Nominal Morphology

Noun Classes

Overview

Most nouns can occur in two numbers, singular and plural. There are eight singular noun classes and six plural noun classes. Noun classes are lexically determined: while generalizations can be made about the semantic content of certain noun classes, other noun classes have no predictable semantic basis. In most cases, noun classes are named after the concordant marking on corresponding determiners.

Singular classes	Noun prefix	Adj prefix	Det. prefix	Semantic generalization
ox	o-*	o-	ox-	humans
ol	o-	o-	ol-
l	Ø-	Ø-	l-
f	Ø-	fa-**	f-
n	Ø-**	Ø-**	n-
al	a-	Ø-*	l-
ong	o-**	o-**	ong-	diminutives
gal	ga-** gi-**	a-*	al-	augmentatives
Plural classes
w	Ø-	Ø-	w-	humans
ax	xa-*	xa-*	ax-
ak	a-*	a-*	ak-
k	Ø-*	Ø-*	k-
fn	fo-**	fo-**	n-	diminutives
gak	ga-**	a-**	ak-	augmentatives

*The initial consonant of the stem undergoes standard nominal mutation, if able.

**The initial consonant of the stem undergoes prenasalized nominal mutation, if able.

Most singular noun classes correspond to exactly one plural noun class, with the exception of the al class. However, the corresponding plural form for any given al class noun is predictable. All al/k nouns have an initial prenasalized consonant; all al/ak nouns do not. The complete table of noun class pairs is shown in the following table.

Noun class pair examples

Class	Example	Det.	English	Plural	Det.	Semantic generalization
ox/w	o-tew	oxe	woman	Ø-rew	we	humans
ol/ax	o-fiiɗ	ole	butterfly	xa-piiɗ	axe
l/ak	Ø-xomb	le	turtle	a-qomb	ake
f/k	Ø-xaarit	fe	friend	Ø-qaarit	ke
n/k	Ø-nqoox	ne	bull	Ø-qoox	ke
al/k	a-mbeel	ale	lake	Ø-peel	ke
al/ak	a-koong	ale	monkey	a-koong	ake
ong/fn	o-ndew	onge	woman [DIM]	fo-ndew	ne	diminutives
gal/gak	ga-ndew gi-ndew	ale	woman [AUG]	ga-ndew	ake	augmentatives

Irregular nouns

A handful of nouns have singular-plural noun class pairs that do not fall into this regular paradigm.

Gloss	Singular noun	Singular class	Plural noun	Plural class
leg	ojaf	ol	acaf	ak
pants	ombap	ol	pap	k
elephant	fañiik	f l	pañiik apañiik	k ak
muscle	doole	f	toole atoole	k ak

There are two possible plural forms associated with the singular nouns fañiik 'elephant' and doole 'muscle'.

Semantic Generalizations

Human Classes (ox/w)

The ox/w noun classes consist entirely of nouns denoting humans. Derived nouns that fall into these classes are perforce interpeted as being human.

moxoñ 'crumble' > omoomoxoñ 'someone who crumbles things' (not 'something that crumbles')

With very few exceptions, all lexical nouns denoting humans fall into these noun classes.

Gloss	Singular noun	Noun class
wrestler	mbir	n/k
friend	xaarit	f/k
mother	yaay ya'	n/k
father	fap	f/k
false lion	simb	f/k

Augmentative and Diminutive Classes (gal/gak and ong/fn)

Four noun classes are exclusively devoted to productive noun-noun derivational processes, resulting in nouns with an augmentative or diminutive sense. Any noun may be augmented or diminutized with the addition of the appropriate class prefix to its original stem. All stems in these classes undergo prenasalized nominal mutation.

Augmentative/Diminutive paradigm for 'woman'

Gloss	Singular Noun	Determiner	Plural Noun	Determiner
woman	o-tew	oxe	Ø-rew	we
woman (AUG)	a-ndew ga-ndew gi-ndew	ale	a-ndew ga-ndew gi-ndew	ake
woman (DIM)	o-ndew	onge	fo-ndew	ne

The augmentative noun classes have three nominal prefixes that may be used. The prefixes a- and ga- are in free variation; gi- seems to suggest pejorative largeness and thus seems to be used less than the others in our elicitation contexts. All occur with the same concordant marking on adjectives and determiners.

Some nouns are lexically permanently diminutive, i.e. they are permanently part of the noun class only available to diminutives and cannot be back-derived to an earlier form:

ondeb onge

*oteb oxe

'the boy'

Other things that agree with noun class

For the WH-pronouns "how many/much" and "which," see Questions.

Other nominal morphology

Word/clitic status of "articles"

The "articles" discussed above are apparently not suffixal, as one might assume, making them either independent (and mobile) words or clitics (which attach to the right edge of a DP?).

For instance, note that the agreement for the article in xaˈƥek ˈsuuˌkar aˌhe 'the pieces of sugar (sugarcubes)' matches that of xaˈƥek aˌxe 'the pieces', rather than the agreement seen in ˈsuuˌkar fe 'the sugar': the article agrees with xaˈƥek despite not being immediately adjacent to it.

More convincing evidence comes from the fact that one or more adjectives can intervene between the article and the noun. (Elaborate upon this.)

It is unclear at this point precisely what semantic function they serve. Some specifying and/or deictic function seems to be involved.