There are four noun classes (human, animal, vegetable, mineral), three cases (nominative/accusative/oblique), and two numbers (singular/plural). There are two states: absolute and construct, the latter used when the noun has a possessor or an attributive adjective.
Plurals are formed by case ending for humans and reduplication for everything else. Humans and animals (classes I and II) are nominative-accusative aligned; classes III and IV ergative-absolutive.
The construct state is formed by backshift of the stress; if the stress of the singular stem is initial, a prefix
ye- is added. (This is essentially an infix bound to the pre-stress syllable that attaches a stress.)
Class I
Class I endings
sg. pl.
nom. — -V
acc. -t -Vt
obl. -y -Vy
Paradigm (phonemic)
absolute construct
sg pl sg pl
nom. kʰát kʰatá yékʰat kʰáta
acc. kʰátet kʰatát yékʰatet kʰátat
obl. kʰátey kʰatáy yékʰatey kʰátay
Paradigm (phonetic)
absolute construct
sg pl sg pl
nom. kʰá:t kʰatá yə́kʰat kʰáta
acc. kʰátət kʰatát yə́kʰatət kʰátat
obl. kʰáti kʰatáy yə́kʰati kʰátay
The plural ending
-V agrees with the root vowel in height. This vowel was originally
*e in Pre-Miar and triggers irregular consonant mutation on a small subset of common words: sg.
mḗk 'wife', pl.
ṃcé, due to a rule where *RəC > [ṚC-] word-initially if schwa is unstressed.
Class II
Marked nominative. Example is
*nes- 'goat'.
Case Endings
nom. -n
acc. —
obl. -y
Paradigm (phonemic)
absolute construct
sg. pl. sg. pl.
nom. nésen nenésen yénesen nénesen
acc. nḗs nenés yénes nénes
obl. nésey nenésey yénesey nénesey
Paradigm(phonetic)
absolute construct
sg. pl. sg. pl.
nom. nə́sṇ ṇnə́sṇ yə́nsṇ nə́nsṇ
acc. nə́:s ṇnə́s yə́nəs nə́nəs
obl. nə́si ṇnə́si yə́nsi nə́nsi
Class III
Class III and IV have only absolutive and oblique cases, with the same case endings. Example
sʷeˀd 'tree'.
Case Endings
abs. —
obl. -y
Paradigm (phonemic)
absolute construct
sg. pl. sg. pl.
abs. sʷéˀd sʷesʷéˀd yésʷeˀd sʷésʷeˀd
obl. sʷéˀdey sʷesʷéˀdey yésʷeˀdey sʷésʷeˀdey
This paradigm shows off two other phonoogical rules: *CʷəC > [CuC] if the schwa is unstressed, and *-ˀD > [-:T] word-finally.
absolute construct
sg. pl. sg. pl.
abs. swə́:t suswə́:t yə́su:t swə́su:t
obl. swə́ʔdi suswə́ʔdi yə́suʔdi swə́suʔdi
Class IV
Functionally the same as Class III, except that the oblique ending is
-n rather than
-y. Paradigm
spaŋ- 'stick'. Note that reduplication of sC- clusters is CəsC-.
Case Endings
abs. —
obl. -n
Paradigm (phonemic)
absolute construct
sg. pl. sg. pl.
abs. spáŋ pespáŋ yéspaŋ péspaŋ
obl. spáŋen pespáŋen yéspaŋen péspaŋen
Paradigm (phonetic)
absolute construct
sg. pl. sg. pl.
abs. spá:ŋ pəspáŋ yə́spaŋ pə́spaŋ
obl. spáŋṇ pəspáŋṇ yə́spaŋṇ pə́spaŋṇ
Compounding
Compounds are head-final and stressed on the head; e.g.
neskhán- 'goatman'.
absolute construct
sg. pl. sg. pl.
nom. neskʰán neskʰaná néskʰan neskʰána
acc. neskʰánt neskʰantá néskʰant neskʰánta
obl. neskʰáney neskʰanáy néskʰaney neskʰánay