Nouns in Vrkhazhian

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
• female 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
• male domesticated 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 domesticated animals
• wild animals
• seemingly animate things like rivers, oceans, wind, and fire
• body parts associated with movement such as arms, legs, eyes, and mouth
• certain organs such as the heart

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 (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 primary object (receiver/target) of a transitive verb ("Henry sees Sam", "Henry gave Sam a pencil").
• The instrumental (INS) case indicates the instrument by which a verb is done or the secondary object 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 (receiver/target) of a transitive verb ("Henry hit Sam").
• The ergative-instrumental (ERG-INS or just ERG) indicates the subject (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) Singular Plural Nominative rēb-im rēb-īya Vocative rēb-i Accusative rēb-is rēb-īza Instrumental rēb-in rēb-īna Genitive rēb-iḫ rēb-īya Equative rēb-īli

strong feminine noun lumbum (woman, wife) Singular Plural Nominative lumb-um lumb-ūwa Vocative lumb-u Accusative lumb-us lumb-ūza Instrumental lumb-un lumb-ūna Genitive lumb-uḫ lumb-ūwa Equative lumb-ūli

strong neuter noun ˀilgam (fish) Singular Plural Nominative ˀilg-am ˀilg-āya Vocative ˀilg-a Accusative ˀilg-as ˀilg-āza Instrumental ˀilg-an ˀilg-āna Genitive ˀilg-aḫ ˀilg-āya Equative ˀilg-āli

strong inanimate noun ˀarśas (vessel) Singular Plural Absolutive ˀarś-as ˀarś-āza Vocative Ergative ˀarś-an ˀarś-āna Instrumental Genitive ˀarś-aḫ ˀarś-āya Equative ˀarś-āli

weak masculine noun san̮îm (brother) Singular Plural Nominative san̮-îm Vocative san̮-î Accusative san̮-îs Instrumental san̮-în Genitive san̮-îḫ Equative san̮-îli

weak feminine noun san̮ûm (sister) Singular Plural Nominative san̮-ûm Vocative san̮-û Accusative san̮-ûs Instrumental san̮-ûn Genitive san̮-ûḫ Equative san̮-ûli

weak neuter noun mazâm (sea, saltwater) Singular Plural Nominative maz-âm Vocative maz-â Accusative maz-âs Instrumental maz-ân Genitive maz-âḫ Equative maz-âli

weak inanimate noun kapâs (drinkable water) Singular Plural Absolutive kap-âs Vocative Ergative kap-ân Instrumental Genitive kap-âḫ Equative kap-âli

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) Singular Plural Direct lumub lumb-ū Genitive lumb-u Equative lumb-ūli

strong neuter noun ˀilgam (fish) Singular Plural Direct ˀilig ˀilg-ā Genitive ˀilg-a Equative ˀilg-āli

strong inanimate noun ˀarśas (vessel) Singular Plural Direct ˀaraś ˀarś-ā Genitive ˀarś-a Equative ˀarś-āli

weak masculine noun san̮îm (brother) Singular Plural Direct san̮a san̮-î Genitive Equative san̮-îli

weak feminine noun san̮ûm (sister) Singular Plural Direct san̮a san̮-û Genitive Equative san̮-ûli

weak neuter noun mazâm (sea, saltwater) Singular Plural Direct mazi maz-â Genitive Equative maz-âli

weak inanimate noun kapâs (drinkable water) Singular Plural Direct kapi kap-â Genitive Equative kap-âli

Noun derivation

Vrkhazhian nouns are mostly derived from verbs and there are numerous ways to derive nouns from them: