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Vocab 2.4

From:Roger Mills <romilly@...>
Date:Monday, November 11, 2002, 5:07
Kash (continued)
>#2.4 > >topic: how to disambiguate (if at all) 3rd person referents---The only
thing ambiguous in most of the Kash exs. is the proclitic 3d pers. dative (ambig. as to M/F gender), and the -ni (M/F/N, Sg/Pl)
> >1. life...angayi [aN'gaj] < kayi 'living, alive' > She owed her her life.
ne yafowet angayini ne ya-fowet añ-kayi-ni 3-DAT 3-owe life-3POS This could only arise from a context where, e.g. "Mary owes Trudi her (Mary's) life". Or remotely, "Mary owes Trudi her (Sonia's) life" where Mary and Sonia are somehow intimately connected. No?
>2. journey...aceva < çeva 'to travel' > Their journey to visit their friends was long.
acevani ri kambralini pandaçu yasaño (~sañoni) añ-çeva-ni ri kambra-l-i-ni pandaçu ya-saño (~saño-ni) journey-3POS LOC friend-pl-GEN-3POS long-time 3s-endure (~endure-its) lit., their journey to the place of their friends lasted a long time
>3. brick...opik (new word) > He gave his brick to him.
ne yavele opikni (could also mean "he gave the brick to him") Here, without context, Kash is as ambig. as the Engl: we don't know whether the brick belongs to S, IO, or some third party. And even if you add the reflexive -tu, it remains 2-ways ambiguous: ne yavele opiknitu = John gave John's own brick to Henry, or John gave Henry's own brick to Henry; at least here it couldn't be George's brick
>4. merry...minda-minda, redup. of minda 'happy' > She was merry all day at the festival.
lero yuno yaminda-minda ri laluni day all 3-merry LOC festival-its/the The 3 constituents could go in almost any order.
>5. fail...cakaçasa 'try (hard) but fail' accid. of çasa 'to try' [not
entirely satisfactory.....]
> He failed to save him.
ne cakaçasa lire ne yunek to-him(a) tried-but-failed with-respect-to-that him(b) save "He failed to save himself" would be netu cakaçasa yunek... I think.
>6. approve...ambu 'permit, allow' > He approved his request.
yambu anduçani ya-ambu añ-nuça-ni 3-permit NOML-request-3POS
>7. jaw...lin > Their jaws were bruised from fighting their enemies.
liniçni ikuñahar ombi alo cakepak yam kambundukilañi lin-ç-ni i-kuñahar ombi alo caka-kepak yam kañ-munduk-ila-n-ni jaw-PL-3POS 3pl-bruise becuase from ACCID-fight with AGT-oppose-pl-ac-3POS (kuñahar is a temporary compd. of kuni 'color'and ahar 'to hurt')
>8. hardship...andrakop, noml. < rakop 'difficult' > He thought his hardship too great to bear. (assuming: his own hardship)
yapila re andrakopnitu niya-niya traçami he-think that hardship-his-own extremely unbearable. With -tu omitted, it could refer to his own or someone else's hardship.
>9. whatever...kakrayu (new) compd. of kar 'that which..., what...' and kayu
'something, anything'
> Whatever she did, she was not happy.
kakrayu yamepu, takanda ta minda whatever 3-do, nevertheless not happy-- kind of assume identical subjects. If two people are involved, perhaps: kakrayu taye yamepu, iye takanda ta (ya)minda whatever this-F 3-do, that-F ...............
>10. goods...nana '(unspec.) thing' [not satisfactory] > Their goods were locked on their wagon.
nanaçni iyale ri ñakani olek their-things 3-be LOC wagon-their locked (their goods were on their locked wagon) --most likely assumption, it's their own wagon. Clearly Kash is no better at disambiguating these things than English (or Indonesian or Spanish for that matter). Some of you probably have contrasting 3rd/4th (obviative) pronouns.......

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Elliott Belser <renyard@...>Remove