Photographer Credit: Elaine Bombay

Overview: Nouns

Noun Goals: 

• • Identify any existing noun classes

  • Determine the underlying form (including tone) & allomorphs of the following types of morphemes: 

    1. • Obligatory (e.g. gender-marking)

       • Non-obligatory (e.g. plural, diminutive, augmentative, etc.)

       • Derivational (e.g. agentive nouns, abstract nouns, etc.) 

  • Discover the order in which the morphemes may occur

Key Concepts: 

• • Noun

  • Noun Class

  • Root

  • Affix/Morpheme

  • Allomorph

Time Estimate: 

3-6 days

Materials Needed: 

• • Nouns from Unit #1 (those written on small pieces of paper)

  • A printout of the nouns in any existing lexicons

  • Small pieces of paper

  • Writing utensils (Pens, pencils, etc) 

  • Large conference-style paper (for making charts) 

  • Markers

  • Notebooks (for writing phrases & sentences)

Identify Potential Noun Classes 

Gather all pieces of paper from Unit 1 with nouns written on them. If the language has multiple sets of singular-plural affixes,* sort the nouns into piles, making a different pile for each affix pair. The resulting number of piles will give an initial idea of how many noun classes exist in the language. This activity usually takes a half-day to complete. 

During the sorting process, take time to correct any orthography errors and to make new cards for additional nouns that come to mind. 

After the nouns have been sorted, determine the underlying form (including tone) of all noun-class affixes, noting the possible allomorphs for each one. 

*For languages with only 1 form of plural marking or no singular-plural distinction on the noun, skip this activity.  

Analyze Non-obligatory Morphemes 

Once obligatory affixes have been identified, the group can move on to researching non-obligatory morphemes (e.g. plural, diminutive, locative, etc.) and derivational morphemes (e.g. abstract nouns, agentive nouns, etc.). As with the obligatory affixes above, determine the underlying form and tone of each affix as well as its possible allomorphs. Lastly, determine the order in which the morphemes may occur in relation to the noun root. 

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