Editing Aleut language (section)

===Overview===

Most Aleut words can be classified as [[noun]]s or [[verb]]s.  Notions which in English are expressed by means of [[adjective]]s and [[adverb]]s are generally expressed in Aleut using verbs or [[postbase]]s ([[Derivation (linguistics)|derivational]] [[affix|suffixes]]).

Aleut's canonical [[word order]] is subject–object–verb (SOV).

Nouns are obligatorily marked for [[grammatical number]] (singular, dual, or plural) and for [[absolutive case]] or [[relative case]] (some researchers, notably Anna Berge, dispute both the characterization of this feature as "case" and the names ''absolutive'' and ''relative''.  This approach to Aleut nouns comes from Eskimo linguistics, but these terms can be misleading when applied to Aleut).  The absolutive form is the default form, while the relative form communicates a relationship (such as possessive or contrastive) between the noun and another member of the [[sentence (linguistics)|sentence]], possibly one that has been omitted. Absolutive and relative are identical in most combinations of [[Person (grammar)|person]] and [[Grammatical number|number]].

In [[possession (linguistics)|possessive]] constructions, Aleut marks both possessor and possessum, with the possessor preceding the possessum:

{{interlinear|indent=2|lang=ale
|tayaĝu-x̂
|man-ABS
|'[the] man'}}

{{interlinear|indent=2|lang=ale
|ada-x̂
|father-ABS
|'[the] father'}}

{{interlinear|indent=2|lang=ale
|tayaĝu-m ada-a
|man-REL father-POSSM
|'the man's father'}}

The verbal predicate of a simple sentence of the final clause of a complex sentence carries the temporal and modal marking in relation to the speech act. Verbs of non-final clauses are marked in relation to the following clause. A complex sentence may contain an unlimited number of clauses.

Simple sentences may include a subject or no subject. The predicate may be a verb with no complement, a predicate noun with a copula, or a verb with a preceding direct object in the absolutive case and/or an oblique term or local complement.

The number of [[Argument (linguistics)|arguments]] may be increased or decreased by verbal derivative suffixes. Arguments of a clause may be explicitly specified or anaphoric.

The verb of a simple sentence or final clause may have a nominal subject in the absolutive case or a first-/second-person subject marker. If the nominal subject is left out, as known from context, the verb implies an anaphoric reference to the subject:

{{interlinear|indent=2|lang=ale
|tayaĝu-x̂ awa-ku-x̂
|man-SG.ABS work-PRES-SG.
|The man is working}}

Positional nouns are a special, closed set of nouns which may take the [[locative case|locative]] or [[ablative case|ablative]] noun cases; in these cases they behave essentially as [[postposition]]s. [[morphosyntax|Morphosyntactically]], positional noun phrases are almost identical to possessive phrases:

{{interlinear|indent=2|lang=ale
|tayaĝu-m had-an
|man-REL direction-LOC
|'toward the man'}}

Verbs are inflected for [[grammatical mood|mood]] and, if finite, for [[grammatical person|person]] and number.  Person/number endings [[agreement (linguistics)|agree]] with the subject of the verb if all nominal participants of a sentence are overt:

{{interlinear|indent=2|lang=ale
|Piitra-x̂ tayaĝu-x̂ kidu-ku-x̂.
|Peter-SG.ABS man-SG.ABS help-PRES-3SG
|'Peter is helping the man.'}}

If a 3rd person complement or subordinate part of it is omitted, as known from context, there is an anaphoric suffixal reference to it in the final verb and the nominal subject is in the relative case:

{{interlinear|indent=2|lang=ale
|Piitra-m kidu-ku-u. 
|Peter-SG.REL help-PRES-3SG.ANA
|'Peter is helping him.'}}

When more than one piece of information is omitted, the verb agrees with the element whose grammatical number is greatest.  This can lead to [[ambiguity]]:

{{interlinear|indent=2|lang=ale
|kidu-ku-ngis
|help-PRES-PL.ANA
|'He/she helped them.' / 'They helped him/her/them.'{{sfn|Sadock|2000}}}}