Postpositions with absolutive complements Postpositions with comitative complements

N,NP,-GEN el-la, ‘ahead of’ N,NP,-GEN tshik-la, -na, -tu, -ni ‘among, amidst’ N,NP,-GEN khuŋ-la, -tu, -na, -ni ‘among, in between’ N,NP,-GEN ar-la, -tu, ‘in between’ N,NP,-GEN artak-la, -tu, ‘in between’ N,NP,-GEN ʈhik-la, -ki ‘about, concerning’ N,NP,-GEN thøl-la, thøn- tu, thøŋ-ki ‘for sake of, about’ N,NP,-GEN ŋoo-la, -tu, -ki ‘during the life time of’ N,NP,-GEN kap-la, -ni, -ki ‘during the time period of’ N,NP,-GEN jaŋ-la, -ni, -ki ‘at the time of’ N,NP,-GEN saa-la, ‘at the season of, at the time of’ N,NP,-GEN lam-ni ‘by means of, through’ N,NP,-GEN ɕattsa-la, -tu ‘near, beside’ N,NP,-GEN ɕam-la, -tu, -ni, -ki ‘at the bottom of’ N,NP -GEN ŋøn-tu, ŋøl-la ‘in the midst of, among’ The following examples illustrate this type of PPs. 7 .1 ŋ-e toto khim-ki naŋ-la ɕuu-soŋ. 1SG-GEN elder.brother house-GEN inside-DAT enter-PST.VIS ‘My brother entered inside the house.’ 7.2 khan ʈ-e ʈhik-la tamɕu lap-køp=pa? what-GEN about-DAT talking talk-PROG;EXP=Q ‘What are you talking about?’ 7 .3 thoŋpa khim-ki hok-na jøk-ken bet. plough house-GEN under-IN EXIST-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘The plough is underneath the house.’ 7 .4 khoŋ-ki ŋoo-la ŋit-la kip-aa tɕhuŋ. 3SG[HON]-GEN face-DAT 1PL.EXCL-DAT happiness-COMP2 become[PST] ‘During his life timetenure we became very happy.’ This is said about the time of a good official or a king. 7.5 riki ok-p-e saa-la ʈho-pu lit-tɕuŋ. potatoe dig-NMLZ;Q-GEN time-DAT bond.friend-M1 arrive-PST.EXP ‘The bond friend arrived at the time of digging potatoes.’ Nominalized clause is the complement here.

7.2 Postpositions with absolutive complements

Lhomi has a sub-class of postpositions which require absolutive complements. Table 7.2 lists some of them. Table 7.2. Postpositions with absolutive complements and case markings Complement Postposition CASE Gloss N,NP tɕaa-la, -tu, -na, -ni ‘at, to, at locality’ N,NP tɕel-la, tɕen-ni, -tu, -na ‘at, to’ N,NP ŋø-la, -ni, -tu ‘in the direction of, towards’ N,NP thuk, -la, - ki, =raŋ ‘up to, as far as, till’ The following examples illustrate some postpositions of table 7.2: 7 .6 ŋa aku tɕaa-la ɖo-ken. 1SG uncle at-DAT go-NMLZ;CONJ ‘I go to uncle.’ Wherever the uncle happens to be—in the house, in the field, etc. 7.7 lho ŋø-la phim-pen. south towards-DAT go.come[PST]-1PST ‘I went towards south.’ Or: ‘I headed for south.’ 7.8 khentapaari-ni jal-la pho ʈepaas thuk gaʈi tɕuŋ-aa Khandbari-ABL up.there-DAT Bhodebaas up.to car small-COMP2 ɖo-kuk. TE73 go-PROG;VIS ‘Smaller cars go from Khandbari upwards, up to Bhodebaas.’ The PP in this last example combines also with verbs and then it marks temporal end point see section 18.9.12.

7.3 Postpositions with comitative complements

Table 7.3. Postpositions with comitative marked complements Complement Postposition -CASE Gloss N,NP, -COM tsaja ‘like, similar to’ N,NP, -COM tɕhetmit ‘like, similar to’ N,NP, -COM da-la, ‘together with’ N,NP, -COM kaŋ-tɕik-la ‘together with’ N,NP, -COM mu- tɕik-la ‘together with’ N,NP, -COM mu-la ‘with’ The following examples illustrate the postpositions with comitative complements: 7.9 raŋ uko-taŋ tsaja duk. 2SG that-COM likeness EXIST.VIS ‘You are like him.’ 7.10 phitsa- la ŋiŋ tsha-j-e phitsa-taŋ da-la child-DAT heart feel.hot-NMLZ;Q-INS child-COM with-DAT dep-pa bet. TE21 stay-NMLZ;Q AUX ‘Because she felt compassion towards the child she stayed with the child.’ 7.11 u-ni khoŋ u-pa-taŋ kaŋ-tɕik-la phim-pa bet. that-ABL 3SG[HON] that-PL2-COM leg-one-DAT go.come[PST]-NMLZ;Q AUX ‘Then he travelled together with them.’ 7.12 uko- taŋ mu-tɕik-la naa-ni phu-mu that-COM together.with-one-DAT sleep-NFNT2 son-F1 phutsima t ɕhuŋ-a bet. pregnant become-NMLZ;Q AUX ‘Having slept with him the girl became pregnant.’ 8 Adjectives Lhomi adjectives express most of the following semantic properties: size, color, auditory qualities, shape, taste, tactile, evaluative, transitory, and states of living from Givón 2001:82. Syntactically Lhomi adjectives modify nouns and NPs, occur as predicate adjectives of copular, existential, and other verbs, and form genitive case marked complements of a NP. Typically an adjective follows the noun it modifies. It is the adjective which is the grammatical head of a NP except when it precedes the noun. Comparative, superlative, and intensified forms of adjectives do occur in Lhomi. Consider the following examples of prototypical Lhomi adjectives. 8 .1 hunto juukaŋ-la ʈhim sampa thaŋ ŋiŋpa now village-DAT law new and old rii-na t ɕøk-ken bet. TE36 be.mixed-NFNT1 cut-NMLZ;CONJ AUX ‘Nowadays in the village they judgerule mixing the new and old way of administration.’ This means that both old Lhomi ways and new Nepali government ways are being used. 8 .2 raŋ-ki naŋtsaŋ di simpa ʈhaŋpu duk. TE42 2SG-GEN wife DEF mind honest EXIST.VIS ‘As for your wife, she is an honest person.’ A lama tells this to the woman’s husband. The statement is based on the lama’s superior insight and ability to see any man’s heart, hence duk. The wife is absent. This is an equative clause with existential verb. Table 8.1 lists some adjectives which appear to be prototypical adjectives. As I show later in this chapter most Lhomi adjectives are derived from nouns and verbs. Table 8.1. Some prototypical adjectives Adj Gloss Adj Gloss sippu ‘yellow’ dzʏma ‘false’ kappu ‘white’ tɕuŋ ‘small’ mappu ‘red’ nak-pu ‘black’ ŋom-pu ‘green, blue’ nak-mu ‘black’ ŋom-mu ‘green, blue’ khakpu ‘bitter’ saŋ-pu ‘morally good’ ŋiŋpa ‘old’ saŋ-mu ‘morally good’ sampa ‘new’ ajekpa ‘evil, bad’ tsaŋma ‘clean, pure’ phunʈija ‘fat person’ tɕhi ‘great, big’

8.1 Traces of grammatical gender in adjectives