Early Hick

Overview

The Hick language was the primary tongue of pre-Kalassarian Senera. While no longer spoken, it survives in place names, maritime terminology, and religious traditions throughout modern Senera.

A Kalassarian language grammatical sketch of Early and Middle Hick was unearthed, along with a lexicon was found in an unsealed room underneath the Admiralty’s Helm in Surrey-on-the-Brams. Details in this is a modern analysis of that sketch using modern linguistic methods.

Those who spoke Hick, did not call it such, as the term Hick was exonymic, and was given by the Kalassarians. The people of Senera called their language takutakal, which translates to “the people’s rhythm”. Despite the potential connection of the term to music however, the language does not exhibit tonality, like languages of peoples beyond Sarebia.

Early Hick shows an ergative-absolutive alignment with rich derivational morphology and a sophisticated spatial reference system. Core grammatical relations are marked through prefixes and suffixes, and these interact with its derivational morphology to form complex compounds.

A reconstruction of a hypothetical Proto-Hick exists, in an incomplete state.

Historical Development

Comparative analysis with other pre-Kalassarian languages in the Western Beteran region had wielded a linguistic theory that a number of Northern Apgarian languages, Apgarian Isles languages, and the languages of the Seneran Islands are related. The proposed Hickic language family purports that the similarity of word forms in these languages are more than just an instance of sprachbund phenomena, but rather that they are interrelated by common ancestry.

Proto-Hick Period

(See: Proto-Hick)

It is still highly contested where the Hickic language family diverges from the rest of the pre-Kalassarian languages of the region. The Proto-Hick period is thus far only tentatively reconstructed. This document, however documents the view that the Proto-Hick language was spoken somewhere in the Mayonnaise valleys of the northern portion of Central Apgar.

Proto-Maritime Hick Period

As the prehistoric Hickic people expanded westward, their relative distance from the Apgarian mainland began to affect their language. These island-bound cultures still maintained a close linguistic relationship with each other, but had started to diverge from those mainland languages. Languages that are said to derive from Proto-Maritime Hick are the extinct Raibonian, Sentimental, and Palman.

Some proposed sound changes from Proto-Hick to Proto-Maritime Hick are:

Deletion of a liquid in proximity to a glottal fricative:
```
h [liquid] => h \*/ \_
- [liquid] h => \* h /\_
```
Reduction of a liquid cluster ending with the alveolar lateral:
```
[liquid] l => l \* / \_
```

Change in compound formation phonotactics:

Deletion of an initial vowel in the second element of a compound:

@consonant @vowel => @consonant \* / \_ $$
Then: $$ => \*
Then: s {[fricative], [glide]} => s \* / \_
Then: θ [stop] => θ \* / \_

Deletion of the final nasal in the first element of a compound:
```
[nasal] @consonant => @consonant \* / \_ $$
Then: $$ => \*
```

Reanalysis of initial ha to match changes with sacred terminology:

ha => θə / $ _ {[stop !glottal], [fricative], [liquid], [glide]}
   Else: (
      haʔ => θ / $ _@vowel \<syl\> \<syl\>
      Then:
         l => r / $ θ @vowel \_
   )
ha => θ / $_ \<syl\> \<syl\> Then: l => r / $ θ @vowel \_

Devoicing of voiced glottal stops in unstressed syllables:

[voiced glottal] => [unvoiced glottal] / $ \_ @vowel
# voiced glottals don't trigger animacy deletion
Then: [unvoiced glottal] => ʔ / $ \_ i
# voiced glottals don't trigger sacred θ
Then: [unvoiced glottal] => ʔ / $ \_ a

Stress Shift to initial syllable:

[primary] => [unstressed] / \_
Then: [unstressed] => [primary] / $ \_

Proto-Seneran Hick Period

As some of the Maritime Hickic peoples have settled in Senera, the language further changed as they were not as accessible. The languages differentiated over time, and those Hickic languages spoken within the island remained more close. The various dialects of Hick spoken in the Seneran Islands are believed to derive from Proto-Seneran Hick.

Sound changes from Proto-Maritime Hick to Proto-Seneran Hick are:

Unstressed Vowel Reduction:

[+high +front] => i / [unstressed] \_
[+high +back] => u / [unstressed] \_
[+low] => ə / [unstressed] \_

Fronting of vowels in stressed initial syllables after fricative onsets
```
{ə, e} => i / $ [fricative] \_
```

Final Vowel Lowering

[+high +back] => [-high +mid -back +central] / \_ $
[+mid +front] => [-low -front +central] / \_ $

Pre-Hick Period (before ~1000 PF)

Research validated some of the Kalassarian language sketches of a number of primary Early Hick dialects, and this reconstruction relates these dialects with a number of sound changes to the primary dialect spoken in Central and Eastern Senera::

Initial glottal fricative deletion:

[unvoiced glottal fricative] => \* / $ \_ @vowel&![+high]

Initial glottal stop deletion:

[unvoiced glottal stop] => \* / $ \_ @vowel

Initial hi reduces to glottal stop, common in animacy-marked compounds:

hi => ʔ / $ \_ {[+high], @consonant&![glottal stop]}
Else: hi => ʔ / $ \_ [glottal stop]
Else: hi => ʔ / $ \_ @vowel

Metathesis of dental fricatives:

θ @vowel => θ \* / $ \_ r @vowel // \_ <syl> $

Vowel coalescence:

@vowel {h} => @vowel \* / $ \_ @vowel $
@vowel @vowel => @vowel \* / $ \_ @consonant
{w} @vowel => \* @vowel / [nasal] \_ @consonant $
{w} ə => \* ə / \_ @consonant $

Metathesis of complex clusters:

@vowel$1 @consonant$2 => $2 $1 / $ \_ @finalcluster

First syllable syncope:

{p,b,k,t,s,θ} @vowel => {p,b,k,t,s,θ} \* / $ \_ {k,t,n,r} <syl> // \_
  @consonant <syl> @consonant

Back vowel reduction after velar stop:

[+back] => \* / $ [velar stop] \_ [nasal]

Early Hick (~1000 PF onward)

Astronomical terminology development
Sacred site naming conventions formalize
Initial written forms appear (borrowed script)
Borrowed terms from lambe

Glottal Devoicing:

[voiced glottal] => [unvoiced glottal] / $ \_ @vowel
Then: [unvoiced glottal] => ʔ / $ \_ i # voiced glottals don't trigger
   animacy deletion
Then: [unvoiced glottal] => ʔ / $ \_ a # voiced glottals don't trigger sacred
   θ

Cluster Resolution from schwa nucleus deletion:

{b,t,θ,k}$1 a r => $1 r a / \_ {s,t,k}
ə => \* / r _@consonant <syl> // {b,t,k} r_ @consonant <syl>
ə => \* / @consonant \_ @consonant r

Final Vowel Transposition:

{p,b,k,t,θ}$1 {r,n,t,k}$2 ə => $1 ə $2 / _ $
Then: ə => a / _ [fricative] $
Then: ə => e / [stop] \_ @consonant

Final Vowel Reduction:

h ə => \* ə / _$ // $_ $
ə => \* / _$ // $_ $

Middle Hick (300 PF to 105 AI)

More consistent contact with pre-Kalassarian traders
Maritime trade vocabulary expansion

Late Hick/Early Seneran (105 AI to 400 AI)

Kalassarian settlement period begins
Administrative terminology adoption
Initial sound changes:
- Unstressed vowel reduction begins
- Compound simplification starts
- Some liquid deletion word-internally

Middle Seneran (400 AI to 900 AI)

Major sound changes:
- Full unstressed vowel reduction
- Resyllabification for CV preference
- Systematic liquid/nasal deletion
- Stress-related vowel lengthening
Example: [in.nes.bel] → [i.ne.spel]

Modern Seneran (900 AI to present)

Extensive contact with Apgarian kingdoms
Final changes:
- Complete syllable restructuring
- Final cluster simplification
- Vowel length phonemicization
Example: [i.ne.spel] → [ine.spell]

Proto-Hick Reconstruction

See: Proto-Hick

Overview

Early Hick shows a relatively conservative phonological system inherited from Proto-Hick, with significant changes occurring mainly in compound formation and unstressed syllables. See: Historical Development

Segmental Inventory

Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Stops	p b		t d	k g	’
Fricatives	f v	θ	s		h
Nasals	m		n
Liquids			l r
Glides	w

Note: The glottal stop is written as <’> in phonemic transcription and [ʔ] in phonetic transcription.

Examples:

/‘al/ [ʔal] “person”
/‘el/ [ʔel] “speaker”

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Low	æ	a

See: Vowel Allophony for positional variants

Phonotactics

Syllable Structure

Basic Pattern: (C)(C)V(C)(C)
Special Pattern: (C)(C)VV for permitted diphthongs
Stress: Initial syllable unless marked

Consonant Clusters

Initial Clusters

Type	Clusters	Examples
Common	/br-, dr-, tr-, kr-, fl-, pl-, kl-/	bram, dren, tral
Sacred	/θr-/	thral, thren
Archaic	/gn-, kn-/	gnal, knes

Final Clusters

Type	Clusters	Examples
Common	/-st, -sk, -sp/	mest, risk, lisp
Rare / repaired	/-ks, -ls, -rs/	teks, mals, tors

The productive heavy coda pattern favors sibilant plus voiceless stop clusters. Other final clusters are rare, and are most expected in repaired borrowings, conservative spellings, or later regional forms.

Vowel Sequences

Permitted Diphthongs:
- Within morphemes: /ai/, /ei/
- At morpheme boundaries:
  - /ei-ae/ → [ei]
  - /ai-ae/ → [ae]
- No three-vowel sequences
Examples:
- /kei-las/ → [ke.es] “sky flow”
- /thrai-las/ → [thraes] “sacred flow”
- /brai-las/ → [braes] “swift flow”

Weight Distribution Constraints

Stress Patterns
- Primary stress falls on first syllable of simple words
- In compounds:
  - a. First element maintains primary stress
  - b. Second element reduces unless sacred/ritual term
  - c. Three-element compounds:
    - Primary stress on first element
    - Secondary stress on final element
    - Middle element reduces
- Exceptions:
  - Sacred/ritual terms resist reduction
  - Maritime terms maintain second element weight
  - Recent compounds may preserve full weight
  - Morphological boundaries may preserve weight
Examples:
- tor-mal → [ˈto.məl] “great pool”
- thral-kel → [ˈθral.kel] “sacred sky” (no reduction - sacred term)
- tor-ma-ter → [ˈtor.mə.ˌter] “great-pool-flow”
- bram-ma-ter → [ˈbram.ma.ˌter] “tide-vessel” (no reduction - maritime)

Prosodic System

Stress Patterns

Primary Stress
- Falls on first syllable of root in isolation
- Maintained in prefixation: ma-tor → [ˈma.tor]
- Transparent compounds may preserve stress on the semantic head: tor-mal → [tor.ˈmal]
- Mature compounds usually retract toward initial stress: tor-mal → [ˈto.məl] > tomal
Secondary Stress
- In three-syllable compounds: tor-ma-ter → [ˈtor.mə.ˌter]
- In possible colloquial prefix chains: ma-ka-tor → [ˈma.kə.ˌtor]
Stress-Related Changes
- Unstressed /a/ → [ə]
- Stressed vowels resist reduction
- Compound stress affects vowel quality

Compound Maturation and Glottal Boundaries

Early Hick compounds often pass through a prosodic maturation pattern. New or transparent compounds may keep prominence on the second element, especially when that element is the semantic head. As a compound becomes conventional, stress tends to retract toward the language’s dominant initial-stress pattern. When the compound becomes lexicalized, internal vowels may reduce further, and later regional or Middle Hick forms may smooth internal glottal boundaries.

taku-TAK-'al → TA-ku-tak-'al → TA-ku-ta-kal
speech-rhythm-person → speech community / language name

This maturation is not the same as productive morphology. Glottal stops at active morpheme boundaries are retained more strongly when they continue to mark a grammatical contrast, such as plurality, person, deixis, animacy, case, or verbal derivation. Frequency alone does not force glottal loss: frequent forms inside a living paradigm may preserve their boundaries because speakers still parse the components.

ma-'al-'is
PL-person-PROX.ANIM
"these people"

In this form, the glottal boundaries remain recoverable because ma-, ‘al, and -‘is all continue to participate in the personal-reference paradigm. Regional or later Middle Hick speech may smooth such forms, but Early Hick keeps the morphology visible in careful and central forms.

Glottal-initial roots and suffixes also affect stress placement. A word-initial glottal tends to reinforce initial prominence, while a word-internal glottal boundary can draw prominence toward the preceding syllable. The productive verbalizer -‘er is the clearest example:

BA-rak
walk

ba-RAK-'er
walk-VERB

Thus, Early Hick remains dominantly initial-stress at the lexical root level, but productive glottal-onset morphology can create secondary or phrase-level prominence at the boundary.

Sibilant-stop codas create the main exception in ordinary speech. Before the verbalizer -‘er, a heavy coda such as -sk may be repaired by moving the final stop into the verbalizer syllable and collapsing the glottal onset. The morphological or written form can still preserve -‘er:

trask-'er → tras-ker
leg-VERB
"to run"

This repair keeps the verbal stress shift toward the suffix while avoiding the cumbersome sequence -sk-‘er.

Compound Phonology

Sound Changes in Compounds

Liquid Deletion
- tor-mal → tomal “lake”
- val-mal → vamal “spirit pool”
- thral-gral → thragral “sacred earth”
Nasal Deletion
- bram-mal → bramal “tidal pool”
- bran-kel → brakel “morning sky”
Vowel Coalescence
- kei-las → kees “sky flow”
- thrai-las → thraes “sacred flow”

Compound Types

Element + Element
- kur-tin → kurtin “bronze” (copper-tin)
- mal-ter → mater “stream” (pool-flow)
Descriptor + Element
- gra-kur → grakur “grey copper”
- tor-mal → tomal “great pool”

Allophonic Rules

Vowel Allophony

The vowel /a/ surfaces as [ə]:

After sibilants and affricates:
- /sak/ → [sək] “wolf”
- /sal/ → [səl] “stone”
After voiceless stops in unstressed syllables:
- /karan/ → [kərən] “stream”
- /tamal/ → [təmal] “pool-like”
In grammatical prefixes:
- /ka-/ → [kə-] (similarity prefix)
- /ma-/ → [mə-] (plural prefix)
Between identical consonants:
- /malam/ → [məlam] “pooled”
- /ranar/ → [rənər] “flowing”

Stress-Dependent Reduction

In Compounds:
- First element maintains stress: ‘tor-mal → [‘tor.məl]
- Second element reduced: mal-‘ter → [məl.‘ter]
With Prefixes:
- Stressed prefix blocks reduction: ‘ma-tor → [‘ma.tor]
- Unstressed prefix shows reduction: ka-‘tor → [kə.‘tor]
In Three-syllable Words:
- Primary stress blocks reduction: ‘ka-ra-nal → [‘ka.rə.nəl]
- Secondary stress partially blocks: ˌka-‘ra-nal → [ˌka.‘ra.nəl]

Exceptions

Maintains [a] in:
- Stressed syllables
- Sacred/formal terms
- Recent compounds See: Sacred Terminology

Consonant Allophony

[Section to be added]

Historical Sound Changes

See: Historical Development for chronological stages

Core Grammar

Ergative-Absolutive Alignment

-el [el] (ERG): marks agent of transitive verbs
-es [es] (ABS): marks patient of transitive & sole argument of intransitive

Early Hick can be described as a language with an ergative-absolutive alignment. Languages with this alignment treat the “subject” of an intransitive verb like the “object” of a transitive verb. This “object” or “patient” referent is marked with the absolutive case marker -es. The “subject” or “agent” referent is marked with the ergative case marker -el.

materokel 'al-es venitar
handler-ERG person-ABS burden.SUP
"The handler carries the person"

In the above example, the handler materok is the agent of the verb “to carry” and is marked with the ergative case marker -el. The person ‘al is the patient of the verb and is marked with the absolutive case marker -es.

'ales barak'er
person-ABS walk-VERB
"The person walks"

The single argument of the intransitive verb barak’er is the one performing the action, but because Early Hick is an ergative-absolutive language, the absolutive case marker -es is used to mark the referent.

Development of the Ergative Case Marking -el

The Early Hick ergative marker -el derives from Proto-Hick *mela through parallel but distinct development from the definite article:

Sound Changes:
- *mela > *mel (final vowel loss)
- *mel > -el (initial m-loss in unstressed position)
Functional Development:
- Original meaning: definite animate marker
- Intermediate stage: marks definite agents
- Final stage: general ergative marker

Basic Sentence Patterns

Early Hick word order is flexible because the core sentence roles are marked by case endings. That does not mean word order is meaningless. Case tells the listener who is doing, moving, or receiving; order can still mark topic, focus, rhythm, poetic shape, or the felt path of a motion. The examples below give common neutral orders first, then show alternate orders with the same basic roles. In complex clauses, word order becomes more constrained because modifiers, quoted clauses, and dependent clauses need clear scope.

One Noun Plus Action

When a clause has one participant and one action, the single participant takes absolutive -es. This is the noun English grammar would usually call the subject. Early Hick still marks it with absolutive because there is no separate receiver or affected noun in the clause.

'al-es barak'er
person-ABS walk-VERB
"The person walks."

barak'er 'al-es
walk-VERB person-ABS
"The person walks." / "Walks, the person."

The first order is plain and neutral. The second order can put attention on the action first, but the -es ending still marks ‘al as the single participant.

Doer, Receiver, and Action

With a transitive action, the doer takes ergative -el and the receiver or affected noun takes absolutive -es. Because the endings carry the roles, the doer does not have to come first. Changing the order changes emphasis or discourse flow, not the basic doer/receiver relationship.

materok-el rismater-es ward'er
handler-ERG reed.boat-ABS guide-VERB
"The handler guides the reed boat."

rismater-es ward'er materok-el
reed.boat-ABS guide-VERB handler-ERG
"The handler guides the reed boat."

The second order places the reed boat first, which can make it the discourse topic or the first image in a poetic line. The handler is still the doer because it carries -el. The reed boat is still the receiver because it carries -es.

Stative Descriptions

Quality descriptions are usually formed with ka- derived forms. To make the description a full finite statement, the describing form can take the verbalizer -‘er. This is a stative description: it presents the noun as having a quality, rather than describing a separate action.

kel-es kakel'er
sky-ABS blue-VERB
"The sky is blue."

Short descriptive phrases can also place the ka- form before the absolutive noun:

kakel kel-es
blue sky-ABS
"the blue sky" / "the sky is blue"

This shorter pattern is less explicitly finite than kel-es kakel’er. It is useful when the quality is being presented as a property of the noun rather than as a full action-like predicate.

Zero-Verb Motion

Productive spatial case can imply motion without adding the verbalizer -‘er. In this pattern, the spatially marked noun phrase acts as the directional predicate of the clause. The moving participant is the only core argument, so it takes absolutive -es.

Order is not grammatically fixed. The mover may appear before or after the spatial phrase. However, the order can be chosen to match the felt direction of the motion, to set a location as the topic, or to fit a poetic line.

gal-es rismater-las
man-ABS reed.boat-ILL
"The man enters the reed boat."

rismater-las gal-es
reed.boat-ILL man-ABS
"Into the reed boat, the man goes."

The first example starts with the mover and then gives the goal. The second example starts with the goal, so it can feel like the sentence is oriented toward the destination before the mover is named. Both are still zero-verb motion clauses, and neither adds -‘er to the spatial case ending.

Caused Motion

When someone causes another noun to perform a directional movement or task, the causer takes ergative -el, the moving participant takes absolutive -es, and the goal or source takes the spatial case. The absolutive noun remains the subject of the directional movement; the ergative noun is the agent causing that movement. This differs from ordinary transitive action because the absolutive noun is not only an affected receiver. It is the participant whose path or directional task is being caused.

materok-el rismater-es keth-las
handler-ERG reed.boat-ABS sea-ILL
"The handler takes the reed boat to sea."

keth-las rismater-es materok-el
sea-ILL reed.boat-ABS handler-ERG
"To sea, the handler takes the reed boat."

In both examples, materok-el is the causer. rismater-es is the thing caused to move. keth-las names the directional goal. The order can change for emphasis, but the case endings keep the roles clear.

Verbal System

See: Verbal Morphology for details on:

Early Hick has no true verb class. Verbs are formed from nouns and property concepts and are marked with the verbalizer affix -‘er.

'al'isel ven'er 'ales
person.PROX.ERG yoke.VERB person.ABS
this person carries a person
I am carrying a person

The above example shows the word ven that means yoke or burden with the verbalizer -‘er affixed to it. It then acts as the verb of the sentence that means “to carry”.

While some words, such as barak “walk”, semantically denote actions, the verbalizer affix -‘er is still applied in most instances.

'ales barak'er
person-ABS walk-VERB
"The person walks."

Spatial Case System

See the expanded Spatial Case System for detailed uses and regional variants.

Early Hick uses case marking to show direction, source, path, or spatially understood change.

The spatial cases are:

-las (ILL): “inward, into”
-imris (ELL): “outward, from”
-itar (SUPE): “on, upon, above”
-itar (SURF.ALL): “onto, up onto” in motion contexts
-esp (SUBE): “under, below”
-asam (SUBL): “downward, onto a lower surface”

Productive spatial case attaches to the noun phrase that names the place, source, goal, path, or state. In this use, the spatial case does not take the verbalizer -‘er. The spatially marked noun phrase itself can imply motion or change without an overt English-style verb.

branum gal-es rismater-las
PAST man-ABS reed.boat-ILL
The man entered the reed boat.

The above example shows the man gal moving inward into the boat rismater. Because gal is the sole moving participant, it takes absolutive -es.

materok-el rismater-es keth-las
handler-ERG reed.boat-ABS sea-ILL
The handler takes the reed boat to sea.

When a participant causes something else to move, the causer takes ergative -el, the moved thing takes absolutive -es, and the goal or source carries the spatial case. If an overt action verb is present, the verb takes -‘er while the spatial case remains on the place or state noun.

Spatial cases can also fossilize into derivational morphology, creating case-lexicalized directional stems such as taglas “take, receive” and thralas “divine revelation, sacred illumination.” See Case-Lexicalized Directional Stems.

Temporal System

Tense Marking

See: Clause Structure and Word Order

The basic temporal markers are added to the beginning of a clause to indicate the time of the action.

Tense Marker	Meaning
branum	past
branrum	far past
mulsum	future

branum 'ales venitar
PAST person-ABS yoke-SUPE
PAST person lift
"The person lifted."

branrum 'ales venitar
FAR PAST person-ABS yoke-SUPE
FAR PAST person lifted
"The person lifted long ago."

mulsum 'ales venitar
FUT person-ABS yoke-SUPE
"The person will lift."

Conjunctions

Early Hick has several conjunctions for connecting elements:

ru [ru] “and” - general coordinator
ewes [e.wes] “together with” - marks shared/joint actions
‘aterbran [ʔa.ter.bran] “before” - temporal sequence
‘aterimris [ʔa.te.rim.ris] “after” - temporal sequence
imris [im.ris] “because” - causal relationships

For detailed discussion of conjunction types and usage, see: Syntax: Conjunctions

Morphology

Nominal Morphology

Noun Phrase Structure

Early Hick noun phrases are built around a marked noun. Words that describe the noun are normally derived with ka- and come before it, while suffixes that identify or mark the noun attach after the noun stem.

[possessor-ul] [describing words] [prefixes-noun-demonstrative-case]

The common spoken order is:

Possessor phrase, if present
Describing words, usually ka- forms
Number, partitive, negative, or size prefixes attached to the noun
Noun root
Demonstrative suffix
Case suffix

ka'il ma-mater-is-es
good PL-boat-PROX.INAN-ABS
"these good boats"

Demonstratives come before case endings. For animate nouns, the same slot takes the animate demonstrative:

ma-'al-'is-es
PL-person-PROX.ANIM-ABS
"these people"

Possessors come before the noun phrase they possess. The possessive suffix -ul attaches to the possessor, not to the possessed noun:

materok-ul ka'il ma-mater-is-es
handler-POSS good PL-boat-PROX.INAN-ABS
"the handler's good boats"

This overview gives the normal order for transparent, fully marked forms. Poetry and formal prose may front a case-marked noun phrase for emphasis, but the internal order of the noun phrase usually remains visible.

When a describing form made with ka- refers to more than one thing, the plural marker normally belongs to the noun that is being counted, not inside the ka- form:

ka-mater ma-etil-es
ADJ-boat PL-thing-ABS
"boat-like things"

One possible colloquial development would be to compress this into a derived form:

ma-ka-mater-es
PL-ADJ-boat-ABS
"boat-like ones"

This ma-ka-N pattern is noted here only as a possible future or colloquial form. It is not yet treated as a settled canonical Early Hick rule. Careful speech prefers the fuller noun phrase.

Agentive Marking

Primary Marker
- -ok [ok]: agentive nominalizer (forms agent nouns, both occupational and active) Examples:
- materok “boatman” < mater-ok “vessel-AGENT” (one who works with vessels)
- wardok “guide” < ward-ok “direct-AGENT” (one who directs)
- threnok “watcher” < thren-ok “watch-AGENT” (one who watches)

Size and Intensity Markers

Diminutive (li-)
- Prefix meaning “small, lesser”
- Examples:
  - limal [li.mal] “small pool, pond”
  - liren [li.ren] “small deer, fawn”
  - lines [li.nes] “small fish, minnow”
Augmentative (tor-)
- Prefix meaning “great, mighty” (from “height, peak”)
- Examples:
  - tornes [tor.nes] “great fish, whale”
  - topel [to.pel] “great bear” (tor-pel → topel, liquid deletion)
  - tomal [to.mal] “great pool, - lake” (tor-mal → tomal, liquid deletion)
mentative (tor- -sim)
- Circumfix combining the argumentative tor- with the translative -sim to mean a swift change in speed of the action

Number Marking

Early Hick has five strategies for marking number:

Plural Prefix ma-
- Indicates general plurality
- ma-mater “boats”
- Can mark plurality of referents, including demonstrative-person forms:
  - ma’alis “these people”
  - ma’altan “those people”
  - ma’al’isel “these people as doer”
  - ma’al’ises “these people as main noun or receiver”
Universal Prefix masin- (< Proto-Hick *masinu “complete”)
- Indicates totality/universality (“all”, “every”)
- masin-mater “all boats”
- masin-‘al “everyone” (all people)
- masin-ter “everything” (all things)
Partitive Prefix ran- (< *haranu “divide”)
- Indicates “some of” or “part of”
- ran-mater “some boats”
- Can develop limiter meaning in context
Numerical Marking with ran-
- Links numbers to nouns
- thal-ran-mater “three boats”
- pil-ran-natlas “five friends”
Ordinal Marking with -ter
- Forms ordinals from cardinal numbers:
  - sin → sinter “first”
  - tir → tirter “second”
  - thal → thalter “third”
Can be used in two ways: a. As adjectival/adverbial modifier with ka- prefix:
```
kasinter 'ir'er
first mover
"first one to move"
```
b. As a prefix in number marking position:
```
thaltermateres matir'er
third-ship sail-VERB
"third ship to sail"
```
Fractional Marking with ran- The partitive prefix ran- can also mark fractions when used with numbers:
```
tirranrakter
two-PART-league
"half-league" (league divided in two)

sinranvinuram
three-PART-yard
"third of a yard" (yard divided in three)
```
Note that this creates ambiguity with numerical marking, as number-ran-noun can mean either “X number of nouns” or “1/X of a noun” depending on context:
```
tirranlis
two-PART-child
"two children" (numerical marking)

tirranrakter
two-PART-league
"half-league" (fractional marking)
```
The interpretation depends on:
- Whether the noun can be meaningfully divided
- The pragmatic context (counting vs measuring)
- The register (technical vs general usage)
This ambiguity becomes particularly relevant in measurement and trade contexts, where both counting and dividing are common.
Exclusivity Marking telran-

The partitive prefix ran- can combine with tel- to form telran-, marking exclusivity:

These markers are mutually exclusive in the same position class: (NEG)-(PLURAL/PART/NUM-PART)-(SIZE)-ROOT
```
telran-materok
EXCL.PART-handler
"only the handlers" (specifically excluding non-handlers)
ran-materok
PART-handler
"some handlers" (neutral partitive)
```
contrasting with the neutral partitive which simply indicates a subset. This distinction is particularly useful in:
- Social group identification
- Professional designations
- Ritual contexts

Adjectival Marking

From its Proto-Hick root *kasu, with the sense of reflection upon a mirror-like surface, the prefix ka- was initially used to denote similarity. Over time, it had applied to a wide range of concepts, becoming a general adjectivizer.

Similarity Prefix (ka-)
- Prefix meaning “like, similar to”
- Always surfaces as [kə-] due to regular vowel reduction
- Examples:
  - ka-tor [kə.tor] “hill-like” (smaller than a mountain)
  - ka-mal [kə.mal] “pond-like” (smaller than a lake)
  - ka-bram [kə.bram] “tide-like” (rhythmic movement)
  - Natural Features: kətor “hill-like”, kəmal “pond-like”
  - Animals: kəpel “bear-like”, kəmer “bird-like”
  - Body Parts: kəbel “mouth-like”, kəven “wing-like”
  - Weather: kəbran “storm-like”, kəthral “mist-like”
  - Water Movement: kəran “stream-like”, kəthrim “wave-like”
  - Plant Growth: kəthir “grass-like”, kəbel “vine-like”
  - Sounds: kəmer “bird-like (sound)”, kəsak “wolf-like (howl)”
Adjectival Prefix (ka-)
- Extended beyond just similarity, it has since been used to derive more metaphorically related concepts beyond a comparative sense. such as:
  - kasul [ka.sul] “energetic” < ka-sul “liver-like”
  - kames [ka.mes] “emotional” < ka-mes “heart-like”
Use with Translative -sim When ka- prefixed forms take the translative suffix -sim, they indicate becoming like the base noun:

a. Intransitive use (spontaneous change):
```
mes-es kames-sim
heart-ABS heart.like-TRANS
"The heart becomes emotional" (lit. "becomes heart-like")
```
b. Transitive use (caused change):
```
sibris-el mes-es kames-sim
love-ERG heart-ABS heart.like-TRANS
"Love makes the heart emotional" (lit. "love makes heart become heart-like")

'al-el sul-es kasul-sim
person-ERG liver-ABS liver.like-TRANS
"The person energizes the liver" (lit. "person makes liver become liver-like")
```
Note: In transitive uses, the ergative marks the agent causing the change, while the absolutive marks what undergoes the change. See also: Object Control Constructions for extended use in expressing commands.

Adjective Ordering

Multiple ka- derived forms follow this order:

Quality/Evaluation (ka-‘il “good-like”, ka-thral “sacred-like”)
Purpose/Association (ka-keth “sea-like”, ka-tag “craft-like”)
Material Nature (ka-wud “wood-like”, ka-sul “flesh-like”)
Physical Property (ka-mal “round-like”, ka-ris “straight-like”)

Natural Pattern

The original and common spoken pattern is direct stacking:

ka-‘il ka-keth ka-wud ka-mal mater-es ADJ-good ADJ-sea ADJ-wood ADJ-round boat-ABS “good sea-worthy wooden round boat”

Literary Style

After the introduction of Elven writing (c. 800 PF), a formal coordinated style developed based on the “o…ru” nominal coordination pattern:

‘il o keth o wud o mal ka-es mater-es good PART sea PART wood PART round ADJ-ABS boat-ABS “good and sea-worthy and wooden and round boat”

This literary innovation appears primarily in written texts and formal speech.

Demonstrative System

Visible/Known, Proximal
- -is [is] “this” (inanimate)
- -ʔis [ʔis] “this” (animate)
Visible/Known, Medial
- -en [en] “that” (inanimate)
- -tan [tan] “that” (animate)
Hidden but Sensed, Medial
- -eth [eθ] “that” (inanimate)
- -thir [θir] “that” (animate)
Distant/Out of Sight
- -um [um] “that over there” (inanimate)
- -rum [rum] “that over there” (animate)
- Distal forms can also mark general or socially distant referents, especially when the speaker means “people like that” rather than a known nearby group.

Personal Reference

Personal reference extends the demonstrative system rather than forming an independent pronoun class. The common proximal animate form is built from ‘al “person” plus the animate proximal demonstrative -‘is:

'al-'is
person-PROX.ANIM
"this person"

With case marking, this gives forms such as:

‘al’isel “this person as doer” (often “I” in context)
‘al’ises “this person as main noun or receiver” (often “I/me” in context)
‘altalel “that person as doer” (often “you/he/she/they” in context)
‘altales “that person as main noun or receiver”
‘alrumel “those people / people like that as doer” (general or socially distant)
‘alrumes “those people / people like that as main noun or receiver”

These personal-reference forms are normally dropped when the speaker, addressee, or third party is clear from context. They are retained when the reference needs reinforcement, contrast, strengthening, or literary weight. Formal and poetic styles use overt personal references more often than ordinary speech.

barak'er
walk-VERB
"I walk / they walk" (understood from context)

'al'ises barak'er
person.PROX.ABS walk-VERB
"I walk" (reinforced: this person, not another)

ven'er 'ales
yoke.VERB person.ABS
"I carry a person" (agent understood from context)

'al'isel ven'er 'ales
person.PROX.ERG yoke.VERB person.ABS
"I carry a person" (reinforced or literary)

Animacy remains important in reference. Animate personal-reference forms are used for people and other animate referents. This is not the same as biological life. Some non-living referents may be grammatically animate when they are understood as having force, agency, intention, or self-directed motion. Rivers, oceans, storms, wind, fire, and ritually powerful places may therefore take animate demonstrative marking in some contexts.

When the speaker refers to an ordinary object, place, event, or situation in relation to themselves, Early Hick usually uses the inanimate demonstrative series instead of the animate ‘al- forms.

mater-is-es
boat-PROX.INAN-ABS
"this boat" / "this boat of mine here"

mater-en-es
boat-MED.INAN-ABS
"that boat" / "that boat associated with you or the current scene"

kakel-is-es
blue-PROX.INAN-ABS
"this blue one" / "this blue state here"

These are not ordinary English possessive pronouns. They are demonstrative references whose interpretation depends on speaker, addressee, discourse, and visible context. Use animate ‘al- forms for people, animals, and referents treated as agentive or force-bearing. Use inanimate demonstrative forms for ordinary things and situations. The exact boundary for non-living animate referents is not yet exhaustively listed and may depend on register, genre, and local practice.

Medial forms such as ‘altalel or ma’altalel usually refer to a known, recoverable person or group: “they, those friends of ours.” Distal forms such as ‘alrumel or ma’alrumel can instead refer to a generalized or socially distant group: “they, people like that.”

ma'altalel ward'er
PL.person.MED.ERG guide.VERB
"They guide" (a known group)

ma'alrumel ward'er
PL.person.DIST.ERG guide.VERB
"They guide" (people like that; a generalized or distanced group)

Spatial Demonstratives
- istal “this.place-person” (speaker’s location)
- etal “that.place-person” (addressee’s location)
- utal “far.place-person” (third party location)

Negation System

Early Hick negation is primarily prefixal. The standard general negative prefix is mo-. It attaches before the stem or derived form it negates.

Word Negation

mo-thral
NEG-sacred
"non-sacred, profane"

mo-ter
NEG-flow
"not flowing, stagnant"

mo-ward
NEG-guide
"misdirect, lead astray"

Negative Descriptive Statements

In qualitative or stative description, mo- scopes outside the ka- descriptive form. The negative prefix therefore comes before ka-:
```
mo-ka-kel kel-es
NEG-ADJ-sky sky-ABS
"the sky is not blue" / "not-blue sky"
```
In a fully finite stative statement, the negative derived form can take the verbalizer:
```
kel-es mo-ka-kel-'er
sky-ABS NEG-ADJ-sky-VERB
"The sky is not blue."
```
This pattern parallels other stative negation such as:
```
mal-es mo-tor-'er
pool-ABS NEG-height-VERB
"The pool is not tall."
```
Action Negation

Broader clausal action negation is less fully attested in the current corpus. The expected transparent pattern would be mo-ROOT-‘er, with mo- negating the verbal stem before the verbalizer:
```
'al-es mo-barak-'er
person-ABS NEG-walk-VERB
"The person does not walk."
```
This should be treated as the regular expected pattern unless a more specific negative particle or construction is later documented.
Privative im-

im- is a newly documented, predominantly western Seneran regional privative prefix meaning “without, lacking, deprived of.” It develops from im “evil, abstract negativity” through semantic bleaching from harmful or defective to lacking. This privative use should be distinguished from the older and more common lexical or derivational use of im for “evil, harmful, improper.” Productive-looking im- compounds meaning “evil X” or “badly/improperly X” are therefore better treated as the older moral/qualitative im pattern unless the meaning is clearly privative. For now, it should be treated as a regional western Seneran feature rather than a general standard Early Hick clausal negator.
```
im-tel-mal
PRIV-end-pool
"without-end-pool" → "ocean, outer sea"
```

Possession Marking

The possessive suffix -ul marks ownership and possession relationships:

Structure
- Suffix -ul attaches to possessor noun
- Possessed noun follows directly
- No additional marking on possessed noun
```
materok-ul rismater
handler-POSS boat
"the handler's boat"
```
Semantic Range
- Physical possession (“X’s Y”)
- Ownership (“belonging to X”)
- Abstract possession (“X’s qualities”)
- Kinship (“X’s relative”)

Verbal Morphology

Verbalizer

-‘er [‘er]: creates verbs from nouns and property concepts
Productive forms normally preserve the glottal boundary
After sibilant-stop codas, ordinary speech may repair the cluster by moving the final stop into the verbalizer syllable and collapsing the glottal

mulis-'er [mulis.ʔer] "dreaminɡ"
barak-'er [ba.rak.ʔer] "walking"
trask-'er [tras.ker] "running"

Active verbs (from action/motion concepts)

ai-es ter-'er
water-ABS flow-VERB
"Water flows"

materok-el 'al-es ward-'er
handler-ERG person-ABS guide-VERB
"The handler guides the person"

Examples:

ter-‘er “to flow” (See: Water Features)
thren-‘er “to watch” (See: Sacred Terms)
ward-‘er “to guide”

Stative verbs (from property concepts)

Stative verbs are formed from property concepts using the verbalizer -ʔer. In order to disambiguate from active verbs, in most cases, the adjectivizer prefix ka- is prepended to the verb.

tor-thir-es kathral-'er
peak-KNOWN.ANIM-ABS ADJ-sacred-VERB
"The known peak is sacred"

kel-es ka-mar-'er
sky-ABS ADJ-red-VERB
"The sky is red"

Examples:

thral-‘er “to be sacred” (See: Sacred Terms)
mar-‘er “to be red” (See: Colors)

Note: Interpretation depends on base word semantics:

Action/motion roots → active verbs (ter “flow”, ward “guide”)
Property roots → stative verbs (thral “sacred”) (See: Basic Terms)

Mood

Early Hick marks certain modal meanings through verbal suffixes. For syntactic modal constructions, see: Syntactic Mood

Volitional Marker -‘arm

The volitional suffix -arm (< Proto-Hick *harmu “willing”) marks intention or willingness. Like other modal suffixes, it replaces the verbalizer -‘er:

# Intransitive
'al'ises wardarm
person.DEM.PROX.ANIM.VIS-ABS guide.VOL
"I am willing to guide"

# Transitive
'al'isel threnarm tores
person.DEM.PROX.ANIM.VIS-ERG watch.VOL mountain.ABS
"I am willing to watch the mountain"

Common forms:

ward’er → wardarm “willing to guide”
thren’er → threnarm “willing to watch”
tak’er → takarm “willing to strike”

Note: The volitional often appears in ritual contexts and formal pledges, suggesting its historical connection to expressions of sacred duty or obligation. See also: Sacred Terms

Desiderative Marker -nat

The desiderative suffix -nat (< Proto-Hick *gnar-ter “correct-flow”) marks desire or intention. It replaces the verbalizer -‘er and preserves the transitivity of the base verb:

With intransitive verbs:
```
'al'ises imerespnat
person.DEM.PROX.ANIM.VIS-ABS sleep.DES.VERB
"I want to sleep"
```
The sole argument takes absolutive case as expected for S arguments.

With transitive verbs:

'al'isel hilisnat 'altales
person.DEM.PROX.ANIM.VIS-ERG look.DES.VERB person.DEM.MED.VIS.ANIM-ABS
"I want to see you"

Both A and P arguments maintain regular ergative-absolutive marking.

This construction shows Early Hick’s consistent syntactic ergativity, handling desires through morphological means rather than control syntax.

Spatial Case System

Early Hick’s spatial case system interacts closely with verbal semantics, marking not only physical direction but also abstract state changes and causation.

Basic Spatial Cases
- -las (ILL): “inward, into”
- -imris (ELL): “outward, from”
- -itar (SUPE): “on, upon, above”
- -itar (SURF.ALL): “onto, up onto” in motion contexts
- -asam (SUBL): “downward, onto a lower surface”
- -esp (SUBE): “under, below”

Illative: -las

The illative -las marks inward motion, entry, or movement into a bounded place or state. With concrete nouns, it usually answers “into where?”. With property concepts, it can mark a change into a resulting state.

materok-es rismater-las
handler-ABS reed.boat-ILL
"The handler enters the reed boat"

kamar kel-es kakel-las
red sky-ABS blue-ILL
"red sky turns blue"

Ellative: -imris

The ellative -imris marks outward motion, emergence, source, or motion from a place or state. It is also extended into source-like abstract functions, including causal and derivational uses. In standard Early Hick, -imris is the main productive ellative marker.

materok-es rismater-imris
handler-ABS reed.boat-ELL
"The handler exits the reed boat"

Regional note: Some inland dialects preserve -iter in similar ellative-like uses, especially in fossilized or formal terms. For example, venuiter “to give birth” corresponds to standard vinuimris, but survives in formal expressions such as 'ilitar venuiteres “blessings upon your birth”.

Superessive: -itar

The superessive -itar marks a relation of being on, upon, atop, or supported by a surface or higher reference point. It is primarily locative. With motion clauses, the same form can be read as a surface goal, “onto” or “up onto”, because the motion comes from the clause context. This reference uses SUPE for the static/support reading and SURF.ALL for the directional surface-goal reading. This is a glossing distinction, not a separate case suffix.

materok-es rismater-itar
handler-ABS reed.boat-SURF.ALL
"The handler climbs onto the reed boat"

Lexicalized forms may preserve edge-case readings involving an overhead source or something coming from above. For example, aitar “rain” is understood as ai-itar, “water above” or “water coming upon one from above”, rather than as a productive directional meaning “upward”.

Subessive: -esp

The subessive -esp marks position under, below, or beneath a reference point. It is the static counterpart to lower-position meanings and is used when the important relation is being below something, not necessarily moving downward.

Descending / Lowering Case: -asam

The -asam case marks downward motion, lowering, or movement toward a lower surface or lower state. It contrasts with -esp, which marks being under or below without necessarily implying motion.

materok-es rismater-asam
handler-ABS reed.boat-SUBL
"The handler climbs down onto the reed boat"

Directional Usage

materok-es rismater-las
handler-ABS reed.boat-ILL
"The handler enters the reed boat"

materok-es rismater-imris
handler-ABS reed.boat-ELL
"The handler exits the reed boat"

materok-es rismater-itar
handler-ABS reed.boat-SURF.ALL
"The handler climbs onto the reed boat"

materok-es rismater-asam
handler-ABS reed.boat-SUBL
"The handler climbs down onto the reed boat"

In these zero-verb motion clauses, the moving participant is the only core argument and takes absolutive case. Caused-motion clauses keep the normal ergative-absolutive contrast:

materok-el rismater-es keth-las
handler-ERG reed.boat-ABS sea-ILL
"The handler takes the reed boat to sea"

Change of State

Spatial cases extend to mark state changes. See: Adjectival System for full details.

kamar kel-es kakel-las
red sky-ABS blue-ILL
"red sky turns blue"

Syntactic Properties

Marks the goal, source, path, position, or resulting state
Takes no verbalizer in productive spatial-case phrases
Uses absolutive on the sole mover in intransitive motion contexts
Can be fronted for emphasis
Implies motion/change without overt verb
Allows ergative causers in caused-motion clauses
Interacts with causative constructions

Adjectival Morphology

Early Hick has no true adjective class. Quality concepts are expressed through:

Stative Verbs (See: Verbal Morphology)

Uses verbalizer -ʔer
Takes absolutive argument Examples:

kel-es kakel-ʔer
sky-ABS blue-VERB
"The sky is blue"

thral-el kel-es kakel-ʔer
ritual-ERG sky-ABS blue-VERB
"The ritual makes the sky blue"

Change of State

Translative (-sim):

kel-es kakel-sim
sky.ABS blue.TRANS
"sky becomes blue"

Directional Cases (-las/-imris):

kamar kel-es kakel-las
red sky-ABS blue-ILL
"red sky turns blue"

Notes:
- No bare attributive modification by property roots
- Attributive description uses ka- derived forms
- All qualities are verbal predicates
- Follows ergative-absolutive alignment
- Causatives marked by adding ergative agent

Color Terms

Early Hick forms color terms through two strategies:

Basic Adjectival Form
- Uses ka- prefix with color source noun
- Examples:
  - kakel “sky-like, blue” < ka-kel “sky-like”
  - kamar “blood-like, red” < ka-mar “blood-like”
  - kathral “mist-like, white” < ka-thral “mist-like”
  - kagral “earth-like, brown” < ka-gral “earth-like”
Unambiguous Color Form
- Uses -rak suffix (< arak “color”) to specify color meaning
- Particularly useful when source noun is present
- Examples:
  - kakelrak “blue” (specifically the color)
  - kamarrak “red” (specifically the color)
  - kathralrak “white” (specifically the color)
  - kagralrak “brown” (specifically the color)

Compare:

kakel kel
sky-like sky
"sky-like sky" (could refer to any sky quality)

kakelrak kel
blue sky
"blue sky" (specifically about color)

The -rak suffix can also be used in color-changing contexts:

'al'isel alises arak'er kelel kelrakes
person.PROX.ERG who.ABS color.VERB sky.ERG blue.ABS
"I colored the sky blue"

Derivational Morphology

Similarity Prefix

ka- [kə]: prefix meaning “like, similar to”
Always surfaces as [kə-] due to regular vowel reduction Examples:
ka-tor [kə.tor] “hill-like” (smaller than a mountain)
ka-mal [kə.mal] “pond-like” (smaller than a lake)
ka-bram [kə.bram] “tide-like” (rhythmic movement)

Derivational Negation

See Negation System for the full sentence-level discussion. In derivational morphology, Early Hick keeps three related but distinct word-building patterns:

mo- forms ordinary negative stems: mo-thral “non-sacred, profane”, mo-ter “not flowing, stagnant”, mo-ward “misdirect, lead astray”
im forms older moral or qualitative compounds meaning “evil, harmful, improper”; compounds with harmful or improper meanings usually reflect this pattern, not the newer privative one
western Seneran privative im- forms regional “without, lacking” compounds, especially in fossilized landscape terms such as im-tel-mal “without-end-pool” → imtelmal “ocean, outer sea”

Case-Lexicalized Directional Stems

Spatial case can fossilize into derivational morphology. In these forms, an older ROOT-CASE phrase is no longer interpreted only as a case-marked phrase, but as a lexical stem with its own meaning. The original directional force remains visible:

-imris often externalizes, emits, gives, teaches, or brings something out
-las often receives, enters, internalizes, or comes into a state

tag-imris → tagimris
hand-ELL
"give"

tag-las → taglas
hand-ILL
"take, receive"

'ilis-imris → 'ilisimris
knowledge-ELL
"teach"

These stems stand between ordinary case marking and ordinary verbal derivation. As lexical stems, they can appear bare in nominal, dependent, or proverbial contexts. When used as fully finite ordinary verbs, they may take the verbalizer -‘er, especially when speakers still parse them as derived stems.

This differs from productive spatial case marking. A phrase such as rismater-las “into the reed boat” remains a case-marked noun phrase and does not take -‘er. Only when ROOT-CASE has been lexicalized as a directional stem can the whole stem later take verbal morphology.

This pattern is especially visible in sacred and abstract vocabulary. The transparent ritual phrase thrallas derives from thral-las “into sacred light.” In maxims, it can describe truth, insight, or blessing as entering divine illumination. The later lexicalized form thralas simplifies the boundary and comes to mean “divine revelation, sacred illumination.” This is not a syntactic passive. Rather, the subject is conceptualized as entering the state or place named by the directional phrase.

thid-es thrallas → thid-es thralas
truth-ABS sacred.light-ILL → truth-ABS revelation
"truth into sacred light" → "divine revelation"

Compound Formation

Basic Pattern: modifier-head
Sound changes:
- Liquid deletion: tor-mal → tomal
- Nasal deletion: bram-mal → bramal
- glottal stop deletion also removes immediately succeeding vowel: ‘irur-‘ilis → ‘irurlis
- Examples:
  - kur-tin → kurtin “bronze” (copper-tin)
  - bram-mater → brammater “river vessel” (tide-vessel)
  - thral-kel → thrakel “sun” (sacred-sky)

Action Nominal Compounds

Action nominal compounds require the verbalizer -‘er as part of the compound structure:

BASE-VERB’er (e.g., mater-tag’er, pel-thren’er)

Unlike regular compounds, action nominals preserve morphological boundaries and resist normal compound phonology:

mater-tag’er → [ma.ter.tag.ʔer] (not *[ma.te.tag.ʔer])
pel-thren’er → [pel.θren.ʔer]

This preservation of boundaries:

Maintains transparency of components
Shows clear verbal derivation
Parallels treatment of sacred/ritual terms
Helps parse complex forms

Compare:

tor-mal → tomal “great pool” (regular compound)
tor-mal’er → tor-mal’er “pool-expanding” (action nominal)

Restrictions

Base Requirements:
- First element must be a concrete noun (mater-tag’er “boat-making” but notthral-tag’er “sacred-making”)
- Second element must be an action-capable root (tag’er “make”, thren’er “watch”, but not *sul’er “liver-VERB”)
Semantic Restrictions:
- Must describe culturally recognized activities
- Cannot form from abstract or metaphorical relationships
- Maritime and craft terms particularly productive
- Sacred/ritual terms require special authorization
Structural Limits:
- Maximum of one nominal base + one verbal element
- Cannot stack multiple actions (*mater-tag-thren’er)
- Cannot incorporate case markers (*materel-tag’er)

Note: For professional or habitual agents, Early Hick uses the agentive suffix -ok instead:

‘irurvinudok “house cleaner” (house-clean-AGENT)
matertagok “boat maker” (boat-make-AGENT)
pelthrenok “bear watcher” (bear-watch-AGENT)

Action nominals focus on the activity itself, while agentive forms indicate the performer of the action.

Note: For professional or habitual agents, Early Hick uses the agentive suffix -ok with regular compound formation:

‘iruvinudok “house cleaner” < ‘irur-vinud-ok “hollow-dwelling-AGENT” (with liquid deletion)
matagok “boat maker” < mater-tag-ok “boat-make-AGENT” (with liquid deletion)
pethrenok “bear watcher” < pel-thren-ok “bear-watch-AGENT” (with liquid deletion)

Action nominals focus on the activity itself and preserve morphological boundaries, while agentive forms follow regular compound phonology and indicate the performer of the action.

Body Metaphors

Breath as the soul
Liver as source of life
Heart as source of emotion
Bones as structure
Hands as tools
Eyes as reality
Skin as appearance
Skin, Hair as abstract senses
Stomach, gut as strength
Liver as source of instinct and intuition

Affix Order

Basic Template

Root Structure
- (PREFIX*) + ROOT + (SUFFIX*)
- Maximum of three prefixes and two suffixes
Order of Elements

(NEG)-(PLURAL/PART/NUM-PART)-(SIZE)-ROOT-(AGENT)-(DEM)-(CASE)

Adjectival ka- usually derives a describing form from its own root, rather than stacking inside the numbered noun phrase. The derived describing form then stands before the noun phrase it modifies:

ka-mater ma-etil-es
ADJ-boat PL-thing-ABS
"boat-like things"

Negative descriptive forms use the same outer-prefix logic. When mo- negates a ka- derived form, it appears outside ka-:

mo-ka-kel kel-es
NEG-ADJ-sky sky-ABS
"not-blue sky" / "the sky is not blue"

This does not make ka- an ordinary part of the counted noun-head template above. It is a derived describing form that can itself be negated.

One possible colloquial development would compress recoverable phrases by placing ma- before a ka- derived form:

ma-ka-mater-es
PL-ADJ-boat-ABS
"boat-like ones"

Examples:

mo-ka-tor-el (NEG-ADJ-height-ERG) “not height-like (as agent)”
ma-li-mal-ok-es (PL-DIM-pool-AGENT-ABS) “small pool keepers”
ka-tor-mal-el (ADJ-AUG-pool-ERG) “great pool-like thing (as agent)“

Prefix Classes

Outer Prefixes (first position)
- mo- (NEG): negation
Second Position
- ma- (PL): plural
- ran- (PART): partitive
- telran- (EXCL.PART): exclusive partitive
Third Position
- ka- (ADJ): adjectivizer
  - Usually forms a separate describing form before the noun phrase
  - Possible, non-canonical colloquial compression may show ma-ka-ROOT
Inner Prefixes (closest to root)
- tor- (AUG): augmentative
- li- (DIM): diminutive

Suffix Classes

Inner Suffixes (closer to root)
- -‘er (VERB): verbalizer (See: Verbal Morphology)
- -arm (VOL): volitional (See: Morphological Mood)
- -nat (DES): desiderative (See: Morphological Mood)
- -ok (AGENT): agentive (See: Agentive Marking)
Demonstrative Suffixes (before case)
- -is / -‘is (PROX): proximal demonstrative
- -en / -tan (MED): visible or known medial demonstrative
- -eth / -thir (MED.SENSED): sensed but hidden demonstrative
- -um / -rum (DIST): distant or general demonstrative
Outer Suffixes (final position)
- -el (ERG): ergative case
- -es (ABS): absolutive case
- -imris (ELL): ellative case (“from”)
- -las (ILL): illative case (“into”)
- -itar (SUPE/SURF.ALL): superessive / surface-allative case (“upon/onto”)
- -esp (SUBE): subessive case (“under”)
- -asam (SUBL): sublative case (“downward, onto a lower surface”)
- -sim (TRANS): translative case (“becomes”)
See: Spatial Case System

Restrictions

Co-occurrence
- Only one prefix from each position class
- Maximum of one case suffix
- Demonstrative suffixes precede final case suffixes
- Agent suffix must precede case suffix
Phonological Interactions
- Prefix ka- always reduces to [kə-]
- Unlike compounds, affixes do not trigger liquid or nasal deletion
- Compare:
  - Compound: tor-mal → tomal “great pool” (liquid deletion)
  - Affix: tor-el → tor-el “height-ERG” (no deletion)

Syntax

Property Words and Modification

Early Hick uses property roots and ka- derived describing words in three main ways:

As Adjectives (modifying nouns)

ka- derived forms come before the noun they modify

ka'irek litor-es etal
ADJ-firm hill-ABS that.MED
"that firm hill" (like English "the tall tree")

As Predicate Adjectives (with verb marking)

litor-es ka'irek'er
hill-ABS ADJ-firm-VERB
"The hill is firm" (like English "The tree is tall")

As Adverbs (modifying verbs)
- Stand near the verb they modify
- Postverbal position is common and clear in simple clauses
- Preverbal position can mark focus, rhythm, or a tighter link to the action
- Usually take the similarity prefix ka-
```
wen'altanes 'irek'er ka'irek
woman.MED.VIS.ANIM-ABS stand-VERB ADJ-firm
"She stands firmly" (like English "-ly" adverbs)

wen'altanes ka'irek 'irek'er
woman.MED.VIS.ANIM-ABS ADJ-firm stand-VERB
"She firmly stands"
```

This pattern means that word order shows whether a ka- describing form is acting like an adjective (before nouns) or an adverbial action modifier near a verb. In complex clauses, action modifiers normally remain inside the clause or verb phrase they modify so that their scope stays clear. Bare property roots before the subject are noted only as a possible colloquial or poetic shortening and are not treated as settled canonical Early Hick.

Clause Structure and Word Order

Basic Patterns
- Core arguments marked by case, allowing flexible word order
- Ergative (-el) marks agent of transitive verbs
- Absolutive (-es) marks patient of transitive & sole argument of intransitive
- Word order signals pragmatic functions rather than grammatical roles

Information Structure

Initial position: topic/focus or temporal frame
Final position: new information or emphasis

Examples:

branum bramisimris kethes
past    river-ELL    sea-ABS
"In the past, the river flowed to the sea" (temporal frame first)

kethes bramisimris branum
sea-ABS river-ELL    past
"The river flowed to the sea, in the past" (neutral statement)

Verb Position and Aspect

Verbs can occur in different positions based on aspect:

materok-el rismater-es ward tel
handler-ERG reed.boat-ABS guide COMPL
"The handler has guided the reed boat" (completed action)

rismater-es ward kethes
reed.boat-ABS guide sea-ABS
"The reed boat guides to sea" (general statement)

Directional constructions allow goal prominence:

keth-las materok-el rismater-es
sea-ILL  handler-ERG reed.boat-ABS
"To sea the handler (takes) the reed boat"

Temporal Reference

Time words can float freely but tend toward:
- Initial: setting temporal frame for discourse
- Pre-verbal: marking temporal contrast
- Final: neutral narrative position

Examples:

branum materok-el ward-ʔer  # Frame-setting
past    handler-ERG guide-VERB
"In the past, the handler guided"

materok-el branum ward-ʔer  # Temporal contrast
handler-ERG past    guide-ACT
"The handler USED TO guide"

materok-el ward-ʔer branum  # Neutral narrative
handler-ERG guide-ACT past
"The handler guided, in the past"

See: Tense and Aspect for a complete description of:

Past reference markers (branum, branrum)
Future reference (mulsum)
Completive aspect (tel)
Position effects on temporal interpretation

Comitative Construction

Early Hick marks accompaniment through the particle ewes, which precedes an absolutive-marked participant:

'al'isel ewes Maries ward'er
person.DEM.PROX.ANIM.VIS-ERG WITH Mari-ABS travel.VERB
"I travel with Mari"

The primary participant takes ergative case while the accompanying participant is marked absolutive. See also: Conjunctions for coordinated usage of ewes.

Object Control Constructions

Early Hick has two primary strategies for expressing object control (“X tells Y to do Z”):

Primary Construction: Causative-like Formation

Uses the adjectival prefix ka- with translative -sim to show caused state (See: Adjectival Marking):

branum 'al'isel kaimerespsim galtales
PAST person.PROX.ERG ADJ-sleep-TRANS man.MED.ABS
"I made him sleep" (lit. "I made him become sleep-like")

The construction maintains ergative-absolutive alignment, with the causer marked ergative and the causee marked absolutive.

ma'altalel 'al'ises 'ilisimris'er [katagsim wen'er wenel]
PL.person.MED.ERG person.PROX.ABS teach.VERB [ADJ.give.TRANS bloom.VERB flower.ERG]
"They taught us to make flowers bloom"

'al'isel altales 'ilisimris'er [katagsim sul'er aiel]
person.PROX.ERG person.MED.ABS teach.VERB [ADJ.give.TRANS flow.VERB water.ERG]
"I taught them to make the water flow"

The embedded causative maintains its fixed [AUX VERB SUBJ] order even with multiple verbs, while the matrix clause remains flexible:

altales 'al'isel [katagsim sul'er aiel] 'ilisimris'er
person.MED.ABS person.PROX.ERG [ADJ.give.TRANS flow.VERB water.ERG] teach.VERB
"Them, I taught to make the water flow"

This construction differs from case-lexicalized directional stems such as taglas “take, receive” or thralas “divine revelation, sacred illumination.” The katagsim construction profiles an overt caused event with an auxiliary and an embedded predicate. Case-lexicalized stems instead fossilize an older spatial-case phrase into a new lexical item. They can carry causative or middle-like meanings through their directional metaphor, but they are not object-control clauses.

Quotative Strategy

Uses relative clause structure to frame commands as reported speech:

branum 'al'isel ['alises paket'er imerespes!] galtalimrises
PAST person.PROX.ERG [who.ABS say.VERB sleep.IMP.ABS!] man.MED.ELL.ABS
"I who said 'sleep!' to him"

Key features:

Relative clause with ‘alis- as relativizer
Imperative marked with absolutive -es
Recipient marked with ellative -imris
Commands treated as affecting their target (like P arguments)

Reflexive Constructions

Early Hick marks reflexive relationships primarily through case marking and demonstrative agreement:

Basic Reflexives With transitive verbs, the agent takes ergative case and the reflexive object takes illative:

galtalel tallas hilis'er
person.MED.ERG MED.ILL look.VERB
"He looked at himself"

ma'altalel matallas pak'er
PL.person.MED.ERG PL.MED.ILL speak.VERB
"They spoke among themselves"

Indirect Objects For ditransitive verbs, reflexive recipients take illative case:

'al'isel 'islas taglas'er 'iruretiles
person.PROX.ERG PROX.ILL give.ITER.VERB gift.ABS
"I gave myself a gift"

wen'altalel tallas paket'irur
woman.MED.ERG MED.ILL talk.ITER
"She told herself stories"

Key features:

Demonstrative agreement between agent and reflexive forms
Illative case (-las) marks reflexive targets
Number agreement maintained in plural forms
Regular ergative-absolutive alignment for non-reflexive arguments

Method/Means Expression Uses the object control construction with ka- prefix and translative -sim to express how an action is performed:
```
'al'isel paketes katenwasim tenwa'er
person.PROX.ERG speech.ABS ADJ.write.TRANS write.VERB
"I wrote the speech through writing"

materok-el rismater-es katagasim ward'er
handler-ERG reed.boat-ABS ADJ.craft.TRANS guide.VERB
"The handler guides the reed boat through crafting"
```
The construction treats the method as a caused state change, following the same pattern as other reflexive and causative expressions in Early Hick.

Comparative Constructions

Early Hick has two primary strategies for expressing comparisons: similarity/ equivalence marking and relative degree constructions.

Similarity and Equivalence

Early Hick marks similarity through two related constructions derived from Proto-Hick *kasu “reflection”:

Simple Comparisons Uses the ka- prefix for straightforward comparisons with single nouns:
```
kamales ward'er
ADJ.pool.ABS contain.VERB
"(It) contains like a pool"
```

Complex Comparisons Uses kas conjunction for phrases with modifiers:

kas [kameris kethbranes] tagimris'er
LIKE [ADJ.love kin.ABS] give.VERB
"As beloved kin give"

Relative Degree

Early Hick expresses relative degree through a specialized construction using spatial cases. The construction treats comparisons as stative predicates with two arguments:

The comparable (what’s being compared) takes absolutive case
The comparator (what it’s compared to) takes either superessive (-itar) or sublative (-asam) case
The quality being compared is expressed as a stative verb with -‘er

Greater Than

Uses the superessive case (-itar “upon/above”):

tores tor'er malitar
mountain-ABS height-VERB pool-SUPE
"The mountain is taller than the pool"
(lit. "mountain heights above-pool")

'ales vinu'er 'altanitar
person-ABS birth-VERB man-SUPE
"The person is older than the man"
(lit. "person births above-man")

Less Than

Uses the sublative case (-asam “lower than/below in degree”):

males tor'er torasam
pool-ABS height-VERB mountain-SUBL
"The pool is less tall than the mountain"
(lit. "pool heights lower-than-mountain")

'altanes vinu'er 'alasam
man-ABS birth-VERB person-SUBL
"The man is younger than the person"
(lit. "man births lower-than-person")

Equality

Uses the comparative particle kas (see: Comparative Markers):

kas males tores tor'er
LIKE pool-ABS mountain-ABS height-VERB
"The pool is as tall as the mountain"
(lit. "like pool mountain heights")

Syntactic Properties

The comparative construction shows several important properties:

Case Alignment
- Comparable takes absolutive case (-es)
- Comparator takes spatial case (-itar/-asam)
- Maintains ergative-absolutive alignment pattern
Word Order
- Basic order: COMPARABLE-ABS QUALITY-VERB COMPARATOR-SUPE/SUBL
- Follows standard clause structure flexibility

Multiple Comparators

Can be coordinated with ru:

tores tor'er [mal o keth ruitar]
mountain-ABS height-VERB [pool PART sea AND-SUPE]
"The mountain is taller than both the pool and sea"

Similarly for subessive comparisons:

males tor'er [tor o keth ruasam]
pool-ABS height-VERB [mountain PART sea AND-SUBL]
"The pool is shorter than both the mountain and sea"

The case marking attaches to the coordinator ru rather than to individual nouns, following Early Hick’s general coordination pattern.

Negation

Negates the stative verb with mo-:

males motor'er torasam
pool-ABS NEG-height-VERB mountain-SUBL
"The pool is not less tall than the mountain"

Temporal Reference

Takes standard temporal markers:

branum 'ales vinu'er 'altanitar
PAST person-ABS birth-VERB man-SUPE
"The person was older than the man"

Tense

Clauses without explicit temporal marking in Early Hick express present tense. These unmarked clauses can indicate either simple present (“walks”) or present progressive (“is walking”) readings, with the specific interpretation determined by context and predicate semantics. For example:

'ales      barak'er
person-ABS walk-VERB
"The person walks/is walking"

Tense Markers

When temporal specification is required, Early Hick employs three temporal markers that operate at the clause level:

branum (past)
mulsum (future)
branrum (far past)

Usage

In a simple clause, the temporal tense marker can be typically found in the beginning or end of the clause.

branum materok-el  ward-'er
past   handler-ERG guide-VERB
"The handler guided (in the past)"

mulsum materok-el  ward-'er
future handler-ERG guide-VERB
"The handler will guide"

In contexts where aesthetic or poetic effect is desired, the marker can be found right before the verbal phrase.

'ales      mulsum barak'er
person-ABS future walk-VERB
"The person will walk"

Relative Clauses

In relative clauses where the dependent clause refers to a different time frame than the main clause, temporal markers may occur after the relativizer. See: Relative Clauses

For example:

'altanel         ['alises branum thren'er] ward'er
man-MED.VIS.ANIM [WHO-ABS PAST watch.VERB] guide.VERB
"That man who watches guides"

mulsum   'altanel         ['alises branum thren'er] ward'er
FUT      man-MED.VIS.ANIM [WHO-ABS PAST watch.VERB] guide.VERB
"That man who watches guides"

Complex Clauses

When clauses are linked by coordinators, each clause may carry its own temporal marking to indicate different time frames:

[clause + temporal marker] coordinator [clause + temporal marker]

Note that the flexibility of the temporal marker position is still available in each clause

The Distant Past Marker `branrum`

Early Hick has developed a special case marker for use when referring to events that had occurred in the distant past. The marker branrum is often only ever uttered in either religious contexts or in epic poetry.

When it is used, it functions similarly to the past marker branum.

Aspect

Early Hick aspect markers are typically found following the verbalized word that they modify, however, in some aesthetic contexts, they may be placed at the end of the clause.

These aspect markers may be used in conjunction with the temporal markers to indicate different time frames.

When a clause does not carry an aspect marker, it is understood to be either in the simple or the progressive aspect.

Progressive Aspect Marker `terum`

In cases where the speaker wishes to emphasize ongoing or continuous states, the progressive aspect marker terum (< ter “flow” + -rum) can be used. These aspect markers may be used in conjunction with the temporal markers to indicate different time frames.

'ales      barak'er  terum
person-ABS walk-VERB flow.DIST
"The person is walking"

branum 'ales      barak'er  terum
PAST   person-ABS walk-VERB flow.DIST
"The person has been walking"

Completive Aspect Marker `tel`

The completive aspect marker tel indicates finished actions.

'ales      barak'er  tel
person-ABS walk-VERB COMPL
"The person has walked"

branum 'ales      barak'er  tel
PAST   person-ABS walk-VERB COMPL
"The person had walked"

Iterative Aspect

The Early Hick iterative marker works differently from the other aspect markers. It instead marks on an action word and replaces the verbalizer -‘er. It has three register-dependent forms, all deriving from Proto-Hick *heru-heru “motion-motion”:

Formal/Ritual: -‘irur

'ales barak'irur
person-ABS walk-ITER
"The person walks repeatedly" (formal/ritual context)

Common: -rur

'ales barakrur
person-ABS walk.ITER
"The person walks repeatedly" (everyday usage)

Colloquial: -ur

'ales barakur
person-ABS walk.ITER
"The person walks repeatedly" (casual speech)

The development shows typical grammaticalization path:

Reduplicated noun *heru-heru > ‘irur “repetition”
Grammaticalization to verbal suffix -‘irur
Phonological reduction in common speech (-rur)
Further reduction in colloquial register (-ur)

Note: The formal register preserves the etymological form with glottal stop, while common and colloquial registers show progressive reduction typical of grammaticalized elements.

Repetitive Aspect

The repetitive aspect in Early Hick is formed by combining the iterative suffix with the completive marker tel, indicating a single instance of a repeated or cyclical action:

'ales barakrur tel
person-ABS walk.ITER COMPL
"The person walked again" (lit. "completed one cycle of repeated walking")

branum 'ilistales barakrur tel
PAST school-ABS walk.ITER COMPL
"School began again" (lit. "completed one cycle of repeated starting")

This construction differs from the simple iterative, which marks continuous repetition:

'ales barakrur
person-ABS walk.ITER
"The person walks repeatedly"

The repetitive aspect is particularly useful for marking:

Return to previous states or activities
Cyclic events that complete one iteration
Repeated actions viewed as single completed instances

Mood

Early Hick expresses some modal meanings through syntactic constructions. For morphological mood marking, see: Verbal Mood

Imperative Construction

Early Hick forms imperatives by dropping the verbalizer -‘er and adding absolutive -es to the verb stem. The construction shows distinct word order and case marking from declarative sentences:

# Declarative
'al'isel tor ward'er
person.ERG mountain guide.VERB
"The person guides the mountain"

# Imperative
tor 'il wardes!
mountain good guide.IMP.ABS
"guide the mountain well!"

Key features:

Object appears first and unmarked for case
Modifiers directly precede the verb
Verb takes absolutive marking
No overt ergative agent

This construction represents one context where Early Hick deviates from its ergative-absolutive alignment, showing split ergativity typical of command forms.

Examples with different modifiers:

mes   kathral    threnes!
heart ADJ-sacred watch.IMP.ABS
"watch the heart sacredly!"
materok ka'il    wardes!
boat    ADJ.good guide.IMP.ABS
"guide the boat carefully!"

The pattern appears in both formal and informal contexts, including ritual expressions:

'ilitar   venuiteres!
good.SUPE birth.IMP.ABS
"(let) birth be raised in goodness!"

Exclamative Construction

Early Hick marks exclamations through single-word utterances:

For actions/verbs, the regular verb form is used:

imris'er!
flee.VERB!
"(they're) fleeing!"

ward'er!
guide.VERB!
"(they're) guiding!"

For entities/participants, absolutive marking is used:

im'etiles!
monster.ABS!
"a monster!"

tores!
mountain.ABS!
"the mountain!"

These exclamatives typically express alarm, sudden realization, or strong emotion, contrasting with regular declarative sentences which use full argument structure.

Conjunctions

Additive Coordination

Early Hick marks coordinated elements with the particle o and joins them with the coordinator ru (< Proto-Hick *storu “grow”):

kor o toren o ru-el
[cow PART horse PART] AND-ERG
"the cow and horse (as agent)"

The coordinator ru can take case marking to show the role of the coordinated phrase:

ru-el: coordinated elements as agent
ru-es: coordinated elements as patient/subject

Demonstrative marking may also be appedede to ru, if each of the coordinated elements are the same referent.

'imwen o wenkulok o rutanes
[witch PART sorceress PART] AND-DEM.MED.VIS.ANIM-ABS
"that witch and sorceress"

compare with:

'imwentan o wenkuloktan o rues
[that witch PART that sorceress PART] AND-ABS
"that witch and that (other) sorceress"

Disjunctive Coordination

Early Hick marks alternatives with the particle o and joins them with the coordinator ‘a (< Proto-Hick *ʔaha “other”):

kor o toren o 'a-el
[cow PART horse PART] OR-ERG
"either the cow or the horse (as agent)"

The coordinator ‘a can take case marking to show the role of the coordinated phrase:

‘a-el: coordinated elements as agent
‘a-es: coordinated elements as patient/subject

Demonstrative marking may also be appended to ‘a, if the coordinated elements share referential properties:

'imwen o wenkulok o 'atanes
[witch PART sorceress PART] OR-DEM.MED.VIS.ANIM-ABS
"either that witch or that sorceress"

compare with:

'imwentan o wenkuloktan o 'aes
[that witch PART that sorceress PART] OR-ABS
"either that witch or that (other) sorceress"

The disjunctive coordinator follows the same structural patterns as the additive coordinator ru, maintaining the language’s systematic approach to coordination.

Shared Action Coordination

Early Hick can mark joint participation using ewes with the enumeration particle o:

'al'is o Mari o ewes-es ward'er
[person.DEM.PROX.ANIM.VIS PART Mari PART] WITH-ABS travel.VERB
"I and Mari together travel"

The coordinator ewes takes case marking and treats the coordinated elements as a single unit. This construction emphasizes equal participation in the action, contrasting with the comitative construction where one participant is marked as primary. See: Comitative Construction.

Note: ewes (< Proto-Hick ʔelu-lawes “consume with”) shows parallel development with the ergative marker -el, both deriving from Proto-Hickʔelu.

Temporal Coordination

Temporal relationships between clauses use specialized coordinators:

‘aterbran [ʔa.ter.bran] “before” (lit. “what-flow-dawn”)
‘aterimris [ʔa.te.rim.ris] “after” (lit. “what-flow-from”)
‘atertel [ʔa.ter.tel] “until” (lit. “what-flow-end”)
‘aterter [ʔa.te.ter] “come to pass” (lit. “what-flow-time”)

Dependent clauses use nominalized verbs:

[kor o toren o] gras'er-es 'aterimris
[cow PART horse PART] graze-ABS after-ELL
"after the cow and horse grazed"

Position affects emphasis:

Initial: sets temporal frame for discourse
Final: neutral narrative position

Causal Subordinator

imris [im.ris] “because” < Proto-Hick *imeru-ris “towards breath/spirit”

Functions as a subordinator marking causal relationships
Grammaticalized from Proto-Hick compound of *imeru “breath/spirit” +*ris (LAT)
Maintains ergative-absolutive alignment in both clauses
Can appear clause-initially or between clauses Examples:

imris torthil, 'al'ises barak'er
CAUS haughtiness, person.PROX.ABS walk.VERB
"Because of haughtiness, I walk"

imris ['al'isel ward'er tores], 'al'ises barak'er
CAUS [person.ERG guide.VERB mountain.ABS], person.PROX.ABS walk.VERB
"Because they guide the mountain, I walk"

Concessive Subordinator

las [las] “despite/for all” < Early Hick illative case -las “into”

Functions as a subordinator marking concessive relationships
Grammaticalized from spatial case marking inward motion
Can take both nominal and clausal complements
Parallels the development of imris

Examples:

las imerlas, 'al'ises tel'es branum
CONC inspiration, person.PROX.ABS empty.ABS PAST
"Despite/For all inspiration, I was empty"

las torthil, 'al'ises barak'er
CONC haughtiness, person.PROX.ABS walk.VERB
"Despite haughtiness, I walk"

las ['al'isel ward'er tores], 'al'ises tel'es branum
CONC [person.ERG guide.VERB mountain.ABS], person.PROX.ABS empty.ABS PAST
"Despite (that) they guide the mountain, I was empty"

Position and Usage

Conjunctions interact with Early Hick’s information structure:

Can take case marking to show grammatical roles
Initial position emphasizes the relationship
Final position gives neutral narrative flow
With dependent clauses, verbs take nominal form

Examples:

imris toranes ter'er, 'ales barak'er
SUB   river-ABS flow-VERB person-ABS walk-VERB
"Because the river flows, the person walks"

'ales barak'er imris toranes ter'er
person-ABS walk-VERB SUB river-ABS flow-VERB
"The person walks because the river flows"

Both imris and las can appear clause-finally, especially in literary contexts and natural conversation:

'al'ises tel'es branum, imerlas las
person.PROX.ABS empty.ABS PAST, inspiration CONC
"I was empty, despite inspiration"

'al'ises barak'er, ['al'isel ward'er tores] imris
person.PROX.ABS walk.VERB, [person.ERG guide.VERB mountain.ABS] CAUS
"I walk, because they guide the mountain"

Note: The same form appears as the ellative case marker -imris, showing parallel grammaticalization from spatial/directional meaning to both case marking and subordination.

Interrogatives

Basic Forms

’aka [?a.ka] “what”

Basic Forms
- ‘aka [ʔa.ka] “what”
- ‘alis [ʔa.lis] “who” < ‘aka-‘al-‘is (what-person-PROX.ANIM)
  - Used for visible/known referents and confirmation
- ‘atal [ʔa.tal] “where” < ‘aka-tal-is (what-place-PROX.INAN)
- ‘ater [ʔa.ter] “when” < ‘aka-ter-is (what-flow-PROX.INAN)
  - Shows temporal metaphor of time as flow
- ‘aker [ʔa.ker] “how” < ‘aka-‘er-is (what-VERB-PROX.INAN)
Medial Forms (Hidden but Sensed)
- ‘akaleth, ‘aleth [ʔa.leθ] < ‘aka-‘al-eth “who” (sensed person)
- ‘akateth, ‘ateth [ʔa.teθ] < ‘aka-tal-eth “where” (sensed location)
- ‘akatereth, ‘atereth [ʔa.te.reθ], < ‘aka-ter-eth “when” (sensed time)
- ‘akereth [ʔa.ke.reθ] < ‘aka-‘er-eth “how” (sensed manner)
Distal Forms (Out of Sight/Unknown)
- ‘akalum [ʔa.lum] < ‘aka-‘al-um “who” (unknown person)
- ‘atum [ʔa.tum] < ‘aka-tal-um “where” (unknown location)
- ‘aterum [ʔa.te.rum] < ‘aka-ter-um “when” (unknown time)
- ‘akerum [ʔa.ke.rum] < ‘aka-‘er-um “how” (unknown manner)

Usage Examples

'alis-el materok-es ward-'er?
who.PROX-ERG boat-ABS guide-VERB
"Who (that we can see) guides the boat?"

'aleth-el thral-es his-'er?
who.MED-ERG ritual-ABS watch-VERB
"Who (that we can hear/sense) watches the ritual?"

'atum-las materok-el rismater-es ward-'er?
where.DIST-ILL handler-ERG reed.boat-ABS guide-VERB
"Where (unknown) does the handler guide the reed boat to?"

Semantic Notes
- Proximal forms: Used for visible/known referents and confirmation
- Medial forms: Used for sensed but not seen referents (sounds, smells, etc.)
- Distal forms: Default information-seeking questions about unknowns
- All forms take regular case marking based on syntactic role
- Follow standard compound phonology (See: Compound Phonology)

See: Compound Phonology for sound change patterns

Relative Clauses

Early Hick forms relative clauses using interrogative pronouns as relativizers. These maintain their proximal/medial/distal distinctions and take case marking based on their syntactic role within the relative clause.

Basic Structure

['alisel tiraies ter'er] barak'erimris vinudes
[who.ERG ale.ABS drink.VERB] walk.VERB-ELL dwelling.ABS
"Who drinks the ale walks home"

Interrogative Forms Used
- ak “which” (inanimate referents)
- alis/aleth/alum: “who” (animate referents)
- atal/ateth/atum: “where” (locations)
- ater/atereth/aterum: “when” (time)
- aker/akereth/akerum: “how” (manner)
Case Marking
- Relativizer takes case based on its role in the relative clause
- Main clause maintains independent case marking
```
'altanel [alises thren'er] ward'er
man-MED.VIS.ANIM [who.ABS watch.VERB] guide.VERB
"That man who watches guides"
```
Evidentiality Through Distance Forms
- Proximal (-is): visible/known referents
- Medial (-eth): sensed but not seen referents
- Distal (-um): unknown/general referents
```
['alumel materokes ward'er] thren'er
[who.DIST.ERG boat.ABS guide.VERB] watch.VERB
"Who(ever) guides the boat watches"
```
Word Order
- Relative clause typically precedes its head
- Internal word order follows main clause patterns
- Spatial case marking on verbs functions normally

Dialects

Inland Dialect

Case Variation

The standard ellative -imris appears as -iter in some inland dialects, showing older forms preserved away from maritime contact. This explains forms like:

Standard: vinuimris “to give birth” < vinu-imris “pregnancy-ELL”
Inland: venuiter “to give birth” < venu-iter “burden-ELL.DIAL”

This dialectal variation is preserved in the formal birthday greeting:

'ilitar venuiteres
good-SUPE birth-ELL.DIAL-ABS
"blessings upon your birth"

Note: The greeting preserves the inland dialect form, suggesting its origin in older agricultural communities before maritime trade influence.

Development Notes

Case Development

Superessive (-itar)

The Early Hick superessive marker -itar derives from Proto-Hick *ʔita haranu “above the break/horizon”:

Initial compound: *ʔita haranu “above horizon”
Fusion and reduction: > *ʔitharan
Grammaticalization: > -itar
- Loss of final nasal
- Semantic broadening from “above horizon” to general “upon/above”
- Shift from independent word to bound morpheme

Ellative (-imris)

The Early Hick ellative marker -imris derives from Proto-Hick *imeru-ris “towards breath/spirit”:

Initial compound: *imeru-ris “towards breath”
Fusion and reduction: > *imeris
Nasal epenthesis: > -imris
- Semantic shift from “towards breath” to “outward motion”
- Parallel development as subordinator “because”
- Shows common path: body/breath terms → spatial/causal markers

Sublative (-asam)

The Early Hick sublative marker -asam derives from the noun asam “rest, resting place” < PH *xasamu:

Original noun: “rest, resting place”
Metaphorical extension: “toward a resting surface” or “down into rest”
Grammaticalization: > -asam
- Semantic broadening from “resting place” to downward motion, lowering, or movement onto a lower/supporting surface
- Shift from independent noun to bound case marker
- Shows common path: concrete spatial term → abstract case marker
- Parallel development in compound vinusam “shoulder” (< *vinu xasamu “yoke rest”)
- Maintains unstressed vowel reduction in both uses

Development of Demonstratives and Perception Verbs

Proximal Demonstrative -is and -‘is

The Early Hick proximal demonstrative -is and the verb ‘is “see” share a common origin in Proto-Hick *hisu “visible/in sight”:

Original PH *hisu had related meanings:
- Demonstrative: “this one here (that I can see)”
- Evidential: “visibly/apparently”
- Sensory: “sight/vision”
Development paths:
- Demonstrative: *hisu > -is (PROX.INAN)
- Animate marker: *hi-‘isu > -‘is (PROX.ANIM)
- Perception: *hisu > ‘is “see”
Later developments:
- Dialectal *hilis “look” borrowed to disambiguate active perception
- Original *his reintroduced as “see” to maintain active/passive distinction
- Demonstratives -is/-‘is retained distinct functions:
  - -is: proximal inanimate (“this thing here”)
  - -‘is: proximal animate (“this person/animal here”)

This explains:

The formal similarity between demonstratives and perception verbs
Why there are two demonstrative forms (-is/-‘is) with animacy distinction
The need for dialectal borrowing to maintain semantic distinctions
The preservation of h- in his/hilis despite normal sound changes

Development of the Ergative Case Marking -el

The Early Hick ergative marker -el derives from Proto-Hick *ʔelu through grammaticalization of an instrumental/ablative marker:

Sound Changes:
- *ʔelu >*lu (loss of initial glottal in unstressed position)
- *lu > -el (vowel change in unstressed position)
Functional Development:
- Original meaning: instrumental/ablative “by means of/from”
- Intermediate stage: marks agents as instruments of action
- Final stage: general ergative marker
Parallel Developments:
- Preserved in compound forms like *bahu lu-haranu > bran “branch” (literally “split from father”)
- Comitative meaning preserved in ewes < *ʔelu-lawes “together with”

Development of the Imperative Construction

The Early Hick imperative likely developed from a fuller command construction with an embedded clause:

Original Construction:

'al'isel 'alises command'er [tores threnes] talimris
person.PROX.ERG who.ABS command.VERB [mountain.ABS watch.ABS] MED.ELL
"I who command [mountain watching] to you"

Modern Imperative:

tor threnes!
mountain watch.IMP.ABS
"watch the mountain!"

This development explains several features of the modern construction:

Absolutive marking on the verb (-es) preserves the original nominalized action’s case
Unmarked object reflects its position in the original embedded clause
Word order maintains the original embedded clause structure

The pattern parallels the preserved quotative construction (see: Quotative Strategy), suggesting a common origin for different command expressions in Early Hick.

Early Hick shows evidence of modal expressions developing from embedded clause constructions, with register distinctions preserving both older and grammaticalized forms. These formal variants make extensive use of relative clauses (see: Relative Clauses):

Commands

Formal/Literary:

'al'isel ['alises command'er tores threnes] talimris
person.ERG [who.ABS command.VERB mountain.ABS watch.ABS] MED.ELL
"I who command mountain-watching to you"

Colloquial:

tor threnes!
mountain watch.IMP.ABS
"watch the mountain!"

Desires

Formal/Literary:

'al'isel ['alises gnar'er ward'er] talimris
person.ERG [who.ABS correct.VERB guide.VERB] MED.ELL
"I who intend guiding to you"

Colloquial:

'al'isel wardnat
person.ERG guide.DES
"I want to guide"

This pattern of preserving older relative clause constructions in formal registers while using grammaticalized forms in colloquial speech appears to be a regular feature of Early Hick’s historical development. The use of ‘alis- as a relativizer in these formal constructions follows the standard relative clause pattern.

Development of Comparative Markers

Proto-Hick *kasu “reflection (on water/mirror surface) ” developed into two distinct but related markers in Early Hick, with one further developing into the general adjective marker.

kas (Comparative Conjunction)

Direct development from *kasu
Retains original sense of “mirror/reflection”
Grammaticalized as comparative conjunction “like/as”
Used with complex noun phrases: kas [NP] VERB
Maintains clear scope over entire phrases

Examples:

kas [kameris kethbranes] tagimris'er
LIKE [ADJ.love kin.ABS] give.VERB
"As beloved kin give"

ka- Development Path

Early Stage: Comparative Prefix
- Developed from kas through fusion
- Used in simple noun comparisons
- No scope beyond single noun
- Examples:
```
kamales ward'er
ADJ.pool.ABS contain.VERB
"(It) contains like a pool"
```
Middle Stage: Similarity Marker
- Semantic broadening from “like X” to “X-like”
- Used to mark general similarity
- Examples:
```
kakethbran ma'altales
ADJ.kin person.MED.ABS
"kin-like people"
```
Late Stage: Adjective Marker
- Further grammaticalization into general adjective prefix
- Marks derived adjectives from nouns
- Most common use in modern Early Hick
- Original comparative meaning still visible in some constructions
- Examples:
```
kameris ales
ADJ.love person.ABS
"beloved person"
```

Development of the possession marker -ul

The Early Hick possessive suffix -ul shows a complex development path from Proto-Hick *ʔulu:

Original Proto-Hick (~800 PF):
- *ʔulu had three related meanings:
  - “thumb” (concrete body part)
  - “grasp” (physical action)
  - “possession” (abstract relation)
Late Proto-Hick (~400 PF):
- Semantic split occurs:
  - Bare form ulu: “thumb, possession”
  - Locative form ulisu: “grasp” (from *ʔulu-isu)
- Shows common pattern of using locative case to specify action meanings
Early Hick (~100 PF):
- Further specialization:
  - ul: “thumb” (noun)
  - -ul: possessive marker (grammaticalized from possession meaning)
  - us: “grasp, possession” (from ulisu)

This development explains:

Why the possessive marker is phonologically identical to “thumb”
The relationship between ul and us
The preservation of both concrete and abstract meanings
The parallel development of possession marking in compounds

The pattern parallels other Early Hick grammaticalizations where body parts develop into grammatical markers (compare -el ergative < *ʔelu “by means of”).