Ħautkar grammar

Nouns in Ħautkar inflect for four numbers and three cases, however there are many case-like clitics present in the language.

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

Ergative
The ergative case is somewhat complicated. It is usually formed by the addition of a prefix ʔ-, accompanied on oc-casion by certain vowel metatheses. The proto-form of this affix was*qə-, and the accent shifts that took place asa result are the origin of almost all the irregularities. For instance, forms likekheni > ʔekhniarise from the proto-forms *kʰə́ni > *qə́kʰəni, and this correspondence also explains gula > ʔgula (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 ergativeform.

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.

Genitive
The genitive case is rather simple. It results from the addition of a -k to the absolutive form. In origin, it was *(ə)k

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" > ʔafṭaṣ "staff" (ergative)’ > ʔfafṭaṣ "a few staves (ergative)".

Plural
The plural is formed by the addition of the suffix-anto 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 Ħautardelûr in general’. Or, it can simply replace a vowel in the previous syllable, e.g.: mexai ’pebble’ > mexuiar ’pebbles in general’.