Nouns
Nouns in Apma are generally not preceded by articles. Plurality is indicated by placing the pronoun nii ("them") or a number after the noun:
- bwihil = bird
- bwihil nii = birds
- bwihil katsil = three birds
Nouns may be either free, or directly possessed. Directly possessed nouns are suffixed to indicate whom an item belongs to. For example:
- dalek = my voice
- dalem = your voice
- dalen = his/her voice
- dalen subu = the chief's voice
- dalekte = voice (generic)
Possession may also be indicated by the use of possessive classifiers, separate words that occur before or after the noun and take possessive suffixes. These classifiers are:
- no- for general possessions (nok watang, "my basket")
- bila- for things that are cared for, such as crops and livestock (bilada bo, "our pig")
- ka- for things to be eaten (kam tsi, "your sugarcane")
- ma- for things to be drunk (maa sileng, "their water")
- na- for associations, over which the possessor has no control (vini nak, "my home island")
The possessive suffixes are as follows:
| Person | Apma (Suru Mwerani dialect) |
Apma (Suru Rabwanga dialect) |
Apma (Suru Kavian dialect) |
English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person singular | -k | -ngg + vowel | -ngg + vowel | "of mine" |
| 2nd person singular | -m | -m | -m | "of yours" (singular) |
| 3rd person singular | -n | -n | -n | "of his/hers/its" |
| 1st person dual (inclusive) | -daru | -nd + vowel + ru | -nd + vowel + ri | "of ours" (yours and mine, two of us) |
| 1st person dual (exclusive) | -maru | -maru | -mari | "of ours" (mine and another's) |
| 2nd person dual | -mru | -muru | -miri | "of yours" (two of you) |
| 3rd person dual | -ru | -ru | -ri | "of theirs" (two of them) |
| 1st person plural (inclusive) | -da | -nd + vowel | -nd + vowel | "of ours" (yours and mine) |
| 1st person plural (exclusive) | -ma | -ma | -ma | "of ours" (mine and others') |
| 2nd person plural | -mi | -mi | -mi | "of yours" (plural) |
| 3rd person plural | (lengthened vowel) | (lengthened vowel) | (lengthened vowel) | "of theirs" |
| Generic | -kte | -k | -k | - |
In Suru Kavian dialect, vowels in certain directly possessed nouns and possessive classifiers change according to the pattern illustrated below. This does not occur in other dialects:
| 1st person singular | nonggo bu "my knife" |
vilunggu "my hair" |
| 2nd person singular | nom bu "your knife" |
vilum "your hair" |
| 3rd person singular | nen bu "his/her knife" |
vilin "his/her hair" |
| 1st person plural (inclusive) |
nende bu "our knife" |
vilindi "our hair" |
| 1st person plural (exclusive) |
noma bu "our knife" |
viluma "our hair" |
| 2nd person singular | nomi bu "your knife" |
vilumi "your hair" |
| 3rd person singular | nee bu "their knife" |
vilii "their hair" |
A verb may be transformed into a noun by the addition of a nominalising suffix -an:
- wel = to dance (verb)
- welan = a dance (noun)
Modifiers generally come after a noun:
- vet = stone
- vet tewep = small stone
- vet kavet = four stones
Read more about this topic: Apma Language, Grammar
Famous quotes containing the word nouns:
“All the facts of nature are nouns of the intellect, and make the grammar of the eternal language. Every word has a double, treble or centuple use and meaning.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Children and savages use only nouns or names of things, which they convert into verbs, and apply to analogous mental acts.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)