Æbbro morphology

Main article: Æbbro

This page gives an extensive description of Æbbro morphological features.

Nouns

Nouns in Æbbro language end almost exclusively in a vowel. A limited amount of nouns, mostly loanwords, may unusually end in a consonant; in this case a euphonic vowel, -i- or -u-, is added at the end of noun before the normal declension endings.

Nouns display neither gender nor class distinction. In declension, however, some endings make a semantical distinction between animate and inanimate nouns.

There are two morphological numbers for almost all nouns, singular and plural, and a remarkably rich case system.

Cases

Æbbro nouns do decline, according to a nominative-accusative system with 16 cases:

Case	Meaning
Nominative	This case marks the subject of a verb. It is regarded as the base form of the noun, and it is used as the vocative form.
Accusative	This case marks the direct object of a verb.
Genitive	This case marks possession and belonging, either intentional, unintentional, or indirect.
Dative	This case marks the indirect object.
Ablative	This case marks the origin of an action or a state. It is also used to mark the subject of an nominal form of a verb.
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 also mark the company, indicating an entity, together with which a certain action is performed or a certain state exists.
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.
Allative	This case marks the final point of a movement (motion toward a place). It can also have a temporal value.
Delative	This case marks the point of origin of a movement (motion from a place). It can also have a temporal value.
Benefactive	This case marks the final purpose of an action or a state. In a broad sense, it marks the ultimate beneficiary of an action or a state.
Causative	This case marks the reason or the cause, which are the source of an action or a state.
Abessive	This case marks the tool or the instrument which are absent while performing an action or being in a certain state. It can also mark the absence of company, indicating an entity, without which a certain action is performed or a certain state exists.
Essive	This case marks existance or equivalence. It specifies an entity in its state, or which is the second term in an equivalence comparison. (as, like)
Comparative	This case marks relation. It specifies an entity, which is the other term in any kind of relations. (like, in relation to)
Contrastive	This case marks detriment, opposition or objection. In a broad sense, it marks the entity against which a certain action is performed or a certain state exists.
Partitive	This case marks partiality. In a broad sense, it marks the totality, from which a certain part is considered.

Each case, except for nominative and accusative, can have other functions. Other types of clause complements can be conveyed using various adverbial postposed forms (which can be regarded as postposition).

Noun declension

As usual to an agglutinative language, Æbbro nouns display a set of number endings, which is clearly separated from the set of case endings. All endings are placed at the end of the nominal root, without undergoing any change (except for vowel armony). The sequence root + ending is thus easily recognizable:

retižewææ → reti - že - wææ
as people → person - plural - essive case

The numeral endings are always placed before the case endings.

Nouns are declined in number by adding the following endings to the base form of the noun. Only in this case a semantical distinction between animate and inanimate nouns is made in the choice among the endings:

animate nouns		inanimate nouns
front vowel	back vowel	front vowel	back vowel
-že	-žo	-hii	-huu

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

	front vowel	back vowel
nominative	-	-
accusative	-ne	-no
genitive	-rræ	-rra
dative	-hee	-hoo
ablative	-śi	-śu
instrumental	-ddee	-ddoo
locative	-mi	-mu
allative	-me	-mo
delative	-mæ	-ma
benefactive	-gæ	-ga
causative	-bbii	-bbuu
abessive	-jje	-jjo
essive	-wææ	-waa
comparative	-hhæ	-hha
contrastive	-kkæ	-kka
partitive	-ppii	-ppuu

Some examples are shown below: a semantically animate noun with front leading vowel, llærme, father, a semantically inanimate noun with back leading vowel, kooto, house.

	llærme		kooto
	singular	plural	singular	plural
nominative	llærme	llærmeže	kooto	kootohuu
accusative	llærmene	llærmežene	kootono	kootohuuno
genitive	llærmerræ	llærmežerræ	kootorra	kootohuurra
dative	llærmehee	llærmežehee	kootohoo	kootohuuhoo
ablative	llærmeśi	llærmežeśi	kootośu	kootohuuśu
instrumental	llærmeddee	llærmežeddee	kootoddoo	kootohuuddoo
locative	llærmemi	llærmežemi	kootomu	kootohuumu
allative	llærmeme	llærmežeme	kootomo	kootohuumo
delative	llærmemæ	llærmežemæ	kootoma	kootohuuma
benefactive	llærmegæ	llærmežegæ	kootoga	kootohuuga
causative	llærmebbii	llærmežebbii	kootobbuu	kootohuubbuu
abessive	llærmejje	llærmežejje	kootojjo	kootohuujjo
essive	llærmewææ	llærmežewææ	kootowaa	kootohuuwaa
comparative	llærmehhæ	llærmežehhæ	kootohha	kootohuuhha
contrastive	llærmekkæ	llærmežekkæ	kootokka	kootohuukka
partitive	llærmeppii	llærmežeppii	kootoppuu	kootohuuppuu

In some texts, especially in the later period, semantically inanimate nouns display no ending in the accusative case, like the nominative ending.

tterni muuhahoo bbooda urrgamapuud
the man gave water to the cow

Declension of qualifying adjectives

Examples: kiibe, young, and sampo, new, with a semantically animate noun with front leading vowel, llærme, father, and a semantically inanimate noun with back leading vowel, kooto, house.

	kiibe llærme
	singular	plural
nominative	kiibe llærme	kiibeže llærmeže
accusative	kiibene llærmene	kiibežene llærmežene
genitive	kiiberræ llærmerræ	kiibežerræ llærmežerræ
dative	kiibehee llærmehee	kiibežehee llærmežehee
ablative	kiibeśi llærmeśi	kiibežeśi llærmežeśi
instrumental	kiibeddee llærmeddee	kiibežeddee llærmežeddee
locative	kiibemi llærmemi	kiibežemi llærmežemi
allative	kiibeme llærmeme	kiibežeme llærmežeme
delative	kiibemæ llærmemæ	kiibežemæ llærmežemæ
benefactive	kiibegæ llærmegæ	kiibežegæ llærmežegæ
causative	kiibebbii llærmebbii	kiibežebbii llærmežebbii
abessive	kiibejje llærmejje	kiibežejje llærmežejje
essive	kiibewææ llærmewææ	kiibežewææ llærmežewææ
comparative	kiibehhæ llærmehhæ	kiibežehhæ llærmežehhæ
contrastive	kiibekkæ llærmekkæ	kiibežekkæ llærmežekkæ
partitive	kiibeppii llærmeppii	kiibežeppii llærmežeppii

	sampo kooto
	singular	plural
nominative	sampo kooto	sampohuu kootohuu
accusative	sampono kootono	sampohuuno kootohuuno
genitive	samporra kootorra	sampohuurra kootohuurra
dative	sampohoo kootohoo	sampohuuhoo kootohuuhoo
ablative	sampośu kootośu	sampohuuśu kootohuuśu
instrumental	sampoddoo kootoddoo	sampohuuddoo kootohuuddoo
locative	sampomu kootomu	sampohuumu kootohuumu
allative	sampomo kootomo	sampohuumo kootohuumo
delative	sampoma kootoma	sampohuuma kootohuuma
benefactive	sampoga kootoga	sampohuuga kootohuuga
causative	sampobbuu kootobbuu	sampohuubbuu kootohuubbuu
abessive	sampojjo kootojjo	sampohuujjo kootohuujjo
essive	sampowaa kootowaa	sampohuuwaa kootohuuwaa
comparative	sampohha kootohha	sampohuuhha kootohuuhha
contrastive	sampokka kootokka	sampohuukka kootohuukka
partitive	sampoppuu kootoppuu	sampohuuppuu kootohuuppuu

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:	aargo
2:	bunaa
3:	leeso
4:	zante
5:	gærne
6:	ddiino
7:	woolu
8:	miizo
9:	hæærtu
10:	laare

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

digit	noun form
11:	laaraargo
12:	laarebunaa
13:	laareleeso
14:	laarezante
15:	laaregærne
16:	laareddiino
17:	laarewoolu
18:	laaremiizo
19:	laarehæærtu

The numeral for 11 is irregularly built, by losing the last vowel of laare.

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

digit	noun form
100:	źoohdi
1000:	bbekko

The numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands are built with the construction NUM + -laa / -źoo / -bbe:

	tens	hundreds	thousands
2x:	bunaalaa	bunaaźoo	bunaabbe
3x:	leesolaa	leesoźoo	leesobbe
4x:	zantelaa	zanteźoo	zantebbe
5x:	gærnelaa	gærneźoo	gærnebbe
6x:	ddiinolaa	ddiinoźoo	diinobbe
7x:	woolulaa	wooluźoo	woolubbe
8x:	miizolaa	miizoźoo	miizobbe
9x:	hæærtulaa	hæærtuźoo	hæærtubbe

Numbers above the multiples of thousands have no name and are specified by the lesser numerals.

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

• 1985: bbekko hæærtuźoo miizolaa gærne

All cardinal numerals are meant as declinable forms. Case endings are usually attached to last numerals in a composed number. An adjoining noun is always declined in the partitive case, either in singular or plural number. The numerals conveys the case required in the sentence for the noun group.

roo leesone kootohuuppuu tuurkarom
I see three houses (lit. I see three of houses)

With semantically uncountable nouns, the numerals, and the noun declined in the singular partitive case, convey the meaning “X units of Y”:

leeso gomooppuu
three pieces/parts/balls/etc. of wool

If we want to convey a certain part of a greater amount, “X unity of more Ys”, the construction with the numeral (sometimes declined in the partitive case, instead of the required case), the indefinite adjective argo, every, all, and the adjoining noun declined in the plural partitive case.

roo leesone argoohuuppuu kootohuuppuu tuurkarom
I see three of the houses (lit. I see three of all houses)

roo leesoppii argoohuuppuu kootohuuppuu tuurkarom
I see three of the houses (lit. I see of three of all houses)

In later texts the noun stops agreeing with the numeral in number. The noun is then firmly declined in singular partitive case.

roo leesone kootoppuu tuurkarom
I see three houses (lit. I see three of house)

Ordinal numerals

Ordinal numerals are formed by adding the adjectival endings -ndi / -ndu to the cardinal numeral form:

digit	adjective form
1st:	aargondu
2nd:	bunaandu
3rd:	leesondi
4th:	zantendu
5th:	gærnendi
6th:	ddiinondi
7th:	woolundu
8th:	miizondi
9th:	hæærtundi
10th:	laarendu
11th:	laaraargondu
12th:	laarebunaandu
20th:	bunaalaandu
60th:	ddiinolaandi

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

• 25^th: bunaalaa gærnendi

Verbs

Verbal roots in Æbbro language systematically end in a consonant. As normal for an agglutinative language, like the nouns, in verbal conjugation the tense endings are different and separated form the aspect endings and the mood endings. Endings are added to the verbal root without undergoing any alteration (excluding vowel harmony). Thus, the structure root + endings in easily recognizable:

taažo egmireggæpiid → egmir - egg - æp - iid
they could have written → to write - potential mood - perfect aspect - past tense

The verbal system displays the following features:

• mood: indicative, optative, potential, imperative
• aspect: habitual, progressive, perfect, resultative
• tense: past, present, future

The citation form of verbs is the indicative habitual present or the habitual imperative form, which coincide with the pure verbal root.

tuurkar
see / see! / to see

Three non-finite nominal/adjectival forms are also distinguished:

• Non-finite forms: infinite, active participle, passive participle.

On the morphological level the verb display no person, or number, exhibiting always the same unaltered form. These features are conveyed through the personal pronouns.

roo tuurkarom
I see