Blackfoot/Grammar

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Nouns

Nouns in Blackfoot can be inflected for grammatical gender (animacy), number particularity, and XXXXX

Noun Inflections

Grammatical Gender

Blackfoot has two noun classes: animate and inanimate.

Inanimate Nouns

Singular inanimate nouns whose stem ends in a vowel take the suffix «ᔪ»

  • ᖱ'ᖽᐧᓭᖾ<n><sg><nn> ↔ ᖱ'ᖽᐧᓭᖾᔪ
  • ᖹᒪᒐ<n><sg><nn> ↔ ᖹᒪᒐᔪ
  • ᒉᒧᐧᖹ<n><sg><nn> ↔ ᒉᒧᐧᖹᔪ

«ᔪ» is realized as «ᖱ» after consonants.

  • ᑫᒣᘁ<n><sg><nn> ↔ ᑫᒣᖽ
  • ᒍᐡ<n><sg><nn> ↔ ᒍᖹ
  • ᓴᔭᑲᘁ<n><sg><nn> ↔ ᓴᔭᑲᖽ

Animate Nouns

Singular animate nouns whose stem ends in a vowel take the suffix «ᖷ»

  • ᖻᒣᔭ<n><sg><an> ↔ ᖻᒣᔭᖷ
  • ᑲᖺᖿ<n><sg><an> ↔ ᑲᖺᖿᖷ
  • ᖿᖾ<n><sg><an> ↔ ᖿᖾᖷ

«ᖷ» is realized as «ᖳ» after consonants

  • ᖳᒣᑯᐢ<n><sg><an> ↔ ᖳᒣᑯᒉ
  • ᑲᔈ<n><sg><an> ↔ ᑲᓭ
  • ᖲᑊᖾᒪᘁ<n><sg><an> ↔ ᖲᑊᖾᒪᖽ

Number

Blackfoot distinguishes between singular and plural nouns.

Inanimate Plurals

Inanimate plurals take the suffix «ᖱᔈᒧᐧ»

  • ᓴᔭᑲᖽᖱ'ᖽᐧᓭᖾ<n><pl><nn> ↔ ᓴᔭᑲᖽᖱ'ᖽᐧᓭᖾᐟᔈᒧᐧ
  • ᖹᒪᒐ<n><pl><nn> ↔ ᖹᒪᒐᐟᔈᒧᐧ
  • ᖲᒉᖽᐧᘁᔈᖾᔪ<n><pl><nn> ↔ ᖲᒉᖽᐧᘁᔈᖾᐟᔈᒧᐧ

Animate Plurals

Animate plurals take the suffix «ᖱᖽᐧ»

  • ᖻᒣᔭᖷ<n><pl><an> ↔ ᖻᒣᔭᐟᖽᐧ
  • ᑲᖺᖾ<n><pl><an> ↔ ᑲᖺᖾᐟᖽᐧ
  • ᖿᖾ<n><pl><an> ↔ ᖿᖾᐟᖽᐧ

Particular vs. Non-Referring

If a noun refers to a specific entity, such as in the sentence 'I like this dog,' it is said to be particular. If it refers to a more general class of entities, such as in the sentence 'I like dogs,' it is said to be non-referring. Particular nouns do not change their form, but non-referring nouns take the suffix «ᖱ»

  • ᖻᒣᔭ<n><sg><an><nr> ↔ ᖻᒣᔭᐟ
  • ᖹᒪᒐ<n><pl><nn><nr> ↔ ᖹᒪᒐᐟ
  • ᖻᒣᔭᖷ<n><pl><an><nr> ↔ ᖻᒣᔭᐟ