Singular and Plural Nouns

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