This document discusses nominal inflection, which includes number, noun class, and case. It provides examples of how these categories are marked in different languages. For number, some languages have singular-plural distinctions while others have dual forms as well. For noun class, languages divide nouns into classes based on properties like gender. Case encodes syntactic roles and is marked by inflections in languages like Turkish and Russian.

1. NOMINAL INFLECTION
1. Number
2. Noun class
3. Case

2. 1. NUMBER
 The morphological category that expresses
contrast involving countable quantities
 Distinction between the singular (one) and the
plural (more than one)

3. In others languages
 In Nancowry (spoken in India’s Nicobarese
Island ) : number is not market on nouns
at all
example: sa’k no’t ’in ci’ej
”We spared the pig(s)
 In Inuktitut: there are 3-way contrast
involving singular, dual( 2 and only 2),
plural ( more than two ):
Ex: iglu  ’a house’
igluk ’two houses’
iglut  ’three or more house’

4. 2. NOUN CLASS
 Some languages divide nouns into classes
based on shared semantic and/or
phonological
 Gender Classification:
- In French , Italian, and Spanish : nouns
are either masculine or feminine.

6.  In German, there are 3 subclasses:
masculine, feminine, and neuter

7. -Some languages have extremely elaborate
system of classification,
- For instance:
Noun classification in Swati
Prefix Example English Description
um(u) Um-fana boy persons
li Li-dvolo knee Body parts, fruit
S(i) Si-tja plate instrusments
Bu Bu-bi evil Abstract properties
Pha Pha-ndle outside location

8.  Gender Ending
 The form of the determiner varies
depending on the class of noun
-Spanish use the definite ’el’ for
masculine nouns, ’la’ for for feminine
ones.
-French use ‘le’ for the masculine subclass,
‘la’ for the feminine subclass

9. Example:Russian gender ending
Noun English Ending Class
Dom
ulica
House
street
Q
-a
masculine
feminine

10. In English: there are no gender market at all
noun
 Nonetheless , the different pronouns(
masculine he, feminine she , neuter it) that
agree with them tell us that nouns English are
divide into 3 gender

11. 3. CASE: a category that encodes information
about the syntactic role( subject, direct object, and
so on) of a noun.

12.  In many languages, the distinction are
marked by inflectional affixes
- Case Form
nominative ev
Accusative ev-I
Dative ev-v
Genitive ev-in
Locative ev-de
Ablative ev-den
 Turkish Case:

13.  Number, gender, and case contrasts
are combined into one ending.
 Russian nominal paradigm:

14. Some languagues make use of case to
encode grammatical contrast:
- In Australian languages Yidin: the case
making pattern group together:
-
• The subject
• Called:the
ergative
Intransitive
verb
• The director
object
• Called: the
Absolutive
Transitive
verb

15. a)The man is cutting the tree.
subject
Verb phrase
Noun phrase
Djugi
tree
Verb
Gundal
Is cutting
Noun phrase
Wagudja-ngu
Man

16. b) The man is cutting
Subject
Noun
phrase
Wagudja
(man)
Verb phrase Gundal
(Is cutting)