The Noun Phrase - Norwegian

The Noun

Norwegian common nouns undergo two types of inflection: for number, and for definiteness. The inflection for number reflects a distinction singular vs. plural, and resides in a suffix for plural vs. no marking for singular. The inflection for definiteness reflects a distinction ‘definite’ vs. ‘indefinite’, and resides in a suffix marking definiteness vs. no marking in the case of indefiniteness. When a noun is both definite and in plural, this is marked by a single suffix expressing the two values in combination. There are thus four possible forms of a common noun in Norwegian:

No inflection, signifying ‘indefinite singular’

Single suffix for Plural, signifying ‘indefinite plural’

Single suffix for Definite, signifying ‘definite singular’

Single suffix for Definite Plural, signifying ‘definite plural’.

(A note on terminology: when characterizing something in quotes in the above list, like saying

‘indefinite plural’

we refer to grammatical concepts, or grammatical features, independently of how the grammar expresses these features. Thus, ‘indefinite plural’ is a feature, and also the general parameters ‘number’ and ‘definiteness’. The smallest units of expression are generally called morphs, dividing into segmental and suprasegmental morphs, the latter residing in tone, stress, and length, the former in words and affixes. Of affixes there are in general four types: prefix, suffix, infix and circumfix. Of these types, in Norwegian, the noun features under consideration materialize only as suffixes when expressed in the noun.)

Inherently, common nouns in Norwegian belong to a gender. There are three genders for nouns in Norwegian, ‘masculine’, ‘feminine’ and ‘neuter’, and a noun generally belongs to one of them. (In some versions of Norwegian there are only two genders, the marking of feminine having disappeared or nearly disappeared. In these versions, one sometimes refers to the remaining non-neuter gender as ‘common gender’. Here we will assume the three-gender system.) The gender of a noun reveals itself in the form of the inflections for number and definiteness; typical forms of the suffixes are as indicated below:

Inflections for masculine noun:

Single suffix signifying ‘indefinite plural’: -er

Single suffix signifying ‘definite singular’: -en

Single suffix signifying ‘definite plural’: -ene

Inflections for feminine noun:

Single suffix signifying ‘indefinite plural’: -er

Single suffix signifying ‘definite singular’: -a

Single suffix signifying ‘definite plural’: -ene

Inflections for neuter noun:

Single suffix signifying ‘indefinite plural’: -Ø (zero)

Single suffix signifying ‘definite singular’: -et

Single suffix signifying ‘definite plural’: -ene or -a