copyright © 2005-2010 Dennis Paul Himes
The contents of this page are preliminary. They won't become canonical until the first version of the Tale of Tifa Walbatnuwa Siina is up. - DPH
There are five genders, feminine, masculine, positional, transportable, and uncountable. All have singular forms and all but uncountable have plural forms. A noun's gender generally reflects its semantics. Feminine nouns generally describe females, and masculines males. Postitional nouns usually describe either locations or things attached to a specific location (buildings, plants, etc.). Transportables are any count nouns which don't fall into the masculine, feminine, or positional categories. Uncountable nouns are mass nouns and abstract nouns. There are a few exceptions to these rules, however, such as nomu, "sun", which is feminine, fa, "cloud", which is masculine, or meenoit, "center", which is transportable even when referring to the center of a location.
There are three classes of cases, independent, adjectival, and adverbal. Adjectival case nouns agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify. Adverbal case nouns agree with the verbs they modify in mood and tense.
NB Feminine endings can be u, au, or eu Transportable endings can be it, oit, or ait. The variant forms with diphthongs have the following substitutions of the initial letters in the case endings:
form | normal start | variant start |
---|---|---|
F au | u | au |
F eu | u | eu |
T oit | i | oi |
T oit | ii | oi |
T ait | i | ai |
F | M | P | T | U | |
Nominative | |||||
S | u | a | o | it | ee |
P | us | aa | op | iit | -- |
Vocative | |||||
S | uwe | ai | oi | itee | ee |
P | usee | ai | opee | iitee | -- |
These agree with the nouns they modify in gender and number, using the nominative endings. (But see the section on case stacking below.) The FS form is given. Where the F has "au" instead of "u", it also has "aus" for "us", and the T has "ait" for "it".
The suffix "baa" negates the case sense.
Possesive is used for possession or control over, as well as for body parts and clothing. Associative is used for association with or "with respect to". Derivative is used for materials, ancestors, and origins.
F | M | P | T | U | |
Associative | |||||
S | uyu | ayu | oyu | idyu | eeyu |
P | uzyu | aayu | obyu | iidyu | -- |
Derivative | |||||
S | uwu | awu | owu | idawu | eewu |
P | uzawu | aawu | obawu | iidawu | -- |
Possessive | |||||
S | udu | adu | odu | idu | eedu |
P | uzdu | aadu | obdu | iidu | -- |
F | M | P | T | U | |
Abessive | "lacking" | ||||
S | ubau | abau | obau | ibau | eebau |
P | uzbau | aabau | obau | iibau | -- |
Adessive | "near" | ||||
S | umeemu | ameemu | omeemu | idmeemu | eemeemu |
P | uzmeemu | aameemu | obmeemu | iidmeemu | -- |
Comitative | "with" | ||||
S | upetu | apetu | opetu | ipetu | eepetu |
P | uspetu | aapetu | opetu | iipetu | -- |
Inessive | "in" | ||||
S | uddu | addu | oddu | iddu | eeddu |
P | uzddu | aaddu | obddu | iiddu | -- |
Locative | "at" | ||||
S | umu | amu | omu | idmu | eemu |
P | uzmu | aamu | obmu | iidmu | -- |
Prolative | "through" | ||||
S | usessu | asessu | osessu | isessu | eesessu |
P | usessu | aasessu | opsessu | iisessu | -- |
These agree with the verbs they modify in mood and tense. The negative forms negate the case sense. Either the positive or negative form can be used with either a positive or negative verb.
The indicative present form is given. The other forms are formed by adding the following to the indicative present form:
Positive:
Pres. | Past | Fut. | |
I | - | is | eddee |
S | izz | izzis | izzddee |
H | av | azis | azzddee |
O | il | ilis | ilddee |
A | ep | epis | ebdee |
Negative:
Pres. | Past | Fut. | |
I | aab | izbaa | eddeebaa |
S | izzbaa | izzizbaa | izzddeebaa |
H | avbaa | azizbaa | azzddeebaa |
O | ilbaa | ilizbaa | ilddeebaa |
A | ebaa | epizbaa | ebdeebaa |
F | M | P | T | U | |
Abessive | "lacking" | ||||
S | ub | ab | ob | ib | eeb |
P | usab | aab | opab | iib | -- |
Ablative | "from" | ||||
S | uf | af | of | if | eef |
P | usef | aaf | opef | iif | -- |
Adessive | "near" | ||||
S | umeem | ameem | omeem | idmeem | eemeem |
P | uzmeem | aameem | obmeem | iidmeem | -- |
Accusative | (direct object) | ||||
S | uj | aj | oj | ij | eej |
P | usaj | aaj | opaj | iij | -- |
Associative | "in a way associated with" "with respect to" | ||||
S | um | am | om | im | eem |
P | uzum | aam | obom | iim | -- |
Benefactive | "for" | ||||
S | usttap | asttap | osttap | isttap | eesttap |
P | usttap | aasttap | opsttap | iisttap | -- |
Causative | "caused by" | ||||
S | uv | av | ov | iv | eev |
P | uzav | aav | obav | iiv | -- |
Comitative | "with" | ||||
S | upet | apet | opet | ipet | eepet |
P | uspet | aapet | opet | iipet | -- |
Distributive | "per" | ||||
S | utet | atet | otet | itet | eetet |
P | ustet | aatet | optet | iitet | -- |
Illative | "into" | ||||
S | uveb | aveb | oveb | iveb | eeveb |
P | uzeb | aaveb | obeb | iiveb | -- |
Inessive | "in" | ||||
S | udd | add | odd | idd | eedd |
P | usadd | aadd | opadd | iidd | -- |
Instrumentive | "using" | ||||
S | utt | att | ott | itt | eett |
P | ustt | aatt | ott | iitt | -- |
Locative | "at" | ||||
S | ubib | abib | obib | idib | eebib |
P | uzib | aabib | obib | iidib | -- |
Prolative | "through" | ||||
S | usess | asess | osess | isess | eesess |
P | usess | aasess | opsess | iisess | -- |
Adjectival cases all end with the nominative ending of the modified noun. If the modified noun is not in the nominative case its case ending is sometimes added onto the modifier's ending. This almost always done when the modifier is part of a name. It is also often done to disambiguate or when the modified/modifier pair is a set phrase.
In the late Imperial Period some writers started using case stacking on nouns in adverbal cases, using various methods. This never caught on.
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