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Kirtumur nouns: Difference between revisions
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Kirtumur nouns inflect for three numbers: singular, dual and plural, though only animate and a few naturally paired inanimate nouns can have dual forms. | Kirtumur nouns inflect for three numbers: singular, dual and plural, though only animate and a few naturally paired inanimate nouns can have dual forms. | ||
The dual and plural of an animate noun are indicated with suffixes: ''-u'' (dual) and ''-ek/-ak'' (plural). The marker is attached directly to the animate noun regardless of its position in a noun phrase, while the plural marker is attached to the last word of a noun phrase, if the noun is inanimate, and has the form ''-ka/-kan'' depending on case markers, attached to it. Dual of naturally paired inanimate objects behaves the same way as the dual of animate nouns. The number marker always comes before any case markers and behaves either as a suffix or a clitic depending on the class of the noun, which it modifies. | The dual and plural of an animate noun are indicated with suffixes: ''-u'' (dual) and ''-ek/-ak'' (plural). The marker is attached directly to the animate noun regardless of its position in a noun phrase, while the plural marker is attached to the last word of a noun phrase, if the noun is inanimate, and has the form ''-ka/-kan'' depending on case markers, attached to it. Dual of naturally paired inanimate objects behaves the same way as the dual of animate nouns. The number marker always comes before any case markers and behaves either as a suffix or a clitic depending on the class of the noun, which it modifies: ''heimnen nin'''ak'''nenenei'' (house-3Pl.Poss child-Pl-3Pl.Poss-Loc – "in the house of their children"). | ||
===Case=== | ===Case=== | ||
Cases play an important role in Kirtumur. Every noun phrase is marked with some case, which shows, how the phrase is related to the verb or to other parts of the sentence. Kirtumur cases express syntactic functions such as the subject and the various types of objects. The category of case is expressed by enclitic case markers which are attached to the last word of the noun phrase the case of which they indicate. There are four cases in the modern language, but the fifth case, called vocative is often used by the nobility, preserved in their speech through Kērsalur influence. Kirtumur nouns belong to one of three declension types, based on their animacy and whether they end in a consonant or a vowel. | Cases play an important role in Kirtumur. Every noun phrase is marked with some case, which shows, how the phrase is related to the verb or to other parts of the sentence. Kirtumur cases express syntactic functions such as the subject and the various types of objects. The category of case is expressed by enclitic case markers which are attached to the last word of the noun phrase the case of which they indicate. There are four cases in the modern language, but the fifth case, called vocative is often used by the nobility, preserved in their speech through Kērsalur influence. Kirtumur nouns belong to one of three declension types, based on their animacy and whether they end in a consonant or a vowel. | ||