Nämty morphology
- Main article: Nämty
This page gives an extensive description of Nämty morphological features.
Nouns
Nouns in Nämty language end almost exclusively in a vowel. A certain number of nouns, mostly loanwords, may unusually end in a consonant; in this case the typical nominal vowels, -e- in the singular and -i- in the plural, are 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, the word lüse, light, shifts from a class to the other during the history of the language, as the noun ħäme, love, depending on the overall cultural perception of the noun’s animateness degree.
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 two morphological numbers for almost all nouns, singular and plural.
Numerals
The numeral system relies on a decimal base.
The first ten cardinal numbers are forms on their own:
| česi | |
| moɕi | |
| βyni | |
| šäri | |
| ʂöpi | |
| gahi | |
| ňuʂi | |
| düħi | |
| bydi | |
| lümi |
These numerals are treated as adjective-like forms: They precede a noun cluster and decline according to their adjoining nouns in case, but they do not agree in number. Numerals do decline only in singular number.
česiħ heneħ of one man
ʂöpiɕ säriɕ to the five women
Numerals from 11 to 19 are built with the construction NUM + lümʂi, with some irregularities:
| česilümʂi | |
| moɕilümʂi | |
| βynilümʂi | |
| šärilümʂi | |
| ʂöpilümʂi | |
| gahilümʂi | |
| ňuʂilümʂi | |
| düħilümʂi | |
| bydilümʂi |
The numerals for (one) hundred and (one) thousand are forms on their own:
| ʂüki | |
| käʂi |
The numerals for tens, hundreds and thousands are:
| lümʂi | |
| ʂükʂi | |
| käʂi |
The numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands are built with the construction NUM (without the final -i) + lümʂy / ʂukʂy / käʂy, with some irregularities:
| moɕlümʂy | moʂükʂy | moɕkäʂy | |
| βynlümʂy | βynʂükʂy | βynkäʂy | |
| šärlümʂy | šärʂükʂy | šärkäʂy | |
| ʂöplümʂy | ʂöpʂükʂy | ʂöpkäʂy | |
| galümʂy | gaʂükʂy | gakäʂy | |
| ňuʂlümʂy | nuʂükʂy | ňuʂkäʂy | |
| dulümʂy | düħʂükʂy | dukäʂy | |
| bydlümʂy | bydʂükʂy | bydkäʂy |
All cardinal numerals above the form for 10 are meant as invariable, except for the numeral for 100 and the numeral for 1000.
Composite numbers are built by linking them with the conjunction e, and, in descending order:
- 1985: käʂi e bydʂükʂy e dulümʂy e ʂöpi
When a composite numeral has a declined adjoining number, only its declinable numeral forms do decline in agreement.
Numbers above the multiples of thousands have no name and are specified by the lesser numerals.
Ordinal numerals are formed by adding the comparative ending -si- to the cardinal numeral form, with some irregularities:
| česisi | |
| moɕisi | |
| βynisi | |
| šärisi | |
| ʂöpisi | |
| gahisi | |
| ňuʂisi | |
| düħisi | |
| bydisi | |
| lümisi |
The numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands change their last vowel from -y- to -i-, before adding the suffix -si.
| česilümʂisi | |
| moɕilümʂisi | |
| moɕlümʂisi | |
| βynlümʂisi | |
| gaʂükʂisi | |
| bydkäʂisi |
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:
- 378th: βynʂükʂisi e nuʂlümʂisi e düħisi
