Evenki grammar
# Evenki grammar

This article outlines the grammar of the Evenki language in both Cyrillic and Latin scripts.

## Morphology notes

### Vowel harmony

Like other Tungusic languages, Evenki employs vowel harmony. There are two rows ("first and second row") with two effectively neutral vowels, и (i) and у (u).

| First row | Second row | Neutral |
| - | - | - |
| а a | э ə | и i |
| е e | | у u |
| о o | | |

* Syllables containing first row vowels can only be followed by another syllables that contain first row vowels: анактад’аран (anaktad’aran), эмэктэд’эрэн (əməktəd’ərən), and соӈоктод’орон (soŋoktod’oron).

## Nouns

### Pluralization

There are some rules of forming Evenki plurals:

* The plural suffixes -л (-l) after vowels or -ил (-il) after consonants are usually used.

    бур (bur) : бурил (buril) "islands"
    дю̄ (ʒū) : дю̄л (ʒul) "yurts"
* However, after -н (-n), -р (-r) is used instead and the final consonant before the suffix is removed.

    орон (oron) : орор (oror) "deers"
* Some nouns use -сал (-sal) in addition to the previous two suffixes. Notice that this suffix also removes -н (-n) from the stem.

    киран (kiran) : кирасал (kirasal) "eagles"
* There are also some irregular plurals of kinship terms:

    амын (amin) : амтыл (amtil) "fathers"
    эмын (emin) : эмтыл (emtil) "mothers"
    акин (akin) : акнил (aknil) "older brothers"
    экин (ekin) : экнил (eknil) "older sisters"
    нэкун (nəkun) : нэкнил (nəknil) "younger brothers, younger sisters"
    аса (asa) : асил (asil) "women"
    хунаг (hunag) : хунил (hunil) "girls"

### Cases

Evenki nouns are inflected for 13 cases: nominative, accusative, accusative indefinite, dative, illative, locative, prosecutive (longitudinal), directional locative, directional prosecutive, deferred, initial, instrumental, and joint cases.

| Case | Suffix | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| Nominative | -∅ (no marker) -∅ | |
| Accusative | -ва/-вэ/-во/-ма/-мэ/-мо -va/-və/-vo/-ma/-mə/-mo | Nouns in -н (-n) may use forms in -м- and remove the last consonant before the suffix (орон (oron) → оромо (oromo) "deer") |
| Accusative indefinite | -я/-е/-ё/-а/-э/-о -ja/-jə/-jo/-a/-ə/-o | Nouns in -н (-n) may use one of the last three forms (орон (oron) → ороно (orono) "deer") |
| Dative | -ду/-ту -du/-tu | Nouns ending in voiceless consonants may use the form -ту (-tu) (а̄мут → а̄мутту "for (the) lake") |
| Illative | -тыки/-тки -tiki/-tki | Nouns ending in vowels may use the form -тки (-tki) (беру → берутки "to (the) sheep") |

### Possession

Evenki nouns can also be inflected for possession, where a possessive suffix is attached to the noun based on features of the noun which possesses it.

| Final element in the stem → | Final element in the stem → | Final element in the stem → | Singular | Singular | Singular | Plural | Plural |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Person ↓ | Person ↓ | Person ↓ | Vowel | Most consonants | Nasal -n | -l | -r |
| Singular | 1st person | 1st person | -в -v | -ив -iv | -мӣ -mī | -вӣ -vī | -вӣ -vī |
| Singular | 2nd person | 2nd person | -с -s | -ис -is | -нӣ -nī | -лӣ -lī | -рӣ -rī |
| Singular | 3rd person | 3rd person | -н -n | -ин -in | -ин -in | -ин -in | -ин -in |
| Plural | 1st person | exclusive | -вун -vun | -вун -vun | -мун -mun | -вун -vun | -вун -vun |
| Plural | 1st person | inclusive | -т -t | -ит -it | -ты -ty | -ты -ty | -ты -ty |
| Plural | 2nd person | 2nd person | -сун -sun | -сун -sun | -нун -nun | -лун -lun | -рун -run |
| Plural | 3rd person | 3rd person | -тын -tyn | -тын -tyn | -тын -tyn | -тын -tyn | -тын -tyn |
