Appendix:Laz noun declension

Stem
The stems of nouns are divided into two groups according to their last phoneme. Rules are not the same for two groups concerning the morphology of suffixes and the accent.

Consonant-final stem

 * მცხულ-
 * ოხორ-
 * ონჯღორ-

In all dialects, accented and not accented vowels have the same quality. The accent in Laz is much less marked than in English, German, Italian or Russian. The naked consonant-final stem of noun has accent on the ultimate syllable of the stem. But some suffixes may change the place of accent.

Vowel-final stem

 * ნდღა-
 * ჯუმა-
 * ხე-
 * თი-
 * ჲოხო- ჯოხო-
 * მჭაფუ- მკჲაფუ-

All vowel-final stems that end by are monosyllabic. Following accentuation rules are observed concerning the naked vowel-final stem of noun. Some suffixes may change the place of accent. If the stem is monosyllabic, accent is on the unique syllable of the stem. If the stem is polysyllabic, accent is on the penultimate syllable of the stem.

How to recognize the stem?
The stem is observed easily before plural markers and most of derivational suffixes. Naked stem is also used as first constituent of compound words.

Before suffix

 * მცხულ-ეფე
 * ბერ-ობა

If the suffix is polysyllabic as in these examples, the place of accent moves to the penultimate syllable of the suffix.

As first constituent of compound word

 * მცხულ-ოწილაშე
 * ოხორ-მანჯე

If the second constituent is a polysyllabic word as in these examples, the first constituent appears in form of naked stem. The accent is on the second constituent. If the second constituent is a monosyllabic word with vowel-final stem as shown below, the first constituent with consonant-final stem does not appear in form of naked stem but of absolutive case. Accent is on the ultimate syllable of the stem (penultimate syllable of the compound word).


 * მცხული-მჯა მცხული-ნჯა
 * ნთხირი-მჯა ნთხირი-ნჯა

Cases
There is no accusative case in Laz as it is generally observed in ergative languages.

Absolutive case
The Laz dialects are divided into two groups according to the morphology of the absolutive case of nouns.


 * A group : the absolutive case may end with a consonant.
 * B group : the absolutive case ends always with a vowel.

A group dialects are distributed in various places forming large language islands (for example villages of Mek’alesk’irit, Ğvant, Xincip’ici, M3’anu etc in Vizha, villages of Napşit, Sidere, Pilarget etc. in Arkabi)

Morphology
If the stem is consonant-final, the formation of absolutive case varies according to the dialects. The absolutive suffixes do not change the place of accent. If the stem is vowel-final, stem = absolutive in all dialects.
 * A group: naked stem = absolutive or stem + ~  = absolutive
 * B group: stem + ~  = absolutive}

Use
The subject of the verb of existence, the subject of the verb of presence, the subject of some intransitive verbs, the direct object of actional transitive verbs etc are in absolutive case. All Laz take spontaneously the absolutive case of noun without plural marker as its representative form.

Ergative case

 * In the dialects of Atina: absolutive + = ergative
 * In Vizha and Artasheni dialects: there is no suffix marking the ergative case.
 * In Vitse-Arkabi, Khopa-Batumi and Chkhala dialects: absolutive + = ergative
 * In Vizha and Artasheni dialects: there is no suffix marking the ergative case.
 * In Vitse-Arkabi, Khopa-Batumi and Chkhala dialects: absolutive + = ergative

The ergative suffix does not change the place of accent.

Use
The subject of some intransitive verbs, the subject of actional transitive verbs and the cause of action of causative verbs are in ergative case.

Morphology
The dative suffix does not change the place of accent.
 * In the dialects of Atina: absolutive + = dative
 * The variants are often replaced with  especially after vowel stem ending by . Example :
 * In Vizha and Artasheni dialects: there is no suffix marking the dative case.
 * In Vitse-Arkabi, Khopa-Batumi and Chkhala dialects: absolutive + = dative
 * The form is sometimes observed in poetry.
 * In Vitse-Arkabi, Khopa-Batumi and Chkhala dialects: absolutive + = dative
 * The form is sometimes observed in poetry.
 * The form is sometimes observed in poetry.
 * The form is sometimes observed in poetry.

Use
The indirect object of transitive or bitransitive verbs, the subject of verbs in potential mood, the subject of verbs in experiential mood, the subject of evolutive state verbs etc are in dative case.
 * In the dialects of Vitse and west of Arkabi, the verb and all verbs deriving from it have the subject in the absolutive case in potential and experiential moods.
 * Dative and locative cases are homophonous in Laz. They are defined as the element of sentence (subject or complement) having the case suffix is in the dative case if the verb agrees with it in person ; it is in the locative case if the verb does not agree with it.

Genitive case
In all dialects absolutive + = genitive

In the dialects of Chkhala, the genitive marker has also the variant after vowel other than /i/.

In genitive, accent moves to the syllable preceeding the case suffix (.

Directive case
For the dialects of Atina, Vizha and Artasheni see Ambidirective. In the rest of the dialects: absolutive + = directive

The place of accent in directive noun is the same as in genitive.

Ablative case
For the dialects of Atina, Vizha and Artasheni see Ambidirective. In the rest of the dialects: absolutive + = ablative

The place of accent in ablative noun is the same as in genitive and directive;.

Instrumental case
In all dialects: absolutive + = instrumental

The place of accent in instrumental noun is the same as in genitive, directive and ablative;.

Fused oblique case
In the dialects of Vizha and Artasheni,, and  are lost at the final. In consequence there is no morphological difference among absolutive, ergative, dative and locative cases. They form altogether a fused oblique case. In A group dialects (which have absolutive case ending with a consonant), the dintinction between absolutive case and fused oblique case is regularly observed in nouns with consonant-final stem. In B group dialects (which have only absolutive case ending with a vowel), this distinction is lost in all nouns. But in all dialects of this region, the two cases of pronouns with consonant-final stem are clearly different. The loss of ergative and dative suffixes in these dialects does not mean that they lost ergative and dative constructions. The verbs indicate the case (absolutive, ergative or dative) of subject and complement by their personal affixes, even if there are some exceptions. The accent of nouns in fused oblique case is always on the penultimate syllable: the last syllable of consonant-final stem, and the penultimate of vowel-final stem.
 * consonant-final stem + = fused oblique case
 * vowel-final stem naked stem = fused oblique case

Ambidirective case
In the dialects of Atina, Vizha and Artasheni, there is no morphological difference between directive and ablative cases. However the ambidirective case is not a cause of ambiguity because, in Laz language, a great number of preverbs indicate the direction of action. The accent of nouns in ambidirective case is the same as in genitive and instrumental cases.
 * In Atina-west: absolutive + = ambidirective
 * In Atina-east, Vizha and Artasheni: absolutive + = ambidirective
 * In Atina-east, Vizha and Artasheni: absolutive + = ambidirective

Unmarked plural
Nouns without number marker can be singular or plural in Laz. If the plural is marked, it indicates generally a group of humans, animals or things that do not require to be counted. In consequence, marked plural is rarely used after numeral adjectives.

After consonant-final stem
Plural suffix after consonant-final stem is in all dialects. Accent is on the penultimate syllable of the word, i.e. on the first syllable of the plural suffix

After vowel-final stem
There are two kinds of plural suffixes after vowel-final stem: and.

Accent is on the penultimate syllable of the word, i.e. on the last syllable of the stem.

A part of vowel-final stems ending with take the other suffix.

Accent is on the penultimate syllable of the word, i.e. on the first syllable of the plural suffix.

Declension table of marked plural noun
Case markers are suffixed after plural marker. Marked plural nouns have only one kind of declension in a dialect.

In genitive, directive, ablative and instrumental cases, accent is on the syllable preceeding the case suffix.