Noun forms

Singular and Plural Nouns

There are three ways that nouns have singular and plural forms.  They can add a suffix to the singular form as in tinnä ‘witchdoctor’.  They can add a suffix to the plural form as in dirani ‘bracelets’.  They can also add suffixes to both the singular and plural form as in dïïn ‘bird’ and dïïrgä ‘birds’.

The following are the most common singular suffixes.

The following are the most common plural suffixes.

The following are the most common singular and plural combinations of suffixes.

[1] The suffix –kkä, –ccan, -ṭṭä may have doubled consonants in the underlying form. The plural suffix –kkä results in a different surface form after root-final n in bänkä ‘villages’ than the plural suffix –kä does in jengä ‘trees’. Also, the plural suffix –kkä results in a different surface form after root-final r in erkä ‘fruit type’ than the ovs present suffix –kä does in yoorgu ‘sees’. Also compare the plural suffix –kkä after root-final c in ïckä ‘spoon’ with the ovs present suffix –kä in icä ‘take’. Because the plural suffixes and OVS present suffix may have different underlying forms, they are listed with different spelling –kkä and –kä so that they can be more easily distinguished in this book.