User:Bukkia/sandboxVIII
Nouns
Nouns in Biwdiw language end almost exclusively in a vowel or in the recurring -iw diphthong. A certain number of nouns, mostly loanwords, may unusually end in a consonant; in this case a euphonic vowel, -u-, is added at the end of noun before the normal declension endings.
Nouns are grouped into two declension classes: animate nouns or class I and inanimate nouns or class II. 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:
- class I: human beings, animals, deities
- class II: 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. For example, there are some logical-semantical exceptions, like the word hɛčo, wind, ňuli, love, or sjɛňu, light, which freely shift from a class to the other during the history of the language, depending on the overall cultural perception of the nouns' animateness degree, being thus regarded as lifeless objects or concepts or as moving entities.
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 three morphological numbers for almost all nouns, singular, dual, and plural.
The dual number is used when two entities are mentioned (or when these entities are usually found in couple):
līlušū subɛnu I see dogs (three, four, some, many, …)
līlušū subɛhiw I see two dogs (it cannot be any other number)
In this case, the usage of the numeral hɛgiw, two, is not required. It can be used, however, to highlight the value of the numeral.
līlušū hɛgiw subɛhiw I see two dogs (the amount of two is purposedly highlighted)
The dual number is not a continuously stable feature per se in the history of Biwdiw language. It is largely used in the classical period, while it tends to be always introduced by the numeral in the first later period. It begins to die out in the texts of the later period, except for the texts in the western area, where it is still widely used well into the earlier modern period.
