b. to da-thi
sikoa the
my-father house
‘my father’s house’ c. to
da-thi sikoa
lheroko the
my-father house
mouth. ‘the door of my father’s house’
3.1.4 Pre-Head Relative Clauses
Relative clauses
3
occurring immediately before the head of a noun phrase predicate something about that head. These relative clauses may be based on either stative or active
verbs. As mentioned previously under the discussion of stative verbs 2.4.2, concepts which would be expressed with attributive adjectives in English are expressed with relative
clauses in Arawak.
122 a. biandakhabo [kydy-tho] ada
ten [heavy-WH.SUBJ]
woodtree ‘ten heavy trees’
b. aba [minkho
wadi-tho] waboroko
one [very
wide-WH.SUBJ] road
‘a very wide road’ c. li
[sioko-sabo-tho] ly-lykynthi
the [small-more-WH.SUBJ]
his-grandson ‘his youngest grandson’
d. bian [firo-tho]
[kaima-tho] kabadaro
two [big]
[angry-WH.SUBJ] jaguar
‘two big, angry jaguars’ 123 a. to
[da-dibaleda-sia] khota-ha
the [I-roast-WH.OBJ]
flesh-NGEN ‘the meat I roasted’
b. ne [dalhidi-thi]
ibili-non the
[run-WH.SUBJ] small-PL
‘the running children’ Although more than one relative clause may occur before the head of a noun phrase, each
must be of a different semantic type e.g. size, color, weight. As is the case in English, there seems to be a usual order for the semantic categories expressed: size - weight - shape - color.
124 a. to [firo-tho]
[kydy-tho] [wadi-tho]
[hehe-tho] ori
the [big-WH.SUBJ] [heavy-WH.SUBJ] [long-WH.SUBJ] [yellow-WH.SUBJ] snake
‘the big heavy long yellow snake’ 54
Noun Phrase and Sentence Syntax
3
In relative clauses, the verb is marked with -tho or -thi when its grammatical subject is relativized, and with -sia when its direct object is relativized. See Chapter 4 for further discussion of these and other relativized constituents.
b. to [hehe-tho]
[firo-tho] ori
the [yellow-WH.SUBJ] [big-WH.SUBJ]
snake ‘the yellow big snake’
There is a limit on the complexity of the relative clauses that may appear before the head of a noun phrase. The only constituents in these relative clauses that seem to be allowed,
other than the verb with appropriate relativizing morphology, are morphologically bound subject prefixes and pre-verbal adverbial particles of extent, intensification, and negation.
If any additional constituents such as objects or locatives are added to such a clause, it ap- pears to become too “heavy” and is placed after the head.
125 to
[da-dibaleda-sia] khota-ha
the [I-roast-WH.OBJ]
meat-NGEN ‘the meat I roasted’
126 a. to [da-dibaleda-sia
ikhihi diako] khota-ha
the [I-roast-WH.OBJ fire on]
meat-NGEN ‘the meat I roasted over fire’
b. to khota-ha
[da-dibaleda-sia ikhihi
diako] the
meat-NGEN [I-roast-WH.OBJ fire
on] ‘the meat I roasted over fire’
127 a. to [Ka-balha
dibaleda-sia] khota-ha
the [ATTR-hair roast-WH.OBJ]
meat-NGEN ‘the meat Hairy roasted’
4
b. to khotaha
[Ka-balha dibaleda-sia]
the meat-NGEN
[ATTR-hair roast-WH.OBJ]
‘the meat Hairy roasted’ 128 a. li
[dibaleda-thi to
khota-ha] wadili
the [roast-WH.SUBJ the
meat-NGEN] man
‘the man who roasted the meat’ b. li
wadili [dibaleda-thi to
khoda-ha] the man
[roast-WH.SUBJ the
meat-NGEN] ‘the man who roasted the meat’
The question of what makes a relative clause “heavy” in Arawak remains open at the mo- ment. It is interesting to note, however, that English has similar phenomena. For example,
although it is acceptable to have more than a bare participial before the head of a noun phrase,
129 the seldom spoken word
his very frequently broken nose 3.1 Noun Phrase Structure
55
4
Kabalha is a nickname. Arawaks normally refer to each other using kinship terms or nicknames, and the use of
a person’s given name is traditionally avoided. See de Goeje 1928 regarding an explanation based on former shamanistic practices.
