When an adjective is negated in this way it makes the reference more generic. Lhomi is a language which has a lot of specifics but not so many generic nouns and adjectives. This is a way not to specify
the exact meaning of the antonym. 8
.65 ŋ-e tam hi-la khit khanʈa-la 1SG-GEN message this-DAT 2PL what-DAT
mat-ga-a laŋ-kuk=ka?
NEG-be.pleased-COMP2 feel-PROG;VIS=Q ‘Why do you feel not happy about this message of mine?’
The antonym of good ga-a in this example is mat-gaa. The negated adjective is a predicate complement here.
8 .66 aku tshiriŋ-ki roo-raŋ-ki phitsa tɕuŋ-aa di-le
uncle tshiring-ERG 3SG-self-GEN child small-COMP2 DEF-COMP.BASIS t
ɕhi-jaa di-la mat-tɕii-paa tɕhik-kuk. great-COMP2 DEF-DAT NEG-love-COMP2 do;VBZR-PROG;VIS
‘Uncle Chiring shows more dislike to his elder child than to his younger one.’ In other words, the father loves his younger child more. Yet it is perfectly natural to say it the way
this illustration has it.
8.7 Adjective as a complement of a noun or an indefinite pronoun
Typically an adjective follows a noun or a pronoun which it modifies. However, it may also occur preceding a noun or an indefinite pronoun and then it is marked in genitive case. The following
examples illustrate this.
8.67 u-p-e mat- tsaŋ-aa-ki ʈhaŋ
that-PL2-ERG NEG-spike-COMP2-GEN everything t
ɕhik-ken bet. do;VBZR-NMLZ;CONJ AUX
‘They do all kinds of morally not pure deeds.’ COMP2 is a derivational operator which produces an adjective from a noun or a verb.
8.68 ga-a-ki tam ɕøk-kuk.
be.pleased-COMP2-GEN message speak-PROG;VIS ‘He is speaking a good message.’
8.8 Predicate adjective marked by -t
ɕe in negated clauses
This derivational suffix marks the adjective only when a negated descriptive copular verb, a negated equative copular verb, or a negated ambient verb follows. The following examples illustrate this.
8.69 sajipni-ki u-ko ga-t ɕe le-tɕe
memsahib-ERG that-head be.pleased-ADJVZR remain-ADJVZR min-tuk sit-t
ɕuŋ. NEG-EXIST.VIS say-PST.EXP
‘Memsahib said to me: “It is no good, it is not nice.”’ The adjectives are predicate adjectives of the negated descriptive copular verb.
8 .70 ŋa-la sim kip-tɕe mip-pa tɕhuŋ.
1SG-DAT mind happiness-ADJVZR NEG.EXIST-NMLZ;Q become[PST] ‘I got very unhappy in my mind.’ Lit. ‘My inner being became not happy.’
8.9 A predicate adjective in a relative clause
8.71 ʈhaŋ-tɕe mip-p-e ʈhim-pøn
cool.off-ADJVZR NEG.EXIST-NMLZ;Q-GEN law-official ‘judge who is not honest’
8.72 u-ko sim tsaŋma tɕem-m-e mi bet.
that-head mind clean with-F2-GEN man COP ‘He is a man who has morally pure mind.’
The whole relative clause is the predicate nominal of the equative copula bet. This is a special type
of relative clause. See more on relative clauses in section 17.2.
8.10 Summary of Lhomi adjectives
Though there may be no or very few prototypical adjectives in Lhomi, I posit adjectives as a separate class of words different from nouns for the following reasons:
• Unlike nouns, adjectives have comparative and superlative forms. • Unlike nouns, an adjective cannot be the lexical head of a NP. The noun head may be missing
but it is still implicitly understood ellipsis. • Adjectives modify the nouns or NPs.
• Unlike nouns, adjectives can be intensified with -si INTNS. • Unlike nouns, adjectives cannot fill any semantic role of a clause.
Adjectives may have an adverbial kind of function modifying a verb. It is still the same adjective as before. There is no morphological change. Consider the following examples.
8.73 d ʑok-si ɕok.
sprout-INTNS come[IMP] ‘Come here quickly’
8.74 u-ki kett ɕa di ʈhim-pu thar-nar-tuk.
that-GEN story DEF do.business-ADJVZR spread-COMPL-PRF.VIS ‘That story has spread out fast.’
Here the adjective is the predicate complement. The next example illustrates how two or more adjectives which modify a NP are conjoined without
any conjunctions. 8.75 u-ki mi u-ko [s
ʏ riŋmu phunʈija] duk. that-GEN man that-head body tall fat EXIST.VIS
‘That man is tall and fat.’ The NP with two conjoined adjectives and the noun head is the predicate nominal of the finite verb.
The following three formulas summarize all that has been said in this chapter: N ADJ ADJ QUANT DET CASE
1. The adjective follows a noun head which it modifies.
NEG- ADJ -GEN NPRON QUANT DET CASE 2.
The adjective is the complement of a noun or a pronoun when it precedes the head. ADJ V
3. Here the adjective is a predicate adjective.
9 Adverbs
Givón states that “of the four major word-classes, adverb is the least homogenous, semantically, morphologically and syntactically” 2001:87.
9.1 Adverbs of manner
