Sangi/Nouns

=Nouns=

Nominal Structure
Like verbs, nouns have a series of slots into which certain affixes can be placed. They are all suffixes and show case, position, direction, number, definiteness, size, and possession.

An overview of the suffixes would be:

Slot 1: Stem

Slot 2: Measure

Slot 3: Definiteness

Slot 4: Case-Number

Slot 5: Possession

Slot 6: Predicate Cases

Slot 1 – The Stem
The stem may undergo a number of different mutations but only I-mutation makes a semantic difference. I-mutation – This causes the noun to show plurality.

Plural mutation – This also causes the noun the show plurality. It is quite rare that a word will not be able to undergo at least one of these.

Stem weakening I - This creates the genitive stem in the singular.

Stem weakening II – This creates the stative stem.

Stem Strengthening – This creates the locative stem. This strengthening also applies to stem ending in -i and -e but not -j and long plosives. To these an a must be added to the stem which causes a-affection.

To create the genitive stem and stative stem in the plural, the plural stem undergoes the two stem weakening processes above.

The form a noun takes to show the collective form, “a group of...”, “a flock of sheep,” etc. is the plural stem with singular suffixes. This means that the word for cows and a herd of cows are the same in the nominative case and the stative cases, “süü”, but different in all others, e.g. süüma vs. süümbe “because of a herd of cows” vs. “because of cows”.

Slot 2 – Measure
The suffixes of slot 2 give an overview of the size of the object in relation to its general sized counterpart. There are suffixes height, length, width, and a combination of all of these. Two suffixes at the most can be placed in this slot.

-od – This suffix appears after labial consonants and is the suffix meaning “generally larger”, e.g. “lap – laugh > lapodi – hysterical laugh”.

-i – This suffix also appears after labial consonants and means “generally smaller”, e.g. “lap – laugh > lapi – chuckle”.

-uc – This suffix appears after dental consonants and means “generally bigger”, e.g. “pat – bath > patuc – swimming pool”.

-es – This suffix also appears after dental consonants and means “generally small”, e.g. “pat – bath > paćes – wash basin”.

-op – This suffix appears after velar consonants and means “generally big”, e.g. “toc – dog > tocop – big dog (class of dogs, like a Great Dane)”.

-el – This suffix also appears after velar consonants and means “generally small”, e.g. “toc – dog > toćel – puppy”.

-ot – This suffix appears after sibilants and means “generally big”, e.g. “cússi – ghost > cússot - Demon”.

-et - This suffix also appears after sibilants and means “generally small”, e.g. “cússi – ghost > cúśśet –little ghost, spirit”.

-ac – This suffix appears after r and l and means “generally big”, e.g. “úr – house > úźac – mansion”.

-em – This suffix appears after r and l and means “generally small”, e.g. “úr – house > úśem – cottage”.

-rd – This suffix appears after vowels and means “generally big”, e.g. “sa – cat > sardi – big cat”.

-l – This suffix also appears after vowels and means “generally small”, e.g. “sa – cat > sal – kitten”.

The above suffixes can be seen as augmentative and diminutive suffixes.

The other sets of suffixes are not dependent on the final sound of the stem and are limited to a single dimension.

-[o]g – bigger in height, e.g. úrgi – skyscraper.

-[e]s – smaller in height, e.g. úres – bungalow.

-[a]rc – wider, e.g.

-[i]t – thinner, e.g.

-[a]ng – longer, e.g. snejang - dragon

-[i]l – shorter, e.g. snejil - worm

Slot 3 – Definiteness
Unlike English, Sangi only has the definite article, of which there are four, not one.

-o – this suffix is used with singular nouns and appears after consonants, e.g. toco – the dog.

-u – this suffix is used with plural nouns and appears after consonants, e.g. töśu – the dogs.

-lo – this suffix is used with singular nouns and appears after vowels, e.g. súlo – the cow.

-llu – this suffix is used with plural nouns an appears after vowels, e.g. süüllu – the cows.

Slot 4 – Case-Number
The suffixes for case and number are attached to the eight different stems formed in slot 1. Singular suffixes are attached to singular stems and plural suffixes are attached to plural stems so these pairs will be discussed as pairs. The suffixed will be discussed according to their stems.

I Nominative Stem
-i/e, -i/e – These are the nominative suffixes of the general gender and represent the subject of the verb.

-o, -o – These are the male nominative suffixes.

-a, -a – These are the female nominative suffixes.

-n, -ndi – These are the accusative suffixes and represent the (direct) object of the verb.

-t, -ði – These are the dative suffixes and represent the indirect object of the verb.

-ma, -mbe – These are the causal suffixes and represent the cause of the verbs performance.

-mi, -mbi - These are the passive suffixes used with the passive voice. They represent the "by..." construct.

-V, -Vi – These are the vocative suffixes and represent the English “Oh...”. The V is the last vowel of the stem, so this suffix may be the same as the nominative or -u.

II Genitive Stem
-l, -ldi – These are the genitive suffixes and are translated as “of...”.

-s, -st – These are the possessive suffixes and are translated as “__-'s”.

-wa, -le – These are the benefactive suffixes and are translated as “for (the benefit of)...”.

-se, -sti – These are the distributive suffixes and are translated as “per...”.

-u, -au – These are the partitive suffixes and are translated as “a number of ...”. The number can be specified. It can also be used when an object is actually part of the noun in question like “armo poǵium – the arm of my body”, hence the term “partitive”.

-le, -lli – These are the instrumental suffixes and represent the object used in the performance of the verb.

-tu, -ðau – These are the comitative suffixes and they represent the object (usually people) that also participated in the action, e.g. “léru zëëmendi sindetum – I play games with my sibling.”

-cta, -cse – These are the sociative suffixes and show that the verb was performed within the range of a sense or in the company of the noun in question.

-it, -iði – These are the anti-instrumental suffixes and show what was not used in the performance of the verb.

-ssi, -si – These are the anti-comitative suffixes and show what did not participate in the action.

-lca, -lge – These are the anti-sociative suffixes and show that the action was performed outside the senses of the noun.

III Stative Stem
-tta, -te – These show that something is currently in a state of being.

-ta, -ðe – These show that the object's state of being is moving away from its original state.

-ja, -je – These show that the object's state of being is moving towards a new state.

-cca, -ce – These mark the location of the beginning of a journey.

-ca, -śe – These mark the location of the end of a journey.

-ga, -he – These mark the cause of the journey or the object of a search.

IV Locative Stem
The locative, movement and temporal suffixes will be listed in order of position, movement to, movement from and movement along.

-sa/ste, -sta/śte, -ssa/se, -śa/ge – These are the interior suffixes relate to the inside of the noun.

-la/lle, -lda/lte, -lla/le, -lsa/lde – These are the surface suffixes and relate to the noun's surface.

-na/nde, -nda/nte, -nna/ne, -nsa/nde – These are the exterior suffixes and relate to the area around the noun.

-ra, -rda, -rra, -rsa – These are the temporal suffixes and relate to time.

It can be seen that all of the plural suffixes are a result of consonantal and vocalic plural mutations. The difference, though, is not marked on the vowel by means of diacritics. This has been the preferred method because it allows the stem to be clearly defined and identified in writing.

Slot 5 – Possessive Suffixes
The possessive suffixes, when used alone, show possession by an already established noun which has been replaced by a pronoun, therefore they mean “my”, “our”, “your”, “his/her/its” and “their”. When used in combination with the definite article they take the meaning of “... own”.

-[i]m – This means “my”, e.g. toþim – my dog.

-[i]t – This means “your (singular)”, e.g. sat – your cat.

-[i]c – This means “his”, “her” and “its”, as gender is rarely marked in Sangi, e.g. úśic – her house.

-[i]p – This means “our”, e.g. töśip – our dogs.

-[i]s – This means “your (plural)”, e.g. püüllus – your own books.

-[i]j – This means “their”, e.g. lanij – their country.

Slot 6 – Predicate Cases
The predicate cases are attached to the stative stem of the noun and cause the noun to become a stative verb. If another case is already used then it is attached straight onto the complex without the need for stem change. There are four of these suffixes, each of which describe the main noun in a similar way to the English construction “NOUN be NOUN”. They, as above, will be listed in pairs of singular and plural.

-is, -ist – This suffix translates as “to be...” and is the simple predicate case, e.g. mannisel – to be a person.

-iste, -iśti – This suffix translates as “to be like...”, e.g. œjoistel – to be like the Earth.

-ise, -isti – This suffix translates as “to be the same as...”, e.g. pysuistil – to be the same as the birds.

-isse, -isi – This suffix translates as “to be different from...”, e.g. maissel – to be different from me.

The -is- part of each suffix is lost when the verb is conjugated, e.g. œjotece – It is like the Earth, masete – you are different from me, etc. when the -iś- part of -iśti is lost it causes the last consonant of the word to undergo i-affection or the last vowel to undergo i-affection, e.g. määdiśtil – to be like mice > määǵetiśę – they are like mice. When a plural noun is conjugated for tense, an epenthetic vowel is added after the stem on which mutation can occur. The vowel is determined by the epenthesis rules discussed below. For example, “süücę – it will be a cow”, but “süühëcę - they will be cows”.