Tyap/Nouns

Noun/A̱lyoot Difinition and Types A noun is a word that identifies a person, place, animal, things, abstract idea etc. Types The types of noun include: A. Proper nouns: Begins with a capital letter. It identifies: Person (A̱yin): Da̱wali, Ca̱cet, Bityong, Kumaai, Sangkwai, A̱yok, etc. Place (A̱vwuo): Sankwap, Mawukili, Fantswam, etc. Institution (Sotnta̱m): ACDA, TLDB, etc. Months and Days (Zwát ma̱ng Á̱tuk): Zwat Tsat (ji), A̱tuk Ladi (ka), etc. B. Common nouns: They do not always start with capital letter except at the beginning of a sentence. It refers to general names of persons, places, etc. Person (A̱yin): nggwoneam (girl), nggwoseam (boy), a̱tyok (man), a̱yang (mother), etc. Animal (Nyam): a̱kwi (cat), a̱bwu (dog), zon (goat), etc. Place (A̱vwuo): a̱byin (country), fam (district), etc. Thing (Kyang): a̱li (house, eye), a̱byin (land, country, state), kwatak (shoe), kurum (money), a̱la̱ujhyi (sickle), bung (cap), etc. C. Abstract nouns: They do not have physical attribute e.g., mai (laughter), nwuan (seeing), cat (love), dyep (praise), fwoi (insult), a̱nak (mourning), etc. D. Concrete nouns: They can be seen and touched, E.g., a̱ceang (basket), tong (honey), a̱buki̱ti (bucket), a̱toot (cloth), a̱tyii (table), a̱kwon (tree), kyayak (food). E. Uncountable (mass) nouns: They cannot be pluralised or are already in plural form. They are usually singular. E.g., nkyuo (powder), za (rain), a̱sa̱khwot (rain), a̱myia̱ (oil), etc. F. Countable nouns: They can be counted and exist as singular and plural. Examples: S/N SINGULAR PLURAL 1 a̱nyung ka (tooth) a̱nyunyung ba (teeth) 2 a̱li ka (house) a̱ka̱sa na (houses) 3 a̱tyem ka (hoe) tityem hu (hoes) 4 nggwoneam ka (girl) a̱ka̱neam na (girls) 5 a̱kusuru wu (pig) a̱yaakusuru ba (pigs) 6 bwak hu (hand) mbwak na (hands) 7 a̱baai ka (knife) a̱ka̱baai na (knives) 8 zon ji (goat) zón ji (goats) 9 tak hu (leg) a̱ti̱tak ba (legs) 10 nggwoseam ka (boy) zam ji (boys) Tyap nouns are classified according to the six definite articles of the language. Noun Formation (Bwoi A̱lyoot) In this section, we shall view the various ways of forming nouns from verbs and adjectives. Nouns can be formed (norminalized) from verbs: (A) By adding the prefix "a̱-" Examples: S/N WORD NOUN FORMED 1 bwom (to sing) a̱bwom (song) 2 lyiat (to speak) a̱lyiat (speech) 3 khwo (to serve) a̱khwo (slave) 4 bwok (to treat) a̱bwok (physician) 5 kpang (to peg) a̱kpang (peg, nail, hammer) 6 tyia‌̱ (to put) a̱tyia̱ (father) The nouns formed above may refer to both living and non-living targets and situations. (B) By adding the prefix "ka-" Examples: S/N WORD NOUN FORMED 1 jang (exaggerate) Kajang (when you exaggerate) 2 lyiat (to speak) Kalyiat (when you speak) 3 kwok (packing) Kakwok (when you are packing) 4 lat (to be less than) Kalat (when you are less than) 5 lyin (to lack) Kalyin (when you lack) 6 sang (to be without, to lack) Kasang (when you are without, when you lack These nouns formed are mostly used as human names and the "ka-" prefix is a contraction of the phrase "ka̱ a" (i.e., if/when you). (C) Nouns can be formed from adjectives by removing the first "a̱": Examples: S/N WORD NOUN FORMED 1 a̱bwuon (foolish) bwuon (foolishness) 2 a̱tsotswat (true) tsotswat (truth) 3 a̱pa̱mpang (useless) pa̱mpang (uselessness) 4 a̱sa̱t (free) sa̱t (freedom, liberty) (D) Nouns can also be formed by placing the noun antecedent "a̱tyu" as a prefix before a verb The nouns formed using "a̱tyu" can only be used to refer to humans. Examples: S/N WORD NOUN FORMED 1 tyiet (to teach) a̱tyutyiet (teacher) 2 gba (to warn) a̱tyugba (warner) 2 lyuut (to write) a̱tyulyuut (writer, author) 3 cam (to watchguard) a̱tyucam (guard) 4 luk (to drive) a̱tyuluk (driver) 5 khap (tilling) a̱tyukhap (farmer)6 myiam (to learn) a̱tyumyiam (learner) (E) Nouns or noun phrases may also be formed using noun antecedents such as "kyang" and "swat" before other nouns Examples: S/N WORD NOUN FORMED 1 cet (strength) kyangcet (insect) 2 cung (race/racing) kyangcung (vehicle) 3 fang (reading/to read) kyangfang (textbook, text manuscript) 4 nyeang (marriage) swat nyeang (marriage life) 5 nta (outside) swat nta (outer living)6 a‌̱yang (mother) swat a‌̱yang (motherhood) (F) Nouns created by adding "yet" and "ya" to act as antecedents before an adjective or adverb Examples: S/N WORD NOUN FORMED 1 a̱tsotswat (true) yet a̱tsotswat (righteousness) 2 a̱tan (good) yet a̱tan (goodness) 3 a̱son (front) ya a̱son (progress) NOTE: There are words which on their own serve as both verbs and nouns. These are the Tyap gerunds. Example: fang (reading), lyuut (writing), nwuan (watching/seeing), corop (descending), ban (ascending), etc. <<Back to previous Lesson On to the next Lesson>>