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Lebanese: Difference between revisions
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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. | 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 '' | 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 ''dilt'' - ''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 also attach possessive suffixes in order to indicate possession. These suffixes are represented below: | Nouns can also attach possessive suffixes in order to indicate possession. These suffixes are represented below: | ||
{|class="wikitable" | {|class="wikitable" | ||
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{{reflist|group=note}} | {{reflist|group=note}} | ||
Lebanese nouns and adjectives can exist in one of two states. To a certain extent, these states correspond to the role of cases in the Indo-European languages: | Lebanese nouns and adjectives can exist in one of two states. To a certain extent, these states correspond to the role of cases in the Indo-European languages: | ||
*The absolute state is the basic form of a noun. It expresses indefiniteness, comparable to the English indefinite article "a(n)" (for example, 𐤎𐤐𐤓 | *The absolute state is the basic form of a noun. It expresses indefiniteness, comparable to the English indefinite article "a(n)" (for example, 𐤎𐤐𐤓 sifer, "a book"), and can be used in most syntactic roles. To nouns in this state (and also to attributive adjectives) a definite article can be added, which is traditionally considered to be an actual part of the definite noun. However, in modern use, the definite article is taken as a clitic, attaching to a noun. For example, the term for school is 𐤁𐤕𐤎𐤐𐤓 (''bês-sifer'', “house-of book”); “the school” is 𐤄𐤁̄𐤕𐤎𐤐𐤓 (heb-bês-sifer, “the-house-of-book”). The article triggers gemination (in this example /b/ is techically geminated, but the word is actually pronounced [hɛ.beːs.ˈsiː.fɛr]. Here the assimilation of the final "th" into /s/ occurs). | ||
*The [[w:Construct state|construct state]] is a form of the noun used to make possessive constructions (for example, 𐤌𐤒𐤌 𐤔𐤉𐤁𐤕𐤉 ''muqōm sivti'', "the place of his residing", where ''muqōm'' is the construct state of the noun ''maqōm''. In dialects ''muqōm sivto'' can often be heard due to the absence of the genitive case in them). In the masculine singular the form of the construct is often the same as the absolute, but it may undergo vowel reduction (usually into /u/). Unlike a genitive case (often dropped entirely), which marks the possessor, the construct state is marked on the possessed. This is mainly due to Lebanese word order: possessed[const.] possessor[abs./gen.] are treated as a speech unit, with the first unit (possessed) employing the construct state to link it to the following word. | *The [[w:Construct state|construct state]] is a form of the noun used to make possessive constructions (for example, 𐤌𐤒𐤌 𐤔𐤉𐤁𐤕𐤉 ''muqōm sivti'', "the place of his residing", where ''muqōm'' is the construct state of the noun ''maqōm''. In dialects ''muqōm sivto'' can often be heard due to the absence of the genitive case in them). In the masculine singular the form of the construct is often the same as the absolute, but it may undergo vowel reduction (usually into /u/). Unlike a genitive case (often dropped entirely), which marks the possessor, the construct state is marked on the possessed. This is mainly due to Lebanese word order: possessed[const.] possessor[abs./gen.] are treated as a speech unit, with the first unit (possessed) employing the construct state to link it to the following word. | ||