The article o Usage of o

102 A GRAMMAR OF THE MUNA LANGUAGE 155 ane na-de-dea wangka-no, aitu-e-mo [m]uta-e if 3sI-RED-red tooth-his that-him-PF A.PART-pick-it if somebodys teeth are red, he is the one who has picked it

5.6. Particles

5.6.1. The article o

In Muna there is one article, the particle o, which always precedes the noun it modifies. Its usage and meaning are completely different from that of the article in Indo-European languages. There is no relation with definiteness or specificness; it does not serve emphasis nor is it a topic marker. In fact, there is no clear meaning in the sense of referential meaning. The term article is used, following Anceaux 1952 in his description of Wolio. The function of o is to signal the relative syntactic freedom of a noun or a noun phrase. In other words, a noun modified by o has a lesser degree of syntactic binding to the rest of the clause than a noun which is not so marked. Therefore, we typically find NPs modified by o in the following constructions: 1. single-word clauses consisting of one noun, for example as an answer to the question What is this?; 2. in enumerations; 3. in nominal predicates; 4. in preverbal subjects and objects and other nouns; 5. in appositions. The article is not usually found before an NP following the main verb, either as subject or as object, nor in possessive constructions after the linker -no. In those cases the syntactic binding is too strong; but see 5.6.4 for variation in usage.

5.6.2. Usage of o

1. Single-word clauses the reference may be either singular or plural: 156 o hae-no ini-a? what is this? ART what-its this-CL 157 a. o medha a table b. o tonde a glass c. o kalei bananas It is not possible to leave out o in these examples. 2. Enumerations coordinated nouns or noun phrases. In enumerations the first word may or may not receive o, the following nouns all have o obligatorily, but the last item, which follows the preposition bhe with, never has o: 158 na-fo-waa-ghoo ka-ghosa, o ka-tolala bhe omuru me-wanta 3sI-DETR-give-IO NOM-strong ART NOM-opportune with age A.PART-long He will give us strength, opportunity and a long life 5 THE NOMINAL PHRASE 103 159 ne-gholi o pae, o kenta, o kambulu bhe kalei 3sR-buy ART rice ART fish ART vegetables with banana she bought rice, fish, vegetables and bananas Notice also the following two examples with the connective tawa or; especially the second example is interesting, as o is here used before a noun which stands in a possessive relationship to the governing noun. As mentioned above, such a noun does not normally take o. In this case it can take o because of the coordination with tawa: 160 do-po-ghonu-ghonu-mo tora bhasitie-hi-a tawa o mosiraha 3pR-REC-RED-gather-PF again relative-PLUR-CL or ART neighbour the relatives or the neighbours gather again 161 ka-po-ghonu-ghonu-ha-no bhasitie-hi-a tawa o mosiraha NOM-REC-RED-gather-LOC-POS relative-PLUR-CL or ART neighbour the meeting of the relatives or the neighbours 3. Nominal predicates in equative clauses: 162 inodi o moghane I am a man I ART man 163 ama-ku o guru my father is a teacher father-my ART teacher 164 suano o mbadha so ne-ghondo it is not the body that will not ART body FUT P.PART-look be looked at Apart from the last example, o has to be used in these sentences. 4. Preverbal subject: 165 o dahu no-kotou a dog barks ART dog 3sR-bark 166 o kapoluka no-bisara-mo the tortoise said ART tortoise 3sR-speak-PF 167 o karambau no-mate-ghoo ka-wule ART buffalo 3sR-die-IO NOM-tired the buffalo died of exhaustion In such preverbal subjects o has to be present. The following sentences are therefore ungrammatical: 168 a. dahu no-kotou b. kapoluka no-bisara-mo The article is also obligatory in other preverbal nominal phrases such as direct objects or preposed dependent nouns. 104 A GRAMMAR OF THE MUNA LANGUAGE 169 o karambau no-talo-e pikore ART buffalo 3sR-defeat-him k.o.bird the buffalo was defeated by the bird 170 o kadondo, karadhaa-no ne-tisa pae ART woodpecker work-his 3sR-plant rice as for the woodpecker, his work was to plant rice 5. Appositions: 171 ne-late bhe se-mie robhine, o bhirinanda 3sR-live with one-CLAS woman, ART widow he lived with a woman, a widow 172 ne-rabu raki, o ka-lambu-lambu we tehi 3sR-make raft ART DIM-RED-house loc sea he made a raft, a small house at sea The head of an apposition may be a nominalized stative intransitive verb see 9.2: 173 ne-gholi adhara ka-rubu, o ka-pute 3sR-buy horse NOM-small ART NOM-white he bought a small horse, a white one

5.6.3. Co-occurrence restrictions of o