4.1.1.
|
The above classification which is
semantic matches the grammatical classification in which the gender of a
noun is determined by its agreement with the predicate, i.e., concord, and
is marked by a set of suffixes which indicate the gender and number of the
subject.
|
4.12.
|
The predicate of the masculine singular subject ends with-esi; the predicate of the masculine plural subject ends
with--eri.
The predicate of the non-masculine singular subject ends with--e;
and the predicate of the non-masculine plural subject ends with--u
(4.3.1.4.1.)
|
Masculine
|
 o:la va:nesi |
|
‘the boy comes’ |
| |
|
|
| a:ba va:nesi |
|
‘the father comes’ |
| |
|
|
| ma:ma va:nesi |
|
‘uncle come’ |
| |
|
|
| lo:ku va:nesi |
|
‘man comes’ |
| |
|
|
|
o:laha |
|
‘boy comes?’ |
| |
|
|
| a:bahâva:neri |
|
‘fathers come’ |
| |
|
|
| ma:mahâ
va:neri |
|
‘uncles come’ |
| |
|
|
| lo:ku va:neri |
|
‘men come’ |
|
Non-masculine
|
| po:da va:ne |
|
‘the girl comes’ |
| |
|
|
| ayya va:ne |
|
‘the woman comes’ |
| |
|
|
| ko:i va:ne |
|
‘bull comes’ |
| |
|
|
| ga:yi va:ne |
|
‘cow comes’ |
|
Non-masculine
|
| po:dahâ va:nu |
|
‘girls come’ |
| |
|
|
| avyasika va:nu |
|
‘women come’ |
| |
|
|
| ko:·hĩvanu |
|
‘bulls come’ |
| |
|
|
| ga:yihĩ va:nu |
|
‘cows come’ |
|
4.1.3.
|
Simple nouns as stated in 4.1. are not generally marked for
gender. Exceptions are
|
| mir?esi |
|
‘son’ |
| |
|
|
|
ŗangņa?esi |
|
‘bachelor’ |
|
4.2.
|
Number:
|
Kuvi has two numbers, singular and plural. This distinction clearly rests
upon the recognition of persons, animals and objects which can be
enumerated as ‘one’ or ‘more than one’. There is no overt morphological
marker for the singular number. The plural number is marked by any one of
the following suffixes depending on the gender of the noun. Each class of
nouns has more than one plural suffix the variants of which are
morphologically or phonologically conditioned.
|
|
4.2.1.
|
Masculine nouns take the following suffixes:
|
|
- ri ¥
- ´ga
¥ - h |
|
Feminine nouns take :
|
|
- ska ~ - sika
|
|
Neuter nouns take :
|
|
- h
~ - ga ~ -ska ~ - ka
|
It is clear that the number suffixes overlap between the gender classes of
nouns.
|
4.2.1.1.
|
The suffix-ri occurs with masculine nouns alone. --´ga
occurs with masculine nouns which take -esi as the gender-number marker in
the singular and certain neuter
|
