Nouns in Gjarrda
gram Jardat

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Gender

Gjarrda has three categories of grammatical gender for nouns: animate, inanimate, and abstract. Although there is some semantic justification for these categories (most nouns in the animate gender are things that move, for instance), many nouns are assigned a category based on their derivation, regardless of meaning, and a very few are simply unpredictable. Typical animate nouns include animals such as bats (citRa kjitra) and mice (nik nik). Inanimate nouns include non-moving items such as cheese (zaci zakji) and pies (5aR sjar). Abstract nouns include such things as forests (galki galki) and images (vez veiz).

Plain form

The form of a noun listed in a Gjarrda dictionary is called the sadvod sadvoud, or "plain form". Sad means "plain" as in "unadorned", and refers to the basic form of a noun without any case endings added. This is the form of nouns that is used as the object of verbs and prepositions, the absolutive case. All verbs and prepositions in Gjarrda normally must have an object, which may be left vague by using the pronoun mW meu "something". In titles or newspaper headlines, meu is often omitted, but in conversation, an omitted pronoun is more likely to be zi (I) or possibly lou (you).

GoL vrul ghoulj vrrul
[red rose]
"roses are red"

Genitive case

A noun may modify either a verb or another noun by adding the ending of the genitive case. The genitive ending is i i for animate nouns, e ei for inanimate nouns, and a a for abstract nouns. A noun in the genitive case immediately follows the noun or verb it modifies.

kWs cage ris moRa keus kjagei rris moura
[solid rock-GEN. wall edge-GEN.]
"the boundary wall is solid as a rock"

Ergative case

Transitive verbs in Gjarrda have a subject in addition to an object. The subject normally follows the verb, and takes an ending that puts it in the ergative case. The ergative ending is Ra ra for animate nouns, ka ka for inanimate nouns, and ma ma for abstract nouns. See the page Ergativity in Gjarrda for more information on the use of the ergative case.

GjubEn citRaja Jundi ghyuben kjitraya* gjundi
[catch-PERF. bat-ERG. moth]
"the bat caught a moth"
*note irregular dissimilation of Ra ra after citRa kjitra.

Although the subject typically precedes the object and follows the verb, other word orders may be used for emphasis.

GjubEn Jundi citRaja ghyuben gjundi kjitraya
[catch-PERF. moth bat-ERG.]
"the moth was caught by the bat"

citRaja GjubEn Jundi kjitraya ghyuben gjundi
[bat-ERG. catch-PERF. moth]
"the bat is what caught the moth"

Jundi GjubEn citRaja gjundi ghyuben kjitraya
[moth catch-PERF. bat-ERG.]
"the moth is what the bat caught"

When a subject in the ergative case is added to an intransitive verb, it represents the cause of the state represented by the verb. For example, rav rrav corresponds to "die" when used as an intransitive verb, and "kill" when used as a transitive verb.

ravEn kjul rraven kyul
[die-PERF. deer]
"the deer died"

ravEn vlarRa kjul rraven vlarrya* kyul
[die-PERF. wolf-ERG. deer]
"the wolf killed the deer"
*-ya: predictable (and therefore unwritten) dissimilation of "-ra" after final -rr.

Dative case

Gjarrda also has bitransitive verbs, which take two subjects in addition to the object. In addition to an ergative subject, there is a subject that takes the dative case. (These two subjects generally correspond to the subject and indirect object in English.) The dative ending is n n for all nouns ending in vowels, na na for animate and abstract nouns ending in consonants, and in in for inanimate nouns ending in consonants. Depending on word order, English may use different verbs to translate the same Gjarrda verb. An example of such a verb is siv siv, which can mean "teach" or "learn".

siv8s cim8lRa R0Lfil zin siveos kjimeolra roeljfil zin
[teach-IMPERF. visitor-ERG. philosophy I-DAT.]
"the visitor is teaching me philosophy"

siv8s zin R0Lfil cim8lRa siveos zin roeljfil kjimeolra
[teach-IMPERF. I-DAT. philosophy visitor-ERG.]
"I am learning philosophy from the visitor"

Note that either or both of the subjects, but not the object, may be omitted.

siv8s cim8lRa R0Lfil siveos kjimeolra roeljfil
[teach-IMPERF. visitor-ERG. philosophy]
"the visitor is teaching philosophy"

siv8s zin R0Lfil siveos zin roeljfil
[teach-IMPERF. I-DAT. philosophy]
"I am learning philosophy"

siv8s R0Lfil siveos roeljfil
[teach-IMPERF. philosophy]
"Philosophy is being taught"

but not:
*siv8s zin *siveos zin

The preceding sentence would be understood as "I am learning about myself", with omitted pronoun zi. The proper way to express "I am learning about myself" is to use a reflexive form of the verb (sivdos zi sivdous zi). "I am learning" must be expressed as "I am learning something" (siv8s zin mW siveos zin meu) or using the passive voice, "I am being taught" (sivxis zi sivkhis zi).

Another use of the dative case is as the destination of motion:

RugEn zi $iRpylin rugen zi thlirpuelin
[walk-PERF. I bookstore-DAT.]
"I walked to the bookstore"

Locative case

The locative case expresses the place where an action occurs or a condition applies. The locative ending is vi vi for animate nouns, v0 voe for inanimate nouns, and vO vo for abstract nouns. Examples:

tRal vlar navv0 tral vlarr navvoe
[yellow wolf iris-LOC.]
"the wolf has yellow eyes"

cEgEn ta5idRa zi skovi kjegen tasjidra zi skouvi
[bite-PERF. mosquito-ERG. I knee-LOC.]
"a mosquito bit me on the knee"

Instrumental case

The instrumental case identifies an instrument used to perform an action or create a condition. It can correspond to one usage of the English word "with", as in "lock the door WITH a key", but it also includes such "instruments" as language ("write a book IN English"), the source of a condition or state ("red FROM anger"), or musical instruments ("play a song ON the guitar"). The instrumental ending is ta ta for animate and abstract nouns, t t for inanimate nouns ending in a vowel, and 8t eot for inanimate nouns ending in a consonant. Examples:

pamy ziRa Ga5 skeJ8t pamue zira ghasj skeigjeot
[lock-FUT.PERF. I-ERG. door key-INS.]
"I will lock the door with a key"

sic $iR engle58t na R8vsicEl8t sikj thlir eingleisjeot na reovsikjeleot
[write book English-INS. and pencil-INS.]
"The book is written in English with a pencil"

Ablative case

The ablative case has a number of uses. The ablative ending is ly lue for animate nouns, l l for inanimate and abstract nouns ending in a vowel, 0l oel for inanimate nouns ending in a consonant, and Ol ol for abstract nouns ending in a consonant. It generally expresses the idea of a source of some kind. For instance, it can be used to express the material that something is made of:

ciR ral cag0l kjir rral kjagoel
[build house stone-ABL.]
"the house is made of stone"

zlam vlamnid8l dEge zW JeR v8 zankol zlam vlamnideol degei zeu gjeir veo zankoul
[float magic-user due-to the-following: form they treestuff-ABL.]
"witches float because they are made of wood"

The ablative case is also used to express the starting point of motion:

RugEn zi lysRemOl $iRpylin rugen zi luesreimol thlirpuelin
[walk-PERF. I movie-place-ABL. bookstore-DAT.]
"I walked from the movie theater to the bookstore"

Finally, another common use of the ablative case is to express the source of a subjective opinion:

v0nfa lys ramly 2in twefa xrutada v8 zily voenfa lues rramlue zjin tweifa khrrutada veo zilue
[good-OPIN. movie friend-ABL. and excessive-OPIN. violence-GEN. it I-ABL.]
"my friend says the movie is good, but in my opinion it's too violent."

Order of noun cases

The usual order of the noun cases after a verb is as follows: ergative, absolutive, ablative, dative, instrumental. These five cases are rarely all present in the same phrase, and all but the absolutive case can be omitted if unnecessary to the meaning of the phrase. An example of all five cases of nouns in the same phrase is in the usage of the verb jus yus, "to follow", in the sense of following a path:

jusEn ziRa jad galkil Renin ninta yusen zira yad galkil reinin ninta
[follow-PERF. I-ERG. path forest-ABL. river-DAT. leg-INS.]
"I followed the path from the forest to the river on foot."

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