2.5.12 Future Participial Nominal
40 The letter which John will write. John
a|: rnfh pm
John re: many. ca
John write NomIrRlRel letter
This is a simple irrealis relative clause, a very common type of nominalization in Burmese.
2.5.13 Participial Nominal with Genitive
41 John wrote the first page of the letter.
a|: xm: aom pm
re: hta: sau: ca
write put Atr
letter
2.5.14 Adjectival Nominal
42 The letter on the table…
pm: yJG ay; |Sd pm
ca: pwai: pau: hri. ca
eat gather upon be letter
table
This construction is reduced without the postpositional markers and is semantically blended into a whole concept in contrast to 43:
43 The letter which is on the table…
pm: yJG ay; rS |Sd wJh pm
ca: pwai: pau: hma. hri.
tai. ca
eat gather upon Loc be NomRel letter
table
This is a predicative relative clause rather than a property of the head nominal, a proposition versus the attributive clause. The difference between the attributive and
proposition semantically, although they have the same contents, is profiling.
2.5.15 Attributive Nominal
44 The man with the letter….
pm udkif xm:
onfh vl
ca kuing hta:
sany. lu
[[[[ letter grasp ] put ] NomRel ] person ]
To make the construction more highly active or more transitive another verb like
xm:
hta: ‘put’ 44 is used to indicate the manner of the action ‘grasping the letter’. The construction in 45 emphasizes the action of the man, while that in 46 shows the
relationship of the man to the letter as not one of action but of accompaniment, yet with the whole construction as a nominal that could be translated into English as ‘letter man’ in the
sense that he is the one who has the letter, or the reading where he is characterized as the person with the letter. His identity is of having a letter.
45 The man with the letter…. a letter man.
pm eSifh vl
ca hnang. lu
[[ letter Acc ] person ]
46 The man with the letter… a man who had a letter.
pm |Sd wJh vl
ca re: tai.
lu
[[[ letter be ] NomRel ] person ]
2.5.16 Adjective Nominal
47 The long letter….
pm |Snf
ca hrany letter long
48 The letter which is long….
|Snf onfh pm
hrany sany.
ca long
NomRel letter
2.5.17 Abstractive Nominal
49 The length of the letter…
pm |Jh t|Snf
ca rai. a-hrany
letter Pos Nom-long
2.5.18 Genitive Nominal
50 John’s letter… John
pm
jon e.
ca
[[John Pos] letter]
51 John’s letter… John
|Jh pm
jon rai.
ca
[[John Pos] letter]
2.5.19 Attributive Nominal
52 The written letter…
a|: xm: aom pm
re: hta: sau
ca
[[[write put] AtrNom] letter]
2.5.20 Action Noun