172 A GRAMMAR OF THE MUNA LANGUAGE
180 se-tanga mate kamokula-ku my parents are half dead
one-half dead parents-my c. NP-subject, PP-complement
When the complement is a prepositional phrase, it designates the location of the subject or makes a comparison about the subject.
181 awa-ku welo lambu my grandfather is at home
grandparent-my in house 182 suano ka-fumaa-ha ne wunta-no sala
not NOM-eat-LOC loc middle-POS road the middle of the road is not an eating place
183 ka-bhala-no peda-mo winto its size was like a grindstone
NOM-big-its like-PF grindstone its size was like a grindstone
184 ghonu-no ta-peda-hi-mo bhone its seed is just like sand
seed-its JUST-like-HI-PF sand 185 amba-no peda aini
he said the following word-his like this
d. PP-complement, NP-subject Again, when the complement is a question word or strongly emphasized, the
complement precedes the subject: 186 ne hamai ina-mu ampa aitu?
where is your mother now? loc where mother-your until now
187 peda hamai itu bhirita? how is it going?
like what that news 188 peda-mo anagha-nagha tula-tula-no
thus was the story like-PF that story-its
A clause-initial complement is common with the emphasized preposition soo-mo for; the subject is a referential demonstrative:
189 soo-mo bara-ndo andoa watu those goods were for THEM
for-PF goods-their they that lit. that was for THEIR
goods 190 soo-mo kamara-no watu
that room is for him for-PF room-his that
7.7. Exclamatory clauses
Formally, exclamatory clauses are nominalizations of verbal clauses. Their emotional impact is much stronger than that of the corresponding verbal
clauses.
7 THE CLAUSE 173
191 a. no-pana lalo-ku I am angry
3sR-hot heart-my b. ka-pana-no lalo-ku
how angry I am lit. the NOM-hot-POS heart-my
heat of my heart The subject of the verbal clause is realized as a dependent possessed NP
modifying the nominalized verbal head. The possessive linker -no links the two NPs. The resulting construction is therefore in all respects similar to a plain
NP, which gives rise to ambiguity in meaning between a phrase and a clause:
192 ka-bhari-no anahi-hi-mu 1. the number of your children
NOM-many-POS child-PLUR-your 2. how many children you have
Intonation will normally disambiguate here, as an exclamatory clause will be spoken on a relatively higher pitch and with more intensity than a non-
exclamatory clause. Also, as a phrase, 192.1 functions within a clause, whereas 192.2 is a complete utterance in itself.
In the following examples no attempt is made to reflect the exclamatory nature of all the clauses in the translation, because such renderings are often
unnatural.
193 ka-mbaka-no kenta topa how nice that dried fish is
NOM-nice-POS fish dry 194 ka-baru-ku-mo
how happy I am NOM-happy-my-PF
195 ka-bhala-mu ihintu ini, inodi ka-rubu-ku NOM-big-your you this I NOM-small-my
you are big, I am small 196 ka-kolilino-mu awa
how far you have strayed, NOM-astray-your grandparent
granny 197 ka-ghohi-ndo
they are telling a lie NOM-tell.lie-their
Often the dependent NP the semantic subject of the clause is fronted to a position before the nominalized verb for reasons of emphasis see 7.8:
198 paa-paando ka-baru-no sepaliha RED-mouse.deer NOM-happy-his very
the mouse deer was very happy 199 ina wee-ndo ka-ghosa-no lalo-no
mother step-their NOM-hard-POS heart-her how hard-hearted their stepmother was
200 aitu maka anahi ini ka-tehi-no the child was very afraid
that EMPH child this NOM-afraid-his With such fronted NPs it is even possible to leave out the possessive linker
-no:
174 A GRAMMAR OF THE MUNA LANGUAGE
201 o roo ka-ware its leaves are broad
ART leaf NOM-broad 202 o ihi ka-bhala-hi
its contents are big ART contents NOM-big-PLUR
This construction can hardly be called a nominalization or an exclamatory clause; it seems to come close to a special type of equative clause consisting
of a subject NP and a complement in the form of ka-nominalization. This might be one of the origins of the attributive use of ka-nominalizations as discussed
in 5.9.2. In some of these exclamatory clauses the preposition bhe is found, always
preceding the ka-noun. This could possibly be the existential use of the preposition bhe see 7.2.2, but I do not opt for this analysis for the
following reason. In existential clauses bhe cannot be left out except when it co-occurs with naando, whereas in exclamatory clauses it can be freely left
out. Bhe seems to function here as an emphatic preposition preceding nouns in certain functions.
203 pakade bhe ka-rubu-hi-no bhake moreover with NOM-small-PLUR-POS fruit
moreover its fruits are small 204 bhe ka-aha-ku
how thirsty I am with NOM-thirsty-my
205 mie-no bhe ka-lolu how stupid the man is
person-his with NOM-stupid In 205 the dependent NP mie-no is fronted.
In a number of examples bhe is found preceding a ka-nominalization without any dependent NP, so that the semantic subject has to be deduced from the
context:
206 bhe ka-pasole how handsome he is
with NOM-handsome 207 bhe ka-gharo peda aini
we are so hungry with NOM-hungry like this
208 ka-mbaka-no kalei bhe ka-wehi how nice that banana was and
NOM-nice-POS banana with NOM-full how full I am
7.8. Fronting
