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Re: Construct States

From:Kristian Jensen <kljensen@...>
Date:Friday, March 5, 1999, 18:51
Matt Pearson wrote:

>Malagasy has something similar to the construct state. To form >a possessive construction, you add the suffix "-n" to the possessed >noun. The noun phrase denoting the possessor follows the possessed >noun, and forms a phonological word with the possessed noun >(usually indicated in the orthography by writing the possessed noun >and the first word of the possessor as a single word, in some cases >separated by an apostrophe or a hyphen): > > ny boki-n + sika > ny bokintsika > the book-N 1pExcl "our book" > > ny boki-n + ny vehivavy > ny bokin'ny vehivavy > the book-N the woman "the woman's book" > > ny boki-n + Rakoto > ny bokin-dRakoto > the book-N Rakoto "Rakoto's book"
I have dropped the Genitive case in Boreanesian in favor of a construction similar to Malagasy's. In Boreanesian, determiners precede nouns (or verbs) and form a phonological word with the noun. Similarly, the noun phrase denoting the possessor follows the possessed noun phrase, and forms a phonological word with the possessed phrase. These are extremely common in Boreanesian, and sometimes very long chains of words - especially in verbal phrases - are formed. In the examples below; [ = dental diacritic , N = velar nasal, syllable final ? = stiff voicing, syllable final h = slack voicing.: /s@kuj?/ > /s@kuj?/ canoe "a canoe" /t[@wh + s@kuj?/ > /t[@whs@kuj?/ that:INAN canoe "that canoe" /t[@whs@kuj? + kijh/ > /t[@whs@kuj?kijh/ that:INAN-canoe 1sg "my canoe" /t[@whs@kuj? + p@huj?/ > /t[@whs@kuj?p@huj?/ that:INAN-canoe boy "the canoe of a boy" /t[@whs@kuj? + n[@wh + p@huj?/ > /t[@whs@kuj?n[@whp@huj?/ that:INAN-canoe that:AN boy "the boy's canoe" Identical constructions are found in predicates: /?@l@neNh/ > /?@l@n@Nh/ food:+volition "an eater" "a utensil" /n[@wh + ?@l@n@Nh/ > /n[@wh?@l@n@Nh/ that:AN food:+volition "the eater" /n[@wh?@l@n@Nh + m@nuw?/ > /n[@wh?@l@n@Nhm@nuw?/ that:AN-food:+volition chicken "the chicken-eater" /n[@wh?@l@n@Nh + n[@wh + m@nuw?/ > /n[@wh?@l@n@Nhn[@whm@nuw?/ that:AN-food:+volition that:AN chicken "the eater of the chicken" Note how the last four examples can be used as predicates in the sentences below. In all the sentences below, the trigger is n[@wt@nuw? (literally, "that t@nuw?" - a name of a person): /?@l@n@Nh n[@wt@nuw?/ an-eater that-t@nuw? > "t@nuw? eats" /n[@wh?@l@n@Nh n[@wt@nuw?/ the-eater that-t@nuw? > "t@nuw? ate" /n[@wh?@l@n@Nhm@nuw? n[@wt@nuw?/ the-chicken-eater that-t@nuw? > "t@nuw? eats chicken" /n[@wh?@l@n@Nhn[@whm@nuw? n[@wt@nuw?/ the-eater-of-the-chicken that-t@nuw? > "t@nuw? ate the chicken" I apologize for how cluttered ascii-ipa has made my representation of Boreanesian look. Otherwise, comments welcome! -kristian- 8-)