Nouns

Nouns are also declined for nominal number and case. These declensions are divided into six declension classes, with a few irregular nouns failing to fall into any class. There are three broad categories of declension classes:

• Celestial (I and II): contain mainly celestial nouns and have suffixed instrumental and abessive forms
• Terrestrial (III): contain mainly terrestrial nouns and have circumfixed instrumental and abessive forms. Lack any thematic vowel.
• Stochastic (IV and V): the lemma has no suffix in the sense that I – III do; these classes employ rolls for some of the forms.

The sixth declension is considered a hybrid between the celestial and terrestrial categories. Additionally, the second declension has penultimate and ultimate variants.

Any declension class can contain words of the human class, since names can in theory be derived from any content noun.

In all regular declension classes, genitive dual, plural, and singulative forms are eclipsed. Indeclinable parts of compound nouns do not have this behavior. Most irregular nouns do, although there are exceptions.

Most nouns have at least N, L, and S stems. The N stem is used for the nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative cases; the L stem is used for the locative, instrumental, and abessive; and the S stem is used for the semblative. The second penultimate declension additionally has a G stem, while third-declension ⟦-el⟧ nouns have an A stem on top. The sixth declension adds I and I′ stems. In contrast, the fifth declension lacks an L stem. In declension classes that have one, the L stem is almost always distinct from the N stem because some forms differ only in the use of an N or an L stem.

Themes in declension classes can be classified into thematic vowels and thematic consonants. The primary thematic vowel (where it exists) is denoted by ⟦Θ⟧, and the locative thematic vowel is denoted by ⟦Λ⟧. In declension classes that have one, the thematic consonant is denoted by ⟦Σ⟧.

In addition, all declension classes use one or two phi consonants: Φ_L and, for some classes, Φ_N.

The first, second, and third declensions admit words of different ending types, which have different rules for certain forms. Each declension class is first given for the most representative ending type, followed by deviations for other endings.

The first declension

Guidelines:

• Θ can be ⟦a⟧, ⟦e⟧, or ⟦o⟧.
• Λ can be ⟦a⟧, ⟦e⟧, or ⟦i⟧.
• L must be different from N, unless Θ is ⟦o⟧ and Λ is ⟦e⟧. The most common difference is to change the final vowel of N.
• S may be the same as N, but the most common difference is to change the final consonants of N (especially changing voiceless coronals to voiced coronals and ⟦r⟧ to ⟦l⟧).
• N cannot end in ⟦-nn⟧ if Θ is ⟦e⟧; otherwise, Nⁿ is the same as N.
• ⚀ = ⟦Θ Θ e Θ e e⟧ « N

Only a handful of ⟦-Θn⟧ nouns exist, and most such nouns are functional.

The second declension (penultimate)

Guidelines:

• Λ can be either ⟦e⟧ or ⟦i⟧.
• Has a separate G stem, which can be same as or different from N.
• L can potentially be the same as N but is usually different from it. The difference is usually more substantial than a change in the final vowel of the stem.
• S may be the same as N, but the most common difference is to change the final consonants of N (especially changing voiceless coronals to voiced coronals and ⟦r⟧ to ⟦l⟧).
• ⚀ = ⟦e i e⟧ « N

The second declension (ultimate)

Guidelines:

• As in IIp, Λ can be either ⟦e⟧ or ⟦i⟧.
• Does not have a separate G stem.
• L can potentially be the same as N but is usually different from it. The difference is usually more substantial than a change in the final vowel of the stem.
• S may be the same as N, but the most common difference is to change the final consonants of N (especially changing voiceless coronals to voiced coronals and ⟦r⟧ to ⟦l⟧).

The third declension

Guidelines:

• There is no thematic vowel.
• L must be different from N. The most common difference is to change the final vowel of N.
• S may be the same as N, but the most common difference is to change the final consonants of N (especially changing voiceless coronals to voiced coronals and ⟦r⟧ to ⟦l⟧). In any case, it must be distinct from L.

⟦-el⟧ nouns have additional A and G stems and thus have their own declension:

In this case, the N and G stems must be distinct.

In the genitive singular, if the last bridge of N or G is ⟦l⟧, then the inflected form is Nlu or Glu, where the ⟦l-⟧ onset becomes the preceding coda. If the stem otherwise ends with ⟦l⟧, then the inflected form is Nô or Gô.

If the N stem ends in ⟦i⟧, then some forms are declined differently. Let N′ be the start-to-onset assemblage resulting from removing the final ⟦i⟧ from N. Then the declensions are as follows:

In ⟦-iel⟧ nouns, only the nominative and dative forms are affected:

The fourth declension

Guidelines:

• Θ is ⟦o⟧ for terrestrial nouns and ⟦a⟧ for celestial nouns. Naturally, it can be either for human nouns.
• Λ can be either ⟦a⟧ or ⟦e⟧.
• Some vowels used by this declension class depend on the letter sum of a certain form modulo some integer:
  • ⚀ = ⟦e a i a i e⟧ « nom.di if Θ = ⟦a⟧; otherwise ⟦o⟧
  • ⚁ = ⟦i i a i e i⟧ « nom.di if Θ = ⟦a⟧; otherwise ⟦e⟧
• L must be different from N. This is a departure from declension classes 5 and 11 on the old system, as the final coda of the nominative direct is no longer mutated in certain forms. The easiest way to fix these two stems being the same is to change the final bridge of N.
• S may be the same as N, but the most common difference is to change the final consonants of N (especially changing voiceless coronals to voiced coronals and ⟦r⟧ to ⟦l⟧).

The fifth declension

Guidelines:

• This declension class has only N and S stems, with no L stem.
• Θ is any nucleus.
• Σ is a (possibly empty) simple coda other than ⟦-c⟧ or ⟦-t⟧, with a transformation ^ж (‘zhe’).
• Some variables in this declension class depend on the letter sum of a certain form modulo some integer:
  • ⚀ = ⟦e a i ô u o î ê â⟧ « nom.di
  • ⚁ = ⟦o ô ô o⟧ « nom.gc
  • ⚂ = ⟦i i e e⟧ « nom.du
  • ⚃ = ⟦g d v⟧ « acc.di, increment until ⚃ ≠ the last onset of N
  • ⚄ = ⟦e a i u a e o i jâ jê jô jê jâ o⟧ « acc.pl, increment until ⚄ ≠ Θ
• N is not necessraily a stem, as it is not required to have at least one full syllable.
• S may be the same as N, but the most common difference is to change the final consonants of N (especially changing voiceless coronals to voiced coronals and ⟦r⟧ to ⟦l⟧).
• In this case, Φ_L is based on ⟦N⚄Σ^ж⟧.

The sixth declension

Guidelines:

• Θ can be ⟦a⟧, ⟦e⟧, or ⟦i⟧.
• Λ can be ⟦a⟧ or ⟦e⟧.
• N cannot end with ⟦-nn-⟧.
• L is usually different from N, but it does not need to be.
• This declension class additionally has I and I′ stems, which are usually similar to the L stem.
• S may be the same as N, but the most common difference is to change the final consonants of N (especially changing voiceless coronals to voiced coronals and ⟦r⟧ to ⟦l⟧).

L-avoidance

All declensions except for the fifth require an L stem that is frequently or even obligatorily distinct from the N stem. In addition, the L stem of a noun is fairly unpredictable from the corresponding N stem. The use of L stems thus adds a significant burden in acquiring and using the language. As a result, several periphrastic constructions to replace the use of the locative, instrumental, and abessive cases have come into use.

L-avoidance is more common with rarer nouns, as well as with names. However, using the cases that it replaces is considered more elegant and preferred in formal language.

Pronouns and determiners

Personal pronouns

Basic personal pronouns

The basic personal pronouns (Tables 18 – 22) are defective: they lack any forms for the core cases.

The first- and second-person pronouns are treated as if they were in the celestial gender, even though they will often refer to humans.

Basic personal pronouns are in the category p and avoid manifesting as free morphemes. They manifest in the following ways, ordered from most to least preferred:

• Fused with a coordinating conjunction if found as the left element
• In a relational with an object prefix
• As an object affix on the verb if in the accusative or dative case
• As a possessive postclitic if in the genitive case, or in the nominative case of a nominalized verb phrase
• Omitted if inferable from the subject affix on a finite verb form
• As an independent form when in a non-core case
• Homophonic with the emphatic pronouns

Possessive clitics

Ŋarâþ Crîþ uses clitics to mark a pronominal possessor, listed in Table 23.

The vowels of the third-person celestial and human possessive clitics are omitted after an open syllable.

If the reflexive clitic immediately follows a vowel other than ⟦u⟧, then it changes that vowel to its hatted counterpart. If the vowel in question was not already hatted, then the ŋos is moved immmediately before it.

The clitic ⟨=’ħe⟩ is used to indicate that the possessor is the referent of a prior ⟨šino⟩ or ⟨nema⟩.

The third-person possessive suffixes are also used in the double-marked possessive construction. In such a construction, the possessor takes the same case as the possessee and the clitic ⟨=’þ⟩ after a vowel or ⟨=’eþ⟩ after a consonant. The possessee takes the appropriate possessive clitic depending on the gender of the possessor. The possessor and possessee are not required to be adjacent to each other or even in a particular order.

In the general case, the possessive construction is used strictly for possession. That is, it does not have other functions of the genitive case such as apposition or composition.

The possessive construction is also used with the noun ⟨aliþ⟩ something other than as the possessee to ‘negate’ the possessor. This usage cannot be substituted with the genitive (although using non-third-person pronominal clitics on ⟨aliþ⟩ is permitted).

This construction is used with the pronouns ⟨šino⟩ and ⟨nema⟩ as the possessor in order to avoid ambiguity with the determiners, which are the genitive singular forms of these pronouns.

The use of the possessive construction is otherwise quite rare.

Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns

There is only one reflexive pronoun, ⟨cenþ⟩, whose declensions are shown in Table 24. This is also used as a reciprocal pronoun.

The referent of the independent reflexive pronoun ⟨cenþ⟩ or of the reflexive possessive clitic ⟨=’êcþ⟩ is determined as follows:

• If there is a quantifier in the clause, then the pronoun corefers with the innermost quantifier.
• In a relative clause, the pronoun corefers with the head of the clause. This rule sometimes applies to a genitive-case nominalized verb phrase.

• In other clauses or in a quotative, the pronoun corefers with an argument mentioned earlier in that clause, most often the nominative argument but sometimes the accusative or dative. Referring to adjuncts is unattested. Occasionally, the argument may be taken from the earlier subclause instead:

  (1)

  navałes minels o pelhat ceme vjornełen; navałes dara o pelhat ceme’pe vjornełen.

  nav-ałes

  person-dat.gc

  minels

  one-dat.hu

  o

  inf.nom

  pelh-at

  trouble-inf

  ceme

  pr.refl.gen.gc

  vjorn-ełen;

  problem-acc.gc

  nav-ałes

  person-dat.gc

  dara

  16⁴

  o

  inf.nom

  pelh-at

  trouble-inf

  ceme=’pe

  pr.refl.gen.gc=poss.1

  vjorn-ełen.

  problem-acc.gc

  When one person suffers, it’s their own problem; when thousands of people suffer, it’s all our problem.
• If no suitable argument exists or the clause is an imperative, then the pronoun corefers to the nominative argument of the clause.

• The referent of a reflexive possessive clitic on the any coordinand but the first of a coordinated noun phrase is the same as the first coordinand:

  (2)

  galac’êcþ’cil cfârnei trešils nelsanta.

  gal-ac=’êcþ=’cil

  friend-nom.du=poss.refl=and.3

  cfârn-ei

  south-gen.di

  treš-ils

  garden-dat.sg

  nels-an-ta.

  go-3du-pst

  He_i and his_i friends went to the garden in the south.

  However, this rule does not apply to an independent reflexive pronoun:

  (3)

  #môra #saþos mels’ôcþ’ce dteþral.

  #môr-a

  (name)-nom.sg

  #saþ-os

  (name)-dat.sg

  mels-o=’êcþ=’ce

  osSb-dat.sg=poss.refl=and

  d\teþr-al.

  pfv\call-3sg.inv

  #môra_i called #saþo_j and their_j sibling.
  (4)

  #môra #saþos cema melso’ce dteþral.

  #môr-a

  (name)-nom.sg

  #saþ-os

  (name)-dat.sg

  cema

  pr.refl.gen.sg

  mels-o=’ce

  osSb-dat.sg=and

  d\teþr-al.

  pfv\call-3sg.inv

  #môra_i called #saþo_j and their_i sibling.

The referent of a reflexive affix on a verb, in contrast, can only be the head of a participle (or sometimes of a genitive-case nominalized verb) or the nominative argument of any other verb form. The reflexive affix on a relational corefers with the head of the relational phrase.

Emphatic pronouns

Combining a reflexive pronoun with a possessive clitic creates an emphatic pronoun, which acts roughly like a personal pronoun with an independent form but places focus on the referent.

Clusive pronouns

Interrogative pronouns and determiners

The interrogative determiners and pronouns in Ŋarâþ Crîþ are shown in Table 25.

Note that ⟨penna⟩ has an intrinsically mutated S stem.

The pronouns ⟨pen⟩ and ⟨peler⟩ are irregular.

Informally, ⟨pen⟩ can be used instead of ⟨penna⟩ to refer to persons.

Note the difference between using an interrogative pronoun modified by a relative clause and using a similar noun in its place:

Demonstrative pronouns and determiners

The demonstrative determiners and pronouns in Ŋarâþ Crîþ are shown in Table 28.

The determiners ⟨lê⟩ and ⟨tê⟩ trigger eclipsis only if they lie directly before the head of what they modify.

The pronouns elgren and engren are irregular.

Quantification

The pronouns ⟨šino, šjonas, šedit⟩ (Ic) means all, and ⟨nema, nomes, nemit⟩ (Ic) means some or any. When qualified with a modifying phrase, their scopes are restricted:

However, both of these quantifiers can also be used in the genitive singular as determiners, provided that the head of the noun phrase being modified is partially lenited. Furthermore, forms of ⟨ðên⟩ are not mutated. That is, the above example may have used ⟨šinen navaf⟩ instead.

When a noun phrase containing ⟨šino⟩ or ⟨nema⟩ is in the generic number, it is considered to cover all or some of the relevant individuals in general. When such a noun phrase is in any other number, it is considered to have a partitive meaning, with the number reflecting the quantity of the whole:

Again, this example could have used ⟨šinen navar⟩ instead.

Scope ordering is covered in the relevant section.

The semantically related noun ⟨ruf⟩ each modifies a noun somewhere before it in the same clause with the same case. If ⟨ruf⟩ does not immediately follow the noun that it affects, that noun undergoes a partial lenition if it does not already have a mutation.

The determiner ⟨mel⟩ means much or many. It is not inflected, but the corresponding pronoun ⟨denfo, danfes, denfit⟩ (Ic) is. From the latter is derived ⟨&denfo, &danfes, &denfit⟩ (Ic) majority. Similarly, the determiner ⟨dân⟩ few, little corresponds to the pronoun ⟨dane, dones, denit⟩ (Ic), but the word for minority is ⟨resa, risas, redit⟩ (Ic). Additionally, ⟨dân⟩ triggers eclipsis in the head noun.

For numerals, see Numerals.

Coordination

Noun phrases are coordinated by attaching a clitic to all except the first coordinand. A noun phrase may be coordinated only with others of the same case.

When the first coordinand is pronominal, then it is fused into the coordinating clitic, leaving the other coordinands behind.

The gender of a coordinated noun phrase involving the and operation is the strongest of those of the coordinands. For this purpose, the human gender is stronger than the celestial, which is stronger than the terrestrial gender.

All coordinated noun phrases inherit the person in the same way: the first person takes precedence over the second, which takes precedence over the third.

When there are more than two coordinands, then the respective clitics occur on each element after the first. X₁ xor … xor X_n means exactly one of X_i; X₁ but not … but not X_n means X₁ but not any later X_i. All pronominal clitics occur at the end of the coordinated noun phrase. In ‘but not’-coordinated phrases, there can be only one pronominal clitic (namely, the one representing the first item).

If the coordinands are quotatives, then the clitics are placed after the quoted items themselves, immediately after the þos, and only one quotative particle is used.

Quotatives

Quotatives are formed by wrapping the quoted material in quotation marks, followed by a particle depending on case and directness, forming a noun phrase.

Direct quotatives are used for verbatim speech. Indirect quotatives indicate some kind of paraphrasing and do not necessarily represent what someone has said. There exists a separate set of switch-reference indirect quotatives, which are used when (1) both the outer and inner clauses have a third-person subject and (2) the subjects do not corefer.

Direct quotatives necessarily inherit the personal and temporal deixis of the one who said its contents. The personal deixis does not shift inside an indirect quotative, but the temporal deixis shifts to that of the outer event:

Names

The most salient types of names – namely, personal and place names – have markers, although other types of names, such as titles of works, do not.

Names can manifest in two ways: as unqualified names or as qualified names. Unqualified names refer to names that stand alone as full noun phrases.

A qualified name, on the other hand, is a name accompanied by the type of entity it refers to as done in Toki Pona. In such a name, the common noun comes first and is suffixed with a marker or punctuation correlated to the name:

• ⟨#⟩ for a given name
• ⟨+⟩ for a surname
• ⟨+#⟩ for a surname and a given name
• ⟨@⟩ for a place name
• ⟨«»⟩ for a work title

In particular, the common noun is never suffixed with a nef, and these postfixes do not affect the letter sum of the noun.

Qualified names are used in the following situations:

• As part of the conventional name for geographic features, such as ⟨vlêcadir@ @elþana⟩ the Elþana archipelago.
• To ascribe a title to a personal name.
• To emphasize or disambiguate the type of entity that is being referred to.
• To refer to an entity by a name that is not phonotactically or morphologically adapted to Ŋarâþ Crîþ.

Personal names

Ŋarâþ Crîþ recognizes two parts of personal names: the surname and the given name, in that order. Surnames are marked with either a tor, ⟨+⟩ or a njor, ⟨+*⟩. The tor is used for surnames passed by native conventions (i.e. from parent to child within the same gender), while the njor marks a surname passed using non-native conventions. The presence of a njor is correlated but does not always coincide with that of a nef (⟨*⟩): ‘foreign’ surnames can be passed by ‘native’ conventions; in the opposite direction, a njor might be present without a nef in a calqued surname, as well as in a few native surnames that are traditionally passed by a non-native convention.

A given name is marked with a carþ, ⟨#⟩. If a person is known by a single name only, then the name is treated as a given name.

Both the surname and the given name are declined nouns.

A person is addressed or mentioned using the surname, given name, or both, with the surname being more formal than the given name. Nonetheless, the choice of whether to address someone by their surname or by their given name can also depend on other factors such as convenience of pronunciation or distinguishing between multiple people with the same given name or surname.

The use of titles is limited: there is no direct equivalent to Mr. or Ms.. Instead, titles are used merely to describe the role of the person. Notably, (1) they are always nouns, (2) they are never used in the vocative, (3) they are used with the person’s name when the person in question is introduced, and (4) the use of the title alone in later mentions over the name carries no social connotation otherwise. The closest equivalent to sir or madam is ⟨cercerin⟩, meaning stranger, which is used to address someone whose name is not known.

A title can be used as a part of a qualified name:

Because titles are used with names only to introduce a person, ⟨+#⟩ is the most common choice for the postmarker.

Place names

The name of any kind of place is marked with an es, ⟨@⟩.

Language names

Languaeg names are zero compounds in which the first word is ⟨ŋarâþ⟩ language. The second word is frequently the name of a place associated with the language, as in ⟨ŋarâþ @asoren⟩, or an uninflected word. The major exception is ⟨ŋarâþ crîþ⟩, which uses the common noun ⟨crîþ⟩ forest.

Titles of works