conlang.phundrak.com/docs/eittlandic/grammar.org

#+setupfile: ../headers

* Grammar
** Word Structure                                                 :noexport:
** Word Classes
*** Nouns                                                             :noexport:
# - What are the distributional properties of nouns?
# - What are the structural properties of nouns?
# - What are the major formally distinct subcategories of nouns?
# - What is the basic structure of the noun word (for polysynthetic
#   languages) and/or noun phrases (for more isolating languages)?

**** Countables and Uncountables                                      :noexport:
**** Proper Nouns                                                     :noexport:
*** Pronouns and Anaphoric Clitics
# - Does the language have free pronouns and/or anaphoric clitics?
#   (These are distinct from grammatical agreement.)
# - Give a chart of the free pronouns and/or anaphoric clitics.

**** Personal Pronouns
#+name: 1-2-personal-pronouns-table
#+caption: First and second person pronouns in Eittlandic
|      | 1s  | 2s  | 1p  | 2p  |
|------+-----+-----+-----+-----|
| Nom. | ek  | þú  | vér | ér  |
| Acc. | mik | þik | oss | yðr |
| Dat. | mér | þér | oss | yðr |
| Gen. | mín | þín | vár | yðr |

The only notable change in written form from their Early Old Norse
version is the regularization of the genitive plural second person
/yðar/ into /yðr/. Otherwise, most changes only happened regarding their
phonology as explained in [[file:./phonology.md#evolution-from-early-old-norse-to-eittlandic][the evolution from Early Old Norse to Eittlandic]].

#+name: 3-personal-pronouns-table
#+caption: Third person pronouns in Eittlandic
|         | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---------+-----------+----------+--------|
| Sg.Nom. | hann      | han      | þat    |
| Sg.Acc. | han       | han      | þat    |
| Sg.Dat. | hanum     | henn     | því    |
| Sg.Gen. | hans      | hennar   | þass   |
|---------+-----------+----------+--------|
| Pl.Nom. | þeir      | þér      | þau    |
| Pl.Acc. | þá        | þér      | þau    |
| Pl.Dat. | þeim      | þeim     | þeim   |
| Pl.Gen. | þeir      | þeir     | þeir   |

Here we also have few changes from the Early Old Norse pronouns for
the third persons, singular and plural.

An additional set of pronouns contains reflexive pronouns. This one is
relatively small, as it does not agree in person, number, or gender.
However, it still agrees in case. Note that there is no nominative
reflexive pronoun in Eittlandic.
| Nom | -   |
| Acc | sik |
| Dat | sér |
| Gen | sín |

**** Demonstrative Pronouns
During its evolution from Old Eittlandic, the Eittlandic language lost
one set of demonstrative pronouns, the one containing /sé/ in Old
Eittlandic and Old Norse, in favour of the sets containing /hinn/ and
/þessi/. Thus, we have these two sets in Eittlandic.

|        | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|--------+-----------+----------+--------|
| Sg Nom | hinn      | hinn     | hitt   |
| Sg Acc | hin       | hin      | hitt   |
| Sg Dat | hinum     | hin      | hin    |
| Sg Gen | hins      | hins     | hins   |
|--------+-----------+----------+--------|
| Pl Nom | hiner     | hiner    | hin    |
| Pl Acc | hin       | hiner    | hin    |
| Pl Dat | hinum     | hinum    | hinum  |
| Pl Gen | hinn      | hinn     | hinn   |

It is interesting to see that this set of pronouns retained some
differences between their masculine and feminine form, which has
become quite rare in Modern Eittlandic. These are used similarly to
“that” or “those” in English, designating elements or things that are
judged as distant by the speaker from themselves.

On the other hand, the following pronouns containing /þess/ relate to
the words “this” and “these” in English.

**** Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns in Eittlandic simply are the genitive form of the
personal pronouns shown [[file:./grammar.md#personal-pronouns][above]]. The pronoun agrees with the owner in
person and number, and in gender when the third person is used, as in
English.

They generally replace a whole nominative proposition, such as with
the example below.

#+html: ::: tip Example
– Havir þú historiabøk?
– Ek haft gleymt mín
#+html: :::

You can compare them to English possessive pronouns like /mine/, /yours/,
or /theirs/.

# That’s possessive adjectives, move it in the right header

# The first and more formal usage, inherited from Old Norse, is to
# precede the noun phrase owned by the owner with the genitive pronoun.
# For instance, /mín katt/ means /my cat/ while /þeim katt/ means /their cat/
# (as shown in [[file:./grammar.md#case-marking][Case Marking]], we have no way to know if /katt/, a strong
# common word, is singular or plural accusative).

# The second and more casual way to express possession is using the
# definite form of a word and placing the possessive pronoun after it.
# We can adapt the previous examples of /my cat/ and /their cat/ as /kattin
# mín/ and /kattin þeim/.

# While these two forms provide a difference in tone, the second form is
# more limited as it only allows single word noun phrases to be the
# possessed element while the first allows more complex noun phrases.
# The sentence /mín kattrinn komand frá heim/ (/my cat coming from home/)
# would need to be modified in order to fit the second structure, such
# as /kattrinn mín, hvar komr frá heim/ (/my cat, who is coming from home/).

*** Verbs
# - What are the distributional properties of verbs?
# - What are the structural properties of verbs?
# - What are the major subclasses of verbs?
# - Describe the order of various verbal operators within the verbal
#   word or verb phrase.
# - Give charts of the tense/aspect/mode, etc. Indicate major
#   allomorphic variants.
# - Are directional and/or locational notions expressed in the verb or
#   verb phrase at all?
#   - Is this operation obligatory, i.e. does one member of the
#     paradigm have to occur in every finite verb or verb phrase?
#   - Is it productiv
#     verb stems, and does it have the same meaning with each one?
#     (Nothing is fully productive, but some operations are more
#     productive than others.)
#   - Is this operation primarily coded morphologically, analytically,
#     or lexically? Are there any exceptions to the general case?
#   - Where in the verb phrase or verbal word is this operation likely
#     to appear? Can it occur in more than one place?
Eittlandic, as most if not all North Germanic language, is a V2
language. This implies that in most cases, the verb in sentences will
come at the second position, possibly moving its subject right between
the verb itself and the rest of the verb phrase. The only exception to
this are questions and the use of imperative. More on that later.

Since Early Old Norse, Eittlandic evolved its verb both towards
simplification on one hand, making the verb endings a lot more regular
and predictable, and complexification with the addition of new moods
and tenses.

**** Infinitive
The infinitive form of verbs in Eittlandic is generally used when the
verbal phrase it is part of is treated as the object of another
phrase, similarly to how infinitive works in other Nordic languages or
English. For instance, “he likes to eat” translates to “hann líkar
eta” ({{{phon(hanː lèkar̩ et)}}}), where “eta” is the object of the verbs
“líkar”. This form is the one given in the dictionary and undergoes no
inflexion.

**** Imperative
The imperative has the same form as the infinitive in Eittlandic. The
evolution of the Eittlandic language made it lose the second singular
and plural distinction, leaving the same form for both. Eittlandic
verbs also evolved in such a way most, if not all, of them have the
same form as their infinitive counterpart.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Et matin þín

  Eat your food!

  | et      | mat-inn      | þín    |
  | eat.IMP | food-DEF.ACC | 2s.GEN |

- Et matin yðr

  Eat your food!

  | et      | mat-inn      | yðr    |
  | eat.IMP | food-DEF.ACC | 2p.GEN |
#+html: :::

**** Participles
Formation of participles is relatively simple in Eittlandic is pretty
simple, as it simply adds /-and/ and /-it/ to the verbal root of the verb
in order to form the present participle and the past participle
respectively.

#+name: verb-participle-declension
#+caption: Formation of Eittlandic Participles
| Present Participle | -and |
| Past Participle    | -it  |

**** Indicative
Indicative the only non-irrealis mood available in Eittlandic. It is
used to express events or facts that are happening or happened with
certainty from the speaker’s point of view. This mood only exists for
the present, progressive, preterit, and perfect tenses. Other tenses,
such as future, exist in other moods as explained below.

The first two basic tenses are the present and past tenses. The
present tense in Eittlandic is relatively similar to the English
present tense, as it can describe what the speaker perceives as
general truths, habitual facts, events that are happening at the same
time as the time of speech, or current facts. It can also indicate
events when the English language would use the progressive mood
instead. Eittlandic does have a progressive mood of its own, though
slightly different, see [[file:./grammar.md#progressive][below]]. Lastly, it can also express near future
when other clues are available in the discourse.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Í Eittland, vér snakk eittlandsk.

  In Eittland, we speak Eittlandic.
#+html: :::

Here is how the typical verb is inflected in the indicative mood:

#+name: verb-indicative-inflexion-table
#+caption: Typical Verb Inflexion in the Indicative Mood
|  <c>   |   |            |           |
| person |   | Ind. Pres. | Ind. Past |
|--------+---+------------+-----------|
|   1s   |   | -(V)r      | -t        |
|   2s   |   | -(V)r      | -t        |
|   3s   |   | -(V)r      | -t        |
|   1p   |   | -um        | -um       |
|   2p   |   | -ið        | -uð       |
|   3p   |   | -ið        | -uð       |

An important feature to note is /-(V)r/ makes the underlying final vowel
of a verb appear, while it is otherwise lost in all other contexts.
For instance, the verb /lík/ becomes /líkar/ when in singular indicative
present, but /líkt/ when in singular indicative past.

Here are the indicative present declensions of the verbs /far(a)/ (/to
go/, a strong verb), and /berja/ (/to beat/, a weak verb):

#+name: verb-inflexion-ind-example
#+caption: Indicative present inflexion of /far(a)/ and /berja/
| person |   | far   | berja  |
|--------+---+-------+--------|
| 1s     |   | ferar | berjar |
| 2s     |   | ferar | berjar |
| 3s     |   | ferar | berjar |
| 1p     |   | farum | berjum |
| 2p     |   | farið | berið  |
| 3p     |   | farið | berið  |

Note that the final vowel of /berja/ gets replaced with the vowel from
the inflexion, and the final /j/ also disappears when it is immediately
followed by an /i/.

**** Subjunctive
The subjunctive is the default irrealis mood of Eittlandic. It is
therefore used to indicate various states of unreality, such as doubt
(through other means than the [[file:./grammar.md#dubitative][dubitative]] mood), possibility,
necessity, or desire (again, through other means than the [[file:./grammar.md#optative][optative]]
mood).

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Sólskinir í dag

  May it be sunny today

- Ef ek komuskat hér, vér talim til ná

  If I came, we would still be talking

- Hann sé kominn eigi enn

  He may not have arrived yet
#+html: :::

Like the indicative mood, it has two tenses, present and past, in
which verbs get inflexions. Below is the table showing how verbs
typically inflect in the subjunctive mood:

#+name: verb-subjunctive-inflexion-table
#+caption: Typical Verb Inflexion in the Subjunctive Mood
|  <c>   |   |             |            |
| person |   | Subj. Pres. | Subj. Past |
|--------+---+-------------+------------|
|   1s   |   | -ir         | -t         |
|   2s   |   | -ir         | -t         |
|   3s   |   | -ir         | -t         |
|   1p   |   | -im         | -um        |
|   2p   |   | -ið         | -uð        |
|   3p   |   | -ið         | -uð        |

As you can see, the subjunctive past form of verbs is identical to
their indicative past form, as shown below.

#+name: verb-inflexion-past-example
#+caption: Indicative and Subjunctive Past Inflexion of /far(a)/ and /berja/
| person |   | far   | berja  |
|--------+---+-------+--------|
| 1s     |   | fert  | berjat |
| 2s     |   | fert  | berjat |
| 3s     |   | fert  | berjat |
| 1p     |   | farum | berjum |
| 2p     |   | faruð | berjuð |
| 3p     |   | faruð | berjuð |

**** Perfect
The perfect aspect in Eittlandic is relatively similar to the modern
past form of the language. It also uses the verbs /ver/ and /hav/ before
the verb, which both agree in number, tense, and mood instead of the
main verb which appears in its participle form. The present participle
is used when the event relates to the present or the future, while the
past participle is used when the event relates to a time in the past.

 It also uses the verbs /ver/ and /hav/ before
the verb, which both agree in number, tense, and mood instead of the
main verb. The latter, on the other hand, appears in its participle
form, present or past depending on whether the action is happening or
will happen, or if it happened in the past.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Hann haft sovin, þá kunn hann kom

  He had slept, thus he could come

  | han-n   | haft            | sov-in         | þá   | kunn           | han-n   | kom  |
  | 3sm.NOM | have.3s.PST.IND | sleep-PST.PART | thus | can.3s.PST.IND | 3sm.NOM | come |

- Vér havum lesit bókan í dag

  We have read the book today

  | vér    | hav-um           | les-and        | bók-an       | í dag |
  | 1p.NOM | have-1p.PRES.IND | read-PRES.PART | book-DEF.ART | today |
#+html: :::

**** Future                                                        :noexport:

**** Passive
The passive voice, inherited from the /-sk/ form in Old Norse, has some
more regular declension than the other moods. However, this is the
last declension where we can still see the remains of the distinction
between strong and weak verbs inherited from Old Norse.

#+name: passive-declension-table
#+caption: Strong and Weak Verb Inflexion for the Indicative Present and Past in Passive Voice
|  <c>   |   |          |             |
| person |   | Strong   | Weak        |
|--------+---+----------+-------------|
|   1s   |   | -umk     | -umk        |
|   2s   |   | -(a/i)sk | -(ð/d/t)isk |
|   3s   |   | -(a/i)sk | -(ð/d/t)isk |
|   1p   |   | -umk     | -umk        |
|   2p   |   | -(a/i)sk | -(ð/d/t)isk |
|   3p   |   | -(a/i)sk | -(ð/d/t)isk |

#+name: passive-example-table
#+caption: Example of passive with /far/ and /berja/
| person |   | far    | berja     |
|--------+---+--------+-----------|
| 1s     |   | ferumk | berjumk   |
| 2s     |   | ferisk | berjaðisk |
| 3s     |   | ferisk | berjaðisk |
| 1p     |   | farumk | berjumk   |
| 2p     |   | farask | berjaðisk |
| 3p     |   | farask | berjaðisk |

Due to this uniformization of the passive voice in Eittlandic,
Eittlanders began using the verbs /ver(a)/ and /hav(a)/ (respectively /to
be/ and /to have/) as auxiliaries preceding the verb in order to convey
the subject, tense, and mood agreement. The verb /ver(a)/ is most often
used in active verbs, while the verb /hav(a)/ is generally used with
stative verbs. While all verbs have a default auxiliary, such as
/ver(a)/ for a verb like /et(a)/ (/to eat/), the speaker may choose to use
the other auxiliary in order to increase or decrease the agency of the
semantic agent (not the syntactic agent), even if it is not present in
the sentence.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Ek var brennumk mik
  | ek     | var           | brenn-umk   | mik    |
  | 1s.NOM | be.1s.IND.PST | burn-1s.PAS | 1s.ACC |
 /I burnt myself/
- Ek hav brennumk mik
  | ek     | hav             | brenn-umk   | mik    |
  | 1s.NOM | have.1s.IND.PST | burn-1s.PAS | 1s.ACC |
 /I got burnt/
#+html: :::

**** Progressive
The progressive mood is generally used to express an ongoing action at
the time of speech. Note that its usage is a bit different from
English, as Eittlandic progressive is rarer in spoken Eittlandic and
even rarer in written Eittlandic. It is generally used to disambiguate
a sentence that could be either indicative or progressive, but is
usually omitted when the speaker feels like the progressive mood
should be obvious enough.

To mark the progressive, the word /ná/ is placed just after the verb,
without any other word between them.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Vér kannum hléð vit? Nei, ek etar.

  Can we talk? Nah, I’m eating

  | vér    | kann-um         | hléð | vit |
  | 1P.NOM | can-1P.PRES.IND | talk | Q   |

  | nei | ek     | et-ar           |
  | no  | 1S.NOM | eat-1S.PRES.IND |

- Hvat gerar þú í Sunsdag? Ek les bøk, nem hlustar ná ek tonlist.

  What do you do on Sundays? I read books, but (right now) I’m
  listening to music

  | hvat     | ger-ar         | þú     | í  | Sunsdag       |
  | what.NOM | do-2s.PRES.IND | 2s.NOM | on | Sunday.PL.DAT |

  | ek     | les              | bøk         |
  | 1s.NOM | read.1s.PRES.IND | book.PL.ACC |

  | nem | hlust-ar           | ná   | ek     | tonlist   |
  | but | listen-1s.PRES.IND | PROG | 1s.NOM | music.ACC |
#+html: :::

**** Conditional
The conditional mood allows speakers of Eittlandic to speak about
conditional events while marking them as such. This translates into
several strategies.

The first strategy adds /-(u)þ(a)-/ between the verb root and its
indicative declension. It marks conditionals the speakers estimates to
be unlikely.

#+html: ::: tip Example
Ef þú gefuþar mér ein fisk, vér etim þat

If you somehow give me a fish, we’ll eat it
#+html: :::

The second strategy, which is the default strategy and holds a neutral
stance towards how likely the hypothetical situation is, uses the verb
/skal(a)/ as an auxilliary in the conditional mood.

#+html: ::: tip Example
Ef þú skaluþ gef mér ein fisk, vér etim þat

If you give me a fish, we’ll eat it
#+html: :::

The third stategy, which indicates some confidence by the speaker that
the situation is likely, is to use the verb /man(u)/ the same way as
/skal(a)/ is used in the second strategy. This strategy is also
sometimes used to express a softer future, though one that still might
not happen.

#+html: ::: tip Example
Ef þú manuþ gef mér ein fisk, vér etim þat

If you give me a fish, we’ll eat it / When you’ll give me a fish, we’ll eat it
#+html: :::

**** Causative                                                     :noexport:

**** Jussive
The jussive is percieved as a more subtle, more formal form of the
[[file:./grammar.md#imperative][imperative]]. It is formed by adding /-(i)l/ at the end of the verbal
root.

#+html: ::: tip Example
Etal matin þín

Please eat your food.

| eta-l   | mat-inn      | þín    |
| eat-JUS | food-DEF.ACC | 2s.GEN |
#+html: :::

**** Optative                                                      :noexport:
The optative mood serves to express wishes. There are two main
strategies to express the optative mood in Eittlandic.

The first one is a syntactic construction using the verb /vilja/ with a
nominal phrase or verbal phrase with a verb in the infinitive mood
being the wished element. It denotes a wish rather than a want.

#+html: ::: tip Example
Ek vil far.

I wish I could go.
#+html: :::

The second strategy is a morphological mood of the verb formed by
inserting -(i)nn(i)- between the verb root and its subjunctive
declension.

#+html: ::: tip Example
Ek ferinnir.

I want to go.
#+html: :::

**** Dubitative
The dubitative mood in Eittlandic is a mood used by the speaker to
express doubt or uncertainty. The doubtfulness of the speaker is
treated more seriously than when using a simple subjective sentence.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Hann sé kominn eigi enn

  He may not have arrived yet

  | han-n   | sé             | kom-inn        | eigi | enn |
  | 3sm-NOM | to.be.1sg.SUBJ | come-PST.PART. | NEG  | yet |
- Hann esakki kominn eigi enn

  He has probably not arrived yet
  | han-n   | es-akki                | kom-inn        | eigi | enn |
  | 3sm-NOM | to.be-1sg.PRES.IND-DUB | come-PST.PART. | NEG  | yet |
#+html: :::

It is formed by inserting /-(a)kki/ between the verbal root and the
indicative declension. It translates to this declension table:

#+name: verb-dubitative-inflexion-table
#+caption: Typical Verb Inflexion
|  <c>   |   |            |           |
| person |   | Ind. Pres. | Ind. Past |
|--------+---+------------+-----------|
|   1s   |   | -(a)kkir   | -(a)kkit  |
|   2s   |   | -(a)kkir   | -(a)kkit  |
|   3s   |   | -(a)kkir   | -(a)kkit  |
|   1p   |   | -(a)kkim   | -(a)kkum  |
|   2p   |   | -(a)kkið   | -(a)kkuð  |
|   3p   |   | -(a)kkið   | -(a)kkuð  |

#+html: ::: tip Example
Hann kømakkir í dag

He might not come today

| Hann    | køm-akkir        | í dag |
| 3sm.NOM | come-3s.DUB.PRES | today |
#+html: :::

*** Verbs                                                          :noexport:
Eittlandic, as most if not all North Germanic language, is a V2
language. This implies that in most cases, the verb in sentences will
come at the second position, possibly moving its subject right between
the verb itself and the rest of the verb phrase. The only exception to
this are questions and the use of imperative. More on that later.

Since Early Old Norse, Eittlandic evolved its verb both towards
simplification on one hand, making the verb endings a lot more regular
and predictable, and complexification with the addition of new moods
and tenses.

**** Verbal Structure                                              :noexport:
**** Verbal Derivations                                            :noexport:
**** Verbal Inflexions
Verbs in Eittlandic agree with their subject in person and number,
though it lost a lot of its diversity Old Norse had. It also varies
depending on the tense, mood, and aspect of the verbal sentence. The
examples are given using the verbs /far(a)/ (/to go/, a strong verb), and
/berja/ (/to beat/, a weak verb).

#+name: verb-inflexion-table
#+caption: Typical Verb Inflexion
|  <c>   |   |            |             |                     |
| person |   | Ind. Pres. | Subj. Pres. | Ind. and Subj. Past |
|--------+---+------------+-------------+---------------------|
|   1s   |   | -(V)r      | -ir         | -t                  |
|   2s   |   | -(V)r      | -ir         | -t                  |
|   3s   |   | -(V)r      | -ir         | -t                  |
|   1p   |   | -um        | -im         | -um                 |
|   2p   |   | -ið        | -ið         | -uð                 |
|   3p   |   | -ið        | -ið         | -uð                 |

#+name: verb-inflexion-ind-example
#+caption: Indicative present inflexion of /far(a)/ and /berja/
| person |   | far   | berja  |
|--------+---+-------+--------|
| 1s     |   | ferr  | berjar |
| 2s     |   | ferr  | berjar |
| 3s     |   | ferr  | berjar |
| 1p     |   | farum | berjum |
| 2p     |   | farið | berið  |
| 3p     |   | farið | berið  |

Note that the final vowel of /berja/ gets replaced with the vowel from
the inflexion, and the final /j/ also disappears when it is immediately
followed by an /i/.

Present subjunctive has similar declensions to present indicative.

#+verb-inflexion-subj-example
#+caption: Subjunctive present inflexion of /far(a)/ and /berja/
| person |   | far   | berja |
|--------+---+-------+-------|
| 1s     |   | ferir | berir |
| 2s     |   | ferir | berir |
| 3s     |   | ferir | berir |
| 1p     |   | farim | berim |
| 2p     |   | farið | berið |
| 3p     |   | farið | berið |

We can see again how the /ja/ at the end of infinitive /berja/ got
replaced by the ending of subjunctive present verbs.

The past declension is simpler as there is no difference between
indicative and subjunctive past.

#+name: verb-inflexion-past-example
#+caption: Indicative and subjunctive past inflexion of /far(a)/ and /berja/
| person |   | far   | berja  |
|--------+---+-------+--------|
| 1s     |   | fert  | berjat |
| 2s     |   | fert  | berjat |
| 3s     |   | fert  | berjat |
| 1p     |   | farum | berjum |
| 2p     |   | faruð | berjuð |
| 3p     |   | faruð | berjuð |

The infinitive and imperative merged due to the final vowel loss,
making /far/ and /berja/ not only the infinitive form of /to go/ and /to
beat/, but also their imperative form. Present and past participles are
on the other hand made by appending /-and/ and /-it/ respectively.

| infinitive / imperative | far    | berja   |
| present participle      | farand | berjand |
| past participle         | farit  | berit   |

When it comes to the passive voice, inherited from the /-sk/ form in Old
Norse, its declension is a lot more regular. However, we’ll see the
remaining difference between strong and weak verbs.

#+name: passive-declension-table
#+caption: Strong and Weak Verb Inflexion for the Indicative Present and Past in Passive Voice
|  <c>   |   |          |             |
| person |   | Strong   | Weak        |
|--------+---+----------+-------------|
|   1s   |   | -umk     | -umk        |
|   2s   |   | -(a/i)sk | -(ð/d/t)isk |
|   3s   |   | -(a/i)sk | -(ð/d/t)isk |
|   1p   |   | -umk     | -umk        |
|   2p   |   | -(a/i)sk | -(ð/d/t)isk |
|   3p   |   | -(a/i)sk | -(ð/d/t)isk |

#+name: passive-example-table
#+caption: Example of passive with /far/ and /berja/
| person |   | far    | berja     |
|--------+---+--------+-----------|
| 1s     |   | ferumk | berjumk   |
| 2s     |   | ferisk | berjaðisk |
| 3s     |   | ferisk | berjaðisk |
| 1p     |   | farumk | berjumk   |
| 2p     |   | farask | berjaðisk |
| 3p     |   | farask | berjaðisk |

There is only one minor difference for the subjunctive mood: both the
first-person singular and plural change to /-imk/ instead of /-umk/.
Imperative, on the other hand, only works with the second person in
the present tense by appending an /-sk/ at the end of the infinitive of
the verb.

Due to this uniformization of the passive voice in Eittlandic,
Eittlanders began using the verbs /ver(a)/ and /hav(a)/ (respectively /to
be/ and /to have/) as auxiliaries preceding the verb in order to convey
the subject, tense, and mood agreement. The verb /ver(a)/ is most often
used in active verbs, while the verb /hav(a)/ is generally used with
stative verbs. While all verbs have a default auxiliary, such as
/ver(a)/ for a verb like /et(a)/ (/to eat/), the speaker may choose to use
the other auxiliary in order to increase or decrease the agency of the
semantic agent (not the syntactic agent), even if it is not present in
the sentence.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Ek var brennumk mik
  | ek     | var           | brenn-umk   | mik    |
  | 1s.NOM | be.1s.IND.PST | burn-1s.PAS | 1s.ACC |
 /I burnt myself/
- Ek hav brennumk mik
  | ek     | hav             | brenn-umk   | mik    |
  | 1s.NOM | have.1s.IND.PST | burn-1s.PAS | 1s.ACC |
 /I got burnt/
#+html: :::

The verbs /var(a)/ and /hav(a)/ are irregular verbs that do not follow the
same inflexion rules. For a list of their inflexion, see their
dictionary entry ([[file:./dictionary.md#ver-a][ver(a)]] and [[file:./dictionary.md#hav-a][hav(a)]]).

The passive voice inherits from the Old Norse mediopassive voice. It
is often used to promote a semantic patient to a syntactic agent and
to demote a semantic agent to a syntactic oblique, sometimes even
completely removing it from the sentence.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Maðrinn dragt fiskin frá vatnin
  | maðr-inn        | drag-t       | fisk-in      | frá  | vatn-in       |
  | man.NOM-DEF.NOM | drag-IND.PST | fish-DEF.ACC | from | water-DEF.DAT |
  The man fished the fish from the water
- Fiskinn var dragask frá vatnin
  | Fiskr-inn        | var           | drag-ask     | frá  | vatn-in       |
  | fish.NOM-DEF.NOM | be.3s.IND.PST | drag-STG.PAS | from | water-DEF.DAT |
  The fish was fished from the water
#+html: :::

*** Modifiers
# - If you posit a morphosyntactic category of adjectives, give
#   evidence for not grouping these forms with the verbs or nouns. What
#   characterizes a form as being an adjective in this language?
# - How can you characterize semantically the class of concepts coded
#   by this formal category?
# - Do adjectives agr
#   noun class)?
# - What kind of syst
# - How high can a fluent native speaker count without resorting
#   either to words from another language or to a generic word like
#   /many/? Exemplify the system up to this point.
# - Do numerals agree with their head nouns (number, case, noun
#   class, ...)?
**** Descriptive Adjectives
Similarly to verbs, adjectives in Eittlandic underwent a
simplification since Early Old Norse. They now all inflect the same
way, as the difference between strong and weak adjectives disappeared
over the years. It is also worth noting distiction between masculine
and feminine disappeared, merging into a common gender, while neuter
remains distinct.

#+name: adjectives-declensions
#+caption: Declension of adjectives in Eittlandic
| / |     <r> |        |        |
|   |         | Common | Neuter |
|---+---------+--------+--------|
|   | Sg.Nom. | -r     | -t     |
|   |    Acc. |        | -t     |
|   |    Dat. | -um    | -um    |
|   |    Gen. | -s     | -s     |
|   | Pl.Nom. | -ar    |        |
|   |    Acc. |        |        |
|   |    Dat. | -um    | -um    |
|   |    Gen. | -ar    | -r     |

If an adjective root ends with a rounded vowel, all /-um/ and /-ar/
endings become /-vum/ or /-var/ instead respectively. Otherwise, the
consonant is doubled before the declension’s vowel if there is one.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Meðr er Hindirar, þrírr er Hindurar

  The men are Hindi, three are Hindu
#+html: :::

The adjectives agree in declension, number, and gender with the noun
or noun phrase they describe. In terms of word order, they always
precede the noun or noun phrase, regardles whether the noun is in its
indefinite or definite form.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Latr káttinn kúrar hjá opin dyrin

  The lazy cat naps by the open door

  | lat-r       | kátt-inn       | kúr-ar           | hjá | opin        | dyr-in          |
  | lazy-SG.NOM | cat-DEF.SG.NOM | nap-3sg.IND.PRES | by  | open.SG.ACC | door-DEF.SG.ACC |
- Rauðt dyrit ok smár vindaugat er opinn

  The red door and the small windows are open

  | rauð-t       | dyr-it          | ok  | smár           | vindaug-at        | er                 | opin-n        |
  | red-SG.N.NOM | door-DEF.SG.NOM | and | small.PL.N.NOM | window-DEF.PL.NOM | to.be.3pl.IND.PRES | open-PL.N.ACC |
#+html: :::

What you will find most often in Eittlandic dictionaries is the
accusative singular common form of the adjectives, which is its
unmarked form, while some older or more traditional dictionaries will
instead use their nominative singular common form.

*Standard Eittlandic* does not use declensions and will always use the
unmarked adjective root instead. A few dialects do not use adjective
declensions either, but they are relatively rare, such as the dialects
found in the Úlfsaug valley in Northeastern Fjallheim.

**** Participal Adjectives
Taking the root of a verb and adding the declension of definite
articles creates participal adjectives. For instance, /sov(a)/ (to
sleep) becomes /sovin/ (sleepy) while /hleð(a)/ (to make noise) becomes
/hleðin/ (noisy).

#+name: participal-adj-example-sov-sovin
#+caption: Example of participal adjective using /sov(a)/
| / |     <r> |         |         |
|   |         | Common  | Neuter  |
|---+---------+---------+---------|
|   | Sg.Nom. | sovinn  | sovit   |
|   |    Acc. | sovin   | sovit   |
|   |    Dat. | sovin   | sovit   |
|   |    Gen. | sovins  | sovits  |
|   | Pl.Nom. | sovinn  | sovitr  |
|   |    Acc. | sovin   | sovit   |
|   |    Dat. | sovinum | sovitum |
|   |    Gen. | sovin   | sovit   |

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Þat er eit hleðit bil ná!

  This is one noisy car, isn’t it‽
#+html: :::

**** Possessive Adjectives
Similarly to [[file:./grammar.md#possessive-pronouns][possessive pronouns]], possessive adjectives mark ownership
or relationship from an element with another. However, possessive
adjectives modify a noun or noun phrase and are not free forms.

Possessive adjectives are very similar to possessive pronouns, their
base root is the same but possessive adjectives agree with the
possessed element in person, number, gender, and declension. Agreement
in number follows both the number of possessor and possessed. Hence,
/várt/ is a possessive adjectives marking one nominative element being
possessed by several people in the first person, while /mínar/ is a
possessive adjective marking several nominative elements being
possessed by one individual in the first person.

#+name: possessive-adjectives-1-and-2
#+caption: Possessive adjectives for the first and second person
| / |     <r> |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
|   |         | 1s C. | 1s N. | 2s C. | 2s N. | 1p C. | 1p N. | 2p C. | 2p N. |
|---+---------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------|
|   | Sg.Nom. | mínn  | mínt  | þínn  | þínt  | várr  | várt  | yðr   | yðt   |
|   |    Acc. | mín   | mínt  | þín   | þínt  | vár   | várt  | yð    | yðt   |
|   |    Dat. | mínum | mínum | þínum | þínum | várum | várum | yðum  | yðum  |
|   |    Gen. | míns  | míns  | þíns  | þíns  | várs  | várs  | yðs   | yðs   |
|   | Pl.Nom. | mínar | mín   | þínar | þín   | várar | vár   | yðar  | yð    |
|   |    Acc. | mín   | mín   | þín   | þín   | vár   | vár   | yð    | yð    |
|   |    Dat. | mínum | mínum | þínum | þínum | várum | várum | yðum  | yðum  |
|   |    Gen. | mínar | mínn  | þínar | þínn  | várar | várr  | yðar  | yðr   |

In the third person, gender of the possessor is also followed by the
possessive adjective when there is a singular possessor. This means
the gender of the adjectives must also agree both with the gender of
the possessor and the possessed when the former is singular.

#+name: possessive-adjectives-3
#+caption: Possessive adjectives for the third person
| / |     <r> |        |        |        |        |        |        |
|   |         | 3sc C. | 3sc N. | 3sn C. | 3sn N. | 3p C.  | 3p N.  |
|---+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------|
|   | Sg.Nom. | hennar | hent   | þass   | þast   | þeirr  | þeirt  |
|   |    Acc. | henn   | hent   | þass   | þast   | þeir   | þeirt  |
|   |    Dat. | hennum | henum  | þasum  | þasum  | þeirum | þeirum |
|   |    Gen. | hens   | hens   | þass   | þass   | þeirs  | þeirs  |
|   | Pl.Nom. | hennar | henn   | þasar  | þass   | þeirar | þeir   |
|   |    Acc. | henn   | henn   | þass   | þass   | þeir   | þeir   |
|   |    Dat. | hennum | hennum | þasum  | þasum  | þeirum | þeirum |
|   |    Gen. | hennar | henn   | þasar  | þass   | þeirar | þeirr  |

#+html: ::: tip Examples
- Hundinn þeirar hlaupið in í parkit

  Their dogs are running in the park (i.e. several people’s dogs)

  | hund-r     | þeir-ar               | hlaup-ið        | in | í   | park-it         |
  | dog-pl.NOM | 3sc.c.ADJ.POSS-pl.NOM | run-3p.PRES.IND | in | DAT | park-DET.sg.DAT |
- Ek kent sonin yðum historja

  I taught your son history

  | ek      | ken-t            | son-in         | yð-um          | historja    |
  | 1sg.NOM | teach-1s.PST.IND | son-DEF.DAT.sg | 2p.POSS-DAT.SG | history.ACC |
- Mínn káttr es svartr með ein hvít flekk á hennum bjálf, á hennum hóst.

  My cat is black with a white spot on her fur, on her chest.

  | mín-n             | kátt-r     | es           | svart-r      | með  | ein     | hvít      | flekk    | á   | hen-num           | bjálf      | á   | hen-num           | hóst         |
  | 1sg.POSS-sg.NOM.C | cat-sg.NOM | 3sg.PRES.IND | black-sg.NOM | with | one.ACC | white.ACC | spot.ACC | DAT | 3sg.POSS-sg.DAT.C | fur.sg.ACC | DAT | 3sg.POSS.sg.DAT.C | chest.sg.ACC |
#+html: :::

**** Non-Numeral Quantifiers                                       :noexport:
**** Numerals                                                      :noexport:

*** Adverbs                                                           :noexport:
# - What characterikes a form as being an adverb in this language? If
#   you posit a distinct class of adverbs, argue for why these forms
#   should not be treated as nouns, verbs, or adjectives.
# - For each kind of adverb listed in this section, list a few members
#   of the type, and specify whether there are any restrictions
#   relavite to that type, e.g. where they can come in a clause, any
#   morphemes common to the type, etc.
# - Are any of these classes of adverbs related to older
#   complement-taking (matrix) verbs?
*** Adpositions                                                       :noexport:
*** Grammatical Particules                                            :noexport:
** Constituants Order Typology
*** Constituants Order in Main Clauses                             :noexport:
# - What is the neutral order of free elements in the unit?
# - Are there variations?
# - How do the variant orders function?
# - Specific to the main clause constituent order: What is the
#   pragmatically neutral order of constituents (A/S, P, and V) in
#   basic clauses of the language?
*** Constituants Order in Nominal Clauses :noexport:
# - Describe the order(s) of elements in the noun phrase.
*** Constituants Order in Verbal Clauses                           :noexport:
# - Where do auxliari
#   verb?
# - Where do verb-phrase adverbs occur with respect to the verb and
#   auxiliaries?
*** Adpositional Phrases                                           :noexport:
# - Is the language dominantly prepositional or post-positional? Give
#   examples.
# - Do many adpositions come from nouns or verbs?
*** Comparatives                                                   :noexport:
# - Does the language have one or more grammaticalized comparative
#   constructions? If so, what is the order of the standard, the
#   marker and the quality by which an item is compared to the
#   standard?
*** Questions
# - In yes/no questions, if there is a question particle, where does
#   it occur?
# - In information qu
Questions in Eittlandic are formed by inverting the syntactic subject
with its verb in a normal sentence. For example, the sentence /hann
komr í dag með faðin hans/ (/he’s coming today with his father/) becomes
a question when inverting /hann/ and /komr/. This is generally regarded as
a formal way of forming questions.

A more formal way of creating a question is by suffixing /-vit/ at the
end of a verb without any change to the word order of the sentence. If
there is any declension at the end of the verb, /-vit/ will bear it
instead of the stem of the verb itself. It is somewhat similar to
asking a question in English by simply raising the sentence’s tone.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Hann komar í dag með faðin hans

  | hann     | kom-ar          | í dag | með  | fað-in         | hans     |
  | 3s.m.NOM | come-s.PRES.IND | today | with | father.ACC-DEF | 3s.m.GEN |

  He’s coming with his father today.
- Komar han í dag með faðin hans?

  | kom-ar          | hann     | í dag | með  | fað-in         | hans     |
  | come-s.PRES.IND | 3s.m.NOM | today | with | father.ACC-DEF | 3s.m.GEN |

  Is he coming with his father today?
- Han komavitr í dag með maðin hans?

  | hann     | koma-vit-r        | í dag | með  | fað-in         | hans     |
  | 3s.m.NOM | come-Q-s.PRES.IND | today | with | father.ACC-DEF | 3s.m.GEN |

  He’s coming with his father today?
#+html: :::

The verbs /ver(a)/ and /hav(a)/ both cannot use this construction.
Instead, Eittlandic speakers may instead simply add /vit/ as a
standalone word at the end of the question.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Hann es konung.

  | hann     | es             | konung   |
  | 3s.m.NOM | be.3s.PRES.IND | king.ACC |

  He is the king.
- Er hann konung?

  | er             | hann     | konung   |
  | be.3s.PRES.IND | 3s.m.NOM | king.ACC |

  Is he the king?
- Hann er konung vit?

  | hann     | er             | konung | vit |
  | 3s.m.NOM | be.3s.PRES.IND | king   | Q   |

  He is the king?
#+html: :::

This also applies to general questions as shown below, where the
question word takes the place of either the syntactic patient or
syntactic dative of the verb.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Hvar est þú?

  | hvar  | est            | þú     |
  | where | be.2s.PRES.IND | 2s.NOM |

  Where are you?
- Þú est hver vit?

  | þú     | est            | hvar  | vit |
  | 2s.NOM | be.2s.PRES.IND | where | Q   |

  Where are you? / Where you at?
#+html: :::

**** Yes/No questions
Yes/no questions are generally answered by /já/ or /nei/ (/yes/ or /no/
respectively), sometimes with a repeat of the core of the sentence to
confirm the reply.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Komr han í dag með faðin hans?

  Is he coming today with his father?

- Nei, han komr eig

  No, he’s not coming
or
- Já, han komr

  Yes, he’s coming
#+html: :::

The interjections /já/ and /nei/ are often ambiguous when replying to a
question employing a negative verb and are often avoided; Eittlanders
will prefer to reply with part of or the entirety of the question with
either a negative marker or not to confirm or deny the assumption of
the question.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Komr han eig í dag?

  Is he not coming today?

- Han komr eig

  He’s not coming
or
- Han komr
#+html: :::

Another strategy, a lot more common when replying to negative
questions, is to reply using counter-factual interjection /eng/ meaning
/yes/, while speakers will consider a simple /nei/ as an approbation of
the assumption of the question.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Komr han eig í dag?

  Is he not coming today?

- Nei (han komr eig)

  No (he’s not coming)
or
- Áng (han komr)

  Yes he is coming
#+html: :::

Similarly, when a question with a positive assumption is asked,
Eittlandic speakers can answer with a counter-factual /náng/ to insist
on its erroneous nature.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Komr han eig í dag?

  Is he not coming today?

- Náng (han komr eig)

  Of course not (he’s not coming)
#+html: :::

Some yes/no questions are sometimes asked in a very reduced form,
without a full verbal sentence and only consisting of a noun phrase.
Think of questions like /Coffee?/ or /Another cookie?/ in English. Such
questions in Eittlandic require the final word /vit/.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- Té ell kafé vit?

  Tea or coffe?
- Té, þakk.

  Tea, please/thanks.
#+html: :::

**** General questions
General questions that are not yes/no questions will most of the time
begin with a question word such as /hvar/ (/who/), the equivalent of WH
words in English.

** Structure of a Nominal Group
*** Composed Words                                               :noexport:
# - Is there noun-noun compounding that results in a noun (e.g.
#   /windshield/)?
# - How do you know it is compounding?
# - Is there noun-verb (or verb-noun) compounding that results in a
#   noun (e.g. /pickpocket/, /scarecrow/)?
# - Are these process
#   can-opener)? How common is compounding?
*** Denominalization                                             :noexport:
# - Are there any processes (productive or not) that form a verb from
#   a noun?
# - An adjective from a noun?
# - An adverb from a noun?
*** Numbers                                                      :noexport:
# - Is number express
# - Is the distinction between singular and non-singular obligatory,
#   optional, or completely absent in the noun phrase?
# - If number marking is “optional”, when does it tend to occur, and
#   when does it tend not to occur?
# - If number marking is obligatory, is number overtly expressed for
#   all noun phrases or only some subclasses of noun phrases, such as
#   animate?
# - What non-singular distinctions are there?
*** Grammatical Case
# - Do nouns exhibit morphological case?
# - If so, what are the cases? (The functions of the cases will be
#   elaborated in lat
**** Cases in Modern Eittlandic
Although seldom visible, as described in [[file:grammar.md#case-marking][Case Marking]], cases still
remain part of the Eittlandic grammar, expressed through its syntax
rather than explicit marking on its nouns and adjectives. Four
different grammatical cases exist in this language: the *nominative*,
*accusative*, *genitive*, and *dative* case.
- The *nominative* case represents the subject of a sentence, that is,
  the subject of intransitive clauses and the agent of transitive
  clauses. As we’ll see below, it is morphologically marked only in
  dialects other than Standard Eittlandic, and only if the word is a
  strong masculine word.
- On the other hand *accusative*, like Old Norse, usually marks the
  object of a verb, but it can also express time-related ideas such as
  a duration in time, or after some prepositions. It is also the
  default case when a noun has no clear status in a clause, and it can
  as such serve as a vocative.
- *Dative* usually marks indirect objects of verbs in Old Norse, though
  it can also often mark direct objects depending on the verb used.

**** Case Marking
Although present in Early Old Norse, the use of grammatical cases has
been on the decline since the Great Vowel Shift (see [[file:phonology.md#great-vowel-shift][Phonology: Great
Vowel Shift]]). Due to the general loss of word-final short vowels and
to regularization of its nouns, Eittlandic lost almost all of weak
nouns’ inflexions and a good amount in its strong nouns’ inflexions.
On top of this, the root of most nouns got regularized, getting rid of
former umlauts. Hence, while in Old Norse one might find the table
below presented in Cleasby and Vigfusson (1874), Modern Eittlandic is
simplified to the table following it.

#+name: tbl:old-norse-noun-inflexions
#+caption: 1st declension of strong nouns and declensions of masculine weak nouns in Old Norse
| / |     <r> |                  |                 |               |                |
|   |         | Strong Masculine | Strong Feminine | Strong Neuter | Weak Masculine |
|---+---------+------------------+-----------------+---------------+----------------|
|   | Sg.Nom. | heim-r           | tíð             | skip          | tím-i          |
|   |    Acc. | heim             | tíð             | skip          | tím-a          |
|   |    Dat. | heim-i           | tíð             | skip-i        | tím-a          |
|   |    Gen. | heim-s           | tíð-ar          | skip-s        | tím-a          |
|   | Pl.Nom. | heim-ar          | tíð-ir          | skip          | tím-ar         |
|   |    Acc. | heim-a           | tíð-ir          | skip          | tím-a          |
|   |    Dat. | heim-um          | tíð-um          | skip-um       | tím-um         |
|   |    Gen. | heim-a           | tíð-a           | skip-a        | tím-a          |

#+name: tbl:eittlandic-example-noun-inflexions
#+caption: Declensions for strong and weak nouns in Modern Eittlandic
| / |     <r> |               |               |            |
|   |         | Strong Common | Strong Neuter | Weak Nouns |
|---+---------+---------------+---------------+------------|
|   | Sg.Nom. | heim-r        | skip          | tím        |
|   |    Acc. | heim          | skip          | tím        |
|   |    Dat. | heim          | skip          | tím        |
|   |    Gen. | heim-ar       | skip-s        | tím-s      |
|   | Pl.Nom. | heim-r        | skip          | tím-r      |
|   |    Acc. | heim          | skip          | tím        |
|   |    Dat. | heim-um       | skip-um       | tím-um     |
|   |    Gen. | heim-ar       | skip-s        | tím-s      |

As you can see, a good amount of declensions disappeared from nouns,
with only four marked cases for strong common nouns and two for strong
neuter and weak nouns. The declension system completely merged weak
nouns which are no longer distinguished by gender. Strong masculine
and strong feminine also got merged into strong common.

We end up with the following declension system in Eittlandic.

#+name: tbl:eittlandic-noun-inflexion
#+caption: Eittlandic noun inflexion
| / |     <r> |               |               |            |
|   |         | Strong Common | Strong Neuter | Weak Nouns |
|---+---------+---------------+---------------+------------|
|   | Sg.Nom. | -r            |               |            |
|   |    Acc. |               |               |            |
|   |    Dat. |               |               |            |
|   |    Gen. | -(a)r         | -s            | -s         |
|   | Pl.Nom. | -r            |               | -r         |
|   |    Acc. |               |               |            |
|   |    Dat. | -um           | -um           | -um        |
|   |    Gen. | -(a)r         | -s            | -s         |

The /-ar/ ending drops the /a/ when an underlying ending vowel is present
in a word, as with /dótt/ (daughter) becoming /dóttir/ in its genitive
form. In some regions of Eittland, such as in the area of Vátrsteinn,
a strong neuter / weak noun merger is in effect, where strong neuter
merged into weak nouns. In the area of Hvítvall in North Western
Eastern Eittland, a complete merger between the three types of nouns
happened around the 1850s, where everything is declined as a weak
noun.

Nethertheless, declensions are no longer productive in most Modern
Eittlandic dialects. They are still mostly used in formal and written
speech, but they are less and less frequently used in less formal
circumstances and in oral speech. The Royal Academy for Literature,
which authored the Standard Eittlandic, even recommends not using
grammatical cases when using this dialect as they are seen as
reduntand with other syntactic strategies. While the recommendation is
mostly followed, speakers still tend to use the singular genetive
declension oraly. Younger folks at the time of writing even tend to
regularize it as /-ar/ for strong neuter and weak nouns.

One exception to declensions no longer being productive is in and
around the Hylfjaltr Kingdom exclave in southern Eittland where
speakers of its local dialect tend instead to favour strong nouns for
newer terms. Hence, while most dialects agree on “internet” (pl.nom
/internetr/, pl.dat /internetum/) being a weak noun, this dialect treats
it as either a strong feminine (sg.gen /internetar/, pl.nom&acc
/internetr/, pl.dat /internetum/) or a strong neuter (sg.gen /internets/,
pl.dat /internetum/) --- the difference is due to subdivisions in said
dialect, mainly between rural and urban areas favouring the former and
the latter respectively.

There are some regular exceptions to the declension system. The first
one, inherited from Old Norse, is the /-r/ suffix becoming /-n/ or /-l/ when
a noun ends with an «n» or an «l» respectively, hence the table below
showing the declensions of strong masculine /himn/ (/heaven/) and strong
feminine /hafn/ (/harbour/, /haven/).
#+name: tbl:irregular-noun-declensions
|     <r> |        |        |
|         | himn   | hafn   |
|---------+--------+--------|
| Sg.Nom. | himnn  | hafnn  |
|    Acc. | himn   | hafn   |
|    Dat. | himn   | hafn   |
|    Gen. | himnar | hafnar |
| Pl.Nom. | himnn  | hafnn  |
|    Acc. | himn   | hafn   |
|    Dat. | himnum | hafnum |
|    Gen. | himnar | hafnar |

During the last five centuries, the root of the word got regularized
so that only one or two forms are allowed. Due to umlaut or ablaut, it
is possible the main vowel of a word changes between its singular and
plural form, even sometimes affecting its dative form. These changes
are due to old vowels long gone since --- with most even gone by the
time of Old Norse. These changes mainly remains in a few common words.
The table below gives some examples of such irregularities. These
words are marked as irregular in the dictionary.
#+name: tbl:irregularities-root-nouns
 |     <r> |             |           |           |            |
 |         | kettle (m.) | foot (m.) | book (f.) | water (n.) |
 |---------+-------------+-----------+-----------+------------|
 | Sg.Nom. | ketll       | fótr      | bók       | vatn       |
 |    Acc. | ketl        | fót       | bók       | vatn       |
 |    Dat. | ketl        | fót       | bók       | vatn       |
 |    Gen. | ketlar      | fótar     | bókar     | vatn       |
 | Pl.Nom. | katll       | fœtr      | bœkr      | vótnn      |
 |    Acc. | katl        | fœt       | bœkr      | vótn       |
 |    Dat. | katlum      | fótum     | bókum     | vótnum     |
 |    Gen. | katl        | fœt       | bœk       | vótn       |

*** Articles and Demonstratives
# - Do noun phrases have articles?
# - If so, are they obligatory or optional, and under what
#   circumstances do they occur?
# - Are they separate words, or bound morphemes?
# - Is there a class of classes of demonstratives as distinct from
#   articles?
# - How many degrees of distance are there in the system of
#   demontsratives?
# - Are there other distinctions beside distances?

When the noun of a nominal group is not a mass noun or a proper noun,
an article must accompany it, except for indefinite plural nouns.

**** Indefinite Article
The indefinite article is /einn/, the same term as /one/ in Eittlandic. It
agrees in declension with its noun, though it is to be noted its
declension is irregular, as seen in table below. Similarly, other
numerals have declensions as discussed in [[file:grammar.md#numerals][Word Classes: Numerals]].
#+name: tbl:declension-einn
|      | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|------+-----------+----------+--------|
| Nom. | einn      | ein      | eit    |
| Acc. | ein       | ein      | eit    |
| Dat. | einn      | ein      | eit    |
| Gen. | ein       | einn     | eits   |

**** Definite articles
As in other Scandinavian languages, definite articles in Eittlandic
act as suffixes to the noun and fully replace its declension as it has
case marking itself. The full declension table of definite articles
can be found in the table below. As we can see, the definite articles
underwent an important regularization as well as merging strong neuter
and weak nouns together.

#+name: tbl:definite-articles
| / |     <r> |               |                              |
|   |         | Strong Common | Strong Neuter and Weak Nouns |
|---+---------+---------------+------------------------------|
|   | Sg.Nom. | -(i)nn        | -(i)t                        |
|   |    Acc. | -(i)n         | -(i)t                        |
|   |    Dat. | -(i)n         | -(i)t                        |
|   |    Gen. | -(i)ns        | -(i)ts                       |
|   | Pl.Nom. | -(i)nn        | -(i)tr                       |
|   |    Acc. | -(i)n         | -(i)t                        |
|   |    Dat. | -(i)num       | -(i)tum                      |
|   |    Gen. | -(i)n         | -(i)t                        |

The initial /i/ is only used when using the definite articles as a
suffix would cause a consonant cluster forbidden by Eittlandic
phonology, otherwise it is omitted. An example of the former case is
with /vatn/ (/water/) which becomes /vatnits/ when in its definite singular
genitive form, while /øy/ (/island/) becomes /øyns/ in the same form. Like
the indefinite article, the suffix agrees in gender, agreeing either
with strong masculine or feminine words (or as established before,
strong common) or with strong neuter and weak nouns.

The use of definite articles with nouns is further discussed in
[[file:grammar.md#definiteness][Definiteness]].

*** Definiteness
Definiteness in Eittlandic serves multiple purposes. Its most obvious
one is to distinguish between an indefinite and a definite entity, as
in English /a dog/ or /the dog/, respectively /einn hundr/ and /hundinn/, as
discussed in [[file:grammar.md#articles-and-demonstratives][Articles and Demonstratives]].

However, definiteness is also necessary with suffixed possessives and
demonstrative.

*** Possessives
# - How are possessors expressed in the noun phrase?
# - Do nouns agree with their possessors? Do possessors agree with
#   possessed nouns? Neither, or both?
# - Is there a distinction between alienable and inalienable
#   possesson?
# - Are there other types of possession?
# - When the possessor is a full noun, where does it usually come with
#   respect to the possessed noun?
*** Gender
# - Is there a noun class system?
# - What are the classes and how are they manifested in the noun
#   phrase?
# - What dimension of reality is most central to the noun class system
#   (e.g. animacy, shape, function, etc.)? What other dimensions are
#   relevant?
# - Do the classifiers occur with numerals? Adjectives? Verbs?
# - What is their function in these contexts?
Eittlandic inherited from Old Norse a gender system divided into three
genders: male, female, and neuter. Although the number of elements
marking it declined during its evolution, Eittlandic still marks
gender in its strong nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and to a certain
degree in its articles. However, as mentioned in [[file:grammar.md#case-marking][Case Marking]], case
marking and by extensions gender marking is slowly disappearing in
Modern Eittlandic nouns and adjectives.

Due to the presence of declensions with strong nouns and adjectives,
its pronouns, and to a certain degree different articles, it can still
be said Eittlandic is a gendered language, although it doesn’t hold
much importance in its grammar any more. Since strong nouns aren’t
productive any more and weak nouns lost all obvious gender
differences, we can even consider gender as not productive any more in
Eittlandic and bound to eventually disappear. In fact, the loss of
gender is even stronger in Standard Eittlandic due to the theoretical
absence of declensions in this dialect.

In case a strong noun is used with a strong adjective, both will agree
in number and gender.

#+html: ::: tip Example
- hvítr hund
  | white.m.sg.acc | dog.m.sg.acc |
  white dog
- langir tungir
  | long.f.pl.acc | tongues.f.pl.acc |
  long tongues
#+html: :::

*** Diminution and Augmentation                                    :noexport:
# - Does the language employ diminutive and/or augmentative operators
#   in the noun or noun phrase?
# - Questions to answ
#   - Is this operation obligatory, i.e. does one member of the
#     paradigm have to occur in every full noun phrase?
#   - Is it productiv
#     full noun phras
#     one? (Nothing is fully productive, but some operations are more
#     so than others.)
#   - Is this operation primarily expressed lexically,
#     morphologically, or analytically?
# - Where in the noun phrase is this operation likely to be located?
# - Can it occur in more than one place?

** Predicates and Linked Constructions                            :noexport:
*** Nominal Predicates
# - How are proper inclusion and equative predicates formed?
# - What restrictions are there, if any, on the TAM marking of such
#   clauses?
*** Adjective Predicates
# - How are predicate adjective formed? (Include a separate section on
#   predicate adjectives only if they are structurally distinct from
#   predicate nominals.)
*** Locative Predicates
# - How are locational clauses (or predicate locatives) formed?
*** Existential Predicates
# - How are existential clauses formed? (Give examples in different
#   tense/aspects, especially if there is significant variation.)
# - How are negative
# - Are there extended uses of existential morphology? (Provide
#   pointers to other relevant sections of the grammar.)
*** Possessive Clauses
# - How are possessiv
** Verbal Groups Structure                                        :noexport:
** Intransitive Clauses                                           :noexport:
** Ditransitive Clauses                                           :noexport:
** Dependent Type Clauses                                         :noexport:
*** Non-Finite
*** Semi-Finite
*** Finite
** Grammatical Relationship                                        :noexport:
# Examplify some simple intransitive, transitive, and ditransitive
# clauses. Three-argument clauses may not unequivocally exist.
# - What are the grammatical erlations of this language? Give
#   morphosyntactic evidence for each one that you propose.
#   - Subject?
#   - Ergative?
#   - Absolutive?
#   - Direct object?
#   - Indirect object?
#   There are basically four possible sources of evidence for
#   grammatical relations:
#   - morphological case on NPs
#   - person marking on verbs
#   - constituent ord
#   - some pragmatic hierarchy
# - Is the system of grammatical relations in basic (affirmative,
#   declarative) clauses organized according to a
#   nominative/accusative, ergative/absolutive, tripartite, or some
#   other system?
# - Is there a split system for organizing grammatical relations? If
#   so, what determin
#   - Is there split instransitivity? If so, what semantic or
#     discourse/pragmatic factor conditions the split?
#   - Does the system for pronouns and/or person marking on verbs
#     operate on the same basis as that of full NPs?
#   - Are there different grammatical-relation systems depending on
#     the clause type (e.g. main vs. dependent clauses, affirmative
#     vs. negative clauses)?
#   - Are there different grammatical-relation assignment systems
#     depending on th
#   - Are there any syntactic processes (e.g. conjunction reduction,
#     relativization) that operate on an ergative/absolutive basis?
** Constructions Link                                              :noexport:
** Valence Increase                                                :noexport:
*** Causative
*** Applicative
*** Dative Shift
*** Dative Interest
*** External Possession
* Notes                                                            :noexport:
** Grammaticalization in Germanic Languages
:PROPERTIES:
:CAPTURED: [2021-01-02 sam. 14:32]
:END:
*** Nordic Languages
**** Danish
- *Reflexive* /-s/ (reflexive suffix) > *passive* (passive marker)
- *sit* /sidde/ (sit) > *continuous* /sidde + og/ (coordinating conjunction, ’and’) + head verb -> progressive aspect

**** Faroese
- *demonstrative* > *conjunction*
- *locative* > *a-possessive*

**** Icelandic
- *back* (body part) /bak/ > *after* /bak(i)/
- *back* (body part) /bak/ > *behind* /(að) bak(i)/
- *circle* /hringur/ > *around* /kring/
- *environs* (vinicity) /(um)hverfi/ > *around* (spatial) /umhverfis/
- *keep* /halda/ (to hold) > *continuous* /halda áfram að + INF/ (to continue to)
- *man* /maður/ (man) > *indefinite pronoun* /maður/ (someone)

**** Norwegian
- *dative* > *a-possessive*
- *intensive-refl* /selv/ > *even*

**** Swedish
- *house* /hus/ (house) > *locative* /hos/ (at, next to)
- *keep* /hålla på att/ (hold) > *continuous*
- *simile* /liksom/ (like, as) > *quotative* /liksom/ (nonverbatim quotative)

** Word order:
Postpositional:
- AdjN
- NRel
- DemN
- NumN and NNum
- PossN and NPoss (mín katt & katten mín)
- GenN

** Genitive
In the genitive noun phrase, the genetive part is declined at the
genitive case, which cannot have a relative proposition. The noun
phrase that characterizes the genitive is in the nominative case.

Example:
- My black and white cat’s big green eyes

  Mín svar