Anglecymrāeg: Difference between revisions
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==Morphology== | ==Morphology== | ||
===Nouns=== | ===Nouns=== | ||
Nouns inflect for case, gender and number. Welsh did not have nouns case so the cases come largely from Old English, with some influence from corresponding prepositions. There were two numbers; singular and plural, and three genders; feminine, masculine and neuter. | |||
As a general rule, the neutral gender was reserved for all inanimate nouns, whereas semi-animate and animate nouns would be either male or female. Semi-animate nouns, such as plants or weather, would have ne inherent gender. For example, trees were considered feminine while fire was masculine. Often the qualities of a given semi-animate noun would determine its gender. Animate nouns have two distinct forms; masculine or feminine, depending on its biological sex. | |||
Although there were only two numbers, the changes to plural was often unpredictable, with many exceptions and anomalies. | |||
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