Bisu noun particles Noun particles

2.3 Noun particles

Noun particles are not themselves nouns and must modify a preceding autonomous noun, or follow another noun particle Matisoff 1973:154. Several postnominal particles may follow one another, but “[a]s always, the length of a string of particles is inversely proportional to its frequency of occurrence” Matisoff 1973:180.

2.3.1 Bisu noun particles

Bisu Xu 2001:117–124 has structural particles that follow NP s to indicate the roles of • agent, • patient, • a declaration about the subject, • possessive of the NP , • adverbial use of a numeral-classifier NP , and • a location inamongtoonfromup the NP . Five additional particles indicate degrees of plurality Xu 2001:128–129. 2.3.1.1 Agent, patient, and subject Agent, patient, and subject particles are discussed in section 2.5.1 . 2.3.1.2. Possessive The possessive marker can follow nouns or pronouns, creating a possessive modifier for another NP . Where the context is clear, the modified NP can be deleted. 31 [ni 55 tuŋ 31 na 31 xau 33 x ɣ 33 na 31 ] this CLF field other people POSS ‘This field is somebody else’s field.’ Xu 2001:121 2.3.1.3 Adverbial use Adverbial use of verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and numeral-classifier phrases is marked Xu 2001:122–123. 32 [naŋ 33 thi 31 lum 31 thi 31 lum 31 ne 33 tsa 31 ] you one CLF one CLF ADV eat ‘You are eating them one by one.’ 2.3.1.4 Location Location near an NP is marked in a manner similar to a generalized postposition Xu 2001:123. 33 kaŋ 31 pha 31 ɣ 31 la 31 phi 31 tsa 31 vegetables LOC chillies have ‘There are chillies among the vegetables.’ 34 ʑaŋ 33 a 55 m ɯ 55 na 31 ɣ 33 la 55 le 31 he now fields LOC come back ‘He has just returned from the fields.’ 2.3.1.5 Plurality According to Xu, there are five noun particles that mark types and degrees of plurality. • One plural marker ba 31 acts as a suffix on personal pronouns and nouns naming humans only Xu 2001:128. • Another can be used for “any countable object with a definable shape” and with numeral-classifier NP s Xu 2001:128. 35 t ɕhe 55 fu 33 ʑa 31 ki 33 z ɣŋ 33 ten CLF children PL ‘ten children’ • A third noun plurality particle can follow a series of “personal pronouns, personal nouns, or” NP s representing a group and marks them as forming a group “together” Xu 2001:128–129. • A fourth delimits a “personal pronoun, noun or numeral-classifier” NP as the “only” one spoken of. 36 ʑaŋ 33 n ɣ 33 ku 33 khi 33 she only sew can ‘Only she knows how to sew.’ Xu 2001:129. • The fifth noun plurality particle indicates “more” than the number stated in a numeral-classifier NP , and allows the head noun to be deleted Xu 2001:129. 37 sum 55 t ɕhe 55 fu 55 tsan 55 tshaŋ 55 thirty CLF more people ‘over thirty people’Xu 2001:129

2.3.2 Lahu noun particles