Ỹhɛ morphology

Main article: Ỹhɛ

This page gives an extensive description of Ỹhɛ morphological features.

As already mentioned, Ỹhɛ is a morphologically isolating language. Each lexeme does not undergo any morphological mutation. Syntactical roles are thus entirely expressed by syntax and word order. Lexemes can, however, combine in many derivative processes.

Nouns

Nouns in Ỹhɛ usually have a multisyllabic form; they very rarely have a monosyllabic form.

On the morphological level nouns display no number, case or definiteness, exhibiting always the same unaltered form:

müɟa
wolf - a wolf - the wolf - wolves - the wolves

Adjectives and pronouns

Adjectives and pronouns have their own form, but, like the nouns, they do not display any morphological change for either number, case or definiteness.

Adjectives

Both attributive and predicative adjectives are always placed after the nouns they specify.

osmɔç čü̃
a young man

osmɔç çɛɕa čü̃
the man is young

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:	bö̃
2:	lar
3:	ču
4:	ɟä
5:	ɕu
6:	dü̃
7:	ɟi
8:	žy
9:	hɔp
10:	ɕüw

Numerals from 11 to 19 are built with the construction ɕüw + nɔ + NUM:

digit	full form
11:	ɕüwnɔbö̃
12:	ɕüwnɔlar
13:	ɕüwnɔču
14:	ɕüwnɔɟä
15:	ɕüwnɔɕu
16:	ɕüwnɔdü̃
17:	ɕüwnɔɟi
18:	ɕüwnɔžy
19:	ɕüwnɔhɔp

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

digit	full form
100:	čĩ
1000:	nɔčĩ

The numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands are built with the construction NUM + -arɕüw / -arčĩ / -arnɔčĩ. As these suffixes has often merged with the cardinal form, most forms are irregularly built:

	tens	hundreds	thousands
2x:	lararɕüw	lararčĩ	lararnɔčĩ
3x:	čɔrɕüw	čɔrčĩ	čɔrnɔčĩ
4x:	ɟärɕüw	ɟärčĩ	ɟärnɔčĩ
5x:	ɕɔrɕüw	ɕɔrčĩ	ɕɔrnɔčĩ
6x:	dɑ̃rɕüw	dɑ̃rčĩ	dɑ̃rnɔčĩ
7x:	ɟɛrɕüw	ɟɛrčĩ	ɟɛrnɔčĩ
8x:	žörɕüw	žörčĩ	žörnɔčĩ
9x:	hɔbarɕüw	hɔbarčĩ	hɔbarnɔčĩ

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

digit	full form
1,000,000:	šurentu (from I. šúrěntu )
1,000,000,000:	mešurentu (from I. mêšúrěntu )

These forms are treated as noun-like forms and can be used with other numerals:

digit	full form
3,000,000:	ču šurentu
6,000,000,000:	dü̃ mešurentu

They are however treated as normal numerals when used with nouns. Nouns adjoining such numerals are not introduced by any preposition:

lar šurentu hɛ
two millions people

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

• 2985: lararnɔčĩ hɔbarčĩ žɛrɕüw ɕu

As for other parts of the language, all cardinal numerals are meant as invariable forms.

Ordinal numerals

Ordinal numerals are formed by adding the suffix -da to the cardinal numeral form, with some irregularities:

digit	adjective form
1st:	bö̃da
2nd:	larda
3rd:	čuɟa
4th:	ɟäda
5th:	ɕuda
6th:	dü̃da
7th:	ɟida
8th:	žyda
9th:	hɔvda
10th:	ɕüwda
11th:	ɕüwnɔbö̃da
12th:	ɕüwnɔlarda
13th:	ɕüwnɔčuɟa
20th:	lararɕüwda
30th:	čɔrɕüwda
600th:	dɑ̃rčĩda
9000th:	hɔbarnɔčĩda

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:	šurentuda
1,000,000,000th:	mešurentuda
3,000,000,000th:	čumešurentuda

If the numeral form is composite, the suffix is added to every form:

• 325^th: čɔrčĩda lararɕüwda ɕuda