6.18 t ɕhu-ni thøn-ni
water-ABL come.out-NFNT2 dzap
thaŋ dzimlok-ki hok-la goŋ-ken bet. TE50 rock and vegetation-GEN under-DAT hide-NMLZ;CONJ AUX
‘After it has come out of water, it hides behindunder rocks and vegetation.’ This is from a story about hunting barking deer.
6 .19 ŋa doŋpu-ni tshar-tɕuŋ.
1SG tree-ABL fall.down-PST.EXP ‘I fell down from a tree.’
The ablative case marks the source argument in this clause, clause type is ST2.
6.7 The instrumental case
Instrumental case typically marks the means of the accomplishment of an action. There is more about instrumental case as a marker of verbal arguments in section 15.1. As for the phonological conditioning
of this case marker, see under genitive case in section 6.5. Though Lhomi has three important cases GEN, INS, ERG marked with homophonous suffixes, it is
not difficult to keep them separate in a running text. Order of verbal arguments in a clause, animateinanimate contrast, and other syntactic clues help the hearer to keep track which is which. The
following examples illustrate the use of the instrumental case INS:
6.20 pulis-ki mi thakp-e kiŋ-soŋ.
police-ERG man rope-INS bound-PST.VIS ‘Police tied the man with a rope.’
6.21 u-ki lakp-e ɖʏ tɕik suŋ taŋ-a bet.
that-ERG hand-INS snake INDF catch IMMED-NMLZ;Q AUX ‘He caught a snake with his hands.’
6.8 The locative case
The general locative case -tu LOC, ‘at, in, on’ is used in Lhomi to mark the IO in clause type ST1 when the verb expresses activity or an event at the place, e.g. staying overnight, having guests, running a
party, having a meeting, death, birth. Inessive on the other hand is more static and marks a state of affairs at the place and thus collocates mostly with the existential verb and only rarely with other verbs.
Locative case in Lhomi does not mark the goal or movement toward the location, which is marked by dative case. Consider the following examples.
6.22 khim-tu t ɕhaŋ luk ɕak-tuk. TE3
house-LOC beer place put.leave-PRF.VIS ‘At home someone had placed beer for drinking.’
Speaker is telling about his travel and final arrival at home. At home someone had already placed a pot of beer for him to drink.
6.23 juukaŋ-tu dawa ŋii dep-pen. TE73
village-LOC month two stay-1PST ‘I stayed in the village for two months.’
6.24 juukaŋ-tu thøn nampa sum-ki le tɕhi-pen. TE77
village-LOC meaning kind three-GEN work do;VBZR-1PST ‘In the village I did three kinds of work.’
Someone is reporting about his activities in the village where he had visited.
6.9 The inessive case
Lhomi often marks the location in inessive case IN. Then the verb must be existential or a verb which expresses an on-going activity or state as in ambient clauses or locational copular clauses see examples
15.41 and 15.43. Sentence-initial inessive with demonstratives hi- na, u-na marks the scene for the
following activities. In other words this is a static case in contrast to more dynamic cases. Inessive combines also with the postposition ‘inside of’ when the above mentioned conditions are fulfilled.
Consider the following examples.
6.25 liŋkaŋ-na ʈeɕɕi-ki khim-na phon sampa tɕik
Lingkang-IN ʈeɕɕi-GEN house-IN phone new INDF
tøn-na jøk-ken bet. TE74 install-NFNT1 EXIST-NMLZ;CONJ AUX
‘In Lingang village in the house of Tesshi they have installed a new telephone.’
6 .26 khoŋ khim-ki naŋ-na duk.
3SG[HON] house-GEN inside-IN EXIST.VIS ‘He is inside of the house.’
6.27 khim di-la ɕuu-na phin-na u-na phøp-pa gatɕen
house DEF-DAT enter-NFNT1 go.come[PST]-NFNT1 that-IN Tibetan-HUM1 many t
ɕik dzom-na u-na phøt ɕapra phak-kuk. TE29 INDF gather-NFNT1 that-IN Tibetan dance dance-PROG;VIS
‘I entered the house and there was a group of Tibetans dancing there.’ Speaker is reporting his dream. In both occurrences u-na refers to the location which is the interior
of the house mentioned earlier. Dancing is an on-going activity in this example. 6.28 ni u-na luk
ʈhʏt-nar-a ha that-IN sheep drag.away-COMPL-NMLZ;Q aud.impact
mit-khoo-ken bet. TE30 NEG-hear-NMLZ;CONJ AUX
‘There in the shed the shepherd does not hear a sheep being dragged away.’
The word una refers to the shed which has been mentioned before. It marks the known location. Shepherd has no dog and he does not hear when a leopard drags away one of his sheep at night.
6.29 lama d ʑaap-ʏ naŋtsaŋ di tshitɕu toŋ-sa-na
lama d ʑaapu-GEN wife DEF tshitɕu send;VBZR-ground-IN
jøk-ken bet. TE31 EXIST-NMLZ;CONJ AUX
‘The wife of lama Jyaabu was in the place where they were performing the tshit ɕu
ritual.’ This is an example which illustrates how inessive marks the locative role of the existential verb. The
case marker is attached to a nominalized verb.
6.10 The allative case
