Ħautkar grammar

= Nouns =

Case affixes
The Ħautkar cases are ergative, absolutive, genitive and locative. The absolutive case is the citation form, and usually consists of the root (occasionally with some suffix like -i attached to the end).


 * The ergative case is somewhat complicated. It is usually formed by the addition of a prefix ʔ-, accompanied on occasion by certain vowel metatheses. The proto-form of this affix was *qə-, and the accent shifts that took place as a result are the origin of almost all the irregularities. For instance, forms like kheni > ʔekhniarise from the proto-forms *kʰə́ni > *qə́kʰəni, and this correspondence also explains gula > qagula (coming from *gulá > *qəgulá, with no accent-shift). If an -i is added to the absolutive, and on occasion other suffixes, these may be absent in the ergative form. However, some forms, such as mdari > ʔmadar, can only be explained by analogy in other roots where the loss of an -e- and the appearance of one occurred, the process began to seem like metathesis. This led to a process of analogy by which certain ergative forms gained an unetymological -a- or i where -e- or ∅ would be expected.
 * The genitive case is rather simple. It results from the addition of a -k to the absolutive form. In origin, it was *(ə)k.
 * The locative or ablative case serve as the basic 'at, in' inflections in Hautkar.

Number
Ħautkar nouns are marked for four numbers, singular, plural, paucal and collective;

Singular
The singular is the citation form.

Paucal
The paucal is formed by partial reduplication of the etymological first syllable. E.g.: neri "woman" > neneri "a few women", or hirkâda "(piece of) bronze" > hihirkâda "a few pieces of bronze". The ergative form has the same reduplicative element as the absolutive, with the ergative marking going first: e.g.: fṭaṣi "staff for walking" > ʻafṭaṣ "staff" (ergative)’ > ʻfafṭaṣ "a few staves (ergative)".

Plural
The plural is formed by the addition of the suffix -an to the end of the root. E.g.: gula ’wild olive’ > gulân (etymologically gula-an) ’wild olives’ An -a- in the previous syllable can also appear sometimes, usually lengthening an -a- to an -â- but also on occasion replacing an -e- (but this is rare), or appearing between a consonants and a glide: mdari ’moving body of water’ > mdaraian ’moving bodies of water’ e.g. iher ’(piece of) copper’ > iharan ’pieces of copper’

Collective
The collective is formed by the addition of the suffix -ar- to the end of the root. This almost always causes an -u- to be inserted. This can replace the second element of a long vowel, e.g.: ħât "Ħautar person" > ħautar "the Ħautar delûr in general". Or, it can simply replace a vowel in the previous syllable, e.g.: mehai "pebble" > mehuiar "pebbles in general".

Demonstratives
= Verbs = Conjugable verbs can inflect for person (1st, 2nd, 3rd), number (only in 1st person), tense (non-past, past, anterior), as well as voice. Future tense is communicated through aspect distinctions (prospective) and via auxiliaries. Agi-an ce-nlc̣-an!

bee-PL LOC-sit-PL

"There are bees here!"