Co-occurrence restrictions of o

104 A GRAMMAR OF THE MUNA LANGUAGE 169 o karambau no-talo-e pikore ART buffalo 3sR-defeat-him k.o.bird the buffalo was defeated by the bird 170 o kadondo, karadhaa-no ne-tisa pae ART woodpecker work-his 3sR-plant rice as for the woodpecker, his work was to plant rice 5. Appositions: 171 ne-late bhe se-mie robhine, o bhirinanda 3sR-live with one-CLAS woman, ART widow he lived with a woman, a widow 172 ne-rabu raki, o ka-lambu-lambu we tehi 3sR-make raft ART DIM-RED-house loc sea he made a raft, a small house at sea The head of an apposition may be a nominalized stative intransitive verb see 9.2: 173 ne-gholi adhara ka-rubu, o ka-pute 3sR-buy horse NOM-small ART NOM-white he bought a small horse, a white one

5.6.3. Co-occurrence restrictions of o

The only affix that can be added to the article is the prefix ta- only, just 10.2.48: 174 ta-o ganda only a drum JUST-ART drum There are restrictions on the modifiers that can combine with the article o in an NP: 1. o cannot pre-modify a noun that is already modified by a possessive suffix: 175 a. o lambu-ku ART house-my b. o ka-kesa-no ART NOM-beautiful-its The only exception is o hae-no what? used as a question to ask for the identity of a specific object see 8.6.2, although it is not completely clear whether -no is in fact a possessive suffix here. 2. o cannot be combined with a prenominal measure phrase nor with a quantifier: 176 a. o tolu-ghulu dahu ART three-CLAS dog But when the measure phrase follows the noun, o can be used: 5 THE NOMINAL PHRASE 105 176 b. o dahu tolu-ghulu the three dogs ART dog three-CLAS 3. o is not found combined with an identifying demonstrative: 177 o ndoke anagha ART monkey that 4. Also, after a preposition o cannot occur: 178 a. welo lambu in the house in house b. welo o lambu 179 a. so anahi-hi for the children for child-PLUR b. so o anahi Other combinations with o, however, are possible, such as: a. a referential demonstrative 5.5.5: 180 o dahu maitu the dog ART dog that b. a relative clause 9.1: 181 o anahi to-tolu-no ini the three children ART child RED-three-A.PART this c. a clipped participle 5.9.2, 10.2.51: 182 o kalambe mo-kesa a beautiful girl ART girl A.PART-beautiful d. another noun or noun phrase 5.4.2: 183 o kontu ka-rubu a small stone ART stone NOM-small e. a dependent numeral verb 5.7.2: 184 o mie do-to-tolu the three people ART person 3pR-RED-three Normally o does not co-occur with quantifiers. In the construcution bhari- bhari-ndo o ghoti all the foods, which was found in one text, it seems that the quantifier bhari-bhari-ndo precedes the article in the noun phrase. Probably, however, the quantifier constitutes a noun phrase in its own right. In any case the construction is rather unusual. The fact that o cannot occur with a possessive suffix nor with an identifying demonstrative suggests there is a tendency for o not to be used when the noun or noun phrase is already modified. This is not a rule, however, and 106 A GRAMMAR OF THE MUNA LANGUAGE the examples given above amply show that o can occur in combination with other modifiers. Notice also the following example, where the first two nouns which are unmodified take o, whereas the last two nouns, which are modified by a clipped participle see 5.9.2 and 10.2.28, do not: 185 tabea o podiu, o feili, lalo me-taa, but ART character ART disposition heart A.PART-good lalo mo-asi heart A.PART-pity [what counts] is character, disposition, a good and loving heart

5.6.4. Variation in usage