Ancient Rikutsaren Noun Cases

Nouns in Ancient Rikutsaren are inflected by 8 grammatical cases. These can be grouped into 3 categories depending on how the marked noun functions in the noun phrase: Morphosyntactic cases, Relative cases, and Spatial cases. Pronouns can also be inflected by case, but for the sake of brevity they will be included under the term "noun" for this section. Case suffixes come after any gender and definite suffixes.

Morphosyntactic
Morphosyntactic cases are used to modify a noun with any one of a specific set of thematic roles within a noun phrase. Specifically they are used to mark whether a noun is an agent/experiencer (transitive/intransitive subject) or a patient/theme (direct object). There are 2 cases in this category: Nominative and Accusative.

Nominative
The Nominative case is used to identify a noun as being the subject, whether transitive or intransitive, of the noun phrase. It is unmarked and constitutes the base form of a noun.

Accusative
The Accusative case is used to mark a noun as being the direct object of the noun phrase. It uses the suffix -th (-eth after consonants or gender suffixes and -éth in the definite).
 * "Martin bought it."
 * Martin-Ø ca-th c-a-veidiug-on
 * Martin- it- --buy-
 * Martin- it- --buy-

Relative
Relative cases are used to denote nouns with other types of thematic roles, specifically those of instrument and recipient/beneficiary. It also denotes noun adjuncts, or nouns that modify other nouns, among other things. The three cases in this category are Genitive, Instrumental, and Dative.

Genitive
The Genitive case marks attributive nouns. Specifically it marks possession, both inalienable and alienable, of one noun by another. Nouns using the the genitive case in this manner come before the noun they modify. The genitive is marked using the suffix -i, both after vowels and after the definite suffix (-en after consonants or gender suffixes).
 * "I see a man's dog."
 * Miedon-en lula-th n-e-leor
 * man- dog- --see
 * man- dog- --see

Predicative constructions do not occur using the genitive alone. The noun must be attributive to another in order to be grammatically correct. Often the solution to this is to repeat the noun that is being possessed, or replace it with a placeholder noun like sam one or ethi thing.
 * "I have hers now"
 * Id uré-i sam-eth n-e-mei.
 * now her- one- --have
 * now her- one- --have

The Genitive case also marks nouns that refer, pertain, or relate to the head of the noun phrase. This is similar to certain usages of the word of in English. Nouns using the genitive case in this manner come after the noun they modify.
 * "It is a matter of the state"
 * rurt velusyt-e-i c-e-or
 * affair state-- --be
 * affair state-- --be

''Note to self: this does blur the line between noun and adjective in some cases. Be sure to explore and expound on that''

The Genitive, notably, cannot be used to denote that a noun constitutes part of a group, nor can it be used to denote a noun's origin (see [ablative case] for more details).

The Genitive case can also denote the noun's participation in an action as either patient or agent (often used in conjunction with the Instrumental) [not certain if true. need an example]

Instrumental
The Instrumental case denotes a noun that is the instrument or means by which the subject achieves an action. All nouns carry the suffix -ach in the instrumental.

It also indicates a noun's composition. For example, a vase made of wood would be a sevlais lórach [vase wood-]. This usage can extend to refer to individual parts of a group of things considered to be a single unified whole. That is to say, it can be used to supplement a collective noun. A group of people would be a chugh gwiricach [group person--. This supplementation could occur if the speaker wishes to emphasize the collective nature of the phrase or compare it to another group. For example:
 * "They weren't merely few people, (but) they were a group of people"
 * gwir-ic lec-u surt-ai t-e-or ba, tos chugh gwir-ic-ach t-e-or
 * person- few- mere- --be, but group person-- --be
 * person- few- mere- --be, but group person-- --be


 * "I did not see a group of men, but I saw a group of women."
 * chugh miedon-oc-ach n-a-leor ba, tos chugh alur-uc-ach n-a-leor
 * group man-- --see, but group woman-- --see
 * group man-- --see, but group woman-- --see

In formal speech, the instrumental can stand in for the ablative in constructions such as the following:
 * "the men from the choir"
 * miedon-e-c caschugh-e-un
 * man-- choir--
 * man-- choir--

Using the instrumental, this would be reconstructed with a relative pronoun, "to be", and the passive voice.
 * "the men who (are comprised by) the choir"
 * miedon-e-c iras-esc caschugh-e-ach od t-e-or
 * man-- who- choir-- --be
 * man-- who- choir-- --be

Dative
The Dative case indicates that a noun is the recepient or beneficiary of an action. This can also be interpreted as indicating a noun that is an indirect object of the verb but is not modified by an adposition (see [adpositions] for more detail). The dative is marked using the suffix -r, both after vowels and after the definite suffix (-ar after consonants or gender suffixes)
 * "We gave (to) him the cloak"
 * mié-r thern-e-eth s-a-jug
 * him- cloak-- --give
 * him- cloak-- --give