Ŋʒädär noun morphology distinguishes obviative and proximate nouns; the obviative nouns do not distinguish number as readily as the proximate ones. There are situations where an obviative prefix is attached to the verb:
- any verb with a pro-dropped obviative subject or object
- intransitive verbs whose subject is obviative
- subordinated verbs that relate to an obviative more than to a proximate noun
- any verb with an obviative subject or object can take the obviative prefix, but this serves to emphasize the obviative noun. Since obviative nouns generally are more 'backgroundy' than proximate nouns, such emphasis is unusual.
The morpheme happens to be cognate to the Ćwarmin ok-/əc-/ec- morpheme. It goes back to Proto-ĆŊ */q'ovk-/, */q'eyk-/. In Ćwarmin, #q' > #ʔ > ∅. Being a doubly closed syllable, these behave somewhat oddly compared to other initial syllables in Ćwarmin: *ʔovk, ʔeyk > ok, əc, ec.
In Ŋʒädär, */q'ovk, q'eyk/ > /q'ovx, k'eyc/ > /q'oux, k'eic/ > /q'ou-, k'ei-/, with further vowel harmony forms having appeared for some verbs.
No cognate morpheme is present in Dagurib, although morphemes with similar function can be found in that branch.
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