Re: How much data in your conlang nouns?

--- Jan van Steenbergen <ijzeren_jan@...>
wrote:
> >>>>>1. Number (such as singular, dual, plural)
> >>>>>2. Gender (such as masc., fem., neut.)
> >>>>>3. Class or Declension (Varies with language)
> >>>>>4. Case (nom., dat., gen., etc. varies with
> language)
> >>>>>5. Social mode (formal, informal, royal,
> sacred, who
> >>>>>   knows)
Silindion

1) Number: singular, plural
2) no gender, except for natural gender pairs.
3) 19 declensions or 'stem-classes'
    9 vowel classes and 10 consonant classes.
    For n-consonant stems, there are 2 types,
    ivan- type and sulon/suln- type, that is,
    1-stem vs. 2-stem words.
    For d-consonant stems, there are 2 types,
    lona-/lond- type and ean-/eand- type, that is,
    gerundial nouns ending in -na(d), and others.
    There are also a few irregular nouns.
4) Case: 13 cases:
  nominative: subject
  accusative: object and motion through space or time
  genitive: possessor
  dative: indirect object, benefactive nouns
  ablative: seperation
  locative: place in space or time
  allative: motion to a place or time.
            Agent in passive.
  comitative: together with
  instrumental: means or manner by which something is
done,    material which something is made out of.
  copulative: an enclitic attached to the subject of a
copulative sentence: [X=] [Y]
  essive: added to a predicate to mean [it] [=x],
also 'as X', or 'while X', where x=noun.
  relative/topical: 'as for x', 'about x', 'x-like'
  adjectival: derives an adjective.

5)Social Mode:
Distinction made between High Silindion and Low
Silindion, in all levels of grammar. Lexically, some
nouns are in differing classes, with the most obvious
being the disappearence of the -e class in Low
Silindion, all nouns of this class being transfered
into the -ay consonant class. Also, nouns of other
classes which have a nominative in -e in High
Silindion become part of the -ay class. This leads to
major shifts in the declensional system. The -ay class
itself is greatly differentiated in different levels
of speach:

In the following table, an ay-stem noun 'crow' is
declined. The first column shows the singular of High
Silindion and Low Silindion. It also is the plural in
High Silindion. The next column is the plural of
written Low Silindion, of plays and other lower class
documents. The third column is the plural of spoken
Low Silindion.

Nom: passë       passi       passi
Acc: pássëan     pássian     passín
Gen: passë(a)ri  passi(a)ri  passiri
Dat: pássëanu    pássianu    passinu
Abl: pássëalim   pássialim   passilim
Loc: pássëavi    pássiavi    passivi
All: pássëanna   pássianna   passinna
Com: pássëamma   pássiamma   passimma
Ins: pássëu      pássiu      pássiu
Cop: pássëar     pássiar     passir
Ess: passë       passi       passi
Rel: pássëatma   pássiatma   passitma
Adj: pássëa      pássia      pássia

Other minor differences occur between High Silindion
and Low Silindion such as:
  a) the addition of a special benefactive case in HS,
ending in -nur, which takes the place of the
benefactive dative of LS.
  b) lexical differences in some nouns.

Elliott







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