Nivkh/Grammar

Word Classes

Nouns n
Verbs v
Adverbs adv
Pronouns prn
1. Personal pronouns pers
2. Demonstratives dem
"Particles" / clitics

Extremely prductive "clitics" that can be attached to various word classes
No prepositions, conjunctions, or adjectives
Highly developed sysytem of converbs (> 20 forms)
Qualitative verbs replace adjectives
Nouns can be used attributively

Syntax

SOV
Attribute precedes nouns

Morphology

Verbs not marked for person or number except imperative and some convrbs
Almost exclusively suffixing
Plural is optional in the indicative verb
Two tenses (non-future and future) (-дь indicative -иы future)
Causative verbs marked with suffix (-ку -ху -гу -ғу)
Resultative verbs
Reflexive pronouns

There are two types of complexes in Nivkh: bound and free.

Bound Complexes undergo consonant alterations:

Direct object + predicate
Attribute + head word

Free Complexes do not undergo consonant alterations:

Subject + predicate
Adverbial + predicate
Adverbial + attribute

Pronouns

Tag prn

The first and second person singular and reflexive pronouns lose the final vowel when prefixed unless the word has two initial consonants.

ньи<prn><pers><p1><sg> ↔ ньи
ть'и<prn><pers><p2><sg> ↔ ть'и
иф<prn><pers><p3><sg> ↔ иф
ньыӈ<prn><pers><p1><pl><excl> ↔ ньыӈ
мер<prn><pers><p1><pl><incl> ↔ мер
меги<prn><pers><p1><du><incl> ↔ меги
ть'ыӈ<prn><pers><p2><pl> ↔ ть'ыӈ
имӈ<prn><pers><p3><pl> ↔ имӈ
п'и<prn><pers><ref> ↔ п'и

Nominal Morphology

case name	~meaning	tag	possible forms	ӄан "dog"	ӈа "animal"
nominative	subject	`<nom>`	—	ӄан`<n><nom>` ↔ ӄан	ӈа`<n><nom>` ↔ ӈа
agentive	various subjects (51)	`<age>`	аӽ, ӽ
dative/additive	"to, for"	`<dat>`	тоӽ, доӽ, роӽ, рӽ	ӄан`<n><dat>` ↔ ӄандоӽ	ӈа`<n><dat>` ↔ ӈароӽ
instrumental	"with"	`<ins>`	кир, гир, хир, ғир
locative	"at, in, on"	`<loc>`	уйн, йн, н	ӄан`<n><loc>` ↔ ӄануйн	ӈа`<n><loc>` ↔ ӈайн
ablative	"in, out of, along, since, from"	`<abl>`	ух, х	ӄан`<n><abl>` ↔ ӄанух	ӈа`<n><abl>` ↔ ӈах
terminative	"for, up to, as long as, as far as"	`<term>`	т'ыкы, р̌ыкы, т'ӽа, р̌'ӽа, рӷа, тоӻо, роӻо, доӻо
comparative	"than [x], compared to [x]"	`<comp>`	ык, к
vocative	direct address	`<voc>`	а, ː	ӄан`<n><voc>` ↔ ӄана

Plurals

Tag pl

Plural markers on nouns is the same as on verbs. You add the suffix -ку/-ху/-гу/-ғу. Plural markers are optional on nouns and verbs.

умгу<n><pl> ↔ умгугу

'women'

Another way to express plurality is by reduplication of an attribute.

пила<v><iv><redup> + эри<n> ↔ пилапилаэри

'big rivers'

Reduplication of noun stem expresses a plural distributive meaning.

Possession

Examples for the noun "knife" заӄо

ньи<prn><p1><sg><nom> + заӄо<n> ↔ ньзаӄо
ть'и<prn><p2><sg><nom> + заӄо<n> ↔ ть'саӄо
иф<prn><p3><sg><nom> + заӄо<n> ↔ изаӄо
п'и<prn><ref>+ заӄо<n> ↔ п'саӄо

Polar Questions

Yes/no questions can be formed by adding -ла to the thing in question.

Рум<n><np><itg> ↔ Румла

'Is it Rum (name)?'

Verbal Morphology

Object-Verb Agreement

Examples for the verb "beat" за

ньи<prn><p1><sg><nom> + за<v><ind> ↔ ньзадь
ть'и<prn><p2><sg><nom> + за<v><ind> ↔ ть'садь
иф<prn><p3><sg><nom> + за<v><ind> ↔ задь
п'и<prn><ref>+ за<v><ind> ↔ п'садь

ньыӈ<prn><p1><pl><excl><nom> + за<v><ind> ↔ ньыӈдядь
тьыӈ<prn><p2><pl><nom> + за<v><ind> ↔ тьыӈдядь
имӈ<prn><p3><pl><nom> + за<v><ind> ↔ имӈдядь

Alternate forms

Rarely a third person singular object is marked with i- rather than Ø-.

за<v><tv><ind><o_p3sg> ↔ изадь

Infinitive

The suffix -роӽ /-тоӽ /-доӽ is added to lexical verbs to form an infinitive (non-finite form used with at least five auxiliaries to various effects). For example, with the auxiliary verb ӄ'ау ("be absent" when used as a lexical verb), the lexical verb is negated.

п'ры<v><iv><inf> ↔ п'рыдоӽ

'to come / coming' (slight verblounitude)

Interrogative

When there is no interrogative word in the question, the suffix -ло/-л is added. The former sounds more polite. The latter has an unceremonious coloring.

п'ры<v><iv><itg><form> ↔ п'рыло
п'ры<v><iv><itg><inform> ↔ п'рыл

'Did (I/you/he/they) come?'

Adverbial Morphology

Adverbs can be derived from practically any qualitative verb by adding the suffix -гу plus -р with a second or third person singular subject or -т with a first person singular or any plural subject.

ур<adv><p3><sg> ↔ ургур

'(he does __) well'

ур<adv><p1><sg> ↔ ургут

'(I do ___) well'

Comparison is marked on an adverb by a suffix -ё. "Absolute superlatives" (e.g. "very tall") are marked by reduplication of the stem without the agreement suffix.

еӻ<adv><p3><sg> ↔ еӻгур

'quickly'

еӻ<adv><dim><p3><sg> ↔ еӻёгур

'more quickly'

(Reduplication but not sure if correct tagging)

еӻ<adv><p3><sg> + еӻ<adv><p3><sg> ↔ еӻгуеӻгур

'very quickly'

"Postpositions"

Tag: post Postpositions can be divided into two classes: denominal/declinable and deverbal/undeclinable.

Denominal

These postpositions are best interpreted as nouns in an attributive complex (first noun acts as attribute to the "postposition", which is the head noun.).

тыф<n> + ми<n> + ама<v><ind> ↔ тывмиамадь

'Looked inside the house'

ваӄа<n> + ми<n><loc> ↔ ваӄамин

'Into the box'

тыф<n> + ми<n> ↔ тывми

'The inside of the house.'

Deverbal

Nouns with deverbal postpositions cannot be used in direct object position.

иф<prn><p3><sg> + увудоӽ<post> ↔ ювудоӽ

'Instead of him/her'

иф<prn><p3><sg> + ордоӽ<post> ↔ ёрдоӽ

'Towards him/her'

Cardinal Numerals

Numerals classify nouns into 27 classes. Numerals 6-9 are the same for all classes.

Some numerals with meaning 'two':

мен<num><human> ↔ мен
мор<num><animal> ↔ мор
меӄр<num><generic> ↔ меӄр
мевсӄ<num><pairs> ↔ мевсӄ
мим<num><boats> ↔ мим
мер<num><bunches.of.dried.fish> ↔ мер
мевор<num><long> ↔ мевор
мерах<num><thin.and.flat> ↔ мерах
мик<num><small.and.round> ↔ мик

Nominalisation

There are four main types of nominalisation: predicate-actant nmz.pred, subject nmz.subj, adverbial nmz.adv, locative nmz.loc.

Predicate-actant nominalisation (suffix -дь/-ть)

1) Action Nominal Construction

Subject Position

ӿуӈрыдь<prn>+во<v><tv><ind> ↔ ӿуӈрыдьводь

'took a thing like this'

ӿуӈрыдь<prn>+во<v><tv><nmz.pred> ↔ ӿуӈрыдьводь

'(the) taking (of) a thing like this'

Direct Object Position

питғы<n>+даю<v><tv><ind> ↔ питғыдаюдь

'wrote a letter'

питғы<n>+даю<v><tv><nmz.pred> ↔ питғыдаюдь

'(the) writing (of) a letter'

In direct object position, the subject of the nominalised verb is marked with reflexive possession.

2) Substitutional

тьека<v><iv><ind><pl> ↔ тьекадьғу

'are strong'

тьека<v><iv><pl><nmz.pred> ↔ тьекадьғу

'the strong ones' / 'the ones that are strong'

3) "Full" substantivisation

Denotes the result or state as opposed to the action of the verb.

ть'ола<v><iv><ind> ↔ ть'оладь

'is poor'

п'и<prn><ref> + ть'ола<v><iv><nmz.pred> ↔ п'соладь

'his (own) poverty'

Their distinctive feature is prefixation of personal pronouns used as attributes.

Subject nominalisation (suffix -к)

Functionally close to the substitional predicate-actant nominals. Can be used in all syntactic positions.

сета<n> + ғе<v><tv><ind> ↔ сетағедь

'bought sugar'

сета<n> + ғе<v><tv><fut><nmz.subj> ↔ сетағенык

'the one who will buy sugar'

Adverbial nominalisation (zero marking)

No overt marking. Not used in the nominative case. Only used with case markings and/or postpositions or the adverbial suffix -скир.

п'ры<v><iv><fut><ind> ↔ п'рыныдь

'will come'

п'ры<v><iv><fut><nmz.adv><term> ↔ п'рыныт'ыкы

'until (I will) come'

Locative nominalisation (suffix -ф/-в)

Highly productive. Nouns in -ф/-в derive from practically any verb. Can be used in same way as adverbial nominal above.

True locative construction

иф<prn><pers><p3><sg> + у<v><tv><ind> ↔ юдь

'(something) set it'

иф<prn><pers><p3><sg> + у<v><tv><nmz-loc> ↔ юф

'the place where (something) set it'

Adverbial construction

п'ры<v><iv><fut><nmz.loc><term> ↔ п'рыныфт'ыкы