Lahu noun particles Noun particles

34 ʑaŋ 33 a 55 m ɯ 55 na 31 ɣ 33 la 55 le 31 he now fields LOC come back ‘He has just returned from the fields.’ 2.3.1.5 Plurality According to Xu, there are five noun particles that mark types and degrees of plurality. • One plural marker ba 31 acts as a suffix on personal pronouns and nouns naming humans only Xu 2001:128. • Another can be used for “any countable object with a definable shape” and with numeral-classifier NP s Xu 2001:128. 35 t ɕhe 55 fu 33 ʑa 31 ki 33 z ɣŋ 33 ten CLF children PL ‘ten children’ • A third noun plurality particle can follow a series of “personal pronouns, personal nouns, or” NP s representing a group and marks them as forming a group “together” Xu 2001:128–129. • A fourth delimits a “personal pronoun, noun or numeral-classifier” NP as the “only” one spoken of. 36 ʑaŋ 33 n ɣ 33 ku 33 khi 33 she only sew can ‘Only she knows how to sew.’ Xu 2001:129. • The fifth noun plurality particle indicates “more” than the number stated in a numeral-classifier NP , and allows the head noun to be deleted Xu 2001:129. 37 sum 55 t ɕhe 55 fu 55 tsan 55 tshaŋ 55 thirty CLF more people ‘over thirty people’Xu 2001:129

2.3.2 Lahu noun particles

There are two types of noun particles in Lahu: vocative and nonvocative. 2.3.2.1 Vocative Of the vocative particles, one is for questions only and one is for either questions or statements. The interrogative vocative particle can only modify nouns or names that are loosely attached to the end of questions that themselves end in a final-unrestricted particle. The more general vocative particle can follow nouns of address that are either at the beginning or end of an utterance. 38 n ɔ̀ e qh ɔ̀ qay le, yâ mî à mom motion where go Q girl little VOC ‘Where did your mother go, little girl?’ 39 tâ te tâ te, ŋà yâ pā ò not do not do I son VOC ‘Stop it, stop it, son’ Matisoff 1973:154 2.3.2.2 Nonvocative There are ten nonvocative noun particles: • dativeaccusative marker, which marks the indirect object person if it is present, and the direct object if no indirect object is present • causal particle ‘because of N ’ • co-occurrence in a place or situation ‘with N ’ • four various locative markers ~ ‘atinfrom’ depending on context Matisoff 1973:155–167: • a strong deicticinterrogative locative marker ‘right there’ ‘that very spot’ limited to combine with only six very frequent: ‘there, thither, thence, where, whither, whence’ nouns • a weak locative marker ‘somewhere there’ that has developed from a homophonous topicalizing particle • a weak locative particle that is colloquial • a strong literaryformal locative marker • informal minimizing ‘onlyjust N ’ • strong topic setter-off ‘hmm, this N now’ Table 3. Co-occurance restrictions of nonvocative noun particles in Lahu accusativedative causal ‘with N ’ only animate deicticinterrogative locative topicalizing locative or colloquial locative literary locative ‘onlyjust N ’ strong topic off-setter 40 ŋà thà ʔ tâ d ɔ̂ʔ I ACC don’t hit ‘Don’t hit me.’ Matisoff 1973:156 41 g̈�̀ ša ve bo pa-t ɔ God ’s grace CAUS P ‘because of God’s grace’ Matisoff 1973:159 42 y ɛ̀ ɔ̄ house TOP LOC ‘neararound the house’ Matisoff 1973:166 43 ô kà ʔ ɔ̄ t ɛ a-ʔ over there deictic LOC TOP LOC do suggestion ‘Please put it right over there.’ Matisoff 1973:164 44 ŋà ɔ̀-pa g ɛ là ve yò I father with come AFFIRM DECL ‘I have come tofrom Father ambiguous.’ Matisoff 1973:161

2.3.3 Lalo noun particles