Khulls nouns
Khulls nouns inflect using a fusional declension system. Though not as complicated at that of Poswa, the declensions differ more from each other because Khulls uses a "discrete" declension system instead of deriving inflections based on every phoneme in the word, as does Poswa.
Noun declension tables
Primary vowel-stem declensions
Final unstressed short vowels
Nominative | (English) | Accusative | Locative | Possessive | Dative | Circumstantial | Essive | Instrumental |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
òṭa | table, desk | oṭà | oṭâ | oṭas | oṭal | oṭan | oṭī | oṭō |
ḳĭri | happiness, victory | ḳirì | ḳirî | ḳiris | ḳiril | ḳirin | ḳirĕ | ḳiġʷ |
nìto | price, penalty | nitò | nitô | nitos | nitol | niton | nikʷ | nitū |
Nouns ending with final stressed short low-tone vowels follow the same patterns as above.
Final accent, high tone
This table shows nouns that are accented on their final syllable, with a short high-tone vowel at the end of the word:
Nominative | (English) | Accusative | Locative | Possessive | Dative | Circumstantial | Essive | Instrumental |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
egà | daytime sky | egaḳà | egaḳâ | egaḳas | egaḳal | egaḳan | egaḳī | egaḳō |
gʷì | beach | gʷiḳì | gʷiḳî | gʷiḳis | gʷiḳil | gʷiḳin | gʷiḳĕ | gʷiḳʷ |
makò | seal (animal) | makoḳò | makoḳô | makoḳos | makoḳol | makoḳon | makoḳʷ | makoḳū |
ʕʷè | tendril | ʕʷeḳà | ʕʷeḳâ | ʕʷeḳas | ʕʷeḳal | ʕʷeḳan | ʕʷeḳī | ʕʷeḳō |
Nouns ending in -ù follow the pattern for -ò, because they arose from labialization of a vowel that otherwise became /o/.
A "double essive" case is sometimes seen in the -ò declension, where the final labialized consonant loses its labialization and adds -ī.
Many nouns that end in a final high-tone short vowel historically ended with a final -ḳ. But after the vowel /u/, this consonant became a coarticulated labiovelar stop,[1] and was later retained as /ṗ/ when the velar stop otherwise disappeared. The same is true of the non-ejective version of this sound. Thus, words ending in -p or -ṗ decline following the patterns of the standalone word below, which means "teacher":
Nominative | (English) | Accusative | Locative | Possessive | Dative | Circumstantial | Essive | Instrumental |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
p | teacher | p | pʷ | pṡ | pḷ | pṅ | pī | pō |
Nouns with word-final falling tone, long vowels
Nominative | (English) | Accusative | Locative | Possessive | Dative | Circumstantial | Essive | Instrumental |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
pā | school | pâ | pâ | pâs | pâl | pân | pê | pô |
mī | bottle | bè | bê | bes | bel | ben | bē | bē |
kʷō | bed | kʷaʕʷù | kʷaʕʷû | kʷaʕʷus | kʷaʕʷul | kʷaʕʷun | kʷaʕʷ | kʷaʕʷū |
Secondary vowel-stem declensions
Nominative | (English) | Accusative | Locative | Possessive | Dative | Circumstantial | Essive | Instrumental |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
xʷèye | curved claw | |||||||
kʷăkʷ | stone tablet | |||||||
empĕ | sword | empyì | empyî | empyis | empyil | empyin | empĕ | empyŭ |
mī | ||||||||
ḳē | wheel | ḳê | ḳê | ḳês | ḳêl | ḳên | ḳê | ḳêʕʷ |
lū | milk |
- NOTE, possibly eliminate the first two rows of the secondaries, since final -e and final -u can only come from stressed positions even if in a compound where they are unstressed, except for when the /e/ follows /u/, in which case it comes from /u/ or /a/.
Tertiary vowel-stem declensions
Nominative | (English) | Accusative | Locative | Possessive | Dative | Circumstantial | Essive | Instrumental |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
atá | spirit | atakà | atakâ | atakas | atakal | atakan | atakī[2] | atakō |
šonorí | depravity, perversion | šonorikà | šonorikâ | šonorikas | šonorikal | šonorikan | šonorikī[2] | šonorikō |
ló | flower petal | lokà | lokâ | lokas | lokal | lokan | lokī[2] | lokō |
lé | diaper | lekà | lekâ | lekas | lekal | lekan | lekī [2] | lekō |
Nominative | (English) | Accusative | Locative | Possessive | Dative | Circumstantial | Essive | Instrumental |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
amâ | whip | amâ | amâ | amâs | amâl | amân | amê | amô |
gʷî | spy, thief | gʷî | gʷî | gʷîs | gʷîl | gʷîn | gʷê | gʷŭ |
dô | swamp | dô | dô | dôs | dôl | dôn | daʕʷ | dô |
hʷê | military road | hʷê | hʷê | hʷês | hʷêl | hʷên | hʷê[3] | hʷê |
ḳʷû | urine | ḳʷuʕʷù | ḳʷuʕʷû | ḳʷuʕʷus | ḳʷuʕʷul | ḳʷuʕʷun | ḳʷuʕʷ | ḳʷuʕʷū |
Many words on the ^ tone can be declined using ´-style endings.
Final -ú might not exist because of retention of the final /kp/ cluster as /p/ rather than deletion.
Primary consonant-stem declensions
Nominative | (English) | Accusative | Locative | Possessive | Dative | Circumstantial | Essive | Instrumental |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
gis | fruit tree | gixì | gixî | gixis | gixil | gixin | gixĕ | gixʷ |
maŋan | prey | maŋaŋà | maŋaŋâ | maŋaŋas | maŋaŋal | maŋaŋan | maŋaŋī | maŋaŋō |
Number
Singular
Most nouns are singular in their unarmed form. Exceptions use the singulative affix ṅ.
Dual
The dual affix, -(C)o, is mostly confined to denoting human couples and certain paired objects such as double doors. The (C) indicates a consonant that reflects the gender of the noun. It does not generally function as a generic marker for two of an object. Note that this is the same word as ô "married couple", the only difference being the loss of stress.
Plural
The plural affix for all nouns is -yi. This is the same word, historically, as yî "book", because a book is a bundle of papers and this was extended by analogy to other objects. The parent language, Gold had no plural marker, and this is why the plural markers are different in the various languages derived from it.
Stem-final consonant mutations in the plural
The plural affix fuses to the word stem, and mutates according to the last sound in the word it modifies:
Conso | Fused form | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
∅ | yi | ||
ʔ | či | This denotes words that end with the [à] tone, regardless of which vowel it is on. | |
p | pyi | ||
ṗ | ṗyi | ||
b | bi | Possibly survives as byi? | |
m | bi | See above | |
l | lyi | Some speakers pronounce this as a true palatal [ʎ], others as [ly] | |
s | ši | [4] | |
š | ši | ||
z | ži | ||
ž | ži | ||
ŋ | ǯi | ||
ʕ | [5] | ||
pʷ | pʷi | All labials "defeat" the palatal /y/, effectively reducing the affix to -i. | |
ṗʷ | ṗʷi | ||
bʷ | bʷi | ||
kʷ | kʷi | ||
ġʷ | ġʷi | ||
ʕʷ | ʕʷi | ||
hʷ | hʷi | ||
ḳʷ | ḳʷi | ||
xʷ | xʷi | ||
gʷ | gʷi | ||
ṁ | ṁbi | ||
ṅ | ṅǯi | ||
ŋ̇ | ŋ̇ǯi | ||
ṡ | ṣ̌i | ||
ṣ̌ | ṣ̌i | ||
ḷ | ḷyi |
Stems ending in syllabic consonants do not behave differently depending on whether the syllabic consonant is preceded by another consonant or by a vowel. Thus the plural of sṁ "dolphin" is sṁbi just as the plural of loṁ "womb, uterus" is loṁbi.
Gender and animacy
Gender
Khulls inherited the Gold gender system, based on consonants. In the Gold language, nearly all nouns had mandatory classifier prefixes that assigned them to a particular gender and animacy level. A sound change that removed all initial vowels made some of the noun classifier prefixes disappear, and this triggered a restructuring of the grammar, and soon the deletion of the remaining classifier prefixes followed, as they were no longer necessary. However, the concept of animacy and gender remained even though it was no longer overtly marked on nouns.
The classifier prefixes survived in a few nouns. Preservation of noun class prefixes happened for one of a few reasons:
- Noun classes were preserved when affected by sound changes that masked their form to such an extent that they were no longer recognizable as noun prefixes. In most cases, this referred to nouns whose stem was vowel-initial and accented on the first syllable, which meant that, with sound changes that happened early in Khulls, the classifier itself would come to be part of a stressed syllable, and therefore unlike all other classifiers. These words tended to survive intact. For example, the classifier prefix mi-, which appeared on most words for edible objects, was preserved in the Khulls word mṡ "salt" because it was not recognizable by the speakers as a prefix.
- Noun class prefixes were never deleted from their titular nouns; that is, the nouns that defined the class. For example, the classifier prefix sa-, which described words for objects found in the ocean, was not deleted from săpo "fish". Since these tended to be stressed syllables as well, the two cases of preservation could be united under the same rule.
Animacy
In a compound noun whose elements are of different genders, the gender highest in the animacy hierarchy dominates. If two morphemes are at the same level on the animacy hierarchy, the rightmost morpheme dominates. There are four tiers in the animacy hierarchy.
Notes
- ↑ as in Vietnamese
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 if analogy takes over, perhaps assisted by sḳī > kī
- ↑ hʷ + ya + ʕī
- ↑ Most words ending in -s are accented on the final syllable, and that stress remains, meaning this is pronounced [či]. However, this pronunciation has not been carried over by analogy to words where the final syllable is unstressed.
- ↑ This denotes words that end on an accented vowel of the [â] tone, some of which formerly ended in a true /ʕ/.