Hoð‘i morphology

Main article: Hoð‘i

This page gives an extensive description of Hoð‘i morphological features.

Nouns

Nouns in Hoð‘i can end either in a vowel or in a consonant in their basic form. Nouns ending in a consonant usually add a vowel in their declension. There is no clear tendency on which vowel is to be added and the vowel is deemed as part of the noun root.

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

Hoð‘i nouns do decline, according to a nominative-accusative system with 2 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.
Oblique	This case marks primarily possession and belonging, either intentional, unintentional, or indirect. Other functions are expressed by using prepositions.

Articles

There is only one article, the definite article, ek‘, which is placed before the noun, agreeing with it in case and number.

	singular	plural
direct	ek‘	ek‘i
oblique	evo	ivo

Noun declension

Nouns are declined in case and number with different models, depending on the last phoneme of the root.

Nouns, whose root ends in a consonant, are divided into two groups: non-palatal and palatal group. Both groups add a different thematic vowel in their declension. Nouns in the non-palatal group do also palatalize the last consonant of the root, if possible, in the plural forms.

	thematic vowel	plural form
non-palatal	-e-	-‘e
palatal	-i-	-i

There is, however, a certain amount of irregular nouns, like some nouns which seemingly belong to the palatal group, while declining like a non-palatal noun, and vice versa.

Nouns, whose root ends in a vowel, change this last vowel. The general vowel changes are:

a → æ
æ → ‘e	(The last consonant of the root undergo palatalization, if possible)
‘e → ‘i	(The last consonant of the root undergo palatalization, if possible)
i → ‘i	(The last consonant of the root undergo palatalization, if possible)
o → ow
ow → u
u → ow
y → u

Some nouns, conversely, display unpredictable irregularities in pluralization.

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

direct	-
obliquo	-vo

Some examples of nouns, whose root ends in a consonant, are shown below: a noun belonging to the non-palatal group, towm, house, and a noun belonging to the palatal group, l‘irs‘, plant.

	towm		l‘irs‘
	singular	plural	singular	plural
direct	towm	towm‘e	l‘irs‘	l‘irs‘i
oblique	towmevo	towm‘evo	l‘irs‘ivo	l‘irs‘ivo

As it can be noticed, nouns in the palatal group do not distinguish the singular from the plural form in the oblique case.

Some examples of nouns, whose root ends in a consonant, are shown below: cæšæ, lake, and ðowmo, wheel.

	cæšæ		ðowmo
	singular	plural	singular	plural
direct	cæšæ	cæše	ðowmo	ðowmu
oblique	cæšævo	cæševo	ðowmovo	ðowmuvo

An example of irregular nouns is shown below: mɛw, mouse.

	mɛw
	singular	plural
direct	mɛw	m’ɛw
oblique	mɛwvo	m’ɛwvo

Numerals

The numeral system relies on a decimal base.

The first ten cardinal numbers are forms on their own:

digit	full form
1:	he
2:	moš
3:	b‘in
4:	šæ
5:	ɔv
6:	kag
7:	ňow
8:	tuɣ
9:	p‘et
10:	lun

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

digit	full form
11:	heňelun
12:	mošeňelun
13:	b‘ineňelun
14:	šæňelun
15:	ɔveňelun
16:	kageňelun
17:	ňowňelun
18:	tuɣeňelun
19:	p‘eteňelun

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

digit	full form
100:	ux
1000:	x‘æ

The numerals for tens, hundreds and thousands are:

tens:	lum‘e
hundreds:	ux‘e
thousands:	x‘æ

The numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands are built with the construction NUM + lum‘e / ux‘e / x’æ, with many irregularities:

	tens	hundreds	thousands
2x:	mošlum‘e	mošux‘e	mošx‘æ
3x:	b‘inlum‘e	b‘inux‘e	b‘inx‘æ
4x:	šælum‘e	šɔx‘e	šæx‘æ
5x:	ɔlum‘e	ɔvux‘e	ɔx‘æ
6x:	kaglum‘e	kox‘e	kax‘æ
7x:	ňulum‘e	ňux‘e	ňyx‘æ
8x:	tulum‘e	tux‘e	tux‘æ
9x:	p‘etlum‘e	p‘ux‘e	p‘ex‘æ

All cardinal numerals up to these forms are meant as invariable.

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

• 1985: x‘æ p‘ux‘e tulum‘e ɔv

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

digit	noun form
1,000,000:	šurentu (from L. šurentu)
1,000,000,000:	mešurentu (from L. mešurentu)

These forms are treated as regularly declinable nouns:

digit	noun form
3,000,000:	b‘in šurentow
6,000,000,000:	kag mešurentow

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

he šurentu ðiɣ‘evo
one million people

moš mešurentow ðiɣ‘evo
to two billions people

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

digit	noun form
0:	xesu (from L. xesu)

Ordinal numerals are formed by adding the adjectival ending -i (-ir) to the cardinal numeral form. However, most ordinal forms are irregulary built. The first 10 ordinal numerals are:

digit	adjective form
1st:	hi
2nd:	moši
3rd:	b‘ini
4th:	šɛ
5th:	ɔvi
6th:	kagi
7th:	ňy
8th:	tuɣi
9th:	p‘eti
10th:	lumi

Ordinal numerals from 11^th to 19^th are built with the construction NUM + -eňe + lumi, with some irregularities:

digit	full form
11th:	heňelumi
12th:	mošeňelumi
13th:	b‘ineňelumi
14th:	šæňelumi
15th:	ɔveňelumi
16th:	kageňelumi
17th:	ňowňelumi
18th:	tuɣeňelumi
19th:	p‘eteňelumi

The ordinal numerals for hundredth and thousandth are also irregularly formed:

digit	full form
100th:	ux‘i
1000th:	x‘æ

The ordinal numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands are built with the construction NUM + lum‘i / ux‘i / x’ɛ, with many irregularities:

	tenth	hundredth	thousandth
2x:	mošlum‘i	mošux‘i	mošx‘ɛ
3x:	b‘inlum‘i	b‘inux‘i	b‘inx‘ɛ
4x:	šælum‘i	šɔx‘i	šæx‘ɛ
5x:	ɔlum‘i	ɔvux‘i	ɔx‘ɛ
6x:	kaglum‘i	kox‘i	kax‘ɛ
7x:	ňulum‘i	ňux‘i	ňyx‘ɛ
8x:	tulum‘i	tux‘i	tux‘ɛ
9x:	p‘etlum‘i	p‘ux‘i	p‘ex‘ɛ

Ordinal numerals for “millionth” and “billionth” are irregularly 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:	šurent’y
1,000,000,000th:	mešurent’y
3,000,000,000th:	b‘inmešurent’y

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: b’inux‘i ňulum‘i tuɣi