< Mirad Grammar
Nouns
Types of Nouns
- Nouns in Mirad can be distinguished in these various ways:
- common vs. proper
Common and Proper Nouns COMMON PROPER tam....house Emer....Venus yagsim....bench Fransam....France dyes....book Notre Dame...Notre Dame tej....life Tot....God
- concrete vs. abstract
Concrete vs. Abstract Nouns CONCRETE ABSTRACT tab....body ifon....love mil....water oyman....coolness deuz....song deuzen....singing
- countable vs. mass
Countable vs. Mass Nouns COUNTABLE MASS pat....bird pattel....bird food patayeb....feather patayebyan....plumage meg....rock mil....water
- gender-neutral vs. feminine or masculine
Gender-neutral vs. Gendered GENDER-NEUTRAL FEMININE MASCULINE tob....human being toyb....woman twob....man edeb....royal person edeyb....queen edweb....king ted....parent teyd....mother twed....father
- singular vs. plural
Singular vs. Plural Nouns SINGULAR PLURAL dom....city domi....cities gon....part goni....parts jub....day jubi....days
- inanimate (things) or animate (humans and animals, i.e. live, sentient creatures, not plants)
Inanimate vs. Animate Nouns INANIMATE ANIMATE mam....sky pot....animal tom....building aut....person job....time tobot....child
- Nouns also include gerunds, i.e. abstract nouns which are nominalized derivations of verbs like deuzen....singing < deuzer....to sing or osexen....destruction < osexer....to destroy.
- In Mirad, all common nouns in their singular dictionary lookup form end in a consonant. Proper nouns sometimes end in a vowel, such as Roma....Rome. Plural common countable nouns end in the vowel i (pat....bird ⇒ pati....birds).
- The above noun type distinctions are relevant in various parts of Mirad's grammar.
Pluralization of Common Nouns
- A singular countable common noun always ends in a consonant and is made plural by suffixing the plural suffix marker -i. So, the plural of pur....car is puri....cars. In noun phrases, for example, where a noun is modified by an article and adjective, only the noun is pluralized, that is, there is no agreement across word boundaries as in many European languages (la belle fleur →les belles fleurs).
Pluralization of Nouns SINGULAR PLURAL tam....house tami....houses toyb....woman toybi....women tej....life teji....lives ha via dom....the beautiful city ha via domi....the beautiful cities
Articles
- In Mirad, there is only a definite article, ha (the). There is no indefinite article like English a / an. A noun is considered indefinite or general unless modified by the definite article ha (which in reality is a definite deictic determiner, discussed with other deictic determiners in the later section on Mirad Grammar/Determiners#Deictic Determiners). The definite article ha is positioned, as in English, before the noun and before any other adjectives or modifiers of that noun. It does not vary for gender, number, or case as in German or Spanish. The definite article acts like its counterpart in English, as shown in the following chart:
The Use of Articles MIRAD ENGLISH SPECIFICITY tam a house indefinite, no article ha tam the house definite ha tami the houses definite, plural tej life general, no article fitejawa tej a life well-lived indefinite, no article ha tej (...hu at ayse) the life (... that I have) specific Fransad French language name, already specific, no article Ivan Ivan person's name, no article Iflu yivan! Cherish freedom abstraction, no article Ha yivani hu yat ifie. The freedoms that we enjoy. abstraction specified Yata yivani... Our freedoms... abstraction specified with possessive pronoun, no article
- Speakers of French and other European languages should take note that general concepts like love, life, freedom do not employ the definite article unless they refer to a specific instance, such as in the phrases the love that dare not speak its name or the life well-lived or the freedoms we possess. The names of languages and countries are also considered already specific, and so as in English, they do not take a definite article as they might in some European languages. Names of persons do not take the definite article as they do in modern Greek, unless in a phrase like "the Ivan I once knew."
Proper Nouns
- Proper nouns, such as names of people, places, languages, etc., are capitalized as in English. The formation of country names and languages will be discussed in a later section. It can be said here, though, that country names for the most part end in -am; the inhabitants of those places end in -at or pl. -yat; and the languages they speak end in -ad. Country names take a definite article only in a few cases like ha Anxwa Doebi....the United States, which is really composed of common nouns. Otherwise, a country name like Fransam does not take a definite article, just as it does not in English.
Noun Modifiers: Placement and Agreement
- Nouns can be modified by various qualitative, quantitative, and deictic adjectives, which all precede the noun. These modifiers come in the same order as in English. There is no gender or number agreement between the modifiers and the noun, except that numeric adjectives, such as ewa....two naturally are followed by a noun in the plural number.
Noun Modifiers Mirad English ha ewa aga tami the two big houses gla ifxea taxi many pleasant memories hya fia tob every good man ha yaga via mepi the long, beautiful roads gra vua sexen too much ugly construction ata aja teji My past lives
Noun Linkage
- Nouns can be
- linked with a preposition or conjunction, where the prepositional/conjunctional phrase follows the head noun, or
- juxtaposed, where the modifier noun is separated by a space and comes before the head noun, or
- compounded, where the modifier noun is prefixed to a headword, or
- hyphenated, where two equal elements are joined by a hyphen.
- Examples:
Noun Linkage LINKAGE EXAMPLE CONSTRUCTION Ivan ay Maria....Ivan and Maria nouns linked associatively by the conjunction ay (and) ha tam ey ha par....the house or the car nouns linked associatively by the conjunction ey (or) hyati oy ha toybi....all but the women nouns linked associatively by the conjunction or (but) nyandras boy eta dyun....a list without your name nouns linked associatively by the preposition boy (without) tej bi nasuk....a life of poverty nouns linked associatively by the preposition bi (of) ha tam bi Maria ....Mary's house (the house of Mary nouns linked possessively by the preposition bi (of) job bi aga ivan....a time of great joy nouns linked associatively by the preposition bi (of) dyen ayv ha Ea Mira Dropek....a book about the Second World War nouns linked associatively by the preposition ayv (about) dropek jaxeni....war preparations modifier noun dropek (war) juxtaposed with the head noun jaxeni (preparations) dom yaudpur....a city bus modifier noun dom (city) juxtaposed with the head noun yautpur (bus) tojvaf....a death wish modifier noun toj (death) compounded with the head noun vaf (wish) jogatanyaf....youth league modifier noun jogat (youth) compounded with the head noun anyaf (league) maj-moj....a day-and-night two or more equal, opposed nouns hyphenated
- The X bi Y prepositional construction must always be used for possession by a named person, eg. ha tam bi Sam (Sam's house = the house of Sam). The methods of noun linkage otherwise follow the English pattern in most all cases. Pronominal possession such as his car is discussed in the section on personal pronouns. The preposition bi....of is used in partitive expressions like tilzyeb bi vafil....a glass of wine (but: vafil tilzeb....wine glass, where wine modifies the glass associatively). More about this and other prepositions or conjunctions can be found in the section on Mirad Grammar/Prepositions or Mirad Grammar/Conjunctions.
- Details on how noun vocabulary is derived appears in the section on Mirad Grammar/Vocabulary Formation.
Noun Derivational Suffixes
- Nouns can be divided into:
- simple nouns such as pur....vehicle
- compound nouns such as naadpur....train < naad....rail + pur....vehicle
- derived nouns such as fabyan....forest < fab....tree + -yan, a suffix meaning collection
- Derived nouns are formed by attaching nominal suffixes (and sometimes prefixes)to other words or roots. A list of nominal suffixes to form derived nouns is shown in the following table. More can be read about noun derivation in the section on vocabulary-building.
Noun Derivational Suffixes SUFFIX MEANING BASE ONTO WHICH
SUFFIX IS ADDEDEXAMPLES -ag big noun tam house → tamag....mansion
tyal....meal → tyalag....banquet
tilar....spoon → tilarag....ladle-an abstact quality, -ness, -hood, -ity adjective stem vi a....beautiful → via....beauty
yeva....fair → yevan....fairness, equity
toba....human → toban....humanity, humanness, manhood-ayg big and cute noun tam....house → tamayg....cozy mansion
epet....dog → epetayg....wolfie-d language, speech, sound adjective and other stems Angla....English → Anglad....English (language)
Mira....of the world → Mirad....Mirad (world speech)
apet....horse → aped....neigh, whinny-ef need of noun tel....food → telef....hunger
iga....fast → igef....emergency
til....drink → tilef....thirst-en present gerund, -ing, -tion, -ment verb stem ifi er....enjoy → ifien....enjoyment
deuzer....sing → deuzen....singing
axer....act → axen....action, acting-es smaller counterpart thing noun tom....building → tomes apartment
saun....kind → saunes....sample
dreuz....poem → deuzes....stanza
mek....dust, powder → mekes....speck, gain-et smaller counterpart person noun twob....man → twobet....boy
toyb....woman → toybet....girl-if love of, -philia noun tel....food → telif....gourmandise
doab....homeland → doabif....patriotism
dyes....book → dyesif....bibliophilia, love of books-ig sudden noun and verb stem man....light → manig....flash
pyex....stroke → pyexig....swat
yopaper....dive, fly down → yopapig....swoop-im room, chamber various stems fyadil er....to pray → faydilim....chapel
mageler....to cook → magelim....kitchen
tofer....to dress → tofim....dressing room-in doctrine, dogma, -ism various stems tot....god → totin....religion, theism
otofa....nude → otofin....nudism
yufr-....terror → yufrin....terrorism-n abstract noun various stems ze....in the middle of → zen....center
za....in front of → zan....face
byi....since, starting with → byin....source
go....less → gon....part-am house, building various stems nun- merchandise → nunam....store
til drink → tilam....bar, tavern
fyadiler....to pray → fyadilam....church-(e)m place various stems ho-? what-? → hom?....where?
yex....work → yexem....worksite
ab....on, above → abem....top, surface
kua....lateral → kum....side-im room various stems magel-....cook → magelim....kitchen -um compartment, booth various stems teuzibar....telephone → teuzibarum....telephone booth -yem enclosure, box various stems apet....horse → apetyem....corral
b-....put → byem....position-ud offspring, baby of noun apet....horse → apetud....foal -og little noun tab body → tabog corpuscle
apet....horse → apetog....pony
tyal....meal → tyalog....snack
gorbun....cut → gorbunog....cutlet-oyg little and cute noun tam....house → tamoyg....cottage
apayt....chicken → apaytoyg....chickadee
mimpar....boat → mirparoyg....dingy-ar
-ir
-urinstrument, tool, machine, etc. usu. verb stem p er....to go → pur....car
drer....to write → drar....pencil
gobler....to cut → goblar....knife
yabler....to lift → yablur....elevator, lift
yablar....lift, crane
dop....military → dopar....gun
dopur....machine gun
dopir....artillery, cannon-s thing, something, object, the X one adjective aa first → aas....first one, first thing
otwa....unknown → otwas....mystery, an unknown
tejea....living → tejeas....living thing-(s)on abstract thing, issue various stems if er....to love → ifon....love
ov against → ovon....obstacle
azastrong → azon....force
yika....difficult → yikson....problem-(s)un object, thing, result of an action various stems vyu a....dirty → vyun....spot
tamber....settle → tambiun....settlement
gofrershred → gofrun....scrap, shred
hyo....not a single → hyosun....not a single thing-t person adjective ea second → eat....second one, second person
fya-....holy → fyat....holy one, saint
ujna....last → ujat....last one, last person
Amerika....American → Amerikat....an American-tun science of, -ology noun tot....god → tottun....theology
tob....man → tobtun....anthropology
vob....plant → vobtun....botany-tut scientist, -ologist, -ist noun tot....god → tottut....theologist
tob....man → tobtut....anthropologist
vob....plant → vobtut....botanist-uf hate of, -phobia noun mil water → miluf....hydrophobia
totin....religion → totinuf....hatred of religion
toyb....woman → toybuf....misogyny-ut, -uyt (f.) agent, one who Xes, -er, -ant, -ist verb stem bek er....treat → bekuyt....nurse
poper....travel → poput....traveler
aker....win → akut....winner-yaf ability to, power, -ability verb stem teat er....to see → teatyaf....ability to see
texer....to think → texyaf....cognition
tester....to understand → testyaf....comprehension
noser....to spend → nosyaf....spending power
ter....to know → tyaf....conscience-yag big and ugly noun tetwid....uncle → tetwidyag....dirty old uncle
toyb....woman → toybyag....hag-yan collection, grouping, -ary noun tob....man → tobyan....mankind
mar....star → maryan....constellation
fab....tree → fabyan....forest
dyes....book → dyesyan....library-yef duty to verb stem dud er....to answer → dudyef....responsibility
byoker....to ache → byokyef....punishment-yik difficulty to verb stem teeter....to hear → teetyik....difficulty hearing
tiexer....to breathe → tiexyik....difficulty breathing, asthma-yog little and ugly noun tam....house → tamyog....shack
epat....duck → epatyog....ugly duckling
kod....secret → kodyog....little dirty secret-yof inability to, disability verb stem teat er....to see → teatyof....blindness
teeter....to hear → teetyof....deafness
paser....to move → pasyof....paralysis
tujer....to sleep → tujyof....insomnia-yuf fear of, -phobia noun lopyet....snake → lopyetyuf....fear of snakes
mil....water → milyuf....hyrophobia-yuk ease of verb stem pes erto wait → pesyuk....patience
kovyoxerto fool → kovyoxyuk....gullibility, foolhardiness
Gender
- Nouns in Mirad are gender-neutral, unless those relating to people, animals, and sometimes clothing, are altered to be specifically male/male-oriented or female/female-oriented. To create the male or male-oriented form of an otherwise gender-neutral noun, prefix the vowel of the semantically-significant syllable with the letter w. To create the female or female-oriented form, suffix the vowel of the semantically-significant syllable with y. If the noun is an agent noun with the suffix -ut, that is, a noun that means "one who does something as an occupation or behavior", the ending -ut is changed to -uyt for the female form, but the male form stays the same. The reason for this is that the addition of a w to the agentive ending could be confused with the verbal passive marker w (see the chapter on Mirad Grammar/Verbs. The chart below shows how this works:
Making Nouns Gender-specific NEUTRAL MALE/MALE-ORIENTED FEMALE/FEMALE-ORIENTED tob....human being, person twob....man toyb....woman tobet....child twobet....boy toybet....girl tad....spouse twad....husband tayd....wife ejtad....step spouse ejtwad....step-husband ejtayd....step-wife ajtad....ex-spouse ajtwad....ex-husband ajtayd....ex-wife ted....parent twed....father teyd....mother datif....sweetheart dwatif....boyfriend daytif....girlfriend yapet....pig yapwet....boar yapeyt....sow ideb....monarch idweb....king ideyb....queen apat....fowl apwat....rooster apayt....hen tiuv....underwear tiwuv....briefs tiuyv....panties vapet....antelope vapwet....deer vapeyt....doe deuzut....singer deuzut....singer deuzuyt....songstress tud....child twud....son tuyd....daughter
- For gender specification in pronouns, see Mirad Grammar/Pronouns, below).
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