Grammar 6 |
a) Pluralization: Native nouns Native or inherited nouns are words which originated in the Aramaic language. They differ from loan words in their pattern and their pluralization. The nouns that were introduced in Grammar unit 4a belong to this category. 1. Masculine nouns Masculine nouns ending in -o ـܐ take on the plural form -e ـܶܐ:
Some masculine nouns ending in -o ـܐ take on the plural form -one ـܳܢܶܐ:
A few nouns form an irregular plural and have to be memorized, among which are:
2. Feminine nouns Feminine nouns ending in -to ـܬܐ / -ṯo ـܬ݂ܐ take on the plural ending -oṯe ـܳܬ݂ܶܐ:
For reasons related to historical linguistics, there are a lot of exceptions:
Feminine nouns ending in –iṯo ـܝܬ݂ܐ take on the regular plural -yoṯe ـܝܳܬ݂ܶܐ and nouns ending in -uṯo ـܘܬ݂ܐ the regular plural in -woṯe ـܘܳܬ݂ܶܐ:
As already mentioned in grammar Unit 4a, there are feminine nouns ending in -o ـܐ that also take on the plural ending -oṯe ـܳܬ݂ܶܐ:
There are exceptions in which feminine nouns ending in -o ـܐ take on the masculine plural -e ـܶܐ:
These plurals are also irregular:
b) Pluralization: Loan words Loan words are words that are borrowed from other languages and incorporated into Surayt. They can be identified as originally non-Aramaic because of their pattern. Masculine loan words end in a consonant and feminine loan words end in -a ـܰܐ or -e ـܶܐ. In the plural, however, both take on the ending -at ـܰܬ. 1. Masculine loan words ending in a consonant
Most masculine loan words which end in a consonant (as listed below) can also take on the same plural as inherited nouns -e ـܶܐ: rastorant, ܪܰܣܬܳܪܰܢܬ Pl. rastorantat – rastorante ܪܰܣܬܳܪܰܢܬܰܬ – ܪܰܣܬܳܪܰܢܬܶܐ täläfon ܬܱܠܱܦܳܢ, Pl. täläfonat - täläfone ܬܱܠܱܦܳܢܰܬ – ܬܱܠܱܦܳܢܶܐ Furthermore, masculine loan words of this category (ending in a consonant) that are borrowed from Arabic can also form the Arabic plural. Hence, some nouns have three different plural forms:
2. Feminine loan words ending in -e ـܶܐ/-a ـܰܐ
More recent loan words may deviate from this rule, e.g. the feminine noun tuwalet ܬܘܘܰܠܶܬ , Pl. tuwaletat ܬܘܘܰܠܶܬܰܬ “Toilet”. In general, glossaries and dictionaries include the irregular plural form which is to be memorized together with the singular form. |