SamSkandinavisk: Difference between revisions
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====Tone==== | ====Tone==== | ||
At this stage it is undecided whether SamSka will have phonemic tone. A pitch accent may be added as a tool to disambiguate homonyms. | At this stage it is undecided whether SamSka will have phonemic tone. A pitch accent may be added as a tool to disambiguate homonyms. | ||
===Grammar=== | |||
====Nouns==== | |||
There are two grammatical genders for nouns; common and neuter. Common gender nouns account for approximately 75% of nouns. The | |||
common gender originates in the merger of the Feminine and Masculine gender in earlier phases of the source languages. | |||
Nouns have two cases, a common subject/object case and a genitive/possessive case. | |||
The definite status of a a noun is formed by adding '''-en''' to the stem in the case of common gender nouns, '''-et''' in the case of neuter | |||
nouns and '''-erne''' in the case of plural nouns. However this changes to a pre-noun definite article when it is preceeded by an adjective. | |||
The plural of nouns is commonly formed by adding '''-er''' to the stem. However this suffix can be agglutinated to other suffixes that mark | |||
case and definite status. Many neuter nouns don't add '''-er''' and have same form in plural as in singular. There is also a small minority of | |||
nouns that form the plural with a change of the stem-vowel by ''umlaut''. | |||
====Pronouns==== | |||
Pronouns have 3 cases: subjective, objective and possessive. In the third person there is also a reflexive case and a reflexive-possessive | |||
case. Third person singular pronouns have three genders; feminine ('''hon'''), masculine ('''han''') and neuter ('''det'''). There is also '''den''' - | |||
a third person singular pronoun which can be used for common gender nouns when they have no natural gender -- such as in the case of | |||
inanimate objects or abstract concepts. It may also be used of people when the gender is not known or considered irrellevant. | |||
The second person pronoun has two numbers -- singular ('''du''') and plural ('''i'''). Unlike in German or French for example, it is socially | |||
acceptable to address an adult stranger as "'du'''. '''i''' is thus restricted in usage to addressing groups of people. | |||
====Adjectives==== | |||
Adjectives have two paradigms for declension -- a indefinite declension and a definite declension. Adjectives must agree with the number | |||
and definite/indefinite status of the noun in both the predacative and attributive position. | |||
Similar to other Germanic languages, the comparative is formed by adding '''-ere''' to the stem and the superlative is formed by adding '''- | |||
est''' or '''-este'''. A minority of adjectives have irregular declension, typically they change the stem-vowel by ''umlaut'' when forming the | |||
comparative and superlative. Some adjectives are further irregular and have totally different stems in the the definite form or the plural | |||
form of when forming the comparative and superlative. | |||
Adjectives must have a '''-t''' suffix added to be used as adverbs. | |||
====Verbs==== | |||
Verbs end in -e in the infinitive. The present tense in all persons and numbers is formed by adding '''-er''' to the stem. The past tense is | |||
formed by adding '''-de''', '''-te''', or '''-ede''' to the stem. The past participle is formed by adding '''-t''' or '''-et'''. | |||
Transitive verbs can have a passive form which is made by adding '''-es''' to the stem. | |||
There are many irregular verbs where the stem also vowel changes when forming the past tense and past participle. There are also seven | |||
classes of strong verb where the stem vowel changes by ''ablaut'' when forming the past tense and past participle. | |||
== Sample Texts == | == Sample Texts == | ||