Wôpanâak/Grammar

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

Possession

Possession is marked on the noun being possessed. Possession markers for various persons in the singular will be tagged as follows: <px1sg>, <px2sg>, <px3sg>. There is a distinction between first person plural inclusive and first person plural exclusive, which will be tagged <px1plin> and <px1plex> respectively. The other plural persons will be tagged <px2pl> and <px3pl>. Indefinite possession will be tagged <pxindef>.

Possession is marked with a prefix depending on the possessor:

• -seet<n><in><dep><sg><px1sg> ↔ nuseet
• -seet<n><in><dep><sg><px2sg> ↔ kuseet
• -seet<n><in><dep><sg><px3sg> ↔ wuseet
• -seet<n><in><dep><sg><pxindef> ↔ museet

In the case that the possessor is plural, a suffix is used as well:

• -seet<n><in><dep><sg><px1plex> ↔ nuseetun
• -seet<n><in><dep><sg><px1plin> ↔ kuseetun
• -seet<n><in><dep><sg><px2pl> ↔ kuseetuw
• -seet<n><in><dep><sg><px3pl> ↔ wuseetuw

Possessed nouns receive suffixes as normal, but it should be noted that the «un» and «uw» suffixes used to indicate plural possessors are realized as «unôn» and «uwôw» when followed by any other suffixes:

• -seet<n><in><dep><pl><px1plex> ↔ nuseetunônash
• -seet<n><in><dep><pl><px1plin> ↔ kuseetunônash
• -seet<n><in><dep><pl><px2pl> ↔ kuseetuwôwash
• -seet<n><in><dep><pl><px3pl> ↔ wuseetuwôwash

Vowel-initial nouns take possession prefixes slightly differently. If the vowel-initial noun is a dependent noun, only the onset of the prefix is inserted:

• -ukhôt<n><in><dep><sg><px1sg> ↔ nukhôt
• -ukhôt<n><in><dep><sg><px2sg> ↔ kukhôt
• -ukhôt<n><in><dep><sg><px3sg> ↔ wukhôt
• -ukhôt<n><in><dep><sg><pxindef> ↔ mukhôt

If the vowel-initial noun is an independent noun, a «t» is inserted between the prefix and the stem:

• apun<n><in><sg><px1sg> ↔ nutapun
• apun<n><in><sg><px2sg> ↔ kutapun
• apun<n><in><sg><px3sg> ↔ wutapun
• apun<n><in><sg><pxindef> ↔ mutapun

Locative Nouns

Nouns receive the suffix «ut» when being used to describe the location of something. Locative nouns will be tagged <loc>. Singular and plural nouns receive the same suffix. Locative nouns generally function as complements to certain verbs which require complements beyond a simple object. As such, their meaning varies based on context.

• apun<n><in><sg><loc> ↔ apunut
• {{morphTest|

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