Indo-Semitic

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Indo-Semitic (placeholder name) preserves the PSem dual and cases, unlike other Semitic languages. Notably, it shifted the head-initial grammar of Proto-Semitic to a more agglutinative and head-final grammar.

Nouns

Nouns have two genders, three numbers (the dual was retained from Proto-Semitic), and 8 to 10 cases depending on the dialect. The nominative, accusative and genitive were inherited from Proto-Semitic, and additional cases were formed by suffixing inflected pronouns (for example, beetilu 'the house (dative)' from *bayti-lahu 'the house (gen), for it').

The construct state was lost.

The cases are:

  • nominative
  • accusative
  • genitive
  • dative
  • lative~instrumental
  • locative
  • ablative
  • superessive
  • comitative (not in all dialects)
  • terminative (not in all dialects)

Masculine nouns: beet 'house'

  • nom beet, beetaam, beetuum
  • acc beeta, beetama, beetima
  • gen beeti, beetami, beetiimi
  • dat beetilu, beetallan, beetillen
  • lat/ins beetinu, beetannan, beetinnen
  • loc beetibu, beetabban, beetibben
  • abl beetiltu, beetaltan, beetilten
  • sup beetileu, beetallehan, beetillehen
  • com beetemu, beetaman, beetimen
  • term beetadu, beetaddan, beetidden

Feminine nouns: šarrat 'queen'

  • nom šarrat, šarrataam, šarraat
  • acc šarrata, šarratama, šarraata
  • gen šarrati, šarratami, šarraati
  • dat šarratila, šarratallan, šarraatillen
  • lat/ins šarratina, šarratannan, šarraatinnen
  • loc šarratiba, šarratabban, šarraatibben
  • abl šarratilta, šarrataltan, šarraatilten
  • sup šarratilia, šarratallehan, šarraatillehen
  • com šarratima, šarrataman, šarratimen
  • term šarratadu, šarrataddan, šarraatidden

-naft = emphatic