CommonNouns

=0. Contents=


 * 1) General facts about common nouns
 * 2) Noun modifiers
 * 3) Noun modifiers - genitive common nouns
 * 4) Noun modifiers - attributive adjectives
 * 5) Noun modifiers - prepositions
 * 6) Specifiers

This page contains facts relating to Gaelic common nouns (as opposed to proper nouns which you can read about here).

**This page is permanently under construction. Feel free to add stuff, or to comment.**

=1. General facts about common nouns=

a. Common nouns are a subtype of (lexical) noun, and thus inherit a number of properties from that class:

b. Every common noun has a **case**, either nominative, dative or genitive.

For example:
 * ** //Tha brògan air bòrd.// ** (There are shoes on a table) - //brògan// (shoes) is a nominative common noun, since it is the subject of a verb, // tha // (is); and //bòrd// (table) is a dative common noun, since it is the complement of the preposition //air//.
 * ** //Chunnaic Màiri leabhar balaich// .** (Mary saw a boy's book) - //leabhar// (book) is a nominative common noun, since it is the object of a verb, // chunnaic // (saw); and //balaich// (boy's) is a genitive noun, since it is a modifier of another noun, // leabhar // (book).

c. Every common noun has a grammatical **gender**, either masculine, feminine or plural.

For example:
 * ** //Chunnaic caileag cù.// ** (A girl saw a dog) - //caileag// (girl) is a feminine (nominative) common noun and //cù// (dog) is a masculine (nominative) common noun.
 * ** //Tha brògan air bòrd.// ** (There are shoes on a table) - //brògan// (shoe) is a plural (nominative) common noun and //bòrd// (table) is a masculine (dative) common noun.

d. The grammatical gender of a noun is not always straightforwardly predictable from its meaning.

For example:
 * the common noun // boireannach // (a woman) is grammatically **masculine**, despite referring to a **female** entity.
 * the common noun // craobh // (a tree) is grammatically **feminine**, despite referring to an **inanimate** entity.
 * the common noun // clann // (children) is grammatically **feminine**, rather than plural, despite the fact that it refers to a **group** of children rather than to a single child.

Read more about gender of common nouns

e. It is convenient to see common nouns as being grouped into **lexical families**. Every common noun in a lexical family has a similar meaning and form, but differs in terms of case and gender.

For example:
 * the following common nouns are all members of the same lexical family (i.e. "shoe") - // bròg // (nominative feminine), // bròig // (dative feminine), // bròige // (genitive feminine), // brògan // (nominative/dative plural).
 * as are the following (i.e. "table") - // bòrd // (nominative/dative masculine and genitive plural), // bùird // (genitive masculine and nominative/dative plural).

f. There is a reasonably systematic, predictable relationship between the common nouns in a lexical family in Gaelic. This relationship is traditionally called noun **declension**.

For example:
 * Given a masculine nominative noun, you can usually form a related genitive masculine noun by slenderisation, e.g. // bòrd // - // bùird // (table), // balach // - // balaich // (boy), // leabhar // - // leabhair // (book).
 * Given a feminine nominative noun, you can usually form a related plural nominative/dative noun by suffixing // -(e)an //, e.g. // caileag // - // caileagan // (girl), // làmh // - // làmhan // (hand), // sràid // - // sràidean // (street).

Read more about declension of common nouns

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=2. Noun modifiers=

a. A common noun can have one or more **modifiers**, all of which must all **follow** the common noun itself.

For example:
 * ** //an cù-caorach dubh aig an dorus// ** (the black sheepdog at the door) - the common noun //cù// (dog) has three modifiers in this phrase - the genitive common noun //caorach// (of a sheep), the adjective //dubh// (black), and the preposition //aig// (at).

Here is a graphic illustrating all the dependencies in action:



=3. Noun modifiers - genitive common nouns=

a. A modifier of a common noun can be another common noun.

For example:

b. Genitive case. Must precede all other modifiers.

=4. Noun modifiers - attributive adjectives=

a. A modifier of a common noun can be an adjective.

For example:
 * ** //balach beag// ** (a little boy) - the adjective //beag// (little) is a modifier of the common noun //balach// (boy).
 * ** //cù mór dubh// ** (a big black dog) - the adjectives //mór// (big) and //dubh// (black) are both modifiers of the common noun //cù// (dog).
 * ** //na brògan inntinneach// ** (the interesting shoes) - the adjective //inntinneach// (interesting) is a modifier of the common noun //brògan// (shoes), which is itself the complement of the definite article //na// (the).

b. The precise form of such an attributive adjective depends on the case and gender of the common noun which it modifies, as well as on whether the noun is itself the complement of a definite article.

For example:
 * ** //caileag bheag bhàn// ** (little fair-haired girl - nominative) - adjectives are lenited when they modify a feminine nominative/dative noun.
 * ** //caileagan beaga bàna// ** (little fair-haired girls) - monosyllabic adjectives ending in a broad consonant add //-a// when they modify a plural noun.
 * ** //ceann caileige bige bàine// ** (a little fair-haired girl's head) - adjectives are slenderised and add //-e// when they modify a feminine genitive noun.
 * ** //le balach beag bàn// ** (with a little fair-haired boy) versus ** //leis a' bhalach bheag bhàn// ** (with the little fair-haired boy) - adjectives are lenited when they modify a noun which is the complement of a form of the leniting an definite article, even if that noun is masculine.
 * ** //balaich bheaga bhàna// ** (small fair-haired boys) - adjectives are lenited when they modify a plural noun which has been formed by slenderisation.

Read more about attributive adjective declension

=5. Noun modifiers - prepositions=

a. A modifier of a common noun can also be a preposition.

For example:
 * ** //balach le falt fada dubh// ** (a boy with long black hair) - the preposition //le// (with) is a modifier of the common noun //balach// (boy).

Read more about prepositions here

[MM: say something about adjectives always preceding prepositions?]

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=6. Specifiers=

a. A common noun can have just the one **specifier**, which must follow the noun.

For example:
 * ** //cù mór dubh a' mhinisteir// ** (the minister's big black dog) - the nominative/dative masculine singular common noun //cù// (dog) has three dependents here - two attributive adjective modifiers, //mór// (big) and //dubh// (black), and a specifier - the genitive masculine singular definite article //a'// (the); the genitive masculine singular noun //ministeir// (minister) is the complement of the article, and is hence lenited.

b. The specifier of a common noun is **typically** a **genitive noun**.

For example:
 * ** //bean ministeir// ** (a minister's wife) - the specifier of the common noun //bean// (wife) is the genitive masculine singular common noun //ministeir// (minister).
 * ** //bean Sheumais// ** (James' wife) - the specifier of //bean// (wife) is the genitive masculine proper noun //Sheumais// (James).
 * ** //bean a' mhinisteir// **(the minister's wife) - the specifier of //bean// (wife) is the genitive masculine singular definite article //a'// (the).
 * ** //brògan nam ministear// **(the ministers' shoes) - the specifier of //brògan// (shoes) is the genitive plural definite article //nam// (the).

c. When the specifier of a common noun is a genitive plural noun, and that plural noun is not the complement of a definite article (or whatever) then it must be **lenited**.

For example:
 * ** //brògan mhinistear// ** (ministers' shoes) - the specifier of the plural common noun //brògan// (shoes) is the genitive plural common noun //ministearan// (ministers), which is lenited since it is not the complement of a definite article.

d. A noun which has a specifier **cannot** itself be the complement of a **definite article**.

For example:
 * ** //*a' bhean a' mhinisteir// ** (the minister's wife) - the noun //bean// (wife) has a specifier - the second occurrence of the definite article //a'// (the); hence it is not allowed to be the complement of the first definite article //a'// ; a grammatical version would be simply ** //bean a' mhinsteir// ** (the minister's wife).
 * //***a' bhean ministeir**// (a minister's wife) - again, the noun //bean// (wife) has a specifier - the genitive noun //ministeir// (minister) - and hence cannot be the complement of the definite article; a grammatical version would be simple //bean ministeir// (a minister's wife).

e. **A genitive noun cannot itself have a specifier**.

For example:
 * ** //*cas coin ministeir// ** (a minister's dog's leg) - if the genitive noun coin (dog) is the specifier of the nominative noun cas (leg) then it cannot have a specifier of its own, i.e. the genitive noun ministeir.
 * //***cas coin a' mhinisteir**// (the minister's dog's leg) -.

f. If the specifier of a common noun is not a genitive noun, then it must be a **nominative noun with its own specifier**.

For example:
 * ** //cas cù ministeir// ** (a minister's dog's leg) -.
 * ** //cas cù a' mhinisteir// ** (the minister's dog's leg) -.
 * ** //caileag piuthar bean a' mhinisteir// ** (the minister's wife's sister's girl) -.
 * ** //air caileig piuthar bean a' ministeir// ** (on the minister's wife's sister's girl) -.

[MM: can a specifier have dependents? I'm guessing it can have adjectives but nothing else.]

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