Table 34. Possession affix for nouns roma
‘house’ 1s
a-ro’m-u ‘my house’
2s o-rom-mu
‘your house’ 3s
e-rom-ni ‘his house’
1pi it-rom-ni
‘our house’ 1pe
am-rom-mamni ‘our house’
2p mi-rom-mi
‘your house’ 3p
ir-rom-ni ‘their house’
Now consider how the following verbs are marked in the same way: Table 35. Possession affixes on verbs
person gaha
‘own’ suka
‘like’ 1s
a-gah’-u ‘I own’
a-su’k-u ‘I like’
2s o-gaha-mu
‘you own’ o-suk-mu
‘you like’ 3s
e-gaha-ni ‘he owns’
e-suk-ni ‘he likes’
1pi it-gaha-ni
‘we own’ it-suk-ni
‘we like’ 1pe
am-gaha-mamni ‘we own’
am-suk-mamni ‘we like’
2p mi-gaha-mi
‘you own’ mi-suk-mi
‘you like’ 3p
ir-gaha-ni ‘they own’
ir-suk-ni ‘they like’
Below are sentence examples of these verbs. 596 Seri
e-gaha-ni ahu
-dye Seri
3s-own-POS dog that.
‘Seri owns that dog.’ 597 Manke’a
de e-suk-ni
la patke’a
de Male
that 3s-like-POS to female
that. ‘That man likes that girl.’
598 Suk-ni na-kowa
suka-ni na-kowa
like-POS 3s-face down ‘She likes to be face down.’
6.4.4 Naming clause
A naming clause gives a name to the subject. It is a type of presentational clause. The predicate literally is ‘its name’ and is a genitive type construction. The genitive suffix –ni makes the predicate structurally a
nominative see §3.1.2
599 Anni ida
patke’a nan-ni
Oktovina year
one woman
name-POS Oktovina
‘One year a woman named Oktovina…’ 600 Riy
ida nan-ni
Mina Person
one name-POS
Mina ‘One person named Mina…’
601 Muanke’a ida wali
nan-ni Godtlifa.
male one
also name-POS Godtifa
‘There was also one man named Godtlifa.’
6.4.5 Locativeexistential clause
The locative clause has as its predicate what is being referred to here as a semi-verbal predicate. Although it functions similarly to a verb, it does not take the required pronominal prefixes which occur
on all other verbs. The subject NP can only be a free pronoun or NP. Unlike other verbs which are modified only by pronominal prefixation, this verb changes internal structure based on plurality. Note
in the chart that eda becomes etla with the addition of la ‘at’, and era becomes erla with the addition of la.
base form form la
Sing. eda
etla Pl.
era erla
Note the following examples: 602 Ahu
etla kadera
naini ahu
ed-la kadera
nai-ni dog
is-at chair
below-POS ‘The dog is below the chair.’
603 Gera etla
krei onni
gera ed-la
krei oni-ni
water is-to church
side-POS
‘The well is beside the church.’
604 Papmu nor
Mammu er
ma’ta la
Amerika? papa-mu
n-ora mama-mu
er ma’ta
la America
father-POS 3s-with
mother-POS are
still to
America ‘Are your parents still in America?’
605 Er la
rkor lai rtati dari
er la
r-kor lai r-tati dari
are AUX
3p-scratch sand 3p-throw-net
‘They are fishing.’
606 Eda hnor
larni la
wo’kawur
eda n-hora
lara-ni la
wo’ora kawru
is 3s-sew
sail-POS PREP
mountain mountain
‘He is sewing his sail in the mountains hills.’ 6.4.6
Similitive clause
Similitive clauses have as their predicate the word emaka ‘like’ or emolmolla ‘similar to’. They are not categorized as verbs since they have none of the structural markings of a verb. They are most similar to
the adverb emkade ‘like that’ which can also function as an indefinite pronoun see §3.4.1.
607 Emolmolla wirtawi
we-werna n-kokar-la
lyanti
e-molla-molla wirtawi werna-werna
n-kokra-la lyanti
like leaf
RDP-wide 3s-reach-for
sky ‘You will be successful just like a wide leaf grows up toward the sky.’
608 A-’g e-mol-molla
mak-wuri-mak-galma la
mel plin-niohora
a-’u e-molla-molla maka-wuri-maka-galma
la mela
plinu-nohora I
DUR-RDP-like REL-sneak-REL-steal at
night do not know-about ‘I am like one who comes to steal secretly in the night.’
609 E-mol-molla petu
maka-loha ma
udi maka-di’na
DUR-RDP-like bamboo REL-spreads and banana REL-grows?
‘May they be fertile and have children like a bamboo tree and a banana tree which are fertile and grow.’
6.4.7 Progressive action clause
