Editing Ubykh language (section)

==== Nouns ====
The noun system in Ubykh is quite simple. It has three main noun cases (the oblique-ergative case may be two homophonous cases with differing function, thus presenting four cases in total):
* direct or [[absolutive case]], marked with the bare [[root (linguistics)|root]]; this indicates the [[subject (grammar)|subject]] of an intransitive sentence and the [[direct object]] of a transitive sentence (e.g. {{IPA|/tɨt/}} 'a man')
* oblique-[[ergative case]], marked in -{{IPA|/n/}}; this indicates either the subject of a [[transitive verb|transitive]] sentence, targets of [[preverb]]s, or [[indirect object]]s which do not take any other suffixes ({{IPA|/mɨzɨn/}} '(to) a child')
* [[locative case]], marked in -{{IPA|/ʁɜ/}}, which is the equivalent of English ''in'', ''on'' or ''at''.
There are X other cases that exist in Ubykh too:

* [[instrumental case]] (-{{IPA|/ɜwn(ɨ)/}}) was also treated as a case in Dumézil (1975). 
* [[Instrumental-comitative case|instrumental-comitative]] case (-{{IPA|/ɐlɜ/}}).
* Another pair of [[postposition]]s, -{{IPA|/lɐq/}} ('to[wards]') and -{{IPA|/ʁɐfɜ/}} ('for'), have been noted as synthetic [[dative]]s (e.g. {{IPA|/ɜχʲɨlɐq ɜstʷɜdɜw/}} 'I will send it to the prince'), but their status as cases is also best discounted.

Nouns do not distinguish [[grammatical gender]]. The [[definite article]] is {{IPA|/ɐ/}} (e.g. {{IPA|/ɐtɨt/}} 'the man'). There is no [[indefinite article]] directly equivalent to the English ''a'' or ''an'', but {{IPA|/zɜ/}}-(root)-{{IPA|/ɡʷɜrɜ/}} (literally 'one'-(root)-'certain') translates French ''un'' : e.g. {{IPA|/zɜnɜjnʃʷɡʷɜrɜ/}} ('a certain young man').

[[Grammatical number|Number]] is only marked on the noun in the ergative case, with -{{IPA|/nɜ/}}. The number marking of the absolutive argument is either by [[suppletion|suppletive]] verb roots (e.g. {{IPA|/ɐkʷɨn blɜs/}} 'he is in the car' vs. {{IPA|/ɐkʷɨn blɜʒʷɜ/}} 'they are in the car') or by verb suffixes: {{IPA|/ɐkʲʼɜn/}} ('he goes'), {{IPA|/ɐkʲʼɐn/}} ('they go'). The [[grammatical person|second person]] [[plural]] prefix {{IPA|/ɕʷ/}}- triggers this plural suffix regardless of whether that prefix represents the ergative, the absolutive, or an [[oblique argument]]: 
*Absolutive: {{IPA|/ɕʷɜstʷɐn/}} ('I give you all to him')
*Oblique: {{IPA|/sɨɕʷɨntʷɐn/}} ('he gives me to you all')
*Ergative: {{IPA|/ɐsɨɕʷtʷɐn/}} ('you all give it/them to me')
Note that, in this last sentence, the plurality of ''it'' ({{IPA|/ɐ/}}-) is obscured; the meaning can be either 'You all give ''it'' to me' or 'You all give ''them'' to me'.

[[Adjective]]s, in most cases, are simply suffixed to the noun: {{IPA|/tʃɨbʒɨjɜ/}} ('pepper') with {{IPA|/pɬɨ/}} ('red') becomes {{IPA|/tʃɨbʒɨjɜpɬɨ/}} ('red pepper'). Adjectives do not [[declension|decline]].

[[Postposition]]s are rare; most locative [[semantics|semantic]] functions, as well as some non-local ones, are provided with [[preverb]]al elements: {{IPA|/ɐsχʲɜwtxqʼɜ/}} ('you wrote it for me'). However, there are a few postpositions: {{IPA|/sɨʁʷɜ sɨɡʲɐtɕʼ/}} ('like me'), {{IPA|/ɐχʲɨlɐq/}} ('near the prince').