1. Overview

Nouns in Maþal are morphologically constructed forms rather than bare lexical roots. A noun must be built from a lexical root together with overt nominal marking. At minimum, nominal formation requires a gender-number marker and a definiteness marker. Additional structure may include thematic relation prefixes. Case marking is treated separately in the following chapter.

As a result, Maþal nouns are highly regular in form and grammatically explicit in function.

To make the system easier to follow, the examples below will use the root bún, meaning roughly magic or magical, and see how this root can become a magician, the spell-caster, or the magic, etc.

2. Formation of Nouns

A lexical root does not function as a noun on its own. To form a noun, the root must be combined with both:

• a gender-number marker

• a definiteness marker

The basic noun template is therefore:

[Root] + [Gender-Number Marker] + [Definiteness Marker]

This requirement is obligatory. A noun must contain both markers, without exception.

3. Gender and Number Markers

Maþal expresses gender and number through a single vocalic marker. This marker is required in noun formation and encodes both categories simultaneously.

The Common gender (e, o) is mostly used for animate beings, while the Neuter gender (i, u) is generally used for inanimates and abstract concepts.

These distributions are best understood as tendencies rather than absolute rules. For example, the sun is treated as an animate being. Lexically established exceptions may occur, especially in cases of personification, conventional class assignment, or semantic drift.

To illustrate this more clearly, we can first look only at the root bún, meaning roughly magic or magical, together with the gender-number marker alone. At this stage, these are not yet complete nouns. They merely show how the root is prepared for nominal interpretation.

• búne marks the root as Common Singular. This means the noun will refer to one single animate or countable being or entity associated with the root.

• búno marks the root as Common Plural. This means the noun will refer to several animate or countable beings or entities associated with the root.

• búni marks the root as Neuter Singular. This means the noun will refer to one single inanimate, abstract, or non-personal entity associated with the root.

• búnu marks the root as Neuter Plural. This means the noun will refer to several inanimate, abstract, or non-personal entities associated with the root.

The gender-number marker therefore determines how the root is categorized before definiteness is added.

4. Definiteness Markers

Maþal marks definiteness overtly by means of a final nominal marker. This marker follows the gender-number vowel and distinguishes indefinite from definite reference.

Thus, an indefinite noun refers to a non-specific entity, comparable to English a or an, while a definite noun refers to a specific, identifiable entity, comparable to English the.

The definiteness marker is obligatory in all nouns and does not vary according to gender or number.

To continue the same example, we can now take a gender-number marked form and add the definiteness marker:

• bún + e + þ = búneþ

• bún + e + ng = búneng

The only difference between these two forms is definiteness, since they both are Common Singular, marked by the 'e':

• búneþ refers to a non-specific magical being, or short, a magical being

• búneng refers to a specific identifiable magical being, i.e the magical being

The definiteness marker is obligatory in all nouns and does not vary according to gender or number.

5. Combined Nominal Endings

Because gender-number and definiteness are always both required, they combine into a fixed set of nominal endings.

These endings are the minimal formal requirement for nominal status in Maþal. A root without one of these endings is not a complete noun.

Using the root bún, the full set can be built as follows:

• bún + e + þ = magic + single being + indefinite = búneþ = a magical being; a magician

• bún + e + ng = magic + single being + definite = búneng = the magical being; the magician

• bún + o + þ = magic + more than one being + indefinite = búnoþ = magicians

• bún + o + ng = magic + more than one being + definite = búnong = the magicians

• bún + i + þ = magic + single thing + indefinite = búniþ = a magic

• bún + i + ng = magic + single thing + definite = búning = the magic

• bún + u + þ = magic + more than one thing + indefinite = búnuþ = magics

• bún + u + ng = magic + more than one thing + definite = búnung = the magics

This makes visible how the noun is built step by step from root, gender-number marking, and definiteness marking.

These English words reflect the formal morphology of Maþal as directly as possible. In actual interpretation, Maþal may distinguish meanings more precisely than idiomatic English normally does. Depending on context, búniþ could be translated as some magic, búnuþ as magical forces, and thus búnung as the magical forces. Since English plural nouns normally do not take an indefinite article, Maþal plural indefinite forms are often best translated without a/an.

6. Thematic Relation Prefixes

In addition to basic nominal marking, nouns may also take a thematic relation prefix. This prefix appears before the root and specifies the role or interpretive orientation of the noun.

The available thematic relation markers are:

• Ø: unmarked base form; the lexical default of the domain

• ska-: agentive or actional; someone who actively does or causes something

• sma-: patientive or eventive; something that undergoes or is affected by an action

• sva-: resultant state; something that underwent the action of the agentive

These prefixes are internal elements of the noun and remain part of the word’s derivational structure.

The noun formula with thematic relation marking is:

[Thematic Relation] - [Root] + [Nominal Ending]

In Latin script the thematic prefix is always added to the root by a hyphen for clarity. In Runic Script by a colon at the bottom of the line.

To make this easier to understand, we can again use the root bún, meaning roughly magic or magical.

Without any thematic relation prefix, the root remains in its lexical default form. Thus, a form such as búneþ refers simply to a magician. It describes what the referent is in a general lexical sense.

If we now add ska-, the meaning becomes more specifically agentive. This means that the referent is the one actively doing or using the action connected with the root. Thus ska-búneþ means a spell-caster. And remember the difference. búneþ is A magician in the broad sense: a magical being or someone who has magical ability. ska-búneþ, by contrast, is someone actively casting or exercising magic.

• ska-búneþ = a spell-caster

• ska-búneng = the spell-caster

If we add sma-, the noun becomes patientive. This means that the referent is not the one doing the action, but the patient, the one affected by it. Thus sma-búneþ means a bewitched one or an enchanted one. The magic is happening to that being.

• sma-búneþ = a bewitched one

• sma-búneng = the bewitched one

If we add sva-, the noun expresses a resultant state. This means that the referent is in the condition produced by the action. In English this is hard to translate. sva-búneþ means means one in a magical state. The focus is not on the action itself, but on the state that exists after the action has been performed on the patient.

• sva-búneþ = one in a magical state

• sva-búneng = the one in a magical state

The same distinction can also be seen in the neuter:

• búning = the magic

• ska-búning = the spell-casting / the active use of magic

• sma-búning = the bewitchment / that which has been enchanted

• sva-búning = the magical state / the state produced by magic

The thematic relation prefixes therefore do not change the nominal endings themselves. Instead, they change the semantic role of the noun built from the same root.

7. The Noun Template

The full noun template is therefore:

[Thematic Relation Prefix] - [Root] [Gender-Number Marker] [Definiteness Marker]

This ordering is obligatory. Thematic relation occurs immediately before the root, and nominal markers occur at the end of the word.

This layered structure reflects the agglutinative character of Maþal: each grammatical category occupies a stable and predictable position.

Because case marking in Maþal is both morphologically regular and semantically rich, the individual functions of the cases are treated separately in the following chapter.