Some examples for each class of nouns with different gender
markers are given below. The gender markers /-pá/ and /-lá/ are
added to masculine and feminine human nouns respectively. These
gender markers are same as the third person masculine and
faminine pronouns respectively.
Human
Masculine
Feminine
àóye
‘thief’
àóyepá
‘male thief’
àóyelá
‘female thief’
insue
‘blacksmith’
insuepá
‘male blacksmith’
inuelá
‘female blacksmith’
ssa
‘dancer’
ssapá
‘male dancer’
ssalá
‘female dancer’
kanten
‘singer’
kantenpá
‘male singer’
kantenlá
‘female singer’
The proper nouns also carry gender markers /-pá/ and /-lá / for
masculine and feminine names respectively.
pentapá
‘Bendangba’
cupanupá
‘Chubanungba’
amenlá
‘Amenla’
naolá
‘Narola’
With some human nouns the masculine gender marker is /-sa/
and not /pá /. But the feminine gender marker is /-lá /.
Human
Masculine
Feminine
kiyim
‘marriage’
kiyimsa
‘bridegroom’
kiyimlá
‘bride’
azmesen
‘lazy’
azmesensa
‘lazy man’
azmesenlá
‘lazy woman’
alá
‘slave’
alásaN
‘male slave’
alálá
‘female slave’
2.2.3.
Number :
There are two numbers in Ao : Singular
and Plural. But the number is also not grammatically significant
like gender, in the sense that it is not relevant for
subject-predicate concordance etc. The number is thus not marked
in the verb or adjective. The plural marker is /-tem/ which is
added to the singular noun which is unmarked. The number marker
follows the gender marker, if there is one.
i senpuu yok
‘I sent him five rupees’
‘he goes to the doctor’
-tak
‘in the dog’
mesen
