Re: A'stou part II: the Noun

Christophe Grandsire wrote:

> After an explanation of the phonology and phonological structure of the
> language, here is a review of the structure of the Noun is A'stou, the
> language of the disappeared people, the Dha'stem.
>
> The nouns in A'stou can be of one of three genders:
> - masculine,
> - feminine,
> - neuter (which is also epicene for people).
> They have also a singular and a plural, as well as a declination of four
> cases, each gender having its own endings for the declination (sorry for
> the names of the cases, but remember that it's a work of youth :) ):
> - nominative-vocative (N-V): the case of the subject and the attribute,
> also used to call people (vocative use),
> - accusative-genitive (A-G): the case of the object and the complement of
> a
> noun,
> - dative-ablative-locative (D-A-L): the case of the recipient (dative),
> but
> also the place and the origin,
> - instrumental-ergative (I-E): the case of the instrument, also used for
> the subject of a causative construction (hence the misused name
> 'ergative').
> The root of a noun is found by taking out the ending of the I-E case, but
> the N-V form of the noun is often different. Finally, the declination is
> different when the noun is indefinite (alone) or definite (followed by the
> definite article).
>
Well, have you decide for a name for each case and then tell that can also
be used in other situations.  As saying Nominative case and then telling it
is also used for calling people.  I guess the first case name is enough,
unless you really want your acronyms.

> THE ARTICLE:
>
> There is no indefinite article in A'stou, but there is a definite article,
> put after the noun it completes and agreeing with it only in case. the
> different forms of the article are:
> N-V: bi /bi/
> A-G: be /be/
> D-A-L: e'bi /'ebi/
> I-E: a'bi /'abi/
>
> THE DECLINATIONS:
>
> Each gender has different endings for the cases (the nominative is
> different and uses often a different form of the noun).
>
You mean that nominatives are often irregular?

>  Those endings show
> the cases as well as the number (singular or plural). they are all used
> when the noun is indefinite. But when the noun is definite, the nominative
> form (singular or plural) is used with the article at the chosen case,
>
Then, there is not exactly case agreement between the noun and the article
but the article bares the case mark, except for instrumental.

> except for the I-E case with which the noun and the article are put at the
> I-E case. Three regular examples for the three genders will explain better
> what I mean:
>
> THE MASCULINE DECLINATION:
> ex.: so'lot (N-V), so'loai (I-E): man (as opposed to 'woman') (root:
> so'lo-)
>
> indefinite declination:
>         singular                plural
> N-V     so'lot /'sOlOt/ so'loam /'sOlO.am/
> A-G     so'loi~n /'sOlO.in/     so'lome /'sOlOme/
> D-A-L   so'loka /'sOlOka/       so'loamka /'sOlO.amka/
> I-E     so'loai /'sOlO.E/       so'lomai /'sOlOmE/
>
> NOTE: The dot in the transcriptions is here to show that the vowels don't
> make diphtong.
>
> definite declination:
>         singular        plural
> N-V     so'lot bi       so'loam bi
> A-G     so'lot be       so'loam be
> D-A-L   so'lot e'bi     so'loam e'bi
> I-E     so'loai a'bi    so'lomai a'bi
>
> THE FEMININE DECLINATION:
> ex.: so'lis, so'loi: woman (root: so'l-)
>
> indefinite declination:
>         singular                plural
> N-V:    so'lis /'sOlis/ so'lom /'sOlOm/
> A-G:    so'len /'sOlen/ so'loe /'sOlO.e/
> D-A-L:  so'lshka /'sOlSka/      so'lomka /'sOlOmka/
> I-E:    so'loi /'sOlOj/ so'lmoi /'sOlmOj/
>
> definite declination:
>         singular        plural
> N-V:    so'lis bi       so'lom bi
> A-G:    so'lis be       so'lom be
> D-A-L:  so'lis e'bi     so'lom e'bi
> I-E:    so'loi a'bi     so'lmoi a'bi
>
> THE NEUTER DECLINATION:
> ex.: so'lkhi, so'loei: man (as opposed to 'animal') (root: so'lo-)
>
> indefinite declination:
>         singular                plural
> N-V:    so'lkhi /'sOlxi/        so'loem /'sOlO.em/
> A-G:    so'lou~n /'sOlO.yn/     so'loeme /'sOlO.eme/
> D-A-L:  so'lorka /'sOlOrka/     so'loemka /'sOlO.emka/
> I-E:    so'loei /'sOlO.Ej/      so'lomei /'sOlOmEj/
>
> definite declination:
>         singular        plural
> N-V:    so'lkhi bi      so'loem bi
> A-G:    so'lkhi be      so'loem be
> D-A-L:  so'lkhi e'bi    so'loem e'bi
> I-E:    so'loei a'bi    so'lomei a'bi
>
> NOTE: I translated all those words by 'man' and 'woman', but they were
> used
> by the Dha'stem to refer only to themselves, to their subspecies. Other
> humans were referred to as 'children' (but I don't remember the
> corresponding A'stou word).
> NOTE2: Names of people (like Dha'stem) are always in neuter case (Dha'stem
> is simply the N-V plural of Dha'os).
>
Is Dháos the instrumental (I-E) case? As I've see you given both nominative
and instrumental in your examples.

> THE NOUN FUNCTIONS AND THE PREPOSITIONS:
>
> Four cases are far from enough to show all the possible functions of a
> noun
> in a sentence. Thus, with those cases A'stou made a large use of
> prepositions (some of them are actually postpositions, as they appear
> after
> the noun, but they are rare). Those prepositions have to be used with a
> certain case of the noun, but only the A-C and the D-A-L can accept
> prepositions (some prepositions  can accept both cases with slightly
> different meanings). Among all the possible prepositions, the
> one-consonnant prepositions (transcribed <b_>, <g_>, <d_>, <z_>, <bh_>,
> <zh_> and pronounced with a schwa /@/ when in front of a consonnant) are
> the most important. They render all the basic functions that are not
> directly rendered by the cases:
> - b_ followed by the D-A-L shows position, while it shows time when
> followed by the A-G,
> - g_ followed by the D-A-L shows the direction as well as the goal, while
> it means 'after' when followed by the A-G,
> - d_ followed by the D-A-L shows the origin (in all concrete and abstract
> meanings), while it means 'before' when followed by the A-G,
> - z_ followed by the D-A-L means 'through', while it means 'during, for'
> when it is followed by the A-G,
>
Acusative gives then a temporal feeling to the 'on', 'after', 'from' and
'theough' prepositions while shows the spacial concept... ;)

> - bh_ is a postposition, must complete a A-G and means 'without', while
> zh_
> is a preposition followed by the A-G and meaning 'with' (accompaniment
> only, the I-E case is used for the instrumental 'with').
>
> I won't extend more on that, there are many more prepositions and adverbs
> can also be used to modify their meanings!
>
> THE ADJECTIVE:
>
> In A'stou, the adjective behaves mostly like the noun, except that most
> adjectives can be declined with all three genders. It agrees in number,
> case, and generally gender with the noun it completes (whether they are
> epithet or attribute). It also "agrees" in definition, that's to say the
> adjective, like the noun it completes, will take the same form as the noun
> when the noun is followed by the article. An adjective completing various
> nouns is always in plural, and is in neuter if the different nouns are of
> different genders. As for nouns, the nominative form of the adjective can
> be different from the other forms, and can even be the same for all
> genders. Sometimes though, there is one nominative form for each gender
> (like e'spau /'espo/ (m), e'spou /'espu/ (f), e'speu /'esp9/ (n):
> beautiful). the adjective is generally found in front of the noun but it
> can appear after (but the article always follows the noun).
>
> Also, the adjective can be easily nominalised (it is generally followed by
> the article then). When nominalised in masculine, feminine or neuter
> plural, it generally refers to people. In neuter singular, it generally
> refers to things, but sometimes to animals or even people.
>
> THE DEGREES OF THE ADJECTIVE:
> The degrees of the adjective are formed by taking the root of the
> adjective
> (I-E minus its ending) and adding special suffixes. Unlike in most Western
> languages, there are not two but three degrees: comparative, superlative
> (be careful as there is a superlative of equality!) and hyperlative (I was
> young :) ).
>
> THE COMPARATIVE:
> The different suffixes for the comparative are:
> - comparative of inferiority ('less'): suffix -id- followed by the case
> edings (-au, -ou and -eu for the three N-V),
> - comparative of equality ('as'): suffix -iz- followed by the case endings
> (id.),
> - comparative of superiority ('more'): suffix -izh- followed by the case
> endings (id.).
>
> NOTE: The complement of the comparative is given by the preposition 'dhyo'
> followed by the A-G (the preposition 'dhyo' generally means: as for,
> concerning).
>
> THE SUPERLATIVE:
> The different suffixes are:
> - superlative of inferiority ('the least, very few, very little'): suffix
> -enod- followed by the case endings (id.),
> - superlative of equality ('just as, exactly like, in the average'):
> suffix
> -enoz- followed by the case endings (id.),
> - superlative of superiority ('the most, very'): suffix -enozh- followed
> by
> the case endings (id.).
>
> NOTE: To differentiate the absolute superlatives ('very') from the
> relative
> superlatives ('the most'), the absolute superlatives are always followed
> by
> the article (the article follows the adjective, not the noun it
> completes).
> It can seem quite strangez but that's how it works :) .
>
> NOTE2: The complement of a relative superlative is given by the A-G case
> (genitive function).
>
> THE HYPERLATIVE:
> The suffixes function in the same way as for the other degrees and are:
> - hyperlative of inferiority ('too little, too few, not enough'): -uhad-,
> - hyperlative of equality ('enough'!): -uhaz-,
> - hyperlative of superiority ('too'): -uhazh-.
>
> NOTE: it can sound strange to put 'enough' with 'too much', but the
> suffixes correspond.
>
Well, doesn't seam strange to me... ;)

> Well, I think this mail is now long enough for now. The next one will deal
> with something very exotic in A'stou grammar: the verb (indeed, if the
> noun
> morphology looks quite Indo-European, it's absolutely not the case for the
> verb morphology!).
>
>                                                 Christophe Grandsire
>                                                 |Sela Jemufan Atlinan C.G.
>
> "Reality is just another point of view."
>
> homepage : http://rainbow.conlang.org
> (ou : http://www.bde.espci.fr/homepages/Christophe.Grandsire/index.html)