668 Na-yapi a’al-tawi
la ma’nu
maka ira
r-wa’al-nana.
3s-wove a’ala-leaf into
birds that
they 3p-threw-ABIL ‘He wove the a’ala leaf into the bird which they had knocked down.’
7.2.1.2 ‘ha’ [which]
The prefix ha meaning ‘which’ is used to track participants, props, time, space and events anaphorically through discourse. It refers back to previously given or already understood information. It is often used
as part of a relative clause construction. For a fuller discussion of ha see §3.2.1.5. In many occasions the above relativizer maka is used in combination with ha. This is the case when
the relative clause is tracking the nominative’s participation in a particular event, either which has already been talked about in that discourse or which the speaker and hearer have as common knowledge
from the past.
669 R-wei-wei-r-nar-nara lera
maka ha-r-nelu-taru.
3p-RDP-wait-3p-RDP-wait day which AN-3p-promise-DUR
‘They waited and waited until the day that they had promised.’ 670 Ke-ke’en
maka na’nama
ha-ra-yor-nian de
ke’a-ke’a-ni maka
na’nama ha-ra-yori-nana
de RDP-little-GEN who
just AN-3p-birth-ABIL that
‘That child which was just born.’ 7.2.1.3
Zero relativizer Sometimes a relative clause is formed with no relativizer. It can only be recognized as a relative clause
because it is a clause embedded within the NP. 671 La’a Lukas
pukni de
enwahaur-nohora la lerni
ha-rtora Yesus
la krahana In
Lukas book
that talks-about at
time AN-birth
Yesus in hut
‘In Lukas’ book it talks about the time of which Yesus was born in a hut.’
7.2.2 Function of relative clause
The relative clause in Luang has three basic functions. These are 1 to track participants through a discourse by referring to them as referents that earlier performed a particular event. This event can
either have occurred within that particular discourse or be known and shared information by speaker and hearer of events occurring in the past outside of that particular discourse as in the first three
examples below. Relative clauses can also be used 2 to present descriptive or explanatory information which is pertinent to the discourse and particularly the closely surrounding information, such as an
explanation for why someone is about to act in a particular manner as in the second set of three examples. They can also 3 become semantically bound into a unit, so what perhaps initially may have
been descriptive information is now a unit of meaning.
672 Godtlifa maka k-te’en-nana
pa na-la-uli.
Godtlifa who
REL-pole-ABIL to
3s-go-ahead ‘Godtlifa, the one who was poling the boat, went ahead.’
673 R-hakr-eti-a lima-rora
mak-warini pa
r-tamin mati
3p-divide-very-OBJ citizens who-stay
to 3p-bury
dead ‘They divided those citizens who stayed behind to bury the dead.’
674 Altawi mak
a-’u-yapi-a la
ma’nu palm leaf
which 1s-1s-weave-OBJ to
bird ‘The palm leaf which I had woven into a bird.’
675 E’ ed-maka ka-lahar
lira. he
is-who REL-lie
word ‘He is the one who lies.’
676 Lir-ni-tun-nu maka
ka-h-ni-orat-tar-lia watu-le’u
word-POS-story-POS which
REL-NOM-write-DUR-in rock-circle
‘The teachings which have been written on the writing stone.’ 677 N-nairi-a
ri-mor-miori-a mak-mori-k-dar-lia
tlin-te-tema-nam-pul-wulu n-nairi-a
ri-mori-mori-a maka-mori-k-dari-la
tlina-tema-tema-nama-wulu-wulu 3s-used-OBj people-RDP-live-a
who-live-REL-life-in ear-RDP-full-tongue-RDP-hair
‘He used uncivilized people lit. people who live all ears and hairy tongue?.’ Sometimes relative clauses which are descriptive phrases drop their NP, and the relativizer functions as a
relative pronoun. The relative pronoun maka may actually act as a proclitic on the verb. In such cases there is no need for a k- prefix. Just as the structure becomes more tightly bound, semantically the
construction becomes more tightly bound. Note how the following examples become more semantically as well as phonologically bound together:
muanke’a maka kare’a-ktaru ‘the man who was rich’
maka kre’a-ktaru ‘those who are rich’
makre’a-ktaru ‘the rich.’
riy maka kdella Lgona ‘people who live on Luang’
maka kdella Lgona ‘those living on Luang’
makdella Lgona ‘Luang people’
However, the semantic distinctions between the last two columns are not very great, and often are used interchangeably.
678 Yana m-lia’a
mak-re’a-mak-targ-a hare
yana mu-la’a maka-re’a-maka-taru-a
hare do not
2s-go who-have-who-put-OBj they
‘Do not become one of those rich people.’ 679 Mere la’pa l-lernana
maka ka-kleha-ka-plara de
edonna r-nairi
leli-maha mere la’pa n-lernana maka ka-kleha-ka-plara
de edonna
r-nairi leli-maha
But if
3s-find who
REL-lack-REL-hungry then do not 3p-wear ivory-gold
‘But when it comes to poor people, they do not wear jewelry.’ 680 N-ala
arka la
mak k-mehlima r-rora
r-emnu 3s-give whiskey to
who REL-marry 3p-two 3p-drink ‘They gave whiskey to the two newlyweds to drink.’
681 R-hi’a mak-wohor-ulu-k-tatr-ulu
la’a Wutmieha-Laimieha
3p-make REL-prophecy-before-REL-order-before concerning Wutmieha-Laimieha ‘They became prophets concerning Wutmieha-Laimieha.’
682 L-lernana maka k-hur-miaha-k-tor-leli
n-lernana maka k-huri-maha-k-tora-leli
3s-found who
REL-pour-gold-REL-cut?-ivory ‘He found the jewelry maker.’
7.2.3 Compound verbs
