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--- grammar_number [2020/08/22 11:02] – [In Nûrlâm] morgoth
+++ grammar_number [2023/09/07 19:38] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ====== Grammatical number ======
-While category of number exists in majority of languages of the Earth, it is not native to Black Speech. It's believed by some linguists that it was absent in Black Speech. This opinion is based upon using the word "Nazgûl" as both singular and plural noun in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The other reason is the popular belief that Sauron suppressed individuality and forbade to use the word "I" or even any other singular pronoun. This resembles dystopian novel [[wp>We_(novel)|"We"]] (1921) by Yevgeny Zamyatin. However from LOTR it's clear that Sauron failed in organizing orcs who regularly quarrel with each other and put their personal wishes above the order (i.e. scene of Merry and Pippin escaping orcish capture), so it's assumed that orcish dialects have category of number.
+While category of number exists in majority of languages of the Earth, it is not native to Black Speech. It's believed by some linguists that it was absent in Black Speech. This opinion is based upon using the word "Nazgûl" as both singular and plural noun in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Also orcs in LOTR's chapters like "The Choices of Master Samwise" refer Sauron as "they", "...even the Top Ones can..." (emphasis with capital letters hints us that it is not just some high commandment, but may also include Nazgûl on the other hand). The other reason is the popular belief that Sauron suppressed individuality and forbade to use the word "I" or even any other singular pronoun. This resembles dystopian novel [[wp>We_(novel)|"We"]] (1921) by Yevgeny Zamyatin. However from LOTR it's clear that Sauron failed in organizing orcs who regularly quarrel with each other and put their personal wishes above the order (i.e. scene of Merry and Pippin escaping orcish capture), so it's assumed that orcish dialects have category of number.
 ===== In Nûrlâm =====
-[[grammar_noun|Nouns]], [[grammar_adjective|adjectives]], 1st and 2nd [[grammar_person|person]] [[pronouns]] do not have category of number in [[Nûrlâm]] or have //general// number to be more precise. By default they are translated as **plural**, so there is no distinction in countable and uncountable nouns. Therefore exact numbers (like in //[[ring-verse|ash nazg]]//) and quantifier words (i.e. equivalents of English //some//, //few//, //many//) are used more often than in typical European languages. However, [[grammar_verb|verbs]] can carry information about number of subject in 3rd person and of object if it's 3rd person [[clitics|clitic]] pronoun.
+[[grammar_noun|Nouns]], [[grammar_adjective|adjectives]] and [[proform|pro-forms]] do not have category of number in [[Nûrlâm]] or have //general// number to be more precise. By default they are translated as **plural**, so there is no distinction in countable and uncountable nouns. Therefore exact numbers (like in //[[ring-verse|ash nazg]]//) and quantifier words (i.e. equivalents of English //some//, //few//, //many//) are used more often than in typical European languages. [[pronouns#personal_pronouns|Personal pronouns]] however have distinct singular and plural forms. In Nûrlâm information about number of subject and of object if it is a [[clitics|clitic]] pronoun is carried by [[grammar_verb|verbs]]. Suffix //-â// is added to the verb if subject is a singular noun, and //-û// if subject is a plural noun.
-<WRAP center round todo 60%>
+  * Cruel orc kills a child = Urukbol dog**â** **ash** khind (singular subject, singular object);
-<todo>add example</todo>
+  * Cruel orcs have killed a child = Urukbol doguz**û** **ash** khind (plural subject, singular object);
-</WRAP>
+  * Cruel orcs kill (some) children = Urukbol dogû (**mûd**) khind (plural subject, plural object);
+  * Cruel orcs have killed them = Urukbol doguz**ûtul** (plural subject, plural pronominal object);
+  * They have killed a child = **Tak**doguz **ash** khind (plural pronominal subject, singular object);
+  * He have killed them = **Ta**doguz**ul** (both subject and object are personal pronouns, not recommended).
 ===== In Orcish dialects and colloquial speech =====
-In Orcish dialects (like Shadowlandian) unanimated nouns have singular and plural form, animated nouns have one form for both (which is often ignored in colloquial speech where there is no distinction in animacy). But Adjectives have plural form despite animacy of connected noun. Pronouns have plural form. Verbs have special 3rd person plural suffix //-ut//. Plural suffix is the same for nouns, pronouns and adjectives. In Shadowlandian and Horngoth it's //-u// and //-i// in Svartiska and MERP. Nûrlâm suggests using //-û// (taken from rare Svartiska variant) to avoid confusion with preposition meaning "to". In Archaic Speech this suffix initially marked 3rd person verbs when subject was a noun. If word ends with a vowel than plural suffix is //-z// in all dialects.
+In [[black_speech_dialects|Orcish dialects]] (like Shadowlandian) unanimated nouns have singular and plural form, animated nouns have one form for both (which is often ignored in colloquial speech where there is no distinction in animacy). But Adjectives have plural form despite animacy of connected noun. Pronouns have plural form. Verbs in Shadowlandian have special 3rd person plural suffix //-ut//. Plural suffix is the same for nouns, pronouns and adjectives. In Shadowlandian and Horngoth it's //-u// and //-i// in Svartiska and MERP. Nûrlâm suggests using //-û// (taken from rare Svartiska variant) to avoid confusion with preposition meaning "to". This suffix initially marked 3rd person verbs when subject was a noun in Standard Nûrlâm. If word ends with a vowel than plural suffix is //-z// in all dialects. In Colloquial speech 3rd person endings of verb are often missed by a mistake (in contrast to Standard Nûrlâm where it's crucial for knowing a grammatical number of subject), and they are not essential anymore when subject has it's own plural marker. Examples:
+  * Cruel orc kills a child = Bol uruk dog(â) khind (singular subject, singular object)
+  * Cruel orcs have killed a child = Bol**û** uruk**û** doguz(û) khind = (plural subject, singular object);
+  * Cruel orcs kill (some) children = Urukbol**û** dog khind**û** (plural subject, plural object);
+  * Cruel orcs have killed them = Urukbol doguz**ûtul** (plural subject, plural pronominal object);
+  * They have killed a child = **Ulû** doguz khind (plural pronominal subject, singular object);
+  * He have killed them = Ta doguz ul (both subject and object are personal pronouns).
-<WRAP center round todo 60%>
+===== Collective plural =====
-example of 3rd person plural sentence in Archaic and Colloquial language needed
+Some dialects consider suffixes //-ûk// (all) or //-hai// (folk, people) as //collective plural//. Nûrlâm treats them literally and without any special grammatical meaning. Words with such suffixes are considered plural:
-</WRAP>
+  * Humans left their cities = Tark-hai rangû goi takob = Tark-hai rang ulubû goiz((in Modern Nûrlâm))
+===== Dual number =====
+Many Indo-European languages have special words regarding two people, objects and even two complex sentences, like English "both", "either", "neither" and others. This reflects existence of dual number in Proto-Indo-European language. As Nûrlâm lacked grammatical category of number and Colloquial speech also never developed dual number, such words (belonging to pro-forms and conjunctions) do not have direct equivalents. Most of them listed in [[Conjunctions]] article.
-Some dialects consider suffixes //-ûk// (all) or //-hai// (folk, people) as //collective plural//. Nûrlâm treats them literally and without any special grammatical meaning.

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