Tatediem: The "Grammatical Noun Class"

The noun class that I have termed "the grammatical class" has several important functions in Tatediem. Conjunctions, certain other particles, and quite a few adverbs are marked by it. Gerunds also are marked by it, and in some constructions numerals too.

The grammatical class prefixes are:
singular: re-, ur-
dual: rá-, ur-
plural: ráx-, ur-
mass: re-, ur-
where the rightmost is the object form, as well as the form that goes on adjectives. The ráx- form sometimes causes metathesis, e.g. rekém - rákxém (not at that time, never).

Gerunds are always marked by it:
regómn (from the verb stem gómn, guard) 'guarding, to guard'

With gerunds, using the dual or plural forms can be a way of indicating iterativeness or habituality:
ráxktìk (from the verb stem ktìk, rise) 'to rise often, repeated rising'
rábampù (from the verb stem bámpù, cook) 'twice cooking, to cook twice', but more specifically the preparation of a certain crop requires cooking it twice, and rábampù most specifically refers to the preparation of this crop.

As for adverbs, some lexemes take ur-, some take re- or even ráx-.

ráxtúim - certainly, surely, truly

urmá - quickly

rewrù - soon

rakxir -  for ever

ráŋum - again 

The demonstratives, when taking this set of prefixes go from being determiners to having a meaning closer to 'here', 'there', etc.

nebán nekús = this stick (note: the demonstratives use the same prefixes as the nouns, not the same as the adjectives)

rebán = here

sarján sartìpí = yonder mark, that mark (visible to the speaker and listener)

reján = (over) there

gemgán gemedùliŋ = those peaks

regán = in that place, there (a distant 'there')

Plural prefixes are possible, but unusual. "Raxbán raxgán" is a common expression for "all over the place". "Raxgán" sometimes is used to signify "lost, in an unknown place". The plurals may also be used to signify boundaries, i.e.
"ku-nitìsp rax-jàn k-u-(u)r-ùtur, ne-bán ne-timb, ses-jàn ses-kúmcé, sesjàn sesràm, gemgán gemegís"
neut1.sg-border gram.plur-there neut1sg-gram-stretch.along, masc-this masc-river, neut4-yon neut4-forest, neut4-yon neut4-road, neut3-that neut3-lake
The border stretches along these: this river, that forest, that road and the lake.

More later on the constructions with numerals, on particles and conjunctions as well as probably more adverbial stuff in general.

A number of lexical complications in Tatediem

Tatediem has a relatively large gender system - obviously due to its vague Bantu influences. There are two genders that otherwise do act a lot like your average genders, and indeed most of the words in them are fully unremarkable as far as this particular thing goes. These two genders have, however, a number of words that have near-synonyms in both.

Examples:

kucende - gift (from the perspective of the giver)

ŋwucende - gift (from the perspective of the receiver)

kusunne - obligation (from the perspective of the person who is expected to perform the obligation)

ŋwusunne -  obligation (from the perspective of the person or group or so on who is expected to benefit from the obligation)

kurutki - assistance (from the perspective of the one giving the assistance)

ŋwurutki - assistance ( from the perspective of the recipient)

For a few words, the lexemes are not related, yet the same relation is definitely there:

kusatwis -  fatherhood (from the point of view of a father)

ŋwurehmuc - fatherhood (from the point of view of the offspring)

A number of family terms also come in two versions, although many family terms also have regular masculine or feminine versions, sometimes not lexically related at all.

kutali - uncle

ŋwutali - nephew

kusami - sister

ŋwusami - the brother or sister of a sister

These two genders also have unique congruence classes for possessed reference on verbs:

-kulo[se|ke|ne|ŋe|swi|kwi|nwi|ŋwi]- (basically 'the thing of this gender of mine|yours|his|her|ours|yours|theirs')

 -ŋwulo[se|ke|ne|ŋe|swi|kwi|nwi|ŋwi]- 

For object congruence, the prefix is

-hul-, -gul-.

Some dialects permit using the same [se|ke...] morphemes in combination with those two, but most do not. For most dialects, the owner of -hul- or -gul- is instead market in a variety of periphrastic ways. Finally, oftentimes further references to humans first referred to by nouns in these genders agree with the 'natural' gender, unless a very strong emphasis is placed on the type of relation.

 And here the  complication appears: -kulo- and -ŋwulo- both can refer to the same noun, if nouns that have 'siblings' of this kind are present in the sentence. In that case, a subtle shift in meaning may appear, e.g. the obligation now shifts from x's obligation to do something to y's privilege of receiving the benefits from that obligation, or the challenges and rewards of being a father to the perception of the father that the offspring has.