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SamSkandinavisk nouns: Difference between revisions
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====Nouns==== | ====Nouns==== | ||
Nouns have two cases; Subject-Object and Genitive. Nouns in the Genitive case get a '''-s''' suffix. Nouns also aquire suffixes to form plurals and to designate indefiniteness or definiteness. | Nouns have two cases; Subject-Object and Genitive. Nouns in the Genitive case get a '''-s''' suffix. Nouns also aquire suffixes to form plurals and to designate indefiniteness or definiteness. | ||
There are two grammatical genders; Common and Neuter. Approximately 75% of nouns are common gender and 25% are neuter gender. | There are two grammatical genders; Common and Neuter. Approximately 75% of nouns are common gender and 25% are neuter gender. The Common Gender represents a merger of the Masculine and Feminine grammatical genders that were present in more archaic stages of the source languages. | ||
===Definite article=== | ===Definite article=== | ||
The suffix that is used to designate definiteness is also called the ''enclitic definite article''. Although it is a suffix, it functions in a similar way to the definite article in other Western European languages such as English, German or French. | The suffix that is used to designate definiteness is also called the ''enclitic definite article''. Although it is a suffix, it functions in a similar way to the definite article in other Western European languages such as English, German or French. For example '''en ankel''' (common gender = an ankle), '''ett hus''' (neuter gender = a house) and '''parasiter''' (parasites) in definite form become '''anklen''' (the ankle), '''huset''' (the house) and '''parasiterne''' (the parasites). | ||
The enclitic definite article is only used when the noun-phrase is not modified by any other adjectives, determiners or articles. When these are part of the noun-phrase, the enclitic definite article is not used, instead independent, pre-noun definite articles are used; '''det''' for neuter nouns; '''den''' for common gender nouns; and '''de''' for plural nouns. (Incidentally these definite articles are also the 3rd person pronouns for ''it'', ''he/she'' and ''they''). For example: | |||
'''anklen''' = the ankle; '''den ömme ankel''' = the sore ankle. | '''anklen''' = the ankle; '''den ömme ankel''' = the sore ankle. | ||
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===Plurals=== | ===Plurals=== | ||
There are two common methods of forming the plural; Called Plural 1 and Plural 2. Plural 1 adds a ''-er'' suffix to the noun stem when making a plural. Plural 2 adds no suffix, the form of the plural is often the same as the singular | There are two common methods of forming the plural; Called Plural 1 and Plural 2. Plural 1 adds a '''-er''' suffix to the noun stem when making a plural. Plural 2 adds no suffix, the form of the plural is often the same as the singular -- although it’s normally possible to determine the plural from the context and from accompanying adjective inflections and articles. There are also variations on the normal plurals that additionally change the stem vowel by ''umlaut'' ('''omljud''' in SamSka). | ||
Plural 1A: is most normal nouns that form the plural with '''-er'''. This includes 95% common gender nouns and approximately half of neuter nouns. | Plural 1A: is most normal nouns that form the plural with '''-er'''. This includes 95% common gender nouns and approximately half of neuter nouns. | ||