and three case forms (direct, oblique and vocative). On the basis of the
noun inflection all the nouns can be classified into four sub-types : two
sub-types of masculine nouns and two sub-types of feminine nouns. All the
masculine nouns ending in {-o} belong to M1
type are inflected like /gero/ ‘boy’ and all the other masculine nouns
fall into M2 type inflect like /dand/ ‘bullock’.
And all the feminine nouns ending in {-i} are inflected like /geri/ ‘girl’
and all the other feminine nouns are inflected like /gã/
or /s  yá/.
All the inflectional suffixes can be tabulated here. These suffixes are
added to the noun base to get the noun words.
|
|
|
| Direct |
Oblique |
Vocative |
|
Direct |
Oblique |
Vocative |
|
|
| |
|
M1
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ger- ‘boy’ |
-o |
-a |
-ya~-a |
-a |
-ã
|
-yo~-o |
|
|
|
|
M2
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
dand ‘bullock’
|
-f
|
-f
|
-ya~-a
|
-f
|
-a
|
-yo~-o
|
|
| |
| F1 |
|
|
|
|
|
| ger- ‘girl’ |
-i |
-i |
-I-ye |
- -I-yã |
-I-yo |
|
| |
| F2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| gã-
‘cow’ |
-f |
-f |
-e |
-f~v) |
-ã |
-o |
|
|
These can be illustrated with the help of paradigms of /gero/ ‘boy’
/dand/ ‘bullock’ /geri/ ‘girl’ /gã/
‘cow’
|
|
M1 /gero/ ‘boy’
|
|
Sg. |
Pl. |
|
Direct
|
gero |
gera |
|
Oblique
|
gera
|
gerã
|
|
Vocative
|
gerya |
geryo |
|
|
M2 /dand/ ‘bullock’
|
|
Direct
|
dand |
dand |
|
Oblique
|
dand
|
dandã
|
|
Vocative
|
danda |
dando |
|
|
F1
/geri/ ‘girl’
|
|
Direct
|
geri
|
gerĩ
|
|
Oblique
|
geri
|
gerIyã
|
|
Vocative
|
gerIye |
‘gerIyo |
|
|
F2 /gã/
‘cow’
|
|
Direct
|
gã
|
gã
|
|
Oblique
|
gã
|
gãyã
|
|
Vocative
|
gãe
|
gã
|
|
|
|
|
All the nouns take {-ã}
as the oblique plural suffix. The final vowel of all the feminine nouns is
nasalized in the direct plural form and nouns ending in consonants take {-f}
zero suffix e.g. /syá/
‘wife’s brother’s wife’. /syã/
‘wife’s brother’s wives’ /b  ¸/
‘sister, sisters: Direct case forms can have various case functions and
can occur by itself in a syntactic construction whereas oblique case forms
always occur with a postposition. (See for details section on case).
|
