Foħθīrix morphology

Main article: Foħθīrix

This page gives an extensive description of Foħθīrix morphological features.

Nouns

Nouns in Foħθīrix 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 -ē- 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 lūrex, light, shifts from a class to the other during the history of the language, as the noun pākex, 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

Foħθīrix nouns do decline, according to an nominative-accusative system with 7 cases:

Case	Meaning
Nominative	This case marks the subject of a verb. It is regarded as the citation form of the noun.
Accusative	This case marks the direct object of a verb. It is also used with some preposition. It also marks the direct object (i.e. the patient) in a passive construction and with participles. 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.
Dative	This case marks primarily the indirect object. It can also mark, to a limited extent, the final purpose of an action or a state.
Ablative	This case marks the origin of an action or a state. It also marks the subject (i.e. the agent) in a passive construction and with participles.
Instrumental	This case marks the tool or the instrument which are used to perform an action or to be in a certain state. It can be used only with nouns belonging to class II.
Locative	This case marks the place where an action is performed, or a certain state exist (stative location). It can also have a temporal value. It can be used only with nouns belonging to the class II.

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

A class I noun, referring thus to an intrinsically animate entity, cannot generally be declined in the instrumental or locative case.

Noun declension

Nouns are declined for number by changing the last vowel of the noun root. The commonest change is the lengthening of the final vowel:

a → ā

e → ē

i → ī

o → ō

u → ū

If the last vowel of the noun root is already long in the singular, it undergoes a changing in height:

ā → ē

ē → ī

ī → ī

ō → ū

ū → ū

As it can be noticed, nouns whose root ends in -ī and -ū do not distinguish any different plural forms.

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

nominative	-x
accusative	-
genitive	-fu
dative	-šu
ablative	-ho
instrumental	-ma
locative	-va

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

	romex		tōmex
	singular	plural	singular	plural
ergative	romex	romēx	tōmex	tōmēx
absolutive	rome	romē	tōme	tōmē
genitive	romefu	romēfu	tōmefu	tōmēfu
dative	romešu	romēšu	tōmešu	tōmēšu
ablative	romeho	romēho	tōmeho	tōmēho
instrumental			tōmema	tōmēma
locative			tōmeva	tōmēva

As for the rules, the endings for the instrumental and locative case cannot be added to a class I noun.

Adjectives and pronouns

Adjectives closely resemble the noun form, while usually differing in their last vowel. Pronouns, instead, may exhibit different forms in the root form.

Adjectives

Attributive adjectives are always placed before the nouns they specify, while predicative adjectives are always placed after them or before the verb.

sēmix ǧenex
the young man

ǧenex sēmix imū
the man is young

All adjectives agree in case and number with the noun they specify, being declined with the nominal endings. They thus display a complete declension set, not belonging inherently to one of the two classes.

sēmifu ǧenefu nubix tōmex ɕoħiva tōmšāva forūkī
the young man’s new house is located in the nearby village

Declension of qualifying adjectives

Adjectival declension follow the same rules as the nominal declension, with the same exceptions.

All adjectives agree in case and number with the noun they specify, being declined with the nominal endings. They thus display a complete declension set, not belonging inherently to one of the two classes.

Examples: sēmix, young, and nubix, new, with a class I noun, romex, father, and a class II noun, tōmex, house.

	sēmix romex
	singular	plural
nominative	sēmix romex	sēmīx romēx
accusative	sēmi rome	sēmī romē
genitive	sēmifu romefu	sēmīfu romēfu
dative	sēmišu romešu	sēmīšu romēšu
ablative	sēmiho romeho	sēmīho romēho
instrumental	-	-
locative	-	-

	nubix tōmex
	singular	plural
nominative	nubix tōmex	nubīx tōmēx
accusative	nubi tōme	nubī tōmē
genitive	nubifu tōmefu	nubīfu tōmēfu
dative	nubišu tōmešu	nubīšu tōmēšu
ablative	nubiho tōmeho	nubīho tōmēho
instrumental	nubima tōmema	nubīma tōmēma
locative	nubiva tōmeva	nubīva tōmēva

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:	ɕere
2:	moše
3:	bīne
4:	šāre
5:	ħœfe
6:	kage
7:	ňuħe
8:	tūhe
9:	pēte
10:	lūme

Numerals from 11 to 19 are built with the construction NUM + ňe + lūme:

digit	full form
11:	ɕereňelūme
12:	mošeňelūme
13:	bīneňelūme
14:	šāreňelūme
15:	ħœfeňelūme
16:	kageňelūme
17:	ňuħeňelūme
18:	tūheňelūme
19:	pēteňelūme

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

digit	full form
100:	ħūxe
1000:	xāħe

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 and their nominative form is identical to the accusative form.

ɕere ǧenex
one man

ħœfešu sārēšu
to the five women

The numerals for tens, hundreds and thousands are the plural forms of the numerals for ten, (one) hundred and (one) thousand:

tens:	lūmē
hundreds:	ħūxē
thousands:	xāħē

The numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands are built with the construction NUM (without the final -e) + lūmē / ħūxē / xāħē, with some irregularities:

	tens	hundreds	thousands
2x:	mošlūmē	mošħūxē	mošxāħē
3x:	bīnlūmē	bīnħūxē	bīnxāħē
4x:	šārlūmē	šārħūxē	šārxāħē
5x:	ħœflūmē	ħœfħūxē	ħœfxāħē
6x:	kaglūmē	kaħūxē	kaxāħē
7x:	ňuħlūmē	ňuħūxē	ňuxāħē
8x:	tūhlūmē	tūħūxē	tūxāħē
9x:	pētlūmē	pēħūxē	pēxāħē

All cardinal numerals above the form for 19 are meant as invariable, except for the numeral for 100 and the numeral for 1000.

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

• 1985: xāħe pētħūxē tūhlūmē ħœfe

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 replacing last vowel of the cardinal numeral form, -e or -ē, with the the adjectival ending -iri-:

ɕere → ɕeririx
one → first

tūhlūmē → tūhlūmirix
eighty → eightieth

The first ten ordinal numerals, with some examples of additional numerals, are:

digit	adjective form
1st:	ɕeririx
2nd:	moširix
3rd:	bīnirix
4th:	šāririx
5th:	ħœfirix
6th:	kagirix
7th:	ňuħirix
8th:	tūhirix
9th:	pētirix
10th:	lūmirix
11th:	ɕereňelūmirix
12th:	mošeňelūmirix
20th:	mošlūmirix
30th:	bīnlūmirix
600th:	kaħūxirix
9000th:	pēxāħirix

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: bīnħūxirix ňuħlūmirix tūhirix

Verbs

The verbal system of Foħθīrix language displays the following features:

• tense:
  • simple tenses: present, imperfect, past, perfect, pluperfect
  • compound tenses: future, anterior future, future in the past
• mood:
  • definite moods: indicative, dependent, imperative
  • indefinite moods: infinitive, active participle, passive participle

The simple tenses are distinguished by a typical vowel, while compound tenses are formed with the verb patore, to go, as an auxiliary verb, and an infinitival form.

The citation form of verbs is the present infinitive, marked by the ending -ore. From such form the present verbal root can be inferred and can be changed in every other verbal form.

The following personal endings are then added to the root in the definite moods. In this way, verbs show their agreement with the clause subject in person and number:

	indicative/dependent	imperative
1st sing.	-m
2nd sing.	-t	-to
3rd sing.	-
1st plur.	-mī	-mīto
2nd plur.	-tī	-tīto
3rd plur.	-vī
pass.	-kī	-kīto

The endings labelled as “passive/impersonal” (pass.) is regarded as a separated person and it is discussed and explained in a following chapter.

The non-finite verbal forms are meant as nominal/adjectival forms of the same verbs. They do not add the personal endings, but they are declined as nouns or adjectives with the nominal declension endings.

As verbal forms, however, they can be built on the various temporal forms.

The non-finite endings are:

• infinitive: -re
• active participle: -θī
• passive participle: -ňi

The infinitival form is meant as a class II noun.