Nebezni is All About That Case
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This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 16 Jun 2020, 07:20.
[comments] nebcasesdeclination
Nebezni uses a robust case system for its nouns that lends itself to both simplicity and hair-tearing frustration.
For example, adpositions don’t exist in Nebezni. What isn’t covered by case or the verb is specified with an adjective or adverb. (E.g., if it’s important to specify “I am going into the house,” it is constructed as “I am going to the house’s inside.”). This keeps sentences simple and easy to parse regardless of word order but translating nouns in either direction becomes much more complex.
Below is an overview of each of the cases and how they are used:
Basic subject case.
Declination
This is default. Make no change to the noun.
Examples
- "the man" (ʒe vut)
- "the village" (ʒen kõdus)
- "the rain" (ʒa shi)
Direct object
Declination
- Add k(ə) to end (just k if it ends in a non-stop)
- OR IF it ends in a k, just add ə
- OR IF it ends voiced, add g
- UNLESS that last consonant is a nasal (m, n), in which case add k and drop the nasal
Examples
- "the man" (ʒe vut) ==> (ʒe vutkə)
- "the village" (ʒen kõdus) ==> (ʒen kõdusk)
- "the rain" (ʒa shi) ==> (ʒa shik)
Indirect object, “to obj”
Declination
- Add t to the end of the noun
- OR IF it already ends in t or d, add ә̃
- OR IF it ends in voiced consonants, add d
- UNLESS it’s a nasal (m, n), in which case add t and drop the nasal
- OR IF final consonant cluster has d, but not at the end, move the d to the end
Examples
- "the man" (ʒe vut) ==> "toward the man" (ʒe vutә̃)
- "the village" (ʒen kõdus) ==> "to the village" (ʒen kõdust)
- "the rain" (ʒa shi) ==> "into the rain" (ʒa shit)
Indirect object, “(away) from obj”
Declination
- Add l to the end of the noun
- OR IF it already ends in l, add a
- Keep cluster voicing in mind… if it ends unvoiced, change to voiced!
Examples
- "the man" (ʒe vut) ==> "from the man" (ʒe vudl)
- "the village" (ʒen kõdus) ==> "from the village" (ʒen kõduzl)
- "the rain" (ʒa shi) ==> "out of the rain" (ʒa shil)
Indirect object, “at/on/near/in obj”
Declination
- If it has a VC, Add an s(/z) before the final consonant cluster
- If the final consonant cluster already has an s/z/sh/ʒ, remove and add a “sa/za/sha/ʒa” to the end of the word instead.
- If the final consonant is a single r, l, v, n, or m; add the s after the r and z after the l/v/n/m
- If final consonant is an f, add “sa”
- If the word ends in a consonant cluster of 2 or more, place the s/z after the cluster
- If a proper noun, just add sa to the end of the word
- If not, add the s after the final vowel
Examples
- "the man" (ʒe vut) ==> "near the man" (ʒe vust)
- "the village" (ʒen kõdus) ==> "at the village" (ʒen kõdusa)
- "the rain" (ʒa shi) ==> "in the rain" (ʒa shis)
Indirect obj, “by/with obj”
Declination
- If it has a VC, Add an r before the final consonant cluster
- If the final consonant cluster already has an r, remove the r and add a “ra” to the end of the word instead
- If the final vowel cluster already has an r, move the r to the end of the vowel cluster
- If a proper noun, just add ra to the end of the word
- If not, add ra after the final vowel
Examples
- "a pen" (dzo krin) ==> "with a pen" (dzo kirn)
- "a sword" (dzo dõsej) ==> "with a sword" (dzo dõserj)
- "wisdom" (suʒdã) ==> "with wisdom" (suʒdãra) ==>
Indirect obj, “with/in company of”
Declination
- Add m(i) to end of noun (just m if it ends in a vowel or liquid)
- if the "m" is added to unvoiced consonant cluster, voice it
- If it ends in an m, just add i
Examples
- "the man" (ʒe vut) ==> "with the man" (ʒe vudmi)
- "the village" (ʒen kõdus) ==> "with the village" (ʒen kõduzmi)
- "father" (dam) ==> "with father" (dami)
Indirect object, “for obj (person or idea)"
Declination
- Add ba to end of noun (pa if after unvoiced)
- If it ends in a b/p, just add an a
- If it ends in a non-palatalized consonant + a, add the “b” before the a
Examples
- "the man" (ʒe vut) ==> "for the man" (ʒe vutpa)
- "the village" (ʒen kõdus) ==> "for the village" (ʒen kõduspa)
- "the girl" (ʒa cana) ==> "for the girl" (ʒa canba)
Inalienable: Can’t be separated, e.g., a body part (e.g., my leg) or quality –
Culturally inalienable things: body parts, ancestors, skills, ideas and thoughts (but not emotions!)
This case is usually only treated as a determiner/adjective marking the possessor, but can also mean “of ___.”
To use as a noun (e.g., mine, yours, etc.), take possessive and then apply a second case to that (e.g., “It’s mine” = ta kõs vork). If that case is nomitive, you can leave as-is, but most consider this grammatically incorrect.
Declination
- add suffix r
- if the possessing noun already ends in r, add ə
- if word ends in a vowel, but final consonant is an r, move that r to the end
- if the word ends in a consonant cluster that contains an r, move the r to the end and add ə
Examples
- "the man" (ʒe vut) + "foot" (põd) ==> "the man's foot" (ʒe vutr põd)
- "the sun" (ʒe zẽt) + "light" (vat) ==> "the sun's light" (ʒe zẽtr vat)
Alienable: Can be separated, something you’re holding – (e.g., my house)
This case is usually only treated as a determiner/adjective marking the possessor, but can also mean “of ___”
To use as a noun (e.g., mine, yours, etc.), take possessive and then apply a second case to that (e.g., “It’s mine” = ta kõs võk). If that case is nominative, you can leave as-is, but most consider this grammatically incorrect.
Declination
- If the possessing noun ends in a consonant: palatalize and add suffix o
- If it ends in vowel: palatalize final consonant and change final vowel to o
- Unless it’s a proper noun, in which case…
- If final consonant is not palatalized, add a yo after the vowel
- If final consonant is palatalized, add a "so" after the vowel
- If it already ends with a palatalized consonant and o, add "so" after the vowel
Examples
- "the man" (ʒe vut) + "dog" (dũz) ==> "the man's dog" (ʒe vutõ dũz)
- "the village" (ʒen kõdus) + aquaduct (sholet) ==> "the village's aquaduct" (ʒen kõdusõ sholet)
case (addressee)
Declination
- Add suffix ã
- If it ends in a vowel, add the suffix ya
- If it ends in a non-palatalized consonant + a, palatalize the consonant and do not add “ya”
Examples
- "man" (vut) ==> "Hey, mister!" (Vutã!)
- "Kassandra?" ==> "Kassandraya?"
subj and obj are the same word, e.g., “itself”
Declination
- Add first consonant cluster to end (voice/devoice new consonants accordingly and depalatalize) and add “ic,” then conjugate according to the non-nominativecase (can be left bare for accusative though this is considered bad grammar)
- There is no need to repeat a word twice, or use unnecessary pronouns, as this does double duty
Examples
- “I know myself” = vovickə dõs / mimickə dõs
- "The dog" (ʒa dũz) + "to bite" (skiroc) ==> "The dog bit herself!" (ʒa dũzdic skirova!)
These particles indicate when the following phrase refers to a noun within a different case.
(e.g., cases used to describe objects, not the subject or verb)
Add the following articles directly before the subordinate clause to indicate that the clause refers to the noun in...
- yu – Nominative case – rare, but used when it’s important to specify that a case is referring to the subject noun, not the verb
- e.g., “The man from the river is walking.” (ʒe vut yu ʒa shola fosh) vs. “The man is walking from the river” (ʒe vut fosh ʒa shola) esp. since that shola can be moved wherever
- kũ - Accusative case (direct obj)
- tũ - Dative case (Indirect object, “to obj”)
- lũ - Ablative (Indirect object, “(away) from obj”)
- sũ - Locative case (indirect object, “at/on/near/in obj”)
- rũ - Instrumental case (indirect obj, “by/with obj”)
- mũ - Comitative (indirect obj, “with/in company of”)
- bũ - Benefactive: (“for obj (person or idea)”)
- irũ - Genitive/possessive case: inalienable
- oyu - Genitive/possessive case: alienable
- ayu - Vocative case (addressee)
- cũ - Reflexive (e.g., “itself”)
Nested Subordinate Case
If you have subordinate clauses referring to other subordinate clauses, use the article of the most directly above it in the nest. E.g., I ran to the house in the village near the river. = vo kov ʒen dũst tũ ʒe dũskisn sũ ʒa shosl.
If there are multiple sub cases one of these articles could refer to (e.g., there if there are two dative nouns in the sentence), it usually refers to the most immediately preceding.
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