Substantives

A substantive is a speech unit that denotes an entity, that is, someone or something that does something or that has attributes. It is similar to the concepts of nouns and pronouns.

For example, examine the sentence rhahail ar.

In this sentence, ar is a substantive because s/he does something, namely, rhahail.

A substantive can also possess an attribute in a discourse rather than do something. This is typically expressed with essives or copulatives.

In this sentence, zu is the topic of this sentence and is stated to have an attribute, namely, pau. The topic is considered the substantive.

Inflection

A substantive may or may not be inflected depending on its class, sentence context, and discourse.

Conditions for inflection

A substantive is inflected if:

• its number, gender, or standing is relevant to the discourse
• it is used with an uninflected verb
• it stands in place of another substantive, thus acting as a pronoun-like substantive

A substantive is uninflected if:

• it precedes or follows an enumerative
• its number, gender, and standing are irrelevant to the discourse
• it indicates an attribute

What are substantives inflected for?

Substantives are inflected for class (animate vs. inanimate), gender (masculine vs. feminine vs. epicene vs. common), case (ergative, absolutive, accusative, etc.), standing (superior vs. common vs. inferior), clusivity (including you vs. excluding you), number (singular, dual, trial, pental, and plural), and possessedness (inherent vs. exherent).

Class

The class of a substantive is its categorization according to its semantic properties, its animacy. Animacy is the quality of igwai, often translated spirituality or soulishness. The class of a substantive affects its relation, or binding, with other words in a discourse. A higher-igwai substantive can have possessive or inherent relation with a lower-igwai substantive and is said to take precedence over the lower-igwai. However, a lower-igwai can only have inherent relation toward a higher-igwai.

Examine the phrases below.

Why do these phrases mean exactly the same thing, at least literally? This is because higher-igwai substantives are more salient then lower-igwai substantives. Salience, or primacy, is the significance of an entity to a discourse, relative to other entities in the discourse. A human, for example, is more salient than a book.

Gender

The gender of a substantive is its inflection and relation to other words in a discourse according to the natural gender of its class or of its associated class. The genders are masculine, feminine, epicene, and common.

Masculine gender comprises male animals, including humans, as well as male clothing and natural things associated with masculinity.

Feminine gender comprises female animals, including humans, as well as female clothing and natural things associated with femininity.

Epicene gender comprises mixed-gender groups and entities with qualities of both genders, including hermaphrodite.

Declension tables

Here is how substantives inflect.

Personal nouns take ergative-absolutive alignment, animate-inanimate class, masculine-feminine-epicene gender, and singular-dual-plural number.

Impersonal nouns of the body take nominative-accusative alignment rather than ergative-absolutive (as they are non-volitional agents). In addition, they are often irregular in form and must take singular, dual, or plural.