Nouns

Common and proper nouns are open classes; the pronouns are closed.

Common Nouns

Common nouns can refer to abstract or concrete items.

lu’i をい love

bata ばた caution

’ahati あはて happiness

caga やが mouth

purissiji ぷりっせじ circle

Stem Nouns

Stem nouns are those that are neither compounded nor derived.

Mass Nouns

Mass nouns refer to an undifferentiated aggregation rather than separate units. These cannot take numbers, except for a postpended xita one to denote the smallest individual piece of that aggregate.

’iti いて milk / ’itixita いてした drop of milk

marru まっる flies / marruxita まっるした fly

Animacy

This determines which derivational suffixes can be applied, and which pronouns are used as reference.

Animate Noun

These refer to people and other multicellular organisms capable of independent movement.

gusu ぐす person

lulani をわに queen

kitisu きてす father

sula すわ goat

Inanimate Noun

These refer to things such as natural phenomena, plants, fungi and unicellular life.

tissa てっさ wind

linu えぬ tree

hurru ほっる yeast

Abstract Noun

This category encompasses concepts, ideas and other intangibles. They are referred to by inanimate pronouns.

sutti すって fear

’adda あっだ past

tuhhi とっひ agriculture

laru わる year

sajja さっぢ silence

Compound Nouns

The first part of a compound noun must be a noun, and the subsequent parts specify the meaning of that noun. These parts can be nouns or verbs. The whole noun is usually written without spaces. The syllabification and stress of nonce words are determined on a stem-by-stem basis. However, a compound in common use will start being treated whole.

jifiru’inulli

じべるいぬっえ

jifiru’i-nulli

lake-mountain

“mountain lake”

xu’abaju

ずあばよ

xu’a-baju

bird-blue

“bluebird”

Proper Nouns

Proper nouns begin with a capital letter in the transliteration. These are names that refer to individual people, places or things.

Ra’ani らあに Ryan (name of a person)

ʔikinnisa いきっにさ Eakins (name of a family)

Sa’imi さいみ Caemi (name of a deity)

Tinalli てなっえ Tinellb (name of a universe)

ʔirri’a いっりあ Irìa (name of a city)

Lulani をわに Lulani (name of a language)

Xucipura Cula ずちぷら ゆわ The Crackled Egg (name of a story)