Nouns in Vrkhazhian
Vrkhazhian nouns are called ʾaǧyāman (singular ʾaǧyāma). They are declined for case, gender, and number. Specifically there are two cases (nominative and oblique) and two numbers (singular and plural). Additionally, Vrkhazhian has two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. These genders are not strictly based on sex and the gender of non-human nouns is somewhat unpredictable.
ʾIpālak ʾAṣrēsu (Noun inflection)
Vrkhazhian nouns are declined in just two cases: the nominative and the oblique.
The nominative case indicates the subject of an intransitive verb and the agent of a transitive verb. The oblique case indicates the object, or patient, of a transitive verb. It also indicates the possessor of a genitive construction as well as the object of a preposition.
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Noun states
Nouns are also considered to be placed into what are called "states". There are two states: the governed state (???), or status rectus, and the construct state (???), or status constructus. The construct state is used in genitive constructions to mark the head noun (possessed noun), while the oblique case is used to mark the dependent (modifying) noun or adjective. In Vrkhazhian, the head noun and the modifying noun/adjective are called ??? and ???, respectively. Nouns that that are not placed in the construct state are considered to be in the governed state, which is the default state of all nouns.
When a noun is placed in the construct state, it is stripped of its gender-case ending.
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Noun derivation
Vrkhazhian nouns are mostly derived from verbs and there are numerous ways to derive nouns from them:
Dsuri / Dusri Dasrawi Padsuri Dassari
Dsira / Disra Dasraya Madsira Dasrira
dusri/daskar OR dusri/dasyar/desīr
disra/duskur OR disra/daswar/dosūr
