Mänula Gramatika Zõjukš Chadeš

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. Land and people

When I was a student at the Institute for Eastern European Studies during the years 1989-1994, I caught interest for nationalities questions in the (former) Soviet Union. While preparing a paper on Polish-Ukrainian relations, I accidentally stumbled upon a small nation living in the north of Russia, the Hats, a people I had never heard of before. I got fascinated immediately, not only by their very existence, but also, in particular, by their language.

Although I was never educated as a professional linguist, I became a professional Polish translator. Scientific linguistics, however, were always a major hobby of mine, which allowed me to make a study of the Hattic language. Modesty commands me to warn anyone who reads this text, that it is the work of a devoted amateur, not of a professional. Besides, I feel I should make it clear, that I am not at all a fluent speaker of the Hattic language. Therefore, my notes are merely based upon the works of such outstanding scientists like Gustav Bauer, Vadim Barskij, Gennadij Voznesenskij, and Igor Lãkelma.

The first thing that caught my interest was the fact, that the Hattic language forms an entirely independent branch of the Indo-European language family, which ought to be sufficient to attract the attention of linguistic circles. Surprisingly, this happened only in a few cases. I hope that my short sketch of the language, probably the first time it ever appears on the Internet, will contribute to a broader recognition of the Hattic people and its needs; it is my sincere conviction, that they deserve it.

Not much is known about the early history of the Hats. Most scientists identify them with a tribe mentioned by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus, the ’Ωσκάρoι, who must have lived somewhere north of contemporary Ukraine, and who were frequently at war with their southern neighbours, the Scyths. According to this theory, the name ’Ωσκάρoι has survived in the name of another people, related to the Hats, the Askai.

Others place them further to the east, in the vicinity of Lake Aral, the territory of Saks and Sarmats.

A third theory considers them as an offspring of the Hatti, a non-Indo-European people that lived in Asia Minor in the 2nd millennium B.C., and later heavily influenced the culture of the Hettites. This idea, however, is based upon nothing but the similarity of the name, which in the opinion of many is just a mere coincidence; if it were true, the Hats would have borrowed from their ancestors nothing but their very name. It is safer to believe, that earlier theorists, who erroneously linked them with the Hatti, called them Hats, and that this name later became customary in wider circles. The misunderstanding could be due to a resemblance to the name of the Hats in their own language, Chadeš. This word has actually been derived from the old Hattic word for mountain, chardura; literally, Hats means “mountaineers”.

There is a fourth theory that sees the Hats as “a lost Tocharian tribe”. It is true that certain similarities cannot be denied, but the differences between the languages, both lexically and morphologically, are too huge to give credibility to the hypothesis of common roots with the Tocharians or their ancestors. It is possible, however, that the Hats and the Tocharians have shared a portion of common history.

Personally I believe, that the first theory makes most sense. It even appears, that the Hats must have lived in the territory north of Ukraine for a considerably long period. This would explain both certain phonological similarities with the Iranian languages and, through the long-time presence of Gothic and other East Germanic tribes in those territories, the unmistakable influence of the Germanic languages at the Hattic sound system. It would also explain why, despite the Hats’ inhabiting a territory belong­ing mostly to Uralic peoples, the latter's influence on the Hattic language is rather insignificant. From this point of view, it is the only theory for which there is any linguistic evidence whatsoever.

The first written evidence of a Hattic state dates back only to the second half of the thirteenth century, when the existence of a “Hattic prince, fierce and courageous” was mentioned in the chronicles of Vasilij Nesmejanov. Except for being “fierce and courageous” the prince was also known for his cruelty towards his enemies. Unfortunately, very little written material has been left to us about the period the Hattic princes; all we know for certain is, that they were regularly at war with their North Slavonic neighbours. The only thing that we know for certain, is that the Hattic princedom was sub­juged by the Moscovian tsar between 1488 and 1507, and that subsequently the Hattic nobility lost all its privileges and fell back into peasantry within decades.

The Hattic Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in 1918, shortly after the Bolshe­viks took over in Russia. It was the beginning of a cultural revival during the 1920s. The leftist writer Konstantin Vurak, who took the position of 1st secretary of the Communist Party in the HASSR, made an enormous contribution to this. After centuries of different orthographies, Hattic spelling was finally standardized. Literature, music and other forms of art flourished; there was also a major increase in Hattic education. Later, all these things were considered by the Stalinist regime as forms of nationa­lism, and in the thirties, most of them were put to an end. The Cyrillic alphabet was imposed to replace the original Latin alphabet in the same year when Vurak died in a Siberian camp.

After Stalin's death improvement came, be it slowly and step-by-step. In the sixties, as a result of the relative freedom enjoyed under Khrushchev’s regime, a group of writers within the communist party, the so-called “sfešmetakeš”, including Valentin Vurak, Konstantin's grandson, advocated an upgrade of the status of the Hattic language. They made Hattic literature flourish again and succeeded in a small-scale reappearance of Hattic education; however, their efforts to change the Hattic ASSR's status into that of a union republic, failed. Part of their accomplishments were undone under Brezhnev's rule, but this was only a temporary setback. In the second half of the eighties, the period of perestroika, a large national movment emerged, cumulating into the People's Front for Freedom and Perestroika (Sejser Front az Ajšadej ha Darmichazuj, SFAD), the Hattic equivalent of the Baltic People's Fronts. It's leader became Igor Lãkelma, long-time professor of Hattic linguistics at the University of Bazor-Hel, and a prolific writer, who had earlier belonged to the sfešmetakeš.

The Hattic Republic, as it is called now, was founded in the year 1993. Lãkelma was elected its president, and the Hattic language soon received the status of its first official language, next to Russian. Lãkelma still enjoys great popularity, and among Hats he enjoys an almost legendary, heroic status, though it must be said, that his political activities clearly had a negative influence on his writing.

Currently, the republic is facing similar problems as other post-Sovjet multinational entites, in particular the bad economic situation and the nationalities issue. There is much tension between the Hats and the Askai on one hand, and the Russians and other Slavonic minorities on the other.

The Russians constitute 32 % of the republic's population, thus outnumbering the Hats (24,6 %), the Askai (17,1 %), and the Dolans (1,3 %). There has always been a huge amount of Russians on Hattic territory, but their number increased steadily under communist rule as a result of its policy of russification. Almost all of them have Russian as their native language, and only 16,6 % are able to speak Hattic. Similar figures apply also to other Slavic minorities on Hattic territory, mainly Ukrainians, Belorussians, Motyaks and Vozgai. Of the Hats, on the other hand, only 60,4 % consider Hattic as their first language, while the vast majority of the others have Russian as its native language; 7,5 % of them do not even speak Hattic. Only the Solybians, an autochtonous people of North-Slavonic origin, who consitute 11,1 % of the republic's population, tend to assimilate rather with the Hats than with the Russians.

1.2. Classification of the Hattic language

The Indo-European language tree can be divided into two subcategories: kentum and satem languages. Traditionally, this division was paralleled with a division into north-western and south-eastern languages. However, the discovery of the two ancient Tocharian languages near the Chinese border, at the beginning of the 20th century, prompted scientists to the conclusion that one could rather speak of a division between the more innovative satem languages in the centre, and the kentum languages, which more or less preserved ancient Indo-European phonology, in the periphery. This seemed to confirm J. Schmidt's gulf theory.

Hattic belongs to a group known as the “Khadurian languages”. It can be classified as a kentum language and is located in the northern periphery. Thus, it fills the gap between Tocharian and the Germanic languages. However, it underwent its own typical soundshifts that distinguish it from the other kentum languages. Characteric for the Hattic language is the spirantisation of Indo-European alveolars. Through this fact, the language is richer in spirants than other kentum languages, and it might easily be mistaken for a satem language. Besides, like the Germanic languages, Hattic shows a tendency towards devoicing the voiced Indo-European consonants unvoiced and vice versa. Its vowel system, on the other hand, is especially rich in nasal vowels. Due to its location the Hattic language has been subject to strong influences from both the Slavonic and the Iranian languages over the centuries.

The Khadurian group of languages contains four languages:

• Hattic, spoken by about 208,000 people in the rajons Bazor-Hel, Ratak and Bãhelsa;
• Askaic, also known as East Hattic, is the second native language of the HASSR and spoken by approx. 145,000 people, mainly in the eastern rajons of Vešegura, Magura and Nirus;
• Megza (Megan), also known as South Hattic, consists of two dialects, Megza proper and Kopsa, both spoken in the Vozgian ASSR, in and around the town of Stolar-Megan, by approx. 66,000 people;
• Dolan, also known as Mountain Hattic, is spoken by approx. 10,000 people in the Ujhanuf rajon in the HASSR, and can be considered an endangered language.

Though the differences between the languages are not extremely large, it would go much too far to speak of dialects of one language. Only Askaic and Dolan, which are closely related to each other, are mutually understandable. It is said that with some effort the Dolans and the Hats can understand each other as well, though I was never given the opportunity to verify this for myself. This could, of course, just be the result of the geographical position of the Dolans, roughly between the Hats and the Askai; more probable, however, is the explanation, that the Dolan language is closest to the Proto-Khadurian language, in the way that mountaineers' languages usually show some sort of innate conservatism, due to their relative isolation.

We have no written evidence of a Proto-Khadurian language, but it is very probable, that the ancestors of Hats, Askai, Megans and Dolans once spoke a common language, that divided into its daughter language relatively late. In his “Versuch einer Rekonstruktion des Proto-Chadurischen” Gustav Bauer made an attempt to reconstruct it. His reconstruction of Proto-Khadurian is still used as a standard, though in my opinion he leans too heavily on Hattic. Besides, what he could not have foreseen, was that in 1930 the German scientist Friedwald von Kipping would discover an old manuscript from the North-East of the peninsula Kola in what appears to be a fifth Khadurian language, now long extinct.

1.3. Dialects

I am not entirely sure about the dialects, but so far a I know, a general distinction could be made between a north-eastern dialect (the “standard” dialect) and a south-western dialect.

1.4. Suggestions for further reading

Vadim Barskij, “Malenkij slovar’ chadskogo jazyka” (Moskva, 1959)
Gustav Bauer, “Versuch einer Rekonstruktion des Proto-Chadurischen” (Berlin, 1886)
Maxim Bel’skij, “Kak eto skazat’ po-chacki?” (Leningrad, 1987)
Friedwald von Kipping, “Kolanisch, die fünfte Khadurische Sprache” (Berlin, 1930)
Victor Korolyuk, “The Hattic ASSR” (Vancouver, 1982)
Igor Lãkelma, “Zõjuk Chadeš” (Bazor-Hel, 1976)
Malcolm McKenzie, “A Hattic Grammar” (Edinburgh, 1991)
Tadeusz Wolski & Mirosław Falik, “Kolańskie rękopisy” (Kraków, 1932)

There is also an interesting link (unfortunately, it is currently dead; let’s hope it will be revived soon): http://www.bazor-hel.ru/univ/hatistika.html

2. PHONOLOGY

2.1. The Hattic alphabet

Traditionally, the Hattic language is written in Latin script. In 1936 the Cyrillic script was imposed for political reasons, while the Latin script was banned. After the fall of the USSR, Latin script was restored in 1992. However, many people, especially the older generation, still prefer to use the Cyrillic alphabet.

The Hattic Latin alphabet contains 29 letters and one combination of two letters.

A Ã Ä B C Č D E F G H Ch I Ĩ J K L M N O Õ P R S Š T U V Z Ž

2.2. Vowels

The Hattic vowel system is relatively easy. It makes no difference between long vowels and short vowels, nor is there a difference between open vowels and closed vowels. Thus, it corresponds more or less with the vowel system of most Slavonic languages. The only important difference is the frequent presence in Hattic of nasal vowels.

The SAMPA transcription is given between square brackets.

a   [A]   like   a in English “shark” e [E] like e in English “jetset” i [i] like ea in English “beast” o [O] like o in English “loss” u [u] like oo in English “booze” ã [A~] like an in French “quarantaine” ĩ [E~] like in in French “crétin” õ [O~] like on in French “cochon” ä [æ, @] is pronounced as a vowel between [@] (schwa, like e in English “the”) and i in English “shit”

In sophisticated speech the nasal vowels (ã, ĩ, õ) are always pronouned in the above way. However, especially among younger people – and in cases when someone speaks rather quickly – there is a strong tendency towards assimilation of the nasal with the subsequent consonant, even if the latter is at the beginning of the next word. At the end of a word, the nasal is sometimes not pronounced at all. Thus:

trõbaz	can be pronounced like	[trombaz]
sĩder	can be pronounced like	[sender]
zãker	can be pronounced like	[zaŋker]
janaf zõ	can be pronounced like	[janaf zo].

2.3. Diphthongs

Hattic knows only three diphtongs, and they appear not very frequently.

au   [Aw]   combination of a-u   like ow in English “cow” ou [Ou, o] combination of o-u more or less like ow in English “show” uo [wO] combination of u-o like wa in English “water”

2.4. Consonants

	labial	alveolar	alveo-palatal	velar
plosive, unvoiced	p	t	č [tS]	k
plosive, voiced	b	d	dž [dZ]	g
fricative, unvoiced	f	s	š [S]	ch [x]
fricative, voiced	v	z	ž [Z]
affricate, unvoiced		c [ts]
affricate, voiced		dz
trill		r
approximant		l	j	h
nasal	m	n		(ŋ [N])

2.5. Phonology

The Indo-European vowel system remains largely unchanged in Hattic. The letter ä usually takes over the place of IE short e or @ (schwa). The nasal vowels ã, ĩ, and õ exist only in Hattic proper; they replace Proto-Hattic am/an, em/en, om/on.

Typical for Hattic is the combination of two factors: the spirantization of Indo-European unaspirated alveolars, and a soundshift slightly reminiscent of the Germanic languages. This soundshift can be described as follows:

• unaspirated plosives become fricatives;
• voiced aspirated plosives become unvoiced unaspirated plosives;
• likewise, unvoiced aspirated plosives become voiced aspirated plosives;
• Indo-European s (including sŭ) becomes the palatal fricative š;
• the Indo-European unvoiced palatal k’ becomes a voiced fricative ž (sometimes č);
• the Indo-European voiced palatal g’ becomes a affricate dž;
• Indo-European ŭ becomes j.

The Hattic sound shift is represented in the following (simplified) scheme:

	labial/labiodental	dental/alveolar	palatal	velar/guttural
unaspirated, unvoiced	p > f	t > s	k’ > ž (č)	k > ch
unaspirated, voiced	b > v	d > z	g’ > dž	g > h
aspirated, unvoiced	ph > b	th > d	k’h > c (č)	kh > g
aspirated, voiced	bh > p	dh > t	g’h > dz	gh > k
nasal	m > m	n > n
spirant		s > š
trill		r > r
approximant	ŭ > j	ĭ > j		h > h
lateral approximant		l > l

2.6. Accent

Accent is usually placed on the first syllable of the word root; this is, however, not a rule. In verbs with a prefix it is often the prefix that is stressed, but not always. Stress is never affected by inflection. In foreign words, stress usually corresponds with the original language.

3. NOUNS

3.1. General

The Hattic language has three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), three numbers (singular, dual, plural), and six cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative).

There is no article; “bäig” can be translated as “fish”, “a fish”, and “the fish”, depending on the context of a sentence. For example:

Nasra esã bäig.	“I never eat fish.”
Jolõ jãz bäig.	“I want to be a fish.”
Ad bäig, šã moj zazada hãsu, muda.	“The fish you gave me yesterday is dead.”

3.2. Declension of nouns

There are six declensions. Good examples of each declension are: kjär “animal”, präk “mountain”, suraj “tree”, rajsa “rose”, bäig “fish”, and aulu “apple”.

	I (masc.) -Ø, -o, -oš	II (masc.) -Ø	III (masc.) -aj	IV (fem.) -a	V (fem.) -Ø, -i	VI (neut.) -u
singular
nom. gen. dat. acc. instr. loc.	kjär kjäru kjäruj kjärõ kjärud kjäri	präk präkš präkej präkĩ präkes präki	suraj suraf suraj surã surad suraj	rajsa rajsaš rajsaj rajsã rajsis rajsi	bäig bäigš bäihi bäigĩ bäiges bäihi	aulu aulu auluj aulu aulud auli
dual
nom. gen. dat. acc. instr. loc.	kjäroj kjäruš kjärop kjäroj kjärmo kjärus	präkaf präkuš präkup präkaf präkmo präkus	suraf surauš surap suraf surajmo surajus	rajsaf rajsuš rajsap rajsaf rajsmo rajsus	bäigaf bäiguš bäigep bäigaf bäigmo bäihus	aulaf auluš aulup aulaf aulmo aulus
plural
nom. gen. dat. acc. instr. loc.	kjäreš kjärem kjärpu kjärĩ kjärmu kjäršu	präkeš präkem präkpu präkĩ präkmu präkšu	sureš surem surajpu surĩ suraš surajšu	rajseš rajsam rajspu rajsĩ rajsmu rajspuj	bäigeš bäihum bäigpu bäigeš bäigmu bäigpuj	aula aulum aulpu aula aulmu aulšu

3.3. Derivation of nouns

Nouns can be derived in several ways, mostly from adjectives, verbs, and other nouns. The most obvious way to derive a noun from an adjective, is the latter's mere substantivation. In this cases the adjective does not change its form; it still behaves like an adjective. Example:

Ajr õs as feluš “Deliver us from evil”

Belonging to the same category are those cases, where the adjective is actually a participle form of a verb. This can be either the present participle, the perfect particple, or the gerund (future participle). In the first case the noun is the person or object performing the action denoted by the verb in question, in the latter two cases it is its direct object. Examples:

gänuz “to begin” > gänunder “beginning, beginner”
vzoraz “to listen” > vzorãder “listening, listener”
januz “to love” > jajãver “beloved”
tänz “to do” > tãrer “something to be done”; tãreš “things to be done”

Another type of substantivized adjective is a noun that denotes the characteric expressed by it. In English, this is done by suffixes like -ness (brightness, happiness), -ship (friendship), or -ty (in Latin/French loanwords: infinity, stupidity). In Hattic, this effect is usually achieved by adding one of the following suffixes to the root of the adjective: -šad when the root ends in an unvoiced consonant; -žad when the root ends in a voiced consonant; -ščad when the root ends in an unvoiced spirant, where š replaces s; -ždžad when the root ends in a voiced spirant, where ž replaces z; -ešad when the root ends in three (or more) consonants, or when the root ends in two consonants, where the latter is l, r, m, or n. All words ending on -šad, -žad, and -čad are female in gender and are inflected according to the fifth declination. Examples:

sefer “friendly” > sefšad “friendliness, friendship”
siver “thick” > sivžad “thickness”
sejser “national” > sejščad “nationality”
nozer “naked” > noždžad “nakedness”
plojfler “eloquent (lit. flowerful)” > plojflešad “eloquence”

A third category of substantivized adjectives can be observed, when a characteristic is applied to a person. This can be done in two ways: by adding the suffix -ak for a male or -(a)ka for a female person to express a positive or neutral attitude towards him/her, and by adding the suffix -och (always male) to give it an explicitly negative connotation. Examples:

häder “grey” > hädak “aged person, old-timer”
naser “sweet” > nasak (m) or naska (f) “sweetie, my dear”
feler “bad” > felak “bad person”
feler “bad” > feloch “bad-ass”
marer “dirty” > maroch “dirty person”
urper “weak” > urpoch “weakling”

This does not happen automatically, even when the adjective explicitly describes the person's character, look or state; a dead person is a “muder”, not a “mudak”, although the latter form is sometimes used jokingly.

Nouns can also be derived from verbs. Again, the most obvious way of doing so is just substantivizing its actual meaning, thus giving it the meaning: the act of doing something. The corresponding suffix in English is -ing (or -nce or -tion in the case of romance loanwords). In Hattic, this is done by adding -u to the infinitive; it is inflected according to the 6th declination. Example (I know it is not the most decent thing to say, but I heard this sentence literally used in a conversation between two men near a kiosk in Bazor-Hel, and it is a perfect sample of verb substantivation):

Zad moj tafazu madžã garsã du ipsazu. “Killing give me greater pleasure than fucking.”

Secondly, a verb can be substantivized by giving it the meaning of a person/thing/factor that performs a certain action, or causes it to happen. This category includes most professions; English equivalents are numerous; most frequently words ending in -er. The difference with the category of present participles used as nouns, is rather small. One could say, that in this case the nouns has a more fixed substantival meaning; it remains, however, a matter of idiom.

Such forms are created by adding the suffix -(a)k to the verbal root; -ik is used in those rare cases, when the noun is derived from a verb of the i-conjugation. Examples:

baucaz “to work” > baucak “worker”
joguz “to speak” > jogak “speaker”
ušiz “to exist” > ušik “a being, creature”
jufartãz “to travel” > jufartãk “traveller”

The largest category are nouns derived from other nouns. There are numerous ways to do this, not all of which will be mentioned here. I will limit myself to the most imporant categories.

First of all, there are diminutive and augmentative forms. Diminutions are created by the infix -l- between the root of a noun and the suffix designating its gender. Augmentations are created by adding the suffix -och to the root. Often, but not always, they have a negative connotation. Examples:

1st declension: kjär “animal” > kjäral “little animal”, kjäroch “large animal, beast, monster”
2nd declension: präk “mountain” > präkel “little mountain, pile”, präkoch “huge mountain”
3rd declension: suraj “tree” > sural “little tree”, suroch “large tree”
4th declension: bärna “woman” > bärnala “little woman”, bärnoch “big/bad/ugly woman”
5th declension: bäjgi “fish” > bäigila “fishie”, bäigoch “enormous fish”
6th declension: mudžu “sound” > mudžulu “little sound”, mudžoch “noise”

Very frequently used are nouns designating a person, whose expertise is in a certain field, or who makes his business of something (English: -ist, -an). In most cases often the suffix -ar is used. Examples:

ploj “flower” > plojar “flower salesman”
muzika “music” > muzikar “musician”
huj “sheep” > hujar “shephard”

In loanwords the suffix -ist can be used, to indicate a follower of an idealogy or someone with a certain profession. Examples:

socjalist “socialist”
artist “artist”

The last category I feel should be mentioned, are the inhabitants of a country, a region, or a city. In English, those words are formed with suffixes like -an, -ese, -er. In Hattic, the most frequently used suffix is -an; in some cases only the root is used, or the root with the suffix -ak. Examples:

Rusia “Russia” > Rusan “Russian” (Rus, or even Rusel, has a rather pejorative connotation)
Ãglia “England” > Ãglan “Englishman”
Evropa “Europe” > Evropan “European”
Bazor-Hel > Helan “inhabitant of Bazor-Hel”
China “China” > Chinak “Chinese”

4. ADJECTIVES

4.1. Position of the adjective

The adjective usually comes first, i.e. before the noun. In more poetic or old-fashioned constructions it can also be placed after the noun. Also in cases where the adjective forms a stable unity with the noun, it is often placed after it.

4.2. Declension

root: još “good”	masculine	feminine	neuter
singular
nom. gen. dat. acc. instr. loc.	jošer jošeš jošej jošĩ jošes joši	joša jošaš jošaj jošã jošis joši	jošu jošuš jošuj jošu jošud joši
dual
nom. gen. dat. acc. instr. loc.	jošaf jošuš jošup jošaf jošmo jošus	jošaf jošuš jošup jošaf jošmo jošus	jošaf jošuš jošup jošaf jošmo jošus
plural
nom. gen. dat. acc. instr. loc.	jošeš jošum jošpu jošeš jošmu joššu	jošeš jošum jošpu jošeš jošmu jošpuj	joša jošum jošpu joša jošmu joššu

4.3. Comparative and superlative

The comparative is formed by adding the suffix -ašer to the root of an adjective. The object of the comparison has the nominative and is preceded by the word du (“than”).

The superlative is formed by adding the suffix -aster to the root of the adjective. For example:

Sõs urseš ursnašeš du bärneš, ma ad uler bärnoch ursnaster as šakiš.
“Men are stronger than women, but that female over there is the strongest of all.” 

4.4. Adverbs

An adjective can be adverbialized simply by removing the suffix from the root. For example:

Fafrĩva zõ još? “Did I understand you well?”

4.5. Derivation of adjectives

Adjectives can be derived from verbs, nouns, and other adjectives.

When derived from a verb:

• to indicate a possibility or probability: root + -põder
  spächuz “to see” > spächpõder “visible”
  frenaz “to understand > frĩpõder “understandable”
  tänz “to do” > tämpõder “doable, possible”
• to indicate, that the subject has a tendency toward something: root + -(h)uner
  joguz “to speak” > joguner “talkative”
  knäruz “to fight, to quarrel” > knäruner “tending to quarrel”
  sejchaz “to judge” > sejchuner “prejudiced”

When derived from a noun:

• to indicate an adjectivized noun or a relationship: root + -oker
  sejs “people” > sejsoker “people’s, national”
• to indicate that the subject is made of a certain material: root + -(u)zer
  ävuš “wood” > ävuzer “wooden”
  ehu “glass” > ehuzer “made of glass”
  õs “stone” > õsuzer “made of stone”
• to indicate a similarity: root + -(o)tever
  gas “cat” > gastever “cat-like”
  jušru “water” > jušrotever “watery”
  mäsar “mother” > mäsartever “motherly”
• to indicate that the subject is rich or full of something: root + -(o)vler, -veler, -(o)fler
  jana “love” > janovler “loving”
  ploj “flower” > plojfler “full of flowers, eloquent”
  žãh “weight” > žãfler “heavy, important”
• to indicate a lack of something (English -less): root + -šener
  zõm “house” > zõšener “homeless”
  jiva “life” > jivžener “lifeless”
  bauc “work” > baučener “unemployed”

When derived from another adjective:

• to indicate the opposite (English -un): prefix nä-
  sefer “friendly” > näsefer “unfriendly”
  šädzuner “safe” > näšädzuner “insecure”
  täger “useful” > nätäger “useless”
• to indicate a surfeit (English too, over-): prefix ani-
  haker “old” > anihaker “too old”
  marer “dirty” > animarer “too dirty”
  furjajãver “in love” > anifurjajãver “deeply in love”
• to strengthen its meaning: root + -ocher
  dzälder “ugly” > dzäldocher “extremely ugly”
  õsuder “boring” > õsudocher “extremely boring”
  ozer “big, large” > ozocher “enormous”
• to weaken its meaning: root + -aler
  dzäler “orange” > dzälaler “orangeish”
  chaferšer “difficult” > chaferšaler “a bit difficult”
  hälsãder “strange” > hälsãdaler “slightly strange”

5. PRONOUNS

5.1. Table of correlatives

	question	this	that	some	any	no	every
adjective	hazer “this”	sasker “such”		hazerfe “some”	hazerna “any”	nazer “no”	šaker “every”
person	hir “who”	kir/kja/ku “this”	uler/ula/ulu “that”	hirfe “someone”	hirna “anyone”	nir “nobody”	šasiš “everyone”
object	hu “what”			hufe “something”	huna “anything”	nahu “nothing”	šak “everything”
quantity	gasi “how much”	sasi “this/that much”			gasina “no matter how much ”
place	gu “where”	su “here”	sam “there”	gufe “somewhere”	guna “anywhere”	nagu “nowhere”	šagu “everywhere”
time	asra “when”	nu “now”	azo; zas “then”	asrafe “ever, sometime”	asrana “anytime”	nasra “never”	mužeš “always”
method	him “how”	lušre “like this/that, in this/that way”		hĩfe “somehow”	himna “anyhow”
reason	aschu “why”	sud skrašud “for this/that reason, therefore”		aschufe “for some reason”	aschuna “no matter why”
destination	gun “whereto”	sun “hereto”	usun “thereto”	gunfe “(to) somewhere”		nagun “(to) nowhere”
source	hana “whence”	sana “hence”	usana “thence”	hanafe “from somewhere”	hanana “from anywhere”
route	is “along which way”	sis “along this way”	usis “along that way”	isfe “along some way”	isna “along any way”

5.2. Personal pronouns

person	1st	2nd	3rd masc.	3rd fem.	3rd neut.
singular
nom. gen. dat. acc. instr. loc.	af muš moj mõ mud mi	zu zeš zuj zõ zud zuj	šu soš soj sõ sod soj	ša saš saj sã sis ši	šun suš suj šun šud suj
dual
nom. gen. dat. acc. instr. loc.	uj nuš nup naf numo nus	ju uš up uf umo us	suj sauš saup sau saumo saus	saf sauš saup sau saumo saus	saf sauš saup sau saumo saus
plural
nom. gen. dat. acc. instr. loc.	vaj näš näpu õš näjmu näšu	juš uš ušpu uš ujmu ušu	seš sum spu sõš smu sošu	saš sam sapu sãš samu sapuj	ša sum supu ša sumu sušu

5.3. Possessive pronouns

	singular	dual	plural
1st person	mur, ma, mu	nur, nua, nu	umner, umna, umnu
2nd person	zur, zva, zu	ur, ua, u	ušer, uša, ušu
3rd person, masc.	šor, šoja, šoju	sover, sova, sovu	sojer, soja, soju
3rd person, fem.	šar, šaja, šaju	saver, sava, savu	sajer, saja, saju
3rd person, neut.	šur, šuja, šuju	suver, suva, suvu	sujer, suja, suju

Declined like normal adjectives are: all plural forms, all dual forms of the 3rd person, and the female and neuter forms of all singular persons and of the dual 1st en 2nd person. Mur, zur, šor, šar, šur, nur, and ur are irregular:

	1st sg.	3rd sg.m.	3rd sg.f.	3rd sg.n.
singular
nom. gen. dat. acc. instr. loc.	mur* muš muj mõ mud muj	šor šoš šoj šõ šod šoj	šar šaš ši šã šad šaj	šur šuš šuj šõ šud šuj

5.4. Reflexive pronoun

The reflexive pronoun is sfoš “myself, yourself, ourself, him-/her-/itself”. It has no gender and no nominative.

nom. gen. dat. acc. instr. loc.

(does not exist) sfoš sfoj sfoš sfod sfoj

5.5. Reciprocal pronoun

The two reciprocal pronouns are: halneš “each other” and halner “each other’s”. Halner is inflected like a regular adjective.

5.6. Demonstrative pronouns

Hattic knows two categories of demonstrative pronouns: kir for persons or objects close to the speaker (“this, over here”), uler for persons or object further away (“that, over there”).

The first category of demonstrative pronouns, kir and its forms, are also used as relative pronouns.

	kir “this”			uler “that”
	masc.	fem.	neut.	masc.	fem.	neut.
singular
nom. gen. dat. acc. instr. loc.	kir siš si sã sid si	kja säš säj sã sis si	ku suš si ku sud si	uler uleš ulej ulĩ ulud uli	ula ulaš ulaj ulã ulis uli	ulu uluš uluj ulu ulud uli
dual
nom./acc. gen. dat. instr. loc.	saf suš sip smo sus	saf suš säp smo sus	saf suš sup smo sus	ulaf uluš ulp ulmo ulus	ulaf uluš ulp ulmo ulus	ulaf uluš ulp ulmo ulus
plural
nom./acc. gen. dat. instr. loc.	siš sim spu smu sišu	säš säm spu smu spuj	sa sum spu smu sušu	uleš ulum ulpu ulmu ulšu	ulaš ulum ulpu ulmu ulpuj	ula ulum ulpu ulmu ulšu

5.7. Interrogative pronouns

	who?	what?
nom. gen. dat. acc. instr. loc.	hir hiš hi hĩ hid hi	hu huš huj hu hud huj

6. VERBS

6.1. General

Hattic has a rich inflectional system. There are four moods (indicative, conjunctive, conditional, and imperative), three tenses (present, imperfect, and future), three numbers (singular, dual, plural), and three persons. There is no pluperfect; its role is taken over by the perfect tense. Besides, there are the active voice and the passive voice.

Like in Ancient Greek and Sanskrit, the past tense is made by adding an augment, and the perfect tense by reduplication. It can be said, that Hattic has one of the most conservative verbal systems of the whole Indo-European family.

6.2. Conjugation

Conjugation	I: -az		II: -uz		III: -iz
	active	passive	active	passive	active	passive
INFINITIVE	pãtaz “to bind”	pãtarzi “to be bound”	januz “to love”	janurzi “to be loved”	zemiz “to punish”	zemirzi “to be punished”
PRESENT	pãtã pãtaš pãtad	pãtar pãtašer pãtader	janaf januš janud	janur janušer januder	zemõ zemiš zemid	zemir zemišer zemider
	pãtaus pãtasaf pãtadaf	pãtaur pãtaser pãtadar	janaus janusaf janudaf	janaur januser janudar	zemaus zemisaf zemidaf	zemaur zemiser zemidar
	pãtama pãtace pãtõs	pãtamar pãtacer pãtard	januma januce janãs	janumar janucer janurd	zemima zemice zemĩs	zemimar zemicer zemird
IMPERFECT	apãtam apãtaš apãtad	apãtar apãtašer apãtader	ajanam ajanaš ajanad	ajanar ajanašer ajanader	azemam azema azemad	azemar azemašer azemader
	apãtäf apãtase apãtade	apãtär apãtasär apãtadär	ajanäf ajanase ajanade	ajanär ajanasär ajanadär	azemäf azemase azemade	azemär azemasär azemadär
	apãtamäf apãtace apãtãs	apãtamär apãtacer apãtãder	ajanamäf ajanace ajanãs	ajanamär ajanacer ajanãder	azemamäf azemace azemãs	azemamär azemacer azemãder
PERFECT	papãtava papãtada papãtu	papãtarmi papãtardi papãtavri	jajãva jajãda jajanu	jajãrmi jajãrdi jajãvri	zezemiva zezemida zezemi	zezemirmi zezemirdi zezemivri
	papãtame papãtace papãtade	papãtamär papãtasär papãtadär	jajãme jajãce jajãde	jajãmär jajãsär jajãdär	zezemime zezemice zezemide	zezemimär zezemisär zezemide
	papãtavum papãtaveš papãtaver	papãtamsär papãtarcär papãtavrid	jajãvum jajãveš jajãver	jajãmsär jajãrcär jajãvrid	zezemivum zezemiveš zezemiver	zezemimsär zezemircär zezemivrid
CONJUNCTIVE	pãto pãtoš pãtod	pãtor pãtošer pãtoder	jano janoš janod	janor janošer janoder	zemo zemoš zemod	zemor zemošer zemoder
	pãtos pãtose pãtode	pãtour pãtoser pãtoder	janos janose janode	janour janoser janoder	zemos zemose zemode	zemour zemoser zemoder
	pãtome pãtoce pãtõs	pãtomer pãtocer pãtord	janome janoce janõs	janomer janocer janord	zemome zemoce zemõs	zemomer zemocer zemord
FUTURE	pãci pãciš pãcid	pãcir pãcišer pãcider	jãsi jãsiš jãsid	jãsir jãsišer jãsider	zĩsi zĩsiš zĩsid	zĩsir zĩsišer zĩsider
	pãcius pãcisaf pãcidaf	pãciur pãciser pãcidar	jãsius jãsisaf jãsidaf	jãsiur jãsiser jãsidar	zĩsius zĩsisaf zĩsidaf	zĩsiur zĩsiser zĩsidar
	pãcima pãcice pãcĩs	pãcimar pãcicer pãcird	jãsima jãsice jãsĩs	jãsimar jãsicer jãsird	zĩsima zĩsice zĩcĩs	zĩsimar zĩsicer zĩsird
CONDITIONAL	papãca papãcda papãsu	papãcarmi papãcardi papãcar	jajãsa jajãsda jajãsu	jajãsarmi jajãsardi jajãsar	zezĩsa zezĩsda zezĩsu	zezĩsarmi zezĩsardi zezĩsar
	papãsme papãce papãcde	papãcmär papãcär papãcdär	jajãsme jajãse jajãsde	jajãsmär jajãsär jajãsdär	zezĩsme zezĩse zezĩsde	zezĩsmär zezĩsär zezĩsdär
	papãcam papãcaš papãcar	papãcmär papãccär papãcrid	jajãsam jajãsaš jajãsar	jajãsmär jajãscär jajãsrid	zezĩsam zezĩsaš zezĩsar	zezĩsmär zezĩscär zezĩsrid
IMPERATIVE	pãt		janu		zem
	pãtas		janus		zemis
	pãtac		januc		zemic
PART. PRES.	pãtãder		janunder		zemĩder
PART. PERF.		papãdver		jajãver		zezĩver
PART. FUT. (GERUND)		pãcrer		jãsrer		zĩsrer

The perfect and conditional tenses are characterized by reduplication. It is created by adding to a word the first consonant and the first vowel of its root as a prefix. When the first consonant is an affricate (c, dz, č, dž) only the first of its two constituting sounds remains (t or d). For the vowel it should be noted, that ã and ä become a, i and ĩ become e, and õ becomes o. Examples:

kcaguz “to try” > kakcagva “I have tried”
vuornaz “to desire” > vuvuornava “I have desired”
šläfonaz “to crawl” > šašläfonava “I have crawled”
stõpaz “to stop” > sostõbva “I have stopped”
cälchuz “to put on” > tacälchva “I have put on”
čõfuz “to predict” > točõvva “I have predicted”
dzäjmuz “to freeze” > dadzäjmva “I have frozen”
šfĩzuz “to sacrificed” > šešfĩzva “I have sacrificed”

When the first letter of a verb is a vowel, then instead of reduplication h- is added as a prefix:

äfaz “to weave” > häfava “I have woven”
ãbuz “to hold” > hãbva “I have held”
eguz “to drink” > hegva “I have drunk”
iriz “to worry” > hiriva “I have worried”

As can be seen in some of the examples above, the verbal root is sometimes affected by inflexion.

When the last consonant or consonant cluster of a verbal root is unvoiced, it becomes voiced before the voiced perfect markers -va, -da etc. in the second and third conjugation. Likewise, if the root ends in a voiced consonant or consonant cluster, it becomes unvoiced in the future and conditional tenses through assimilation with the tense marker -s-.

6.3. Irregular verbs

Twelve verbs are irregular: jãz “be”, võz “have, must”, az “go”, tãz “go”, džãz “know”, vahãz “hit”, flãz “can”, jiz “know”, tänz “do”, joloz “want”, lauz “say”, and zaz “give”. Their conjugation is given below; for reasons of space only the active forms and the participles are given.

Vahãz and džãz are conjugated like tãz.

	jãz “be”	võz “have”	az “go”	tãz “go”	flãz “can”	jiz “know”	joloz “want”	tänz “do”	lauz “say”	zaz “give”
Infinitive	jãz	võz	az	tãz	flãz	jiz	joloz	tänz	lauz	zaz
Present	ã aš ad	võ võš võd	af aš ad	tã taš tad	flã flãš flãd	jaf jiš jid	jolõ jološ jolod	taf tänaš tĩd	laf laš lad	zõ zaš zad
	ašaus ašaf ašdaf	vonaus võsaf võdaf	asaus asaf adaf	taus tãsaf tãdaf	flänaus flãsaf flãdaf	jisaus jisaf jisdaf	jolaus jolaf joldaf	tänaus tänaf tĩdaf	lakaus lakaf ladaf	zavaus zasaf zadaf
	ašma ašce sõs	võma võce vodõs	ama ace õs	tama tace tõs	flãma flãce flänõs	jima jisce jisõs	jolma jolce jolõs	täma täce tänõs	lama lace lakãs	zama zace zavõs
Imperfect	apum apuš apud	avõm avõš avõd	avam avaš avad	atam ataš atad	afläm afläš afläd	ajim ajiš ajid	ajolam ajolaš ajolad	atäm atäš atäd	alam alãš alãd	azam azaš azad
	apuf apuse apude	avõf avõse avõde	aväf avase avade	atäf atase atade	afläf afläse afläde	ajif ajise ajide	ajoläf ajolse ajolde	atäf atäse atäde	alĩf alãse alãde	azäf azase azade
	apumäf apuce apõs	avomäf avõce avõs	avamäf aface avãs	atamäf atace atãs	aflämäf afläce aflãs	ajimäf ajice ajisõs	ajolmäf ajolce ajolãs	atämäf atäce atanĩs	alamäf alãce alãs	azamäf azace azãs
Perfect	jajäva jajäda jajä	võva vovõda vovõ	vava vavada vanu	tatãva tatãda tatanu	faflãva faflãda faflänu	jejiva jejida jejisu	jojolva jojolda jojolu	tatĩva tatĩda tatänu	lalva lalda lalu	zazava zazada zazavu
	jajäme jajäse jajäde	vovõme vovõse vovõde	vavame vavase vavade	tatãme tatãse tatãde	faflãme faflãse faflãde	jejime jejise jejide	jojolme jojolse jojolde	tatĩme tatĩse tatĩde	lalme lalse lalde	zazame zazase zazade
	jajäm jajäš jajär	vovõm vovõš vovoner	vavum vaveš vader	tatãvum tatãveš tatãver	faflãvum faflãveš faflãver	jejivum jejiveš jejiver	jojolvum jojolveš jojolver	tatĩvum tatĩveš tatĩver	lalvum lalveš lalver	zazavum zazaveš zazaver
Conjunctive	pau pauš paud	vo voš vod	ado adõš adod	to toš tod	fläno floš flod	jiso jisoš jisod	jolo jološ jolod	täno tänoš tänod	lo loš lod	zavo zavoš zavod
	paus pause paude	vos vose vode	ados adose adode	tos tose tode	flos flose flode	jisos jisose jisode	jolos joloce jolode	tänos tänose tänode	los lose lode	zavos zavose zavode
	paume pauce põs	vome voce võs	adome adoce adõs	tome toce tõs	flome floce flõs	jisome jisoce jisõs	jolome joloce jolõs	tänome tänoce tänõs	lome loce lõs	zavome zavoce zavõs
Future	si siš sid	võsi võsiš võsid	asi asiš asid	tãsi tãsiš tãsid	flãsi flãsiš flãsid	jisi jisiš jisid	jolsi jolsiš jolsid	tänsi tänsiš tânsid	laksi laksiš laksid	zasi zasiš zasid
	sius sisäf sidäf	võsius võsisaf võsidaf	asius asisaf asidaf	tãsius tãsisaf tãsidaf	flãsius flãsisaf flãsidaf	jisius jisisaf jisidaf	jolsius jolsisaf jolsidaf	tänsius tänsisaf tänsidaf	laksius laksisaf laksidaf	zasius zasisaf zasidaf
	sima sice sĩs	võsima võsice võsĩs	asima asice asĩs	tãsima tãsice tãsĩs	flãsima flãsice flãsĩs	jisima jisice jisĩs	jolsima jolsice jolsĩs	tänsima tänsice tänsĩs	laksima laksice laksĩs	zasima zasice zasĩs
Conditional	jäjãsa jäjãsda jäjãsu	vovõsa vovõsda vovõsu	vavasa vavasda vavasu	tatãsa tatãsda tatãsu	faflãsa faflãsda faflãsu	jejisa jejisda jejisu	jojolsa jojolsda jojolsu	tatänsa tatänsda tatänsu	lalaksa lalagzda lalaksu	zazasa zazada zazasu
	jäjãsme jäjãse jäjãsde	vovõsme vovõse vovõsde	vavasme vavase vavasde	tatãsme tatãse tatãsde	faflãsme faflãse faflãsde	jejisme jejise jejisde	jojolsme jojolse jojolsde	tatänsme tatänse tatänsde	lalaksme lalakse lalagzde	zazasme zazase zazasde
	jäjãsam jäjãsaš jäjãsar	vovõsam vovõsaš vovõsar	vavasam vavasaš vavasar	tatãsam tatãsaš tatãsar	faflãsam faflãsaš faflãsar	jejisam jejisaš jejisar	jojolsam jojolsaš jojolsar	tatänsam tatänsaš tatänsar	lalaksam lalaksaš lalaksar	zazasam zazasaš zazasar
Imperative	pu	vu	vaj	taj	–	jej	–	tän	lak	zãs
	pus	võs	vas	tas	–	jis	–	tĩs	las	zas
	puc	võc	vac	tac	–	jic	–	tänc	lac	zac
Part.pres.	sõder	võder	ader	tõder	flõder	jisõder	jolõder	tĩder	lãder	zavãder
Part.perf.	–	–	–	–	faflãver	–	jojolver	tatĩver	lalver	zazaver
Gerund	(sõser)	–	–	–	flãsrer	–	–	tãrer	lakser	zasrer

6.4. Derivation of verbs

Many verbs are created by adding a prefix; the majority of those prefixes are prepositions or derivations of prepositions. Thus we have: af- “away, off”, as- “out”, az- “for”, ãch- “to”, ãsar- “between”, än- “in”, bär- “near”, chma- “along”, dar- “through”, fašchu- “behind”, fo- “after”, fros- “against”, fur- “in front of”, häl- “around”, ĩtr(e)- “under”, jel- “back”, jufar- “across”, šla- “with”, šufar- “over”, uf- “up, on”, vaj- “in two, into pieces”, vjä- “above”, zo- “to”.

7. NUMERALS

	cardinal	ordinal
0	nol	nolder
1	sum	burmer
2	zuf	under
3	dreš	duder
4	hedre	hedurder
5	bãh	bãder
6	sfeš	sfeder
7	sem	sĩder
8	oguf	oguer
9	anun	anener
10	zahm	zãder
11	sumhazã	sumhazãder
12	zuvazã	zuvazãder
13	drahazã	drahazãder
14	hedrazã	hedrazãder
15	bãhazã	bãhazãder
16	sfešazã	sfešazãder
17	semazã	semazãder
18	oguvazã	oguvazãder
19	anunazã	anunazãder
20	ugem	ugĩder
21	ugum ha sum	ugum ha burmer
30	drimet	drĩder
40	hedermet	hederĩder
50	bãvemet	bãvĩder
60	sfešmet	sfešĩder
70	semmet	semĩder
80	ogmet	ogĩder
90	anumet	anunder
100	gumt (*)	gumter (*)
200	zugum	zugumter
300	drigum	drigumter
400	hedergum	hedergumter
500	bãgum	bãgumter
600	sfešgum	sfešgumter
700	semgum	semgumter
800	ogugum	ogugumter
900	anõgum	anõgumter
1000	dugmet	dugmĩder
1000000	miljon	miljõder

(*) In West-Hattic dialects “gumt” and “gumter” are usually pronounced [gumpe] and [gumper].

8. PREPOSITIONS

8.1. With the genitive

The following prepositions are followed by the genitive case:

af “from”
as “from, of”
aszõ “outside”
änzõ “inside”
chma “along”
fo “after”
hälchu “around”
läma “according to”
ochi “among”
šän “without”

8.2. With the dative

The following prepositions are followed by the dative case:

az “for”
ãch “to, towards”
fros “against”
zo “to, till”

8.3. With the accusative

Two prepositions have the accusative case:

darš “through”
jufar “over”

8.4. With the instrumental

Two other prepositions have the instrumenal case:

šla “with”
zraf “through, by”

8.5. With the locative

Only one preposition is followed by the locative case:

bär “near, by”

8.6. With the dative and the locative

Most prepositions that describe a place can have both the dative and the locative case. The latter indicates a stable position, while the dative indicates a direction toward something. Thus:

ãsar “between”
än “(with dative) into”, “(with locative) in”
fašchu “behind”
fur “in front of”
gara “next to”
ĩtre “under”
šufar “above”
uf “(with dative) onto”, “(with locative) on”
vjä “above” 

9. SYNTAX

9.1. Word order

In theory, word order is free in Hattic. In contemporary speech, however, VSO (verb-subject-object) is most common, to such a degree, that any deviation would sound at least strange to Hattic ears. Only in poetry is free word order still widely used.

Other word forms, like adverbs, can be placed freely within the frames of VSO word order as long as the verb and the subject are not separated from each other. For example, the sentence “Yesterday Ivan has bought a green parrot for his girl friend” can be translated into Hattic in different ways:

Stress can be achieved either by intonation, or by moving the word(s) to be stressed to the end of the sentence, without affecting VSO word order. In the first and fourth sentence of the example above, the parrot is the most important piece of information. In the second sentence, it is Ivan's girl friend draws the attention, while in the third sentence the listener's attention should be attracted mostly to the fact, that it happened yesterday.

Personal pronouns are not at all excluded from the VSO rule: nominative personal pronouns are placed after the verb. It must be noted, however, that according to the speaker’s taste, they can as well be omitted, since the meaning is clear from the verbal form anyway. The first person singular af is only used when the speaker wishes to give it a very special stress. For example:

Janaf zõ. “I love you.”
Januš zu mõ / Januš mõ. “You love me.”
Tatãva nä af zõ papugã, ma zur janak. “Not I killed your parrot, your lover did.”

Adjectives are usually placed before a noun. This applies to genitives as well:

Ad maš sefaš papugaj dzäler. “My girl friend's parrot is green.”

9.2. Questions

Simple questions are made by a change of intonation:

Januš zu mõ? “Do you love me?”

Interrogative pronouns are almost always placed at the beginning of a sentence, thus breaking VSO rule:

Hir tatãva umnĩ papugã? “Who killed our parrot?”
Hu gugurda zu az zvaj sefaj? “What did you buy for your girl friend?”