Curonian grammar

Curonian grammar describes the grammatical features of extinct Curonian language. The Curonian language is highly inflected and archaic language. Its grammar is reconstructed basing on Latvian, Lithuanian and Old Prussian grammars and known Curonian place-names and New Curonian texts and vocabulary.

Nouns

Curonian nouns are divided into seven declensions (three masculine and four feminine). But there are several nouns which are declined irregularly. The declension of noun is determined by its ending and gender.

Curonian nouns have eight grammatical cases: nominative case, accusative case, genitive case, dative case, ablative case, instrumental case, locative case and vocative case.The locative case has four forms: inessive (the regular and most common form), illative (iekš(k)an tan pirman vietan 'in the first place',āran 'outdoors, outside', priekšan 'for', laukaisnā 'to country'), allative (only used in a few idiomic expressions like: mājump, kalnump, šurp, turp), adessive (namaip, namaisump). The later three are adverb-forming cases.

Following table shows nominative endings for all regular declensions:

Masculine						Feminine
1.decl.		2.decl.		3.decl.		4.decl.		5.decl.		6.decl.		7.decl.
Sing.	Plur.	Sing.	Plur.	Sing.	Plur.	Sing.	Plur.	Sing.	Plur.	Sing.	Plur.	Sing.	Plur.
-as	-āi	-is	-jāi	-us	-ūs	-ā	-ās	-ē	-ēs	-is	-īs	-us	-ūs

Masculine nouns

  1.decl.: vīr-as 'man, husband';
  2.decl.: skap-is 'shelf';
  3.decl.: turg-us 'market, bazaar'.

	1.decl.		2.decl.		3.decl.
	Sing.	Plur.	Sing.	Plur.	Sing.	Plur.
Nom.	vīras	vīrāi	skapis	skapjāi	turgus	turgūs
Acc.	vīran	vīrāns	skapin	skapjāns	turgun	turgūns
Gen.	vīras	vīrūn	skapjas	skapjūn	turgaus	turgūn
Dat.	vīraj	vīrams	skapjaj	skapjams	turgav	turgums
Abl.	vīrā	vīrams	skapjā	skapjams	turgaus	turgums
Ins.	vīrami	vīrais	skapimi	skapjais	turgumi	turgumis
Loc.	vīrai	vīraisu	skapīju	skapjaisu	turgūju	turgusu
Voc.	vīru!	vīrāi!	skapi!	skapjāi!	turgau!	turgūs!

Feminine nouns

    4.decl.: saiv-ā 'woman, wife';
    5.decl.: ap-ē 'river';
    6.decl.: nakt-is 'night';
    7.decl.: vilt-us 'guile, deceit', dzirn-ūs 'mill'.

	4.decl.		5.decl.		6.decl.		7.decl.
	Sing.	Plur.	Sing.	Plur.	Sing.	Plur.	Sing.	Plur.
Nom.	saivā	saivās	apē	apēs	naktis	naktīs	viltus	dzirnūs
Acc.	saivān	saivās	apin	apēs	naktin	naktīs	viltun	dzirnūs
Gen.	saivās	saivūn	apēs	apjūn	naktijas	naktjūn	viltuvas	dzirnūn
Dat.	saivāj	saivāms	apēj	apēms	naktijai	naktīms	viltuvai	dzirnūms
Abl.	saivās	saivāms	apēs	apēms	naktijas	naktīms	viltuvas	dzirnūms
Ins.	saivaju	saivāmis	apeju	apēmis	naktiju	naktīmis	viltuvu	dzirnūmis
Loc.	saivāju	saivāsu	apēju	apēsu	naktīju	naktīsu	viltūju	dzirnūsu
Voc.	saivu!	saivās!	ape!	apēs!	nakti!	naktīs!	viltu!	dzirnūs!

Dual number

Curonian also had a dual number. It was mainly used in the words representing body parts, e.g. duvi rankai, kājai, ausī, aksī, nāsī 'two hands, legs, ears, eyes, nostrils'.

The Dual endings of all cases:

	Masculine			Feminine
	1.decl.	2.decl.	3.decl.	4.decl.	5.decl.	6.decl.	7.decl.
Nom.Acc.Voc.	-au	-jau	-ū	-ai	-ei	-ī	-ū
Dat.Abl.Ins.	-amu	-imu	-umu	-āmu	-ēmu	-īmu	-ūmu
Gen.Loc.	-aj	-jaj	-ū	-āj	-ēj	-ī	-ū

Pronunciation

In rapid speech there occur some changes in vowel quality, the final long vowels and diphthongs get shortened, but -aj, -aju turn into [ui], and -ami into [um(i)], as also -ijas and -uvas turn into [ies] and [ūs], -ijai and -uvai turn into [ij]/[ei]/[ie] and [ui].

See also

• Curonian language
• Latvian language
• Latvian grammar
• Lithuanian language
• Lithuanian grammar
• Old Prussian
• Sudovian language