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>
- Oblique Case <obl>: all other cases except the absolutive one
PropNoun
PropNoun<np>
Pronoun
Pronoun <prn>
Personal Pronoun <pers>
Number Feature
- Singular <sg>
- хьо<prn><pers><p2><sg><abs> "you(singular)"
- Plural <pl>
- шу<prn><pers><p2><pl><abs> "you(plural)"
Person Feature
- 1st person <p1>
- со{tag|prn}}<pers><p1><sg><abs> "I"
- 2nd person <p2>
- хьо<prn><pers><p2><sg><abs> "you(singular)"
- 3rd person <p3>
- иза<prn><pers><p3><sg><abs> "he/she/it"
Case Feature
- See the case section in noun category.
- со<prn><pers><p1><sg><abs> "I"
- сан<prn><pers><p1><sg><gen>
- суна<prn><pers><p1><sg><dat>
- ас<prn><pers><p1><sg><erg>
- сох<prn><pers><p1><sg><lat>
- сол<prn><pers><p1><sg><cmp>
- соьга<prn><pers><p1><sg><all>
- соьгахь<prn><pers><p1><sg><ine>
- соьца<prn><pers><p1><sg><ins>
Additional Feature
- Only in 1st person plural:
- inclusive <inc>
- тхо<prn><pers><p1><pl><inc><abs> "we(inclusive)"
- exclusive <exc>
- вай<prn><pers><p1><pl><exc><abs> "we(exclusive)"
Demonstrative Pronoun <dem>
Deictic Feature
- proximal <prx>
- хӏара<prn><dem><prx><sg> "this"
- distal <dst>
- дІораниг<prn><dem><dst><sg> "that"
Interrogative Pronoun <itg>
- мила<prn><itg><abs> "who(m)"
Verb
Verb <v>
Transitivity
- Transitive <tv>
- Intransitive <iv>
Tense
- Present <pres>
- Past <past>
- Future <fut>
- Potential Future <ptn>
- Compound Future: the most widely used future tense and therefore we do not assign another tag for it.
- Future Continuous: actually using participle
Aspect
- Imperfective <ipf>
- Perfective <pf>
- Progressive <prog>
- Recent <rec>
- Remote <rem>
Mood
- Imperative <imp>
- Polite imperative <plt>
- Immediate imperative <imd>
- Tasked imperative <tsk>
- Categorical imperative <ctg>
- Causative <caus>
Evidentiality
- Witnessed <wit>
- Unwitnessed <uwit>
Other Verb forms
- Masdar <dnm>: verbal denominal
- Case & Number
- Relative Clausal Participles <rcp> : verb form used to modify
- Tense: See tense section in verb category
Examples
- дада<v><iv><pres>
- малуш<v><tv><pres><prog>
- мелла<v><tv><pres><pf>
- мели<v><tv><past><rec><wit>
- додур<v><iv><fut><ptn>
- оьцун<v><tv><pres><rcp>
Postposition
Postposition <post>
- хьалха<post> "before, in front of"
Adjective
Adjectives <adj>
Qualitative (standard) adj
the most common adj type and therefore do not assign tag separately
- дика<adj>
Relative adj
- It has the same morphological form as above and therefore do not have separate tag as well
Class adj <cls>
agree in noun-class of the head noun it modifies
- деза<adj><cls><dc>
Comparative adj<comp>
- Extended comparative <ext>
- хазах<adj><comp> "more beautiful"
- хазахо<adj><comp><ext> "much more beautiful"
Substantivized adj <sub>
- Independent <idp>
- Case & Number
- Dependent <dp>
Examples
- кӏайниг<adj><sub><idp><abs><sg>
- кӏайнчу<adj><sub><dp>
Adverb
Adverbs <adv>
- Time <tmp>
- хӏинца<adv><tmp> "now"
- Place <loc>
- цигахь<adv><loc> "there"
- Manner <man>
- муха<adv><man> "how"
- Reason <rea>
- хӏунда<adv><rea> "why"
- Quantifying <quan>
- дукха<adv><quan> "a lot"
- Descriptive <des>
- дика<adv><des> "well"
Numeral
Numeral <num>
Cardinal<car>
- 4 and its derivatives agree in noun-class with the counted noun when in prenominal form
- 1,2,3,4,5 have an absolutive/oblique case distinction
- цхьаъ<num><car><abs> "one"
- диъ<num><car><dc> "four"
Ordinal<ord>
- хьалхара<num><ord> "first"
Plural
Chechen displays two categories for grammatical number: singular <sg> and plural <pl>.
Regular change
- add plural morpheme «-(а)ш» to the augmented base of the noun
- кор<n><dc><pl> ↔ кораш with an augmented base «кор-»
- гала<n><dc><pl> ↔ галнаш with an augmented base «гална-»
- add plural morpheme «-ий» to the augmented base of the noun, which is frequently used for nouns referring to animals, plants, insects and group of people or kinship terms
- хьаша<n><jc2><pl> ↔ хьеший with an augmented base «хьеш-»
- моз<n><dc><pl> ↔ мозий with an augmented base «моз-»
Exceptions
- add allomorph «-й» to noun ending in the substantivizing suffixes «-ло» «-чо» and «-о»
- ламаро<n><jc2><pl> ↔ ламарой
- for nouns ending in «-р», «а» in deleted in «-аш»
- патар<n><dc><dc><pl> ↔ патарш
- for nouns ending in historical «-л» «-р», «-аш» triggers gemination of the final «-л» «-р»
- кол<n><jc2><pl> ↔ коьллаш with an augmented base «коьл-»
Plural for PropN
- add «-гӏар» to refer to a collective group
- Сатуев<np><pl> ↔ Сатуевгӏар
Irregular
- йоӏ<n><jc><pl> ↔ мехкарий
- стаг<n><jc2><pl> ↔ нах
Case Suffixes
The main case suffxes used in Chechen include the following:
case name | tag | suffix | лом "lion" |
---|---|---|---|
Absolutive | <abs> | - | лом<n><dc><sg><abs> ↔ лом |
Ergative | <erg> | -н | лом<n><dc><sg><erg> ↔ лоьман |
Genitive | <gen> | -на | лом<n><dc><sg><gen> ↔ лоьмана |
Dative | <dat> | -о, -(a)c | лом<n><dc><sg><dat> ↔ лоьмо |
Allative | <all> | -е, -га | лом<n><dc><sg><all> ↔ лоьме |
Instrumental | <ins> | -ца | лом<n><dc><sg><ins> ↔ лоьмаца |
Lative | <lat> | -х | лом<n><dc><sg><lat> ↔ лоьмехь |
Comparative | <cmp> | -л | лом<n><dc><sg><cmp> ↔ лоьмал |
Inessive | <ine> | -ахь | лом<n><dc><sg><ine> ↔ лоьмахь |
Ablative | <abl> | -ара | лом<n><dc><sg><abl> ↔ лоьмара |