12. Nouns Together

What You’ll Learn

This lesson teaches how Early Hick builds larger noun groups:

• -ul, the ending for “belonging to”;
• where describing words go in a noun group;
• how the main noun still gets the sentence role ending.

The Belonging Ending -ul

To say “the handler’s boat,” Early Hick puts the owner first and adds -ul to that owner.

The -ul ending attaches to the owner, not to the thing owned.

Put them together as materok-ul rismater.

The Owned Noun Still Does Its Job

When the owned noun is part of a sentence, the role ending goes on the owned noun.

In a full sentence:

The owner has -ul. The boat has -es because it is the receiver of the action.

Describing an Owned Noun

Describing words usually come before the noun they describe.

The usual order is:

owner-ul describing-word noun-role

So a longer noun group can still be read one piece at a time:

Belonging Is Not Always Ownership

The same -ul ending can mark ordinary ownership, close association, or family relationship. English often uses “of” or “’s” for the same range.

Use the fuller noun or personal-reference form when you need to make the owner clear. In ordinary speech, nearby objects can also be understood from context without an explicit “my” or “your.”

Try It

Translate each noun group.

1. materok-ul rismater
2. materok-ul rismater-es
3. materok-ul ka-'il rismater-es
4. tan-ul vinud

Pop quizAnswers

1. materok-ul rismater

   handler-BELONG reed.boat
   "the handler's reed boat"

2. materok-ul rismater-es

   handler-BELONG reed.boat-RECEIVER
   "the handler's reed boat" as a receiver/main noun

3. materok-ul ka-'il rismater-es

   handler-BELONG ADJ-good reed.boat-RECEIVER
   "the handler's good reed boat" as a receiver/main noun

4. tan-ul vinud

   self-BELONG dwelling
   "one's own dwelling"

Reference Note

For more in-depth information, see Noun Phrase Structure and Possession Marking.