Nouns

Common nouns usually refer to a class of entities, such as living things, objects and places:

• Living things: gat ‘child’, thɔ̱l ‘snake’, kɔ̱m ‘insect’
• Objects: ŋɔ̱a̱r ‘bean’, kɛɛt ‘stick’, rie̱y ‘boat’
• Places: rup ‘forest’, lo̱o̱l ‘valley’, rɛk ‘town’

Some common nouns refer to more abstract concepts:

• Qualities: gɔɔy ‘something good’, muth ‘darkness’
• States of existence: ti̱e̱l ‘sadness’ gi̱i̱r ‘craving’

Proper nouns identify a specific entity by name. In Nuer orthography, proper names are written with a capital letter.

• Person: Biɛl (a male name)
• Place: Juba(the capital of South Sudan)
• Thing: Thok Naath (the Nuer language)

It isn't possible to tell if a word is a noun based on its meaning alone. We also need to consider how the word is formed and its relationship to other words (morphology). We also need to consider it's distribution in a phrase or clause (syntax).

Noun morphology

Common nouns in Nuer vary in form depending on their number (singular and plural) and/or case (nominative, genitive and locative).

Number

Most common nouns have singular (SG) and plural (PL) forms. Singular forms refer to one thing, while plural forms refer to more than one thing. In Nuer, plural number is sometimes indicated by adding a suffix -ni (or -i) to a stem. This is called suffixation. Plural number is sometimes indicated by changing the vowel of the noun, a bit like the difference between singular goose /guːs/ and plural geese /giːs/ in English. This is called a change in vowel quality:

• Suffixation: ɣo̱th /ɣò̤t̪/ ‘basket’ vs. ɣo̱thni /ɣò̤t̪ní̤/ ‘baskets’
• Change in vowel quality: cue̱ny /cwé̤ɲ/ ‘liver’ vs. cua̱ny /cwá̤ɲ/ ‘livers’

There are a number of other ways by which the difference between singular and plural forms can be indicated in Nuer, namely by a change in vowel length or change in tone:

• Vowel shortening: pia̱a̱r /pjá̤a̤a̤r/ ‘ceremonial scar’ vs. pia̱r /pjá̤r/ ‘ceremonial scars’
• Vowel lengthening: luɔ̱t /lṳ́ɔ̤t/ ‘shirt’ vs. luɔ̱ɔ̱t /lṳ́ɔ̤ɔ̤ɔ̤t/ ‘shirts’
• Change in tone: le̱y /lě̤j/ ‘beast’ vs. le̱y /lè̤j/ ‘beasts’

In fact, the difference between singular and plural forms is usually signalled through a combination of these changes:

• Vowel quality and suffixation: bo̱w /(a)bǒ̤w/ ‘goat’ vs. böwni /(a)bǒwní̤/ ‘goats’
• Vowel quality and vowel shortening: käät /kʌ̤́ʌ̤ʌ̤t/ ‘hawk’ vs. ka̱t /ká̤t/ ‘hawks’
• Vowel quality and vowel lengthening: rɔk /rɔ̂k/ ‘rope’ vs.röök /rôook/ ‘ropes’
• Vowel quality and tone: riöp /rjòp/ ‘fingernail’ vs. rio̱p /rjó̤p/ ‘fingernails’
• Tone and suffixation: mut /mṳ́t/ ‘spear’ vs. mutni /mṳ̀tní̤/ ‘spears’
• Tone and vowel shortening: kɔ̱a̱a̱k /kɔ̤̌a̤a̤a̤k/ ‘pit’ vs. kɔ̱a̱k /kɔ̤́a̤k/ ‘pits’
• Tone and vowel lengthening: thäk /t̪ʌ̤́ʌ̤k/ ‘ox’ vs. thääk /t̪ʌ̤̌ʌ̤ʌ̤k/ ‘oxen’
• Tone, vowel quality and suffixation: gɛ̈w /gɛ̂aw/ ‘living area’ vs. gɛwni /gɛ̀wní̤́/ ‘living areas’
• Tone, vowel quality and vowel shortening: nac /nâac/ ‘heifer’ vs. näc /nʌ̤́c/ ‘heifers’
• Tone, vowel quality and vowel lengthening: thak /t̪âak/ ‘mudbowl’ vs. thääk /t̪ʌ̤́ʌ̤ʌ̤k/ ‘mudbowls’
• Tone, vowel quality, vowel shortening and suffixation: kɔm /kɔ̂ɔm/ ‘chair’ vs. kɔamni /kɔ̀amní̤/ ‘chairs’ gɛ̂aw

This is sometimes accompanied by a change to the final consonant:

• Tone, vowel quality and vowel shortening and final consonant: rɛl /rɛ̂ɛl/ ‘termite mound’ vs. re̱t /ré̤t/ ‘termite mounds’

Although this looks extremely complicated (and it is!), there are rules that help Nuer speakers work out and remember what the plural should be. For most nouns, knowing the vowel quality and vowel length of the singular form is an important first step.

A few commonly used nouns indicate changes in number by using a completely different stems in the singular and plural. This is called suppletion.

• Suppletion: ciek /cjé̤k/ ‘woman’ vs. mään /mʌ̤́ʌ̤n/ ‘women’

A small number of nouns only have singular forms or only have plural forms. Nouns that only have singular forms typically refer to something unique (e.g. nhial /n̪jâal/ ‘sky’) or abstract (e.g. muth /mṳ́t̪/ ‘darkness’). Nouns that only have plural forms usually refer to mass nouns which cannot be counted (e.g. cak /câak/ ‘milk’, cuow /cʊ̂w/ ‘urine’).

Case

Case is a grammatical category that indicates the function of a noun within a phrase or clause. Nouns have three cases in Nuer: nominative, genitive and locative.

Nominative

Nominative (NOM) case forms of nouns are used most of the time.

The nominative is used for the subject of intransitive verbs:

• Nyal cɛ ŋam. ‘The girl yawned.’
• Jio̱k cɛ li̱u. ‘The dog died.’
• Due̱l cɛ tɛth. ‘The house fell.’

It is also used for the subject of transitive verbs:

• Nyal cɛ Biɛl nɛn pan. ‘The girl saw Biɛl yesterday.’
• Jio̱k cɛ Biɛl guɔ̱ɔ̱r pan. ‘The dog followed Biɛl yesterday.’

And also for the object of transitive verbs:

• Cä nyal nɛn pan. ‘I saw a girl yesterday.’
• Cä jio̱k guɔ̱ɔ̱r pan. ‘I followed a dog yesterday.’
• Cä due̱l kok pan. ‘I bought a house yesterday.’

Genitive

Genitive (GEN) case forms are used when the noun is a possessor. The possessor follows the possessed item. In the following examples, the possessed item is in the nominative case.

• nhiam nyaal ‘the girl's face’
• kuän jiöök ‘the dog's food’
• do̱r dueel ‘the floor of the house’

A small class of nouns, known as locative nouns, are commonly modified by a noun in the genitive case, much like possesive constructions. They are usually translated into English using prepositions. Examples include rɛj ‘inside’ and wi̱i̱ ‘at head’, which originates in the locative form of the word ‘head’.

• rɛj dueel ‘inside the house’
• wi̱i̱ jiaaath ‘in (lit. at head of) the tree’

Locative

Locative (LOC) case forms are used when the noun is used to express a location or a goal of motion. For many nouns (like nyal ‘girl’) the locative form is identical to the genitive form.

• Jɛn a duɛ̱ɛ̱l. ‘S/he is at the house.’
• Biɛl a nyaal. ‘Biɛl is with the girl.’
• Ɣä̱n a jiöök. ‘I am with the dog.’

Where a noun in the locative case noun would normally be used, proper nouns for places are often introduced by the preposition kä̱. When used in this way, proper nouns for people are usually introduced by the preposition kɛ.

• Jɛn a kä̱ Juba. ‘S/he is in Juba.’
• Nyal a kɛ Biel. ‘The girl is with Biɛl.’

Noun paradigms

Number and case values combine to create a noun paradigm.

Table 1. Orthographic and IPA forms for due̱l /dwě̤e̤l/ ‘house’.

	SG	PL
NOM	due̱l /dwě̤e̤l/	duel /dwêl/
GEN	dueel /dwêeel/	dueli /dwêlì̤/
LOC	due̱e̱l /dwě̤e̤e̤l/

The nominative singular form is used as the citation form in the Nuer dictionary. If the noun only has plural forms, the nominative plural is used as the citation form.

The form used for genitive plural and the form used for locative plural are always identical. So the highest number of different forms that noun could have is five, as illustrated in Table 1. by due̱l /dwě̤e̤l/ ‘house’. Most nouns with five distinct forms refer to places or bodyparts.

Table 2. Orthographic and IPA forms for nyal /ɲǎal/ ‘girl’.

	SG	PL
NOM	nyal /ɲǎal/	nye̱r /ɲé̤e̤r/
GEN	nyaal /ɲàaal/	nye̱e̱r /ɲé̤e̤e̤r/
LOC

For the vast majority of nouns, the genitive singular and locative singular forms are also identical. Consequently, most nouns have four forms.

References

Monich, Irina. 2020. Nuer tonal inventory. Studies in African Linguistics 49(1), 1-42.

Reid, Tatiana. 2019. The phonology and morphology of the Nuer verb . PhD dissertation: University of Surrey.