Laefêvëši/Nouns

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Nouns in Laefêvëši are marked for both case and number. There are 38 cases divided into three groups and 3 numbers (singular, dual and plural).

Class

In Laefêvëši, nouns belong to one of the two classes: class I or class II.

Number

Three numbers are distinguished in Laefêvëši: singular, dual and plural. Numbers are marked with suffixes.

Case

Main article: Laefêvëši/Nouns/Cases

Laefêvëši nouns have 38 cases in singular, dual and plural. Cases are divided into three groups.

The groups are:

  1. Basic or main cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, locative, instrumental
  2. Subcases: terminative, egressive, elative, delative, abessive, essive, lative, orientative, illative, benefactive, sublative, allative, ablative, prosecutive, prolative, superessive, inessive, adessive, perlative, apudessive, postessive, temporal, instcomitative, antensive,
  3. Additional cases: vocative, partitive, nepartitive, equative, semblative, translative, amarative, miristive


The basic cases can replace any of the sub-cases and additional cases. The cases are arranged in the so-called case hierarchy which shows which case can replace another case.

Locative and instrumental are prepositional cases and are always used with prepositions.

Case cohesiveness

Cases are also divided into two groups, called open cases and closed cases, this feature is called case cohesiveness. The difference between them is that open cases can be combined with other cases while closed cases cannot combine.

Declensions

Irregularities

Class I irregularities:

  • when the noun end in -w in nominative singular, the -w changes to -v: nómiw (nom. sg.) -> nómivie (nom. dual). This change applies for all declined cases.
  • when the noun ends in -va in nominative singular, the -va changes to -tv, to which is then added the appropriate suffix.
  • when the noun ends in -tva in nominative singular, the -tva changes to -kv, to which is then added the appropriate suffix.
  • when the noun ends in -vi in nominative singular, the -vi changes to -lv, to which is then added the appropriate suffix.
  • when the noun ends in -j or -i in nominative singular, the -j changes to -ð and the -i changes into -z when declined; however, verbal nouns ending in -i can also be declined as simply changing the -i to -j
  • when the noun ends in -hb/hd/hg (pronounced /xp/, /xt/, /xk/, respectively, or simply as /p/, /t/, /k/, respectively) in nominative singular, the -hb/hd/hg changes to -b/d/g, to which is then added the appropriate suffix; such nouns cannot take the vocalic suffixes in singular.
  • when the noun ends in -CCë (eg. -bbë, -kkë, etc.), the schwa -ë is ommited when declining; no other changes occur in the stem; such nouns cannot take the vocalic suffixes in singular.
  • when the noun ends in -VCëC, the schwa is omitted and the stress moves to the first vowel of the suffix when declined, thus becoming something like -VCCV́(C/V)

Class I vocalic suffixes are used when the nouns ends on a consonant that can be geminated. The consonants are: -m, -p, -f, -n, -t, -r, -þ, -s, -l and -k (and -w).


Class II irregularities:

  • when the noun ends in -Vnd (pronounced as /nt/), the -Vnd changes to -VnnV when the following suffix contains a voiced consonant; and it changes to -VttV when the following suffix contains a voiceless consonant; the vowel following the geminate consonant is the same as the preceding vowel; only when the suffix contains one consonant or two voice/voiceless consonants.
  • when the noun ends in -Vng (pronounced as /ŋk/), the -Vng changes to -VggV when the following suffix contains a voiced consonant; and it changes to -VkkV when the following suffix contains a voiceless consonant; the vowel following the geminate consonant is the same as the preceding vowel; only when the suffix contains one consonant or two voice/voiceless consonants.

Class II non-vocalic suffixes are used then the noun ends on a certain consonant. The consonants: -b, -d, -g, -x, -v, -z and -ð (pronounced as /p/, /t/, /k/, /x/, /f/, /s/ and /θ/ in nominative singular).

Secondary plurals

There are two secondary plurals in the language:

  • differential plural - denotes the entities are not of the same kind
  • collective plural - denotes the entities are of the same kind

They're formed by adding a suffix to the noun (and when declined, class II suffixes are used):

  • differential: -noia (dual: -noian)
  • collective: -toa (dual: -toan)

Gradation of nouns

The gradation of nouns has two types: diminutives and augmentatives. There are two basic diminutive and augmenative degrees (besides the basic or the zeroth degree), however, it is possible to create even higher degrees by combining the suffixes.

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