NACLO 2023 - Problem DFor the Sake of Their House

Group the phrases by their structure:

Possessive:
- ponɨt — your (sg.) dog
- purtnɨs — their knife
- kəinnezɨs — his wolves
- juɕɕezə — my swans
of something:
- pɨzannezɨtlən — of your (sg.) desks
- vərələn — of my forest
with something:
- tɨezɨtkət — with your (sg.) lakes
- kokɨskət — with his foot
towards something:
- cerkulaɲ — towards the house
- ciɨtlaɲ — towards your (sg.) hand
for the sake of something:
- purtəla — for the sake of my knife
from something:
- cerkuezliɕ — from the houses

So it's obvious that the prepositions are marked by the suffixes:

-lən = of
-kət = with
-laɲ = towards
-la = for the sake of
-liɕ = from

(For the last two, it's not very clear where to split the suffixes, but I just consistently take the last syllable.)

Remove the suffixes and combine with existing possessive data:

vərə — my forest
purtə — my knife
juɕɕezə — my swans
pɨzannezɨt — your (sg.) desks
ponɨt — your (sg.) dog
tɨezɨt — your (sg.) lakes
ciɨt — your (sg.) hand
kokɨs — his foot
kəinnezɨs — his wolves
purtnɨs — their knife
cerku — the house
cerkuez — the houses

Compare "the house" and "the houses". So the plural is marked by the suffix -ez. In the other plural words we also see "-ez" but it's in the middle, so what comes after must be the possessive pronoun. Take out "-ez-" and obtain the possessive. Split the other words by the same possessive suffixes.

vər-ə — my forest
purt-ə — my knife
juɕɕ-ə — my swan(s)
pɨzann-ɨt — your (sg.) desk(s)
pon-ɨt — your (sg.) dog
tɨ-ɨt — your (sg.) lake(s)
ci-ɨt — your (sg.) hand
kok-ɨs — his foot
kəinn-ɨs — his wolf(s)
purt-nɨs — their knife

(I split "their knife" into "-nɨs" instead of "-ɨs" because "my knife" tells us that the root is "purt", so "n" must belong to the suffix.)

The conclusion is clear:

-ə = my
-ɨt = your (sg.)
-ɨs = his
-nɨs = their

And combining all of these, the noun morphology is:

[root][plural][possessive][preposition]

plural: -ez
possessive: -ə (my), -ɨt (your sg.), -ɨs (his/their)
preposition: -lən (of), -kət (with), -laɲ (towards), -la (for the sake of), -liɕ (from)

Therefore:

a. pɨzan-ɨs-liɕ = desk-his-from = from his desk
b. vərr-ez-lən = forest-PL-of = of the forests
c. pon-nɨt = dog-your(pl) = your (pl.) dog (this has to be inferred from the -ɨs/-nɨs pattern.)
d. juɕ-la = swan-for = for the sake of the swan

At this point, we need to stop and note that there's variation spotted in the root:

juɕ = the swan; juɕɕ-ez-ə = my swan
vər-ə = my forest; vərr-ez = the forests
pɨzan-ɨs = his desk; pɨzann-ez-ɨt = your (sg.) desks

The only plausible explanation is that when the "-ez" suffix is added, the last consonant is duplicated. This proposal works, because in "kəinn-ez-ɨs", although we didn't see the singular "wolf", "kəinn" also has a duplicated "n". In "tɨ-ez-ɨt", there's no duplication because "tɨ" ends with a vowel.

Therefore:

a. his hands = hand-PL-his = ci-ez-ɨs
b. my dogs = dog-PL-my = ponn-ez-ə
c. of your (pl.) feet = foot-PL-your(pl)-of = kokk-ez-nɨt-lən
d. for the sake of their house = house-their-for = cerku-nɨs-la (solution has typo and misses the "s")