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Nouns in the Lindjerblau, as in most dialects of the Almsaundean language, are inflected for 2 numbers, (singular and plural), 8 cases (ergative, accusative, dative, prepositional, postpositional, genitive, nominative and vocative) and 5 genders (man, women, boy, girl and neuter).
Grammar[]
All nouns in the Lindjerblau are capitalized.
Case[]
Nouns decline into 8 (or 7) different cases depending on their function in the sentence. The 8 cases are the ergative, accusative, dative, preopositional, postpositional, genitive, nominative and vocative cases. Because the nominative and vocative cases share the same declensions, they are often thrown into a single case.
Ergative Case[]
As a dialect of a tripartite language, Lindjerblau uses a different case for the subject of a transitive verb, subject of an intransitive verb, and the object of a transitive verb. The ergative case marks the subject of a transitive verb, or a verb that can take an object (or direct object).
- Pfuh Boi j git. (The boy is going.)
- Pfuh Boi pfa Taunna j git. (The boy is going to town.)
Some verbs can take the ergative or the nominative (intransitive) with variations in meaning.
- Pfi Kniwi art pfuh Paurjer. (Knowledge is power.)
- Pfers Kniwer art. (Knowledge is. / Such knowledge does, in fact, exist.)
The ergative is the dictionary form of the noun.
Accusative Case[]
The accusative case marks the direct object of a verb.
- Schij Kitja j hivvsse. (She has a kitten.)
- Pfë itschesse j Breido. (They're eating (a piece of) bread.)
The verb bijne, to be, the direct object may take either the ergative case or the accusative. The meaning of a double-ergative sentence of these is usually left up to syntax, with the noun at the head of the sentence translating semantically as the subject and the noun after it translating as the object. The accusative is used to avoid ambiguation in these cases.
"Swer ist Firsod" (A square is a rectangle) could be interpreted as "A rectangle is a square" if arranged as "Firsod ist Swer" since both nouns are masculin and singular and would take "ist". While the first sentence is true, the second isn't, and the accusative should be used to avoid this ambiguity; "Swer ist Firsodo," or "Firsodo ist Swer" are preferred.
Dative Case[]
The dative case marks the indirect object of a ditransitive verb.
- Hiho pfën Gerlën j govvt. (He's giving it to the girl.)
- Al pfa Mitseileima pfën Taunnën j gijadszch. (They're going to the deli in town. (With the nuance that they're not already in town.))
Prepositional Case[]
The prepositional case marks the object of one of the 8 prepositions; tuh (to), on (in), it (at), frem (from), ev (of), ebaut (about), fir (for) and rjopf (with). Prepositions contract with articles and possessive pronouns, dropping their final consonants and adding -m for singular and -s for plural nouns.
- Ąjje beje fim Bircedem. (I bought something for your/(my/his/her/the/no/that/this/etc.) birthday.)
Because articles and possessive pronouns contract with prepositions, adjectives describing nouns in the prepositional case can not be held together as comments. They are free to roam the sentence individually and must take case endings.
- Berjatzes schij begildes ß gisse rjos Freindes pfan Mwëzokschaftan. (She always goes to concerts with her older, more mature friends.)
In negated sentences, the dative nouns--and never the dative pronouns--drop into the prepositional case.
- Al pfes Mitseleims pfem Taunnem n gijadszch. (They're not goint to the deli in town.)
Postpositional Case[]
The postpositional case marks the object of a postposition. Postpositions stand alone, alike particles, and never form compounds with other words.
- Heinel Brepferel seljan, hipfo j hivvt sokso. (He has six of them according to his brother.)
- Ą hivve j gijan aut, em Vitbim, weinel Vitbil autev. (I'm leaving with or without your permission.)
Some prepositions may take the prepositional case in an animate sense and be used as postpositions inanimately, causing the noun to take the postpositional case.
- Hidszcho petscht om Stoljem (He puts it onto the table.)
- Hij isst pfel Stoljel on. (He is on the table.)
Genitive Case[]
The genitive case marks the possessive form of a noun. The genitive phrase is usually at the tail of the noun it governs.
- Ą pfo Senno meins Fapfers amme. (I am my father's son.)
- Pfe Hıllefte pfes Hauschefts kiwertettesse es temarligriennes Tritsches. (The country's valleys are covered with evergreen forests.)
An alternative possibility is to combine the genitive with the noun it governs by attaching it at the head of the noun. When this is done, adjectives and articles that modify the genitive noun are dropped to avoid arbitrarily long compounds. Compounds maintain the gender of the noun at the tail.
- Ą pfo Meinsfapferssenno amme. (I am my father's son.)
- Pfe Hauscheftshıllefte kiwertettesse es temarligriennes Tritsches. (The country's valleys are covered with evergreen forests.)
In negated sentences, accusative nouns--and never accusative pronouns--drop into hhe genitive case.
- Pfij Mepfer z sisse scheins Gerls. (The mother doesn't see her daughter.)
Nominative Case[]
The nominative case marks the subject of an intransitive verb. It shares case endings with the vocative case.
- Pfismal Gërle j sliepsse. (The little girl is sleeping.)
Some verbs may use the nominative or the ergative (transitive) case with different nuances in meaning. For example, "sliepäne," as a transitive verb, means "to put to sleep," as in the sentence "Scheinasmal Gerla pfij Wom j sliepsse," (The woman is putting her small daughter to sleep.)
Vocative Case[]
The vocative case marks the function of a noun in disjunction with the verb, prepositions and postpositions. It's mostly used in exclamatory phrases but can also be used as single word answers to questions. Its endings are shared with the nominative case.
- Tekkekker! (Thief!)
- Hjeirem laszchst wë weino Schuo? Taun. (Where did you lose your shoe? Town. (Alternatively, om Taunnem, in town, could be used.))
- Hjuhïn guvvet pfë pfo Buekko? Aj. (To whom did they give the book? I. (Alternatively, mïn, to me, could be used.))
Typically, word order determines the stress on the important words of the sentence, but sometimes a noun or pronoun can be repeated in the vocative case at the beginning or end of the phrase to add extra emphasis.
- Gøvv ehon, hij. (Give it to him. (With emphasis on "give" and "to him."))
- Wej, ąwa levve. (I love you. (With emphasis on "I" and "you."))
- Taunna schij j gisse pfa, Taun. (She's going to town. (With special emphasis on "town".))
In more formal speech, when the an adpositional verb shares the same adposition with a noun in the same phrase, the noun drops the adposition and is dropped into the vocative case. It becomes tertiary object while the verb is considered tritransitive. This is especially used when the the same adposition would be repeated in succession.
- Rjij hivven jes gijan pfij Taun aut. [Or, 'Rjij hivven j pfel Taunnel aut aut.'] We're leaving this town.
Comparison of the Cases[]
- Ergative case
- Subject argument of a transitive verb
- Direct object argument of the verb "bijne," to be, as long as it precedes the object of the sentence
- Accusative case
- Direct object argument of an affirmative transitive verb
- Direct object argument of the verb "bijne," to be, if the direct object precedes the subject of that sentence
- Dative case
- Indirect object argument of an affirmative transitive verb
- Prepositional case
- Governs the objects of prepositions
- Governs animately the objects of adpositions that may be used as prepositions or postpositions
- Indirect object argument of a negated transitive verb
- Postpositional case
- Governs the objects of postpositions
- Governs inanimately the objects of adpositions that may be used as prepositions or postpositions
- Genitive case
- Marks the possessive form of a noun
- Direct object argument of a negated transitive verb
- Nominative case
- Subject argument of an intransitive verb
- Vocative case
- Used in exclamatory, responding, naming or calling disjunction with the verb
- Used to emphasize the importance of a word in the sentence
- Governs objects of adpositions in which the adposition is the same one used in the clause's adpositional verb
Gender[]
The 5 genders include the Man or 1st Gender, the Woman or 2nd Gender, the Boi or 3rd Gender, The Girl or 4th Gender and the Neuter or 5th Gender. With the exception of the Neuter Gender, the genders are named after their model noun. When they are compared to one another, the genders are sometimes separated into three groups, the Masculine (1st and 3rd) andFeminine (2nd and 4th) Groups and Neuter Gender.
Gender used to divide nouns into well-define groups, (such as masculine animate objects vs. ideas and concepts vs. animals), but this was lost when the genders collapsed into the first five in Modern dialects.
The First Four Genders[]
| Ergative | Accusative | Dative | Prepositional | Postpositional | Genitive | Nom/Voc | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Man Gender, 1st Gender | |||||||
| Singular | Man¹ | Manno | Mannïn | Mannum | Mannel | Mans | Man |
| Plural | Manni | Mannon | Mannïns | Mannus | Männel² | Manners | Manner |
| Woman Gender, 2nd Gender | |||||||
| Singular | Wom¹ | Woma | Womptën | Womptem | Womptel | Woms | Wom |
| Plural | Wompte | Woman | Womptens | Womptes | Wömptel² | Wompters | Wompter |
| Boy Gender, 3rd Gender | |||||||
| Singular | Boi¹ | Boino | Boin | Boim | Boijel | Bois | Boij |
| Plural | Boii | Boinon | Boins | Boijes | Böijel² | Boijers | Boijer |
| Girl Gender, 4th Gender | |||||||
| Singular | Gerle¹ | Gerla | Gerlën | Gerlem | Gerlel | Gerls | Gërle² |
| Plural | Gęrle³ | Gerlan | Gerlens | Gerles | Gërlel² | Gerlers | Gerler |
- Note: Notice that in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd genders, sandhi happens at the end of the noun root before the case ending
- Note¹: This form is the dictionary form of the noun
- Note²: The change of the stressed vowel in the root is described as moving once toward the center on the strength chart
- Note³: The change of the stressed vowel in the root is described as moving to the center of the strength chart
Articles take the ending of the nouns the modify with the exception of the ergative, nominative and vocative singular which share the common irregular articles "pfuh" for masculine and neuter genders and "pfij" for the feminine gender.
The Neuter Gender[]
Neuter gender nouns are nouns that are formed from nouns derived from the masculine genders that have collapsed to share case endings with the 4th gender due to amelioration, change in semantical function of a word. The words, while declining for the Girl Gender, have articles that decline for the Boy Gender and adjectives that decline for the Man Gender.
Words whose genders collapsed do to amelioration usually have endings from the obsolete dual, trial and quadrual numbers. These obsolete endings have become suffixes that:
- may be augmentative - pfuh Boifte, teenage boy
- may be diminutive - pfuh Beije, little boy
- may describe a subtype or subset of the noun - pfuh Fimelijke, immediate family
- may serve to describe a group of the noun - pfuh Mantsche, men's only team/group of men
- may describe a change in state of being - pfuh Mannelme, becoming a man
Some endings may serve multiple purposes:
- pfuh Kelerje, favorite color (admirative) vs. pfuh Menje, young man (diminutive)
Non-neuter Amelioration[]
Words derived from feminine gender nouns collapse into the girl gender and not the Neuter
- pfij Hausje (the home) from pfij Haus (the house), woman gender, is a girl gender noun
Some words may decline to all Man, Woman and Neuter genders. These words:
- may change the noun into the performer of the verb derived from the noun - pfon Ittekkeron, pfan Ittekkeran, pfon Ittekkeran, eater
- may change the noun into the recipient of the verb derived from the noun - pfïn Ittenïn, pfën Ittenën, pfïn Ittenën, eaten thing
Some words collapse to the man gender if from a masculine gender and to the woman gender if from a feminine gender. These words:
- may be admirative - pfij Ittelnät, favorite food
- may change what was a concrete noun into an abstract idea - pfuh Plekeit, playdate
- may describe an ongoing state of being - pfuh Manneg, manhood