Læntixu morphology

Main article: Læntixu

This page gives an extensive description of Læntixu morphological features.

Nouns

Nouns in Læntixu language end mostly in a vowel in their basic form. A certain number of nouns, however, ends in a consonant; in this case a euphonic vowel, mostly -i-, is added at the end of noun before the normal declension endings.

Nouns display neither gender nor class distinction. There are, however, two morphological numbers for almost all nouns, singular and plural, and a limited case system. If a noun is deemed as definite, a form of definite article is used and placed before it.

Cases

Læntixu nouns do decline, according to a nominative-accusative system with 3 cases:

Case	Meaning
Basic-Vocative	It is regarded as the base form of the noun, and it is used only as the vocative form.
Direct	This case marks both the subject and the direct object of a verb.
Oblique	It has no specifical meaning and it is generally used only with prepositions. It can be occasionally used without prepositions in earlier texts and in crystallized forms, marking the indirect object.

There are, moreover, some crystallized forms of a locative case, marked by the ending -cær, with the role of locative adverbs:

sowgucær
at home (static location)

Articles

There is only one article, the definite article, æl‘, which is placed before the noun, agreeing with it in case and number. It lacks, however, any form in the basic case.

	singular	plural
basic	-	-
direct	æl‘	æn‘
oblique	æha	æn‘a

In the later spoken language, the numeral šæf, one, is increasingly used as an indefinite article. This usage is, however, not allowed in the formal standard language.

æl‘ vjirul‘ kinusæh
the man sings

formal: vjirul‘ kinusæh 
informal: šæf vjirul‘ kinusæh
a man sings

Noun declension

Nouns are declined in case and number by adding the following endings to the base form of the noun:

	singular	plural
basic	-	-nu
direct	-l‘	-nol‘
oblique	-ha	-noha

Some examples are shown below: paɸu, father, and sowgu, house.

	paɸu		sowgu
	singular	plural	singular	plural
basic	paɸu	paɸunu	sowgu	sowgunu
direct	paɸul‘	paɸunol‘	sowgul‘	sowgunol‘
oblique	paɸuha	paɸunoha	sowguha	sowgunoha

Nouns ending in a consonant in the singular direct case usually add a euphonic vowel before the endings of the other cases. This vowel is generally -i-, but other vowels are also possible.

bas. vær‘ → dir. vær‘il‘, obl. vær‘iha, ...

Some irregular nouns, conversely, change their last vowel in the root before adding other endings. The commonest changes are u → o, or i → e. A lot of these nouns display both irregular and regular forms, especially in earlier texts. In modern texts the amount of irregular forms is extremely limited, with a strong tendency towards regularization by analogy.

bas. sænu → dir. sænol‘, obl. sænoha, ...
bas. voɸi → dir. voɸel‘, obl. voɸeha, ...

Numerals

The numeral system relies on a decimal base.

Cardinal numerals

The first ten cardinal numbers are noun-like forms on their own:

digit	noun form
1:	šæf
2:	æx‘
3:	mixow
4:	gowbɛ
5:	pæžɛ
6:	uba
7:	haša
8:	ko
9:	coju
10:	few

Numerals from 11 to 19 are built with the construction NUM + fewna, with some irregularities:

digit	noun form
11:	šæfewna
12:	æxifewna
13:	mixowfewna
14:	gowbɛfewna
15:	pæžɛfewna
16:	ubafewna
17:	hašafewna
18:	kofewna
19:	cojufewna

The numerals for (one) hundred and (one) thousand are noun-like forms on their own:

digit	noun form
100:	ñæθu
1000:	vjæ

The numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands are built with the construction NUM + rɛ + few / ñæθu / vjæ, with some irregularities:

	tens	hundreds	thousands
2x:	æxirɛfew	æxirɛñæθu	æxirɛvjæ
3x:	mixowrɛfew	mixowrɛñæθu	mixowrɛvjæ
4x:	gowbɛrɛfew	gowbɛrɛñæθu	gowbɛrɛvjæ
5x:	pæžɛrɛfew	pæžɛrɛñæθu	pæžɛrɛvjæ
6x:	ubarɛfew	ubarɛñæθu	ubarɛvjæ
7x:	hašarɛfew	hašarɛñæθu	hašarɛvjæ
8x:	korɛfew	korɛñæθu	korɛvjæ
9x:	cojurɛfew	cojurɛñæθu	cojurɛvjæ

Composite numbers are built by just putting them beside, without any conjunction, in descending order:

• 1985: vjæ cojureñæθu pæžɛñukorefew

Numerals from 21 to 99 are however built with the construction NUM + ñu + TEN. The -ñu- infix blends with the -æxi- numeral infix, resulting in -ñowxi-, blends with the -uba- numeral infix, resulting in -ñuba-:

digit	noun form
25:	pæžɛñowxirɛfew
33:	mixowñumixowrɛfew
67:	hašañubarɛfew

All cardinal numerals up to these forms are meant as invariable. They can however be used without an adjoining noun by putting the articles before them:

æn‘ vjæ 
the one thousand

Numerals for “million” and “billion” are loanwords from Iðâɣ language:

digit	noun form
1,000,000:	šurentu (from I. šúrěntu )
1,000,000,000:	mešurentu (from I. mêšúrěntu )

These forms are treated as regularly declinable nouns:

digit	noun form
3,000,000:	mixow šurentunu
6,000,000,000:	uba mešurentunu

If these numerals are used as simple count forms, they are declined in the basic case. Inside of a structured sentence, they are declined according the case required by their syntactical role. Nouns adjoining such numerals are introduced by the preposition jæl and are declined in the oblique case:

kowf æx‘ šurentunoha jæl fuxanoha
to two millions people

In the earlier modern period the idea of “zero” is introduced from Iðâɣ language. This numeral is however usually limited to mathematics:

digit	noun form
0:	xesu (from I. xesú)

Ordinal numerals

Ordinal numerals are formed by adding the adjectival ending -xu- to the cardinal numeral form, with some irregularities:

digit	adjective form
1st:	šæwxul‘
2nd:	æxixul‘
3rd:	mixowxul‘
4th:	gowbɛxul‘
5th:	pæžɛxul‘
6th:	ubaxul‘
7th:	hašaxul‘
8th:	koxul‘
9th:	cojuxul‘
10th:	fewxul‘

Ordinal numerals for “millionth” and “billionth” are regularly formed from their corresponding cardinal forms, while their multiples are formed by unifying the separated forms in an only adjectival word:

digit	adjective form
1,000,000th:	šurentuxul‘
1,000,000,000th:	mešurentuxul‘
3,000,000,000th:	mixowmešurentuxul‘

If the numeral form is composite, the ending is added only to the last numeral form:

• 125^th: ñæθu pæžɛñowxirefewxul‘