Suffixes of Singular and Plural Nouns
There are three ways that nouns have singular and plural forms. They can add suffixes to the singular form as in uxic ‘worm’. They can add suffixes to the plural form as in axiny ‘hut’. They can also add suffixes in both singular and plural forms as in winic, wininy ‘vulture’.
Three ways of forming singular and plural nouns | ||||
Singular suffix | Root | Plural suffix | ||
-ic/ | uxic | ux | worm | |
/-iny | ax | axiny | hut | |
-ic/-iny | winic | win- | wininy | vulture, bird type |
The following are the most common singular suffixes.
Singular Suffixes | |||
Singular | Plural | ||
-ic/ | uxic | ux | worm |
-c/ | bebec | bebe | gourd |
-dic, -tic/ | gäldic | gäl | egg |
-wec/ | ngaluwec | ngalu | bell |
-wic/ | kadasuwic | kadasu | foundation |
The following are the most common plural suffixes.
Plural Suffixes | |||
Singular | Plural | ||
/-iny | ax | axiny | hut |
/-u | ux | uxu | woman |
/-da, -ta | oxay | oxayda | animal |
/-di, -ti | bul | buldi | drum |
/-de, -te | jen | jende | year |
/-diny, -tiny | ngas | ngastiny | neck |
/-ciny | jenic | jenicciny | season |
/-däg | ya | yadäg | meat |
/-tudi | sud | sutudi | mound, hump |
/-nag | ngole | ngolenag | mother’s brother |
The following are the most common singular and plural suffix pairs.
Singular and Plural Suffixes | |||
Singular | Plural | ||
-ic/-iny | winic | wininy | vulture, bird type |
-ic/-u | banyic | banyu | light |
-wan/-wan | penäwan | penggäwan | son |
-x/-ny | osox | osony | lion |
-d/-nu | ꞌdawud | ꞌdawunu | fish type |
The m/m is for the words me, menggä and the p/e is for the words päxä, enggä. These make noun phrases from simpler nouns. The X/X is for nouns that have the same form for both the singular and the plural.
Other Singular and Plural Abbreviations | |||
Singular | Plural | ||
m/m | me pelow | menggä pelow | farmer, person of the field |
p/e | päxä deny | enggä däg | calf, young cow |
X/X | ayis | ayis | goat |