The ablative case The instrumental case

6.5 The genitive case

The genitive constructions in Lhomi cover all kinds of meanings like possession, kinship, and other, more abstract meanings see Dryer 2007:178. When an adjective is a complement of a noun or an indefinite pronoun it is marked in genitive case and it precedes the head see section 8.7. The genitive marker is also a relativizer in some relative clause types see section 17.2.1. It is the possessed item or genitive noun phrase which is the head of the NP in Lhomi genitive constructions. Lhomi makes no distinction between alienable and inalienable possession. If a genitive marker is attached to a personal pronoun it becomes a possessive pronoun. Possessive pronoun expresses ownership, kinship, or other kind of association. Consider the following examples. 6.13 rukkama-la ɕuu-ni Rukkama-DAT enter-NFNT2 pimpa ŋøruk-ki khim-la phim-pen. TE3 p impa ŋøruk-GEN house-DAT go.come[PST]-1PST ‘As soon as I had entered Rukkama village, I went to the house of Pimpa Ngøruk.’ 6.14 mi khajek-ki hat ɕa-raŋ-ki le hi-la man plural-ERG 1PL.INCL-self-GEN work this-DAT ga-t ɕe mem-pa tshor-ken bet. feel.good-ADJVZR NEG.COP-NMLZ;Q regard-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘Men regard this work of ours as no good.’ 6.15 hi-ki khim hi-ki dakpu di su bek=ka this-GEN house this-GEN owner DEF who COP=Q ‘Who is the owner of this house?’ This is a typical example of using demonstrative determiners in noun complements.

6.6 The ablative case

The ablative in Lhomi carries the meaning of direction ‘from inside out’ or ‘from the top of a given source’. It also combines with some postpostions see more in chapter 7. Ablative in Lhomi covers the meaning of ablative and elative cases. Ablative case also marks the source argument IO in ST2 clause type see examples 6.17–6.19. Consider the following examples. 6.16 u-ni lama d ʑaap-ʏ naŋtsaŋ-ki tshemmu that-ABL lama d ʑaapu-GEN wife-ERG night juukaŋ-ni mal-la ket dʑapna village-ABL down.there-DAT voice VBZR-NFNT1 wak ŋ-e sir-ku tor-soŋ. TE31 MIR 1SG-GEN gold-idol get.lost-PST.VIS ‘Then the wife of lama Jyaabu at night shouted from the village downward saying, “My golden idol is lost.”’ This village is located higher than any other village in the area, hence ‘from the village down’. 6.17 ni ro di khim-ni tøm-p-e jaŋ-la ... TE51 corpse DEF house-ABL take.out-NMLZ;Q-GEN time-DAT ‘At the time when they carry out the dead body from the house...’ This is from a funeral procession. Ablative case marks here the semantic locative role, ‘from the house’. 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