Iðâɣ morphology

Main article: Iðâɣ

This page gives an extensive description of Iðâɣ morphological features.

Nouns

Nouns in Iðâɣ language can end either in a vowel or in a consonant, although there is a marked tendency for the vocalic ending. Nouns ending in a consonant usually add a euphonic vowel before the normal declension endings.

Nouns are grouped into two declension classes: animate nouns or first class and inanimate nouns or second class. 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:

• 1^st class: human beings, animals, deities
• 2^nd class: 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. There is, thus, a certain amount of exceptions to this general rule.

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

Iðâɣ nouns do decline, according to a nominative-accusative system with 4 cases:

Case	Meaning
Direct	This case marks both the subject and the direct object of a verb. It is regarded as the base form of the noun, and it is used as the vocative form.
Genitive-Dative	This case marks possession and belonging, either intentional, unintentional, or indirect, and the indirect object. These meanings are distinguished by the presence of the prepositive article.
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 the 2nd class.
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 2nd class.

The cases are usually classified in 4 groups:

1. Primary cases: direct, genitive-dative
2. Secondary cases: instrumental, locative

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

Noun declension

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

	1st class		2nd class
	singular	plural	singular	plural
direct	-	-nə	-	-nə
gen.-dat.	-re	-nore	-re	-nore
instrumental			-xa	-noxa
locative			-sah	-nosah

Some examples are shown below: a 1^st class noun, paβu, father, and a 2^nd class noun, sóɣə, house.

	paβu		sóɣə
	singular	plural	singular	plural
direct	paβu	paβunə	sóɣə	sóɣənə
gen.-dat.	paβure	paβunore	sóɣəre	sóɣənore
instrumental			sóɣəxa	sóɣənoxa
locative			sóɣəsah	sóɣənosah

As for the rules, the endings for the secondary oblique cases cannot be added to a 1^st class noun.

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 -ə-, but other vowels are also possible.

dir. piɣ → g.d. piɣəre, ...
dir. šóneh → g.d. šónehare, ...

Some irregular nouns, conversely, change their last vowel in the root before adding other endings. The commonest changes are e → a, or ə → o. A lot of these nouns display both irregular and regular forms, especially in earlier texts. In modern texts the amount of irregular forms is increasingly limited.

dir. soβe → g.d. soβere or soβare, ...
dir. sanə → g.d. sanəre or sanore, ...

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:	šâ
2:	áɣi
3:	miɣò
4:	gô
5:	pâ
6:	hû
7:	áša
8:	kù
9:	sô
10:	çê

Numerals from 11 to 19 are built with the construction NUM + ɣi (derived form of gu, over) + çê:

digit	noun form
11:	šâɣiçê
12:	áɣiɣiçê
13:	miɣòɣiçê
14:	gôɣiçê
15:	pâɣiçê
16:	hûɣiçê
17:	ášaɣiçê
18:	kùɣiçê
19:	sôɣiçê

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

digit	noun form
100:	náðu
1000:	ěn

The numerals for the multiples of tens and hundreds are built with the construction NUM + rə + ɸê / náðu: The nouns for the multiples of thousands are built with the construction NUM + rêntu instead:

	tens	hundreds	thousands
2x:	áɣirəɸê	áɣirənáðu	áɣirêntu
3x:	miɣòrəɸê	miɣòrənáðu	miɣòrêntu
4x:	gôrəɸê	gôrənáðu	gôrêntu
5x:	pârəɸê	pârənáðu	pârêntu
6x:	hûrəɸê	hûrənáðu	hûrêntu
7x:	ášarəɸê	ášarənáðu	ášarêntu
8x:	kùrəɸê	kùrənáðu	kùrêntu
9x:	sôrəɸê	sôrənáðu	sôrêntu

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

• 1985: ěn sôrənáðu kùrəɸê pâ

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

ôn ěn 
the one thousand

Numerals for “million” and “billion” are formed from the word ěntu (an archaich form for thousand).

digit	noun form
1,000,000:	šúrěntu (from šúri ěntu)
1,000,000,000:	mêšúrěntu (from mê šúri ěntu)

These forms are treated as regularly declinable nouns:

digit	noun form
3,000,000,000:	miɣò mêšúrěntunə

Nouns adjoining such numerals are not preceded by any preposition and are declined in the case required by their syntactical role in the sentence, as the numerals themselves:

áɣi šúrěntunore çuɣenore
to two millions people

In the earlier modern period the idea of “zero” is introduced from Cärähə language, while borrowing the digit form. This numeral is however usually limited to mathematics:

digit	noun form
0:	xesú (from C. xesü)

Ordinal numerals

Ordinal numerals are formed by adding the adjectival ending -ɣə to the cardinal numeral form:

digit	adjective form
1st:	šâɣə
2nd:	áɣiɣə
3rd:	miɣòɣə
4th:	gôɣə
5th:	pâɣə
6th:	hûɣə
7th:	ášaɣə
8th:	kùɣə
9th:	sôɣə
10th:	çêɣə

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:	šúrěntuɣə
1,000,000,000th:	mêšúrěntuɣə
3,000,000,000th:	miɣòmêšúrěntuɣə

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

• 25^th: áɣirəɸê pâɣə

Fractional numerals

Fractional numerals are formed by adding the derivative ending -gū́ to the cardinal numeral form, with the exceptions of the numeral zero, one, and an irregular suppletive form:

digit	full form
1:	-
2:	kúɸə
3:	miɣòɣú
4:	gôɣú
5:	pâɣú
6:	hûɣú
7:	ášaɣú
8:	kùɣú
9:	sôɣú
10:	çêɣú
11:	šâɣiçêɣú
12:	áɣiɣiçêɣú
20:	áɣirəɸêɣú
60:	hûrəɸêɣú
300:	miɣòrənáðuɣú
9000:	sôrêntuɣú

Fractional 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 word:

digit	adjective form
1,000,000:	šúrěntuɣú
1,000,000,000:	mêšúrěntuɣú
3,000,000,000:	miɣòmêšúrěntuɣú

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

• 25: áɣirəɸê pâɣú