Kinship terms are bisyllabic, which sometimes requires adding a prefix to one-syllable roots, such as the words father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, uncle, or aunt Xu 2001:71, 241–242. Locative
nouns function very much as postpositions do Xu 2001:72–73.
2.1.1.2 Compounding
In noun-noun modification and compounding, the head follows the modifier: 5
xaŋ
31
ph ɣn
31
la
55
ku ɯ
55
table leg
‘table leg’ Xu 2001:74 6
m ɣ
55
+ s ɿ
31
→ mɣ
55
s ɿ
31
gunpowder + grain, pebble → ‘bullet’
Xu 2001:46 In noun-adjective compounds, the head noun is first:
7 poŋ
31
+ aŋ
33
tshau
55
→ poŋ
31
tshau
55
cylinder + sweet → ‘sugar cane’
Xu 2001:46
2.1.1.3. Derivation
In Bisu, nouns meaning ‘mother’, ‘wife’, and the ‘wife’s father’ and ‘wife’s mother’ in-laws from one side and some domestic animals where gender is relevant, such as ‘ram-ewe’, ‘rooster-hen’, ‘stallion-
mare’, ‘boar-sow’, are distinguished by suffixes marking ‘male’ -pha
31
or -la31 or -fu
31
and ‘female’ -ba
33
.
2.1.2 Lahu noun types, noun structures, and derivation
2.1.2.1 Noun types
Typologically, Lahu has autonomous nouns and limited nouns.
2.1.2.1.1 Autonomous nouns
These include common nouns, pronouns, interrogatives, spatial demonstratives, and the word meaning ‘this’. They are followed immediately by a number + classifier combination, and can head an
NP
.
2.1.2.1.2 Limited nouns
These are prefixes, prefixable morphemes, bound constituents of compounds, and bound morphemes of amount, size, length, distance, sameness or not, and totality or not, which cannot be immediately
followed by a number + classifier combination, but can combine with other words to become autonomous nominals Matisoff 1973:117. Proper nouns are a “not very interesting” subset of common
nouns Matisoff 1973:49.
2.1.2.2 Polymorphemic noun structures
Structurally, Lahu nouns can consist of just one morpheme simple, or they can become polymorphemic by compounding Matisoff 1973:53–79, reduplication Matisoff 1973:47, 80–81, or “elegant” extension
Matisoff 1973:81–85 to a four-morpheme structure with identical first and third morphemes A-B-A-C or identical second and fourth morphemes A-B-C-B Matisoff 1973:82.
8 y
ɛ̀
q ɔ̀ʔ
y ɛ̀
l ɛ
House corner house middle ‘every corner in the house’
9 qhâ
ʔ
q ɔ̀ʔ
qhâ
ʔ
l ɛ
village corner village
middle ‘every corner in the village’ Matisoff 1973:83
All polysyllabic structures in an
NP
are considered compound nouns except the following: noun particles, numerals, classifiers, the determiner ‘thisthese’, and the possessor nuclei in genitive
constructions Matisoff 1973:53–54. 10
và ʔ
šā chu
ɔ̀ c
�̂ compound pig meat fat raw thing
‘raw pork-fat’ Matisoff 1973:54 11
cà-pí nê ʔ
ve ɔ̀ phɨ
genitive starling
POSS
nest ‘a starling’s nest’ Matisoff 1973:56
2.1.2.3 Derivation
2.1.2.3.1 Affixes
The nominalizing prefix ‘ɔ̀-’ can be affixed to nouns where it is often, but not always, optional and
verbs where it can form cognate-object combinations Matisoff 1973:68. Examples with nouns:
• má = ɔ̀-má ‘son-in-law’, but šā ‘animal’ ≠ ɔ̀-šā ‘meat’
Example with a verb: • m
ɛ ‘to name’, ɔ̀-mɛ ‘a name’, ɔ̀-mɛ mɛ ve ‘to give a name to’ A plural morpheme -
hɨ is used only rarely, primarily to produce ‘we’, ‘you’, and ‘they’ by suffixation to the singular pronouns. It can also combine with some proper nouns to mean ‘the Shans’, ‘the northern
Thai’ in general, or ‘Jalaw and his friendsgroupfamily’. With common nouns referring to living things, it is used rarely:
šālā-g̈ūn-hɨ ‘doctors, the medical profession’ or kh�́-y�̀-hɨ ‘sambar deer in general’ Matisoff 1973:65.
2.1.3 Lalo noun types, compounding, and derivation
