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4.2.4.5

Nouns of the syllabic structure C1C2C1 : C3 V2~ C1 V1 : C2 C3V2 drop -C3 V2 and suffix - ka.

mra:nu ~ ma:rnu	‘tree’
mra:ka ~ ma:rka	‘trees’

trãyũ~ tã:ryu	‘head’
trã:ka ~ tã:rka	‘heads’

ga:yu ~ ga:yu	‘graves’
ga:ka ~ ga:ka	‘graves’

4.2.4.6

In nouns of the syllabic structure C1V1:C2V2 where C2 is an alveolar nasal, there is metathesis of V1:C2 with change of alveolar to retroflex. V2 is dropped and -ka is suffixed to form the plural.

mi:nu	‘fish’	mi:ka	‘fishes’
pe:nu	‘louse’	pe:ka	‘lice’

4.2.4.7

Neuter nouns which are trisyllabic suffix - ka with no change in syllable structure.

ko:hi	‘elbow’	ko:hika	‘elbows’
pa:domi	‘foot’	pa:domika	‘feet’
hir?ei	‘deer’	hir?eika	‘deer’

4.2.4.8

Exceptions to the above rule are

leppe:i	‘chin’	leppe:ih	‘chins’
sivosi	‘plus’	sivosih	‘pus’
piyoli	‘worm’	pi:ka	‘worms’
neh?u:i	‘dog’	neska	‘dogs’

N.B. neska ‘dogs’ has a variant neh?u:

ika which is less frequent.

4.2.4.9

All otherr neuter nouns which do not fall into any of the above classes take the plural suffix - hĩ , where the abstract vowel v is assimilated to the final vowel of the singular stem and is nasalized

sa:gu	‘cloud’	sa:guhũ	‘clouds’
giyya	‘sound’	giyyahaâ	‘sounds’
ga:de	‘donkey’	ga:dehē	‘donkeys’
ajji	‘hail stone’	ajjihiâ	‘hail stones’

4.2.5

Mass or Non-count nouns

Mass nouns are those nouns which may or may not be marked for number but to which the notion of countability does not apply. Count nouns can be counted as separable entities.

ro	ga:yi	‘one cow’
ri	ga:yi	‘two cows’

Mass nouns are seen as continuous entities and cannot be counted

e:yu	‘water’	nettu:ri	‘blood’
niâyu	‘oil’	oņa	‘rice (cooked)’
pa:lu	‘milk’	manjihiâ	‘rice(uncooked)’

Mass nouns are used with quantifiers or partitives (cf. 4.4.5., 4.4.6.) to denote quantity.

riņa pa:lu	‘some milk’	riņa oņa	‘some rice’
ro se:ru ’	‘one seer	ro aa	‘one adda rice
pa:lu	milk’	manji

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