Re: Construct States

On Tue, 2 Mar 1999 12:27:20 PST Edward Heil <edheil@...> writes:
>>Cool...my conlang, Rokbeigalmki, has the same thing.  It's also known
>as
>>a "construct state".
>Ah, I've heard of these.  I was perusing an Akkadian grammar I found
>in
>a used bookstore; Akkadian has construct states.  I understand Hebrew
>does too?
>I didn't read enough to get a firm grasp on the concept.
Yup, Hebrew has it too.  It's called _smikhut_ ("juxtaposition") in
Hebrew.
A "construct state" is like the opposite of a genitive case.  Instead of
having _island of-peace_, you have _island-of peace_.  There are
different ways of doing it, and Hebrew uses a few of them.
Normal masculine singular nouns just get put next to the second noun,
which never changes.
degel = flag
shalom = peace

_degel shalom_ = "flag of peace".

Feminine nouns that end in _-a_ get a _t_ added on.
darga = level
hashalom = the peace

_dargat hashalom_ = "(the) level of the peace".  In smikhut the
construct-state noun can't have _ha-_ "the" attached to it.

Masculine plural nouns have the plural ending _-im_ changed to _-ei_.
hhayalim = soldiers
hamedina = the state

_hhayalei hamedina_ = "(the) soldiers of the state"

Feminine plural nouns don't change.
malkot = queens
angliya = england

_malkot angliya_ = "(the) queens of england"

Irregular nouns whose plural ending doesn't match the grammatical gender,
such as _beitza_ (egg) >> _beitzim_ (not *_beitzot_), are changed
according to the plural ending, _beitzei_.  The same holds true for
feminine words that don't end in _-a_ and masculine words that do.

There are also irregular changes, such as _milhhama_ (war) >> _milhhEmet_
(war of) and not *_milhhamAt_. (capital letters are the accented
syllable)

In Modern Israeli Hebrew, they sometimes do strange things, such as
coining new words by running a construct compound together.

_migdal or_ = "tower of light"
(plural - _migdalei or_)

--->> _migdelor_ = "lighthouse"
with the plural form _migdelorim_.


-Stephen (Steg)

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