Editing Siwi language (section)

===Nouns===
Siwi nouns are specified for [[Grammatical gender|gender]] (masculine or feminine) and [[Grammatical number|number]] (singular or plural; on the occasional occurrence of duals, see [[#Numerical system|Numerical system]] below). Most nouns incorporate a fixed prefix, usually ''a-'' for masculine singular (e.g., {{transliteration|siz|asen}} 'tooth'), ''i-'' for masculine plural (e.g., {{transliteration|siz|isenən}} 'teeth'), ''ta-'' for feminine singular (e.g., {{transliteration|siz|taṣṛəṃt}} 'intestine'), ''ti-'' for feminine plural (e.g., {{transliteration|siz|tiṣəṛṃen}} 'intestines').<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Souag|2013|p=62}}</ref> Arabic loans often start with invariant ''(ə)l-'', usually assimilating to a following coronal, e.g., {{transliteration|siz|ləqləm}} 'pen', {{transliteration|siz|ddhan}} 'oil'.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Souag|2013|p=78}}</ref> Many nouns also incorporate a suffix, usually feminine singular ''-t'', masculine plural ''-ən'', feminine plural ''-en'', as seen above; Arabic loans often show a feminine singular suffix ''-ət'' or ''-a'', and a feminine plural suffix ''-at'' or {{transliteration|siz|-iyyat}}, e.g., {{transliteration|siz|ɣṛaḅa}} 'raven' vs. {{transliteration|siz|ɣṛaḅiyyat}} 'ravens'.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Souag|2013|p=74}}</ref> Pluralization is often also marked on the stem itself by internal changes, e.g., {{transliteration|siz|azidi}} 'jackal' vs. {{transliteration|siz|izida}} 'jackals', {{transliteration|siz|ašṭiṭ}} 'bird' vs. {{transliteration|siz|išəṭṭan}} 'birds'.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Souag|2013|pp=62–63}}</ref>

In a noun either the last syllable or the second-to-last (penultimate) is [[Stress (linguistics)|stressed]], depending on context. The factors determining stress in the noun remain a matter of debate. According to Souag,<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Souag|2013|pp=80–82}}</ref> stress depends essentially on definiteness: definite nouns receive penultimate stress, while indefinites are stressed on the last syllable. Schiattarella<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Schiattarella|2017}}</ref> argues that the situation is somewhat more complicated: notably, locatives and right detached nouns receive accent on the last syllable, while left detached nouns are stressed on the penultimate.

Unlike most larger Berber languages, Siwi has no [[Construct state#Berber|state]] distinction: a noun takes the same form whether used as subject or as object.<ref>{{harvcoltxt|Laoust|1932|p=97}}</ref>