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Lebanese: Difference between revisions
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Lebanese nouns and adjectives are inflected to show gender, number, case and [[w:Construct state|state]], though in a common speech cases (of which modern Lebanese preserves only two: nominative and genitive) are often dropped. Old Phoenician also had a third case for nouns in singular number - the accusative, but it has already been dropped in Phoenician. | Lebanese nouns and adjectives are inflected to show gender, number, case and [[w:Construct state|state]], though in a common speech cases (of which modern Lebanese preserves only two: nominative and genitive) are often dropped. Old Phoenician also had a third case for nouns in singular number - the accusative, but it has already been dropped in Phoenician. | ||
There are two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. The feminine gender is often marked by the ending 𐤕- '''-th''', while nouns ending in other letters are masculine, with an exception of a few "defective" nouns, like 𐤎𐤌𐤋𐤕 ''simloth'' "statue". There is a very strong tendency toward natural gender for nouns referring to people and animals. Such nouns generally come in pairs, one masculine and one feminine; for example, 𐤀𐤔 ''is'' means "man" and 𐤀𐤔𐤕 ''ist'' means "woman", but when discussing mixed-sex groups, the plural of the masculine noun is used. | There are two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. The feminine gender is often marked by the ending 𐤕- '''-th''', while nouns ending in other letters are masculine, with an exception of a few "defective" nouns, like 𐤎𐤌𐤋𐤕 ''simloth'' "statue". There is a very strong tendency toward natural gender for nouns referring to people and animals. Such nouns generally come in pairs, one masculine and one feminine; for example, 𐤀𐤔 ''is'' means "person" (previously also meant "man", but now it's a gender-neutral word) and 𐤀𐤔𐤕 ''ist'' means "woman", but when discussing mixed-sex groups, the plural of the masculine noun is used. | ||
Nouns can be either singular or plural, but an additional dual number exists for some nouns that usually come in pairs. The dual number gradually disappeared in Old Phoenician over time and is still present as relics in some dialects. In the Standard it is treated as a form of plural. Masculine nouns generally form their plural by adding the suffix 𐤉𐤌- ''-īm'' to the stem (𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤌 - 𐤀𐤇 ''aḥ - aḥīm'', "brother" - "brothers"). the two-syllable masculine nouns accented on the penultimate syllable also undergo a vowel change in the plural: (𐤇𐤃𐤓𐤉𐤌 - 𐤇𐤃𐤓 ''ḥíder - ḥadarīm'', "room" - "rooms", the stress also shifts to the last syllable). Feminine nouns ending in ''-oth'' simply change the ending to ''-ūth'' (with a few exceptions: 𐤔𐤍𐤅𐤕 - 𐤍̄𐤕 ''sat - sanūth'', "year" - "years"). Nouns ending in ''-t'' have ''-hūth'' in their plural: 𐤃𐤋𐤄𐤅𐤕 - 𐤃𐤋𐤕 ''delt'' - ''dalahūth'', "door" - "doors". For nouns that end in ''-īth/-ē'', the plural ending is ''-iyūth'': 𐤔𐤃𐤉𐤅𐤕 - 𐤔𐤃𐤄 ''sadē - sadiyūth'', "field" - "fields"). A few nouns show irregular plural: 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤉𐤅𐤕 - 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤕 ''milkoth - milkiyūth'', "queen" - "queens", 𐤀𐤋𐤌 ''ilīm'' "god, goddess" has two plurals, both irregular: 𐤀𐤋𐤍𐤉𐤌 ''allōnīm'', "gods" and 𐤀𐤋𐤍𐤅𐤕 ''allōnūth'', "goddesses". | Nouns can be either singular or plural, but an additional dual number exists for some nouns that usually come in pairs. The dual number gradually disappeared in Old Phoenician over time and is still present as relics in some dialects. In the Standard it is treated as a form of plural. Masculine nouns generally form their plural by adding the suffix 𐤉𐤌- ''-īm'' to the stem (𐤀𐤇𐤉𐤌 - 𐤀𐤇 ''aḥ - aḥīm'', "brother" - "brothers"). the two-syllable masculine nouns accented on the penultimate syllable also undergo a vowel change in the plural: (𐤇𐤃𐤓𐤉𐤌 - 𐤇𐤃𐤓 ''ḥíder - ḥadarīm'', "room" - "rooms", the stress also shifts to the last syllable). Feminine nouns ending in ''-oth'' simply change the ending to ''-ūth'' (with a few exceptions: 𐤔𐤍𐤅𐤕 - 𐤍̄𐤕 ''sat - sanūth'', "year" - "years"). Nouns ending in ''-t'' have ''-hūth'' in their plural: 𐤃𐤋𐤄𐤅𐤕 - 𐤃𐤋𐤕 ''delt'' - ''dalahūth'', "door" - "doors". For nouns that end in ''-īth/-ē'', the plural ending is ''-iyūth'': 𐤔𐤃𐤉𐤅𐤕 - 𐤔𐤃𐤄 ''sadē - sadiyūth'', "field" - "fields"). A few nouns show irregular plural: 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤉𐤅𐤕 - 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤕 ''milkoth - milkiyūth'', "queen" - "queens", 𐤀𐤋𐤌 ''ilīm'' "god, goddess" has two plurals, both irregular: 𐤀𐤋𐤍𐤉𐤌 ''allōnīm'', "gods" and 𐤀𐤋𐤍𐤅𐤕 ''allōnūth'', "goddesses". | ||
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===Word patterns=== | |||
Scholars have attempted to categorize the varied types of nouns in the Semitic languages by organizing them according to their root shapes (usually various vowel changes that modify the basic root word). Scholars often use the root '''q-ṭ-l''' as the base for illustrating the patterns. Verbs are categorized differently by using the root '''p-ˁ-l''', except for the most common pattern is '''qal''' (just like in Hebrew). A certain semantic range of meaning is often associated with a particular pattern. | |||
*Single consonant ('''q'''): 𐤐𐤉 ''pī'' "mouth", 𐤔 ''sū'' "sheep"; | |||
*Biconsonantal: '''qal''': 𐤀𐤁 ''ab'' "father", 𐤃𐤌 ''dom'' "blood", '''qil''': 𐤁̄𐤕 ''bit'' "daughter", '''qul''': 𐤒𐤅𐤋 ''qūl'' "voice"; | |||
*Triconsonantal (singular - '''qVtel''', plural '''qitVl''', where "V" is a vowel): '''qatl''': 𐤀𐤓𐤑 ''arts'' "earth", 𐤁𐤏𐤋 ''baˁal'' "master, lord", '''qitl''': 𐤌𐤋𐤊 ''milk'' "king"; | |||
*'''qatol''': 𐤀𐤃𐤌 ''adom'' "man", '''qital''' 𐤉𐤓𐤇 ''yiraḥ'' "moon", '''qatul''': 𐤒𐤈𐤍 ''qatun'' "small", '''qital''': 𐤆𐤓𐤀 ''dzira'' "seed"; | |||
*Furtive "a" roots: ̄𐤌𐤅𐤇 ''mūaḥ'' "brain", ̄𐤋𐤅𐤇 ''lūaḥ'' "tablet"; | |||
*Weak roots (roots, once containing "w" or "y"): 𐤁𐤕 ''bêth'', 𐤔𐤉𐤓 ''sīr'' "song". | |||
===Verbs=== | |||
Verbal consonantal roots are placed into derived verbal stems, which mainly serve to indicate grammatical voice. This includes various distinctions of reflexivity, passivity, and causativity. Verbs of every pattern have three non-finite forms (one participle, two infinitives), three modal forms (cohortative, imperative, jussive), and two major conjugations (prefixing, suffixing). These two conjugations have different functions. The meaning of the prefixing and suffixing conjugations are also affected by the conjugation, and their meaning with respect to tense and aspect is a matter of debate. | |||
The basic root type of the suffixing conjugation is '''qatol''' (other types are much less common). Here is an example of a suffixing conjugation of the verb: | |||
{|class="wikitable" | |||
|- | |||
! 𐤐𐤏𐤋 paˁol "to make" | |||
! masc. sg. | |||
! fem. sg. | |||
! masc. pl. | |||
! fem. pl. | |||
|- | |||
! 1<sup>st</sup> | |||
| colspan="2" | 𐤐𐤏𐤋𐤕 paˁalti | |||
| colspan="2" | 𐤐𐤏𐤋𐤕𐤍𐤅 paˁalnū | |||
|- | |||
! 2<sup>nd</sup> | |||
| 𐤐𐤏𐤋𐤕 paˁalta | |||
| 𐤐𐤏𐤋𐤕 paˁalti | |||
| 𐤐𐤏𐤋𐤉𐤌 paˁaltīm | |||
| 𐤐𐤏𐤋𐤉𐤍 paˁalīn | |||
|- | |||
! 3<sup>rd</sup> | |||
| 𐤐𐤏𐤋 paˁol | |||
| 𐤐𐤏𐤋𐤀 paˁala | |||
| colspan="2" | 𐤐𐤏𐤋𐤅 paˁalū | |||
|- | |||
|} | |||
This form is usually used to mark the perfect or the past tense. The verb agrees with its subject in person, number, and (for the second-person and third-person singular), gender. The corresponding pronouns are not necessarily used in conjunction. The pronominal suffixes can be attached directly to the stem in order to mark a direct object (for example: ''peˁalato'' - "she made it"). | |||
==Writing system== | ==Writing system== | ||