Adyghe nouns


This article describes the properties of nouns in the Adyghe language.

Definiteness

Definiteness is marked in nouns by the noun suffixes ~р and ~м. Indefiniteness is unmarked, i.e. the absence of the markers ~р and ~м indicates indefiniteness, for example :

Noun cases

Plurality is indicated by the suffix '-хэ'
Adyghe also declines nouns into four different cases, each with corresponding suffixes: absolutive, ergative, instrumental, and Adverbial.

Absolutive case

Has the suffix ~р . It acts as the subject of intransitive verbs and the direct object of transitive verbs. A noun in the absolutive case also indicates that its state is being changed by verb, i.e. they are either created, altered, moved or ended by the verb.
For example, in the sentence "The man is going", the state of the noun man is changing because he is moving, thus the noun man will be in the Absolutive case.
Another example is "The girl eats the apple", here the state of the noun apple changes because it is seizing to exist, the state of the noun girl does not change though because the verb "to eat" does not indicate how the girl eats, thus the noun apple will be in the Absolutive case and not the noun girl.
This case has two main functions:
Has the suffix -м . It has two main roles: Ergative role and Oblique role.
The Ergative role marks the subject of transitive verbs. They cause the object to change by doing the verb. For example, in the sentence "The girl eats the apple", the noun girl will get the Ergative case because she is changing the object's state by eating it.
The Oblique role marks the indirect object of both transitive and intransitive verbs. For example, in the sentence "The boy is playing the guitar", the noun guitar will get the Oblique case because it is the object of the intransitive verb еон "to play". Unlike the absolute case, nouns in the Oblique case has no indication of state change, for instance, in the sentence "The boy hits the man", even though the noun man is the object of the sentence, we have no indication how the verb hit effects him.
Two examples of this case with its two main functions:
The Oblique role is also used similarly to the dative case, by marking nouns that follow prepositions. For example in the sentence Кӏалэр унэм ихьагъ "the boy went inside the house", the preposition is the prefix и- and the noun house is in the Oblique case.
The Ergative-Oblique case can also be used to mark the noun that possesses a property or an attribute.

Instrumental–directional case

Has the suffix -мкӏэ or -кӏэ .
Has the suffix -эу . This case has a number of functions:
Adyghe is a pro-drop language. The subject and the object pronouns are sometimes omitted when verb conjugations reflect number and person.
In Adyghe, if a noun is accompanied by an adjective, the adjective is placed after the noun and it takes the noun case suffix.
Participles in Adyghe are formed by adding any of the noun cases to the verbs. It is possible to indicate the subject or the object of a verb as a noun.
For example, макӏо /maːkʷʼa/ "he is going" to макӏорэр /maːkʷʼarar/ "the one that is going". The forms of nouns that were created from verbs in different grammatical cases are equal to the forms of the appropriate verbs. The same is also true for their time-tenses, for example :
Because Adyghe is an ergative–absolutive language, the transitivity of the verb is the main factor determining the choice of the subject case, meaning the subject or the object of a verb can take different cases depending whatever the verb is intransitive or transitive.
There are two ways to form a participle:
In intransitive verbs, the suffix ~рэ indicates an indefinite subject, while combination of the prefix з~ and the suffix ~рэ indicate an indefinite object:
In transitive verbs, the suffix ~рэ indicates an indefinite object, while combination of the prefix з~ and the suffix ~рэ indicate an indefinite subject:
Thus to summarize, the following table shows when it indicates an indefinite subject and when it indicates an indefinite object:
PrefixSuffixIntransitive verbsTransitive verbs
-~рэIndefinite subjectIndefinite object
з~~рэIndefinite objectIndefinite subject

Here are some more couple examples in both transitive and intransitive verbs:
In Circassian, there are two ways to express possession:
Examples with the prefix и~:
Examples with the prefix зи~:

Creating nouns from adjective

In Adyghe someone or something that have a specific adjective can be
presented with the adjective word with the additional noun case suffix For
example:
In Adyghe any adjective that is measurable or comparable can be turned into a noun by adding the
suffix -агъэ /-aːʁa/, for example:
Сomposition and suffixation are the most typical ways to form Circassian nouns. There are different ways of composing words, for example: мэзчэ́т, псычэ́т, мэкъумэ́щ "agriculture", шхапӏэ "cafeteria".
The following suffixes are used to form Circassian nouns:
MeaningSuffixExample
Manner-кӏэзекӏуакӏэ "behavior", кӏуакӏэ "gait", кӏочӏакӏэ "strength".
Time-гъухьэдэгъу "death time", къэщэгъу "age of marriage", лӏыжъыгъу "old age time"
Fellow-гъулъэпкъэгъу "kinsman", унэгъу "family", ныбджэгъу "friend".
Place-щ:хьакӏэщ "sitting-room", чэмэ́щ "cowshed".
Location-пӏэ:еджапӏэ "school", уцупӏэ "station".
Agent-кӏо:еджакӏо "student", лэжьакӏо "worker".
Tool-лъ:щыгъу́лъ "saltcellar", дэгъа́лъ "vessel for oil".
Horrible-джэ:кӏуадж "bad road", теплъаджэ "ugly".