Basic Noun Structures
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I explain how nouns are generally constructed and used
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 20 Jul 2019, 16:54.
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1. Adpositions
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Nouns in Awa come in three 'genders' Sentient, Animate, & Inanimate. The nouns in each of these groups roughly follow their namesake, like a stone, 'dléin', which has an Inanimate gender, and a person, 'in', which has a Sentient gender. But there are also nouns like tree, 'edl', and star, 'ln', which have a Sentient gender, and most fluids have an Animate gender.
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Nouns are declined with respect to their gender, number, and caseThere are seven main cases in Awa, though one can be broken into two.
The seven cases are:
Ergative: Agent of a transitive sentence
Absolutive: Agent of an intransitive sentence, and patient of a transitive one
Dative: Indirect Object
Genitive: Shows possession of something
Instrumental: The noun is an instrument of the agent in doing the verb
Eotive & Locative: These are both adpositional cases, where they are an object of an adpositional phrase. I will expand more below.
Temporal: Another adpositional case, used only to denote a time relation.
Underlined is the inflected noun in question
Bold is the particular inflection
Italicized is the bound adpositional morpheme
Ergative
-A noun in the Ergative case is only necessary for a transitive sentence.
-This case is used to denote when something is acting on another thing.
Example
-A fire burned a tree. Fire is ergative because it does something to something else, the tree.
- öingeglöda edlja yon <Translation
- ringeglrdc edljc yon <Conscript
Absolutive
-A noun is declined in the Absolutive case when it acts as an object of a transitive verb.
-This form of the case is used to denote when something is being acted on by another thing
Example
-A fire burned a tree. Tree is absolutive because it is being acted upon by something else, the fire.
- öingeglöda edlja yon <Translation
- ringeglrdc edljc yon <Conscript
-A noun is also usually declined in the Absolutive case when it is the sole argument of an intransitive verb.
-This form of the case is used to denote when a noun that is performing and experiencing an action.
Example
-A tree burned. Tree is absolutive because it is performing and experiencing the action of burning.
- geglödw.a edlja <Translation
- geglrdw.c edljc <Conscript
Note
This grammatical form of a 'subject' or sole argument of an intransitive verb is not always Absolutive
Explained below
Ergative again
-A noun is also declined in the Ergative case when it is the sole argument of an intransitive verb, but the speaker wants to differentiate or emphasize that the noun is experiencing the action upon its own volition.
-This form of the case is used to denote when a noun that is intentionally performing and experiencing an action.
Example
-The man sang. Man is ergative because he is intentionally or actively singing.
- a.j.awdw.a jn.ne <Translation
- c.j.cwdw.c jn.ne <Conscript
Dative
-A noun is declined in the Dative case when it is the indirect object of a ditransitive verb.
-This case is used to denote when a noun is the recipient of something from something else.
Example
-Lightning gave fire to the man. Man is dative because he is receiving fire (abs) from the lightning (erg).
- jäén.obada yonj jn.ije ugäjwn <Translation
- javn.obcdc yonj jn.ije ugajwn <Conscript
Genitive
-A noun is declined in the Genitive case when it is the possessor of another noun or pronoun.
-Word order matters in this case, the possessor must follow directly the possessee
-There are two forms of the case, alienable and inalienable
-When a noun could stand alone but is possessed by something else, the possessor is marked simply with the genitive inflection
Example
-The man's animal is old. Man is genitive because it is possessing the animal (alienably)
- uöe gjdouwnj jnhë.në wal <Translation
- ure gjdouwnj jnhf.nf wcl <Conscript
-When a noun is possessed by something and that possession cannot be taken away or is inalienable, the possessor is marked with the mesoclitic 'de'
-Nouns that are inalienable include:
-Body parts
-Relatives
-Spouse
-Thoughts or ideas
Example
-The man's eyes are old. Man is genitive because it is possessing the eyes (inalienably)
- uöe baugo jndehë.në wal <Translation
- ure bcugo jndehf.nf wcl <Conscript
Instrumental
-A noun is declined in the Instrumental when it is used to enact a verb
Example
-The man dismantled the plant with a stone. Stone is instrumental because it is used to dismantle the plant.
- yldabädw.a ëgjnéu jn.ne dléin.nj <Translation
- yldcbadw.c fgjnvu jn.ne dlvin.nj <Conscript
Eotive & Locative
-A noun is declined in Eotive or Locative as the object of a non-temporal adposition
-The noun is declined with the adposition that heads it with the adposition as a morpheme bound to the noun
-The structure of the two cases are differentiated in where the adpositional morpheme occurs
Eotive
-The Eotive case is used to denote when a noun is the argument of an adposition involving reltive spatial movement.
-The adpositional morpheme occurs between the noun stem and its inflection for number and gender (animacy)
Example I
-He swam over the fish. Fish is eotive because the subject is moving relative to it.
- wihädw.a hoj.wogo <Translation
- wihadw.c hoj.wogo <Conscript
Example II
-I walked from the tree. Tree is eotive because the subject is moving relative to it.
- digädw edlëdödë <Translation
- digadw edlfdrdf <Conscript
Locative
-The Locative case is used to denote when a noun is the argument of an adposition not involving relative spatial movement.
-This can still and often does mean movement, but it is not relative to the noun
-Moving into (Eotive) vs Moving within (Locative)
-Both of these would use the same adposition
-The adpositional morpheme occurs between the noun stem and its inflection for number and gender (animacy)
Example I
-He swam over the fish. Fish would be locative if he is swimming above the fish as they are also swimming in the same or similar directions. Or no particular direction.
- wihädw.a hojgowo <Translation
- wihadw.c hojgowo <Conscript
Example II
-I am from the tree. The semantics of this phrase would mean that the speaker is originally from 'the tree', like when in English, someone may say they are from Scotland, or New York, or Dublin
- uö edldëdö <Translation
- ur edldfdr <Conscript
Temporal
-A noun is declined in Eotive or Locative as the object of a temporal adposition
-The noun is declined with the adposition that heads it with the adposition as a morpheme bound to the noun
-The structure of the the inflection involves a morpheme bound to the end of the noun embedded with the adpositional morpheme
-Many of the same adpositional morphemes used with the spatial case are also used in the temporal case but are semantically more temporal
Example
-We sleep until the sun (rises). Sun is temporal because it is the object of a temporal phrase.
- äwöwa deldédena <Translation
- awrwc deldvdenc <Conscript
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There are three declensions in Awa, corresponding to the three grammatical genders, Sentient, Animate, InanimateThey are declined with respect to number (Singular, Dual*, Paucal, and Indefinitely Plural)
As well as case (Ergative, Absolutive, Dative, Genitive, Instrumental, Eotive & Locative, and Temporal)
Sentient
| SG | DU | PAU | IDPL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ERG | +ne | +jeai | +inow,+ënow | +äna,+éna |
| ABS | +ja,+eu | +wé,+oé | +lo | +nai |
| DAT | +ije,+ëje | +ija,+ëja | +ijo,+ëjo | |
| GEN | +hë.në | +ha.na | +he.no | |
| INS | +ba?n | +ban | +bon | |
| EOT & LOC | +dë | +da | +do | |
| TEMP | +dé--na | +de--no | +da--nu |
Animate
| SG | DU | PAU | IDPL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ERG | +on, +wn | +uni,+ani | +lu | +yw,+öu |
| ABS | +onj,+wnj | +ugo,+ago | +ogu,+wgu | +ygu,+ögu |
| DAT | +noj,+nwj | +nuj,+naj | +nyj | |
| GEN | +jol | +hulo | +nyl | |
| INS | +bo | +bun | +bon | |
| EOT & LOC | +go | +gu | +gy | |
| TEMP | +gi--bë | +gä--bo | +gé--ba |
Inanimate
| SG | DU | PAU | IDPL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ERG | +ny, +nö | +il,+ël | +in,+ën | +hn |
| ABS | +näw,+néu | +alj,+ulë | +anj,+unë | +na,+nu |
| DAT | +yn,+ön | +idn,+ëdn | +ödn,+ydn | |
| GEN | +öa | +ja?j | +dan | |
| INS | +nj | +li | +wi | |
| EOT & LOC | +ny | +ni | +no | |
| TEMP | +ny--wé | +ni--wo | +nu--wa |
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These inflections in the tables above are not simply agglutinative, though they mostly follow a few rules. Any additional morphemes bound to the noun also follow most of these rules. Noun endings follow a partial height dependent vowel harmony for the first three cases, where the last vowel of the noun determines usually the next vowel in the inflection. 'Onset' (b,d,g,h) consonants tend to be opaque whereas nasals, liquids, and semivowels (n,l,w*,j*) can be transparent or opaque. -(w & j) are sometimes treated as vowels (ʊ & i), and sometimes as semivowels
| low | high |
|---|---|
| e | j |
| a | u |
| ë | i |
| ö | y |
| o | w |
| ä | é |
Below is a table relating rules for combining morphemes
| Same Letter | Vowel | Nasal, Liquid, Semivowel | Onset Consonant | First letter of inflection | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Vowel | The vowel that would be doubled is simply shortened to one | A syllable break (.) is added, then the corresponding high ending is added | If multiple forms exist, use the form whose second letter is a high vowel. | Simply agglutinative | |
| Low Vowel | The vowel that would be doubled is simply shortened to one | A syllable break (.) is added, then the corresponding low ending is added | If multiple forms exist, use the form whose second letter is a low vowel. | Simply agglutinative | |
| Semivowel | Usually add a syllable break, then the ending, though it is slowly changing to shortening and squishing the double letter like true vowels | Usually add a syllable break, then the ending | Add a syllable break, then the ending | Simply agglutinative | |
| Onset (rare) | Vowel preceding final consonant is doubled after the consonant | Agglutinative (no harmony) | Agglutinative | Stem final consonant is replaced | |
| Last letter of stem |
The harmony holds true for mostly just ERG, ABS, and DAT, though the combining rules hold for nearly any combined morphemes
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