Nahónda

Nahónda

Introduction

Nahónda, also known as Nohánda and Nónda, is a language centered in Northwestern Montana. It is bordered by the Lakota Nation to the east, by the Cheyenne to the south, and the Blackfeet and Crow Nations to the north. Along its western border lies the Nez Percé Nation. Long considered a language isolate, new analyses has demonstrated it shares a common lineage with Minhast and Nankôre. It has now been tentatively grouped as part of a larger grouping, called the Nahenic language family.

Nouns

Independent and Bound Pronominal Forms

	Agent		Patient
Person	Independent	Bound	Independant	Bound
1st sg.	yat	-t-	ya	-ya-
2nd sg.	intá	-nt-	ta	-n-
3rd masc.sg.	kun	-k-	ka	-Ø-
3rd fem.sg	kcela	-kc-	la	-la-
3rd neut.anim.sg	máke (ma)	tskī	ma (kīyà)	ts
3rd neut.inanim.sg	kíya	sk	kī	s
4th sg.	séha	kc	sē	c

	Agent		Patient
Person	Independent	Bound	Independant	Bound
1st du.excl	tsatem	tsat	tsak	at
1st du.incl	tsiháka	tsak	tsihák	ak (an)
2nd dual	tsitá	tsit	tsitá
3rd masc.du	tsakàl	tskál	tsakáhal	tsak
3rd fem.du	tsakìl	tskál	tsakíhil	tsak
3rd mixed.du	tsacé	tsac	tsac	tsac
3rd anim.du	tsamá	tsam	tsam	tsam
3rd inanim.du	tsakìl	tskil	tsašl	tsaš
4th du.	tsákce	tsakc	tsack	tsašk

	Agent		Patient
Person	Independent	Bound	Independant	Bound
1st pl.excl	hakém	km	hak	ak
1st pl.incl.	cayácu	cac	acù	ac
2nd pl	catáha	ctah	táha	ta
3rd masc.pl	ciláha	clah	cíla	cīlà
3rd fem.pl	ciláhe	cláhē	la	la
3rd mixed.pl	cilána	clan	lan	lan
3rd anim.pl	cikíla	cklíha	kíla	kīlá
3rd inanim.pl	ci?áca	cyac	áca	áca
3rd High Public	cihòtape	cotape	hotápe	tapè
4th pl.	cī?áca	cīyac	áca	acà

Verbs

The polysynthetic Nohandaráy verb follows a templatic paradigm (c.f. Northern Iroquioan languages, Ainu, Minhast, etc).

Nohandaray Verb Template

Category	Affix	Additional Notes
Temporal Adverbials	[placeholder]
Precative	[placeholder]
Negator	[placeholder]
Irealis (condittional, Optative, etc)	[placeholder]
Manner Adverbials	[placeholder]

Morphosyntactic Alignment

Nahónda morphosyntactic alignment is classified as the Split Intransitive type, also known as an Active-Stative alignment. Transitive clauses by definition take two core arguments, an Agent, and a Patient. Intransitive clauses take only one core argument. That the verb that core argument takes may denote either a state, e.g. "He is sick", or it may designate an action instigated by the the core argument, e.g. "He jumps". In the first case, the core argument takes marking which indicates it experiences or is affected by the state, while in the second the argument takes another marker which indicates that it instigates an action or event.

Languages of the Split Intransitive type may be further divided into one of two subtype. One type, the Split-S type, divides its verbs into two lexical division: one division is restricted to states; its NP argument is an experiencer or undergoer of the state, and hence takes one type of case marking. The other verbal division expresses events which indicate its core argument functions as an agent; the core argument thus takes marking distinct from that of an experiencer or undergoer. The other Split Intransitive subtype, the Fluid-S type, does not exhibit this verbal distinction: all verbs may serve to indicate state or events; case marking of the core argument depends on its semantic role, it is not preselected based on the verbal class, as Fluid-S type languages do not have distinct verbal classes.

Nahónda belongs to the Fluid-S type of languages. When the core argument of an Intransitive verb functions as a semantic Agent, it takes the marker =yo, whereas it takes the marker =ka when it is an Experiencer or Undergoer.

Credits

HTML-to-Wiki Converter (Emiliano Bruni) http://www.ebruni.it/en/software/os/i_love_wiki/index.mpl

Templates

3xN Table

Table Name

Category	Affix	Additional Notes
[Category Name]	[Affix]	[Notes]
[Category Name]	[Affix]	[Notes]
[Category Name]	[Affix]	[Notes]
[Category Name]	[Affix]	[Notes]
[Category Name]	[Affix]	[Notes]

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