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==Grammar== | ==Grammar== | ||
===Nominals=== | ===Nominals=== | ||
Nouns | Nouns were marked for '''gender''' (masculine, other), '''number''' (singular, plural) and state (absolute, construct) through a series of affixes. Adjectives were unmarked but formed compounds with the noun they modified. Personal pronouns were usually prefixes attached to verbs, nouns, adjectives etc. | ||
The exact nature of the gender system is unclear, but it appears to be based on two classes: a | ====Gender==== | ||
The exact nature of the gender system is unclear, but it appears to be based on two largely semantic classes: a masculine class and an other class. The '''masculine''' class (also called the E-class) included male humans, animals and deities along with other 'masculine' objects denoted by shape (i.e. long/tall and narrow), material (all metal and some stone objects belong here), purpose (e.g. weapons) or importance (including many celestial bodies). The '''other''' class (or A-class) contains all other nouns that don't belong to the masculine category, including all female living beings and deities, and many abstracts. | |||
As gender is semantically determined, stems usually have inherent gender but some nouns may belong to more than one gender with a difference of meaning, e.g. the root ''HATAL'' "child" may be masculine ''qehatal'' "the boy" or other ''qahatal'' "the girl, the child". Masculine nouns may be declined as 'other' to give a pejorative sense, e.g. ''putah'' "effeminate or weak man". | |||
====Number==== | |||
Nouns are either singular or plural and number is required on all nouns. | |||
A collective suffix ''-ul'' can be used to denote a class of objects and is declined as a singular noun, e.g. ''putulek'' "men (in general)". | |||
Nouns are declined according to their class. Masculine nouns have ''e'' in the singular and ''ii'' in the plural. Other nouns have ''a'' in the singular and ''aa'' in the plural. | ====State==== | ||
All nouns have an absolute and a construct form. The '''absolute''' is marked with suffixes and is the form used without any preceding determiner or pronominal prefix and, as such, may be called 'indefinite'. The '''construct''' occurs with a preceding determiner or pronominal prefix and is usually definite. | |||
Construct nouns must be preceded by one of the following: | |||
* a demonstrative prefix | |||
* a possessive prefix | |||
* a verbal prefix | |||
====Declension==== | |||
All nouns consist of an immutable stem to which affixes are attached, e.g. ''PUT'' "man", ''QRAL'' "house", ''NUUK'' "dog". The stem may not stand alone and must be accompanied either by absolute suffixes or some kind of prefix. Nouns are declined according to their class. Masculine nouns have ''e'' in the singular and ''ii'' in the plural. Other nouns have ''a'' in the singular and ''aa'' in the plural. These vowel sequences form part of the affixes attached to the noun stem, as follows: | |||
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====Demonstrative Prefixes==== | |||
The demonstrative prefixes are added to the beginning of the construct noun and are as follows: | |||
* ''q-'' "that", denoting things close to the listener, but used in a general sense almost like a definite article, e.g. ''qaqral'' "the/that house". | |||
* ''p-'' "this", denoting things close to the speaker or recently mentioned, e.g. ''piiput'' "these men" | |||
* ''qr-'' "that" denoting things far away or abstract, e.g. ''qrahatal'' "that girl/child". | |||
The demonstrative prefixes are: ''q-'' "that", used in a general sense | |||
====Possessive Prefixes==== | |||
Possessive prefixes form part of a series of personal prefixes which occur for each person and number, as well as masculine and other in the 3rd person singular only (3rd pl. ''wey-'' is used for both genders). There is also an impersonal prefix ''tśey-'' "someone's" used when the possessor is not known or when speaking generally (e.g. ''tśeyenuuk'' "someone's dog"). | |||
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Examples: ''keyaqral'' "my house", ''seyefak'' "his wife", ''weyaahatal'' "their children". | |||
====Verbal Prefixes==== | |||
Verbal prefixes transform the noun into a predicate, e.g. ''keput'' "I am a man", ''hanuuk'' "it is a dog". See below for forms. | |||
====Adjectives==== | |||
Adjective stems are not fully distinguishable from nouns and in many cases a single stem may behave as either, e.g. ''ETS'' "salt; salty". Adjectives may be either simple (e.g. ''SUUP'' "large") or derived from another part of speech (e.g. ''PUTIŚ-'' "manly, man-like"). In either case they may be used predicatively or attributively. | |||
An attributive adjective is added to the front of the noun in either its absolute or construct state. In the latter, the adjective intervenes between the prefixes and the stem, e.g. ''qaqral'' "the house" → ''qa'''suup'''qral'' "the big house", ''nehputek'' "an old man", ''qaaetsiwes'' "the salty waters". | |||
A predicative adjective may be formed by adding the verbal prefixes to the stem, e.g. ''kiputiy'' "I am manly", ''hisuup'' "it is large". | |||