Chechen/Grammar

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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> 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> лом<n><dc><sg><lat> ↔ лоьмехь
Comparative <cmp> лом<n><dc><sg><cmp> ↔ лоьмал
Inessive <ine> -ахь лом<n><dc><sg><ine> ↔ лоьмахь
Ablative <abl> -ара лом<n><dc><sg><abl> ↔ лоьмара

Ergative Case

  • Usually add «-о» to the augmented base of noun
  • ахдош<n><dc><sg><erg> ↔ ахдашо with an augmented base «ахдош-»
  • When «-о» is added to a noun that ends in a vowel, a buffer consonant «-н» is inserted between the final vowel and the case ending
  • ахгІайре<n><jc2><sg><erg> ↔ ахгІайрено
  • When «-о» is added to a noun that ends with «-a» that is generally unpronounced, «-о» replace «-a».
  • котама<n><jc2><sg><erg> ↔ котамо

Allative Case

  • Usually add «-гa» to an augmented base with a possibility of a buffer vowel
  • ахгІайре<n><jc2><sg><erg> ↔ хгІайрегa
  • Add «-e» mainly for Russian load words, masdar verb forms and idiosyncratically determined nouns.
  • школа<n><jc><sg><erg> ↔ школе

References

  1. https://slaviccenters.duke.edu/sites/slaviccenters.duke.edu/files/file-attachments/chechen-grammar.original.pdf
  2. https://slaviccenters.duke.edu/sites/slaviccenters.duke.edu/files/file-attachments/chechen-grammar.original.pdf