Nankôre: Difference between revisions

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More info on interactions of the hierarchical alignment between noun classes and other factors
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Like Minhast and Nahónda, Nankôre is an SOV language.  However, unlike its relatives, Nankôre is not a polysynthetic language but is relatively sparse in terms of affixes for determining syntactic relations.  Nouns do not receive case or number marking, nor are they marked for gender.  Word order within the verb complex is rather strict, but core, patient, and obliques may occur in various orders.  The verb complex consists minimally of a main verb, which possesses suffixes for marking evidentiality, and the copula, which contain a rich set of affixes to mark the core arguments for various syntactic features: number, tense, voice, agency, etc.   
Like Minhast and Nahónda, Nankôre is an SOV language.  However, unlike its relatives, Nankôre is not a polysynthetic language but is relatively sparse in terms of affixes for determining syntactic relations.  Nouns do not receive case or number marking, nor are they marked for gender.  Word order within the verb complex is rather strict, but core, patient, and obliques may occur in various orders.  The verb complex consists minimally of a main verb, which possesses suffixes for marking evidentiality, and the copula, which contain a rich set of affixes to mark the core arguments for various syntactic features: number, tense, voice, agency, etc.   


The language is neither an Ergative-Absolutive language, like Minhast, nor is it a Active-Stative language, like Nahónda.  Instead, its morphosyntactic alignment falls under the Hierarchical type and employs [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct–inverse_alignment Direct-Inverse marking] to indicate core argument roles.  The nominal hierarchy is  complex; at least ten noun classes based on animacy can be identified, and within those classes sub-hierarchies are observed based on semantic features, although discourse processes (e.g. the introduction of new arguments that are roughly equal in animacy with previously established arguments) may affect how direct-inverse marking is expressed.
Also unlike its relatives, the language is neither an Ergative-Absolutive language, like Minhast, nor is it a Active-Stative language, like Nahónda.  Instead, its morphosyntactic alignment falls under the Hierarchical type and employs [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct–inverse_alignment Direct-Inverse marking] to indicate core argument roles.  The nominal hierarchy is  complex; at least ten noun classes based on animacy can be identified, and within those classes sub-hierarchies are observed based on semantic features, although discourse processes (e.g. the introduction of new arguments that are roughly equal in animacy with previously established arguments, or a previous argument that serves as the topic over extended discourse) may affect how direct-inverse marking is expressed.  Thus hierarchical relations are primarily dependent on the semantics of the core argument, although other factors are at play; native speakers intuit the hierarchy based on a complex interaction between the noun class, discourse patterns, and context.


==Phonology==
==Phonology==