3.8 Expression
Expression is the name given to the class of constructions that use lexical word forms to predicate lexically, forming what is often called a simple clause. Expression also names the
functions that operate grammatically particle operations as counterparts to lexical predication.
The simplest Expression is the unit of the Noun + Verb. This unit basically corresponds to the minimal clause in other grammatical systems. In this description there is
nothing unusual as it follows common linguistic expectation. The simple Expression is demonstrated in the following N + V examples. These lack the sentence final particles which
would normally complete a grammatical utterance.
68
acG: udkuf
hkwe: kuik dog bite
69
a| avmif:
re laung. water pour
While the expressions in 68 and 69 refer to the simplest Expression, more complex Expressions are formed by expansive nominalization processes whereby complex nominals
adjoin complex verbs as in 70 with the configuration of figure 22 SB 6. 70
ao r‘ Ao cif:
se hmu. se hkang:
die Nom die arrange ‘arrangements about death’
Figure 22
.
Constituency relations for 70
The level of Expression in figure 22 is of a nominal N generated by a process in which the initial nominal is formed from a nominalized verb and the second element V formed from
a compound verb. The Expression NV is an ontological nominal formed by the rule N + V →
N see table 22. This Expression which forms a superordinate nominal is different from the V + P → N Word nominal
ao r‘
se hmu. ‘death’ which is formed by a semantic nominalizer
r‘
hmu.. This nominalizer contributes semantic properties referring to a legal case as well as
grammatically nominalizing. See 4.3.2.2.1.2 for semantic nominalization. The ontological nominal is a higher level Expression in this case, similar to the clause-like simple Expression
of 25 and 26 but with a slightly more abstract type of constituents.
Expressions are also formed via grammatical particle P operation on verbs or nouns as the operand. The Expression that results from this operation, like that of the verbal
predication, is a nominal. N + P → N and V + P → N. Particles, generate conceptually bounded units which are oriented and related by the particles to other units nominals in the text—no
matter their role, distribution, semantic or grammatical properties. Figure 23 is an example of particle nominalization of the unit meaning ‘from the station’.
Figure 23. Constituency with a particle operator
The unit in figure 23 is a single Expression and becomes a constituent of other constructions. As an Expression, it has a grammatical boundary and a reference which can be
expressed by native speakers, particularly in queries concerning the head particle, such as a question like “from who what?” in Burmese. The response would be the single Expression in
figure 23, or possibly a response that referred to the larger nominal of which figure 23 is the head. This structure is displayed in figure 24.
‘Dalla People’s Police Station’
Figure 24. Constituency of particle headed nominal
The initial constituent nominals are formed from various levels of compounding in figure 24. The whole unit is a nominal compound composed of initial Modifier and final
Head functions. The modifier nominal ‘Dalla People’s Police’ is headed by the particle- nominalized Expression ‘from the station’. A query of “from what?” ‘from where’ or ‘who’
in English may invoke the whole larger nominal of which ‘from the station’ functions as head.
Successive rules of constituency generate nominal structures which take on the appearance of great complexity. Adding just one level to the structure in figure 22 yields the
modified nominal ‘matter of death’ in figure 25.
Figure 25. Constituents of ‘matter of death’
The introduction by juxtaposition of a subsequent nominal implies structurally that the following nominal has the strong possibility of being a grammatical head at a higher level of
constituency. These examples display both the Word noun and verb as simple and complex forms, the Expression both lexical and grammatical, and the process of ontological nominal
structuring via a few rules of nominal constituency.
3.9 Sentence