Chechen/Grammar
From LING073
Contents
Main Parts of Speech in Chechen
Noun
Noun <n>
Noun Class
We use the "six noun-classes" distinction from A Grammar of Chechen by Zura Dotton & John Wagner here [1].
- v.class <vc> :all v.class nouns are masculine, including all biologically masculine nouns.
- кӏант<n><vc><sg><abs> "boy"
- j.class <jc> :it includes all biologically feminine animate nouns and many load words from Russian.
- йоӏ<n><jc><sg><abs> "girl"
- j.class II <jc2> :idiosyncratic
- пхьагал<n><jc2><sg><abs> "rabbit"
- d.class <dc> :it includes all the most common nouns and are used for the citation form of the classed adjectives and classed verbs in Chechen dictionaries, also including
- наж<n><dc><sg><abs> "oak"
- b.class <bc> :idiosyncratic
- малх<n><bc><sg><abs> "sun"
- b.class II <bc2> :idiosyncratic
- Ӏаж<n><bc2><sg><abs> "apple"
Number Feature
- Singular <sg>
- кӏант<n><vc><sg><abs> "boy"
- Plural <pl>
- кӏантий<n><vc><pl><abs> "boys"
Case
We use the "ten case" distinction from A Grammar of Chechen by Zura Dotton & John Wagner as well [2].
- Absolutive case <abs> : uninflected form or citation form
- лом<n><dc><sg><abs> "lion"
- Ergative case <erg> : mark the subject of a transitive verb
- лоьман<n><dc><sg><erg>
- Genitive case <gen> : mark the possessor of another object
- лоьмана<n><dc><sg><gen>
- Dative case <dat> : mark recipient of an action or the indirect object and thematic experiencer of a given verb
- лоьмо<n><dc><sg><dat>
- Allative case <all> : describe the goal or destination of a given verb, theme of a transitive causative verb and the subject of a verb in potential mood.
- лоьме<n><dc><sg><all>
- Instrumental case <ins> : mark the instrument of a given verb
- лоьмаца<n><dc><sg><ins>
- Lative case <lat> : denote the source or origin of an action or other nouns, topic or theme of certain verbs and cause or reason of an event.
- лоьмехь<n><dc><sg><lat>
- Comparative case <cmp> : exclusively frame a comparative statement
- лоьмал<n><dc><sg><cmp>
- Inessive case <ine> : describe static location
- лоьмахь<n><dc><sg><ine>
- Ablative case <abl> : denote the physical source or direction of a given verb
- лоьмара<n><dc><sg><abl>
Pronoun
Pronoun <prn>
Personal Pronoun <pers>
- Number Feature
- Singular <sg>
- Plural <pl>
- Person Feature
- 1st person <p1>
- 2nd person <p2>
- 3rd person <p3>
- Case Feature
- See the case section in noun category.
- Additional Feature
- Only in 1st person plural:
- inclusive <inc>
- exclusive <exc>
Demonstrative Pronoun <dem>
- Deictic Feature
- proximal <prx>
- distal <dst>
Interrogative Pronoun <itg>
- Case Feature
- See the case section in noun category.
Verb
Verb <v>
Transitivity
- Transitive <tv>
- Intransitive <iv>
Tense
- Present <pres>
- Past <past>
- Future <fut>
- Potential Future <pot>
- Compound Future: the most widely used future tense and therefore we do not assign another tag for it.
- Future Continuous: actually using participle, which is discussed later, instead of morphological change.
Aspect
- Imperfective <ipf>
- Perfective <pf>
- Progressive <prog>
- Recent <rec>
- Remote <rem>
Mood
- Imperative <imp>
- Polite imperative <pol>
- Immediate imperative <imd>
- Tasked imperative <tsk>
- Categorical imperative <cat>
- Causative <caus>
Evidentiality
- Witnessed <wit>
- Unwitnessed <uwit>
Other Verb forms
- Masdar <msdr>: verbal denominal
- Case & Number
- Relative Clausal Participles <rcp> : verb form used to modify
- Tense: See tense section in verb category
- Future continuous <fut><con>
- Tense: See tense section in verb category
- Light verbs <ligv>
Postposition
Postposition <post>
- Could take secondary case suffix: see case in verb category
- Denominal <den>
- Deverbal <dev>
Adjective
Adjectives <adj>
Qualitative (standard) adj
the most common adj type and therefore do not assign tag separately
Relative adj
It has the same morphological form as above and therefore do not have separate tag as well
Class adj <cla>
- agree in noun-class of the head noun it modifies
Comparative adj<comp>
- Extended comparative <ext>
Substantivized adj <sub>
- Independent <idp>
- Dependent <dp>
- Case & Number
Adverb
Adverbs <adv>
- Time <tem>
- Place <loc>
- Manner <man>
- Quantifying <quan>
- Descriptive <des>
Numeral
Cardinal<car>
- Gender: see gender in noun category