Morphology
Symiric is an agglutinative language. Most grammatical information is given through affixes, mostly suffixes. Thus, nouns (including pronouns and numerals) as well as any modifying adjectives, can be declined by a large number of grammatical cases. The cases generally correspond to the prepositions found in Indo-European languages. Therefore, the use of prepositions and postpositions is rather restricted.
Cases
Nominative
The nominative case marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments. It is unmarked.
The plural form is
-t. The infix
-i is usually used with other cases.
Examples:
Tervel ambar sûrös. - “
The man is writing a book.”
Ághnelet zahrajat. - “
The priests are praying.”
Accusative
The accusative case marks the direct object of a transitive verb. The case is sometimes used with prepositions and postpositions. The accusative’s characteristic suffix is
-s.
Examples:
Tervel ambar sûrös. - “The man is writing a book.”
Ejel ašugh pörün börgis. - “The bard drank
cups of wine.”
The accusative can take on the enclitic
-rag/-reg which creates an oppositional (English “against, anti-”) phrase, e.g.
sathar vótsorag - “I am
against apples.”
Genitive
The genitive case marks a noun as modifying another noun. It often marks a noun as being the possessor of another noun. However, it also marks other relationships other than possession: certain verbs may take arguments in the genitive case, or other prepositions or postpositions may use it. The genitive’s characteristic suffix is
-n or
-jan/-jen. The plural form is
-jat/-jet.
The possessor comes before the possessed noun.
Examples:
Temirdenejen süver. - “
The veterinarian’s book.”
Söpröjet tevet. - “
The fishes’ eyes.”
Dative
The dative case marks the indirect object of a transitive verb. The case is also used where English would use “for,” “for the benefit of,” “for the purpose of,” e.g. The dative’s characteristic suffix is
-sud, -süd. The plural form is
-ttud/-ttüd.
Examples:
Tervel ardhai úgnolos volhosud. - “The priest wrote a letter
to the king.”
Šarhal druzur öldünjesüd. - “The soldier bled
for his homeland.”
Sa olvadó darvattud. - “The metal is
for the rings.”
Instrumental
The instrumental case indicates that a noun is the instrument, or means, by or with which the subject achieves or accomplishes something. The instrumental’s characteristic suffix is
-va, -ve (the /ʋ/ assimilates to any preceeding consonant). The plural form is
-tta/-tte.
Jôl úghon lóva. - “The messenger arrived
by horse.”
Úhoth moghai dolhotta. - “The assassin kills
with daggers.”
Comitative
The comitative case denotes accompaniment; equivalent to English “in company with” or “together with.” The comitative’s characteristic suffix is
-nál/-nél.
Examples:
Sa siverzü rižjeinél. - “The she-wolf is
with her cubs.”
Sub arhantírai kiranál. - “The theologian is walking
a dog.”
Locative
The locative case indicates a location. It corresponds to the English prepositions “at,” “by,” e.g. The locative’s characteristic suffix is
-r. If the stem’s final consonant is /r/, or if it’s a monosyllabic word with /r/, then the locative suffix becomes
-l.
Examples:
Mér öldör. - “I am
home.”
Mé kether ruklor. - “The knife is
by the table.”
Mét mežet rathal. - “The cats are
by the grave.”
The locative case can take on several enclitic particles, which specify the location. These enclitics are also used in the lative and ablative cases, with their respective meaning.
- The enclitic -t corresponds to English “in,” e.g. mél melzüngir ardhastarat - “the slave was in the temple.”
- The enclitic -m corresponds to English “on; on the topic of, about” e.g. mém miskar verhekrem - “the ritual will be on the roof,” sa süver ürjötröm - “the book is about snakes.”
- The enclitics -gun/-gün correspond to English “under, beneath; less than,” e.g. mér öldörgün - “I am under the house,” sath kagh ságurgun - “five is less than eight.”
Lative
The lative case indicates motion to a location. It corresponds to the English prepositions “to,” “towards.” The locative’s characteristic suffix is
-d. The plural form is
-tul/-tül.
Examples:
Aikar öldöd. - “I am going home.”
Aikal volgarvádai berestjed. - “The butcher went
to his shop.”
The lative case can take on several enclitic particles, which specify the location.
- The enclitic -t corresponds to English “into.”
- The enclitic -m corresponds to English “onto.”
- The enclitics -gun/-gün correspond to English “beneath.”
- The enclitics -kád/-kéd correspond to English “through.”
- The enclitics -vár/-vér (non-assimilating) correspond to English “around.”
Ablative
The ablative case indicates motion from a location. It corresponds to the English preposition “from.” The locative’s characteristic suffix is
-ran/-ren. If the stem’s final consonant is /r/, or if it’s a monosyllabic word with /r/, then the locative suffix becomes
-lan/-len.
Examples:
Áklar sérelen. - “I went
from the village.”
Jôl okral megghören. - “The bear came
from the cave.”
- The enclitic -t corresponds to English “into.”
- The enclitic -m corresponds to English “onto.”
- The enclitics -gun/-gün correspond to English “beneath.”
Essive
The essive case has several purposes.
- It expresses a definite period of time during which something happens or during which a continuous action was completed.
- It denotes a temporary location, state of being, or character in which the subject was at a given time; equivalent to English “as a.”
The essive’s characteristic suffix is a repetition of the last vowel. Vowel-final words have the vowel lengthened. The plural is the vowel +
-ta/-te.
Examples:
Salar armo. - “When I was
a child,” “
as a child”
Zathamuk sitris aldgötrö. - “You will get the sword
on Monday.”
The essive case can take on the enclitic
-ra/-re (or
-la/-le), that indicates a change in the state of a noun, with the sense of “becoming” or “change to.” It’s also used with the meaning of “in (a language),” e.g.
meh ghár nahrala - “the fire turned
to water,” or
ašrala pénzere - “(to turn)
into a black hole.”
Comparative
The comparative case indicates a likeness to something. The comparative case’s characteristic suffix is
-mur/-mür.
Examples:
Koršunnur. - “
Like a walrus.”
Sa mež lihumur. - “The cat is
like a lion.”
Sat druzurot ghúžurimur. - “The soldiers are
like beasts.”
Abessive
The abessive case expresses the lack or absence of the marked word. It is the opposite of both the instrumental and comitative cases. The abessive’s characteristic suffix is
-ban/-ben.
Examples:
Vársalut péret sitríben. - “The men fought
without swords.”
Sa ambarsöthür zárkoban. - “The cannibal is
heartless.”
Terminative
The terminative case specifies a limit in space, as well as conveys the goal or aim of an action or a person. The case corresponds to the English “until; as far as.” The terminative can be used with time, but it is seen as archaic or even incorrect. However, it is often used with parts of speech to create a temporal word, e.g.
ezdüh “now,” from
ez “this.”
The terminative’s characteristic suffix is
-duh/-düh. The plural form is
-ttuh/-ttüh.
Examples:
Áklan ölddüh. - “We walked
as far as home.”