Vrkhazhian nouns are called yanāza (singular yanas). They are declined for case, gender, and number. Vrkhazhian can be said to have two main noun classes or genders: animate and inanimate. Within the animate gender, there are three subgenders: the feminine, the masculine, and the neuter. Animate nouns are inflected for six cases (nominative, vocative, accusative, instrumental, genitive, and equative) while inanimate nouns are inflected for only four (absolutive, ergative/instrumental, genitive, equative). Lastly, all nouns regardless of gender are inflected for two grammatical numbers (singular and plural). The assignment of gender to nouns is mostly non-arbitrary and determined by common, though not exhaustive, sets of criteria.
Nouns that are often feminine:
- female humans, spirits, and deities
- all domesticated animals
- collective nouns involving people in general (i.e people belonging to countries, caravans)
Nouns that are often masculine:
- male humans, spirits, and deities
- wild animals that are dangerous, either in behaviour or by nature of their features (i.e predatory animals and poisonous/venomous animals)
- collective nouns involving people specifically in a military or aggressive context (i.e armies and violent mobs)
Nouns that are often neuter:
- children and young animals
- wild animals that are safe
- seemingly animate things like rivers, oceans, wind, and fire
- certain body parts such as the arms, legs, heart, eyes, mouth, and neck
Nouns that are often inanimate:
- still-moving things like trees, mountains, and buildings
- abstract concepts, including actions and states
- etc.
Noun inflection
Vrkhazhian nouns are declined for four to six cases. Cases are the forms and suffixes that nouns take when they occur in certain parts of a sentence. For animate nouns the six cases are thus:
- The nominative (NOM) case indicates the subject or agent (doer) of a verb ("Henry runs to the store", "Henry sees Sam").
- The vocative (VOC) case indicates a direct addressee ("Hey, you", "Father, what do you see?").
- The accusative (ACC) case indicates the object or patient (receiver/target) of a verb ("Henry sees Sam", "Henry gave Sam a pencil", "John wrote to Mary").
- The instrumental (INS) case indicates the instrument by which a verb is done or the theme of a ditransitive verb ("Henry gave Sam a pencil, "I wrote with a pen").
- The genitive (GEN) case indicates that another noun is modified by the noun marked with this case and the marked noun having various roles such as possessor, origin, or source ("Sam's dog", "Men of Rome").
- The equative (EQU) case indicates that another noun is likened to or equivalent to the noun marked with this case ("As a boy, I used to run a lot", "He fights like a coward", "a hawk-like grin").
For inanimate nouns, the four cases are thus:
- The absolutive (ABS) case indicates the subject (doer) of an intransitive verb ("Henry laughed", "Sam fell down") and the object or patient (receiver/target) of a transitive verb ("Henry hit Sam").
- The ergative-instrumental (ERG-INS or just ERG) indicates the agent (doer) of a transitive verb ("Henry hit Sam") but also fulfills the role of the instrumental case as in animate nouns.
- The genitive and equative cases behave the same as they do in animate nouns.
strong masculine noun
rēbim (man, husband)
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|
Singular |
Plural
|
| Nominative
|
rēb-im |
rēb-īma
|
| Vocative
|
rēb-i
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| Accusative
|
rēb-is |
rēb-īza
|
| Instrumental
|
rēb-in |
rēb-īna
|
| Genitive
|
rēb-iḫ |
rēb-īya
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| Equative
|
rēb-īli
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|
|
|
strong feminine noun
lumbum (woman, wife)
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|
Singular |
Plural
|
| Nominative
|
lumb-um |
lumb-ūma
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| Vocative
|
lumb-u
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| Accusative
|
lumb-us |
lumb-ūza
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| Instrumental
|
lumb-un |
lumb-ūna
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| Genitive
|
lumb-uḫ |
lumb-ūwa
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| Equative
|
lumb-ūli
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|
|
|
strong neuter noun
ˀilgam (fish)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
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ˀilg-am |
ˀilg-āma
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| Vocative
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ˀilg-a
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| Accusative
|
ˀilg-as |
ˀilg-āza
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| Instrumental
|
ˀilg-an |
ˀilg-āna
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| Genitive
|
ˀilg-aḫ |
ˀilg-āya
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| Equative
|
ˀilg-āli
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|
|
|
strong inanimate noun
ˀarśas (vessel)
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|
Singular |
Plural
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| Absolutive
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ˀarś-as |
ˀarś-āza
|
| Vocative
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| Ergative
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ˀarś-an |
ˀarś-āna
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| Instrumental
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| Genitive
|
ˀarś-aḫ |
ˀarś-āya
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| Equative
|
ˀarś-āli
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|
weak masculine noun
sanîm (brother)
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|
Singular |
Plural
|
| Nominative
|
san-îm
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| Vocative
|
san-î
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| Accusative
|
san-îs
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| Instrumental
|
san-în
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| Genitive
|
san-îḫ
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| Equative
|
san-îli
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|
|
|
weak feminine noun
sanûm (sister)
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|
Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
|
san-ûm
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| Vocative
|
san-û
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| Accusative
|
san-ûs
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| Instrumental
|
san-ûn
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| Genitive
|
san-ûḫ
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| Equative
|
san-ûli
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|
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weak neuter noun
mazâm (sea, saltwater)
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Singular |
Plural
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| Nominative
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maz-âm
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| Vocative
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maz-â
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| Accusative
|
maz-âs
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| Instrumental
|
maz-ân
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| Genitive
|
maz-âḫ
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| Equative
|
maz-âli
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|
|
|
weak inanimate noun
kapâs (drinkable water)
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|
Singular |
Plural
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| Absolutive
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kap-âs
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| Vocative
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| Ergative
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kap-ân
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| Instrumental
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| Genitive
|
kap-âḫ
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| Equative
|
kap-âli
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|
Noun states
Nouns are also considered to be placed into what are called "noun states". In Vrkhazhian, there are only two states: the absolute state, or status absolutus, and the construct state, or status constructus. The latter form of the noun is marked by the removal of the case endings.
The construct state is used when a noun is modified by another noun or a preposition phrase. This is also the form the noun takes when possessive suffixes are attached or when nouns are the argument of a nominal predicate ("He is a king"). Nouns that that are not placed in the construct state are considered to be in the absolute state, which is the default state of all nouns.
strong masculine noun
rēbim (man, husband)
|
|
Singular |
Plural
|
| Direct
|
rēb |
rēb-ī
|
| Genitive
|
rēb-i
|
| Equative
|
rēb-īli
|
|
|
|
strong feminine noun
lumbum (woman, wife)
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|
Singular |
Plural
|
| Direct
|
lumub |
lumb-ū
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| Genitive
|
lumb-u
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| Equative
|
lumb-ūli
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|
|
|
strong neuter noun
ˀilgam (fish)
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|
Singular |
Plural
|
| Direct
|
ˀilig |
ˀilg-ā
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| Genitive
|
ˀilg-a
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| Equative
|
ˀilg-āli
|
|
|
|
strong inanimate noun
ˀarśas (vessel)
|
|
Singular |
Plural
|
| Direct
|
ˀaraś |
ˀarś-ā
|
| Genitive
|
ˀarś-a
|
| Equative
|
ˀarś-āli
|
|
weak masculine noun
sanîm (brother)
|
|
Singular |
Plural
|
| Direct
|
sana |
san-î
|
| Genitive
|
| Equative
|
san-îli
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|
|
|
weak feminine noun
sanûm (sister)
|
|
Singular |
Plural
|
| Direct
|
sana |
san-û
|
| Genitive
|
| Equative
|
san-ûli
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|
|
|
weak neuter noun
mazâm (sea, saltwater)
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|
Singular |
Plural
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| Direct
|
mazi |
maz-â
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| Genitive
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| Equative
|
maz-âli
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|
|
|
weak inanimate noun
kapâs (drinkable water)
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|
Singular |
Plural
|
| Direct
|
kapi |
kap-â
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| Genitive
|
| Equative
|
kap-âli
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|
Noun derivation
Vrkhazhian nouns are mostly derived from verbs and there are numerous ways to derive nouns from them:
