Carpathian nouns
Most of the Proto-Indo-European declensional classes were retained, with the exception of the consonant-stems, which were gradually falling out of use, being replaced by other, more productive classes.
Carpathian nouns have three grammatical categories: gender (masculine, feminine, common and neuter), number (singular, dual and plural) and seven cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative and vocative with only three different case forms being distinguished in the dual number.
Accent classes
All Carpathian nouns belong to one of the three accent classes:
- AS (acute stative) – acute accent (tone-1) fixed on (usually) the initial syllable.
- CS (circumflex stative) – fixed circumflex accent (tone-2) or grave accent (tone-3) on any syllable. For neuter stems it is the final syllable, while for all other genders it is typically the first or the second syllable.
- M (mobile) – the pitch (tone-2 or tone-3) alternates between final and non-final (usually initial) position.
Classes
There are seven main stem classes in Carpathian, being defined by their specific case endings: a-stem, u-stem, i-stem ā-stem, ī-stem, ū-stem, and consonant-stem, the latter consisting of several subclasses. The following tables are examples of Eastern Carpathian noun-class paradigms, Western Carpathian has the same noun classes, so for the sake of brevity only the Eastern forms are shown. The example words belong to the M-paradigm, because the pitch pattern of the other two paradigms is predictable.
a-stem nouns
There are two subclasses: masculine "as"-nouns (deiwas “god”) and neuter "a"-nouns (àzera “lake”). In some dialects the nominative singular of the "as"-nouns is stressed, e.g. deiwàs instead of standard deĩwas, the latter being an innovation. In dialects the dative singular and the instrumental plural have the "ui"-diphthong instead of standard ai: deiwúi and deiwúis respectively. This is common for both Western and Eastern dialects and predate the original split.
Case | Singular | Dual | Plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masculine | Neuter | Masculine | Neuter | Masculine | Neuter | |
Nominative | deĩwas | àzera | deĩwū | àzerai | deĩwai | azerā̃ |
Genitive | deĩwā | àzerā | deiwáu | azeráu | deiwū̃n | azerū̃n |
Dative | deiwái | azerái | deiwamā̃ | azeramā̃ | deiwàmas | azeràmas |
Accusative | deĩwun | àzerun | deĩwū | àzerai | deĩwōn | azerā̃ |
Instrumental | deĩwū | àzerū | deiwamā̃ | azeramā̃ | deiwáis | azeráis |
Locative | deĩwai | àzerai | deiwáu | azeráu | deiwáišu | azeráišu |
Vocative | deĩwe | àzera | deĩwū | àzerai | deiwaĩ | azerā̃ |
ā-stem nouns
The "ā"-stem nouns are feminine. An example of this class is rasā “dew”. The Western dialects have tone-2 in the M-type nouns, while the Eastern dialects keep the original tone-1 (Western rasā̃ Eastern rasā́). Tone-1 was analogically eliminated from the M-paradigm in most Western Carpathian dialects, being replaced by circumflex, thus being restricted to the AS-type exclusively.
Case | Singular | Dual | Plural |
---|---|---|---|
Feminine | |||
Nominative | rasā́ | ràsāi | ràsās |
Genitive | rasā̃s | rasáu | rasū̃n |
Dative | rasái | rasā́mā | rasā́mas |
Accusative | ràsān | rasái | ràsānas |
Instrumental | rasā́n | rasā́mā | rasámīs |
Locative | rasái | rasáu | rasā́su |
Vocative | ràsa | rasái | rasás |
i-stem nouns
There are two subclasses: common "is"-stem (angilis “coal”), and neuter "i"-stem (mari “sea”). The "i"-stem class consists of a few words and is obsolete in most dialects, being replaced by either "a"-stem (maria) or "is"-stem (maris).
Case | Singular | Dual | Plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Common | Neuter | Common | Neuter | Common | Neuter | |
Nominative | angilìs | marì | ànglī | màrī | àngiliīs | màriī |
Genitive | angiléis | maréis | angiliáu | mariáu | angiliū̃n | mariū̃n |
Dative | àngilei | màrei | angilimā̃ | marimā̃ | angilìmas | marìmas |
Accusative | àngilin | màrin | ànglī | màrī | àngilinis | màrī |
Instrumental | angilimì | marimì | angilimā̃ | marimā̃ | angilìmīs | marìmīs |
Locative | angiléi | maréi | angiliáu | mariáu | angilišù | marišù |
Vocative | ànglei | màri | ànglī | màrī | àngiliīs | màriī |
u-stem nouns
There are two subclasses: masculine "us"-stem (ledus “ice”) and neuter "u"-stem (medu “honey”). The neuter "u"-nouns are rare, but still present in all dialects, unlike the corresponding "i"-nouns.
Case | Singular | Dual | Plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masculine | Neuter | Masculine | Neuter | Masculine | Neuter | |
Nominative | ledùs | medù | lèdū | mèdwī | lèdawes | mèdū |
Genitive | ledáus | medáus | ledwáu | medwáu | ledū̃n | medū̃n |
Dative | lèdawei | mèdawei | ledumā̃ | medumā̃ | ledùmas | medùmas |
Accusative | lèdun | mèdun | lèdū | mèdwī | lèdunus | mèdū |
Instrumental | ledumì | medumì | ledumā̃ | medumā̃ | ledùmīs | medùmīs |
Locative | ledáu | medáu | ledwáu | medwáu | ledušù | medušù |
Vocative | lèdau | mèdu! | lèdū | mèdwī! | lèdawes | mèdū |
ī-stem nouns
The "ī"-stem nouns are feminine. An example of this class is martī “married woman”. The "ī"-class consist of primarily deadjectival nouns of state or condition, as well as some old feminine noun forms, such as the example noun, as well as the Slavic borrowing pānī (from Polish pani “Mrs”). The last root consonant is palatalised in oblique cases, unless the consonant is labial or glottal.
Case | Singular | Dual | Plural |
---|---|---|---|
Feminine | |||
Nominative | martī́ | màrtī | màrtīs |
Genitive | martiā̃s | martiáu | martiū̃n |
Dative | martiái | martiā́mā | martiā́mas |
Accusative | màrtīn | martī́ | màrtīnis |
Instrumental | martiā́ | martiā́mā | martiā́mīs |
Locative | martiái | martiáu | martiā́su |
Vocative | màrtia | màrtī | màrtīs |
ū-stem nouns
The "ū"-stem nouns are feminine. An example of this class is burū “eyebrow”. The class consist of mostly abstract nouns, derived from adjectives or verbal nouns, as well as old inanimate nouns, such as lakū “lake”. Most of these nouns became is-stem in modern Carpathian (Western Carpathian lokwis “pond”).
Case | Singular | Dual | Plural |
---|---|---|---|
Feminine | |||
Nominative | burū́ | bùrwai | bùrwis |
Genitive | burwìs | burwáu | burwū̃n |
Dative | burwéi | burwimā̃ | burwìmas |
Accusative | bùrwin | bùrū | bùrwinis |
Instrumental | burwī́ | burwimā̃ | burwìmīs |
Locative | burwái | burwáu | burwìšu |
Vocative | bùrwa | bùrwai | bùrwis |
consonant-stem nouns
*akmō 'stone', *sēmen 'seed'
Case | Singular | Dual | Plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masculine | Neuter | Masculine | Neuter | Masculine | Neuter | |
Nominative | *akmō | *sēmen | *akmene | *sēmenī | *akmenes | *sēmenā |
Genitive | *akmenes | *sēmenes | *akmenaus | *sēmenaus | *akmenōn | *sēmenōn |
Dative | *akmenei | *sēmenei | *akmenmā | *sēmenmā | *akmenmas | *sēmenmas |
Accusative | *akmenin | *sēmen | *akmene | *sēmenī | *akmenins | *sēmenā |
Instrumental | *akmenmi | *sēmenmi | *akmenmā | *sēmenmā | *akmenmīs | *sēmenmīs |
Locative | *akmeni | *sēmeni | *akmenaus | *sēmenaus | *akmensu | *sēmensu |
Vocative | *akmen! | *sēmen! | *akmene! | *sēmenī! | *akmenes! | *sēmenā! |