Re: Construct States

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-)