Editing Hurrian language (section)

===Morphology===
====Nominal morphology====
The nominal morphology of Hurrian employs numerous suffixes and/or enclitics, which always follow a certain order. The resulting "morpheme chain" is as follows:<ref>{{harvnb|Wegner|2000|pp=46–65}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Wilhelm|2008|p=88}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="3" |1
!2
!3
!4
!5
!6
!7
!8
!9
!10
!11
|-
|[[Root (linguistics)|Root]]
|[[Nominalization|Nominalizers]] (for verbs)
|Thematic vowel
|[[Derivational affix|Derivational Suffixes]]
|[[Article (linguistics)|Article]]
|[[Clitic|Possessive Pronoun Clitics]]
|[[Plural]]
|[[Grammatical case|Case]]
|[[Anaphora (linguistics)|Anaphoric]]
|Plural (SA)
|Case (SA)
|[[Clitic|Absolutive Pronoun Clitics]]
|[[Enclitic|Enclitic Particles & Conjunctions]]
|}
<blockquote>Note: (SA) indicates morphemes added through [[Suffixaufnahme]], described below.</blockquote>These elements are not all obligatory, and in fact a noun can occur as a single root followed by nothing except zero-suffixes for case and number. Despite the general [[Agglutination|agglutinative]] structure of the language, the plural marker (5) merges with the case morphemes (6) in ways which do not seem to be entirely predictable, so singular and plural forms of the case endings are usually listed separately. The anaphoric marker (7) is formally identical to the article and anchors the Suffixaufnahme suffixes (8) and (9). While the absolutive pronoun clitics (10) attached to a noun are not necessarily connected to it syntactically, typically designating the object or intransitive subject of a nearby verb, the third plural pronoun clitic ''-lla'' can be used to signal the plural of the host noun in the absolutive.

===== Thematic vowels =====
Almost all Hurrian [[nouns]] end in a vowel, known as a ''thematic vowel'' or ''[[Stem (linguistics)|stem]] vowel''. This vowel will always appear on the word, and will not switch between types. Most nouns end with /i/; a few end with /a/ (mostly words for relatives and divine names) and /e/ (a few suffix derivations, possibly the same as /i/-stems).<ref>{{harvnb|Wilhelm|2008|pp=88, 90–91}}</ref> As well, in texts from [[Nuzi]], stems of /u/ (or /o/?) are found, mainly on non-Hurrian names and a few Hurrian ones.

This stem-final vowel disappears when certain endings are attached to it, such as case endings that begin with a vowel, certain derivational suffixes, or the [[Article (linguistics)|article]] suffix. Examples: ''kāz-ōš'' (like a cup) from ''kāzi'' (cup), ''awarra'' (the fields) from ''awari'' (field).

A minority of Hurrian noun [[Root (linguistics)|roots]] have athematic stem vowels, such as ''šen'' (brother) in the forms ''šena'' and ''-šenni'', ''mad'' (wisdom; later becomes ''i''-stem in the form ''madi''), and ''muž'' (divine name). Some names of gods, heroes, persons, and places are also athematic, e.g. Teššob (Teššobi/a), Gilgaamiž, Hurriž (later Hurri). These nouns seem to occur more frequently in the earliest Hurrian texts (end of the [[3rd millennium BC|third millennium BC]]).

Note: This type of thematic stem vowel is completely different in function to Indo-European stem vowels. For a discussion of those, see [[Proto-Indo-European language|here]] and [[Proto-Indo-European phonology|here]].

=====Case and number=====
Hurrian has 13 [[Grammatical case|cases]] in its system of declension. One of these, the [[equative case]], has a different form in both of the main dialects. In Hattusha and Mari, the usual ending is ''-oš'', termed equative I, whereas in the Mitanni letter we find the form ''-nna'', called equative II. Another case, the so-called 'e-case', is very rare, and carries a [[genitive]] or [[allative]] meaning.

Like many languages in the region, Hurrian is an [[ergativity|ergative]] language, which means that the same case is used for the [[Subject (linguistics)|subject]] of an [[intransitive verb]] as for the [[Object (linguistics)|object]] of a transitive one; this case is called the [[absolutive]]. For the subject of a transitive verb, however, the [[ergative case]] is used. Hurrian has two numbers, singular and plural. The following table outlines the case endings (the terms used for some of the more obscure cases vary between different authors).

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Case
! Singular
! Plural
|-
| style="background:#eee;"| '''[[Absolutive case|Absolutive]]''' || ''-Ø'' || ''-Ø'', ''-lla''
|-
| style="background:#eee;"| '''[[Ergative case|Ergative]]''' || ''-š'' || ''-(a)šuš''
|-
| style="background:#eee;"| '''[[Genitive case|Genitive]]''' || ''-fe'', ''-we'' || ''-(a)še''
|-
| style="background:#eee;"| '''[[Dative case|Dative]]''' || ''-fa'', ''-wa'' || ''-(a)ša''
|-
| style="background:#eee;"| '''[[Essive case|Essive]]'''<ref>{{harvnb|Wilhelm|2008|p=94}}</ref><ref name=wegnercase/><br/>(''in, at ...'') || ''-a'' || ''-(a)ša'', ''-a''
|-
| style="background:#eee;"| '''[[Allative case|Allative]]'''<br/>(''to ...'') || ''-ta'' || ''-(a)šta''
|-
| style="background:#eee;"| '''[[Ablative case|Ablative]]'''<br/>(''from ...'') || ''-tan'' || ''-(a)štan''
|-
| style="background:#eee;"| '''[[Instrumental case|Instrumental]]'''<br/>(''with ...'') || ''-ae'' || unattested
|-
| style="background:#eee;"| '''Ablative-Instrumental'''<br/>(''through/by ...'') || ''-n(i)'', ''-ne'' || ''-(a)šani'', ''-(a)šane''
|-
| style="background:#eee;"| '''[[Comitative case|Comitative]]'''<br/>(''together with ...'') || ''-ra'' || ''-(a)šura''
|-
| style="background:#eee;"| '''[[Associative case|Associative]]'''<br/>(''as ...'') || ''-nn(i)'' || unattested<br/>(often extrapolated ''-(a)šunn(i)'')
|-
| style="background:#eee;"| '''[[Equative case|Equative]] I'''<br/>(''like ...'') || ''-ōš'' || unattested
|-
| style="background:#eee;"| '''Equative II''' || ''-nna'' || ''-(a)šunna''
|-
| style="background:#eee;"| ''''e-Case'''' || ''-ē'' || unattested
|}

In certain phonological environments, these endings can vary. The ''f'' of the genitive and dative endings merges with a preceding ''p'' or ''t'' giving ''pp'' and ''tt'' respectively, e.g. ''Teššuppe'' (of Teššup), ''Hepat-te'' (of Hepat). The associative can be combined with the instrumental, as in ''šēna-nn-ae'' (brother-''ass-instr''), meaning 'brotherly'.

The so-called [[essive case]] can convey the meaning "as" and a condition, but also to express direction, the aim of a demand, the transition from one condition to another, the [[direct object]] in [[antipassive]] constructions (where the transitive subject receives the absolutive case instead of the ergative), and, in the variety of [[Nuzi]], also the dative.<ref name=wegnercase>{{harvnb|Wegner|2000|pp=56–57}}</ref>

=====The article=====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Case
! Singular
! Plural
|-
| style="background:#eee;"| '''Absolutive''' || ''-Ø'' || rowspan="2" style="vertical-align:middle;"| ''-na''
|-
| style="background:#eee;"| all other cases || ''-ne''
|}

In Hurrian, the function of the so-called "[[Article (grammar)|article]]" is not entirely clear, inasmuch as its use does not seem to resemble closely a typical [[definite article]].<ref>{{harvnb|Wegner|2000|pp=54–55}}</ref> It is attached directly to the noun, but before any case endings, e.g. ''tiwē-na-še'' (object.''art''.''gen.pl'') (of the objects). The article is unmarked in the absolutive singular – e.g. ''kāzi'' 'cup'. The /n/ of the article merges with a preceding /n/, /l/ or /r/ giving /nn/, /ll/ and /rr/ respectively, e.g. ''ēn-na'' (the gods), ''ōl-la'' (the others), ''awar-ra'' (the fields). In these cases, the stem-final vowel /i/ has been dropped; the singulars of these words are ''ēni'' (god), ''ōli'' (another), ''awari'' (field). If there are two consonants preceding the final /i/, an epenthetic vowel /u/ is inserted between them, e.g. ''hafur'''u'''n-ne-ta'' (heaven-''art''-''all.sg'', to heaven), the stem of which is ''hafurni'' (heaven).

=====Suffixaufnahme=====
One prominent feature of Hurrian is the phenomenon of [[Suffixaufnahme]], or suffix absorption, which it shares with Urartian and the geographically proximate [[Kartvelian languages]]. In this process, the dependent modifiers of a noun share the noun's case suffixes. Between the suffix of the dependent noun and the case ending comes the article, which agrees with the referent in number, for example, with an adjective:

{{interlinear|number=ex:|glossing2=no|glossing3=yes
|ḫurwoḫḫeneš ōmīnneš
|ḫurw-oḫḫe-ne-š ōmīn-ne-š
|Hurrian-ADJ-ART.SG-ERG.SG land-ADJ-ART.SG-ERG.SG
|"the Hurrian land"
}}

Suffixaufnahme also occurs with other modifiers, such as a noun in the genitive modifying another noun, in which case the following nouns takes a possessive pronoun.

{{interlinear|number=ex:|glossing2=no|glossing3=yes
|šēniffufenefe ōmīnīfe
|šēn-iffu-fe-ne-fe ōmīni-i-fe
|brother-my-GEN.SG-ART.SG-GEN.SG land-his-GEN.SG
|"of the land of my brother" (lit, "of my brother his land")
}}

The phenomenon is also found when the head noun is in the locative, instrumental or equative. In the absolutive singular, Suffixaufnahme would be meaningless, as the case and number are unmarked. When more than two genitives occur, they are merged, so Suffixaufnahme only occurs on the innermost genitive, as in the following example:

{{interlinear|number=ex:|glossing2=no|glossing3=yes
|ōmīni Mizrinefenefe efrīfe aštīnna
|ōmīni Mizri-ne-fe-ne-fe efri-i-fe ašti-i{{=}}nna
|country Egypt-ART.SG-GEN.SG-ART.SG-GEN.SG ruler-its-GEN.SG lady-his{{=}}she
|"she is the lady of the ruler of the country Egypt"
}}