Pabappa nouns

Pabappa has nouns.

Number

Pabappa does not have a grammatical category for number in the sense that plural nouns take plural adjectives and plural verbs or anything of the sort. Most nouns are lexically unmarked for number, meaning that possimi can mean "flag" or "flags" equally often and both uses are correct. A few nouns can only refer to a singular, mostly words for body parts and familial relations. Many of the body part words have suppletive dual and/or plural forms.

The vast majority of nouns, however, are unmarked for number, and take the suffix -pum to specifically indicate a plural. -Pum is not normally used when a number modifier such as pibi "four" is specified; if it were, it would indicate four "pluralities", not four individuals. This suffix is cognate to the Poswa -bum suffix and itself becomes -bum after a noun ending in a vowel. The Poswa -by suffix no longer exists in Pabappa, and even those words in which it had become fossilized as -p now generally behave as singulars and take the additional suffix -pum to form the plural.

-pum

The plural suffix -pum changes form according to the preceding phoneme.

Vowels

The suffix always becomes -bum after a word ending in a vowel:

pompada : pompadabum

thorn : thorns

ubi : ubibum

trail : trails

lopo : lopobum

mess : messes

pibiasu : pibiasubum

bridge : bridges

Native Pabappa words do not end in -e, but they still obey the change:

bunde : bundebum

anthem : anthems

Rotating consonants

After a word ending in -p, the -p- of -pum merges with the preceding one and thus the suffix appears as if it were -um:

blibip : blibipum

egg : eggs

After a word ending in -s, the suffix becomes -sum:

pododos : pododossum

rich person : rich people

Vowel-chaining consonants

The consonants b n t occur in final position only when a previously existing final vowel -e has dropped out. When suffixes, including the plural suffix -pum, are added to these words, the -e- reappears, and because the new stem thus ends in a vowel, the -pum becomes -bum.

After a word ending in -b, the suffix restores the lost -e- and thus appears to become -ebum:

pumpib : pumpibebum

owl : owls

After a word ending in -n, the suffix restores the lost -e- and thus appears to become -ebum:

blopon : bloponebum

iris : irises

After a word ending in -t, the suffix restores the lost -e- and thus appears to become -ebum. Additionally, the preceding -t- is voiced to -d-:

pubat : pubadebum

leaf : leaves

Regular consonants

After a word ending in -m, the suffix remains -pum:

pumpum : pumpumpum

capital : capitals

After a word ending in -l, the suffix remains -pum:

luppul : luppulpum

fabric, fabrics

After a word ending in -r, the suffix remains -pum:

wapar : waparpum

hoof : hooves

Numerals

Numerals

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Cardinal	numpa	pupi	mani	pibi	pabi	nampu	nabi	pini	tassi	papi
Ordinal	nobom	nibam	manim	pibam	pabom	nampom	nabam	pinim	tassum	papam
Fractional	nubi	nibor	manir	pibor	pabir	nampur	nabor	pinir	tapu	papor

Body parts

Some words for body parts in Pabappa have suppletive dual or plural forms. Most of these are words for pairs. For example, pep means one hand. Pobop, the dual form, indicates both of one person's hands; and the plural form pepli indicates any number of hands greater than one, including two, regardless of whom they belong to. Thus two people shaking hands are touching their pepli, but one person pulling on a tow chain with both of his hands is straining his pobop.

Other body parts are seen as plural by default, and need a suffix to indicate the singular. For example, wopsisi means "teeth", but to say "tooth" one adds the singulative suffix -pa to form wopsisiba. The change of /p/ > /b/ is due to a very common sound rule.

The suppletive duals and plurals are mostly derived from words that are cognate to the singular forms, and were once regular, but diverged over several thousand years into forms that share little in common but the initial consonant. But some forms, especially duals for body parts that occur in pairs, are from entirely different roots.

Table of suppletive and irregular body part plurals

English	Singular	Dual	Plural
hand	pep	pobop	pepli
thumb	lapep	lapop	lapi
nipple	minep	mum	mub
buttock	pulep	pupop	pulpum
wing	ponep	pompop	pububum

The dual number is often used in situations where English would expect the singular. All of the duals that do not end in -op are descended from words which acquired a specifically dual meaning over time but previously were either plurals or were indifferent to number.

Unlike most situations where pluralizing an already semantically plural word by adding -pum is considered bad grammar, in the words for body parts, it can be done to show emphasis.

Noun cases

Pabappa's noun cases are similar to those of Poswa, but the patterns are much simpler. The traditional case order in Pabappa (and Poswa) is Nominative, Accusative, Locative, Possessive, Essive, Instrumental.

Nominative

The nominative case is the bare form of the noun, with no suffixes.

Accusative

The accusative is marked with the suffix -p. It is used for the direct objects of transitive verbs.

Pom timadupup pumapi.

I kicked the ball.

When an object is placed before the subject, there is usually a pause in speech:

Timadupup, pom pumapi.

The ball, I kicked (it).

Locative

The locative is marked with the suffix -m. It is used to indicate that something is inside or on top of something.

Ibil pomom blapsablambi pisi.

The fish inside me was tasty.

The locative case can also be used with a sort of inverse locative meaning.

Pepi₁ ampim₂ pisa.₃

My hand₁ is₃ in a coin.₂

The above is the literal meaning, but the sentence would be interpreted by Pabaps as

My hand has a coin in it.

This inverse locative is a specific use of a broader meaning of being affected by something. For example, one can say:

Wumpim₁ wibiapam₂ pisi.₃

The field₁ was₃ snowed on.₂

Possessive

The possessive case generally shows ownership, but in some constructions can be used with a broader meaning typical of languages with genitive cases.

Labloi pippinopos pisa.

The bed belongs to a student.

Essive

The essive case is used primarily to indicate that something is made from something else.

Pom pambobosop publipil tipelapi.

I picked up a bar of soap.

Instrumental

The instrumental case has a variety of meanings, but the primary meaning is that something or someone is making use of something else.

Declensions

-a

Most nouns ending in -a belong to this declension. It is one of the simplest declensions. Below is the declension of pompada "thorn":

pompada

Case	Free	Possessed(1p)	Attached
Nominative	pompada	pompadi
Accusative	pompadap	pompadip
Locative	pompadam	pompadim
Possessive	pompadas	pompadis
Essive	pompadel	pompadil
Instrumental	pompador	pompadir

Apida madasassupusi pompador.

The beautician piled up her hair with thorns.

-i

Most nouns ending in -i belong to this declension. It is one of the simplest declensions. Below is the declension of petiti "rose":

petiti

Case	Free	Possessed(3p)	Attached
Nominative	petiti
Accusative	petitip
Locative	petitim
Possessive	petitis
Essive	petitil
Instrumental	petitir

Pom ababibabi, wa potaribas petitip podobi.

I bent down, and gave my girlfriend a rose.

-o

Most nouns ending in -o belong to this declension. It is a split-vowel declension. Below is the declension of poblo "sand":

poblo

Case	Free	Possessed(3p)	Attached
Nominative	poblo	pobli
Accusative	poblop	poblip
Locative	poblom	poblim
Possessive	poblos	poblis
Essive	poblil	poblil
Instrumental	poblir	poblir

-u

Most nouns ending in -u belong to this declension. It is one of the simplest declensions. Below is the declension of wupsu "winner's stand, rostrum":

wupsu

Case	Free	Possessed(3p)	Attached
Nominative	wupsu	wupsi
Accusative	wupsup	wupsip
Locative	wupsum	wupsim
Possessive	wupsus	wupsis
Essive	wupsul	wupsil
Instrumental	wupsur	wupsir

-p

Most nouns ending in -p belong to this declension. It is one of the simplest declensions. Below is the declension of palpap "deciduous tree":

palpap

Case	Free	Possessed(3p)	Attached
Nominative	palpap	palpabi
Accusative	palpapap	palpabip
Locative	palpapam	palpabim
Possessive	palpapas	palpabis
Essive	palpapel	palpabil
Instrumental	palpapor	palpabir

Thus one can say

Potari₁ pibim₂ tatupsaba₃ palpapap₄ pumpurblupi₅ blapam₆.

My boyfriend₁ climbed₃ up₂ the tree₄ outside₆ my window₅.

Note that in this sentence, the word order is SVO, rather than the more common SOV, because the focus of the predicate is on the boyfriend's climbing the tree rather than the fact that it was a tree he climbed.

-m

Most nouns ending in -m belong to this declension. Below is the declension of narpellum "ice cream":

narpellum

Case	Free	Possessed	Attached
Nominative	narpellum	narpellumi
Accusative	narpellumup	narpellumip
Locative	narpellumum	narpellumim
Possessive	narpellumus	narpellumis
Essive	narpellumul	narpellumil
Instrumental	narpellumur	narpellumir

Thus one can say

Pom₁ narpellumibap₂ pasapsumul₃ pobumpi₄, pannasumir₅.

I₁ ate₄ my strawberry₃ ice cream₂, with my spoon₅.

-s

Many nouns ending in -s are recent loanwords from Poswa. Exceptions are generally one-syllable words and comnpounds whose final element is monosyllabic, or words that previously ended in -se and lost the -e without further losing the -s. Below is the declension of tepumas "wasp, hornet":

tepumas

Case	Free	Possessed(3p)	Attached
Nominative	tepumas	tepumasi
Accusative	tepumasap	tepumasip
Locative	tepumasam	tepumasim
Possessive	tepumasas	tepumasis
Essive	tepumasel	tepumasil
Instrumental	tepumasor	tepumasir

Thus one can say

Pom₁ tepumasas₂ popusip₃ pepapasi₄ papapomir₅.

I₁ slapped₄ the hornets'₂ nest₃ with the palm of my hand₅.

-l

The -l declension is more complicated than most in Pabappa. Below is the declension of piripel "middle, center":

piripel

Case	Free	Possessed(3p)	Attached
Nominative	piripel	piripi
Accusative	piripip	piripip
Locative	piripim	piripim
Possessive	piripis	piripis
Essive	piripil	piripil
Instrumental	piripir	piripir

-r

The -r declension is more complicated than most in Pabappa. Below is the declension of tompomor "mattress":

tompomor

Case	Free	Possessed(3p)	Attached
Nominative	tompomor	tompomi
Accusative	tompomup	tompomip
Locative	tompomum	tompomim
Possessive	tompomus	tompomis
Essive	tompomul	tompomil
Instrumental	tompomur	tompomir

Thus, all words ending in -or behave as if they ended in -u.

Possessives

Pabappa adds a suffix -i to denote possession of nouns. Additionally, almost all nouns ending in the voiceless stops -p -t will change those stops to voiced ones. Note that some words do not change at all:

pimblom "wand" : pimblomi "(his) wand"

pobap "candy" : pobabi "(his) candy"

panna "spoon" : panni "(his) spoon"

But

pampi "soap" : pampi "(his) soap"

pambi "bottle" : pambi "(his) bottle"

Note that since Pabappa does not have person markers integrated with the possession marks, this is merely a base form, and further disambiguation is necessary. The third person was used above for consistency. The person markers -ba and -di are used for first and second person respectively:

Pobabiba papessam pisa.

My candy is in the bowl.

Pobabidi wopsisibap pudampa.

Your candy hurts my teeth.

Third person takes no marker at all, which means that for nouns whose stem ends in -i, there is no difference between the bare form and the third person possessed form. For the most part, this is not a problem, as there is little semantic difference between an English sentence such as The boy grabbed his soap and The boy grabbed the soap, but when necessary, additional words can be added to clarify the difference.

This pattern is much simpler than the pattern found in Pabappa's close relative Poswa, even though the affixes are derived from the same original morpheme. For example, the word for wand in Poswa is pimblom, just as it is in Pabappa, but the word for "his wand" is pimblia. The parent form from which Pabappa pimblomi and Poswa pimblia diverged is pimilygwa baba.

Irregular nouns

See Pabappa irregular nouns.

Pabappa has a small number of irregular nouns, mostly derived from recently lost final sounds in the nominative which are still represented in the other cases. However, most such words have been regularized over time. There were three sound shifts that deleted word-final phonemes: first, word final -y was deleted (this phoneme is no longer present in Pabappa in any position). Much later, final -s was deleted in most words, but survived in monosyllabic words and some others that were analogized based on the monosyllables. Lastly, final -e was deleted in most words, but changed to -i in others. This final shift created a new category of words ending in final -s.

Pronouns and head markers

The first person singular pronoun, pom, is derived from a word meaning "on me, inside me" rather than just "me". The locative of the first person singular pronoun is thus doubly marked. The second person singular pronoun, mas, is derived from the genitive, thus meaning "your, yours" and its genitive is thus doubly marked.

Intransitive 1s pom 1p pap 2s mas 2p

Transitive 1s 1p 2s 2p 1s — pompo poma 1p papop — pama 2s masa massop — 2p —

Passive 1s pop 1p ? 2s map 2p

For the transitives, the agent is on the leftmost column and the patient is on the topmost row. Thus one can say:

Pompo₁ sipompi₂ blubur.₃

I for us₁ bought₂ milk.₃ ("I bought us milk.")

Where pompo means "I ... us".

Metonymy

Pabappa uses metaphors such as metonymy in much the way English does, without the need for additional markers. For example, a military leader can say to another

Poma pontaba.

I'm invading you.

And not launch a military campaign inside the other man. This applies even to statements such as

Mumbai pop numpuba!

The drain is bleeding me!

Where the implication is that some person or other animate force is draining a metaphorical blood from the speaker, just as it would be in English or any other language.

Loanwords and foreign terminology

Pabappa has many loanwords from Poswa but prefers not to take loanwords from any other languages. Because the Pabaps have many Poswobs living in their territories, objects and ideas previously unfamiliar to both the Pabaps and the Poswobs are often introduced to both peoples at about the same time, and the Pabaps generally let the Poswobs create the new word for it. Pabappa's smaller phonology adapts well to Poswa's by simply merging various sounds together.

Loanword charts

A sample of words borrowed from Poswa into Pabappa is below:

Modern words

New words are taken in directly, with the Poswa sounds being mapped directly to Pabappa ones:

Loanwords

English	Poswa	Pabappa
cell phone	pampappep	pampappep
pharmacy, drugstore	bvobbwa	bobbua

Older words

Some older words were taken into Pabappa before sound changes which made them look less similar:

Loanwords

English	Poswa	Pabappa
mirror	sobbvampys	sobbampis
type of mushroom; elastic, springy	biželli	bidelli
tissue of the body	vupaefa	pupaipa
treasury, bank	pumpella	pumpella

Verbs

See Pabappa verbs.

Notes

Pabappa * Pabappa nouns * Pabappa irregular nouns * Pabappa verbs