Nämty morphology

Main article: Nämty

This page gives an extensive description of Nämty morphological features.

Nouns

Nouns in Nämty language end almost exclusively in a vowel. A certain number of nouns, mostly loanwords, may unusually end in a consonant; in this case the typical nominal vowels, -e- in the singular and -i- in the plural, are added at the end of noun before the normal declension endings.

Nouns are grouped into two declension classes: animate nouns or class I and inanimate nouns or class II. The first class generally includes nouns indicating animate beings, namely capable of intentional motion or action, while the second class includes inanimate objects or entities. As a rule, we can sketch out the following scheme:

• class I: human beings, animals, deities
• class II: plants, objects, ideas, feelings, senses, perceptions

A noun is not irreversibly included in one of the two classes, as nouns lack clear morphological marks for each class. For example, the word lüse, light, shifts from a class to the other during the history of the language, as the noun ħäme, love, depending on the overall cultural perception of the noun’s animateness degree.

Despite the general lack of morphological markers in the basic forms, being thus unable to distinguish the two classes, the declension patterns depend on which class a noun belongs to.

There are two morphological numbers for almost all nouns, singular and plural.

Cases

Nämty nouns do decline, according to an ergative-absolutive system with 6 cases:

Case	Meaning
Ergative	This case marks the subject of a transitive verb. It can be used only with nouns belonging to class I.
Absolutive	This case marks primarily the direct object of a transitive verb. It is also used to mark the subject of an intransitive verb. It is regarded as the base form of the noun, and it is used as the vocative form.
Genitive	This case marks possession and belonging, either intentional, unintentional, or indirect. It can also mark the origin or the source.
Dative	This case marks primarily the indirect object. In a broad sense, it can also mark the final purpose of an action or a state.
Causative	This case marks the reason or the cause, which are the source of an action or a state.
Oblique	It has no specifical meaning and it is generally used only with prepositions.

Other types of clause complements are conveyed using various prepositions, which can select one or more cases.

A class II noun, referring thus to an intrinsically inanimate entity, cannot generally be declined in the ergative case.

Noun declension

Nouns are declined for number by changing the last vowel of the noun root. The general vowel changes are:

e → i

ä → ü

i → y

u → ü

y → ü

Other vowels display irregular changes, and these plurals are shown in the vocabulary.

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

ergative	-k
absolutive	-
genitive	-ħ
dative	-ɕ
causative	-n
oblique	-ma

Some examples are shown below: a class I noun, rome, father, and a class II noun, döme, house.

	rome		döme
	singular	plural	singular	plural
ergative	romek	romik
absolutive	rome	romi	döme	dömi
genitive	romeħ	romiħ	dömeħ	dömiħ
dative	romeɕ	romiɕ	dömeɕ	dömiɕ
causative	romen	romin	dömen	dömin
oblique	romema	romima	dömema	dömima

As for the rules, the endings for the ergative case cannot be added to a class II noun.

Numerals

The numeral system relies on a decimal base.

Cardinal numerals

The first ten cardinal numbers are forms on their own:

digit	full form
1:	česi
2:	moɕi
3:	βyni
4:	šäri
5:	ʂöpi
6:	gahi
7:	ňuʂi
8:	düħi
9:	bydi
10:	lümi

These numerals are treated as adjective-like forms: They precede a noun cluster and decline according to their adjoining nouns in case, but they do not agree in number. Numerals do decline only in singular number.

česiħ heneħ
of one man

ʂöpiɕ säriɕ
to the five women

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

digit	full form
11:	česilümʂi
12:	moɕilümʂi
13:	βynilümʂi
14:	šärilümʂi
15:	ʂöpilümʂi
16:	gahilümʂi
17:	ňuʂilümʂi
18:	düħilümʂi
19:	bydilümʂi

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

digit	full form
100:	ʂüki
1000:	käʂi

The numerals for tens, hundreds and thousands are:

tens:	lümʂi
hundreds:	ʂükʂi
thousands:	käʂi

The numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands are built with the construction NUM (without the final -i) + lümʂy / ʂukʂy / käʂy, with some irregularities:

	tens	hundreds	thousands
2x:	moɕlümʂy	moʂükʂy	moɕkäʂy
3x:	βynlümʂy	βynʂükʂy	βynkäʂy
4x:	šärlümʂy	šärʂükʂy	šärkäʂy
5x:	ʂöplümʂy	ʂöpʂükʂy	ʂöpkäʂy
6x:	galümʂy	gaʂükʂy	gakäʂy
7x:	ňuʂlümʂy	nuʂükʂy	ňuʂkäʂy
8x:	dulümʂy	düħʂükʂy	dukäʂy
9x:	bydlümʂy	bydʂükʂy	bydkäʂy

All cardinal numerals above the form for 10 are meant as invariable, except for the numeral for 100 and the numeral for 1000.

Composite numbers are built by linking them with the conjunction e, and, in descending order:

• 1985: käʂi e bydʂükʂy e dulümʂy e ʂöpi

When a composite numeral has a declined adjoining number, only its declinable numeral forms do decline in agreement.

Numbers above the multiples of thousands have no name and are specified by the lesser numerals.

Ordinal numerals

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

digit	adjective form
1st:	česisi
2nd:	moɕisi
3rd:	βynisi
4th:	šärisi
5th:	ʂöpisi
6th:	gahisi
7th:	ňuʂisi
8th:	düħisi
9th:	bydisi
10th:	lümisi

The numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands change their last vowel from -y- to -i-, before adding the suffix -si.

digit	adjective form
11th:	česilümʂisi
12th:	moɕilümʂisi
20th:	moɕlümʂisi
30th:	βynlümʂisi
600th:	gaʂükʂisi
9000th:	bydkäʂisi

If the numeral form is composite, the comparative ending is added to every form, and they agree with their adjoining noun in case and number:

• 378^th: βynʂükʂisi e nuʂlümʂisi e düħisi