Compound verbs Sequences Questions
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.’