Minhast: Difference between revisions
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(All modifications done today have been mostly re-org, and additional info on the vocatives, particularly with addition of the honorifics) |
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'''2) Number:''' | '''2) Number:''' | ||
Nouns do not inflect for number. Verbal cross-reference affixes (see section below on verbal Pronominal Affixes) can mark number on Ergative and Absolutive noun phrases, but do not provide any information about number for non-core NPs. Speakers must rely on context or use numbers in a ''min'' construction using the formula [number + ''min'' + NP], e.g. | Nouns do not inflect for number. Verbal cross-reference affixes (see section below on verbal Pronominal Affixes) can mark number on Ergative and Absolutive noun phrases, but do not provide any information about number for non-core NPs. Speakers must rely on context or use numbers in a ''min'' construction using the formula [number + ''min'' + NP], e.g. ''šānī min redad'' (lit. “two man”) to mark plurality; otherwise the default number is singular. | ||
'''3) Case:''' | '''3) Case:''' | ||
Although nouns are not overtly marked for gender or number by inflection or clitics, they do take case marking clitics that attach to the end of the noun or noun phrase. There are two core nominal arguments: the Absolutive which receives zero marking, and the Ergative clitic =''de''. The Genitive derives from the same ''=de'' clitic as the Ergative, and in most declension tables are thus listed as the Ergative-Genitive case. The Vocative | Although nouns are not overtly marked for gender or number by inflection or clitics, they do take case marking clitics that attach to the end of the noun or noun phrase. There are two core nominal arguments: the Absolutive which receives zero marking, and the Ergative clitic =''de''. The Genitive derives from the same ''=de'' clitic as the Ergative, and in most declension tables are thus listed as the Ergative-Genitive case. | ||
The Oblique cases are clitics indicating position or direction, or under certain circumstances, a syntactic patient derived from a valence operation. Most of these clitics have corresponding verbal applicative affixes. As they are clitics, morphophonemic alternations occur less frequently with their head NP. | |||
The Vocative case can be divided into two subclasses, the Familiar or Intimate Vocative, and several formal vocative forms that double as honorifics. The Familiar/Intimate Vocative is an actual suffix, grammaticalized from the etymologically related vocative particle ''ayyak'', which still exists, ironically, as a formal vocative. The Oblique cases are clitics indicating position or direction, or under certain circumstances, the semantic or derived direct object. Most of these clitics have corresponding verbal applicative affixes. | |||
==== Ergative and Genitive ==== | ==== Ergative and Genitive ==== | ||