Pirdänë: Noun Inflection

 In Pirdänë, nouns are divided into two categories, animate and inanimate.
Animate nouns are basically nouns that have self directed movement. So nouns
such as:
 öm "river"
 kladh "conversation"  (maybe not this one.....)
 hãgu "fire"

are all classified in the animate category. This category also includes, as would
be expected, living creatures, including parts of living creatures, so that:

mag "neck"  ãm "name"  and  gyid "face"  are all animate.

The inanimate category contains ideas and objects that are bacially static, or
unable to move by themselves. The inanimate category also includes all -r
stems. This means that, rather surprisingly, all kinship terms (all of which
are -r stems), are in the inanimate category, despite the fact that they are
people.

DECLENSION:
Nouns have 2 cases and 2 numbers. The cases are nominative and oblique. Nominative
is used to indicate the subject, and the oblique is basically used everywhere
else. The two numbers are singular and plural

 Animate nouns add the following endings:
   Singular    Plural
   Nom: -0   Nom: -zyë
   Obl: -ë   Obl: -zyen

Some consonants are absorbed by the anim. plural endings:
   -dh+zy- > -zy- (example: kladh > klazyë)
   -š+zy- > -zy- (example: äš "deer" > äzyë)
   -d+zy- > -zy- (example: gyid > gyizyë)
   -t+zy- > -ç-  (example: miêt "fool" > miêçë)

Furthermore, words that end in a nasal vowel are changed before the oblique ending. The
nasal vowel becomes a vowel + nasal (either m or n):

gòdhrõ "ankle" > gòdhrònë
and (even tho it's an inanimate noun):
dhrî "number" > dhrimë

   Inanimate Nouns add the following endings:
     Singular:                  Plural:
      Nom: -0                   Nom: -rê
      Obl: -(r)ë (for r stems)  Obl: -ren


 Examples of Declension:
  Animate:  zyam "herdsman"  miêt "fool"
   Singular:     Plural:   Singular:  Plural:
    Nom: zyam  zyamzyë      miêt      miêçë
    Obl: zyamë zyamzyen     miêtë     miêçen

   Inanimate: hädë "father" (-r) dighrë "repentance"
   Singular:    Plural:     Singular:  Plural:
    Nom: hädë   hädrê       dighrë     dighrërê
    Obl: hädrë  hädren      dighrë     dighrëren

Next time: Definite nouns and Demonstratives!!!

Elliott