Nämty syntax

Main article: Nämty

This page gives an extensive description of Nämty syntactical features.

Main clause and word order

Nämty is an almost strictly SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) language.

tiħek läty märüg 
the man sees the dog

The quite rich case system allows every other possible word order, but most of them prove to be very marked and infrequently used. The only word order with a clear role and a frequent usage is OSV (Object-Subject-Verbs), which marks the so-called passive construct.

läty tiħek märüg
the dog is seen by the man

The other elements in the sentence are usually placed in the order “time-cause-manner-place”, although they are basically freer than the main elements. AAn object in the dative case, when conveying the indirect object, can be freely placed before or after the direct object of the sentence, with a slight tendence to be placed before it.

henek lätyɕ süħe koʂɑg / henek süħe lätyɕ koʂɑg
the man gives the dog bread / the man gives bread to the dog

Nouns

The noun cluster is formed by a noun, carrying the main meaning, and by other noun-type forms, namely adjectives, which specify this meaning or add other meanings to the main noun. Inside of a noun cluster, the noun can be replaced by a pronoun.

The noun usually closes the noun cluster, being preceded by every other specifying form. Thus, other elements conveying possession and belonging are always placed before the noun, as well as every attributive adjective.

tiħeħ döme
the man’s house

ameri hyre
my hand

symi säre 
the young woman

The role of the noun cluster in the sentence and its number are marked by case and number endings. These endings mark also other adjectival elements inside the noun cluster, resulting this in the process called nominal agreement.

Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree in case and number with the noun they specify. Other elements, which convey possession or belonging do not agree with the main nominal form.

symi hene pa dömeɕ badüg
the young man is going home

symik henek süħe waβüg
the young man is bringing the bread

ta amirima dömema
in our house

ta tiħeħ dömema
in the man's house

symy säri 
the young women

säri symy imügy
the women are young

The grammar role of noun clusters can be further specified by prepositions, which are placed before the cluster. Thus, it can be stated that the noun cluster can be introduced by a preposition.

güta dömeɕ badüm
I am going inside the house

The cases

The grammatical role of the noun cluster in a sentence is conveyed by some endings. These endings are bound to grammatical cases, with usually well-defined roles.

The cases in Nämty language are 6:

• Ergative
• Absolutive
• Genitive
• Dative
• Causative
• Oblique

The grammatical roles and all possible differences in usage among similar cases are enlisted below: