinds of irregularity: suppletive plural stems and a somewhat different set plural endings called g plural endings.

Those nouns which end in a nasal consonant in their plural stems take -l -ldr instead of -n -ndr.

Comparison of different plurals

Case	n plural regular plural	l plural nasal stems	g plural irregular plural
Nominative	-n	-l	-gä
Accusative	-ln		-gn
Dative	-ndr	-ldr	-gr
Genitive	-lᵒn / -lnᵒ		-gnᵒ
Locative	-lⁿbr		-ŋbr
Ablative	-lvⁿn		-ŋvn
Instrumental	-lnᵒb		-gnᵒb
Vocative	-lᵒń / -lńᵒ		-gń

Plural stems

A number of nouns have differing singular and plural stems. Some are due to regular or semi-regular alternations and some are irregular. When the plural stem differs and it's not due to regular alternation, it's also listed.

Regular alternations:

• Classes 1., 3. and 5. :
  • Stem final -m -n -ŋ -vⁿ change to -b -ż -g -v or -p -c -k -f ¹.
  • -b -d -g -ɣ change to -p -c -k -x or -b -ż -g -ɣ ¹.
  • -z to -ś or -ź ¹.
  • -lⁿ to -l.
• Class 2. :
  • -s > -ś ¹ ²
  • Stems ending in a nasal consonant regularly take l plural.
• Class 4. :
  • -b -d -g -p > -b -ż -g -v / -p -c -k -f ¹ ²
  • -t -k > -c -k / -ż -g ¹ ²
  • -s > -ś / -ź ¹ ²
  • Stems ending in a nasal consonant regularly take l plural.

¹ Voicing harmony is at play: The final consonant harmonises with the voicing of the last preceding obstruent. Should the first preceding consonant not be an obstruent, the stem final consonant changes to a consonant from the former set.
² Only when the short ending is used, so when in nom. sg. they end in -s, -bm, -dm, -gm, etc.

Some of the more common irregular alternations are:

• Change of the last stem consonant: ńȳnb - ńȳrn 'neighbour'
• Vowel insertion: ḑyvóɣb - ḑyvóɣon 'adult'
• A combination of those two: ćéŋb - ćékän 'enemy'
• Consonant insertion: cāńb - cāńln 'comrade'
• There is also suppletion: sūpm - żādln 'arm'

Although the stems are called singular and plural, their distribution is not always based on number:

• The aforementioned changes, excluding suppletion, may sporadically occur in dative singular and vocative singular, except when the change involves dental obstruents from classes 1., 3. and 5. (-d -z > -ż -c / -ś ź) or vowel insertion, in which case it's particularly common.
• Consonant alternating class 4. nouns follow a different pattern, in which the plural stem is also used for loc. sg. and abl. sg. in addition to dat. sg. and voc. sg. Also unlike the other ones, this usage is completely regular.

Focus form

Nouns have a focus form, which besides indicating focus, is also used for switch-reference, contrast and sometimes emphasis, as intensifier. Words, which answer content questions, are more often than not focused.

If a noun has differing singular and plural stems, focus forms use the plural stem. The only exception is when the plural is suppletive.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-y	-ló
Accusative	-Cãcwy ¹	-lãcwy
Dative	-ró	-näró
Genitive	-Cnãcwy ¹	-lnãcwy
Locative	-bvyró	-lⁿbvyró
Ablative	-vãcwy	-lvⁿãcwy
Instrumental	-Cnᵒbvy ¹	-lnᵒbvy

¹ C is the class consonant, respectively b, x, g, t, g.

Other than in nominative singular, stress invariably falls on the suffix and the stressed suffixal nucleus is always short. In nominative singular stress is again always short and invariably falls on the last stem syllable.

There is an alternative, less used set of endings for non-nominative focus forms. They are built with -y added to the regular case endings in singular and -ó in plural. The same rules for stress apply.

Adjectival morphology

Adjectives don't have class or case markers in attributive position, but agree with their respective noun in class and number in predicative position. Because of that they are always in nominative case. The endings are essentially the same as for the nouns, except for plural, which uses -l instead.

Case	1. class	2. class	3. class	4. class	5. class	Plural
Ending	-b	-x	-g	-tm	-gä	-l

There are number of adjectives with irregular stem changes in their declension. The three regular types of stem changes are:

• Vowel deletion type, which includes most adjectives ending in a vowel.
  • The last stem vowel is deleted in classes 1., 3. and 5., followed by change of the preceding vowel. This change closely resembles the consonant apophony between singular and plural stems of nouns of the same classes.
• Nasal type, which includes most adjectives ending in a nasal consonant.
  • They take no ending for class 2. and -m for class 4.
  • Final -m -n change to -b -ż for class 4. and plural.
  • There may be additional irregular stem changes, especially in the quality of the last vowel, for classes 1., 3., 5, and optionall 4. and plural.
• Consonant insertion class. A small closed class of 12 adjectives that undergo similar changes.
  • -ŋ is inserted before the endings for classes 1., 3. and 5 if the stem doesn't end in a nasal or a nasalised consonant.
  • In similar vein, the endings for class 4. and plural are -gm -gl or -km -kl, depending on the voicing of the last consonant.
  • The ending for class 2. is -ä.
• Lastly, regular adjectives that have stems ending in -x drop their final -x and add -hä for class 2.

Adverbs

Adverbs are derived from adjectives by means of the suffix -bvap. However, if an adverb modifies an inflected adjective, the adverb is more often the bare stem, especially for more frequently used adverbs.

Verbal morphology

A feature of all verbal endings is that progressive assimilation of voicing occurs at morpheme boundary with the stem.

Active endings

1. PrC	Singular	Plural
1.	-m	-nc / -mä ¹
2.	-y	-s / -t / -c ³
3.	-∅	-ä

2. PrC	Singular	Plural
1.	-m	-nc / -mä ¹
2.	-y / -ä ²	-s / -t / -c ³
3.	-∅	-V ⁴

3. PrC	Singular	Plural
1.	-m	-nc / -mä ¹
2.	-y / -ä ²	-s / -t / -c ³
3.	-V	-Vc ⁴

4. PrC	Singular	Plural
1.	-am	-anc
2.	-ä	-ac
3.	-a	-acä

¹ -mä if two or more consonants precede, -nc otherwise.
² -y if 3.PL ending contains y, -ä otherwise.
³ -s after stops, -t after sibilants, homorganic sibilant after coronal affricates, -c otherwise.
⁴ V is the thematic vowel.

• In second conjugation verbs, the last stem consonant in 2.SG and 3.SG sometimes changes, but since 3.PL is always given, this is already indicated.

The other endings are same for all conjugations:

PrS	Singular	Plural
1.	-sm	-smä
2.	-ś	-st
3.	-s	-sä

PaS	Singular	Plural
1.	-vm	-vmä
2.	-v	-fc
3.	-v	-vä

PaC	Singular	Plural
1.	-km	-kmä
2.	-s / -t / -c	-ks
3.	-k	-kä

Present simple stem

Present simple active and passive are formed with the present simple stem. It may or may not include changes both at the end and at the begining of the primary stem. Additionally, a number of verbs have irregular present simple stems.

• Changes at the end of the stem include:
  • Dropping of stem final sibilant fricatives.
  • For 1. conjugation verbs -d -t -n change to -ż -c -ń.
• Changes at the begining of the stem include:
  • Lone initial consonant (CV-) stems exhibit affricatisation if they begin in a stop or an affricate: p b c ż t d ć đ ţ ḑ k g q ģ -> pf bv cs żz ts dz ćś đź ţş ḑz kx gɣ qx ģɣ
  • Initial consonant cluster stems (CCV- / CCCV-) form their present simple stem thusly:
    • If they already begin in homorganic stop and fricative or affricate and fricative, no change occurs.
    • Otherwise if they begin in a stop or fricative affricatisation may or may not occur based on euphonic principles.
    • Otherwise no change occurs.
  • Vowel initial stems copy their first consonant before their first vowel: VC- -> CVC-

The most common irregular ways to form the present simple stem are:

• Vowel apophony coupled with infixation: cāk -> cýcks - 'sleeps, is sleeping'.
• Semivowel prothesis: ēbn -> jⁿēbńţ - 'rains, is raining'.
• Reduplication: śȳx -> śýśyxs - 'rises, is rising'.
• N prefixation: żámd -> nżámżz - 'breathes, is breathing'
• Vowel prefixation plus optional ablaut: jǟty -> íjetys - 'stands, is standing'.
• Final vowel ablaut: mátwymny -> mátwymnes - 'turns out, is turning out'.

Past stem

All past tenses are formed with the past stem, which is derived fairly simply:

• If the base stem ends in -p or -b, -f- or -v- is added.
• Otherwise -p- or -b- is added, depending on voicing.
• Conjugation 1. verbs ending in -v change it to -b- instead.
• Some other conjugation 1. verbs have irregular past stems and on top of them add additional -p- or -b- for past continuous active and passive tenses.
• Conjugation 4. verbs add -ab.
• Conjugation 3. verbs change thematic vowel ä to o.

Passive endings

PrS ¹	Singular	Plural
1.	-sxm / -zvm	-sxmä / -zvmä
2.	-śx / -źv	-sxc / -zvż
3.	-sx / -zv	-sxä / -zvä

PrC ³	Singular	Plural
1.	-m	-nc / -mä ²
2.	-y	-c
3.	-∅	-ä

PaS	Singular	Plural
1.	-fxm	-fxmä
2.	-fx	-fxc
3.	-fx	-fxä

PaC	Singular	Plural
1.	-gvm	-gvmä
2.	-żv	-gvż
3.	-gv	-gvä

¹ Depending on the presence or absence of a voiced obstruent before the ending.
² The same ending as the one used in active voice.
³ The endings for present continuous passive are added onto the passive stem. It is formed via the following suffixes:

• 1. and 2. conjugation verbs ending in -x and -v become respectively -xf- and -vɣ-. Otherwise it's -x- after voiceless consonants and -v- after voiced ones.
• 3. conjugation verbs use -äv-, -ov-, -ex- and -yx- or -yv- depending on their tematic vowel.
• 4. conjugation verbs use -av-.

Irrealis moods

Imperative ¹	Singular	Plural
2. Active	-v / -∅	-fc / -c
2. Passive	-fx / -x	-fxc / -xc

Optative	(Sg~Pl)
3. Active	-vä
3. Passive	-fxä

Hortative	Plural
1. Active	-vmᵒc
1. Passive	-vɣmᵒc

¹ Short versions of the endings exist.
All those three moods are built onto a single deontic stem, which is formed in the following manner:

• For 1. and 2. conjugation verbs -m- is added if the stem doesn't end in a nasal consonant.
• For 3. and 4. conjugation verbs -Vm- and -am- are respectively added.
• Conjugation 3. verbs change thematic vowel ä to o.

Irrealis mood is formed by adding nyfýp before a verb form in indicative mood. It is used as:

• Subjunctive mood in relative clauses, where it contrasts with indicative mood.
• Conditional mood in if-else statements and conditions.
• Optative mood when used stand alone.

The verbal complex

The verb in Áżädgä has the following structure:

• stem - finite TAM marker - (polar interrogation) - (negation) - (complementizer)

The finite TAM markers are obligatory for all finite verbs and have been covered in the previous sections. The rest - all optional - are:

• The polar interrogation (yes/no) suffix: -g and -k after consonants, -dg after vowels. The former allomorph agrees in voicing with the preceding obstruent, if any. If not any is present, -g is used.
• The negation suffix: -op if the previous morpheme ends in -m and -mop otherwise.
• The complementizer: -p after vowels and -yp after consonants.

The participles

There are eight participles, one for each tense and voice pair. They are regularly formed by conjugating the verb in the respective tense and voice in 3. person singular, after which they behave as regular adjectives. Present simple passive particple, present continuous active participle and present continuous passive participle are not used frequently. The past continuous participles are more common, but still not as common as the others.

Separable prefixes

Verbs can be combined with separable prefixes to form new lexical items. The new meaning is generally not predictable from the type of prefix added. If a direct or indirect object follows the verb, the prefixes stay as such. They are also realised as prefixes in all derivative words of the verb. Otherwise they are realised as postverbal particles and are given as such in the dictionary.

Unseparable prefixes

There are also unseparable prefixes that are never realised as postverbal particles. Also unlike the other set of prefixes, the meaning of these is almost completely regular and very productive. That and the fact that many prefixes could be stacked one onto another to elaborate the meaning means there is a vast multitude of possible verbs. Because of this, verbs with unseparable prefixes are usually not given in the dictionary.
The prefixes come in two allomorphs, default voicing and alternate voicing, the latter of which is used when the root begins with an obstruent of the opposite voicing.

prefix		meaning
default voicing	alternate voicing	term	prose	example
cax-	żaɣ-	inchoatives	to begin doing the action	cāk > caxcāk sleeps > falls asleep
śäx-	źäɣ-	terminatives	to stop doing the action	ēbn > śäxēbn rains > stops raining
mob-	mop-	intensitives	to do the action energetically or forcefully	śȳx > mopśȳx rises > does rise
kambv-	kampf-	causatives; transifier	to make somebody or something do the action	jǟty > kambvjǟty stands > puts upright
vong-	vonk-	iteratives, frequantatives	to do the action repeatedly	żámd > vongżámd breathes > keeps breathing, breathes on and on
gäż-	käc-	strong potentials	to be about to do the action (in more short term)	mátwymny > gäżmátwymny turns out > is just about to turn out
csät-	żzäd-	weak potentials	to be about to do the action (in more long term)	ēbn > csätēbn rains > is about to rain
gav-	kaf-	ergatives; transifier	to guide or overlook the action; to do the action on something or somebody	mnymép > gavmnymép leaks > leaks something
śax-	źaɣ-	necessatives	to need to do the action	śēcp > śaxśēcp sits > needs to sit
fäs-	väz-	anticausatives; detransifier	to experience or undergo the action; to have the action done on	ãcäk > fäsãcäk drinks > is drunk
żanb-	żanp-	desideratives	to want to do the action	đźãḑyv > żanbđźãḑyv impresses > wants to impress

When the prefix ends in the same consonant as in the one the verbal root begins in, one of the consonants is dropped if they're continuants, or the latter one is turned to fricative otherwise. Alternatively, an epenthetic -y- may be inserted.

Other morphology

All verbs have deverbal nouns -fspm (-spm for roots ending in a labiovelar) referring to the process of doing the action. Because this derivation is completely regular, those nouns are not given in the dictionary.

The copula and other irregular verbs

Abbreviations used:

• PS - past stem
• DS - deontic stem
• SS - present simple stem
• PCAP - Present continuous active participle

Some verbs are irregular, some form negation irregularly by prefixation and some do both.
When a verb has irregular negative form, the latter is given after the positive one.

to be

With the copula the continuous tenses are used for locations and temporary states, whereas the simple tenses are used for permanent states.

PrC	Singular	Plural
1.	jǟm	jǟnc
2.	ȳńä	jǟc
3.	ȳń	jǟ

PrC	Singular	Plural
1.	mnǟm	mnǟnc
2.	mȳńä	mnǟc
3.	mȳń	mnǟ

• SS jā- / mbýjo-
• Simple PS¹ bā- / mbýbo-
• Continuous PS pāf- / mbýpof-
• DS ȳm- / mȳm-

¹ With voiced 2.PL ending.

to become

'To become' is an almost regular conjugation 4. verb, except for lengthened endings:

PC	Singular	Plural
1.	wām	wānc
2.	wǟ	wāc
3.	wā	wācä

PC	Singular	Plural
1.	mbām	mbānc
2.	mbǟ	mbāc
3.	mbā	mbācä

• SS wā- / mbýwo-
• PS wāb- / mbāb-
• DS wām- / mbām-

to live, laugh, harvest

• live/laugh/harvest

PC	Singular	Plural
1.	śȳm	śȳnc
2.	śȳ	şǟc
3.	śȳ	şǟ

PC	Singular	Plural
1.	pīm	pīnc
2.	pī	ptǟc
3.	pī	ptǟ

PC	Singular	Plural
1.	éptym	éptync
2.	épty	ébdäż
3.	épty	ébdä

• SS śýśy- / týpty- / pépty-
• PS śȳg- / pēg- / bēg-
• DS śȳm- / pīm- / éptym-
• PCAP śȳń / pȳń / ýbń

to tell, call

• tell/call

PC	Singular	Plural
1.	cãśym	cãśync
2.	cãśy	cãşäc
3.	cãśy	cãşä

PC	Singular	Plural
1.	żãväm	żãvänc
2.	żãvä	żãvec
3.	żãvä	żãve

• SS ncãśy- / nżãvä-
• PS cãśk- / żãvⁿg-
• DS cãśym- / żãväm-
• PCAP cãşń / żãvń

to eat

PC	Singular	Plural
1.	cãţäm	cãţänc
2.	cãţä	cãţäc
3.	cãţo	cãţäcä

PC	Singular	Plural
1.	mocãţäm	mocãţänc
2.	mocãţä	mocãţäc
3.	mocãţo	mocãţäcä

• SS ncãţo- / mcãţo-
• PS cãţop- / mocãţop-
• DS cãţom- / mocãţom-

to knit, wear clothes, fight, stick out

• knit/wear clothes/fight/stick out

PC	Singular	Plural
1.	kãräm	kãränc
2.	kãrä	kãräc
3.	kãra	kãräcä

PC	Singular	Plural
1.	żãräm	żãränc
2.	żãrä	żãräc
3.	żãra	żãräcä

PC	Singular	Plural
1.	výväm	vývänc
2.	vývä	výväc
3.	vývä	výväcä

PC	Singular	Plural
1.	śām	śānc
2.	śǟ	śāc
3.	śā	śācä

• SS kxãrä- / nżãrä- / vývä- / hýśä-
• PS kãrab- / żãrab- / výväb- / śāp-
• DS kãram- / żãram- / výväm- / śām-

Numerals

Numbers 14 through 17 are derived by a semi-regular process from numbers 4 through 7 that includes dropping the first syllable of the numeral and then prefixing ćēm-. Other teens and all tens have their own roots.

1.	māś	11.	đēbm	10.	ćēp
2.	hǟn	12.	ćēpx	20.	hék
3.	pān	13.	ćēpf	30.	pãŋ
4.	ãtäś	14.	ćēmdäś	40.	tãk
5.	ãdom	15.	ćēmdom	50.	dmók
6.	hãtäx	16.	ćēmdäx	60.	ćśék
7.	hãtop	17.	ćēmdop	70.	tpãŋ
8.	hãdäm	18.	đēbɣd	80.	ɣdãk
9.	ćēmbvn	19.	đēbɣdm	90.	ɣdmók
10.	ćēp			100.	śȳxn

In addition to these there are also the approximative numerals mbāk meaning one or two and jⁿāk meaning two or three.

Ordinals

• Ordinals are formed with -l- infixed before the last consonant.
• The ordinal 1. is suppletive, the ordinals 2. and 3. are irregular, the ordinal 13. slightly so.
• Tens follow a different pattern, in which final -k is replaced by -g, final -ŋ is replaced by or extended with -g and then -ylⁿ is suffixed. The exception is śȳxnylⁿ 'one hundredth', which doesn't change its stem.

1.	kxýry	11.	đēblm	10.	ćēlp
2.	hǟń	12.	ćēplx	20.	hégylⁿ
3.	pǟlⁿ	13.	ćēlpf	30.	pã(ŋ)gylⁿ
4.	ãtälś	14.	ćēmdälś	40.	tãgylⁿ
5.	ãdolm	15.	ćēmdolm	50.	dmógylⁿ
6.	hãtälx	16.	ćēmdälx	60.	ćśégylⁿ
7.	hãtolp	17.	ćēmdolp	70.	tpã(ŋ)gylⁿ
8.	hãdälm	18.	đēbɣld	80.	ɣdãgylⁿ
9.	ćēmbvln	19.	đēbɣdlm	90.	ɣdmógylⁿ
10.	ćēlp			100.	śȳxnylⁿ

Numeral derivations

1.	solo	māślⁿb	first time	māńśpm	single	māskn	once	māmbv
2.	duo, doublet	hǟlⁿb	second time	hǟńpm	double	hǟskn	twice	hǟmbv
3.	trio, triplet	pālⁿb	third time	pãljopm	triple	pǟskn	thrice	pǟmbv
4.	quadruplet	ãtäślⁿb	fourth time	ãdäńśpm	qadruple	ãtäskn	four times	ãdambv
5.	quintet	ãdomlⁿb	fifth time	ãdomśpm	fivefold	ãdomkn	five times	ãdombv
6.	sextet	hãtäxlⁿb	sixth time	hãtäxśpm	sixfold	hãtäxkn	six times	hãtäɣbv
7.	septet	hãtoplⁿb	seventh time	hãtopśpm			seven times	hãtobv
8.	octet	hãdämlⁿb					eight times	hãdämbv
9.
10.					tenfold	ćēpkn

• The first column refers to groups of humans only.
• Derivations from higher numerals may be regularly formed with -lⁿb, -śpm, -kn, -bv, but except for ćēpkn 'tenfold, ten times as much', derivations from numbers higher than 5 or 6 are rarely used.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Non third person personal pronouns in Nom, Acc and Dat have unstressed and stressed forms. The unstressed forms are the default ones used; the stressed ones are used for emphasis~stress and in isolation.

1.SG
case	def	focus
Nom	śy, źy ¹ śȳ, źȳ ¹	śū, źū ¹
Acc	źebn źēbn	źbãcwy
Dat	śyr śȳr	śyró
Gen	źebnⁿ	źbnãcwy
Loc	źēbr	źbvyró
Abl	źēvn	źvãcwy
Instr	źebnⁿb	źebnⁿbvy

1.PL
case	def	focus
Nom	şangä źégängä	źegärⁿekó
Acc	şangn źégängn	şängãcwy
Dat	şangr źégängr	şängäró
Gen	şangnⁿ	şängnãcwy
Loc	şānbr	şanbvyró
Abl	şānvn	şanvãcwy
Instr	şangnⁿb	şangnⁿbvy

2.SG
case	def	focus
Nom	mo mō	mū
Acc	mebn mēbn	mepãcwy
Dat	mar mār	maró
Gen	mebnⁿ	mebnãcwy
Loc	mēbr	mebvyró
Abl	mēvn	mefãcwy
Instr	mebnⁿb	mebnⁿbvy

2.PL
case	def	focus
Nom	angä āngä	ärⁿekó
Acc	angn āngn	ängãcwy
Dat	angr āngr	ängäró
Gen	angnⁿ	ängnãcwy
Loc	ānbr	anbvyró
Abl	ānvn	anvãcwy
Instr	angnⁿb	angnⁿbvy

¹ Sandhi - depends on the voicing of the next consonant.

honorific
case	def	focus
Nom	ar ār	ávry
Acc	anbn ānbn	änbãcwy
Dat	ar ār	aró
Gen	anbnⁿ	änbnãcwy
Loc	ānbr	änbvyró
Abl	ānvn	änvãcwy
Instr	anbnⁿb	anbnⁿbvy

reflexive
case	def	focus
Nom	∅	∅
Acc	ämbn ãmbn	ämbãcwy
Dat	äbor ~ ämbor ãbor ~ ãmbor	ämbaró ~ äbaró
Gen	ämbnᵒ	ämbnãcwy
Loc	ãmbr	ämbvyró
Abl	ãmvn	ämvãcwy
Instr	ämbnᵒb	ämbnᵒbvy

• The honorific pronoun is used both as third and second person singular and plural pronoun to address someone of higher standing or a high statute, but never in first person. The verbs agree as if it was the respective pronoun.

Other pronouns and correlatives

Legend:

• Nominative form
• Focus nominative form
• (Oblique) focus stem

type	attributive form	I	II	III	IV	V	Plural
thirdpersonal pronoun		ḑlⁿáb ḑlⁿ-	ńýx	ḑlⁿág ḑlⁿ-	ńýtm	ḑlⁿágä ḑlⁿ-	lýn
who, what		gōb g-	kȳx	gōg g-	kȳtm	đēgä đźãcwy đ-	kȳn
which	ýky	ýŋb yđebó	ýkyx	ýng ydéģy	ýkytm	ýngä	ýgyn
something, somebody		kȳźb	kȳśx	kȳźg	kȳśtm	kȳźgä	kȳśn
some out of many	ýkyś	ýkyśp	ýkyśx	ýkyśk	ýkyśtm	ýkyśkä	ýkyśn
this	hȳn	hēb ɣ-	hȳn hýn .	hēg ɣ-	hēżm xcãpfy x-	hēgä ɣgãcwy ɣ-	hȳn .
that	vī	vēb vⁿ-	fīx fşy-	vēg vⁿ-	fītm fşy-	vēgä vⁿ-	vīn vzy-
other	tā	tāb d-	tāx	tāg d-	tātm	tāgä d-	tān
another	ãtä	ãnb	ãtäx	ãng	ãtätm	ãngä	ãtän
all	śǟm	źāb ź-	śāx	śāg ź-	śātm	śāgä ź-	śān
every, each	śǟmaś	śǟmaśp	śǟmaśx	śǟmaśk	śǟmaśtm	śǟmaśkä	śǟmaśn
no, none	mū	mōb m-	mūx	mōg m-	mūtm	mōgä m-	mūn

Pronominal declension

	I	II	III	IV	V	PL	Foc
Nom foc	-b -bó	-x -wy	-g -ģy	-tm -tãpfy	-gä -gãcwy	-n -ló	-()
Acc	-bn	-xn	-gn	-tn	-gn	-ln	-Cãcwy
Dat foc	-br -boró	-xr ¹	-gr ²	-cmbr -cmoró	-gr -gäró -gyró	-ndr -näró -nyró	-()
Gen	-bnᵒ	-xnᵒ	-gnᵒ	-tnᵒ	-gnᵒ	-lnᵒ	-Cnãcwy
Loc	-mbr	-ɣbr	-ŋbr	-cmᵒbr	-gdbr	-lⁿbr	-Cbvyró
Abl	-mvn	-ɣvn	-ŋvn	-cmᵒvn	-gdvn	-lvⁿn	-Cvãcwy
Instr	-bnᵒb	-xnᵒb	-gnᵒb	-tnᵒb	-gnᵒb	-lnᵒb	-Cnᵒbvy

¹ -häró, -hyró, -xäró, -xyró, -woró, -wyró are all used.
² -ḑäró, -ḑyró, -gäró, -gyró, -ģäró, -ģyró are all used.
³ As in nouns, in all cases length is lost in focus forms and in foc. nom. the last stem syllable gets stressed unless the ending is.

Relative personal pronouns

Stems	I	II	III	IV	V	PL
Nom-Dat	kãbo-	kýxu-	kãđy-	kýca-	kãgo-	kýla-
Acc-Loc-Abl		kýxa-	kãđe-		kãgä-
Gen-Inst	kãba-		kãđã-		kãga-

Case	Nom	Acc	Dat	Gen	Loc	Abl	Inst
Ending	-m	-n	-rm	-n	-brm	-vm	-nbm

Correlatives

	interrogative	indefinite	alternative	universal	negative	proximal	distal	relative
place	lāń	lāńţ	dãläń	śām	mbýräm	hēp	fēp	vīm
time	tāx	tāś	tãtä	kȳn	mbýkn	ēx	fīx	fīxm
manner	ãgm	kāp	dãgm	źāvm	mbýrävm	hȳgm		hȳgm vīm
reason	kȳcń	cāc	tācń			cǟń		cǟm
quantity	kȳśaŋ	kȳśćśaŋ		śǟnśaŋ	mūśaŋ	hȳnśaŋ		hȳnśam
quality	kytǟlⁿgä	kyśtǟlⁿgä	tatǟlⁿgä	śäntǟlⁿgä	mutǟlⁿgä	hyntǟlⁿgä		hyntǟlⁿgäm

Syntax

There is no infinitive. Instead, the complementiser or cǟnyfyp (in order) to is used.

Ncãţosmä

Ncãţo-smä

cǟnyfyp

cǟnyfyp

śýśysmä,

śýśy-smä

śýśysmämopyp

śýśy-smä-mop-yp

ncãţosmä.

ncãţo-smä

We eat to live, we don't live to eat.

The nominative phrase

Adjectives and determiners go before their head noun, but do not agree with it - the whole NP is marked only once for case, number and class.
The head noun can be dropped, in which case the last adjective takes the corresponding nominal suffix.

The verb phrase

Modality is expressed with adverbs that go directly before the verb:

• hãmyv can
• nūmv could
• nȳśx must
• nȳźv should

• Hãmyv ȳżbmä. - We can risk.
• Nȳźv cēmblac! - You should go!

Modality, as well as pasiveness, can also be expressed with the respective verbal prefixes - the two ways are in competing use, with the latter being several times rarer:

• Śaxcēmblac! - You need to go!; You should go!

Generally, transitivity of a verb is strictly followed - intransitive verbs never take objects and transitive verbs take at least pronouns as objects. The transitivity of a verb can be changed via the dedicated prefixes.

The adjective phrase

Comparison is done with the proclitics śäxn more and vyvn less. All adverbs precede their corresponding adjectives. Adverbs are compared the same way.

• Śäxn kxýgb báḑyvⁿgä. - A greener idea.

Word order

The default word order is SOV. It switches to SVO when the object is focused. Other parts of the sentence being focused generally don't alter the word order, but as there is a tendency to place the topic in the first place, a focus subject is usually at second place in the sentence, that is OSV. Pro-drop also occurs.

Hãmb

human-NOM.SG

māzgn

hill-ACC.SG

ãdäń.

see-3.SG.PRS_C

The man sees the hill.

Hãmb

human-NOM.SG

ãdäń

see-3.SG.PRS_C

vī

that

mazgãcwy.

hill-ACC.SG.FOC

It's that hill that the man sees.

Vī

that

māzgn

hill-ACC.SG

häpó

human-NOM.SG.FOC

ãdäń.

see-3.SG.PRS_C

It's the man that sees that hill.

Existential clauses

Existential clauses are formed with the copula and have a word order of LVS, where L is a location (NP in locative or a PP), V is the copula and S is the focused subject. If the location doesn't need for some reason to be specified, the WO shifts to SV with the subject not being focused.

Fékofpr

house-LOC.SG

ȳń

be-3.SG.PRS_C

ädändó.

table-NOM.SG.FOC

There is a table in the house.

Ȳń

be-3.SG.PRS_C

fekófy.

house-NOM.SG.FOC

There is a house.

Possessive clauses

Possessive clauses have the word order of TVC, where T is the topic, V is the copula and C is the comment; the possessor is in genitive case and the possessee is in nominative. Note that thus sentences of the type `I have the object.` do not differ from sentences of the type `The object is mine.`.

Mebnⁿ

2.SG.GEN

ȳń

be-3.SG.PRS_C

muwógy.

apple-NOM.SG.FOC

You have an apple.

Múwoŋg

apple-NOM.SG

ȳń

be-3.SG.PRS_C

mebnãcwy.

2.SG.GEN.FOC

You have an apple. ~ It's you who has an apple. ~ The apple is yours.

Focus form usage

• Indicating focus.
• Interclause-level contrast.
• By extension, non-canonical switch-reference.
• Also by extension, emphasis.
• For interrogative pronouns focus form is used for intensified interrogation - 'I wonder who/what'.
  • Non-nominal interrogative pronouns take -gãcwy or just -y.

Polar questions

	positive question	negative question
positive answer	vī	ãtä
negative answer	mū	mótä

Content questions

Interrogative pronouns come sentence initially (wh fronting is present).

Coordination

Most conjunctions have strassed and unstressed variants differing somewhat in meaning.

• hǟń and
• hǟń ... häń both ... and
• śyń but, and
• śȳń but
• śȳńţy but rather
• (häńţä) ... häńţä and or, inclusive or
• (fókä) ... fókä either ... or, exclusive or
• fōkäńţy or rather
• cȳń therefore, thus, so
• cyń so
• ţȳn so, and, next, then; filler word
• ţyn generic filler word

Subordination

Subordination is done with the already listed relative pronouns. The verbal complementiser is realised as a suffix on the verb. Non-canonical switch reference is not present.

Adpositions

Áżädgä has both prepositions and postpositions, though the former are more numerous. Some adpositions have corresponding adverbs of place and some have short forms.

Meaning	Adposition	Governed case	Position
out, oudside of	jⁿācä	abl	pre-
in the right of	fécyvⁿb	gen	pre-
in the left of	véhyvⁿb	gen	pre-
far	kāńb	abl	pre-
in front	kýnb	loc	pre-
in, inside in	ptýpń	loc	pre-
below	mnýme, mným	acc	pre-
along, by	vóryńḑr	loc	pre-
near	lýńḑr	loc	pre-
against	tāp	abl	pre-
around	ãđeɣbńzb	abl	pre-
on, on top of	bavnⁿ, vnⁿ	acc	pre-
without	mbāp	gen	post-
as, like	fáp	abl	post-
through	vóryl, vór	acc	pre-
above	sýsän, sýs	acc	pre-
behind	sýndvⁿb	gen	pre-
after	żánb	acc	pre-
before	śā	acc	pre-
during	źýnävⁿ	acc	pre-

Though locative and ablative case are usually used independently for their primary use, ptýpń and jⁿācä can be used to reinforce their meaning. Sole dative case is used to indicate the beneficient (for somebody).

Lexicon

Lexicon