Hrmitt reference grammar

3.1. Nouns

Nouns can be modified by various affixes and modifiers, the most important of which are the possessive suffixes.

3.1.1. Possessives

3.1.1.1. Pronominal Possessive Affixes

Possessives play a crucial role in this language. There is a system of personal pronominal possessive affixes that inflect for person, number, and tense.

Four persons are distinguished: the first person refers to the speaker and those with him, the second refers to the immediate audience, and the third refers to a third party not directly involved in the conversation. In addition, there is a fourth person that either has a referent distinguished from a previously-mentioned third person, or a distal referent somewhere out there, often carrying a generic sense referring to a general category of referents.

Two numbers, singular and plural, are distinguished.

These affixes also inflect for tense, generally agreeing with the tense of the entire clause, but with some exceptions. See section 4.4.

These affixes attach to nouns to form possessives. For example, from the noun ipf “eye” one may form the following:

The 4th person suffix -it is only used in objective nouns in verbal clauses where the subject noun is in the 3rd person, to differentiate the referent from the subject. It is not used anywhere else.

The 4th person plural -ah is usually used in a generic or categorical sense, referring to the people out there in general, or to everyone fitting a given description. In some contexts it may also be used as an alternative pluralizing marker.

3.1.1.2. Explicit Possessives

When an explicit possessor is stated, it follows the corresponding pronominal possessive affix (usually 3rd person):

Notably, any plural markings on the possessor are omitted; instead, plurality is indicated by the choice of a plural pronominal possessive affix.

The possessor thus attached is part of the phonological word; therefore, the morpheme boundary of the respective parts undergo phonological processes such as consonant cluster fricativisation. For example:

3.1.2. Plurals

Thus far, there are two attested ways of forming plurals: using the derivational prefix mo'-, or using the 4th person plural possessive affix -ah.

3.1.2.1. Via mo'-

The mo'- prefix means “many”; e. g., mo'ipf “many-eyed”. While it is mostly used as a derivational prefix, under some circumstances it can have a syntactic role instead; see, for example, section 4.2.5.

In compound words, mo'- is inserted between the constituent morphemes. For example:

Note that the glottal stop in mo'- is elided unless immediately followed by another vowel; so it becomes mo- before a consonant.

Section 3.5.3 describes in more detail the derivational role of this prefix.

3.1.2.2. Via -ah

The 4th person plural possessive suffix -ah refers to the impersonal collective that are “out there”, “yonder”, and can have a pluralizing meaning as well:

Being derived from a distal plural possessive gives it some specific nuances: it's the eyes of the anonymous people out there, not just a plural in general. Thus, the noun gruŋgah means the arms of the people out there, not plural individual arms, but a collective plurality of pairs of arms belonging to the people out there.

Moreover, when numerals are involved, animate nouns are unmarked in the nominative case. Inanimate nouns are unmarked for the numbers one and two, and from 3 onward, the 4th person plural suffix -ah is used. See section 5.2.3 for details.

3.1.3. Bare Pronouns

The personal pronoun affixes are unable to stand on their own. Instead, when a standalone pronoun is needed, a periphrasis involving the noun buf “body” is employed:

Periphrases involving nouns referring to other body parts may be employed in specific cases as well. See sections 4.1.2.1, 4.1.2.4, and 4.1.2.5 for more details.

For the standalone pronoun ag, see section 4.8.3.

3.1.4. Case Marking

Currently, the following cases are attested: instrumental/verbal, nominative, patientive, dative, ablative. These cases are formed by case suffixes attached to the end of the noun, following any possessive modifiers.

3.1.4.1. Nominative Case

The nominative case is unmarked:

3.1.4.2. Instrumental / Verbal Case in -mi

The instrumental case is formed by the -mi suffix. This suffix also doubles as a verbalising suffix; see section 3.3 for an in-depth treatment of this topic.

Stops preceding -mi undergo fricativisation:

If -mi immediately follows the 1st person possessive affix -en, they contract into -emi:

3.1.4.3. Patientive Case in -u

The patientive case is marked with the -u suffix:

A linking /n/ is inserted if a vowel comes directly before -u:

If -u follows /ŋ/, a linking /g/ is inserted:

3.1.4.4. Dative Case in -tu

The directional/dative suffix -tu is used for indicating direction or destination:

The lenited form -du is used following /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/:

Normally, -tu causes any preceding stop to fricativise:

However, nouns ending in -sht are exceptions:

These nouns have the same surface form for both the dative and the patientive, and are disambiguated by context.

3.1.4.5. Ablative/Elative Case in -at

The ablative/elative suffix -at marks source of motion, or motion away from:

A linking /g/ is inserted following /ŋ/:

A linking /n/ is inserted if the stem ends with a vowel:

The -at suffix triggers a shift of stress onto itself:

3.1.5. Interrogatives

The interrogative affix -ai, which is always accented, can be attached to a noun to turn it into an interrogative.