Gəjlnigo morphology
- Main article: Gəjlnigo
This page gives an extensive description of Gəjlnigo morphological features.
Nouns
Nouns in Gəjlnigo language end predominantly in a vowel. A certain amount of nouns, however, ends in a consonant, usually a palatalized one; these nouns tend to behave as irregular ones, but a euphonic vowel, mostly -i-, is generally added at the end of noun before the normal declension endings.
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
Gəjlnigo nouns do decline, according to a nominative-accusative system with 2 cases:
| 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 | It has no specifical meaning and it is generally used only with prepositions. It can be occasionally used without prepositions, marking the indirect object. In earlier texts it can mark the final point of a movement (motion toward a place) and, limited to proper nouns, possession and belonging. |
Numerals
The numeral system relies on a decimal base.
The first ten cardinal numbers are noun-like forms on their own:
| šaw | |
| egəj | |
| məjgo | |
| gɔĺ | |
| haǵ | |
| tɔj | |
| heže | |
| čuj | |
| cɔǧo | |
| pejo |
Numerals from 11 to 19 are built with the construction NUM + ne + pejo, with some irregularities:
| šawnepejo | |
| egəjnepejo | |
| məjgonepejo | |
| gɔjnepejo | |
| haginepejo | |
| tɔjnepejo | |
| heženepejo | |
| čujnepejo | |
| cɔǧunepejo |
The numerals for (one) hundred and (one) thousand are noun-like forms on their own:
| ňacco | |
| iva |
The numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands are built with the construction NUM + -pejdduno / -ňaccuno / -ivadduno. There is a certain number of irregularities. Moreover, the ending -ivadduno turns into -əjvadduno when added to a form ending with a -i and delets this vowel, while it turns into -jvadduno when added to a form ending with any other vowel, not deleting it:
| egəjpejddɔw | egəjňaccuno | egivadduno | |
| məjgopejdduno | məjgoňaccuno | məjgojvadduno | |
| gɔjpejdduno | gɔjňaccuno | gɔjəjvadduno | |
| hagipejdduno | hagiňaccuno | hagəjvadduno | |
| tɔjpejdduno | tɔjňaccuno | tɔjivadduno | |
| hežepejdduno | hežeňaccuno | hežejvadduno | |
| čujpejdduno | čujňaccuno | čujəjvadduno | |
| cɔǧupejdduno | cɔǧuňaccuno | cɔǧujvadduno |
The numerals for “million” and “billion” are nominal forms on their own (the latter is an adapted loanword from Iðâɣ language):
| ivaw | |
| mejšurejntu (from I. mêšúrěntu) |
These forms are treated as regularly declinable nouns:
| məjgo ivawno | |
| tɔj mejšurejntuno |
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 introduced by the preposition čel and are declined in the oblique case:
gɔ egəj ivawnure čel pɔgenure to two millions people
Composite numbers are built by just putting them beside, without any conjunction, in descending order:
- 1985: iva cɔǧoňaccuno čujpedduno haǵ
When cardinal numbers have an adjective-like function, or when they are used as as simple count forms, they are meant as indeclinable forms (except for "million" and "billion").
ež hɔgo čel ɔddužono məjgo maccudəjnure my three friends' house
šaw, egəj, məjgo, gɔĺ, ... one, two, three, four, ...
Every numeral, however, can also have a pronominal function. In this case, they are declined in the required case. They are declined only in the singular declension and they are generally used the article.
ež hɔgo čejžnore məjgore the house of those three (people)
There is, moreover, an additional pronoun-like irregular numeral, egivəj, meaning "both". It display a normal declension, only in the singular form, and it is never used with the any article. The verb agrees with this form in the plural number.
ež hɔgo čel egivəjre the house of both (of them)
egivəj ezehəjgəjduno they both walked out
In the earlier modern period the idea of “zero” is introduced from Cärähə language. This numeral is however usually limited to mathematics:
| hesju (from C. xesü) |
Ordinal numerals are formed by adding the ordinal ending -ro to the cardinal numeral form, with some irregularities:
| šawro | |
| egəjro | |
| məjgoro | |
| gɔjro | |
| hagiro | |
| tɔjro | |
| hežero | |
| čujro | |
| cɔǧuro | |
| pejuro | |
| šawnepejuro | |
| egəjnepejuro | |
| egəjpejddɔwro | |
| hagipejddunuro |
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:
| ivawro | |
| mejšurejnturo | |
| məjgomejšurejntunoro |
If the numeral form is composite, the ending is added only to the last numeral form:
- 25th: egəjpejddɔw hagiro
