Lebanese: Difference between revisions

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* 𐤉𐤊𐤕𐤁𐤀 '''yikhtuba'', may he write.

===Nouns and adjectives===

Lebanese nouns and adjectives are inflected to show gender, number, case and [[w:Construct state|state]], though in a common speech cases are often dropped.

Lebanese nouns and adjectives are inflected to show gender, number, case and [[w:Construct state|state]], though in a common speech cases (of which modern Lebanese preserves only two: nominative and genitive) are often dropped. Old Phoenician also had a third case for nouns in singular number - the accusative, but it has already been dropped in Phoenician.

There are two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. The feminine gender is often marked by the ending 𐤕- '''-th''', while nouns ending in other letters are masculine, with an exception of a few "defective" nouns, like 𐤎𐤌𐤋𐤕 ''simloth'' "statue". There is a very strong tendency toward natural gender for nouns referring to people and animals. Such nouns generally come in pairs, one masculine and one feminine; for example, 𐤀𐤔 ''is'' means "man" and 𐤀𐤔𐤕 ''ist'' means "woman", but when discussing mixed-sex groups, the plural of the masculine noun is used.

Nouns can be either singular or plural, but an additional dual number exists for some nouns that usually come in pairs. The dual number gradually disappeared in Old Phoenician over time and is still present as relics in some dialects. In the Standard it is treated as a form of plural. Masculine nouns generally form their plural by adding the suffix 𐤉𐤌- ''-īm'' to the stem (𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤌 - 𐤀𐤇 ''aḥ - aḥīm'', "brother" - "brothers"). the two-syllable masculine nouns accented on the penultimate syllable also undergo a vowel change in the plural: (𐤇𐤃𐤓𐤉𐤌 - 𐤇𐤃𐤓 ''ḥíder - ḥadarīm'', "room" - "rooms", the stress also shifts to the last syllable). Feminine nouns ending in ''-oth'' simply change the ending to ''-ūth'' (with a few exceptions: 𐤔𐤍𐤅𐤕 - 𐤍̄𐤕 ''sat - sanūth'', "year" - "years"). Nouns ending in ''-t'' have ''-hūth'' in their plural: 𐤃𐤋𐤄𐤅𐤕 - 𐤃𐤋𐤕 ''delt'' - ''dalahūth'', "door" - "doors". For nouns that end in ''-īth/-ē'', the plural ending is ''-iyūth'': 𐤔𐤃𐤉𐤅𐤕 - 𐤔𐤃𐤄 ''sadē - sadiyūth'', "field" - "fields"). A few nouns show irregular plural: 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤉𐤅𐤕 - 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤕 ''milkoth - milkiyūth'', "queen" - "queens", 𐤀𐤋𐤌 ''ilīm'' "god, goddess" has two plurals, both irregular: 𐤀𐤋𐤍𐤉𐤌 ''allōnīm'', "gods" and 𐤀𐤋𐤍𐤅𐤕 ''allōnūth'', "goddesses".

Nouns can also attach possessive suffixes in order to indicate possession. These suffixes are represented below:

{|class="wikitable"

|-

! colspan="11" | singular

|-

! "brother"

! rowspan="2" | isolated

! 1st sg.

! colspan="2" | 2st sg.

! colspan="2" | 3st sg.

! 1st sg.

! colspan="2" | 2st sg.

! colspan="2" | 3st sg.

|-

!{{small|common}}

!{{small|masculine}}

!{{small|feminine}}

!{{small|masculine}}

!{{small|feminine}}

!{{small|common}}

!{{small|masculine}}

!{{small|feminine}}

!{{small|masculine}}

!{{small|feminine}}

|-

! absolute

| 𐤀𐤇 ''aḥ''

| 𐤀𐤇𐤉 ''aḥī''

| rowspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤊 ''aḥūkha''

| rowspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤊𐤉 ''aḥūkhī''

| rowspan="2" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤉𐤀 ''aḥūyo''

| rowspan="2" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤉𐤀 ''aḥūya''

| rowspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤍 ''aḥūn''

| rowspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤊𐤌 ''aḥūkhom''

| rowspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤊𐤉𐤌 ''aḥūkhīm''

| rowspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤍𐤌 ''aḥūnom''

| rowspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤍𐤌 ''aḥūnam''

|-

! construct

| 𐤀𐤇𐤅 ''aḥū-''

| 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤉 ''aḥūyī''

|-

! genitive

| 𐤀𐤇𐤉 ''aḥī''

| 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤀 ''aḥīya''<ref group=note>Not used anymore, can be found in some old texts, replaced by ''aḥī''.</ref>

| 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤅 ''aḥīw''<ref group=note>This form can still be found in the language, but usually are not used in common speech.</ref>

| 𐤀𐤇𐤉 ''aḥi''<ref group=note>Not used in common speech.</ref>

|-

! colspan="11" | plural

|-

! absolute

| 𐤀𐤇𐤌 ''aḥīm''

| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉 ''aḥay''

| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤊 ''aḥêkha''

| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤊𐤉 ''aḥêkhī''

| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤉𐤀 ''aḥêyo''

| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤉𐤀 ''aḥêya''

| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤍 ''aḥên''

| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤊𐤌 ''aḥêkhom''

| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤊𐤉𐤌 ''aḥêkhīm''

| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤍𐤌 ''aḥênom''

| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤍𐤌 ''aḥênam''

|-

! construct

| 𐤀𐤇𐤅 ''aḥê-''

|-

! genitive

| 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤌 ''aḥêm''<ref group=note>Usually not found in common speech.</ref>

|-

|}

Lebanese nouns and adjectives can exist in one of two states. To a certain extent, these states correspond to the role of cases in the Indo-European languages:

*The absolute state is the basic form of a noun. It expresses indefiniteness, comparable to the English indefinite article "a(n)" (for example, 𐤎𐤐𐤓 sīfer, "a book"), and can be used in most syntactic roles. To nouns in this state (and also to attributive adjectives) a definite article can be added, which is traditionally considered to be an actual part of the definite noun. However, in modern use, the definite article is taken as a clitic, attaching to a noun. For example, the term for school is 𐤁𐤕־𐤎𐤐𐤓‎ (''bês-sīfer'', “house-of book”); “the school” is 𐤄𐤁̄𐤕־𐤎𐤐𐤓 (heb-bês-sīfer, “the-house-of-book”). The article triggers gemination (in this example /b/ is techically geminated, but the word is actually pronounced [hɛ.beːs.ˈsiː.fɛr]. Here the assimilation of the final "th" into /s/ occurs).

@@ Line 235: / Line 235: @@
 * 𐤉𐤊𐤕𐤁𐤀 '''yikhtuba'', may he write.
 ===Nouns and adjectives===
-Lebanese nouns and adjectives are inflected to show gender, number, case and [[w:Construct state|state]], though in a common speech cases are often dropped.
+Lebanese nouns and adjectives are inflected to show gender, number, case and [[w:Construct state|state]], though in a common speech cases (of which modern Lebanese preserves only two: nominative and genitive) are often dropped. Old Phoenician also had a third case for nouns in singular number - the accusative, but it has already been dropped in Phoenician.
 There are two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. The feminine gender is often marked by the ending 𐤕- '''-th''', while nouns ending in other letters are masculine, with an exception of a few "defective" nouns, like 𐤎𐤌𐤋𐤕 ''simloth'' "statue". There is a very strong tendency toward natural gender for nouns referring to people and animals. Such nouns generally come in pairs, one masculine and one feminine; for example, 𐤀𐤔 ''is'' means "man" and 𐤀𐤔𐤕 ''ist'' means "woman", but when discussing mixed-sex groups, the plural of the masculine noun is used.
 Nouns can be either singular or plural, but an additional dual number exists for some nouns that usually come in pairs. The dual number gradually disappeared in Old Phoenician over time and is still present as relics in some dialects. In the Standard it is treated as a form of plural. Masculine nouns generally form their plural by adding the suffix 𐤉𐤌- ''-īm'' to the stem (𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤌 - 𐤀𐤇 ''aḥ - aḥīm'', "brother" - "brothers"). the two-syllable masculine nouns accented on the penultimate syllable also undergo a vowel change in the plural: (𐤇𐤃𐤓𐤉𐤌 - 𐤇𐤃𐤓 ''ḥíder - ḥadarīm'', "room" - "rooms", the stress also shifts to the last syllable). Feminine nouns ending in ''-oth'' simply change the ending to ''-ūth'' (with a few exceptions: 𐤔𐤍𐤅𐤕 - 𐤍̄𐤕 ''sat - sanūth'', "year" - "years"). Nouns ending in ''-t'' have  ''-hūth'' in their plural: 𐤃𐤋𐤄𐤅𐤕 - 𐤃𐤋𐤕 ''delt'' - ''dalahūth'', "door" - "doors". For nouns that end in ''-īth/-ē'', the plural ending is ''-iyūth'': 𐤔𐤃𐤉𐤅𐤕 - 𐤔𐤃𐤄 ''sadē - sadiyūth'', "field" - "fields"). A few nouns show irregular plural: 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤉𐤅𐤕 - 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤕 ''milkoth - milkiyūth'', "queen" - "queens", 𐤀𐤋𐤌 ''ilīm'' "god, goddess" has two plurals, both irregular: 𐤀𐤋𐤍𐤉𐤌 ''allōnīm'', "gods" and 𐤀𐤋𐤍𐤅𐤕 ''allōnūth'', "goddesses".
+Nouns can also attach possessive suffixes in order to indicate possession. These suffixes are represented below:
+{|class="wikitable"
+|-
+!  colspan="11" | singular
+|-
+! "brother"
+! rowspan="2" | isolated
+! 1<sup>st</sup> sg.
+! colspan="2" | 2<sup>st</sup> sg.
+! colspan="2" | 3<sup>st</sup> sg.
+! 1<sup>st</sup> sg.
+! colspan="2" | 2<sup>st</sup> sg.
+! colspan="2" | 3<sup>st</sup> sg.
+|-
+!{{small|common}}
+!{{small|masculine}}
+!{{small|feminine}}
+!{{small|masculine}}
+!{{small|feminine}}
+!{{small|common}}
+!{{small|masculine}}
+!{{small|feminine}}
+!{{small|masculine}}
+!{{small|feminine}}
+|-
+! absolute
+| 𐤀𐤇 ''aḥ''
+| 𐤀𐤇𐤉 ''aḥī''
+| rowspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤊 ''aḥūkha''
+| rowspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤊𐤉 ''aḥūkhī''
+| rowspan="2" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤉𐤀 ''aḥūyo''
+| rowspan="2" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤉𐤀 ''aḥūya''
+| rowspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤍 ''aḥūn''
+| rowspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤊𐤌 ''aḥūkhom''
+| rowspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤊𐤉𐤌 ''aḥūkhīm''
+| rowspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤍𐤌 ''aḥūnom''
+| rowspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤍𐤌 ''aḥūnam''
+|-
+! construct
+| 𐤀𐤇𐤅 ''aḥū-''
+| 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤉 ''aḥūyī''
+|-
+! genitive
+| 𐤀𐤇𐤉 ''aḥī''
+| 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤀 ''aḥīya''<ref group=note>Not used anymore, can be found in some old texts, replaced by ''aḥī''.</ref>
+| 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤅 ''aḥīw''<ref group=note>This form can still be found in the language, but usually are not used in common speech.</ref>
+| 𐤀𐤇𐤉 ''aḥi''<ref group=note>Not used in common speech.</ref>
+|-
+!  colspan="11" | plural
+|-
+! absolute
+| 𐤀𐤇𐤌 ''aḥīm''
+| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉 ''aḥay''
+| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤊 ''aḥêkha''
+| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤊𐤉 ''aḥêkhī''
+| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤉𐤀 ''aḥêyo''
+| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤉𐤀 ''aḥêya''
+| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤍 ''aḥên''
+| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤊𐤌 ''aḥêkhom''
+| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤊𐤉𐤌 ''aḥêkhīm''
+| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤍𐤌 ''aḥênom''
+| colspan="3" | 𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤍𐤌 ''aḥênam''
+|-
+! construct
+| 𐤀𐤇𐤅 ''aḥê-''
+|-
+! genitive
+| 𐤀𐤇𐤅𐤌 ''aḥêm''<ref group=note>Usually not found in common speech.</ref>
+|-
+|}
+{{reflist|group=note}}
 Lebanese nouns and adjectives can exist in one of two states. To a certain extent, these states correspond to the role of cases in the Indo-European languages:
 *The absolute state is the basic form of a noun. It expresses indefiniteness, comparable to the English indefinite article "a(n)" (for example, 𐤎𐤐𐤓 sīfer, "a book"), and can be used in most syntactic roles. To nouns in this state (and also to attributive adjectives) a definite article can be added, which is traditionally considered to be an actual part of the definite noun. However, in modern use, the definite article is taken as a clitic, attaching to a noun. For example, the term for school is 𐤁𐤕־𐤎𐤐𐤓‎ (''bês-sīfer'', “house-of book”); “the school” is 𐤄𐤁̄𐤕־𐤎𐤐𐤓 (heb-bês-sīfer, “the-house-of-book”). The article triggers gemination (in this example /b/ is techically geminated, but the word is actually pronounced [hɛ.beːs.ˈsiː.fɛr]. Here the assimilation of the final "th" into /s/ occurs).