Blackfoot/Grammar

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 take the suffixes «yi» when singular and «istsi» when plural.

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.

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