NounClass: noun class
The feature NounClass refers to grammatical agreement marked in Chechen on a subset of verbs, adjectives, and numerals.
There are four primary prefixes that appear on the agreement targets: v-, j-, d-, and b-.
A pair of singular and plural agreement prefixes define a grammatical gender.
Komen et al. (2021: 324-325) describe a system of five Chechen genders:
| Gender | Singular | Plural | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st/2nd person | V/J | D (agreement with pronouns only) | V for male, J for female |
| Human | V/J | B | V for male, J for female |
| Various | B | B | Minority of B gender |
| Various | D | D | Minority of D gender |
| Various | J | J |
Chechen has ergative-absolutive alignment. Predicates agree in noun class with the absolutive argument, commonly the subject of intransitive predicates (the S argument) or the object of transitive predicates (the P argument).
Vclass: V-class
eventualities
Examples
- vedda “(he) ran away”
Jclass: J-class
The J-class marks agreement with constituents denoting singular human female referents, as well as animals and inanimate entities. It is marked with the prefix j-.
Examples
- jedda “(she) ran away”
Dclass: D-class
The D-class marks agreement with constituents denoting animals and inanimate entities. It is marked with the prefix d-. This class is used as the default citation form for all agreeing predicates.
Examples
- sa dajna “the light vanished (it got dark)”
Bclass: B-class
The B-class marks agreement with constituents denoting animals and inanimate objects, as well as plural human referents. It is marked with the prefix b-.
Examples
- baxcha “when they went”
References
Komen, Erwin R., Zarina Molochieva, and Johanna Nichols, ‘Chechen and Ingush’, in Maria Polinsky (ed.), 317–365. The Oxford Handbook of Languages of the Caucasus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
NounClass in other languages: [ce] [nci] [ruc] [tn] [u]