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Nominative case has no marker.
Plural nominative has only a plural marker -t [ 2] . It may take only a vowel stem.
Thus singular nominative is usually in a grade opposite to plural nominative, caused by consonant gradation in stems e.g. sepp ä ('a blacksmith') vs. sep äD ('blacksmiths'), amm az ('a tooth') vs. amp āD ('teeth') .
Singular nominative may be represented by a multisyllable consonant stem where available e.g. vare̮hse̮-D ('crows') vs. singular nominative vare̮z ('a crow').
A monosyllable consonant stem will have an additional -i in it's end e.g. singular partitive kuus-ta ('fir') vs. singular nominative kuus-i .
The plural nominative marker -t may be pronounced -t, -D or -d caused by sandhi . E.g. :
in the absolute end - lehmä-D ('cows' )
in front of a voiceless consonant - tüttäre-t ̮tulivaD ('The daughters came.' )
in front of a voiced consonant - tüttäre-d ̮dūmasivaD ('The daughters thought.' )
Consonant stems occur in limited declensions.
Their stem-vowel (originally e ) was omitted in front of certain morphemes only.
Those morphemes started with k, n or t .
The stem-consonant was h, *k (> h), l, n, r, s or t .
m was later replaced with n , when stem-vowel was dropped e.g. лum-i ('snow') nominative , лume̮-лta ('from the snow') ablative vs. лun-ta ('(Take some) snow') partitive . [ 3]
Following declension types have consonant stems [ 4] :
X Declension: -e stems e.g. plural nominative tuлe̮-D vs. singular nominative tul-i , singular partitive tuл-ta ('fire').
XI Declension: -ks stems e.g. plural nominative vare̮hse̮-D vs. singular nominative vare̮z , singular partitive vare̮s-sa ('crow') < *vare̮s-ta .
XII Declension: -nen stems e.g. plural nominative naize̮-D vs. singular nominative nain(e̮ ) , singular partitive nais-sa ('wife') < *nais-ta .
XIII Declension: -n stems e.g. plural nominative sēmene-D vs. singular nominative sēmē , singular partitive sēmē-tä ('seed') < *sēmen-ta .
XIII Declension: -m stems e.g. plural nominative ve̮ttime̮-D vs. singular nominative ve̮tī , singular partitive ve̮tī-ta ('key') < *ve̮tin-ta .
XIII Declension: -nt stems e.g. plural nominative ke̮лme̮tte̮̮me̮̮-D vs. singular nominative ke̮лme̮z , singular partitive ke̮лme̮t-te̮̮ ('the third') < *ke̮лme̮tte̮̮n-ta Jõgõperä dialect .
XIV Declension: -s stems e.g. plural nominative ampā-D vs. singular nominative ammaz , singular partitive ammas-sa ('tooth') < *ammas-ta .
XIV Declension: -k stems e.g. plural nominative sitē̮-D vs. singular nominative sie̮ , singular partitive sie̮t-ta ('tie') < *sie̮k-ta .
XIV Declension: -h stems e.g. plural nominative ernē-D vs. singular nominative erne , singular partitive erneh-tä ('pea') [ 5] .
XV Declension: -t stems e.g. plural nominative lühǖ-D < *lühüe-t < *lühüte-t vs. singular nominative lühüD , singular partitive lühüt-tä ('short').
↑ Ariste, Paul Vadja keele grammatika. Tartu, 1948. p. 21
↑
Laanest, Arvo: Sissejuhatus läänemeresoome keeltesse, Tallinn 1975. p. 93
↑
Laanest, Arvo: Sissejuhatus läänemeresoome keeltesse, Tallinn 1975. p.90
↑ Ariste, Paul Vadja keele grammatika. Tartu, 1948. p. 53
↑
E. Adler, M. Leppik: Vadja keele sõnaraamat. v. 1; p. 210