Editing Elamite language (section)

===Nouns===
The Elamite nominal system is thoroughly pervaded by a [[noun class]] distinction, which combines a gender distinction between animate and inanimate with a personal class distinction, corresponding to the three persons of verbal inflection (first, second, third, plural). <br>
The suffixes that express that system are as follows:<ref name="Stolper 73" /> <br>
Animate: <br>
:1st person singular: ''-k''
:2nd person singular: ''-t''
:3rd person singular: ''-r'' or ''-Ø''
:3rd person plural: ''-p''
:
Inanimate: <br>
:''-∅'', ''-me'', ''-n'', ''-t''<ref>Apart from the productive use of ''-me'' to form abstract nouns, the meaning (if any) of the difference between the various inanimate suffixes is unclear.</ref>

[[File:Inscription in Elamite, in the Xerxes I inscription at Van, 5th century BCE.jpg|thumb|Inscription in Elamite, in the [[Xerxes I inscription at Van]], 5th century BCE]]
The animate third-person suffix ''-r'' can serve as a nominalizing suffix and indicate [[nomen agentis]] or just members of a class. The inanimate third-person singular suffix ''-me'' forms abstracts.

Some examples of the use of the noun class suffixes above are the following:

:''sunki-k'' “a king (first person)” i.e. “I, a king”

: ''sunki-r'' “a king (third person)”

:''nap-Ø'' or ''nap-ir'' “a god (third person)”

:''sunki-p'' “kings”

:''nap-ip'' “gods”

: ''sunki-me'' “kingdom, kingship”

:''hal-Ø'' “town, land”

: ''siya-n'' “temple”

: ''hala-t'' “mud brick”.

Modifiers follow their (nominal) heads. In noun phrases and pronoun phrases, the suffixes referring to the head are appended to the modifier, regardless of whether the modifier is another noun (such as a possessor) or an adjective. Sometimes the suffix is preserved on the head as well:

:''u šak X-k(i)'' = “I, the son of X”

:''X šak Y-r(i)'' = “X, the son of Y”

:''u sunki-k Hatamti-k'' = “I, the king of Elam”

:''sunki Hatamti-p'' (or, sometimes, ''sunki-p Hatamti-p'') = “the kings of Elam”

:''temti riša-r'' = “great lord” (lit. “lord great”)

:''riša-r nap-ip-ir'' = “greatest of the gods” (lit. "great of the gods")

:''nap-ir u-ri'' = “my god” (lit. “god of me”)

:''hiya-n nap-ir u-ri-me'' = “the throne hall of my god”

:''takki-me puhu nika-me-me'' = “the life of our children”

:''sunki-p uri-p u-p(e)'' = ”kings, my predecessors” (lit. “kings, predecessors of me”)

This system, in which the noun class suffixes function as derivational morphemes as well as agreement markers and indirectly as subordinating morphemes, is best seen in Middle Elamite. It was, to a great extent, broken down in Achaemenid Elamite, where possession and, sometimes, attributive relationships are uniformly expressed with the “[[genitive case]]” suffix ''-na'' appended to the modifier: e.g. ''šak X-na'' “son of X”. The suffix ''-na'', which probably originated from the inanimate agreement suffix ''-n'' followed by the nominalizing particle ''-a'' (see below), appeared already in Neo-Elamite.<ref>{{Harvnb|Stolper|2004|p=74}}</ref>

The personal pronouns distinguish nominative and accusative case forms. They are as follows:<ref name=":0">{{Harvnb|Stolper|2004|p=75}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | Singular
! colspan="2" | Plural
|-
! Nominative || Accusative
! Nominative || Accusative
|-
! 1st person
| u
| un
| nika/nuku
| nukun
|-
! 2nd person
| ni/nu
| nun
| num/numi
| numun
|-
! 3rd person
| i/hi
| ir/in
| ap/appi
| appin
|-
! Inanimate
| colspan="4" | i/in
|}

In general, no special possessive pronouns are needed in view of the construction with the noun class suffixes. Nevertheless, a set of separate third-person animate possessives ''-e'' (sing.) / ''appi-e'' (plur.) is occasionally used already in Middle Elamite: ''puhu-e'' “her children”, ''hiš-api-e'' “their name”.<ref name=":0" /> The relative pronouns are ''akka'' “who” and ''appa'' “what, which”.<ref name=":0"/>