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, ...

Adjectives and pronouns

Adjectives closely resemble the noun form, usually showing the same exceptions of nouns. Pronouns, instead, may exhibit different forms in the root form.

Adjectives

Both attributive and predicative adjectives are always placed after the nouns they specify, with a few exceptions.

æl‘ vjirul‘ jowɸæl‘
the young man

æl‘ vjirul‘ ojh jowɸæl‘
the man is young

All adjectives agree in case and number with the noun they specify, being declined with the nominal endings. However, in modern speech, attributive adjectives tend not to agree in number with their nouns, displaying only the singular declension. This feature is not accepted in the standard formal language.

Declension of qualifying adjectives

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

Example: sur‘il‘, big, with sowgul‘, house

	attributive declension
	singular	plural (formal)	plural (informal)
basic	sowgu sur‘i	sowgunu sur‘inu	sowgunu sur‘
direct	sowgul‘ sur‘il‘	sowgunol‘ sur‘inol‘	sowgunol‘ sur‘il‘
oblique	sowguha sur‘iha	sowgunoha sur‘inoha	sowgunoha sur‘iha

	predicative declension
	singular	plural (formal)	plural (informal)
basic
direct	sowgul‘ ojh sur‘il‘	sowgunol‘ onæh sur‘inol‘
oblique

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‘

Verbs

The verbal system of Læntixu language displays the following features:

• tense:
  • simple tenses: present
  • compound tenses: present continuous, past, past continuous, pluperfect, future, anterior future
• mood:
  • definite moods: indicative, subjunctive, conditional
  • indefinite moods: infinitive, active participle, passive participle
• diathesis: active, passive

Only in the indicative mood verbs can express all tenses. In other moods only a part of the tenses are expressed.

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

Each verb has two roots, the present root (R_pres) and the past root (R_past). The base form is the present root, while the past root is usually derived fromt he present one. Based on the different derivation processes, verbs are divided in two classes: strong verbs and weak verbs:

• Strong verbs, mostly with a CVCVC- structure, derive their past root from the present one through an introflexive process of vowel switching:

CV1CV2C → CV2CV1C

Example:

Rpres = toθir- → Rpast = tiθor-

This process usually gives rise to irregular root forms.

Rpres = ʎiloɸ- → Rpast = loʎiɸ-

In disyllabic verbal root, all vowels are involved in the switching process.

However, multisyllabic verbal roots can be formed through morphological derivation by adding prefixes or suffixes or both of them. These morphological affixes are usually not involved in the switching process. The vowel involved are those belonging to the original disyllabic root:

Rpres = roʎiloɸ- → Rpast = roloʎiɸ-

Rpres = menosɛx- → Rpast = monesɛx-

Rpres = hæcæžɛbowr- → Rpast = hæcɛgæbowr-

• Weak verbs, displaying any possible syllabic structure, derive their past root from the present one by adding the suffix -ix:

CV1CV2C → CV1CV2Cix

Example:

Rpres = ulixox- → Rpast = ulixoxix-

This process usually does not give rise to irregular root forms.

• Monosyllabic verbal roots are usually regarded as weak verbs. There are, however, an extremely few monosyllabic strong verbs, which lack a distinct past root.

In simple tenses the following personal endings are added to the verbal root. In this way, verbs show their agreement with the clause subject in person and number:

1st sing.	-of
2nd sing.	-æh
3rd sing.
1st plur.	-onof
2nd plur.	-onæh
3rd plur.

The second and the third person share the same ending in both numbers. Thus the subject pronouns is usually expressed in the second person, to avoid ambiguity. The third person pronoun is, conversely, usually not expressed and left implied:

æpjixu kinusæh
you sing

(æstu) kinusæh
he/she sings

Compound tenses are usually formed through an auxiliary verb (ojæm‘, to be, gjixæm‘, to want, or jimæm‘, to go) with the forms of the participles or the infinitive. The different moods are formed by adding the following infixes to the verbal root, before the personal endings:

• indicative: Ø
• subjunctive: -iñ-
• conditional: -æc-

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 can, however, be formed on both roots. The infinitive can also add the modal infixes before its typical ending.

The non-finite endings are:

• infinitive: -æm‘
• active participle: -jiθu
• passive participle: -ux‘

All the endings may merge with some verbal roots and create irregular forms.