Gilkesh language

10. Noun case.

There are four cases of nouns: the predicative, nominative, mediative, and objective. These are formed regularly with suffixes. The case of a noun indicates its role in the sentence; the case of a noun may also depend on the valency of the main verb.

The nominative case marks the subject of a verb; its ending is –u in the sinuglar.

The objective case marks the receiver of the action of the verb; with transitive verbs, it represents the direct object. Its ending is –a in the singular.

Frimbiti keshu nenda. The woman eats bread.
Shaditi keshu sapira. The woman reads the book.

The mediative case takes the ending –e. It indicates the conveyor of action to the object of the verb. It can function as an instrumental case:

Frimbiti keshu supa jum dishle. The woman eats soup with a spoon.

In verbs of conveyance (words indicating giving, telling, etc.) the mediative case applies to the thing given, and the receiver takes the objective case. (This is in contrast to the usual Indo-European arrangement where the thing given is considered the object of the verb.) Thus:

Sudriti keshu sapire nil gela. The woman gives the book to the girl.
Shaditi keshu sapire nil gela. The woman reads the book to the girl.

Note that in the change from a divalent to a trivalent sentence, the case of the object of shaditi changes from objective (sapira) to mediative (sapire).

The predicative (or “caseless case”) is the lexical form of the noun. It is normally indicated by a null ending (no vowel) although –i may be added for euphony. It is used when a noun appears in a grammatical vacuum; that is, places like signs, lists, titles, and so on.

In sentences, the predicative is used to indicate the predicate of a copula:

E thiu sapir. This is a book.
E thi-frimbibu nand, ve e dhi-frimbibu sop. This food is bread, and that food is soup.
E thi-daru marchar, ve e dhi-daru odol. This building (lit. house) is a shop, and that building is a school.

9. Identifier suffix.

The suffix –yi indicates that a given noun is named or identified by another.

nin-yi Kathris Queen Kathris
arj-yi Urth the planet Earth

3. The abstractive.

To express ideas like “love”, “life”, and so on, we use abstractives. There are five primary orders. Abstractive forms beyond the fifth belong to advanced grammar and are outside the scope of this introduction.

The first abstractive represents the universal ideal associated with a given root. Its ending is the stem vowel for the appropriate case (absolutive, nominative, mediative, or objective) followed by –s. The first abstractive does not form plurals because, by definition, it represents a non-countable entity.

Examples of the first abstractive;

suki, to teach
sukis, education;

keshis, life in the abstract
Ê keshus push. Life is hard.

kishis, love
Zidmi kishas. I believe in love.

ashtis, desire
Râditim kayashum ashtes. People go astray with desire.

zundis, knowledge
Sagti zundus. Knowledge is good.

Here sag = something good, sagi = to be good.

Ashtya sagas! Desire virtue!

The second abstractive usually represents an attribute, quality, or state. It is formed through internal changes to the vowel of the root verb. Unlike the first abstractive, it is countable, and often proper to some person or thing. Frequently its English translation is the same as the first abstractive, but it is used differently. Study the following examples;

keyish, love
Walditid Ardis’wa keyishu. Ardis’ love was strong.

âshti, to desire
eshet, desire
Ai eshetu nil mi shalbe. There is desire in my heart.
Heimi ghiz eshto. I am sick from (lit. because of) desire.

The case endings –o (for) and –au (because of) are used only with abstractives.

The second abstractive (and all the remaining orders) can form plurals.

Sagtin minye kayashun. Our lives are good.

The third abstractive represents an occasion or instance. It sometimes takes on a substantive-like meaning; its exact meaning depends on the word. It is marked by reduplication of the strong consonant.

wârqi, to break
warqaq, a break
warqaqim, breakage

râqi, to see
raqaq, sight, a sight

dâni, to judge
dadan, judgment, ruling, decision

sûki, to teach
sukuk, a lesson

The formation of the second through fifth abstractives is not completely regular, so these forms need to be memorized along with the main verb root. The abstractives together with the infinitive form the principal parts of the lexical root.

2. Agent equivalence: substantive-verb relationship.

There is a fixed relationship (called agent equivalence) between the primary forms of the verb and the substantive. In essence, the substantive always represents the agent of the corresponding verb; or conversely, the verbal endings function as a the verb to be when attached to a substantive.

For example:

kish, lover
kîsh-i, to love
kîshmi Ardas, I love Ardis;

kesh, living being, person
kêsh-mi, I live;

chel, ice
chêl-ti, it freezes

and so on. It follows that the verb to be (copular verb), hei, can replace the verb ending. Thus,

kêshmi, I live = heimi kesh, I am a living thing;
kîshmi, I love = heimi kish, I am a lover (one who loves);
sukti, she teaches = heiti suk, she is a teacher