Nouns in Mun'gayöd can have one of four different genders, which are identified by the definite article each takes:
iì | for nouns dealing with the human species. Body parts, professions, and any nominalized adjectives that name a human by attribute (like "She's a screamer.") take this gender. |
iu | for nouns dealing with animals (anything non-human, but alive). Includes vegetation. |
ilu | for nouns dealing with inanimate matter of any kind. |
i | for nouns dealing with abstract concepts. Emotions, states of being, philosophy, theology, and any other nouns that don't have a concrete physical existence fall into this category. |
The indefinite article for all genders is ang.
There are 7 cases in Mungayöd, which are marked by inflecting the article. The noun itself is unmarked in all cases but dative and genitive:
Nominative | subject. Also the lexical form. |
Accusative | direct object. |
Dative | indirect object. The noun is inflected in -t. If the noun already ends in a consonant, it is inflected with the vowel of the article (or the final vowel, in the case of two-syllable articles). |
Genitive | possession, partition, many other usages. The noun is inflected in -ng. If the noun already ends in a consonant, it adds a vowel like the dative, but then also adds the -ng. |
Locative | static location. |
Instrumental-Sociative | usage (i.e., with a hammer), association. |
Directional | dynamic motion. |
Human | Animal | Matter | Concept | Plural | Indefinite | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
nom. | iì | iu | ilu | i | fei | ang | ||
acc. | liì | liu | lilu | li | lèfi | lang | ||
dat. | to | tò | tilu | to | tèfei | tòng | ||
gen. | wai | wu | wilu | wi | wei | wang | ||
loc. | zilì | ziu | izu | zi | feizê | zing | ||
inst. | sò | sòju | sòlu | sò | sòfei | sòng | ||
dir. | dji | djiu | dju | dji | feidju | djing |