Nobiin language: Encyclopedia II - Nobiin language - Grammar

Nobiin language - Grammar

Nobiin language - Pronouns

The basic personal pronouns of Nobiin are:

• ày- "I"
• ìr- "you (singular)"
• tàr- "he, she, it"
• ùù- "we"
• úr- "you (plural)"
• tér- "they"

There are three sets of possessive pronouns. One of them is transparently derived from the set of personal pronouns plus a connexive suffix –íín. Another set is less clearly related to the simple personal pronouns; all possessive pronouns of this set bear a High tone. The third set is derived from the second set by appending the nominalizing suffix -ní. The three sets are listed below.

• àyíín   án   ànní   — 'my'
• ìríín   ín   ìnní   — 'your'
• tàríín   tán   tànní   — 'his/her'
• ùùíín   úún   ùùní   — 'our'
• úríín   únn   únní   — 'your (pl)'
• téríín   ténn   ténní   — 'their'

Nobiin has two demonstrative pronouns: ìn 'this', denoting things nearby, and mán 'that', denoting things farther away. Both can function as the subject or the object in a sentence; in the latter case they take the object marker -gá yielding ìngà and mángá, respectively (for the object marker, see also below). The demonstrative pronoun always precedes the nouns it refers to.

• ìn íd dìrbád wèèkà kúnkènò   (this man hen one-OB have:3.sgPRESENT)   'This man has a hen.'
• mám búrúú nàày lè?   (that girl who be.Q)   'Who is that girl?'

Nobiin language - Nouns

Nouns in Nobiin are predominantly disyllabic, although monosyllabic and three- or four-syllabic nouns are also found. Nouns can be derived from adjectives, verbs, or other nouns by appending various suffixes. In plural formation, the tone of a noun becomes Low and one of four plural markers is suffixed. Two fo these are Low in tone, while the other two have a High tone.

• -ìì (L): féntí → fèntìì '(sweet) dates'
• -ncìì (L): àrréé → àrèèncìì 'falls'
• -ríí (H): áádèm → ààdèmríí 'men, people'
• -gúú (H): kúrsí → kùrsìgúú 'chairs'

In most cases it is not predictable which plural suffix a noun will take. Furthermore, many nouns can take different suffixes, e.g. ág 'mouth' → àgìì/àgríí. However, nouns that have final -éé usually take Plural 2 (-ncìì), whereas disyllabic Low-High nouns typically take Plural 1 (-ìì).

Gender is expressed lexically, occasionally by use of a suffix, but more often with a different noun altogether, or, in the case of animals, by use of a separate nominal element óndí ‘masculine’ or kàrréé ‘feminine’:

• íd ‘man’ vs. ìdéén ‘woman’
• tòòd ‘boy’ vs. búrú ‘girl’
• kàjkàrréé ‘she-ass’ vs. kàjnóndí ‘donkey’

The pair male slave/female slave forms an interesting exception, showing gender marking through different endings of the lexeme: òsshí 'slave (m)' vs. òsshá 'slave (f)'. An Old Nubian equivalent which does not seem to show the gender is oshonaeigou 'slaves'; the plural suffix -gou has a modern equivalent in -gúú (see above).

In compound nouns comprised of two nouns, the tone of the first noun becomes Low while the appended noun keeps its own tonal pattern.

• kàdíís 'cat' + mórrí 'wild' → kàdììs-mórrí 'wild cat'
• ìkìríí 'guest' + nóóg 'house' → ìskìrììn-nóóg 'guest room'
• tògój 'sling' + kìd 'stone' → tògòj-kìd 'sling stone'

Many compounds are found in two forms, one more lexicalized than the other. Thus, it is common to find both the coordinated noun phrase háhám ámán 'the water of the river' and the compound noun bàhàm-ámán 'river-water', distinguished by their tonal pattern.

Nobiin language - Verbs

Verbal morphology in Nobiin is subject to numerous morphophonological processes, including syllable contraction, vowel elision, and assimilation of all sorts and directions. A distinction needs to be made between the verbal base and the morphemes that follow. The majority of verbal bases in Nobiin end in a consonant (e.g. nèèr- ‘sleep’, kàb- ‘eat’, tíg- ‘follow’, fìyyí- ‘lie’); notable exceptions are júú- ‘go’ and níí- ‘drink’. Verbal bases are mono- or disyllabic. The verbal base carries one of three or four tonal patterns. The main verb carries person, number, tense, and aspect information.

• ày féjírkà sàllìr   (I morning.prayer pray:I.PRESENT)   'I pray the morning prayer.'

Only rarely do verbal bases occur without appended morphemes. One such case is the use of the verb júú- 'go' in a serial verb-like construction.

• áríj wèèkà fà júú jáánìr   (meat one:OB FUTURE go buy:IPRESENT)   'I'm going to buy a piece of meat.'

Nobiin language - Sentences

The basic word order in a Nobiin sentence is Subject Object Verb. Objects are marked by an object suffix -gá, often assimilating to the final consonant of the word (e.g. kìtááb 'book', kìtááppá 'book-OBJECT' as seen below). In a sentence containing both an indirect and a direct object, the object marker is suffixed to both.

• kám íwgà kàbì   (camel corn-OB eat:he.PRESENT)   'The camel eats corn.'
• ày ìkkà ìn kìtááppá tèèr   (I you-OB this book-OB give:I.PRESENT)   'I give you this book.'

Questions can be constructed in various ways in Nobiin. Constituent questions ('Type 1', questions about 'who?', 'what?', etc.) are formed by use of a set of verbal suffixes in conjunction with question words. Simple interrogative utterances ('Type 2') are formed by use of another set of verbal suffixes.

Some of the suffixes are similar. Possible ambiguities are solved by the context. Some examples:

• mìn ámán túúl áányì?   (what water in live:PRES.2/3SG.Q1)   'What lives in water?'
• híddó nííl mìrì?   (where Nile run/flow:PRES.2/3SG.Q1)   'Where does the Nile flow?'
• ìr sààbúúngà jáánnáà?   (you soap:OB have:2/3SG.PRES.Q2)   'Do you have soap?'
• sàbúúngà jáánnáà?   (soap:OB have:PRES2/3SG.Q2)   'do you sell soap?' / 'Does he/she sell soap?'
• úr báléél árágróò?   (you (pl.) party.at dance:PRES1/2PL.Q2)   'Do you (pl.) dance at the party?'

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Grammar", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki