Word Order Nuristani Kalasha is a head-final
SOV language, with the verb coming at the end of the clause in main and subordinate clauses, imperatives, and questions. • There is a morphologically unmarked 'direct' case used for the subjects of all intransitive verbs and an 'oblique' case used for all indirect objects and benefactives and also for postpositions. • For transitive verbs in the perfective ('preterite'), perfect, and pluperfect, the direct object is in the direct case and the transitive subject is in the oblique case. (These verb forms are all morphologically based on the preterite stem and conjugate not only for person but for sex-based gender.) • For transitive verbs in the present, future, imperfect, and subjunctive, the subject is in the direct case. The direct object is also in the direct case if it is indefinite, but it is in the oblique case if it is definite. (These verb forms are all morphologically based on the present stem and mostly conjugate only for person and number.)
Nominal Morphology Kalasha-ala nouns are marked for case (direct, oblique, instrumental, locative, and vocative) and sometimes for number (singular or plural). The case endings change slightly in form depending on the declension of the noun to which they are attached, usually by merging with the final vowel of the stem. A genitive is made by attaching
-ba to the oblique. Only oblique and vocative nouns have unique
fusional forms for the singular and plural. For some nouns, however, a plural may be made by adding a suffix to the stem: •
-kina for many personal terms like 'father', with the plural ending
-kinā̃ in the oblique, and •
-ān or
-ā̃ for many animals, with
-āna in the oblique. For relationships between people, there is some possessive morphology in addition to the genitive. When the possessor is 2nd person (singular or plural) the other person is marked with an
-w,
tuba sosow "your sister", and when the possessor is 3rd person the other person is marked with
-s,
yoma sosas "his sister",
yema sosas "their sister". This suffix comes between the noun and any case and number marking,
ameba sos-kina "your sisters". 1st person possessives have no suffix. Noun declensions, unlike adjective and verb endings, never vary based on gender.
Verbal morphology There are two basic stems for verbs from which are built a number of conjugated tense/aspect/moods - the present stem is used to make not only presents but futures, imperfects, imperatives, and subjunctives; the preterite stem is used to make not only the preterite, but the perfect and pluperfect as well as some futures (likely originally future perfects). In addition there are a few non-finite verb forms using one of the two stems. There is a morphological causative with its own stem, typically built off the present stem. Conjugated verb forms reflect the person and number and, in some tenses, sex-based gender of their subjects.
Adjectival Morphology Some adjectives are inflected for gender, with
-a for masculines and
-i for feminines. Adjectives can be used on their own as nouns, and can be inflected for case then, but when being used to modify nouns they have no case marking.
Numbers Like in many languages of the area, the number system is
base twenty. Compound numbers are formed by multiplying twenties with an oblique
-e and then adding the remainder,
e.g. wiše yāš "31";
dü-wiše ew "41". Curiously, the common word for "400",
azār, is borrowed from the Persian word
hazār "thousand", and
čatā sawa from the Pashto
sawa "hundred" is also used. Numbers are often suffixed with
-i when not accompanied by count nouns, possibly from
...ye "and...". For some odd multiples of 10, the
doš seems to require an
-i, so
dü-wiše doši "50" and
tre-wiše doši "70". There is a
multiplicative suffix
-ar (
e-ar "once", čatā-ar "four times") and a
distributive made by reduplication of the first consonant (
dadü "per two",
papũč "per five",
wawoṣṭ "per eight";
nane "each" is irregular). The only attested ordinals are the Persian loanwords
awal "first" and
düum "second". == Vocabulary ==