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Grammar Sketch of Kavrinian
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This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 5 Oct 2018, 06:50.

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Syntax
Word Order
- Basic Word Order:
-- Main clause: Object-Verb-Subject(OVS) or Subject-Object-Verb(SOV)
-- Subordinating clause: Subject-Object-Verb(SOV)
- Adpositions are postpositions
- Demonstratives, numerals and the possessor precede the noun they modify; adjectives and relative clauses precede or follow the noun they modify.
- negation precedes the phrase they negate.

In main clauses, due to the use of case markings, the word order is flexible, and all six basic word orders are possible, without the change of the basic meaning. For example, all the following sentences are grammatical in Kavrinian:

- noorsi soorus sani - male-DEF female-ACC-DEF see-3.SG - the man sees the woman(SOV)
- noorsi sani soorus - male-DEF see-3.SG female-ACC-DEF - the man sees the woman(SVO)
- sani noorsi soorus - see-3.SG male-DEF female-ACC-DEF - the man sees the woman(VSO)
- sani soorus noorsi - see-3.SG female-ACC-DEF male-DEF - the man sees the woman(VOS)
- soorus sani noorsi - female-ACC-DEF see-3.SG male-DEF - the man sees the woman(OVS)
- soorus noorsi sani - female-ACC-DEF male-DEF see-3.SG - the man sees the woman(OSV)

While the basic meanings are the same, different word orders have different emphases on the sentence, and only OVS and SOV word order are commonly used in daily speech, with OVS order being considered neutral and SOV being considered topic-fronting or subject-emphasizing; on the other hand, in most subordinate clauses, the sentential word order is fixed, and only SOV is allowed in subordinate clauses.

Adverbial phrases usually come before verbs, with no dominant order between the direct object and the adverbial phrases, and it is possible, albeit not very common, to use postverbal adverbial clauses.

Within a noun phrase, modifiers of a noun usually precede the noun, with adjectives being allowed to be placed before or after the noun.

Possessions
There are two types of possessions: alienable and inalienable.

In alienable possessions, the possessor is in the genitive case and precedes the noun, and no marking is used on the possessee. For example:

- nooris yees - male-GEN-DEF house-DEF - the male's house.

In inalienable possessions, the possessee takes a possessive prefix when it is a personal pronoun, and the possessor is in the nominative case. For example:

- noorsi iniissi - male-DEF 3.SG-child-DEF - the male's child(not *nooris iniissi(male-GEN-DEF 3.SG-child-DEF), the genitive case is not used on the possessor when it indicates an inalienable possessive relation.)
- yees iǧintoova - house-DEF 3.SG-backyard-DEF - the house's backyard

Below are possessive prefixes for inalienable possessions:
- 1.SG: ga(')-
- 2.SG: i(')-
- 3.SG.AN: ru(')-
- 3.SG.INAN: yo(')-
- 1.PL.EXCL: gi(')-
- 1.PL.INCL: qi(')-
- 2.PL: il-
- 3.PL.AN: ri(')-
- 3.PL.INAN: yor-

Nouns that normally uses an inalienable possession includes kinship terms, social relationship(including domestic animals and pets, as domestic animals are seen as a family member), body parts, part-whole relationship, possessed noun originates from the possessor, mental states and processes, attributes of a known possessor.

Kavrinian does not have a verb corresponding to English "to have" or "to own", and one uses structures equivalent to "there is something at someone" to indicate the meaning "someone has something". For example:

- livënsi a hav hatöö - doctor-DAT-DEF at mansion be.INAN-PST.HAB-3.SG.INAN - the doctor used to have a mansion.
- in a la yööz hati - 3.SG.DAT/ACC at two car be.INAN-3.PL.INAN - he has two cars.

Negations

The sentential negation nhaa is put directly before the verb to negate a sentence. For example:

- nhaa zög - NEG know-1.SG - I don't know!
- noorus nhaa sani soorsi - male-ACC-DEF NEG love-3.SG female-DEF - the woman does not love the man.

When the sentence has an infinite verb, the negation precedes the finite verb e.g. the verb that conjugates according to persons, tenses, etc. such as an aux verb. For example:

- gänëk nhaa zölhi csëqyörur - NEG fly-INF be.able-3.PL terror.bird-PL - terror birds can't fly.
- alhil haantuy taagëk nhaa aril - want-2.SG anything take-INF be.allowed-2.SG - you can't take whatever you want.

Determiners
The definite form of a noun is usually marked with suffixes, which are often conflated with the case and number suffixes.

Aux Verbs
Aux verbs follow the main verb in a sentence, and in a sentence, the aux verb is the finite verb and takes inflectional affixes except for the voice affixes, while the main verb is in the infinite form and only takes the voice affixes. For example:

- gänëk zölhvi gänelër - fly-INF be.able-3.PL bird-PL - birds can fly
- alhil haantuy anhëk aril - want-2.SG anything eat-INF be.allowed-2.SG - you can eat whatever you want.

Adpositions
Adpositions are postpositions, that means, they follow the noun of the adpositional phrase.

Like many languages, Adpositions may require nouns in specific nominal cases, specifically, many adpositions require the noun in the dative case to indicate a stative location, and in the accusative case to indicate a direction towards.

Below are postpositions that always require the noun of the adpositional phrase in the genitivecase:
- zëǧon ra - because of
- ǧon kë - for, for the sake of
- čal - instead of

Below are postpositions that always require the noun of the adpositional phrase in the dative case:
- - against
- a - at, on
- ra - from
- - to
- këcezëk - towards
- - with(comitative)
- ëč - with(instrumental)
- tyon - like

Below are postpositions that always require the noun of the adpositional phrase in the accusative case:
- nhaz - across
- šöön - along
- to - around
- yuuk - in order to avoid(aversive marker)
- azën - except for
- geel - over
- zää - through, via
- naa - without
- luuv - despite, in spite of
- syuu - during

Below are postpositions that require the noun in the dative case to indicate a stative location, and in the accusative case to indicate a direction towards:
- - above, up, upon
- czï - below, down, under
- - in front of
- ǧi - behind
- nhï - in, into
- az - out, out of
- syu - between
- va - by

Conjunctions
There are two kinds of conjunctions: "subordinating conjunctions" and "coordinate conjunctions". subordinating conjunctions are put at the end of a clause and they turn the preceding clause into a subordinate clause; coordinating conjunctions are put in between of two clauses, and neither clauses are turned into subordinate clauses.

Below are some subordinating conjunctions:
- zo - when
- ǧi - after
- - before
- nora - since
- ǧa - till, until
- nač - though
- ra - because, than
- nii - if
- yuuk - lest
- ǧon kë - in order that, so that
- luuv - although
- azën - except, furthermore
- caalh - as long as
- yë ... zo - even if(the part is put at the initial position of the clause; the zo part is put at the end of the clause)
- yë nhaa - whether
- yë nhaa ǧos nhaa ǧoo - whether or not

Below are some coordinate conjunctions:
- lïč - and
- - or
- vaz - but
- cziinh - then
- nhëczïïn - unless

For example:

subordinating conjunctions:
- noorsi tsuulh inu tärčolër yööti ra noorus yönti niisrit - male-DEF always 3.PL.DAT/ACC toy-PL bring-3.SG because male-ACC-DEF love-3.PL child-PL-DEF.PL - the children love the man because the man always bring them a lot of toys.

coordinate conjunctions:
- köz tayooy atas lïč yo yönyati iniisrit - cake make-PST.PFV-3.SG father-DEF and 3.SG.INAN love-PST.IPFV-3.PL 3.SG-child-PL-DEF.PL - the father made a cake and his children loved it.
- soorus sani noorsi, vaz noorus lövi soorsi - female-ACC-DEF love-3.SG male-DEF but male-ACC-DEF hate-3.SG female-DEF - the man loves the woman, but the woman hates the man.

Subordinate Clauses

There are two types of relative clauses: the prenominal relative clause and the postnominal relative clause

To form a prenominal relative clause, the relative clause is placed before the head noun. The word order is always SOV in prenominal relative clauses. For example:

- yönvi rinhsi - love-3.PL.AN person-DEF - the person they love.
- vïnus anhyay rinhsi - fish-ACC-DEF eat-PAST.IPFV-3.SG.AN person-DEF - the person that was eating the fish.
- rinhsi anhyay vïnsi - person-DEF eat-PAST.IPFV-3.SG.AN fish-DEF - the fish that the person was eating.

To form a postnominal relative clause, the relative clause is placed after the head noun by introducing the relativizer o to the initial position of the relative clause. The relativizer o is invariant, it does not decline according to the number, case, animacy, etc. of the head noun in the main clause or the relative clause. For example:

- rinhsi o yönvi - person-DEF REL love-3.PL.AN - the person they love.
- rinhsi o vïnus anhyay - person-DEF REL fish-ACC-DEF eat-PAST.IPFV-3.SG.AN - the person that was eating the fish.
- vïnsi o rinhsi anhyay - fish-DEF REL person-DEF eat-PAST.IPFV-3.SG.AN - the fish that the person was eating.

To form a noun clause, the noun ǧo is used as the complementizer, and one places the subordinate clause before the complementizer ǧo. The word order is always SOV in noun clauses ending in ǧo. The complementizer ǧo is in fact a noun, it declines according to case and definiteness as usual nouns, and it is usually definite:

- gänelër uqitäkaaklhëna nhï gänyavi ǧos sanyoog - bird-PL sky-DAT-DEF in fly-PST.IPFV-3.PL.AN ǧo-DEF see-PST.PFV-1.SG - I saw birds flying in the sky.
- rinhsi yööz väčyay ǧos sanyoog - person-DEF car drive-PST.IPFV-3.SG ǧo-DEF see-PST.PFV-3.SG - he saw the person driving a car.

Verbs in the infinitive form can also be used as a noun clause, and no additional words are needed. Clauses with verbs in the infinitive form are called the infinitive clause. The use of the infinitive clause in Kavrinian is similar to the infinitive clause and the gerund clause of English. For example:

Čeqoslovakya nhaa čenhëk qa cväsyooy Hïtlër, Czereni. äsnen ešgalënsi kë qakče! - Czechoslovakia NEG invade-INF ever promise-PFV-3.SG.AN Hitler, Jeremy. real-DAT world-DAT-DEF to welcomed - Hitler promised not to invade Czechoslovakia, Jeremy. Welcome to the real world!

Progressive
A way to express progressive is by using the present continuous aspect and the past imperfective aspect.

Another way to express progressive is by using the combination of "V-INF + a + ne/ha", this way is more common in colloquial speech. For example:

- anhëk a neyavi - eat-INF at be.3.PL.AN.PST.IMPF - they were eating
- siva rööctače hak a haya - meat-DEF prepared be-INF at be.3.SG.INAN.HAB - the meat was being prepared

Passive Voice
Passive Voice is formed by using the passive mark on the verb. For example:

- vakëvyoovi gänelërit - hit-PASS-PFV-3.PL.AN bird-PL.NOM-DEF.PL - the bird were hit

The agent of the passive voice could be introduced by an adpositional phrase, the adposition used is ra "from" when the agent is animate, zää "through" when the agent is inanimate. For example:

- rinhënsi ra vakëvyoovi gänelërit - person-DAT-DEF from hit-PASS-PFV-3.PL.AN bird-PL.NOM-DEF.PL - the bird were hit by the person
- teeq zää vakëvyoovi gänelërit - stone through hit-PASS-PFV-3.PL.AN bird-PL.NOM-DEF.PL - the bird were hit by a stone.

More often than not, the passive voice is used to indicate that someone is adversely affected by an action, besides being directly done something upon.

Besides, there is a dedicated structure of adversative passive to indicate the subject is being adversely affected by an action of someone else. The adversative passive is morphologically the same to the usual passive, but the direct object might be used in the adversative passive. For example:

- közrit tsulh anhvyoo'eg - cake-PL-DEF all eat-PASS-PFV-1.PL.EXCL - we were negatively affected by that the cakes had all been eaten.
- yälanrinti ra rusër nyözëvyay tanhlhaasi - vendor-PL-DAT-DEF.PL from fruit-PL sell-PASS-PST.IPFV-3.SG.AN writer-DEF - the writer was negatively affected by the vendors who were selling fruits.

The adversative passive can also be used on intransitive verbs. For example:

- rok zää vënvëvi riisin nhï nevi vïnrit - trash through float-PASS-3.PL.AN pond-DAT in be.at-3.SG.AN fish-PL-DEF.PL - the fish in the pond were negatively affected by floating trash.

The use of indefinite pronouns
Indefinite pronouns in Kavrinian are derived from generic nouns. For example:
- rinh "person" - nerinh "someone, somebody" - neenrinh "anyone, anybody, nobody" - qaaǧrinh "everyone, everybody"
- tuy "thing" - hatuy "something" - haantuy "anything, nothing" - qööǧtuy "everything"

neenrinh and haantuy means "anyone" and "anything" respectively, but when used in a sentence with negation, they mean "nobody" and "nothing" instead:
- haantuy nhaa cayoo - anything NEG happen-PFV - nothing happened
- neenrinh nhaa önyooy - anyone NEG come-PFV-3.SG.AN - nobody came

Morphology
Nouns
Nouns decline according to case, number and definiteness. The number affixes precede the case affixes, and the case affixes precede the definiteness affix.

Below are the declension of nouns:

Cases:
- Nominative(animate)/Nominative-Accusative(inanimate): -Ø
- Genitive: -i/-ri(after vowels)
- Dative: -n/-ën(after consonants)
- Accusative(animate): -u/-ru(after vowels)

Numbers:
- Singular: -Ø
- Plural: -r/-ër(after consonants)
- Paucal: -t/-ët(after consonants)

Definiteness:
- definite singular animate: -s/-si(after vowels)
- definite singular inanimate: -s/-a(after consonants)
- definite plural: -t/-ti(after vowels)

Nouns in the paucal number is always indefinite.

Below are examples of noun declensions:

Animate nouns:





Inanimate nouns:





Adjectives
Like nouns, adjectives decline according to case, number. The number affixes precede the case affixes.

Below are the declension of adjectives:

Cases:
- Nominative(animate)/Nominative-Accusative(inanimate): -Ø
- Genitive: -i/-ri(after vowels)
- Dative: -n/-in(after consonants)
- Accusative(animate): -u/-ru(after vowels)

Numbers:
- Singular: -Ø
- Plural: -r/-ër(after consonants)/-ri(when followed by other inflections)
- Paucal: -t/-ët(after consonants)

Below are examples of adjective declensions:





The adverb form of an adjective is formed by adding -(ë)k to the end of the adjective.

Adjectives agree with the head noun in case, number and animacy when used attributively(e.g. as a modifier of a noun). For example:

Adjectives agree with the subject in number and animacy when used predicatively. For example:

The use of Noun Cases
The nominative case indicates the subject of a sentence.

The genitive case indicates the alienable possessor of a noun.

The dative case indicates the indirect object, direction or recipient of a sentence, it is also used with a number of adpositions.

The accusative case indicates the direct object of a sentence, it is also used to indicate the time of the event of a sentence, and it is also with a number of adpositions. For example:
- iv czinhsi - 2.SG.ACC follow-CONT-3.SG.HAB - he is following you.(direct object)
- noy oq tagovna kë kayoovi - that day department.store-DAT-DEF to go.PFV.3.PL.AN - they went to the department store that day.(time of the event)

Verbs
Verbs conjugate according to person, tense-aspect-mood, voice and evidentiality. The relative order of verbal affixes to the verbal stem is Stem-Voice-TAM-Person-Evidentiality(TAM stands for Tense-Aspect-Mood), with the future tense and the plural person fused into a single morpheme. The person suffix indicates the subject of a verb.

The infinitive form of a verb is formed by adding -(ë)k to the end of the verbal stem, in infinitives, voices could be marked and voice suffixes precede the infinitive suffix.

Below are the conjugations of verbs:

Person:
- 1st sg: -g/-ig(after consonants)
- 2nd sg: -l/-il(after consonants)
- 3rd animate sg: -i/-y(after vowels)
- 3rd inanimate sg: -Ø
- 1st excl pl: -eg/-'eg(after vowels)
- 1st incl pl: -eq/-'eq(after vowels)
- 2nd pl: -el/-'el(after vowels)
- 3rd animate pl: -vi
- 3rd inanimate pl: -ti

Voice:
- Active: -Ø
- Passive: -v/-ëv(after consonants)
- Applicative:
-- Benefactive: -q/-ëq(after consonants)
-- Instrumental: -kun/-un(after k, g, q, h, ǧ)
-- Comitative: -t/-ët(after consonants)
-- Locative: -i/-ri(after vowels)

TAM:
- Present Habitual(also Present Simple): -Ø
- Present Continuous: -s/-t(after s, š, č, c, cs, cz)
- Past Habitual: -töö/-öö(after t)
- Past Imperfective: -ya/-a(after y)
- Past Perfective: -yoo/-oo(after y)
- Future: -o/-ro(after vowels)
- Subjunctive: -ru/-u(after r, l, rh, lh)
- Imperative singular: -i/-y(after vowels)
- Imperative plural: -it/-t(after vowels)
- Hortative: -aar/-raar(after vowels)

The 1st exclusive plura, the 1st inclusive plural and the 2nd plural forms of the future tense are -ög, -öq and -öl respectively; besides, the imperative forms are not used with personal agreements and always indicate that the subject is the 2nd person.

Evidentiality:
- Direct/witnessed: -Ø
- Nonwitnessed: -sög
- Reportative: -yö

Irregular verbs

Several verbs have irregular conjugations, namely kay "to be(animate)", toy "to be(inanimate)", ne "to be(locative and existential, animate)", ha "to be(locative and existential, inanimate)", ka "to go, move" and ta "to do, make". The verb ta "to do, make" is often used in derivations and has arguably formed a new conjugation class: the ta-class.

The use of Tense-Aspect-Mood
The present habitual form indicates a general truth, or an event that happens habitually. For example:

- qaaǧoq ger aaga - everyday rise sun-DEF - the sun rises everyday.

The present continuous form indicates an ongoing event right now. For example:

- yunsansig - watch.television-PRES.CONT-1.SG - I am watching television
- inanhësvi - have.dinner-PRES.CONT-3.PL.AN - they are having dinner.

The past habitual form indicates an event that happened habitually in the past but is no longer the case as of now. For example:

- Nögrëyaan a naqtöög - Nögrëyaa-DAT at dwell-PST.HAB-1.SG - I used to live in Nögrëyaa.

The past imperfective form indicates an unfinished, ongoing, continuous, durative or iterative action or event in the past, a background of another event in the past, a past action heading towards no or an unspecified purpose, atelic actions, etc. It is somewhat similar to the past progressive of English. For example:

- yunsanyag - watch.television-PST.IPFV-1.SG - I was watching television
- vïnru vööryavi - fish-PL-ACC-DEF cook-PST.IPFV-3.PL.AN - they were cooking fish
- inanhyavi zon, önyooy čook - have.dinner-PST.IPFV-3.PL.AN when, come-PST.PFV-3.SG.AN guest - when they were eating dinner, a guest arrived

The past perfective form indicates a completed or achieved action, or the beginning or end of an action, circumstancial actions leading up to a state, telic actions, etc. It is somewhat similar to the simple past of English. For example:

- inanhyoovi - have.dinner-PST.PFV-3.PL.AN - they ate dinner(and they had finished eating dinner)
- vïnus vööryoovi - fish-ACC-DEF cook-PST.PFV-3.PL.AN - they cooked the fish(and the fish had been cooked)

The future form indicates an event that will occur in the future. For example:

- nov inanhovi - there.DIST have.dinner-FUT-3.PL.AN - they will eat dinner there.
- vïnus vöörovi - fish-ACC-DEF cook-FUT-3.PL.AN - they will cok the fish

The subjunctive form indicates a counterfactual event. For example:

- in sanruvi nač, in të inanhruvi - 3.SG.DAT/ACC see-SUBJ-3.PL.AN if, 3.SG.DAT/ACC with dinner-SUBJ-3.PL.AN - if they saw him, they would have a dinner with him.
- vënëk zölhuy ǧos häri - swim-INF be.able-SUBJ-3.SG.AN that wish-3.SG.AN - he wishes that he could swim.

The imperative forms indicate a direct command, the subject of the imperative is always an 2nd person. There are singular and plural imperative forms. For example:

- inanhi - have.dinner-IMP.SG - have a dinner! (to one person)
- inanhit - have.dinner-IMP.PL - have a dinner! (to many people)

The hortative form indicates the encouragement or discouragement in doing something. It is not used with 1st singular and 1st exclusive plural persons. For example:

- inanhaarvi - have.dinner-HORT-3.PL.AN - let them have a dinner!
- önaari - come-HORT-3.SG.AN - let him come!
- kaareq - go.HORT-1.PL.INCL - let's go!

The use of Evidentiality
In Kavrinian, the use of evidentiality is obliged, the speaker must tell the source of the information in a sentence; however, the use of evidentiality is in decline, especially in modern colloquial speech.

The direct evidential has no mark, it indicates that the speaker has a "strong personal conviction the veracity of the circumstance expressed." It has the basis of direct personal experience.

inanhyavi - have.dinner-PST.PFV-3.PL.AN - they had a dinner, as I can see.

The nonwitnessed evidential -sög indicates that the utterance is an inference or form of conjecture. That inference relays the speaker’s non-commitment to the truth-value of the statement. It also appears in cases such as acquiescence, irony, interrogative constructions, and first person inferences.

inanhyavisög - have.dinner-PST.PFV-3.PL.AN-NONWITNESS - it seems that they had a dinner

The nonwitnessed evidential is also used for circumstances such as acquiescence, irony, interrogative constructions, and first person inferences:

- vïnëna čöl äärëk yanrugsög - fish-DAT-DEF spear possible-ADV give-SBJV-1.SG.HAB-NONWITNESS - I may give the fish a spear

The hearsay evidential -yö indicates that the speaker "serves as a conduit through which information from another source passes." The information being related is hearsay or revelatory in nature. It also works to express the uncertainty of the speaker regarding the situation.

inanhyaviyö - have.dinner-PST.PFV-3.PL.AN-REPORTATIVE - I have been told that they had a dinner

The hearsay evidential is common in storytelling, especially in folktales.
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