Noun Stem Types

  John Nichols has very carefully analyzed the behavior of nouns, and I present a greatly simplified version of his analysis in this section. Basically, most nouns can take inflection for plural, for locative, for properties of a possessor, and other things. Basically, the types are quite simple: there is the basic kind of noun, which takes plural suffixes -ag (animate) and -an (Class I); there is the class which appears to end in a long vowel and takes suffix forms /-g/ and /-n/, or /-wag/ (Class II); there is a class which appears to take plural suffixes /-wag/ or /-oog/ (animate) or /-wan/ or /-oon/ (inanimate) (Class III); there is a class which appears to have plural suffixes /-iig/ and /-iin/ (Class IV); and there is a class which sometimes shows an augment /-aa/, for example in their locational form (Class V).

Note: These notes are presently incomplete.

A. Stem-Types

  Nouns group into stem-types on the basis of sometimes subtle differences in their inflectional details. The following basic classes are identified:

Class I

 This is the most basic class, and shows the most straightforward forms. These forms are listed below:

Examples with waagosh, 'fox' and jiimaan, 'boat.'

Other Class I nouns: Animate:

Class II

  Most of these nouns appear to end in a vowel, though they arguably have a final /w/ which under most conditions isn't pronounced. The various suffixes appear to have the following forms: