Seratofian declension

Seratofian  is the systematic inflection of nouns, adjectives, and pronouns in the Seratofian language to satisfy a variety of grammatical categories. As a Artemian language, it shares some features to that of other declension systems found in other Artemian languages. As a highly-inflecting language, the declension system found in Seratofian is rather complex, with archaic features of proto-Artemian such as the dual number in nouns and adjectives still being retained in modern Seratofian. Generally, the system employed in Seratofian is based on the inherent vowel stem of the root, and tends to develop and be classified further from that same root.

Declension system
The declension system in the Seratofian language falls into three broad categories: nominal declension, adjectival declension, as well as pronominal declension. By far, the largest declension system in the Seratofian language is the nominal declension, which contains 14 separate paradigms. Adjectives fall into one of four declension paradigms based on the endings in the masculine, feminine, and neuter singular. The four declension paradigms have some cognate forms in the nominal declensions, but due to the nature of the adjectival declension being based on the sole ending in the masculine, feminine, and neuter, the endings of adjectives and nouns in various cases and numbers may not always be the same.

The Seratofian pronominal declension is by far the simplest declension system of the three, arguably because it only deals with pronouns. The small number of pronouns compared to the number of total nouns and adjectives in any given language is the key factor in the arguably simple declension system of the pronoun system in the Seratofian language. The pronominal declension system in Seratofian is fairly irregular when compared to the nominal forms as an archaic vestige of previous declension systems, retained due to vigorous and constant use in daily speech, which is why traditional classifications of Seratofian pronouns have always been separated from the nominal ones, in addition to the pronouns still retaining the archaic ablative case which only now exists in adjectives.

Names in the Seratofian language do not have their own specified declension system, rather they fall into one of the 14 declension paradigms, depending on inherent vowel stem of the name and gender of the said name. It is entirely possible that a unisex name in the nominative be declined differently due to the bearer of the name being a different gender. All names are animate nouns in Seratofian.

Nouns
A majority of Seratofian nouns have an inherent vowel stem that determine the general declension paradigm, and a determining gender that specifies the specific paradigm in which a noun is declined. The declension system in Seratofian is further divided into two separate declensions for each paradigm: hard declension and soft declension. The hard declension is used to decline words of a particular declension paradigm whose consonant stem is classified as "hard consonant", and the soft declension is used to decline words whose consonant stem is classified as a "soft consonant". In this sense, hard does not mean plain consonants and soft consonant does not mean palatalized. The defining trait of soft consonants is that they trigger the palatal declension system, also known as the soft declension. Below is a list of letters according to their respective classes. A neuter class exists which are by default soft consonants and can not be palatalized, or simply can not be palatalized. Noun stems that are inherently palatalized fall into the hard declension.

Traditionally, scholars count up to nine noun cases in Seratofian, of which only eight survived into the modern Seratofian nominal declensions. The ablative case had been lost since the early fifteenth century, but was still prescribed by linguists of the era to maintain the already crumbling ablative case in Seratofian. The ablative case has merged into the dative and instrumental cases, with context providing clues as to which case is used. Some formerly ablative prepositions have also entered the dative or instrumental cases. Although lost in the nominal declensions, the adjectival declensions still has separate forms of the ablative, and is fully retained. As such, the ablative case in Seratofian nominals has been described as a pseudo ablative. Below is the complete case list for Seratofian nouns.

Seratofian linguists count up to three numbers for nominals: the singular, dual, and plural numbers. The singular and plural numbers are more used than the dual numbers as the dual numbers refer to a specific set of two items altogether. The dual number is mostly ignored in everyday speech, however is still in vigorous use in more formal settings and in academia, which has led to the preservation of the dual number where other languages have lost it the centuries before. A noun in the dual case is already representative of the numeral '2', and is often omitted in informal speech.

Adjectives
Adjectives in Seratofian fall into one of five declension paradigms depending on their endings in the nominative case for masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns. Animate and inanimate nouns are not differentiated in the dual, and have similar forms with each other in the corresponding gender. The endings of such paradigms of adjectival declensions in Seratofian could be found in the extensive nominal declension. However, the corresponding declension paradigms of the nominal and the adjectival do not always line up. For example, an adjectival declension paradigm may have the nominative plural first declension ending for the masculine and feminine plural, but the nominative plural third declension ending for the neuter gender. There isn't a direct one to one correspondence between the two.

An very interesting feature of the adjectival declension is that the adjectival declension has retained the ablative case which has been lost completely in the nominal declensions, bringing the total number of cases in the adjectival declension to a grand total of nine. The ablative case is traditionally listed between the instrumental and locative cases. The ablative has either merged with the dative or instrumental cases in the nominal declension. Other than the addition of the ablative case, the role of cases in adjectives remain the same, however, with the addition of the Ablative case, it is not sufficient to shorten the cases to only one letter, as an ambiguity between the accusative and ablative cases emerge (both beginning with the letter A). Cases in adjectival endings are therefore denoted with threeletters.

Below is the list of cases for the adjectival declension:

Possessive pronouns are declined under adjectival declension, and they are modified for the same cases, grammatical genders, and number as adjectives. Possessive pronouns each fall under one of the four adjectival declensions, and different possessives may have different endings.

Nouns
Seratofian nouns satisfy one of eight cases (Nominative, Accusative, Dative, Genitive, Instrumental, Locative, Partitive, Vocative), three grammatical numbers (singular, dual, plural), and are categorized into three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter). The masculine and feminine genders are further subdivided into animate and inanimate forms each, but are not traditionally counted in the number of genders in the language. The differences in animate and inanimate forms of nouns do not differ greatly and are treated as "subsets" of the masculine and feminine genders.

Nouns are traditionally classified into inherent vowel stem endings and gender, which when reduced to its base form form the accusative case of word (e.g Mötjë > Mötje). By this definition, linguists classify up to 14 separate declension paradigms in Seratofian. More recent loan words into the Seratofian language from languages such as Anglish, Modrovian, and Gardarikan, can not be declined, and fall into the undeclinable categories of nouns. Nouns such as taksi "taxi", studjo "studio", and emodži "emoji" are some of the examples. These nouns may still be mistakenly declined according to their respective declensions as if they were native words. Below is a summary of the declension paradigms found in Seratofian.

Below is a summary of the declensions found in Seratofian.

First declension
The first declension in Seratofian is used to decline words with inherent vowel stem -e from masculine and feminine genders, both inanimate and animate. The first declension has two different sub paradigms, one for regular first declension nouns and the second for neuter nouns that decline like the first declension. There exists different systems of declensions between the two, with three different subsets for the first sub paradigm: hard declension, soft declension, and inanimate declension, and two for the second sub paradigm: palatalized and consonant omission. Most nouns regarding people such as father, mother, etc. fall into this declension. The inanimate declension is solely reserved for inanimate gendered objects from both masculine and feminine genders, and exhibits palatalization in all the plurals regardless of consonant class, as well as the genitive singular and dual. Listed below is the declension for mötjë "father", bhűmna "land", súlka "silk", regular first declension nouns. Note that the  digraph is pronounced as [b].

The genitive forms of the inanimate declension quite differ from the rest of the declension, with the genitive singular taking the -ja ending and the genitive dual taking the -ju ending. The vocative forms of nouns dedicated to family can be shorted to omit the person suffix -tjë. Several Modrovian words which entered this declension through assimilation such and end with -us or -os as libjrus "book", kommunizmos "communism", retain their -us and -os ending. The accusative singular form of libjrus is not libjre, but rather libjruse.

The genitive form of the first declension for animate objects is done by simply attaching -s at the end of the nominative word, similar to the clitic 's in. The accusative singular and dual have merged into the -e ending, and the nominative dual form shares the same form. The dual form is undistinguished in the nominative and accusative as well as the vocative, and relies on context to determine which type of inflection is meant. The palatal consonants tj mutate into č and dj mutates into dž when followed by an -i. It is important to note that these changes sometimes mimic other words, and context is once again required to determine the true meaning of the declension. Often times, the meanings of words that share a pronunciation because of this problem mean vastly different things, and are often very easily distinguishable.

Irregular forms: in some cases, an irregular form of the noun stem is applied before the ending, often due to metathesis, as is in the examples below: hákim "judge" (N/sg) → hákmam (D/sg) hákmami (I/sg), želén "meadow" → želne (A/sg) želné (L/sg) želném (I/pl), kjëšar "settlement" → kjëšre (A/sg), šletár "ocean" → šletrám (D/pl) šletrém (I/pl), knesiv "knife" → knesve (A/sg)

Some neuter nouns that have the inherent vowel stem -e are also declined using the first declension. Some neuter words that are declined with the first declension include amjá "house", hímna "hymn", and xrabla "bread". These declensions are characterized by the lack and removal of palatalized consonants in the declension and the removal of some consonant phonemes. This sub paradigm is slightly irregular. Below is the declension chart for amjá "house" and xrabla "bread".

The genitive singular form of the declension does not omit any consonant, and adheres to the -s rule found in the regular first declension. The vocative case for the neuter gender has retained the -e ending, a remnant of proto-Artemian.

Second declension
The second declension mainly deals with neuter nouns with an inherent vowel stem –e, as well as several nouns that have an inherent vowel stem –i from the masculine and feminine genders. Thus, the second declension contains four subsets, the hard and soft declension dedicated towards the neuter nouns, as well as the masculine and feminine declensions, which are derived from the –i stems mentioned earlier. The masculine and feminine nouns that have entered this declension are mostly inanimate nouns, and collectively are known as the “inanimate declension” of the second declension, however, they exhibit differences in declension, especially in the singular forms. Thus, the second declension is rather irregular. The –i stems that entered this declension have become more and more influenced by the sixth declension due to shifts in declension. This phenomenon happens across all declension paradigms. Below is the declension chart for uvóda “water”, mašína “machine”, gváš “hay”, and gjožu “stone". The second declension is identical to the first declension in a variety of cases an numbers. This is the result of neuter nouns originally being declined in the first that got dragged away by other declensions, both from other paradigms in Seratofian in the middle period or even earlier when contact with native speakers of old Asuran languages was still rampant. The masculine and feminine –i stems listed above are apparent with their –e accusative ending, and shifted the declension of these words into the second. The inanimate nouns still show some traces of the –i stem declensions they originally came from, evident by the different forms of the endings in the masculine and feminine originally –i stem words from the normal neuter –e stem endings.

The second declension is not subdivided into two sub paradigms (neuter and animate sub declensions), rather grouped together into four subsets due to the animate forms lacking a separate soft declension. This is the base of most paradigms to be called “subsets” of a declension paradigm, hence why the third declension is split into two even though the third and second declensions have equal amounts of subsets.

Third declension
The third Seratofian declension is used to decline words with inherent vowel stem -a from the masculine, neuter, and the masculine inanimate genders. The third declension contains no sub paradigms, and consists of three subsets: hard declension, soft declension, and inanimate declension. The -a vowel stem is usually feminine in gender, however, some nouns that end in such ending are not feminine, and are declined using the third declension. The third declension contains several irregularities between the genders, and is one of the more irregular declension paradigms in the Seratofian language. The inanimate declension is characterized by the lack of palatalization, unlike first declension nouns, but have different dative and instrumental forms, closely resembling those of the third declension. Below is the declension chart for Gjatha "hunter", Ljéma "arm", néba "cloud.

Note the different forms in the dative and instrumental for the inanimate declensions. An interesting fact about the third declension is that the dual form acts like the singular in the nominative and a plural in the accusative. The nominative and accusative dual did not survive in the third declension, but did in the fourth declension. The third declension is sometimes considered as a sub paradigm of the fourth declension, although most linguists believe that the third declension is too fully fledged to be part of a larger declension. Similar patterns in declensions could be observed in the third declension, albeit more regularly.

Several feminine -a words in fact fall into this declension category and not the intuitive third declension. Most of the feminine words that fall into this declension were either loan words from other languages or have underwent several shifts in meaning and ultimately gender, causing such words to be declined differently from the rest of the nouns similar in vowel stem ending.

Moreover, the third declension is disappearing in western dialects, with the third and third declension now merging into a single -a stem declension paradigm. This phenomenon is not observed in eastern dialects, especially those near the capital region.

Fourth declension
The Seratofian fourth declension is one of the biggest declension paradigms in the Seratofian language. This declension declines words with an inherent vowel stem -a in the feminine gender, both animate and inanimate. This declension contains two sub paradigms, the feminine animate and the feminine inanimate. These two sub paradigms each have two subsets, corresponding to the hard and soft variants of each declension paradigm. The fourth declension hard and soft subsets follow closely the hard and soft feminine animate declensions, and the inanimate declension follows closely the feminine inanimate hard declension. Below is the declension chart for darlja "office" and mara "wave". The second declension animate declension serves the base for most of the fourth adjectival declension for feminine nouns. The different forms in the instrumental case from the fourth declension is enough evidence for most linguists that the fourth declension is more than just a sub paradigm of the third declension (then fourth declension). Most argue that the fourth declension was innovative, rather than the fourth declension, signalling shifts in declensions.

The inanimate declension of the fourth declension paradigm serves as the base for most of the fourth adjectival declension for feminine inanimate nouns in the plural. Below is the declension chart for auja "gold", and astra "star".

The partitive singular form differs from that of the second inanimate declension. This stems from an old pre-Seratofian suffix that was later incorporated in the very early history of the language, irregularly at first, then became standardized in the centuries suit. The genitive ending shows resemblance to the fifth and sixth declensions, although it does not palatalize the consonant in the singular soft declension. The vocative form -e has been applied and standardized in the entirety of the fourth declension, stemming from proto-Artemian.

As most nouns that end with -a or have an inherent vowel stem of such are feminine in gender, the fourth declension is sometimes wrongfully attributed to be the "feminine declension", although feminine nouns can end in a variety of endings or have a different inherent vowel stem, including those of the first and fourth declensions with declines words with the -e stem, the fifth and sixth declensions with the -i stem, and many others.

Shifts in declensions have led to the fourth declension, both animate and inanimate, to lose words and be declined in other declensions, most often the second declension and the seventh declension. The loss is most often attributed to lack of knowledge in Seratofian grammar in individuals already speaking it, however, some nouns have also been used so rampantly in the other declension by natives that rendered their forms in the fourth declension obsolete, dated, or archaic, and proceeded to standardize the correct paradigm to their respective new declensions, even though these said nouns who have shifted to other declensions may still theoretically be declined in the fourth declension and speakers will still understand what is being said.

Fifth declension
Nouns that have an -i inherent vowel stem and are masculine, both animate and inanimate, generally take this declension. This declension has two sub paradigms: the normal-length and the lengthened paradigms. Animate and inanimate nouns are not declined separately, although minor differences may still exist between the two. Vowel length differentiates the declension paradigms. Nouns that fall into the fifth declension are declined in either one of two declensions. The apparent situation of the fifth declension is as such due to a merging of paradigms by the late 17th century. The lengthened -i paradigm has been merged into the fifth (normal-length), and takes on their endings. Although so, the lengthened i sound (í) is still apparent in nouns that are declined as such, and must be memorized to determine which nouns take the normal length or the lengthened paradigm. The fifth paradigm is also regarded as the main -i declension by most linguists, with the sixth declension being more influenced by the fifth, rather than vice versa.

An example would be the words aves "sheep" and kjästa "chest". In the accusative singular, these words would respectively become avi and 'kjästjí. In the accusative plural, these words would respectively become aves and kjästjíjes. The long i is preserved in virtually every single ending except the nominative, where many words have become shortened from the original nominative, with kjästíja as an example. In the masculine normal length -i endings, the vocative singular and dual forms are similar to those of the accusative and the plural to the nominative. In the long -i endings, the vocative forms are all similar to the nominative, regardless of gender. The dative and instrumental cases for the -i stem does not trigger palatalization in the soft paradigm in both sub paradigms. The long -i is not inserted in the dative and instrumental cases.

Below is the declension chart for aves "sheep" and gješro "river" as examples for the normal length -i ending. The locative singular forms have two variants. The more traditional -í ending and the more modern -ax. There is debate on which to use, as both forms grammatically correct. Generally, the -í form is slowly being left, restricted to more formal situations, and -ax is used elsewhere. This influence comes from the sixth declension. The instrumental -öm and -őms endings are a very recent addition into Seratofian, with the older and more traditional -uom and -uoms fulfilling the role before the addition. -uom and -uoms have mutated into the newer modern forms. The use of -uom and -uoms have a sense of being dated, and thus are firmly only found in books and manuscripts dating from before the 20th century.

The long -i sub paradigm follows closely the normal length -i paradigm, and their endings are similar. One notable difference between the two system is the absence of palatalization in the genitive case for the soft declension. Below is the declension chart for pážar "market" and kjästa "chest". The long -i stem is always accompanied by a -j-. One could say that the main difference of the normal length and the lengthened paradigms lies within the inclusion of -íj- between the root word and the endings, but there are still more differences. the genitive singular soft declension of the lengthened paradigm does not trigger palatalization. Secondly, the stress of the word almost always lies on the long i. These differences coupled with the hard and soft declensions appearing in the long -i paradigm gave birth to the different sub paradigm of the long -i.

Some names, especially masculine names with a vowel stem -i, are declined with the long -i stem, more often than that of the normal length. Names like Andri "Andre", Ari "Ari", and Stefján "Stephen, Steven" become Andrí, Arí, and Stefjánjí in the accusative forms. Note that proper nouns do not have plural forms, although such forms could be created theoretically using the already existing paradigms.

Sixth declension
Sharing some traits with the fifth declension, the sixth declension declines nouns that have an inherent vowel stem -i, and are mainly from the feminine gender, both animate and inanimate, and the neuter genders. This paradigm contains no sub paradigms and three subsets: the hard declension, soft declension, and inanimate declension. The inanimate declension differs only in the genitive, dative, and instrumental forms. There are some discrepancies between the soft declension and other paradigms in general. For one, the singular forms are not palatalized. Furthermore, some of the endings of the inanimate declension mimic those of the inanimate subset of the first declension, giving the sixth declension a slightly irregular tone.

The sixth declension within the general -i stem declensions is regarded to be the "sister" declension, with the main paradigm being the fifth, as approximately 60% of the nouns with an inherent vowel stem -i are masculine. Additionally, the long -i stem has merged with the fifth regardless of gender, bumping up the number nouns that are declined using the other paradigm. In turn, the sixth declension has shown some form of innovation, one that has affected the fifth declension locative singular ending. It is believed that the sixth declension gained this new inflection from dialectal variations that have became more and more widely used, and affected the other -i stem paradigm. The traditional locative singular form has been obsolete in the sixth declension ever since the language reforms of 1971, although the traditional form is sometimes still used in the fifth, albeit in a more archaic and poetic style.

Nouns of the sixth declension also typically end in -a or -á in the nominative singular. Below is the declension chart for the nouns erga "mountain", rjoma "thunder", and pjetá "door".

The genitive, dative, and instrumental case of the inanimate declension mimics the first declension, and subsequently, there is a mix of soft and hard declension within these three cases. All the genitive adheres to this rule, and in the dative and instrumental case only in the plural form. Palatalization rules apply to these specific cases. The vocative case is identical to the nominative case in the singular and the accusative case in the dual and plural.

Seventh declension
The seventh declension in Seratofian declines words from the masculine gender, both animate and inanimate. The seventh declension exhibits the -u inherent vowel stem, and together with the eighth and ninth declensions collectively form the -u paradigm. There exists a difference between the animate and inanimate declension, giving the seventh declension two sub paradigms. Additionally, some words that are originally declined with the third declension are now declined using the seventh declension. This discrepancy in declension is considered to be incorrect, and will not be included in the seventh declension, although very widespread and rampantly used.

The seventh declension is considered regular when examined per sub paradigm, as there are only minor differences between the hard and soft declensions of both sub paradigms, and between the two sub paradigms. The -u paradigm collectively is one of the oldest paradigms in the Seratofian language, and is consequently traceable in par with other declension paradigms from other ancient languages. Below is the declension chart for kampíja "field" and bješta "lamp", both masculine animate nouns. Special for the vocative form, the soft singular is not palatalized. The instrumental case has evolved from -um, -úm, and -ejam for the singular, dual, and plural numbers respectively. The locative endings have a common long o as the start of the ending. This used to be a short u, which has then transformed into a long o. The long o has then influenced the endings of other paradigms, especially the -o declension paradigms in the locative.

The inanimate sub paradigm is similar to the animate declension in most aspects, with only the dative and instrumental cases slightly different. Modrovian nouns that end in -ia and have entered Seratofian are declined using this paradigm, mainly the names of countries or regions. The -ia Modroviaan nouns are declined this way regardless of paradigm. Below is the declension chart for datoža "computer" and gjöjamu "barn". As previously mentioned before, Modrovian nouns that end with -ia are declined using this declension, and only exist in the singular form. Below is the declension chart for Artemija "Artemia" and Modrovija "Modrovia". Note that country names do not adhere to the soft/hard declension rules.

Eighth declension
The Seratofian eighth declension declines word of an inherent vowel stem of -u from the feminine gender, both animate and inanimate, and the neuter gender. There are two sub paradigms of this declension: the regular declension and the small -o stem paradigm. There are three subsets of the regular paradigm: hard, soft, and inanimate. Feminine animate and neuter nouns are declined with either the hard or soft declension, and feminine inanimate nouns are declined with the inanimate subset, regardless of final consonant stem. The hard and soft declensions have some counterparts in the seventh, although not as apparent as in other declensions. The inanimate declension has some similarities between the seventh declension inanimate declensions, especially the hard forms. This is apparent in the locative and partitive cases. Although so, several alternate forms exist that mimic those of the hard and soft endings of the eighth declension. The Seratofian language board recommends the use of endings that mimic the seventh declension, however, does not state that those that do not mimic are incorrect, giving some form of free variation towards the speaker.

The eighth declension is thought to have evolved together with the seven, and in its early forms share a lot of similarities. This is apparent in some dialectal variation, where the eighth declension is completely merged with the seven. There are two possibilities of this occurrence according to some linguists. The more popular theory is that the split between the eighth and the seventh declensions never happened in these dialects, which by then were separate languages from standard Seratofian. The influence of the capital dialect and then standard Seratofian brought these separate languages closer together to the point of being just called dialects.

Below is the declension chart for kjed "heart", iesën "year", and štexaf "table", The accusative inanimate declension follows the hard/soft rule in declension. The vocative form of the singular preserve the -e vocative suffix. The accusative singular of the soft declension is also not palatalized.

Some nouns originally with an inherent vowel stem of -o have begun to be declined using the eighth declension. Due to shifts in declensions, these words have adopted most endings of the eighth declension, however still retain some features of their original endings. Subsequently, this sub paradigm is arguably small. Due to this sub paradigm to be a fusion of two regular paradigms, the endings are somewhat irregular within the eighth declension. Although the influences of the -o stem declensions are stronger, the accusative form still mimics the eighth paradigm, and is classified as such. Below is the declension chart for dja̋ga "earth, world" and tumos "smoke". The accusative forms mimic those of the regular declension, and the instrumental declensions were derived also from the regular declension. As a result, the accusative singular form is not palatalized. The origin of the partitive forms are unclear, as they do not appear in the -o declensions. A possible theory is that they are alternate forms in dialectal variation that became widespread upon the start of the shift into the eighth declension.

Ninth declension
The ninth declension declines nouns that have a long u stem, regardless of gender. The ninth declension is similar in retrospect to the long i sub paradigm of the fifth declension, however, the endings of the ninth declension are deemed too divergent from the regular -u stem declensions, and are classified as their own paradigm. The long u stem shares some similarities with both the seventh and eighth. This paradigm does not have any sub paradigms, and has three subsets: masculine, feminine, and neuter. The ninth declension is the only paradigm to not differentiate between hard and soft consonants, rather gender. The long u paradigm was thought to have contained more nouns, but some have shifted into one of the other -u stem paradigms. Minor differences between genders exists, especially in the dative cases.

Below is the declension chart for vír "hero", lëpe "cow", and óvjo "egg". Note the several different forms of the neuter declension. The neuter declension is in fact more influenced by the tenth and eleventh declensions more than the masculine and the feminine ones as the tenth and eleventh declensions also play a role in affecting the endings. Consequently, various forms that follow closely the tenth and eleventh declensions from the masculine and feminine declensions are often older words that have become more influenced by the -o stems rather than the -u stems.

Tenth declension
The tenth declension is one of the -o stem declensions, and declines words that are masculine in gender, both animate and inanimate. This paradigm has two sub paradigms: the animate and the inanimate. The tenth declension evolved from the proto-Artemian-o endings, and is, at par with the -u stems, one of the oldest declensions of the Seratofian language. Together with the eleventh and twelfth declensions, the -o stem declensions are one of the most extensive inherent stem vowel declension in Seratofian. The tenth declension has three sub paradigms: animate, inanimate, and general declension. The general declension declines then feminine -o stem words which have shifted in declension and has become treated like a masculine noun, which is evident in both nominal and adjectival declensions. In several reconstructions of proto-Artemian, the most common inherent vowels were either -e or -o, which is reflected in the -o declensions of the Seratofian language.

The tenth declension, being very old, was actually believed to be two entirely separate paradigms that have merged, and is still evident in various case forms, especially in the plural forms. Some forms are used more in some regions, and some are used less, and may be a strong indicator of dialectal variation. Below is the declension chart for sóxná "son" and brala "brother".

The noun sóxná does not fall into the soft declension, and is one of the irregularities of the tenth declension. There are some other words that are declined using the other declension, opposite of what other nouns with the same ending consonant would undergo. If an inflection has more than one possibility, the inflection listed on the right is thought to have came from the secondary paradigm that has merged with the tenth declension, and is mainly used by older and more conservative speakers.

The inanimate inflections of the tenth declension are quite similar to the animate declension, differing mainly in the singular forms of the nouns. The inanimate declensions are again divided into hard and soft declensions, with an almost disappeared third sub declension being the -th- and the -xj- endings, which have merged with the hard declensions. The latter had distinct genitive and partitive forms than the hard and soft declensions. The inanimate declensions also possess multiple forms of inflections, and many different forms are identical to the animate declensions. Below is the declension chart for zaula "sun", andmájnovna "smile".

The partitive singular and dual have mutated into an -a sound rather than retaining the -o sound. The genitive -u has mimicked most other declensions and utilizes -a as the genitive singular. Some forms of the alternate inflections are also different from the animate declension, though most linguists agree that these differences are a matter of different pronunciation by collective speakers and are not derived from different roots. As such, the inanimate declension is fairly regular.

Eleventh declension
The eleventh declension declines most nouns with an inherent vowel stem -o, and is feminine, both animate and inanimate, as well as neuter nouns. This declension has two sub declensions: the feminine sub declension and the neuter sub declension. Animate and inanimate feminine noun declensions are very closely related, and only differs in the nominative plural and the accusative plural. Although the neuter sub declension is by itself also very closely related with the feminine sub declension, it has developed distinct hard/soft subsets. The eleventh declension is also the source of some nouns that now fall under the eighth declension due to these said nouns having an inherent -u vowel sound instead of an -o vowel. The main substance of the set of -o stem declensions that fall under the eighth declension are mainly the same, although they have taken influence from the eighth declension due to their accusative case. Different from the eighth declension though, the vocative forms appear to be different.

The eleventh declension is part of the broader -o stem declensions, and is one of the older paradigms to have developed in the Seratofian language. The eleventh declension, however, is not very similar to the tenth declension, as the two were never used interchangeably since the old Seratofian period, leading to very little shifts in declensions between the tenth and eleventh. With that, the twelfth declension closely mimics the eleventh declension, although has some elements of the tenth. In such case, the twelfth declension has in fact split from the eleventh declension sometime around the old Seratofian language period and became more influenced by the tenth.

Inflections of the eleventh declension, as previously mentioned, are the main source of the second sub paradigm of the eighth declension. Below is the declension chart for mjentla "school" and arkuna "horse", both feminine nouns. For purposes of demonstration, the former is a feminine inanimate, while the latter is feminine animate.

The -au vocative dual form is perhaps the oldest inflection that could be traced to proto-Artemian, and is evident in various reconstructions of the language. The -au vocative dual form has been lost in other declension paradigms, both in Seratofian and in other Artemian languages due to the vigorous use of the dual vocative as it contains several nouns which are mostly used in the vocative dual.

The neuter declension is very similar to the feminine declensions, with some forms of the genitive, dative and instrumental differing from the feminine ones. Below is the declension chart for čjest "honor", and örn "horn".

The more archaic genitive singular form -os is used in the neuter declension. This has suggested that -os was once the primary way to form genitives across paradigms. Later developments would drop the vowel and most modern inflections add a semi clitic -s to the end of the noun. Even the feminine forms of the same paradigm exhibit this trait. It is still unclear how the neuter retained this form.

Twelfth declension
The twelfth paradigm declines nouns with the inherent long -o vowel stem regardless of gender. The long -o stem is believed to have emerged from the eleventh paradigm in the late old Seratofian period, and inserts a long -o before the inflection, and forms the accusative singular. This declension has two main sub paradigms: masculine sub declension, both animate and inanimate, and non-masculine sub declension, which contains all other nouns. The twelfth paradigm now also declines all words with a long -o ending in the nominative, even though they were originally declined using another paradigm. The twelfth paradigm is slightly irregular, with elements of both tenth and eleventh paradigms seen in the inflections, and many inflections have more than one form depending on which paradigm is stronger to the dialect or to the speaker by itself. Both are considered correct, but carry dialectal, age, and even income differences between speakers.

After the insertion of the long -o, n is inserted to link the long vowel and the inflection, quite differing from the other long vowel declensions in Seratofian which use a -j- instead. Below is the declension chart for béži "dog", and šjuk "criminal", both masculine nouns.

The accusative plural in the hard and soft declensions differ, and is probably a result of mergers from the other declension paradigms, so much so that pushed the original ones out. There are only very few cases in which the hard and soft declensions differ, and consists as one of the many irregularities of the twelfth declension.

Meanwhile, the non-masculine twelfth declensions shares a lot of features with the masculine declension, however, has a distinct set of dative, instrumental, and locative cases, most likely as a result from shifts from the eleventh declension. Below is the declension chart for djeva "god", andmán "hand".

The twelfth declension is also the final set of the inherent vowel stem endings in the traditional classification of Seratofian declensions, with the other two being the -r stem declensions and the -m stem declensions.

Thirteenth declension
The thirteenth declension in Seratofian, most commonly known as the -r stem declension by most linguists, are one of two main paradigms whose main system is based on an inherent consonant shift rather than a vowel shift. The thirteenth declension itself is pretty irregular, and is apparent with the existence of three sub paradigms, namely the masculine, feminine, and neuter paradigms. Each sub paradigm does not contain soft/hard distinction, but are instead characterized by the vowel shift caused by the -r stem taking action on these nouns. As such, the -r stem endings are very different when compared with declension of the inherent vowel systems, as the two systems developed independently during the proto-Artemian stage and has since merged into a single paradigm in most daughter languages with remnants of such system apparent as "irregular nouns" or as a minor system in the already fleshed out paradigm.

The thirteenth declension is the only declension paradigm that employs an umlaut type vowel shift, which has eroded in other declensions.

As the name suggests, the masculine, feminine, and neuter sub declensions decline words of their respective genders, where animacy of a noun do not have any effect in the categorization of the declension. The genders of -r stem nouns are for the most part ambiguous, as many nouns from different genders may resemble the other gender, and vice versa. In addition to the irregularity of the thirteenth declension when compared to the inherent vowel stem declension employed in the previous twelve declensions, the -r stem declension also employs a different treatment of the neuter gender, where most neuters take on masculine endings in the singular and the feminine in the plural, with an original set of endings of the neuter declension in the dual number.

The masculine sub declension possesses three different types of vowel shifts: the -a shfit, -e shift, and the -o shift, with the sound shift being more prominent in the -e and -o shifts. The -a shift is most thought of of the natural stem endings with no major sound shifts. Below is the declension chart for patar "ancestor", bradar "brother", and véthar "weather".

An interesting thing to note is the partitive endings, which are attached more as suffixes rather than altering the ending of the word entirely. This is mainly due to the very young nature of the partitive case in the Seratofian language which predates the sound shifts and the -r declension as a whole, and is subsequently attached as such across the -r declensions. Some -e and -o shift nouns do not shift in certain cases, such as the genitive singular. A major discrepancy in the nominative is that the -o shift nouns undergo a sound shift in the dual, while the -e shift nouns do not. Also note that long vowels in the root form of the noun will also get shifted as the corresponding long variant, in the example above, é shifts into ó.

The feminine sub declension also posses three vowel shifts, namely the -a shift, the -e shift, and the -u shift, different from the masculine -o shift. The endings of this sub declension could be described as more regular than the masculine counterparts as vowel shifts are more predictable than the masculine stem. Long vowels are not preserved in the shift, and therefore only shift to -a, -e, or -u. However, most nouns that fall into the -a shift already have -a as the root vowel, and therefore do not go a shift in sound (similar to the masculine and consequently neuter sub declensions). Some endings of nouns are different but for the most part mimic some declensions found in the masculine, especially the plural forms.

Below is the declension chart for madar "grandmother", fand "tooth", and pót "foot".

In the feminine sub declension, words do not shift only in the singular accusative, genitive, and partitive cases, but for any other case is required to be shifted.

The neuter declension has seen major influences from the masculine and feminine sub declensions, and is evident in the various syncretist forms of the endings, either following a masculine pattern or a feminine pattern, with the former being stronger in the singular numbers and the latter being stronger in the plural number, however, not every ending of the gendered endings have entered the neuter declension, and an original set of endings might have been preserved, but notably among speakers of more rural and more traditional Seratofian. These forms, however, are recognized as dialectal and do not exist in the capital dialect.

As is the masculine declension, the neuter declension exhibits the -a shift, -e shift, and -o shift, with vowel length also affecting the sound of the shifted vowel. Below is the declension chart for zastar "sister", ba̋d "bear", and vóda "beer"

Fourteenth declension
The fourteenth declension is one of the two consonant-based declension, and is the last declension in the traditional list of declensions. The fourteenth declension, also better known as the -m declensions, adds a final consonant -m to indicate the accusative case, and is on par with older Artemian languages that have added an -m to their accusative endings. It is said that the -m endings represent the original accusative endings of proto-Artemian, which has been lost in a variety of daughter language, and in Seratofian, all declensions except the fourteenth. The -m stem declension words are pretty rare, but most that fall into the -m stem declensions are in vigorous use by the Seratofian community, most notably fíl "child". Although named the -m declension, the accusative case is not the only case that receives an -m ending, as the dative and instrumental cases show this pattern across all paradigms.

The -m declension is pretty small in substance when compared to any declension in Seratofian, and until only recently was not classified as a declension by itself and categorized as an irregular declension which was an addition to the other thirteen declensions. As a result, the fourteenth declension does not possess sub declensions and are uniform for all genders. Below is the declension chart for fíl "child".

Adjectival declension
Adjectives in Seratofian satisfy one of nine cases (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, instrumental, ablative, locative, partitive and vocative), three numbers (singular, dual, or plural), and one of five gendered nouns (masculine animate, masculine inanimate, feminine animate, feminine inanimate, and neuter). Collectively, they are grouped into five separate declension paradigms based on the inherent vowel stem found in the singular accusative cases, similar to nouns. The adjectival declension has more endings per declension when compared to the nominal declensions as adjectives have to satisfy more grammatical categories than nouns.

Note that in the broadest term possible, adjectives, like nouns, are grouped into declinable and indeclinable adjectives. Declinable adjectives fall into one of five declension paradigms, and indeclinable adjectives do not decline for grammatical categories, and only have one form. Indeclinable adjectives include more recent loans into Seratofian like "super" or "ekselent".

First adjectival declension
The first adjectival declension of Seratofian declines adjectives that do not take any special ending when preceding a masculine animate or a feminine animate noun. The first adjectival declension is also known as the -a adjectival stem, as the accusative endings mimic those of the -a nominal declensions, in addition to a majority of the endings found in the first adjectival declension also having counterparts in the -a nominal declensions. The overall paradigm of the first adjectival declension is fairly regular, with minor exceptions in the ablative and instrumental cases, which have several variants depending if the noun being attributed is a feminine or a masculine noun.

Below is the declension chart for vál "good".

As evident from the table above, the animate endings of the nominal declensions have a stronger and greater effect on the adjectival declensions, with fewer endings coming from the inanimate declensions. This has been thought to have risen from the developmental stages of the language, where the animate adjectival declension is more often wrongly attributed to an inanimate noun. The lasting effect could still be seen today.

Some adjectives in this category end in an -a vowel in the nominative. For these adjectives, the nominative and accusative cases are identical.

Second adjectival declension
The second adjectival declension declines nouns that have an inherent vowel of -e in the accusative, and are characterized by the reduction of vowels to the schwa in all nominative singular cases. The second declension is also known as the -e adjectival declension because it shares a lot of similarities with the first and second nominal declensions, which are the -e stem nominal paradigms. The second adjectival declension is unique in which it has two main sub declensions: the hard and soft declensions, much like the nominal declensions, depending on the consonant that precedes the ending. The -e adjectival declension, along with the -a adjectival declension, contain many of the adjectives contained in Seratofian.

Below is the declension chart for mäž "small".

The second declension when its endings are examined do not differ that great between the masculine and the feminine endings. Similar patterns could also be observed in the nominal declension -e endings.

The palatalized sub paradigm shares almost all of the endings in the hard paradigm, but are entirely classified as a different subset, in line with the traditional grouping of Seratofian declensions. To demonstrate, below is the declension chart for čera "red". Note that the nominative, accusative, and genitive singulars and the entire vocative case is not palatalized.

Note that endings which already have a -j- phoneme are not palatalized.

Third adjectival declension
The third adjectival declension declines adjectives with an inherent vowel -i in the accusative singular. It is characterized by the overall irregular patterns of the endings that do not always line up with the nominal declensions of the same inherent vowel (-i), and is also characterized by the -ö ending in the nominative inanimate singular genders. The origin of the ablauted letter may have arrived from a rounding of -i, which later got lowered thus forming the current ablaut. This adjectival paradigm has one major paradigm and a lesser one which is used for declining soft adjectives, but the two are slowly shifting into one and on the surface now look identical to one another, thus aren't considered in the numbering of paradigms in the case of adjectives.

Below is the declension chart for adha "beautiful". Note that long forms found in the nominal declensions are not found in the adjectival paradigms.

Fourth adjectival declension
Fourth declension adjectives take on the -u ending in the nominative singular numbers, and have cognate endings in the seventh, eighth, and ninth declensions. The overall paradigm of the fourth adjectival declension is fairly straightforward, with some double forms of endings being somewhat common in the dual or plural for some cases. This declension only has one major paradigm and does not differentiate between hard and soft declensions. Below is the declension chart for Xarb "bad".

The accusative feminine inanimate singular and plural are palatalized, mimicking the original nominal declensions found in the eighth declension.

Fifth adjectival declension
Fifth adjectival declension adjectives take on the -o ending in the accusative singular case. The fifth adjectival declension is also the largest adjectival declension by far as it contains two major sub declensions, with the normal length -o stem sub declension and the lengthened length -o stem sub declension. The fifth -o declension is the only adjectival declension to possess such sub declension systems. The normal length -o stem sub declensions has many similarities with the normal length -o nominal declensions, and the lengthened -o stem sub declensions likewise has similar endings with the lengthened -o stem nominal declension. Below is the declension chart for mlúd "young", a normal length -o stem adjective.

The lengthened o-grade paradigm shares a lot of similarities with the regular length o paradigm, with major differences in the dative-instrumental cases. The lengthened o-grade inserts an -ój- between the root and the ending, except for the genitive case. The insertion of -ón- occurs in the partitive case. Below is the declension chart for gél "yellow".

Declension of numerals
There are two main types of numerals in the Seratofian language: cardinal numerals (used for counting and expressing quantity) and ordinal numerals (used for expressing position in a system). In theory, all cardinal numbers are declinable, but with varying degrees. The numbers 1-9 have full declension paradigms similar to adjectives, however in a much limited scope. The number 1 only takes on singular declensions, the number 2 only takes on dual declensions, and the rest take on plural declensions. The numbers above 10 strictly speaking only has 4 satisfying a total of two cases: the nominative and the oblique, with the nominative endings being different for each gender.

Seratofian numbers by itself are pretty irregular, with each base of ten usually denoting different concepts within counting, mostly due to heavy supplementing and replacement of the original numbers.

Cardinal numbers
Cardinal numbers 1-9 take on full declensions as they are treated as adjectives. Each of the numbers fall into a distinct adjectival declension. The numbers 1-9 also force numbers to take on specific case forms in the nominative, which are all shown in the table below. Numbers 1 and 2 are irregular. The cardinal number 2 is regarded as more irregular as the cardinal number 1.

The adjectival declensions play a huge role in determining the case of the noun phrase as a result of the forced case ending. Below are the declensions for all the numerals 1-9. Note that cardinal numbers do not take on hard/soft consonant rules.

The many forms of two in Seratofian could be attributed to the degradation of the phoneme /v/ in the cardinal numbers, however, when inflected retain the /v/ in some endings. There are also endings that completely omit the phoneme such as dú.

In numbers greater than 9, numbers are declined for only four categories: masculine nominative, non masculine nominative, masculine oblique, and non masculine oblique. The oblique case functions as all of the cases besides nominative and accusative. The general paradigm is shown here below with examples djest "ten", žara "eleven", and vjera "twelve".

Below are the cardinal numbers Seratofian from 0-99.

Declension of ordinal numbers
Ordinal numbers in Seratofian denote order or position in a system. They are similarly used to indicate the state of a noun's being when compared or ranked amongst other nouns. Ordinals are treated as adjectives, and fall under the adjectival declension paradigm. Their declension paradigm is regular except for pratám "first", and rúja "second". Besides the two first ordinal numbers which have been supplemented, ordinal numbers are formed using the -eš affix. For "first" and "second", full adjectival paradigms exist for them, however, for third and above, only nominative and oblique exist, although gender is split between masculine, feminine, and neuter, unlike the cardinal system which only differentiates between masculine and non-masculine and singular and plural tenses. The d

Below is the declension paradigm for pratám which falls under the -i adjectival paradigm with notable exceptions in the dative and instrumental cases, as well as the genitive plural.

Similarly, rúja "second" falls under the -u adjectival paradigm.

Examples of ordinals above second include triješ, šedreseš, penjžeš, and so on. Below are their declension paradigms.

Demonstratives
Demonstratives are probably the most irregular part of Seratofian declension and one of the largest paradigms in the language. There exists only proximal and distal demonstratives, however, demonstratives do not have a set inherent vowel stem, instead, the head determines the inherent stem of the demonstrative. This means that the demonstrative could take all five adjectival declension paradigms, thus making demonstratives have the most forms out of all declinable words in Seratofian. The demonstratives ši "this" and ta "that" both satisfy the previous statement. Below is the declension table for ši "this".

Comparative and superlatives
Comparatives are formed using two suffixes, -éži and -áru, where -éži is used for more non-abstract concepts (mäž "small" > mäžéži "smaller") while -áru is used for more abstract concepts (adha "beautiful" > adháru "more beautiful"). On the other hand, superlatives are formed by adding nje- prefix to an adjective (mlúd "young" > njemlúd "most young"). Superlatives follow the adjectival declension of each respective adjective, while comparatives have their own separate declension paradigm.

Pronominal declension
The pronominal declension in Seratofian is responsible for the declining of personal pronouns to satisfy a variety of grammatical cases and categories. The system is largely still intact and has survived inflection loss, as is the case with most declension systems in Seratofian, having many relics and vestiges of past declension patterns found in more archaic and proto-Seratofian languages and dialects. As a result, the pronominal declension retains its own separate paradigm, although small, owing to its different nature in handling with the inflection denoting a diverse set of grammatical categories, which are noticeably more radically different than in the nominal and adjectival declensions. It is important to note that Seratofian has two sets of pronouns: strong and weak pronouns, with the former being more used in formal speech and the latter being more frequented in informal speech. Strong pronouns possess all nine case forms and are inflected as such, while the short forms only possess two forms depending on whether the pronoun in question fulfills the role of the subject or the object, both direct and indirect, in a sentence. It is important to note that possessive pronouns in Seratofian do not fall under pronominal declension but rather adjectival declension, and therefore would not be included in this list.

Pronouns in Seratofian are inflected for three "persons" (1st, 2nd, 3rd), three grammatical numbers (singular, dual, plural), and the same nine cases as adjectival declensions. The third person singular is also differentiated into three separate pronouns regarding to animate masculine, animate feminine, and inanimate nouns. Seratofian does not make a T-V distinction, and usage of the now defunct formal 2nd person pronoun is only used in fixed expressions and texts, usually in plays or dramas. Below is the declension chart for the strong pronouns.