Red Laqi language/Nouns

Number

Nouns distinguish between singular and plural number. Singular nouns do not receive a suffix to the stem. Plural nouns receive -he. This is placed immediately before case endings.

Cases

	Indefinite		Definite
Abs	-	ŝ°yze	-r	ŝ°yzer	"a/some woman" "the woman"
Erg-Obj	-	ŝ°yze	-m	ŝ°yzem	"a/some woman" "the woman"
Inst-Dir	-ć'e	ŝ°yzeć'e	-mć'e	ŝ°yzemć'e	"with a/some woman" "with the woman"
Adv	-u	ŝ°yzeu			"as a/the woman"
Adj	_	ŝ°yz_			"womanly"

Case markers affix to the very end of the noun stem, after all other modifying suffixes have already been attached.

Absolutive

The Absolutive Case marks the subject of an intransitive verb or the direct object of a transitive verb.

Subject of an Intransitive

ć'aler iedźap'em k°'aġe "The boy went to the school."

Direct Object of a Transitive

Pšylym syġ°enćedźeher ieġeqabze. "The slave cleans my trousers."

Ergative-Oblique

Subject of a Transitive

Pšylym syġ°enćedźeher ieġeqabze. "The slave cleans my trousers."

Possessor

Laqi employs double-marking to indicate possession, with the possessor in the Ergative-Oblique and the possessum receiving a prefix that agrees with the possessor in person and number. Typical order is Possessor-Possessum:

ć'alem ieuyne meuaġ. - "The child's home is ruined."

Locative

Ć'aler iedźap'em k°'aġe "The boy went to the school."

Ć'ale mezym šy'. "A boy is in the woods."

Instrumental-Directional

Instrumental

Ś°'yc'eć'e depqer sele. "I paint the wall (in) black."

Adjectival

The Adjectival Case marks when a noun is being used as an adjective to directly modify the following noun.

ġ°yć'y "iron" → ġ°yć' wate "iron hammer"

Formation

The Adjectival Case is notable in that it is marked not with an ending, but with a reduction of the noun stem. For multi-syllabic nouns, the end vowel is clipped:

plyžy "red" (abs) → plyž "red" (adj)

For mono-syllabic nouns, the end vowel is retained; for these nouns, the Adjectival has the same form as the indefinite Absolutive or Ergative-Oblique:

ł'y "man" (abs) → ł'y "manly" (adj)

This absence of clipping extends to compounds in which a monosyllabic noun comes last:

dzeł'y "fighter" (abs) [< dze "army" + ł'y "man"] → dzeł'y "fighter" (adj)

Adjectives

Adjectives come in three types in Laqi: noun adjuncts, descriptive suffixes, and "true adjectives".

Noun adjuncts are added to a noun phrase by placing the adjunct in the Adjectival Case before the head.

ġ°yć' wate "iron hammer"

Descriptive suffixes are suffixes to the head of the noun phrase. These are placed before number and case markers.

Possession

Laqi distinguishes between alienable and inalienable possession. This distinction refers to whether or not the possession/identification is innate or something which can change over time. For example, one's parents or body parts cannot become not their parents or body parts, even when separated, while one's property and ideas can easily come into and out of ownership. This difference dictates the form of the prefix used on the possessum.

cyq°ypyŝḥe - "My bone" (of my body)

cyiq°ypyŝḥe - "My bone" (that I own)

Alienable Singular Plural 1st cyi- tyi- 2nd uyi- ś°yi- 3rd iy- ia-

Inalienable Singular Plural 1st c(y)- t(y)- 2nd u(y)- ś°(y)- 3rd y- a-