Overview

In Marīnī, nouns (abya) and adjectives are declined to the following

• 10 Cases (nominative, accusative, ergative, genitive, dative, locative, ablative, instrumental, comitative, vocative)

• 2 Genders (inanimate, animate)

• Up to five numbers (singular, dual, plural, collective, singulative)

The lemma form of a noun is in the nominative singular, whereas the lemma form of an adjective is the inanimate nominative collective.

Number

Marīnī marks for five numbers: the singular, dual, plural, collective, and singulative. There exists a division between nouns regarding whether they are singular or collective by default. All inanimate nouns are collective by default, as are some animate nouns.

The singular marks the existence of one item of a noun. The nominative singular is either -a or -ī.

The dual marks the existence of exactly two of an item. Marīnī demands that the dual be used whenever two of a noun are described, even when implicit.

The exact meaning of the plural changes slightly depending on whether the noun is singular or collective by default. If the noun is singular by default, the plural is used whenever there is more than three of a noun. But if a noun is collective by default, the plural represents a paucal number, marking between 3-16 of the noun.

The collective marks a large, undescribed number of something. For nouns collective by nature, this is the default of the noun, and to specify a singular amount of these nouns a singulative suffix is applied.

Cases

The nominative case is the default case. The dictionary form of the noun is the nominative singular or nominative mass.

The nominative is used for animate subjects, inanimate subjects of intransitive verbs, and inanimate direct objects.

The accusative is used exclusively for animate direct objects.

The ergative is used exclusively for inanimate subjects of intransitive verbs.

The genitive is used to mark possessors. It is also used to mark certain objects of requesting.

The dative is used to mark benefactors, indirect objects, and also occasionally to mark inalienable possession.

The locative is used to mark location of a referent at, in, or on a noun.

The ablative is used to mark movement or location away from a referent.

The instrumental is used to mark the instrument used to perform an action, as well as the agent of passive constructions.

The comitative is used to mark accompaniment or adjacency to another noun.

Finally, the vocative is used for direct address.

With ten cases, Marīnī has the largest case inventory of all Ennēvinan languages. With a grand three declensions, the language is not lacking in complexity, though still lacking the intricacies of some related languages like Gce Dlaryv.

Declensions

The first declension is used exclusively with inanimate nouns. The theme vowel in the first declension is o.

The second declension is usually reserved for animate nouns, although a few inanimate nouns, including gerunds and place names, use the second declension. The theme vowel of the second declension is a.

The third declension is used equally with animate and inanimate nouns. The theme vowel in the third declension is i.