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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" (previously also meant "person", but now ''adom'' is 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 "man" (previously also meant "person", but now ''adom'' is a gender-neutral word) and 𐤀𐤔𐤕 ''ist'' means "woman", but when discussing mixed-sex groups, the plural of the masculine noun is used. Some nouns are feminine, even though they don't end in ''-th'', for example: 𐤀𐤓𐤑 ''arts'' "land", 𐤀𐤉𐤌 ''im'' "mother", 𐤉𐤅𐤌 ''yūm'' "day". | ||
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 ''dalt'' - ''dalahūth'', "door" - "doors". For nouns that end in ''-īth/-ē'', the plural ending is ''-iyūth'': 𐤔𐤃𐤉𐤅𐤕 - 𐤔𐤃𐤉 ''sadī - sadiyūth'', "field" - "fields"). A few nouns show irregular plural: 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤉𐤅𐤕 - 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤕 ''milkoth - milkiyūth'', "queen" - "queens", 𐤀𐤋𐤌 ''ilīm'' "god, goddess" has two plurals, both irregular: 𐤀͘𐤋𐤍𐤉𐤌 ''allōnīm'', "gods" and 𐤀͘𐤋𐤍𐤅𐤕 ''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 ''dalt'' - ''dalahūth'', "door" - "doors". For nouns that end in ''-īth/-ē'', the plural ending is ''-iyūth'': 𐤔𐤃𐤉𐤅𐤕 - 𐤔𐤃𐤉 ''sadī - sadiyūth'', "field" - "fields"). A few nouns show irregular plural: 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤉𐤅𐤕 - 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤕 ''milkoth - milkiyūth'', "queen" - "queens", 𐤀𐤋𐤌 ''ilīm'' "god, goddess" has two plurals, both irregular: 𐤀͘𐤋𐤍𐤉𐤌 ''allōnīm'', "gods" and 𐤀͘𐤋𐤍𐤅𐤕 ''allōnūth'', "goddesses". | ||