Lebanese: Difference between revisions

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==Grammar==

Modern Lebanese is partly analytic, expressing such forms as dative, ablative, and accusative using prepositional particles rather than morphological cases (a few dialects still retain the old accusative case in some words, but generally the accusative form became the same as the nominative one). On the other hand, Lebanese is also a fusional synthetic language: inflection plays a role in the formation of verbs and nouns (displaying [[w:Nonconcatenative morphology|non-concatenative]] morphology) and pronominal suffixes. For example, 𐤀𐤁-𐤍𐤌 ''abū-nom'' "father-3stPerson.Plural.Possessive", "their father".

Modern Lebanese is partly analytic, expressing such forms as dative, ablative, and accusative using prepositional particles rather than morphological cases (a few dialects still retain the old accusative case in some words, but generally the accusative form became the same as the nominative one). On the other hand, Lebanese is also a fusional synthetic language: inflection plays a role in the formation of verbs and nouns (displaying [[w:Nonconcatenative morphology|non-concatenative]] morphology) and pronominal suffixes. For example, 𐤀𐤁-𐤍𐤌 ''abū-nom'' "father-3stPerson.Plural.Possessive", "their father". Like other Semitic languages, Lebanese morphology (the way words are formed) is based on the consonantal root. The root generally consists of two or three consonants and has a basic meaning, for example, 𐤊𐤕𐤁 k-t-b has the meaning of "writing". This is then modified by the addition of vowels and other consonants to create different nuances of the basic meaning:

* 𐤊𐤕𐤁𐤕 ''kithōboth'', handwriting, script;

* 𐤊𐤕𐤁𐤉𐤌 ''kathōbīm'', inscriptions;

* 𐤊𐤅𐤕𐤁 ''kūthīb'', writer;

* 𐤊𐤕𐤁𐤕 ''kathavti'', I wrote;

* 𐤀𐤊𐤕𐤁 '''ekhtab'', I shall write;

* 𐤋𐤊𐤕𐤁 '''likhtōb'', he shall write;

* 𐤉𐤊𐤕𐤁𐤀 '''yikhtuba'', may he write.

===Nouns and adjectives===

Lebanese nouns and adjectives are inflected to show gender, number and [[w:Construct state|state]].

There are two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. The feminine absolute singular is often marked by the ending 𐤕- '''-th'''. Nouns can be either singular or plural, but an additional dual number exists for some nouns that usually come in pairs. The dual number gradually disappeared in Old Phoenician over time and is still present as relics in some dialects. In the Standard it is treated as a form of plural.

Lebanese nouns and adjectives can exist in one of two states. To a certain extent, these states correspond to the role of cases in the Indo-European languages:

*The absolute state is the basic form of a noun. It expresses indefiniteness, comparable to the English indefinite article "a(n)" (for example, 𐤎𐤐𐤓 sīfer, "a book"), and can be used in most syntactic roles.

==Writing system==

@@ Line 226: / Line 226: @@
 ==Grammar==
-Modern Lebanese is partly analytic, expressing such forms as dative, ablative, and accusative using prepositional particles rather than morphological cases (a few dialects still retain the old accusative case in some words, but generally the accusative form became the same as the nominative one). On the other hand, Lebanese is also a fusional synthetic language: inflection plays a role in the formation of verbs and nouns (displaying [[w:Nonconcatenative morphology|non-concatenative]] morphology) and pronominal suffixes. For example, 𐤀𐤁-𐤍𐤌 ''abū-nom'' "father-3stPerson.Plural.Possessive", "their father".
+Modern Lebanese is partly analytic, expressing such forms as dative, ablative, and accusative using prepositional particles rather than morphological cases (a few dialects still retain the old accusative case in some words, but generally the accusative form became the same as the nominative one). On the other hand, Lebanese is also a fusional synthetic language: inflection plays a role in the formation of verbs and nouns (displaying [[w:Nonconcatenative morphology|non-concatenative]] morphology) and pronominal suffixes. For example, 𐤀𐤁-𐤍𐤌 ''abū-nom'' "father-3stPerson.Plural.Possessive", "their father". Like other Semitic languages, Lebanese morphology (the way words are formed) is based on the consonantal root. The root generally consists of two or three consonants and has a basic meaning, for example, 𐤊𐤕𐤁 k-t-b has the meaning of "writing". This is then modified by the addition of vowels and other consonants to create different nuances of the basic meaning:
+* 𐤊𐤕𐤁𐤕 ''kithōboth'', handwriting, script;
+* 𐤊𐤕𐤁𐤉𐤌 ''kathōbīm'', inscriptions;
+* 𐤊𐤅𐤕𐤁 ''kūthīb'', writer;
+* 𐤊𐤕𐤁𐤕 ''kathavti'', I wrote;
+* 𐤀𐤊𐤕𐤁 '''ekhtab'', I shall write;
+* 𐤋𐤊𐤕𐤁 '''likhtōb'', he shall write;
+* 𐤉𐤊𐤕𐤁𐤀 '''yikhtuba'', may he write.
+===Nouns and adjectives===
+Lebanese nouns and adjectives are inflected to show gender, number and [[w:Construct state|state]].
+There are two grammatical genders: masculine and feminine. The feminine absolute singular is often marked by the ending 𐤕- '''-th'''. Nouns can be either singular or plural, but an additional dual number exists for some nouns that usually come in pairs. The dual number gradually disappeared in Old Phoenician over time and is still present as relics in some dialects. In the Standard it is treated as a form of plural.
+Lebanese nouns and adjectives can exist in one of two states. To a certain extent, these states correspond to the role of cases in the Indo-European languages:
+*The absolute state is the basic form of a noun. It expresses indefiniteness, comparable to the English indefinite article "a(n)" (for example, 𐤎𐤐𐤓 sīfer, "a book"), and can be used in most syntactic roles.
 ==Writing system==