Editing Northeast Caucasian languages (section)

===Morphology===
These languages can be characterized by strong [[suffix]]al [[agglutination]]. Weak tendencies towards [[inflection]] may be noted as well. [[Noun]]s display covert [[Noun class|nominal classification]], but partially overt cases of secondary origin can be observed too. The number of noun classes in individual languages range from two to eight. Regarding [[grammatical number]], there may be a distinction between singular and [[plural]], plurality itself may impact the class to which a noun belongs.<ref name="Hewitt2004" />{{rp|80}} In some cases, a grammatical [[collective number|collective]] is seen. Many languages distinguish ''[[List of grammatical cases#Place and time|local]]'' versus ''functional'' cases,<ref name="Hewitt2004" />{{rp|81–82}} and to some degree also ''[[nominative case|casus rectus]]'' versus ''[[oblique case|casus obliquus]]''.

The inflectional paradigms are often based on partially classifying productive [[word stem|stem]] extensions ([[absolutive case|absolutive]] and [[oblique case|oblique]], [[ergative case|ergative]] and [[genitive case|genitive]] inflection.){{Clarify|date=April 2013}} Localization is mostly conveyed by [[Preposition and postposition|postpositions]], but it can be also partly based on [[preverb]]s. [[Noun phrase]]s exhibit incomplete class [[Agreement (linguistics)|agreement]], group inflection{{Clarify|date=April 2013}} (on the noun) with partial [[Noun adjunct|attributive]] oblique marking, which may, in turn, carry a partially [[determiner (linguistics)|determining]] function.

Verbs do not agree with [[grammatical person|person]], with a few exceptions like [[lak language|Lak]], in which first and second persons are marked with the same suffix and verbs agree with the [[Patient (grammar)|P argument]], and [[hunzib language|Hunzib]] in which verbs agree with [[Agent (grammar)|A argument]]. [[Evidentiality]] is prominent, with reported, sensory and [[epistemic]] moods all appearing as a way of conveying the evidence. [[Epistemic modality]] is often tied to the tense.

====Ergativity====

Most Northeast Caucasian languages exhibit an [[ergative–absolutive language|ergative–absolutive morphology]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Dixon|first=R.M.W.|title=Studies in Ergativity|year=1987|publisher=Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.|location=Amsterdam|page=133}}</ref> This means that objects of transitive sentences and subjects of intransitive sentences both fall into a single grammatical case known as the absolutive. Subjects of transitive sentences, however, carry a different marking to indicate that they belong to a separate case, known as the ergative.<ref name="VanValin">{{cite journal|last=Van Valin Jr.|first=Robert D.|authorlink=Robert Van Valin Jr.|title=Grammatical Relations in Ergative Languages|journal=Studies in Language|volume=5|year=1981|issue=3|pages=361–394 |url=http://linguistics.buffalo.edu/people/faculty/vanvalin/rrg/Van%20Valin%20Grammatical%20Relations%20in%20ergative%20languages.pdf |access-date=28 Feb 2025 |doi=10.1075/sl.5.3.05van}}</ref> This distinction can be seen in the following two Archi sentences. Objects and subjects of intransitive sentences carry no suffix, which is represented by the null suffix, -<small>∅</small>. Meanwhile, agents of transitive sentences take the ergative suffix, -mu.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Intransitive sentence<ref name="VanValin" /> !! Transitive sentence
|-
| {{interlinear|buwa-∅ d-irxːin|Mother-∅ II.SG-work|Mother works.}}
| {{interlinear|buwa-mu xːalli-∅ b-ar-ši b-i|mother-ERG bread-∅ III.SG-bake-PROG II.SG-AUX|Mother is baking the bread.}}
|}

====Noun classes====
Northeast Caucasian languages have between two and eight noun classes.<ref name="Matthews 1951 88"/>  In these languages, nouns are grouped into grammatical categories depending on certain semantic qualities, such as animacy and gender. Each noun class has a corresponding agreement prefix, which can attach to verbs or adjectives of that noun. Prefixes may also have plural forms, used in agreement with a plural noun.<ref name="Plaster">{{cite book|last=Plaster|first=Keith|title=Noun classes grow on trees: noun classification in the North-East Caucasus|url=http://scholar.harvard.edu/kplaster/publications/noun-classes-grow-trees-noun-classification-north-east-caucasus|publisher=Language and Representations (Tentative)|access-date=20 April 2013|display-authors=etal}}</ref> The following table shows the noun–adjective agreement paradigm in the Tsez language.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Noun class<ref name="Plaster"/> !! Adjectival phrase example
|-
| I (men)
| {{interlinear|Ø-igu aħo|I.AGR.SG-good shepherd|Good shepherd}}
|-
| II (women)
| {{interlinear|y-igu baru|II.AGR.SG-good wife|Good wife}}
|-
| III (animals and inanimates)
| {{interlinear|b-igu ʕomoy|III.AGR.SG-good donkey|Good donkey}}
|-
| IV (other inanimates)
| {{interlinear|r-igu ʕoƛ’|IV.AGR.SG-good spindle|Good spindle}}
|}

In many Northeast Caucasian languages, as well as appearing on adjectives and verbs, agreement can also be found on parts of speech which are not usually able to agree in other language families – for example on adverbs, postpositions, particles, and even case-marked nouns and pronouns.<ref>{{Citation|last=Foley|first=Steven|title=Agreement in Languages of the Caucasus|date=25 February 2021|url=https://oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190690694.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190690694-e-23|work=The Oxford Handbook of Languages of the Caucasus|pages=843–872|editor-last=Polinsky|editor-first=Maria|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190690694.013.23|isbn=978-0-19-069069-4|access-date=1 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Aristar|first=Anthony|date=September 1992|title=Greville Corbett, Gender. (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. Pp. xix + 363.|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022226700015449|journal=Journal of Linguistics|volume=28|issue=2|pages=542–547|doi=10.1017/s0022226700015449|s2cid=146676617 |issn=0022-2267}}</ref> In the example from Archi below, doːʕzub ‘big’ and abu ‘made’, but also the adverb ditːabu ‘quickly’ and the personal pronouns nenabu ‘we’ and belabu ‘to us’, all agree in number and gender with the argument in the absolutive case, χʕon ‘cow’.

{{interlinear|indent=2
|nena&lt;b&gt;u doːʕzu-b χʕon b-ela&lt;b&gt;u ditːa&lt;b&gt;u χir a&lt;b&gt;u
|1PL.INCL.ERG&lt;III.SG&gt; be.big.ATTR-III.SG cow(III)[SG.ABS] III.SG-1PL.INCL.DAT&lt;III.SG&gt; quickly&lt;III.SG&gt; behind &lt;III.SG&gt;make.PFV
|‘We quickly drove the big cow to us (home).’ <ref>{{Cite web|date=25 August 2016|editor-last=Bond|editor-first=Oliver|editor2-last=Corbett|editor2-first=Greville G.|editor3-last=Chumakina|editor3-first=Marina|editor4-last=Brown|editor4-first=Dunstan|title=Archi|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198747291.001.0001|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198747291.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-874729-1}}</ref>
}}

This kind of clausal agreement has been labelled ‘external agreement’.<ref>{{Cite web|title=External agreement - Surrey Morphology Group|url=https://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/projects/external-agreement/|access-date=1 July 2021|website=www.smg.surrey.ac.uk}}</ref> The same term is also used for the (cross-linguistically even rarer) phenomenon where a converb agrees with an argument which lies outside the converb's own clause. This is seen in the following example from Northern Akhvakh, where mīʟō ‘not having gone’ has a masculine adverbial suffix (-ō), agreeing with hugu ek’wa ‘the man’.

{{interlinear|indent=2
|[ĩk’a ri-da-la m-īʟ-ō] hu-gu ek’wa-la w-uʟ’-u-wudi.
|long time-INT-ADD N-go.NEG-M[ADV] DIST-LL man-ADD M-die-M-PF3
|‘Shortly after that ({{lit}} ‘long time not having gone’), the man died.’ <ref>{{Citation|last=Creissels|first=Denis|title=External agreement in the converbal construction of Northern Akhvakh|date=13 January 2012|url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110280692.127/html|work=Clause Linkage in Cross-Linguistic Perspective|pages=127–156|editor-last=Gast|editor-first=Volker|place=Berlin, Boston|publisher=DE GRUYTER|doi=10.1515/9783110280692.127|isbn=978-3-11-028069-2|access-date=1 July 2021|editor2-last=Diessel|editor2-first=Holger}}</ref>
}}