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Re: Polysynth Question

From:Jeffrey Jones <jsjonesmiami@...>
Date:Tuesday, April 3, 2007, 1:27
On Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:47:13 -0600, Dirk Elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>
wrote:
> >Here are a few examples. The first two are sample sentences from the >reference grammar which illustrate lexical and directional suffixes. >Lexical suffixes are bound lexical elements which together with a root >form a base. This base may then be inflected for phase and number to >yield a stem. The lexical suffixes have various semantic functions; >they are used to indicate instruments, locations, indefinite or >generic objects and various other kinds of concrete "lexical" >meanings. > >The first line is a surfacy transcription; based on your earlier >comments, you may or not be able to read it, so I've included a >phonemicization in the second line (you were interested in small >inventories anyway; the second line will give you a better idea of the >underlying inventory; <e> = <barred-i>). The third and fourth lines >give a morph-by-morph breakdown and glosses. The fifth line is an >idiomatic English translation. > >waˈno� ˈtaɣaˌʔuβihu >wanuu takaupihu > >wa= nuu taka -upi -hu >1= down move -path -away > >'I went down the road.' > >wa�ˈnai ˈtatˌtaɣaˌtɨʃi >waanai tattakatesi > >wa= anai ta- ttaka -te -si >1= up PAUC- move:U -foot -towards > >'a few of us are coming up on foot' > >The next sentence is part of a longer story that I've posted here >before. It illustrates the lexical and directional suffixes in use. > >ˈisɨa ˈka�ˌsuɸˌtɨɣaˌtɨɣa aˈsɨwɨˌkɨŋgi�
juˈnanai ˈwɨpˌpɨɸˌtɨɣaˌtɨɣahu i aˈʔuɣai
>isea kaasuptekateka asewekenki yunanai weppeptekatekahu i aukai > >n- sea kaasu -pte -ka -teka a= se- -ek- wenki >TR- out.of remove:U -eye -UN -DIST DS= 3POSS- -COLL- eye > >yu= n- anai weppe -pte -ka -teka -hu i a= ukai >AND= TR- upwards throw:U -eye -UN -DIST -away.from OBL DS= sky > >'they were taking out their eyes and throwing them up into the air' > >These sentences show all three kinds of reduplication in >Miapimoquitch: paucal reduplication copies an initial CV; distributive >reduplication copies a final CVCV or CVV; and collective reduplication >infixes a -Vk- sequence before the first vowel of the root. > >Dirk
Sorry -- I've been having trouble understanding the longer sentence. I don't see any personal prefixes or switch-reference markers. Or is 3rd person unmarked? And is the 3rd person used after AND even when it's the same subject? Jeff

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Dirk Elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>