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Cumbraek: Difference between revisions
→Morphology
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In some cases, these changes work backwards (e.g. ''gwrek'' 'woman' has the plural form ''gwragedh''). | In some cases, these changes work backwards (e.g. ''gwrek'' 'woman' has the plural form ''gwragedh''). | ||
====Articles===== | |||
There is no indefinite article in Cumbraek, the noun alone is indefinite (e.g. ''gur'' 'man, a man', ''gwrek'' 'woman, a woman'). | |||
The definite article is ''er'', sometimes reduced to '' 'r'' after a preposition ending in a vowel or after the locative verb''ema'' (e.g. ''er gur'' 'the man', ''du'r egloos'' 'to the church'). | |||
The definite article causes lenition to feminine nouns (e.g. ''er wrek'' 'the woman'). | |||
====Nouns==== | |||
Nouns are either masculine or feminine in gender. | |||
Plurals may be formed in one of several ways: | |||
* by adding an ending, most commonly ''-ow, -yow, -yon, -on, -edh, -et, -ot'' (e.g. ''cadow'' 'battles', ''dinyon'' 'people, men', ''privet'' 'insects') | |||
* by alternation (e.g. ''bran'' 'raven' → ''bren'', ''oyn'' 'lamb' → ''oon'') | |||
* by adding an ending plus alternation (e.g. ''gwrek'' 'woman' → ''gwragedh'', ''map'' 'boy, son' → ''mebyon'') | |||
* irregularly (e.g. ''ci'' 'dog' → ''cun'', ''didh'' 'day' → ''diow'', ''ti'' 'house' → ''tey'', ''hwair'' 'sister' → ''hwioredh'', ''broadur'' 'brother' → ''brodir'') | |||
A number of words, including many plant and tree names and many animals, have a base form with a collective meaning to which the singulative endings ''-inn'' (masc.) or ''-enn'' (fem.) are added (e.g. ''deriw'' 'oak trees' → ''derwenn'' 'oak tree', ''moch'' 'pigs' → ''mochinn'' 'a pig'). | |||
Nouns are not formally marked for case, but the following observations may be noted: | |||
* the genitive of possession is shown by placing the genitive noun after the thing possessed (e.g. ''ti Neven'' 'Neven's house', ''gwrek mu tat'' 'my father's wife') | |||
* some intransitive verbs such as ''devot'' 'come' and ''munet'' 'go' permit the indirect object to behave as if it were the direct object of a transitive verb, allowing the preposition to be dropped (e.g. compare ''mi carav Yowann'' 'I love John' with ''mi av Lounnen'' 'I am going (to) London'). | |||
* nouns in the vocative are preceded by the particle ''a''<sup>L</sup> (e.g. ''a Vathow!'' 'Matthew!'). This particle may be dropped in speech, particularly before a vowel, but lenition is always retained (e.g. ''oucher da, Vathow'' 'good evening, Matthew'). | |||
====Adjectives==== | |||
Most adjectives follow the noun they qualify and must agree in gender and number with that noun. | |||
A few adjectives are regularly preposed, notably ''hen''<sup>L</sup> 'old' and ''penn''<sup>L</sup> 'chief'. These adjectives always cause lenition to a following noun (e.g. ''hen wur'' 'old man'). | |||
Adjectives following feminine singular nouns undergo lentition (e.g. ''gwrek voar'' 'large woman'). Where possible they also undergo the change of ''i'' → ''e'' and ''u'' → ''o'' (e.g. ''ci gwinn, cath wenn'' 'white dog, white cat', ''gur druk, gwrek dhrok'' 'bad man, bad woman'). | |||
Adjectives may undergo alternation following plural nouns, though this is not always the case (e.g. ''ti glan'' 'clean house' → ''tey glen''). | |||
An '''exclamative''' adjective can be formed by adding ''-het'' to the positive (e.g. ''gwinnet'' 'how white!, so white!', ''glanhet'' 'how clean!, so clean!''). This may also be used as an '''equative''' adjective in phrases like ''cun winnet a'r err'' 'as white as the snow'. | |||
The ''''comparative'''' adjective is formed by adding ''-ach'' to the positive adjective, and the superlative takes ''-hav'' (e.g. ''gwinnach'' 'whiter', ''gwinnav'' 'whitest', ''caledach'' 'harder', ''calettav' 'hardest'). | |||
The following adjectives are compared irregularly: | |||
{| border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="bluetable lightbluebg" style="text-align:center;" | |||
! style="width: 120px" | | |||
! style="width: 120px" | Positive | |||
! style="width: 120px" | Equative | |||
! style="width: 120px" | Comparative | |||
! style="width: 120px" | Superlative | |||
|- | |||
| near | |||
| ''agos'' | |||
| ''nesset'' | |||
| ''nes'' | |||
| ''nessav'' | |||
|- | |||
| small | |||
| ''bechan'' | |||
| ''leyhet'' | |||
| ''ley'' | |||
| ''leyhav'' | |||
|- | |||
| good | |||
| ''da'' | |||
| ''custadhul'' | |||
| ''gwell'' | |||
| ''gorow'' | |||
|- | |||
| bad | |||
| ''druk'' | |||
| ''cunruk'' | |||
| ''goeth'' | |||
| ''goetthav'' | |||
|- | |||
| old | |||
| ''hen'' | |||
| ''hinhet'' | |||
| ''hin'' | |||
| ''hinhav'' | |||
|- | |||
| large | |||
| ''moar'' | |||
| ''cumment'' | |||
| ''moy'' | |||
| ''moyhav'' | |||
| young | |||
| ''yowank'' | |||
| ''yohwet'' | |||
| ''yow'' | |||
| ''yohwav'' | |||
|} | |||
Adverbs of quality may be formed by placing ''en''<sup>L</sup> before an adjective (e.g. ''en dha'' 'well', ''en gadarn'' 'strongly'). | |||
====Pronouns==== | |||
===Syntax=== | ===Syntax=== | ||