The Determiner Noun Phrase Structure

c. li Wim Bill

3.1.2 The Quantifier Phrase

A quantifier phrase QP may consist of a number or a phrase such as minkho johon ‘very many’. Only one quantifier phrase is allowed in a noun phrase. 118 a. to kabynthian kodibio the thirteen bird ‘the thirteen birds’ b. minkho johon kodibio-be very many bird-PL ‘very many birds’ A quantifier phrase rarely co-occurs with a determiner. When it does, the noun phrase containing it is in a topicalized, sentence-initial position before the subject of the main clause, or is a subject or object appositive following the nucleus of the sentence. In both of these cases, a determiner is obligatory. 119. To na-dykha-n to kabadaro, na-dalhida bahy-nro, to bian da-mathia-be. the they-see-SUB the jaguar they-run home-toward the two my-friend-PL ‘Concerning their seeing the jaguar, they ran home, both of my friends.’

3.1.3 Possessive Noun Phrases

A single embedded noun phrase can precede the head noun of a noun phrase. 2 120 a. to firobero yda the tapir skin ‘the tapir’s skin’ b. to falhetho bejokha the white.man musical.instrument ‘the white man’s instrument i.e. radio, record player, etc.’ As might be inferred from the ‘tapir skin’ example 120a, when a noun phrase occurs before the head of the noun phrase, it is understood as the possessor of the head noun. Only one such possessive noun phrase can modify the head noun. If more than one noun phrase occurs, each is understood as the possessor of the following one. 121 a. to de lhyky-koana the my cut-instrument ‘my scissors’ 3.1 Noun Phrase Structure 53 2 This embedded noun phrase may, however, be internally complex. 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.