View source for Hantza/Nouns

==Pluralisation==
Nouns are not declined for case, that is, they are not marked to indicate whether they are the subject or object of a verb. Many nouns are not marked for the plural either; only grammatically animate nouns are pluralised in Hantza.

Examples grammatically inanimate nouns are:
*''wara'' - "sand"
*''tzan'' - "egg" or "eggs"
*''domo'' - "flower" or "flowers"

Grammatically animate nouns are marked as plural by the suffix ''-it''. This elides any final vowel, nouns ending in a glottal stop replace it with ''-kat'' and nouns ending in ''-t'' change this to the affricate ''-tz''.
*''tzaka'' and ''tzakit'' - "man, person" and "men, people"
*''sing'' and ''singit'' - "star" and "stars"
*''mazzà'' and ''mazzakat'' - "fish" (sg) and "fish" (pl)
*''ohat'' and ''ohatz'' - "my son" and "my sons"

==Possession==
Nouns that are not possessed are unmarked while possessed nouns are marked by a prefix for one of the grammatical persons listed below. The first prefix is used preconsonantly, the second prevocalically.
*First person singular: ''o-'', ''w-''
*First person plural: ''as-'', ''azz-''
*Second person singular: ''ku-'', ''kw-''
*Second person plural: ''ra-'', ''r-''
*Third person animate singular: ''tzi-'', ''tz-''
*Third person animate plural: ''ang-'', ''ang-''
*Third person inanimate: ''po-'', ''pw-''
*Obviative: ''ma-'', ''m-''
*Indefinite: ''bi-'', ''biy-''

Hantza has an alienable-inalienable possession distinction. Indeed, some nouns, most commonly body parts, family members and homes. The indefinite prefix is used if there is no specific possessor.

This word for "father" and "mother" (''-ad'' and ''-bo'') are animate and inalienable and are used as examples in the tables below:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="width: 385px; text-align:center;"
! 
! colspan="2" |''-ad'' "father"
! colspan="2" |''-bo'' "mother"
|-
! style="width: 77px; " |
! style="width: 77px; " |Singular
! style="width: 77px; " |Plural
! style="width: 77px; " |Singular
! style="width: 77px; " |Plural
|-
! 1SG
| wad
| wadit
| obo
| obit
|-
! 1PL
| azzad
| azzadit
| asbo
| asbit
|-
! 2SG
| kwad
| kwadit
| kubo
| kubit
|-
! 2PL
| rad
| radit
| rabo
| rabit
|-
! 3SG.AN
| tzad
| tzadit
| tzibo
| tzibit
|-
! 3PL.AN
| angad
| angadit
| angbo
| angbit
|-
! 3.IN
| pwad
| pwadit
| pobo
| pobit
|-
! OBV
| mad
| madit
| mabo
| mabit
|-
! INDEF
| biyad
| biyadit
| bibo
| bibit
|}

In addition to this, there is an "integral possession" suffix, ''-ar'', used together with the possession prefix, which indicates that the possessed noun is part of its possessor. This is obvious in the examples of ''ofad'' "my meat" (food - alienable) and ''ofadar'' "my flesh" (body part - inalienable). However, such cases are rare.

There are two distinct ways to stress ownership or possession. The first involves adding the prefix ''-sa-'' directly to the root noun:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="width: 218px; text-align:center;"
|-
| colspan="3" | Osahat!
|-
| colspan="3" | /oˌsaˈhat/
|-
| colspan="3" | [ɔ.ˌsɐ.ˈħ̝ät]
|-
| o-
| -sa-
| -hat
|-
| <small>1SG</small>
| <small>STR</small>
| <small>boy</small>
|-
| colspan="3" | My own son!
|}

The nuance here is "my son" as opposed to any other person's son.

The second way to stress possession is to use the personal pronoun in a genitival construction:

{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="width: 218px; text-align:center;"
|-
| colspan="4" | Ohat pi wal?
|-
| colspan="4" | /oˈhat pi ↗wal/
|-
| colspan="4" | [ɔ.ˈħ̝äl pɪ ↗wäl]
|-
| o-
| -hat
| pi
| wal
|-
| <small>1SG</small>
| <small>boy</small>
| <small>from</small>
| <small>1SG</small>
|-
| colspan="4" | ''My'' son?
|}

This is also used in similar expressions: "it is mine".

Possessed nouns cannot be used in conjunction with the definite article.

==Personal==
Due to the polypersonal agreement present on verbs, bare personal pronouns are rarely used in Hantza. When they are used they are referred to as "emphatic pronouns". Emphatic pronouns are necessarily of definite reference. They are formed by affixing the possession prefixes to the morpheme ''-al'' for first and second person and ''-kò'' for all other. This is analogous to the English "myself" et cetera.

*First person singular: ''wal''
*First person plural: ''azzal''
*Second person singular: ''kwal''
*Second person plural: ''ral''
*Third person animate singular: ''tzikò''
*Third person animate plural: ''angkò''
*Third person inanimate: ''pokò''
*Obviative: ''makò''

==Interrogatives==
*''Tam?'' "Who?" - used for humans
*''Bibo tam?'' "''Whose'' mother?" - /bibo ↗tam/
*''Bibo tam?'' "Whose ''mother''?" - /bi↗bo tam/
*''Bizza tam?'' "''Whose'' table?" - /bidza ↗tam/
*''Bizza tam?'' "Whose ''table''?" - /↗bidza tam/
*"What?"
*"Which?"

==Negatives==
Nothing, no one/nobody, no one's/nobody's

==Indefinites==
Something, someone/somebody, someone's/somebody's

==Attributives==
Attributive adjectives are essentially nouns used in apposition and, though they normally proceed the noun they qualify, there is no fixed order as context and semantics can usually be relied on.

Infixes are sometimes used to derive adjective-like nouns from noun-like nouns, e.g. "sandy" from "sand".

==Numerals==
Cardinal, ordinal, adverbial, multiplier, distributive, collective, fractional

{{Hantza}}