The Five Declensions

Qohenje lexemes are divided into five declensions which determine the shapes of their various aspect forms (all Qohenje lexemes vary for aspect , q.v.). The "citation form" in Qohenje is the form for the Normal (NOR) aspect.

The five declensions have rough semantic correlates, although there are many exceptions. Lexemes whose sense does not fall clearly into one of the categories expressed below could turn up in any declension. There are a few gendered words with correlate forms in first and second declensions. A word's declension has no particular grammatical significance: Qohenje has no agreement phenomena based upon a lexeme's declension.

Paradigms

Forms

Here are the paradigm forms for the Qohenje declensions. The coloured letter codes show the phonological shape of the tone syllable (see the key below).

DECLENSION 1 ["Animate female"] - Tone syllable has a sharp or a light initial consonant, and an open primary V (no final C).
CBÔ			C1Ô			C1Ǒ			C2Ǒ
‘OCBÔ			‘OC2Ô			‘OC2Ǒ			C2O
This class contains mostly notionally nominal concepts that refer to women, but also contains some notionally verbal lexemes referring to exclusively female occupations (especially biological, such as childbirth, menstruation etc.), as well as containing gender-deictic/neutral terms, the names of most venomous animals, most marine creatures, heavenly bodies, flowering plants, and weapons.

 

DECLENSION 2 ["Animate male"] - Tone syllable has a rough or heavy initial C and an open primary V (no final C).
CBÔ			C1Ô			C2Ǒ			C1Ǒ
‘OCBÔ			‘OC1ÔN			‘OC2Ǒ			C1O
This class contains mostly notionally nominal concepts that refer to men, but also conatins some notionally verbal lexemes referring to traditionally male occupations (especially those to do with the establishment and maintenance of clan honour), as well as containing the names of most body parts, most non-venomous land animals, most non-flowering plants, and some meteorological phenomena.

 

DECLENSION 3 ["Relational"] - Tone syllable has an non-smooth initial C and an open secondary V (no final C)
CBÔ			C1ÔN			C1ǑN			C2Ǒ
‘OCBÔN			‘OC1ÔN			‘OC1ǑN			C1O
This class contains the vast majority of lexemes whose sense is primarily relational ("verbal"), although there are some abstract nominal concepts (in their primary sense) that fall into the 3rd declension.

 

DECLENSION 4 ["Abstract nominal"] - Strictly monosyllabic roots.Tone syllable has a smooth initial C and a closed V (primary or secondary) It is the coda C which mutates. The END and ABN forms are identical. If the coda C is smooth, several forms fall together.
CBÔCB			‘OCBǑCB			CBǑCB			CBǑC1
‘OCBÔC1			‘OCBÔC1			‘OCBǑCB			‘OCBOC1
This small class contains lexemes whose sense is primarily abstract nominal.

 

DECLENSION 5 ["Inanimate"] - Tone syllable has a rough or a heavy initial C, any V and a final C (not -h). In the 5th declension, both C (inital and final) show mutations.
CBÔCB			C1ÔCB			C1ǑC1			C2ǑC1
‘OCBÔC1			‘OC1ÔCB			‘OC1ǑC1			C2OC1
This class contains mostly inanimate things, objects and natural phenomena not occuring in any of the preceding categories.

 

Key:		CB	Base consonant	C1	First mutation	C2	Second mutation
O	Untoned	Ǒ	Rising tone	Ô	Falling tone	N	Nasal consonant (determined by preceding V)

 

Further examples: