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. An “a” must be added to the stem which causes a-affection of the final consonant but not vowels. The epenthetic consonant -j- occurs between a final vowels and the “a”.

To create the genitive stem and stative stem in the plural, the plural stem undergoes the two stem weakening processes above. This change in strength also occurs in the suffix directly before the case suffix.

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. The plural in this case though is written according to pronunciation creating a true singular, e.g. “swáma” vs. “süümbe” - “because of a herd of cows” vs. “because of cows”. The dual number is formed in the opposite fashion, using the singular stem with plural suffixes, with the stem written as the plural would be. This means that the nominative singular and dual are identical, as it is with the plural and collective, but are different in other cases, e.g. “súma” vs. “súmbe” “because of a cow” vs. “because of two cows”. The dual form may also me the default plural for nouns which come in pairs, e.g. eyes, but only in non-nominative cases. The fact that the collective is written as a singular means that a new collective can be formed from it, so, for example, you may have “sú” (cow), “swá” (a herd of cows) and “swé” (many herds of cows) and further to “swí” or if “swia” depending on how far one wishes to take the meaning of the word, but cases of more than two collective forms are very, very rare.

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 for height, length, width, and a combination of all of these. Two suffixes at the most can be placed in this slot because using three would be a redundant process.

-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” > “lepfi – 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 smaller”, e.g. “pat – bath” > “pećes – wash basin”.

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

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

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

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

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

-em – This suffix appears after r and l and means “generally smaller”, e.g. “úr – house” > “úśem – cottage”. The -e- in this suffix does not cause i-affection of vowels or the letter -l-, as would be expected.

-rd – This suffix appears after vowels and means “generally bigger”, e.g. “sa – cat” > “sardi – big cat”. It appears as -ḑ in quick speech as well as in informal writing, so “sardi” may appear as “saḑi” instead.

-l – This suffix also appears after vowels and means “generally smaller”, 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. The [] vowels are used after C-clusters only.

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

-[e]s – smaller in height, e.g. “úrs~úş – bungalow”.

-[a]rc – wider, e.g.

-[i]t – thinner, e.g.

-[a]ng – longer, e.g. “snéjang – dragon”.

-[i]l – shorter, e.g. “snéjil – worm”.

It should be noted that the affection caused by the suffixes' vowels are marked by pronunciation. This is because these words are technically new, having formed through a derivational suffix.

Slot 3 – Definiteness

Unlike English, Sangi only has the definite article, of which there are four, not one. None of these suffixes can causes any form of mutation or affection.

-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. The definite suffix does not create a new stem.

I Nominative Stem

-i/e, -i/e – These are the nominative suffixes of the general gender and represent the subject of the verb. “-e” is used with collective nouns and “-i” with singular.

-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 dynamic verbs and the direct objects of stative verbs.

-ma, -mbe – These are the causal suffixes and they 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, -lli – These are the genitive suffixes and are translated as “of...”.

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

-lsi, -ldi – Marks that the noun is possessed. It is rarely used but is mainly used to emphasise the possession that object.

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

-sca, -sće – These suffixes translate as “in (regards to)” and “about” as in “talk about”.

-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. “iéra zëëmindi sinditum – 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. Also used as the general suffixes of position a movement.

-ra/(se), -rda/(te), -rra/(de), -rsa/(je) – These are the temporal suffixes and relate to time. They mean, respectively, “at…” or “on/in this…”, “until…” or “up to…”, “as of…” or “from…” and “between… and…” In quick speech, the “non-locative” temporal cases are usually made retroflex becoming -ḑa -ŗa and -şa. When used with the temporal demonstratives it can add meaning off “after” and “before”. The temporal suffixes can also be used with nouns that represent events.

It can be seen that all of the plural suffixes belonging to all stems 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. “tocim – 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. “úric – 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.”

The -[i]- infixes are epenthetic and cannot cause i-affection.

Slot 6 – Predicate Cases

The predicate cases are attached to the stative stem of the noun complex and cause the noun to become a stative verb. There are four of these suffixes, each of which describes 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, -ista – 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. “pyduistil – 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. “œjotec' – It is like the Earth”, “maset' – you are different from me”, etc. The vowels do not cause any mutation or affection.

To mark possession which would require use of the verb “to have” in English, Sangi combines generally uses a similar process as Russian, saying “with [possessor] is [possessed]” using the comitative case or the sociative. To say “I have a dog” one would shift this to “he is with me, a dog” and translate it directly as “matuc’ toc” or “mactac’ toc”. In the spoken language, however, this is usually replaced by the same construct as the original English using the verb “awil” or “to have”.