Wôpanâak/Grammar
Contents
Morphological Categories
The tag for a noun should be <n>. Nouns are divided into two classes based on animacy. The tag for an animate noun will be <an> and the tag for an inanimate noun will be <in>. Certain nouns (such as nouns for family members and body parts) are dependent, meaning they cannot appear without a possession marker. Dependent nouns should be tagged <dep>.
Basic Noun Pluralization
There are two numbers: singular and plural. Singular nouns will be tagged <sg> and plural nouns will be tagged <pl>. The plural marker for nouns differs depending whether the noun is animate or inanimate.
Animate plural nouns take the suffix «ak».
- masq<n><an><pl> ↔ masqak
- anâqs<n><an><pl> ↔ anâqsak
Inanimate plural nouns take the suffix «ash».
- apun<n><in><pl> ↔ apunash
- meequn<n><in><pl> ↔ meequnash
- sâpaheek<n><in><pl> ↔ sâpaheekash
Obviative Nouns
Animate nouns that are being acted upon or possessed by other animate third-person nouns receive the suffix «ah». This obviative form will be marked with the tag <obv>.
Some examples are as follows:
- masq<n><an><obv> ↔ masqah
- mutumwusus<n><an><obv> ↔ mutumwususah
- qanunôn<n><an><obv> ↔ qanunônah
Plural obviative nouns take the same suffix as singular obviative nouns, and no other suffix.
- masq<n><an><pl><obv> ↔ masqah
- mutumwusus<n><an><pl><obv> ↔ mutumwususah
- qanunôn<n><an><pl><obv> ↔ qanunônah
Absentative Nouns
Nouns can be marked as absentative, meaning that they are no longer present. For animate nouns the absentative carries the meaning of "deceased". Absentative nouns will be tagged <abs>.
Singular absentative nouns carry the suffix «ay». Both animate and inanimate nouns take the same suffix.
- masq<n><an><sg><abs> ↔ masqay
- meequn<n><in><sg><abs> ↔ meequnay
Plural absentative nouns take the suffix «uk». The suffix is the same for animate and inanimate nouns.
- masq<n><an><pl><abs> ↔ masqay
- meequn<n><in><pl><abs> ↔ meequnay
Irregular Nouns
Certain nouns have sounds or syllables that appear on the stem before a suffix of any type, but are absent otherwise. They appear to pattern irregularly. Here are some examples given in the grammar:
The word «anum» "dog" receives a «w» after its stem and before any suffix:
- anum<n><an><sg> ↔ anum
- anum<n><an><pl> ↔ anumwak
- anum<n><an><obv> ↔ anumwah
- anum<n><an><sg><abs> ↔ anumway
- anum<n><an><pl><abs> ↔ anumwuk
The word «apȣôk» "chair" receives the syllable «an» before any suffix:
- apȣôk<n><in><sg> ↔ apȣôk
- apȣôk<n><in><pl> ↔ apȣôkanash
- apȣôk<n><in><sg><abs> ↔ apȣôkanay
- apȣôk<n><in><pl><abs> ↔ apȣôkanuk
Possession
Possession is marked on the noun being possessed.
