Nouns - Sódle

Nouns fill the same role as in English, they are words that represent a person, place, or thing.  Nouns may be common or proper, with proper nouns being names of persons or places, or things such as organizations.

Alurhsa is an inflected language, and thus nouns take on an ending that reflects their use in a phrase or sentence.  This is particular important in Alurhsa where word order is very flexible, and sometimes the only way to determine which is the subject and which the direct object is by the case ending.  Alurhsa cases are formed quite regularly, although euphonics rules cause the appearance of multiple application of the case endings.

Nominative - used as the subject of sentences, and as the predicate in sentences with forms of delzyû (to be), even when this is implied.  Also used when nouns are in apposition, i.e. one follows another but the two are together in the sentence.  The appositive noun is in the nominative no matter what case its antecedent takes, as in ghelÿ jevnán Áláná (I see ms/citizeness Áláná) where jevná (ms., citizenness) takes the accusative, but the name Áláná, which is in apposition, is left in the nominative.  The nominative is the base form of the noun and has no special ending for the singular.  The plural is normally formed with -ó, although forms using the collective suffix -ár (which are often singular in usage) are common.

Genitive/Locative - used as a possessive (genitive), such as hìyán zhë bóvelseyá (the boy's ball, literally ball of the boy).  Also used as a locative showing stationary position when used with prepositions, as in be zhë kámená (on the ground).  Also used as a partative for substances, as in ñmáz álskená (a glass of water) or dheskám sikátá (a handful of sand).  The singular form ends in -á, and the plural in -áóná which is often shortened to -óná in colloquial speech, although rarely in writing.

Dative - used as the indirect object with verbs requiring one, for example cëlálÿ zhë sálekán lháls-kólmánÿ (I give the book to my friend), where kólm (friend) is in the dative.  It is also is also to indicate motion towards, or benefit, when used with prepositions, for example póndrálÿ zhë sálekán be zhë sívnänÿ (I put the book on the table) where sívnä (table) is in the dative to show the book is moving towards it.  Finally, the dative is used as a secondary direct object with verbs having the causative suffix -ón- and having the recipient of the causation in the accusative, thus Zhë nár rrólónô zhë dheven dhyáns-káyánÿ (The king causes the man to marry his daughter) where rrólónâ is to cause to marry and takes the direct object dheve (man) as the one being cause to do the action.  The object of the original proposition, káyá (daughter) is forced into the dative  because of the case shift required by the causative verb.  The dative singular ends in -nÿ, and the plural in either -ónÿ or more rarely -nyó.

Accusative - used as the direct object with transitive verbs.  Note that dzelyâ (to become) is considered transitive as well as many verbs not so considered in English, thus I will become village elder is dzelyánálÿ páláñán, with páláñ (elder) in the accusative.  The other, extremely common use of this case is as the subject of an infinitive verb in a subordinate clause, for example: dezhyálÿ zhë dheven qíëdâ (I know the man is coming), where qíëdâ (to come) is the verb of the subordinate clause and is in the infinitive, thus forcing its subject, dheve (man) into the accusative.  The singular form of this case ends in -n, and the plural in -ón or the archaic form -nó.

Instrumental - used with transitive verbs to indicate the means by which something is done (instrumental), and with prepositions to indicate motion through, i.e. from one side through to another, or throughout.  Singular ends in -xná, plural in -óxná or rarely -xnó.  This case is also used as an adverbial with the ending -xne replacing -xná.

Ablative - used with or without a preposition to indicate motion from, such as Dhe qíëdô Eskáláç (He is coming from Eskál).  Also used in certain expressions of a partative nature when the item(s) is/are selected out of a group, such as dwi zhë vùzháç (one of the group), or órhál lháls-sálekóç (several of my books).  Note that partatives where the substance cannot accurately be pluralized, such as water, sand, etc., use the genitive/locative in this situation.  Singular ends in -ç, plural in -óç.  An alternate plural in -çó is sometimes met in ancient texts but is practically obsolete.

Historically there was a point where the genitive/locative case had begun to split into a genitive, and a locative, with the genitive being reserved for pure possessive and partative forms, and the locative being used to indicate stationary position.  The locative ending -i, plural -óni may sometimes be found in ancient literature, for example be zhë kámeni (on the ground) instead of the modern be zhë kámená.  An alternative, dialectal form of this ending, -ì, has been retained as a suffix for forming positionals, for example ánsígvì (at home) from ánsígvâ (home).  Another dialectal form, -ï, is also used in some positionals such as kóvï (in memory of) from the root *kóv (remember). 

Nouns change to show number, singular or plural.  The plural is only used when no other indication is given of the nouns plurality, or when emphasis is put on that plurality.  The singular is used after numbers, and often when the verb form, pronoun, or general context shows the subject is plural.

Another common way to show plurality as mentioned above is to add the suffix -ár (indicating a collective) and keep the resulting collective noun in the singular, although in colloquial usage such collective plurals are often used with plural verbs.  Such nouns are declined as with any noun ending in a consonant.  Generally the -ár suffix is only used when the noun is indicating a group of objects that form a cohesive collection, where using the normal plural in -ó  would indicate a less cohesive, more random grouping.  Thus, bóyenár, a collective form of bóyen (person), indicates a cohesive group of people, while bóyenó indicates simply more than one person.

Finally, a set of dual endings once had some usage, with the characteristic vowel being ú in place of the ó of the standard plural.  Only the -ú ending itself survives as a suffix used to create nouns indicating a pair of objects.  This form is sometimes used as sort of plural for certain terms that normally come in pairs, such as dúr`zhú (a pair of shoes) from dúr`zhen (shoe), or vishtú (breasts) from the singular vishten.  Note, however, that some noun-forming endings, especially -en, tend to drop, making these formations irregular.  In addition, like collectives formed with -ár, these "pair" words are declined using singular endings.

Formation of the cases:

There are four “declensions”, if they may be so called.  In fact, there is only one declension with the endings applied in different ways depending on the final letter of the base (Nominative) form of the noun.

Nouns ending in consonants:

 The above endings are added directly to the base or nominatve form of the noun.  The addition of these endings does not change the noun stress in any way, which in general resides on the penultimate syllable of the nominative singular (base) form.

The alternate endings are rare, mostly found in older literature.  They are sometimes used in certain remote areas, especially in Inishar.

Example:

nár (king)
Singular: nár, nárá, náránÿ, nárán, náráxná, náráç
Plural: náró, náráóná, nárónÿ, nárón, náróxná, náróç

Words ending in -ñen, such as óñen (world) and úñen (pain), are irregular and add a -y-  before the endings, thus óñen, óñenyá, óñyenyánÿ, etc.

Nouns ending in vowels other than -ë

The above endings are added directly to the base or nominative form of the noun, and as above do not change the stress.  These endings are the same as the consonant forms except for the addition of a y for euphony and the dropping of the á before consonant endings.  The y is sometimes changed to other consonants, including y, ¿, w, s, or n, depending on the dialect.  This is considered quaint or uneducated and normally is only found in rural areas, although it may be met in literature where the dialectal form is used for effect.

Example:

thává (woman)
Singular: thává, tháváyá, thávánÿ, tháván, tháváxná, tháváç
Plural: tháváyó, tháváyáóná, tháváyónÿ, tháváyón, tháváyóxná, tháváyóç

Nouns ending in -ë

These nouns drop the -ë in all cases but the nominative singular and add either the consonant or vowel endings depending on the previous letter.  Note that ë is the only ultra-short vowel to be dropped, with the others (ä, ï, ö, ü) being retained in declension and using the vowel endings.

Examples:

vitsë (heart)
Singular: vitsë, vitsá, vitsánÿ, vitsán, vitsáxná, vitsáç
Plural: vitsó, vitsáóná, vitsónÿ, vitsón, vitsóxná, vitsóç

estrúë (statue)
Singular: estrúë, estrúyá, estrúnÿ, estrún, estrúxná, estrúç
Plural:  estrúyó, estrúyáóná, estrúyónÿ, estrúyón, estrúyóxná, estrúyóç

Nouns ending in -ÿ

Nouns ending in -ÿ convert the -ÿ  to a straight -y and add regular consonant endings.

Example:

tsnólÿ (school)
Singular: tsnólÿ, tsnólyá, tsnólyánÿ, tsnólyán, tsnólyáxná, tsnólyáç
Plural: tsnólyó, tsnólyáóná, tsnólyónÿ, tsnólyón, tsnólyóxná, tsnólyóç

Stress

It is important to remember that the stress does not change with the addition of case endings.  Thus, dlóve (soul, mind) is accented on the penultimate (in this case the first) syllable, dló-.  In the genitive/locative, this becomes dlóveyá, and the accent is still on the dló, even though this is no longer the penultimate.  Even a word such as berïshan (the tenth planet of the Alurhsa system), which is accented on the first syllable (be-) due to the ultra-short ï in the penultimate, retains its accent as case endings are applied.  Thus, in the instrumental, this becomes berïshanáxná and the accent remains on the be-.  In the case of estrúë (statue), the accents is on the ú in the penultimate, and as endings such as the accusative are added, producing estrún, the accent remains on the ú even though that is now in the ultima.

Gender

In a technical sense, Alurhsa nouns do not have grammatical gender, as neither associated descriptives and verbs, nor noun case endings show any change of form or application based on it.  However, nouns do have a gender based on significance, and this becomes important when replacing the noun with a pronoun.  In very formal, mostly written, speech, the gender of a noun also may have bearing on which form of the definite or indefinite article is used as well.

Unlike most Indo-European languages with gender, Alurhsa has not three but five, as follows:

Masculine - Any nouns denoting male life forms fall into this category.

Feminine - Any nouns denoting female life forms fall into this category.

Neuter - Any nouns denoting physical objects or creatures without gender, or combinations of male and female objects, or life forms where the gender either is not known or may be either male or female.

Conceptual - Any nouns denoting non-physical meanings, including both concepts and intangibles, and non-matter items such as energy, wind, light, and so on.

Spiritual - Nouns relating to purely spiritual concepts are in this class.  This includes táshne (spirit), dlóve (soul/mind), jìne (God), Áxván (a name of God), etc.  There is a good deal of debate as to where concepts such as emotion (ìlen), heaven (kálrÿísz), and so on belong.  In standard usage there is good deal of ambiguity about what falls into the Neuter, Conceptual, and Spiritual classes.  In modern standard Alurhsa it is very common to find this gender reserved for God, who, according to Alurhsa belief, is both genderless and all genders at the same time.