Ŋʒädär has a typical direct-inverse alignment with some small twists. We shall first look at the basic situation, however. The hierarchy is as follows.
1st singular > 1st plural > 2nd singular > 2nd plural > 3rd animate proximative > 3rd animate obviative > 3rd inanimate obv > 3rd inan prox
Thus, a second person subject with a first person object needs an inverse marker.
vär ehi luq'u-nta-z | ehi var luq'u-nta-z
you (s)he trick-future-direct
you will trick him/her
vär ehi luq'u-nta-jut
you (s)he trick-future-inverse
(s)he will trick you
However, for non-absolutive* subjects and objects, which occur with a number of verbs, interesting stuff happens. The hierarchy gets some quirks
1st singular > 1st plural > 2nd singular > 2nd plural > 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person animate dative subjects > 3rd animate proximate > dative objects > 3rd animate obviative > 3rd inanimate prox > other non-nominatives subjects and objects > 3rd inanimate obv
Thus, for instance, "I have it"
saɤ-ŋa is ot'u-t
me-at it is-(short inverse marker)
A tuplet where we can see the peculiarity of the dative subject location is one of the verbs for "like", jÿŋärä:
saɤ-m is jÿŋärä-z
I-dat it like-direct
I like it
saɤ-m ehi jÿŋärä-jyt
I-dat he/she like-inverse
I like him/her
Similar things happen with quirky objects, c.f. the verb sadɤk'a 'feed', which takes a dative object:
saɤ is-im sadɤk'a-z
I it-dat feed-direct
I feed it
saɤ-m ehi sadɤk'a-z
I-dat he/she feed-direct
he/she feeds me
saɤ-m ehi-qi sadɤk'a-jut
me-dat he/she-obv feed-indirect
he/she feeds me
Thus, for quirky case verbs, the direct/inverse operates as though the obliquely marked nouns were regular subjects or objects that just happen to be in quite different spots in the hierarchy than normally expected.
* I've opted to call the unmarked noun form by the term absolutive in Ŋʒädär.
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