Carpathian nouns

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Most of the Proto-Indo-European declensional classes were retained, with the exception of the consonant-stems, which were gradually falling out of use, being replaced by other, more productive classes.

Carpathian nouns have three grammatical categories: gender (masculine, feminine, common and neuter), number (singular, dual and plural) and seven cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative and vocative with only three different case forms being distinguished in the dual number.

Accent classes

All Carpathian nouns belong to one of the three accent classes:

  • AS (acute stative) – acute accent (tone-1) fixed on (usually) the initial syllable.
  • CS (circumflex stative) – fixed circumflex accent (tone-2) or grave accent (tone-3) on any syllable. For neuter stems it is the final syllable, while for all other genders it is typically the first or the second syllable.
  • M (mobile) – the pitch (tone-2 or tone-3) alternates between final and non-final (usually initial) position.

The pitch accent is an important part of Carpathian morphology, since some noun cases are only distinct by their accent: rasā̃s [rɑ́.ˈsɑ̀ːs] “of dew (genitive case)”, ràsās [ˈrɑ̀.sɑ̀ːs] “dews (nominative case)”. Some words differ only in their accent paradigm: káltas “gouge” (from káltei “to strike”), AS-class and kal̃tas “obliged” (from kelḗtei “to be obliged”), M-class.

Classes

There are seven main stem classes in Carpathian, being defined by their specific case endings: a-stem, u-stem, i-stem ā-stem, ī-stem, ū-stem, and consonant-stem, the latter consisting of several subclasses. The following tables are examples of Eastern Carpathian noun-class paradigms, Western Carpathian has the same noun classes, so for the sake of brevity only the Eastern forms are shown. The example words belong to the M-paradigm, because the pitch pattern of the other two paradigms is predictable.

a-stem nouns

There are two subclasses: masculine "as"-nouns (deiwas “god”) and neuter "a"-nouns (àzera “lake”). In some dialects the nominative singular of the "as"-nouns is stressed, e.g. deiwàs instead of standard deĩwas, the latter being an innovation. In dialects the dative singular and the instrumental plural have the "ui"-diphthong instead of standard ai: deiwúi and deiwúis respectively. This is common for both Western and Eastern dialects and predate the original split.

Case Singular Dual Plural
Masculine Neuter Masculine Neuter Masculine Neuter
Nominative deĩwas àzera deĩwū àzerai deĩwai azerā̃
Genitive deĩwā àzerā deiwáu azeráu deiwū̃n azerū̃n
Dative deiwái azerái deiwamā̃ azeramā̃ deiwàmas azeràmas
Accusative deĩwun àzerun deĩwū àzerai deĩwōnas azerā̃
Instrumental deĩwū àzerū deiwamā̃ azeramā̃ deiwáis azeráis
Locative deĩwai àzerai deiwáu azeráu deiwáišu azeráišu
Vocative deĩwe àzera deĩwū àzerai deiwaĩ azerā̃

ā-stem nouns

The "ā"-stem nouns are feminine. An example of this class is rasā “dew”. The Western dialects have tone-2 in the M-type nouns, while the Eastern dialects keep the original tone-1 (Western rasā̃ Eastern rasā́). Tone-1 was analogically eliminated from the M-paradigm in most Western Carpathian dialects, being replaced by circumflex, thus being restricted to the AS-type exclusively.

Case Singular Dual Plural
Feminine
Nominative rasā́ ràsāi ràsās
Genitive rasā̃s rasáu rasū̃n
Dative rasái rasā́mā rasā́mas
Accusative ràsān rasái ràsānas
Instrumental rasā́n rasā́mā rasā́mīs
Locative rasái rasáu rasā́su
Vocative ràsa rasái rasás

i-stem nouns

There are two subclasses: common "is"-stem (angilis “coal”), and neuter "i"-stem (mari “sea”). The "i"-stem class consists of a few words and is obsolete in most dialects, being replaced by either "a"-stem (maria) or "is"-stem (maris).

Case Singular Dual Plural
Common Neuter Common Neuter Common Neuter
Nominative angilìs marì ànglī màrī àngiliīs màriī
Genitive angiléis maréis angiliáu mariáu angiliū̃n mariū̃n
Dative àngilei màrei angilimā̃ marimā̃ angilìmas marìmas
Accusative àngilin màrin ànglī màrī àngilins màrī
Instrumental angilimì marimì angilimā̃ marimā̃ angilìmīs marìmīs
Locative angiléi maréi angiliáu mariáu angilišù marišù
Vocative ànglei màri ànglī màrī àngiliīs màriī

u-stem nouns

There are two subclasses: masculine "us"-stem (ledus “ice”) and neuter "u"-stem (medu “honey”). The neuter "u"-nouns are rare, but still present in all dialects, unlike the corresponding "i"-nouns.

Case Singular Dual Plural
Masculine Neuter Masculine Neuter Masculine Neuter
Nominative ledùs medù lèdū mèdwī lèdawis mèdū
Genitive ledáus medáus ledwáu medwáu ledū̃n medū̃n
Dative lèdawei mèdawei ledumā̃ medumā̃ ledùmas medùmas
Accusative lèdun mèdun lèdū mèdwī lèduns mèdū
Instrumental ledumì medumì ledumā̃ medumā̃ ledùmīs medùmīs
Locative ledáu medáu ledwáu medwáu ledušù medušù
Vocative lèdau mèdu! lèdū mèdwī! lèdawes mèdū

ī-stem nouns

The "ī"-stem nouns are feminine. An example of this class is martī “married woman”. The "ī"-class consist of primarily deadjectival nouns of state or condition, as well as some old feminine noun forms, such as the example noun, as well as the Slavic borrowing pānī (from Polish pani “Mrs”). The last root consonant is palatalised in oblique cases, unless the consonant is labial or glottal.

Case Singular Dual Plural
Feminine
Nominative martī́ màrtī màrtīs
Genitive martiā̃s martiáu martiū̃n
Dative martiái martiā́mā martiā́mas
Accusative màrtīn martī́ màrtīnis
Instrumental martiā́ martiā́mā martiā́mīs
Locative martiái martiáu martiā́su
Vocative màrtia màrtī màrtīs

ū-stem nouns

The "ū"-stem nouns are feminine. An example of this class is burū “eyebrow”. The class consist of mostly abstract nouns, derived from adjectives or verbal nouns, as well as old inanimate nouns, such as lakū “lake”. Most of these nouns became is-stem in modern Carpathian (Western Carpathian lokwis “pond”).

Case Singular Dual Plural
Feminine
Nominative burū́ bùrwai bùrwis
Genitive burwìs burwáu burwū̃n
Dative burwéi burwimā̃ burwìmas
Accusative bùrwin bùrū bùrwins
Instrumental burwī́ burwimā̃ burwìmīs
Locative burwái burwáu burwìšu
Vocative bùrwa bùrwai bùrwis

consonant-stem nouns

There are several subclasses, divided into masculine (wadū “water”, although its dual and plural forms are not used, so only the endings are shown), feminine (duktī “daughter”) and neuter (immī “name”). The individual subclasses are classified according to the stem consonant or consonant cluster: n-stem, s-stem, nt-stem and r-stem. The endings are the same for all subclasses, except for the nominative singular, which is different for every subclass.

Case Singular Dual Plural
Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative wadū̃ duktī̃ immī̃ -eCī dùkterī ìmmenī -eCis dùkteris immenā̃
Genitive wadenìs dukterìs immenìs -eCáu dukteráu immenáu -eCū̃n dukterū̃n immenū̃n
Dative wàdenei dùkterei ìmmenei -eCemā́ dukterimā́ immenimā́ -eCamàs dukterimàs immenimàs
Accusative wàdenin dùkterin ìmmenin -eCī dùkterī ìmmenī -eCins dùkterins immenā̃
Instrumental wadenimì dukterimì immenī́ -eCemā́ dukterimā́ immenimā́ -eCimī̃s dukterimī̃s immenimī̃s
Locative wàdeni dùkteri wàdeni -eCáu dukteráu immenáu -eCišù dukterišù immenišù
Vocative wàdene dùktera ìmmena -eCī dùkterī ìmmenī -eCis dùkteris immenā̃
  • The letter C in the table above represents a consonant that defines the subclass: n, nt, s or r.

Possession

The category of possession is indicated with possessive affixes. The number of possessors and their person can be distinguished in both suffixes and prefixes. The prefixes are used with nouns that have no other prefixes attached, while in case, when a noun has at least one prefix, suffixes are used instead, for example: midamas “my house”, pasatiāti “your story”. Just as pronouns, the possessive suffixes distinguish between the more salient and the less salient argument of a sentence, also called fourth person. For instance both “widēji māterinsi” and “widēji māterinii” mean “he/she saw their mother”, but in the first sentence the person saw their own mother, while in the second sentence the person saw someone else’s mother. The sentence Martā Marijai atandōdesa paislanna “Martha gave Mary her pen” is not ambiguous in Carpathian (the -na suffix indicates, that it was Maria’s pen, not Martha’s). All Carpathian possessive affixes are represented in the table below:

Person Prefixes Suffixes Meaning
Singular Dual Plural Singular Dual Plural
1st person mi- nō- na- -mi -nū -nas my, our
2nd person ti- wō- wa- -ti -(j)ū -was your
3rd person
Animate
ji(s)- jī(s)- ei(s)- -(j)i -(j)ī -(j)eis their (proximate)
3rd person
Inanimate
ši(s)- šī(s)- šai(s)- -ši -šī -šei its (proximate)
3rd person
Animate
an- nō- nai- -na -nī -nais their (obviate)
3rd person
Inanimate
ta- tō- tai- -ta -tī -tais its (obviate)
Reflexive si- -sis own

Certain case endings change their form, when used with possessive suffixes: samsēdū “two neighbours” and samsēdūn “of neighbours”, but samsēdō “their two neighbours” and samsēdō “of their neighbours”.