Nûrlâm –
Black Speech
dialect wiki

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====== Grammar of nouns ======
===== Declension class =====
The basic grammatical category of nouns common for all [[Black Speech dialects]] is [[declension_classes|declension class]] which affects how majority additional suffixes are appended. However it's not fixed to the noun's root but every additional suffix depends on resulting declension class of previous one. The are only two declension classes with simple rule: all words ending with consonant belong to class I and words ending with vowel belong to class II. Diphthongs are treated as vowels and there are no words ending with semivowels (like //y//) attested.

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===== Number =====
In //Classical Black Speech// nouns lack grammatical category of [[grammar_number|number]] which is however introduced in //Debased Black Speech//. In Classical Black Speech all nouns are plural by default with exact quantity usually specified, in standard Nûrlâm verb started to carry suffix of number, but in modern colloquial speech nouns became singular and plural nouns (with quantity greater than one) are marked with special suffix. Plural suffix depends on declension class of word (including previous suffixes, e.g. case). Nouns ending with consonant (declension class I) take ending //‑û// and to words ending with vowel suffix //‑z// is attached.
{{page>include:declension-case-number}}

There is no such grammatical category as //collective plural// in Nûrlâm. But clitic pronoun //ûk// (all) is sometimes attached instead of plural suffix.

To clarify that noun is singular a particularizing suffix aka definite article may be used (see next chapter).

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===== Articles =====
J.R.R. Tolkien treats //-um// as "a particularizing suffix or 'article'"((quote by Tolkien's, see Parma Eldalamberon journal #17, 2007, p. 12)) in oppose to abstract noun suffix //-ness//, as in all Black Speech analyses published before. So English definite article may be translated with suffix //-um// added to the noun. For example phrase "alone in the dark" is translated as "ashûk burzum-ishi". Nûrlâm suggest that particularizing article transforms into //-m// after vowels (for example "snagam" = "the slave"). Suffix //-um/-m// denotes that noun has singular number.

Some other words have functions similar to articles. As nouns are considered plural by default, singular nouns are often preceded by the word "//ash//" (lit. "one") which is treated sometimes as //indefinite article//. Demonstrative pronouns are frequently used as [[clitics]] thus resembling //definite articles//, but usually only //za// (lit. "this") is translated as article "the".

Any of aforementioned substitutes for articles may be used to distinguish nouns from other lexical categories with same stem when [[zero-derivation]] is used. For example: "Blûz blûz__um__" (= "Grind __the__ grain!") to clarify that second "blûz" is noun with an article. 

Nûrlâm does not have any rules requiring articles with certain words (like some geographical names in English).
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===== Animacy and Gender =====
[[grammar_gender|Animacy and gender]] do not affect noun's grammar in Nûrlâm. So you don't have to memorize noun's gender like in German, Spanish or Russian. But in colloquial speech these categories have influence on [[pronouns]] replacing nouns. Animated nouns are masculine by default, but they can take feminine suffix //-niz// to specify the biological gender of creature. Unanimated nouns are considered neuter. Animacy has influence on forming plural number in Shadowlandian Black Speech but not in Nûrlâm.
^ Word    ^ Translation ^ Animacy    ^ Gender ^ Replacing pronoun     ^^
^ :::     ^ :::         ^ :::        ^ :::    ^ Standard ^ Colloquial ^
| gund    | stone       | unanimated | //n//  | ta        | za         |
| hunk    | hound       | animated   | //m//  | :::       | ta         |
| hunkniz | dog         | animated   | //f//  | :::       | na         |

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===== Case ======
There are about 15 [[grammar_case|cases]] in Nûrlâm. However most of them are formed by clitic postpositions which are usually translated into English as prepositions. Case suffixes are affected by declension class of noun (including previous suffixes).
{{page>include:case_suffix_table}}

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===== Countable and uncountable nouns =====
While certain nouns are uncountable (usually liquids and names for various crafting material, as in English) and attaching numerals or indefinite article to them is an error (you cannot say "five water"), quantifier words (mostly indefinite pronouns) are not affected by this distinction. In example the word "mak" means both "many" and "much".

==== Collective nouns ====
Some noun may refer a group of objects or persons ("barth" = "grass"). 

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===== Suffix chain =====
All slots in noun's suffix chain are optional/requested by context except the root. Adding each suffix modifies noun's declension class. Case and number suffixes are depending on declension class of previous [[morphology|morpheme]] (suffix or root).
 
{{page>include:suffix_chain_noun}} 
 
==== Example ====
|   farbalnizfikzab    ||||||
| farb | al | niz | fik | za | b |
| hunt | er | ess | bad | this | of |
|    of this bad huntress    ||||||
Nûrlâm –Black Speech dialect wiki

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Black Speech
dialect wiki
