Definiteness and Number
A noun in a sentence is either definite or indefinite, either singular or plural. The definite form is deictic, i.e., it refers to the situation of the speaker („this tree“ etc.). Definiteness is marked with the use of a highlighted stem. Plural with the use of a plural stem.
Evolution of suffixes
In SIN there was no clear distinction between verbs and nouns, the function of a word in a sentence was defined by its position.
*Enig djäged. – word for word “eye pain” – (My) eye hurts.
*Rjätje robjaat enig. – word for word “woman man eye” – A woman sees a man.
To make understanding easier, the Sinil people started to use auxiliary words to explain the words semantic roles. In EPM these auxiliary words were grammaticalized and reduced to particles, but were still individual words. The markers for experiencer, agent, patient were ommitted if the modified word (noun phrase) fronted the sentence.
Gender
3 genders evolved in Medzor:
Žeř (SIN *žeras) – the dragon gender
Líne (SIN *limin) – the flower gender
Lát (SIN *lanut) – the wolf gender
Most nouns with thematic vowel -a- are of the dragon gender.
Most nouns with front thematic vowel are of the flower gender.
Nouns with back thematic vowel are usually the wolf gender.
The gender of the subject triggers agreements in the sentence (by definition). For the actual suffixes used, see the article on gender agreement.
Case
The case markings are fusional in that they mark more categories at once, but they actually evolved that way together and did not fuse of two different markings.
The language treats the subjects of transitive and intransitive sentences the same, i.e., it has a nominative-accusative alignment.
Nominative
The suffix depends on the gender of the subject. It is reduced to zero if the subject is in the initial position of a sentence.
Accusative
The accusative suffix is only used with valency = 2 and depends on:
gender of the subject (i.e. not of the object itself)
dynamics.
You can find the nominative and accusative suffixes in the article dedicated to gender agreements.
Dative
The dative case evolved from the SIN auxiliary word „turom“ (target). This was shortened to the suffix tu. Dativ also takes the role of a benefactive.
Locative
The auxiliary words in SIN which were used to denote location, were probably:
*metaa – foot of a mountain
*nari – slope of a mountain
*tirik – peak
*ubjok – stone
*irotj – hole
*gerjok – cave
*bjäran – the side in the light (i.e. the front)
*horan – the side in the darkness (i.e. in the back)
*djaarjäk – bird
*abjer – approach
*hjooti – fall.
The words *metaa, *nari, *tirik etc. evolved into various locative case suffixes, and *abjer and *hjooti to directional suffix in verb conjugations (see Verbs). The *ubjok auxiliary evolved into a genitive marker.
The suffixes in MM are as follows:
suffix | meaning |
|---|---|
me/mö | at the foot of, near |
nä/nö | at, besides |
ti/tü | on, on top of |
(i)ř/üř | in, inside |
dže/džö | under, beneath |
za | above, over |
ve/we/vö/wö | in front of |
ho/o | at the back of, behind |
The suffixes which begin with an unvoiced consonant (ti/tü and ku) cause a preceding voiced consonant to lose voicing.
The ti/tü suffix can merge with a preceding s, z, dz, dž, č, c and form a single affricate č or c (the voicing is lost).
The iř/üř suffix is used after consonants, ř is used after vowels (as the previous vowel „eats” the i of the ending).
The we/wö suffix is used after velars and back vowels. After m, b, it switches places and creates the suffixes wme, wbe. Otherwise, ve/vö is used.
The o suffix is used after s, z, š, ž, t, d and affricates, otherwise the ho ending is used.
The me, nä, ti, iř, dže, ve endings turn mö, nö, tü, üř, džö, vö after rounded vowels.
For verbs, the auxiliaries *abjer and *hjooti evolved into the suffixes *-(a)v and *-x(o), which were added after the agreement suffixes.
Genitive
The *ubjok auxiliary evolved into a genitiv marker.
* objaar gjäratj ubjok - wing of a dragon
The suffix in MM has the form –vu/-w/-wu (sometimes -wbu, -wmu), -vü/-wü/-wbü/-wmü (after rounded vowels).
The -vu is used after front vowels and after consonants, except m, b and velars.
The form -wu appears after velars.
The form -w appears after back vowels.
If the stem ends in b or m, then the suffix is -wbu, -wmu (replacing the original b, m) due to the switching of bw and mw.
These rules follow from the rules for bilabialization of v, which happens after velars and back vowels. Also if after a back vowel, then the w „eats“ the u.