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Modern Manish: Difference between revisions
Added Noun morphology section
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In most cases, a sequence of two vowels is considered to consist of two syllables. However, if one of the two vowels is /ɪ/, it is pronounced as [j], and the sequence is considered a diphthong. | In most cases, a sequence of two vowels is considered to consist of two syllables. However, if one of the two vowels is /ɪ/, it is pronounced as [j], and the sequence is considered a diphthong. | ||
==Morphology== | ==Morphology== | ||
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===Nouns=== | |||
Compared to the nouns of Old Manish, Modern Manish noun morphology has been heavily simplified over the course of time. The old dual marker has been all but lost in most dialects, and case marking has been lost. The Old Manish collective suffix is no longer productive, but continues to be used on a few nouns. In all but the Royal dialect and a few fixed phrases, the construct state has also been lost. Marking on nouns is now limited to gender, number, and augmentatives or diminutives. | |||
====Gender==== | |||
All Manish nouns belong either to the masculine or the feminine gender. On native Manish nouns, this is usually indicated by the presence of a final -o or -i for masculine and feminine, respectively. The gender of a noun does not affect its morphology, but it does require adjective and verb agreement. Nouns borrowed from other languages may or may not end in -o or -i. Typically, if a noun was borrowed that already ended in -o or -i, it simply took the respective gender. Nouns that did not end in -o or -i are unpredictable. Some have since had -o or -i appended, belonging to the respective gender. This is especially common when there was a semantic connection between the word and a masculine or feminine referent. However, in other cases the original ending is kept intact. Most often, these words are considered masculine, but there are many exceptions. | |||
====Number==== | |||
Manish nouns without modification are typically singular. In order to pluralize a noun ending in a vowel, it is simply necessary to add the suffix -n. If the word ends in /m/ or a liquid, it is replaced by an -n. If the word ends in a fricative, -en is appended. No words end in stops. Words that already end in -n in the singular have identical singular and plural forms, and context or an explicit number is required to disambiguate it. | |||
Old Manish had a dual marker, ''-qim'', which is reflected in Modern Manish as ''-kin''. However, it is not commonly used except in the Royal dialect and with a few words that naturally come in pairs, such as eyes. Because the Old Manish form began with a uvular, vowels often undergo ablaut when this suffix is used. Since this form only exists for a few nouns, they are typically considered irregular. | |||
Old Manish also had a collective marker ''-kale'', which has fallen out of use in all standard dialects of Modern Manish. However, a few standard Modern Manish words derive historically from this form. For example, ''brîkale'' 'council of gods' from ''brîko'' 'a god'. These forms are typically irregular in meaning. | |||
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