Case
There are eight cases in Malo[clarification needed].
- Nominative
- Accusative
- Dative
- Genitive
- Instrumental
- Commutative
- Ablative
Nominative case
Nominative case has <i> and <a> for masculine and feminine markers respectively.
However, if there is a vowel at the end of the noun, the masculine came marker<i> will change to <y>.
Examples,
| Nominative Noun | Nominative Case Marker | Verb | Perfect | Affirmative
Marker |
| dura | -y | gup | -e | -z |
| sheep | jumped | |||
| The sheep jumped. | ||||
| Nominative Noun | Nominative Case Marker | Verb | Perfect | Affirmative
Marker |
| gemata | -y | ye? | -e | -z |
| ox | came | |||
| The ox came. | ||||
Nominative feminine case takes the marker <a> with definite marker <t>.
Examples,
| Nominative Noun | Definite Marker | Nominative Case Marker | Verb | Perfect | Affirmative
Marker |
| kapa | -t | -a | pri | -e | -z |
| bird | fly | ||||
| The bird fly | |||||
Proper nouns also take the nominative case marker <i> and <a>.
Examples,
| Proper Noun | Nominative Case Marker | Verb | Perfect | Affirmative
Marker |
| Dayda | -y | miiz | -e | -z |
| Dayda(Name) | laughed | |||
| Dayda laughed | ||||
Accusative case
The marker <-a> is for masculine nouns.
Example,
| Nominative Noun | Nominative Case Marker | Accusative Noun | Accusative Case Marker Masculine | Verb | Perfect | Affirmative Marker |
| as | -i | gamata | -a | ?ad | -e | -z |
| man | ox | hit | ||||
| The man hit the ox. | ||||||
The maker <-o> is for feminine nouns. It is attached to the definite marker ‘t’.
Example,
| Nominative Noun | Nominative
Case Marker |
Accusative Noun | Definitive Marker | Accusative
Feminine Marker |
Verb | Perfect | Affirmative marker |
| gadara | -y | maha | -t | -o | be? | e | z |
| Hyena | tiger | saw | |||||
| The hyena saw the tiger. | |||||||
*Proper nouns are not inflected for the accusative case marker.
Similarities Between Nominative and Accusative
Masculine Nominative and Accusative Case Markers stay the same for the plural nouns which are <i> and <a> respectively.
Nominative and Accusative Case Marker is always to be definite. Indefinite nouns do not take Nominative and Accusative Case.
Dative case
Dative Case Markers are <s> and <as>.
Examples,
| Nominative | Nominative Case Marker | Accusative Noun | Accusative Cace Marker | Dative Noun | Dative Case Marker | Verb | Present Perfet | Affirmative case marker |
| tan | -i | gamata | -a | Ba?uno | -s | ?ing | -e | -z |
| I | ox | Ba?uno | gave | |||||
| I gave the ox to Ba?uno. | ||||||||
Genitive case
Genitive Case uses two different ways to express.
1. Possessive Pronoun before Possessed Noun.
2. Third person possessive pronoun marker ‘pa’
1. Possessive pronoun:
| Possessive Pronouns | Gloss | Possessed Nouna | Gloss |
| ta | my | ta-kets | my house |
| nu | our | nu-kets | our house |
| ne | your | nu-kets | your house 2nd mas/fem |
| yi | your | yi-kets | your house 2nd |
| e | his | e-kets | his house |
| i | her | i-kets | her house |
| u | their | u-kets | their house |
Examples,
Deka afila – Deka’s cloth
Ta afila – my cloth
E afila – hi cloth
2. Here ‘pa’ refers to ownership. In third person possessive pronouns are replaced with pa.
| e | his | e-kets | his house |
| i | her | i-kets | her house |
| u | their | u-kets | their house |
Examples,
| Nominative Noun (As Pronoun) | Nominative Case Marker | Adding ‘pa’ | Possessed Noun | Definitive Marker | Accusative Marker | Verb | Perfective | Affirmative |
| i | -a | pa | inda | -t | -o | kad | -e | -z |
| she | her mother | loved | ||||||
| She loved her mother | ||||||||
iz-a pa inda-t-o kad-e-z – She loved her mother.
Instrumental case
Instrumental case markers are <r> and <ar>.
Examples,
| Nominal Noun | Nominal Case Marker | Pronoun (As Accusative Case) | Accusative Marker | Instrumental Noun | Instrumental Case Marker | Verb | Perfective | Affirmative | ||||||||
| na? | -y | ez | -a | succ | -ar | ?ad | -e | -z | ||||||||
| child | he | stone | hit | |||||||||||||
| The child hit him with a stone. | ||||||||||||||||
| asa | -y | gamma | -a | kawe | -r | wood | -e | -z | ||||||||
| man | lion | gun | killed | |||||||||||||
| The man killed the lion with a gun. | ||||||||||||||||
Commutative case
Commutative case markers are <r> and -<ar> with ‘wola’.
Here, the word ‘wola’ means together.
Examples,
| Nominative Noun | Genitive /Nominative Case Marker | Commutative Noun | Commutative Case Marker | Wola | Verb | Perfective | Affirmative |
| iza | pa | azin | -ar | wola | woy | -e | -z |
| she | his husband | together | slept | ||||
| She slept with her husband together. | |||||||
| nu | ise | -r | wola | m | -e | -z | |
| brother | together | ate | |||||
| We ate with our brother together. | |||||||
Ablative case
Ablative case markers are <p> and <ap>.
It depicts the place of departure and a source the noun comes from.
Examples,
| Nominative Noun | Definitive Marker | Nominative Case Marker | Ablative Case | Ablative Case Marker | Verb | Perfective | Affirmative |
| kassa | -y | awasa | -p | ye? | -e | -z | |
| Kassa | from Awasa | came | |||||
| Kassa came from Awasa. | |||||||
| dees | -t | -a | dere | -p | ye | -e | -z |
| goat | from mountain | came | |||||
| The goat came from the mounta | |||||||
Melo (also known as Malo) is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in the Gamo Gofa Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region in Ethiopia.[1]
Notes
- ^ a b Melo at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
