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


Seezzitonian Nouns

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 oiti oi
T oitii oi
T aiti ai


Independent Cases

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 --


Adjectival Cases

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.

The Genitive Cases

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 --

Other Adjectival Cases:

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 --


Adverbal Cases

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 --


Case Stacking

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.


Links