Cernelian/Nominals

Nominals in Cernelian are declinable word classes, including nouns, adjectives, numerals, or (demonstrative, personal, interrogative) pronouns. Unlike that of Finnish or Estonian that those have large number of grammatical cases (15 or 14), Cernelian has simplified it to 8 cases. Due to the influence of Slavic languages, Cernelian developed animacy.

Grammatical cases

There are 8 grammatical cases in Cernelian:

Grammatical cases	Cernelian name	Usual endings (singular)	Usual meanings
Nominative	nominatiw	-∅	none
Accusative	akuzatiw	-ę, -∅	(object)
Genitive	genitiw	-ę, -y	(of, 's)
Dative	datiw	-ę, -ą	to
Locative	lokatiw	-so, -sie, -cho, -sze	in, on
Ablative	ablatiw	-sto, -ście	from
Instrumental	instrument	-nie	from
Vocative	wokatiw	-so, -sie, -cho, -sze	(calling, -!)

All of the grammatical case names has the alternative forms in -ę ptódziemo, e.g. nominatiwę ptódziemo.

Precise functions

• Nominative:

The subject of the clause (Żoworz czelpiew "Żoworz baths")

Used with numbers 2, 3, and 4 (in the case of plural) (kósz koło "two fishes")

The object of copulative verb oło "to bath" (iniemnię czelpiew ciesie óm Żoworz "the person bathing here is Żoworz")

• Accusative:

The telic (completed) object of the clause (Żoworz czelpiew kirę "Żoworz completed bath with the shower")

• Genitive

Possession (toło Żoworzę "Żoworz's house")

Before postpositions and after postpositions (poło óm piejdzię)

Used with numbers 5 and above (in the case of plural) (wisz kołedzię "five fishes")

Declensions

• 1st declension: Nominals ending in -o, and it is the largest group of nominal declension by number.
• 2nd declension: Nominals ending in -e, also as the soft variant of 1st declension.
• 3rd declension: Nominals ending in soft -∅.
• 4th declension: Nominals ending in hard -∅, including sonorants.
• 5th declension: Nominals ending in -ę or -ą (n-stem).
• Irregular nominals: Numerous nominals that declined irregularly, like long stems, s-stems, and consonantic stems uncovered in 4th declension.

Declension names, are ordered according to corresponding Proto-Finnic stem types in alphabetical order.

Stem type	Proto-Finnic	Cernelian	Finnish	Meaning	Corresponding declension
unrounded a-stem	*kala	koło	kala	fish	1st declension
rounded a-stem	*kulma	kiełmo	kulma	summer

Adjectives

Adjectives, like nouns, correspond to one of the declension types, like toso would end in -o, so it must classified as declension type 1A. However, adjectives has both animate and inanimate declensions (anim. tę vs. inan. toso), as a result of Finnic syncretism in accusative and genitive cases further influenced by Slavic. Adjectives are also must agree in case and number with the noun they modify, for example nominative syrz toło "big house", but dative syrzę tołoję and plural syrze toło (nominative plurals are usually indistinguishable from singular).

Comparative of adjectives end in -ępo (-iępo after velars) in the 1st declension, -iępo in 2nd and 3rd, -ypo (-ipo after velars) in 4th. It placed to the weak grade (toso, tępo "rare, rarer"). Superlatives are formed by prefixing naj- to the comparative (tępo, najtępo "rarer, rarest"). The only adjective with completely irregular comparatives is iwie, porzępo "good, better", where the comparative is suppletive.

Agreements

		Singular	Plural
Nominative		syrz toło "the big house"	syrze toło "the big houses"
Accusative	Inanimate	syrz toło "the big house (obj.)"	syrze toło "the big houses (obj.)"
	Animate	syrzę mią "the big man (obj.)"	syrze mie "the big men (obj.)"
Genitive		syrzę tołę "of the big house"	syrzedzię tołodzię "of the big houses"
Dative		syrzę tołoję "to the big house"	syrzą tolą "to the big houses"
Locative		syrzsze tołoso "in the big house"	syrzysze tolocho "in the big houses"
Ablative		syrzsto tołosto "from the big house"	syrzysto tolosto "from the big houses"
Instrumental		syrznie tołonie "from the big house"	syrzynie tolonie "from the big houses"
Vocative		syrzsze tołoso! "the big house!"	syrze toło "the big houses!"

Specific alterations

• In the 3rd and 4th declensions (except sonorant stems), last vowels -ę- and -o- becomes -ą- and -ó- (póch : gen. pochię "thick", chącz : chęczę "breath").
• In some nouns that contain final Proto-Cernelian yers (ь/ъ), the vowel -(i)e- sometimes deleted (čьvь : čьvę → czew : czwie "stone").
• Endings containing initial -i- becomes -y- after consonants c, cz, dz, dż, rz, sz, and ż (icze : dat. pl. iczyję "age").
• Like Estonian and Finnish, Cernelian exhibits consonant gradation. See more at Cernelian/Phonetics and orthography.
• Palatalizations of stem's final consonant (jołk-o "foot" → jołdz-oso, jołc-ę)
  • Unless noted, letters are palatalized as -Ci(V)- (/ʲ(j)/).
  • Letters orthographically containing acute accent (like ć, ź, ś, ...) are written as above, except the accent was removed (ś → -si(V)-).
  • ch → sz.
  • d → dź/dziV.
  • g → cz used in endings affected by first palatalization, otherwise dz.
  • k → cz used in endings affected by first palatalization, otherwise c
  • ł → l.
  • r → rz.
  • t → ć/ciV.
  • Endings affected by first palatalization are in red, while affected by second palatalization are in green.
• Before non-palatalized (including historically ones) consonants, *ě and *e becomes a and (i)o (*jȅko : pl. *jȅ → joko : je "time").
• Cernelian exhibits final obstruent devoicing that not reflected in the orthography, see more at Cernelian/Phonetics and orthography.