Kiravic Coscivian: Difference between revisions
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Kiravic nouns inflect for two numbers (singular/nonplural and plural) and X main cases: The absolutive, ergative, genitive, indirect, locative, lative, essive, benefactive, and instrumental. Within the absolutive case, nouns further inflect for three tenses (present/gnomic, past, future, imperative) and two aspects (simple and perfect).\ | Kiravic nouns inflect for two numbers (singular/nonplural and plural) and X main cases: The absolutive, ergative, genitive, indirect, locative, lative, essive, benefactive, and instrumental. Within the absolutive case, nouns further inflect for three tenses (present/gnomic, past, future, imperative) and two aspects (simple and perfect).\ | ||
Among native speakers and in [[Kiravic_Coscivian#Written_Registers|Literary Kiravic]], the plural is marked only sparingly, and never in the company of numerals or {{wp|Classifier (linguistics)|classifiers}} (e.g. ''vôrux ethruv'' "five tree" rather than ''vôrux ethruya'' "five trees"). In [[Kiravic_Coscivian#Written_Registers|Standard Kiravic]] (which eschews classifiers) and the Svéaran dialect, plural marking is more frequent; marking enumerated plurals, while acceptable and formerly standard, has become less common since Reunification. | ===Number=== | ||
Grammatically, nouns can be nonplural (unmarked) or plural. Nonplural nouns may be semantically singular, collective, uncountable, or plural. Among native speakers and in [[Kiravic_Coscivian#Written_Registers|Literary Kiravic]], the plural is marked only sparingly, and never in the company of numerals or {{wp|Classifier (linguistics)|classifiers}} (e.g. ''vôrux ethruv'' "five tree" rather than ''vôrux ethruya'' "five trees"). In [[Kiravic_Coscivian#Written_Registers|Standard Kiravic]] (which eschews classifiers) and the Svéaran dialect, plural marking is more frequent; marking enumerated plurals, while acceptable and formerly standard, has become less common since Reunification. | |||
As illustrated in the following section, there are only two declension patterns for plural nouns. Form II (''-a'') nouns take a unique plural suffix for each case. On all other nouns, the plural base form is marked with the sufix ''-ya'' and is then declined as if it were a Form II <u>singular</u> noun. | |||
==Case - Grammaticals== | |||
There are four general declension patterns in Kiravic, characterised by the suffixes taken in the absolutive and genitive cases: | There are four general declension patterns in Kiravic, characterised by the suffixes taken in the absolutive and genitive cases: | ||
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Case syncretism is fairly common. The most common syncretic pattern variant is Form I nouns that take the Form III suffix ''-sk'' in the genitive, a prominent example being the word ''Kirav'' (genitive ''Kiravsk'' rather than ''Kiral''). | Case syncretism is fairly common. The most common syncretic pattern variant is Form I nouns that take the Form III suffix ''-sk'' in the genitive, a prominent example being the word ''Kirav'' (genitive ''Kiravsk'' rather than ''Kiral''). | ||
==== | ====Ergative-Absolutive==== | ||
The two most important noun cases in sentence formation are the '''absolutive''', which marks the object of a transitive sentence or the subject of an intransitive sentence, and the '''ergative''', which marks the subject of a transitive sentence. At minimum, a Kiravic subject-predicate sentence comprises an absolutive noun and a verb. | The two most important noun cases in sentence formation are the '''absolutive''', which marks the object of a transitive sentence or the subject of an intransitive sentence, and the '''ergative''', which marks the subject of a transitive sentence. At minimum, a Kiravic subject-predicate sentence comprises an absolutive noun and a verb. | ||
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==== | ====Constructives==== | ||
In addition to the three grammatical cases which establish the structure of a sentence, Kiravic nouns also decline for several "constructive cases" that are used to form {{wp|noun phrase}}s. | In addition to the three grammatical cases which establish the structure of a sentence, Kiravic nouns also decline for several "constructive cases" that are used to form {{wp|noun phrase}}s. | ||