Characteristics of the Kazakh language in AX Semantics
Fundamentals
In Kazakh, you need to know the case and number of a noun in order to form the correct determiners and pronouns. Kazakh has no gender for nouns. There are two numbers: singular and plural. In addition, Kazakh has seven cases for nouns.
| grammatical name | values | examples |
|---|---|---|
| case | nominative | ит [ït] (dog) |
| genitive | иттің қоңырауы [ïttiñ qoñırawı] (the dog's bell) | |
| dative | Мен допты итке беремін. [men doptı ïtke beremin.] (I give the ball to the dog.) | |
| accusative | Мен итті көріп тұрмын. [men ïtti körip turmın.] (I see the dog.) | |
| locative | итте [ïtte] (in the dog) | |
| instrumental | Мен итпен серуендеймін. [men ïtpen serwendeymin.] (I walk with the dog.) | |
| ablative | Mен үйректі иттен аламын. [men üyrekti ïtten alamın] (I get the duck from the dog.) | |
| number | singular | ит [it] (dog) |
| plural | иттер [itter] (dogs) | |
| adjectives (noun) | before noun | қызыл алма [qızıl alma] (red apple) |
| verb tenses | present | ол барады [ol baradı] (he goes) |
| past | ол барды [ol bardı] (he went) |
The standard order of a noun phrase in Kazakh is the following:
determiner + numeral + adjective + noun + preposition
See for example:
осы үш жаңа кітап туралы
[osı üş jaña kitap twralı]
these three new books about
DET NUM ADJ NOUN PREP
"about these three new books"
Lexicon
Nouns
Kazakh nouns inflect for number and case. Nouns should be added to the lexicon if they are not regular. Lexicon entries for nouns may also be necessary for inflecting determiners and pronouns correctly. They are omitted, if a lexicon entry is required, but missing.
Examples
The basic lexicon entry for ит [it] (dog) contains:
- inflection table for case and number:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ит [ït] | иттер [ïtter] |
| Genitive | иттің [ïttiñ] | иттердің [ïtterdıñ] |
| Dative | итке [ïtke] | иттерге [ïtterge] |
| Accusative | итті [ïttı] | иттерді [ïtterdı] |
| Locative | итте [ïtte] | иттерде [ïtterde] |
| Ablative | иттен [ïtten] | иттерден [ïtterden] |
| Instrumental | итпен [ïtpen] | иттермен [ïttermen] |
Adjectives
In Kazakh, the default position for an adjective is "before noun". Kazakh adjectives don't inflect.
Verbs
Kazakh verbs inflect for person, number and tense. Note that the AX NLG platform also supports the polite form of the 2nd person. For example:
2nd Person:
сен барасың [sen barasıñ] (you go)
vs.
2nd Person Polite:
сіз барасыз [siz barasız] (you(polite) go)
The most common verbs are encoded in our software. If a verb inflects the wrong way, you should add it to the lexicon.
Container settings
Determiner
The AX NLG platform supports the following determiners for Kazakh: indefinite, demonstrative (proximal), quantifier (every), and possessives.
Pronoun
The AX NLG platform supports the following pronouns for Kazakh: personal, demonstrative (proximal), and possessive 3rd.
Numerals
Four types of numerals are possible on the AX NLG platform: cardinal, cardinal as digit, ordinal, and ordinal as digit. Take күн [kün] (day) for example:
| cardinal | ordinal | |
|---|---|---|
| text | тоғыз күн [toğız kün] (nine days) | тоғызыншы күн [toğızınşı kün] (the ninth day) |
| digit | 9 күн [toğız kün] (9 days) | 9. күн [toğızınşı kün] (the 9th day) |
For Kazakh, both cardinal and ordinal numerals are written out until 100 on the platform, otherwise (above 100) the output is in digit form. Take cardinal numerals for example:
жүз ит
[jüz ït]
(one hundred dogs)
vs.
101 ит
[101 ït]
(101 dogs)
Adpositions
Kazakh uses both pre- and postpositions. On the AX NLG platform, only postpositions can be directly set in Kazakh containers, but prepositions can be put before the container as plain text.
Vowel harmony
The AX platform applies vowel harmony automatically. Vowel harmony means that many inflection suffixes have different variants, that are used depending on what kind of vowels a word contains.
Take for example changing the case of a noun from nominative to genitive. The genitive suffix -ың [ıñ] (back vowel) is added to a noun with a back vowel root , whereas -ің [iñ] (front vowel) is added to a noun with a front vowel root.
шам [şam](candle)+ ың [ıñ] -> шамның [şamnıñ] (candle's)
vs.
газет [gazet] (newspaper)+ ің [iñ] -> газеттің [gazettiñ] (newspaper's)