GRAMMAR:

Agup exhibits split-ergative alignment, in which clauses with verbs in the imperfective and irrealis modes take nom-acc alignment and clauses with verbs in the perfective mode take erg-abs alignment (see the section on mode in verbs for further info). Agup word order is fairly free, but is generally SVO in sentences following nom-acc alignment and SOV in sentences following erg-abs alignment. However, in SVO sentences, O includes strictly the direct object and any other arguments will be placed before the verb. Syntax tends to be right-branching (strictly followed with noun phrases), and both prepositions and postpositions occur commonly.

NOUNS:

Nouns decline for case, plurality, and possession. The affixes appear in the following order:

Possessive prefix - Stem - Plural - Possessive Suffix - Case

POSSESSIVE MARKERS:

Pronominal possession is marked either by a prefix, suffix, or both, as follows:

The 2nd person possessive suffixes also can be seen as -un and -un-tu when -o is followed by a vowel.

Plurality is marked either through affixation or stem change. The most common affix is -ur, and any nouns with plurals other than -ur will be marked explicitly in the lexicon.

CASE:

There are 5 cases marked regularly, each affix depending on the definiteness of the noun. The affixes are as follows:

In erg-abs sentences, the nominative serves as an absolutive.

ADJECTIVES:

Adjectives agree with nouns for case and plurality, taking exactly the same markers as nouns in exactly the same order.

VERBS:

Verbs are by far the most complex part of Agup grammar. They follow this template (any parts not found in the text are left out):

• Object - Mode parker - stem - TAM markers - Subject

A noun can be formed from an uninflected verb with the suffix -(a)t, the “a” disappearing if the stem ends in a vowel itself.

OBJECT:

These prefixes mark the argument in the accusative in nom-acc clauses and the argument in the absolutive in erg-abs clauses.

i-, o-, to-, and ċa- appear before consonants, and y-, v-, tv, and ċ- appear before vowels. s- occurs before either a vowel, a voiceless stop, or a sonorant.

MODE MARKER:

The most irregular aspect of Agup verbs, mode is a grammatical feature that indicates mood and aspect, in addition to being the single factor determining the morphosyntactic alignment of a clause. There are 3 modes:

IMPERFECTIVE: used with the present tense and rather curiously the past progressive. Triggers nom-acc alignment.

PERFECTIVE: used with the past tense (except the past progressive, as covered above). Triggers erg-abs alignment.

IRREALIS: used in rather limited circumstances, those being negative sentences and sentences with certain conjunctions (any that trigger it will be explicitly stated in the lexicon). Triggers nom-acc alignment.

Though the most consistent way of marking mode is prefixes, the most common being Ø-, ya-, and u/v- for impfv, pff, and irr respectively, this is inconsistent enough that all verbs are given with all 3 modes in the lexicon.

TAM MARKERS:

These, as the name suggest, mark tense, aspect, and mood. There are 3 tenses: past, present, and future, and 4 moods/aspects (not morphologically distinguished): simple/habitual, progressive, debitive, and conditional. Note that Agup lacks a distinct imperative structure, and to compensate it is common to use the second person debitive for commands.

If there are variations for the suffixes, the former appears before consonants and the latter appears before vowels.

SUBJECT:

These suffixes mark the nominative argument in nom/acc clauses and the ergative argument in erg/abs clauses.

-sa appears after vowels, and -a, -in, and -ut appear after consonants.