Editing Romani language (section)

===Nominals===
Nominals in Romani are nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals.<ref name="mluvnice"/> Some sources describe articles as nominals.

The indefinite article is often borrowed from the local contact language.{{sfn|Matras|2006|loc=Morphology}}

==== Types ====
General Romani is an unusual language, in having two classes of nominals, based on the historic origin of the word, that have a completely different morphology. The two classes can be called ''inherited'' and ''borrowed'',<ref name="mluvnice"/> but this article uses names from Matras (2006),{{sfn|Matras|2006}} ''ikeoclitic'' and ''xenoclitic''. The class to which a word belongs is obvious from its ending.

===== Ikeoclitic =====
The first class is the old, Indian vocabulary (and to some extent [[Persian language|Persian]], Armenian and Greek loanwords).<ref name="mluvnice"/> The ikeoclitic class can also be divided into two sub-classes, based on the ending.{{sfn|Matras|2006}}

====== Nominals ending in o/i ======
The ending of words in this sub-class is -o with masculines, -i with feminines, with the latter ending triggering palatalisation of preceding ''d, t, n, l'' to ''ď, ť, ň, ľ''.<ref name="mluvnice"/>

Examples:<ref name="mluvnice"/>
*masculine
**'''{{lang|rom|o čhavo}}''' - the son
**'''{{lang|rom|o cikno}}''' - the little
**'''{{lang|rom|o amaro}}''' - our (m.)
*feminine
**'''{{lang|rom|e rakľi}}''' - non-romani girl
**'''{{lang|rom|e cikňi}}''' - small (note the change n > ň)
**'''{{lang|rom|e amari}}''' - ours (f.)

====== Nominals without ending ======
All words in this sub-class have no endings, regardless of gender.

Examples:{{sfn|Hübschmannová|1974}}
*masculine
**'''{{lang|rom|o phral}}''' - the brother
**'''{{lang|rom|o šukar}}''' - the nice (m.)
**'''{{lang|rom|o dad}}''' - the father
*feminine
**'''{{lang|rom|e phen}}''' - the sister
**'''{{lang|rom|e šukar}}''' - the nice (f.) - same as m.
**'''{{lang|rom|e daj}}''' - the mother

===== Xenoclitic =====
The second class is loanwords from [[European languages]].<ref name="mluvnice"/>{{sfn|Hübschmannová|1974}}{{sfn|Matras|2002|p=73}} (Matras adds that the morphology of the new loanwords might be borrowed from Greek.)

The ending of borrowed masculine is -os, -is, -as, -us, and the borrowed feminine ends in -a.

Examples from Slovak Romani:<ref name="mluvnice"/>{{sfn|Hübschmannová|1974}}
*masculine
**'''{{lang|rom|o šustros}}''' - shoemaker
**'''{{lang|rom|o autobusis}}''' - bus
**'''{{lang|rom|o učiteľis}}''' - teacher (m.)
*feminine
**'''{{lang|rom|e rokľa/maijka}}''' - shirt
**'''{{lang|rom|e oblaka/vokna }}''' - window
**'''{{lang|rom|e učiteľka}}''' - teacher (f.)

==== Basics of morphology ====
Romani has two [[grammatical gender]]s (masculine / feminine) and two numbers (singular / plural).{{sfn|Matras|2006|loc=Morphology}}

All nominals can be singular or plural.{{sfn|Hübschmannová|1974|p=4|loc=V1,3}}

==== Cases ====
Nouns are marked for any of eight cases; [[nominative case|nominative]], [[vocative case|vocative]], [[accusative case|accusative]], [[genitive case|genitive]], [[dative case|dative]], [[locative case|locative]], [[ablative case|ablative]], and [[instrumental case|instrumental]]. The former three are formed by inflections on the noun itself, but the latter five are marked by adding postpositions to the accusative, used as an "indirect root."<ref name="mluvnice"/>

The vocative and nominative are a bit "outside" of the case system<ref name="seb52">Šebková, Žlnayová 1998, p. 52–54</ref> as they are produced only by adding a suffix to the root.

Example: the suffix for singular masculine vocative of ikeoclitic types is '''{{lang|rom|-eja}}'''.<ref>Šebková, Žlnayová 1998, p. 47</ref>{{sfn|Hübschmannová|1974|p=31|loc=V2,1}}
*'''{{lang|rom|čhaveja!}}''' - you, boy (or son)!
*'''{{lang|rom|cikneja!}}''' - you, little one!
*'''{{lang|rom|phrala!}}''' - brother!

The oblique cases disregard gender or type: ''{{lang|rom|-te}}'' / ''{{lang|rom|-de}}'' (locative), ''{{lang|rom|-ke}}'' / ''{{lang|rom|-ge}}'' (dative), ''{{lang|rom|-tar/-dar}}'' (ablative), ''{{lang|rom|-sa(r)}}'' (instrumental and [[comitative]]), and ''{{lang|rom|-ker-}}'' / ''{{lang|rom|-ger-}}'' (genitive).{{sfn|Matras|2006|loc=Morphology}}

Example: The endings for o/i ending nominals are as follows:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!
! sg. nom.
! sg. acc.
! sg. voc.
! pl. nom.
! pl. acc.
! pl. voc.
|-
! 'boy'<br />(masculine)
| ''{{lang|rom|čhav-o}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|čhav-es}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|čhav-eja}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|čhav-e}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|čhav-en}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|čhav-ale}}''
|-
! 'woman'<br />(feminine)
| ''{{lang|rom|řomn-i}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|řomn-ja}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|řomn-ije}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|řomn-ja}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|řomn-jen}}''
| ''{{lang|rom|řomn-ale}}''
|}

Example: the suffix for indirect root for masculine plural for all inherited words is ''{{lang|rom|-en}}'',<ref name="seb52"/>{{sfn|Hübschmannová|1974|p=43|loc=V4}} the dative suffix is ''{{lang|rom|-ke}}''.<ref>Šebková, Žlnayová 1998, p. 76–78</ref>{{sfn|Hübschmannová|1974|p=60|loc=V7}}
*'''{{lang|rom|o xuxur}}''' - mushroom
*'''{{lang|rom|xuxuren}}''' - the indirect root (also used as accusative)
*'''{{lang|rom|Nilaj phiras xuxurenge.}}''' – In the summer we go on mushrooms (meaning picking mushrooms)

There are many [[declension class]]es of nouns that decline differently, and show dialectal variation.{{sfn|Matras|2006|loc=Morphology}}

Parts of speech such as adjectives and the article, when they function as attributes before a word, distinguish only between a nominative and an indirect/oblique case form.<ref>Šebková, Žlnayová 1998, p. 52</ref> In the Early Romani system that most varieties preserve, declinable adjectives had nominative endings similar to the nouns ending in ''-o'' (masculine ''-o'', feminine ''-i'') but the oblique endings ''-e'' in the masculine, ''-a'' in the feminine. The ending ''-e'' was the same regardless of gender. So-called athematic adjectives had the nominative forms ''-o'' in the masculine ''and'' the feminine and ''-a'' in the plural; the oblique has the same endings as the previous group, but the preceding stem changes by adding the element ''-on-''.{{sfn|Matras|2002|p=95}}

==== Agreement ====
Romani shows the typically Indo-Aryan pattern of the genitive agreeing with its head noun.

Example:
* ''{{lang|rom|čhav-es-ker-o phral}}'' - 'the boy's brother'
* ''{{lang|rom|čhav-es-ker-i phen}}'' - 'the boy's sister'.{{sfn|Matras|2006|loc=Morphology}}

Adjectives and the definite article show agreement with the noun they modify.

Example:
* ''{{lang|rom|mir-o dad}}'' - 'my father'
* ''{{lang|rom|mir-i daj}}'' - 'my mother'.{{sfn|Matras|2006|loc=Morphology}}{{sfn|Matras|2006|loc=Syntax}}